Preaching The Cross

"And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. ² For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. ³ I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, ⁴ and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. ⁶ Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; ⁷ but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; ⁸ the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; ⁹ but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,
And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.” ¹⁰ For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. ¹¹ For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. ¹² Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, ¹³ which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words."

I Corinthians 2:1-13

Today's Message: Preaching of the cross

Good Morning Beloved,

Welcome to worship!
We're so glad you're here.

Preaching the cross was the distinctive message of the Apostle Paul. The Cross to Paul was to be lived out in every day life, a cross life, The Cross solves humanities great problem, The Cross should be proclaimed as simple as possible. Paul was a very intellectual man but he knew nothing but the cross. "For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." says Paul.

Let's bow our heads in prayer.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You Father, for Your goodness and grace, it is that beautiful grace that has brought us into a relationship with You and given us Your truth, we are so grateful. Thank You for the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guiding and teaching us daily. Lord, we know that even though Your Spirit our teacher of truth, we can quench that teaching and that instruction; we can grieve that Spirit.

May we be submissive, be filled, obedient in walking in the Spirit, that indeed we might be able to discern all things. We thank You for the honor and great privilege of sharing our time together in Your word this magnificent day that You have created, set aside for Your purposes and plans. And Lord, we ask that You to draw those who need You so desperately, even nearer to Yourself in their time of need.
in Christ’s name, this we ask and pray
Amen.

As we previously discussed, the Corinthian church was deeply divided. And, we know that two of the issues dividing it was a dispute over what kind of preacher should fill their pulpit, and which former minister had contributed the most to their church. This same problem exists even today. I really don’t know of any church that agrees 100% on what type of preaching people want coming out of the pulpit. There are some want well studied messages, while others want topical sermons. Others, prefer some sort of entertaining messages. Some want a preacher who stands and preaches from the pulpit. While others some want one that runs all over the sanctuary while he preachers.

There are some that want only men preachers, while some don’t mind a woman preacher.
Some want a preacher who preaches from a controlled stance. Others want one who bangs the pulpit and preaches "with passion,"  from the top of his voice.
And, let's be honest, some will never be satisfied because "this preacher will never be as good as our former preacher was."

However, the Apostle Paul lived a crucified life. Paul did not preach with wisdom or eloquence. "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God" Paul didn’t use fancy or even persuasive words but used the power of the Spirit.

Paul preached a crucified life, Jesus, Paul was a crucified man! And, only a crucified man can preach the crucified word. Paul had no confidence in himself. He did not rely on himself. Weakness, fear, trembling, being void of self-confidence, considering oneself as totally useless—these are the characteristics of a crucified man. He said, "I am crucified with Christ"

Open with me your Bibles to the book of I Corinthians. Today, we'll pick up where we left off, in our study of I Corinthians with chapter 2. Follow along with me, if you would, as I read from this wonderful epistle from the apostle Paul, I Corinthians 2:1-13, to get it settled in our minds.

"And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,
And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words." 

So, in verse 1, Paul says, "And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God."

What was Paul getting at? Because sound preaching is not eloquence or human wisdom or philosophy. This is Paul’s testimony. He uses the words “I” and “my” eight times in the first 5 verses. He stressed that the concern of preaching is not to be eloquence or human wisdom or philosophy. First, eloquence: Remember, Paul is speaking about words, not so much about himself. He didn’t try to sound superior when he preached. He wasn’t trying to out-do any other preacher that they may have heard. It wasn’t a competition.

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."
Galatians 2:20

Paul was perhaps the first to preach, "I die daily."
"I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily."
I Corinthians 15:31

If Paul had not died, the life of the Lord could not have flowed out from him. It is easy to preach the cross, but it is not easy to preach the cross as a crucified man. "Walk in those shoes" Paul preached the cross resolves a great problem for humanity.

It is the Cross that resolved the "Sin Problem." They had no understanding that Christ’s death on the cross was the means by which God had solved the problem of sin. Christ’s death on the cross solved the problem of sin, was revealed through the Apostle Paul alone.

Peter said, He "bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness."

Galatians 1:4 says, "He gave himself for our sins to set us free."

Colossians 1:20 says that God reconciled all things to himself through Jesus, "by making peace through the blood of his cross."

Looking toward his own death, Jesus said in John 12:32, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."

The cross for Paul should be proclaimed simply and plainly. The Corinthians were sophisticated people, and the apostle Paul knew it. They were residents of a Roman city in Greece that was cosmopolitan, intellectual and prosperous.

In verse 3, Paul said, "When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom” , “I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling."

The message is: Christ crucified and risen. This message may appear unintelligent or nonintellectual to to some, "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." I Corinthians 1:18

The method is to live as though the message is true, which it is. God gives us the cross which is the hinge-point of history. It points to Jesus Christ, crucified and raised. It is to remind us that forgiveness is in the blood of Christ. It is an unmistakable symbol of incredible sacrificial love.

The sacrificial death of Jesus is part of the eternal wisdom of God, and his gifts of forgiveness and eternal life are available to everyone who believes. Paul and His Cross lives the Crucified Life, Paul and His Cross resolves Humanity great problem sin, and Paul believes the cross should be proclaimed simply and plainly.

Paul also stresses that sound preaching is not human wisdom or philosophy. The world is constantly seeking more and more wisdom, education, science, technology, and new and novel ideas. The problem is that man seeks these things from the framework of the world. He forgets God entirely. Everything within the world is unfulfilling within itself; it passes away, and ceases to exist.
This is why Paul didn’t preach human philosophy, or worldly wisdom. When Paul preached, he wasn’t concerned with sounding like a Greek philosopher, some deep thinker or some preacher with a new and novel idea, a position.

Sound preaching is simply declaring the testimony about God. That testimony is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Preaching should not be considered an eloquent speech. God’s preachers are to preach salvation to a lost world. A genuine preacher of God is to preach the testimony about God, not modern human philosophy, which is so prevalent in many churches today.

In verse 2 Paul says, "For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."

Paul's message was Jesus Christ. Perhaps, it's because he saw the resurrected Christ first hand. Interesting note, Paul referred to Jesus, as Christ Jesus, rather than Jesus Christ, perhaps this too was because when he came to Christ, it was the resurrected Jesus. But whatever his reasons, Paul had a great testimony. He concentrated on the death of Jesus Christ. The reason is seen when we look at what Scripture says about the subject of Jesus’ death, here are a few examples:

Matthew 26:28, "for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins."

It is by the death of Jesus that we are accepted and reconciled to God and have peace with God. And in Ephesians 1:6-7, "to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace."

Romans 8:33-34 teaches us, "Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us."

And, in Acts 20:28 "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." 

So what else does Paul need to preach about but Christ and Him crucified?
He says in verse 3, "I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,"
Sound preaching is proclaimed with a great sense humility and of inadequacy. Allow me to explain: Why did Paul feel so inadequate?

First of all, his personal appearance was apparently not all that impressive, at least not to the Corinthians. Paul says in II Corinthians 10:10 that he was unimpressive in person. And in Galatians 4:14, and 6:11 he also states in  that he suffered some infirmity. Should that even matter?

Allow me to make this a little more personal. What would you think if a preacher stepped into the pulpit with shorts, t-shirt, and sandals or flip-flops to preach? Now, I'm reasonably sure there are some who might say, "Well that's OK." And, I'm equally as sure that others would like walk out and may not come back. Do any of you see why God is giving us this word today?

Paul was apparently a small framed man, who apparently has an unimpressive appearance, but with a great ability to teach but not so much to preach.

When Paul came to Corinth he was sensing weakness in the ministry, a great personal inadequacy. He had faced former trouble in his ministry. In Philippi he saw a promising beginning smashed by the religionists. And, you may recall, a similar thing happened in Thessalonica and Berea. He had just come from Athens and some said that was a failure as well. Athens was very intellectual and philosophical, so Paul had attempted to meet them on their own philosophic grounds. He had reduced Christianity to philosophic terms.

Paul tried to speak to them in the wisdom of the world, using their own terms and quoting their own authorities. However, his philosophic approach failed at reaching people for Christ. So it seems that somewhere on the road, traveling between from Athens to Corinth, that Paul determined that forever after, he would preach Christ and Christ alone, in the simplest of words.

Paul also senses a spiritual inadequacy and unworthiness in serving the Lord. This is seen throughout his ministry. He knew that if he attempted anything in his own strength that it would fail. He knew he had to rely on the Lord for the words. So when he approached someone to minister to them, the ministered to them in personal weakness and fear before the Lord.

So Paul says in verse 4, "and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power

Beloved, sound preaching is not persuasive words. It’s a demonstration of the Spirit and power. Note the words "message" and "preaching." Paul is making a distinction between sharing a message using daily speech or a conversation and preaching. Paul’s daily conversations focused upon Jesus Christ just as his preaching did. Paul states that he was determined not to know anything among people except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."

This reveals something. That we should do the same. Our lives and conversation should focus upon Jesus Christ and Him crucified, every day, all day long. Now, I'd like to direct your attention to the word "persuasive." Paul is telling us that his preaching was not based upon the enticing, persuasive arguments of man’s wisdom and philosophy.

Paul uses the word “demonstration” meaning showing forth with evidence and proof. The idea is that the evidence is presented so strongly that the truth is clearly seen. The only way a person’s witness and preaching can be proclaimed so strongly is through the Holy Spirit and His power.

In verse 5, Paul says the reason is "so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God."

Sound preaching leads to faith. The wisdom of man can’t save man. The friendship of man can’t save man. No matter how holy and right you might think a person is, the reality is that person cannot save you. A person’s salvation cannot stand in the human knowledge and wisdom of man. So a minister of God must speak and preach under the influence and power of God’s Spirit.

Paul is stressing this point of sound preaching, because apparently, the church was divided over who could preach the best, who was the most philosophical, who was the most entertaining, and so on. Paul says that anything short of the preaching as influenced by the Spirit of God is not acceptable.

Even today, one of the greatest causes of division in a church is pride. Pride, arrogance, superiority, thinking too highly of oneself, no form or shape of self-centeredness has any part in God’s church. The Corinthians had an intellectual pride that was becoming deeply rooted in the church. This pride based upon human wisdom and it was about to rip the church apart.

So Paul in verse 6, is giving the Corinthian church a fourth answer to the division in the church. That answer basically is that the church should revolve around the wisdom of God that is revealed by the Holy Spirit, and nothing else.

"Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;" 

God’s wisdom is only for those who seek to be mature before God. Paul clearly says that he spoke wisdom among the mature. He is speaking of spiritual maturity—those who are concerned about being acceptable to God and about being destined for perfection in heaven. A person like this is a person who focuses his life upon the wisdom of God, not of man.

In today's culture, we know that people, in general, have little if any interest in God and His wisdom. They want to live and do as they please, not as God directs. Beloved, God’s wisdom is not the wisdom of this age! The rulers Paul is referring to are the scientists, educators, judges, executives and religionists of that day just to name a few. The world today relies upon the failing wisdom of men!

The wisdom of this age that Paul speaks of is the journey to find the truth and meaning of life but doing so without including the wisdom of God. All the rulers that Paul is speaking of were seeking answers using the wisdom of the world.

It’s amazing to me, how God proves such rulers wrong. The more the scientists try to disprove the Bible, and the existence of God, the more God reveals, proving His existence! The wisdom of this age says there is no God—that He doesn’t exist. The wisdom of this world is here today and gone tomorrow but the wisdom of God is eternal, lasting forever. So Paul tries to impress upon these Corinthian people that all this wisdom of the world, in the end is coming to nothing.

"but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written,

"Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him."

I absolutely love this promise from God. "but just as it is written, "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him."

God’s wisdom is the wisdom of God Himself and is proclaimed as a secret. This doesn’t mean that God’s wisdom is strange and mysterious but rather that it involves things that cannot be known by man, at least not by man’s "natural" reasoning or human wisdom. Therefore, God’s wisdom has to be revealed. It is mysterious in that it can never be known unless God reveals it.

This gets some people into trouble. A minister, for instance, is shown God’s vision. God reveals that mystery to the minister. But do you know how difficult it can be to convince a congregation of what God has revealed to him or her? People think that since God didn’t reveal it to them it must be made up. But I don’t think God is interested in revealing the mystery of His wisdom to someone who isn’t one of His or isn’t close enough to God in their relationship.

Well what is this wisdom of God? Simply put, it’s the gospel of God—the good news of Christ and Him crucified. The gospel tells how God reconciled Himself to the world and how man is to be reconciled to Him. It’s the very wisdom that every man must possess if he wishes to know God and live with God throughout eternity. The wisdom of man cannot explain this or prove it in an experiment so they discredit it.

The leaders of this age don’t know or understand the wisdom of God. They don’t understand or accept the origin of God and life, the nature of God, or the end of life as we know it. They are at a loss as to where we come from, why we are here, and where we are going.

There are two clear proofs of this fact:
The first is, as Paul says in verse 8 that if the leaders had known the wisdom of God they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory.

And secondly, the leaders of this world have never seen nor heard the truth. The truth has never entered their minds. We know this because Paul states that “the thing which God has prepared for those who love Him.” That truth is that man and his age had been created in perfection but man has corrupted himself and his age through sin. So man has to repent and turn back to God if he wants to live with God.

For those that refuse to do so:
Their eyes couldn’t see the spiritual age.
Their ears couldn’t hear the spiritual truth.
Their hearts couldn’t conceive the spiritual truth.

"For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words."

Those of us who are in Christ, know that God’s wisdom is revealed only by God’s Spirit. Paul says that no person knows what is really going on within a man except the man’s own spirit. So it is with God. No man really knows God and the things of God except the Spirit of God. The things of God which we see are only seen because God revealed those things to us.

In Closing...

Beloved, that’s why centering our prayers is so critically important. When you are truly focused on God and sitting silent before Him, if God chooses to reveal something to you, that is an excellent time for that to happen. The key is we have to be centered fully upon God. Many leave church on a Sunday morning and say God didn’t show me a thing. and, that might very well be but don’t think less of yourself just because nothing was revealed to you.

However, if you are fortunate enough to have something revealed during centering prayer, it is God through the Holy Spirit, who has revealed that to you. And what a great privilege and honor it is, that God would speak to us that way. That’s why God has given His Spirit to believers; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

So, only the Holy Spirit knows the things of God. Only the man who receives Christ, who is born again by the Spirit of God, is made alive to understand spiritual things. Only the believer who sets his mind on spiritual things can understand the mature, deep things of God. The natural man (those not reborn by the Spirit of God) cannot know the things of God.
 
Paul is trying to show the Corinthian church that if you are truly connected to God, His Spirit will help you to understand the things of God. It is vital that we use the Word of God to interpret the Word of God. So, when we read something from God’s Word and don’t understand it, we use other Scripture references and passages in the Word to interpret what is not clear. And it is the Holy Spirit that keeps us from all error as we follow His leadership.

Evidently, the church in Corinth had not cultivated their relationship with God. They had moved away from spiritual matters. They had migrated to trying to work out and solve things by human wisdom and it was dividing the church. Only when they refocus upon God and allow Him to have control will the church reunite as they should.

The apostle Paul end this portion of his epistle with verse 13. He ends with the last words being "spiritual words." This means that the Holy Spirit combines spiritual things with spiritual people, and spiritual things with spiritual things.

May we all be the spiritual people of God. 

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

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