Plenary Session 2 - Matthew Hoskinson
January 5, 2010 – 12:08 pmWith fervency Matthew Hoskinson, pastor at Heritage Bible Church in Greer, South Carolina, pointed us to the centrality of the cross from 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.
The Centrality of the Cross
Twice last night we sang these words, “With the sword that makes the wounded whole, we will fight with faith and valor.” What is that sword? It may seem like an obvious question, but when something is obvious we run the risk of it becoming so familiar that we overlook it.
The message of the cross should distinguish us. Without this message, we have nothing else to say. What must distinguish our message is the cross. If other messages distinguish us, we dilute the power of the cross. It’s not about being Presbyterian or Baptist, about Fanny Crosby or Keith Getty, John Goetsch or John Piper, Mark Kittrell or Mark Driscoll, it’s about the cross. I’m not saying these matters are unimportant, but they are not central. The cross is central!
The Cross. The Cross. The Cross.
Bo Schembechler, former football coach of the University of Michigan, used to tell his football players, “It’s the team. The team. The team. The team.” For us, “It’s the cross. The cross. The cross. The cross.” To whatever extent these other traditions and issues point us to Christ and the cross, great! But when we make these of the same priority, we dilute the power of the Gospel.
What is it about the cross that makes it central to our lives and ministries? Paul gives three reasons.
1. The Cross Confronts Human Idolatry
First, the cross confronts human idolatry. Paul is warring against Greek empiricism (experiential self-confidence) and rationalism (intellectual self-confidence). Paul gets at what’s underlying both of these: a heart that says, “I am the final arbirter or truth.” Fallen human beings are trying to put the infinite God on the witness stand, and judge Him! This is the idolatry that Paul attacks.
God is on a full-scale, frontal attack against our pride. How does God do this? By the message of the cross. What better confronts our pride than the cross? For those of us who are believing, this is exactly what God did for us. God confronted us with the cross and put us on our knees.
2. The Cross Displays Saving Initiative
Secondly, the cross displays saving initiative. “Because of Him you are in Christ Jesus” (1:30). In other words, “It’s by God’s doing, it’s because of what God has done, that I’m in Christ.”
a. God’s initiates by saving. Notice the passive tense earlier in the passage: “we are being saved.” We do not save ourselves. It’s not that I went running after God; God . Beware of saying, “I got saved” if you mean it in the sense of “I got it.” Salvation is the work of God. God simply saves us, delivers us, rescues us. Our faith is not the cause of our salvation, but the means. Warfield, “The saving power resides not in the …but in the object of faith. …solely to Christ alone.”
b. But God’s initiation of my salvation did not begin at the moment of my salvation. Rather, we were “called” (1:24). God reveals His initiation by calling. This is not referring to God’s general, universal call to repentance. Within the context, there are Greeks and Jews who are refusing that general call. Paul is referring to a “summons” that all true believers have experienced. This summons is not like a cell phone call which I choose to answer or not. It’s more like a court summons. Responding to that summons is not an option. Whether we realized it or not at the beginning, God was issuing us a summons.
c. In verse 27, we’d expect Paul to use the term called again (i.e., “But God called….”) Instead, he uses a different concept: “But God chose….” God reveals His initiation in choosing us. As hymnwriter Josiah Conder wrote:
My Lord, I did not choose You,
For that could never be;
My heart would still refuse You,
Had You not chosen me.Unless Your grace had called me
And taught my opening mind,
The world would have enthralled me,
To heavenly glories blind.My heart knows none above You;
For Your rich grace I thirst;
I know that if I love You,
You must have loved me first.
For those of us involved in the work of evangelism, this gives us hope. God is at work in saving, calling, and choosing sinners. It’s not ultimately dependent on me, and my “perfect sales pitch.” Take hope by considering your own conversion. If God can save you, He can save those whom you are evangelizing.
3. The Cross Magnifies God’s Glory
Thirdly, the cross magnifies God’s glory. This almost goes without saying, but this better not go unsaid! The cross displays that God is great. God displays His superior greatness over the great and wise of the world. And when He displays His greatness and His wisdom, He confounds the greatest and wisest men.
The cross also displays that God is good. The cross shows off God’s mercy. Did you notice in verse 21: “It pleased God…to save those who believe?” In other words, “It delights God to rescue us.” Do we comprehend the goodness of this message? God forsook His Son in order to save sinners like me. What better message is there?
God sent us out to preach the Gospel. He didn’t send us out to make a name for ourselves. Let’s work to focus ourselves on the cross, and not cloud it out with ancillary issues. As important as they might be, they must not compete with the cross. The message we’re sent to proclaim is the cross. “The cross. The cross. The cross.”
