WWUTT 1418 The Word of the Cross is the Power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18)

1 Corinthians 1 .18 says For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God.

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.com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you Becky. Back to our study of 1

Corinthians chapter 1. Picking up where we left off yesterday, I'm going to begin reading in verse 18 and we'll go through verse 25.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever

I will set aside. Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe?

Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know

God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach

Christ crucified. To Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called both

Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

So we have this statement as I mentioned yesterday in verse 18, this is to the letter to the

Corinthians what Romans 1 16 is to the Romans. In Romans 1 16 we have, for I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe to the

Jew first and also to the Greek. And that's a similar kind of statement we have here to the

Corinthians, although framed slightly different because it has to do with the things that these

Greek people are after. We're talking to Romans in the Romans in the letter to the

Romans in Corinthians, Paul is talking to the Greeks, same culture, it's the Greco Roman culture.

But there's there's a slight difference in the emphasis on what they value for the

Greeks. They're seeking after new wisdom. The Romans actually found value in old stuff.

So you have like if you look back in history at at what are called the Roman cults that were kind of sprouting up at about the same time that Christianity was spreading around in the

Roman Empire. There were certain cult beliefs and practices that were being implemented that were being seized onto in various groups, of course, would be part of these cults.

And they would grab onto like older deities and make a new religion out of it.

And that's fooled a lot of skeptics today who think that what the Romans were doing was some kind of old ancient religion.

But that really wasn't the case. It may have been an older deity, but the religious practices tied to that deity were brand new .

It was somebody starting up some sort of a cult practice. One of the most popular ones that's often cited is the

Mithraic cult. So you had the cult to Mithras and Mithras was an older pagan god that originated with the

Persians. The Romans grabbed onto this deity and created a new religion out of him.

So Mithraism as a religious tradition, that's that doesn't go back centuries before Christ.

Mithras may have been mentioned in Persian writings before Christ, but it's not like he was this religion that then carried over into the

Roman mystery cults. This was a new religion that they started and they copied from Christianity when they implemented their religious traditions.

These aren't traditions that predate Christ. It was because Christianity was spreading rapidly throughout the Roman Empire. And so the

Romans copy Christianity and they claim, well, look, we have a more ancient religion than even

Christianity, one that predates Christ by centuries. So we have the more authentic religion.

That's how Romans valued their religious practices. If it was older than it was more certifiable, it was more verified.

It had stood the test of time. The Greeks, on the other hand, wanted something new and they would even get bored with their old gods.

And so they'd create new gods. This certainly played out with how they valued philosophy.

They wanted the new idea that was coming out on the scenes. We're seeing that here, even in some of the things that Paul has brought up with the

Corinthians, because they think that because they're Christians, hey, we're smarter than everybody else.

We can boast in the new philosophy that we have because we're following the teachings of this

Christ, the new guy that's on the scenes or, you know, even dividing Christ up into the various teachers that they liked.

Paul, Apollos, Cephas, which we talked about in verse 12. So Paul is making the same argument that he makes with the

Romans, just framing it slightly different. Again, with the Romans, he says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

It's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes the Jew first and also to the

Greek. With the Corinthians, same argument, just frame slightly different. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.

But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God saying to these Corinthians, don't think that you have something better because you're a

Christian and therefore you can boast over those who are still following after worldly philosophies. You're missing the point.

If that's what you think Christianity is supposed to be, some sort of higher lofty meditation or philosophical thought or pattern of moralism that you can ascend to.

And therefore, hey, I'm better than you guys because I've got the new philosophy that's on the scene and you need to celebrate me or come to me and find out what the answer is.

And therefore, you know, kind of puff yourself up because of of this new idea that you've latched on to.

But Paul is reminding the Corinthians here, those who hate God are going to hate Christianity. This message of the cross is not going to be impressive to people around you.

They're going to hate you for it. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, to those who are not in Christ, to those whose sins have not been forgiven, to those whose hearts have not been transformed to know that Jesus is the son of God and therefore become worshipers of the father because of the relationship that they have with Christ.

They're going to look at this religion that you have, worshiping this carpenter of Nazareth, who claimed to be

God and yet was put to death by the very creatures that he said that he created, that according to your ancient scriptures, he is the god of and yet his own people made in his image put him to death by nailing him on a cross.

The Greeks are going to think you're completely foolish for that. Those who are perishing are not going to see that as wisdom.

They're not going to be impressed by that. There's nothing about that idea to them is going to make them go, oh, wow, how intriguing and insightful and thought provoking.

I better leave my paganism and the worship of these false gods and start going after this god who was crucified on a cross.

You know, you notice about the the pagan gods looking at the Greek and Roman marble statues.

What do those gods look like? They look like the supermodels that we have in our magazines right by the checkout line at the grocery store, you know, as as technologically advanced as we are right now, we still haven't gotten past the supermarket tabloid, right?

That's still a thing. It hasn't gone out of print or gone out of fashion just because, you know, everybody's looking at tablets and smartphones and their computer and in streaming services anymore.

We still have supermarket tabloids whenever you're in the checkout line. It's kind of interesting.

Those have not yet gone out of date. The whole concept of that hasn't gone out of date anyway. So you see supermodels that will pop up on social media.

There are are women who have monetized

Instagram accounts just by showing off their bodies and are making money that way.

They're advertising themselves that way. And, you know, we see these gorgeous, beautiful, glamorous people on social media.

And it's just like the supermarket tabloid or it's just like the supermodel magazines, only it's more everywhere than it used to be.

And you don't even have to pay for it. It's just right there in front of you. But you think about what we value as a culture that that is that perfect body.

There are even women that look at women's bodies, wanting to have that body, coveting that body because they want to have that body so that men will look at their body.

Right. And there are men that desire a certain look or a certain appearance. Even women will value certain things about a man's appearance.

A man values something about what a woman is supposed to look like. So we have this ideal thing in our heads.

It's still a thing, despite the fact that our culture is moving further and further away from gender distinctives, man and woman.

There is still a certain cultural expectation of what a gorgeous woman looks like. Men have that expectation of women and women will even have that expectation of one another.

And then women and men will also think of what a gorgeous man is supposed to look like. And those are generally even the men and women that make their way into the commercials that we're still seeing.

You'll have your typical mom that does household work. What does she look like?

What does that glamorous mom look like? You'll see her in some of those commercials. What is your average Joe working guy look like?

We want him to look like those guys will appear in the commercials as well. So we still have these types.

There may be more than one type, but you still have this like this is what I want a man to look like. This is what

I want a woman to look like. Women want to look like this. Men want to look like that. They want women that look like this.

Women want men that look like that. You know, so there's there's our types that we still have in our culture even today.

Well, that was the case in the Greek and Roman world as well. Look at their gods, the idols of their gods.

What did they look like? They were chiseled men. Literally, they were chiseled, chiseled out of marble and rock, you know, but you've got these buff guys and they are they look like the supermodels of their day.

They're even in the buff. They are naked. Right. And then you have women that are the same way.

They are posed nude. They are constructed. This is the ideal woman. This is the body type that women in that culture at that time are even aspiring to.

This is what they want to look like. So these were what their gods were. Their gods had the ideal type bodies, the ideal appearance, the ideal look.

People not only coveted those gods for what they believe those gods and goddesses could give to them, but they even wanted to be like them.

I want to look like that. This, you know, caricature, if you want to call it that, of what this

God, of what Zeus is supposed to look like, of what Poseidon looks like, of what Aphrodite looks like.

These idols are what I want to look like, what I aspire to be. This is what was in their hearts.

So therefore, it's what they worship. But then contrast that with Christ. Jesus doesn't have that chiseled look, does he?

No, not hanging on a cross. He doesn't. Not beaten to the point that he was unrecognizable because we have it declared in the

Gospels that Jesus, even before being scourged, was beaten up before the high priest and even had chunks of his beard ripped out.

Already his face was seriously disfigured by the beating he had taken by the Jews before he even appears before Pilate and is therefore taken away to be scourged.

And and, you know, I mean, just shredded his back, scourged with the cat of nine tails, his his flesh ripped open, flayed.

And then he's hung on a cross naked and looks nothing like the man that he was 24 hours before.

And this is is just like the the most shameful form of execution to be naked and beaten and hanging like that for everybody to see as they walked by.

It's even recorded in Matthew and in Mark that people wagged their heads as they passed by him.

You consider just what Isaiah said about the appearance of Christ, what he prophesied about Christ's appearance in Isaiah 53.

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and as one from whom men hide their faces.

He was despised and we esteemed him not. So there was nothing about Jesus appearance that was like what we see in the

Jesus movies today, where he looks like he walked right out of a soap opera and now took a role playing

Jesus Christ. Even when he's hanging on the cross in a lot of these films, his hair still looks like he could be a shampoo model.

He's blonde. His skin is white like a European. He's got manicured nails.

This this is not the look of a guy who is a carpenter. He's also taller than everybody else. You ever notice that?

So we have this vision of Jesus as looking like this because that's

I'm just straight going to say it. That's the idolatry that's in our hearts. That's what we want to look like.

That's what we want our Jesus to look like. And we would desire to look like that or have a guy that looks like that.

So that's what we make Jesus to look like. You can even see in some of the paintings as you go through Jesus art over the centuries.

And there was a point where you notice that he starts to look more ripped, more buff, even hanging on the cross.

It's because, well, the pagans are worse at worshipping these chiseled gods. We don't want our God to look shameful before a pagan world.

So we're going to make him look beautiful. And then even in the European art, the depiction of Jesus shifted more toward the radiant Jesus that we have depicted in Revelation rather than Jesus meek and mild, who is persecuted by the people that he came to hung on a cross to die.

Even in his crucifixion, we try to make Jesus look beautiful. Now, there is, of course, something beautiful to us about that picture of Christ hanging on the cross.

It's why we call the Friday before Easter Good Friday, because we know that Christ's death on the cross is is for our benefit.

It's for our atonement. He is the propitiation for our sins, dying in our place, taking the wrath of God upon himself so that all who believe in him stand before God righteous.

And we're no longer under the judgment of God. But we have been adopted by God as sons and daughters of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

So when we come to understand that about the cross, we can look at the cross as a beautiful symbol, still at the same time grieved over understanding what our sin cost in order to be right with God.

It costs the son of God. It costs the father giving his son to die, the son in submission to the will of the father, laying his own life down for us.

But then the beauty of that is what we'll read later on in in Second Corinthians five twenty one.

For our sake, he became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

That's beautiful to us because we understand what the cross means. We understand that it is the pivotal point of all of cosmic history, of all of human and and earthly history.

Everything in the world in the cosmos revolves around the cross. Paul said as much in Colossians one twenty that God is reconciling all things to himself through the person and work of Jesus Christ, making peace by the blood of his cross.

All of the Old Testament was pointing forward to the cross. All of the New Testament is looking back at it.

And we as the church, as we are progressing in our sanctification in Christ, we're also looking back at the cross, the power of God for salvation to all who believe.

That's what Paul is saying here to the Corinthians. That is only amazing to those whose hearts have been transformed by it.

When we know that we have been saved by the blood of his cross, then the cross is an incredible thing to us.

I mean, it causes us to just sit back and marvel at what

God did, the redemptive history that he has set by by his decree that his own son would be crucified and setting all of these things in place for our sake, for his glory, that Christ would be crucified for our sins so that whoever believes in him will not perish under the judgment of God that is coming against all unrighteous men.

But we are made righteous. The imputed righteousness of Christ that has been given to us and all of this happens at the cross, that double imputation is there, our sins upon him, his righteousness upon us, and we marvel at the awesomeness of the cross.

It is the power of God. But it's foolishness to those who are perishing.

They look at that Jesus, this carpenter guy that you guys are following, that you guys are worshiping.

He was hung on a cross. Look at our gods. Look at how chiseled and awesome they are. And the rest of the world does this with us even now.

Why would I want your religion? Look at what you guys do. Look at all the fun you are not having. Come join us.

Look at all the fun that we have, all the stuff that the world offers, that they try to entice us with. Come and be a part of us.

As Peter says in First Peter, chapter four, they will malign you when you don't take part with them in their debauchery.

Doesn't even have to do with, you know, you don't have to be the guy out there on the street corner on a soapbox preaching the gospel for the world to hate you.

Just the fact that you won't go along with them in their debauchery. They'll hate you for that. It is foolishness,

Christianity is to those who are perishing. They want to go after their sin. They want to be after their lusts.

That's what they've exalted. That's that's why you have that ideal man and that ideal woman. It is a picture of the lust of our culture.

This is what we lust after. It's what we want to be, and it's what we want to have. But is our greatest desire

Christ? When your greatest desire is Christ and all that stuff of the world, now that looks like foolishness to you.

Because you have the mind of Christ, you want what is pleasing to God and you want to hate what

God hates. And so, therefore, seeing all that foolishness of the world now looks like foolishness to you, where previously you thought it was wisdom.

You were going after that same stuff when you were part of them. And we need to be humble about that and recognize that those who are perishing, we were in that same place.

If God had not intervened, that was exactly the direction that we were going. But we have been transformed and we've been given a new mind so that those things that we thought were foolish when we were walking in our foolishness, we now see as the wisdom and power of God.

And those things that we thought were wisdom when we were walking in our foolishness, we now see as foolishness.

This is a transforming work that only happens by the Holy Spirit, that our hearts are regenerated, that we may hear the gospel and believe it, recognize our sin and see the power of God through the cross of Jesus Christ and be saved by it, by faith in Jesus.

To us who are being saved, it is the power of God. There is an old political comic.

It's one of the earliest political cartoons ever illustrated, at least that we have record of.

And it's called Alexa Minos Graffito, dated from the second century, possibly even the first century.

And it's one of the earliest representations of the crucifixion of Jesus. It was etched in the wall at the

Patagonium on Palatine Hill in Rome. And there is a rubbing of this particular comic that's in it's in one of the museums.

I can't remember the name of the museum where you can still go and find this rubbing, but it shows a man with a horse's head being crucified on a cross and a another man down below the cross that's worshiping the being on the cross.

And the caption to this comic is Alexa Minos worships his

God. It's basically making fun of apparently a man named Alexa Minos, who is worshiping

Jesus Christ, being crucified on a cross. But this is a satire comic making fun of the man who would be worshiping a crucified deity.

That's the way that the Greeks thought about Christianity. And that's the way our world thinks about it today as well.

Our world thinks that we are foolish for the God that we serve, but we are not ashamed of this gospel that we profess, for we know it is the power of God for salvation.

And those things that the world calls wise, God has made foolish. And those things that God says are wise, the world is going to think of as foolish.

But Christian, do you not desire to please God and not man? So hold fast to the gospel and live.

We're going to continue to learn more about the wisdom of God tomorrow when we come back into our study of the book of Proverbs and our

Thursday study. So please come back for that. Let's finish with prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for the word of the cross, the message of the gospel that has come to us, foolish to those who are perishing.

And at one point was a message that was foolish even to our ears until by your grace and your mercy, you transformed our hearts to hear the message of the gospel and be convicted over our sin and put faith in Jesus Christ and live.

And now it's that very message, the message of the cross that is the power of God in our eyes and to our ears and in our very hearts as we sing in the classic hymn,

I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.

Forgive us our sins. Lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake. It's in Jesus name we pray.

Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a

New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.