The STUPID Cross 1cor1:21 S10e4

Don't blame me.  Paul said it first.  He said the reality of the cross will seem like folly to those exposed to it.  Our more common word today would be stupid.  He says the truths of God, summarized as "the Cross", will seem to people around us as stupid.  So, I too say so with great respect.  I don't think I have heard anybody else use the term, but it is, in my humble judgment, appropriate here.  The history and promises and benefits of God-come-down-on-a-rescue-mission will at first blush appear as just stupid.

If you join this blog and especially the Podcast thinking this whole Christianity is just stupid, you are the most welcome here.  In fact, a great many believing Christians today, started exactly there: thinking this whole Jesus thing is just stupid.  You are in excellent company.  But don't stop with stupid.  It would be stupid to stop without enough data to go beyond stupid.  Join me at the "stupid cross"  and let's figure out together whether the cross really is stupid. The Lord can take your inquiry.  The cross can take your rigorous scrutiny. Please come back tomorrow by visiting bewithme.us and signing up for a daily visit of this podcast if you wish.

Transcript

Michael Smith: 0:01

Good morning, my brothers and sisters. Welcome to episode number four. In the book of First Corinthians we're following a passage from First Corinthians chapter one where, firstly warned the believers of Corinth, not just to follow leaders and go into factions, I follow Paul, I follow Apollos. So don't just follow the leaders and not primarily follow Christ. On the other hand, he also warned them, don't just follow Christ, without the leaders, the authority and the protection that he's put into the church. And the main thing, he says, for himself is not to baptize, but to preach this Christ to them. And then he says this in first Corinthians chapter one, verse 17, For Christ did not send me in, to baptize, but to preach the gospel, and not with words of elegant wisdom, lets the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. So a cross of empty power, for the wisdom of the crop for the word of the cross, excuse me, for the word of the cross, is folly to those who are perishing. The cross seems stupid, is the way we would put it now. For the word of the cross is stupid, 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 eye will thwart, that's from Isaiah. 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 work? For since the in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach the stupidness of what we preach, to save those who believe. So I'm going to call today, titled today, with great respect, I might add the stupid cross. That's what we would say we don't use the word folly very much anymore. But we certainly use the word stupid. The cross is going to seem stupid. And the Lord says, No, it's the centerpiece. It's everything I want you to know. For the word of the cross is folly or stupidness, to those who are perishing. So the question I would start with is, does the message of the gospel? Does this whole Christianity thing, seem folly to you, it does seem a little crazy. And if so, if you're a listener day, and you think that this sounds a little bit crazy, this whole gospel thing and all these podcasts and reading the Bible, you are in good company, like everybody, I don't know, maybe it's 100%. But it's a very high percentage of people who come to the Lord, and believe and bow the knee and trust in Him after believing that this is stupid, that it's crazy, that it's ridiculous, that what the Lord has proposed, is almost unbelievable. And what he's saying here is that this wisdom, this personal wisdom that we have, is, is eventually broken, down and destroyed. And God is making foolish the wisdom of the world. So this seems upside down. In fact, he even says that the word of the cross the, what we preach about the cross is folly to those who are perishing. It seems stupid to those who are perishing. So there's something about the blessing of the Association of two things of the power of the cross, what happened on the cross and the preaching about it. So those two things are tied together. So the actions of the cross and the accomplishments of the cross, the love of the cross, the adoption that happens there, the battle that that happens there, basically the theology of all that points to towards the blood of grace across. And we summarize it today by saying the blood of Christ or the cross of Christ, but then you add this preaching element to this. So there's this, this vocalization of what happened there, and this to us seems folly, it seems foolish, it seems stupid. In fact, Paul even says what he's involved in is the is like the folly of preaching. And it's not folly. It's fact it's hard fact. And it's fact so big that it's hard for our little puny heads to get around in our hearts to get around it especially. So this will seem like folly if you are a listener today, and you think that this Christianity and the cross of Christ seems like folly, you are absolutely in the right place because Christianity will seem foolish. If the cross is not a fact, than it really is foolish. In fact, Paul says so in in chapter 15, just a couple of pages down the road of First Corinthians, where he says, if the Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain. And your faith is in vain. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. And you are still in your sense. So Paul, if the cross isn't right, Paul actually agrees with you and says, it really is stupid. So it all comes down to the fact of the cross. So two things we are in a kingdom of words, but they're real words that represent a real God, who engaged in a real rescue for us. So we don't want to preach across emptied of its power. This is not the namby pamby Jesus, this is this is a God who came down in a way that we needed him desperately, we couldn't get out of this by our wisdom, and we couldn't get out of this by our good works. So the folly of what we preach is the cross, and the cross full of ugly sin transformative and its victory that was achieved there. In fact, he said, on the cross, and in Psalm 22, and in the book of Revelation, all referring to this moment, where it is finished, it is the final ballot, it is the final battle. And here is his final thing that he says about that this. For since then, the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God. So he's happy about this, that through the folly of what we preach through the stupidness of what we preach the the stupidness of the cross, if you will, to save those who believe to save it. So what are we what are we supposed to believe in? In what? Well the cross across that seems preposterous, in across that seems stupid, and in who in a God that comes to his creation? That seems just crazy. And that's exactly so we are called today to believe in Posterous to believe in the stupid cross. I pray that you believe in the stupid cross today. Thanks for listening