It was probably 15 or 20 years ago when our church was meeting on Holman Way when I ran into a youth group leader about 20 minutes before a Bible Study on Wednesday night. Her name was Caroline, and I asked her how she was doing. She said okay, but in such a manner that I knew she definitely was not okay. So I gave her a look and she came over again and told me what was really going on.
It turned out that her brother Jim was in the hospital in Sacramento with a brain tumor. He was scheduled for surgery the next morning. And she had just closed her phone conversation with him with, "I'll see you later." And he replied "If I'm still alive." He was not a Christian. So I asked her what I could do. She took out her cell phone, called her brother, introduced me, and gave me the phone.
Imagine yourself for a moment in my shoes. You're the point man or the point woman. It's now or never. It's 15 minutes to eternity. What would you do? What would you say?
Now I can suggest some alternatives. You could say, "God loves you and everything is going to be okay." But don’t you dare! If he hasn't trusted Christ, that would be a lie, and that would be giving a dying man a false hope. You could say, "I'll call a priest and have him administer last rites." But that would also be a disaster, the presentation of a false Gospel to a man who desperately needs to hear the truth at this crucial and perhaps final moment in his life.
Or you could say, "I'll pray for you." And at least that would be a good start, but honestly it wouldn't be enough at this point. So what is the one message that he most desperately needs to hear? Can anyone here tell me what it is. Yes, it's the Gospel, the good news that Christ died for his sins and rose again and through faith alone in Christ He can have eternal life.
Now I tell that story and ask that question to make a point. Some-day you could be the point man or woman. Some day it could be all on you. Some day you could be the person in my shoes that night. Some day you could be in the spot where it's 15 minutes to eternity, and if the person you're with is going to make it to heaven, you're going to have to be the one to bring the message and be the messenger. So you need to prepare now what you would say to them then!
Now I'm sure you're wanting to know what happened with Caroline's brother, Jim. When she handed me the phone, I took a big gulp and I think I prayed, and then I shared the Gospel with brother Jim. He was happy to hear it. And when I invited him to trust Christ as his Savior and Lord, he gladly followed my lead and prayed the sinner's prayer. By the time I was done with him, this man who had been so morbidly concerned about his pending potential death moments before, was actually giggling as I spoke with him on the phone. And when I told his sister Caroline later that night what had happened, this lady who was definitely not okay earlier in the evening, was skipping across the parking lot as she made her way home, because this brother of hers who was lost had been found, and this brother of hers who was dead, was alive again from the dead!
That's the difference, the eternal difference that anyone of us here can make if we will only determine this morning to know the message and be the messenger in times of need like this.
And that's the kind of difference that the Apostle Paul made for thousands of people in Corinth, Greece, when he showed up in the synagogue there in 50 A.D. Thousands of people believed and were saved because he knew the message and determined he would proclaim it to anyone who would hear.
And that's the story that the Apostle Paul is recounting for the Corinthians as he writes chapter two of his first letter to them, which we have read this morning. What he's telling the Corinthians and us as he recounts the story of his coming to Corinth is this: The message that God blesses is Christ crucified shared in the Spirit's power.
So what is God's message? It's Christ Crucified, in essence, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And Paul's example tells us that we should share God's Messages, Christ Crucified, and know God will bless it. Share God's Message—Christ Crucified, and know God will bless it.
I Corinthians 2, verse one: "And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God, for I determined to know nothing among you except Christ, and Him crucified."
At the conclusion of chapter one, Paul had just been talking about how God determines to use the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and he now begins talking about his own ministry in that same respect. Remember, he's talking to people in ancient Greece, the bastion of human wisdom and great human oratory, the very culture that produced wise men still renowned for their wisdom 2000 years later, the likes of Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and Demosthenes. And he's demonstrating how true it is that God does not use human wisdom or human skill to persuade people of the truth of his message. So he makes it clear to the Corinthians that when he came to them proclaiming the Gospel of Christ, he was not depending on human wisdom, or his oratorical skills to convince them of the Gospel. Rather, he depended on the fact that God would bless the simple message that God had guaranteed He would bless if only it were simply and plainly proclaimed. What message was that? It was Christ, and Him crucified.
So let's think about that message for a moment. At its core, it's the Gospel, as mentioned in I Corinthians 15. I'm sure the resurrection was part of the message.
But let's take what he's mentioned--Christ, and literally in the Greek, "this one crucified."
It's hard to think of anyone with near the reputation of Jesus of Nazareth, even 2000 years later. He clearly led an impeccable life. Bring up the subject of Jesus Christ, and rarely will anyone have anything bad to say about Jesus. He was simply the most credible, and I like to say, and the most incredible man who ever lived.
Anybody who is exposed to the works and words of Jesus Christ has to be impressed by the quality of the life that He lived, and the incredible wisdom with which He spoke, not to mention the miracles. Jason Huang has recently come to our church. Both he and his wife were raised in China as atheists. He was challenged to read the Gospel of John after being in America for a few years and came away with the unshakable opinion that Jesus Christ was someone whom he could trust. And he did, and he follows Christ with his family to this day.
So you begin with a message that is based on the life and character of Jesus Christ, and you're on solid ground. You've got immediate credibility with anyone who is objective. And then add to that the greatest demonstration of love ever demonstrated, Christ's death for the sins of mankind, and you've got a winner.
What Paul is saying is that the message that God blesses consists of the person and the work of Jesus Christ—Who Jesus Is and what He has done for us. A trust in both of those facts—that Jesus is God the Son and the Savior--both are essential for salvation. With regard to the person of Jesus Christ—His identity, John 8:24 says, "Jesus said, "Unless you believe that I Am, you will die in your sins." And with regard to Jesus' work--Romans 5:8: "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Five simple words can sum up the message that God blesses, that God blessed in Corinth, that Paul determined He would preach to the exclusion of all else: Christ died for our sins. You could add to that, and rose again.
So do you know the message that God blesses? If not, recite it with me this morning. This is the message you need to remember when you become the point man and it's 15 minutes to eternity. It's what every dying soul desperately needs to hear: "Christ died for your sins and rose again."
Christ died for your sins and rose again.
I remember an old room mate of mine from 40 years ago, Chan Taylor. As an unbeliever he overheard someone say at a table set up to share the Gospel, "Christ died for your sins." And in that moment, everything clicked for him, and He believed and was saved. The story is also told of the Great British Preacher of the 19th Century, Charles Spurgeon. He entered the an empty auditorium of a large church and tested the acoustics by reciting John 1:29: "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." Unbeknownnst to him, there was someone working in the auditorium who overheard it and was saved upon hearing it. The message was the same, but in different words—Christ crucified--Christ died for your sins.
This is the message that God blesses; this is the message that God has supernaturally determined to use to save people from their sins for eternal life. This is the message that you should never forget. Anyone can share it, Paul is saying. It doesn't take great wisdom, great skill as an orator or an evangelist. God blesses this message because it is His message that saves. Even you can tell a dying soul, Christ died for your sins, and God will use it to save that soul.
Our excuse for not telling people about Jesus is often, we don't know what to say. Well, now that excuse has been taken away. The message, what you say, what God will bless, is this, Christ and Him Crucified. Christ died for your sins.
But you might say, okay, I know what to say, but I don't know how. We often think that it depends on our human ability or skill to share the Gospel the right way. The Apostle Paul says otherwise. He says it does not depend on you, but on the Holy Spirit's power—the fact that God the Holy Spirit promises to use and bless this message when it is faithfully proclaimed.
So in verses 3 and 4 he reminds the Corinthians of how he proclaimed the Gospel to them when he came. Paul was incredibly unimpressive. Verse 3: "I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God."
Now think about what Paul is saying about how he presented the Gospel when he first came to Corinth. Was he personally impressive? What he a powerful orator? Did he impress people with his great wisdom and ability? Absolutely not! In fact, he was a "hot mess.' " I came to you in weakness, and in fear and in much trembling." He is saying that he and his manner of presenting the Gospel were anything but impressive. But when he preached, God's Spirit worked. He was simply faithful to proclaim God's wonderful message that Jesus Christ had died for our sins, and guess what happened. The Spirit of God went to work and people believed and were saved!
Why didn't Paul attempt to be more impressive. Why didn't He employ wisdom and skill in speaking as He spoke. He had a reason. It's found in verse 5, "so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God."
When people heard Paul proclaim the Gospel, they were not impressed by Him. Rather they were impressed by the message, and the message was impressed upon them by the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit.
And this should not be surprising because it was precisely what was promised to the other apostles back in Acts 1:8 by none other than Jesus Himself. He told the Apostles on that occasion, just moments before He ascended into heaven on the Mount of Olives, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." And a few days later, when the Holy Spirit showed up on the Day of Pentecost, that's exactly what happened. The Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they received power to proclaim the Gospel in such a way that thousands of people began to believe and to be saved, and they turned the world upside down.
Likewise, it's in accord with the promise given by Jesus in the Upper Room in John 16:8 the night before His crucifixion. He told His apostles then, "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me."
The point here is that when the Gospel is proclaimed, when you tell others that Christ died for their sins, something supernatural happens for those who will believe. The Holy Spirit of God begins to work in their hearts and their lives to convince or convict them of their sin, and what righteousness is and the fact that there will be a day of reckoning and judgment that will come upon them and all mankind, so that they are persuaded supernaturally to believe the Good News of Jesus Christ.
So Jesus is saying that this is the message that God blesses, even if you aren't very impressive in delivering it, even as the Apostle Paul wasn't. But because Paul was faithful to proclaim the message, even in fear and weakness, and in much trembling, guess what, God the Holy Spirit showed up and thousands of people were saved anyway.
So when you share the Gospel, you don't worry about how impressive you are, or how unimpressive you are. If someone believes or doesn't believe, it's not going to because of your ability to skillfully present the Gospel. It's going to come about because God, the Holy Spirit is at work, and by His power, He blesses the message and convicts those who hear of their need to believe and be saved. And that's exactly what happened in Corinth.
Now I find it particularly interesting that the Apostle Paul said he preached the Gospel to the Corinthians in fear and with much trembling. What's the reason that we often don't preach the Gospel. Is it not often because we're afraid, we're afraid someone might not like us, we're afraid of what they might say, we're afraid we might say the wrong thing, or we're just plain afraid.
Now there's some debate here about what Paul was fearful of. He may have preached the Gospel in the fear of God, or perhaps to some degree even in the fear of men. He doesn’t say why he was fearful here.. He says though, that He preached the gospel in fear and trembling.
The point is that Paul admits that he was afraid, but He preached the Gospel anyway.
Which reminds me of an old war movie I once saw about a former decorated war hero who had lost his nerve. He finds himself in the midst of a battle once again, but is shocked that he is paralyzed by his fear. A crusty old sergeant sees what is happening, and yells out to him, "you're afraid, but you do it anyway! You're afraid, but you do it anyway." The former war hero gets it, and is suddenly animated to return to his heroic ways and nearly singlehandedly wins the battle for his unit.
And that's often the way it is in the spiritual battle. You're afraid, but you do it anyway. Why do you do it anyway? Because you know that it does not depend on you, but the Holy Spirit to do his supernatural work in the lives of those who will believe.
How do you share God's message? You don't depend on your ability, but on the Spirit's power. When you're afraid, you do it anyway, because you're depending on the Spirit and not yourself to produce the fruit that only God can produce anyway—changed hearts and changed lives.
And finally, Paul talks about why He preached Christ crucified, the message the God blesses. It's because it makes an eternal difference. Share God's message because it makes an eternal difference. You have a chance in this life to do something you won't have a chance to do in the next life—you can be a difference-maker for eternity. You can take a friend with you to heaven.
Paul has just admitted that He did not depend on human wisdom or human ability to proclaim the Gospel when he came to Corinth. On the other hand, he notes that he and others who proclaim the Good News do speak a kind of wisdom foreign to this world, and foreign to the rulers of this world—the wisdom of God, the wisdom of the mystery of the Gospel.
Verse 6: "Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away, but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood, for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."
When Paul refers to a mystery here, he speaks of a great truth of God's wisdom that had up until this time not been revealed. It had been a mystery up until this time, and it was only revealed to the world because God had chosen to reveal it. It was not discovered by means of human wisdom or human ability, it came only by the express revelation of God to godly men. And though this is not considered wisdom by the world, it is the ultimate wisdom of God that, of all things, reveals how eternal life and heavenly glory might be obtained.
And notice in verse 7 that this mystery was a wisdom that revealed what God had predestined before the ages to our glory. In other words, this is for our glory, our experience of his glory in the ages to come. It's a glorious message about a glorious future that we will share with Jesus in the Kingdom to Come. And it is so wonderful that he quotes an Old Testament passage which tells us that the glories that we will experience have never been seen, heard, or ever entered into the heart of man. Verse 9: "But just as it is written, 'things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepare for those who love Him.
And verse 10 tells us that we are unique among all the people of the world in that these glorious mysteries have been revealed to us: "For to us God revealed them through the Spirit, ; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God."
Why did Paul share this great message. Because it made a great and eternal difference in the lives of whose who would believe by the Spirit's power.
We share God's message to make an eternal difference in the lives of those who believe. We do so because we have a preview of what life will be like in eternity. It will be glorious beyond our imagination for all who will believe and be saved.
In the mid to the late '90s there was a TV series called "Early Edition." A few of you might remember it. The story line was about a main character who each day would receive an early edition of the Chicago Sun-Times. It was actually an edition of the Chicago Sun-times that would come exactly one day before the actual edition would come out, and the headlines were actually prophetic, telling the main character of the various tragedies and disasters that would occur on the coming day. Once the main character figured this out, he discovered that it was within his power on certain occasions to save people from the impending disasters they were about to experience. And so the show was about his attempts to save people from the train wrecks, the robberies, the shootings, the auto accidents, or the floods that would come their way before they experienced them.
It's an interesting concept and parallel to what we have in our hands this morning. Because what we have here is an actually "Early Edition" that has proven to be accurate with regard to many at-the-time future historical events. And it promises to be accurate about the future, certain worldwide impending events such as impending judgment for all sinners, and a glorious future, heaven, for all who will believe in Christ and Him Crucified.
Thus we find ourselves very much in the same position is the main character in Early Edition. We know the future before it happens, and we're able to use that knowledge, through the proclamation of the Gospel, to save ignorant people of impending disaster and direct them into a glorious future, if we will only use our special knowledge to that end.
When we decide to use our special knowledge, in accord with our Early Edition, we will do what Paul did: We will share The message God blesses, Christ crcucified, depending on God's power to make an eternal difference.
What will you do when you find that you are suddenly the point man, or the point woman, with a person who is on the very precipice of eternity? And someone hands you the phone! Will you tell that precious soul the message he so desperately needs to hear—that Christ died for his sins?
You can do it, in the power of God's Spirit!
Let's pray!
