Church and Cross

January 30 2011 Reading: 1 Corinthians 1.18-31

Theme: The Cross........ foolishness and power of God

I have a text this morning and its this:

These famous words of Paul, in 1 Corinthians 1.18

18 ...the message of the cross is nonsense to those

who are being lost, but for us who are being saved it is God’s power.

The Cross: In April 2009 a discovery was made at the Royal North Shore hospital in Sydney, which was widely reported in the local and national press[1]. Not a medical discovery, not a step forward in treatment, not a new insight into how disease develops, not a criticism of the recovery rates - actually, it was much more straightforward than that. It was discovered that the cross which had been on the wall of the chapel had disappeared. It been there for as long as anyone could remember, at the front of the hospital chapel, now it was gone. This only emerged when the Mayor of the district, Mayor Dom Lopez, a devout Catholic, went into hospital for treatment for cancer..... after admission he went into the chapel, for quietness, and time to reflect and noticed that the cross had gone.....

Not because of complaints received, there have been none recorded from the Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist communities in the last forty or fifty years.

no, it was removed by order of someone in the New South Wales

civil service........ It was there one day, gone the next.

The local Liberal MP said the decision was “bureaucratic madness........crazy, absolutely crazy,” she said. The cross, vanished from sight.

Last week we heard how Paul writes to the Church at Corinth, the main concern of the letter is what the Church is........ . But in the first chapter of his letter there are some extraordinary words of Paul about the Cross, its strangeness, its mystery.

It is mysterious.............. the message of the Cross, nowadays can be a mysterious thing indeed.

In many South American countries, in the mountains, the Peruvian Andes, for example, a cross is often put up on the top of one of the nearby mountains. Everyone down below in the valleys can see the Cross - sometimes it will be clear, against the bright blue sky, other times shrouded in mist, or cloud. The folks down below in the valleys will still know its there, but it is shrouded in mist. So too, like ourselves, we know the Cross is there, there in the Bible, but sometimes it seems as if it is shrouded in mist.

It certainly meant a very great deal for the writers of the New Testament, Paul, Peter, John......... and for the Early Church.

But it seems difficult to say in a few simple words what the Cross means, what it might mean for us.

Of course, there are some who think we should abandon talk about the Cross. Because its outdated.

Singing about the Cross of Jesus is fine in the hymns sung away back in Queen Victoria’s time, or in mission halls fifty years ago.........

But the message of the Cross, some would say, just doesn’t make sense to ordinary people today.

Instead we should make sure that everything we say can be easily understood by the man and woman on the street and leave the mystery of the Cross, as just that, mystery.

So what does Paul say here in Corinthians about the Cross of Jesus Christ ?

Can the Word here give us any guidance ? Well, I think it can, in fact what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1. verse 18 is of great importance - what he says draws to think more deeply about the Cross, this is what he writes: verse 18 ...the message of the cross is nonsense to those who are being lost, but for us who are being saved it is the power of God.

What does Paul mean by these words ?

Let’s take it in two parts...........

First, ...the message of the cross is nonsense to those outside ..........

there are two reasons for why it seems to be nonsense............

First: the message of the Cross of Jesus seems to be nonsense because it is such deep wisdom. A wisdom so deep that you couldn’t just watch a TV programme about it, download it from the internet, or order it from Amazon.

No, the message of the Cross has to do with life, the life we live everyday as Christians..... but it seems to be nonsense because it is such deep wisdom.

And secondly,

the fact that we don’t always understand it right away,

and it may seem like nonsense - is deliberate...........

Listen, that is what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians...........

the message of the Cross is nonsense to those who are being lost.........

for God Himself says.......it is written.........God says....... I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and set aside the understanding of the scholars..............

The mystery of the Cross is a mystery, because it is deep wisdom hidden deep by the living God....... so that to those who pay little or no attention to it, it makes no sense.......... it is nonsense..........

but Paul goes on to say...........

for us who are being saved, the Cross is the

God’s power !

the Cross - For those who have no interest, the Cross means nothing and is nonsense.

but for those who seek, and find, the Cross is the absolute centre of life. Paul is saying that the message of the Cross is very deep wisdom indeed, but isn’t that a wonderful encouragement to try and understand that here, in the Cross, is the God’s power. Jesus said: When I am lifted up, I will draw all to me. To those who allow themselves to be drawn to the Cross of Jesus, for those who seek Him and find Him there, the Cross becomes the power of God. Isn’t that what George Bennard’s hymn the Old Rugged Cross, is all

about ? The Old Rugged Cross, still sung with such feeling, such longing, such warmth at funeral services - listen to the words, and we hear in them great echoes of what Paul is saying in Corinthians, and what we are trying to say this morning.

Here are some of the words:

that Old Rugged Cross, so despised by the world

has a wondrous attraction for me, .........

In that Old Rugged Cross, stained with blood so divine,

a wondrous beauty I see........ To that Old Rugged Cross....... I will ever be true

its shame and reproach gladly bear..........

All of these verses and words speak in a deeply warm and personal way, of the attraction, the beauty, the truth of the Cross of Jesus and what it meant to

You know, the striking thing is...........

the Cross of Jesus is central to the Bible, the whole Bible.............

and central to God’s purpose for us.

It is already there in the prophets: take Isaiah 53 - speaking of the One who was to come........... the prophet says........

He was pierced for our transgressions,

crushed for our iniquities,

the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him

by His wounds we are healed............

He bore the sins of many........

Here is the great prophet Zechariah 12.

10. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they

will mourn as one mourns for an only child, and

grieve bitterly as one grieves for a firstborn son.

And at the Last Supper, Jesus spoke of the Cross, spoke of His own death, it was all mystery, wisdom too deep for the disciples at that moment. There in the upper room Jesus spoke of what would happen, and what would unfold in the following hours.

He shared the bread and wine with the disciples and said: This is my body, for you. This is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, poured out for many, to take away sins. Jesus Himself speaks in those deep and holy moments of the Cross...... .

The message of the Cross, writes Paul, is a hindrance to some and nonsense to others -

But the astonishing declaration of the New Testament is that this is the way the living God has chosen, it is written.........God says....... I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and set aside the understanding of the scholars.............

God has chosen the Cross.......

And the power and the truth of the Cross is

revealed to us not by human wisdom but when God Himself draws us to the Cross of Jesus, and His Spirit works in our hearts..........

Next Sunday we will hear more of what Paul has to say about the Cross

When the Cross comes to its rightful place

it illuminates the entire Bible with its light............... and our own lives !

This is the glory of the Cross, its towering significance. To grasp the message of the Cross is to begin to understand the rich deep wisdom of God, in its liberating, life giving truth. And here is the promise for us.........

When we come to understand more deeply what God has done through Jesus at the Cross, and take it into our own lives it is then we come to know with Paul that the message of the Cross is not nonsense, it is the power, the living power of God for ourselves, our lives.

AMEN.