The problem
of disinterested people is not new. It existed in some places even in
the first century. Paul said it existed in Corinth. “For indeed Jews
ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ
crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness”
(I Corinthians 1:22-23).
Paul had
the power to offer signs to the Jews and the knowledge to compete with
the Greeks in worldly wisdom. The philosophy described above would have
suggested advertisement of a lecture on “The Judiastic Philosophy in the
Roman World.” Obtaining his audience with this, he could then slip in a
little about Jesus and the cross. But this was not Paul’s approach, as
he told us: “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus
Christ and Him crucified”
(1 Corinthians 2:2).
Human philosophy and human wisdom had no place in Paul’s plan for saving
the lost in Corinth.
Preaching
only the gospel, of course, Paul could have announced himself as “Dr.
Paul, graduate of the University of Gamaliel, noted author, world
traveler, inspired and dynamic lecturer.” Rather, he says, “And when I
came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of
wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God … I was with you in
weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my
preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the
wisdom of men, but on the power of God”
(1 Corinthians 2:1, 3-5).
Worldly
appeals simply cannot save lost men. And to attach them to the gospel
is to cheapen the good news of Jesus Christ. By such appeals we may
increase numbers and even “make waves,” but such individuals in the
local church are liabilities rather than assets. As materials in God’s
building they are classified as “wood, hay, and straw.” Paul warns
against building such material into the church: “According to the grace
of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a
foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful
how he builds on it …. Now if any man builds on the foundation with
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will
become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed
with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work”
(I Corinthians 3:10, 12, 13).
Other
Articles by Sewell Hall
A Godly View of Sin
Love Finds a
Way
Dangerous
Preaching
Confusion and Transgression
Rearing Unselfish
Children
Five Smoot Stones of
Parenting
Why Do Churches of Christ
Differ So Widely?
Is Only One Church Right?
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www.aubeacon.com/Bulletins.htm
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