The Power of God

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3-3-24

Hoonah-Hadley

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Call to Worship Psalm 19

Daily Verse 1 Cor. 1:18

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  We just visited this verse in a recent sermon, but it seems prudent when God shows us a thing, and not long after seeing it, or hearing it, He shows it to us again, we’d do well to have a look.  Meeting the electrician the other day concerning the Nehemiah house, I was required to bring a sufficient ladder, which I did, and just in case I brought 3 different ones to be sure.  As I scrambled around for departure, I eyed up a few tools for the heck of it, but 2 things I looked at and didn’t take, a box of screws and a 2X4.  I wasn’t at the job site for long before the electrician asked me, “Do you have a 2X4 and some screws?” I said, “No, though God told me to bring them, but I didn’t.”  It’s not the first time I went out the door, looked at a thing, and left it behind, only to find the necessity of it some time later.  If we truly believe in God and His word, the days fashioned for us before there was yet one of them, the fact that He knows the number of them, knew us before we were formed, knows where we’ve been, where we are going and what we need along the way, we’d never leave home again empty handed.  Fortunately for us He will supply all our needs according to His riches and glory. (Phil. 4:19) Yep, there was one old 2X4 and a couple screws just the right length at the house waiting for their destiny.  Exodus 20:2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”  God reminds us who brings us out of bondage. 

-2-

In a recent Sunday school class, what began as a pleasant retreat, slowly turned into a debate, the debate, division, division, argument, if we could call it that. The fellow leading the class closed his bible and said to the opposition, “I’ve got nothing more for you” and the argument got up and left. Remember the “conversation” between the devil and Jesus? If the tempter thought he could pull one over on the Son of Man, how much more might we expect he will sit at the table and dine with us? Get behind me Satan! As a reminder, when Jesus spoke these words as he looked at Peter, He was speaking to the devil who had entered Peter’s mind. He was not mindful of the things of God, but the things of man. Satan is a “beguiler,” he misleads, deceives, distracts, cheats and if “beguiler” enters the conversation via a text message or email and the sender says it was a misspelling, it is not. It is a sign the devil has a foothold and has entered the mind of at least one of the parties involved. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks and as surely as God set His rainbow in the cloud as a sign, the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart are signs of who we are mindful. Remember the saying, thoughts become words, words, actions, actions behavior, behavior, character? “Our actions are a direct result of our thoughts. If we have a negative mind, we will have a negative life.” (Battlefield of the Mind) Colossians 3:1-2 “Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth.”  An empty passive mind is easily filled with all kinds of wrong thoughts. Psalm 19 “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.”  Heaven declares it. God’s power converts the soul.

-3-

In the Gospel of John chapter 2 Jesus cleanses the temple.  Vs. 15 “When He had made a whip of chords, He drove them out of the temple…and overturned the tables.”  He made a whip!  This is premeditation.  This is God’s word, the whole counsel of God.  The power of God overturns the tables of conventional wisdom.  Jesus said, “Get these out of here, how dare you turn My Father’s house into a market!”  We simply cannot market the gospel.  The gospel always destroys the wisdom of the world, and the wisdom of those perishing will always be in conflict with God.  Remember some of Burger Kings advertising slogans, “Have It Your Way”, and “Sometimes You’ve Got to Break the Rules”.  You have it your way and break God’s rules and turn His house into a den of thieves, He’ll turn over your table and dump your Whopper on the floor.  Psalm 69:9 “Zeal for Your House will consume Me.”  Jesus goes on to say, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it up again in 3 days.”  Of course, the Jews thought this foolish.  “It has taken 46 years to build this temple and You are going to raise it in 3 days?”  It’s easy for us to see because we have “the rest of the story”, either way, it is hard to comprehend.  What they didn’t understand, the temple He was speaking of was His body.  After He was raised from the dead, the disciples recalled what He had said.  “Then they believed the scriptures and the words that Jesus had spoken.”  This is the message of the cross, God’s word, the power of God.  Do you have a zeal for God’s house?  With the internet, technology, smart phones, we are overwhelmed with the wisdom of the world.  Many a church has been converted into an antique shop, a restaurant or brewery due to the lack of zeal for God’s house.  Our values and priorities are upside down.  Only the message of the cross, the dying and rising of the Son of God can solve our problems.  The power of God turns over our tables. 

-4-

1 Cor. 1:18 “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.”  The message of the cross is a vast ocean, verse 18 is a drop in the bucket, but a critical one.  Fact, there are those who are perishing and those who are being saved.  There is foolishness and there is the power of God.  People think and act differently, science and medicine agree on the what the bible declared thousands of years ago.  Foolish, lacking good judgment, sense or understanding.  One who can be easily deceived…silly, stupidity…unwise.  Synonyms include, absurd, crazy, idiotic, insane, loony, mad, wacky.  Anybody?  It may be humorous to consider some of the silly, stupid things we have done throughout our lives, but foolishness as it concerns us today is no laughing matter.  We are faced with the wide and narrow gate daily.  The one is easy, the other hard.  Many enter the one, few the other.  One leads to destruction, the other to life.  The message of the cross is the dividing line between perishing and being saved.  All the wisdom of the world cannot gather in the message of the cross, nor can mind conceive it, but we can touch the hem of its garment.  We can meditate on it day and night.  It makes us lie down in green pastures.  For God so loved the world that He gave. Deny yourself.  Behold, I do a new thing.  We are to God the fragrance of Christ.  Not so the wicked. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. As we follow our Lord from the cradle to the grave, we see He is set, unshakeable in direction and purpose. The road to Calvary is a highway.  Should we take up our cross and follow Him, we see others passing by, going the other way. It is both the highway to hell and the stairway to heaven.  “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” 

Amen.