Marks of a God-Glorifying Ministry (1 Cor. 2:1-5)

Introduction: God's Two-Pronged Purpose in Redemption

0:00 I'm reception you have given to me. I believe you have manifested what it is to give yourself to God's servant and to his ministry. You've reciprocated with your eager attentiveness to the word and with many expressions of gratitude. And for these together, we praise our God, who is the giver of every good and every perfect gift.

0:25 I can't remember a time in recent history when I feel like a cow that's been milked dry. Now, if you ask me how I know what a cow that's been milked dry feels like, I can only imagine there must be something like I feel after these days, particularly the precious hours of concentrated interaction with some of you, the Lord's servants over the table and around the table. And as I mentioned to someone, the years of seeking to be obeyed, obedient to Christ and to be true to the calling of Christ, there are growing pockets of underground reservoirs of experience and understanding mingled with it, disappointment and heartache. And one does not realize how much subterranean pressure is there in the soul until a young pastor drives a stake into that spot of the soul where that artesian well, his building up pressure, and then it just, it just spills out. And I feel like many, many gallons of hidden streams and subterranean little pools have been tapped in these days.

1:43 And at times, it's been both humbling and encouraging to me as I've had to reflect on matters that one does not simply sit around every day and rehearse in one's mind. There's too much to do in the present to be, and ruminating and cogitating about the past. So it's been refreshing to my own soul. I go back to my own wife and church, somewhat feeling like I've worked for the weekend, but that's good.

2:12 As my father used to say, son, work hard. It keeps you out of trouble. Well, that's true for 67-year-old men as well who begin to fancy that the golden years ought to be spent in idleness and chasing a little white ball around a golf course and yanking fish, fish out of a pond or some other banal activity as one's occupation. I'm not talking about those activities as an avocation for you fishermen.

2:39 It's a good avocation, but surely it's no occupation. And when people ask me my theology of retirement, I say it's all in one verse. Revelation 14, 13, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth, and they rest from their labors and their works do follow them. Revelation 14, 13, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth, and they rest from their labors and their works do follow them.

2:58 End of discussion. So may God help me, and may he continue to help you. I believe I take back with me a deposit of stewardship to apprise my people of what God is doing in your midst and to seek to stir them up to pray. And as I used to tell the men in the academy, as the man in the Chinese laundry used to say, no ticky, no shirty, I would say to the men, no righty, no pray.

3:25 Now, Pastor Gantz, I'm saying in the presence, of all these witnesses, no righty, no pray. All right? If the great apostle Paul did not trust that his spiritual children would pray for him without writing to them, who are we to think others will pray for us if we don't communicate? And I assure you that any communication that comes expressing what God is doing here in the theological hall and in the church and in the churches of you men that I've gotten to know more, more personally, those things will be brought to our midweek prayer service and will be prayed over by the whole congregation and many take those concerns, taking copious notes and carry them into their intercession at family worship throughout the week. So if you value that phalanx of spiritual warriors, then please communicate and by the grace of God, we will respond to that stewardship as we ought. Now then, if you have your Bibles, turn with me, please, to Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians and chapter 1. And I shall begin the reading at verse 17.

4:42 And remembering that the chapter and verse divisions were not in Paul's letter, I want to read from 1 Corinthians 1, 17 through chapter 2 and verse 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 17. I read from the American Standard, the standard version, changing any of the Elizabethan endings on some of the pronouns and verbs. And you will understand that I trust as I read.

5:13 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void. For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us who are saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning will I bring to naught.

5:44 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

5:56 For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the thing preached to save them that believe. Seeing that Jews ask for signs and Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified unto Jews a stumbling block and unto Gentiles foolishness. But unto them that are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the Father, the power of God and the wisdom of God.

6:35 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For behold your calling brethren that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame them that are wise and God chose the wickedness things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong and the base things of the world and the things that are despised did God choose. Yea, and the things that are not that he might bring to naught the things that are that no flesh should glory before God. But of him are you in Christ Jesus who of God was made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that according as it is written he that glories let him glory in the Lord. And I brethren when I came unto you came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom proclaiming to you the testimony of God for I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him as crucified. And I was with you

8:01 in weakness and in fear and in much trembling and my speech and preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Now may we again just take a moment to pray that God the Holy Spirit would come to us by his illuminating grace and power that he would be present in the mind and heart of the preacher and of those who sit before the word that together we may be conscious that there's another one here whom we do not see but whose presence is indispensable to our blessing. Let's ask God that we may know his presence.

8:52 Our Heavenly Father we are emboldened once more to come to you in the name and through the merit and intercession of our Lord Jesus and to ask once more that you would give your Holy Spirit to us your needy people and surely if you have encouraged us with your own word reminding us that if we who are evil know how to give good gifts to our children how much more will you our holy and heavenly and loving Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask we are emboldened to pray O Lord send your Spirit as the prophets stood before the valley of dry bones and was commanded to prophesy to those bones and you by your Spirit came and put life where there was death O God come and grant your life-giving presence to preacher and listener alike that when we conclude this hour we may all be conscious with Jacob saying with trembling joy surely the Lord is in this place O God grant that that may be our experience for the good of our souls and for the glory and honor of your name we ask this mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen

10:17 Now if you were listening attentively to the reading of this portion of the word of God surely you've become aware afresh that this latter portion of 1 Corinthians chapter 1 the section read in your hearing that God has purposed planned and is executing a scheme of redemptive grace that has as its calculated purpose to expose the foolishness of the wisdom of the world on the one hand and to secure to himself unrivaled praise for that redemption on the other hand in verses 19 and 20 of chapter 1 here God clearly states that his scheme of redemptive mercy is deliberately calculated to this end that he might destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring the so-called discernment of the discerning to nothing verse 20 has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world and Paul states this in conjunction with the proclamation of the gospel which is the declaration of God's purpose plan and ongoing application

11:46 of redemptive restorative grace but in that purpose planned and continually executed scheme of redemptive grace God not only purposes to expose as foolishness the wisdom of the world but he's determined to secure to himself unrivaled praise for that redemption and Paul takes up that theme of course beginning with verse 26 reminding the Corinthians to look in the mirror and say what kind of people did God call and he says not many not many not many not many and God's electing grace has been calculated to this end negatively stated that no flesh should glory before God verse 29 positively positively stated if anyone's going to boast in glory the only focus of that boasting in glory should be the Lord so God has planned God is executing a scheme of redemptive grace with this two-pronged purpose in view to expose the utter folly of worldly wisdom and to secure to himself unrivaled praise for that redemptive grace now think with me if this is the two-pronged intention of God in redemptive grace

13:14 purpose planned and executed surely God will do nothing in the accomplishment of that intention which would undermine or divert that determination we would expect that anything God does in the outworking of the purpose and plan of redemptive grace would be constantly securing this two-pronged end expose the stupidity of the world's wisdom and secure unrivaled praise for himself in the manifestation of that grace therefore if this God who has that two-pronged purpose has instituted the ministry of the word in its unique dimensions with apostles and in its ongoing expression in the office of pastor and teacher then surely the kind of ministry that God institutes would effect that great and glorious two-pronged end that the ministry would be harnessed to the service of God to continually expose and lay bare the folly of the world's wisdom and be continually securing unrivaled praise to God himself

14:43 you follow the logic of that otherwise God would be working at cross purposes with himself and that he does not do and it is my conviction that verses 1 to 5 in chapter 2 are a spirit-inspired declaration of precisely the kind of minister who is an instrument in the hands of God and in the hands of God to accomplish that two-fold purpose to continually expose the folly of the world's wisdom and to be an instrument to secure unrivaled praise to our God and so I'm going to attempt to unpack those five verses under the title The Marks of a God Glorifying Ministry and as we come to the exposition I trust that those of you who have no aspirations to the ministry as such and some of you ought never to have it if you are of the female gender any desire for the office of pastoral ministry you may immediately take it to the cross and know that it needs to be nailed there alright that you should know the word of God and have a sphere of instruction to others consistent with God's delineation of where that should be that's a noble desire so what does it say to you who are not aspiring ministers or who are not in the ministry may I say this instruction is vital for you so that you know

The Conscious Identity of a God-Glorifying Minister (1 Cor. 2:1)

16:12 what you ought to pray for in your pastors and what you ought to jealously seek to see realized in the men who are training for the ministry and under your own minister what do I pray that God would do for him that he might have a God glorifying ministry pray in what's here in these verses and if you're not a Christian and not converted this passage speaks to you because we will be looking at the very thing God uses exclusively in order to take non-Christians and make them Christians so there's no one here who's exempted from the tremendous importance of this passage so don't tune me out if you're not in the ministry or preparing for the ministry it has something to say to you as well alright we're going to look at it it's one of those passages rarely do we come across a passage where the heading are determined by the verse divisions and so I'm going to have a five-headed sermon tonight alright and they're all going to be organized under this theme of the marks of a God glorifying minister and therefore a God glorifying ministry the first is this verse one it's what I'm calling the conscious identity of a God glorifying minister when a servant of God gets up in the morning and looks in the mirror

17:40 and once he get over the shock of his tousled hair or his shining pate and his stubbly beard and his baggy eyes and looks at that person in the mirror and asks the question who are you what is your identity as a minister if he doesn't have a clear answer shaped by scripture he's in big bad trouble because there will be no lack of people to tell him who he ought to see and what he ought to see and how what he sees should be shaped by consensus of the congregation or by current fads of what makes a man a proper minister and I am saying that with Paul if we're to have a God glorifying ministry we must have a conscious identity of our God glorifying place in the purpose and will of God so then we look at verse one I'm calling it the conscious identity of a God glorifying minister first of all Paul states it negatively and I brethren when I came unto you came not I love Paul's negative positive it ain't this but it's this it's this but it's not that and in definition negation is vital you say what a thing is

19:03 and people have fuzzy ideas then when you say but it is not the ideas are sharpened and that negative positive motif in apostolic instruction is everywhere in our Bible simple says and I brethren in the light of all are told about God's purpose in his scheme of redemptive grace to lay bare the folly of human wisdom and to secure unrivaled optimum glory for himself and I brethren he still thinking about is written and I brethren when I came to you he's about to tell them that he an expression of that two-pronged purpose embodied in a minister. And so he says, when I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom. That's the negative. Now, is Paul saying, when I came to you, I mumbled inarticulate words, butchered Greek grammar, used convoluted sentences that only a genius could untangle with a calculator, no, people who hide sloppy communication behind these words are sloppy thinkers as well as sloppy exegetes. The Corinthians would have known immediately what Paul was saying when he said, and I came to you, brethren, when I came,

20:27 not with excellency of speech, excellency of word. There at Corinth, as in other centers of the Greco-Roman world, there were schools of, oratory, who had their canons of what was acceptable speech for anyone who claimed to be partially well-educated. And you would be judged with respect to whether you were credible or not in terms of their own man-made canons of what was acceptable or excellency of speech. When I first started going over to England, I understood why Spurgeon Lampoon, some of his fellow Englishmen, who thought that the nose was given by God as an instrument through which to speak rather than through which to breathe. And I heard some of my proper English brethren projecting their voices until they noticed it. I said, I know now why Spurgeon Lampoon did it.

21:32 It was an artificial plastic, not to make you want to puke.

21:40 Paul said, look, whatever your rhetoricians say, are the standards for excellency of speech. An educated, cultured man will speak respecting these tendencies. I did not come to you throwing myself into the framework that your rhetorical experts have established as kosher speech. I did not come to you, that is, in the role of an orator.

22:09 The orator who is seeking to please the auditory, the orator who is seeking to please the auditorium, the orator who is seeking to play a tune on people's ears, either for their aesthetic pleasure that they might marvel in ooh and ah at the way he can play with words and pink purple passages, or he uses his oratory in order to move minds and emotions and wills to a specific goal that he or the person who's put him forward has established as a worthy goal. But it's a matter of, man-made goal, a man-conceived goal, and the orator plies his trade in order to accomplish those humanistic ends. And Paul said, when I came to you, I did not come in the role of an orator. When I get up in the morning and look at myself in the mirror, and I see my tousled hair and my scraggly beard, and I see the scars from the times I was stoned and beaten, I did not look in the mirror and say, oh, Paul the apostle, whatever else you are, you must remember you're going to Corinth. They have their expectations of excellent speech. And Paul, if you don't want to turn them

23:25 off, if you want to have a user-friendly message, you must come with, and Paul would look himself in the mirror and say, that's not the Saul of Tarsus saved by almighty God in sovereign grace. Not to be an orator. Perish the thought. That's not my goal.

23:43 That's not my identity. He was not an orator. Secondly, he said, I didn't come in the role of a philosopher. And I, brethren, I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom.

23:58 And does that mean he spoke nonsense? And he spoke as a stupid man? No. Verse six, he says, but we speak with them. What he means, again, the Corinthians would have understood.

24:10 The philosopher is the one who appoints himself, the all-wise one. He has sat on his rock with his hand in his chin, and he's observed the world, seeking to penetrate the mystery of the one great universal. What ties all reality together? And by churning the wheels of his own brain and cogitating till he has a headache, voila, he has an insight. And then the philosopher goes to the place where philosophers talk and chew the rag, and he strokes his beard. And with mock humility said, I believe I have found an insight. And then the philosopher, out of the stuff of his own brains, tells you what he believes is the key to all reality. The great universal unifying principle around which all of reality makes its circle, and into which all the streams of life flow, and out of which all reality can be interpreted.

25:15 Paul said, I did not come to you in the role of orator, nor did I come to you in the role of philosopher. But positively, here was his conscious identity. I came not to you with excellency of speech, not an orator, or of wisdom, not a philosopher, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. My identity is a proclaimer.

25:44 Katangelo, men. A solemn announcement and proclamation. When Paul got up in the morning, looked in the mirror, and said, who's there? He said, he's a proclaimer. He's a proclaimer. He's someone who has a word.

26:01 He is someone who's going to deliver a word. He is a proclaimer, and a proclaimer of what? He calls it the testimony of God. You may have a translation that says, the mystery of God.

26:13 And there is what, in my present judgment, is a kind of impasse, on a textual variant. A number of manuscripts, with a good pedigree, use the word musterion, the mystery of God. And the mystery of God is God's revelation of his grace in Jesus Christ that could be only known if God unfolded it to us. Paul may be saying, I came to you as a proclaimer, and what I proclaimed was not spun out of the stuff of my mind, but out of the stuff of the infinite mind of Almighty God. True wisdom, with its deep, deep subterranean caverns, embedded in eternity, in the infinite mind of God, where a scheme of redemption was planned. And the persons of the Trinity engaged one another in covenantal commitments to accomplish that redemption. And now, after a while, Paul says, I came to you as a proclaimer. You may have a translation that says, I came to you as a proclaimer,

27:18 but after long ages, in the fullness of the times, God has sent forth his Son, and now that which was hidden in the mind and purpose of God, but is accomplished in space-time history, and is now interpreted by inspired apostles, is made fully known. And he said, I came as a proclaimer of a mystery of which God is the author. Eyes just the mouth, proclaiming the mystery. And the other word that is used, it is translated, testimony of God, and it looks somewhat like it.

27:56 That's the martyrian, as opposed to the musterian, and that would be the testimony of God. That is the testimony that bears witness to what God has to say to men like you people at Corinth. When I came to you, I did not come as the orator who stands on his own feet, plies the trade of his accumulated skills with words to dazzle and amaze you or to move you to his own ends. Nor was I there like the philosopher who is going to bless you lucky idiots with his great insights.

28:33 He said, that was not my identity. I came as a proclaimer, and what I proclaimed was the mystery or the testimony of God. May I say, by way of application, you men preparing for the ministry, give yourself no rest, till you've settled in your heart before Almighty God, that if God's hand is upon you for the ministry, he has already delineated your identity. You don't make it up for yourself.

29:09 You don't go around with a sheet of paper taking a census. What do you think the minister ought to be? What do you think is the identity of the minister? God's already marked out and delineated your identity.

29:23 And yours is to pray it in until this becomes such a holy obsession that if the whole world says, we don't want proclaimers, we don't want an authoritative word from God, you say, then you're going to have to kill me to get rid of such people because that's who I am. And I can no more negate or change my identity as a minister. And I can change my identity as a man or a woman. Pray that in.

The Comprehensive Theme of a God-Glorifying Minister (1 Cor. 2:2)

30:02 You who are not pastors, who never aspire to be pastors, as you pray for your pastor, say, Oh God, don't let my pastor forget his identity. Lord, keep him true to who he is. Proclaimer of testimony and mystery of God. Secondly, verse 2, here we have what I'm calling the comprehensive theme of the God-glorifying minister.

30:34 What in the world does one man talk about in the same place for 39 and a half years? It won't be 40 years. I just want to add that little historical addendum till next spring. But for all intents and purposes, we round it off to 40 years.

30:49 What in the world do you talk about in one place for 40 years? Surely, you must be going back over some old tracks quite frequently. Not when you have the comprehensive theme that Paul had. Look at the text.

31:02 For I determined the use of the word krino. I made a solemn, serious judgment that issued in a settled resolve of my will. This was settled before I came. I didn't come to Corinth, wet my finger and hold it up and see which way the wind was blowing to see what you people would like to hear.

31:23 The theme of my ministry was already embedded in my heart. And I determined before I ever set foot in Corinth. When I came to you, I was already a man in settled, determined purpose with respect to my theme. And what was it?

31:41 I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I've described this as the comprehensive, not the truncated, limited, narrow theme of a God honoring minister. It's His comprehensive theme. Now notice briefly, it focused upon a unique person and it continually drew the attention to a specific event.

32:14 He said, I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ. I determined to know nothing among you except that which would open up the wonder and the glory of who Jesus of Nazareth was. You should call His name Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth.

32:39 Jesus went about doing good, healing the sick. Jesus identifies Paul's proclamation with the historical figure of the Gospel records. What to us is now the historical figure of the Gospel records. The God, Man, Christ, Jesus.

33:00 And He said, I determined to know nothing among you save this unique person, Jesus, Messiah. Jesus, the fulfillment of all of God's prophetic utterances concerning that final prophet who would teach His people of whom Moses spoke. That final and perfect priest of whom every bleeding lamb spoke when its throat was slit and it was offered upon Jewish altars. That one who is God's priest and God's Messianic King who will sit upon the throne of David.

33:37 He said this was my theme and I determined when I came to you that my proclamation of the testimony or the mystery of God would focus upon this unique person because it is in that person that God's wisdom is fully displayed. He says Christ is the wisdom of God. And in the display of God's wisdom in Jesus, Messiah is the exposure of the futility of human wisdom. Sit your philosopher down and say now, when you're done expatiating and blethering about all of your insights, I want to ask you a few simple questions that my five year old asked me the other day. And he finally accommodates you with a condescending look down his snout. What are your questions, sir? Well, my child had these simple questions, Mr. Philosopher.

34:35 And surely if you are the great repository of so much wisdom, you can answer these very basic questions that my five year old child has asked me. Question number one. Where did I come from, Daddy? Why am I here, Daddy?

34:55 What happens to me when I die, Daddy? Mr. Philosopher, I had no answers. Surely your wisdom can address such elementary questions framed by a five year old.

35:16 He has no answer. I think, I suppose, I would like to hope that, but in Jesus Christ, God, in bold neon flashing letters. Who am I? I'm a creature made in the image of God.

35:37 Jesus of Nazareth said, in the beginning. Have you not read? He who made them in the beginning made them male and female. Jesus answers the five year old boy's question.

35:49 God made me. The little children's catechism. Who made you? God made me.

35:54 What else did God make? God made all things. Why did God make you and all things? For his own glory.

36:03 In Jesus, the question, why am I here, is answered. We are here to know God, to serve God. And we can't do so because of the problem of sin. And Jesus Messiah has come to deal with that problem.

36:17 He comes to die, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. That we might live for the purpose for which we were made. And my boys question, what happens when I die? If you're in Jesus, and trust in Jesus, and belong to Jesus, he says, I go to prepare a place for you.

36:38 To depart. It's far better. It is to be with Christ. To be absent from the body.

36:43 It is to be at home with the Lord. Thank you, Daddy. Oh, what wisdom is in Jesus, Daddy. I did not come to you, he says.

36:53 Determined to know anything else save Jesus Christ. The embodiment of the wisdom of God. The answer to the most elementary questions that in reality are the most profound and at the end of the day, the only really important question. But he said it's not just that.

37:11 It's in Jesus Messiah generically. But notice what he goes on to say. And him, and him, with the emphasis on him in the structure, with the use of that pronoun, and even him, and then a perfect passive participle, brethren, him as having been and remaining in some state in the framework of being crucified. I did not preach, Jesus Christ primarily in terms of his prophetic office.

37:50 Christ declaring the mind and the will of God. Though he did that, he said, I don't speak my own words. What I hear my Father say I speak. Nor did he come primarily to focus the attention upon his crown.

38:05 That he might impose his rule and his will. He comes particularly, Paul says, with the spotlight, to shed upon him as having been crucified. Not only did this comprehensive theme focus upon a unique person, but it uniquely underscored and drew all the lines of its proclamation to this event, the crucifixion, the immolation, the suffering of the God-man Christ Jesus on behalf of his people and his people suffering and dying in him. Now granted, the cross has no biblical meaning. It's center stage front. All the floodlights are there. But it must have the softer lights upon the manger on the one hand and Joseph's empty tomb on the other.

39:05 You must not sever the cradle or the tomb from the cross. It is only because Christ who he is, who he is as incarnate God, that his cross has the worth and the power that it has. And it's only because the Christ who died was validated in his identity and the sufficiency of his work by his open tomb, which was the halfway house, to go back to the Father, sit upon the throne and send the Spirit. But don't ever allow anything else to take center stage front.

39:39 This is the problem with much neo-orthodox theology and sociology. It's floodlight. Center stage front is the incarnation. We've got to be incarnational.

39:51 You live in the slum. You weep with the slum dweller. That's evangelism. Don't tell the slum dweller he is dead in Adam.

40:00 He's already battered down. He has no proper self-image. He's treated like scum. Don't you come with your wretched doctrine of total depravity.

40:10 Just live out the incarnation. I say it reverently. Christ could have been incarnate if possible a million times, and we'd be lost and on our way to hell if the incarnate deity did not die. Without the shedding of blood is no remission.

40:30 Beware of any shift in your theology that would push the manger up to front stage and by degrees center stage full floodlights. It's not of God. And there are others who do not err there, but they take the kingship of Christ, the resurrection and the subject, the subsequent enthronement. And they would make that the lodestone and the center point of their theology, the resurrection and the subsequent enthronement of Christ.

41:00 And it is his crown that edges front stage and by degrees center and the cross recedes. Beware of it, no matter how noble it sounds. Is every thought to be brought captive to Christ? Yes.

41:14 But what Christ? The Christ is crucified. I say to you men aspiring to the ministry, the moment you feel uncomfortable reading this passage and you've got to scurry around for some new nuance to adjust it to an imbalance in your thinking, may God have mercy on you. And you men already in the ministry, don't ever be budged from this.

41:40 If you ever get to the place where you could not read this prior to any Sabbath day's ministry, I come to my people not as orator, not as philosopher, but as proclaimer of God's testimony, God's mystery. And here is my comprehensive theme. It focuses in a unique person and it is determined to underscore unmistakably the centrality of his cross. For the scriptures are clear that all of the lines of Old Testament type and shadow all point to that time when outside the city wall of Jerusalem a young rabbi with torn and contused flesh, blood and spittle dripping from his beard would be hung up to die. And it's as though the cross is the pool halfway down the mountain into which all the streams of Old Testament type and shadow, they flow down in different streams but they all converge. In Jesus Christ. So when you're preaching the Old Testament, you're setting forth something of Christ.

43:03 What God is doing to make men see their need of him. What God is doing to point to how and in what manner he will come to the rescue of his people. And you are teaching ethical principles and you're not a moralist who should preach his sermon in the local Orthodox temple or synagogue. When you lay out the ethical demands you are saying in Christ they were perfectly fulfilled.

43:31 In Christ we see them fleshed out in the stuff in which you and I live. Human soul and body. And in Christ all our failures to meet those demands have been satisfied by his vicarious curse bearing. You do not back off from teaching specific ethical demands but you teach them with the lodestone there.

43:55 Constantly drawing to himself all the lines of truth that flow out of the old. And if Christ is the pool halfway down the mountainside into which the streams that begin in the upper areas of the mountain flow then out of that pool there are conduits that go down into the city and conduits into the plain and smaller pipes that go out into the fields to irrigate as surely as all of the lines of truth in the old flow into Christ. All of the conduits of doctrine of duty of motivation of expectation of hope they all are conduits that come out of Christ's crucifixion. Paul is dealing with the knotty problem of the Corinthians still acting like Corinthians. They had the philosophy that our bodies are a playground. My body my own.

44:51 Sound familiar? Paul has to deal with some of those problems You know what he does? Right smack in the middle of the sordid rotten Corinthian he sticks the cross down in the middle of all that muck and he says if the cross won't cure it nothing will but it will such were some of you but you're washed you're sanctified you're justified in the name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. Oh what a wonderful thing to have confidence that in Christ crucified as this passage says is bound up the very dunamis the power of God to break the chains of sin.

45:35 We don't need half baptized secular psychology. We need the free unfettered preaching of Christ crucified. He is the power of God. He is the wisdom of God.

45:49 The comprehensive theme is this person and this unique work and I urge you so to pray and so to preach that whatever else can legitimately be said of your ministry it may be said I never heard that man preach but that in some way I was drawn to my Savior crucified for me. Paul said that's how he lived that's why he preached that way. Galatians 2.20 Isn't that what he says?

46:25 I have been crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I well wait a minute is he dead or alive? I live but I don't live I am crucified but I am living yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who sits in throne for me. That would be true but that isn't what he says. The Son of God who was incarnate for me that would be true but that isn't what he said.

46:57 What did he say? The Son of God who loved me loved me and gave himself up for me. I live a cross fixed life not in the superstitious Roman Catholic notion of a crucifix but processing by faith the realities that God has deposited in that great redemptive act not only our justification but our sanctification the whole truth of Romans 6 and when sin would say hey I bullied you around for decades you and I are old buddies you gave me your hands your feet your tongue your eyes your passions your appetites your energies I want some Paul says no when Christ died you died with him when he was buried you were buried with him when he rose to newness of life you rose with him count on that reality and counting on it you say to your lust and your sins and your old patterns I reckon myself to be what God says I am in union with Christ I do not need to serve you you're a deposed master and by the strength and power of the risen Christ we know the fulfillment of the word whom the Son sets free is free indeed well we're only at verse 2 and I've gone on verse 3 more quickly verse 3 this is what I'm calling

The Internal Disposition of a God-Glorifying Minister (1 Cor. 2:3)

48:25 the internal disposition of a God glorifying minister what's the internal disposition I think they use in other fields the term the dispositional complex psychologists like to use big terms like the medical doctors someone was asking me what the problem was with my feet well if they're laymen I say I have burning feet the doctors call it cryptogenic sensory polyneuropathy I'm not kidding you that's what they call it my neurologist sent me an article from the neurology journal that only the elite are supposed to read and want to know how I was doing with the medication he put me on I said doc this is your sensory polyneuropathic your cryptogenic sensory polyneuropathic patient he said ah reverend he's an orthodox jew where's his little skull cup he says ah reverend you read the article I said that's right doc and I can use the language now now where am I going with that well just here just here just here dispositional complex that's an attempt to say if you could take the inner quality of a man's perspective about the work of the ministry how is it to be done in what strength is it to be done by what means that would be putting it all together would be the complex the dispositional complex the inner flavor of the soul

49:53 if I may use my own terminology Paul tells us what his was look at it here's a man who says I knew my identity when I came to you I was settled in that I knew my comprehensive theme now I want you to tell me the disposition in that man who came with a square jaw inflexible in his consciousness of his identity unswerving in his commitment to his theme pull back all that steel and you know what you're going to find a trembling reed on the inside look at his language and I was with you in your midst in weakness asthenia and in fear phobos and in much trembling you say wait a minute it doesn't compute how can a man who is so right angled and granite like in his sense of identity so irrevocably and immovably committed to his theme how can a man like that be anything other than internally self-possessed and confident Paul said well it wasn't me I was with you weakness and fear and in much trembling now the question is why was he the young licentiate

51:21 preaching his first sermon before his home church that would make an angel fearful and trembling as an experienced missionary who's seen miraculous results from his preaching and his apostolic gifts he's not a novice nervous about his first attempts at preaching and it's certainly not that he fears people he knew the Lord's words fear not them which kill the body and after this have no more than they can do he's already been stoned and left for dead I mean this guy's an old hand at getting run out of town on the rail so he's not fearful because of his inexperience he's not fearful of the faces of men if I should yet please men he says in Galatians 1 I should not be the servant of God I count not my life as dear unto myself Paul says you people are weeping and carrying on like a bunch of whatever you do when you're carrying on and you shouldn't he said why do you mean to weep and break my heart yeah I'm going to Jerusalem and it's most likely that I'm going to be beat up a bit so what don't cry about that that's old hat for me I count not my life dear to myself one thing is dear to me I want to finish my course I want to accomplish the ministry given to me well if those were not the reasons why he was fearful and trembling and weak what were they? listen to Charles Hodge he had an anxiety and a solicitude of mind

52:48 that is an anxious focus concerned of mind arising out of a sense of his insufficiency and the constant need of divine aid for his work 2 Corinthians 3 he lines out what the ministry is and then he throws up his hands and says who is sufficient for these things? he said we do not account anything now that's pretty broad isn't it? with respect to the ministry anything a thing and anything is pretty broad anything to do with this ministry we are not sufficient to think anything as from ourselves with respect to accomplishing the goals of this God given ministry to expose the folly of human wisdom and to promote the glory of God and how God does that through the gospel he says there's not one smidgen of that whole task for which we bring any native competence that's what he's saying that's what Jesus meant when he said in John 15 5 without me you can do a few things you can do nothing and if we're slow to believe that and learn it listen to the word of Jeremiah 17 5 cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm

54:15 and whose heart departs from the Lord you never trust in yourself but what you go spiritually whoring from God Paul knew that and though he's very conscious of his identity secure in his comprehensive theme he knows when he comes he told us in chapter 1 when I start opening up this glorious theme of Jesus Christ and inclusion I know what the Jews present are going to do they're going to say away with him we will not have an immolate crucified reject sire such a message is a stumbling block to us and he said I know the ones wise in Greek thinking will stand there with a smirk on their face and say this little hook knows Jews telling us that in his Jesus who was put on the cross there is wisdom that eluded all all our philosophers over all these is that what it says he knew when he came I'm going to turn off the Jews my message is a stumbling block I'm going to turn off the Greeks it will appear as foolishness now what do you do in a situation where you know your identity has proclaimed that message you're confident that's the only message you have to proclaim and yet humanly speaking you know it's going to be a total flop before you ever open your mouth

55:42 you do one of two things you're either paralyzed with the sense of your impotence and mutter and mumble and get out of the way as soon as you can before the rocks come or you're jeered out of town you stand up and you look the squint-eyed sour-faced philosopher and the angry tooth gnashing Jew right in the face and what do you do you turn your message loose in a context of what weakness I can't do what must be done if their eyes are to be opened if they're to be quickened from the dead if they're to see the glory of God in the face of Christ crucified I can't do it there's weakness and I fear lest I through my own bumbling and fumbling and inadequacy do injustice to the message there is fear and there is much trembling will God attend the message with power will God do what only He can do I know what I must do I have an identity He's made me a proclaimer I know my theme but I know it's a lost cause unless God brings to the whole mix what only He can bring and my brethren when you believe that every time you preach you'll say I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling

57:09 and the day you cease to be a stranger to that dispositional complex there'll be no unction you'll either then say well I've got to manipulate the message to make it work I'm not going to be a flop and a failure and that's what's happened wholesale in our day you can't tell a generation that has bruised and distorted problems with self-image and a generation that's been turned off by politicians and people who speak in the so-called grand style that is with authority and with passion they're going to be turned off you've got to speak like the primetime newscaster framed from here up the talking head who in 30 seconds can tell you the weather and talk about 5,000 people buried in a landslide and never show a twitch of emotion that's what they're used to now you've got to come lean on the pulpit and be dripping with sweet I'm so glad you've done God a favor to come out this morning you lovely people barf yes barf barf that is going on wholesale now I know you'd be offended if anyone stood up here and said the word of God says God made you you have no choice

58:36 that you're to live for his glory and under his law he made you he placed you under his law and in Adam you were part of the revolt against that God and you validate it and you assert it every time you choose your way against God's way and that God god holds you accountable and you lay upon the conscience the guilt and the hell deservingness and you proclaim the offensive message that all the wisdom of all the ages on all the ultimate questions is resolved in this person and in his cross you do so in weakness and in fear and much trembling because you know that only god can do what must be done to make the message effectual i shock people periodically when they don't know me well and i'm with them in meetings and perhaps we've prayed in the back room with the elders or some other leaders and just before we come out they will say to me well are you already pastor martin and i look at them and i say every time is like the first time and i never wanted to be anything else i remember as vividly as though it happened yesterday

The Indispensable Dynamic of a God-Glorifying Ministry (1 Cor. 2:4)

59:59 that snowy night in february of 1952 gentle snow falling the street lights illuminating it i had on the hand-me-down blue mohair winter overcoat that my dad gave me and it was a mile and a half walk to that street corner where all my buddies were going to be and i was going to stand in the circle and tell them what jesus meant for me i felt something like a criminal must feel going to his execution weakness fear and in much trembling that leads us into the next verse the paul who said that now brings us to what i'm calling the indispensable dynamic of a god glorifying minister and i'll give you the end of the story and in that disposition it's not surprising he can then say and my speech and my preaching the word and kerugma the thing the thing and those two concepts are bound up in the word kerugma there is faith content but faith content proclaimed by the kerukes the commissioned herald of the king he didn't come into the town and bang on the gong and say

61:25 all you dear people the king would beg of your leave to give him a few minutes of your time to hear a suggestion that he's issuing from the throne no the kerooks came banged the gong and said hear ye hear ye the king has a proclamation and paul says my speech my word my message and the thing preached we're not in persuasive words of wisdom you knew i wasn't trying to be a clever orator after the pattern of your orators and you knew i didn't talk like the philosopher spinning out the stuff from my usual slides would have worked and i was like oh that wasn't smooth enough he set me free the king presides and said can i talk now i can lie with you push me you can need to change what you say that идет this sentence my own brains, my speech and the thing preached were not in that context of orator or philosopher, but in demonstration, a manifest proof of the Spirit and of power. When I preached, there was a demonstration that consisted in the ministry of the Spirit, which was characterized by power. Now, put yourself in the place of those Corinthians, and they're listening to this letter. Some of them were the Jews to whom Christ crucified was a stumbling block.

62:40 Some were Greeks to whom Christ crucified was foolishness. Acts 18 says, and many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized. And then Paul got some opposition, said, Lord, said to him, don't be afraid. I have much people in the city.

62:54 Paul went on. Now, imagine when the letter first came and Paul is saying, and I, brethren, when I came to you. And their minds are going back over this situation where they heard Paul preach in this synagogue, in this public square, in this home, and their minds are going back. And when he said, and my word and my proclamation of the faith content message focusing in Jesus Christ and him crucified was not in the aura of your orators and your philosophers, but it came in demonstration, in proof of that which had no explanation, but the spirit was working mightily.

63:35 And the characteristic of his working was power, energy to affect change. And can't you imagine somebody sitting there saying, man, that's what happened to us one day. We came determined that when we heard about his Jesus, we're going to mock him. We're going to shout him down.

63:53 But as he preached, suddenly the scales began to fall from our eyes. And we began to see, yes, he is our Messiah. He's demonstrating out of the scriptures that the Messiah must suffer and die and be raised again. And in him alone is proclaimed forgiveness of sins.

64:14 Yes, Paul, we know what you mean. Your word and your proclamation of the faith content message came in demonstration of the spirit. And then that Greek sat there and nudged his Jewish, former Jew. And he said, oh, I remember.

64:35 I came filled up to the gills with my own sense of my own wisdom and the wisdom of my fathers and the great minds of my heritage. And this guy blasted it all to pieces. And I realized on the simple questions of life, the philosophers had no answer. But in Christ, all the wisdom of God was unpacked before our eyes and before our ears.

65:02 And our whole disposition about who we are and who God is and who Christ is and how we find meaning to life and forgiveness. There was energy to affect change. That's why we're sitting here listening to this letter from this man that we hated before he preached in demonstration of the spirit and of power. And I shall never forget that night.

65:32 Weakness, fear and trembling. I was lying, standing out in that circle. And when I opened my mouth, something happened. I can't explain it, but I've never been the same.

65:46 Something that encased my heart in joy. It was like God took a steel rod and rammed it down my back. I could have taken on all those guys physically. I felt like a giant.

66:02 And the word of God shut their mouths. There was no mocking. And they listened. And I was forever spoiled.

66:11 For that which I'm calling in this text, the indispensable dynamic of a God-glorifying ministry, the unction and empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's ministry, not luxury, rather.

66:25 And that's why you and I must keep a sensitive conscience. He's easily grieved. He's not an impersonal force. He's a person.

66:31 And he's a holy person. And we're told not to grieve the Holy Spirit. What a horrible travesty on integrity. To grieve the Spirit on Saturday.

66:44 With angry words to your wife that you don't confess. And then think your words will be clothed with the power of the holy, gracious, loving Spirit on the Lord's Day. I marvel God has instruct me dead sometime.

67:02 His ministry is not a luxury. And charismatics do not have a corner on the Holy Spirit.

67:11 He's given to us as the free gift of the ascended Christ. And brethren, let me urge you. When you preach the gospel. Not only to holy people.

67:20 But hold out forgiveness of sin in Christ. And justifying righteousness. But hold out to people as Peter did. The gift of the Holy Spirit that is in Christ.

67:31 There is an operation of the Spirit that is unto repentance and faith. There is a gift of the Spirit to faith. Because you are sons. He has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your heart.

67:43 Crying Abba Father. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. Why? That upon the Gentiles.

67:51 Might come the blessing of Abraham by faith. That we might receive the promise of the Spirit by faith. There is a work of the Spirit unto faith. There is the gift of the Spirit to faith.

68:02 Not two different spirits. Not separated experiences. But part of the complex of conversion. And if we in our preaching.

68:11 Hold out to people that in coming to Christ. There is the pardon of their sins. The cleansing of their record. The cleansing of the heart.

68:20 There is the reckoning of them righteous in the court of heaven. And in the faith grip of Christ. They are given the Spirit. Our people would not be vulnerable then.

68:31 When the first time they hear about the gift of the Spirit. Never heard about it. They ought to be able to say. Oh yes.

68:36 That was mine. When I embraced Christ. My pastor taught me from my Bible. If I repent.

68:42 I receive the gift of the Spirit. For the promise was not just to that original group. And to their children who would repent. And believe.

68:51 And to all that are afar off. As many as the Lord shall call. And I'm one of those. As many as the Lord shall call.

68:57 Way out here among the Goyim. And when I repented. And embraced Christ. In Christ.

69:03 I was given the gift of the Spirit.

69:07 Take your second work of grace nonsense. I have it all in Christ. That's just a little aside. Now we come finally.

The Deliberate Intention of a God-Glorifying Minister (1 Cor. 2:5)

69:15 The deliberate intention. Of the God glorifying minister. Paul concludes with a Hina clause. Of purpose brethren.

69:24 Why is all of this. What is the great end of all of this. In order that. These things are all true.

69:33 My coming to you in my sense. Of God given identity. Committed to my comprehensive theme. With the dispositional complex.

69:43 Of a humble dependent man. And preaching. In the demonstration of the Spirit and the power. All to this end.

69:52 That your faith. Should not stand in the wisdom of men. But in the power of God. It is this kind of ministry.

70:00 That becomes God's instrument. For the effectual working. Of his saving power. And Paul was jealous.

70:10 That if in any way. He skewed his role. And tampered with his message. And played with carnal rhetorical canons.

70:21 And in any way. Gave the impression. He was spinning out his own wisdom. People might place their faith.

70:27 In his wisdom. Which would lead to further hardening. And damnation. He said I want their faith.

70:36 To be placed in nothing else. And nothing other. Than the power of God. Operating through what.

70:44 The weakness of God. That's the great mystery. God conquers through weakness. Christ is the wisdom of God.

70:53 Yet it says he was crucified. Through weakness. And Paul says my great passion is. People would not be attached to me.

71:02 Would not respond to a truncated message. That people are able to embrace. Without the operation of divine power. He said I set forth.

71:12 The darker sides of truth. Which I know men will never receive. Unless the power of God is operative. I set forth a grand and a glorious Christ.

71:23 To men will not see for who he is. Unless the power of God opens their eyes. And he said this I did intentionally.

71:31 Brethren. We're called upon to follow. In his train. Would we have.

71:38 God glorifying flesh. Humbling ministries. You say Pastor Martin. I feel so inadequate.

71:46 There are men with bigger brains. Sharper brains. Greater native gifts of communication. Well let me comfort you as I close.

71:54 With what John Fox. The martyrologist called. God's five ranked army. Of descending human weakness.

72:01 With which he will conquer the world. I love that statement. Who are they? Look at verse 26.

72:07 Behold your calling. Look at yourself in the mirror brethren. Not many wise after the flesh. Not many mighty.

72:15 Not many noble. But God shows. Look at them now. Foolish things number one.

72:19 That he might put to shame them that are wise. God shows weak things number two. That he might put to shame the things that are strong. And the.

72:27 Base things of the world number three. And the things that are despised number four. And the things that are nothing. God's five ranked army.

72:37 Of descending human weakness. With which he will conquer the world. And I add to Mr. Fox's words.

72:45 And through which. He will accomplish. His redemptive purposes. In laying bare.

72:52 The utter folly of the world's wisdom. And securing to himself. His unrivaled glory. And praise.

73:01 May God make me such a minister. May he make you such. May he increasingly make us such. That he.

73:10 In the language of the latter verse of chapter one. And he alone. Will receive the glory. That is due to his name.

Prayer for God-Glorifying Ministers and People

73:18 Let's pray.

73:23 Our father. We thank you. For your grace. To Saul of Tarsus.

73:29 How much we owe. To that which you did. In that man. And yet we know.

73:34 He was the first to confess. That he was what he was. By your grace. And we pray.

73:39 That the grace. That made him what he was. Would make us. To be as it were.

73:45 His spiritual. Imitators. We ask for the men here. Already in the ministry.

73:51 Oh God. Tether us. To the principles. Of this passage.

73:56 For those aspiring to the ministry. Oh Lord. By your own secret discipline. Hedge them up.

74:02 And strip them. And humble them. And pressure them. And fill them.

74:10 With new sights of your glory. Lord form them. In that inner work of the spirit. Into men who can by your grace.

74:18 Look their people in the eye. And read these verses. And say by the grace of God. This is what I am.

74:26 As your minister. We pray for your people. That they will have a renewed vision. Of what to pray.

74:31 On behalf of their pastors. What to pray for. When they ask you to send out. Laborers.

74:38 Into the harvest. Not mere triflers. Not little boys. Looking for some.

74:43 Sense of importance. But men. Who know who they are. Who know their message.

74:48 Who know their own impotence. Who know the unction of the spirit. Who are jealous to promote your glory. Lord.

74:56 We do not believe. You stirred up these yearnings. In our hearts. We don't believe.

75:01 You've gathered. Gathered people together. In this church. With such a vision.

75:05 To support. And to affirm. The usefulness. Of the Ottawa Theological Hall.

75:11 Lord bless your people. As they pursue that vision. May they do so. With renewed prayerfulness.

75:18 And father we pray. For any sitting here tonight. To whom this message. Has not been the instrument.

75:24 Of your power to their salvation. Oh Lord make the word of the cross. Your power to their salvation. That they may flee to Christ crucified.

75:35 And rest holy. And solely upon him. Hear us we plead. In Jesus worthy name.

75:43 Amen.