Resolved to Know Christ Crucified (and Raised!)

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Good morning, I'm Hannah Sue and I'm a member of the North Berkeley Community Group.

This morning's reading is a reading from the Acts of Apostles, chapter 18, verses 1-11,

and a reading from 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, 18-25, and chapter 2, 1-5.

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla,

because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome.

Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.

Every Sabbath, he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching,

testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.

But when they opposed Paul and became abusive,

he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them,

Your blood be on your own heads.

I am innocent of it.

From now on, I will go to the Gentiles.

Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Tidious Justice, a worshiper of God.

Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord,

and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.

One night, the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision,

Do not be afraid.

Keep on speaking.

Do not be silent.

For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you,

because I have many people in this city.

So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

A reading from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians.

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.

For it is written,

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.

The intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.

Where is the wise person?

Where is the teacher of the law?

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 signs, and Greeks look for wisdom,

but we preach Christ crucified,

a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles,

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 human wisdom,

and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters.

When I came to you,

I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom

as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you

except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

I came to you in weakness,

with great fear and trembling.

My message and my preaching

were not with wise and persuasive words,

but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,

so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom,

but on God's power.

This is the word of the Lord.

Good morning.

We are continuing today in a sermon series

that we started back in May.

And we're looking at the life and the letters

of the Apostle Paul.

Particularly, we've been in the Acts of the Apostles,

chapters 16 through 19,

looking at the way that the greatest Christian theologian,

the Apostle Paul,

was driven by this urgency

to get the gospel out there,

to inject the gospel into the heart

of every city center in the Roman Empire

between Jerusalem and Rome and beyond.

And he wants to be sure

that within his lifetime,

within his generation,

he establishes as many Jew plus Gentile churches

as he possibly can

in all the major metropolitan areas.

And as we've been looking at these different texts,

a pattern has begun to emerge,

at least for me,

and I'd like to show you the pattern,

is that Paul takes the gospel

to these Greek cities

that are not very unlike the Bay Area.

He takes the gospel,

this word of the cross,

this message of Christ crucified,

and every time,

he gets a mixed reception.

Reception.

There's a small minority of people

who are persuaded,

they believe,

they're baptized,

they become vital members of the church,

and then there's really

a vast majority of people

who are opposed.

They don't believe.

They revile Paul.

They even, as we saw in this text,

they abuse Paul.

And you might remember back to Philippi,

when Paul went to Philippi,

he was,

we're told he was seized,

he was dragged before the authorities,

he was accused of,

quote unquote,

throwing the city into an uproar,

he was stripped,

he was beaten,

he was put in prison,

and then he was exiled from the city.

And then Paul just kept going.

He goes on to the city of Thessalonica

that we saw last week,

and we saw how a mob formed,

and they started a riot,

and Paul was forced out of the city,

other Christians were dragged

before the officials,

and they had to pay a fine,

and they said,

hey, these people are turning

the world upside down.

They're defying the decrees of Caesar,

they're claiming that there's another king

whose name is Jesus.

And we have a map,

just to kind of remind you

of where all this stuff is in the world,

and what's happening where,

but Paul goes from Philippi

to Thessalonica,

and then he goes to Athens,

the cultural capital of Greece.

And when he arrives there,

most people sneer at Paul.

They say he's a babbler of strange ideas.

And Paul decides,

okay, well, now I'm going to go to Corinth,

the commercial capital of Greece.

And when he arrives there,

he meets all the same opportunities

and challenges.

All the basic stuff that's been happening

keeps happening.

It's been said that history

may not repeat itself,

but it often rhymes.

And you can see that

in Paul's ministry.

What's the result of his gospel mission

in the city of Corinth?

It's this,

that a vast majority

of Jews and Greeks

hear this message of Christ crucified,

and they reject it

as either a stumbling block

or foolishness,

as something that's just deeply,

offensively stupid

in their eyes.

But, for some people,

the word of the cross

is the power of God

and the wisdom of God,

and so they believe it

and they're baptized into it.

And you would think

when Paul sees

the conversion of Crispus,

the leader of the synagogue,

his entire household,

he'd be massively encouraged

by that breakthrough

and by these conversions.

And I think that he was,

but if you ask

any Christian leader

who's been doing this

for any amount of time,

they'll tell you that

you have to learn

how to live in the paradox

between encouragement

and discouragement,

between hope and fear,

between, you know,

a confidence in the Lord

and a real sense of insecurity

about yourself

and your circumstances.

And that's why the Apostle Paul,

when he's afraid,

he has this vision in Corinth

and the Lord Jesus

comes to him at night

and he speaks to him

in this vision

to address the fears

and the discouragement

that Paul has

and to give him

some reassurance.

So we're going to look at that.

We're going to look at that vision

and then we're also going to look

at Paul's opening words

and the letter

that he then writes

to this church

that he's planted

in the city of Corinth.

So, three headings.

First of all,

what keeps us going

in our mission for the city?

Second question,

what is the heart

of our message?

And third question,

how can we live

with real power

and wisdom?

What keeps us going

in our mission for the city?

What's the heart

of our message?

And how can we live

with real power

and wisdom?

First of all,

what keeps us going

in our mission for the city?

This is now my 20th year

as a missionary

to Berkeley,

a church planter

and a pastor

in the Bay Area,

which is still

what it was

when I came here.

It's still

the least religious,

most unchurched

metropolitan area

in the entire United States.

And it feels a lot

like Acts chapter 16

Acts 16 · chapter mention

to 19,

which is why

we're preaching this.

There are very similar dynamics,

similar patterns

of the rejection

of the gospel,

the acceptance

of the gospel,

and similar feelings

of encouragement

about that

and discouragement

about that.

And the Apostle Paul,

it seems,

is sufficiently

discouraged.

He's sufficiently

afraid

such that he needs

this visitation

in the night.

And here's what it says

in Acts chapter 18,

Acts 18:9

verse 9.

One night,

the Lord spoke

to Paul in a vision,

do not be afraid,

keep on speaking,

do not be silent,

for I am with you,

and no one is going

to attack you

and harm you

because I have many people

in this city.

So Paul stayed

in Corinth

for a year and a half

teaching them

the word of God.

Paul had experienced

so many setbacks

at this point,

so much opposition,

so many beatings,

so many riots,

so much rejection,

that he needed

a word from the Lord

to calm his fears

and to encourage

his heart

and to steal

his nerves

and to keep him going

in his mission

for the city.

And in some way,

I hope that Paul's fear

and Paul's discouragement

is a comfort to us

because we've met

this guy

who's the most

courageous,

least fearful,

most resilient,

unflappable person

who's probably

ever existed.

What does he do?

Right?

Remember in Philippi

when he's shamefully

stripped

and he's unjustly beaten

and then he's wrongfully

in prison

and he's horribly

mistreated

in that prison.

What does Paul do?

He prays

and he sings

at night

to the Lord

in the darkness

at midnight.

His motto,

remember he's sitting

in a jail

writing that letter

to the Philippians

that we studied

and his motto

is in Philippians 1.21,

he says,

for me to live

is Christ

and to die

is gain.

He seems to be

completely fearless.

Philippians 4,

he said,

don't be anxious

about anything

but present your request

to God.

He says,

I've learned the secret

of being content

in any and every situation

and yet,

he says here

in this text

in 1 Corinthians 2.3,

he says,

I came to you

in weakness

and with great fear

and trembling.

And he's in such a state

that he needs a vision

and he needs a word

from the Lord

that says,

do not be afraid.

One of my favorite

of Paul's letters

is 2 Corinthians

because it's written

out of a place

of deep pain

and deep darkness.

And Paul says

in 2 Corinthians 1,

he says,

we are under

great pressure

far beyond

our ability

to endure

so that we

despaired of life

itself.

Now,

if you came to me

and you said,

Jonathan,

I don't think

I can go on.

I'm in such,

I'm experiencing

such excruciating

discouragement

and I'm despairing

of life.

I'm heading

into a deep

depression

and maybe

toward a breakdown,

I would say

and think to myself,

you need special

help.

And that's exactly

what the Apostle

Paul needs.

He needs special

help.

He often needs

special help.

Again,

in 2 Corinthians 4,

he says,

we're hard-pressed

on every side,

we're perplexed,

we're persecuted,

we're struck down.

He says in 2 Corinthians 7,

he says,

there were fightings

without and fears

within constantly

in my ministry.

And so how does he

keep going in the

Lord's mission

for the city

when it's so physically

and emotionally taxing

and so spiritually

discouraging?

And how do we

keep going?

How do I keep going?

Well,

yeah,

how do we

do this ministry

in Berkeley

in the Bay Area

when it can feel

sometimes appropriately

overwhelming?

when you think

about the mission

we actually have

to share the gospel?

Well,

I think this vision

in Corinth

is kind of a

clue and a help

because the risen

Lord Jesus,

he comes to Paul

who keeps experiencing

serious opposition

and hostile receptions

in city after city

and what does he say

to Paul

in the darkness

of night?

What does he say?

He says,

do not be afraid.

How many of us

are beginning

our days

and ending our days

in 2025

listening to that

voice of fear

with all of his

dark lies

and dark temptations?

It says,

be afraid.

Jesus,

risen from the dead,

comes to his apostle

and he commands him,

stop being afraid.

afraid.

Fear no longer.

Take your fears

and look at them

and say,

no.

He says,

do not be afraid.

Keep on speaking.

Do not be silent

for I am with you

and no one is going

to attack and harm you

because I have many people

in this city.

See,

the apostle Paul

needs to know

three things

all of which I think

apply to us

here at Christ Church.

He says,

first of all,

I'm with you.

I'm with you.

You're not as alone

as you feel

because I'm with you.

You're not as weak

and defenseless

as you feel

because I'm here

to protect you.

You see,

what drives our mission

for the city,

it's not us.

It's not our gifts.

It's not our skills,

our passions,

our experiences,

our vision,

our resources,

our sense of confidence

in ourselves.

what drives our mission

for the city

is Jesus Christ

risen from the dead

who's living and active

who says,

I'm right here

with you

and he's promised

to not just be with us

but to build his church.

He's promised to

protect us

in such a way

that the gates of hell

will not prevail

against his church.

our gospel mission

to our city

is completely reliant,

it's totally dependent

on the presence

and the power

of the resurrected Lord Jesus

and if he is not with us

then whatever we purpose

this year

will come to naught.

It'll be nothing.

But if he is with us

then we can keep going

with confidence.

So first of all,

I'm with you,

he says.

Secondly,

I have many people

in this city

not only am I with you

but I have many people

in this city.

Jesus is saying to Paul,

I own this city.

I sovereignly rule

and reign over this city.

I'm at work here

in the lives

of all the people

in this city.

They owe their very existence

to me.

And he says to Paul

and to the church

through Paul,

he's saying,

I've sent you

to gather a people

who will willingly

and self-consciously

belong to me.

a people

who will live

for my name

and for my glory.

And because I have

so many people

in this city

and because I'm

at work in this city,

my church therefore

has a great work

that remains to be done.

A great task

that remains unfinished.

A great commission

that remains to be

worked out.

And friends,

this encourages me

that Jesus has many people

here in the city

of Berkeley.

He has many people

in the city of Oakland.

He has many people

in the city,

all the cities

of the East Bay.

A people out there

whom he wants to reach.

A people whom he wants

to save

by the power

of his grace.

A people that he wants

to add to his church.

A people that he wants

to gather

for his glory.

A people that he wants

to conform

into his love

and to his image.

And this is why

he wants us

to keep going.

To keep initiating

relationships with people.

To keep finding

people of peace.

To keep saying

to our co-workers

in our office

and the people

that are living

on our streets

and in our schools.

The people with whom

we've developed

a friendship

around common interests.

Right?

The members

of our families.

He wants us

to bring them

around our table

and listen to them.

And to love them.

And to ask them

great questions

to say,

you know,

what is it

that gives your life

meaning?

Where do you turn

for help

and for strength

when life inevitably

gets hard?

Do you ever have

a sense that God

is real?

You see,

if the Lord

has people

in the city,

then one of our

primary tasks

is to go and find them.

And to befriend them.

To listen to them

and to love them

into the kingdom.

Jesus says,

I'm with you.

And I have many people

in the city.

And then he says,

keep on speaking.

Do not be silent.

That's the way

my great commission

will be worked out

is if you

keep on speaking

this simple message

of Christ crucified

so that as many people

can hear the gospel

as possible.

This is why

we're looking forward

to running our

Alpha course

again in January.

It's why we're hoping

that you all

will be praying

for the people

that God has put

in your life

that they would

begin to explore faith

and we can create

spaces for people

to do that very thing.

Our risen Lord

Jesus says,

I'm with you.

I have many people

in the city

and keep speaking.

And the Lord,

I think,

made good on that

promise to Paul.

Paul,

unlike all the other

cities before,

he's not forced

out of the city.

He's enabled to

stay in Corinth

for about 18 months.

His heart

is now encouraged.

His faith

is strengthened.

His nerves

are steeled.

He has a newfound

assurance

and confidence

to stay the course

until his work

is completed

in spite of

inevitable opposition.

And my hope

is that all of us

would be able

to operate

out of that same

encouragement,

that same strength,

that same confidence

as we enter

into a new

school year,

a new ministry

year together.

So,

what keeps us

going in our

mission for the city?

It's not us,

it's Jesus.

Secondly,

what is the heart

of our message?

What is the heart

of our message

for our city?

Well,

Corinth was a lot

like the Bay Area.

The Apostle Paul

came here to Corinth

because it's the best

place to make contact

with all sorts

of people.

It was this crossroads

between the eastern

and the western

Mediterranean

and between northern

and southern Greece

and so Paul could

meet here

people of varying

social statuses

and spiritual orientations

and that's exactly

what he did

for the next 18 months.

He would talk

to people

while he was working

in his leather shop,

while he was selling

tents in the marketplace,

before work,

after work,

Paul's talking to people

up and down

the social ladder

and across the spectrum

of all the ideologies

out there on offer

primarily represented

by the ideologies

of Jew and Greek.

And Paul says

in 1 Corinthians 1, 22,

he says this,

he says,

Jews demand signs

or signs of power

and Greeks look

for wisdom.

And of course,

the Bible for Jews

is the Moses

and the prophets,

you know,

from Elijah to Ezekiel

and in interpreting

that Bible,

people were then

valuing signs

of supernatural power

and all the wonderful

works of God

that you see

in the plagues

in Egypt

and the parting

of the Red Sea,

they were focused

on the power.

And of course,

for Greeks,

the sacred text

for the Greeks

was Homer

and Plato

and Aristotle

and they valued

not so much power

but wisdom.

They valued the logos

and ethos

and pathos

of rhetoric

and masterful,

skillful dialogue.

And in some ways,

these cultures

of Jew and Greek

represent our

modern desires today.

We desire power.

We desire the power

of an active life,

the power

to get stuff done,

the power

to change the world.

We desire wisdom.

We desire the wisdom

of a contemplative life,

the wisdom

of reflecting

on what we've done,

the wisdom

of explaining

and understanding

the world.

But Paul,

he comes to these two

alternate visions

of reality

and he outflanks

them both.

To quote

some popular

Berkeley bumper stickers,

Paul questions authority.

Right?

He subverts

the popular,

the dominant paradigms.

And he shows up

with a totally

different message.

He comes to the city

and he says

he comes in verse 18

with the message

of the cross,

of the word

of the cross.

In verse 23,

he says,

we preach Christ

crucified.

He says in 1 Corinthians 2.2,

I resolved to know

nothing while I was

with you

except Jesus Christ

and him crucified.

He says

to these visions

of reality

that are on offer

and are most popular

to all the people,

he says,

these visions

of reality

are insufficient.

your vision

of God

and of the world

is incomplete.

And let me see

if I can illustrate

this with Superman.

Have you guys seen

the movie yet?

Okay,

you need to repent

and go

and see this movie.

I think it's probably

the best

of all the Superman.

Of course,

it's an immigrant story.

It's a story

of an alien

who comes

to the United States.

He's committed

to truth,

justice,

in the American way.

These bedrock principles

that you defend

the defenseless

and you help

people in need,

right?

And these

essential aspects

and attributes

of Superman

are what define

how he deals

with evil.

How he deals

with corrupt politicians

and unscrupulous

businessmen.

And in this particular,

this isn't,

these aren't spoilers

by the way,

but in this particular

version of the movie,

Superman is battling

tech billionaires

who hang out

in shadowy lairs

beyond,

you know,

real authorities

who are trying

to control

the universe.

And Superman's

taking on mass

bad guys

with guns

who are dragging

random people

away to be

imprisoned in cages

where nobody

can find them.

And the central

bad guy in the movie,

you know him,

Lex Luthor,

he believes himself

to be a genius

and yet he's jealous

of anyone

that makes him

feel weak.

Okay, so

does any of this

sound vaguely familiar

or remotely relevant

to our time?

And Superman's there

to protect the little

guys and pummel

the bad guys,

right?

Well, there's this

great book by

Glenn Weldon

called Superman,

the Unauthorized

Biography,

and here's his thesis.

He says,

there are two

central definitive

attributes to

any good Superman

story to tell you

that it's legit,

that it's real.

He says,

the real Superman

is always selfless

and he always

operates by resolve.

Right?

He's known by his

selflessness and his

resolve.

Superman must always

put the needs of

other people before

himself and refuse

to give up.

And he says,

if either of those

factors is missing

from the story,

then our minds just

rebel against it.

We reject it.

We say,

this is simply not

the real Superman.

Right?

The real Superman

places himself between

vulnerable citizens

and mortal danger

and he's resolutely

saving lives.

He even,

this is a spoiler,

he saves the life

of a single squirrel.

Okay?

And you might be

wondering at this point,

what are you talking

about?

What does this have

to do with Jesus?

Well, I want to pull

up a slide that

captures everything

Paul's trying to say.

And at the heart

of the apostles' message

to every major city

throughout the Roman

Empire, he says to

Jews who value power

and to Greeks who

value wisdom, he says,

if your vision of God,

if your narrative of

God does not include

two central definitive

truths, then it's

simply not God.

And what are those two

central definitive truths?

Number one, there must

be a divinely appointed

Messiah and number two,

he must be crucified.

He says,

if the story that

you're telling yourself

about reality,

if the story you're

telling yourself about

God does not include

a heaven-sent

messianic king,

then it's not God.

And if that story

that you're telling

yourself about God

doesn't have at its

center a Messiah

who's laying out

his life in

sacrificial self-giving

love as the

substitute for sinners

in need of this

most shocking

intervention in

order to be saved,

then it's simply

not God.

Paul says in

verse 22,

Jews demand signs

of power,

Greeks look for

wisdom, but we

preach Christ

crucified, a

stumbling block to

Jews and foolishness

to Gentiles.

You see, Jews heard

this message of the

cross through their

cultural value of

power, and in the

cross they do not see

power, and so it's a

stumbling block.

The word Paul uses

there, it's a

scandal on, it's a

scandal.

The Greeks heard

this message of the

cross through their

cultural value of

wisdom, and in the

cross they could not

see wisdom, and so

they called it

foolishness, they

called it morion,

where we get our

word moron.

This message did not

meet their

preconceived criteria

and conditions for

what was culturally

acceptable.

Why?

Why was the cross of

Christ, and why does

the cross of Christ

continue to remain so

weak and so foolish

in the eyes of so

many people?

Why is it seen as

madness?

Why is it seen as

nonsense and absurd?

Why is it seen as the

craziest message that

anyone could imagine?

Well, because it is.

Sometimes we've been

so domesticated to the

cross that we've

forgotten how awful it

truly is.

Death on a cross in

Roman society was

regarded as brutal,

disgusting, and

abhorrent.

It was reserved for

hardened criminals,

incorrigible slaves, and

convicted terrorists.

To shamefully die on

a rubbish heap at the

wrong end of the

empire, that's just, it's

humiliating.

Right?

It's a disastrous

defeat of unspeakable

shame and stigma.

It means that, if that

happens to you, it means

that you've been reduced,

you've been erased as a

nothing and as a

nobody.

So look at Jesus in that

place.

He's spread-eagled,

he's skewered on his

cross, he's robbed of all

freedom of movement,

strung up with nails,

pinned there, absolutely

powerless, totally

defeated.

You see, the Greeks who

imagined a divine savior

figure robed in wisdom,

and for Jews who expected a

Messiah anointed in power and

crowned with majesty,

Paul says, look, if

your sacred story about

what's really real,

right, the truest truths of

the universe, if your

sacred story does not at

the center have God's king

bearing all the

inhumanity and the

brutality of the world and

of your heart as

symbolized in this cross,

then it's simply not God.

You see, this is a front,

it was an outrage, it was

madness, and it still is,

frankly.

Many people want to change

the message.

They want to minimize and

remove the weakness and the

foolishness of the cross and

insert something at the

center that is more

relevant, more attractive,

more triumphant, more

pragmatic.

But Paul says in verse 24,

to those whom God has

called, both Jews and

Greeks, the cross of Christ

is the power of God,

God and the wisdom of

God.

What he's saying is there

is that only if God

calls you can he enable

you to see that the

reality is actually the

opposite of the

appearance.

That what appears to be

the defeat of goodness

by evil at the cross is

exactly the opposite.

It seems as if Jesus is

overcome, but he's

actually overcoming.

overcoming.

It seems as if Jesus is

being crushed by all the

powers and the

principalities, but he's

actually crushing the head

of evil itself.

You see, the victim is the

victor, and the cross is the

throne from which Jesus is

still ruling the world.

world.

And only God can enable you

to look at the weakness of

the cross and to see God's

power there that's forgiving

sin and overthrowing death.

Only God can enable you to

look at the foolishness of

the cross and see there

God's wisdom that's brought

both his justice and his

mercy together, his wisdom

that has launched from that

very place of foolishness and

weakness, a kingdom of

righteousness and life.

You see, when Paul spoke

about this man who was

crucified by the Romans and

all the powers behind the

Romans, and yet that God

had raised up from the dead

and who is now the Lord of

the world and who is

summoning all people

everywhere to faithful

obedience to him, he knew

what people were going to

think when he talked about

that.

But he also knew that every

time he talked about it,

every time he told that

story, it would be

reveal God's power beside

which human power looks

like weakness, and it

would reveal God's wisdom

beside which all human

wisdom looks like foolishness.

And this has to remain the

heart of the church's

message.

We cannot change the

message.

Okay, so what keeps us

going in our mission for

the city?

It's not us, it's Jesus.

What is the heart of our

message?

It's not about worldly

power or worldly wisdom,

it's about God's power and

God's wisdom in Christ

crucified.

And I'll end with this, how

can we live with real power

and real wisdom?

Don't you want to live with

power and wisdom?

Who's not seeking that that

you know?

Who's not going after power

and wisdom?

But what is real power?

What does it mean to live

with real power and real

wisdom?

The philosopher Alistair

McIntyre died this past

May and he had this famous

line, it's so good, he says

this, he says, I can only

answer the question, what am I

to do if I can answer the

prior question of what story

do I find myself apart?

I can only answer the

question of what am I to do if

I can answer the prior question

of what story do I find myself

apart?

He says, you will not know

who you are, you will not

know what you're to do, you

will not know your identity

and your purpose in this

world apart from a story

that's bigger than yourself.

So the question is, what is

that story?

And for most people, they say,

well, I'm part of the story

of my family, I'm part of the

story of my tribe, my race,

my class, my gender, I'm part

of the story of my nation and

that is the thing that's

driving my life.

And in a lot of ways that

can be good, right?

But if you are waking up in

the morning these days and

you set your thoughts and

your mind on our nation,

right?

And the first thing you

think about is how the

President of the United

States is disappointing

you.

Or if the first thing you

think about in the morning

is how your family of

origin, someone, your

sibling, your parents,

you're thinking about the

things that you've not

forgiven from your past.

Or you're thinking about

your boss, your colleagues

that you disagree with.

You're thinking about your

tribe and all of its

grievances, all of its

resentments.

I'm here to tell you that is

a recipe not just to be

unhappy.

You will be unhappy.

But it's a recipe also to be

unhelpful.

You won't be helpful to other

people if that's how you're

starting your day.

Because what Alistair

McIntyre says is your story

will direct your thoughts and

your thoughts will direct what

you do and what you do

becomes your life.

And so what I want to

challenge us with today is

what if we were to wake up

every morning this week and

think about the cross?

What if our first thing in

our minds that we sort of

coded our neural pathways

with was meditating on God's

sacrificial self-giving love

for me, for you?

And what if we saw the cross

and we saw this great

demonstration of the love of

God for us and we said,

oh, now I remember the story

of which I'm a part.

Now I know who I am and what

I'm to do.

Now I know my identity and my

purpose.

Paul says, look, if you do the

most counterintuitive thing and

you seek power in the weakest

place and you seek wisdom in the

most foolish place, then you're

going to find in that most

unlikely place the ultimate

expression and fulfillment of

power and wisdom.

And then you will know how to

live not according to the

power of this world and the

wisdom of this world.

You'll know how to embody the

power and the wisdom in the

way in which Jesus has

redefined them.

And I'll close with this.

If God came in person, if he

came in the person of Jesus not

to get power over other

people to be served by them,

but rather to show us the

power of becoming small and

getting low and serving people

that are quote unquote beneath

us.

And if that's the story that I'm

a part of, then I know what I'm

supposed to do today.

If Jesus' story is the way of

downward mobility, of humbling

himself in vulnerability and

weakness for the sake of

forgiving others and reconciling

others and that's, and I'm part

of that larger story, then I

know what I'm supposed to do

today.

If in the cross of Christ God

became a nothing and he became

a nobody to give himself away in

sacrificial love that seemed like

a foolish waste of time and an

unwise use of his life.

And if I'm part of that larger

story of who God is, then I know

what I'm supposed to do today.

If Jesus used his smarts, he's the

smartest person who ever lived.

If he used his smarts and his

learning and his knowledge not to

impress other people or to get

approval or to get ahead, but

rather use them to draw people to

God.

If he exercises wisdom for the

well-being and the flourishing and

peace, not of just the people that

he liked, but even for his enemies,

and I'm a part of that larger story,

then I know what I'm supposed to do

today.

We've got to ask ourselves in our

work, in our dating, in our money,

with our spouse and our kids and our

community groups and all of our free

time, does this choice look like Jesus

on the cross?

And if it does not, it's not God's

power and it's not God's wisdom.

See, God is calling us to operate in

an alternative reality.

He's calling us to operate in this

counter-cultural way of living that

makes no sense to the world around us.

It looks like weakness.

It looks like foolishness.

But in the eyes of God, it's real

power.

In the eyes of God, it's real

wisdom.

And so I want you to think about

that.

I want you to just fix your eyes.

If you could just close your eyes

and meditate for a moment on the

cross of Christ.

And let's just think about this as we

come to this table with his body

broken and his blood poured out.

And let's just prepare ourselves to

receive from Christ all the power and

all the wisdom that he has to give us.

In the name of the Father, Son, and

Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Amen.