church

INI
Septuagesima Sunday
February 8, 2009
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

The Secret of Powerful Preaching
I Corinthians 2:1-5

Grace, mercy and peace be with you from God the Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, Amen. This morning our Word of God
comes from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter two, beginning
with the first verse, as follows:

And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of
wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to
know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was
with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and
my preaching was not with enticing words of man's 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. So far the Word.

In Christ Jesus, our Foundation and our Chief Cornerstone, Dear Fellow
Redeemed,

There's a certain television evangelist that I used to tune in to every now and
then. I always found his show interesting. He had a huge, very beautiful church
in California. There were lush, green plants all over, and a big artificial waterfall
cascading into a lovely fountain. Every Sunday, he had a audience of
thousands. The preacher was a handsome man in his beautiful gown, and it was
obvious that he knew every rule of effective public speaking. It seemed to me,
though, that his preaching lacked a certain power. It took me a while to figure
out where the problem lay, and then it was obvious: he seldom mentioned
Christ, and when he did, he didn't say very much.

On the other hand, I know of a poor, traveling preacher who was forced to
stop in a certain place when he was struck with an illness. While he was laid up,
he thought he may as well have a go at preaching to the people there. His
preaching was hampered by the fact that he was obviously unwell. Even so, his
sermons were so powerful that a thriving Christian congregation was
immediately established in that area. The place was Galatia; the preacher was
the Apostle Paul! He later wrote to them, in his letter to the Galatians, "You
know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.
And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you
received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus." Gal 4:13-14.

What's the difference between these two preachers? One seems to have
everything going his way, and yet he's strangely ineffective. The other seems to
have the cards stacked against him, and yet his preaching brings immediate and
dramatic results. The answer lies in our text for today. In it, Paul tells us what
kind of preaching always gets results, and how you can determine whether the
message you hear is a message that will bring powerful results in your life. Our
theme is:

THE SECRET OF POWERFUL PREACHING
I. CHRIST CRUCIFIED is the power behind every effective preacher.
II. CHRIST CRUCIFIED is the power on which the faith of the hearers may
safely rest.

It's a fact that church people are prone to pass judgment on preachers - their
own, as well as other people's. Come to that, I've heard some of you make
remarks like, "Such-and-such is a pretty good preacher, but not as good as
So-and-so..." or, "We had a pastor once, Rev. Whats-his-name; now he was
what I call an powerful preacher!" And you may well be right, for all I know. I
guess it all depends on what your criteria are.

So just what does make a powerful preacher? Perhaps it's easier to say what
doesn't make one: our text makes it clear that there are certain factors that have
nothing to do with it. Paul says, And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not
with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of
God.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the Apostle Paul was not a particularly
brilliant speaker. He had no Ph.D. in communication arts. At a time when the
Greek art of rhetoric was at its highest flower, Paul said what he had to say in
blunt, straightforward terms. So if there was something in his preaching to the
Corinthians that was forceful, it certainly wasn't that he had a clever, polished
style of speech. Just the opposite! He says, I was with you in weakness, and in
fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with
enticing words of man's wisdom.

And yet, Paul was undeniably an effective preacher. His preaching helped
establish dozens of Christian churches. He ca rried the Gospel to the furthest
regions of the then-known world! So where was the power in Paul's preaching?
It lay in one all-important factor: he says, For I determined not to know any
thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. CHRIST CRUCIFIED is
the power behind every effective preacher!

By "effective", I mean a preacher who gets the results that God intends His
Word to have - namely, the salvation of souls. And the message of CHRIST
CRUCIFIED is the only message that can effect those results. Peter says flat
out, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under
heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Ac 4:12.

& nbsp; CHRIST is the power behind every effective preacher. But why, then,
are there so many ineffective preachers who speak of Christ all the time?
Because there are, you know! -There are preachers who mention Jesus' name
every other sentence: they tell you how much Jesus loves you, how Jesus shows
you the true meaning of compassion, and how Jesus set a fine example for you
to follow in your life. But Paul adds an important point about how Christ
should be preached: I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus
Christ...and Him crucified!

Preaching Christ crucified means, first of all, preaching the truth about sin.
There was a documentary on TV last week about how they make rubber
stamps. It was interesting. First they print a photographic negative of your
stamp. Then they shine a UV light onto a special, photosensitive polymer. The
light hardens those portions that form the letters of your stamp, like “Deposit
to=2 0the order of First National Bank,” and leaves the rest soft and liquid.
When they take the negative away you can barely see the soft outlines of the
letters. But then they apply a chemical rinse that washes away all the soft
polymer, leaving behind the perfect, sharp edges of the completed stamp. God’s
Law is like that process. When the light of the Ten Commandments shines on
your life, it makes your sin stand out in bold relief. It rinses away all your
excuses and all your self-justifications. It leaves behind only the sharp edges of
your sin, plain and easy for all to read! As we sing in the familiar hymn:

The Law of God is good and wise
And sets His will before our eyes,
Shows us the way of righteousness,
And dooms to death when we transgress.

Its light of holiness imparts
The knowledge of our sinful hearts
That we may see our lost estate
And seek deliverance ere too late. I (TLH 295)

&nbs p; Paul preached the Law by showing his listeners their Savior on the
cross. We are now only 2-1/2 weeks away from the beginning of Lent. And it is
the season of Lent, of course, during which we focus so intensely on the cross.
Why? Because when you see Jesus on the cross, then you know the truth. Then
you know what the real consequences of sin are. Then you can see the
punishment your sins deserved when you see the rude spikes that were driven
through Jesus' hands, and the blood that flowed from His wounded side. Our
God is a just God, and in His justice, God could not ignore your sin. But in His
mercy, God chose to punish His innocent Son in your place. The next time
you're tempted to take sin lightly, or think that the sins you've committed, well,
really aren't all that important, look again to the horrible scene of Jesus on the
cross. CHRIST CRUCIFIED is the grim proof that your sins are terrible, terrible
things!

No preacher who wants to be truly effective can neglect to apply God's Law to
the sin of his hearers. As soon as20He preaches to you CHRIST - AND HIM
CRUCIFIED, sin and all it's consequences are exposed. But Paul’s main
message – the message that clearly predominated in his preaching – was the
Gospel. And to preach the Gospel, Paul showed his listeners…what? He
showed them the same thing – their Savior on the cross! For CHRIST
CRUCIFIED is the power on which the faith of the hearers may safely rest!

Two famous surgeons were once discussing a particularly difficult surgical
operation which only they, and a few others in the world, were qualified to do.
The first one had performed the procedure 16 times, and had been able to save
the lives 13 of his patients. The second one proudly stated that he had
performed the same surgery over 150 times. "And how many of them did you
save?" asked the first surgeon. "Oh, none of the patients lived," he replied, "but
the operations were beautifully done!"

Let me ask you this: which of those surgeons would you entrust your life to?
Likewise, the most eloquent preaching in the world is no good if it doesn't save
souls! The most beautiful church, the most handsome pastor and the most
interesting sermons won't do you a bit of good, if the sermons you hear don't
show you the only thing that can save your eternal life: CHRIST - AND HIM
CRUCIFIED.

Paul admits his own shortcomings as a preacher, and as a person, over and over
again. He doesn't put himself on a pedestal and lord it over his people. Rather
he identifies with their sinfulness and their need for a Savior. The preacher's
nothing to brag about. But when it comes to the message he preaches – that's
different! For that, Paul makes no apologies! As he told the Romans: "I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for
everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." Rom 1:16.

Throughout his New Testament Epistles, Paul says it again and again - "Don't
look at me, because I'm just a sinful human being like you are. Don't put your
faith in me - put your faith in Christ!" Paul himself was not a powerful man, but
the Good News about Jesus that he came to preach? -That was powerful
beyond anything his listeners had ever heard before! That's why he says, My
speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's 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.

For us, too, the power remains, not in the preacher, but in the message
preached. If you were to base your hope of salvation on me, or any other human
being, you would inevitably be bitterly disappointed. No, you can't rely on me,
I'm sad to say - I'm just a sinful person like you. But you can rely absolutely on
the message that I'm here to proclaim to you: the message of CHRIST, AND
HIM CRUCIFIED.

When Jesus died on the cross, He signed on the dotted line and accepted the
responsibility for every sin you've ever committed, or ever will commit. He has
offered to you His perfect righteousness for you to call your own. God's fiery
wrath over sin - including your sin! - has been reconciled once and for all by the
death of His Son. You don't have to do anything for it, you don't have to wait
to be "worthy" of it, there isn't a single condition that you have to meet in order
to get it. Just bring your sins to Jesus, and complete forgiveness is yours right
now. You are a member of God's kingdo m right now, and your eternal
salvation is guaranteed!

This salvation is an accomplished fact, and you don't have to take my word for
it - it's all there in the Holy Scripture in black and white. That's why the
preaching that comes from this pulpit will always be based solidly on the Word
of God, so that your pastor can say with Paul, My speech and my preaching was
not with enticing words of man's 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. You needn't go home from church today wondering whether or
not the message you heard was true. The message we preach - CHRIST
CRUCIFIED - is a message of salvation that comes straight from Almighty
God. It's a powerful message, and one on which your faith may safely rest!

There was once a kindly old pastor in a country parish. He worked hard to
make his sermons interesting, but there always seemed to be something missing.
Finally one Sunday, he entered his pulpit and found a slip of paper which one of
his parishioners had obviously left for him. On the paper was written a Bible
quotation of five simple words: "Sir, we would see Jesus." He was hurt at first,
but the more he thought about it, the more obvious it became exactly what it
was that had been missing from his sermons. So he determined that each of his
sermons from then on would treat one theme: Christ crucified for sinners. The
highest reward he could have hoped for came several months later, when he
found another slip of paper on his pulpit. It was another simple Bible quotation,
but this one read, "Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord."
AMEN.