Oakbrook Evangelical Free Church

“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. ” ESV

Introduction

1. Their conflicted, chaotic living

They lived just down the road from the center of the world’s wisdom

They were looking at each other from the worlds point of view. Driven by the world’s motivations. Impressed with platitudes & degrees

They are divided, 1:10

They are worldly, 3:1-3

They live at the crossroads of commerce and had temporal, materialistic values. Consumed with cloths and cars (carts)

Matthew 13:3-4,7,22 ” Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell … among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants…The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” NIV

Luke 10:38, 40-42 ” As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him…Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”” NIV

She had no idea how much pressure life’s circumstances would soon bring

Matthew 6:32-34 ” For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” NIV

This morning we are talking about how to experience the freedom and joy of simplicity

2. Review

Two types of wisdom:

2. The wisdom of Godbegins with His glory and makes that the aim of all He does and leaves the world’s self-sufficiency and independence out. The Wisdom of God - Starts from a position of having all his own needs met already in Christ. Therefore: - The central value is what he has given us and what we can give to others - Not afraid to give even to the radical extreme of self-sacrifice - Able to drop the question of what is owed us - Starts from the perspective of eternal existence Therefore: - Values eternal things - Willing to suffer temporal pain for eternal values

1. The wisdom of this world places man at the center & themeasure of reality and leaves God out. The Wisdom of man - Starts from a base of fear that our needs won’t be met Therefore: - The central value is what we can get from others - Guards what we have against intrusion or loss - Obsessed with how others have failed us or messed us over - Starts from the perspective of temporary existence Therefore: - Values temporary things - Seeks present or near-term pleasure over all else

The epicenter of the collision of wisdoms is the cross!

Human wisdom delights in seeing humankind as self-sufficient and self determining, not dependant on God’s grace and thus, nullifies the cross: 1:17; 1:23 When, in fact, the cross is the wisdom of God.

The cross stands for the ungodliness and helplessness of humanity

The grace of God

And the justice of God

The cross humbles dependent, helpless man and exalts the sufficiency of God. God’s wisdom is that we boast in Christ and not in ourselves! God’s wisdom is the supremacy of His glory as the beginning, middle and end of true wisdom.

And God’s wisdom is that all our needs are met in Christ.

~ The wisdom of man and the wisdom of God collide @ the cross

~ God knows that a life lived based on human wisdom leads to

- Egotism - Alienation from God - Alienation from each other

- Wasted effort - Ruined lives

I. He did not come with eloquent oratory designed to impress an audience.

There is a rhythmical parallel construction in this paragraph that shows polish and balance. But that is not his focus!

The Corinthians prized oratorical skills, success, and acclaim.

He did not come as a Sophist with eloquent rhetoric or rhetorical

Showmanship and dress.

He did not come to them with a display of cleverness with a simple message of Christ and the cross. Humbly and plainly.

II. Paul’s Magnificent Obsession!

A. “I decided”

A personal, practical resolution.

He could not possibly know everything.

He was well read. He had fantastic reasoning skills.

But He made a calculating decision to focus on knowing Christ.

“I decided” and “He pushes us to chose a single focus.

If we live worldly lives or if focus on developing our walk with Christ is simply our choice. It is a decision we make in our heart and renew over and again with the encouragement of the Word, the HS and God’s forever family.

B. “to know nothing except Jesus Christ”

1 Corinthians 2:2 ” For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” NIV

Others came claiming to know something.

Paul came claiming to know someone!

To know Him in daily life, frame by frame

To rely on Him moment by moment

To learn from Him day by day.

Galatians 2:19-20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”” NIV

Philippians 3:10-11 ” I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” NIV

Quote: J.I. Packer, pages 20-21 WORTH THE EFFORT

This was not unique but his normal practice and lifestyle.

This was not done in a spurt of renewal.

The contrast here is with other speakers who came to Corinth.

He focused on the theme the world did not share!

Strength made perfect in weakness

Poor who are truly rich

Have nothing but possess all things

Those who are dead and yet they live

Paul’s only design in going to Corinth was to preach Christ crucified

Paul’s only desire in going to Corinth was to know Christ.

Not Christ as a teacher

Not Christ as a good example

Not Christ as a good man

Not Christ as the perfect man who is the starting point of a new

humanity.

But Christ crucified. Why?

“Because for those who are being saved, every good thing and every bad thing that God turns to good was obtained for us by the cross of Christ. Apart from the death of Christ, sinners get nothing but judgment. Apart from the cross there is only condemnation.

Everything we enjoy as Christians was purchased for us at the cost of the death of Christ.” “Christ is the glory of God. His blood-soaked cross is the blazing center of that glory. By it he bought for us every blessing – temporal and eternal. And we don’t deserve any. He bought them all. Because of Christ’s cross, God’s elect are destined to be sons of God. Because of his cross all guilt is removed, and sins are forgive, and perfect righteousness is imputed to us, and the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Spirit, and we are being conformed to the image of Christ.

Therefore every enjoyment in this life and the next is a tribute to the infinite value of the cross of Christ. Thus a cross-centered, cross-exalting, cross-saturated life is a God-glorifying life. All others are wasted.” Page 59

III. The Impact of Paul’s Obsession

A. It impacted where he placed his confidence

Came in Weakness

1 Corinthians 2:3-4 ” I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,”

Not physical weakness.

Whole context is his state of mind.

Not with conscious strength, self-confidence and self-reliance.

Oppressed with a sense of his weakness and insufficiency.

His calling was to a work for which he did not feel adequate.

Paul was fully aware of his inadequacies.

“fear and trembling” = anxiety and mental fear due to insufficiency!

Totally without confidence in his own abilities

Whatever may have been his level of oratory skills

Whatever his ability to stand toe to toe in philosophical debate

Paul had no intention of placing his confidence in his

Human abilities

He relied on the message and its spiritual power.

“demonstration” – technical term referring to pure rhetoric

The Spirit of God is the source of any success Paul has.

Human wisdom is not the source of the message

And human skill is not the source of his effectiveness

Zechariah 4:6 “This is the word of the Lord…‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” NIV

Paul’s point is that it is not mere rational argument or skillful oratory that persuades us to believe. It is the mysterious operation of God’s powerful Spirit. The foundation of their faith was not built on human skill or wisdom. It was built on the foundation of God’s powerful work in their lives. In our witness we must remember that the HS alone can authenticate our message.

Our approach today must also pay close attention to the message of the cross and the method of the cross.

Humility

Dependence on God not dramatic emotional appeals and high

powered sales technique but a powerful working of God’s Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 1:5 ” because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.” NIV

CHRISTIAN: Your short-comings and fears don’t disqualify you from being an effective spokesperson for Christ. If you sincerely share the good news and how Christ has changed your life, and if you depend on God to empower you as you step out in faith, you will be effective

CHRISTIAN: “You must never imagine that you can prove the truth of Christianity by your own arguments; nobody can prove the truth of Christianity save the Holy Spirit, by His own almight work of renewing the blinded heart.

B. It impacted his motivations

Galatians 1:10 ” Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” NIV

Colossians 1:9-10 ” For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,” NIV

1 Thessalonians 2:3-4 ” For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.” NIV

2 Timothy 2:3-4 ” Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.” NIV

C. It impacted what he valued

Things he no longer valued – simplified his life!

Philippians 3:7-9 ” But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him

Not merely that he does not think of them as having value but also that he does not live with them constantly in his mind.

Story: Pastor Krenz – “comrodere of the bow”

Drove 45 miles to visit me in the hospital. Apparently drown to me because he was an avid bow-hunter. Teased me that I was in the hospital because I bow hunted on a Sunday afternoon. He loved bow hunting. He told me that at about 2 in the afternoon he’d begin to look at the clock to plan his escape from the office.

We bumped into each other at a church function and he told me he’d been convicted about the place bow hunting had taken up in his life. He told me how he’d schedule around his passion for bow hunting and how he’d turn away appointments with people in the afternoon so that he could go bow hunting. And so he told me he’d given up bow hunting all together. It had become an idol in his life. It took priority over his calling. And so the Lord asked him to give it up. He’d even sold his equipment. When he became semi-retired he took it up again.

Things Paul valued – focused living

Philippians 3:10-11 ” I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” NIV

Examine your schedule. Examine your checkbook. Where is God in all of it? Have some bad things…have some “ok” things…have some good things crowded in on your relationship with Christ and pushed knowing Christ aside for lesser things?

“Those who know Christ have made time to meet with Him in prayer and in His word.”

D. It impacted his career path!

Philippians 3:12-14 ” Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” NIV

A man in process. A man on a journey. He was a pilgrim who had not arrived. He was focused in the “here and now” striving for the prize of the “there and then”.

I can not tell you how deeply I believe what I’m about to say…

Paul was educated! Get all the education you can get!

Paul was skilled. Learn a trade! Become a responsible,

productive adult! Pursue and education and skill training that will

allow you to feed and provide for you and your family.

But for God’s sake and the sake of His Kingdom and His church and the everlasting joy of the nations, find out why God saved you!

Stop pursuing your passions! View them as cow pies!

Pursue His passion for your life!

Colossians 1:28-29 ” We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” NIV

A woman once said to the famous preacher, Dr. E. Stanley Jones, “Dr. Jones, you are obsessed with the kingdom of God.’ To this he replay, “I wish that were true because that would be a magnificent obsession.”

“The first Christians understood that primacy of the Lord’s calling. They left home, family, and careers without regret. They challenged both civil and religious authorities when necessary. Torture and death brought praises of Christ to their lips. Today we have more difficulty understanding this kind of commitment.

The church of Jesus Christ, once born in fire, is now encased in ice. The passionate zeal that inflames genuine seekers of God’s kingdom is rare. Today, self-interest seems to eclipse the biblical call to self-sacrifice.

Zealots of a dozen or more ambitious causes run off in as many different directions crying, ‘This is the way! Walk ye in it!’ The resulting chaos and ambiguity of purpose leave many sincere Christians wondering if anybody really knows what the church should be about.

As Christians we have one life to live. Will it be lived encased in ice-safe, but dead? If we will leave the comfort and convenience zones of our lives for the single searing flame of the pursuit of God and his kingdom, we can begin living on the edge of a life that will be risky and even dangerous. To claim to know Christ and yet to be a stranger to this life of total commitment is a tragedy and a waste. So is the spiritual death of people and nations around us.”

The Magnificent Obsession, David Swartz

Gail MacDonald writes that, “unless there is a strong sense of purpose lurking somewhere in us, we can expect our lives to either bang about like a pin-ball machine, or to come under the control of those who are more than glad to create purposes for us.”

Vision of Louie Giglio, page 47, Don’t Waste Your Life

“Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your truth, we wait eagerly for you,
for Your name and Your renown are the desire of our souls.” Is 26:8

“Passion exists to glorify God by inviting students everywhere
to seek God wholeheartedly in an atmosphere of corporate worship.
through His grace and in His presence we ask that God change us,
and ignite in our souls a passionate pursuit of Him
and a desire to declare His glory in our lives, our campuses,
and the ends of the earth.”