Christ Crucified

Christ Crucified

(1 Corinthians 1:18-31) Windsor UBC, J G White

10:30 am, Sun, Feb 2, 2014

A kindergarten teacher gave her class a "show and tell" assignment of bringing something to represent their religion.  The first boy got in front of the class and said, "My name is Benjamin and I am Jewish and this is the Star of David."

The second boy said, "My name is Joey. I'm a Catholic and this is the Crucifix."

The third boy said, "My name is Tommy and I am Baptist and this is a casserole."

It is better for us to claim the cross as our symbol, eh?

Last Sunday morning here, I ended with 1 Corinthians 1:18, which today is our beginning.   For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. What powerful things does our God do for us by the Cross, by the sacrificial death of Jesus?  Four things are listed in one sentence at the end of this chapter. (30-31)

He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."  

Wisdom: Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God.  We gain some true wisdom by knowing Jesus Christ and the salvation of our souls.  

26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

Eugene Peterson paraphrased this, saying:  I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you… and, decades before, Clarence Jordan put it this way, in his Cotton Patch Version of Paul’s Epistles: It appears as though God deliberately selected the worlds “morons” to show up the wise guys, and the world's weaklings to show up the high and mighty, and the world's lowly and rejected – the nobodies – to put the heat on the somebodies.   

Salvation does not depend upon being the brightest lightbulb, being well-educated, having a certain IQ.  God’s wisdom is enough; and it is simply seen in what Jesus has done for us.

Also, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, because what Jesus did can appear very unwise.  He got arrested by the local authorities during a religious festival.  He and His disciples has just observed a feast called the Passover, and after dark were out in a nearby orchard.  When some of his fellows rose up to fight and defend themselves, Jesus said ‘put down your sword.’  Then, Jesus gets tried and questioned, amid being tortured and treated badly.  He does not fight back.  And when He is finally hung on a cross to suffer and die, He does not call on the divine powers at His disposal.  We sometimes sing the scripture, Matthew 26:53, this way:

He could have called ten-thousand angels

to destroy the world, and set Him free.

He could have called ten-thousand angels,

But He died alone, for you and me.

Was this wise?  We who have received the blessed impact of Jesus’ sacrifice know how wise and powerful this submissive action was, the sacrifice of God for humans.  God’s wise way of reaching people and saving us is not anything humans would have thought up as strategic or even possible.  Yet, the message of the cross is the... power of God.

Jesus became for us Righteousness. We have things made right because of the Cross: we are made right with God, made right with ourselves, made right with one another.  Because the ways we do wrong are overtaken by the ways Jesus does what is right.

In the next letter, Second Corinthians, we can read: For our sake God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)  It is hard to live rightly; we cannot do it on our own.

To live rightly with one another is the challenge of human life.  To fix things when broken is not simple.  In relationships, I mean.  

I think of an image, a scene from the movie, Ordinary People, based on the novel of the same name.  The story of an ordinary family, a woman, a man, two teenage sons.  Or, rather, one son; the other died in a boating accident; and the three that are left struggle with the grief and guilt and a mess of emotions.  It is a family breaking apart.  

And I see the scene where the mother, who never expresses her emotions, always keeps up appearances in the nieghbourhood, breaks a plate in the kitchen.  "I do think this can be saved; it’s a nice, clean break," she says.  Crazy Glue might mend a plate, but there is no quick fix for a fractured human life.  

Our brokenness can be saved… by God.  There is no simple way for us to save ourselves.  The ways we don’t do right can be touched and rebuilt by our Lord.

So, as it says here, we have nothing to boast about in and of ourselves.  We have Jesus to boast about.  Our righteousness, our being right and doing right, is like filthy rags, Isaiah chapter 64 says.  But, the cross of Jesus can bring us into a place of being counted right.

Sanctification. This means holiness: to be made holy, be special, be separate.  In the simplest terms, this is being improved, by God.  This improvement is ongoing, by the work of the Holy Spirit of God. It is when we put ourselves in the hands of God that we get clothed in righteousness and holiness.  

It is Superbowl Sunday.  This is not a religious holiday, though, with the festivities today one might think so!  And undoubtedly, quite of few Seattle Seahawks fans will wear the green and blue clothing of that team, and many Denver Bronkos fans will wear blue and orange.  The fans of a sports team identify with the actual team by the clothing, the team colours, and then cheer their team on with determination.

But it is not by our own Christian determination and efforts that we get clothed with holiness.  It is by the grace of God that we begin to resemble and shine with the pure goodness of the One we love, who died for us.  The cross, the death of Jesus, has the power to transform us.  Simply putting a t-shirt on with a Christian message will not make us holy, nor coming to worship on Sundays.  Renewal of the inner person matters, and is the work of God, so we cooperate with the Spirit in His work.  

Amazingly, it is as Jesus bleeds and dies that the way is paved for us to be reunited with the Holy God. In Judaism, the religion of the Messiah, a dead body was unholy, unclean.  In Jesus, Holy God comes down into unholiness, and dies… so we can be holy again, and be with God.  

Fourthly and finally, Redemption.  Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.  This means to compensate for something bad, or to exchange something by paying, or to set free.  This is why the Bible talks of Jesus’ dying to pay for us, or, for our sins.  We get set free from the result of our wrong; Jesus ‘pays the price.”

Anyone here originally from New Brunswick?  Have you noticed that New Brunswick has a different culture from Nova Scotia?  The big highways we call 101, 102, and so forth, they call 1, 2.  We eat clams; they eat fiddleheads.  And there are redemption centres in New Brunswick - for recyclables.  

Well, in the theological sense, Windsor Baptist is a ‘redemption centre,’ a people and a place for freedom from evil and wrong to be provided.  A fellowship building ourselves upon the Cross of Jesus, where He is the One we rely upon to bring us back from the damages and powers of sin.  

The Choir has sung Chris Tomlin’s song…

He became sin Who knew no sin

That we might become His Righteousness

He humbled himself and carried the cross

Love so amazing; Love so amazing.

Jesus Messiah, Name above all names,

Blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel,

The rescue for sinners, The ransom from Heaven,

Jesus Messiah: Lord of all.