Introduction
We live in a world where faith and foolishness goes hand in hand. In 1 Corinthians 3:18b Pauls says, “…you need to become a fool to be truly wise.” When Paul writes that, he does so ironically and with not a little sarcasm. Of course the wisdom of God is true wisdom. Of course the strength of God is true strength. The irony exists though because from a purely human evaluation, God’s way looks foolish.
Where we have been so far
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- Fool’s Talk – Meaning and purpose about life and grasping an understanding of ourselves is found in the message of Jesus’ death on the cross
- Fool’s truth – people are wondering if we can speak about truth that goes beyond our material world. We discovered that truth does include revelation from God and we can speak about spiritual ultimate matters as part of what makes up real knowledge. It speaks to our deepest needs about what is love, meaning and truth. God’s truth requires us to have a faith, which is based on evidence, that we must act upon.
Today, we now come to the Fool’s Choice. In light of who Jesus is, in light of his death on the cross – How will we choose to live with others? When confronted about seeking achievements, comfort and success how does the story of Jesus on the cross shape my choices?
1 Corinthians 1:18 – The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.
N.T. Wright explained what a death on the cross meant to people in the first century – Crucifixions were common in the first century. It was a fairly standard punishment for slaves or for rebel subjects. It was a way for the Roman Empire to say “We are in power, and this is what we do to people who get in our way.” Crucifixion was unspeakably horrible, with victims often left on crosses for several days, pecked at by birds and gnawed at by vermin. It was deliberately a very public execution, to warn others: When the Spartacus rebellion was put down, roughly 100 years before Jesus’ day, 6,000 of his followers were crucified all along the Appian Way between Rome and Capua, making it more or less one cross every 40 yards for 130 miles. Anybody, and especially any slave, walking anywhere on that road would get the point. But it wasn’t just (what we would call) a “political” point. In Jesus’ day Rome was “deifying” its emperors, at least after their deaths, making the present emperor “son of god.” Rebelling against Caesar’s empire was therefore a kind of blasphemy, and crucifixion a restatement of the theological “fact” that Caesar was “Lord.” (CT – Interview – N. T. Wright: The Church Continues the Revolution Jesus Started – In his new book, Wright explains that Jesus’ death does more than just get us into heaven.)
What the cross meant for people in the first century was weakness and death.
NT Wright in his book – The Day the Revolution Began goes on to make this observation –
The very mention of crucifixion was taboo in polite Roman circles, since it was the lowest form of capital punishment, reserved for slaves and rebels.
As for the Jews, the very idea of a crucified Messiah was scandalous. A crucified Messiah was a horrible parody of the kingdom-dreams that many were cherishing. It immediately implied that Israel’s national hope was being radically redrawn downward.
But if the Messiah’s crucifixion was scandalous to Jews, it was sheer madness to non-Jews. The early cultured despisers of Christianity had no trouble mocking the very idea of worshipping a crucified man. (Wright, N. T. (2016-10-11). The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus’s Crucifixion (Kindle Locations 669-674). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.)
But then Paul contrast this by saying the message of the cross reveals the power of God for those being saved. In other words we see in the cross the entire story of God and his rescue operation for the world. The cross opens us to a deeper meaning of knowing God. It is the pivotal moment of all time and eternity which in turn shapes how we live life.
Transition – In light of the cross we have to make a choice. Will we go the Way of Power or the Way of Weakness? Let us first consider the Way of Power?
When you think of what power looks like – what comes to mind? In our culture images of physical health, being in control, possessions of beauty and quality and having lots of money are things that we want because they all give us a sense of power. These are all the symbols of power.
Think of the phrases we use to describe power
- Heavy Hitter
- Girl Power
- Grey Power
- Force of Nature
- Power Nap
- Power Dressing
- Corridors of Power
So many things that “just make sense” to us are rooted in the way of power. There are winners and losers. There are those who use their abilities and talents to get ahead and make a good life for themselves. If we have to push others out of the way, gain the advantage, well such is the competitive world we live in.
In a book our board is reading – The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb –
“You don’t simply go to school; you go to the right school. You don’t simply publish; you publish with the right publishers and in the right journals…it is easy to think we can achieve our way out of our struggle. It is easy to think that if we do all the right things, everything will work out…We want to buy the right house in the right neighborhood. We push our way into the right social circles. We obsess about having the right body. Our culture is dominated by the way of power.”
Goggin, Jamin; Strobel, Kyle. The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb: Searching for Jesus’ Path of Power in a Church that Has Abandoned It (p. 42). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
Power has such a pull on our souls. It is enticing and beautiful. We want it because it gives us a sense of invincibility, control and security. If you are really paying attention so much of our consumerism is meant to give us a sense of power over our lives.
- Get a degree and manage your destiny
- Get wrinkle cream and control the appearance of aging
- Get that vehicle and feel the rush of life
- Get that new renovated home and feel the pride and respect of others
Power is ultimately deadly for our souls – why? Power leads us to depend on ourselves rather than God. At the very beginning of the 10 commandments that Moses received from on Mt Sinai – was this directive from God – You must not have any other god but me. Exodus 20:3
At the heart of our sinful condition is this pull to trust in other gods that will give us a sense of power. Rather than trusting and loving God above all things – we find ourselves giving into all forms of idolatry – where we make important things like abilities, finances, family and circumstances into ultimate things. We worship these things because they falsely promise us a power that makes us feel special, self sufficient, self actualized, self significant and secure.
(This is the great irony of seeking to define personhood through power. In our pursuit to be more than, to transcend our weaknesses and frailty, we are reduced. When we seek to create a self through our professional abilities and success, we are dehumanized, becoming less than God has called us to be. And trying to sustain yourself is such a heavy burden
In this self-actualized account of human flourishing, the thrust of personhood is to achieve in my own power…we end up using God to become something powerful.) – Goggin, Jamin; Strobel, Kyle. The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb: p.49
But consider the pictures of Jesus – the images of him are very different. From the world’s view they seem so weak…
- Born in weakness
- Served others
- Even when others wanted to use power he responded with mercy – which is so easily seen as weakness…
In Matthew’s gospel, we see an example of Jesus’ way in the garden of Gethsemane. The way of weakness. Listen to Jesus’ words to Peter and the other 11.
52 “Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword. 53 Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? (Matthew 26:52–53, NLT)
Just think of it. The angelic armies of God waiting at the edge of their realm and ours . . . just waiting for the Son of God to call for their help. Think of their zeal to protect the Holy One. But now think about this. Jesus didn’t call for them.
Choosing the way of weakness is not being weak. It is rejecting the way of power — the way of self-promotion. Choosing the way of weakness is redefining what success actually is.
- Ultimately he gave his life on the cross – which was the ultimate demonstration of weakness from the world’s point of view.
There is profound depth to the death of Jesus on the cross. But one thing we must grasp is that Jesus shows us that life in God’s kingdom takes the way of the cross… the way of weakness and yet in that weakness is the very power of God…
When Jesus faced the extreme moment of weakness and rejection, he made the choice to embrace weakness instead of seeking to dominate it. In the words of Isaiah 53: 7, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”
For the follower of Jesus here is what the cross has become – Here is an excerpt from the Jesus Army – a new movement of faith:
The cross is the universal Christian symbol, acknowledged by millions of Christians everywhere as the single visual sign of their faith.
Which is weird, isn’t it? Because the cross was originally a symbol of suffering and defeat. The Roman Empire killed thousands of its enemies by nailing them to wooden crosses.
It’s like wearing a gibbet around your neck. Or hanging a little golden lethal injection from your necklace.
Jesus Christ was executed 2,000 years ago by the Romans. But Christians believe Jesus didn’t stay dead— that Jesus beat death and rose again, beyond death’s reach.
That makes the cross not a sign of death, but a sign of the end of death. A sign of hope, a sign of possibility— for every human being. That’s why Christians wear crosses. (Wright, N. T. (2016-10-11). The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus’s Crucifixion (Kindle Locations 432-439). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.)
FOR THE SAKE OF LOVE WE WILL….
The path of power for Jesus can said that he suffered, he was a sacrifice, but ultimately it is about the fact that he loved… out of that love gave his life…
God demonstrates his love for us in this – While we were still sinners Christ died for us – Romans 5:8
Christ became weak to demonstrate his amazing love. As Charles Wesley in his famous hymn asked – “Amazing Love how can it be that thou my God shouldst die for me?”
Let me quote NT Wright again –
It seems as though the world knows in its bones that the cross of Jesus was the ultimate revelation of true power and true love… speaks of the true God not as a distant, faceless bureaucrat, nor as a bullying boss, but as the one who has strangely come into the middle of the pains and sorrows of the world and taken their full force on himself.
Will we go the way of weakness? Choosing a life of love
Think about it… love often/always takes us the way of weakness. Everytime I think about demonstrating love in my marriage, my family, my neighbours, my enemies, strangers…if I am profoundly honest it means giving up, taking a risk, sacrificing, suffering…in other words- love leads me in the way of weakness.
That is where love led God.
BUT HOW?
And the only way we can go this way of weakness…is acknowledging that with Jesus we are weak without Him…nothing…we may gain the world but without Him we are nothing…in the path of weakness we learn something important about ourselves…if we want to flourish as a human being – becoming a weighty soul – we must become the abiding self in Christ – not the actualized self apart from Christ/
Human flourishing is not about self-actualization, but about discovering our life in Christ. Flourishing entails discovering our insufficiency and coming to rest in the sufficiency of his grace. This is what a genuinely human existence really looks like.
“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.