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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 1:18-25
In this message we shall consider further how the crucified Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom. In 1:23 and 24 Paul says, “But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews an offense, and to the nations foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom.”
As believers in Christ, we all must be able to answer this question: Why was it necessary for Christ to be crucified? In his preaching to the philosophical Greeks at Corinth, Paul must have indicated why it was necessary for Christ to be crucified. Perhaps the most common answer to this question is to say that Christ had to be crucified in order for God to save us. God cannot save us apart from the crucifixion of Christ. According to the New Testament, God has no way to save anyone apart from the cross of Christ. Let us consider briefly why this is so.
In the universe there are many kinds of problems. There are the problems of Satan, the world, and sin. There is also the problem of man. The man created by God for His purpose fell and became sinful. Other problems related to man are the flesh and the natural life. In addition, everything in the universe has become old; that is, it has become rotten, corrupt. Anything that is not corrupt cannot be old. Oldness indicates a shortage of life. When a tree grows, it has life. But when it begins to die, there is a shortage of life. Because of Satan, the world, and man with sin, the flesh, and the natural life, the whole universe, including the heavens and the earth, has become old, corrupt, ruined, and full of death.
In addition to all these problems, there is the problem of the ordinances and regulations given by God for man’s living. Therefore, the cross deals with the problems of Satan, the world, sin, man, the flesh, the natural life, oldness, and ordinances. In order for these problems to be solved, it was necessary for Christ to be crucified.
Before Christ could be crucified to solve all these problems, He had to put on human nature. This means that He had to become a man, a creature. By becoming a man, Christ became a creature. He took on human nature, not only for the purpose of dying for us and of shedding His blood for our sins, but also for the purpose of solving the problems of Satan, the world, sin, fallen man, the natural life, flesh, oldness, and ordinances.
Although Christ could have refused death by crucifixion, He was crucified. According to the human understanding, Christ was executed by others. However, His understanding of His death was different. In John 10:11 the Lord Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” Concerning His life, the Lord goes on to say in John 10:18, “No one takes it away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again.” His life was not taken from Him. On the contrary, He gave up His life for us. If Christ had not been willing to lay down His life, it would not have been possible for people to execute Him. Instead of fighting for Himself, Christ accepted the death of the cross. He was willing to be crucified in order to accomplish redemption and solve all the problems in the universe. Christ crucified is an offense to those who seek signs, and foolishness to those who seek wisdom. But to us who believe He is God’s power and wisdom.
In the cross of Christ we see God’s power. It takes the power of God to defeat Satan, the world, sin, fallen man, the flesh, the natural life, the old creation, and the ordinances. What other power is greater than Christ crucified as God’s power? What other power can destroy Satan or overcome the world? Only God has the power to accomplish these things. This power is not that of doing things by speaking, such as the power God exercised in creation. Rather, it is the power of crucifixion, the power of the wonderful death of Christ. This means that the crucifixion of Christ has become the power of God. The death of Christ has become God’s power to destroy Satan, to solve the problem of the world, to eliminate sin, and to terminate fallen man, the flesh, the natural life, and the old creation. By this power God is able also to solve the problem of the ordinances. By one death, the death of Christ, all the problems in the universe have been cleared. Thus, Christ crucified is God’s power to abolish all negative things and carry out His plan.
This crucified Christ is also God’s wisdom. In order to accomplish anything, we need both power and wisdom. We have pointed out that wisdom is for planning and purposing, whereas power is for carrying out and accomplishing what is planned and purposed. In God’s economy Christ crucified is both God’s power and His wisdom. It is possible for us to have power or strength without having wisdom or the way. If we have power without wisdom, we may use our strength in a foolish way. Therefore, we need Christ as both power and wisdom.
The crucified Christ as God’s power and wisdom can be applied to the problem we face with our temper. Without exception, we all are bothered by our temper. Who can say that he has never lost his temper? After experiencing a certain amount of growth in life, we come to hate our temper and long to be free from it. I know of some sisters who, shortly before the day of their wedding, made a vow that they would never again lose their temper, especially never lose it with their husband. However, in every case this vow was broken. Not only in married life but in all kinds of situations in our daily life, we are troubled by our temper.
Many Christians who love the Lord and seek Him have prayed something like this: “Lord Jesus, You know how easy it is for me to lose my temper. Lord, You are Jehovah the Savior. I ask You to save me from this sin of losing my temper. O Lord, deliver me from this.” Although many have prayed in this way, none have been delivered from their temper as a result. In ourselves we simply do not have either the power to overcome our temper or the wisdom, the way, to do it. We may think that prayer will give us power and wisdom. However, even when we pray, we still do not have power and wisdom. But when we call on the name of the Lord, enjoy Christ, and are filled with the life-giving Spirit, we have no problem with our temper. Spontaneously we have both the power to overcome our temper and the way to deal with it. What is this power and this way? It is the death of Christ. Only the crucified Christ is the power and the wisdom to deal with our temper.
We may also apply the crucified Christ as God’s power and wisdom to our need for patience. We all desire to be patient. But I have never met a person who is truly patient. We value patience and we desire to be patient, but we cannot be patient. However, when we experience the crucified Christ, we automatically have patience. This crucified Christ becomes to us both the power and the wisdom for patience. As a result, we have both the strength and the way to be patient. Actually, we do not try to be patient. We simply are patient through our experience of Christ crucified.
The crucified Christ can be applied to all manner of human experiences. For more than forty years, we have been preaching nothing other than Christ and Him crucified. Within this crucified Christ there are the elements Of resurrection and ascension. Thus, when we enjoy the crucified Christ, we also enjoy His resurrection and ascension. The key to experiencing the resurrection and ascension of Christ is found in Christ’s crucifixion. Crucifixion is the threshold into all the riches of Christ. The cross is the way to experience Christ with all His riches. Apart from Christ’s crucifixion, there is no gateway for us to enter into the riches of Christ.
Ephesians 1:9 speaks of God’s good pleasure which He purposed in Himself. In Ephesians 3:11 Paul refers to “the purpose of the ages which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Furthermore, in Ephesians 1:11 Paul says that God “operates all things according to the counsel of His will.” The crucified Christ as God’s wisdom is related to God’s plan according to His good pleasure and also according to God’s way to fulfill His will. God’s plan according to His good pleasure and His way to fulfill His will are deep and profound. Nevertheless, these profound matters can be applied to our experience.
We have seen that when we experience the crucified Christ, He becomes to us both the power of God and the wisdom of God. Since we have the crucified Christ as God’s wisdom, there is no need for us to seek a way to carry out God’s will. Simply by experiencing the crucified Christ, we spontaneously have a way to do God’s will. We become very wise in doing the will of God. No longer is it necessary for us to make up our mind to do God’s will or to determine to do the will of God. Doing God’s will does not even depend on our praying, “Lord, Your will be done.” Christians everywhere pray for the will of God to be done. It is common in Christian services for believers to pray, “Lord, not our will, but Your will be done.” But no matter how many times believers pray for the will of God to be done, the will of God is not accomplished. If you want to do the will of God, there is no need for you to pray the words, “Your will be done.” As long as you experience the crucified Christ, Christ will become to you God’s wisdom to fulfill His plan. You will have the wisdom of God to do His will. Perhaps you may not understand this at the time. But if you look backward after a period of months or years, you will realize that you did have God’s wisdom to carry out His plan according to His will. This, of course, is not your natural wisdom; it is the crucified Christ as God’s wisdom.
When we experience the crucified Christ, we are terminated. All that we are, all that we have, and all that we can do — all is completely terminated. To be terminated, there is no need for you to crucify yourself. There is not even any need for you to reckon yourself dead. You are terminated simply by experiencing the crucified Christ. Actually, it is impossible for anyone to crucify himself. But when we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, as we are enjoying Him and experiencing Him, His crucifixion will terminate us. All that we are is terminated by this crucified Christ.
Crucifixion is the way for us to be delivered from the flesh, the natural life, and the old creation. Christ crucified is not only the power; He is also the way. To the Jews, such a Christ is an offense, and to the Greeks, He is foolishness. But to us who have been called, the crucified Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom for us to be delivered from all negative things. We thank Him and praise Him that we are now in the process of being saved. The more we are saved by experiencing the crucified Christ, the more we enjoy Him.
