The Wisdom of the Cross | Messy Church | Pastor Steve Andres

<p>There is a miracle in the mess! This weekend Pastor Steve Andres started a new series called MESSY CHURCH.</p><p><br></p><p>1 Corinthians 2:2-3</p><p>When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human 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 with great fear and trembling. </p><p><br></p><p>The city of Corinth was a center for culture, business and learning, a city of striving and achievement. It was to this city that Paul came declaring the message of the cross.</p><p><br></p><p>1) Christ crucified, the stumbling block to our striving. </p><p><br></p><p>A crucified Savior says I can’t get to God through my striving or my strength, through my wisdom or pedigree. The cross makes these efforts irrelevant, even problematic.</p><p><br></p><p>2) Christ crucified, the astonishing wisdom of God.</p><p><br></p><p>The cross is not an embarrassing or inconvenient stop on the road to heaven. It is a rebuke to every vain imagination that being good is good enough.</p><p><br></p><p>Ephesians 2:8-9</p><p>For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.</p><p><br></p><p>If you have no surprise and awe in your relationship with God, you may still have a hope based on what YOU CAN DO FOR GOD, rather than a joy in what GOD HAS DONE FOR YOU! </p><p><br></p><p>3) Christ crucified, the finished work. </p><p><br></p><p>The foolish, the weak, the despised and lowly are first in line for God’s grace because it is a gift, not something earned. We start our life in Christ with our debts paid in full!</p><p><br></p><p>1 Corinthians 1:31</p><p>Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord!”</p>