1 Corinthians 1:18, ‘For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.’
The word of the cross, the way of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. When we hear the word of the cross – ‘to die to our self’; the way Jesus walked in His earthly life, the way He submitted to His Father; when we get this word of the cross, we might take it as foolishness, as we are not able to come to this way! But when the Holy Spirit speaks to us, about the word of the cross, we should be taking our cross, as we will be saved by it. Holy Spirit says that it is the power of God. It is the real power of God as the Holy Spirit Himself is working in us. If we hear to the word, it will change us, day by day!
V19, ‘For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”
There is a wisdom in this world, if we are wise in this world, we cannot hear or take the word of the cross, when we hear in the Church; it would be foolishness to us; but we need to be humble and take up our cross, to be saved. We can see this verse was taken from Isaiah,
Isaiah 29:10, ‘For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep, He has shut your eyes, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, the seers. 11 The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I cannot read.” 13 Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,’
This is a warning to the Israelites, are we drawing near to God, when we are hearing to His words? Is the word of the cross, appearing as foolishness to us? When the Holy Spirit is speaking to us, are we shutting Him down, saying ‘no, this is not the way!’ Are we making our own way by ourselves?
1 Corinthians 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,
Apostle Paul is preaching Christ, as crucified; this is a stumbling block to the Jews and to the Gentiles, it is foolishness.
We see that Jesus was foretelling His death to His disciples,
Matthew 16:21, ‘From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. 22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
When Jesus said that He need to suffer many things and be killed and be raised up on the third day, Peter said, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You;’
We know what the cross is – ‘it is to suffer when we choose the narrow way’. We notice that Pater was a stumbling block, when he set his mind on man’s interests. Sometimes the Word offends us, but Jesus says, ‘Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me.’ Jesus’ passion and desire was to suffer for us, He came to this world, to die for us, for the forgiveness of our sins and rise up on the third day, for the resurrection power. We not only die to our self but we need to live by His resurrection power, each day. This is the message of cross.
V24, ‘Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’
Jesus shows us the way of the cross. How are we taking this word of the cross? As a message of foolishness or are we taking as the power of God and getting saved? If we are taking it as the power of God, it will transform us from glory to glory.
1 Corinthians 1:24, ‘but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,’
When Jesus chose His disciples, He chose the illiterate and fishermen. There were great things coming out from them. They were able to convert thousands of people to God, through the help of the Holy Spirit.
28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29 so that no man may boast before God. 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,’
But by His doing, we are in Christ Jesus, by what Jesus did on the cross, He became to us the wisdom of God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Galatians 1:15, ‘But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.’
Apostle Paul says that God had set him apart, even from his mother’s womb. God was pleased to reveal the real Jesus Christ in him, so that he might preach among the Gentiles. He was given this task by God. He did not come with his own wisdom but through God’s wisdom, which ruled him; as he knew the world’s wisdom is utter foolishness and he wanted God’s wisdom to speak through him.
Proverbs 14:14, ‘The backslider in heart will have his fill of his own ways, But a good man will be satisfied with his.’
In other translation, ‘A heart that turns from God becomes bored with its own ways, but a good person is satisfied with God’s ways’.
A backslider gets bored of himself. Over and over, when he is going into the world, it is not satisfying him, whenever he ventures into new things, he gets bored of himself. On the other hand, the godly man’s life is exciting. As he is refreshed and the freshness is coming from the Lord’s presence. There is the leading of the Holy Spirit and there is the message of cross. This is how a godly man’s life is fantastic and exciting!
Matthew 11:25, ‘At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.’
Jesus is praising the Father as it is up to Him to give us the revelation, to the infants.
V28, ‘“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”’
Jesus is saying to learn from Him, He is gentle and humble in heart, to take His yoke upon us, for His yoke is easy and His burden is light. We know the animals how they are yoked; the experienced animal has the yoke and is going ahead and the inexperienced animal is going behind it. It is the experienced God, who is going on before us. We need to take up His yoke, as it is easy and the burden is light. The yoke of a worldly man is heavy with the desires of this world. His yoke pulls him down into this world. Jesus offers His yoke, which is easy and His burden is light. We need to learn from Jesus, every day of our lives. Thank God for His word.
1 John 2:16, ‘For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.’
This world is full of lusts – the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, which takes us away from God and the boastful pride of life; these are the lusts which leads us into a bondage. These are not from the Father. The ones who really want the Lord and truly wants to serve Him, is the ones who does the will of God. It is them who will have the eternal life.
1 Peter 2:1, ‘Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.’
This is another type of yoke of the world – ‘all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander’; let us examine ourselves, if we are coming under this bondage. When we take up the cross, the word of the cross, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the world, set aside all the worldly yoke; and we need to work out our salvation, if we have tasted the Lord’s kindness.
1 Peter 4:1, ‘Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.’
There is suffering in the cross, Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. When we are following Jesus and living an overcoming life, the rest of our lives, the rest of the time in the flesh, we will no longer live for the lusts of men but for the will of God.
Romans 6:22, ‘But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.’
When His power is working in us, we derive our benefit, resulting in sanctification and the outcome is eternal life. Every day, when we are taking seriously, the word of the cross, the power of God comes into us and is working in us, resulting in our sanctification. God gives us His power, so that we can live in this world, without any anxiety and without any fear.
‘For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God’.
When we are carrying our cross, denying our ‘self’ daily, we are getting saved, every day. And the power of God is helping us.
Thank God.
