Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Key Verse: “For the message of
the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being
saved it is the power of God. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of
the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate” (1 Corinthians
1:18-19)
The theme of this text is the
power of the cross, and Apostle Paul shows clearly what the cross does in
human thinking and in human affairs. The cross has become the symbol of
Christianity today. Women wear it on chains around their necks; we use it as
decorations. We have become so familiar with the cross that we have forgotten
much of the impact it had in the first century. It was, for these early
Christians, and for those among whom they lived, a horrible symbol. If you had
used it then as a symbol it would have made people shudder. We would get much
closer to it today if we substituted a symbol of an electric chair for the
cross. Wouldn't it be strange driving across your country to see church steeples
with electric chairs on top?
The cross is significant in
Christianity because it exposes the fundamental conflict of life. The cross
gets down below all our surface attempts at compromise and cuts through all
human disagreement. Once you confront the cross and its meaning, you find yourself
unable to escape that final judgment of life as to whether you are committed to
error or committed to truth.
We must understand what Paul
means by the word of the cross. First of all, it means the basic announcement
of the crucifixion of Jesus. There are many religious groups based upon various
philosophical concepts. But when you come to Christianity you do not start with
philosophy, you start with facts of history that cannot be thrown out. One of
them is the incarnation of Jesus, the fact that he was born as a man and came
among us. Another of the great facts of our faith is the crucifixion. Jesus
died. It was done at a certain point of time in history and cannot be evaded.
This is part of the word of the cross. He did not deserve it, but by the judgment
of the Romans and Jews alike he was put to death for a crime that he did not
commit.
Paul is pointing to the judgment
that the cross makes upon human life. When you say that Jesus was crucified you
are saying that when the finest man who ever lived takes our place, he deserves
nothing but the instant judgment of God. And that is a judgment on all of us.
That is what people do not like about the cross. It condemns our righteousness.
It casts aspersion on all our good efforts.
The word of the cross always
produces two reactions. First, the word of the cross is foolishness to those
who are perishing. It is silliness, absurdity, nonsense, to those who are
perishing. If you have ever tried to witness to somebody who has a sense of
sufficiency about himself, you have discovered the folly of the cross. To come
and tell such a person that all his efforts and all his impressive record of
achievement is worth nothing in God's sight, you will immediately run into the
offense of the cross.
The other reaction is that the
cross is the power of God to those of us who are being saved. To us who are
being saved, the cross is the key to the release of all God's blessing in human
life. It is the way to experience the healing of God in the heart, the
deliverance from the reign of sin, and the entry into wholeness, peace, and
joy. The cross is an inescapable part of that process.
*** Culled from Ray Stedman’s
Ministry | www.raystedman.org ***
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