Sermon Central
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The Cross: Foolishness, Fantasy Or Freedom? Series
Contributed by Bobby Stults on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: The message of the Gospel and how God chose to bring about redemption is one that many question, doubt and mock b/c they believe it to be senseless, but those of us in Christ understand it fully and we are called to live it out and proclaim that message!
Then Paul uses the word BUT… this is a transitional word that indicates a turning from what he had just said to a true position of understanding of a basic spiritual truth… that basic truth is described by Paul in the next phrase, “We preach Christ crucified…”
Our message is Christ as Messiah… the fulfillment of God’s promise of redemption! BUT the message of Christ takes Him to the cross to die a shameful death, to be buried and suffer great anguish… THIS is NOT acceptable to either group!
Paul says that to the Jews this is stumbling block… but that term ‘stumbling block’ really does not indicate the true opposition the Jews felt toward this message about Christ! It was not just a stumbling block… it was an affront or an offense to how they saw and understood God!
They were insulted by the belief that God would subject himself to such ridicule. However, more importantly, they had been the ones who had persecuted Jesus and had him crucified… SO, if Jesus were the Christ then that meant that they were blind to that AND it meant that they had been wrong about Him! Being wrong about Jesus meant that they HAD ridiculed God… and this was NOT acceptable… this was offensive to them!
Paul also says it was folly to Gentiles…which basically means that those who sought after knowledge and worldly wisdom… they could not see this event as being worthy or important to them! They saw a criminal being put to death… and the resurrection was OBVIOUSLY faked by Jesus’ disciples! No one can raise from the dead?
They were skeptics of the highest order… the Gospel of Christ and the Word of the Cross was nothing more than a fairy tale to them… a myth propagated by men who could not bring themselves to the reality that their leader was dead…so they dismissed it as FOLLY… a ridiculous fantasy!
BUT, again Paul turns from those who doubt to those who do NOT… he says that those who are called…they see it, they get it, they understand it…they may not fully comprehend it but they DO get it and they believe that it is possible thru the power of God and hey believe it to be faithful and true because of the wisdom of God…
In v25 Paul says:
25For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
I believe when Paul wrote this he was thinking about Isaiah writing when God told Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV): “…8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts…”
In other words, here Paul is reaffirming that God’s wisdom far exceeds that of human wisdom, but Paul goes one step further to clarify the word of the Cross… Paul says: “…and the weakness of God is stronger than men…”
Which meant that when men see a ‘weak God’ because He allowed Christ/Messiah to go to the Cross and die in such a shameful and horrific way… It may have seemed weak to humanity, but in reality this revealed God’s power and strength even more! God conquered sin and defeated death!
