The Cross of Christ1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Adapted from a Michael Luke sermonhttp://www.sermoncentral.com/print_friendly.asp?SermonID=83730

“Overcoming Obstacles That Obstruct Obedience”

A ten year old boy was doing miserably in math in public school.

His parents had heard that students who attended private schools did much better in math than most students in public schools.

This family had no church home and they only attended church every now and again but they decided to send their son to a Catholic school.

The math papers he brought home showed dramatic improvement in his math skills.

At the end of first grading period, he made an “A” in math.

His parents were ecstatic! They couldn’t believe that their son made an “A” in math!

They couldn’t figure out what made the difference, so they decided to ask him. The son replied, “The first day in school, I sat down at my desk and at the front of the room I saw a man nailed to a plus sign.

I figured they take their math seriously here so I’d better buckle down.”

That young man symbolizes our world today.

They don’t know much about the cross of Christ and don’t care to know much about the

cross of Christ

The cross has basically become meaningless today.

It’s worn as necklaces and earrings.

It’s tattooed on people’s bodies.

It’s hung up on walls as a decoration.

It’s placed on top of steeples and embedded in stained glass windows.

We have a beautified the cross so we don’t have to think about the horrible suffering associated with death by crucifixion and

that our sin caused Christ to go to the cross.

Paul reminds us in this passage about the central fact and pivotal issue of the gospel:Romans 5:8 ESV but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us.

He also reminds us that the cross exposes the fundamental choice we make:

Are we committed to error or are we committed to truth?

Paul says that the answer to that question depends on our response to the cross of

Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV For 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. 19 For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of

the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made

foolish the wisdom of the world?

21 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. 22 For Jews demand

signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to

Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and

the weakness of God is stronger than men.

The method that God chose to communicate His message of

love, mercy, and grace was preaching.

The Preaching Of The Cross

Romans 10:13 ESV For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." 14

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without

someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written,

"How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what

he has heard from us?" 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of

Christ.

It is the proclamation of this message that causes people to hear and believe.

What message is Paul referring to?There are certain elements that mark the proclamation of the Gospel in the New

Testament:

1. The great Promised One (the Christ; the Messiah) has come.

The Promised One is Jesus.

2. Summary of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus also includes the reason He had to die.

3. Everything that happened in His life, death, and resurrection is a fulfillment of prophecy.

4. Jesus has ascended back to the Father but promises to return again.

5. Involved urgent invitation to make Christ Lord and Savior.

The sticking point for many people is usually the cross, a misunderstanding concerning the

cross.

The cross was by design and not disaster.

Mark 10:45 ESV For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to

give his life as a ransom for many."

John 10:17 ESV For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I

may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received

from my Father.“

The cross was honor and not humiliation.

Philippians 2:5 ESV Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of

death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him

the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The cross was triumph and not tragedy.Colossians 2:13 ESV And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by

canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside,

nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open

shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Paul makes it clear that there are only two groups of people in the world.

18 For 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.

those who are perishing – the lostThose who are being saved – the saved

Notice that salvation is ongoing – it doesn’t stop until our physical bodies die.

The Perishing And The Cross

People make a choice as to which group they belong, It’s determined by their response to

the cross.

Those who are lost believe that the cross is nonsensical foolishness.

The saved are those who can truly sing: “So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross…”

Those who are lost see the cross in one of two ways:

1. They see it as a “stumbling block.” Greek word here is skandalon “a snare or a trap” This is where we get our word “scandal.” “disgrace;

embarrassment; something offensive”2. They see it as “foolishness.” In the first

century, only criminals were crucified. Crucifixion was the preferred method of capital

punishment of the Romans. It showed the power of the state over those

who offended its laws.

It was a symbol of weakness.At Jesus’ crucifixion, the Jewish leaders

taunted Him by saying, “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Messiah.”

The soldiers also taunted, “If you’re King of the Jews then save yourself.”

One of the thieves crucified with him also taunted him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save

yourself and us, too!”

Paul talks about the sense that is actually nonsense.

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the

world?

The Power Of The Cross

Do you know what one penny said to the other penny?

“Let’s get together and make some cents.”

People believe that if they can just think things through, it will make sense.

Proverbs 14:12 ESV There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to

death.

Worldly wisdom is described here as:Resistant to righteousness of God.

God’s way is not their way.

Rejection of the revelation of God.Will not accept what God says.

Refusal to even recognize God.Looking for love in all the wrong places…

Worldly wisdom represented by two approaches.

Practical approach--represented by the Jews

Matthew 12:39 ESV But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the

sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up

at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than

Jonah is here.

Some people want to see with their eyes and touch with their hands and experience for

themselves.

John 20:29 ESV Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed

are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Philosophical approachrepresented by the Greeks

“Let’s talk about it.See if we can work things out.”

It may be a good idea in your relationship with somebody else but there can be no

compromise, no reasoning or logical debate that can change the message of the cross.

The Greeks loved to talk things to death, to argue and debate to prove a point.

Yet, Paul points out that earthly wisdom is in actuality foolishness.

It fails in three important areas:

1. It cannot meet man’s deepest needs.

2. It cannot lead us to our highest end.

3. It cannot heal the world’s greatest ills.

The nonsense that makes sense,“Christ crucified.”

The cross offers salvation to all who will place their trust in His death, burial, and

resurrection.John 3:16 ESV "For God so loved the world,

that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have

eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through

him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is

condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

The cross calls to all that will respond to God.

John 3:14 ESV And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in

him may have eternal life.

The cross unites all that are saved in Christ.Our rallying point as Christians is not our own personal good works but the cross of Christ.

Someone said, “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.”

It releases blessings to all that receive the gift of salvation.

We receive salvation because of the cross and blessings untold are ours when we trust in that

cross.

Maybe you’ve heard this old “lost and found” notice:

LOST DOG - $50 reward. Black and tan dog of Poodle and German Shepherd descent. Flea-

bitten, left hind-leg missing, patches of hair missing, and recently neutered. Answers to the

name of “Lucky.”

Conclusion

In a lot of ways, we’re a lot like Lucky.

There’s no inherent reason to loves us because spiritually, we’re of mixed descent, not much to look at, and in pretty bad shape

overall but somehow God still loves us.

Ephesians 3:14 ESV For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16

that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power

through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the

saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of

Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

In Peggy Noonan’s book, “When Character Was King,” she tells about a meeting between

President George W. Bush and President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

It was their first meeting as world leaders and Bush wanted to be sure they connected-- that they looked for depth of soul and character,

not simply had a political meeting.

Bush brought up a story he had read about Putin.

Putin’s mother had given him a Christian cross that he had had blessed while in Jerusalem.

Bush had been touched by the story.

Putin shared a little bit more.He had taken to wearing the cross, and one day had set it down in a house he had been

visiting.Strangely, the house had burned down, and all Putin could think about was that his cross was

lost in the rubble.He motioned for a worker to come to him, so

he could ask him to look for the cross.

The worker walked over to Putin, stretched out his hand, and showed him he had already

recovered cross.Putin told Bush “It was as if something meant

for me to have the cross,” inferring that he believed in a higher power.

Bush said, “Mr. Putin, President Putin, that’s what it’s all about—that’s the story of the

cross.” The story of the cross is that God intended it

just for you.How do you respond?