Thursday, March 22, 2018
Preaching the cross
1 Corinthians 1:23
We preach Christ crucified
There is a lot of good, inspired, and sincere preaching available today at churches as well as on radio, on television, and online. We could actually get a sermon on demand. But these sources also have a lot of bad, unbiblical preaching that is dangerous to the well-being of those who consume it. Not because someone starts out with a quotation from the Bible means that the sermon is biblical, but that’s a subject for another time.
The Apostle Paul, in this passage that we have looked at over the last few days, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, highlights for us what has been the nub of his preaching, the cross. In the primary conflict with Jewish religious traditions and doctrine, Paul preached the cross. In the deeply philosophical battle with the Greek philosophers, Paul preached the cross.
“For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:22-24.
Paul always had a lot of deep and complex things to say but never moved too far away from the facts of the cross and the central historical and spiritual issue of all time. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was more important to him than anything else that he could have said.
We see this in the Apostle’s preaching content as he was on his well-documented missionary journeys. Here is the record from his sermon series in Thessalonica, “Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.”” Acts 17:2,3
In his letter to the Romans, Paul summarised his efforts and his preaching this way, “in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.” Romans 15:19.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ centred on the cross, is central to our belief, faith, and ministry. The cross is the basis of our salvation. Without it we would have no relationship with God, especially we who were not a part of the covenants with its promises.
“Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:11-13
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is, therefore, the starting point of all Christian theology and doctrine. Remove the cross from the centre of our preaching and teaching and it all collapses.
Central to Christian doctrine and theology is that man, created by God had fallen from that relationship with God on account of sin. Sin is a serious problem for man but man, on his own, is incapable of fixing things with God. It is at the Cross that the issues of fallen man’s sin and his incapability of dealing with it are confronted and settled.
The cross also brings into sharp focus the fact that by ourselves we cannot achieve the righteousness that God requires. God is Holy, and He sits in judgement of sin and we, therefore, cannot reach Him by ourselves in our sinful state. The cross is the only bridge that we could cross. Without the cross, there is no relationship with God.
The centrality of the cross is extended as a metaphor for how then we should live having come to Christ who was crucified on the cross. Jesus, even before He went to the cross, rolled out the cross metaphor when He said to the disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23.
Again, this is captured in the Apostles teaching. In Romans 6:1-14 Paul ties us to the cross in and through baptism and then points out that the death of Jesus was central to how we should now live. “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:10,11
There is a lot of Christian activity, teaching and preaching that totally ignores the cross of Christ. Such teaching and preaching should be considered suspect. Without the cross, as the foundation and focus, we are mere motivational speakers. We can only fire people up in the moment and in the right atmosphere but are unable to give them a sustainable framework for handling the challenges of daily life in a fallen world.
Think on these things:
- Reflecting on the preaching that you hear regularly is the cross central to the content?
- If not the cross, what features most consistently in the preaching that you hear regularly?
- How does the teaching of the cross help you with your life challenges?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would grasp the implications of the death of Jesus on the cross for our lives now.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex