Are You a Symbol of Gods Grace
Oct 2, 2011I Corinthians 1:18-31
Comfort is pretty important to people these days. Just ask a group that goes on a trip. We have to have comfortable hotels and quality restaurants or we complain like there is no tomorrow.
I hope we weren’t too bad Linda!
The truth is that our society places and high value on comfort and plenty of people are willing to make sure you have it. Temper- pedic mattresses, memory foam beds, Lazy boy recliners, body pillows and even snuggies were created to make our lives easier and more comfortable. Think about it we have DVR’s smart phones, automatic lights and ice makers in our refrigerators. If that isn’t easy living?
But there’s a danger in too much comfort. Before long we want everything to be comfortable and easy, including our faith. We come to our buildings that are warm in the winter and cool with air conditioning or with fans in the summer. A lot of churches have pews and chairs that are padded. Even our Bibles are made to accommodate this. Go into a Christian book store and you will find a huge selection of them that are soft and leather bound and easy on the hands.
I have to admit that a little comfort isn’t bad but the problem is that we are human and we don’t know where to stop. Before long the teaching becomes soft and the doctrines become easy to follow. In the last twenty years we have tried to make the call to follow Christ so easy that I think it has lost its appeal to the masses. You see, easy is not always good.
The Christian life was never meant to be easy and comfortable. Somehow we turned Christ message upside down. His call was meant to be a challenge. Jesus looked at the “would be disciples,” saw in them the right stuff, and then challenged them to become all they could become. He did that even before the United States Marine Corps was established.
In Luke 9:23, Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.” That’s the call and there is no way to make that sound easy. No wonder we run from that. We de-emphasize the cross.We make it more comfortable. We say,“We all have our crosses to bear”referring to even the most menial or everyday tasks and inconveniences. I think I heard Agnes say that about Gary during the trip this week. All kidding aside, these crosses are nothing compared to what the first disciples faced. When Jesus said take up your cross, he was inviting us to answer the for better, for worse, in sickness and in health question that all married couples answer.
He was looking for a commitment against all odds. And let me tell you, that doesn’t preach to well today. Studies show that people don’t want to make a commitment today. They would rather engage in short term encounters that leave their options open.
So we don’t preach it because we want people to join our churches. We want people to become a part of our community. We bring out the cross on Easter but even then, we rush through Good Friday so we can get to the good stuff of Easter. Jesus had to take up his cross, but why spoil it by suggesting we all have to do that?
Why? Jesus said it. He said to follow him meant to pick up your cross. Time after time he told about how hard it would become. He didn’t pull any punches. He said it meant giving up some comfortable things in your walk through life. He said it might mean trouble and even death.
Picking up your cross does not mean wearing a Christian t-shirt or wearing a silver cross around your neck. It means following Jesus, reflecting his life in your own life. It means living as Jesus lived and rearranging your life so that God’s glory is revealed in you.
In our text today, Paul suggests that the world sees the cross and its message as foolish. He says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God.”
You see the cross was viewed as a symbol of shame and weakness. The fact that messiah could die on a cross was an embarrassment to those who were on the periphery of the movement. It made no sense. It signaled defeat.
Yet Paul says the cross has power, power to resurrect and give life. It has the power to give forgiveness and a fresh start. It has power to turn weakness and human frailty into strength from above.
Paul suggests that God does this on purpose. It is part of his MO. He takes what is weak and foolish and uses it to reveal his glory. He takes the cross which carries no honor or glory and says “Watch what I can do with that.” A symbol of death becomes the power of salvation for all.
In verse 22 Paul says
“Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles…For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”
Who else but God could take a cross that represented defeat –
and turn it into a symbol of victory?
Who else but God could take a cross that represented guilt –
and turn it into the symbol for grace?
Who else but God could take a cross that represented condemnation –
and turn it into a symbol of freedom?
Who else but God could take a cross that represented pain and suffering –
and turn it into symbol of healing and hope?
Who else but God could take a cross that represented death –
and turn it into a symbol of life?
No one else could but God can. What seems like the ultimate moment of God’s weakness was in reality the ultimate moment of God’s strength.
Now here’s why this matters.
What God Did For the Cross, He Does for You and ME.
When we are at our weakest – God turns us around and fills us with his strength. When we give ourselves to him, when we commit our lives to him, he gives us the power to overcome anything so that we can reflect his glory. We become a symbol of his grace.
Look at verse 27…But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
It’s not that God used the cross in spite of its weakness – he chose the cross because of its weakness.
God teaches us that when we think we’re strong we’re really weak – but when we acknowledge our weakness and humble ourselves before the Lord we put ourselves in a position to receive His strength.
Paul talks more about this truth in his second letter to the Corinthians. In chapter 12 verses 9-10 “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in…For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Now I don’t know anyone who naturally delights in their weakness. In fact most of us go to great lengths to disguise our weaknesses. Like when you’re on a job interview and they ask the dreaded question, “What’s your greatest weakness?” How do you answer that?
Well I tell what you don’t do – you don’t tell them your weakness – because if you do, they aren’t going to hire you. You don’t say “I’m never on time – I constantly procrastinate – I have trouble getting along with coworkers – I am not sure how to turn on computer.” You don’t say that. But you have to say something. What do you say?
Well you try to come up with a weakness that sounds more like a strength – I can be a little bit of a perfectionist. Or you say – I tend to be a bit of a workaholic.
Why do we do that? Because in our world – in our economy – weakness isn’t strength – strength is strength. There some 2000 self-help books published every year that communicate one message – you can do it. You have what it takes. Look deep and find the strength within yourself. But Paul says strength comes when we realize our weakness and we trust God to make us strong.
In a few minutes we are going to come to the Lord’s table. It seems rather foolish, but in confessing our weakness to the Lord, in confessing our sins and human faults before God, he takes them from us and in return we receive the power of the cross which leads to new life and resurrection.
The world may think we are crazy but in our faithfulness, in our coming to the foot of the cross, we reflect God’s great glory and tell the world that they might have hope. Amen