Preaching Christ. by Brett Hickey

Transcription

1 Sermon # 735 (54) Preaching Christ by Brett Hickey For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God 2:1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. NKJV 1 (I Corinthians 1:18, 22; 2:1-2) Christ on a cross is ground zero. The cross is the fulcrum of history, the intersection of human cruelty and Divine compassion. Christ on a cross crushed the head of the serpent, tore down the wall separating Jew and Gentile, and crowned Jesus King of Kings. Christ on a cross is to the Christian what rain is to a garden. You can have rich soil, good seed and plenty of sunshine, but without rain you will have no crop. This morning we want to notice the value of preaching Christ and Him crucified, but first enjoy our song What will the preacher talk about this morning? How will you initiate a conversation with a friend about Christianity? How will you motivate your children to commit themselves for life to being a Christian? Jesus said in John 6:44 that No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him He picked up on this idea again in John 12:32, And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. The gospel is powerful precisely because Christ on the cross is at the core. Take Christ off the cross and you rob the gospel of its drawing power. So, the Christian who preaches and promotes the gospel must keep first things first he must keep his eye on the ball. Arnold Palmer recounts his mistake on the final hole of the 1961 Masters Golf tournament. I had a one-stroke lead and had just hit a very satisfying tee shot. I felt I was in pretty good shape. As I approached my ball, I saw an old friend standing at the edge of the gallery. He motioned me over, stuck out his hand and said, Congratulations. I took his hand and shook it, but as soon as I did, I knew I had lost my focus. On my next two shots, I hit the ball into a sand trap, and then put it over the edge of the green. I missed a putt and lost the Masters. You don t forget a mistake like that; you just learn from it and become determined that you will never do that again. I haven t in the thirty years since. We have more at stake than a green jacket. You see, we can miss the big picture as we scour this incomparable library of 800,000 words in sixty-six books. As devoted Bible students plumbing the depths of Holy Writ, diagramming sentences, dissecting grammar and delving into the precise meaning of Hebrew and Greek words, we must be sure to step back periodically from our microscopic examination to dwell on the main character and His climactic role in our Salvation. Despite their pivotal role in the plan of God for the people of God, we need to be reminded that our mission is not to convert the lost to baptism or the Lord s Supper. Instead, baptism completes the conversion process and sharing in the Lord s Supper is the greatest weekly post-conversion 1 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.` 1

2 Preaching Christ, by Brett Hickey, sermon # 735 (54) 2 of 5 privilege. We do not convert the lost to the Bible or to the church; rather, as members of the church we convert the lost with the Bible as we communicate the message of the cross. The early Christians certainly kept Christ at the heart of their message. Luke tells us in Acts 5:42 "And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." Dr. R. G. Lee said of Jesus: His name blossoms on the pages of history like the flowers of a thousand spring times in one bouquet. His name sounds down the corridors of the centuries like the music of all choirs, visible and invisible, poured forth in one anthem He is Literature s loftiest ideal, philosophy s highest personality, criticism s supreme problem, theology s fundamental doctrine, spiritual religion s cardinal necessity. With the balance of our time, we want to notice six major reasons why we must preach Christ. WE WANT TO PREACH CHRIST BECAUSE HE IS OUR MAKER. The apostle Paul, in extolling the privilege of preaching Christ, links this blessing with Christ as Creator in Ephesians 3:8-11, To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord Once again Paul emphasizes this truth in Colossians 1:16, For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. In part because we know Jesus as the Son of God and in part because the image of baby Jesus in a manger is so prominent today, some lose sight of the fact that Jesus existed throughout eternity and created every being ever brought into existence. We learn in John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. Because He is our Creator from the beginning of time and because at the end of time He will be our Judge (John 5:21-22), He appropriately says of Himself at the end of the book, in Revelation 21:6, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. Alpha and Omega, of course, are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. How could we not preach Christ when He is the focus of the beginning and end of the book and the beginning and end of time? WE WANT TO PREACH CHRIST BECAUSE AS CHRIST HE IS THE MESSIAH. You see, Jesus is the start and finish both of the book and of the world, but more than that, Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One on whom all the prophecies of the Old Testament converge. This truth is emphasized repeatedly in the gospels. Jesus said in John 5:39, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they, which testify of me." KJV Beaming with excitement, Philip tells Nathanael in John 1:45, "We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." KJV Andrew made a similar declaration to Peter in verse 42. While, to a certain extent, Christians can appreciate this, it is hard for us to imagine the thrill of this discovery for a first century Jew. The Talmud essentially, the official Jewish commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures reports, All the prophets prophesied [all the good things] only in respect of the Messianic Era. It also says, The world was created only for the sake of the Messiah. Everything good culminated in the Messiah and the Jews waited many years for His coming.

3 Preaching Christ, by Brett Hickey, sermon # 735 (54) 3 of 5 This also helps us understand Jesus frustration with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Everything was riding on the Messiah, but when He came and fulfilled all the prophecies these men could not connect the dots. Jesus rebuked them in Luke 24:25-27 " O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. No wonder we preach Christ! He is worthy!! No passage makes that more clear than Revelation 5:11-13 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing! And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever! " WE WANT TO PREACH CHRIST BECAUSE HE IS OUR MEDIATOR. The apostle Paul writes in I Timothy 2:5, For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus and, again in Hebrews 12:24, Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant. When Jesus came to the earth, according to 1 Timothy 3:16, He came as God manifest in the flesh. He was God, but yet He was a man. This uniquely qualified Him to be our mediator. A mediator is a go-between. He came (Ephesians 2:16) that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross As the Word who was with God and was God, Jesus was connected to the Father and as we learn from Hebrews 4:15 our sinless High Priest, Jesus, could sympathize with our weakness in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin and reach down His hand to man. Who could keep from preaching Christ? WE WANT TO PREACH CHRIST BECAUSE HE IS OUR MODEL. Jesus is our model, our mentor. Malachi speaks prophetically of Jesus as the Sun of righteousness and so it is no surprise that Jesus spoke of Himself as the light of the world. (John 8;12) And, that s true. But because Jesus is our model He tells us that we are to be a reflection of that great light. In Matthew 5:14-16: "You are the light of the world Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. In the same vein, we find in Acts 10:26 that the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. The word disciple points to one who follows the teaching and example of another. The word Christian, in fact, means a follower of Christ. The apostle Paul says in I Corinthians 11:1, Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. Peter echoes Paul s words in I Peter 2:21, For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps. It s rather difficult to follow someone, though, when we cannot see them or know so little about them. We need to preach Christ so we can see His life, His attitude, His spiritual image and strive to duplicate it. We can see this as the Lord s plan in Romans 8:29: For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. The same idea is attached to preaching Christ in Colossians 1:27-28: To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

4 Preaching Christ, by Brett Hickey, sermon # 735 (54) 4 of 5 Next, WE WANT TO PREACH CHRIST BECAUSE HE IS OUR MASTER. Approaching on one s own terms is nothing new. Have you ever noticed our tendency to rally around the idea of Jesus as Healer, Teacher and Savior while resisting Jesus as Master? In the Sermon on the Mount and in the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus confronted this unacceptable approach to following Him. In Luke 6:46 But why do you call Me Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say? They were willing to go so far as to call Jesus, Lord, but were unwilling to submit to Him. Jesus explained the consequences of this approach in Matthew 7:21-23: "Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' Jesus insists on being Lord and Master to those who would have Him also be Savior. Not only must He be our Master, but this allegiance must be undivided. He later explained in Luke 16:13 "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." The reason that Jesus must be Lord and Master is a practical one. The apostle Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:21, Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. And so, if He is to be our Master, we must preach Christ. Finally, WE WANT TO PREACH CHRIST BECAUSE HE IS OUR MOTIVATION. It is somewhat troubling to read that some of the apostle Paul s Christian contemporaries were doing the right thing for the wrong reason. He makes it clear that there is a right and a wrong motivation for preaching Christ in Philippians 1:15-17, Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. Some insincere or immature men were motivated by jealousy, contention and selfish ambition while some were motivated by love and goodwill. Wuest in his Word Studies in the Greek New Testament translates this passage, In fact, certain ones even because of envy and rivalry, but also others because of good will are proclaiming Christ; some indeed out of a spirit of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; but others out of a partisan self-seeking spirit are announcing Christ, not with pure unmixed motives, but insincerely, thinking to make my chains gall me. B. W. Johnson writes, The motives of all preachers are not pure. Some still preach Christ, full of envy for other preachers, and some from a love of strife The one preach Christ from contention. Not from sincere love of the gospel, but from a factious spirit. Not so with Paul. Christ motivated him. On the one hand, what John the Revelator calls the wrath of the Lamb motivated Paul. The Holy Spirit tells us in Revelation 1:49-10 "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. Though this type of motivation has become unpopular even in pulpits in our world of political correctness, God expects it to give us a push. The apostle writes in 2 Corinthians 511, Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men... No doubt, gratitude was Paul s greater motivation. You can almost hear the emotion in his voice when he writes in I Corinthians 15:9-11, For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to

5 Preaching Christ, by Brett Hickey, sermon # 735 (54) 5 of 5 be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. While it is likely that none of us have had anything to do with persecuting Christians, when we truly experience the forgiveness of sins it should give us every bit as much reason for gratitude as it did this great worker. Paul verbalized this again in Romans 1:14-15, I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. It appears that his untiring work for the Lord may have been related to the extent of his awareness of his sinfulness. No Scripture sums up our point better than 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. We need to preach Christ for our mutual motivation. If you would like to get a copy of this message, get a pen and a piece of paper and we ll tell you how after our song Thank you for watching Let the Bible Speak. We pray you have heard God speak to you through His word. If you d like a copy of this sermon, Preaching Christ please write us at the address on your screen and we ll be glad to get it out to you. We also offer our free Bible study course that you can complete at home. We always welcome your comments and questions. Please visit LetTheBibleSpeak.com and watch videos of the program at your convenience. Finally, we echo the sentiment of the apostle Paul when he wrote in Romans 16:16, the churches of Christ salute you. Until next week, goodbye and God bless. Sermon delivered by evangelist Brett Hickey over Let the Bible Speak January, 2010 Are you searching for the truth of God's word and have a sincere desire to learn about the Bible? Do you want to know what the Bible says about salvation and about Christ and His church? If you are looking for Bible Founded discussion on these topics and many others, then please accept this invitation to explore "Let the Bible Speak" and then contact us for additional studies. We are members of the church of Christ as found in the New Testament. We are not members of a denomination or earthly religious organization. We are a brotherhood of believers, joined by a common bond, Jesus Christ. We try to live and worship following the patterns found in the New Testament. (For manuscripts of other sermons visit: COPYRIGHT Let The Bible Speak. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. IMPORTANT COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Express permission is granted to distribute any video, audio, or transcript of any broadcast message as long as the material is: unedited and attribution is given to Let The Bible Speak; a hyperlink to LetTheBibleSpeak.com is included for electronic distribution; a text reference is included to for printed distribution; and the original author receives attribution. An irrevocable, world-wide, royalty free license for distribution is granted as long as such distribution has the intent of: supporting the truth as presented; giving glory and honor to God; and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. PDF, 2/11/11