SERIES: “OVERCOMING OBSTACLES THAT OBSTRUCT OBEDIENCE”
TEXT: 1 CORINTHIANS 1:18-25
TITLE: “THE CROSS OF CHRIST”
INTRODUCTION: A. A boy age ten was doing miserably in math in public school. His parents had
heard that students who attended private schools did much better in math than most
students in public schools.
This family had no church home and they only attended church every now and
again but they decided to send their son to a Catholic school. The math papers he
brought home showed dramatic improvement in his math skills. At the end of first
grading period, he made an “A” in math.
His parents were ecstatic! They couldn’t believe that their son made an “A” in
math!
They couldn’t figure out what made the difference, so they decided to ask him.
The son replied, “The first day in school, I sat down at my desk and at the front of the
room I saw a man nailed to a plus sign. I figured they take their math seriously here
so I’d better buckle down.”
1. That young man symbolizes our world today
--They don’t know much about the cross of Christ and don’t care to know much
about the cross of Christ
2. The cross has basically become meaningless today
a. It’s worn as necklaces and earrings
b. It’s tattooed on people’s bodies
c. It’s hung up on walls as a decoration
d. It’s placed on top of steeples and embedded in stained glass windows
3. We have beautified the cross so we don’t have to think about the horrible suffering
associated with death by crucifixion and that our sin caused Christ to go to the
cross
B. Paul reminds us in this passage about the central fact and pivotal issue of the gospel:
1. Rom. 5:8 – “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.”
2. He also reminds us that the cross exposes the fundamental choice we make:
--Are we committed to error or are we committed to truth?
3. Paul says that the answer to that question depends on our response to the cross of
Christ
C. 1 Cor. 1:18-25 – “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will
frustrate.’ Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of
this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God
was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom
God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of
God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of
God is stronger than man’s strength.”
I. THE PREACHING OF THE CROSS
A. The method that God chose to communicate His message of love, mercy, and grace was preaching
1. The word in the original language means “message”
2. Rom. 10:13-15; 17 – “13For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ 14How,
then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of
whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how
can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring
good news!’” “17Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard
through the word of Christ.”
3. It is the proclamation of this message that causes people to hear and believe
B. What message is Paul referring to?
--There are certain elements that mark the proclamation of the Gospel in the New Testament:
1. The great Promised One (the Christ; the Messiah) has come
--The Promised One is Jesus
2. Summary of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus
--also includes the reason He had to die
3. Everything that happened in His life, death, and resurrection is a fulfillment of prophecy
4. Jesus has ascended back to the Father but promises to return again
5. Involved some urgent invitation to make Christ Lord and Savior
C. The sticking point for many people is usually the cross
--a misunderstanding concerning the cross
1. The cross was by design and not disaster.
a. Jesus, Mk. 10:45 – “For even the Son of man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his
life a ransom for many.”
b. Again, Jesus, Jn. 10:17-18 – “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to
take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to
lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
2. The cross was honor and not humiliation
--Phil 2:5-11 – “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature
God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking
the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
3. The cross was triumph and not tragedy
--Col. 2:13-15 – “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,
God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its
regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing
over them by the cross.”
II. THE PERISHING AND THE CROSS
A. Paul makes it clear that there are only two groups of people in the world
--v. 18 – “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being
saved it is the power of God.”
1. First group
--those who are perishing – the lost
2. Those who are being saved – the saved
--Notice that salvation is ongoing – it doesn’t stop until our physical bodies die
B. People make a choice as to which group they belong
--It’s determined by their response to the cross
1. Those who are lost believe that the cross is nonsensical foolishness
2. The saved are those who can truly sing: “So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross…”
C. Those who are lost see the cross in one of two ways:
1. They see it as a “stumbling block”
a. Greek word here is skandalon
--“a snare or a trap”
b. We get from it our word “scandal”
--“disgrace; embarrassment; something offensive”
2. They see it as “foolishness”
a. In the first century, only criminals were crucified
b. Crucifixion was the preferred method of capital punishment of the Romans
--It showed the power of the state over those who offended its laws
c. It was a symbol of weakness
1). At Jesus’ crucifixion, the Jewish leaders taunted Him by saying, “He saved others. Let him
save himself if he is the Messiah.”
2). The soldiers also taunted, “If you’re King of the Jews then save yourself.”
3). One of the thieves crucified with him also taunted him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save
yourself and us, too!”
III. THE POWER OF THE CROSS
A. Paul talks about the sense that is actually nonsense
--v. 20 – “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not
God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”
1. Do you know what one penny said to the other penny?
--“Let’s get together and make some cents.”
a. People believe that if they can just think things through, it will make sense
b. Prov. 14:12 warns: “There is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death.”
2. Worldly wisdom is described here as:
a. Resistant to righteousness of God
--God’s way is not their way
b. Rejection of the revelation of God
--Will not accept what God says
c. Refusal to even recognize God
--Looking for love in all the wrong places…
3. Worldly wisdom represented by two approaches
a. Practical approach
--represented by the Jews
1). Mt. 12:39-40 – “Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, ‘Teacher, we
want to see a miraculous sign from you.’ He answered, ‘A wicked and adulterous generation
asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For
as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be
three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the
judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and
now one greater than Jonah is here.
2). Some people want to see with their eyes and touch with their hands and experience for
themselves
--Jesus, Jn. 20:29 – “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who
have not seen and yet have believed.”
b. Philosophical approach
--represented by the Greeks
1). “Let’s talk about it. See if we can work things out.”
--It may be a good idea in your relationship with somebody else but there can be no
compromise, no reasoning or logical debate that can change the message of the cross
2). The Greeks loved to talk things to death, to argue and debate to prove a point
4. Yet, Paul points out that earthly wisdom is in actuality foolishness
--It fails in three important areas:
a. It cannot meet man’s deepest needs
b. It cannot lead us to our highest end
c. It cannot heal the world’s greatest ills
B. The nonsense that makes sense
--“Christ crucified
1. The cross offers salvation to all who will place their trust in His death, burial, and resurrection
--Jn. 3:16-18 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world
to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not
condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed
in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
2. The cross calls to all that will respond to God
--Jn. 3:14-15- “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
3. The cross unites all that are saved in Christ
a. Our rallying point as Christians is not our own personal good works but the cross of Christ
b. Someone: “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.”
4. It releases blessings to all that receive the gift of salvation
--We receive salvation because of the cross and blessings untold are ours when we trust in that cross
CONCLUSION: A. Maybe you’ve heard this old “lost and found” notice:
--LOST DOG - $50 reward. Black and tan dog of Poodle and German Shepherd descent.
Flea-bitten, left hind-leg missing, patches of hair missing, and recently neutered.
Answers to the name of “Lucky”
1. In a lot of ways, we’re a lot like Lucky
--There’s no inherent reason to loves us because spiritually, we’re of mixed descent,
not much to look at, and in pretty bad shape overall but somehow God still loves us.
2. Eph. 3:17b-19 – “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have
power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is
the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be
filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
B. In Peggy Noonan’s book When Character Was King, she tells about a meeting
between President George W. Bush and President Vladimir Putin of Russia. It was their
first meeting as world leaders and Bush wanted to be sure they connected-- that they
looked for depth of soul and character, not simply had a political meeting.
Bush brought up a story he had read about Putin. Putin’s mother had given him a
Christian cross that he had had blessed while in Jerusalem. Bush had been touched by the
story.
Putin shared a little bit more. He had taken to wearing the cross, and one day had set
it down in a house he had been visiting. Strangely, the house had burned down, and all
Putin could think about was that his cross was lost in the rubble. He motioned for a
worker to come to him, so he could ask him to look for the cross. The worker walked
over to Putin, stretched out his hand, and showed him he had already recovered cross.
Putin told Bush “It was as if something meant for me to have the cross,” inferring that
he believed in a higher power.
Bush said, “Mr. Putin, President Putin, that’s what it’s all about—that’s the story of
the cross.”
--The story of the cross is that God intended it just for you. How do you respond?
