1 Corinthians 1:18-25 Not too long after
I began my ministry, 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 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 by trusting in Jesus. 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.
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.
From then on, whenever we were at another Christian church for a wedding
or a funeral—whenever we heard a prayer at some public function-she always sought
me out afterward and said, “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 members
of the Lutheran Church (that Christ and his saving works will be preached
whenever we assemble for worship) that very thing that is missing in so many
parts of the world and even within the church.
That is one reason
why we support Lutheran Hour Ministries—so that as many people as possible can
hear the word of the cross and be saved.
The Bible says 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.
That the living
God of the universe has taken on human flesh in the person of a peasant baby,
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 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. And so we want
everyone in the world to know “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: that there is
life-changing power in the Gospel.
It is so easy to
become discouraged in our witness to Jesus.
We miss opportunities. We say the
wrong thing. We don’t know what to
say. All of this besides the fact 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 enemies
of God who knew nothing of his goodness and mercy-- to children of God whose hope
and peace and life are based upon the word of the cross.
That is why it is
so important that the powerful, life-changing message of the cross goes out to
as many people as possible, in as many ways as possible because we know that message
is the only message that saves sinners and that even the gates of hell cannot
stand against it. The Bible says that:
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?
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 of love in
the birth of a child who was the wisdom of God personified. This virgin-born 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 God’s wisdom
found in a baby lying in a manger—a man nailed to a cross.
Jesus what mankind,
in our wisdom and intellect and strength, could not—our salvation—and he
continues to accomplish salvation in those who hear the Gospel preached—be it through
a Lutheran Hours Ministries radio broadcast or Internet program or a Sunday
morning service. The Bible says:
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.
The Bible says
that “faith comes from hearing and
hearing through the Word of Christ”.
The Augsburg Confession days that faith is obtained though the Ministry of Teaching the Gospel and
administering the Sacraments…
No one comes to
faith in any other way than by hearing the Good News of Jesus, crucified and
raised for the sons of the world. Faith
comes by hearing the Gospel!
In these latter
days Almighty God has allowed technology to have a place in this critical work
of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus so that preaching is not confined to one
man in one place like we are experiencing with now, but through technology the
Gospel can be heard throughout the world--for the sake of the world’s
salvation.
St. Paul says that
this way that God has of saving the world—through the preaching of the cross—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 preaching of the Gospel and so when we support preaching here
in this place and throughout the world in ministries like the Lutheran Hour,
God himself is pleased.
We need to be
reminded of that divine blessing and promise that rests upon the preaching of
the cross again and again because the opposition of the world to the Gospel- is
still a painful reality. The Bible 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 from those who oppose the
work of the church in preaching the Gospel.
There is
incredible pressure on the church to accommodate herself and her message to the
prevailing culture as a sign that we really do love all people. There are those who insist that the church
would serve the world better by being nothing more than another human care
agency.
These challenges
to the preaching of the cross are constant- and opposition to the word of the cross
will only grow more virulent. But Christ
is the power and wisdom of God and for the sake of the world’s salvation he
must be preached.
That is why it is
such an incredible comfort to hear the promise of God that concludes our text
today. The Bible says that:
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 mission as the Church.
He is with us—and
his saving purpose will prevail through us and our support of the preaching of
the cross. In his strength and wisdom,
let us resolve here today that we will always be counted among those whose
prayers and gifts support those who preach Christ crucified!
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