Jump Start # 1599

1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

  Our verse is very fitting for our times. Morally conservative people are stunned at how vulgar, loose and immoral our country seems to be sinking. It’s happening very rapidly. Booze flows on college campuses. Men who claim they are women are wanting to use the wrong bathrooms. People flaunting their sinful ways and are proud to be what God condemns. Companies are pressured to cave in to the loud demands of a few who want the abnormal  to be considered normal. Things are all mixed up these days.

But we find a verse, like our passage from Corinthians, that reminds us “there is nothing new under the sun.” It must have been hard for Paul to go to Corinth. Today, the word “Corinthian” bring images of expensive leather furniture or leather seats in cars. But long ago, in Paul’s day, the mention of “Corinthian” brought the images of a moral sewer. The city was drunk on lust and immorality. Everything was allowable. There were no limits. There were no moral compasses. God wasn’t on the radar. Then Paul came to the city. He preached the resurrected Christ. Some listened. Some actually believed. The make up of that young church wasn’t former boy scouts or future superstars. Paul tells us. They were fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunks, revilers, and swindlers. It is from this rotten bunch that were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of Jesus. These folks who lived without rules became Christians. They lived for Christ. They were saved by the power of God.

To those who are perishing, as our verse tells us, the mention of Jesus and the cross is foolishness. They’ll laugh. They’ll ridicule. They’ll mock. They will feel that they are so much more superior than those who follow the words of a “dead man.” And off they dance in their sinful ways, sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss of wrong. They, like Isaiah’s nation, call good evil and evil good. Their heroes are those that do wrong.

Our passage reminds us of a few truths.

First, our times are not that unique. Yes, for us, things seem outrageous and wrong. But history has seen this before. This ole’ world keeps on going long past the Corinthians. And what was preached in that dark city is still being preached today. That which saved lives long ago is still saving lives today. The Corinthians are gone. Their immoral ways are gone. But the Gospel lives on.

Second, the worst people can change. When we look at that list from the sixth chapter of Corinthians, we would shudder to believe that there is any hope in any of them changing. But they did. They changed without professional counselors. They changed without “exit groups.” They changed without AA meetings. Dishonest people became honest. Immoral people became moral. Gay people became straight. They were brought under control by the gospel of Christ. Have we given up on the saving and changing power of Christ? Have we diluted and weakened it’s power where today, if we met a drunk, we’d have to use AA to change him? Paul didn’t. Don’t prejudge people. Don’t prequalify people. Don’t decide for God who will make a good Christian and who will not. Preach to all. Tell all. Invite all. The worst possible person just might be the one who responds to the saving message of Christ.

Third, the world is going a different direction than we are. What we are holding to is considered foolishness to the world. Worshipping God is a joke to most folks. We must not try to fit the square peg into the round hole. The modern church has tried that and they are losing. They are trying to make the Gospel attractive to a people who want nothing to do with God. So using food and entertainment, they try to reach the masses by softening the message, and making sinful choices somewhat acceptable. It’s backfiring. The mega churches are losing their touch. The message doesn’t change the people. The message isn’t helping them. There is no call for righteous living. There is no urgency to be like Christ. The modern church has conformed to the world and it’s members are a mess and confused. Water and oil do not mix and neither does sinful living and the pure Gospel of Christ. Either a person will stop their wrong choices, or they will ignore the message. Ignoring the message is what is happening. We must reach the lost, but not by convincing them that we are not so different. We are different. We have stopped moving the direction the world is going. We are moving upstream in a downstream world. We no longer need popularity to feel good about ourselves. We no longer have to listen and do what everyone else is doing. Who kisses who in Hollywood doesn’t mean anything to us anymore. We are following Christ. Our lives are better. We live with a purpose. We have changed our thinking. We are trying to please the Lord in all that we do. Most don’t understand this. Most don’t care to understand. But we do. We have been where the world is. We don’t want that ever again.

Don’t give up Christian. Don’t let what is going on in the world consume you. It might do us all some good if we just turned off the news. It might be good if we didn’t read all the posts on Facebook. Reach out and hold to God’s unchanging hand.

In the bottom of the darkest pit, Corinth, there were folks who climbed out and became followers of Jesus. Don’t give up. It’s not time to throw in the towel. Keep shinning your light. Keep in step with the Savior.

Roger