"The Crux" October 21, 2018

Overview

The Crux Is the Cross

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he set himself apart from the celebrated "sophists" of his day—traveling speakers whose eloquent rhetoric thrilled crowds even when their content was forgettable. Paul made no such pretensions. By his own admission, his speech was "untrained" 2 Corinthians 11:6, and others judged his bodily presence weak and his speech contemptible 2 Corinthians 10:10. Yet this is the man God used to write much of the New Testament. Why? Because Paul knew that no one is converted by the eloquence of a speaker; conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. As he told the Corinthians, "Christ did not send me… to proclaim the gospel… not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power" 1 Corinthians 1:17.

That conviction comes to a point in 1 Corinthians 2:1-2: "I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." This is hyperbole that drives home a priority—Paul certainly taught the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27; Acts 18:11)—but at the end of the day, his focus was the cross. The English words crucial and cross both come from the Latin crux. For Paul, the crux was the cross.

Consider the parable of an English chapel whose entrance bore the inscription, "We preach Christ crucified." Over the years, ivy crept up the stones until only "We preach Christ" remained—and the preaching inside drifted with it, presenting Jesus as humanitarian, example, moral teacher. More years passed; the ivy obscured "Christ" too, and only "We preach" was visible. By then the sermons had become politics, positive thinking, psychological tips, and homespun stories. The cross had been quietly buried beneath good-looking growth.

That same ivy creeps over our lives. Whenever anything else becomes the most important thing—the crux of who we are—God in His grace pulls the ivy back so that the cross of Christ shines again. On that cross, Jesus bore all our sin, including every false crux we have erected, paying a debt we could never pay. His resurrection is the Father's declaration that the sacrifice was accepted. We have been given breath for this very purpose: to proclaim Christ crucified and risen, repentance and forgiveness, life eternal in the Savior's name. The crux is the cross.

Transcript

Would you open your Bible, please, with me to first Corinthians, the 6-second chapter? 0s

There are several phrases that over the years seem to be used. 6s

If someone says, that person gave 110%. 10s

Why that's a communication, is it not that that person really went above and beyond? 18s

I mean, if a person gives 100%, that's tremendous, but 110%. 24s

Well, that's really going above and beyond, isn't? 29s

Or this phrase. 34s

Well, you can wait. 37s

When it won't be till the cows come home. 40s

Right? What does that communicate? 43s

It communicates indeed an extended period of time. 45s

One that goes quite way back, in fact, over the centuries, is this one. 49s

I'm fit as a fiddle. 56s

Fit as a fiddle. 58s

Actually, that went back to the emphasis with regard to violins, of keeping them in really good shape, 60s

so that they would sound excellent. 68s

So when someone says, I'm fit as a fiddle, why it's in excellence in terms of how you're feeling. 70s

Or this one. 79s

At the end of the day, at the end of the day, what does that communicate? 83s

Helps us understand that as you take in everything, as you consider everything, here comes the summary statement. 93s

At the end of the day, here's the heart of everything. 101s

Here's the crux of the matter. 106s

Our text for today is at the end of the day, text, because it gets at the heart of the matter. 113s

It gets at the crux of things. 124s

In order for us to understand this text, I believe we have to understand the backdrop to it. 130s

In ancient day, there was a group of individuals called softfists, SOPH-ISTS. 137s

The softfist would go around from community to community, and when they would walk into a town, a crowd would gather, 145s

and what the crowd like to do is they like to ask the softfists a question. 154s

They would throw out a topic to hear what the softfists would have to say. 161s

The topic could be politics, it could be philosophy, it could be relationships, it could be just fill in the blank. 169s

And what the people loved to hear was how the softfist could string together these eloquent sentences, 179s

seemingly just elevating language to a higher plane. 192s

They were enamored, really not so much in the answer. 199s

They were enamored in how the answer was given. 202s

They were impressed with a softfist's ability to use rhetorical technique to communicate the message. 207s

The apostle Paul says, 220s

You've got the softfists here, I'm here. 223s

In fact, verse one of our texts, he's making a distinction between himself and the softfists. 228s

Look at it with me, would you please? 236s

Chapter two, a first Corinthians. 238s

Paul writes, 243s

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, 243s

I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. 247s

Paul says in other words, 256s

When I'm proclaiming to the mysteries of God or another word is the testimony of God, 258s

when I'm proclaiming that to you, 263s

I'm not like how the softfists do it. 265s

They talk with the flowery language and everyone oozing on. 269s

When they go home, they don't really remember what the softfist says, 272s

but they certainly remember how the softfist said it. 276s

Paul says, 280s

I got the softfist here, I'm not one of the softfists. 280s

In fact, Paul by his own admission admits that he wasn't the best of all speakers. 289s

Look at chapter one, verse 17 of 1 Corinthians, chapter one of verse 17. 299s

Paul writes this, 307s

For Christ did not send me to baptize, 310s

but to proclaim the gospel, 314s

and not with eloquent wisdom, 318s

so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. 321s

Paul understood that no one is converted by the eloquence of the speaker, 328s

but it is the power of the Holy Spirit using the words of God to convert. 333s

Paul was highlighting the fact that, 341s

well, you could be impressed with the softfist and all of their eloquent wisdom. 343s

Paul says, 347s

that's not me. 348s

Look how else the assessment of his speaking. 351s

It's 2 Corinthians, the 11th chapter, Paul says this about himself. 354s

He says, 358s

I may be untrained in speech, 358s

but not in knowledge. 362s

By the time he was 21, 364s

the apostle Paul had the equivalent of 2 PhDs. 366s

But notice what he says about a speech, 369s

I may be untrained in speech. 371s

Second Corinthians, the 10th chapter, 376s

says this about the apostle Paul. 378s

His letters are witty, 380s

but his bodily presence is weak. 383s

And his speech is contemptible. 387s

What an amazing assessment that is, right? 393s

This is the one that God uses to write the majority of the new testament. 397s

And the apostle Paul, by his own admission here, 401s

and by the affirmation of others, 404s

says, 407s

I'm not really very good at speaking. 407s

I'm not really very good at it. 410s

Verse 2, 414s

For I decided to know nothing among you, 419s

except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 426s

Got the softest talking about all kinds of subjects, 432s

and all kinds of things in their eloquent language. 435s

Paul says, 440s

I'm not, I'm a very good speaking. 441s

You know that. 443s

But this is what I've decided to communicate. 445s

The cross of Jesus Christ. 449s

Facti says, 453s

I decided to know nothing among you, 454s

except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 458s

Did Paul teach the whole Council of God? 464s

Certainly. 466s

He did. 467s

Acts 20th chapter, Paul says, 468s

I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. 470s

Acts 18, the scripture says, 475s

Paul, 477s

He stayed there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. 477s

So when Paul says, 483s

I decided to know nothing among you, 484s

except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 486s

That's hyperbally, isn't it? 490s

That's an exaggeration to make a point. 491s

And what's the point? 496s

That the focus for Paul, 497s

the focus for Paul was the cross. 499s

When all was said and done, 505s

at the end of the day, 508s

for Paul, 511s

it was the cross of Christ. 513s

That was the focus. 518s

The word crucial, 523s

and the word cross 526s

comes from the same Latin word, 529s

Crocs, 534s

the Crocs of the matter. 536s

You see, for Paul, 540s

the Crocs was the cross, 542s

or another way to put it. 547s

The Crocs was the Crocs, 550s

right? 557s

Think of the story of the chapel over in England. 561s

Little chapel in a village. 565s

It was really quite beautiful. 569s

It was made of all these stones, 570s

and that was quite lovely. 573s

And over the entrance of the chapel, 574s

the founders wrote these words. 577s

We preach Christ crucified. 580s

We preach Christ crucified. 585s

But a glorious thing to have over the Empress, 591s

entrance of a church, 594s

and exactly what that church did. 595s

They preached Christ crucified. 598s

Well, the church had some ivy 605s

that was growing up on the outside of the church, 608s

and over the years the ivy grew, 613s

and over the years the leadership changed. 615s

Eventually that ivy covered 619s

the very last word, crucified. 622s

So all you could read as you came into the chapel was, 625s

we preach Christ. 630s

Because ivy covered the crucified part. 634s

We preach Christ. 637s

Interestingly, what was occurring on the inside of the church 643s

was exactly what was happening with the ivy on the outside. 647s

The church preached Christ. 652s

But now that the cross was being left out of the proclamation. 655s

Indeed Christ was being proclaimed, 662s

but now Christ was more of a humanitarian. 664s

Christ was more of an example. 670s

Christ was more of a moral leader. 672s

Interesting. 679s

More years went by, and the ivy continued to grow. 680s

And now all you could read on the outside of the chapel was, 685s

we preach. 689s

We preach. 691s

Christ and the crucified had been covered up now by the ivy. 693s

As those people came up to the church and said, 698s

we preach, indeed, they preached in that chapel. 700s

They preached. 705s

Proclamation went forward. 707s

But now that preaching it was more about politics. 712s

It's more about who you should vote for. 719s

It was more personal stories by the preacher. 723s

It was more fuzzy, little home spun kind of tales. 729s

It was more positive thinking. 736s

It was more psychological principles to live. 741s

More appropriate in a counseling situation. 746s

For now it seemed like the services were more of group therapy. 752s

What happened was the cross was no longer the cross. 760s

Look at first two again. 774s

I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 779s

I decided to know nothing. 792s

Beloved, when anything in our lives replaces the cross of Jesus Christ, 796s

as the most important thing in life, 804s

when anything else becomes the cross of our life, 808s

that ivy needs to be pulled back. 819s

I need to be pulled back and God and His grace does just that. 823s

Coming in His grace and pulling away all of our misplaced priorities 831s

and all of the other things that we think. 836s

This is what my life is really about and God just keeps coming in His grace 838s

and pulling back that ivy. 843s

So that what shines is the cross of Jesus Christ. 849s

To where we understand that we have been placed on this earth 856s

and given limited number of breaths for the sole purpose of proclaiming Christ, 862s

crucified and risen. 872s

That we have been given breath to proclaim the gospel. 877s

That's the crux of our life. 881s

That Jesus Christ on the cross bore all of our sin, 886s

including all of the cruxes that we put up in our life. 892s

All of the things that we say are the number one things in our life. 896s

He bore all of our sin for giving us and redeeming us, 900s

paying the sin that we could never ever pay. 907s

Jesus being raised out of the tomb that declaration that the Father had accepted the sacrifice for sin, 914s

that glorious gospel shines them. 924s

For that is to be the crux of what it is we are to be about proclaiming Jesus, 932s

the cross, the empty tomb, 945s

forgiveness, life eternal in the Savior's name. 950s

This sermon today is the first of four in the Stoodle Sermon series I have entitled the mission. 962s

And each and every week we are going to sing the same hymn that was sung before the sermon. 971s

It is so rich and so deep. 980s

And my prayer is that after maybe a week or two, 985s

as you are going about your activities, maybe in the store, 991s

what's going to be going through your mind is this hymn. 994s

It will just become a part of you. 997s

Listen again to just the verses that Brian sang this morning. 1002s

There is a call going out across the land in every nation, 1008s

a call to all who swear allegiance to the cross of Christ. 1013s

A call to true humility to live our lives responsibly, 1020s

to deepen our devotion to the cross at any price. 1024s

Let us then be sober. 1032s

Moving only in the spirit as aliens and strangers in a hostile foreign land. 1033s

The message we are preaching is repentance and forgiveness. 1041s

The author of salvation to the dying race of man. 1047s

That just breathes Scripture. 1056s

Doesn't it just breathe as it? 1058s

And week after week here in these four weeks, 1061s

I want to unpack together these verses that undergird this great hymn. 1064s

And in two weeks, in two weeks I want to share with you an incredibly exciting 1071s

ministry that's going to emerge through our congregation in 2019. 1079s

I want to wait two weeks because it's the crescendo of the hymn. 1087s

I want to show you biblically where all this comes from because this ministry in 19 1093s

gets at the heart, right at the heart of who it is that we are to be and who and what it is 1101s

that we are to be about. 1110s

So at the end of the day, what's the crux of the matter? 1117s

The crux is the cross, isn't it? 1127s

And we have resolved to know nothing among each other than Christ crucified. 1135s

Nothing else. 1145s

And we have resolved as a people as we leave from this place and go into our homes and neighborhoods 1147s

and workplaces and schools to know nothing else than Christ crucified. 1154s

And we have resolved to know nothing else than Christ crucified. 1168s

And what is the crux? 1174s

It's the crux, right? 1178s

The crux is the crux. 1182s

Thank you. 1207s