1 Cor. 1:18 The Word of
the Cross
Intro: We saw
in our last study here in Ch. 1 that the First problem Paul addressed in
Writing to the Church in Cor. Was
Division
A) The Problem stemmed from the fact that - the people were focused on men
& had taken their eyes off of Christ.
B) How did Paul deal w/ this
problem ? He took them to the cross !!!
1) Paul said I wasn’t crucified
for you
C) And I didn’t come to you
trying to win people to myself - but I came preaching Christ - Jesus & Him
crucified - all I knew
In this next
section that Paul deals w/ He is still - dealing w/ the issue of Divisions - by
contrasting human wisdom w/ earthly wisdom .
A) We will get into this
section in detail - the next time we come together to study .
B) But since we are celebrating
communion tonight - I think it would do us some benefit to focus on v.18
18 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.
C) Now the first thing we want
to draw our attention to is that Paul is not talking about salvation in the
context of Justification here.
1) He is talking about
sanctification !
D) Justification is the miracle
of a moment - But Sanctification is the process of a lifetime .
1) Justification is when we are taken out of
Adam & placed in God’s son . Placed in Christ Jesus - Declared Holy
E) Sanctification is what God does in our lives to make us more like His Son. To conform
us into the image of Christ. Process of
making us Holy!
1)
Difference between Positional & Practical holiness !!!!!!
So The message
of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, But it is the power of
God to those who are being sanctified!
A) Being a Christian means you are in a battle w/ 3
forces the world the flesh
& the
devil.
B) Our Position in Christ is
one of being declared righteous - not because of who we are but because of
who’s we are .
1) Not because of what we have
done but because of where we are at. ! We have been placed in Christ.
C) But in our flesh we daily
come into contact & have to battle w/ the world & the devil - and the
struggles of our flesh
1) Where do we find VICTORY ?
The power to resist temptation?
It is not only
power for Victory that we need but we also need power to serve / Power to endure suffering / Power to wait .
AA) See I know there are those
of you here tonight who are frustrated because not the husband you would like
to be. or the wife.
BB) Been praying Lord work in me - Help me ! Others here have been struggling - temptation or having hard time
changing habits
1) Others are wrestling w/
feelings of inadequacy as it relates to ministry & service
CC) Probably all could relate to
that song we sing here sometimes MORE
LOVE MORE POWER
1) Because we are constantly
faced w/ the fact that we are so lacking
WHERE DO WE GET THE POWER NEEDED ?
Paul says the
message of the cross IS THE power of God for those who are being saved -
B) But in what sense is the
Word of the cross the Power of God to those who are being sanctified?
1) That is what we want to
contemplate tonight - before we come to the table .
C) Now some of your bibles may
read that the preaching of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
D) Now although that is a true
statement : Recall in Rom. 1 Paul said that he wasn’t ashamed of the gospel
because it was the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes
E) At the core of the gospel is
the message of the cross. But to say
that the preaching of the cross is the power of God
1) Doesn’t capture the full
meaning of what is being said here
See the Word -
message here is the word Logos - in the Greek . It is the same word used in
John 1
A) In the beginning Was the word & the word was w/ God & the Word
was God.
B) The Logos was God - Logos
became flesh & Dwelt among us.
BB) The Word Logos speaks of the
sum total of Divine Revelation - And Christ is the Living embodiment of that
Revelation.
Col.1: 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all
creation.
16 For by Him all things were created that are
in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and
for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all
things consist.
18 And He is the head of the body, the church,
who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may
have the preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all
the fullness should dwell,
20 and by Him to reconcile all things to
Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace
through the blood of His cross.
C) So when Paul says that the
Word of the cross is the Power of God to those who are being sanctified -
1) He is speaking of the whole embodiment of what the cross stood
for including He who was on it.
D) That is why the preaching of
the cross is powerful / See it is through the preaching of the cross that men
find the Word of the Cross - who is Christ.
So How does
Christ on the cross relate to us in this matter of sanctification ?
A) How is the power activated
that enables me to be the husband that God wants me to be? Power to Resist
temptation?
B) How do I come into that
power to serve.
CC) What is the correlation or
the connection between God’s power & Christ Cross in our lives ?
1) I BELIEVE THE ANSWER TO THAT
QUEST. IS FOUND NOT ONLY IN CHRIST WORK BUT HIS EXAMPLE .
D) Through His work we who were
dead made alive / weak made strong - we who were - lost found / in chains set
free/
E)It is found in Christ example in going to the
cross. / Total act of submission
to God
. Some other way - Not my will but yours
be done !
DD) I am troubled but you be
glorified .
1) Great example to us -
Fathers will time / heart /way/
Needs to
be our hearts as well.
D) The supreme condition for
the working of the power of the Word of the Cross in our lives is that we know what it is to be crucified with Him,
1) to enter into the place of
death with Him.
Paul declared
in Gal. 2:20
E) 20 "I have been crucified
with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave Himself for me.
F) It is when I come to that
point ceasing to try & do things in the power of the flesh, or in the power
of my own
intellect.
1) that the power of the Cross
becomes operative in me, and through me.
It is the
crucifying of my flesh / of my selfish ambitions / of the desire to have my own
way / crucifying of self & the yielding of self to Christ.
A) Christ taught us that
through death comes life .
Through
dying comes fruit -
B) And if we desire to
experience that life in our marriage - that fruit in our walks - Power over
temptation / Power to serve
1) It starts as I begin to walk
in the reality of Gal. 2:20 - Begin to allow Jesus to live through me. - So
that People see more Him & less of me.
Morgan
C) That great power of the Cross operates in and through only men and
women who are content to die with Him, to be at the end of self, that He may be
the one supreme Enthroned and crowned
Lord of the life.
But it is this dying that hinders us. Those ambitions must be laid aside, these prejudices must be crucified,
this pride must be humbled; that goal toward which I have been running, which
is, in the last analysis, pure selfishness, must be swept away, and I must be
willing to say, "I live, yet not I it is Christ”
It is that canceling of the "I" in
the life of the Christian that creates contact with the power of the Cross, It
is only as we are prepared to go down into the death of the Cross that we shall
begin to find its dynamic and its thrill - and shall know its mastery in us,
over all that is against us, and through us, over all that is against God.
So tonight as
we approach the communion table and par-take of the elements which speak to us
of the body & blood .
A) We are not merely recognizing & celebrating the Salvation that
Christ accomplished for us
B) But we can also acknowledge
once again - that when Christ died - we died . 1)
This is a time of yielding to the Lord
C) In this area where I have
been demanding my own way - Lord
tonight I am confessing once again my need to die.
1) I am confessing once again
my need to be yielded to you.
D) Place of confessing
forgiveness for seeking to walk in the flesh or to serve in the power of the
flesh.
When we do that we open up the door for the power of God to be manifested in us.