10 Mar 3/12/23 1 Cor. 1:18-25 “The Math of the Cross”
3/12/23 1 Cor. 1:18-25 “The Math of the Cross”
I remember back when I had the honor of going with many our parishioners on our annual church ski trip. I think that most of the people had fun. I know that I sure enjoyed visiting and doing my best not to ski. One of the things that I did was get on the bus we took to Alexandria. Even though this was a pretty modern bus, it reminded me of the much smaller bus I used to ride when I went to school years ago. As a matter of fact, I had the honor and privilege of riding that school bus for all 12 years of my stay at Humboldt-St. Vincent School. That is a lot of time on a school bus. So just getting on our modern bus brought back a flood of memories. I also have many fond memories of my time in school. We had a class of 18 and we have for the most part stayed friends all these years. Anyway, I think it is always good to reminisce a little about the olden days. The thing I remember most were the days when we had to walk to school and it was up hill both ways. Anyway, as I was preparing for this sermon I came across a sermon by Davon Huss which he titled “The Math of the Cross.” And they said there would be no math! Anyway, I’m going to use his basic outline because I always loved math and it kind of piqued my interest. Now I know that when we talk of math, there are some of us who understand nothing about mathematics. I may put some of you asleep with all the formulas but stick with me and you may find math to be interesting for the first time in history.
I would like to begin with a story from Pastor Huss about a 10 year old boy who was doing terrible in math at the public school. His parents were concerned and they had heard that kids who went to private school did much better in math than most students in public school. This family had no church home. They only attended church once in a great while so they decided to send their son to a Catholic school, figuring a private school was a private school. The math papers the boy brought home showed a dramatic improvement in his math skills. At the end of the first grading period, he was getting an ‘A’ in math. His parents were ecstatic! They couldn’t believe their son had gotten an ‘A.’ They also couldn’t figure out what made the difference, so they decided to ask their son. This makes sense to me. The son replied, “The first day of school, I sat down at my desk and at the front of the room I saw a man nailed to a plus sign. I figured they take their math seriously so I had better buckle down.” This is a rather humorous story but it does reflect the seriousness of the math of the cross.
The first mathematical sign of the cross is the minus sign that subtracts one from hell. When someone comes to Jesus and gives their life to Him, they have their name taken off the rolls of Hades and it is put into the Book of Life. This is what we want to accomplish but it isn’t that easy.
Paul is telling us right away that the message is foolishness to those who are perishing. This makes our job a little bit harder. In Paul’s time, following Christ was new as most people had never heard of Jesus before. So Paul and others would go into an area and explain fully what Jesus had done. Paul usually started out with the Jews in a synagogue. At least they had an inkling as to what he was talking about because they were waiting for the Messiah. Then he would either leave the Jews or they would throw him out and he would go to the Gentiles. With the Gentiles he would have to use a totally different approach because they were not waiting for a Messiah or anything.
I think that often times we like to think that the Christians were the only ones persecuted during this time. The Romans ruled with an iron fist and they were in charge of the whole area in the Middle East. You were ok if you were part of the ruling class or even merchant class. But let’s face it. Most of the people of any country are part of the working class. Most of the people worked hard just to eat. Everything they did was controlled by the Romans or someone else. Poverty was everywhere and there was just no way out of it. So Paul found this poor class of people who were very willing to listen to the message of God. And people flocked to the church and people were saved. Many people were subtracted from the rolls of hell.
We have the same thing going on today. When we go into third world countries, when we go into Muslim countries, Buddhist countries there is a real hunger for Jesus. These people are oppressed beyond what we can comprehend. They have no hope. The religions of these countries are totally devoid of love. It doesn’t exist. So when we show up and show them over and over again the love of Jesus, they respond. The fastest growing Christian churches are in oppressed countries. Jesus gives them hope. It is no wonder that the rulers of these countries try to outlaw Christianity because it will undermine their corruption and their evil religions.
In this country we have a harder task. The people here have heard the message or at least they have heard about the message. Most of the people of this country and other countries where Christianity is on the decline, hear the message as pure foolishness. We are told that God doesn’t belong in schools or government, but He does. We are told when and where we can refer to God or there will be consequences. We are told that we had better worship our government or we will not get any health care. The list is endless. We are being systematically persecuted and discriminated against.
Now before you say to yourself, there goes Pastor John on one of his soapboxes again, listen up. We did a Beth Moore Bible study on Revelation at our churches one time. It is very good. Anyway, in one lesson she was talking about the 7 churches and she focused in on the church in Ephesus in Chapter 2. They had done a good job finding the falseness about them. But they had drifted away from their first love and how they acted when they first knew Christ. They had become tolerant of falseness, tolerant of falseness! Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are told in the 2nd chapter of Revelation that we are to be intolerant of falseness, intolerant of falseness! This goes contrary to everything the devil is trying to tell us in our modern society. We are called by God to stand up for the Scriptures! No matter what people say or think, you are totally right to stand for Jesus. Don’t ever be ashamed of being a Christian and don’t be afraid to tell others. Our job is to subtract one from hell!! This is part of the revival that is going on in this country right now!
The next part of our mathematical equation is that we are to add one to heaven. As far as math is concerned, if you subtract from one place then it has to be added somewhere else. I love this part. You see, God invented math. If you aren’t going to hell, then you must be going to heaven. There is no in between. You are either for Jesus or you are against Him. There is no middle ground here. The Bible is always correct no matter what our society says or does. Stand by the Bible.
This is what a lot of people cannot understand. They feel that if they believe something different than the Bible, then that is what must be true. Some feel there are several ways to heaven. Some feel that God doesn’t judge us. Some people think that they will see all their buddies in hell. All I can say is to show me some proof. There is none. We have a God who has provided us with the truth, the one and only truth, and He backs it up. If you are God, then these things that you think will be true are true. But if you aren’t God, and I don’t think anyone here is, then don’t act like one. Only God has the truth.
Don’t tell me what is truth unless you have proof. Just because you don’t believe there is such a thing as gravity, doesn’t mean that you won’t go splat if you jump off a tall building. Gravity is there and you can’t see it. God is there and you can’t see Him! God has promised us that we will join Him in heaven if we just follow Him. He will add one more to heaven.
The next thing that the cross does is that it divides the world. In Paul’s time, the newly formed Christians were very different from the rest of the population for many reasons. They had hope where there was nothing but despair. They knew they were loved in a world where there was no love. They had joy where there was nothing but sadness and hardship. These people had Jesus Christ and the world didn’t understand.
It is the same way in today’s world. We live in this world controlled by Satan but we are not of this world. This is not our home. We are different. Have you ever noticed that when you are having a bad day, it is probably far better than your neighbor’s bad day who doesn’t know Christ? This drives non-believers crazy. They seem to think that you have to be on their level of misery. You don’t. You don’t have to have much misery at all because you know the love of Jesus. This is the love that will get you through all things. Generally speaking, we have our down periods but they are nothing like that in the secular world.
I think that the electronic age is a blessing and a curse. It is a curse because people get into their gadgets and are oblivious of their surroundings. TV does the same thing. I’m even very critical of news networks. You cannot trust anything they say. I think if you want a little worldly depression or elevated blood pressure, just make a steady diet of these news shows. But electronics can also be a blessing. Instead of being glued to things that get you down, why not try some Christian radio or TV. I find nothing better than beginning my work day with a little Charles Stanley or Charles Swindoll. These are just suggestions to get you out of the secular world where Satan rules.
The next math sign we have is that your treasures will be multiplied by the cross. This is one thing that is really hard to describe. There are Scriptures that tell us of our rewards. We have talked about many of these in the past. Today, I would like to take a little different look at this.
Let’s suppose for a minute that you are having a bad day. But on the way home you stop and help someone on the side of the road. The weather is cold and they need help. How do you feel? If you are doing this for the right reasons, your bad day is gone. Or maybe you are just having a normal day and you see your neighbor needs help and you go over and help him. How do you feel? Why is it that you feel so good for just doing what comes naturally?
The reason is that God multiplies what you do. He takes these little acts of kindness, makes them big and makes them feel good in your heart. Have you ever wondered why some people are always doing ‘good’ for others? It is because they have almost become addicted to doing ‘good’ for God. If you are going to be addicted, be addicted to God. The rewards are out of this world. When God does this, He multiplies your rewards so that you will go out and do good things and do good things and do more good things so that He can spread His glorious Good News through us. The sooner you discover that life is about God and not you, then the sooner you can have all of these multiplied benefits.
It is really hard to have a math equation without having an equal sign. God has made His plan so that everyone has equal opportunity to become a part of His world. In Paul’s time, everyone in Corinth had a chance to come to God. In our time everyone that you know has a chance to come to God. God doesn’t play favorites when it comes to salvation. We are all sinners and we all fall short of the glory of God. We are not lovable and we have been blackened by sin. But God still loves us. Praise the Lord!
As Christians we are to take this love out to the world. You are to do all you can to help someone know Jesus on a personal basis. This is why I always say, ‘If you don’t know Jesus today, then confess your sins to Him and ask Him to live in your heart as your Lord and Savior.’ If you just do this one simple thing, I guarantee you that God will begin to use His math in your life and your life will be instantly changed for the better.
Pastor Huss tells the true story of a man named Charles Hughes who was a prominent national figure about 100 years ago. He was narrowly defeated by Woodrow Wilson for the presidency in 1916 and was later named as chief justice of the US Supreme Court. Anyway, he came to Washington D.C. to make his new home and he went to join one of the large churches in the area. On the same day that he came forward to be a member, two others came also. One was a Chinese student and the other was a washerwoman. Now the minister could have made a big deal out of this prominent man joining the church but he did something else. After he had announced the names of the new members who were in front of the congregation, he said, “Friends, I hope you will notice that at the cross of Christ the ground is level. All are equal.”
God made all people everywhere so that they can come to Him. There are no exceptions. As you go about your world this week, try to add one more to heaven as you subtract one from the other place. Yes, we are to divide the world but the rewards are multiplied by infinity. God loves you so much that He has saved you for Himself. Help someone else to this wondrous love. And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us. Let’s pray.
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