A Strange Way to Save the World
Scripture: I Corinthians 1:27-31
Theme: God’s ways are not our ways. He chose to save the world in a way that would bring glory to
himself and not to us.
Seed: Song “A Strange Way to Save the World”
Purpose: To help people understand that God’s view of strength is vastly different than ours. It will require
genuine faith to believe in God’s plan to save the world.
INTRODUCTION: When the world needs to be saved, who do you call on? You call on a superhero. Superheroes are in the business of saving the world. When we think of superheroes we think those characters that are larger than life. They leap tall buildings in a single bound. They can be invisible. They can fly. Criminals are terrorized by their presence. They seem to be indestructible. When we think of superheroes, words like humble, gentle, and loving don’t come to mind. We want someone who is powerful and dynamic to save the world.
Well, make no mistake the world is certainly in need of saving. The world that was created by God was beautiful. It was a perfect paradise. But God, in his infinite wisdom and incredible love for us gave us the gift of free will. Man could chose to obey God and live in paradise, or he could chose to rebel against God, rejecting him and cursing the world God had lovingly created for him. And man, through Adam and Eve, chose to rebel. The result is that the world we live in is cursed. Sin dominates our world and with it come disease, hatred, war, pain, suffering and selfishness. The world is broken and is need of a savior
With the world in such desperate shape, you would think that God would send a superhero to save it. Okay, maybe God wouldn’t send a superhero in the sense of tights, capes and the ability to leap over a tall building in a single bound, but you would think that God would choose to save the world through a powerful, charismatic leader who could wield power wisely and crush God’s enemies.
But God doesn’t work the way we do. God’s ways are not the same as our ways and we don’t always understand his methods. Rather than send a powerful hero into the world, he sent a defenseless baby. But God always has done things a little be backwards from how we would do them. We read in 1 Corinthians
God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important, so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
God alone made it possible for you to be in Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made Christ to be wisdom itself. He is the one who made us acceptable to God. He made us pure and holy, and he gave himself to purchase our freedom. As the Scriptures say, "The person who wishes to boast should boast only of what the Lord has done."
I Corinthians 1:27-31 (NLT)
A baby; a baby that would grow up and be executed for crimes he didn’t commit. Jesus, born of a poor virgin for the purpose of dying for a world that would reject him; that was God’s plan for saving the world. That’s a strange way to save the world. As we begin the Christmas season, let’s explore God’s plan for saving the world. It’s a strange way to save the world, but it’s the only way that would work.
Let’s consider why God chose to send Jesus as a baby rather than a superhero to save the world.
• Superheroes are larger than life…Jesus is HUMBLE
When we think of a superhero we think of someone who is larger than life. They fill the room with their presence. When Batman shows up, you know he’s there. The cool suit with the cape, the Bat-mobile roaring down the street, windows breaking, bad guys getting tossed all over the place, and then there’s the Bat Signal; let’s face it, Batman is larger than life. You can’t miss him.
You’d think that if the world needed saving, God would have sent someone who was larger than life. Someone you couldn’t ignore when they walked into the room or when they made their way through the middle of town. If the world needs saving, you want someone who is larger than life to handle the job.
But God chose not to send a hero who was larger than life. God doesn’t operate the way we would. God knew a larger than life hero couldn’t get the job done. So, instead, he sent a baby. That’s right. God sent a baby, not a superhero to save the world. And not only did he send a baby, but he sent a baby to a family so poor, so unassuming, a family in such humble circumstances that they couldn’t even find a room in a local motel for the baby to be born.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luke 2:4-7 (NIV)
God’s way of saving the world didn’t involve a superhero who was larger than life. God’s plan, strange as it may seem, involved a baby born in a barn and laid to rest in the feed trough of the farm animals. This seems like a strange way to save the world.
Jesus, God’s Son and God’s plan for saving the world, was not some larger than life character. He didn’t enter the world as a larger than life hero. Jesus was humble in nature. Jesus entered the world through humble circumstances and he lived his life in humility.
Jesus declares to us in Matthew 11.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Matthew 11:29 (NIV)
Jesus was humble. He did nothing to draw the world’s attention to him, but he did everything to draw the world’s attention to his Father. And he calls us to do the same.
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!
Philippians 2:3-8 (NIV)
Jesus was God. He was God who chose to take on human flesh and become one of us and submit himself to the will of his Father and die the humiliating death of crucifixion so that we might be made right with God.
The world needed saving but rather than send a hero who was larger than life, God send his son, Jesus, as a baby; humbly born to die a humble death that would save the world. That’s a strange way to save the world.
Superheroes are larger than life…Jesus is humble.
God’s method for saving the world was strange in another way…
• Superheroes are overpowering…Jesus is GENTLE
If you shoot at Superman the bullets just bounce off. Then he takes the gun and wads it up like a little piece of paper. Superman can bend the rails of a railroad track to save the train or to detain the bad guys. Superman has the power to weld steel with his eyes or to see through the side of a building. Let’s be honest; Superman is overpowering.
You’d think that when God decided to save the world he’d send a hero who was overpowering. Sin is a powerful thing. It has destroyed so many lives. We, in and of ourselves, are powerless against sin. We don’t have the power it takes to defeat sin, so you’d think that God would send a hero that was overpowering.
But God chose not to send a hero that was overpowering. God chose to send us Jesus, who is humble and gentle.
Look at Matthew 11 with me again.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Matthew 11:29 (NIV)
When Jesus enters Jerusalem the week before he is crucified – the Triumphal Entry he is identified as Israel’s Messiah through this verse from Matthew 21
’See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’
Matthew 21:5 (NIV)
Jesus was the perfect example of gentleness. His response to a broken and sinful world was to gently restore that which was broken.
Often we misunderstand gentleness. We have a tendency to associate gentleness with weakness. We often believe that if someone is gentle, then they are weak. Christ was gentle, but I assure you he was not weak. The power of God was very real in his life and ministry. The miracles he performed were powerful. His ability to endure the cross when he could have rejected it, speaks of his power. His resurrection and triumph over death clearly reveal his power.
Jesus was powerful, not weak, but he knew how to wield that power with a gentle touch. Super heroes overpower their enemies, but Jesus saves the world through true gentleness.
The world needed saving, but rather than send a hero who was overpowering, God sent his son, the gentle shepherd to lead us and guide us into salvation. That’s a strange way to save the world.
Superheroes are overpowering…Jesus is gentle.
God’s method for saving the world was strange in yet another way…
• Superheroes display mighty acts…Jesus displays LOVE
Spiderman can shoot webs out of his hands. He swings over the city at breakneck speed. He can scale a wall without the aid of ropes. He’s strong enough to bend steel. His spider sense tells him when something’s about to happen. There’s no question that Spiderman can display mighty acts.
You’d think that when the world needed saving, God would send a superhero who could display mighty acts. But God chose to send his son who, though he could display mighty acts, instead displayed love.
Every miracle Jesus did was a mighty act, but each time it was done in order to display his love. Time and time again Jesus was moved by love and compassion to heal the sick.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd
Matthew 9:36 (NIV)
Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him
Matthew 20:34 (NIV)
Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.
Mark 1:41 (NIV)
His miracles were acts of love for the world he came to save.
Probably the most well known verse in the Bible is John 3:16, which tells us of God’s love.
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
John 3:16 (NIV)
The ultimate display of his love for us is his death upon the cross. That death is what saved the world, defeating sin and bridging the gap between God and man. Superheroes display mighty acts but God did better. He displayed the mightiest act of all, an act of absolute love, the act of allowing his Son to die in our place to pay for our sins.
The world needed saving, but rather than send a hero who displayed mighty acts, God sent his Son, who displayed for us genuine love. That’s a strange way to save the world.
Superheroes display mighty acts…Jesus displays love.
God’s method for saving the world was strange in one more way…
• Superheroes offer punishment…Jesus offers FORGIVENESS
Most superheroes offer punishment to evil doers. They hunt down the bad guys, they fight the bad guys, they capture the bad guys and they punish them or at least they let the authorities punishment. One of the primary themes that run under the surface of our favorite superhero stories is the theme of crime and punishment. Superheroes offer punishment.
You’d think that when God wanted to save the world he’d send a hero who would punish those who were doing wrong. He’d want someone who could offer the severest punishment and judgment possible so that they could pay for ruining his beautiful world. But instead God offered forgiveness.
We read in John 3:17
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him
John 3:17 (NIV)
Somewhere along the line we have developed the idea that God sent Jesus to punish the sinners of the world. But God sent Jesus to save the world, not to condemn it. Jesus didn’t come to offer punishment, he came to offer forgiveness.
God does punish, no question. There are those who will reject the forgiveness offered by God and will refuse to accept the invitation to a relationship with God and if they are still in their rebellion when they die they will spend eternity separated from God, punished in hell. But Jesus didn’t come to bring punishment, he came to offer forgiveness to each and every one of us.
His death upon the cross took the place of our punishment. His death paid for our sins so that we could come to God and experience the love and mercy and forgiveness he offers to us.
The world needed saving, but rather than send a hero who would offer punishment, God sent his Son, who offers us forgiveness. That’s a strange way to save the world.
Superheroes offer punishment…Jesus offers love.
Conclusion: There’s little question that, due to sin, the world needed saving. And God in his infinite love and mercy chose to save the world rather than destroy it. But he sure chose a strange way to save the world.
If it were up to most of us to save the world, we’d send a superhero who was larger than life, who was overpowering, who displayed mighty acts and who would offer true punishment to those deserving it. That’s what superheroes do to save the world.
But God had a better plan. He sent his only son to humbly and gently love us and forgive us.
Application: What is it that I want you to take away from this sermon? I guess there are two things.
1. I want you to realize that God works in ways that are different than we would work. He has the big picture in mind and if God could use a simple baby to save the world, strange as it may be, then when he works in our lives in ways that don’t make sense, we can still trust him. After all, he did save the world.
2. If we truly are striving to be like Christ and grow in our relationship with God, then we can learn a lot about how to deal with others, especially those who hurt and disappoint us, by looking at how God chose to save the world.
• We need to learn to be humble in dealing others
• We need to learn true gentleness in all of our relationships
• We must learn to display love, even to those who don’t deserve it
• And we must offer forgiveness.
God chose a strange way to save the world, but it’s the perfect pattern for building our relationships, which is what saving the world was really all about…God choosing to restore the broken relationship between with us.
Yes, God chose a strange way to save the world, but aren’t you glad he did?
