Grace, mercy and peace
to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, or do you think that is a silly
thing to say? The Apostle Paul just said
it was. Of course he said it this way: “the cross is folly… to those who are
perishing.” He too once considered the
cross folly. He was well schooled in Greek philosophy and also a premier
student of the Pharisees, what we’d more or less call Orthodox Judaism today.
And you know what he did to Christians before Christ appeared to him. You know
what he thought of Christ crucified.
Before his conversion, he was a big
man, honored, esteemed, and the world fell into his lap. Popular opinion stood
behind him, the courts backed him up, the Romans and Jewish leaders admired
him, and Paul skyrocketed up the career ladder. Then something weird happened
to Saul, soon re-named Paul. Folks began to call Paul foolish, the Greek word
being common to English too, the word “moron.” He was called other names too.
Arrested and tried in court, the Roman governor Festus said, “You are out of
your mind, Paul!” (Acts 26:24) That’s nothing compared to the names folks
called Paul’s Saviour, Jesus. Yet the Apostle is really saying “Christ’s cross
is marvelous, amazing, thrilling, tremendous!”
The Church at Corinth
The world has a hard time accepting
that, ever since they nailed Jesus to the cursed tree. What’s the world’s
wisdom? Pardon my political slant: a girl cannot get an aspirin in school
without her parent’s permission but she can get an abortion without their knowledge.
Politicians want to ban guns to law abiding citizens, but they gave 20 powerful
F-16 jets to the crazy new leaders in Egypt
Christ crucified? That notion is so
offensive we don’t want to hear it in public schools, in the courts, in the
military, in prisons, and we’re not sure about church. But that is the Living
God’s way of doing things, His foolish wisdom, His way of restoring life, His
way. For the word of the cross is folly
to those who are being destroyed, but to us who are being saved it is the power
of God. (ESV ) Hear that? Those who reject life through
Christ’s death are what? They are perishing, more literally, being destroyed.
This is true not only of those who reject the 10 commandments to die 1,000 ways
with a pleasure-driven lifestyle. It is true of the most upright,
compassionate, high-standard, striving, personable people you know - who reject
Christ crucified. Such people are being
destroyed, their life becoming hardened like the great and munificent Pharaoh
of Egypt who rejected Moses’ outrageous plea… let God’s people go to worship in
the wilderness. Give up your power over them. Let them go free. In that case
there were many powerful signs, only one which changed Pharaoh’s will,
momentarily. That came not by a powerful
army but by the death of a lamb. How could Pharaoh believe God would deliver Israel
Oh Christian, you believe in the Lamb
slain who lives! You believe in the weakness of God. Therefore, we repent the
world’s wisdom. How do we do that? This isn’t a rejection of good government,
the rule of law, civil order, etc… It is about the spiritual kingdom, all that
God’s word tells us in the gospel, including the way we view the earthly
kingdom before God. In part, there are law questions like “What philosophies
shape the way my teachers talk about the world, a way of life, sexuality, and
the origin of life? Dare I disagree?”
The law question includes, “What values, ideas, and methods are promoted
contrary to God’s foolishness? Will I let them shape how I think and act?” But the bottom line of the spiritual kingdom
is about the gospel. So we ask “Do I see all people as forgiven by Christ’s
death?” Likewise, we ask people, “Do you know the power of God for
salvation?”
After asking these kinds of questions
we may ask, “Given such powerful and wise enemies, will the word of the Lord be
victorious for me and in me?” The answer
is, “yes.” Christ will be vindicated, in us who are being saved. Like the Passover Lamb’s blood, Christ’s
blood marks our lives. For in baptism we
were saved, at the present time we are
being saved, and we shall be saved. We are surrounded by grace, mercy, and
peace. The very Word the world despises
is working life in you, forgiving you, changing you, strengthening, enlightening
and building you up. The church
of Christ
Where
is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? The wisdom opposed to God
is judged because it refuses God’s wisdom. History judges it too, for Christ
rose from the dead. That is proof enough. For
since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it
pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For
Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a
stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
We who were either Jews or Gentiles
escaped worldly power and wisdom. We didn’t find heaven by our reasoning,
willing, and emoting. We didn’t earn heaven by lawful striving. We were given
it freely; for the merciful, gracious, God chose us. He called us through the
message of Christ crucified. That offensive message brought us into eternal
life, into the kingdom
of God
Faith is divinely created by something
contrary, counter-intuitive, emotionally upsetting to this world’s values, by a
seemingly irrational but true historical claim. Christ was crucified for you
sinner, and He declares you a saint. Christ rose from the dead, and that’s
God’s wisdom, the wisdom that saves us. This is how we were saved, are being saved,
and shall be saved. This is how the Living Lord overpowers unbelief, the devil,
the world and death. Who would have guessed it? No one - and that’s why it is
revealed to us through the Holy Scriptures.
That’s why God the Son became
man, suffered and died, rose and ascended and intercedes for His own until His
glorious return. Even if your neighbors snort and think you’re a moron for
believing it, the foolishness of God is
wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
That’s just the way it is… and God can
pull it off. He always does. He did it in your baptism by water and Word,
applying the benefits of justification, giving you regeneration and daily
renewal (Titus 3). He does it when you in faith eat His blood-wine and
body-bread, hearing that your sins are forgiven. He does it in the preaching of
absolution, declaring Christ’s peace to you. He gives you the eternal kingdom.
Although it sounds silly to the world, grace,
mercy and peace are given to you from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s just the way it is. 
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