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The Conquest of the Cross

God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, (1 Corinthians 1:21b-23 NASB)

For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom. We all want our say in matters don’t we, yet eventually some people come to find comfort in the wisdom of God in our lives.  Who do we try to satisfy?  Who would God want to appease is the real question.  Does He act in such ways to please me, or should it be you, or maybe someone else you know? The answer becomes obvious doesn’t it?  Then what does this also say about the church’s message?

If a church and her people want to be faithful to the victorious Jesus and true to the will of God, then they must be intentional and ever watchful to the ministry of its pulpit.  The focal point of her preaching must be… we preach Christ crucified.  For integrity’s sake the church must be open and honest of its devotion to preach Christ crucified.

The church must do so with full knowledge of the consequences. The church and her people have to be committed to this message and appreciate the spiritual battle inherent to the Gospel because the message of Christ crucified will have its opponents… For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom..

The church must also be disciplined if her intent is to preach Christ crucified even willing to forsake popularity and peace should compromise threaten her message of Christ crucified. There are today as when the church began those who attempt to dictate to the church the subject matter of her message. Some do so by verbal bluntness while others are deceptively diplomatic using innuendo and subtle hint to let be known their opposition to the cross’ foolish message. Others communicate their dispute with the preaching of the cross with their feet removing themselves from the fellowship and regular Sunday attendance. Yes not only the Jews find the preaching of Christ crucified to be a stumbling block to their comfort and security in the church and relationship to God.

But Christ crucified is what has given rise to the church (Acts 20:28) and it is the preaching of Christ crucified which  builds His church. The church is built upon and grows on the Good News of Christ crucified. 

We’re reminded again today of why we need to be under the preaching of the word of the cross; why preachers must not ever hold back the message of the cross, no matter how he himself sees the flock in sin before him.  The Law will awaken the heart but it will never convert it.  The Law will bruise and crush the soul, but it will never console it.  The Law will hammer away the wayward will of man, but it will not change it.  No only the hope of the Good News of Christ crucified for us will do that.

What did you hear today in church? Did you hear only Law and its demands?  Was the fault the preacher or your own heart?  If we live in defiance with unconfessed sin in our lives, we will only hear Law until we are broken to repent, for the Law is out tutor to lead us to Christ. Certainly the whole counsel of God is to be proclaimed and taught, but is it not God’s desire, to the glory of Jesus His Son and for the well-being of His children that again this Sunday we hear the man of the pulpit preach Christ crucified.

The Conquest of the Cross

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.                       (1 Corinthians 1:20b-22 NASB)

Back when I was much younger, I knew even less about mechanical matters than the minute knowledge I now hold. Once I was stumped by my inability to turn a nut off a bolt I needed to remove.  The harder I pulled the wrench, the less the results.  Finally this vast storehouse of knowledge and ability toward mechanical things, aka my father, walked by and enlightened me with the words, “it probably has left-hand threads, you’re turning it wrong”.  I was going at it from the wrong way. By then my frustration level was over powering any need to feel embarrassed. It was a relief to have the wisdom of my Dad.

Many people are turning to God in the wrong way and it is leaving them frustrated and holding to a false understanding of how well a person can come to know Him.  Consequently they conclude that God pushes man away if he gets too close, that He keeps us from getting to know Him much like a recluse hides himself from society. To them, there can be no intimacy with God and so the Bible is filled with contradictions when God supposedly says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden...(Matthew 11:28 NASB).  They begrudgingly resign that the relationship one can have with God is mechanical, distant and even cold, i.e. no love, which reminds them of another contradiction: the Bible says, “God is love”.

Such folk are experiencing what everyone does who attempt to come to know God by their own method and ability.  They think the answer to knowing God is a gaining of knowledge and wisdom. This is what Gnosticism of old and New Age of today subscribe to. God is gained by gaining knowledge.  Besides being wrong, this approach is also dangerous. It misrepresents God’s heart for mankind and advances the notion that only a very select few achieve such degrees of wisdom.   The lie of course is that they too will never reach what they are searching for.  Why? They have it exactly backward. For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God…

How is it to be then that anyone can come to truly know the Lord?  Friend, if this is the frustrating question of your heart, the answer is God with great pleasure does this through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. It is by faith.  This faith must come first as the Apostle Paul reminds us of the heart of God who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4 NASB). Filling our heads by man’s wisdom thinking that will yield a relationship with God won’t work. It can’t work because it’s not God’s plan. Praise be to God, because this is nothing but another form of works righteousness of what I have to achieve to be saved.  God opens the door to all through the cross.

I praise you Jesus that I am saved through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The salvation of my soul doesn’t rely on me, my wisdom or even the degree of my faith. It relies on You and Your wonderful, powerful, all sufficient work on the cross! I thank You for the conquest You achieved over my own wisdom and for the patient and enduring work of the Spirit to defeat the sin-polluted reason of my fallen nature.

The Conquest of the Cross

For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, 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, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? (1 Corinthians 1:18-20 NASB)

When it comes to the salvation of man’s soul, the Lord had totally disarmed the two greats man has put up on his pedestal of pride: his wisdom and his cleverness.  In his daily commerce of common life, man busily and confidently employs his wisdom and own ingenuity to better himself and to get ahead of the ‘other guy’. We boast of the person who is sharp of mind or has the business acumen propelling him to success over the competition.  Such success can often lead to arrogance and further dependence upon these two resources. That salvation would be available to all; God would have none of that.

When we speak of wisdom of this type, we are talking about what man’s intellect has gained from the world’s classroom of learning and experience. Yet not only what has been gained, but also beneficially applied in life to increase his lot or at least to prevent loss of assets, whether they be financial, material, relational, or emotional.  When we speak of cleverness, we are speaking here of mental aptitude and maneuverability to apply the wisdom we gain under our own ethical standard and use it for advantage.

God however has never been impressed with these honorariums man pays to himself. Not only did He not invite these two vanities of man to his own salvation banquet, but He has intentionally frustrated man’s reason with the word of the cross. He has done so because man’s reason is flawed from the Fall and his pride will keep him in bondage to his sin leaving him eternally condemned.

Where is the wise man, where is the learned man, where is the great debater?  They are in the cross hairs of the Lord’s grace.  He seeks them too.  God is merciful in that the word of the cross seems foolishness to those perishing.  We have to be brought down in order to be built anew in Christ.  All of our vanities stand opposed to Christ, the suffering servant.  They must be frustrated so that repentance might come.  It is God’s will and manner (2 Corinthians 7:10). His desire is to have them see their need of Jesus and His cross as they crumble in defeat.

Oh what mercy that salvation does not depend upon such vices or mental acrobatics.  Praise be to our Lord that He never concerned Himself with His own popularity or the opinion of man, but forged ahead with the cross in paying for our sin. The word of the cross is not that it would make sense to us, but that it brings the hope of salvation for us.

Years I spent in vanity and pride, caring not my Lord was crucified, knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary. Mercy there was great and free, pardon there was multiplied to me, there my burdened soul found liberty, at Calvary.    At Calvary!  by William R. Newell

The Conquest of the Cross

 For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18 NASB)

The message of the cross has two diametrically opposed effects as it strikes the hearts of its hearers. To one party it holds nothing but what appears as foolish talk and to the other it is the message of hope and power of God for life. Why would the same message gain such entirely different receptions?

It would be wise for all of us, but especially preachers and the spiritual leaders in our churches to appreciate what takes place every Sunday morning in our sanctuaries when the message of the cross is preached.  The word of the cross has a dividing effect upon people in our fellowships of tares and wheat. 

Some dear souls leave worship in disgust and anger on a Sunday morning cloaked behind a forced smile.  They don’t want to hear about the cross on a regular basis.  They prefer to hear about themselves, their good works.  They want to be thanked for their offering, to be built up in their human accomplishments and comforted in their social status.  The word of the cross is too confrontational to have to sit and listen to it week after week. It makes them uneasy.

The message of the cross deals with sin…our sin. The cross reminds us of our need for something needing to be done about our sin. The cross leaves no allowance for prideful, human accomplishments nor will it accommodate the self inflated ego. There is nothing a person can do that remotely compares to what Christ did not the cross. We are not even qualified for that work, even if we were able to.

On the other hand, there are those who leave in jubilant celebration those Sunday morns when the old, old story has been told again.  They never grow tired of the word of the cross.  Such folk prefer to stick around the fellowship of the cross and return as soon as possible, to be built up more in the power of the word of the cross.  There is sincerity in their smile.  Their eyes might be rimmed with the wetness of tears…tears of joy and of appreciation.  There is also the brightness of life in their eyes…the life of sweet comfort and consolation from the powerful word of the cross over sin.  Their voice is confident and their spirit holds assurance, because the word of the cross is the power of God – they are saved. This power is the source from which they draw daily life.

Why the difference? In the close fellowships of our churches we may not be comfortable with the answer, especially when it cuts through family lines or into clusters of long time earthly friendships.  The reason: some are perishing and some are saved.  Could it be that simple?

God says in His Word that He does not share His glory (Isaiah 42:8).  When it comes to the cross upon which His Son did His work of passion, the Lord is most concerned in not letting anything of man or by man steal away glory due Him or assume credit for himself. This week we will be looking at 1 Corinthians 1:17-25 considering…

The Conquest of the Cross 

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void.  1 Corinthians 1:17

As we begin today we find the Apostle Paul sensitive to his own calling into the ministry and the purpose for which he was called.  Paul is very guarded. He knows that Jesus has called him to a specific aspect of ministry to take full advantage of his limited earthly years of service.  Paul was called to preach the Gospel.  He was to be a herald of the Good News of the cross where sins were paid for. Even other important matters in congregational life were not allowed to interfere with this proclamation of the Gospel he was called to do.  There is great contentment to know one’s calling in the ministry and much satisfaction to have the discipline to adhere to it.

Paul is not only focused, he is also very cautious.  Here is where Satan can regain ground that he lost at Calvary – preying upon man’s vanity and pride to make the cross of Christ void in the lives of His subjects. Paul realized the traps before him inherent to his old, sinful nature – not only how they could affect him, but also the effectual work of the cross of Christ.  Man has a great desire for glory.  He prefers pats on the back rather than the cross affixed to Jesus’ back.  No one suffers this like the man called to preach.  Seldom will you find a preacher (who is honest with himself and his congregation) that does not admit to struggle with this weekly. The great temptation is to persuade people with eloquence of speech and convincing words that appeal to human reason.  The cross and its message must never be compromised for the sake of appealing to the ego of man. 

Not only does this apply to the preacher, but to the listener as well.  Dear reader, might I ask you something.  What appeals to you more – a fine orator who can hold sway with an audience sitting in gleeful wonder of his ability to articulate eloquently, upon whom they wait anxiously for the next Sunday to come to hear his next life application message?  Or the unappealing man of halted speech who week after week repeats the message of the cross – our need for it and the Christ who took our place upon it? Do you ever tire or become agitated when you are exposed week after week to the blood and the cross of Christ? 

As much as preachers need to be honest and disciplined in their message content and manner of delivery, so too does the parishioner need to discipline his or her old nature in what they are wanting to hear and their expectations of the preacher standing before them every Sunday morning.  Is this something you need to take before the Lord and confess?  Is there a pastor to whom you need to ask forgiveness because of your unfair criticism to his faithful proclamation of the cross?  Satan would want to make the cross void in your life too.  This is one of his ways of doing so. Reader, there is power in the cross for you. Do not rob yourself any longer of the freeing power of the cross…there your sins were paid and forgiveness is offered.  Would you join with me this day and pray…

Lord, forgive me for those times when I have sought either by method or means to accomplish something in ministry without You and Your cross being the center of my message.  Lord forgive our congregations who desire something for the appeasement of our flesh.  Forgive us Lord because we have put our dependency upon something we have devised or would find a greater appeal in than the ugly cross of Christ.

The Centrality of the Cross

For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls..  1 Peter 2:25

Here is an accusation that sticks to all of us. Only by type do we differ in our wandering from God. The fact that the wanderings of some are more obvious to us leads us to misinterpret that our wanderings differ by degree. We see our own wandering as not being as repulsive as the other prodigals who end up in the swine pens of society, lusting after the pods.  While it is true that there are those unfortunate souls who have taken their lives to such lows that perhaps some hogs have a better life, we must remember that no matter the degree of depravity of the individual, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

This straying marked our lives – you were continually straying, Peter says.  We understand this to mean it was not an occasional occurrence, but a way of life. Only after one comes to a saving faith in Jesus and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit opens our eyes through the Word of God is a person capable of assessing how far in our lives we strayed from our Creator and Redeemer.

We were like sheep.  Sheep need a leader. In as much as there is an absence of a shepherd, either physically or emotionally detached, to that degree the sheep will wander.  Man began his wandering in the Garden and has been ever since.  Like sheep means we couldn’t help ourselves either.  We were clueless and cavalier about our sins until the Law began its penetrating work to awaken us to our desperate situation.

The Good News is that we have returned.  The Shepherd and Guardian of our souls called us back and we were by His grace, made to hear the Shepherd’s voice of hope through the din of darkness surrounding us. We could see like the prodigal the well being of the pigs was better than that of ourselves. But the Shepherd made His voice to be heard.  “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me (John 10:27).  For you have been called –Christ – leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.

We have returned.  Isn’t that great news?  We’re back from our wanderings.  What we once found attractive we found only to be detrimental to our soul.  What we believed to be fun was anything but. You’re back in the Shepherd’s fold.  Doesn’t it feel great?  Now you and I can truly say…

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. (Psalm 23:1-2 NASB)

Lord…it’s so good to be back. May I always hear and recognize Your voice.  You are my refuge, the Guardian of my soul.  May I never be more than one step behind Your lead.  Jesus, keep me near the cross…

The Centrality of the Cross

…that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.  1 Peter 2:24

The Lord is speaking to you believer.  He is not speaking to the unsaved, lost soul who has not come to believe through saving faith in Jesus Christ as personal Savior of their sin and Lord of life.  Oh he or she might have a degree of head knowledge  whereby there is belief in the Lord’s existence, His birth in a manger, that He died on the cross and was raised again from the dead, but there is no saving faith. A true conversion has not taken place through repentance of sin with sincere confession and reception of God’s saving grace in Christ.  The Lord would want to speak to such, but they have not yet been brought into the Kingdom, because they have not been born again.  They may have once been through the waters of baptism, but they broke with that covenant long ago. They cannot hear with the heart what the Lord is addressing here today (1 Corinthians ). 

Through these words, the Lord speaks to those who have been born of the Spirit, about the purpose in Christ’s bearing our sin to the cross.  We find however, that His purpose extends beyond the baptismal fount, beyond the moment of the new birth.  The stated purpose is that we would then be able to live as a redeemed soul in a changed way.  The way that reflects that death has been replaced by life, darkness has been penetrated by the light, sin’s stain has been washed away and now there is the covering with the righteousness of Christ. This is where the cross is to shine in our daily life.

The result is to be a life that no longer lives as when in the spiritual deadness before saving faith.  As the Apostle Paul writes, “Therefore, I urge you brethren by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  Do not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…Romans 12:1-2ff.

We may wonder why the word might is used instead of a word expressing more certainty or even making a command.  There is a condition in this. The condition being, without Christ, there would be no death to sin, but only death in sin.  There would be no living to righteousness, but condemnation of our unrighteousness.

Might expresses that there is also a subjective element to the reception of Christ’s purpose.  Will I or will I not chose to live in His righteousness and in so doing, suffer the consequences of being set apart in the righteousness of Christ while the world lives in darkness.  Will I accept the injustices of following a just God? This is where my faith becomes work.  It is a work of resting upon His grace to motivate me and enable me to follow in His steps.  To never grow tired of doing good.

Lord, may my heart’s desire and commitment be to follow You.  I do so entrusting upon You that You will grant me such grace.  Lord be glorified.

The Centrality of the Cross

…and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. (1 Peter 2:24 NASB)

These words above explain the circumstances in which Christ set His example before us.  They indicate why He qualifies to lead and why we can follow behind in the times of duress and the hardship of injustices that come upon us when we have done good. 

This is how God chose to defeat the injustice that came upon His creation and His beloved because of Satan’s work.  Friend, when you are in the thick of inequality, the frustration of injustice, the pain of persecution, the disgust over unfair laws, and the weariness of rights denied and privileges deprived…remember; this is where your Jesus has walked not only as our example, but as God experiencing Himself all that is born of sin.

When it came to dealing with our sin, the Lord chose not to come in with an arm of might, an army of numbers or any movement of force to annihilate the enemy of our souls.  No, He destroyed his work. He instead chose an answer for us that would not depend upon each one of us living a life of perfection.  He chose for His Son to bear our sins in His body. He chose payment for sin on the cross rather than the destruction of the sinner.  He defeated sin’s effect and power over us by carrying sin on His back up onto the cross. 

The injustice that fell upon Christ was for our healing.  Friend, even though we might sin, its power and its condemnation have been paid in full.  Yes Satan might have his day in our lives from time to time, but his work is useless because of Christ we live in His righteousness, not in our own efforts, not in our own successes and certainly not in our defeats or in our failures.  Yes dear one WE ARE HEALED.

As you gather together in His sanctuary of your precious church this day, rejoice dear one, and celebrate the cross of Christ.

Thank You Lord for saving my soul, thank You Lord for making me whole, thank You Lord for giving to me, Thy great salvation so rich and free.

The Centrality of the Cross

WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteous

(1 Peter 2:22-23 NASB) 

When it comes to the art of suffering, we would agree that to suffer when we have done wrong is just.  We may not like it, but we accept what is due us.  This is not the kind of suffering in keeping stride with the Lord Peter speaks to us about.  Nor is it the kind of suffering of which Christ has given us an example.  Jesus cannot be our example of how to suffer having done wrong because He has done no wrong.  He is the one WHO COMMITTED NO SIN. No the call upon us is for the purpose of following after Christ when injustice has come upon us.  Earlier in this chapter the question is raised, “What credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.” 

We find in Scripture things God asks (commands) us to do.  Quite often, we like to take refuge in convincing ourselves that what He asks is not something we can do, but only a few, super religious people like the apostles are capable of doing. Each argues that I am not one of them. Truth be known, we don’t want to extend the effort and discipline it would take to carry forth what He desires.  On other matters we excuse ourselves with the defense that we do not know how to do what He asks. In the subject being considered in today’s next, our refuge and our excuses fail us, because Jesus has left us an example.  His example is not one that exists only in theory on some dry piece of paper, but lived out in His own blood, His sweat and His tears. When it comes to injustices Christ shows us through His example that it can be done.

We reason however that He endured because He was God.  It was by divine strength that He conducted Himself as He did in the hours of His sufferings. That however is not the case at all. Jesus suffered in silence and in the dignity of His own calling as a man – true man.  Remember dear one, He is God in the flesh and He chose not to use His own nor call on any divine powers from above to rescue Him.  What did He do?  In obedient trust, He just kept entrusting Himself to the God who is just.

We often forget that we are a new creation in Christ.  Too often we consider what the Lord asks of us or leads us into through the eyes of our old nature. And if we do attempt obedience, more often than it should be, it is done under our own fleshly power.  No wonder we fail.  Dear reader, you are called.  You are called for this purpose. You are equipped in Christ.  This is the Apostle Paul’s revealed secret, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.: (Philippians 4:13 NASB)

Could I ask you today to never again accept defeat? You are above that.  It is below your dignity as a believer in Jesus Christ. You are powerful in Christ. You can suffer in the dignity of silence and a pure heart toward your enemies because Jesus is your example, and your power, and your confidence.  It’s not you, it’s Him!

Divine power did not see Jesus the man through this. No it was love – love for His Father and love for you.  It is surprising what can be accomplished with love as the motivator. He loved His Father to simply proceed in silence that His will be done.  In our times of unjust suffering and inhuman prejudices, we need only to entrust in Jesus our example.  While Jesus eventually would cry out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?, we in Christ will never have to.  Jesus did that alone for us that we would never have to suffer to that point.  For this He has my eternal praise and thanks.

The Centrality of the Cross of Christ

For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps…1 Peter 2:21

Here we have the word follow.  We all need a pathway for life.  The Lord in His intentional calling of us with a purpose is that He would put me on a course that is life itself and not just some hollow shell masquerading as life.  This imposter offers no real pathway of life, but keeps plodding along in the broad way leading to death. But not in Christ. No indeed, when the Lord calls us through His Son, we have life…genuine life. He tells us to follow and gives us an example.

The example however given us by Christ to follow in His steps requires faith.  To follow presupposes a spirit of desire, obedience and submission.  Of course this is all to be given willingly and not grudgingly by the heart.  The heart that can do so has tasted and seen that the Lord is good.  This is a heart moved by grace and overwhelmed by His love.  This is the heart of appreciation desiring to be an imitator of God.

All this is mine having been born of the Spirit.  This is the way requiring the new nature of the new creature created by faith in Christ. The old man does not want to and will not follow the example of Christ.  The old man is not equipped to.  In fact the old me must first be crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20) and buried with Him in baptism (Romans 6:4). 

The old nature will not appreciate the example of Christ which is the way of sacrifice…Christ also suffered for you.   Like Simon of Cyrene following behind Jesus carrying His cross to Golgotha, we fall in line behind the suffering Jesus.  But we also know something else of this suffering when it is of Christ. Jesus tells us, “For My yoke is easy, and My load is light.” (Matthew 11:30 NASB)

Remember dear one, Jesus has bore our load of sin and suffering on the Cross.  This is what we mean when we speak of the centrality of the cross in terms of our life.  Life’s load has been hefted up on the cross on the back of Jesus.  Yet we suffer as did Jesus because of our faith and obedience to Him. These sufferings come as natural consequences of a life of faith in the midst of a fallen, sinful world. We are given in Christ an example to suffer the injustices, the unfair treatment, the mocking or the temporal depravations experienced at the hands of others because of our faith. This suffering of the cross in step behind Jesus keeps us moving forward in the faith.

My life is to follow in His tracks.  Like a child stepping in freshly fallen snow behind its father, so too I would walk behind Jesus, carefully putting my foot in the imprint left behind by His.  I am safe in His footprints because they lead all the way to eternity.  This I will do by the strength and power of His abiding Spirit.