The Cross is an Obstacle to Logic
Clever Speech – Part 1

Scripture Reading:  1 Corinthians 1:18-23

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 1:17 NLT

For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.

This final section of our theme, “The Cross is an Obstacle,” deals with the logic of man.  We love to figure things out.  No one could argue that in these past few years technology has sky rocketed beyond what our parents could ever have imagined.  However, when it comes to God and His plans, our logic really gets in the way; our logic is an obstacle.  The Apostle Paul uses the Greek word “skandalon,” which literally means any impediment placed in the way…a stumbling block.  He was undoubtedly thinking of his own Jewish people that had such different expectations of the Messiah that they missed Jesus Christ, the Messiah God sent!  Paul knew he could never convince anyone, much less his Jewish friends, to trust in Jesus Christ by using clever speech.  No amount of human logic was going to grasp the unfathomable grace of God.

When we think of our family and friends who have yet to come to Christ, our hearts yearn for them to believe, but we must realize that we do not have words that can convince them or answer all their questions.  The Apostle Paul said he preached the Good News.  In other words, he simply told people the message and never worried about whether he was using clever speech—human logic.  The Gospel is a power in itself…the story of God’s love through Christ.  It does not depend on human logic!

Father, help my faith to trust the power of the Gospel.  Help me to not try to argue people into believing in you.  In Jesus’ name, amen.