I Corinthians 2           The Message of Christ            July 13, 2008

      In late August, I am invited to lead a one day seminar in Columbia for United Methodist pastors and Christian Educators on the subject of “Evangelism in the UM Church.”  So I have been studying numerous materials on the topic.  Sadly, it seems that many of our churches have forgotten about evangelism or even what it is.  The word in Greek is euangelion which just mean good news.  I heard a story of a couple who took their son, 11, and daughter, 7, to a mountain cavern tour.  When the tour reached the deepest point, the guide turned off all the lights to dramatize how completely dark and silent it is below the earth's surface. The little girl was frightened and began to cry. Immediately was heard the voice of her brother: "Don't cry. Somebody here knows how to turn on the lights."

      That is the message of the good news, the gospel.   We are surrounded by a dark and frightening world but somebody knows how to turn on the lights.  And we are to tell people about that somebody. We are in the second week of a summer series from the New Testament book of First Corinthians.  In our scripture today, the Apostle Paul says that his only desire is to tell about the light of Jesus Christ.  He has no other message except turning on the lights for people.  However, he is clear that this light will only turn on by maturity in the Holy Spirit.  Let’s see how.

       As we saw last week, when Paul came to this large city of Corinth, he came with much fear and trembling.  Corinth was a troubled city.  Paul was afraid that he could not reach anyone in this place.  So in the face of these fears, what did Paul do?  Paul says that he decided, he resolved not to come to this city with his own ideas and abilities.  He decided to come to this city only with Jesus Christ crucified.  Paul decided that the only way to turn on the lights in Corinth was simply to tell them the good news of Jesus.    

        How about us today?  We too face a troubled culture.  We too are fearful that we cannot reach people.  And so we try every idea and every program we can to reach people.  But we must honestly ask ourselves, “Are we showing them Jesus Christ?”  There was a church with a beautiful stained glass window behind the pulpit showing a picture of Jesus.  One Sunday, a guest pastor was preaching who was much smaller than the regular pastor who was a very large man.  After a few minutes, a little girl in the pews asked her mom, “Where is the other man who stands there hiding Jesus?”  As we design our many programs and ideas in the church, we must ask ourselves, “Are we hiding Jesus or can people clearly see him?”  Not see us, our ideas, or even our church.  Can they see Jesus?  

      You see, the light of the world is Jesus.  Look on the front cover of our bulletin.  What is the mission of the church?  Let’s read that out loud together.  “The vision and mission of the Church is to make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”  The good news is to tell people about Jesus, to bring people into relationship with Jesus.  Now the church is a primary support for this relationship.   We need the church for this relationship to grow.  But the relationship is with Jesus, not the church.  Too often we are talking to people about our church but we are not telling them about Jesus Christ.  And if we do that, the light never comes on.  The good news that Paul wanted to tell was about Jesus Christ.  

       Now some people are concerned that a simple message about Jesus is not enough.  In a world that is struggling with so many problems, is Jesus enough?   The Christians in Corinth had this same concern.  Was Jesus enough to turn on the light in the face of so many individual and social problems?  Paul says that he has this higher wisdom.

       Look at verse 6 and following…..Paul says he teaches a wisdom among those who are mature.  It is not the so called wisdom of this world, but it is the secret wisdom of God.  Listen.  The message of Jesus Christ has the full wisdom to solve every problem that you face today.  The message of Jesus Christ has the full wisdom to solve every problem faced by the world today. “Now wait a minute, pastor.   What about the gas shortages, the economy, environmental issues, terrorism, or education?”  And I say, Yes!   The message found in Jesus Christ is sufficient for all needs.  “But you do not know what I have faced in my own life!”   I know people who have faced the most horrible crises and they have found the answer in Jesus.  The light does come on in Jesus Christ for all problems.  But listen, it is a deep wisdom for those who are mature to hear it.

       This word “mature” in Greek is teleios and means complete, perfect, adult, finished, mature.  Paul says in Philippians that he is not yet teleios but that the one thing he does is to run toward it.  Jesus cried from the cross that his work was teleios.  Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that we were to be teleios just as our Heavenly Father is teleios.    We are to seek this maturity in our lives so that we can see this deep secret wisdom of God.   Because in that wisdom are all the answers that we need for our own lives and for the life of the world. 

      So the good news that turns on the light is only Jesus Christ.  And as we grow to maturity in Jesus Christ, we come to have wisdom that can meet the needs of our lives and of the world.  So how do we find this maturity?  It is by the Holy Spirit.

     Look at verses 10 and following….God reveals this to us by the Spirit.  This maturity comes as we grow in the Spirit of God.  Now Paul says in verse 14 that the person without the Holy Spirit does not accept the things that come from God.  They seem foolish to him.  He cannot understand.  That is the problem with the world today.  We face complex problems in the economy, the environment, and education.  And for many people, the way of love found in Jesus seems foolish, too simplistic.  But it is in this way of love that we will solve our problems.  And for individuals, the person without the spirit does not understand.  She chases after so many things but only one thing is needed for happiness.  This is the deep secret wisdom of God.  But you have to receive it from God by the Spirit.  No one else can give it to you.  Verse 11 says that no one knows the way of God except the Spirit of God.  

      I knew a man who came to church off and on for many years.  He wanted to be a Christian man and live a life in Christ, but it never fully clicked for him.  One day, I asked him when he had become a Christian.  He said that he guessed it was when he was about ten.  He remembered as a boy a Sunday School teacher pushing all the boys in his class to say a prayer asking Jesus into his heart.  He had said the prayer and the teacher had told him that he was saved.  Listen.  Here was the problem.  This man heard it from his Sunday School teacher, but he never heard it from God, from the Holy Spirit of God.  Let me ask you honestly.  How many of us have heard the Word from a preacher, from a teacher, from grandma….but we have never heard it in our hearts directly from God?  We have not been moved by the Spirit.  I am not saying you have to get the spirit and jump up and down.  That could happen to some.  For others, it is a quiet assurance.  But in some way, this maturity, this wisdom, this relationship with Christ is revealed to us from God.  It cannot come to us in any other way.  And until we receive this Spirit from God, we will always be unspiritual people.  We will not see the deep secret wisdom of God.  And we will not be able to turn on the light of Jesus Christ for ourselves or for others around us.

      So where are you today?  Do you desire the light of Christ in your own life?   Do you know friends and family who need the light turned on in their lives?  We all know those people.  Well, before we can turn on the lights, we need maturity in Christ and that comes by the Spirit.  Our message is Jesus Christ.  It is so simple that a child can understand.  Our message is Jesus Christ and it is so mature and wise that it can solve every problem you face and it can resolve every issue in our world.  We do live in a dark and fearful world and time, but we can help turn on the lights.  We just have to show them Jesus.   Amen.