Sermon Tone Analysis

- In getting caught up in the world of politics, philosophies & ideologies, we can miss some valuable things

T he Cross and the Wisdom of God

Date: 7-04-19 827 Echuca

- In getting caught up in the world of politics, philosophies & ideologies, we can miss some valuable things

- My father, Don, mentioned a phrase the other day that rings so true...

“Here one minute, gone the next”

- It really was describing the temporal nature of life

---------------------

- We were talking about a plumber who used to do Dad's building work

- I knew him also having worked on a number of occasions on the same building sites

- One day, when this plumber was working for another builder, he was up on a dew-covered slippery roof & was killed, when he slipped & slid off the roof & landed on a pallet of bricks

“Here one minute, gone the next”

--------------------

- The last thing in his mind was the thought that he wouldn't see the day out

Q. Accepting that what I'm going to say is anecdotal, if he knew he would die on that day, what would he do differently on the days leading up to the day of his death?

- Probably spent it with his family, I guess

- Saying things to them that he normally would not have said

---------------------

- My point is, that in the blindness of not knowing our future, we can miss some things that are truly valuable

- Of course, you cannot live life assuming you will be dead tomorrow

- If you did, you'd probably never work another day in your life

- But you could live each day differently with an anticipation that every day may be your last

-----------------------

- This may seem an obvious truth to you, but you know as well as me, that we often do not give thought to this possibility

- We get caught up in the world; we get caught up with their pursuits, their desires & often, we get lost amongst the values the world puts forward

- There is, therefore, a deception that comes with being influenced, in a negative way, by the world

-------------------

- The apostle Paul says to the Corinthian church that in their pursuit of worldly wisdom – the things of the world & it's values – they are missing something that is truly valuable

- In fact, that valuable thing is sitting right under their noses – it was what they originally believed, but what they are now disregarding because it does not have the worldly appeal that they desire

-----------------------

- In fact, it is so politically incorrect, that they beginning to distance themselves from it

- Not only were they desiring the most politically correct & fanciest of philosophies, but their behaviour & values began to also follow them in this worldly approach

Q.

Does this aversion to worldliness have a source?

1.

The World's Idolatry

- At it's root, I think it does have a source & that source is none other than what we call idolatry

Q.

When we think of idolatry, what do we think of?

- Usually, we think of a little Buddha mounted on a shrine, or Egyptians worshipping the sun, moon & stars

- Or, the worship of the Baals & the Asherah of the OT

- You may be even thinking of

—22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

- Interesting that Paul has in mind those professing to be wise

- The very problem this church has buried itself in

--------------------

- But idolatry is more than the worship of idols

- Idolatry could be simply explained by the phrase, “putting God second place”

- If Jesus is not first, then something else is put first & it doesn't matter whether the Lord is second, third, fifth or tenth

- If He is not first, then He has been dethroned in the person's life

- This is the essence of idolatry

- First of the 10 commandments: “you shall have no other gods before Me” - having other gods obviously puts a competition between the Lord & other gods

--------------------

- To be clear, though, what this 1st commandment is actually saying is that “you shall have no other gods, before My face (or, in My sight)”

- So we should see this as saying that you should have no gods, period!

- It does not say that you can still have your other gods, so long as THE Lord comes first

---------------------

- But the apostle Paul puts materialism & worldly, sinful behaviour, squarely in the category of idolatry

—5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

—5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.

Col.3:5

—5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.

- It seems that idolatry also includes making yourself into a god

—5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.

- It seems that idolatry also includes making yourself into a god

- Doing your own thing to the determent of God's calling & will is idolatry

- When a man or woman enthrones self, they dethrone God

—15 Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD, And whose deeds are done in a dark place, And they say, “Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?” 16 You turn things around!

Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

- God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, is pronouncing judgement on the wisdom of an idolatrous world

- God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, is pronouncing judgement on the wisdom of an idolatrous world

-------------------

- When a person comes face to face with a crucified Jesus, the world & its form of wisdom will react with intensity

- It will say, that glory is not found in a cross; it will say that power is not found in a cross; it will say that success is not found in a cross

- The wisdom of the world says that the cross spells out defeat, failure, misery, suffering – to say this is God's way is utter nonsense

- To the world, it is utter madness to proclaim that the Person of Jesus, God's Son, died on a cross for our sins

-----------------

- We are talking here about worldly wisdom, not about wisdom per se

- Of course, we have the Psalms, Proverbs & Ecclesiastes that are wisdom books in the Bible

- That is wisdom that acknowledges the true & living God & gives sound guidance for living life, to the full in light of the one creator God

- “The fool says in his heart, there is no God”, is not really speaking against the Atheist, because there were none in that time, but about the one who would say, there is no ONE God, only many

- Funnily enough, Christians were called Atheists during the first few centuries of the church because we refused to believe in all the Roman gods

2. The Stigma of Crucifixion

Q.

What did the ancient world think of crucifixion?

- Did you know that crosses never existed on churches for, at least, 300 yrs after the Christ

- No one would have proudly worn a cross on a bracelet or necklace

Q.

How come?

-------------------

- The apostle says in v.23 that the message of a crucified Messiah is a stumbling block to Jews & foolishness or one scholar says, “madness” to Gentiles

- Every fibre of their being considered the message of a crucified Son of God to be a form of insanity

a. Stumbling Block to Jews

- Human sacrifice was banned in the OT & it was associated with pagan religions

- You may recall that Ahaz, king of Judah, sacrificed his sons to the so-called god, Molech in order to prevent Jerusalem being overthrown by his enemy

- To proclaim in Jesus, a human sacrifice was a stumbling block – something that caused sin, something that prevented belief in Jesus

-----------------------

- The Jews were also aware of the Scripture that speaks of the one put on the tree because of some sin that called for the death penalty

—22 “If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance.

Q.

To the Jew, Jesus is accursed of God, so how in the world could you proclaim Him as Messiah, son of the living God?

Q.

To the Jew, Jesus is accursed of God, so how in the world could you proclaim Him as Messiah, son of the living God?

- From a Jewish standpoint, a crucified Messiah was an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms

---------------------

- Justin Martyr was a Christian trying to convince Rabbi Trypho, the Jew that Jesus is the Messiah

- Justin pointed him to which speaks of the Kingdom given to the Messiah by the Ancient of Days

—13 “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him.

14 “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.

- But the Rabbi responds...

- But the Rabbi responds...

“Sir, these and suchlike passages of scripture compel us to await One who is great and glorious, and takes the everlasting Kingdom from the Ancient of Days as Son of Man.

But this your so-called Christ is without honour and glory, so that He has even fallen into the uttermost curse that is in the Law of God, for he was crucified.”

--------------------------

- Yet, the Rabbi & Jews seem to miss Isaiah's message?