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>>Hey, we are continuing our sermon series about the cross.
And we're doing something about the cross, looking at it from different angles every week.
This is the third week until Good Friday,
the Friday before Easter as the day that we recognize Jesus died on the cross.
And to help us get to thinking about what the cross means, what it stands for, last
week I showed -- I didn't show, I told you some really old advertising logos and slogans
and then you had to just tell me what the product or the company was, and you did a
really good job and you helped prove that those things work.
The problem was most of those last week were so old that young people complained that they
didn't know them. So, I thought in the interest of fairness
we will do it in reverse this week. I had a young person recommend several logos
to me that he assured me young people would know.
So if you don't know them, I will introduce you to Justin and you can blame him.
But, same as last week except I am going to show you these on the screen and you have
to tell me what company or product they represent. Now, we're going to do this a little bit differently,
I'm going to divide you into 2 groups and some of you are going to be offended because
you would rather be in the younger group but you just got to face where you are in life,
okay? How many of you are 50 or older?
You are one group, like it or not, okay, you are 1 group.
All the rest of you are in the other group. Now, here are the rules: Don't answer out
loud when you see it, don't answer until I tell you to answer because I am going to see
how many of these the old folks know and how many the young folks know.
All right? Now, the first one is one that even I knew
what it was, okay. So, it is just kind of an easy one to get
you started and to make sure you know how to play the game.
Remember, don't shout it out, okay. Karen, show this one.
All right, how many of you old folks know what that stands for?
Yep. Young folks?
You all do? See, there you go. What is it?
>>> Twitter. >> How many of you use Twitter?
What do you do with Twitter? You tweet, right?
Is that how it works? I don't get it, all right, just don't get
it, all right. But that is how it works.
So remember, don't shout it out. Here is the next logo.
How many of you old folks know-you are not old, old folks first-
how many old folks know what that represents? I've got one, I've got two, that's it, three.
See, it is working. Now, how many young folks know what it is?
see, what is it? >>> Snapchat.
>> Snapchat. I learned about Snapchat this morning in the
first service. And I learned that the reason they have a
ghost for a logo is that once you open a snap chat it disappears after so many seconds,
right? 10 seconds or so. >>> Unless you screenshot it.
>> Unless you screenshot it and I don't even know what that is, so, it ain't happening
in my life, all right. You don't screenshot anything with my phone,
all right? You talk on it and send texts, that is called
a phone, all right. But I learned, you know, if it disappears
within 7 to 10 seconds do you know why old people don't use it?
We can't get our bifocals focused in time, it is gone.
You look in there and it is gone, okay. But the young people know what it is.
What is the next one, Karen? Now, how many of you old folks know that one?
No, a few? How many young folks know that one?
All right, what is it? >>> Duck Commander from Duck Dynasty.
>>I guess it is their product line or something, I have personally never watched the show but
I hear they are nice people. So that is Duck Commander, I thought I'd throw
that one in. All right, next, Karen, what's next?
How many old people know what that stands for?
All right, 1? 1. How many young people know what it stands
for? All right, what is it?
>>>App Store >>These kids know, it is the App Store.
It is the App Store. Do you know what the App Store is?
You are feeling silly now aren't you. You know, on your smarty phones when you get
those icons on there, those are called apps. That is the online store you go to buy apps,
okay. You know our church has an app now?
You can go to the App Store and look up The Grace Place Church and download our app.
>>> For free. >> For free.
So, my phone doesn't do apps, all right. So, what is the next one, Karen?
Ahh, how many older folks know that one? Old folks only.
A few more. How many young folks know that?
It is? >>> FaceTime.
>> FaceTime. And with FaceTime you can actually see each
other as you talk, not on my phone, but on smarty phones, okay.
I don't get it, why would you want -- why do you need to look at somebody when you're
talking to them on the phone? >>>Video teleconference.
>>Video tele- I mean, there is certain things you can't do when you're FaceTiming, right?
I mean you can't pick your nose when you're FaceTiming and stuff.
You know? You know?
You can't be flossing your teeth or something when you are FaceTiming.
That is all right, I don't have to worry about it.
All right, next? That is an easy one.
How many of you older folks know that? Yep.
Young folks, how many of you know it? What is it?
>>>Safari. >>Safari, that is like Internet Explorer for
Macs, right, and iPhones, right? Is that correct?
Okay, and iPads and all the iDoohickies in the world, okay.
All right, what is the next one? It gets a little harder for us old folks with
this one. How may old folks know what that one is?
Ah hah, finally stumped the old folks. Young folks, how many of you know what it
is and what is it? >>> Vine.
>> Vine, I don't have any clue what Vine is but it does something with videos between
phones and online, right, I guess? >> It is just short little videos.
>>> It is just short little videos. Now I know, thank you, Haley.
I got it now. All right, maybe one more.
A lot of people know this, how many of you old folks know that?
Young people? What is it?
>> Instagram. >> Instagram, honestly I don't know what it
does, it does something instantly I am willing to bet though.
Okay, so, all right. Now, again, what is the purpose of all of
those things? They have one purpose in mind, without a word
what they want you to do is they want you to see that and instantly know what it means.
They want you to instantly, in your mind, you go to what it represents.
And you proved they work because most of you, young people anyway, you instantly recognize
it took you somewhere, you understood what it meant, what that company does, how will
works, how Instagram works and Snapchat and all of that.
You proved that they work. Here is the one I really want you to know
the meaning of, okay? And you see this symbol all of the time too.
You can't drive around town without seeing it on top of a church, seeing it hanging around
somebody's neck on a necklace, somebody has got it on a bracelet, somebody has got it
on earrings, somebody has got it on a T-shirt, it is on a bumper sticker.
The cross. Let me tell you what, you know all those others
I showed you? They didn't exist 10 years ago and probably
none of them will exist 10 years from now. But you know what, that will.
The meaning of the cross will be here. And so the purpose of this series is to look
at the cross deeper than just the generic, yeah it means something about Jesus, kind
of thoughts that people have when they see the cross.
What does it mean deeper than that? You see, we ought to want to know the meaning
of that symbol more desperately than we know the meaning of those others.
And that is the purpose of this series. So, where have we gone so far in this serious?
Quick, quick review, first week we saw-from different angles-first week was from God's
angle, what does the cross mean, at least one thing to God?
It means where his justice met his grace. Justice and grace don't usually go together
because justice is about punishment, it is about being held accountable.
And God is a just God, so he is about justice. God doesn't wink at sin and grin and say,
we will forget about it this time. God has a just nature and character which
means he cannot wink at sin and he cannot allow sin into his presence because that would
violate his very nature. He would violate who he is by allowing sin
in his presence. Now, we all know what the problem is for us
about that, right? Because we are sinners.
So God is not going to let our sinfulness in to the perfection of heaven in his presence.
That is where grace comes in, sin is going to be punished, grace is where Jesus said,
I will do it for them. Remember what grace is?
G-R-A-C-E, God's Riches At Christ's Expense. At the expense of Jesus on the cross we don't
have to be punished for our own sins, we are offered grace, we are offered forgiveness.
That is what it means to God. God satisfies his justice and yet he offers
us grace. Now, last week we saw something about the
cross from Jesus' point of view. To Jesus the cross is where perfection was
treated like sin. What does that mean?
Well, the Bible says, "he who had no sin became sin for us that we might become the
righteousness of God." In other words, Jesus, who never sinned, said
I will take their sin upon me, I will bear the guilt of their sin and then they get the
benefit of my righteousness. Remember, it is about spiritual banking terms,
that verse. That if you trust that Jesus died on the cross
then God will take our sin out of our account and put it into the account of Jesus and then
he takes the righteousness of Jesus and puts that in our account.
That is how we get into heaven as messed up sinful people.
Because when you trust Jesus, God sees the righteousness of Christ in you and he no longer
sees your sin because that has been put into Jesus' account.
And so Jesus bore the guilt of our sin on the cross, perfection was treated like sin
so that justice and grace could be met. So, that is one view of what the cross means
to God and a view of what it means to Jesus and it is a little bit about what it means
to us. But starting today we are going to go into
greater detail about what the cross means to people.
And today we are looking at one group of people and I want you to open a Bible so you can
see it for yourself, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18.
There is a group of people mentioned here and it is very clear what the cross means
to them. 1 Corinthians 1:18.
Now, if you didn't bring a Bible under a chair in front of you I promise you somewhere near
you is a Bible. Take one of those and turn to page 807, it
is God's word to you too. It is not story time where the pastor reads
a story to you. This is God's word for you, so take a Bible
and follow along, 1 Corinthians 1:18. 1 Corinthians is a letter written by the apostle
Paul to a church at Corinth and it is called First Corinthians because it was the first
of at least 2, probably more, letters that he wrote there.
And so in 1 Corinthians 1:18 Paul talks about a group of people and what the cross means
to them. "For the message of the cross is foolishness
to those 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; and the intelligence of the intelligent
I will frustrate." Where is the wise man?
Where is the scholar? 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 miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified:
a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks,
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 man's
wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength."
There is a group of people here and it tells what the cross means to them.
And the group of people are unbelievers and to them the cross is foolishness.
To those who are perishing the cross is foolishness. Those who are perishing is an obvious reference
to people who don't believe in the message of the cross.
They don't believe Jesus died for them, they don't believe he rose again, they don't believe
they need him to be forgiven or to go to heaven or maybe they don't even believe there is
any heaven to go to. It says, to those who are perishing, and I
want you to notice it didn't say they will perish because it is a continual process of
perishing. If you don't believe in Jesus you are perishing
right now. And it means you will continue to perish until
someday you slip into an eternal perishment apart from God forever.
The cross is foolishness to people who don't believe.
Really, what it means is that they are foolish not to believe it.
There is an interesting English word that we get, if you look at verse 18 the word that
we see is foolishness there, obviously this was written in Greek.
There is a Greek word behind that word foolishness, we get a very interesting English word from
that word, the English word moron. I love this verse, I mean, it is sad but it
makes me chuckle. We don't use the word moron very often but
that is the Greek word for foolishness, moron. Webster's dictionary says a moron is a very
stupid person. Dictionary.com says a moron is a person lacking
in good judgment. So now, at the risk of offending you I'm
going to tell you what this verse really means. It means if you don't trust that Jesus died
on a cross for you, you are a moron. That is what it says.
I am sorry if that hurts your feelings, but why won't some people -- why do some people
insist on being foolish? Why won't they believe the message of the
cross? Why won't they believe this message that says,
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes
in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life."
Why is that a hard message for some people to believe?
Well, verses 19 through 25 give us some reasons why people don't believe it.
Verse 19 talks about wisdom, and people who are intelligent and scholarship in verse 20.
Well, what is that all about? Some people, some people almost think they're
too smart to believe the Bible. I mean, if there is not an intellectual humanly
understandable scientific explanation for everything in the Bible they're not going
to believe it. Now, I'm not saying you have got to check
your brain at the door to be a Christian but at some point your brain won't get you there.
At some point God is God and you are not. And he knows some things you don't.
But people who are trying to kind of get there because they are smart, you know, they're
the people who asks questions like did the walls of Jericho really fall down?
Come on now. If so, how?
You've got to explain how before I believe it.
I mean, did Daniel really survive being thrown into a lion's den?
Did Jesus, I mean, was he really born of a ***?
I mean, did he really walk on water? You can't expect me to believe that if you
can't explain it to me. Did He really rise from the dead?
If so, how? See because they don't think that if they
can't humanly, rationally, scientifically, intellectually understand it, it is not true.
But let me tell you what that view point does, it leaves out just a little bit of truth,
the truth that God is so far above our ways that we can never understand everything he
does. It leaves out the truth that the laws of physics
and science as we understand them, God is above those, he doesn't respond to those,
they respond to him. It leaves out the truth that if we knew every--if
we could explain everything that God does and understand it all, why would we need him?
I don't know about you but it scares me to death to think that we could be in charge.
Okay. I don't know about you I want my God to know
some things I don't know. I am very comfortable, that is what makes
him God and me not. But there are people who are foolish enough
to think that they can outsmart or that they can think their way into heaven.
Well, verse 20 talks about philosophy, what is that?
It means people who come up with their own ideas about God and about religion.
And they think that their idea, even though it conflicts with the Bible, is the right
way to go. It is kind of like making up your own rules,
you know, kind of like, did you ever play a board game with somebody who just seems
to make it up as they go? Drives me crazy, Joyce.
[LAUGHTER] Okay, you don't get to make it up as you go.
You don't get to create your own ideas about God and about religion.
But you see, people who subscribe to this view point, here is some things they think:
Well, in my view, surely a God of love would never really punish people for just a few sins.
I mean, that just doesn't make sense the way I see it.
Surely, surely, God would not be so narrow-minded
as to say there is really only one way to heaven.
Surely there is many ways to get there and all these religions are equal, they just use
different paths to get there. All of those are philosophies of religion
that people subscribe to today. It leaves out a little bit of truth, Jesus
says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, nobody is going to get there except through
me. It leaves out the truth, that God defines
us, we don't define Him. He tells us who we are; we don't tell Him
who He is. We don't get to make the rules, He makes the
rules and they are set, whether we like them or not.
Verse 23, another reason some people are foolish about the message of the cross is they are
demanding some kind of spectacular miraculous sign.
I mean, if God doesn't write it on my yard with a lightning bolt I am not believing it.
Do you know what the Bible says about that? He has already given you all of the miracles
he is going to give you. He is not going to write it in your yard with
a lightning bolt. I mean, for heaven's sake, what is more miraculous
than a Savior who comes from heaven, lives 33 years as a sinless person on earth, dies
on a cross in your place, rises from the dead 3 days later?
There is nothing more miraculous than that, there is nothing else coming.
In the Bible one time there is a guy who asks, Lord send somebody to tell my brothers so
they will believe. The story is, hey, if they don't believe what
they've got now, they will never believe it. So, don't wait for something else.
Some people are foolish, it says, by their own strength.
Verse 25 talks about people's strength but it says God's weakness is stronger than your
strength. I think that is a reference to people who
think they are strong enough and able enough to be good enough and get there on their own.
Folks, the message of the cross is that you can't back God into a corner and make him
be who you want him to be. He is who he is and the rules are what they
are and he says there is only one way and it is by faith in a crucified and risen Lord
Jesus Christ. The message of the cross boils down to this:
it is take it or leave it. But you are a fool if you leave it.
I'm going to tell you a story that kind of reflects on foolishness a little bit.
I have told you a few times over the 8 years I've been here about my oldest brother Harold,
Harold is a big guy, always has been. He probably weighs over 300 pounds now; he
is just a big man. I didn't know his name was Harold until I
was about 8 years old because we called him Corky, that was his name.
I didn't know he had another name. And Corky has been mentally disabled since
birth but under certain circumstances with supervision and the right environment he does
okay. I mean, he is different, but he does okay.
But you know, growing up as a kid he was just my brother, I didn't know he was different
because we never talked about it in my family. It was off-limits to talk about.
And so I just, hey, he's my brother, that is how he is, I didn't really know.
I found out he was different one day I was playing with a friend who lived across the
street from us and my friend for some reason felt the need to tell me what his mother had
said about Corky. And his mother had told him that Corky was
a retarded moron. I didn't know what that meant, it didn't sound
good so I argued with him because I didn't want my brother to be called that.
But I didn't really understand it. But you know, back then, moron was an official
medical term. It was in psychology books as a technical
term describing a person with a certain degree of mental retardation.
As hurtful as we think it sounds now it was something that doctors and psychiatrists and
psychologists used back then. So I don't want you to be offended by my use
of the word retardation because I can only tell this story in the language that was used
back then. So I went home to my mother and I said hey
he said Corky is a retarded moron; and she sat me down and she explained to me,
yes your brother is mentally retarded but don't ever ever say that to him because your
brother is aware enough to know he is different. So if you tell him that it is going to hurt
his feelings. Actually she wasn't quite that nice about
it, she threatened me within an inch of my life if I ever said that to him.
But what do kids do? Yeah, I remember over 50 years ago like it
was yesterday. Corky hurt my feelings, what do you think
I wanted to do? I wanted to hurt him back.
So I pulled out the thing that I thought might hurt him the most and I turned to him and-he
is a big boy, I mean, I probably weighed 60 pounds he probably weighed 260- and I said,
"Well, what do you know? You are just a retarded moron."
He started crying and he said to me, "I know I am," and he turned around and walked away.
Do you know how small I felt?
Tell me who the moron is that day. Let me tell you the rest of the story about
Corky. A couple of years ago Joyce and I called him
before his birthday in said, "Hey Cork, what do you want for your birthday?" He
said, "the only thing I want is I want a new Bible."
The surprising thing was we had just purchased a new Bible for him, brand-new, leather bound,
nice Bible about 2 to 3 years before that for his birthday and now he is asking for
another Bible. And so I said, "Corky, why do you need another
Bible? What happened to the one I got you a couple of years ago?"
He said, very casually like it was a normal thing, he said, "Oh, I wore that one out
reading it and carrying it around." Who is the moron?
Really who is foolish? I tell you, my brother is not a smart man
by earthly terms but he is no moron. He is not foolish because when he reads the
Bible he believes what it says. If you ask my brother what the message of
the cross is and does he believe it, it will take him a nanosecond to tell you yes he does.
So, by earthly standards, he may not intellectually understand it like some people but I will
tell you what, he is not foolish. When it comes to the message of the cross
he is not the moron.