Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom
18 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. 19 For it is written:
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not —to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
We are in Christ when we believe in Him and His work of salvation. When we are in Christ then we have righteousness, holiness and redemption not because we deserve it by our good works, but because Jesus already paid our penalty in the cross for the wages of sin is death. It's called grace. Jesus did it all for he was the only perfect man who was worthy to die for all of us once and for all.
ReplyDeleteWe live in a world who value worth or merits. Do well in school and you will get ribbons or medals. Do well in your work and you will get a merit increase or promotion. We are so used to this value system that we tend to apply this even in our relationship with God. So we tend to distance ourselves from God when we know we sinned a lot. Some even refuse to receive communion because they don't feel holy before God. They think they are only worthy to receive God in the communion if they are able to do good works, prayed a lot, have gone to confession recently, and so on. These things are not bad if these are done out of love and true understanding, not out of obligation or to justify their righteousness before God. When Jesus was on earth he did not associate with those who believed they were righteous, but with the publicly pronounced sinners. Because Jesus hates only sin, but has mercy for the sinners. He did not come here for those who believe in their own righteous, but for those who knew they are unrighteous and wanted help. Therefore, we should not deny ourselves of the banquet of God's grace and blessings despite our sinfulness. Instead we should reach out to Him for help and salvation.
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