I Corinthians 1:22-25
For the Jews require a sign,
and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
But we preach Christ crucified...
Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men;
and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
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People still seek the Lord in signs and in wisdom.
They wants their emotional needs met or their intellectual needs met.They want either proof they can see or proof they can intellectualize.
The Lord offers both, but neither.
People saw the works of the Lord on earth. They saw the Crucifixion. They saw the empty tomb. They saw the disciples change the world. They did not believe.
People knew the wisdom of the Lord on the earth through the Old Testament prophecies. They knew they were fulfilled. They heard the voice of the Lord Jesus preaching, proclaiming to be the fulfillment of all they were waiting for. They did not believe.
Today, wisdom and signs are still sought after, but people want new signs they haven't seen or heard, and they want fresh wisdom for their intellectual claim-staking.
There is nothing more to be revealed, it has all been revealed at the cross and confirmed with the resurrection.
People don't just try to seek him with signs and wisdom, they also try to prove they have Him with signs and wisdom.
There is no proof of a saved life, except the proof He gives…."new creation in Christ." A changed life.
There is no wisdom apart from His Word, the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.
The message is as simple and as powerful as it was 2,000 years ago.
Christ Crucified.
Christ, means "anointed", He's the son of God, the Messiah, the Holy One who knew no sin, the Redeemer, Savior, and Friend.
Crucified, the righteous for the unrighteous, while we were yet sinners died for us.
Hebrews 1 tells God spoke to the people in the past through prophets and visions, "but in these last days He has spoken to us through His Son."
He only speaks through His Word. You will hear His voice through the Spirit, but only in confirmation to what is written in the Word.
We need the Christ, not signs, wonders, marvels, religious experiences, visions, dreams.
We need to be crucified with Him. We need to crucify our own flesh, our sins, our religious ideas that don't match up with His, our earthly wisdom, our rebellions, our indifferences, and our worldly ambitions.
We take them one by one and nail them to the Cross.
As each hammer blow thrust those nails through His hands, the pain purchased our redemption. To live with Him, we must die with Him. We must acknowledge it was our sins upon Him, our sins that caused His death. He had physical pain in His flesh and spiritual pain of separation from His Father. We are separated from His Father by our flesh, and it is Christ's pain that can draw us near.
It isn't a one time thing, this spiritual pilgrimage to Golgotha. Yes, we travel that road of pain for our salvation, but we need to daily travel back for cleansing. Not to be saved again, but to have our salvation uncovered with the daily dust that covers our pilgrim feet.
The Lord Jesus exemplified this by washing the disciples' feet. He wasn't offering to cleanse their entire bodies, by faith they were cleansed. Their walk just dirtied them a little, but it could also be daily cleansed.
The message is simple. The message is powerful. The message is all we need.
Christ
Crucified.
Good words. Thanks.
ReplyDelete"We need the Christ, not signs, wonders, marvels, religious experiences, visions, dreams."
ReplyDeleteBut we are a foolish people who think that those are the things we really need. :(
Thank you for the encouragement to pray daily and seek the Lord.