1 CORINTHIANS 3:18-20 “CRAZY IN LOVE WITH JESUS”
A) I heard someone use the word “oxymoron.” * Do you know what an oxymoron is?
* (My Husband) * Oxymorons are 2 words that don’t make any sense when put together! (Hus - band)
* Jumbo Shrimp ... Act Naturally ... Almost done ... Almost Perfect ... Alone Together
* Anti-Missile Missile ... Artificial Grass ... Curved Line ... Deafening Silence
* Diet Ice Cream ... Found Missing
B) We’re going to look at 3 Scripture verses tonight that seem to be oxymorons!
* To normal people, they don’t make any sense!
* Are you normal tonight? * How many of you think you’re normal? (SHOW OF HANDS)
* I don’t think most of you are normal! * I don’t think God wants you to be normal.
* Do you know why? * Bumper Sticker ... NORMAL PEOPLE WORRY ME!
* Do you know why normal people worry me? * Let me explain .......
C) We live in a culture where the church is not really growing!
* 1990-2000, only 24% of churches grew!
* Almost all of that was transplant ... Christians leaving one church to go to another.
* I believe God moves Christians from prospering churches to struggling churches.
* However ... Only 1% of churches are actually reaching the lost and winning them.
* This Sunday, 66% of people in Spartanburg county will not go to church anywhere!
* That’s 2 of out 3!
D) We live in a culture that’s not just post-Christian, it’s anti-Christian!
* Recently, a survey was taken on college campuses that asked unsaved folks how they see
Christians! * The top 3 answers were: Hypocritical ... Boring ... and Judgmental.
* To 66% of our nation, it’s not cool to be a Christian!
* In America, the folks without Jesus outnumber the folks with Jesus 2 to 1!
* Yet, what do we call the people without Jesus?
* Unsaved, Lost, Unchurched, Pagans, Heathen.
E) By the way we talk about them ... By the names we call them ...
* It’s like they’re strange, odd, weird, different!
* Guess what? * We’re the weird ones, not them!
* Do you know what the definition of “Normal” is?
* Normal ... Conforming to the norm, standard, regular, average.
F) Do you know what that means?
* The lost people outnumber us 2 to 1 ... They’re the Normal Ones ... We’re the weird ones!
* That’s why normal people worry me ... Because if you’re normal, you’ve never met Jesus!
* So Jesus doesn’t want us to be normal, but I’m not sure weird is exactly the right term!
* I think Jesus wants us to be N.U.T.S. * Do you know what nuts means?
* Nuts ... “Never Underestimate the Spirit.” * God wants us to be Nuts!
G) Jesus is driving me nuts ... I’m nuts because of Jesus!
* You need to be just as nuts as I am!
* That means that the church is the “Nuthouse.”
* That means that the pastor is the Chief nut!
* My job as a pastor is to drive you nuts!
* I’m supposed to drive you crazy in love with Jesus!
H) Teens, you need to drive your parents crazy ... in love with Jesus!
* Parents, you need to drive your children crazy ... in love with Jesus!
* You need to drive your friends crazy ... in love with Jesus!
* We need to make everybody NUTS!
I) OK, I know you’re wondering where I came up with all this stuff!
* It’s in the Bible ... I promise! * Let’s look at 3 Scriptures that seem to be oxymorons, and if
you’re really NUTS you’ll understand!
(1) WE BECOME WISE BY BEING A FOOL - OUR TEXT - 1 COR 3:18-20!
* Greek - Fool - Moros ... where we get the word moron!
* Paul is saying that if we think that we’re wise, then we need to become a moron for Jesus!
A) He’s saying that we need to be so crazy about Jesus that nothing else matters!
* To a Christian (NUT) the stuff that happens in the world seems crazy!
* Aids ... Starvation while sports players make 8 million dollars a year.
* Swartznegger making 20 million dollars for a movie!
* To the world, the Christian seems crazy! * Such as .......
B) Following Jesus no matter what, praying, getting up on Sunday AM to go to church .......
* Did you know that the Amer. Assoc. of Psychiatrists recently said that one of the signs of
mental illness was a persistent, unshakable belief in God, or hearing God’s voice!
* I guess that means: Adam was Nuts ... Moses was Nuts ... Noah was Nuts ...
* The Apostle Paul (Acts) was Nuts ... The Apostle John (Revelation) was Nuts!
* They were all crazy by the World’s Standard.
* They were crazy in love with Jesus!
(2) WE BECOME SMART BY BEING STUPID - 1 COR 4:10!
* In the eyes of the Corinthian church, Paul was stupid!
A) They looked down on him ... They said he wasn’t all that bright!
* They said he wasn’t a good speaker.
* They said he didn’t look like an apostle should look.
* They questioned his credentials as an apostle.
* To sum it up, they thought he was weak and stupid ... a moros (Moron).
B) Paul’s telling them that He’s nuts ... crazy for Jesus, and He’s glad about it!
* Because we’re NUTS, we see the world differently than they do.
* Let me give you an example.
* Anybody got a dollar? * What’s on the top of the triangle? (An eye)
* What’s the eye supposed to represent? (The all seeing eye of God)
C) So what does that mean? (Better be careful, God is watching you to catch you?)
* NO! That’s not it! * You’re thinking like normal people think! * We’re nuts, remember?
* We’re crazy ... We’re supposed to see the world from God’s perspective!
* The eye doesn’t mean that God is watching you to catch you in some mistake!.
* The eye means that God loves you so much He can’t take His eyes off you!
D) I’ve come to the conclusion that God’s a lot like an ostrich!
* Did you know that an ostrich lays and egg, and then never takes its eye off the egg until it
hatches? * If it takes its eye off the egg, it will lose it.
* So, until the egg hatches, the ostrich always keeps an eye on it!
E) That’s like God ... He’s crazy in love with you!
* He can’t take His eyes off you, even for a second, because He loves you so much!
* And He wants you to be crazy in love with him too!
* Last ... If our hearts are right with God .......
(3) WE BECOME NUTS BECAUSE OF JESUS - 2 COR 5:11-13!
* Greek - existeômi - (ex-is’-tay-mee ) - beside ourselves ... insane!
A) REREAD V.13 IN PLAIN ENGLISH!
* For if we are insane, it is because we love God!
* If we really get hold of this crazy thing, we’ll be nuts for Jesus!
* We won’t care what the normal people think, because we’re insanely in love with Jesus.
* We don’t care what the normal people say, because we’re nuts for Jesus.
* We don’t care what the normal people do, because we’re crazy in love with Jesus.
B) You can call me crazy ... I don’t care! * You can call me crazy .......
* But I still believe “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so!”
* You can call me crazy, but I still believe that “Jesus loves the little children!”
* You can call me crazy, but I still believe “The B-I-B-L-E, yes that’s the book for me!”
* You can call me crazy, but I still believe “On a hill far away, stood an Old Rugged Cross!”
C) You can call me crazy, but I still believe Jesus loves me “Just as I am, without one plea!”
* You can call me crazy, but I still believe “That Burdens are lifted at Calvary!”
* You can call me crazy, but I still believe “There shall be showers of Blessings!”
* You can call me crazy, but I still believe that “There’s room at the cross for me!”
* I guess my relationship with Jesus can be summed up in a song from the 70’s by Paul Simon,
“Still crazy after all these years!”
D) Are you crazy in love with Jesus?
