The Cross-Centered Gospel // 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

The letter of 1 Corinthians is a treasure. It contains more teaching on the resurrection, spiritual gifts, marriage, and the virtue of love than any other book in the Bible.

But it is not cold theology. 1 Corinthians is an urgent call for us to remember the gospel. And as a result, it's a call for us to be a cross-centered, holy, and united people until he returns.

Listen in to what God has to say to us through this inspired letter. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I'm going to begin reading in verse 26 all the way to the end of the chapter.

So 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 26 says, For consider your calling, brothers.

Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many of you were powerful. Not many were of noble birth.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even the things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are.

So that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus.

Who became for us wisdom from God. Righteousness and sanctification and redemption. So that as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Please be seated. One of my favorite stories of the well-known English preacher, the 18th century Charles Spurgeon, is an experience he had ministering alongside his grandfather.

Mr. Spurgeon writes, I was announced to preach in a certain country town. It does not happen for me often to be late for service, for I feel that punctuality is one of those little virtues which may prevent great sins.

That might be a word for some of you. But we have no control over railways and breakdowns, and so it happened that I reached the appointed place considerably behind time.

Like sensible people, they had begun their worship, and had proceeded as far as the sermon. And as I neared the chapel, I perceived that someone was in the pulpit preaching, and who stood in the pulpit preaching but my dear and venerable grandfather.

He saw me as I came in the front door and made my way up the aisle, and at once said, Here comes my grandson. He may preach the gospel better than I, but he cannot preach a better gospel.

Can you, Charles? Charles pressed through. You can imagine this scene. He pressed through the pews, and he answered, You can preach the gospel better than I, grandfather.

Pray, go on. Keep preaching. But he would not agree to that. Spurgeon continues, I must take the sermon, and so I did, going on with the subject there and then, just where he left off.

There, said he, I was preaching, for by grace you have been saved. And so, the grandson, Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, began to preach.

A few minutes later, Charles felt a pull on his coattail. It was his grandfather who desired to say a bit more. He took his turn again, and for the next five minutes, the grandfather preached again.

When he finished, Charles was allowed to continue to his grandfather's delight. Spurgeon remembers, recounts many years later, he said, Now and then, he would say in a gentle tone, Good, good.

Good. Can't cry out of story, you know. Just imagine a grandfather's delight. Once he said, Tell them that again, Charles.

And of course, I did tell them that again. He says, I seem to hear that dear voice, which has so long been lost to earth, saying to me, Tell them that again.

Well, this morning, my job is to tell you that again. To tell you the good news about Jesus Christ and him crucified.

My privilege, my honor is to proclaim to you again, the doctrine of sovereign grace. The privilege of taking the senior Spurgeon's advice to tell you that again.

For some of you, you know it altogether. Well, you spent years studying the doctrine of Jesus Christ and him crucified. You rejoice in the peace and security you have derived from the gospel.

You're following Christ through this upside down world that values the wrong things and doesn't value the right things. But I dare say, because of the ever-present opposition you face, I must tell you that again.

For others of you, you know you don't know it well enough. You're learning so much in these days. I love the first days of faith. And you're not, you're aware of what you don't know. And you're aware of all the things you're learning.

And so to keep you learning, I must tell you that again. For still others of you, you think you know it altogether well. Perhaps you've prayed the prayer.

Perhaps you've walked the aisle. Perhaps you've gone to church your whole life, led Bible studies, small groups, prayer groups. But do you know it well enough?

Do you know it so well that it's turned your life upside down, your commitments, your time, your relationship, your giving? Do you know it so well that it's vital to you into the DNA of who you are, the most precious thing about you?

I dare say, you need to hear it again. The fact is, all of us need to be told the wonderful story of Jesus Christ and Him crucified again and again and again, not as a mantra to hear again and again, but to be reformed into these truths.

In these verses, the Apostle Paul does exactly that. Now we're studying the book of Corinthians and so there's so many things going on here, but the Apostle Paul, he's addressing this church that was, I mean it was birthed by sovereign grace.

God intervened like He often does, or like He always does when He brings salvation. And so this church was birthed out of grace, rejoicing, and grace, but the church that was born in grace began to lose its way.

They began acting like the world, quarreling and fighting, drawing lines and picking sides, not that that's ever happened in church before. They began boasting in men, and so the Apostle Paul writes to them to correct them, but he does so, not just merely smacking their hand, but brilliantly unpacks the implications for the gospel in the way they're walking, helping them to see that following Christ is not merely about understanding things about Jesus Christ.

It's not merely even about believing things about Jesus Christ. Following Jesus Christ, ultimately, it's about boasting in them. It's about, into the core of who you are, trusting and boasting in Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, and these verses are for us, and they're at your core.

I'm going for your heart, trying to, that it would reshape everything you care about, talk about, sing about, and where you derive the greatest joy in a world where we're going.

Let us only and always boast in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, because anything good in us or about us is from Him. Let us always and only boast in Jesus Christ and crucify, because anything good in us or about us is from Him.

We're going to break this out. Three points. The first is, who you were not. Who you were not. Paul doesn't even begin with talking about who you were.

He begins talking about who you were not. You know, in the past, last week, we learned about the people that reject the gospel and how the world is separated into those who are perishing and those who are being saved.

And so the wise, the scholar, the philosopher, the who's who, the well-educated and well-learned reject the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. But here we learn about who accepted. And we learn, firstly, who they are not.

In so doing, in many ways, the apostle Paul gives us a set of gospel glasses to see who are not here, to see who we were in a moment, and to see who we are now, later.

Paul begins, remember your calling, consider your calling. Look down there in verse 26, consider your calling brothers, which implies brothers and sisters, addressing the congregation. We sometimes use that word of calling to refer to something we feel equipped, called, I mean, equipped and especially positioned to do.

I'm called to fight this or that. I'm called into this or that industry. But when the apostle Paul is using it here, he's talking about what was going on and what you were like and how did your conversion take place.

It's not about a vocational or occupational call. He's talking about what they were like when God intervened. He reminds them, immediately, falling, consider your calling, he's telling them what their calling was.

Not immediately, not many of you were wise. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. Now, this is just, these verses are, you know, brace for impact.

These verses are written in such a way that it's just going to land on you. There's a threefold repetition in this first section in verse 26. Not many were wise. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth.

He continues that threefold in 27 through 29, talking about what you were and then he has a threefold of who you are now with righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. But where do these categories of wise, powerful, and noble come from?

Now, it's clear that Jeremiah 9 and 1 Timothy, or 1 Samuel 2 are in the background of these texts. He references Jeremiah 9 in verse 31.

He quotes it. And if you know Jeremiah 9, it's, let not the wise man boast in his riches. Let not the rich man boast in his, wise man boast in his wisdom.

Let not the rich, powerful man boast in his strength. Not let the rich man boast in his riches. But while those passages are definitely there, the Apostle Paul is describing the scene in Corinth.

These categories are from the city of Corinth. The wise are the well-educated. We talked about this the past couple weeks that learned the experience. We learned about how folks in Corinth were enamored with wisdom, with sophistry, and stoics trying to be wise.

And so this was a class of people in Corinth that he's addressing and saying, you are not one of them. Then he talks about the powerful, the influential, the power brokers, the one with the money and relationships that pull the levers of power.

Corinth was like so many cities. It's not about what you know. It's about who you know. And so that's who he has in mind. Who are the powerful, these influential power brokers?

Paul's had these people in mind for the past several verses when he says specifically that Christ, unlike what they think, Christ is the power and wisdom of God. Then he says, who were of noble birth?

Those are just the blue bloods, if you will, the people that have a status based on their birth. Now the fact is we're all born into different families and some people are born into families with more wealth, more status, more connections and often more success and it can be a wonderful thing.

Although sometimes those people are hard to be around because they don't realize they were born on third base. And we're just trying to circle first. So he's talking though.

This is a window into Roman, this Roman colony into Roman society. It was stratified. In many ways, you couldn't climb out of the place you were born in.

Well, you could certainly try your hand at it but in so many ways this stratification, these layers, not quite classes but these layers were in that society.

It sounds a lot like our society at times where people are trying to measure up, trying to run up, trying to climb up and yet not, can't do it. And so the Apostle Paul begins by saying not many of you were these guys.

So on the one hand, though this is teaching us about Roman society, it's also given us a window into the first century church. it wasn't filled with the people you wanted to be seen with.

It wasn't made up of the who's who. It perhaps might have been more of the rejects of society. But before we get too far, he says not many.

It does not say not any. The 18th century English Countess of Huntington famously said she was saved by an M.

Because if it said not any, then there's no room for her. But it was not many and she was a great help to the Protestant cause.

And the M is intentional in Corinth. So whereas the society was very stratified, the who's who and the who's not were very cut off into different places.

The church of Jesus Christ was wonderfully different. It was an explosion of all these different peoples. That's what we're going to see as we go through the rest of the book. There were office holders in the church.

We see that Titius Justice and Sosthenes in Acts 18 when we hear about the founding of the church. And even Paul in 1 Corinthians 1, 1, 1, he references Sosthenes as being with him in Ephesus as he's writing.

So there were influential people. There were office holders, rulers of the synagogues and civic leaders. There were heads of several households. You know, we often read households like mom, dad and 2.3 kids in America but that's not exactly what was going on in the New Testament.

Household really represented someone who had great wealth so they had slaves and managers and a business ran out of their household and so we learn about Crispus and Stephanus and their household there.

So they had this money and command. They had people to come into their house. There were also business owners. We know about Aquila and Priscilla from Acts 18. We know about Phoebe from Romans 16.

We know about Chloe and others. And so there were some who were wise and noble and powerful but there were not many. But why is that?

Is it because God prefers the dregs of society? Is it because God is just a super empathetic shrink who likes to hang out with those no one else wants to hang out with?

Is it because money is evil and riches are bad? I'm not going to answer all those questions but one reason is God doesn't value what the world values.

And we're seeing that immediately. If Roman culture was built on status that was largely set on birth God doesn't value those things.

American culture in many ways is not like Roman culture. We are in the land of opportunity, right? Everyone has access to the American dream but the problem is the opportunity comes with the pressure to perform.

Status is not set so it's either won or lost and all the prizes go to the winners so we feel this constant pressure to run, climb, stand out and leave our mark on the world don't we?

I remember several years ago reading an article in the satire newspaper The Onion which I wouldn't really commend for daily reading don't know what you'd find there. The title was Unambitious Loser With Happy Fulfilling Life Still Lives in Hometown.

It said Longtime acquaintances confirmed to reporters this week that local man Michael Husmer an unambitious 29 year old loser who leads an enjoyable and fulfilling life still lives in his hometown and has no desire to leave.

Claiming that the aimless slouch has never resided more than two hours from his parents and still hangs out with friends from high school sources close to Husmer reported that the man who has meaningful lasting personal relationships and a healthy work-life balance is an unmotivated washout who's completely comfortable being a nobody for the rest of his life.

Another said I've known Mike my whole life he's a good guy but it's pretty pathetic he's living on the same street he grew up on and experiencing a deep sense of personal satisfaction. It is so sad.

Why is that funny? Because no one's saying it. Right? Culture says shake the dust off your hometown. It says go to the big city chase your dreams climb the ladder make your mark hashtag winning if you do all those things but it's not true.

So much could be said right here but we've got to pause and pull us back to the text we must see that God does not value what the world values. So all of these things that get all the prominence and all the praise and all the acolytes in the world are not what catches the eye of God.

And they weren't even where any of us were or most of us. So he says remember who you were not point to remember who you were. we need gospel glasses and so we put them back on to see who we were not but also to see who we were.

Now Ephesians 2 famously announces a great reversal for all those who are in Christ. We were dead but God is in the text he made us alive. We were lost but God found us.

We were once far off who have been brought now. No longer strangers and aliens but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. All of this attention is on this reversal well this reversal in this text is no less significant and all of the attention is on the decisive action of God.

You see that right there when he says in verse 27 but God chose what is foolish in the world the shame the wise.

While the world is climbing the social ladder in their own wisdom God is gathering a people in his own way in a way unlike the world.

Three times these verses underline God's sovereign initiative look down at it with me but God chose he said in verse 27 again verse 27 God chose verse 28 God chose the people of God not a random group of people gathered together around the common called the people of God are chosen people people plucked out to be recipients of his sovereign grace and so it accent what God is doing in a most moving and beautiful way but the sovereign initiative of God is not just located there in the decisive activity of God to choose but in those whom he chooses.

He chooses the one no one else would choose if we were playing backyard basketball or backyard football pick and team these would be the last ones chosen only because you had to spend the pick.

He chooses the fool. He chooses the wise. He chooses the low and despised and the contrast look down there the text the contrast is stark and Paul's meant to put it before you he chose what is foolish in the world remember what's foolish in the world is not foolish in the kingdom of God that's why he includes that what's foolish in the world to shame the wise he chose the weak of the world to shame the strong the low and despised of the world even the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are not the wise but the fool not the strong but the weak not the noble but the despised the last category is the most fascinating look down there with me verse 28 God chose the low and despised even the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are he chose the nobodies not the somebodies that's literally what it's saying this is what you were

I don't know what your Facebook handle says your LinkedIn profile says this is what you were what I was but those are just the world's categories if we added biblical categories to underline the severity of the situation it would be all the more drastic you were not merely foolish or weak or low and despised you were disobedient did you not reject his rule you were alienated from God in the same way that Adam and Eve were cast out of the presence of God you were separated from God born into a born into sin born under sin and in separation from God you were led astray we like to think we lead our own way but Ephesians 2 says we're following the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air that's who you were following that's who I was following you were at if those weren't significant enough you were at enmity with God you had made the living God your enemy and he had made you his do you remember your calling the truth is while

God chose the foolish the weak and the low and the spies the others didn't want to have anything to do with it so don't get turned up in knots the wise think a crucified Christ is foolish what utter folly is a crucified leader the strong think a crucified Christ is puny how impressive you're so great jumped down from that cross as they said when they shamed him and reviled him the who's who think a crucified Christ is just pathetic and their rejection of this Christ is a sign of the judgment that is coming but did you notice that God had a purpose in choosing the fool the weak the low and despised to shame the wise the strong the who's who this word shame or dishonor or humiliate different ways it's translated in the New

Testament occur 13 times in the New Testament 7 times in the Corinthian letters what does it mean that God chose the fool to shame the wise is this God gaslighting casting shade we live in an anti-shame culture Lady Gaga says there's nothing wrong with loving who you are don't hide yourself in regret just love yourself and you're set that's a recipe for disaster the show South Park summarizes our culture's attitude when Cartman sings there's no shame in my safe places and so we create on university and college campuses safe places where no one can say anything harmful but really it's just no one can say anything that disagrees with you but it's in the church as well after years of studying churches in America one author says that the main message young people are taught in church is the central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about yourself but there are things we should be ashamed of biblically now don't get me wrong we're never to use shame wrongfully we're never to mock people for confessing struggles or to isolate and avoid people because they sin in certain ways we can never imagine ourselves sinning like we sometimes do but we must not avoid discussion of shame at all calls we must not be silenced by the discussion of shame because this passage is alerting us of shame and really it's alerting us to the final judgment there's a day coming what it's saying is really what it's saying is this passage is announcing that what

God has done in Jesus Christ is overturning everything so all these categories are going out that's what this is saying so all these worldly definitions of wisdom and power and the who's who and influence all those things they're all going out they will not be in the new heavens and the new earth and he's saying there's a day coming soon when all who build their life on anything other than Jesus Christ then worshiping fearing him following him serving him and obeying him will be ashamed and so these verses are not meant to make you feel bad merely they're meant to prepare you to face the awful judgment of God for your many sins it's stunning the final judgment all who do not turn to Jesus Christ will be ashamed and will suffer the just eternal punishment for their sins all who feel like they have nothing to be ashamed of they have all the things will be shamed on that day and they will see that all they had lived for all they had chased all they had attained was a sandcastle under the tide of the judgment of God and so these verses if you will and beloved this could be the day of salvation these verses are beckoning you to stop building sandcastles and run to the rock of the Lord

Jesus Christ there is no hope anywhere else but in him it's meant to show the utter emptiness it's all sand all of it wealth success power prominence influence followers whatever it's all sand and it will not hold in the judgment and so come you sinner poor and weary poor and needy to Jesus Christ today will be the day of salvation but here's the reality that with my gospel glasses on on that day everything in me will cry out I deserve shame oh Lord I deserve ridicule I deserve the rejection that I stiffen my back so many times to you

I deserve the judgment of God Paul is alerting us to these things so that we see that all that we have received from him is completely free and purchased by free grace Josh Howerton once said capturing this reality for the sinner on that final day he says hell will be populated by people who insist they were good enough for heaven heaven will be populated by people who insist they were bad enough for hell so I'm not up here to make you feel good about yourself because the gospel tells you some really bad news but the Lord tells you good news point three who you are now who you are now we put on our gospel glasses we need glasses you know

I remember when I was a high school I got glasses for the first time and I was sitting next to one of my friends and we like to speak straight to one another and I said what kind of bird is that and he goes that's a robin you dummy but I didn't see the robin before you know and so we need glasses we need gospel glasses to see who we were not to see who we were and to see most importantly who we are now so that threefold emphasis you've seen it now as we work through you see it most brilliantly here while God does shame the wise strong and the who's who his main purpose is not to triumph over them but so that no one would boast in his sight all the metrics of the world's boasting all the legs are cut off so to speak and so we boast no one is able to boast verse 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God no one is able to boast the things that are not have no wisdom power might greatness to boast of and the things that are have been disgraced and brought to nothing all people will either remain silent on that day or they'll boast in the

Lord so what do we boast about he's saying we boast of whose we are look in that text because of him you're in Christ Jesus literally of him you're in Christ Jesus you had nothing to qualify you remember who you were not you had nothing to qualify you to be in Jesus Christ and even more than that all that should have disqualified you did not disqualify you why because it was all of him all from him it reminds me of those precious words from Ephesians 2 for by grace you've been saved through faith and this is not your own doing literally not of you it's a gift of God not a result of work so that no one may boast it's not from you it's all grace it's all gift but what is it because of him you are in Christ Jesus everything that is true about Jesus Christ is now true of you your life is so bound to his that whatever is true of his destiny is now true of you yours by union with him the bedrock of our salvation so we boast about whose we are and we boast about where we are now so where there's a contrast of status running through this passage who you are not who you were and now he's saying who you are we have a profoundly new status it's all from God the wisdom from God what men call weak is the power of God what men call foolish is the wisdom of God what is this wisdom it is salvation and all his benefits that flow to you through Jesus

Christ and so he announces these look in verse 30 he said who became for us wisdom from God righteousness and sanctification and redemption Christ has become for us righteousness now that metaphor these are all three metaphors for describing salvation that metaphor is from the law court this idea that the one who sins shall die that the problem of sin is not primarily that it fouls up our lives and makes relationships difficult the problem of sin is that it is a breaking of the law and it is against God and the wages of sin is death because every sin against God is cosmic treason so this was your status before Christ condemned but in a most staggering way in a most unimaginable way Christ has become wisdom from God Christ has in this cross that was just covered in shame and everyone thought it was the wrong way and the wrong plan

Christ cancelled the record of debt that stood against you with its legal demands he nailed them to the cross and he gave you his righteousness making you acceptable in his sight not declaring something unclean clean but by making something unclean clean with the robe of his righteousness so now you who were condemned are righteous I remember 21 years 22 years old January hearing the words for what I thought was the very first time the words justification by faith alone the truth that Martin Luther discovered the truth that man is not saved by his own righteousness but by the righteousness of another that he receives by faith which is all throughout the scriptures that I don't have time to unpack I remember calling my dad on the campus of UT and I said dad

I learned something today because I felt like a bird out of his cage set free all the games were over I've been completely accepted in Jesus Christ once and for all that is what's true of you beloved you have become righteous he became sin he who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God Christ became for us sanctification that metaphor comes from the temple from the Old Testament ritual laws where righteousness is legal sanctification in many ways is spatial because of sin we were separated from God we were cast out of the garden we were thrown out of the holy place we were we were we could only send a high priest in once a year and he would have bells on his robe just in case he was slain for sins he didn't confess when he goes before the presence of God and so there was this massive curtain saying thou shalt not come any further so that was your status unclean but all those who are far off and brought near by the blood of Christ you've been sanctified you're a saint because a saint is not someone who's super spiritual or super active a saint is a

Christian someone who's been set apart for God's purposes sealed with the Holy Spirit and turned unto him so you are holy put on then as God's chosen ones holy and beloved compassionate hearts kindness humility gentle put on then this is who you are now spatially you've been moved out of the tents of iniquity into the house of God isn't that amazing you've been redeemed Christ has become for us redemption the metaphor comes from the marketplace where goods and and things were sold and bought it was largely financial and the way it was used in the Old Testament but here the emphasis is not on financial debt but on moral bankruptcy you were in debt you were over leveraged you were a slave to the lender you had no ability to pay you were in bondage to sin as our

Lord said everyone who sins is a slave to sin you were unable to free yourself from sins far more binding than a Gordian knot was your slavery to sin that was your status bound in chains but Christ has set you free Christ has delivered you now what does all this mean you can be done with all the games that's what it means you can get off the treadmill would you please you can stop jockeying for positions you can stop making people that are made in the image of God into vehicles to get what you want or obstacles in the way of what you want you can be finally and complete free that's what he was saying to the Corinthians don't you think it's a little silly to be boasting about men dividing lines forming cliques don't you think it's a little silly when you have all this you have a status that cannot be bought or sold and cannot be stolen from you a status derived from

Jesus Christ through union with him so please put off the games and some of you get off Facebook get off social media get out of this game and live for the Lord how do we boast in the Lord how do we live for him we boast in him by celebrating all that he's done for us in Jesus Christ we boast in him by living by grace we boast in him by forming a community that throws out the old standard and instead lives by the grace of God alone a community where yes there are some have and some have nots but instead are united with a vision and allegiance to Jesus Christ and a willingness to throw out anything that stands in the way of that because everyone that sits next to us is a brother or a sister and will be an inheritor of eternal glory it's amazing incredible so let us always and only boast in

Jesus Christ him crucified because anything good in us or about us is from him the well known Charles Spurgeon was a young man when that moving event occurred he was experiencing much fruitfulness but he went through a lot of adversity after that the counsel of his father to tell them that grandfather to tell them that again guided him from then on we have a quote for you he said if my grandfather could return to earth he would find me where he left me steadfast in the faith and true to that form of doctrine which was once for all delivered to the saints I preach the doctrines of grace because I believe them to be true because I see them in the scriptures because my experience endears me to them it dears them to me because I see the happy result of them in the lives of believers may the same be said of this church many many years from now if I can look at some of these young people in the eye the reality is one day you'll be the one leading this church and I won't be here your mom and dad won't be here never move on from the gospel hold fast to the gospel one of the prayers I pray for this church that would be more passionate about the gospel than I am and I'm pretty passionate

I want you to be so passionate I want you to stand on our shoulders your mom and dad's shoulders run into the things of the Lord run into the things of the gospel to hold fast to the gospel everything else is a salty drink I know people drink salt nowadays but not a satisfying drink and older people don't move on oh man my prayer is that we would not give the next generation more work to do but less and the first order of business hold fast to the gospel let us boast always and only in Jesus Christ and him crucified anything good in us is from him or about us is from him hallelujah bless the Lord let me pray father in heaven we bless you we rejoice in this good news about

Jesus Christ and him crucified we rejoice in the old old story I pray God that you would drive it down into the core of who we are that we could indeed say all we once thought gain we now count loss because everything utterly pales in comparison to knowing Christ and him crucified and the power of his resurrection do it we pray God in Christ's name amen you've been listening to a message on first Corinthians during a Sunday service at Trinity Grace Church for more information please visit us at trinitygraceathens.com