Gospel Prism

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1 Corinthians 1:22-24

Today (9/16) is perhaps the most significant vote that we will take as a church membership, and possibly the last vote we will ever take as a church membership. As many of you know, we will be deciding whether we desire to be a Sovereign Grace Ministries church or not. I thought it would be fitting with this in mind that I preach today’s message on the fundamental answer to the question, “Why Sovereign Grace Ministries?” After all, most of you, before coming to Wellspring have probably never heard of SGM. You’ve heard of denominations like the Presbyterian Church of America or the Southern Baptist Convention or the Evangelical Free Church of America or the Assemblies of God. But Sovereign Grace Ministries? Why?

Al Mohler, who is the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the flagship seminary for the Southern Baptists, wrote the forward for C. J. Mahaney’s book Living the Cross-Centered Life. C. J. Mahaney leads the SGM leadership team and is one of the founders of SGM. In the forward Al Mohler writes:

CJ walks us through the real meaning of Christ’s cross. He takes us right to the center of God’s plan to save His own enemies—a rebellious humanity. As CJ writes, “Because of God’s amazingly gracious heart toward those who thoroughly deserve only His wrath, He both planned for and provided this mediator to resolve the divine dilemma—a mediator who, through His blood, would accomplish a unique assignment utterly unlike any other work of mediation. In the mystery of His mercy, God—the innocent, offended party—offers up to death His own Son, to satisfy His righteous wrath and save the guilty party from it.” That’s about as clear a description of God’s saving purpose as you will ever find. (C. J. Mahaney, Living the Cross-Centered Life, 9-10)

To find a whole denomination, in this case a family of churches, whose vision is to define and live out God’s saving purpose in all of life is a movement worth joining. This is no desire, however, to merely be a part of something cool, or cutting edge. Rather, it is a yearning to live in light of what the Bible says is true. And so we turn to 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 to see what this truth is and why we should consider joining SGM as they too pursue this truth.

The Foolishness of the Cross to the Perishing and Saved (v. 22)

First, this truth that SGM and we hold to so dearly is a truth that is foolishness to those who are perishing. In verse 22, Paul gives us a picture of what the foolishness of the cross to the perishing looks like: “22For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom.” The first group of perishing was the Jews. Jews demanded signs in order to believe. In Matthew 12:38, the Pharisees and teachers of the Law say to Jesus, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.” In Mark 8:11, the motive of their request is revealed, “11The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven.” And this was exactly the problem with demanding a sign, it was a test, and it always is a test. A test measures whether one is on par with a particular standard. The tester determines the worthiness of the testee. The tester is the master and the testee is dependent on the master. And so in John 4:48 you can understand Jesus’ frustration with all around him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

The second group of perishing was the Greeks who sought wisdom. To this group evidence, science, and philosophy is king. Without these things, there is no such thing as truth. And what is the final arbiter of this truth? Scientific method or philosophical examination or legal analysis. Like the Greek, Thomas announces John 20:25: “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Similar to the Jewish leaders, this group is looking for control as well. They will never believe unless they have physical evidence. And even should such physical evidence occur, they would still refuse to believe in this God of the cross.

Oh, how often the cross has mistakenly been used to signify earthly wisdom and power and therefore has been misrepresented and manipulated. During the Crusades, the knights bore banners and shields and emblems with the cross affixed to it as it slaughtered people in the name of the ‘divine power of the cross.’ Some rub the cross like a good luck charm around their neck as they pick their super jackpot lottery numbers. Athletes will kiss their cross necklace after hitting a home run. A clergyman will touch the dying person’s forehead as if the mere touch had magical power to bring spiritual healing.

But as Paul tells us here in 1 Cor 1, the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. Yet, sadly, sometimes even to those of us who are being saved, the cross seems, dare I say, foolish? How is this foolish to us being saved? It is foolish to us when what Christ has done does not make any practical effect on our lives. Have you ever had a conflict with your friend, a church member, a family member, a co-worker and believed that such a person was unworthy of your forgiveness, nor your time? You are being ruled not by your new identity that rests in Christ’s work on the cross for you, but rather by what you feel your right is as a person regardless of what Christ has done for you. Husbands and wives, have you ever fought and in the middle of your argument, believed that your opinion of the situation could in no way be faulty? That surely, the other was dead wrong? This sense of self-rightness ignores the fact that the cross signifies that there is nothing right about us at all in the end, and that we need grace far more than we want to admit. At this moment, the cross seems foolish to our stubborn and ungrateful hearts. If you are ruled by what other people think of you, you consider the cross foolish. If you can’t sleep at night because you think you looked foolish in front of friends because of a misstep, the cross is foolish to you. If you are spending hours swapping out dresses, fixing blemishes, always dissatisfied with your appearance, you are ruled by what others think and sometimes, I think we don’t want to see the cross as our ultimate beauty. When you think the cross does not apply to your problem, your situation, you consider the cross foolish.

Far too often are we tempted to think, “Oh I know, I know go to the cross, but can you give me a real answer to my pain and problems?” We let a loved one know that we need Gospel exhortations, cross-centered exhortations in our lives, but when those exhortations come, we think, “Gospel shmospel, I don’t want to hear that right now.” The Gospel, culminated by the cross of Christ, is forgotten every day by the perishing and tragically, even by the saved. CJ makes a great point when he says:

Before us is a passage with words like redemption, Savior, gospel, justified. But if those words evoke little response in us, we unthinkingly pass over them to find something else that might light our fire. If enthusiasm doesn’t come quickly…well, we may just forget the whole thing. After all, who want to spend the mental energy it takes to think carefully and intensely about the Scriptures? (C. J. Mahaney, Living the Cross-Centered Life, 14)

I am thankful that SGM is an association who will be there for us when this church will be tempted to say, “Gospel Shmospel.” Their hearts are fixed on what the perishing might find foolishness, but what God finds wise.

The Foolishness of God in Christ (vv. 23-24)

If that’s what the foolishness of the perishing looks like, here’s what the foolishness of God appears to be in verses 23-24: “…but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” According to Paul, the foolishness of God rests in Christ crucified. We need to remember that this phrase is a complete contradiction, which one commentator compares to saying “fried ice.” (Gordon Fee, 1 Corinthians, NICNT, 75 The name of Christ literally means “anointed one” or the “Messiah,” and there was no way that the Messiah could be crucified according to Jewish Law and tradition. According to Dt. 21:23, anyone hung on tree was to be accursed, and surely God would never do such a thing to His Son, the Jew would say. For the Jew this was a scandalon, the Greek word used here for “stumbling block.” It was a scandal, an offense, a blasphemy. For the non-Jew, the Gentile, this was foolishness, madness. The cross was no way for a good person to die, let alone someone who claimed to be the Son of God. The cross was meant for criminals, and as we know even in today’s society, “good people” don’t like to be around executed criminals.

Something must change in us in order to see this foolishness of God actually as the wisdom of God. You need to come to the realization that all of your effort in this life will leave you empty. A couple of weeks ago, I was standing on line at the supermarket counter when I heard that actor Owen Wilson attempted suicide. And I thought to myself, “Here is this actor who has fame, money, probably numerous sexual relationships at his whim, glamor, etc., and yet, even in the midst of every pleasure imaginable, life is still not worth living.” The reality of life is that every attempt to find joy through our efforts will eventually dreadfully disappoint us because such pleasure is always temporary. But people will never believe on their own that their effort and merit and work amounts to nothing.

Paul used to think this way as well. Philippians 3 was his mission statement in life. He writes in Philippians 3:4: “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.” Another way to put this is, “If you think you’re something big, check this out…” You can’t outdo Paul’s self-confidence. He had so much that he not only knew he was religiously, intellectually, and philosophically right, but that he would physically force (or kill) others to enforce his rightness on them! You can’t be more self-righteous than that. And when Paul came to realize this, it wreaked havoc on his soul because he came to his realize for the first time that his good works were all in vain. Martyn Lloyd-Jones insightfully notes:

And this is the thing that hurts the PRIDE of modern man in our own day. The world is full of do-gooders. These people are anxious to put things right. They set up an organization, they form a society and other people join it and they write protests and are going to put the world right. And there is one thing they hate. It is the cross, which tells them that you can never deal with the problem like that, and that all are in the same position. There is no difference, there is none righteous, no, not one. It is a terrible thing to be told that all your effort comes to nothing…The cross is an offense…because it says that not only are we all sinners, not only are we all equally sinners, but it tells us that we are all equally helpless. We can do nothing at all. It tells us that all our righteousness is but as filthy rags. All we regard as best is dung and refuse, and absolutely useless. (Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Cross, 52)

Martyn Lloyd-Jones expresses the greatest problem people have with the cross, it totally invalidates our effort to be good enough to ever know God as He should be known. And to the perishing, to the Greek this probably is the most absurd statement possible. This past Thursday, I gave a brief exhortation at Kristine’s mother’s funeral. Sitting a couple of rows in front of me was Cal State’s provost and a row of Dr. Song’s colleagues, fellow professors. I knew that I would take that moment to present the Gospel that Dr. Song believed in. And what was in my mind was Paul’s words, some of those listening would say, “Jesus dying on the cross in my place? That’s a bunch of baloney.” Because to see people academic achievements, serving on committees and councils and panels and think tanks define a person. Your achievements determine whether you’re a winner or a loser. But tell such a person that all that amounts to nothing, and the response will be, “You’re a fool.” And so the cross is foolishness to the perishing.

The great Reformer Martin Luther’s greatest struggle was not against sin, or at least what we think of when we think of sin, but rather, his works of righteousness. After all, when he was in the cloister, rarely did he have any ‘real sins.’ In fact, his mentor Dr. Staupitz said to him, “Pay attention. You want to be without sin, but you don’t have any real sins any way. Christ is the forgiveness of awful sins, like the murder of one’s parents, public vices, blasphemy, adultery, and the like. These are the real sins.” (James Kittleton, Luther, the Reformer, 84) But it was later in his life when Luther began to realize that though he was not committing typical sins, what flooded his heart and disturbed his conscience were his righteous deeds, things that he thought he could bring to God as acceptable works. He wrote:

Sometimes it is necessary to drink a little more, play, joke, or even commit some sin in defiance and contempt of the devil in order not to give him an opportunity to make us scrupulous about small things. We will be overcome if we worry too much about falling into some sin. (James Kittleton, Luther, the Reformer, 287)

If you read Luther’s works, you know how much he believes in the Christian’s life of worship to know that he is not advocating Christians sinning for the sake of it. But he’s driving home the point that we far too often think as long as we are doing good deeds, as we long we look good, we look moral as a Christian, as long as we are not committing visible sins, then God is happy. No, the cross, as Paul and Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Martin Luther attest to, nullifies our righteous deeds. It says that we will always fall short of a right worship of God, and so God had to initiate by sending His Son to die for the sins that not only look sinful, but for those sins that outwardly look like righteous but flow from a proud heart.

Do you see, your good works are never good enough? When we depend on church ministry to be our source of identity, rather than the cross as God’s loving grace shown to me a sinner, then we become proud of our preaching, our homegroup leading, our praise leading, our folding of bulletins, our teaching of children. And then we begin to criticize others for not serving. And then we begin setting our own standards by what is the ‘right way’ to serve. We no longer serve in ministry because of what Christ has done for us, but rather how good we look to others as we serve becomes our heart’s motivation.

Without the cross, our sinful default mode is to be self-reliant, proud. We work so hard to be liked, to be loved by all, but are unwilling to actually love in the way we are loved by God the Father. I love my son, Jack. There are times when he will ask the cutest of questions, when he will look at me in the eye and say, “I love you daddy.” Oh he is so easy to love…when he is not whining and crying. But when he is whining and crying, I don’t want to love him at all. It’s inconvenient to love him then. He just rubs me the wrong way at those times. What if God loved us when it was convenient for Him? What if He loved us when we were cute, and kind, and perfectly able to love Him in return? Then God would never love us because our desire for Him is at the heart so imperfect. But do you know that God loves you even when you had no love for him? How do you know this? Because according to Isaiah 53:10, there are these astounding words: “But the LORD was pleased to crush Him.” It pleased God to bruise His Son. But why? Because in doing so, John tells us He gave the right to those who believe in His Son to become His children (John 1:12). You will never be a child of the living God by what you do, do you see? No, it will always be because of God’s lavished grace for you. And it can only be grace alone that saves.

Let me close with this application. Because of God’s foolishness/wisdom through the cross, we are saved. If we move away from this truth, we will move towards works as the basis of our core identity. And even the best of works can eventually amount to nothing. For example, many of you know that early in the church’s history, we began a meal rotation for those who were new mothers. There was no church email list, no ministry to new moms, no sign-up. A woman had a baby and people, out of the love to serve those who were going through the transition to new motherhood, decided to provide meals, even if it meant driving across a bridge or driving miles to get to the home. Of course, when our church was smaller, this was easier to manage and to organize. However, now that we seem to be having babies every Sunday, the task has been quite a challenge. Our hearts are still there to serve such woman. But may it always be out of a motivation to merely love because of what love we have received from Christ. When our actions become a work of righteousness, we can see how quickly the fruit of such righteousness is born. We begin to see envy and self-pity (‘how come she got more meals than me, I guess I’m not as popular’). We begin to see complaints (‘this is so tiring’ or ‘I don’t think this system works the way that I think it should’). We begin to see self-righteousness (‘I gave the most meals, therefore, I think I’m the kinder more giving person’). We begin to see selfishness (‘I don’t know her, I’ll only give to those I have a relationship with). Again, this does not mean that we should stop doing meal rotations. No, please serve. But serve not because of what you can do to payback someone, and not because you want to please God with your good work, and not because you want to look good before others, but let it be that you know that your God loved you so much that He gave His Son for you, and to give this meal is a result of that joy. Preach the Gospel to yourself in this way and you will find no matter whether you receive recognition or payback for your good deed, it won’t matter in the end, because your joy comes from God’s foolishness of the cross.

Conclusion

Do you see? We cannot live by faith without the work of Jesus’ cross at the center of our lives. Unless it is at the core our being, we cannot know the Lord as the Bible teaches He should be known. Mark Lauterbach, a dear friend, mentor, and SGM pastor writes about the cross:

Magnify the cross! With the cross dominating, we see the central issue to be our standing before God in his glorious holiness. We see that the central enemy is deep-seated sin and arrogance. We see the only power able to forgive and justify and put sin to death is the blood of Jesus applied to our lives in the power of the Spirit. We see the centrality of the local church, for which Jesus died. We see the necessity of Gospel power over religious sentiment or mysticism or how to’s.

Is your faith and church life and understanding of Christ all about tradition (my parents went to church so I have to go to church), how to’s (my kids need to be raised morally, the church needs a vibrant kids program, I want Christian ideas on dating), mysticism (I want to feel wholeness in my life, I want inner peace, I want my demons dealt with)? Don’t turn to such things but look to Him crucified, know that God paid a ransom price for you so that you could live with Him, and come and enter into His family.