Iliff and Saltillo UM Church
Third Sunday of Lent
February 27, 2005
“God’s Foolishness and God’s Wisdom”
I Corinthians 1:18-25
INTRODUCTION: Story: When a group of churches advertized their Easter services, no reference was made to the cross. This omission was deliberate. One church official explained, “The cross carries too much cultural baggage.
The cross has always been offensive to some people. In today’s scripture Paul said, “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing” (I Cor. 1:18). Without that cross, the empty tomb, however, would be meaningless.
Crucifixion is said to be one of the most excruciating forms of death that we can imagine and it is hard for us to comprehend Jesus dying on such a cross. Today the cross, to many people, is little more than a fashion symbol worn around their neck. No thought is given to its spiritual significance. Maybe we don’t give too much thought to it either as we rush through our daily lives.
STORY: There is a Cross that stands in Greenwich, Connecticut made out of raw, unpolished steel. When it rains, red rusty drops roll of the cross like blood. On sunny days in winter, rust-red holes dot the snow at its base.
What do you suppose goes through the minds of those who pass by that weathered symbol? And more important what is their response to its message? Is it mere foolishness or does it point to Christ’s work accomplished on the Old Rugged Cross? Does it make any impack on persons as they walk by? Why have people always had such different reactions to the cross--both favorable and unfavorable?
1. Figure Out Salvation: One reason is that people try to figure out salvation through human reasoning. The Jews had to always have a “sign” or a miracle before they would believe. Paul said, “we preach Christ crucified and it is a stumbling block to the Jews.” Do you know what a stumbling block is?
A stumbling block is the stick that holds the bait in a bird trap. Once a bird perches on the stick, the trap springs. What were the stumbling blocks to the Jews? The Jews were looking for an earthly king who would deliver them--not one who would die on a cross. They were always asking for a sign as proof. Paul said the Greeks look for wisdom and knowledge and to them the cross is foolishness. The Greeks prided themselves in philosophical language. They were people of wit and reading who had cultivated the arts and sciences. They laughed at the story of a crucified savior and dispised the apostles way of telling it. They wondered what hope was there to be saved by one who could not save himself. The Greeks and Romans both looked on anyone crucified on a cross as the lowest of criminals--how could he be a savior? How could they trust one who were condemned and crucified like a common criminal? The pride of their human reasoning could not accept it. The Greeks thought it was just stupidity to believe such a doctrine.
People today search in all different ways to figure out salvation with their own human reasoning and overlook the cross as well.
Why didn’t Paul adapt the message of the cross to suit each of these groups? Paul insisted on preaching “Christ and Him crucified” in a plain and simple language because he didn’t want the flowing, philosophical wors to overshadow the cross. He didn’t want to use beautiful persuasive words lest the cross of Christ have no effect. It wasn’t that Paul could not have preached in eloquent language because Scripture tells us that he was an educated person who sat at the feet of Gamaliel, the teacher.
I Corinthians 1:17 Paul said, “For Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
The NIV says “lest the Cross of Christ be emptied of power.”
2. Different Effects of this Preaching: Each of the groups of people heard the message differently. During this Lenten season how do you hear the messsage of the cross? What does it say to you? Is it something you have always heard but haven’t given much thought to it? Is the cross just something that is a part of the church calendar and religious traditions? Is it something that people couldn’t possibly believe today? After all, times have changed. As you sit here today, what does the preaching of the cross mean to you? Is it foolishness? I hope not.
Although Paul says it is foolishness to those who are perishing, there is another side to the cross. He says it is “the power of God to those who are saved.”
3. The Power of God:
STORY: A woodpecker tapped his beak against the trunk of a tree just as lightning struck the tree and destroyed it. He quickly flew away and said,
“WOW! I didn’t know there was so much power in my beak!”
I don’t think we realize how much power there is in the Cross of Jesus Christ and what He accomplished as he fulfilled His mission to die and to rise again on the third day.
In Romans 1:16 Paul said “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentiles.” Just what is included in the power of God that Paul was talking about and how can we apply it to our lives today?
#1. As believers we share the resurrection experience. How? Ephesians 2:1 says, “and you has he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.” When you receive Jesus into your life He makes you spiritually ALIVE. You are not spiritually DEAD anymore. Once this takes place you are going to see things differently--the cross will be viewed in a different way, not as foolishness.
Once you are saved you become reconciled to the message of the cross and begin an experiential journey for yourself. God raised you from the deadness of sin as he raised Christ back to life again. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life you were incapable of responding to God. Why?
Because I Corinthians 2:14 tells us, “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.”
God brought you to new life just as He brought new life to Jesus in the resurrection.
The Message Bible says, “God brought you alive--right along with Christ. Think of it!” Colossians 2:13
#2. All Sins Forgiven-Matthew Henry says, “the slate is wiped clean, the old arrest warrant is cancelled and nailed to Christ’s cross.” Nailing the law to the cross.
STORY: It was the custom to hang a copy of the charge on which a person was condemned above the head of the executed person. Here Paul is speaking of the Mosaic Law. God blotted it out so it no longer stands against us--the law--all of the regulations we could not live up to. We could not meet the rules and requirements--He cancelled it out--took it away and nailed it to His cross.
What this is saying is that we don’t have to strive to EARN our SALVATION through WORKS or KEEPING the Law or living up to a set of rules that we could never keep. God dismisses human wisdom as a means of salvation and human works. Where is the wise man who can be found who is able to do what the message of the cross had done?
#4 He disarmed principalities and powers and made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them. He disarmed demonic powers which bound us and held us captive in sin. The struggles you have in your daily life are often Satan working against you. Ephesians 6:12 says, “for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil.”
The Power of the Cross of Jesus defeated these powers of darkness and won the victory over them. He made a public show of them to indicate that they were powerless.
Matthew Henry says that He “stripped spiritual tyrants of their authority at the Cross and marched them through the streets.” The Romans would have understood this because the conqueror would march the defeated armies through the streets embarassing them in front of everyone.
The devil and all the powers of hell were conquerored and disarmed at the Cross. He broke the devil’s power over us and disabled him. Why, then, do we let him run all over us when he has been defeated??? We must begin to rise up and take our authority in Christ. Sometimes as Christians we don’t realize who we are in Christ.
You do not have to be a defeated Christian any more because of the Power of the Cross. Jesus defeated the satanic principalities and powers and we’ve got to start believing this and walking in that knowledge.
Remember that the hierarchy of spiritual powers are in rebellion against God. Christ has disarmed these forces through the power of the cross. He stripped powers and authorities and put them to shame and made a public spectacle of them.
To the casual observer the Cross appears to be only an instrument of death. Paul sees it as the symbol of Victory. Hebrews 2:14 says, “...he too shared [our] humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is the devil--and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”
Once you realize what all is included in the Cross, why not begin to experience it in your own life to a fuller extent. Some people may continue to call the message of the gospel foolish and refuse to believe it.
STORY: There’s a Chinese tale about a man who captured a tiger cub, brought it home, and raised it in a cage. When it was full grown, the man loved to brag about how ferocious and powerful it was.
“That tiger is not wild anymore,” scoffed his friends. “He’s as tame as an old house cat.” This went on until a wise old man overheard them and said, “There’s only one way to know whether this tiger is ferocious or not. Open the cage!” The man placed his hand on the latch and challenged his friends, “Want to try out my tiger?”
Many people view the gospel of Jesus as a tame and powerless fantasy and the Cross and its accomplishment as nothing. Yet Paul called it the “power of God.” He used the Greek word dunamis which is the root word for our word “dynamite.” Anyone who is willing to believe it will experience the “dynamite or power of God.”
Sin does not have any power over you today because of the work of Jesus on the cross. At this third Sunday of Lent won’t you allow this power of the Cross to change your life completely.
Shall we pray:
