1
Corinthians 1: 18-31
I love to retreat
to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. This is my special place, and my
favorite place to visit. If you have driven from here to Western North
Carolina, you have likely taken the route of going up through Chattanooga and
then Knoxville, and then the final stretch east on I-40 to Asheville, North Carolina.
There is a windy stretch of about 15miles between the Tennessee and North
Carolina border where you begin you descend into the Blue Ridge Mountains. It
is a sight to see them in the distance and the closer you get, the bigger they
become. The close you get, the larger they become and the smaller you seem to
feel. You get into the valley of the mountains and you are surrounded by the
towering mountainous forms that seem to engulf you and your car. You begin to
experience and feel the greatness and grandeur of the mountains. This is what
drawing close to something magnificent will do. It will make you feel smaller
and smaller by comparison. This is precisely the dynamic that occurs in our own
hearts when we draw near to the starkest, most magnificent display of God’s
glory, the cross of Jesus Christ. This is the power and the experience that
Paul was trying to draw the Corinthians to.
As
we continue through Holy week it is fitting that we focus on the cross. As
Christians, the symbol of the cross is a powerful reminder of what was done for
you and for me. In this present day it is a religious symbol, one that can be
found in every church and somewhere in many Christian homes. To some extent, we
have sanitized the cross and domesticated it. We gold-plate it and wear it
around our necks. To those in the first century, this would have been
unthinkable. To the Corinthians and others of that time, the meaning of the
cross was not the same. In that time and place, the cross was a symbol of a
horrific and cruel death. For one to be hung on a cross, you must have
committed a pretty serious crime. Often those who were hung on a cross took
several days to die and experienced immense suffering and pain. In this passage, Paul reminds the Corinthians
that the central Christian message was found in the cross- the message that
Christ was crucified for our salvation. This notion seemed to be foolish to
many wise people of this time. The Greeks of this time prided themselves on
their wisdom while the Jews hoped for signs of a kingly Messiah who would make
the nations strong. For the Greeks, this did not make sense that a man hanging
on a cross would save the world. The Jews were focused too much on expecting
signs and requiring God to prove Gods’ self to them before they would submit. Both
thought the idea of a crucified Messiah or a god who could suffer and die was
foolish. The simple message of the Gospel was God’s wisdom, yet some people
continued to look for wondrous signs and other bold declarations and hidden
truths.
By
Christ hanging on a cross, it turned upside down the world’s ideas of success
and failure, victory and defeat and power and weakness. To save us from
ourselves, Christ had to die. The foolishness of God is wiser than the greatest
wisdom of the world. Our ways are not God’s ways. The Corinthians struggled
with this foolish wisdom and we do as well.
Where in your life does the world’s wisdom seem to make sense more than
God’s wisdom? How is the world’s wisdom guiding your life right now? If the
world’s wisdom seems greater than God’s wisdom, consider that in those places
of your life that you are seeking control rather than letting God take control.
We
live because He died. We are free from sin and suffering because He suffered
for our sins. Our past sins, our present sins, and our sins yet to come.
Because He lives, we can face tomorrow. But this was all done because of what
was done on the cross, through the cross. Thomas Kempis writes, “In the cross
is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection against our
enemies; in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is
strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit; in the cross is excellence of
virtue; in the cross is perfection of holiness.”
Everything
that we do and believe should be based upon what has been done through the
cross. Our hopes, dreams, fears, doubts, worries and desires must be in the
cross. Where in your life do you need a reminder of the power of the cross?
Where is the foolish wisdom of this world filling your heart? Has your idea of
success, victory and power, been turned upside down by the cross? Sometimes we
must be brought to our knees through suffering to embrace the power of the
cross.
There
is a young woman and her two boys who are going through another rough time in
their life. This family’s life has been filled with many scars. This family has
been subject to an abusive husband and has had to deal with the emotional and
physical scars from that time in their life. The younger son is autistic and is
going through a difficult time in his life trying to make sense of everything.
The mother has just been fired from her job because she has been diagnosed with
MS. The family has no support system, no savings and no financial security to
pay the bills and now is trying to make ends meet. I have asked what I can do
to help and the response was to please pray. Pray that something works out so
that food can be put on the table and they can receive the mediations they need
to help their family. Pray for peace and direction as to where to go next. This
is a family that knows what it means to lose everything, to be scarred by the
wisdom of this world. This is a family that is beginning to see everything fade
around them and all that is left is the cross before them.
There
is power in the cross and we are foolish to think otherwise. Too often the
desires of this world can hide the power of the cross. We put other things
before the cross that we think will fulfill us and sustain us. We put our jobs,
our desire for money, our need for acceptance, our pursuit of earthly
treasures, and our secret sin, in front of the cross. We rely on these things
to give our life meaning and purpose. But these things will consume us and
crumble before us because this is the world’s wisdom. This is what we are
foolish to think will fulfill us and sustain us. Paul writes, God is the source
of our life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Our victory in salvation and life can only be
attained through the cross.
You may remember the movie, A River Runs through It. The movie
chronicles two brothers coming of age in early 20th century Missoula, Montana.
The boys grow up under the stern direction of their minister father. This
preacher teaches his sons about life, grace, and love, through the art of
fly-fishing. But as the boys mature and follow very different paths (one
straight-and-narrow, the other wild) they find that fishing is the one bond that
still draws them together as adults. Thus, the title A River Runs through It
was not a description of the land as much as it was a description of a
recurring theme in their lives. When all else failed, they could always go back
to the river and bond around their love of fly-fishing.
What if the Cross is meant to be the
constant in our salvation. When all else fails, we can always go back to the
cross and bond around our love for the One who died for us there. Ultimately, all that we believe is wrapped up in
the cross of Christ. It is the central truth of the Christian faith and the
preeminent event of human history. The cross is our message, our hope, our
confidence. It is our badge of honor and the emblem of suffering and shame.
Therefore, let us love the cross, preach the cross, stand by the cross, and
never be ashamed of the cross. Hold it high as the banner of our salvation.
Lift it up as the hope of the world. There is no power greater than the power
of the cross. It is the only power that can lift men and women out of their
sins, release them from condemnation, give them new life. For the
message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who
are being saved, it is the power of God. May we put aside our own foolish
wisdom and acknowledge the power of the cross. Amen.
