We Preach Christ Crucified

(Preached on Holy Cross Day at a meeting of area Lutheran pastors)

Not too long after coming here to St. Paul-Kingsville, the father of one of my members passed away. He was a fairly well-known man in the community and along with a many members of my congregation I attended his funeral in another Christian church here in town.

As I listened to the service and the prayers and the hymns—and especially as I listened to the sermon—it occurred to me that I had not heard about Jesus. I had not even heard his name mentioned—to say nothing of his death and resurrection.

The “sermon” was well-delivered—there were witty illustrations. There was lots of generic “god-talk”—lots of “Father God” in the prayers—but not a word about how it is that we can call God our Father in the first place. That funeral was one of the saddest things I had ever witnessed in a Christian church.

As we exited the building, one of my members came up to me and said, “Pastor, wasn’t that a wonderful message?” And I took a deep breath and counted to ten and said, “Well no, it wasn’t” and I asked her if she had heard anything about Jesus—anything about forgiveness through his shed blood on the cross—anything about our hope in his resurrection—even in the face of death.

Well, she was kind of taken aback—and she thought for a minute—and had to admit that she hadn’t heard about Jesus either. I said, “Let’s talk about it on Sunday”.

Because so many of my members had been at that service, we did talk about it in our Bible class—a great teaching moment about what we ought to be hearing preached in the church—that if a sermon could just as easily be preached in a synagogue or mosque—we haven’t actually heard a Christian sermon no matter where it is preached.

I don’t know how many folks I convinced—but I convinced her. And now whenever we are at another Christian church for a wedding or a funeral—whenever we hear a prayer at some public function-she always seeks me out afterward and says, “Pastor, I heard it!” Or “Pastor I didn’t hear it!”

That whole experience made a profound impact on me and I’ll never forget that lesson: that what we almost take for granted as Lutheran pastors—what is self-evident to us: that Christ and his saving works will be preached—that very thing that is everything to us--is a rarity in many places in Christendom-- and even our own members need to be taught why it is that our Lutheran Church faithfully follows the apostolic practice and preaches Christ crucified. St. Paul writes that:

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.

There’s a man in my congregation—a professor at the university and a fairly new Christian—who told me the other day, “Pastor, the Gospel (what Paul calls “the word of the cross”) HAS to be true—because who would ever make up something like that and expect anyone to believe it!” And he is absolutely right!

That the living God of the universe has taken on human flesh in the person of a Hebrew peasant, was crucified on a cross, and raised from the dead—thus accomplishing the redemption of the world from sin, death, and the power of the devil—this word of the cross is folly—foolishness—to everyone—by nature.

And yet brothers, here we are --sitting here in Church today-- believing this very thing. Our lives are built on this foundation of Jesus’ blood and righteousness. His cross and resurrection is our hope for time and eternity. Our life’s work as pastors is dedicated to “the word of the cross”. How did this come to be—that we believe the folly of the cross? It is because the foolishness of the cross is the POWER of God. And there is the greatest possible comfort in that promise--for us in our pastoral work as preachers.

It is so easy to become discouraged in our work as preachers of the cross—it seems that we live in a world that not only does not want to hear us—but is more and more outright antagonistic to the Gospel.

But the message of the cross is the power of God that converted Paul—that converted the Roman Empire—that converted the German tribes—that converted you and me—from an enemies of God who knew nothing of his goodness and mercy-- to children of God whose lives are based upon nothing else than the word of the cross.

And that power of God- in the word of the cross- is our encouragement to keep on preaching Christ crucified because we know THAT message is the only message that saves and that even the gates of hell cannot stand against it. St. Paul says:

It is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 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?

I don’t know how many of you had a chance to read it or even saw it, but Stephen Hawking had an article in the Wall Street Journal last week entitled “Why God Did Not Create The Universe”. And he concluded the article this way:

Each universe has many possible histories and many possible states. Only a very few would allow creatures like us to exist. Although we are puny and insignificant on the scale of the cosmos, this makes us in a sense the lords of creation.

Stephen Hawking is a brilliant man—his intellectual gifts are like Einstein in his day and Galileo in his day--but his intellect has left him in exactly the same place as the devil’s lie about being like God-- left Adam and Eve—and that is alienated from God.

Mankind’s unregenerate intellect and reason cannot be reformed—it has to be destroyed-- and that is exactly what God promised to do --and did. But it was not an act of divine violence that destroyed its hold on us—it was an act love in the birth of a child who was the wisdom of God personified. This virgin-born new life is how God broke into human history to destroy the hold that so-called wisdom and intellect has on us whose minds are-by nature-are hostile to God.

The greatest intellects of human history—the most powerful men who have ever lived—the greatest leaders the world has ever seen—stand in the shadow of a baby lying in a manger—of a man nailed to a cross. He accomplished what mankind, in our wisdom and intellect and strength, could not—our salvation. Paul says that:

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.

Brothers, when you leave worship today and return to your congregations, I want you to take with you a profound thankfulness to Almighty God for the incredible privilege of being included in that apostolic “we” of those who preach the folly of the cross for the salvation of those who believe.

The Bible says that “faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ”. The Augsburg Confession after the article on justification and saving faith continues with the article on the Holy Ministry and says: That we may obtain this faith, the Ministry of Teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted.

The Lord of the Church has graciously added you to the apostolic “we”—he has called you into the same office as the Apostle Paul—the office of preaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments—for the sake of the world’s salvation.

St. Paul says that this way that God has of saving the world—through the preaching office—PLEASES him. It has PLEASED God, through the folly of what we preach, to save those who believe. Never forget that! God himself has placed his seal of approval on the office you hold—you have his enduring blessing upon your work of preaching the person and work of the cross and giving the life-giving benefits of the same person and work through the sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist and Absolution.

We need to be reminded of that divine blessing and promise that rests upon our work as preachers of the cross again and again because the opposition of the world to the Gospel- is still a painful reality. St. Paul says that:

Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

It is remarkable how little things have changed over the last two thousand years when it comes to the enemies of the cross. No longer is it Jews and Greeks—but the challenges are the same. There are still those who demand signs rather than the plain preaching of the cross but now, sadly, these folks are found within visible Christendom.

The signs they demand are things such as a former basketball arena in Houston, Texas filled to capacity with folks hearing how God wants them to have their best life now. And the challenge they make is that if we really care about people—if we really want to reach people—we will follow this example.

The demand for signs-then and now- is the false Gospel of utilitarianism—that what “works” is what is true—and how can a little church in South Texas that preaches the Gospel and administers the sacraments possibly be right compared to the sign of a stadium filled with people.

And there are still those who seek after earthly wisdom-- and sadly they are in the church too, preaching a false Gospel of accommodation to human intellect and demanding that the church be “relevant”—which means nothing else than making man the measure of all things. They tells us that: modern man cannot possibly believe in a six day creation—that opposition to homosexuality is hatred and out of touch with a modern understanding of human sexuality—that a broken, bleeding Savior—nailed to a cross is barbaric and repellent to modern sensibilities—what we need is a “life coach”.

These challenges to the preaching of the cross are constant- and they will only grow more virulent. That is why it is such an incredible comfort to hear the promise of God that concludes our text today. St. Paul says:

The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

The “foolishness of God” that is wiser than men and the “weakness of God” that is stronger than men is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified on the cross for the sins of the world—risen from the grave to give life to all—the living source of our own spiritual life and the sustaining strength of our ministry.

He is with us brothers—and his saving purpose will prevail through us and our preaching of the cross.

And according to his promise, he has graciously condescended to make himself present here today upon this altar—his body and blood under bread and wine—given for us to eat and drink for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith. In his strength and wisdom, let us resolve here today that we will always be counted among those who preach Christ crucified!