1 Corinthians 1:17-19 Christ the Hope of Glory

1 Corinthians 1:17-19  For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel — not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.  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.”

These are beautiful verses, explaining Christianity in its fullness.  The message of the cross is foolishness to the world, but to believers it is the missing piece in a puzzle.  The cross brings all of life into focus.  God is love and He wants to restore us unto himself as his prized possession of all that He has created.  He wants us near him, to see him, to know him.  All of this comes through the cross.  The death of Christ brought all of us who believe to the grave, but the resurrection of Jesus brought us to life in him, the Creator of all things.  In the death, we became literally nothing, without life; yet without the death, we could not be recreated.  But IN CHRIST, when He arose, we arose with him as new creations.  Before the cross, we were enemies to God in a dark world as Paul describes so well: As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  Then he goes on to say: But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  (Ephesians 1-2 & 2:4-7)  No longer does this world hold us captive; no longer will we die, as all flesh does.  No, our earthly bodies die, but our spirits will live eternally in the bosom of the Lord.  We who once were captives to sin are now alive IN GOD: We IN HIM and HE IN us.  What a miracle!  We cannot preach or proclaim any other gospel.  Paul says he preaches not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.  No answers of eternal life with God will come through the world's knowledge or wisdom.  He dared not use human wisdom or worldly understanding for fear of affecting the power of the cross, but he would preach in the power of the Holy Spirit despite the rejection of the world.

We who are IN CHRIST have the Holy Spirit in us to bring an understanding of God and his domain.  We believe there are more chapters in our book of life that will be written by the Holy Spirit in us.  Paul wrote to the Corinthians with confidence because he believed in the Holy Spirit's work in every Christian's life.  He knew the Spirit was alive and active in the church, for God had fulfilled the prophecy of the prophet Joel: “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions."  (Joel 2:28)  The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead now lived in men and women, giving them power to overcome the evil one and to show the works of God.  All of us who know Christ have the Spirit resident in our lives.  As truly as the cross saves, the Spirit exists and resides in those who believe in the work of the cross.   We exist eternally because the Spirit is eternal and He exists in us.  We who are alive IN HIM have many questions about the meaning of life and our place in God's plan.  These questions make us passionate about the Word of God.  We seek the Word for our daily existence.  The Bible, inspired by the Holy Spirit, helps us understand who we are and who God is.  But questions and answers are never enough for our daily lives; we need more to exist happily in this life; and that comes through the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit plants Christ, the living Word, deeply inside us.  Christ's spirit inside our minds helps us to overcome every day.  When we feel lonely, He is there; when we fear, He is there; when we need hope, He is there!  The Spirit reminds us of the truth and directs us to the comfort of the Word: God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.  (Psalm 46:1-3)  We traverse life successfully in all situations because God is there.  He will never leave us or abandon us.  He will always be there when we need him.  Without him, we are a puzzle with a missing piece, incomplete, unfinished, unable to display its full beauty. 

In the middle of the night, Dad heard this thought from the Spirit: "Questions asked, answers shared."  As members of the body of Christ, we all have questions for God.  We are really pilgrims in this land.  Peter called us aliens and strangers in the world.  (1 Peter 2:11)  The answers the world has for us about existence and eternity depend on man's limited knowledge and wisdom.  Paul rejected human understanding, casting it aside to gain the wisdom and knowledge of God from the Spirit.  He considered what he knew before Christ as dung.  Paul was not like the other apostles who lived and walked with Jesus for three years.  They had heard Jesus' words and listened to his teachings.  They knew him as a man and as the healer, performer of miracles, God on Earth.  They had seen it all, heard it all.  Yet they were not the powerful instruments that Paul was in passing on the words of God to generations of people.  Paul had to learn everything from God through the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Yes, he conversed with the apostles at times, but mostly his teaching comes from his communion with the Spirit.  In the body of Christ, we must also commune with the Spirit hourly, daily, minute by minute, if we are to grow in our knowledge of Christ and in our faith.  In those times of communion, we will have questions about life that only God can answer satisfactorily.  We will want the sustenance for our eternal lives that only God can give.  Our eternal lives depend upon Christ in us.  Paul called this the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations:  Christ in you, the hope of glory.  (Colossians 1:26-27)  At times Paul describes our Christian journey as the growth from infancy to adulthood.  On this journey of maturing, we require daily food from God.  That is why we pray, read the Word, and seek God for answers.  If we are alive in Christ, we will have answers from God for our questions.  Let us share WHAT WE HEAR with others in the body of Christ, so that we all will live more abundantly IN CHRIST.  Paul said he would rather have people prophesy than use any other gift, sharing what God has revealed to them.  To the world, it is foolishness, but to believers in the cross 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.”  Bless you as you share the Lord.