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Hearts Homeward Bound #4: Christ Our Righteousness
Presenter: Larry Kirkpatrick
Location: LeCenter Seventh-day Adventist Church, MN, USA
Delivery: 2011-03-19
Publication: GreatControversy.org 2011-03-28 22:36Z
Type: Sermon
URL: http://www.greatcontroversy.org/gco/ser/kirl-hhb4.php
In Mark 1:14, Jesus says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” But the same text of the Latin Vulgate, translated to English, says “Do penance!” In 1516 Erasmus’ New Testament translation had followed the Vulgate, but his 1527 edition followed Lorenzo Valla. His modified text works out to, “change your mind.” Really, “Change your mind” offers us the clearest understanding of Jesus’ command. And, it constitutes the ultimate challenge: how am I to have a changed mind?
There is a text which has a prominent place in our thinking. It is found in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
If we consider circles of context, we are able to determine the following:
- 1:30 Text
- 1:18-31 Primary passage
- Chapters 1-4 next larger circle of context (topic: division in the church)
- 1 Corinthians
- 1 and 2 Corinthians
- Pauline corpus (Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, hebrews)
- Other New Testament epistles
- New Testament
- Tanakh plus New Testament (Bible)
- All inspired writings (OT, NT, EGW)
In this case, the passage itself has more than enough to occupy us. Still, it is important to know where Paul has come from and where he is going. There is a key problem in the first four chapters of 1 Corinthians: division in the church. Christ is the answer to this problem. If we are able to come to grips with the passage, we too may benefit from the solution.
To summarize the verses before our passage (1:1-17), after introductions, Paul outlines a major problem in the Corinthian church: divisions, factions, disunity. Fortunately, there is a solution—the preaching of Christ has power.
A close look at the passage (1:18-31) shows that there is a human way of relating to each other and a divine way. These are mutually exclusive. God’s way is the antithesis of every culture; every human culture stands in contrast and opposition to God’s way. Within the Corinthian church there is division because these opposite ways of life are in conflict. If we would have Christ become our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, then we will want to follow Paul’s discussion closely.
The Cross the Power of God
His first assertion is that the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying. But to those who are being saved, it is the power of God. “Power” here is DUNAMIS, strength. KJV has “us which are saved,” but a better translation of the Greek is, “We who are being saved/delivered/healed/made whole.”
What is foolishness to those who are dying? The “word of the cross?” The reference is to Jesus’ death on the cross. Death on a cross was a deep condemnation. Life is taken from a person; literally, he is judged unfit to live. The theme cross/crucified is repeated several times in and near this passage (1:17, 18, 23; 2:2, 8). Jesus has been slain on the device of torture and humiliation. There are two classes of persons which this murder has reference to. Those who are perishing, that is, who are choosing death, and those who are being saved, that is, choosing life. How ironic that the death of Jesus brings life to those who make God’s will the core of their lives, while those who are choosing death receive no benefit. Jesus represents nothing of value to them, yet what they do have is nothing, no hope, only movement toward death.
Paul quotes from Isaiah now (29:14). But the whole of 29 is of special interest. God says that He will send judgment on the Hebrews. Their religion is superficial, the teaching of God’s ways has been largely replaced by the teaching of man’s ways. And all this not long before He plans to deliver His people. In consequence of their unfaithfulness, He withdraws His protection. Divine-enhancement of wisdom and discernment ceases.
Nothingness Versus Preaching
In 20-21 Paul points out the inability of the wise, the scholar, the debator. They bring nothing. Man may not through his own wisdom know God. God has chosen instead the mundane, seemingly ineffective method of simple preaching. He is known through preaching. Preaching is so important that in a sense it brings salvation.
At 22 the Jews demand signs. The Greeks are impressed by wisdom. God knows this. He could have chosen to package His message in signs or in philosophy. But then His message would have been as powerless as those. Instead, He has chosen preaching and in particular, absurdly, the preaching of Christ crucified.
In 1 Corinthians those who are called are called to be saints (1:2), into the fellowship of His Son (1:9), and to peace (7:15). A word search for “call*” draws almost 900 hits, so there is much to find. Paul uses it frequently. In Corinthians he uses it mainly in terms of the human will confronted by the divinely presented will. Here, it is those who respond positively to the divine will who experience the DUNAMIS of God (vs. 24).
Substitutes for Christ
See here how what those who are perishing have is false. It is a substitute for the true. The Jews wants a sign. But Jesus is the true sign. The Greek wants wisdom. But Jesus is the true wisdom. That is, every group has a skewed set of values. All these are substitutes for that which brings authentic fulfilment. Every cultural group has its own poisons, expectations which closed minds permit to trump truth sent by God. Jesus was viewed this way. People watched Him suspiciously until He tripped their switch, until His teaching and His manner of Sabbath-observance so conflicted with their expectations that the prejudiced closed their minds entirely and rejected the Prince of their life. This is a warning for us. As people living here, now, in this place, as Seventh-day Adventists, what values do we hold that, all unbeknonst to ourselves, are non-negotiables? What is our power or sign or wisdom for which we might sell-out the kingdom of God.
The world holds what as its highest value/ we hold what as our highest value? In the case of the Jew paul makes it strength. But God has more strength than they do. In the case of the Greek, it is wisdom. But God has more and better wisdom than they do. And yet, they will reject His premium truth for their third rate “truth.”
Paul points out that not many followers of Jesus hail from the higher end of that society. At verse 26 we learn that God’s purpose is to demonstrate the valuelessness of that which the lost value. His purpose is to bring them to nothing. Why? So that men who need deliverance will be enabled to see their need of deliverance. That is, so that “no flesh should glory in his presence” (vs. 29 KJV).
The sum of verses 18-29 is that God is trying to show the world something better than they have. He is seeking to open eyes so that He can open hearts. His business is to overthrow every false thing in which men trust. Because there is something—someone—better. Infinitely better: Jesus.
Values Transplant
It is not obvious in an English translation, but in the Greek we can easily see that “wisdom” is described by the last three words: righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Remember, Corinth was a Greek city, and wisdom was that culture’s surpreme value. Now Paul declares that the believer who would be a true follower of God must replace the false values he has known all his life, with the true values of the kingdom of God.
Christ is become to us righteousness. We cannot do right, think right, feel right, or be right, without Christ. We have none of our own righteousness to boast of. All must go. We cannot trust in ourselves or the values that we have learned before coming to God. All these are seen for what they are. What matters is tasting and seeing that God is good (Romans 2:4), and giving ourselves to Him for transformation. Contact with Christ’s righteousness by one willing to have his mind changed, results in that change.
All these things amount to a complete values transplant. The old values of the unconverted heart are removed, replaced by the new values of the changed heart. That heart now has at the apex of its values the righteousness of Christ. Christ’s values become his values too.
One of the values of Christ is our being made holy, otherwise known as the experience of sanctification. All through the Bible we find the covenant statement that we shall be holy because God is holy. We are not only set apart to Him, but set apart with Him. The closer we draw to Him, the closer we come. Bathing in His holiness, we ourselves become more and more appreciative of the holiness of God. what is it that makes something holy? God’s presence. One who draws near to God is coming closer to His presence. His holiness and purity used to repel us before conversion; now it strangely attracts. We must have more! He is our God. We are worshiping beings and He is the One worshiped.
Being made holy means a dramatic change from what we were before. It is a life-long journey from the moment we begin, but a beautiful one. His presence anoints our eyes; His Word changes our values; His grace strengthens us to follow when all that we have known would turn us toward hellfire instead.
Christ is also become our redemption. He is the payment price for us, the Redeemer. A total transformation of values means that we are giving up all of our pet falsities and turning to all of His truthfulnesses. We change from human-seeing to seeing as God sees. He gave Himself for others, now we would give ourselves for others. He came to blind those who see and value falsity and to give sight to those who value truth. Now we take on a similar persona. We develop a redemptive spirit. How we treat each other in our homes, in church, in the world, becomes more redemptive. Not to save ourselves for Christ is saving us, but to save others, Christ is become our redemption.
And so, it is not wisdom, not as the Greek world had made wisdom its center. Instead, Christ is our wisdom, that is, He is our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. In all these, we take in according to our capacity these same values as Christ.
The Change is Complete
Which brings us to verse 31. The change is complete. Where before we had boasted in the cultural values that surrounded us, or at least were commanded by them, now it is different. Our ultimate values have become those of God. But there is something similar to 1 Corinthians 31 in the prophet Jeremiah 9:23, 24.:
Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, says the Lord.
Was Paul thinking of Jeremiah when he wrote 1 Corinthians 1? We don’t know. In Jeremiah chapter nine the prophet is crying for the unconverted in Israel, which appears as though it is all the nation. Jeremiah had assimilated God’s values. He wanted righteousness and truth and redemption for the people of God, but instead, he saw truth cast down and necessarily judgment on the way. He did not want that for Israel and Paul did not want judgment for the hearts he was working with.
Paul was working with hearts homeward bound. Feeble, liable to backtrack, ready to revert to fleshly values, ready to forget, ready to retreat. Hearts headed home but just barely. It is always the same. So much to change in coming onto God’s side of the question, so easy to revert, so apt to retreat into darkness. That is us. Thus, we must have Christ as our power. Jesus is the Ladder for hearts homeward bound.
What are these hearts? Hearts that would understand the nature of man aright, and be changed by their King. Hearts that would understand the nature of sin aright, and forsake it and avoid the missteps that go with misunderstanding the Word of God. Hearts that would copy Jesus and join Him in overcoming the world as “whatsoever is born from above.” If we would understand the Word of God aright, we must be careful in study, that we may rightly divide it. There is a lot of it. It is so easy to bend the word to suit ourselves and to surrender to the convenience of self-deception. Only if we develop sound study methods will we have the fullest benefit of the Bible and stand under its corrective influence with Jesus. In this late hour, I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to recommit yourselves to carefully study of the Bible. Here is the milk we are to grow by. This is the medicine for hearts homeward bound. GCO
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