Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

The Cross: A lost world just thinks it’s stupid 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 An Earthly Cross, Its Heavenly Significance Sermon 04 Einstein observed that “the difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.” Rock legend, Frank Zappa, said, “There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe and it has a longer shelf life.”  This past January a 23-year-old man with various body piercings decided to see what it would feel like to connect his workplace test equipment to his chest piercings. Several co-workers tried to convince him that it was a bad idea to connect himself to the electronic control tester. He ignored their pleas and proceeded to connect two alligator clips to his piercings. Then, he hit the test button...when the police and rescue personnel arrived, his co-workers were still trying to revive him with CPR. They were not successful.   Gas is now over $3 but when one man attempted to steal and siphon some gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very ill man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline and plugged his hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges, saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.   Police in Wichita, Kansas, arrested a 22-year-old man at an airport hotel after he tried to pass two counterfeit $16 bills.   When two service station attendants in Ionia, Michigan, refused to hand over the cash to an intoxicated robber, the man threatened to call the police. They still wouldn't give him the money, so the robber called the police -- and was arrested.   A guy wearing pantyhose on his face tried to rob a store in a mall. When the security came, he quickly grabbed a shopping bag and pretended to be shopping, forgetting that he was still wearing the pantyhose on his head. He was captured and his loot was returned to the store.   Police in Radnor, Pennsylvania, interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a copy machine. They placed the message "HE'S LYING" in the copier and then pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth. Believing the "lie detector" was working, the suspect confessed to the police.   A man walked into a Circle-K gas station, put a $20 bill on the counter and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer was $15. Question: If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?   Did you know though that a lost world thinks that the Cross of Christ is just stupid? Over the centuries many unbelievers have sneered at Christianity for worshipping a man who died on a cross. Nietzche called Christianity a religion for weaklings and mocked the idea of a God who could be crucified.   Well known author and Christian scholar, Josh McDowell, debated a well-known Muslim apologist in Africa. At one point the Muslim tried to ridicule the Christian faith by saying that Christians are riding on the back of a crucified man. Josh McDowell answered by saying, “You’re right. We’re riding on the back of a crucified man and He is going to take us all the way to heaven.”   That story illustrates a crucial difference in perspective. To the world the cross is a symbol of shame; to those who believe it is a symbol of salvation. A lost world just thinks it’s stupid. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (p. 807). What does the cross mean to the world? Here are three answers to that question.   1. A lost world is offended by the Cross. Paul wrote, “But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (vs. 23). The Jews “stumbled” at the cross because most of them were looking for a Messiah who would be a political leader. They were looking for someone who would deliver them from the heel of the Roman Empire.      Jesus dealt with this misunderstanding many times in His ministry, which is why He repeatedly told people not to spread the news of His miracles. He didn’t want to start a political movement that would overthrow Rome. His purpose was to start a spiritual revolution that would overthrow Satan’s power. At one point a group of people came to Him and attempted to make Him king by acclamation. He sent them away because He had no time or use for such things. He knew that seeking political power would be a distraction to His mission.   But the Jews simply could not imagine a crucified Messiah. Today it’s difficult for us to understand what crucifixion meant to the Jews. We’ve sanitized the cross, popularized it and domesticated it. We gold-plate it and wear it around our necks. We put it on earrings and on our stationery. We hang ornate crosses in our sanctuaries and on our steeples. We build churches in the shape of the cross.   Yet all of this would have been unthinkable in the first century. So terrible was a crucifixion that the word was not even spoken in polite company. If we want a modern counterpart, we should hang a picture of a gas chamber at Auschwitz in front of our sanctuary…or put a noose there…or an electric chair with a man dying in agony, his face covered, smoke coming from his head. The very thought sickens us. But that’s what the cross meant for Jesus. That’s why the Jews were scandalized by the cross. They could not conceive of a God who would allow His Son to die that way.   The Greeks were another matter. They didn’t practice crucifixion so they didn’t have the problems that the Jews did. They tended to look to philosophy as the answer to the deepest problems of life. The notion of man hanging on a cross to save the world was just stupidity and foolishness to them.   The world really hasn’t changed its opinions in 2000 years. It still doesn’t get it. It still doesn’t understand the cross. The idea is either repugnant or laughable. Some call Christianity a “slaughterhouse religion.” Michael Bird, a minister in Australia, tells of a well-known American preacher who gave some advice to an Australian congregation. He said, “Don’t tell people about the cross, it doesn’t work. That’s why the Billy Graham crusades are no longer effective. Just tell them that God loves them and has a plan for them.” The crux of his advice was that “The message of a crucified Jew is ridiculous to the modern mind...so move on to something better. A crucified Messiah is stupid, but promise them prosperity, give them emotional experiences, provide them with self-esteem – then you’ll fill the pews.”   But the Christ who miraculously confronted Saul, the persecutor of Christians, on the road to Damascus is the same Christ who confronts us today with the unchanging message of His Cross. As one of our familiar songs puts it, the Cross is truly “despised by the world.”   2. A lost world is judged by the Cross. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing” (vs. 18). The cross strikes at the very heart of human pride. It announces in blood-red letters that you cannot save yourself, only God can save you.   No doctrine is harder to accept that the doctrine of human inability. That doctrine teaches us that there is absolutely nothing that we can contribute to our salvation. We’re so lost in our sins that we have no idea how sinful we really are. When we look into our own souls and see ourselves, we see only the sin that lies on the surface, but God sees to the bottom – and what He sees is a cesspool of iniquity. We’re so lost that unless God takes the initiative to save us we will never be saved at all.   Perhaps a graphic illustration will help. Isaiah 64:6 says that in the eyes of God our righteous acts are like “filthy rags” to Him. Picture taking your best dress or your best suit and dragging it through the mud. Then, you put it on the floor where people can walk on it and then you use it to mop up your dog’s vomit and to clean the bathroom floor. Then, you put on that suit and drive to the most expensive restaurant in Milwaukee. What will they say when you come to door? You’ll immediately be turned away. “But I have a reservation,” you cry out. It doesn’t matter. You’re not dressed appropriately to enter this fine restaurant. “Get out,” the doorman says, “or I’ll call the police.” How do you think God feels when you stand before Him dressed in the dirty rags of your own morality, your own good deeds? What looks good to you is like a vomit-streaked dress in his eyes.   The Cross of Christ stands as a silent sentinel proclaiming that you have to come God’s way or you won’t come at all. Many people cling to the filthy rags of their own righteousness and then wonder why God won’t take them in. The Cross stands in judgment over the sinful pride of the human race. Just as Christ was stripped of His robe before He died, even so must we be stripped of the robe of our own self-righteousness.   When Christ died, He didn’t die alone. Two thieves died with Him. We often focus on the thief who cried out, “Remember me when You come into your kingdom.” We know that man was saved because Jesus told him, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). But let’s not forget there was another man hanging beside Jesus. He cursed and swore and blasphemed the Son of God. He died as he had lived, a wretched sinner… unforgiven! The same cross that saved the one doomed the other.   3. A lost world is saved by the Cross. Notice the last part of 1 Corinthians 1:18, “To us who are being saved it is the power of God.” What men call foolishness God ordains as the instrument of salvation. What men mock, God raises up as the only means of salvation.   Nearly all of us know John 3:16. Let’s go back two verses and see what leads into that most famous of all the biblical promises. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14). The first part of that verse refers to a strange moment in Israel’s history recorded in Numbers 21. There we learn that during the forty years of wilderness wanderings, the people began to murmur against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?” (Num. 21:5). After 40 years in the desert, they were tired of the heat and sand, and the long marches from one place to another. Even the manna seemed disgusting to them. Finally, they’d had enough. God heard their complaint and sent fiery snakes among the people. Many were bitten and many died. Panic swept across the tribes and they came to Moses and said, “We were stupid to complain after all that God has done for us. Please pray to the Lord that He would remove these poisonous snakes.”   When Moses prayed to the Lord, he was instructed to make a bronze snake and put it on a tall pole where the Israelites could see it. Then God said, “Anyone who has been bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” And that’s what happened. Anyone who looked, lived. Those didn’t, died.   What’s the significance of the serpent? Recall that sin entered the human race through the serpent who deceived Eve (Gen. 3:1-6). Ordinarily, lifting up a serpent on a pole would be repulsive to the Jews. In this case it meant lifting up the symbol of the very thing that was killing them. John used this vivid image to teach us what the death of Christ really means. God took the hated symbol of Roman oppression and turned it into the means of our salvation. Here is the next verse – the verse before the most famous verse in the Bible, “That everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3:15). When we read such a wonderful promise we may wonder if “everyone” really means “everyone” but it does. God has no other plan of salvation, He doesn’t need one. The same Cross that offends the world and judges the world also saves the world. Conclusion: Maybe you’re here this morning and you’re thinking, ““Wow! That’s amazing!” But there’s a condition – “whoever believes in Him.”   Even the death of Christ cannot save you unless you believe in Him.   Salvation depends on trusting Jesus Christ. It’s more than just believing facts about Jesus. Lots of people do that. Even the demons believe in Jesus (James 2:19) but they’re not saved. To trust in Christ means to rely completely upon Him, to trust in someone means to put your life completely in the hands of that person. Trust is what you do when you fly in a plane. You trust the pilot to get you back down on the ground safely. You trust a doctor when you take the medicine he prescribes. You trust a lawyer when you let him represent you in court.   God says that when you trust Jesus Christ in that same way then you are saved from your sins. It means to trust Jesus so completely that if He can’t take you to heaven, you aren’t going to go there. All you have to do is trust Christ completely and you can be saved.   Some years ago H. R. Block offered walk-in customers a chance to win a drawing for a million dollars. Glen and Gloria Sims of Sewell, New Jersey, won the drawing, but they refused to believe it when an H. R. Block representative phoned them with the good news. After several additional contacts by both mail and phone, the Sims still thought it was all just a scam and usually hung up the phone or trashed the special notices. Some weeks later, H. R. Block called one more time to let the Sims know the deadline for accepting the million-dollar prize was nearing and that the story of their refusal to accept the prize would appear on an upcoming NBC "Today Show." It was at that point, Mr. Sims decided to investigate further. A few days later he appeared on the "Today Show" to tell America that he and his wife had finally gone to H. R. Block to claim their million-dollar prize. Mr. Sims’ final words were: "From the time this has been going on, H. R. Block explained to us they really wanted a happy ending to all this, and they were ecstatic that we finally accepted the prize."   My friend, God also just wants a happy ending and that can be the case if you will stop ignoring or running from Him and respond to His offer of salvation and eternal life.   This morning we’ve talked about what the Cross means to the world, but I don’t want to end on an abstract note. The most important question is: What does the cross mean to you? Is it just a religious symbol or a reminder of an ancient crucifixion? Is it something you wear around your neck? Or is the message of the cross stamped upon your heart?   A lost world is offended by the cross. If that’s your situation, then I have nothing to say except that I pray that God will change your heart. The world is judged by the cross. As long as you cling to the filthy rags of your own self-righteousness, the Cross stands in judgment over you. The only hope of a lost world is to be saved by the cross. That’s our hope and our message to anyone who will listen.   Friend, please don’t delay. The Bible always talks about salvation in the present tense. If you don’t know the Lord Jesus and the Spirit is speaking to your heart, come to Him today.     One night back in 1962 in a hotel in Seattle, Evangelist Billy Graham was sound asleep. Suddenly he awoke with what he later described as "a burden to pray for Marilyn Monroe," the famous movie actress. When the feeling continued the next day, one of Graham's associates tried to reach the actress through one of her agents. The agent offered no hope for a meeting immediately. "Not now,” he said. “Maybe two weeks from now." But two weeks later Marilyn Monroe's suicide shocked the world. Two weeks was too late.   In this life there are many roads a person may travel but there is only one that leads to heaven. An old gospel song says, “I must needs go home by the way of the cross, there is no other way but this.” My friend, just keep walking in the blood-stained path of the crucified Savior and that road will take you safely Home to heaven at last.