Greetings friend, welcome back!
Throughout this course, we have focused on the gospel message as being not only that which brings people into the Church but also the message which sanctifies, heals, feeds, cleanses, and compels her. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the primary message that God has for His church. Everything we teach must be tethered too and flow out of this main message of Christ’s death and resurrection.
We left off in the last lesson with 1 Corinthians 1:22-24, and today we will complete our study of that passage. Here it is again:
“Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 “but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:22-24
Question 1. According to 1 Corinthians 1:22-24, “preaching Christ crucified” is…
Preaching Christ crucified is the power and wisdom of God! What more do we need? We need not have advanced degrees or eloquent speech to minister the gospel because we don't preach ourselves. We preach Christ - His eternal, perfect finished work on Calvary and His victorious resurrection. And it is Christ who has qualified and equipped us (2 Corinthians 3:6, 2 Timothy 3:15-17, Hebrews 13:20-21) for the ministry!
Christ is our righteousness, giving us right standing with God. He has cleansed us from all sin, redeemed us, and set us free from captivity to sin (1 Corinthians 1:30). To experience personal transformation and also help others experience it, we must keep "the word of the cross" as the foundation of our faith and ministry (1 Corinthians 1:18). The word of the gospel is given in every book of the Bible, and therefore, it must be in every message we offer, and all ministry we do.
This powerful message of the cross was the "power of God" proclaimed through the preaching of the ordinary man Peter (Acts 4:13), and that message cut the hearts of those who heard it (Acts 2:37). The gospel message is what turned the "foolish Galatians" back from living in the flesh (Galatians 3:1). The gospel message turned the Thessalonians "to God and from idols" (1 Thessalonians 1:5-9). And it is the gospel message that delivers us from the kingdom of darkness, transferring us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves (Colossians 1:13). The message of Christ's death and resurrection is what saves and sanctifies the believer, so this is what we must proclaim. "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18
Question 2: What is the message of the cross to those who are perishing?