The Supremacy Of The Cross (1 Corinthians 1:18-31)
Mr. Jeremiah Mooney, June 25, 2017Part of the Morning Worship at North Greenville Church series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
The struggling Corinthian church was full of problems: denial of the resurrection, failed discipline, pride, cultural intrusion and disunity. It was beset by showy, man-made wisdom. It was divided into factions based on their favorite leaders. How does Paul address this? With the simple truth of the cross: Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
It's the same today. The church is divided over what the culture is doing among us. Are we trying to earn God's favor by works? If so, we are forgetting the truth of the Gospel that saves. The cross is central; it is the power of God. Flashy words cannot save. There are two kinds of people: the perishing (the foolish) and those being saved (blessed by the power of the Gospel). Paul presents the prophecy of Isaiah about destroying the wisdom of the wise whose hearts were far from God as they put on a show of external religion. We come into the kingdom not as worldly wise men, but under the simple Gospel. Our hope is not built on an earthly king or on flashy philosophical wisdom but on eternal life. Wisdom doesn't bring faith. The cross is an offense to the world; we can't please the world. The cross is supreme in the calling of the church. All glory is owed to Christ. What can we bring into the church? Only a humble faith; God will use this. What do we glory in? Only in Christ.
| Earlier: | Same day: | Later: |
|---|---|---|
| « The Patience Of Providence | None | The Sign Of Liberty » |
1 Corinthians 1:18–31 (Listen)
18 For 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. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 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? 21 For 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. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
(ESV)