1 Corinthians 3:10,11,16-23

The Seventh Sunday After the Epiphany

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

What’s Church For? Building

1 Corinthians 3:10, 11, 16-23

10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 

16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple. 18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” 21 So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. (NIV)

Whether or not a person has even an ounce of know-how when it comes to what all is involved in the process of building construction, most find it pretty fascinating to see the whole process take place from start to finish, to see the building gradually take shape over time.  From the moment an area becomes cleared and fenced in, we’re curious to see what building will go there and what it will look like when it’s finished.  Once the foundation is poured, we get an idea of how large or small the building will be.  After the framing is up, we can visualize the general shape of the building.  As walls and windows fill in the final details, we have a pretty clear picture of what the finished product will look like, leaving basically just the colors and finishing touches to be carried out.  Then, after the last nail has been pounded and the final brush stroke has been painted, the tools, work trucks, and workers disappear, on their way to the next job because the construction is complete and the building has been finished.

Paul’s illustration for the Corinthians leads us to imagine a similar process taking place within the Church.  He pictured the work of the church as putting up a building with a foundation.  As the architect, Paul had to make sure that he started with the proper foundation, and that others would, too.  Then, as in any building project, it is always necessary in church building to proceed with caution, being careful not to cut corners or do things haphazardly. 

As we see this morning from Paul’s letter, there are natural points of comparison between a literal, brick and mortar building project and the building that goes on within the Church.  There is, however, one major difference: the building that goes on within the Church is ongoing; it will never be complete (until the Last Day, when the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ, returns).  That can be an easy enough reality for Christians to overlook – particularly Christians who gather together in a physical church building, and even more so for those who were involved in constructing that physical building.  We have a tendency to fall into a complacent mentality that feels as if the goal was to put up a building, and once we have our building, then the work of building the Church is finished.  But nowhere in here (Bible) does God ever once give the impression to Christians that his purpose for our lives is to put up church buildings, or that once we have, well, we can sit back and enjoy using it to meet our own needs until he takes us home to heaven.  Church is for building, but that building doesn’t stop once a brick and mortar sanctuary has been constructed; Church building is ongoing.

The imagery of ongoing building and repair in the Church is one that is consistent in Scripture.  Think back to the Baptizer’s message, one that he applied from the prophet Isaiah: “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God’s salvation” (Luke 3:4-6).  Any new development or city planning requires infrastructure.  There need to be roads in order to get to the buildings that are built.  John the Baptist used that picture of road building and construction to illustrate the constant need for the believer’s life to be one of repentance.  The potholes of sin that are permanently popping up in my heart need to be repaired, and repentance, which not only acknowledges those potholes, but also recognizes that the blood of Jesus is the only thing that will repair them, is the only solution.

Like John the Baptist, Peter also used the picture of ongoing building to depict what goes on within the Church.  Referring to Jesus, he wrote, “As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4,5).  “Are being built,” Peter wrote, not “were built” or “have been built.”  The building project within the Church is ongoing, and it will be until the final Day when the Architect returns and every impurity from the building project will be removed and only the beautiful, the perfect, the holy Church, built through the hammer and nails used to pound our Savior to the cross, will remain.

Until that Last Day, Paul’s Church building blueprint in 1 Corinthians, reminds us of how important the foundation is. “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care.  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (v. 10-11).  Paul reminded the Corinthians about the two most important details of laying the proper foundation.  Of primary importance is that the foundation is Jesus Christ.  Jesus himself emphasized this truth when he told the parable of the wise and foolish builders in Matthew 7.  Only the house built on the rock solid foundation of Jesus Christ will last.  Paul’s second point about that foundation of Jesus Christ was that such a foundation is poured only by God’s grace.  Grace alone led Paul to serve as an expert builder, knowing that only one foundation would last.  Grace alone is what prompted God to reveal his Son as the only suitable foundation upon which to build the Church.

As the Corinthians were in danger of discovering, nothing else matters in Church building if the foundation isn’t right.  When one does not continue to build with the caution Paul urges, the results can look a lot like the division that was starting to fracture the congregation.  Members of the congregation started to build on the faulty foundations of various leaders within the congregation, and in the process the integrity of the true foundation, Jesus Christ, was being compromised.  When that is allowed to happen, the end result is inevitable: just like the house built on sand, any church not built on the foundation of Jesus Christ crumbles.  When it comes to Church building, the foundation is everything.  Jesus Christ is everything.

When the concrete has cured and the right foundation of Jesus Christ has been properly poured, the next phases of construction are ready to take place.  And, as Paul reminded the Corinthians, Church building was not about lumber and other raw materials, it was about people.  “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? … for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple” (v.16,17b).  Consider the significance of Paul’s words here as they relate to Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church and School.  How often, when we hear or speak that name, don’t we immediately think of 9191 Fletcher Parkway, La Mesa, CA 91942?  That’s Shepherd of the Hills, right?  Across from the Michael’s and the Souplantation, at the intersection of Dallas/Southern and Fletcher Parkway, that’s where you’ll find Shepherd of the Hills, correct?  But if that’s the case, then did Shepherd of the Hills not really exist almost 50 years ago, when several families began to meet each Sunday for worship at Grossmont College under the same name?  Of course it existed!  Why?  Because a church is not a “what?,” but a “who?”  The Church is not a building; it’s people.  Shepherd of the Hills is not a this sanctuary, the MP room, the classrooms, the playground, or the parking lot, etc.; rather it is the Drapers, the Jaegers, the Schoonovers, the Smiths, the Bakers, the Whites, the McDonoughs, and all the other souls equally treasured by God that have gathered and continue to gather around Jesus’ Word and sacrament.  Shepherd of the Hills is not made up of stucco and studs, but flesh and blood; it’s not a building, but people.

So now, if we’re talking about Church building this morning, what does Paul show us we’re really talking about?  People building.  “You together are that temple” (v.17), Paul wrote.  To build up the Church, you build up the people, and how is that done?  The answer is in what we’ve been talking about the previous four Sundays.  What do “Unity,” “Boasting,” “Power,” and “Wisdom” all have in common?  It’s the Word of God, which reveals to us the all important foundation that Paul speaks about this morning, Jesus Christ.  Where Jesus Christ is preached, where Jesus Christ is proclaimed, there alone the Holy Spirit builds his temple.  There alone he dwells.  Isn’t that what Jesus had in mind when people were asking where his kingdom was, and he responded by saying it wasn’t here or there, but within you?  Wherever the wrecking ball of God’s law deals its crushing blows to our sinful, selfish pride, and the gospel of forgiveness repairs and renews, there is where Church building is going on, and there is where Christ’s Church will always exist.

And dare we forget it, let us remember the One responsible for the building.  Although Christ’s Church is made up of people, it isn’t people who build his Church, but Christ himself.  It isn’t a pastor or a teacher or the right lay leader in the right place at the right time; it is Christ who builds his Church.  It is the Holy Spirit who enriches and enlightens our little ones through the Word taught at our elementary school and in Sunday school.  It is the Holy Spirit who sustains and strengthens us all through the Bible as it is read and studied in our homes and here in worship and Bible studies.  God alone is credited with Church building, which prompted Paul to write, “So then, no more boasting about human leaders!” (v.21).  But if we can’t boast in human leaders, why then does Paul write, “all things yours” (v.21)?  Because God has given you and me, the Church, all the tools needed for him to build us up.  We lack nothing, for we have his law and gospel, word and sacrament, water and bread & wine, body and blood – we have everything needed for Church building – all of it is ours, and all of it came from him.  Let us use his tools faithfully, so that on the foundation of Jesus Christ, the Lord might continue to build, which is, finally, what Church is for.  Amen.

                                                               

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)

1 Corinthians 2:6-13 Sermon

The Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

What’s Church For? Wisdom

1 Corinthians 2:6-13

6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
    what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
    the things God has prepared for those who love him—

10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. (NIV)

I don’t usually do this, but I’d like to get some idea of the degree of collective wisdom among us this morning.  Those of you who have a doctorate (Ph.D) in anything, please raise your hands.  Alright, now those of you who are members of the high IQ society, Mensa, please raise your hands.  OK, how about a show of hands for those of you whose SAT or ACT scores ranked in the top 10^th percentile?  Hmmmm… we may have our work cut out for us in the smarts department.

Just one more question: how many of you know and have sung the song, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so?”  And how many of you believe that song to be true?  Ah, then there it is, as it turns out we have a sanctuary full of the world’s smartest people here this morning.  By the world’s standards of wisdom, we may not measure up, but by the standard that matters – God’s standard of wisdom – we’ve got a bunch of geniuses here this morning.

While spiritual wisdom may not be as highly praised by the world as its own worldly wisdom, worldly wisdom has its limits, doesn’t it?  After all, do you remember who your valedictorian was in high school?  Are you able to name any of the recent winners of Jeopardy?  How many Nobel Prize winners can you name, from any of the categories?  The point is not that such wisdom has no value, nor would we ever discourage our young people from continuing to pursue an excellent education.  The point, rather, is that what this world views as wisdom has its limits and does not in the end always seem to carry the same weight as may have been thought at first.  That’s what Solomon was trying to say when he wrote, “Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. What more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done? I saw wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. The wise man has eyes in his head, while the fool walks in the darkness; but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both. Then I thought in my heart, ‘The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?’ I said in my heart, ‘This too is meaningless.’ For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered; in days to come both will be forgotten. Like the fool, the wise man too must die!” (Ecclesiastes 2:12-16).

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul was making a similar point when distinguishing between worldly and spiritual wisdom.  He was careful to point out that it wasn’t wise logic or persuasive preaching that brought people to faith, but the power of the Holy Spirit.  However, once the necessity of the Holy Spirit’s hand at work became understood, Paul could then return back to that concept of wisdom and put it in its proper context.  “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age” (v.6).  On the one hand, worldly wisdom, like that of the Greeks, never was and never will be responsible for bringing anyone to faith.  On the other hand, neither did those considered wise in the world have the monopoly on wisdom, since wisdom – albeit a spiritual wisdom – is also a part of the mature, that is, believers.  And if we find wisdom among believers, then we can reasonably conclude that the church is for wisdom.

That wisdom, Paul wrote, is “not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age” (v.6).  Consider how that wisdom, the wisdom of this age, often showcased by the rulers of this age (or in some cases, not), has served mankind.  Sure, it has led to much advancement and innovation in virtually every pursuit across the board.  Yet, such wisdom still falls short in being able to answer the questions of life, the ones man has wrestled with since he has existed.  Worldly wisdom simply cannot adequately answer why we die or what happens to us when we die.  Neither can it tell us what our purpose is while we’re still alive.  It cannot explain why there is always sickness and suffering in the world.  It cannot explain why there will always be wars.  It cannot explain inequality and injustice.  So finally, if wisdom, capable and qualified as it is to contribute so much to the world, can’t answer such questions, then don’t we have to draw the same conclusion Paul did about those whose only wisdom is worldly wisdom?  Aren’t they “coming to nothing” (v.6)? 

And, if that’s the case, then how foolish are we to chase after worldly wisdom if it comes at the expense of spiritual wisdom?  How worthless it is to spend our time acquiring knowledge that will serve us only for this life, while remaining ignorant about the wisdom of God.  Surely we wouldn’t claim to be more intelligent than Solomon, yet don’t we cast his words of caution aside when our pursuit of worldly wisdom overshadows our desire to increase our spiritual wisdom.

 

To emphasize his point and to prove what happens when people only know worldly wisdom, Paul raised the question about the leaders of Jesus’ day crucifying him.  He pointed out that if the rulers of Jesus’ day were guided by anything other than worldly wisdom, surely “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (v.8).  Had they known who Jesus truly was, had they known what he came to do and why he came to do it, surely they would have dealt with him differently and not put him to death.  But they didn’t, for they were driven by worldly wisdom.

In contrast to those whose wisdom is limited to include only the wisdom of this world. Paul speaks about another group of people: the mature.  It’s interesting to note how Paul refers to those who do have the wisdom that is not of this world.  The word translated “mature” is the same word Jesus spoke from the cross when he announced, “It is finished.”  The mature are those in whom the Holy Spirit’s desired goal of working faith has been accomplished, or finished.  While they have not yet reached the ultimate goal of heaven, the whole point and purpose of their time here on earth has been completed if they are believers who have been brought to faith.  They are mature.  In the sense of reaching the goal of bringing people to saving faith, that work has been finished in them.  They are mature.  You and I are mature. 

But that doesn’t mean we have no desire to continue growing in that wisdom; quite the opposite is true!  In fact, one of the indicators of that maturity is the growing desire to center more of our lives on the Word of God.  Though the world recognizes that wisdom is associated with studying and reading and books, there is one book it refuses to treat with the same courtesy: the Bible.  Worldly wisdom can do without the Bible.  Should this surprise us?  Absolutely not, and why?  Because it doesn’t know the Author. 

Think about that for a moment.  If you had an established relationship – friendly or even on some greater level – and you discovered that the other person in this relationship was a published author, do you think you’d be more inclined to spend a little time reading what this friend has written?  So it is with you and me, believers, who personally know the Author of the Bible.  We know the One whose divine inspiration is behind every letter of every word of Scripture.  We know him and his boundless love for us in Christ.  And so because we know him, we want to grow in our wisdom of who he is and all that he does for us by reading it in his Word, the Bible, the source of eternal wisdom.

Furthermore, the Bible is the only place that wisdom is revealed, for only there does the Holy Spirit reveal himself to us.  Paul wrote, “For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (v.11).  The picture Paul is using here calls to mind a not uncommon situation.  As you are sitting and listening to a speaker or a presentation, the individual next to you sighs loudly.  Why?  Is he tired or worn out?  Did he just recall an errand he still had to run that day?  Did he not appreciate something that was just said?  You wouldn’t know unless he explained to you why he sighed.  Only he knows what was behind that sigh, and unless he reveals it to you, you are only left to speculate.  In the same way, no one is able to know the thoughts of God unless the Holy Spirit reveals them.  And he does that in his Word.  Be wary of those who so confidently presume that God gave them this sign or that feeling or some other guidance apart from God’s revealed will in his Word.  While we don’t doubt that God is always at work in our lives, it’s not only presumptuous, but also be dangerous to habitually convince ourselves that this or that was God’s will when the Holy Spirit hasn’t clearly revealed as much through the Word.

Why?  Because it can easily overlook the main purpose for which God has given us his Word, and the Holy Spirit to reveal it to us.  Paul explained, “What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us” (v.12).  God’s number one desire is that our eyes may be opened to see what he has freely given us, or, to state it another way that more literally reflects the original, to see that with which he has graced us.  Simply put, God wants men to know the forgiveness he won for them in Jesus Christ through his perfect life and innocent death.  That is the wisdom that matters to God.  So intensely does God long for all mankind to have and to grow in that wisdom, that he not only gave us a book, the Bible, to acquire that knowledge, but also font and communion rail, at which also he grants and grows spiritual wisdom.  Of course, where do we find all of these tools?  We find them in the church.  Should that surprise us?  Of course not, since wisdom is what Church is for. Amen.

                                                               

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 Sermon

The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

What’s Church For? Power

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. (NIV)

Ask a guy what his idea of power is and he might mention an NFL linebacker bearing down toward the quarterback at full speed, or a hemi under the hood of truck, or his collection of power tools that adorn his man cave.  A woman might have other ideas of power, probably being more likely to speak to how a book or movie was emotionally stirring and powerful.  A child’s idea of power might be a strong, invincible father, or a frightening thunderstorm.  Different ideas of power abound.

The church has always served as an example of power, unfortunately both good and bad.  Bad examples of corruption and the abuse of power show up in history where the church has lost its bearings and gotten tangled up in secular ideas of power, blurring the line between church and state.  But good examples of the church’s power are also evident. A look at the names of various hospitals, universities, shelters, and other buildings and organizations established to benefit society would indicate that the church also had the power to make positive contributions that served to benefit all people.  

But one wonders how many outside church would still point to the church as an example of power today.  In fact, the perception increasingly seems to be that the church is not for the strong or powerful, but for the weak.  It’s perceived as being for those who need a crutch or who don’t have the strength of character to go against the current and stand up for themselves.  Many feel church is for the weak, and the trend of dwindling numbers of men in the pews may reflect that perception.  After all, church is where we hear about love and feelings and emotions – not manly stuff; not the stuff that pertains to power in the eyes of most men.

This morning we continue to hear from one man who thought differently.  As Paul continues his letter to the Corinthians this morning, he asserts that, contrary to what may be popular belief today, church is for power.  And if one wishes to test Paul’s credibility or manlihood, remember that this is the man who endured no small amount of suffering for the sake of the church.  If anyone manned up for the church, ironically, the very church which he had previously been intent upon destroying, it was Paul.  He was shipwrecked, stoned, and starved, sleep-deprived and beaten. He was jailed and flogged.  Paul was no sissy.

Paul isn’t the only one.  When we consider God’s record of powerful acts throughout history, there is plenty that points to power in the church, as God acted in defense of, and at other times, against, his people.  Think of the accounts that clearly served as shows of God’s power.  The expansive universe and every microscopic detail that is a part of it – all of it was created by his powerful word alone.  Every square inch of surface area on the earth – submerged beneath a suffocating Flood.  Fire rains down on a wicked city, consuming it.  Thunder cracks and trumpets blast terrifying sounds from a smoke-smothered Mt. Sinai.

Yes, God’s power has been prominently on display since the dawn of time.  But that kind of power wasn’t the power Paul was referring to when writing to the Corinthians.  The power he was referring to was the power that was displayed on the day of death known as Good Friday.  The power he was referring to was the power that was displayed three days after that on the day of resurrection, the day of life eternal, the day of Easter.  No greater display of power in the world and in history had been witnessed like the power over death that brought life.  That was the power to which Paul had committed himself while with the Corinthians, as he explained, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (v.2).  And why should he?  Why should he bother with anything else when nothing else is so powerful as the message of Jesus Christ and him crucified?

Paul shows so clearly that he gets it, doesn’t he?  The believers in Corinth had myriad problems and sins that needed to be hashed out and dealt with.  Things were not looking pretty in Corinth.  Their congregation would not have served well as the model church you’d put on display if trying to sell someone on the benefits of church membership.  Ah, but that’s just it.  Paul recognized it wasn’t the caliber of the congregation that mattered, but rather the content of the message by which it stood.  In that regard then, Corinth actually did serve as a fine example of what church was for – its failures were the perfect showcase for God’s power.  Paul’s confidence in shepherding the believers there was not based on their past performance that led him to believe with the right coaching things would turn around.  No, his confidence was in the power of the gospel – Jesus Christ and him crucified – that alone was able to turn things around.  That was the same confidence Paul expressed when he wrote to the Romans, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of salvation for everyone who believes” (1:16).  Paul knew that the gospel alone had the power the Corinthians needed to aid them in all their troubles.  There was no greater power in the world than the gospel.

Still today we can say that there is no greater power in the world than the gospel.  We just had our Annual meeting last Sunday.  When we reflect on things like the number of baptisms or confirmands, when we look at averages for worship and Bible class attendance, what are we really seeing?  We’re seeing evidence of the power of the gospel at work.  When we discuss plans pertaining to a preschool or starting worship at a second location, what are we demonstrating?  We’re demonstrating that we have confidence in the power of the gospel, and we want to explore any and every possible opportunity for that powerful gospel to be communicated, so that it might bear fruit as God determines.

But we also have to consider that someone could come to another conclusion on the basis of the aforementioned statistics, or at least raise some questions that deserve to be asked.  For example, when worship or Bible class attendance decline from one year to the next in a congregation, or over the course of a few years, is there need to ask if such a trend is because some are questioning the power of the gospel, and therefore conclude that being in the means of grace, the gospel in Word and sacrament, doesn’t really make a difference?  Is it possible that a congregation’s worship attendance declines because its members are not availing themselves of opportunities to communicate the gospel to friends and relatives, or invite them to hear it in worship, because, well, they just don’t think the gospel will work on them?  Is it possible for a Christian congregation to struggle to move forward because, even though it may recognize the power of the gospel, it doesn’t want to give the work of that gospel precedence over personal preference and convenience in how things are done?  Or, might a congregation be tempted to go too far in the other direction and implement questionable or unwise practices that are witnessed in other “growing” or “successful” churches because, well, the gospel just doesn’t seem to be getting anything accomplished?

We cannot say with certainty that it’s a lack of confidence in the gospel that would be the root cause of these sorts of issues.  However, it is necessary for each and every Christian to consider such possibilities, for each of us to ask these questions of ourselves, so that if a lack of confidence in the power of the gospel is exposed in our hearts, each of us can take that sin before the Lord and confess it.  And when we do that, then we will have the opportunity to again be reminded of just how powerful the gospel is.

How powerful is it?  You’re forgiven, I’m forgiven for our failures of putting complete confidence in the power of the gospel.  How ironic that the very tool that we would question or doubt, the gospel, is able to turn around and give a demonstration of its power by assuring us that such questioning and doubt has been paid for and forgiven.  I know – it shouldn’t be this way, should it?  We don’t deserve to be shown any mercy by means of the very gospel that we at times turn away from or neglect.  It should be one and done with the gospel; we get the chance to hear it and see it at work, and, if after witnessing that, we ever question its power again, God should rip it away from us and give it to someone else who cares!

But he doesn’t do that!  Instead he continues to entrust that very powerful gospel to you and me, to his church, that it might demonstrate its power again and again through the pronouncement of forgiveness, secured for you and me at Calvary.  Now do you understand why Paul “resolved to know nothing… except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (v.5)?  There simply is nothing else so powerful in all the world that is able to forgive the very sinners who are guilty of doubting or despising its power.  And Paul was so confident in the gospel that he didn’t want to present any possibility of confusion.  He did not want anyone being led to believe that the power was really in his eloquence, or that it was really because his wisdom allowed him to craft such a convincing message, or that his ability to turn a phrase or his way with words was really the power at work.  Paul’s message was always the proclamation of Jesus’ life and death as Substitute and Savior.

May that always be our message as well, for God has entrusted the power of his gospel to believers, the Church.  Let our proclamation, our message, never be like the weathervane, which points in whatever direction the winds of popular opinion and preference are blowing.  Let our proclamation instead be like the compass, which no matter the conditions, always points in the same direction, and that direction is always to the cross and the One crucified on it.  And, dear friends, if that is to be our message, the proclamation of the powerful gospel, then let us encourage one another to hear it.  That power is what church is for.  Amen.

                                                               

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)