Easter - THE WISDOM OF THE CROSS
This morning’s message
as we draw close to resurrection Sunday
is entitled “The Wisdom of the Cross”
Text:
1 Cor. 1:23-25
but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, [24] but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. [25] For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
PRAYER
A. The ancient Gentiles saw the cross as foolishness
In Acts 17 The apostle Paul went to Athens and started telling them about a God who was unknown to them. This God came to earth, walked among men, died on the cross, and rose again.
But it was all foolishness to them
Reason tells you that babies aren’t born to virgin girls.
Reason tells you that God doesn’t become flesh.
Reason tells you that almighty God will not allow puny men to nail Him to a cross.
Reason tells you that when a man dies he cannot be resurrected back to life again.
None of that makes any sense.
So the Gentiles looked at the cross as foolishness.
B. The ancient Jews saw its message as a stumbling block to their way of faith
The Jews stumbled over it because Jesus wasn’t the kind of Messiah they wanted.
If He had marshaled an army,
and led them into battle, and defeated the Romans –
if He would have shown them that He was successful and victorious –
they would have marched behind Him.
But the cross got in the way.
You see, dying on the cross doesn’t look like success or power.
It doesn’t look like victory.
It looks like weakness.
It looks like failure.
It looks like defeat.
So they kept stumbling over it.
It kept getting in the way.
C. But for we who have been saved and transformed by the power of the cross
The CROSS is the Wisdom of God
The good news we have to share to everyone
That being said………….
As we grow farther and farther in time from the event of the cross
We no longer encounter Jews and Greeks with the message of the cross like they did in the first century
But we still encounter two kinds of people
D In a way our neighbors in OUR TOWN or wherever we live are like the ancient Gentiles
For them the cross has become irrelevant and foolish
they don’t understand its purpose or meaning
for them the cross is just some jewelry
Everything we stand for appears upside down to them
We see America winning a war against Iraq
They feel sorry for poor Saddam Hussein
We see that abortion as being murder
They see it as liberating unwanted tissue form the body
We see a lack of prayer and the ten commandments in our society as its down fall
They see prayer and the ten commandments in our society as its down fall
We see Christ crucified as the hope for mankind
They see the message of the cross and go HUH!
E. Then there are the Jews in our life
The message of the cross is a stumbling block for the religious people of this world
Whether their religion be
Church
Money
Sex
Fast boats
Drugs
Alcohol
Exercise
Or Nature
You get around these religious people with the message of the cross
And they will stumble over it every time
It is a bold faced “God Faced”: Obstacle in the broad road to their destruction
They trip over it every time
Though the audience has changed a little the message has not..
E. The message of the cross is the manifestation of God’s wise plan to save all mankind from sin and death
And the messenger has not changed either.
If we ever hope to reach the world around us we are going to need two things
1. To understand the wisdom of God in the cross
2. To realize that we ourselves are a result of that wisdom and that we are the ones who must LIVE and proclaim Gods wisdom,
I. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS?
Many people do not
We live in a time where
The Christian message is being slanted by some in the direction of the current fashion in order to make it acceptable to the public.
The new message of the gospel promises the same thing the world does, only a higher level.
Whatever the world happens to be clamoring after at the moment
is cleverly shown to be the very thing the gospel offers,
ONLY THE RELIGIOUS PRODUCT IS BETTER.
Michael Bird, a minister in Australia, tells about a well-known American preacher who gave some advice to an Australian congregation.
He said, “Don’t tell people about the cross, it doesn’t work. That’s why the Franklin Graham crusades are no longer effective.
Just tell them that God loves them & has a plan for them.”
The crux of his advice was that “The message of a crucified Jew is ridiculous to the modern mind...
So move on to something better.
A crucified Messiah is stupid
promise them prosperity,
give them emotional experiences,
provide them with self-esteem –
then you’ll fill the pews.”
A. THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS IS A MESSAGE OF DEATH
When we look at the cross
It is not usually our first thought
that we are looking at an example of a form of capital punishment
Capital crimes have been punished by death for all of recorded history
Lethal injection
Gas chamber
Electric chair
In years gone by
Guillotine
Hanging
Firing squad
Stoning
Burning
Strangulation
Dashing in Pieces (Psalm 2:9; Isaiah 13:18)
Exposure to Wild Beasts (Leviticus 26:22; 1 Samuel 17:46; Daniel 6)
Flaying
Of all the forms of capitol punishment that are conceivable,
Crucifixion has been most feared throughout history
WHY?
Nailing a person to a cross did not kill them
Exposure
Starvation
Thirst
As they hung nailed to the cross
B. JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED
A punishment reserved for the worst criminals
Yet 1 Peter 2:22
"He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth."
He never did anything wrong
I am sure that if you were to go to the jail today and ask the people incarcerated their how many of them were innocent
They would probably all raise their hands
Luke 23:14
and said to them, "You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him.
It was only deceit and treachery that brought him to a place of receiving capital punishment that he did not deserve
But of course there was more to it then that…
As a manner of death
C. CRUCIFIXION WAS THE MOST SHAMEFUL WAY TO DIE
The Bible says in Deut. 21:23
you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse.
IT WAS A CURSE
As scripture says in Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."
Though hanging from a tree was a sign that one was cursed of God
Yet the scripture also says it was God himself who sent His son to this shameful death
2 Cor. 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
1 Peter 2:24
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
D. HERE IS THE BOTTOM LINE
SOMEONE HAD TO PAY
SOMEONE HAD TO DIE
For the wages of Sin is death
By dying he took our place
By dying for us He paid the debt that we owed
By dying for us he paid the price
As a gift to us
And if we will accept that gift
Then we will have eternal life
THIS IS THE WISDOM OF THE CROSS
• God transformed the cross from an instrument of death
• to one that would bring eternal life;
• God transformed the cross from an instrument of torture
• to one that would bring peace to the human heart;
• God transformed the cross from an instrument of extreme pain
• into one that would bring extreme joy;
_________________________
Now let me ask you an important question
What is 750,000 miles long? It could wrap itself around the earth 30 times and it grows an additional 20 miles longer with each passing day?
It is the line of people on earth who do not know Jesus.
We who have received God’s Wisdom
II. WE NEED TO LIVE AND PROCLAIM THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS BEFORE A LOST AND DYING WORLD
We proclaim it by taking every opportunity to share it.
God has placed people in your lives
Both Jew and Greek
Both religious
And worldly
They need to hear
To help people see their need for Jesus and this message of the cross
Some have taken the approach
Well lets just show them that if they serve God
God will make all their dreams come true,
financially
relationally
and down the line
they are making the gospel palatable
smooth and tasty
I don’t think that this is the answer
Paul said…Romans 1:16
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
Paul was not afraid of this message of death
He knew that accepting the Jesus Christ died for our sins
Was the Key to eternal life
It is the wisdom of God
