Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Around 100 years before the birth of Christ, a Roman noblewoman gave birth to a son who would go on to become one of the wisest and most powerful politicians the Roman republic would ever see.
[00:00:14] His name was Cicero.
[00:00:16] Cicero received a first class education and soon emerged as an eloquent speaker. Later in his life, he wrote many books on rhetoric, on the ability to speak persuasively.
[00:00:29] In fact, Cicero is so well remembered for his oratorical skills that the English word ciceronian was coined as another word for eloquence. The famous quote, while there's life, there's hope is attributed to Cicero, but he had some other gems, like the life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living, or one that all of you bookworms out there like me will appreciate.
[00:00:59] A room without books is like a body without a soul. Mmm, I heard that.
[00:01:07] One quote that I thought Pastor Jeremy might like using is this one.
[00:01:12] Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.
[00:01:22] No doubt, Cicero was a gifted speaker. He has a lot of great quotes, but one of them is especially haunting.
[00:01:31] Before I tell it, we have to remember that Cicero was first and foremost a politician. At the age of 43, he was elected as consul. That was the highest elected office in the Roman republic. Like most politicians, he had an opinion on just about everything, including the death penalty.
[00:01:48] There was one common form of public execution in the Roman world that Cicero frowned upon. You might even say he was revolted by.
[00:01:59] Was seen as such a horrible, offensive way to die that Cicero thought you shouldn't even mention it, much less think about it.
[00:02:08] Here's what he said about it. Quote, let the very word cross be far removed from not only the bodies of Roman citizens, but even from their thoughts, their eyes and their ears.
[00:02:23] I think that's worth saying again.
[00:02:26] Let the very word cross be far removed from not only the bodies of Roman citizens, but even from their thoughts, their eyes and their ears.
[00:02:39] Crucifixion was repugnant to Roman elites like Cicero. Just the word cross itself was horrific because of what it represented.
[00:02:49] So isn't it interesting that in our text this morning, the apostle Paul, who was himself a Roman citizen, has no problem talking about the cross or about Christ crucified.
[00:03:02] What's wrong with him?
[00:03:04] Doesn't he know how people in his day and age feel about such things?
[00:03:09] Because as far as we can tell, public opinion had not changed very much over the decades between when Cicero wrote those words and when Paul wrote these. If anything, it had only gotten worse. The topic of crucifixion itself was distasteful to most people in polite society. So to suggest that anyone should become the follower of a man who was crucified or was borderline insane.
[00:03:36] Based on what he says here, Paul is clearly not ignorant of what people think about this subject. He knows how off putting the message of the cross is to most people. But he doesn't care.
[00:03:47] At least he doesn't let him. Stop him from keeping the main thing. The main thing. That's why as he writes this letter to the Corinthian church, he keeps bringing up the cross over and over and over and over. Because it is how one views the cross that is the dividing line between the church and the world.
[00:04:08] The message of the cross makes no sense to the world and neither do the people who believe it. According to the wisdom of the world, a cross exalting Christ centered church is unthinkable. It's inconceivable, it's unfathomable.
[00:04:25] And that was just as true back then as it is today.
[00:04:30] So what Paul says here at the beginning of first Corinthians has all kinds of implications for us as we think about what it means to be a Christ centered church. It has implications for what we do as a church and for who we are as a church.
[00:04:46] By far the greatest of those implications, or you can say the main point is this.
[00:04:52] A Christ centered church only makes sense if the Gospel is true.
[00:05:00] First in chapter one, verses 18 to 25, we see that what we do as a Christ centered church only makes sense if the Gospel is true. Look with me beginning in verse 18.
[00:05:12] In this verse, Paul writes about two ways to view the cross. The first is the way of the world. He says for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. The word the cross refers to the entire Gospel message. It refers to Christ's death on the cross where he suffered the wrath of God in our place, so that by faith in him we receive all his righteousness and all our sins are forgiven.
[00:05:43] Paul says that that good news, that message of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, to those who do not believe the gospel and are headed for eternal damnation.
[00:05:55] The original word that Paul uses here for folly is from the Greek word moros where we get our English word moron.
[00:06:03] To put it bluntly, the world thinks the message of the cross is moronic.
[00:06:09] The world thinks it's crazy to believe that a poor carpenter from the boondocks is supposed to be the eternal Son of God.
[00:06:20] The world thinks it's ludicrous to believe that someone who was crucified and put to death on a cross could come back to life three days later and give eternal life to everyone who believes in him. The world thinks that's moronic. That doesn't even make sense.
[00:06:38] If you're being honest, some of you here today might agree with that assessment.
[00:06:44] Or you may have loved ones, coworkers, or neighbors who are lost and think this way.
[00:06:52] To this day, many people still think the message of the gospel sounds foolish.
[00:06:58] That's not what everyone thinks.
[00:07:00] Paul says in verse 18. The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
[00:07:10] What the world sees as moronic, the church knows, is powerful.
[00:07:16] We who have experienced its powerful know the truth. So we have no reason to be embarrassed by the message of the cross. That's why Paul says in Romans 1:16 that he is not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. That's what Paul is referring to here by calling it the power of God in 1 Corinthians 1:18. For the church, the gospel is the power of God for salvation.
[00:07:48] So the cross divides the entire world in two.
[00:07:51] Either the cross means nothing to you, or it means everything to you.
[00:07:59] The world thinks they have the cross figured out, that at its best it's nothing more than a ridiculous fairy tale, or at its worst, it's some kind of cultish, manipulative tool.
[00:08:12] But here's what God thinks about the world's wisdom.
[00:08:16] Verse 19.
[00:08:17] For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning. I will thwart.
[00:08:26] Paul quotes a prophecy from Isaiah 29:14, and then he asks a series of rhetorical questions that all assume the Same answer. Verse 20.
[00:08:36] Where's the one who is wise? Where's the scribe? Where's the debater of this age?
[00:08:42] If you were a Jew and you wanted wisdom, then you went to the scribes because they were the experts in theology. They were the Jonathan Edwards of that day.
[00:08:52] But if you were a Greek, if you were a Gentile and you wanted wisdom, then you went to the debaters because they were the experts in philosophy. They were the Jordan Petersons of that time. But where have they in all their combined wisdom gone? What's happened to them?
[00:09:10] Paul asked. Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
[00:09:16] That original word for foolish is the same word we saw earlier. It could Say, has not God made moronic the wisdom of the world through the cross of Christ?
[00:09:28] God has utterly destroyed the worldly wisdom. God has made the wisest people in the world look like morons.
[00:09:38] They look like morons because even with all their wisdom combined, they still could not figure out how to know God in a saving way.
[00:09:49] But God has made it known through the preaching of the cross.
[00:09:56] That's what verse 21 says.
[00:09:58] For since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe what the world scorned as foolish is actually the power and wisdom of God for salvation. It doesn't take great wisdom to be saved. It takes faith. It takes absolute trust that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose again as your Lord and and Savior. That's it.
[00:10:34] So even if you are a child here today, you can be saved.
[00:10:41] Kids, listen to me. You don't have to be a genius to go to heaven. You don't have to get straight A's to be saved.
[00:10:50] If you say with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved.
[00:11:04] That's the promise of Romans 10:9. And that's what Paul is saying here in First Corinthians 1:21. It's not through the world's wisdom that we come to know God in a saving way. It is through the preaching of the Gospel and responding to that preaching with repentant faith.
[00:11:24] But for some people, the simple message of the cross is not enough.
[00:11:29] Look at what Paul writes in verse 22.
[00:11:32] For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom. Signs refer to miracles, to demonstrations of supernatural power. We see the Jews make all kinds of demands of Jesus to show them signs. Throughout the Gospels, like after Jesus cleanses the temple, the Jews say, what sign do you show us for doing these things?
[00:11:56] Or after Jesus fed the 5,000 miraculously, he tells them on the next day to believe in him.
[00:12:04] And they respond by saying, then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?
[00:12:12] Which is meant to sound ironic because he just did an amazing supernatural sign by feeding all of them with a few loaves and fish.
[00:12:22] To this day, some people are still looking for signs before they will believe the Gospel.
[00:12:28] Some people say, if I could just see a miracle, then I would really know the word of God is true.
[00:12:36] Or if God would just heal this loved one, or if he would just give me this job, then I could believe the Gospel.
[00:12:46] But the apostle John points out the folly of thinking that way in John 12:37 where he writes, though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him.
[00:13:02] Jesus did all kinds of miracles right before their eyes and it still wasn't enough.
[00:13:09] So why do you think it'd be any different for you today?
[00:13:12] If you are holding out for some kind of miracle, some kind of sign to confirm the truth of the gospel, then you are in danger of perishing forever.
[00:13:23] Because the Bible makes it clear that supernatural power is not enough to make people believe and be saved. Displays of that power through signs is not enough.
[00:13:34] But we have something better than a powerful sign.
[00:13:40] We have an all powerful person.
[00:13:43] Jesus overpowered sin and Satan and death on the cross for us.
[00:13:51] But wisdom isn't enough either.
[00:13:54] That's what the Greeks sought after.
[00:13:56] Remember what Luke wrote about the Athenians when Paul went to Mars hill in Acts 17:21? He says now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
[00:14:13] Which sounds a lot like modern Americans, doesn't it? We're always on our phones scrolling for something new, some new bit of wisdom to enlighten us or entertain us.
[00:14:26] To this day, some people are still looking for wisdom before they will believe the Gospel. They think if they just had conclusive evidence, if they just had an indisputable argument for the existence of God or the resurrection of Jesus, then they would believe.
[00:14:43] But if that's you or someone you know, they're in danger too.
[00:14:48] Because worldly wisdom is not enough to make people believe and be saved.
[00:14:55] We have something better than a perfect argument.
[00:15:00] We have a perfect person.
[00:15:03] Jesus is enough. Christ crucified is enough. He is the power of God. He is the wisdom of God. That's what Paul says in verses 23 and 24. But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Through the world's eyes, Christ crucified appears to be the exact opposite of what they want.
[00:15:34] Rather than a powerful sign, he appears like a weak, scandalous obstacle rather than wise. He appears foolish. But to those who are called, to those whom God has saved and given spiritual eyes, they can see the truth that Christ crucified is exactly what we've always been looking for. He is ultimately everything we need. That's why we're centered on Jesus. That's why everything we say and do as a church is all about Jesus being all about the cross. Doesn't make sense to the world. But what do they know?
[00:16:12] As verse 25 says, the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
[00:16:21] Now, God is never foolish or weak. What Paul is saying here is that even if God had a moment of foolishness or weakness, he is so strong and so wise that he would still be more powerful and wiser than all of humanity combined.
[00:16:41] But there was a moment when God appeared foolish and weak, wasn't there at the cross?
[00:16:49] The Romans dressed the Son of God up like a phony king with a crown of thorns to make him look like a fool.
[00:17:00] Between the beating and crucifixion, Jesus was so weak that he could barely speak.
[00:17:07] But at what appeared to be his most foolish and weakest moment, Jesus was actually turning the wisdom and power of the world upside down and the world had no clue.
[00:17:24] That's why we keep the focus on Jesus. No matter what the world thinks we should do, the Christ centered church is inherently counterintuitive to the world because what we do as a church only makes sense if the gospel is true and we know it is.
[00:17:42] So when it comes to how you think our church should do ministry, or how we should spend our time or money as a church, be very careful about trusting your natural instincts.
[00:17:56] If your opinion about what we should do as a church makes perfect sense to you, and it would make perfect sense to an unbeliever, then you should be cautious.
[00:18:08] Think about it this way.
[00:18:10] What would the world think about some of the decisions we make as a cross centered church? For example, what would the world say if we could ask them, hey, do you think we should invest a lot of time and energy into serving college students even though they might only be here for a few years and then graduate and leave?
[00:18:30] The world's common sense would say no? Of course not. Why would you waste your time on them?
[00:18:35] Or if we ask the world, should we give a whole bunch of money away for missions and church planting even when we're trying to save up to build a new building?
[00:18:46] The world's instinct would be to say no, keep that money so you can build the building. What are you thinking?
[00:18:52] Or should we send some of our best members out to plant churches and to go be missionaries in places where it's dangerous?
[00:19:02] The world would say, of course not. What are you thinking? Don't put them in danger. Keep them here where it's safe or should we encourage people to say or serve in kids ministry or in Awana even though they got their own kids to take care of? Or they have jobs where they work with kids all day?
[00:19:20] The worldly wise man would say, what are you thinking? Those people need a break. Stop asking them to serve.
[00:19:27] Or should we encourage people to invite people to their Bible fellowship groups who aren't like them or who are in a different stage of life? They may or may not have many things in common.
[00:19:36] The world tells us birds of a feather flock together, have them stick with their friends, just be with the people they like.
[00:19:44] But since we know that the cross destroys the wisdom of the world, we don't make ministry decisions based on common sense alone.
[00:19:55] We humbly submit all that we do to God's word and the wisdom of the cross.
[00:20:02] So we don't use the same decision making framework as the world. We make decisions based on the gospel.
[00:20:09] So on the first day of classes, when people see 50 different volunteers in red Ashland shirts at EKU and say, what in the world is going on?
[00:20:19] Why are all these people here? We say it's because of the Gospel.
[00:20:23] We want these college students to know and love Jesus no matter whether they stay here or go to the ends of the earth.
[00:20:30] Or when our neighbors see all kinds of random people showing up to our house for Bible fellowship group and they ask us what's happening, we say this is all because of the Gospel.
[00:20:42] God saves us and unites us together as family, even in spite of all of our differences.
[00:20:48] Or when people ask, hey, aren't you supposed to be building a new building? When's that going to happen? Why do you keep sending people out and giving a bunch of money away for missions. We say it's because of the gospel, because those people out there are perishing without the good news and we want them to have good, healthy churches too. Or people balk at us for continuing to ask for kids ministry volunteers, why do you keep doing that? We say it's because the gospel is true, because Jesus himself said that he did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life for others. And so that's what we do even when we're tired, even when it's hard.
[00:21:31] Or another simple way to answer all those questions is to say because of Jesus.
[00:21:36] It's all because of Jesus.
[00:21:39] He is the reason for everything we do as a church.
[00:21:43] It's not just because we want to be contrarian and do the opposite of whatever the world thinks we should do. It's not just to Be ridiculous for being ridiculous sake. That's not it at all. We make decisions through a Christ centered framework in order to display the wisdom of God, the power of God. We do it to display the gospel. We do it to make make much of Jesus.
[00:22:09] What we do as a Christ centered church only makes sense because the Gospel is true.
[00:22:16] Next we see who we are as a Christ centered church only makes sense because the Gospel is true.
[00:22:23] In this next section, Paul continues his argument with another example. Up to this point he's been arguing that God's power and wisdom are displayed through the Gospel. Now he's going to turn to exhibit B, the Corinthian Church.
[00:22:37] Look at me at verse 26 for consider your calling, brothers. It's a command. It could say remember your calling or reflect on your calling. The calling he's referring to here is the calling to salvation. Paul is saying, think about how you got saved for a moment.
[00:22:55] He continues, not many of you were wise according to the worldly standards.
[00:23:00] Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth.
[00:23:04] If the world is looking for worldly wisdom and power, they aren't going to find it in the Corinthian Church. The Corinthian Church was not made up of a bunch of people like Cicero. The Corinthians were not the cream of the crop. They were the nobodies according to the world's way of thinking. These were not the kind of people you expected to find favor in with God. That doesn't make any sense to the world.
[00:23:30] And as Paul says, that's the whole point.
[00:23:37] Verses 27 and 28 look with me there. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world. Even things that are not to bring to nothing, things that are. Paul repeats himself three times to make one point. God chose. God chose. God chose. Who did he choose? What is foolish in the world, what is weak in the world, what is low and despised in the world. God chose to save the fools, the weak, the losers. Why? To shame the wise, to shame the strong, to shame the the winners.
[00:24:22] God has turned the wisdom of the world on its head through the man on the cross and through the people of the cross. Or in other words, God displays his superior wisdom through Jesus and through the Church. That's what Paul writes in Ephesians 3, 8, 11.
[00:24:39] Listen carefully to what he says to me, though I am the very least of all the saints. This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to bring to light for everyone. What is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things so that through the Church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose of that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[00:25:18] The Christ centered Church displays the greatness of God's wisdom simply by virtue of who they are in Christ.
[00:25:29] But the world doesn't look at it that way, do they?
[00:25:33] The world looks at people who graduate from Ivy League schools or people on social media, the influencers with huge followings, or people who are born into wealthy families and thinks those are the favored ones. Those are the people who are really blessed.
[00:25:52] But for the most part, those are not the people God is saving and bringing into his church.
[00:25:58] Why not?
[00:26:00] Paul says in verse 29, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
[00:26:09] You see, the temptation for people with a lot of knowledge or power or money is to be entitled to think that they deserve whatever they want, whenever they want, simply by virtue of who they are.
[00:26:23] But God doesn't cater to our pride.
[00:26:26] He doesn't save people because they're so special.
[00:26:30] If he did that, then we could brag on ourselves, we could boast that we deserve his blessings because of our famous last name or because of the school we went to, or because of what we've accomplished.
[00:26:46] But that's not just a temptation for the elites.
[00:26:50] That's a temptation for everybody.
[00:26:53] Even nobody's like us.
[00:26:55] That's why Paul commands the Corinthians to consider how they were saved.
[00:27:01] If they weren't careful, they could slip into the same sort of pride. And we can too.
[00:27:07] Now, none of us are probably in danger of thinking God should let us into heaven because we have a famous last name.
[00:27:16] But some of you might think that because you come from a Christian family that you'll just automatically get into heaven too.
[00:27:25] Or you might be tempted to think that because you went to a Christian school or because you were homeschooled and got a good Christian education, that that will be enough for God.
[00:27:36] Some people deep down think God should save them not because they go to a certain school, but because they go to a certain church.
[00:27:43] You might think just by going to a Christ centered church like this one that you'll get into heaven.
[00:27:50] I doubt many of you are trusting in great worldly accomplishments to be saved, but you might be trusting in spiritual accomplishments.
[00:27:59] You might be thinking to yourself, I know I'm right with God because I've been baptized or because I've shared the gospel so many times, or because I've served in VBS for so many years.
[00:28:11] There are all kinds of ways we can begin to shift from relying on Christ crucified alone for our salvation.
[00:28:20] And whenever we do that, we are beginning to boast in ourselves.
[00:28:24] And Paul says God is not having that at all.
[00:28:29] God alone will get all the credit for saving us because he alone is the reason why we are saved. Look at verse 30.
[00:28:39] And because of him, because of God, you are in Christ Jesus. To be in Christ means to be united to Christ, and to be united to Christ means to be saved. To be in Christ means that when you die and stand before the judgment seat of God, he's not going to look at your long record of disobedience, but at Christ's perfect record of obedience with your name on it.
[00:29:08] It's because of God that you are in Christ, not because of you. You weren't smart enough or strong enough or good enough.
[00:29:16] If you are saved, it's because God saved you.
[00:29:21] You don't get any credit.
[00:29:23] Paul says it's all because of God that you are in Christ Jesus. He continues in the verse, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
[00:29:36] That's what the cross represents to us.
[00:29:39] To Cicero, the cross represented nothing more than gruesome torture.
[00:29:45] To the world today, it may represent nothing more than a fashion accessory or a silly fairy tale or some kind of political movement. But to the church, it represents Jesus. The cross represents who he is and all that he is for us.
[00:30:06] Jesus is our wisdom from God. The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is is the beginning of wisdom. And Jesus shows us what a life lived in the fear of the Lord looks like. It doesn't look like a whipped dog cowering in fear of its master. It looks like a son in awe and wonder of his Father, who loves him so much that he will do anything he says if it will bring honor and glory to him.
[00:30:36] Jesus is our righteousness. When God sees you, he doesn't see you in your filthy rags of sin. He he sees you in Jesus flawless robe of righteousness.
[00:30:48] Jesus is our sanctification. Sanctification is the process by which a Christian becomes more like Christ.
[00:30:56] Jesus is the one making us holy, as each day we do everything we can to put sin to death and walk in obedience by the power of His Holy Spirit.
[00:31:09] And Jesus is our redemption. To redeem something means to buy it back.
[00:31:13] And because of our sin we became slaves of Satan. But on the cross, Jesus paid the price to set us free.
[00:31:23] That's who Jesus is.
[00:31:25] And in him that's who we are as a church.
[00:31:32] We are wise in Christ, we are righteous in Christ. We are sanctified, we are redeemed. And it's because of God that we are in Christ.
[00:31:44] That's why we don't boast in ourselves, but rather, as verse 31 says, Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. We brag on Jesus. We give all credit to Jesus. We mean it when we sing in the hymn Rock of Ages.
[00:32:01] Nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross I cling.
[00:32:10] That doesn't make sense to the world.
[00:32:13] The only way the Christ Centered Church makes sense is if the Gospel is true.
[00:32:18] And it is.
[00:32:20] What that means is we as a church are a bunch of nobodies making much of somebody.
[00:32:27] So how are you doing that in the context of our church right now?
[00:32:31] How are you making much of Jesus as a member of this church?
[00:32:35] How are you making much of Jesus in the ministries you lead or you serve in? How are you making much of Jesus by how you pray or how you give?
[00:32:45] How are you making much of Jesus in the conversations you have before or after the worship gathering? How are you making much of Jesus in your Bible fellowship group?
[00:32:56] If you can't think of anything, let me encourage you to spend some time today prayerfully reflecting on that question.
[00:33:01] Maybe talk it over at lunch with your friends and family.
[00:33:07] It's only because of Jesus that any of us are saved and have any reason to be here at all. So why wouldn't we be about Jesus all the time?
[00:33:18] The way we make much of Jesus is something I love about our church.
[00:33:22] I so appreciate being around new believers in our church and seeing their baptisms. I love hearing the excitement in their voice as they talk about Jesus. Let me tell you, they are scared to death to stand up here in front of all of you. But they love Jesus and they want to make much of him so they do it anyway.
[00:33:42] And it's something I also enjoy about the weddings in our church.
[00:33:47] Not in our church building, unfortunately, we don't have a lot of those. But in our church family, the weddings we do have are such Christ exalting ceremonies where the love that Jesus has for his bride, the church is clearly put on display and they ask for it to be that way. Even the brides, they don't want the spotlight on them they want the spotlight on Jesus, and it's even something I appreciate about our funerals.
[00:34:18] When saints in our church die and go to be with Jesus, they don't want a big fuss about them.
[00:34:26] They want everyone to know about the living hope we have in Christ, who conquered death for us on the cross.
[00:34:37] Brothers and sisters, our church might not make sense to the world, but it makes perfect sense to us because we know the gospel is true.
[00:34:47] What we do as a church and who we are as a church is centered on Christ because the cross is everything to us.
[00:34:55] Cicero was revolted by the cross, and so are many people to this day. They don't like it because they don't understand it, but by God's grace, we do.
[00:35:06] We love the cross because we love Jesus, and the cross represents everything we love about him most.
[00:35:14] So rather than hiding from the cross or downplaying the cross, let's make much of the cross. Let's boast in the cross. Let's do the exact opposite of what Cicero said.
[00:35:26] Let's never remove the cross from our thoughts, our eyes or our ears.
