A Tough Message to Stomach
1 Corinthians 1:18
NKJV
For the message of
the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being
saved it is the power of God.
I have
discovered, on several occasions, that the message of the Gospel is very
offensive to the human nature of an unsaved person. To better understand why this is, we should
first understand what the true gospel is.
I like the simple
description of the Gospel given by Paul in 1
Corinthians 15: 1-4.
3 For I
delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He
was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
What is there in
that statement that causes so much anger and hatred from the world towards
us?
First, this
Gospel offends the pride of a prideful person.
It tells us we need a savior, and that we cannot save ourselves. It
gives no credit to us at all for our salvation.
All the work was done by Christ and He receives all the credit.
Second, the gospel offends our wisdom. It saves us by something many consider
foolishness. God becoming man and being
born poor in an animal stable and growing up to die a humiliating, painful death
on our behalf.
Third, the gospel offends our knowledge. It tells us to believe something which goes
against scientific knowledge and personal experience. We have to believe that a dead man rose back
to life and walked out of a sealed tomb in a glorious new body that would never
die again and because of that WE can have a glorious new body and never die
again. If you look at it like that, it
is a strange story. As Paul wrote, the
Gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing.
Paul did not
make up this gospel. He received it from
Jesus Christ directly. And as he
describes the Gospel in these verses, it’s important to remember that he’s not
relating a story or a homily. At the
core of the gospel are things that happened, actual, real, events. The gospel isn't a matter of religious opinions;
it is a matter of record, having been witnessed by many people who recorded
what they saw.
They record that
Christ died. His death is the very
center of the Gospel message. I have
encountered a few people whose main objection seems to be that we are
glorifying the death of an innocent man.
Yet the fact He was innocent was the very reason His death is so
important. This is a point that is so
hard for people to understand. But He
had to be the perfect sacrifice, so He had to be innocent.
They also record
that He was buried. Seems like a small point
in the story, but the burial of Jesus is important for many reasons. It is proof positive that He really died,
because you don't bury someone unless they are really dead. Jesus' burial is also important because it
fulfilled the Scriptures which declared, And they made His grave with the wicked; but with the rich at His death.
Isaiah 53:9. Jesus was buried and He was placed in the tomb
of a wealthy man.
Then they record
the part of the story we really like – He arose. If He had not risen and walked out of that
tomb, the Gospel would be just another story of a charismatic leader beginning
a cult and then dying. People would go
to His grave and have their picture taken in front of a sign proclaiming, “The
last resting place of Jesus,” then life would go on. But His resurrection is not just an “add on”
to the story, it becomes the final proof of the Gospel. If we look at the cross as the payment for
our sins, then the empty tomb is our receipt for the debt paid. Lots of religious leaders have died for their
causes, but only One has come back from the grave.
They also record
that He rose again the third day. The
fact that Jesus rose again the third day is part of the gospel. Jesus did not just die randomly and then God
decided on the spot to resurrect Him. This
was all planned in advance and carried out to God’s timetable. He preached that He would be in the grave
three days, and He was in the grave three days.
Paul writes that
all this was according to the Scriptures.
Paul repeats this twice in these verses.
This all happened just as it was planned and nothing happened by
accident. The Old Testament has many
references to the events of the Gospel.
His death is describes in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. His resurrection in Hosea 6:2, Jonah 1:17,
Psalm 16:10. And we know that their understanding
of these things was vague and incomplete, but the writers in the Old Testament
were faithful to write about Him even though they did not fully understand what
was to happen.
Lastly, remember
that there were witnesses to all this.
1 Corinthians 15
5 and that He
was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
6 After that
He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part
remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
7 After that
He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
8 Then last
of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
No one saw the actual resurrection of Jesus, no one was
present in the tomb with Him when His body transformed into a resurrection
body. Though no one saw the actual
resurrection of Jesus, many people saw the resurrected Jesus.
Stephen Cram June 15, 2012 Colossians 2:8
Beware lest anyone cheat you through
philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to
the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. Colossians
2:8
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