“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.” I Corinthians 1:17 NKJV
Reflection: how can you know if your pastor knows God?
I was listening to a podcast the other day, where a pastor of a pretty large church was talking about seminary. He made a very sobering statement, that you might graduate from seminary with a lot of knowledge of the Bible, but without actually knowing God. That is such a profound statement, when you stop and think about it. The very people who are then “called” to shepherd flocks around the world might not even know God themselves. How in the world can they then lead others? No wonder why so many churches are all over the place in their teaching and their worship, even allowing all sorts of evil to take foothold.
We saw yesterday Paul’s mention of his calling to be an apostle, and he was specifically called to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the gentiles; to the world. And he dedicated his life to this mission, of which you and I are most likely recipients of. And notice in our focus verse that Paul was very specific about what he was called to do – to preach the gospel. Nothing else. Not even to baptize. So why did God choose to use Paul for this specific mission? Was Paul already an excellent orator, speaker, or did God at least prepare him to preach? There is
a critical lesson here to understand
about a calling and mission I don’t want you to miss. We see in the focus verse his calling “to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words”. Did you see that – “Not with wisdom of words”?? Well that’s sort of strange for a preacher to say, right? Perhaps Paul was just a confident speaker then? Let’s read ahead in chapter 2, where he explains further. “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” I Corinthians 2:1-5 NKJV.
That is so amazing, when you think about it. God used specifically a man that was not a good speaker to preach the gospel. So that “the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.” He wanted to remove any human capability that could lead to a focus on the person, as opposed to Christ, and the power of God. And if you think about who we often are drawn to listen to, are the ones with clever speech, smart, knowledgeable, and so on. Just think about any of the “popular” current day preachers.
This was not like Paul. And again very intentionally so, by God, who wanted all attention and focus on Christ alone. Paul writes “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. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” I Corinthians 1:18-21 NKJV
It is not by our own knowledge and wisdom God calls us, but for what He needs. The focus is Him, not us. And we can take comfort that some of the biggest figures in the Bible were used specifically despite their own abilities, such as Paul. They just had to be willing to do what God asked of them.