1 Corinthians 1:18-31
“The Wisdom and Power of God”
By: Reverend Kenneth Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport
News, VA
To start things off, let’s take a peak back at verse 17...in it Paul says that Christ has sent
him “to preach the gospel--not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross be emptied of its
power.”
Throughout his ministry Paul resolved to do nothing except to preach Jesus Christ and
Him crucified.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 9 Paul declares: “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”
And this is because the message of the gospel is the cross of Christ.
It’s not about flowery language, it’s not about education, it’s not about charisma, it’s not
about making people feel good--telling them what their itching ears want to hear--it’s not
about watering down the truth....it’s not about any of that...it’s about the cross.
The cross is what saves us, the cross is what changes our lives, and therefore the cross
must be the main focal point of anyone who claims to be a Christian.
For those who are being saved it is the wisdom and power of God. It is everything we
need.
For those who are perishing, it is a stumbling block...because without the cross of Christ
there is no salvation.
And if we really believe this, then we must take this very seriously.
Because there is nothing that any of us can do or say on our own in order to be saved.
Paul was quite frank about his preaching skills.
He has told us that he was no eloquent speaker.
He has admitted that when he would get up to preach...he would literally be trembling
with fear.
But through Paul’s preaching God saved countless people....and began the spread of His
Church which now covers much of the planet.
If we ever needed any proof of the power of the cross....this is it!
It is the message of the cross of Christ that we need in order to be saved.
The cross demonstrates the love of God.
The cross demonstrates that God accepts us and allows us to walk with him day by day.
The glorious love of God revealed in the cross is the dominant theme of Christianity.
When I was an associate pastor in Macon, Georgia I was told of a local preacher who
truly beleived that “We need to get rid of that bloody cross.”
And he is not the only one who thinks this way.
Several people who left his church, joined ours by transfer of membership.
And why is this?
It’s because without the message of the cross...Christianity has no power.
No power to convert.
No power to save.
And this is what Christianity is all about.
It’s about Jesus Christ, who came to earth...took our sins upon Himself...and died the
death that we deserve so that through faith in Him we might become new people and inherit
eternal life.
Christ sacrificed His life on the cross, so that we might be able to live because God so
loved the world!
But it is so easy for us to become centered on other solutions to life’s problems.
Some people base their lives on ethical behavior.
Most of us know people like that, and many of us are tempted to make ethics our
center.
It certainly makes sense in human terms, but to God it is foolishness.
Sure, God wants us to be ethical, but none of us can achieve the perfect ethical life on
our own.
We are all sinners...we all have weaknesses, and flaws...we all fall short of the glory
of God.
And all of us have things for which we need to be forgiven.
All of us need the cross of Christ.
Many people think that the salvation of the world--although they wouldn’t say it that
way--is in education.
They have a point.
Education is on the top of our national agenda today for very good reasons.
It’s definitely worth caring about, but should it be the most important thing?
Is it enough?
Can it save us?
Who do you think has more wisdom in how to deal with life, other people, and the
problems of life?
An uneducated person who is a completely committed Christian and knows the Bible like
the back of their hand....and lives accordingly...
Or the most educated person who knows just about everything about everything...but
dismisses the Bible as foolishness, and has never bothered to open it or live by it?
I pick the uneducated Christian.
“Where is the wise man?”
“Where is the scholar”
“Where is the philospher of this age?”
The supposed wisdom of the world leads people away from God, and to be led away
from God is to embark on the road to death.
Let’s look again at what Paul says in verse 18: “The message of the cross is foolishness to
those who are perishing.”
Another way to say this is: “those to whom the message of the cross is foolish will
perish.”
The message of the cross shows us that the answer to our problems is found only in the
sacrifice of Christ.
We can not find the answer through power and fame, selfishness and greed, or human
works and effort.
No one can reach God and find truth or solve the world’s problems without the love and
total sacrifice of Christ.
This is what the cross is all about.
Common sense tells us that we are all short of God’s glory.
We are not completely righteous or just, and we certainly are not perfect.
Therefore, there is no way that we can be acceptable and be allowed to live in the
presence of a loving, just, and perfect God.
Very simply, God is holy and we are not!
There is only one way we can ever become acceptable to God: God will have to love us
enough to provide a perfect sacrifice for us.
And the glorious message of the cross is that God does love us enough!
God sacrificed His own Son for us, and it is through his sacrifice that God saves us.
God accepts us when we approach Him through the cross, that is, when we believe in
what God has already done for us.
God takes our faith and counts it as righteousness.
And only the person who believes can be acceptable to God.
And how does this destroy and make foolish the wisdom of the world?
Because the cross is not the way many people want to approach God.
Remember the Rich Young Ruler?
Many of us want to be acceptable to God without having to love. Without having to
sacrifice ourselves completely.
Therefore we try to approach God through our own reasoning, our own thoughts, our own
philosophies, our own speculations.
But we fail.
No effort put forth by humankind has ever solved the world’s problems of sin and evil,
disease and suffering, selfishness and greed, death and judgement.
And this fact has been proven in life after life down through the centuries.
The answer is not science, it’s not technology, it’s not education, and it’s not some
man-made religion.
The answer is the cross.
Just imagine what the world would be like if all of us would just love and sacrifice all
that we are and all that we have for the precious priviledge of following Christ.
Wow, kind of makes your head spin.
All of us have barriers that get in the way of our relationship with God.
But these things are foolishness to God, and if we don’t get rid of them, and give all that
we have to Christ, and follow Him these things will lead to our destruction.
We can never measure up on our own.
We can never reach our full potentials without God.
In his book, Your God Is Too Small, J.B. Phillips who is highly acclaimed for his
translation of The New Testament into Modern English writes this: “Happy are those who
realize their spiritual poverty: they have already entered the kingdom of Reality.”
What he means is this: in order to be saved we must must first realize our need for God.
And when we realize our need for God, when we realize that we can’t make it on our
own...we have come to the Reality where we are able to see that the only answer is found in the
message of the cross of Christ.
The wisdom and power of God is an awesome thing.
So awesome that way too many of us miss it.
But it is also so simple that anyone who wants it can have it.
Is there anything in your life that is getting in your way, and blocking your entrance
into the glorious kingdom of God?
If so, God is telling you to get rid of it...put it on the back of the shelf...don’t pick it up
again...do whatever it takes...
But don’t miss out on the most wonderful life that is found only through giving all that
you have to God.
