[Sermon Archive]

This Week's Sermon THE THIRD MIDWEEK IN LENT 18 March 2009 "Ordinary or Extraordinary Salvation?" 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 LSB Series B Vicar Gerald D. Heinecke Soli Deo Gloria!

Some of my favorite heroes in comics and movies are the ones whom you would never guess have amazing gifts. Such as Spiderman who is a geeky photographer, and very insecure about himself. Superman is “a mild mannered reporter,” introverted, and shy. Then there is my favorite hero, Chuck. He is for all intents and purposes, a nerd. He works for the Nerd Herd at an electronics store called “Buymore.” He becomes an unlikely spy who has all the U.S.’s intelligence jammed into his head.

Why does these group of characters gather such a following? These characters provide a sort of salvation for the places they live. It shows that even seemingly ordinary people can do great things. What does this have to do with the sermon today? Think about our Epistle reading. Paul continually brings to mind this idea of inferior things being used for salvation. This world still seeks salvation from evil. What has been forgotten though is the purpose of a hero. Spiderman, Superman, Chuck, and all of these guys aren’t about what we can do. They are about what someone else is doing for mankind. Indeed all of our texts and especially our epistle points to the need for salvation to be found outside of ourselves. They show us that:

What is in a man’s heart? The Bible tells us that the Law is written on a man’s heart. What is that Law? Some would call it wisdom, others the 10 commandments. Regardless, what does the Word of God say about this Law? It is perfect. What does the Word of God tell us about how the world is saved? It says the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. What is this wisdom that Paul speaks of?

Wisdom is a two headed-beast. The first wisdom comes from the Law. As I just said it is written on our hearts. From this we know that we are to do good works. We learn that we are not to commit murder, steal, and tell lies. While as Luther notes all humans have reason and wisdom, he also reminds us that the Law merely states what one must do, but it does not supply the ability to do it. (Luther’s Works, vol 2, pg. 160)

In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he goes into a lot of detail about wisdom. What is it about wisdom that draws people to it? It is the power associated with it. “Knowledge is power” or “there is no knowledge that is not power,” are two familiar quotes from Sir Francis Bacon and Ralph Waldo Emerson. But here in our text, Paul turns that notion on its head. Some of the greatest professions to have in the Roman world were a scribe, a debator, or teacher. But we see in our text Paul mocks these “ideal” jobs. He says, “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”

But then what are the 10 commandments? Don’t we find here the greatest wisdom? Were they not given to the Israelites to follow and hold? Is this not our ticket to power, perfection, and glory? There is no doubt that they were given to the Israelites to follow. It is certainly through the perfect keeping of the commandments that we may be saved. Our Psalm tonight hits the nail on the head on this notion of keeping the commandments, “The Law of the Lord is sure...making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right...the commandment of the Lord is pure. BUT who can discern his errors? Can you see all the errors of your ways? Even if we could refrain from all sin we know about there is always the sin we do not realize. That is the depth of these commandments. The realization that there is a root to all our sin, original sin, which we can never completely shake. As Pastor has said numerous times to the catechumens this year, the Old Adam is a good swimmer.

It is by daily contrition and repentance that the Old Adam is daily drowned and dies with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man daily emerges and arises to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. If Psalm 19 ended with the first half of verse 12, Who can discern his errors...it would be a tragedy. We would be left incapable of being saved, because while the Law is perfect wisdom, I have imperfect wisdom. But thanks be to God! David continues, “Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, innocent of great transgression,” or any transgression for that matter.

How can David, who being a sinner, a great sinner at times, be declared innocent? He looks forward to the coming Messiah. David looks to the one who would restore us. The one who does free us from the bondage of our sin! Jesus does not make wisdom and virtue conditions of His fellowship. Just the opposite is true. (Koeberle, 52) Listen to our text. Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. Christ being crucified turns wisdom upside down. Wisdom says, “what good does it do us to have the Christ die? We need to fight for it ourselves. It has to be done by our power.” And the simple answer, “the wisdom of the Law will not bring us salvation because we are incapable of fulfilling it.”

As I said earlier wisdom is a two-headed beast. Here we see the second head of wisdom. God in his almighty wisdom knew we were incapable of fulfilling the Law. In his perfect wisdom He gives us Christ. It is our Savior who must continue his march to the cross for us because we cannot. We didn’t even pass go, we can’t even crawl towards the cross. Christ will go to the cross and bring the work of his crucifixion to us in the waters of holy baptism. Why does he use this extraordinarily cruel tool of a cross for a throne? Why does he allow himself to wear thorns for a crown and rags for clothes? Why is he the one who is stricken, smitten, and afflicted: bruised, whipped, and pierced for our transgressions?

“It is we who think of sin but lightly, nor suppose the evil great. Here we may view its nature rightly, here its guilt may estimate.” Through this extraordinarily ordinary cross, God chose what was low and despised in the world, even a thing that was not. A lowly sacrifice on the cross brings to nothing the things that are. He did this so that no human being could boast in the presence of God. Jesus, true, ordinary man yet also true amazing God does what we could not so that we might have all the power, riches, and grace of eternal life. Why would God in his supposed wisdom not expect us to be perfect or earn our salvation?

Because it is all or nothing. He wants us to depend on him fully without any reservation. Jesus desires us to know and believe that we can depend on him alone for our salvation. Our God loves us so much. He knows that without a redeemer we have no ability to approach him so he gives us new life in Christ Jesus through the waters of baptism. He makes Jesus, a seemingly ordinary man, our true wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Not by any work of our own, but solely by the work of Christ. Through the simple death of Christ, God has used the foolishness of a supposedly weak and despised man to save us from the magnitude of sin. [1]It is through Jesus alone that we gain the extraordinary gift of eternal life.