So, 1 Corinthians 1, 18-25. 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? 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 than men. Thus far, the reading of God's Holy Word. Well, when we come to church, what is actually going on here? Are we just a bunch of people from all around San Diego County come together, sing a few songs, sing some random songs and say some words to the air, listen to some guy talk, sometimes eat little pieces of bread that can never fill any stomach and drink a thimble of wine, sprinkle some water on a baby? I mean, is there anything actually going on here? I mean, it all seems foolish if you think about it. It seems weak. Sure, we're worshiping God and we believe that the central event of the worship service is the preaching of God's Word. But even that preaching seems weak and foolish. Sometimes it comes from stuttering lips. Sometimes it's boring and sometimes you even fall asleep. Preaching seems weak and foolish. It seems absurd. it's so unlike what we typically associate with wisdom and power and yet we see in this text that the preaching of a crucified christ is true power and wisdom for you precisely because it is foolish and weak because god's power is made perfect through weakness paul tells us that the word of the cross the gospel it is powerful and it is wise so even when it feels like we haven't gotten anything out of it even when we feel like we're disappointed by the preaching of god's word we may have confidence that god uses that word to produce faith indeed through the preaching of the gospel god sustains your faith he strengthens your faith he restores your faith and he will perfect your faith we will see that in the word of the cross there is power and that there is wisdom first in a weak and foolish message secondly through a weak and foolish method and thirdly all this by a wise and mighty god so first a weak and foolish message paul says in verse 18 the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing now why is it that the word of the cross is foolish to those who are perishing well let's think about the cross we often overlook the nature of the cross it's become too familiar to us in our culture you can go just about anywhere and see a cross you can see on a shirt on a building on a necklace and so the cross is just about everywhere and it's because of that familiarity that the cross has lost its offensive value but in the first century it was very offensive the cross was a method of execution one of the most heinous methods of execution and yet the early church displayed the cross they proclaimed victory by the cross they would celebrate the cross but that would be as if today we would use an electric chair to symbolize our faith or a gas chamber it's like identifying with a firing squad or lethal injection in fact all the more offensive would be to use a noose to celebrate our religion but that is what the early church did they took the method of christ's execution and used it to symbolize the victory that they have by his death the cross was also scandalous because it was used for the lowest of criminals now think about it it's a scandalous thing to follow a criminal who of us would follow somebody who had been condemned by both the state and the church but in the eyes of the world that's what the word of the cross calls us to do but this offense is made all the more difficult to accept for the jew as paul says in verse 23 a crucified christ was a stumbling block for the jew now in greek the word for stumbling block it's skandalon skandalon you can hear in it it's the word that we get the word scandal from a skandalon was a rock over which somebody would trip and fall the cross was this offensive word this offensive thing to the jews that would trip them up and ultimately bring them into divine judgment and condemnation but why was the cross so scandalous to the jew because while they expected a conquering christ who would come in with power and glory to re-establish the kingdom of israel what they ended up getting was a crucified criminal the messiah who came ended up becoming a curse for cursed is anyone who is hung on a tree for the jew then a crucified christ was a contradiction in terms meanwhile for the greek a crucified christ was folly as paul says in verse 23 greeks were ambitious and they saw glory for oneself as the highest good so for the greek an enemy he was to be conquered a greek would never have given his own life for his enemies and yet christ died for the ungodly indeed even for those who nailed him to the cross for the greek captured enemies would be used to earn a ransom to get some extra money but christ he was crucified in order to ransom his enemies now the world today has its own ideas of what wisdom and power look like today many of the world will tell you that it's when you work hard well that's when you get what you want they will tell you that your own success and happiness is what matters most so don't let anybody stop you in fact if anybody gets in your way you just trample over them and use them as a stepping stone whatever you have to do as bad as it is whoever you have to hurt even if it's your family you do what you have to do do whatever it takes just get there meanwhile for the more moral of this age things might operate for them more in terms of karma good things happen to good people and if there's any tragedy in your life well it must be because you did something wrong by tapping into the energy of the universe with positive thinking and with doing good things for people you can have access right now to success and happiness and even christianity has become polluted by these ways of thinking we see this in the so-called health wealth and prosperity gospel a so-called gospel that looks more like the world than biblical christianity it's a gospel that is more attractive because it's one that is accompanied with power and glory here and now in this life instead of suffering it teaches that as long as your faith is strong enough as long as you're really paying it forward you can name it and you can claim it. Whatever you want, just believe enough and you can have it. You can have your best life right now. But there's also the so-called gospel of Christian liberalism in which God is love and love is God and therefore God doesn't hate sin. He's not truly just. He accepts everyone. And so what we are left with, as H. Richard Niebuhr observed, we are left with a God without wrath who brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through a christ without a cross in all of these worldly beliefs the cross is abandoned because it is offensive it is weak it is foolish instead of a theology of the cross that entails suffering and loss now for the sake of glory later these worldly beliefs promote a theology of glory that promises victory here and now and consequently if you are not now experiencing victory in your life well then there must be something wrong with you your faith must be too weak you're not doing enough to earn god's blessings but in verse 18 paul shuts down these unbelieving worldviews by saying that the word of the cross is the power of god to those who are being saved the gospel has power as leon morris pointed out it's not simply good advice telling us what we should do nor is it information about god's power the word of the cross is the power of god worldly theologies they give good advice how to have a better marriage how to succeed in the workplace how to live the victorious christian life through these 10 steps but christianity gives us good news good news the word of the cross is good news because rather than our trying to ascend to god through our own abilities god has descended and he has condescended and he does for us what we can never do for ourselves that is the good news of the cross the cross is the place where god's justice and mercy meet where the punishment that we deserve for our sins were placed upon christ and the wrath of god was satisfied the cross was an apocalyptic event it was the end breaking of the final day of judgment the full cup of god's wrath was poured out upon christ and so just as we confess in the apostles creed on the cross christ descended into hell how did christ descend into hell because hell descended upon him the hell of god's eternal wrath consumed him and on the cross christ made atonement for all of our sins he took upon himself god's justice and suffered in our place, paying the great debt that we owe to God because of our sins. He ransomed us from the slavery of our sin. By dying for us, He has separated our sins as far as the east is from the west. And through atoning for us, He has reconciled us to a holy God who demands a righteousness that is as good as His own. As an apocalyptic event, then the cross also means that Judgment Day for us has already come. It came 2,000 years ago upon that rugged cross so that when Christ returns, we will be no more justified then than we already are right now through faith in Him. The Word of the cross has power. It has power because it is the message of God's acceptance of sinners even while they are sinners. Because Christ died for them. Believe in this Gospel and you will receive the forgiveness of sins. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, You will be saved. God works powerfully through this weak and foolish message. And He also works powerfully through a weak and foolish method. And this is our second point. A weak and foolish method. Now notice verse 21. It says, 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. Now, there is another way to translate this verse. And you might have that translation available for you in your Bible as a footnote. And I think that difference in translation makes all the difference. Instead of reading through the folly of what we preach, what we should be reading is through the folly of preaching paul is not talking about the content of his preaching he's already talked about that and he's moved on he's now talking about preaching itself to the worldly wise preaching seems foolish while greeks attempt to ascend the chain of being through philosophical speculation and as jews try to identify the next big thing that god is going to do in history by looking for signs of his work god has given to us a sermon now isn't that a little bit disappointing instead of some magnificent display of power we have weak words after all talk is cheap actions speak louder than words we say things like it's one thing to talk the talk but can you walk the walk put your money where your mouth is sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me words are weak they're just so plain many have become disillusioned and unsatisfied with god's methods with his ordained means of grace instead many churches utilize marketing strategies to bring people in they've adopted the methods of charles finney the second great awakening evangelist who said that what we really need not so much the word instead what we must do is produce excitements sufficient to induce sinners to repentance we have to create some kind of spectacle that's really going to grip people and that's really going to drive them to church if church is the end result actually it's really just about the decision and so as a result of these marketing strategies of these other methods because of the dissatisfaction that we have in god's word people have produced all sorts of methods there's the anxious bench there's altar calls stage plays worship dances promises of self-help churches manufacture revival and seeming miraculous displays of the spirit with healing speaking in tongues prophesying people turn within through meditation and yoga i mean all of these ways they seem effective means of producing emotional responses and commitments and recommitments in fact i remember one time when i was driving i noticed a billboard inviting people to church that's a good thing is it not inviting people to church and what what was the thing they were promising it wasn't come to church where you'll hear that you there is the forgiveness of sins come to church to to hear the word of god this is what it said come to church we're gonna have a car show and a barbecue that's just sad that is sad what kind of people could they hope to come to their church if not those 5 000 who followed jesus but just because they had food in their stomachs who would later abandon him because christianity turned out to be too hard why don't we have somebody up here painting during the sermon after all it's another medium through which we can express ourselves? Why not have a pro football player come up here? Or a politician helping us to recommit ourselves to God and His purposes for us through the power of their celebrity and influence? All these methods, they seem wise and they seem powerful. They seem to produce results within churches that utilize them. So why don't we do these things? Because success is not measured by our own subjective experience of worship. Not by how many people fill the pews. Not even by how many decisions are made for Christ. Success is measured by how faithful we are with the means that God has ordained and given to us and has promised to bless. michael horton gets to the heart of this issue he says theologies of glory ascend to heaven with humanly devised methods for bringing christ down to us or for descending into the depths to make him living and real to us but a theology of the cross receives him in the humble and weak form of those creaturely means that he has ordained god has blessed those humble and weak forms he has blessed the preaching of his word indeed god is with us by his word as good as our devotions or quiet times or spiritual disciplines are it is specifically and especially in the preaching of the gospel that god promises to be present in power and to bless us throughout scripture from genesis to revelation the emphasis is always on preaching as god's ordained means of grace because as the second helvetic confession says the preached word of god is the word of god i remember when i first read that i was my jaw dropped are you saying that the preached word is on the same level as the holy scriptures no that is not what they are saying the preached word it's not infallible it's not inspired but when it is consistent with that word and when it comes forth from the pulpit god uses that as his means of communicating with us as his means of producing new life within us god uses this is an amazing thing god uses the ordinary speech of man and imbues it with his power to change the world just as god made all that there is by speaking it into existence so by the power of the holy spirit the gospel of christ the word of god as it comes forth from the pulpit is transfigured and is given as paul says in first thessalonians 2 given not as the word of men but as what it really is the word of god which is at work in you believers so the gospel call it goes out indiscriminately but god's word does not return void the living and active word of God accomplishes all that for which it was sent by regenerating those whom God chooses and by condemning those whose hearts are hardened but the same gospel also has the power to till up the hardest of hearts causing life to sprout up and grow and blossom god makes his word effectual in his own timing and according to his wisdom and grace by implanting into our hearts his word and by the spirit he takes out our heart of stones and puts into our flesh a new heart of flesh because as paul says in romans 10 faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of christ and in that context paul's talking about preaching that is how god creates new life within us just as ezekiel was told to prophesy to a valley of dry bones preaching is the power of god to create faith and bring that valley of dry bones to life the preaching of god's word also strengthens us and it sustains us as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death jesus prayed for us that god would sanctify us by his word for his word is true he said that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of god and this same word that gives life and sustenance dwells in our hearts igniting within us thankfulness toward God that drives us to love our neighbors as ourselves as we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly and so we have seen that God works powerfully through a foolish message and he works powerfully through a weak and foolish method he works faith in us by the word of the cross through the proclamation of the gospel and through and though he uses these weak and foolish means he does so because he is a wise and mighty god and this is our last point he is our wise and mighty God he is a wise and mighty God because he not only works powerfully in these ways but he does so precisely because it is so counter to how we would do these things and recall that we read in verse 18 that the gospel is foolish to those who are perishing we read in verse 21 that the world did not come to know God through its wisdom the gospel as a message and method reduces all of the great wisdom and might of humanity to nothing think about it all of the amazing things the human mind has thought up whether it be in philosophy or in the natural sciences or in the arts or economics or politics all of the genius of the ages God has reduced to futility because salvation is of the Lord only God can take something as weak and foolish as the gospel which the wise and mighty of this age scoff at and work mightily by it and it's in this way that we see prophecy fulfilled in verse 19 Paul is quoting from Isaiah 29 14 there we read i will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning i will thwart by making salvation available to us only through a crucified christ which is made known to us only through proclamation god is overturning the power structures of this age god's condemnation and subversion of the world's wisdom is so decisive in fact that paul even mocks the greatest intellects of the age 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 this world the gospel projects a new world order that restructures and recalibrates our priorities and values it's in this new state of affairs that it is the last who will be first in the first last the foolish are made to be wise and the wise foolish it's here that the weak are made strong in their weakness and where by dying one actually lives this is the place where it is the meek the meek and not the ambitious not the successful not the powerful but the meek who inherit the earth the gospel turns things upside down because as paul says in verse 25 the foolishness of god is wiser than men and the weakness of god is stronger than men this demonstrates to us beloved that salvation is of the lord the gospel is so backwards to our own way of thinking that we can never arrive at believing it through our own natural reason from beginning to end we depend upon God's grace and it is the gospel itself that brings about the new creation within us apart from which we would never accept these new sets of priorities and values the gospel humbles the wise and mighty of this world precisely because it requires them to dispense with their own standards of wisdom and power and excellence by becoming weak and foolish. This topsy-turvy method and message is according to God's mysterious plan of redemption because faith in this foolish and weak gospel requires us to become foolish and weak and unless we become foolish and weak we will have no hope of partaking of the age to come because we will only ever be numbered among those who are perishing but to those who are called paul says in verse 24 to those who are called whether they be greeks or jews christ is the power of god and the wisdom of god now notice this notice how closely verse 24 parallels verse 18 in verse 18 paul says that for those who are being saved the word of the cross is the power of god but now in verse 24 he says that for those who are called it is jesus who is the power and wisdom of God the word of the cross then is nothing other than Jesus Christ himself the reason why the gospel and preaching have power is because they have Jesus as the source of their power apart from Jesus they truly would be weak and foolish the word of the cross and preaching are effective not just because they are communications about jesus but because they are the actual communication to us by jesus in fact when the gospel is preached the very grace that is communicated to us is nothing other than jesus christ himself we grow in greater union with jesus through the preaching of the gospel and by the power of the holy spirit there is power in the name of jesus he is the powerful word of god in the name of jesus and by the message and method of the gospel there is power for you who are weak all of the mountaintop experiences all of the majestic cathedrals all of those summer camps as good as they may be they all fall far short in comparison to this word even when it seems like it's not doing anything you come and you go and it's just another Sunday god's word does not return void it hardens and it softens it kills and it brings to life even in its stuttering even in its stuttering it has the power to give what it asks sometimes it is boring sometimes we fall asleep it is plain speech but even when it is boring and plain there is power divine power at work in your hearts the gospel has the power to regenerate we were dead in our trespasses and sins but god gives us new life through the word of the cross just as god said let there be light he says let there be life and there is the gospel has power to justify we stand condemned before a holy god but in christ by the power of this gospel there is no condemnation for you who are in christ jesus the daily sins that condemn us were done away with and that righteousness which god requires is given freely to us. It's given freely to us through this Gospel. God says to you from here, let you be righteous. And the proclamation of the Gospel has power to sanctify. Through it, we grow in holiness and become more like Christ. We are empowered by this Word to mortify the flesh, to fight that good fight against sin. and to live in holiness as we are empowered to live according to God's law. God says to you from here, let you be holy. And the Gospel is the power of God for your assurance. The Christian life is often like a roller coaster with its highs and with its lows. Sometimes you're feeling good and faith is an easy thing. Prayer comes naturally. But then at other times, you wonder if you really are a Christian. Prayer becomes very hard for you and you close your eyes and God just feels distant. And you wonder if you really have the forgiveness of sins. In this constant battle against sin, it sometimes feels like a losing battle. But no matter how often your conscience accuses you, no matter how often your heart condemns you, God is greater than your heart. The power and wisdom of Christ is sufficient to restore you and to reconcile you with your God. In your times of trial, then stop your navel-gazing. Look up and look to Christ. We are naturally bent in upon ourselves, examining ourselves to see if we really measure up. And self-examination and introspection, these could be good things. But if that is all we ever do, all we are left with is despair. When we look within ourselves, we see sin. But the Word of the cross interrupts us and silences us. And precisely because it is a Word that comes from outside of ourselves, it draws us outside of ourselves. And this is consistent with the very nature of faith. Faith is not introspective. Faith is extrospective. Faith by its very nature looks outward from ourselves and to another. Namely, to a crucified Christ. Look to that crucified Christ. Look to Jesus and find that God counts you as righteous and has given you eternal life in Christ. And that, beloved, is why we come here every Lord's Day. Or as often as we can. Because when the Gospel is preached, we receive Christ who is the wisdom and the power of God. So that when you feel tired, when sin seems to rule over your life, when you are unable to reconcile with somebody you care about, when you feel like you can't measure up to your family's expectations, there is power here for you. Power that helps you to overcome that despair. Power that gives you hope. And power that helps you to get up another day. The Gospel, both in its method and message, subverts our expectations. It surprises us and it catches us off guard and destabilizes us. Puts us off balance. It is odd and it is strange and it is foreign and sometimes even troubling. but this is how God strengthens us and renews us let us be confident in God's ordained means that though sometimes seems imperceptible is truly at work in you and by the very fact that the most frequent reason people give for their unbelief is that they want God to appear to them in some miraculous way well that just demonstrates our point it demonstrates that these means are not what we would expect but it's just because of this that god has ordained this message and method so that when we are reduced to foolishness and helplessness we may rely upon him and realize now salvation comes only at his hand the gospel called then is this come and be a fool come and be a fool and you will find that in becoming a fool you actually become wise Because through faith, you are united to Christ, who is the power and the wisdom of God. Amen. Our dear Heavenly Father, a great mystery you have set before us. A mystery that boggles the mind. and yet You reveal to us through this Word that there is freedom and power and grace and renewal and restoration and strength for us here. I pray, Lord, You would open up our eyes so we can see, so that we can see that it is in this place and not out there, Though you do work out there, but specifically and especially in this place, you are at work among those who cry out to you. We cry out to you because we need you. We truly are weak and we truly are foolish. But you are the wise and mighty God who works by your word. I pray, Lord, that you would help us and give us confidence in this word so that we may come again next week hungry for it, eager to hear it, and that our consciences would once again have that sweet release and freedom that comes only by Your sweet declaration that in Christ, by the power of the Spirit, we truly do have the forgiveness of sins and the righteousness of God and the hope of eternal life. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.