When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
(1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NIV)
This past week, while surfing the Internet in preparation for this message, I wanted to see what others had written concerning this text. I came across many sermons with interesting titles. The most interesting, however, and also the funniest, was the sermon entitled, Resolved To Know Nothing. That title caused me to laugh out loud. And I must admit that I did not bother to look at the rest of the sermon.
Unfortunately, many people think that Christians are truly resolved to know nothing. Some people think that because Christians are so focused on Christ we turn a blind eye to everything else. But this is not true. We do not turn a blind eye to what's happening around us, rather we see everything through the lens of Christ.
Paul was not saying that he did not know anything or that he was determined not to know anything. He said that he was resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified–– while he was with them. In other words, he was resolved to focus on the central message of the Christian faith because they desperately needed to be reminded of its meaning.
The church in Corinth was in trouble. People were starting to focus on the wrong things. They had begun to see themselves as in possession of superior wisdom and knowledge. They were being puffed up in pride. Instead of staying true to the basic principles of the gospel, they were quarreling among themselves and living in self-indulgence. Because of this, Paul needed to bring a corrective word and remind them of the basic truths concerning their walk with Christ. They are summed up in this phrase: Jesus Christ and him crucified.
But just what does this mean? What do we see in Christ crucified? What message does the crucifixion of Christ send to us? How does focusing on the crucifixion of Christ equip us to live for him in the present? How does it keep us from straying into sinful ways? What is the power of Christ crucified?
In our text we notice that Paul says that he did not come to them preaching with wise and persuasive words, with human wisdom and eloquence. He did not come trying to improve upon the message of Christ's crucifixion. He was not concerned that the message was too simple or too plain. He did not feel that the power of that message was his power. Instead, he was relying on the power of God. The power of the message was the Spirit's power.
There is an important message here. The power and effectiveness of the Gospel message is not found in what we bring to it. In our human eloquence and wisdom, we do not energize the message of God. Only God can do that. The message carries its own energy. We do not make the word of God powerful. The word of God is powerful.
I do not mean that we should not make every effort to present the message clearly and with passion. There is certainly no excuse for poor preparation. Some pastors that I have met seem to think that being led of the Spirit is to get up before the people without any preparation. They seem to think that having something prepared will quench the working of the Spirit. After listening to them preach, you might come to a different conclusion. More often, this kind of attitude is simply an excuse for not doing the hard work of preparation. After all, the Holy Spirit is fully aware of what he wants you to say this coming Sunday. Nothing will happen between now and then of which he is not fully aware. We need to prepare well in order to preach well. And we should also preach with passion. What we say should be something we are passionate about. But we should also be fully aware that our preparation and passion is not the power of preaching. The power of preaching comes from the message preached, not from us.
Billy Graham is a wonderful example of this. Over the years, I have heard him preach many, many times. He is a wonderful preacher, but not the best orator I have heard. There are many people who are able to speak with more eloquence and imagination than Billy Graham. The key to his preaching, it seems to me, is to be found in its clarity. He makes the message clear and plain to all, regardless of their education or background. And when the message is clear, it is also powerful to save. In doing this, Billy Graham is an excellent preacher. So should we be!
This brings us to another important point. The power and effectiveness of the Gospel message is displayed in its effect on us. In other words, the message of Christ crucified directly impacts our lives by revealing to us the truth about God and the truth about ourselves. As the reality of this truth comes home to us, the power of God is unleashed in our lives to transform us. Let's look at some of the things we see in Christ crucified.
Christ died on the Cross to show us our sin. Part of the message of the Cross is that Jesus went there to pay the penalty for our sin. Our sin sent him there. In his death on the Cross, we see the gravity of our sin–– something that is being overlooked in our contemporary culture.
Think about what it means that Jesus had to go to the Cross. Do you think that if there were another way that God could have dealt with our sin he would not have done it? That Jesus Christ had to die to atone for our sins speaks volumes concerning the sinfulness of our sin. Sin is not simply a mistake. It is not merely a shortcoming or a fault. And it is certainly not a joke. God takes it extremely seriously, and so should we. Sin is an evil thing, an affront to a holy God. It is a deadly cancer eating away the moral life of the soul. We treat sin in a casual manner because we do not see the seriousness of our own sin.
We see evil manifesting itself in various ways in our society. We see hatred and prejudice. We see violence and murder. Daily we are treated to a veritable buffet of evil on the evening news. We see the aftermath of terroristic acts by suicide bombers taking innocent lives. We see grieving parents after one of their children has been abducted by some perverted low life. We are horrified. We are angry. We do not want to hear some bleeding heart intellectual, academic, defense lawyer, or psychologist give us a reason why this person committed these horrific acts. If a bolt of lightning struck and killed that murderer, it would be too easy a death for him. Surely he deserves to burn in hell forever.
It is easy for us to see the horrific nature of sin in others, especially when they commit these kinds of atrocities. But do we see that within our own hearts lurks the same kind of evil? You see, while we may never have committed those kinds of horrific acts, within each of us dwells the potential for great evil. Our nature is sinful; make no mistake about it. And if that sin is left to run its course unchecked, we are capable of doing things that are unthinkable to us now.
This is why Jesus died. This is why he was crucified. He went to the Cross to deal with our sin. He wasn't simply dealing with the concept of sin. He was dealing with your sin and mine. Our sin sent Jesus to the Cross. His death there shows us our sin.
Christ also died on the Cross to show us our inability. There is absolutely nothing that we can do to pay for our own sin. We have been so thoroughly corrupted by sin that we need a Savior. We cannot reform ourselves. We cannot do enough good works. All our righteousness has come up short.
This idea is very unappealing to most people. We do not like to think that we are not in control of our own destiny. And we do not like to think that we are morally unable to be good enough to go to heaven. But Christianity teaches us that we are not morally good enough, that we can never be morally good enough, because what is needed is not a new resolve but a new birth. We may be able to resolve to do better but we do not have the power to accomplish it. What you need is a new you. That's why Jesus died. He died to give you a new you. Before that can happen, however, you must come to grips with the fact that you can't do it on your own.
Further, Christ died on the Cross to show us God's love. It is true that we are sinful. It is also true that we cannot save ourselves. And it is true that God would be perfectly justified in condemning us. This is not a popular notion, but it is absolutely true. It may not be true from some humanistic point of view, but it is true from the point of view of an infinitely holy God. And God is holy. But what we see in the Cross is that God is also love. He is holy and must punish our sin. But he is love and therefore personally pays for our sin himself! That is what we see in the Cross–– God, in the person of Jesus, suffering for our sin. Incredible!
Our ideas of love all pale into insignificance when compared to the love that God showed in the Cross. The very God that we offend is the one who pays for our sins himself. And when you consider that the payment was death, what a price it was. It should be impossible to look at the Cross and fail to see the love of God.
The writer of the gospel of John said that "God so loved..." all of us sinful human beings "that he gave" the most precious thing he loved for us. He gave his Son Jesus. This is the depth of God's love. I can't even imagine any circumstance where I would be willing to give my son or daughter, my grandson or granddaughter so that evil people could be forgiven. I honestly admit that I do not, in myself, possess that kind of love. The very thought of it brings me extreme discomfort. Yet God was willing to suffer that ordeal so that sinful people could be forgiven–– people like you and me.
Finally, Christ died on the Cross to show us the way of life. What we see in the Cross is more than a sacrificial death. What we see portrayed there is a way of life. We are now to live by the principle of the Cross. Jesus said in Luke 9:23, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." This means that there must be a daily surrender of ourselves to God. There must be a daily dying to our own agenda apart from God. To pick up our Cross daily is to affirm our allegiance unconditionally to him.
There are many today who are preaching a message that appeals to our desire for self-indulgence. It is kind of a Christianized version of a business success seminar. "Follow Jesus and he will make you successful in life." "Biblical principles for becoming wealthy." "Seven keys to prosperous living." These might be the titles of these messages. The problem is not that God doesn't want to bless you, he does. The problem is that God is interested in developing us into spiritually mature people of his character, and the way he does this is by self-sacrifice, not self-indulgence. These success messages, while containing an element of truth, nonetheless appeal to our greed and lust for things. I mean, what unbeliever would not invest his money into a plan that would give him a hundredfold return? We don't follow God because of what he may give us. We follow Jesus because he is Lord. We follow Jesus because he is the only one with eternal life. Our goal in life is not to become rich with worldly goods; it is to become a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ, though it may cost us everything, even our very lives.
Christ crucified means that we must live the crucified life of dependence. The secret of the Christian life is not to be found in keeping some set of abstract principles, even though they may be found in the word of God. And especially out of the motive of getting something from God in return. The secret of the Christian life is living in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Our goal is to come to know him personally and intimately. Our goal is to please him in everything. Our goal is to follow his example of giving and selflessness. And the only way we can accomplish this is to live lives of daily dependence upon him.
We live in a culture that stresses independence. While we talk a lot about interdependence, we don't really do much about it. But the Christian is totally dependent upon his Lord and Savior for everything pertaining to living a truly successful Christian life, successful in the sense of pleasing God. We cannot live a righteous life in our own power. We cannot live a selfless life in our own strength. We cannot love others with our puny human love. We cannot esteem others better than ourselves by our own self-effort. No, we must depend upon the life of our risen Lord. We must draw upon the power and resources of God through our relationship with Jesus. Only as he lives his life through us will we be enabled to live like him. This is what I mean by living lives of daily dependence upon him.
I really like what John Piper has to say about the life lived in light of the Cross:
Christ died to save us from hell but not to save us from the cross. He died so that we could be glorified, but not to keep us from being crucified. "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily." For the Christian the cross of Christ is not merely a past place of substitution. It is also a present place of daily execution.
Paul says in Romans 6:6, "Our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin…Reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." In other words, never let the cross lose its crucifying power in your life! Never let it slip into the dim and misty past as though Christ died for sinners so that you can live for pleasure.
(from a sermon by John Piper, The Present Power of Christ Crucified, http://www.soundofgrace.com/piper88/pipe0012.htm)
The crucified life is the exchanged life described in Galatians 2:20. It means that we have given him our life and he has given us his life. He now lives in us and through us.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 NIV)
As we live in this dynamic union with Christ, drawing upon his eternal resources, we will find the power to live. It is only as we give away our lives that we find them. Only as we surrender our life to Christ will we find the real purpose of our life. This is the principle of the Cross. This is what it means to preach Christ crucified. We must never get away from that fundamental reality. The crucified life is the only life worth having or living. It is the only life that has true power.
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