Latest / HBCWestminster / 7.10.22 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 Pastor Danny Gardner

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7.10.22 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Our text this morning will be from 1 Corinthians 1, 1 Corinthians 1, and I've titled this morning's message, We Preach Christ. And the reason is because, number one, it's found in verse 23, 1 Corinthians 1, 23, we preach Christ crucified, the Apostle Paul says, but even more than that, because it is the one thing that probably our church wants to be known for.
• 0:21
  If we were known, if we had a reputation around town or in our community or in the North Denver area, we would want it to be that. If there was one message that our entire church was going to gather and hear, it would be the thing that is the most important about us. If there was one message that we would want all of the neighbors to hear as the sound spills over their direction, we would want it to be that. We don't want to preach anybody else's name. And so I've selected this morning that text, 1 Corinthians 1.
• 0:49
  Verse 18, and if you're able to stand in honor of God's word as I read, 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 18, we'll go through verse 25, and it says this, 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. For 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?
• 1:20
  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. For 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. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger.
• 1:47
  than men. And Lord, we pray a blessing over your word as we look to it now as our source of truth and understanding. God, I pray that we would not only be hearers, but doers also. God, give us wisdom from above. And God, give us the courage and strength to preach Christ crucified in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, it is cool to have all of us all together at the same place.
• 2:13
  You only ever frequent one service. You may not necessarily even know how many people you go to church with and who your spiritual family is. And so today I would encourage you to meet people you don't recognize. They are your spiritual brothers. Sit with people during lunch that you don't know and that you don't normally sit with. They are your spiritual brothers and sisters. Enjoy one another's company today. Before we get started, can I get a quick shout out from the 8 a.m. crew? 8 a.m.ers, where are you guys? There they are.
• 2:43
  The 8 a.m. crew is here. What about the 9.30 crew? Where are you guys? There they are, kind of spread all over the place. 11 a.m.ers? There they are. All right, and now what about the people who go to all three? Yeah! Yeah, 7 a.m. Yeah, Tim Meena gets there at 6.30. Adam, Leslie, thank you for being the 6.30 crew.
• 3:07
  You know, in the year 2000, 22 years ago, John Piper preached a sermon that became one of the very first viral sermon videos ever to be posted on the internet. He titled it, Don't Waste Your Life. It pretty well shook the church. Now, I'm going to paraphrase a portion of it for us this morning, but I would encourage you to take some time and listen to it in its entirety. Don't waste your life. He says this, you don't have to know a lot of things for your life to make a lasting difference in the world.
• 3:35
  But you do have to know a few great things that matter. And then, he said, you have to be willing to live for them and to die for them. He said the people that make a durable difference in the world are not the people who have mastered many things, but rather those who have been mastered by a few great things. And if you want your life to count, if you want the ripple effect of the pebbles you drop to become waves that reach the ends of the earth and roll on for centuries,
• 4:05
  Into eternity, you don't have to have an IQ, a high IQ. You have to have an IQ. It's not a high IQ. You don't have to have good looks or riches. You don't have to come from a fine family or who have graduated from a fine school. You just have to know a few great, majestic, unchanging, obvious, simple, glorious things and be set on fire by them. But I know not everybody in this crowd wants their life to really make a difference.
• 4:36
  There may be hundreds among us who don't care one way or the other whether we make a lasting difference for something great. Most people traveling through life just want to be well-liked. If people would just like you, you'd be satisfied. Or if you could just have a good job with a good wife and a couple of good kids and a nice car and long weekends and a few good friends and a fun retirement and a quick and easy death and then no hell, if you could have all of that, you'd be satisfied, he says, even without God.
• 5:06
  And that would be a great tragedy. The real tragedy, he says, is, and then he quotes from the Reader's Digest from 22 years ago, a story about a couple who had retired named Bob and Penny. Bob and Penny, it says, took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast. Five years ago, he was 59, she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler playing softball.
• 5:35
  and collecting seashells. And then he says, that church is a tragedy. People today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. And he says, with all of my heart, I would plead with you, don't buy it. The American dream, a nice house, a nice car.
• 5:58
  A nice job, a nice family, a nice retirement, collecting shells as the last chapter before you stand before the creator of the universe to give an account of what you did. Here it is, Lord, my seashell collection. And on top of that, I've got a really nice swing on my front porch and look at my boat. John Piper says, don't waste your life, church. Don't waste it. And beloved church.
• 6:25
  As we consider 1 Corinthians in chapter 1, I would ask, are you being tempted to devote your life to things which do not matter for eternity? Are you tempted to waste your life? Are you devoting your life to those few things, one or two things, which will actually outlast your life? And the hinge phrase this morning, in fact, I'll call it the fulcrum upon which our entire passage pivots, is a simple phrase found in verse 23 where he says,
• 6:55
  preach Christ. And certainly the world's foremost apostle could have preached himself. He was, after all, a great man, right? I mean, he was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He was of the bravest tribe. In fact, he was from the tribe of Benjamin, Philippians chapter 3 says, and it was well known in the ancient world that of the 12 tribes of Israel, it was Benjamin that was the most brave, the most courageous. It was Benjamin that was often the first one into the fray. In fact,
• 7:24
  a Jewish Hebrew battle cry became, we are behind you, Benjamin. We are behind you, Benjamin. And he was from the tribe of Benjamin. He had faithful parents. He was given the finest education. And yet, instead of preaching himself, he makes both a declaration and then issues a challenge. That it is the name of the Son of God, not his own, that should be ever upon the lips of the believer.
• 7:52
  That message of the cross, which is foolishness, even contrary to some, he said, should be the theme that graces the mouths of all true disciples of Christ. He is the name that we should invoke the most often. And you may say, well, why? Why is it Jesus that we preach? And this is obvious, right? Because it is only in his name that we can find true freedom.
• 8:22
  The church at Corinth, we know, had a lot of problems. First and foremost among them were division and disunity within its ranks. And rather than following Christ, many within the church had divided themselves into factions devoted to different teachers and apostles. And this morning's passage is an explanation of the gospel itself. And not only that, the preaching of Christ and his name and the freedom we enjoy in it, but it's even an explanation regarding why not everyone accepts it. We have the most shareable message in the world, don't we?
• 8:53
  This should be the easiest message in the world to share. It should also be the easiest message in the world to accept free forgiveness. You need do nothing. Why are people drawn to works-based religions? That doesn't make any sense to me at all. You're going to work your sin off? Pay your own way? Why wouldn't they accept a message of free grace? And he answers that question.
• 9:19
  This morning, we know that every believer, you and I, have been entrusted with life-altering, soul-saving good news, and yet when this good news is shared, it is often rebuffed, rejected, snubbed. Why don't people believe, and what should we do about it? And Paul answers those questions this morning, first in verse 18. Why don't people believe it? He says, because the message itself may be a difficult pill to swallow.
• 9:47
  Look at verse 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. And so he first breaks humanity down into two groups. There are those who are being saved and those who are perishing. There are the sanctified and there are the sinners. And verse 18 makes up kind of a thesis statement for the remainder of the text. Paul's thesis statement that there are only two types of people, the saints and the sinners.
• 10:18
  Are those one being in the process of being saved and one not yet known by the Savior? And he says the gospel message, the same gospel message, is perceived very differently by each. To the sinner, first, he says, to those who are perishing, the gospel is foolish. It is folly. The word for folly refers to something stupid. I mean, that's literally what it is, silly. It's a children's story.
• 10:42
  It's mythology. Paul is saying that the gospel message is nonsense to those who don't believe. It doesn't make any sense at all. And in Paul's day, there was even a greater stigma attached because to preach the cross was to preach execution. It would be like us preaching a gallows or a gas chamber. Can you imagine if we began preaching in the name of somebody who had sat in the electric chair and now he's the one we're following? Our world would say that's idiotic.
• 11:09
  Right? I mean, if he was killed that way, he must have been absolutely ludicrous. Shame and horror would be attached to preaching like that. And so he says to those who are not yet saved, that gospel message is folly. But to those who are saved, to the saint, the gospel is fantastic. To those who have experienced the life-transforming power of God, the gospel makes sense. Victory through failure, life through death.
• 11:41
  Though contradictions to outsiders are veritable pillars of faith within the church. Is that not true? Life through death, that is the very message we preach. That is the pillar upon which we stand. And so there are some who find the gospel message difficult to swallow because of that seeming contradiction. But you'll notice in verse 19 that that seeming contradiction does not make it wrong. The bulk of the text before us this morning is God mocking.
• 12:08
  the wisdom of this world with his method of salvation. He uses what is a seeming contradiction basically to mock those who would say that they are wise. And if you're only going to come away with one thought this morning, make it this one. Zone in for just a second. The thought is this, the gospel makes no sense. It makes no sense, right? There is that contradiction, life through death. The gospel makes no sense, but that doesn't make it wrong, right?
• 12:37
  Just because it doesn't make sense from a human point of view doesn't make it wrong. And the church in Corinth was Greek. In fact, Corinth is not that far from Athens itself. It was Greek. And so it was filled with Greeks. And there's a funny thing about Greeks. They act like Greeks. And Greeks think like Greeks. The Greek explanation for the supernatural was filled with gods and demigods. Right?
• 13:07
  You guys remember world history in high school? Or philosophy class, maybe in college or something like that? Do you remember Greek mythology? You've seen the movies and you've watched, right? I mean, there's a new Thor coming out, I heard. Right, there's Greek mythology was rampant in the ancient world. It was everywhere. They did not have a problem with gods, right? As long as those gods acted like gods, which really, for their definition, just meant
• 13:37
  A glorified version of humanity, right? They basically said, you want to know if somebody's a god, ask yourself whether they would act like me if I could do whatever I wanted. Because that to them was god. All power, no self-control. Consider for a moment Greek mythology. And the gods that they supposedly worshipped and admired and were in fear of, they were wicked beyond belief and self-serving.
• 14:06
  And the Greeks would have said, exactly. That's exactly how I would act if I had all power. Does that make sense? And so now you're preaching a God who doesn't act that way, who still has all the power. And you say, yes, but now he doesn't act that way. No. And he came and served humanity. Yes. Well, that makes no sense. Do you see what they're saying? That can't be a God. That can't be. Well, and now you're saying that humans put him on the cross, executed him.
• 14:36
  Yes. Well, that can't be a God. They would dismiss it outright. And that's why God says, that's how you know it's true. Look at verse 19. He says, I'm sorry, trying to hold nine things down all at the same time. I lost my spot. First Corinthians chapter one, verse 19. I'm one page away. He says this, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning. I will thwart. How will he do that? By not acting like they're gods.
• 15:07
  He says, where is the one who is wise? Show me, right? The wisest person here. I'm going to prove him wrong. Where's the scribe? Where's the debater of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world? 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. He says, I'm going to do something that no man would have thought of.
• 15:36
  in order to show you that the message itself was not man-made. You ever hear anybody say that this book was not written by God, it was written by man? You ever hear anybody say that? That the message we preach is not from God, some guy made it up? You ever heard anybody say that? How do you know it's from God? Did you catch what he just said? How do you know it's from God? Because if we were going to make up a story,
• 16:08
  this is not the story we would make up, right? It makes no sense from our perspective. It's complete foolishness. And that's how God says, ah, that's how you know it's true. Listen to C.S. Lewis. He said, reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. That's one of the reasons I believe Christianity, C.S. Lewis says, it is a religion that you could not have guessed if it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected.
• 16:37
  I should feel we were making it up. But in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up. It has just that strange twist about it that real things have. How do I know God wrote it? Because no man would have written it this way. There are some man-made religions, right? What do they offer? They offer death eternally. We know that, right? Redemption through works, which means if you can earn your own salvation, who gets the credit? You do.
• 17:11
  God doesn't get that. Why would I worship him? I'm the one who earned this. In fact, there are even some man-made religions who claim that when you die, you become God, right? There are some who claim that. You become God. And until you get there, you can have as many wives as you want, right? You want to talk about a man-made religion? Holy cow. That's exactly what a 14-year-old boy would have made up.
• 17:36
  Yeah, that sounds pretty good. So at the end, I become God and I can have as many wives as I want. Yeah, that's pretty much it. Sign me up. I don't know. I mean, right? That's a man-made religion. You'd look at that and say, yeah, that's exactly what we would devise. But not this. Anyone who wants to come after me, anyone who wants to be my disciple must what? Deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me? That is not, what are you talking about? No man made that up. The gospel.
• 18:05
  has that seeming contradiction, we said, that makes it true. Notice, finally, we pick up in verse 22 that the message of the gospel doesn't always appeal to people's natural hearts, and that's why many reject. Now, here the apostle turns his attention to the possible responses that men and women may have to the gospel. You notice in verse 22 that the Jewish people, those of the ancient Eastern world,
• 18:34
  Seek power. That's what they want. That's why the Jews were always asking Jesus for miracles. Show me something miraculous. Look at verse 22. For Jews demand signs. They wanted miracle after miracle after miracle. And if you read through Christ's ministry to his own people, you will see that that statement is true. For three and a half years, Christ performed miracles, feeding thousands, walking on water, casting out demons, calming storms, raising the dead, being raised from the dead.
• 19:04
  And yet his own people refused to believe him and put him to death. And church, as we share the gospel message, the most shareable message in the world, we may get this response from some, not believing in the power of God. But that's not the only response. He continues and says that Greeks seek wisdom. It's philosophy. They want it to make sense to them. You pick up in 22, he says, Jews demand signs and Greeks seek.
• 19:32
  wisdom. Now, the Greeks of the first century were known for their philosophy. In fact, that's the philosophy that we still study in school. The same philosophy that many of us had as courses in high school and college, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. As the Apostle Paul combated those philosophies in his own ministry, he quickly realized that rather than searching for truth, the Greeks just liked discussing something new. They didn't necessarily care if it was true or not. They just liked
• 20:02
  debating, it turned out. They were never satisfied with the answers. They would have been like those that the Apostle Paul preached to in Acts 17, when it says all the Athenians, the foreigners who live there, would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. Perhaps you have unsaved family or friends, neighbors, who respond that way to the gospel. They don't mind talking to you about it, but that talking never ends.
• 20:29
  Right? And no matter how many questions you answer, they've always got one more, one more, one more, one more. They would have been like the Greeks. They would have been like those that Paul warned Timothy against in 2 Timothy 3. Always learning, he said, and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. And as you share the good news, the most shareable, preachable message in the world, you might get that response from some. Not understanding how a crucified God could save anyone. And so what do we do, church? And here we end with verse 23.
• 20:59
  What do we do? But we preach Christ crucified. A stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. What do we do about this rejection of the gospel? The answer is simple. We preach Christ because it is the gospel that saves. It is the gospel that provides true freedom for those that believe. It proves itself to be the power of God for those that believe. It provides answers that exist nowhere else.
• 21:28
  H.A. Ironside was one time asked, and he was a famous pastor from a century ago, wrote many commentaries as well. He was asked if he would wish that he could perform miracles. He was asked, you know, Pastor Ironside, do you wish you could perform miracles? And he said this, if I could perform miracles today, wouldn't it be wonderful? And then he said, but I don't know that it would. If I did have apostolic power.
• 21:56
  and could just walk through an audience and lay my hands upon some poor cripple, and he would leap to his feet well and whole. I fancy I could fill a building. We would have all kinds of people coming. But I've never heard anything like that causing poor sinners to awake and to turn to Christ. You ever notice that? He says this. He says, even if I could do those things. Were there men who could do those things? Yeah. And did people believe? No. How were these men?
• 22:26
  executed, martyred. Wait, they could do those things. And then he says this, even when the apostle could do those things, men turned on them and tried to kill them, as is the case of Paul at Lystra. And then he said this, I don't need to do miracles. It is the preaching of the cross that saves. That is what guilty sinners need. And church, what a tragedy it would be if we got to the end of our lives and all we had to offer the Lord.
• 22:55
  was a bunch of seashells. Don't waste your life, church. Let us as a church devote ourselves to what matters. And let us with clear conscience declare at the end of our lives that we preached Christ. Amen? Amen. And Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you, Lord, for the glory of gathering your saints together in one place at one time to lift up their voices in one accord.
• 23:24
  God, as we close our service with worship and then enjoy lunch together and enjoy time of playing and goofing around and getting wet, God, I pray that we would really honestly love one another earnestly from a pure heart, that we would devote ourselves to one another in love because that, Lord Jesus, is what you said the world would look at to see that we are truly your disciples. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.