St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church

Sermon by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

1 Corinthians 2:1-4 Outreach Sunday October 21, 2007

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

People are very breakable. It never ceases to amaze me how easily people die. It never ceases to amaze me—all the different ways people die. Just in the last few days—a man was killed by a deer. Not a deer that ran out into the highway—when this man was driving 65 miles per hour. This deer was in a pen—and the man who was killed was the owner of the deer. They said the deer—the buck had been very aggressive lately. The man went into the pen—and the deer got him with his antlers—and killed him! The other day—a family was coming out of a restaurant—where they had celebrated a birthday. The family was standing on the sidewalk—outside the restaurant—saying good-bye and hugging each other—when a taxi comes flying up onto the sidewalk and plows into this man and he perishes! A grandma and grandpa take two of their grandchildren to a show of these really huge powerful horses. They sleep in this huge trailer that is so big—there’s room for the horses and room for people to sleep too. And there’s this system for heating. The problem is—there isn’t good ventilation—and so the people get carbon monoxide poisoning in their sleep—and they don’t wake up here! People are very breakable. We are too! That’s the point. We are very breakable. It’s possible for any one of us—to die at almost any moment! The question that matters more than anything else—is this! What’s going to happen to you and to me—when we die? Are we ready to go home to heaven or not? Today we want to think about our own soul—and about the soul of every person we know and love. And we want to think about the souls of people we don’t even know—in Watertown—and in Nigeria and Benin and Togo and in Peru in the big city full of people addicted to drugs—and people up in the Andes who tried to made cheese instead of drugs—and a drug dealer sent a sniper to shoot all their cows. We need to be concerned about the villages of 30 people who live in the rain forest in danger not only from disease and malnutrition—but in danger from superstition and witch doctors and the devil himself!

This Outreach Sunday God’s Word says:

We Preach Christ Crucified and Risen!

1. Nothing more or less will work

2. The Holy Spirit makes it work

The part of God’s Word we are concentrating on today—is part of the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the believers in the Greek city of Corinth! When you think about Corinth—think of a big city—maybe like New York or Chicago or San Francisco. There is something exciting about living in a big city. Cities like New York never sleep. There is something going on all the time. Corinth was a place of international trade like New York or Chicago or San Francisco. People were making money—lots of it! With lots of money came excesses. Where some people were filthy rich—other people were simply filthy—homeless poor beggars and thieves! There was the abuse of alcohol—people trying to escape from painful reality by drinking themselves numb and even unconscious. In the big city there is prostitution—people selling their bodies—being used and abused and degraded. There was perversion—in the hearts and minds and lives of the people who didn’t know Jesus was their Savior. There was violence—wives being threatened and beaten by their husband or boyfriend. Children were beaten by their drunken parents—or perhaps even worse yet—neglected. Families and marriages were falling apart everywhere. People were liars and cheats—deceiving their family—deceiving their neighbors—deceiving themselves! In other words—it was pretty much like today. Sin infected hearts and lives. People were in desperate need to know Christ crucified and risen!

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. Testimony in court needs to be the truth—the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Testimony about God needs to be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. For that to happen—God’s people need to read God’s Word—to learn about law and gospel—sin and grace. I heard the other day about a church—where people bring thank offerings in that one congregation to the tune of 70 million dollars a year. The problem is—the emphasis of the message is how to be a better me! We are not the point! The point is Christ crucified. The point is what Jesus did to save me. The center of the message is not me. The center of the message is my Savior and Redeemer! Testimony about God—points redeemed sinners to our only Savior from sin.

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Jesus died and rose again to save us from all our sins. That’s all that counts. That’s all that matters! There is nothing wrong with sending a literal boat load of grain and flour and blankets and bandages and tents and clean water to people in Darfur. But more important than bread and milk is Jesus—who is the Bread of Life and the sincere milk of the Gospel—to nourish our faith. Jesus Christ and him crucified—is both the reason and the power to make our marriages and families stronger. Christ crucified is the reason we are not content to have a family so busy doing so many different activities—we don’t have time for family—time to be with each other—talking and listening—before children are all grown up and it’s too late! Christ crucified is why it’s more important to teach our children about Jesus than it is to teach them how to play football or basketball or baseball or soccer. It’s more important to teach our children who the 12 disciples were—than for them to know all the Packers or the Brewers or the Bucks. It is more important to take our children to church than it is to take them to Miller Park or Lambeau Field. And it’s more important to show our children by how we treat our spouse so when they are a husband or a wife—they will love and forgive each other. It is because of Christ crucified that we will be careful what we say and how we say it. Christ crucified means never ever hitting or hurting a spouse. Not hurting them with your hand or fist—and not hurting them by how you talk to them! Christ crucified means not arguing and not shouting. Children can grow up able to say—I never saw my father yell at my mom. I never saw my parents have too much to drink. I never saw my parents skip church to sleep! Christ crucified—means all life is precious. The life of unborn babies—even if they have all different parts on the outside and on the inside that are missing or don’t work. The life of little grandmas and grandpas is precious even if they can’t watch The Price Is Right or Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune. Their life is precious even if they can’t sit up on their own or feed themselves or walk or even talk! Life is precious if we are in our teens or twenties and are in an accident and for the rest of our life—can’t take care of our self! It is Christ crucified—that makes us strong to bear sweet fruits of faith. When Jesus’ forgiving love fills your heart—then racism will be replaced by a powerful and profound love for our neighbor no matter what their skin color—no matter what their style of clothes—no matter what different foods they eat or what different customs they have! We will value other people—as souls Jesus died to save, too. Jesus’ forgiving love means we will be concerned about our neighbor—the closest neighbors who share our home. Neighbors who are blood relatives. Neighbors who are related to us by marriage. We need to reach out to these people we know and love with Jesus’ love. When they die—it will be too late. We need to share Jesus’ love with our neighbors. And there is no easier time to do that—than the next few weeks—Reformation—grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone. Thanksgiving means more than turkey and stuffing and sweet potatoes with those little marshmallows melted on them. It means thanks be to God for his gift of a Savior from sin. Then will be Advent—prepare your heart for baby Jesus. Christmas—Christ the Savior is born! Then lent and holy week—Good Friday and Easter and Pentecost and Ascension. This is the time. Today is the day—to share Jesus’ love with the people we love. Now is the time to bring our thank offerings—not because we feel obligated—not because we must—but from thankful hearts—overflowing with love for Jesus who loved us first and loves us best!

I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. Preaching and teaching God’s Word does not depend upon the wisdom and skill of the preacher. Preaching God’s Word doesn’t depend upon the persuasive words of the preacher. Our family likes to watch movies about trials—courtroom dramas. We like to watch movies like To Kill A Mockingbird—Atticus Finch. He argues in court—with the power of conviction and the power of the truth. He doesn’t win—but you cannot deny the power of what he says! Or there’s Henry Fonda in Twelve Angry Men. He is the only hold-out in a jury of twelve. And one by one he persuades everyone else—one by one—to see everything his way! Again his arguments are so clever—they become irresistible—even when people try! God’s Word does not depend upon the skill of the preacher. It doesn’t depend on their ability to pick the perfect words—doesn’t depend on logic—on arguments from the greater to the lesser or from the lesser to the greater. God’s Word works because the Holy Spirit makes it work. Our task is to scatter the seed. The Holy Spirit makes it take root and grow and bear sweet fruits of faith. I know pastors that literally stutter and stammer. I know pastors that have a mouth full of juice when they try to talk—and some that their mouth gets so dry—they literally can’t swallow. I know pastors that become so nervous they cannot deliver a single sentence without reading it—so they look up and down a thousand times in a sermon. Some pastors look up and away—because they are afraid to look at their people. Some pastors say the same thing with the same phrases—the very same words—again and again—painfully predictable. The precious powerful good news is the gospel does not depend on the skill of the preacher. It depends on the Holy Spirit—who makes the faithful efforts of the one preaching and teaching—to make it effective. Our faith does not depend on the ability of people to use clever and persuasive words. It depends on the Holy Spirit who makes law and gospel effective in our hearts—so that we grow in faith and the fruits of faith.

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Jesus’ forgiving love is all that counts—all that matters! Imagine a fast food chicken restaurant—where a robber with a rifle bursts into the back room kitchen to rob them. When the robber places his gun against the head of the worker—the worker figures he must resist—otherwise he will surely be murdered. What follows is a terrible fight—the robber and the chicken guy both hanging on to the rifle—kicking and punching—hanging on to the rifle for dear life. The chicken guy said the bad guy actually aimed the rifle at him and pulled the trigger and there was this terrible click sound. Maybe the gun misfired. Maybe there wasn’t a bullet in the chamber. When finally the robber broke loose—and ran away. The chicken guy was asked what had he learned from all this—from almost being murdered—and then being able to return home to his wife and children. What had he learned? He said, “I learned that someone, somehow, somewhere—was looking out for me!” Someone, somehow, somewhere? By the grace of God—we know better! When there is terrible danger to body and soul—the one who saves us is Jesus! Jesus is our Savior—our Rescuer and Redeemer—who died and rose again to save us. We are not afraid and we are not ashamed to save us. Jesus saves us! Therefore we will show his love in how we treat each other. We will share Christ crucified and risen—nothing less and nothing more. Amen!

To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz