What we preach: 1 Corinthians 1:2-2:5

"But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness” 1 Cor 1:23

Contrary to popular sentiment, Christ’s death on the cross does not provide for a universal amnesty or universal salvation. The message of the cross is in fact an insult to human pride and devastates human wisdom.

Mac Arthur points out that God’s wisdom is superior in five ways:

Its’ permanence contrasted with the impermanence of man’s wisdom

            Where is the wise: the philosopher?

            Where is the scribe: the writer?

            Where is the disputer: the orator?

            The best of these are unable to solve men’s problems.

Its’ Power contrasted with the weakness of human wisdom

• The world by wisdom cannot know God.
• The love of God is impossible for man to produce in humanity.
• The power of God is not understood apart from the message of the cross.
• The greatest of man’s achievements pale in comparison to what God accomplished at the cross.

Its’ Paradox

• Not many philosophers (wisdom, education, brains), not many powerful and influential people (Popularity and famous), not many born to a high class or societal rank (royalty and rich inheritors) are called….only a few.
• God calls the simple, the uneducated, the common folk to come to know God as a rebuke to man’s vaunted wisdom.
• Calling is God’s choice and not man’s. v. 24 ‘elected’; v 26 ‘election’; v.27 ‘chosen’; v.28 ‘chosen’ We are not saved because we were smart enough to figure it out, we are saved because God chose us, we are part of God’s election, we are God’s choice, God’s elect, God’s called ones.
• Chosen not for good in us but to show His exceeding riches in grace. That is, we are chosen because of our wickedness and depravity in order for God to show His power by the paradox of His choosing us.

It’s Purpose

• By God’s choice then we are made to be wise in Christ.
• We become God’s wisdom because we are in Christ.
• It is for His glory and not our own.

2 Corinthians 4:6 makes reference to Genesis and the supernatural light that appeared out of the dark void of the universe before the sun and stars were created. This same supernatural light that separated darkness from light and shadows from substance has now illuminated the heart of the believer in the same way.

Just as God spoke and it was so, God calls and we are saved to reveal the substantive glory of God in Christ as distinct from the shadowy darkness of man’s religion and wisdom.

God not only reveals Himself to us, but also through us by the knowledge of His will. We now know who God is, what He is doing and where we are going. We now have a purpose that is not our own, but God’s,

Not only so, but we now have a righteousness not our own, but God’s. We now have a holiness that is not our own, but Gods (sanctification); We now have a redemption that we could not purchase yet has been bought for us by God.

Godly Divisiveness

Therefore, we are not to be divided on non-essentials of politics, race or anything that pertains to man’s opinion or wisdom. Don’t boast that you are rich and can buy your comforts. Likewise don’t boast that you are wise and able to provide your own comforts. Don’t take pride that you are white or black, American, Canadian, Irish or African.

Don’t take pride in these inferior points. If we are to boast or glory or have any point of pride, have it in this that we are God’s own choice and calling. Our abilities and station in life are appointed by God for the accomplishment of His purposes in Christ.

If we boast or take pride in anything but the cross, we create ungodly division. If we preach anything else but Christ crucified, we are going to cause ungodly division.

If all that we preach is Christ and not Christ crucified, we are going to cause an ungodly division. For we will be preaching Christ the example of virtue, commitment and self-actualization that we should all aspire to. We will become guilty of religious elitism and snobbishness.

If all that we do is give oratory about today’s politics and social problems and not Christ crucified, we will cause ungodly division. We will be guilty of intellectual elitism and snobbishness.

There is a division that comes from preaching Christ crucified, but it is a godly division. It is the division between those whom God has called to faith in Christ and those who remain faithful only to themselves and man’s wisdom.  

The cross of Christ divides men as to what they boast in.

The Christian should be found guilty of abandoning man’s wisdom and any hope of self-fulfillment, self actualization and self attainment through human wisdom.

This is not to say that education and scientific understanding or compassionate understanding of man’s plight is to be scoffed at. It is rather to say that a fuller understanding of all of these is only possible through death to self and being made alive in Christ. This is only possible through the cross of Christ that crucifies self and creates in our material flesh an entirely new creation in Christ.

It’s Plan: 1 Cor 2:1-5

We are to preach the testimony of God without reliance upon excellent oratory or philosophical debate. It’s power is not to be seen in human ability. Instead, with fear and trembling, with simplicity and earnestness we are to bear witness to God’s power by our calling to bear witness to truth. (For all truth is God’s truth)

So, what is it that we are called to be? We are called to be martyrs (witnesses). We are called to bear witness to the true nature of God. In particular, it that true nature of God as displayed at the cross of Christ. 

It is God’s willingness to become the gory display of where man’s pride leads…

It is the unrivaled display of God’s amazing Grace.

That is what we are to preach, to teach and to apply to our lives. 1 Tim 4:13 is Paul’s explanation of what Timothy was to do as a minister of the gospel of Christ.

He is to read it, to exhort or apply it and he is to teach it or explain it. In other words, before he teaches it to others, he has to be an example of application, an encourager for others to follow. He is not a divider of men over non-essentials but rather an effectual soldier of the cross; A slayer of man’s wisdom and intellect.

This does not tickle the ears of the public; it does not give us what we (in our flesh) want to hear. That is why the gospel is to us who are being saved, the savor of life unto life and to those who perish, the savor of death unto death. 2 Cor. 2:14-17

The Plan of God is that by the preaching of the Word through a small, foolish and weak band of redeemed humanity, He is to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men (1 Peter 2:1). 

The folly of preaching is by these means shown to be wiser than men.


For more study on this subject:

Supremacy of God in Preaching (John Piper)

Preaching: How to Preach Biblically (MacArthur Pastor's Library)

The Gift of preaching: The power of the Holy Spirit

The following is adapted from John Piper's

Supremacy of God in Preaching 

It is impossible to suggest that one depraved soul can save another depraved soul from eternal damnation by mere words. Yet it is God's wisdom to choose this very method to show that the power to save cannot come from man himself, it must come entirely from God. 

The gift of preaching then is where God condescends to allow man to be an agent of change through the Holy Spirit's application of God's Word.

The Holy Spirit reveals Christ as He is and not as we wish Him to be. The following quotations run contrary to popular notions about God and His Christ... 

[51] Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to bring strife and division! [52] From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against--or the other way around. [53] There will be a division between father and son, mother and daughter, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law." [54] Then Jesus turned to the crowd and said, "When you see clouds beginning to form in the west, you say, `Here comes a shower.' And you are right. [55] When the south wind blows, you say, `Today will be a scorcher.' And it is. [56] You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but you can't interpret these present times. - Luk 12:51-56 NLT 

[1] About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were sacrificing at the Temple in Jerusalem. [2] "Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than other people from Galilee?" he asked. "Is that why they suffered? [3] Not at all! And you will also perish unless you turn from your evil ways and turn to God. [4] And what about the eighteen men who died when the Tower of Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? [5] No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will also perish." - Luk 13:1-5 NLT

 [8] "Yes, I will tell you of things that are entirely new, for I know so well what traitors you are. You have been rebels from your earliest childhood, rotten through and through. [9] Yet for my own sake and for the honor of my name, I will hold back my anger and not wipe you out. [10] I have refined you but not in the way silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering. [11] I will rescue you for my sake--yes, for my own sake! That way, the pagan nations will not be able to claim that their gods have conquered me. I will not let them have my glory! [12] "Listen to me, O family of Jacob, Israel my chosen one! I alone am God, the First and the Last. [13] It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth. The palm of my right hand spread out the heavens above. I spoke, and they came into being.  Isa 48:8-13 NLT

For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard.

Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins.

For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. 

God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times.And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus.

Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No,because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds. It is based on our faith.

Romans 3:23-26 NLT

Our hypocrisy, self righteousness and pride are all laid low by the Word of the Lord. The choice is clear between faith in God or faith in ourselves. We cannot rightly have confidence in both.

Only the Spirit of God can bring us to submission of this reality.

His power is the gift of faith;  

"not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, 

not of works, lest any should boast

(Ephesians 2:8-10)

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The Ground of preaching: The Cross of Christ

The following is adapted from John Piper's

Supremacy of God in Preaching
If the goal of preaching is to bring Glory to God and the Pride of man resists it, what is to be gained by preaching, and how is this goal to be reached?

The goal of preaching is met with two massive obstacles: 
The righteousness of God and the Pride of man:

God is righteous in desiring His Glory to be manifest.

Man is sinful in desiring that his own glory be manifest.

The cross overcomes both the objective, external obstacle of God’s righteous opposition to human pride and it overcomes the subjective, internal obstacle of our proud opposition to the Glory of God.

The cross is the ground of the objective validity of preaching. What hope do we have in light of God’s righteousness and our sinfulness? 

Luke 13:1-5 This has been called the misplaced locus of amazement...
Man wonders that God should deny life, Heaven’s righteousness wonders that God should deny death to such sinful creatures as ourselves.

The cross of Christ is the only solution... 

Rom 3:23-26 Even though all scorn God’s Glory and God is committed to uphold that Glory, God has designed a way to reconcile the sinner to God.

My pride causes me to attach some sense of worth based on the idea that Christ went to the cross to purchase me because I was worth it.

That's wrong. 
I am not worth it. 
I have to die. 
Only the life of Christ living through me attaches any worth to my pitiful being. 

The Cross is not a witness to my infinite worth but to the immensity of the sin of my pride.

It witnesses to the infinite worth of God and the infinite outrage of sin.

The cross is the ground of the subjective humility of preaching. It is the power of God to crucify both the preacher and the congregation.

Gal 6:14 Crucified to the world.
Throughout the Apostle Paul's writings, he shows us that we may glory in the greatness of the Lord, not in ourselves. Pride stands in the way, the cross crucifies pride bringing us to a glad reliance on the mercies of God.

The problem of Corinth was that loft oratory and intellect would violate the very thing that the cross is intended to bring.

1 Cor 1:17 shows us that unless the preacher is crucified, the preaching is nullified.  What we are is crucial to what we say. 

Therefore, faith must not rest in the wisdom of men. 
Saving faith can only rest in the power of God.

Goal of preaching: The Glory of God

The following is adapted from John Piper's

Supremacy of God in Preaching

The Problem of preaching: The righteousness of God that judges sin and the pride of man that refuses to give God glory.

None of us like to be preached at,  

None of us like to be silenced, 

None of us wants to be exposed. 

Yet preaching is designed to do exactly that

As one preacher has stated, the goal is:

To Quicken the conscience by the holiness of God

To feed the mind with the truth of God

To purge the imagination by the beauty of God

To open the heart to the love of God

To devote the will to the purpose of God

                                    James Stewart, Scottish preacher

This is all contrary to the natural man. Only one whose conscience is purged by God can rightly respond...Romans 10:14-16 

Here we learn how the gospel is made effectual. It is the heralding of good news from a messenger sent by God. He chooses sinful men to speak to sinful men and women...

The overall plan and scope of the good news is found in  Isaiah 52:7 

Cotton Mather breaks it down for us:

God reigns. He will not suffer His Glory to be scorned indefinitely.

He will vindicate His name in great and terrible wrath. But for now a full and free amnesty is offered to all the rebel subjects who will turn from their rebellion, call on Him for mercy, bow before His throne and swear allegiance and fealty to Him forever.

The Amnesty is signed in the blood of His Son.

What drives God to this? Isa 48:9-11

“For my own sake I do it…for my Glory will I not give to another.”

According to Revelation 5:9: God’s deepest purpose for the world is to fill the earth with reverberations of His Glory in the lives of a new humanity ransomed from every tribe and nation.

Yet there is no glory of submission in servile fear by an act of raw authority. He wants glad submission rather than begrudging submission.

Many people make professions out of a fear of judgment and hell rather than appreciation of His Glory and worth. A true work of the Spirit is what brings to the sinner the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor 4:6

One great lesson that ought to be learned from gospel preaching is that God’s deepest commitment to be glorified and our deepest commitment to be satisfied are not incompatible. They find simultaneous consummation in the display of God’s Glory and my delight in it.

The natural man is not satisfied with the Glory of God...it is the savor of death unto death, but to we who are continually renewed unto salvation, it is the savor of life unto life.

In this we see that:

The one who satisfies gets the glory, 
the one who gives the pleasure is the treasure.

When the Kingdom is a treasure, submission is a pleasure. The Grand design of preaching is restore the throne and dominion of God in the souls of men.

What can bring this about?....

You Would Not

1)    Hear: 
Genesis 42:22; Deuteronomy 1:43; Jeremiah 29:19
2)    Go up: 
Deuteronomy 1:26 (excel, follow, extend your boundary; by extension, leave your comfort zone)
3)    Be obedient to God's voice: 
Deuteronomy 8:20
4)    Accept returning and rest; quietness and confidence: 
Isaiah 30:15
5)    Be gathered to God: 
Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34
6)    Have condemned the guiltless:  
If you only knew what God is really like. Matthew 12:7

Insisting on Resisting

The young  man stared at the graffiti laden prison walls. Each bitter tome scribbled there echoed his bitter, accusing conscience. The voices never stop, the accusations ring loud in the silence of his isolation. He hears his sister's voice calling him a loser, he hears his mother's sobs, he hears the self pitying whine of his own voice resisting his embattled conscience.

Another DUI charge, this time barely escaping with his life. Fortunately no one else was killed. Another car lost, another job lost, another opportunity lost. He tells himself that it would have been better if he had lost his life - except for one thing. 
He knows that he must meet God.

That early profession of faith in Jesus Christ rings pretty hollow now. A life resisting God's claim on his life has brought him to this desperation...

A similar sad scenario could be told and repeated by many throughout our fallen world. There are also many whose lives appear to be going well. They may be well respected church members. They are caring mothers and fathers in the community but they are likewise insisting on resisting the claims of Christ.


The Lord Jesus told a story to a group of religious people called Pharisees who were resisting the Lord's teaching. These Pharisees were the leaders of Jewish society at that time. They were control freaks who insisted on telling everyone else how to run their lives while hypocritically refusing to live by the same rules that they taught.


The Lord asked them a series of questions and one of them was about a king going to war.

Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 


So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:31-33 (ESV) 

 This thoughtful king considers how his meager resources will fare against a much larger and well equipped army. Realizing his position he has a choice to try and negotiate the best position that he can for his people, or he can continue to resist and sacrifice thousands of their lives in a futile attempt to maintain control.

Of course, a wise king will not continue to resist. In fact he will not even wait for the invading army to show up but will take care of the matter as early as possible. He will send a delegation while the army is still at a distance.  


This delegation will learn what conditions need to be met in order to maintain peace. The weaker king will not claim his rights to the throne or his possessions, but he will hand them over to the stronger king.

The point that the Lord Jesus is making is this. Death is coming and you will meet God. The guilt that presses upon you like an invading army is driving your addiction. It has robbed you of your will and your possessions anyway. You are already a slave to it, why lose your life for eternity also? Why sacrifice your family and friends on the altar of your own pride and self will?

It is better to accept terms of peace now. Turn your will and your possessions over to God now and you will be granted eternal life and peace. Submit to His Lordship and He becomes your Savior. He removes the burden of your guilt and sets you free from your addiction.  If you wait, you will lose everything, you will injure the people that you claim to love and you will lose your soul for eternity.

It seems like a no-brainer. 

Why not ask God for forgiveness now instead of insisting on resisting?

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What God Hates

Proverbs 6:19
There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him:

1. Haughty eyes, 
2. A lying tongue, 
3. Hands that shed innocent blood,
4. A heart that devises wicked plans, 
5. Feet that make haste to run to evil, 
6. A false witness who breathes out lies, 
7. One who sows discord among brothers.  

For I the LORD love judgment (justice), I hate robbery (something plundered to be used) for burnt offering;     

Isaiah 61:8a

"...in that they went to burn incense, [and] to serve other gods, whom they knew not, [neither] they, ye, nor your fathers.  Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending [them], saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate."

Jeremiah 44:3,4

Neither shalt thou set thee up [any] image; which the LORD thy God hates. 

Deuteronomy 6:22

I hate (hypocrisy), I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept [them]: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. 

Amos 5:21,22

And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor; and love no false oath: for all these [are things] that I hate, saith the LORD.  

Zechariah 8:17

The LORD tries the righteous: but the wicked and him that loves violence his soul hates.

Psalm 11:5

For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hates putting away (divorce):  

Malachi 2:16

But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans*, which I also hate.

Revelation 2:6

 *A sect that taught sexual immorality and pagan practices could be a part of Christian worship. It began as a small sect and in the time of Constantine became the dominant form of Christendom. True Christianity remains the practice of a relatively small number of souls.

This sowing of discord among the brethren of the Lord is an abomination to Him.

Hate Crimes

When is it okay to hate?

Is hate itself a crime, or only when it is directed against certain people?

If that is so, does that mean that it is okay to hate some people and not others?

Are we not all haters of something or someone? Even God hates sin and injustice. We are even told of certain things that we, as Christians are to hate. So then, who really has the authority to determine what is a hate crime directed against certain people?

These are vexing questions and in our society, the answers to them seem to be delegated to a group of elites, some are self-ordained arbiters of social justice and others are ordained by 'the people'. The rest of us plebeians are left to fret whether our hate crime is less legal than the elites' hate crime.

This is how tyranny reigns. A well meaning effort on the part of some to protect others is used by charismatic tyrants to define for the masses what - or who - it is okay to hate. Political and religious rulers alike have done this throughout history. They use nationalistic pride or religious zeal to incite one group to commit hate crimes against another group.

What happens then when something someone says is defined as hate speech? Does that then become a 'hate crime'?

In other words, in our zeal to criminalize 'hate' do we not then have to criminalize certain kinds of speech?

If there is no higher authority than man's government, who is to have the authority to determine when hate speech is a hate crime? How can we not become victim to tyrants?

Whenever we cede authority to man without regard to God's authority, liberty is doomed by idolatry and the real hate crime is against God. 

That's not good.

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

Exodus 20:5

Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he [is] God, the faithful God, which keeps covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;  And repays them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hate him, he will repay him to his face. 
Deuteronomy 7: 9,10

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