“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
Romans 16:17–20, ESV
This morning as I was getting into my car, I noticed a large weed growing at the edge of my front lawn. Not far was a large patch of clover that has continued to spread throughout my yard. As I began to look around, I began to notice more and more weeds. I take a bit of pride in my yard, and the battle against weeds seems to be never ending. I had a small shrub die recently, and I can’t figure out why, but I never tend to the weeds and they still flourish. All of this reminds me of the curse of sin.
As the Apostle Paul closed out his letter to the Romans, he thanked a litany of saints that had been a blessing and encouragement to him in the ministry of the gospel. However, in verses 17-20, after having thanked the hard workers in the church, Paul diverted his words to address the danger of false teachers who will work to break up that unity through their deceptive speech that makes it seem like they care for the church, but in reality they only care about themselves.
I don’t know of a pastor that hasn’t come face to face with a false teacher who has sought to divide the church, and many times under the guise of what is best, in their eyes, for everyone. As a pastor, it hurts to watch this poisonous deception spread like weeds in the hearts of those who listen to the smooth words of these liars. Paul had seen it happen, and he warned the church to watch out for this among themselves as well. He knew that when division comes, the work will stop. Satan knows this too.
Today I asked my wife to call a company to come and spray weed killer and fertilizer on our lawn. The weeds will be kept at bay while the grass will have time to thicken and grow stronger roots, enabling it to fight off the weeds as it grows more robust. But the fight against the weeds will never end…that is until the Lord Jesus returns.
Paul sees this as well. Paul wrote, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet…”(v. 20). The “peace” is the eternal peace given to the children of God through the atoning work of Christ. There will be no peace accord with the enemy. This God who brings peace through Christ will crush Satan, that serpent of old, not only under the feet of Christ, once and for all, but he will crush Satan under our feet as well. We will share in the victory that was won at the cross and which culminates at the Second Coming.
So for now, we fend off the brood of vipers, and we seek the welfare of the church through the fertilizer of the Word, knowing that it will help keep the liars at bay. But we also recognize that until the Serpent-Crusher comes to make all things right, we can take courage in knowing that he has already won the victory through the cross of Jesus Christ.
“Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power.” (Psalm 106:7–8 (ESV))
Reflecting on the rebellious heart of the nation of Israel, the psalmist freely admits that they did not deserve salvation. After seeing the amazingly powerful hand of God in the ten plagues, Israel still did not place its faith in the Lord.
In Exodus 14:10-12, we read of the response of the people:
“When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.””
The Hebrew word which is translated by most Bibles as “yet” or “nevertheless” points to the Lord’s action in spite of Israel’s rebellious spirit. The reason for his decision to save them was “for his name’s sake…” Although this wasn’t the reason that these rebels surmised as why the Lord saved them. The commentator H.C. Leupold states,
“For the first reaction of the nation when danger began to threaten at the shores of the Red Sea was to raise the cry that God had brought the Israelites out of Egypt in order to slay them. That can scarcely be classed as gratitude for the mighty works that He had done in their behalf.”—H. C. Leupold, Exposition of the Psalms (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1959), 746.
So, why did the Lord save them? And even more important for us, why did he save you or me? Why does God save, not just these, but any sinful person? What is his ultimate purpose? It is not first and foremost for the relief of our misery or for our happiness. These are results, yes, but not the Lord’s primary concern. His ultimate purposes are doxological–that he might receive glory and that he would act according to his holy, merciful, and righteous character. His character is on full display as the powerful and merciful God, and this is seen in his saving grace.
We, who are saved in Christ, are trophies of his grace. We are the manifestation of the love of God. But even more so, we can look at what the Lord has done in salvation and stand in amazement at what an amazing God he truly is!
“And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?””
“In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.”
(Matthew 21:14–16, 18-19 ESV)
While the people are rejoicing and celebrating the coming of Jesus of Nazareth into Jerusalem, the chief priests and scribes stand by in disgust at the display of the people.
These rabble, the people who are diseased, these uneducated children, the peasant disciples of Jesus–they are all so ignorant to the form of religion that they uphold! And Jesus, whom they assumed should know better, is unwilling to correct his misguided followers! Instead he continues quoting Scripture that affirms their worship of Jesus as the Messiah.
The next morning Jesus did something that is puzzling to many people. He came upon a fig tree along the side of the road and he found that it was barren of any figs. It had lots of leaves, but no fruit. With a word, he cursed the tree so that it withered and died.
Why did Jesus kill a tree? He did it for a profound reason. He killed the tree to show that those who make a show of their religion who have no evidence of the grace of God in their lives are worthless to Christ and they shall be judged. They might appear to be fruit filled because of the outward show of their religion, like a fruit tree with thick, green leaves. But leaves are not impressive to the hungry. And religious activity without a relationship with the Lord does not fool God.
In another place Jesus said these chilling words:
““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
Matthew 7:21–23, ESV
Religion doesn’t save. Only Jesus does. Church attendance, Bible reading, giving money, volunteering your time to good causes, being kind, saying prayers, all of these things do nothing to impress God.
When Christ gives new life, it is out of this new life that good works will flow (Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10, ESV)).
But those who start with good works and then add God have dead religion that will not save them. It is like stapling figs to a tree. Make sure that your good works are the overflow of a life of worship and your relationship with the living Christ.
“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 ESV
Along with Bible reading, many Christians have set for themselves a goal to share Christ with someone in 2019. For some, the prospect of sharing Christ with someone fills them with anxiety. This is true even though many of understand that we heard about Christ from another Christian ourselves and how thankful we are that someone loved us enough to step out of their comfort zone in order to explain the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ to us.
Who will we share Christ with this year? Perhaps for you sharing Christ is a scary thing. You might believe that you would mess up the message so bad that it would harm rather than help the mission of Christ if you tried.
Some of you have been on evangelism teams in the past or you were once faithful to preach the gospel on a regular basis, but you have slowed down and maybe you rarely go out evangelizing any more. I want to encourage you and stir you up once again to get out there and share the gospel.
To help you have confidence to share your faith I would like to give you five principles, or five marks of a clear gospel message that will glorify God when you share His plan of salvation.
1. God is glorified when the gospel is shared with simplicity (v.1)
“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.” 1 Corinthians 2:1 ESV
Please notice what Paul did not say here. He did not say that he came with superiority of speech, or as the ESV says, “lofty speech.” Here Paul was thinking of highly technical language that the philosophers used. Now, if you speak on a regular basis with philosophers, then use that language because it communicates best to them. Paul was concerned that the Corinthians had continued to be enamored with the so-called scholarly rhetoric that was used by the false teachers.
If you run with mechanics, bus drivers and waiters, then when you proclaim the gospel, speak the language of the people. Avoid using religious language and “Christian-ese”. Don’t say things like, “Have you been washed in the blood of the Lamb?” If you do, I won’t come and bail you out of jail when they call the police! Most people today in America have no context to know what statements like that mean. We need to explain the gospel to people and assume they know very little of the Bible or of the gospel message. Terms like sin, redemption, atonement and even the cross all need to be explained more fully to the average person today.
Paul also said that he didn’t come to Corinth “with wisdom.” This is the world’s brand of wisdom, not God’s wisdom. You do not need to argue philosophy or know everything about everything. The gospel is powerful in and of itself. The gospel isn’t about what you know, but about who you know. Armed with the gospel you can know that you have the wisdom of God, even if the person you are speaking with is a genius about earthly things. The gospel is deep enough for a lifetime of study and yet shallow enough for a child to come to faith.
Pastor Chuck Swindoll tells of a little sign he has on his desk that reads: IDIOSYNCRATICALLY ECCENTRIC PHRASEOLOGY IS THE PROMULGATOR OF TERRIBLE OBFUSCATION. On the back was the translation: “BIG WORDS CAUSE CONFUSION.”
When the message can’t be understood and is muddled or confused, God is not glorified.
2. God is glorified when the gospel is shared with authority (v. 1)
“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.” 1 Corinthians 2:1 ESV
Notice that Paul calls his message “the testimony of God,” it is the witness of God Himself. By using the Bible you are speaking with the authority of its Divine Author.
The unbeliever knows in his heart (even if he or she denies it) that God exists and that he has suppressed this knowledge (Rom. 1:18-19, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.”) and he needs to repent (Acts 17:30-31, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.””).
As Christian witnesses to the cross, we are to speak with the authority of God himself who has sent each of us out as his ambassadors and ministers! Second Corinthians 5:17-21 says, ““Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
We do not come in our own power or our own name. We come as children of God and witnesses of the gospel. We come seeking to see our fellow man reconciled to God by the proclamation of the message of reconciliation in Christ Jesus.
3. God is glorified when the gospel is shared with intensity (v. 2)
“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV
Notice here that Paul says that his focus is upon Jesus Christ and the cross alone. Of course Paul spoke about all sorts of issues, but in his initial conversations with the Corinthians, when he shared the gospel with them, he was all about Jesus Christ on the cross and nothing else.
For us. We need to remember that if salvation is not the goal, then we are wasting our time. Paul could have spoken intelligently in regards to a number of subjects but his focus was on presenting the gospel. He was an evangelistic laser-beam. A laser beam is merely light, but focused with such intensity that its beam can cut through rock and steel. We need to preach with accuracy as well as intensity so that our message has power.
When we go off on bunny trails and move away from the central gospel message to look at lesser issues, God is not glorified. I know some Christians who are easily distracted into side issues when they are sharing Christ–the worship of the Virgin Mary, the factual nature of Jonah and the big fish that swallowed him, the issues surrounding creation versus evolution, cultural issues such as crime, homosexuality and more.
Now I don’t mean that we shouldn’t think deeply about these issues nor that the Bible doesn’t give answers. But we need to make sure that we don’t lose sight of our goal–reconciliation and redemption! We need to be like hounds of heaven who won’t get off the trail and will seek out the soul that needs to be saved. Otherwise we will find that we will be constantly frustrated in never ending wrangling about words that will never change the heart until this first issue is dealt with. The unbeliever must come to submit to the Kingship of Christ. It will take the gospel of Jesus Christ to do that!
4. God is glorified when the gospel is shared with gravity (v. 3)
“And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,” 1 Corinthians 2:3 ESV
When we talk about gravity, we mean a type of seriousness or a weightiness. We are all business. We are caught up in a mission and we didn’t come to mess around. Paul’s attitude to the work of evangelism was one of soberness. He knew that he was a tool on the hands of God.
In 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 Paul wrote, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” Paul didn’t overestimate his importance in the process, BUT he also didn’t underestimate his part as the means by which God brought sinners to faith in Christ. Paul was no hyper-Calvinist. He understood that he needed to take his role with all seriousness and couldn’t throw it off as something that God would accomplish without the means of men preaching the gospel and calling sinners to faith.
That is a sobering truth. He knew that he was sharing a message of eternity in heaven or hell. Puritan pastor Richard Baxter famously said, “I preach as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men.” Christian, you are dying, but you have hope! The person who needs Christ that you need to speak to also is dying, but they have no hope and without Christ will slide into a Christ-less eternity!
Every disciples of Jesus Christ needs to know that he or she will one day give an account for his or her talents. In Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus spoke about the parable of the talents that are not to be buried, but invested for our Master. There is no greater treasure that we have been entrusted with than the gospel of Jesus Christ. What are you doing with that treasure? When we share the message half-heartedly, or worse, don’t share it at all, then God is not glorified.
5. God is glorified when the gospel is shared with dependency (v. 4)
“and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,” 1 Corinthians 2:4 ESV
Clearly, Paul depended upon the Holy Spirit. He knew that without the empowering of the Holy Spirit he was weak for the task. Jesus told His disciples that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:8). This power isn’t for showy church services, it isn’t for putting your special spirituality on display for everyone to see, and it surely isn’t for your personal satisfaction or to make you wealthy and famous. Your empowerment by the Spirit was given for the preaching of the gospel to the world.
Someone put together a little power to ask a very serious question:
Where is God’s Power?
A city full of churches
Great preachers, lettered men
Grand music, choirs and organs;
If all these fail what then?
Good workers, eager, earnest
Who labor hour by hour;
But where oh where, my brother,
Is God’s almighty power?
When we do anything in our own power, particularly when we preach the gospel, God is not glorified.
Are you sharing the gospel? We need the message to go out. We need to begin once again hitting the streets with the saving message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If you aren’t doing that, you need to be going about sharing the gospel message.
Additionally, God has not called us to just share the gospel, but to do so with an empowered passion that is laser-beam accurate.
The message is clear. It has power to save. What will you do with it? Go into the world and share the gospel.
Be merciful to me a sinner; this I am by nature and practice, this the Word proclaims me to be, this I hope I feel myself to be; Yet Thou hast not left me to despair, for there is no ‘peradventure’ in Thy grace; I have all the assurance I need that with Thee is plenteous redemption.
In spite of the number and heinousness of my sins Thou hast given me a token for good; The golden scepter is held out, and Thou hast said, ‘Touch it and live.’ May I encourage myself by a sense of Thy all-sufficiency, by faith in Thy promises, by views of the experience of others. To that dear refuge in which so many have sheltered from every storm may I repair.
In that fountain always freely open for sin may I be cleansed from every defilement. Sin is that abominable thing which Thy soul hates, and this alone separates Thee and me. Thou canst not contradict the essential perfections of Thy nature; Thou canst not make me happy with Thyself, till Thou hast made me holy like Thyself.
O holy God, make me such a creature as Thou canst take pleasure in, and such a being that I can take pleasure in Thee. May I consent to and delight in Thy law after the inner man, never complain over the strictness of Thy demands, but mourn over my want of conformity to them; never question Thy commandments, but esteem them to be right. By Thy Spirit within me may my practice spring from principle, and my dispositions be conformable with duty.
Always Reforming 