Sermon of the Month
Paul said, “When I came to you, my brothers, to speak of God’s secret truth, I did not use big words and great learning. For while I was with you, I made up my mind to forget everything except Jesus Christ and his death on the cross”. This must also be our desire in life. “Christ did not send me to baptise. He sent me to speak of the good news” (1 Corinthians 1:17). And if Paul had used big-sounding words, it would have taken away from the power of the cross.
Preaching about the cross looked foolish to those who would die in sin. But if we look at it carefully, the cross is the power to save from sin. The Bible, brothers and sisters, says plainly that God will destroy the wisdom of wise people. He will put away the learning of those who think they know a lot. God has made the wisdom of this world foolish (1 Corinthians 1:18-20).
Paul warns us not to be proud of ourselves, because we must speak the good news. “I have been told to do it. It would be bad for me if I did not speak of the cross” (I Corinthians 9:16).
People are changed every day when Christadelphian doctrine is preached around the world. It does not matter that it was Paul himself who preached the good news. The most important thing was the actual message. People need to know about the crucified Christ and it is that message that can change many lives.
People who are lost in sin need to hear the message. Even the believers in the Christadelphian faith need to be reminded again and again about the death of Jesus on the cross. There is nothing which can save us from our sins other than the blood of Jesus Christ. As I said, we must keep on learning about the crucified Christ that he poured out his blood for our sins. This is the good news that will save you and me – and nothing else will.
It is sad that man has made other messages which seem more important. Without the death of Jesus on the cross, all other messages are of no use to us. We are called to go and make followers of all nations (Matthew 28:19). We must do the work that God has ordered us to do. This is seen in action today in the one and only faith of the Christadelpians when they make visits to various parts of the world to preach the good news and baptise people in the Name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. We must not let other messages outside the truth seem more important to us.
We must help one another. We must care for the sick, we must visit those in hospital. We must sing praise to God. We must all join together in peace, and love our neighbours. But none of this must be allowed to stop us telling the good news about Jesus and his death on the cross to others and that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22).
Remember Paul says, “As we said before, I will say it again: if any man is preaching another good news to you which is not the one you received, let him be punished for it” (Galatians 1:9). When we preach, I am sure that you will agree with me, that the message of the crucified Christ can divide people. The same thing happened when Paul preached in the first century. He found out that there were three groups of people.
In every new town or village or remote area that Paul visited, he first told the Jews, God’s chosen people. He went to the synagogue where he talked to the Jews. They were waiting for a Messiah who they believed would be a political king who would stamp out Rome’s rule and bring Israel to her former glory. They believed that Jesus would be a king who would fight all their enemies and then rule the world. They were looking for one who would be like king David.
They therefore did not believe Paul. Only the worst kind of lawbreakers were crucified on the cross at that time. As it was written: “If a man has to be put to death for a wrong thing and his body is hung on a tree (or cross), his body must not be left there overnight. It must be put in the ground on the same day, because a dead body brings God’s curse or punishment on the land” (Deuteronomy 21:22,23). This is evidence enough to show that the Jews were not looking for a crucified Messiah.
There are people who are like that today. They go to church every week, give money and try to live good lives. But they do not believe that God can forgive their sins, since God is holy, just and good. How can He pass over sins? But we must accept that Jesus died on the cross for our sins.
Paul also preached to the Greeks. Not just the people who lived in Greece, a powerful nation at the time Paul lived. The Greeks were offended to hear the story of Jesus. It seemed to be foolish and made no sense to them. These people tried to obtain knowledge, wisdom and education. They were the kind of people who tried to find the reason for everything. They would not believe that God would one day send His own son to earth to be killed. They could not believe that God loved men so much that He allowed Jesus to die on the cross for their sins.
Some people are too religious to come to God through the cross, they are the Jews or like the Jews, and some think they know better, like Greeks. But the cross which stops them from finding God is the only way to God. It is like a bridge built over a chasm to allow people who have sinned to cross over and come back to Jesus and to God.
The third group of people are not too religious to accept the good news, not too wise to believe it, but willing to trust in Jesus, and to believe that he died on the cross for their wrong-doings, and to be born into God’s family, by baptism.
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is by your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:9,10).
Bro Gideon Hankomone (Mazabuka, Zambia)
