Welcome to Hank’s Place
First Corinthians is a remarkable letter to the saints at Corinth, one of the great cities of the ancient world, prosperous, busy, growing; with a deserved reputation for the reckless pursuit of pleasure. Hmmm. Perhaps you are living among today’s Corinthians, my friend!
There was a partisan spirit there: “I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, etc” and Paul urges them instead to come into agreement concerning Christ, specifically, the message of the Cross of Christ, which he writes in verse 18, is “foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved.”
The Cross is God’s wisdom, bringing salvation in a way no one was expecting. Jews were looking for great signs, a mighty deliverer in the pattern of Moses, only much greater. The concept of the Savior being put to death in the most hideous, demeaning way possible was not conceivable to the Jew.
To the Greeks the Cross is foolishness. How could a man put to death possibly affect the lives of every human for all time in a positive way? Foolishness they said. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
So the crux of the Gospel is the Cross and what happened upon it. Is that message often or ever heard in your church? Is there even a cross erected in your church? Perhaps you have smoke and darkness, strobe lights and loud music instead?
Concerning this Spurgeon comments, “Certain divines tell us that they must adapt truth to the advance of the age, which means that they must murder it and fling its dead body to the dogs… which simply means that a popular lie shall take the place of an offensive truth.”
Let every pulpit rightly say, “we preach Christ crucified!” A strong church I am told, once inscribed these words on an archway leading to the churchyard. Over time, two things happened: the church lost its passion for Jesus and His gospel, and ivy began to grow on the archway. The growth of the ivy, covering the message, showed the spiritual decline. Originally it said strongly, “we preach Christ crucified.” But as the ivy grew, one could only read “we preach Christ,” and the church also started preaching “Jesus the Great Man” and “Jesus the Moral Example” instead of Christ crucified. The ivy kept growing, and one could soon only read, “we preach.” The church also had even lost Jesus in the message, preaching religious platitudes and social graces. Finally, one could only read “we,” and the church also just became another social gathering place, all about “we” and not about God.
Today, don’t be like that church. Preach Christ crucified, if only to yourself — and COME ALIVE!
NEW BLOG NOTIFICATION
Be notified when a new blog posts