1 Corinthians 1:17 – For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Paul was a genius; almost any reader of his will confirm that fact. He made deep, powerful, logical connections between thoughts that still leave us marveling thousands of years later. He was able, had he chose, to out-argue anybody around him.
Fascinating, then, that Paul does not choose to argue with clever or sophisticated speech. Instead, Paul chose to build his ministry by preaching one thing, one simple thing. Paul preached Christ Jesus and him crucified. This made the Jews stumble, as they could not imagine the Christ being crucified. It was a problem for gentiles who simply thought the concept of God forgiving us based on Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection totally nuts.. Yet Paul chose to preach this simple gospel in order that the cross of Christ not be emptied of its power.
Christian, do you see the wisdom of this “foolish” plan? When we preach the gospel, the true gospel, and nothing but the gospel, and when people are changed by that gospel, it is obvious that they have been truly, supernaturally, spiritually converted. However, when we persuade people by our strong personalities, our perfectly designed programs, or our powerful rhetoric, we actually have no idea what happens when they claim a conversion. In order for us to see that God is the one who did the work, we need to be sure that what the people we preach to hear is the gospel that the lost world finds to be insane.
This is no call to be foolish in your activity. This is no call to avoid planning, to be disorganized, or to fail to communicate in a way that your listeners will understand. We want a wisdom about how we approach people. However, we dare not tinker with the gospel. We dare not call people to respond to something other than the Jesus of the Bible, crucified and raised. We must not empty the cross of its power by making the faith about moral changes, political positions, or one country’s values over another. No, we must let the cross be the cross, a deadly, bloody, substitutionary atonement. This makes no sense to the lost world. It confuses them, makes them laugh, or makes them angry. Guess what, that is what the cross should do. Because there will be some who, when they hear about this cross, will be made alive in their hearts, will respond in faith, and will truly be saved by God to the glory of God.
Pastor Travis Peterson 