1 Corinthians 1:21-25 – “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.  For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

Pride is the underlying sin of man.  It is the sinful nature of man, that we want to be God, rather than worship Him.  We do not want to be accountable to someone beyond ourselves.  So although man knows He is created, and knows God is good and righteous and we are not, we suppress that truth, in order to live in a delusion.  (Romans 1)  We live in a post-modern society which rejects notions of absolute truth and morality, and we preach Christ as the only way, the absolute unchanging Truth, and the only means of life.  Is it all surprising that the world rejects us as it did Jesus?

So either out of a well-intentioned desire to try to “meet people where they are” with the gospel, or because of our own sin of pride and not wanting to be rejected, we have watered down the gospel to attempt to lessen the offense.  We make jokes about preachers of old like Jonathan Edwards who preached “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” and “hellfire and brimstone”.  So we tell people that Jesus loves them, and wants a better life for them, but we never preach God’s holy righteousness and just hatred for sin.  We soothe men’s consciousness with happy speech from God, just enough to make them comfortable, while they remain unrepentant in their independence from God – paving the path to hell for those we profess to love and want to save.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 – “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures”

My exhortation to myself and us all, is to “not be ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”  (Rom 1:16)  The gospel is offensive.  If we preach Christ crucified for our sins plainly, it will be rejected by most.  In fact, the only way anyone will ever humble themselves to place their faith in Christ is by the Holy Spirit – an act of God.  God does not need a sales or PR department, He has simply called us to preach His message of salvation through Christ crucified.  God’s hatred for sin is infinitely greater than we can imagine, but so too is His love for us through Christ.  The depth of that hard preaching is the means God uses to soften hard, prideful hearts to lead people from death to life.  The gospel is the antithesis of our society, it is a declaration of dependence upon God for salvation, life, and all things as our sovereign Creator and Lord.  Let us be faithful ministers of that message to ourselves first, and then also to the world around us.

Grace and Peace,

Adam