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Good morning, I'm Hannah Sue and I'm a member of the North Berkeley Community Group.
This morning's reading is a reading from the Acts of Apostles, chapter 18, verses 1-11,
and a reading from 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, 18-25, and chapter 2, 1-5.
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla,
because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome.
Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.
Every Sabbath, he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.
When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching,
testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.
But when they opposed Paul and became abusive,
he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them,
Your blood be on your own heads.
I am innocent of it.
From now on, I will go to the Gentiles.
Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Tidious Justice, a worshiper of God.
Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord,
and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.
One night, the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision,
Do not be afraid.
Keep on speaking.
Do not be silent.
For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you,
because I have many people in this city.
So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
A reading from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
The intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.
Where is the wise person?
Where is the teacher of the law?
Where is the philosopher of this age?
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For since in the wisdom of God,
the world through its wisdom did not know him,
God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached,
to save those who believe.
Jews demand signs, and Greeks look for wisdom,
but we preach Christ crucified,
a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles,
but to those whom God has called,
both Jews and Greeks,
Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
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.
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you
except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
I came to you in weakness,
with great fear and trembling.
My message and my preaching
were not with wise and persuasive words,
but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,
so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom,
but on God's power.
This is the word of the Lord.
Good morning.
We are continuing today in a sermon series
that we started back in May.
And we're looking at the life and the letters
of the Apostle Paul.
Particularly, we've been in the Acts of the Apostles,
chapters 16 through 19,
looking at the way that the greatest Christian theologian,
the Apostle Paul,
was driven by this urgency
to get the gospel out there,
to inject the gospel into the heart
of every city center in the Roman Empire
between Jerusalem and Rome and beyond.
And he wants to be sure
that within his lifetime,
within his generation,
he establishes as many Jew plus Gentile churches
as he possibly can
in all the major metropolitan areas.
And as we've been looking at these different texts,
a pattern has begun to emerge,
at least for me,
and I'd like to show you the pattern,
is that Paul takes the gospel
to these Greek cities
that are not very unlike the Bay Area.
He takes the gospel,
this word of the cross,
this message of Christ crucified,
and every time,
he gets a mixed reception.
Reception.
There's a small minority of people
who are persuaded,
they believe,
they're baptized,
they become vital members of the church,
and then there's really
a vast majority of people
who are opposed.
They don't believe.
They revile Paul.
They even, as we saw in this text,
they abuse Paul.
And you might remember back to Philippi,
when Paul went to Philippi,
he was,
we're told he was seized,
he was dragged before the authorities,
he was accused of,
quote unquote,
throwing the city into an uproar,
he was stripped,
he was beaten,
he was put in prison,
and then he was exiled from the city.
And then Paul just kept going.
He goes on to the city of Thessalonica
that we saw last week,
and we saw how a mob formed,
and they started a riot,
and Paul was forced out of the city,
other Christians were dragged
before the officials,
and they had to pay a fine,
and they said,
hey, these people are turning
the world upside down.
They're defying the decrees of Caesar,
they're claiming that there's another king
whose name is Jesus.
And we have a map,
just to kind of remind you
of where all this stuff is in the world,
and what's happening where,
but Paul goes from Philippi
to Thessalonica,
and then he goes to Athens,
the cultural capital of Greece.
And when he arrives there,
most people sneer at Paul.
They say he's a babbler of strange ideas.
And Paul decides,
okay, well, now I'm going to go to Corinth,
the commercial capital of Greece.
And when he arrives there,
he meets all the same opportunities
and challenges.
All the basic stuff that's been happening
keeps happening.
It's been said that history
may not repeat itself,
but it often rhymes.
And you can see that
in Paul's ministry.
What's the result of his gospel mission
in the city of Corinth?
It's this,
that a vast majority
of Jews and Greeks
hear this message of Christ crucified,
and they reject it
as either a stumbling block
or foolishness,
as something that's just deeply,
offensively stupid
in their eyes.
But, for some people,
the word of the cross
is the power of God
and the wisdom of God,
and so they believe it
and they're baptized into it.
And you would think
when Paul sees
the conversion of Crispus,
the leader of the synagogue,
his entire household,
he'd be massively encouraged
by that breakthrough
and by these conversions.
And I think that he was,
but if you ask
any Christian leader
who's been doing this
for any amount of time,
they'll tell you that
you have to learn
how to live in the paradox
between encouragement
and discouragement,
between hope and fear,
between, you know,
a confidence in the Lord
and a real sense of insecurity
about yourself
and your circumstances.
And that's why the Apostle Paul,
when he's afraid,
he has this vision in Corinth
and the Lord Jesus
comes to him at night
and he speaks to him
in this vision
to address the fears
and the discouragement
that Paul has
and to give him
some reassurance.
So we're going to look at that.
We're going to look at that vision
and then we're also going to look
at Paul's opening words
and the letter
that he then writes
to this church
that he's planted
in the city of Corinth.
So, three headings.
First of all,
what keeps us going
in our mission for the city?
Second question,
what is the heart
of our message?
And third question,
how can we live
with real power
and wisdom?
What keeps us going
in our mission for the city?
What's the heart
of our message?
And how can we live
with real power
and wisdom?
First of all,
what keeps us going
in our mission for the city?
This is now my 20th year
as a missionary
to Berkeley,
a church planter
and a pastor
in the Bay Area,
which is still
what it was
when I came here.
It's still
the least religious,
most unchurched
metropolitan area
in the entire United States.
And it feels a lot
like Acts chapter 16
to 19,
which is why
we're preaching this.
There are very similar dynamics,
similar patterns
of the rejection
of the gospel,
the acceptance
of the gospel,
and similar feelings
of encouragement
about that
and discouragement
about that.
And the Apostle Paul,
it seems,
is sufficiently
discouraged.
He's sufficiently
afraid
such that he needs
this visitation
in the night.
And here's what it says
in Acts chapter 18,
verse 9.
One night,
the Lord spoke
to Paul in a vision,
do not be afraid,
keep on speaking,
do not be silent,
for I am with you,
and no one is going
to attack you
and harm you
because I have many people
in this city.
So Paul stayed
in Corinth
for a year and a half
teaching them
the word of God.
Paul had experienced
so many setbacks
at this point,
so much opposition,
so many beatings,
so many riots,
so much rejection,
that he needed
a word from the Lord
to calm his fears
and to encourage
his heart
and to steal
his nerves
and to keep him going
in his mission
for the city.
And in some way,
I hope that Paul's fear
and Paul's discouragement
is a comfort to us
because we've met
this guy
who's the most
courageous,
least fearful,
most resilient,
unflappable person
who's probably
ever existed.
What does he do?
Right?
Remember in Philippi
when he's shamefully
stripped
and he's unjustly beaten
and then he's wrongfully
in prison
and he's horribly
mistreated
in that prison.
What does Paul do?
He prays
and he sings
at night
to the Lord
in the darkness
at midnight.
His motto,
remember he's sitting
in a jail
writing that letter
to the Philippians
that we studied
and his motto
is in Philippians 1.21,
he says,
for me to live
is Christ
and to die
is gain.
He seems to be
completely fearless.
Philippians 4,
he said,
don't be anxious
about anything
but present your request
to God.
He says,
I've learned the secret
of being content
in any and every situation
and yet,
he says here
in this text
in 1 Corinthians 2.3,
he says,
I came to you
in weakness
and with great fear
and trembling.
And he's in such a state
that he needs a vision
and he needs a word
from the Lord
that says,
do not be afraid.
One of my favorite
of Paul's letters
is 2 Corinthians
because it's written
out of a place
of deep pain
and deep darkness.
And Paul says
in 2 Corinthians 1,
he says,
we are under
great pressure
far beyond
our ability
to endure
so that we
despaired of life
itself.
Now,
if you came to me
and you said,
Jonathan,
I don't think
I can go on.
I'm in such,
I'm experiencing
such excruciating
discouragement
and I'm despairing
of life.
I'm heading
into a deep
depression
and maybe
toward a breakdown,
I would say
and think to myself,
you need special
help.
And that's exactly
what the Apostle
Paul needs.
He needs special
help.
He often needs
special help.
Again,
in 2 Corinthians 4,
he says,
we're hard-pressed
on every side,
we're perplexed,
we're persecuted,
we're struck down.
He says in 2 Corinthians 7,
he says,
there were fightings
without and fears
within constantly
in my ministry.
And so how does he
keep going in the
Lord's mission
for the city
when it's so physically
and emotionally taxing
and so spiritually
discouraging?
And how do we
keep going?
How do I keep going?
Well,
yeah,
how do we
do this ministry
in Berkeley
in the Bay Area
when it can feel
sometimes appropriately
overwhelming?
when you think
about the mission
we actually have
to share the gospel?
Well,
I think this vision
in Corinth
is kind of a
clue and a help
because the risen
Lord Jesus,
he comes to Paul
who keeps experiencing
serious opposition
and hostile receptions
in city after city
and what does he say
to Paul
in the darkness
of night?
What does he say?
He says,
do not be afraid.
How many of us
are beginning
our days
and ending our days
in 2025
listening to that
voice of fear
with all of his
dark lies
and dark temptations?
It says,
be afraid.
Jesus,
risen from the dead,
comes to his apostle
and he commands him,
stop being afraid.
afraid.
Fear no longer.
Take your fears
and look at them
and say,
no.
He says,
do not be afraid.
Keep on speaking.
Do not be silent
for I am with you
and no one is going
to attack and harm you
because I have many people
in this city.
See,
the apostle Paul
needs to know
three things
all of which I think
apply to us
here at Christ Church.
He says,
first of all,
I'm with you.
You're not as alone
as you feel
because I'm with you.
You're not as weak
and defenseless
as you feel
because I'm here
to protect you.
You see,
what drives our mission
for the city,
it's not us.
It's not our gifts.
It's not our skills,
our passions,
our experiences,
our vision,
our resources,
our sense of confidence
in ourselves.
what drives our mission
for the city
is Jesus Christ
risen from the dead
who's living and active
who says,
I'm right here
with you
and he's promised
to not just be with us
but to build his church.
He's promised to
protect us
in such a way
that the gates of hell
will not prevail
against his church.
our gospel mission
to our city
is completely reliant,
it's totally dependent
on the presence
and the power
of the resurrected Lord Jesus
and if he is not with us
then whatever we purpose
this year
will come to naught.
It'll be nothing.
But if he is with us
then we can keep going
with confidence.
So first of all,
I'm with you,
he says.
Secondly,
I have many people
in this city
not only am I with you
but I have many people
in this city.
Jesus is saying to Paul,
I own this city.
I sovereignly rule
and reign over this city.
I'm at work here
in the lives
of all the people
in this city.
They owe their very existence
to me.
And he says to Paul
and to the church
through Paul,
he's saying,
I've sent you
to gather a people
who will willingly
and self-consciously
belong to me.
a people
who will live
for my name
and for my glory.
And because I have
so many people
in this city
and because I'm
at work in this city,
my church therefore
has a great work
that remains to be done.
A great task
that remains unfinished.
A great commission
that remains to be
worked out.
And friends,
this encourages me
that Jesus has many people
here in the city
of Berkeley.
He has many people
in the city of Oakland.
He has many people
in the city,
all the cities
of the East Bay.
A people out there
whom he wants to reach.
A people whom he wants
to save
by the power
of his grace.
A people that he wants
to add to his church.
A people that he wants
to gather
for his glory.
A people that he wants
to conform
into his love
and to his image.
And this is why
he wants us
to keep going.
To keep initiating
relationships with people.
To keep finding
people of peace.
To keep saying
to our co-workers
in our office
and the people
that are living
on our streets
and in our schools.
The people with whom
we've developed
a friendship
around common interests.
Right?
The members
of our families.
He wants us
to bring them
around our table
and listen to them.
And to love them.
And to ask them
great questions
to say,
you know,
what is it
that gives your life
meaning?
Where do you turn
for help
and for strength
when life inevitably
gets hard?
Do you ever have
a sense that God
is real?
You see,
if the Lord
has people
in the city,
then one of our
primary tasks
is to go and find them.
And to befriend them.
To listen to them
and to love them
into the kingdom.
Jesus says,
I'm with you.
And I have many people
in the city.
And then he says,
keep on speaking.
Do not be silent.
That's the way
my great commission
will be worked out
is if you
keep on speaking
this simple message
of Christ crucified
so that as many people
can hear the gospel
as possible.
This is why
we're looking forward
to running our
Alpha course
again in January.
It's why we're hoping
that you all
will be praying
for the people
that God has put
in your life
that they would
begin to explore faith
and we can create
spaces for people
to do that very thing.
Our risen Lord
Jesus says,
I'm with you.
I have many people
in the city
and keep speaking.
And the Lord,
I think,
made good on that
promise to Paul.
Paul,
unlike all the other
cities before,
he's not forced
out of the city.
He's enabled to
stay in Corinth
for about 18 months.
His heart
is now encouraged.
His faith
is strengthened.
His nerves
are steeled.
He has a newfound
assurance
and confidence
to stay the course
until his work
is completed
in spite of
inevitable opposition.
And my hope
is that all of us
would be able
to operate
out of that same
encouragement,
that same strength,
that same confidence
as we enter
into a new
school year,
a new ministry
year together.
So,
what keeps us
going in our
mission for the city?
It's not us,
it's Jesus.
Secondly,
what is the heart
of our message?
What is the heart
of our message
for our city?
Well,
Corinth was a lot
like the Bay Area.
The Apostle Paul
came here to Corinth
because it's the best
place to make contact
with all sorts
of people.
It was this crossroads
between the eastern
and the western
Mediterranean
and between northern
and southern Greece
and so Paul could
meet here
people of varying
social statuses
and spiritual orientations
and that's exactly
what he did
for the next 18 months.
He would talk
to people
while he was working
in his leather shop,
while he was selling
tents in the marketplace,
before work,
after work,
Paul's talking to people
up and down
the social ladder
and across the spectrum
of all the ideologies
out there on offer
primarily represented
by the ideologies
of Jew and Greek.
And Paul says
in 1 Corinthians 1, 22,
he says this,
he says,
Jews demand signs
or signs of power
and Greeks look
for wisdom.
And of course,
the Bible for Jews
is the Moses
and the prophets,
you know,
from Elijah to Ezekiel
and in interpreting
that Bible,
people were then
valuing signs
of supernatural power
and all the wonderful
works of God
that you see
in the plagues
in Egypt
and the parting
of the Red Sea,
they were focused
on the power.
And of course,
for Greeks,
the sacred text
for the Greeks
was Homer
and Plato
and Aristotle
and they valued
not so much power
but wisdom.
They valued the logos
and ethos
and pathos
of rhetoric
and masterful,
skillful dialogue.
And in some ways,
these cultures
of Jew and Greek
represent our
modern desires today.
We desire power.
We desire the power
of an active life,
the power
to get stuff done,
the power
to change the world.
We desire wisdom.
We desire the wisdom
of a contemplative life,
the wisdom
of reflecting
on what we've done,
the wisdom
of explaining
and understanding
the world.
But Paul,
he comes to these two
alternate visions
of reality
and he outflanks
them both.
To quote
some popular
Berkeley bumper stickers,
Paul questions authority.
Right?
He subverts
the popular,
the dominant paradigms.
And he shows up
with a totally
different message.
He comes to the city
and he says
he comes in verse 18
with the message
of the cross,
of the word
of the cross.
In verse 23,
he says,
we preach Christ
crucified.
He says in 1 Corinthians 2.2,
I resolved to know
nothing while I was
with you
except Jesus Christ
and him crucified.
He says
to these visions
of reality
that are on offer
and are most popular
to all the people,
he says,
these visions
of reality
are insufficient.
your vision
of God
and of the world
is incomplete.
And let me see
if I can illustrate
this with Superman.
Have you guys seen
the movie yet?
Okay,
you need to repent
and go
and see this movie.
I think it's probably
the best
of all the Superman.
Of course,
it's an immigrant story.
It's a story
of an alien
who comes
to the United States.
He's committed
to truth,
justice,
in the American way.
These bedrock principles
that you defend
the defenseless
and you help
people in need,
right?
And these
essential aspects
and attributes
of Superman
are what define
how he deals
with evil.
How he deals
with corrupt politicians
and unscrupulous
businessmen.
And in this particular,
this isn't,
these aren't spoilers
by the way,
but in this particular
version of the movie,
Superman is battling
tech billionaires
who hang out
in shadowy lairs
beyond,
you know,
real authorities
who are trying
to control
the universe.
And Superman's
taking on mass
bad guys
with guns
who are dragging
random people
away to be
imprisoned in cages
where nobody
can find them.
And the central
bad guy in the movie,
you know him,
Lex Luthor,
he believes himself
to be a genius
and yet he's jealous
of anyone
that makes him
feel weak.
Okay, so
does any of this
sound vaguely familiar
or remotely relevant
to our time?
And Superman's there
to protect the little
guys and pummel
the bad guys,
right?
Well, there's this
great book by
Glenn Weldon
called Superman,
the Unauthorized
Biography,
and here's his thesis.
He says,
there are two
central definitive
attributes to
any good Superman
story to tell you
that it's legit,
that it's real.
He says,
the real Superman
is always selfless
and he always
operates by resolve.
Right?
He's known by his
selflessness and his
resolve.
Superman must always
put the needs of
other people before
himself and refuse
to give up.
And he says,
if either of those
factors is missing
from the story,
then our minds just
rebel against it.
We reject it.
We say,
this is simply not
the real Superman.
Right?
The real Superman
places himself between
vulnerable citizens
and mortal danger
and he's resolutely
saving lives.
He even,
this is a spoiler,
he saves the life
of a single squirrel.
Okay?
And you might be
wondering at this point,
what are you talking
about?
What does this have
to do with Jesus?
Well, I want to pull
up a slide that
captures everything
Paul's trying to say.
And at the heart
of the apostles' message
to every major city
throughout the Roman
Empire, he says to
Jews who value power
and to Greeks who
value wisdom, he says,
if your vision of God,
if your narrative of
God does not include
two central definitive
truths, then it's
simply not God.
And what are those two
central definitive truths?
Number one, there must
be a divinely appointed
Messiah and number two,
he must be crucified.
He says,
if the story that
you're telling yourself
about reality,
if the story you're
telling yourself about
God does not include
a heaven-sent
messianic king,
then it's not God.
And if that story
that you're telling
yourself about God
doesn't have at its
center a Messiah
who's laying out
his life in
sacrificial self-giving
love as the
substitute for sinners
in need of this
most shocking
intervention in
order to be saved,
then it's simply
not God.
Paul says in
verse 22,
Jews demand signs
of power,
Greeks look for
wisdom, but we
preach Christ
crucified, a
stumbling block to
Jews and foolishness
to Gentiles.
You see, Jews heard
this message of the
cross through their
cultural value of
power, and in the
cross they do not see
power, and so it's a
stumbling block.
The word Paul uses
there, it's a
scandal on, it's a
scandal.
The Greeks heard
this message of the
cross through their
cultural value of
wisdom, and in the
cross they could not
see wisdom, and so
they called it
foolishness, they
called it morion,
where we get our
word moron.
This message did not
meet their
preconceived criteria
and conditions for
what was culturally
acceptable.
Why?
Why was the cross of
Christ, and why does
the cross of Christ
continue to remain so
weak and so foolish
in the eyes of so
many people?
Why is it seen as
madness?
Why is it seen as
nonsense and absurd?
Why is it seen as the
craziest message that
anyone could imagine?
Well, because it is.
Sometimes we've been
so domesticated to the
cross that we've
forgotten how awful it
truly is.
Death on a cross in
Roman society was
regarded as brutal,
disgusting, and
abhorrent.
It was reserved for
hardened criminals,
incorrigible slaves, and
convicted terrorists.
To shamefully die on
a rubbish heap at the
wrong end of the
empire, that's just, it's
humiliating.
Right?
It's a disastrous
defeat of unspeakable
shame and stigma.
It means that, if that
happens to you, it means
that you've been reduced,
you've been erased as a
nothing and as a
nobody.
So look at Jesus in that
place.
He's spread-eagled,
he's skewered on his
cross, he's robbed of all
freedom of movement,
strung up with nails,
pinned there, absolutely
powerless, totally
defeated.
You see, the Greeks who
imagined a divine savior
figure robed in wisdom,
and for Jews who expected a
Messiah anointed in power and
crowned with majesty,
Paul says, look, if
your sacred story about
what's really real,
right, the truest truths of
the universe, if your
sacred story does not at
the center have God's king
bearing all the
inhumanity and the
brutality of the world and
of your heart as
symbolized in this cross,
then it's simply not God.
You see, this is a front,
it was an outrage, it was
madness, and it still is,
frankly.
Many people want to change
the message.
They want to minimize and
remove the weakness and the
foolishness of the cross and
insert something at the
center that is more
relevant, more attractive,
more triumphant, more
pragmatic.
But Paul says in verse 24,
to those whom God has
called, both Jews and
Greeks, the cross of Christ
is the power of God,
God and the wisdom of
God.
What he's saying is there
is that only if God
calls you can he enable
you to see that the
reality is actually the
opposite of the
appearance.
That what appears to be
the defeat of goodness
by evil at the cross is
exactly the opposite.
It seems as if Jesus is
overcome, but he's
actually overcoming.
overcoming.
It seems as if Jesus is
being crushed by all the
powers and the
principalities, but he's
actually crushing the head
of evil itself.
You see, the victim is the
victor, and the cross is the
throne from which Jesus is
still ruling the world.
world.
And only God can enable you
to look at the weakness of
the cross and to see God's
power there that's forgiving
sin and overthrowing death.
Only God can enable you to
look at the foolishness of
the cross and see there
God's wisdom that's brought
both his justice and his
mercy together, his wisdom
that has launched from that
very place of foolishness and
weakness, a kingdom of
righteousness and life.
You see, when Paul spoke
about this man who was
crucified by the Romans and
all the powers behind the
Romans, and yet that God
had raised up from the dead
and who is now the Lord of
the world and who is
summoning all people
everywhere to faithful
obedience to him, he knew
what people were going to
think when he talked about
that.
But he also knew that every
time he talked about it,
every time he told that
story, it would be
reveal God's power beside
which human power looks
like weakness, and it
would reveal God's wisdom
beside which all human
wisdom looks like foolishness.
And this has to remain the
heart of the church's
message.
We cannot change the
message.
Okay, so what keeps us
going in our mission for
the city?
It's not us, it's Jesus.
What is the heart of our
message?
It's not about worldly
power or worldly wisdom,
it's about God's power and
God's wisdom in Christ
crucified.
And I'll end with this, how
can we live with real power
and real wisdom?
Don't you want to live with
power and wisdom?
Who's not seeking that that
you know?
Who's not going after power
and wisdom?
But what is real power?
What does it mean to live
with real power and real
wisdom?
The philosopher Alistair
McIntyre died this past
May and he had this famous
line, it's so good, he says
this, he says, I can only
answer the question, what am I
to do if I can answer the
prior question of what story
do I find myself apart?
I can only answer the
question of what am I to do if
I can answer the prior question
of what story do I find myself
apart?
He says, you will not know
who you are, you will not
know what you're to do, you
will not know your identity
and your purpose in this
world apart from a story
that's bigger than yourself.
So the question is, what is
that story?
And for most people, they say,
well, I'm part of the story
of my family, I'm part of the
story of my tribe, my race,
my class, my gender, I'm part
of the story of my nation and
that is the thing that's
driving my life.
And in a lot of ways that
can be good, right?
But if you are waking up in
the morning these days and
you set your thoughts and
your mind on our nation,
right?
And the first thing you
think about is how the
President of the United
States is disappointing
you.
Or if the first thing you
think about in the morning
is how your family of
origin, someone, your
sibling, your parents,
you're thinking about the
things that you've not
forgiven from your past.
Or you're thinking about
your boss, your colleagues
that you disagree with.
You're thinking about your
tribe and all of its
grievances, all of its
resentments.
I'm here to tell you that is
a recipe not just to be
unhappy.
You will be unhappy.
But it's a recipe also to be
unhelpful.
You won't be helpful to other
people if that's how you're
starting your day.
Because what Alistair
McIntyre says is your story
will direct your thoughts and
your thoughts will direct what
you do and what you do
becomes your life.
And so what I want to
challenge us with today is
what if we were to wake up
every morning this week and
think about the cross?
What if our first thing in
our minds that we sort of
coded our neural pathways
with was meditating on God's
sacrificial self-giving love
for me, for you?
And what if we saw the cross
and we saw this great
demonstration of the love of
God for us and we said,
oh, now I remember the story
of which I'm a part.
Now I know who I am and what
I'm to do.
Now I know my identity and my
purpose.
Paul says, look, if you do the
most counterintuitive thing and
you seek power in the weakest
place and you seek wisdom in the
most foolish place, then you're
going to find in that most
unlikely place the ultimate
expression and fulfillment of
power and wisdom.
And then you will know how to
live not according to the
power of this world and the
wisdom of this world.
You'll know how to embody the
power and the wisdom in the
way in which Jesus has
redefined them.
And I'll close with this.
If God came in person, if he
came in the person of Jesus not
to get power over other
people to be served by them,
but rather to show us the
power of becoming small and
getting low and serving people
that are quote unquote beneath
us.
And if that's the story that I'm
a part of, then I know what I'm
supposed to do today.
If Jesus' story is the way of
downward mobility, of humbling
himself in vulnerability and
weakness for the sake of
forgiving others and reconciling
others and that's, and I'm part
of that larger story, then I
know what I'm supposed to do
today.
If in the cross of Christ God
became a nothing and he became
a nobody to give himself away in
sacrificial love that seemed like
a foolish waste of time and an
unwise use of his life.
And if I'm part of that larger
story of who God is, then I know
what I'm supposed to do today.
If Jesus used his smarts, he's the
smartest person who ever lived.
If he used his smarts and his
learning and his knowledge not to
impress other people or to get
approval or to get ahead, but
rather use them to draw people to
God.
If he exercises wisdom for the
well-being and the flourishing and
peace, not of just the people that
he liked, but even for his enemies,
and I'm a part of that larger story,
then I know what I'm supposed to do
today.
We've got to ask ourselves in our
work, in our dating, in our money,
with our spouse and our kids and our
community groups and all of our free
time, does this choice look like Jesus
on the cross?
And if it does not, it's not God's
power and it's not God's wisdom.
See, God is calling us to operate in
an alternative reality.
He's calling us to operate in this
counter-cultural way of living that
makes no sense to the world around us.
It looks like weakness.
It looks like foolishness.
But in the eyes of God, it's real
power.
In the eyes of God, it's real
wisdom.
And so I want you to think about
that.
I want you to just fix your eyes.
If you could just close your eyes
and meditate for a moment on the
cross of Christ.
And let's just think about this as we
come to this table with his body
broken and his blood poured out.
And let's just prepare ourselves to
receive from Christ all the power and
all the wisdom that he has to give us.
In the name of the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit.
Amen.