THE WISDOM OF THE CROSS
Rev. Mark F. Bartels
Old Testament Lesson;
Isaiah 12:1-6
Gospel Lesson;
Luke 15:11-32
Sermon Text;
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
About a month ago, one of our boys came home with something from the Scholastic Book Club. He said to me, "Hey Dad! Do you want to help me put something together?"
So I asked him, "What is it?"
He explained to me, "It is some kind of electric box, that I ordered from the Scholastic Book Club."
I told him, "Well, I can try…but, I don’t know much about electricity. So, we will read the directions."
It was a box that had 32 little electric conductors. We had to put all of those little electric conductors into these little holes. Next, we had to hook up some resistors and a transformer (and some other things, that I don’t even know what they are called). There was also a little light display and a photoelectric type of ‘thing’!
After we hooked up all of that, and hooked it up to a battery, I asked my son, "What is this supposed to do?"
He replied, "It does all kinds of different things!"
As he pointed at a whole bunch of loose wires, he told me, "Depending upon how you hook up the wires, it will do different things. So, if we hook up the wires one way, it will do Morse Code!"
So, I read the directions aloud, "Hook wire one to wire twenty-two. Now hook wire twenty-two to wire twenty-eight. Now hook wire three to wire fifteen. Now hook wire fifteen to wire eighteen and so on."
It took a long time, but finally, we got it hooked up the way it was supposed to be!
Next I read, "Now take the loose wire and touch number eighteen."
And sure enough, it did Morse Code!
Then I asked my son, "What else can it do?"
And he told me, "If you hook the wires up in a different way, you can take it into a dark room and a little light will light up."
After about fifteen minutes of getting the wires hooked up differently to those 32 knobs, it worked!
I couldn’t help but think to myself, "This is very complicated! I can’t understand how that works! I’m in awe that someone is so smart, that they could figure out how to make all of that work!"
But, just think about this. What if that box didn’t have 32 little electric conductors, but instead it had 320? Just imagine what kind of capacity it would have, and how complicated it would be to hook up all those different wires, to get it to do the right thing! What if it had not 320, but 3,200! Or 32,000? Or 3,000,000?
Did you know that the human brain has one quadrillion different electric connections? (That is a one, with fifteen zeros behind it!) Constantly, with the tick of the clock, the human brain is taking in information from both outside and inside your body. All of those wires are constantly being connected, and reconnected, over, and over again, in different and extremely complex ways! The human brain is considered the most organized, the most complex matter, in the entire universe! It is only 3 little pounds, but think about the complexity of the human brain. We can’t even begin to comprehend it!
Right now, as we are sitting here, your human brain is picking up information from your ears. It is recognizing that there is sound coming out of my mouth, and it is recognizing that sound. The electric connectors are telling your brain, "I have heard that sound before."
Then, the electric connectors are telling your brain, "I know what that sound means. It is a word."
Then, the little electric connectors are telling your brain to think about the words that I said, just before, and hook them all together, to create meaning.
Next, your brain is remembering things said, two paragraphs ago, and putting it into context!
Just think about all of those little electric connections, and their extreme complexity!
At the very same time, your brain is sending messages to your heart, telling it to beat. It is also sending messages to your lungs, telling them to breathe. It is taking in information from your eyes and telling them, "I have seen that before. I know what it is." It is taking in information from your skin, telling you whether you are too hot or too cold. It is then sending information to your body to get goose bumps so you can warm up a little bit, or to sweat so that you can cool down a little bit.
The brain, the human brain, is extremely complex capable of profound things. We can’t even begin to understand how it works.
The human brain has figured out how to make bricks and mortar. It has figured out how to make electricity. It has figured out how to make nuclear weapons. It has figured out extremely complex things. So then, it is a little more than awesome, more than a little awesome to compare our human minds to God’s mind! I thought that whoever made that little electric box, with the 32 little conductors, had to be pretty brilliant. But, it is humbling to think that there is someone who is so much wiser! God created our little, three-pound brain. He has created, God has created, our human brains! He knows every intricate little part of how it works. And, He is the One who makes it work! God is so much wiser than we are. He is omniscient. He is all knowing and He is all-wise. When we compare the complex human mind to the mind of God, there is no comparison! The Bible says,
"His ways
are as far above our ways
as the Heaven is above the earth."
But, that is where it starts to get interesting. Did you know that the human mind has a tendency to think that it should be able to figure out everything that God knows? The human brain has a tendency to compare itself to the mind of God and to presume that it is able to instruct God how He should think! For example, the human brain can look at the suffering that goes on in this world and say to itself, "Why would God, a good God, let that kind of thing happen? Certainly there must be something wrong."
The human brain is so arrogant at times that it thinks God should think the way we think. However, the Bible tells us that there is a very clear limit to where the human brain, the human mind, the human reasoning capabilities, can go. God has given us our brain, our mind. And, it can do marvelous things. It can figure out all kinds of things, such as science and math. But there is one area where there is a line drawn, because there is something desperately wrong. That is when it comes to spiritual things. I want you to listen to three Bible passages, where God describes the human mind, when it comes to spiritual things. First of all, this is from Titus 1:5.
"To those who are corrupted and
do not believe,
nothing is pure.
In fact, both their minds and their conscious
are corrupted."
There, the Bible tells us that if we do not believe that Jesus is our Savior, in other words, if we are just as we are by nature, without Christ, then it says our minds are corrupted, when it comes to spiritual things.
Now, the Bible goes a step further, in Romans 8:7, when it says,
"The sinful mind is
hostile to God.
It does not submit to God’s Law,
nor can it do so."
There, the Bible says that the sinful mind, our minds by nature, are not only corrupted, but they are hostile toward God. They cannot accept what God says. They don’t want to accept what God says.
Now scripture even goes a step beyond that, with the passage in 1 Corinthians 2:14.
"The man
without the Spirit
does not accept the things that come from
the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to him,
and he cannot understand them,
because they are spiritually discerned."
You see what scripture says there? Scripture says that when it comes to spiritual things, our human minds are so corrupted that when we look at the mind of God, our human mind is offended. It is offended! "How could God think that way? How could God act that way?" That is foolishness to my human mind.
Let me give you three examples. The first example is Baptism. You could bring a little baby up here, to this baptismal font, pour a little water on the baby’s head, and say the words,
"I baptize you
in the name of the Father,
Son and
Holy Spirit."
And, that little infant would come to faith. The human mind looks at that and says, "That is foolishness! How could a little water and a few words create faith, saving faith, in a little baby, who isn’t’ even aware of what he or she is thinking? Foolishness!"
Another example is Holy Communion, which is going to happen a little later today, in our service. Bread and wine are going to be handed out. Some words are going to be spoken over the bread and wine.
"This is my body.
This is my blood."
Scripture says,
"Whoever eats and drinks
without recognizing
the body and blood of Christ,
eats and drinks judgment to himself."
There, scripture says that the body and blood of Christ are really there, with the bread and wine. But the human mind looks at that and says, "That’s foolishness. How can that be? How could that be? How could God, why would God connect Himself with bread and wine? How can the body and blood of Christ be present, when I can’t even see them?" Our mind, our sinful mind, does not accept the things of God, nor can it do so. They are foolishness to the sinful human mind.
The third example, scripture tells us, is the most offensive. The most offensive thing, to the human mind, is the thing that is hanging up there, on our wall – the cross of Jesus Christ. The human mind, the sinful human mind, looks at that cross, and says, "That is foolishness. God would be happy with me, by killing someone else? That is foolishness. God would appear in weakness, and allow Himself be spit upon, mocked, tortured and bleed? That is violence!" The human mind does not want to accept the message of the cross.
So how can I convince you that any of that is true? If your human mind does not want to accept it, if it is foolishness to the human mind, (as scripture says), then how in the world can I convince you that it is true?
One thing we do know is that I cannot stand up here and through human logic, tell you that based on all of the information that is laid in front of you, your human mind has no choice but to come to the logical conclusion that what happened on the cross, must be true.
I can’t lay out all of the information about Holy Communion and say given all that information, your human mind has to come to the logical conclusion that Christ’s body and blood are really there, in the bread and wine.
I can’t lay out all of the information about baptism and say given all of that information, your human mind has to come to the logical conclusion that the Holy Spirit really does work through the water and the Word.
So how can I convince you? The answer is: "I can’t. I Can’t. But, the Holy Spirit can." That is why our scripture reading talks about the wisdom of God, verses the wisdom of man. The Bible says,
"God was pleased,
God was pleased,
through the foolishness of what was preached
to save those who believe."
All I can do is stand up here and tell you the mind of God. That is all I can do.
All I can do is stand up here and tell you the words of the scriptures, which is the mind of God, and appears to be foolishness to this world.
All I can do is trust that the Holy Spirit, not me, not logic, not human reason, but the Holy Spirit, who is the very mind of God, will work in our hearts, convince our sinful hearts and our sinful minds to believe what scripture says.
All I can do is stand up here and tell you the mind of God, and what the Bible says,
"All have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God."
All I can do is stand up here and tell you the mind of God, which says,
"The soul that sins,
it shall die."
All I can do is stand up here and tell you the mind of God, which says,
"Cursed is everyone
who does not continue in everything
written in the Book of the Law to do it."
And all I can do is let the Holy Spirit work through those powerful words, His Word, God’s Wisdom, to convict your heart of sin. It is something that your human mind does not want to accept. The human mind is so arrogant that it wants to say, "I can’t be that bad. I can’t be that sinful." But, the Holy Spirit convinces you otherwise, through the powerful Word of God, "the foolishness of what is preached."
All I can do is stand up here and tell you the mind of God, and about His love, mercy and justice.
All I can do is tell you that even though you and I are sinners, and cannot in any way save ourselves, God in His justice, mercy, and love provided a way, so that you and I can be saved, so that we can be in Heaven forever, with Jesus, our Savior!
All I can do is lay before you the "foolishness of the cross".
All I can do is lay before you the wisdom of God, in Scripture, that there on the cross, hung God, Himself.
All I can do is tell you the wisdom of God, in Scripture, that there on that cross, God in love, took your sins from you, as His very own.
All I can do is tell you the wisdom of God, the mind of God, in Scripture and lay that before you. I tell you that there on the cross, in love and compassion, God took the suffering that you and I deserved for our sins.
All I can do is tell you the "foolishness of cross", that there, on the cross, God died. God suffered the ultimate consequence of our sins, and died for us!
All I can do is tell you the wisdom of God, God’s mind, and let the Holy Spirit work through it. Scripture tells us that God, the Father, accepted that payment from His Son. And, because of what Jesus did, God sees you, God declares you, to be holy, forgiven, innocent, and free from sin!
All I can do is declare to you the wisdom of God, which the world sees as foolishness. Our minds, our simple minds, see the wisdom of God as foolishness. Scripture says that Heaven is ours, as a free gift, for Jesus’ sake. Our passage for today, says,
"It is because of Him
that you are in Christ Jesus."
If you believe that, it is not because your human mind was so smart that it was able to say, "That has to be true." It is only because of Him, only because of the power of the Holy Spirit, working through wisdom far beyond ours, that the Holy Spirit has convinced you that it is the truth. That is why we confess in the explanation of the Third Article of the Apostle’s Creed, "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him. But the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith, just as He calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.
In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives me, and all believers, all of our sins. And, on the last day will raise up me, and all the dead. He will grant me, and all believers in Christ, eternal life. This is most certainly true."
That is the wisdom of God, the cross, the cross of Jesus Christ.
There is no greater wisdom.
There is no greater strength.
There is no greater wisdom and strength, when I am troubled over my sin, than to be able to go the very Word of God, the mind of God Himself, and hear those comforting words that my sins are forgiven. They are forgiven, for Jesus sake! That is wisdom. That is strength.
There is no greater wisdom than to be able to lie on my deathbed, and know that when I close my eyes for the last time, for Jesus sake, God will take me safely home to Heaven. That is wisdom and strength that this world may laugh at and mock.
So, what should you and I do? How can we convince people that the "foolishness of the cross" is really the wisdom of God?
All the Church can do, all we can do, is through the "foolishness of what is preached" let the Holy Spirit do His work.
All we can do, through the simple little means of Baptism, simple water and simple Word, let the Holy Spirit do His work.
All we can do, through the Lord’s Supper, the bread and wine, the Word, and the body and blood of Christ, let the Holy Spirit do His work.
Let us be faithful to those simple tools of the Word and Sacrament, through which the Holy Spirit works to convince sinful minds that we have a Savior. That is the wisdom and strength of God.
Amen.
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