For Jews demand signs and Greeks demand wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles, but to those who are called, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Well, There you have it folks. That right there - those few simple verses, that's the whole deal, the whole kit and caboodle. The reason we go to church. The very purpose for our existence, the reason we are here. St Paul Chuckery Lutheran Church. Any Lutheran Church, and any Christian Church. Christ Crucified for sinners.
That is our message. That is what we preach. Sunday after Sunday, year after year, the same old thing. But that same old thing is “the power of God for salvation for those who believe.” That truth, that single piece of information is the thing that draws us together. IT is the sum and substance of the Christian faith. It is the thing that saves us. It delivers us from sin, from the devil, and it gives to us eternal life. Christ on the cross crucified for me is the single most important thing in the whole entire world.
Sadly however, for most of the world, this one thing that is more important than any other thing. This one thing that offers them eternal life and salvation is so often dismissed, cast aside and thrown away as foolishness, a stumbling block. Not good enough, not powerful enough, not entertaining enough, it doesn't get me what I want for the here and now so it is put away and it is forgotten.
How many ways have you forgotten the cross of Jesus?
Oh, we all have. We are all guilty of it. One way or another we find a way to discard the cross. Paul talks about it in our text. He talks about how the Jews and the gentiles of his day forgot the cross.
According to Paul, there were those who said it was “foolishness”. Instead, he claimed they searched for wisdom. “Where is the wise?” Says Paul, “Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?” Because of the influence of Greek philosophy on the Ancient culture there was a strong emphasis on rhetorical style and the ability to form an argument in public discourse. There were many who were trained in public speaking. Therefore, they had sophisticated tastes when it come to preaching. And according to many at Corinth, Paul didn't fit the bill. He was criticized Paul because he was a lousy preacher. They were looking for power. They were looking for polish and pizazz. These days churches have become quite good at polish and pizazz. Things like fancy light shows, computer graphics, music and sound – multi media. Power Point – as though the power of the points is in the presentation style. That extra visual spice. That's what brings them in, that's what keeps them coming back. That's what we need, people will say.
No said Paul, Not bright and flashy. Not sparkle and shine. Not worldly wisdom. Just Jesus dead on the cross. There for you and your sin. Is that you? Have you lost sight of Jesus because the glitz of polished presentation has dazzled your eyes?
Or maybe you are like the Jews. Paul tells us that they demanded signs. (The Jews always demanded signs) They followed Jesus around asking him to prove his authority through some miracle. “Part the sea, give us bread from heaven, heal the sick.” When the Jews demanded signs, all he offered them was the sign of Jonah – shut him up in a tomb and he'd be back in three days – (there we go again pointing to a dead Jesus). We like signs too. We look for them all the time. We are eager for a “coincidence” that we could attribute to the work of the Spirit. We want there to be some proof or evidence or miracle where we could hang out hat. The only thing God promises for certain is Jesus on the cross. The stumbling block, the fool. Crucified? Dead?, buried? Yes. But crucified, dead and buried for you.
So perhaps you are like the Jews. Perhaps you are like the Gentiles. Perhaps you are pragmatic and just looking for something that works for you. Whatever the case may be, the faith that God has given to us is Christ on the cross for sinners. A message that doesn't appear to be powerful or polished, it does not appeal in any significant way. But to those of us who are being saved it is the power of God.
You see, Paul draws a distinction. He separates two categories of people, those who are perishing and those who are being saved. The cross is foolishness for those who are perishing. But for those who are being saved it is the power of God. This only makes any sense to us at all if we first understand sin.
The trouble we so often have is that we forget the reason why we come to church in the first place. We forget the reason why we peal ourselves out of bed on a Sunday morning to help fill a room of people to sing some songs and listen to some guy in a white robe talk. Blah Blah Blah. It's not for a pick me up. Its not for help. Its not for good advice. It's not to get on God's good side so He'll give you what you want.
The reason we do this, the reason we come here is because we are sinners. Through to the core. Because of our sin we are perishing. It's like we are in the middle of the ocean without a life preserver. It's like the doctor has just come in and told us we have only weeks to live. It's like we are face to face with a freight train that is bearing down on us. We are perishing. Because of sin we are dying. Because we are dying we need to be saved. We need Jesus.
We come here to church because this is where Jesus has promised us that he would be. If you're hungry you go where you can get food. If you are thirsty you go where you can get a drink. If you are sick you go where you can get medicine. If you are a sinner you go where you can get forgiveness. You go to church. Because it is right here where God has promised you that he will show up to offer to you forgiveness of sins life and salvation.
And so you come here on Sunday morning to listen to your own lousy preacher, going on in a decidedly un-miraculous sort of way, without any polish or pizazz. But you put up with it because you haven't come here to see me. You have come here to see Jesus. And Jesus is here to forgive you for your sin. To rescue you from death. And to offer to you life that never ends.
We preach Christ crucified. Yes, foolishness. Yes a stumbling block. But we preach Christ crucified because that is what we sinners need.
Jesus died on the cross. The God/man. The second person of the trinity. The “wisdom of God” as the Father created this world from nothing only a few thousand years ago gave himself up to be treated shamefully and violently so that he could suffer for you in your place. God gave his only Son to die for you as the perfect sacrifice for the sin of the whole world. And die he did. Jesus was arrested, beaten, whipped, shamed and humiliated. And the worst of all his suffering was that he was abandoned by God to suffer hell, left to himself to be punished in our place. The cross is our altar of sacrifice where God eliminated our problem of sin, where God heaped upon Jesus our guilt and shame. Even our shame and embarrassment at worshiping a god who would be nailed to a cross – Jesus died for that. Even our pride at thinking we could dress up the cross and make it more appealing to ourselves and to others – Jesus died for that sin too. Jesus died for all of our sin, he paid for them all on the cross.
So that is why we are here. That is why we have come to church. Because this is the palce that Jesus has promised he would be. This is the place where he has promised we could return Sunday after Sunday to once again be forgiven for our sin. This is the place where he would once again wash us and make us clean. This is the place where he would hand out his gifts of forgiveness and salvation. This is the place where he would administer the antidote for death.
God did the work for our forgiveness and salvation when He sent his son to die for us on the cross. The place that God hands out this salvation is right here. The means that he has chosen to deliver this gift to you is His gift of preaching.
The most important thing about your preacher is his mouth. There are lots of things that people expect from preachers these days. Some look for a good administrator who can help run the church in an efficient and productive way. Some look for a good preacher who can catch your interest and hold your attention. Some look for a compassionate and loving demeanor. Some just want someone who can remember their name. Every preacher you ever get will have some strengths and a lot of weaknesses. Every preacher will appeal more to some and less to others for some reason or another. What is important about all of them and the thing that you should treasure about all of them is their mouth. The job of your preacher is to accomplish the thing that Paul sets out here for you to know and understand. He says, “We preach Christ crucified.”
In other words. Paul was saying, “Our mouths speak of the Jesus who was nailed to a cross, who bled and died for you and for your sin so that you could have life.” God has given to you the forgiveness of sin through this Word of truth.
The way a Lutheran preacher has traditionally dressed is designed to preach to you a sermon. Believe me, this outfit is not just for the sake of fashion. It's not about polish and pizazz.
The pastor wears black – a color that reminds us of the darkness of our hearts that are filled with sin and death. Your pastor is a sinner.
The pastor wears a white robe – a reminder of the righteousness that God has given to all of us in baptism to cover over our sin.
The pastor wears a collar that is white here at his voice box – because Christ himself has sanctified the voice of your pastor to be His voice. When your pastor preaches to you, when he speaks to you about the death of Jesus for you on the cross, when he absolves you for your sin, you hear his voice. You hear my voice, but the voice is the voice of Jesus in heaven telling you that your sin has been forgiven. Telling you that he died for you. Telling you that he suffered on the cross for you.
Jesus died for you. Your sins have been forgiven. GO in peace.
Amen.
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