July 10, 2024
1 Corinthians 2
“My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirits power, so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power.” How do we proclaim the gospel of Jesus the Christ? Do we attempt to proclaim the power of the cross with words that lift us up as someone who is trying to impress people with our words, or do we present the message of the cross with hopes the Spirit will honor Jesus and convict those who hear the message? Will we fear man’s response against us more than God’s response? Will human reasoning and human wisdom ever accomplish salvation for mankind?
Proclaiming the gospel of Jesus, the Christ, requires us to be obedient to Him, to be surrendered to Him, so that the Comforter can do His work to honor Jesus through you and the faith being displayed. Fearing man’s response to our obedience can be understandable but fearing God’s response to our lack of obedience should be our reasonable and acceptable response. In Jeremiah 1, the Lord uplifts the young Jeremiah to be encouraged and speak the words of God to the people of Jerusalem under King Josiah and then to his sons, “Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to rescue you.” God then warns Jeremiah to tell them everything, “Do not be intimidated by them or I will cause you to cower before them.” Jeremiah represented the power of God by speaking His words, Paul represented the power of God by preaching the word, given to him by the Spirit, so no man could say, “I am captivated by these eloquent words you have said.” If our words begin to tickle the ears and minds of those who hear them and the listener becomes entrenched with the speaker, the power of God will still be at work but for your efforts, your efforts will be judged as wood and straw and your reward will be seen as vanity and burned at the judgement. Your salvation would not be affected but because of your desire to influence men with your words, your work in Christ can be judged as vain by God. Others may not recognize your vanity, but you will.
Announce the secret message of the cross that no man is capable of being perfect unto salvation but the One who was perfect in obeying God’s law, Jesus. The secret is our need for a Savior. Up to now being right with God depended on the covering of our sin, the Day of Atonement. The secret was the last sacrifice, which was Jesus, the unblemished lamb, to forgive our sin not just covering it up. The mystery becomes known to both Jew and Gentile. You will either be accountable for your sin, or you will be forgiven of your sin. What you see and what you hear will only deceive you. Your heart cannot understand why anyone would give themselves as Jesus did for our salvation. This was God’s secret until now! Can you imagine if the powers of evil connected the prophets shadowing of this secret? To try to prevent the death of Jesus? Verse 8
You see, being on a cross, an innocent man would yell for his innocence. When Jesus was on the cross, He asked God for them to be forgiven. One would beg for mercy or beg for pain numbing substances. Jesus encouraged the upcoming scourging and spit out the wine on the sop to experience all the pain while on the cross. One may end up hating their accusers, Jesus died on the cross for His accusers and everyone. If we were on the cross, we would have died and stayed dead, Jesus rose from the grave with over 500 witnesses seeing Him.
As we contemplate these things in our studies, we begin to understand. The mind of God helps us to perceive the things of God because of the indwelling Spirit. Though we begin to understand them and proclaim them, there will be many people who will not understand us as we proclaim this message. They will hear the message through a worldly perspective. It will be foolishness to them. Their hearts will be deceived.
-David Mroz
