This past weekend at Eastbrook, we continued our new preaching series entitled “God’s Grace for an Imperfect Church: 1 Corinthians.” In this second message of the series I explored the message of the Cross which Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5. Here Paul declares “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” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

You can find the message outline and video below. You can access the entire series here. Join us for weekend worship in-person or remotely via Eastbrook at Home.

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“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.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)

The Cross Proclaimed (1 Corinthians 1:18-25)

The Corinthians’ disunity and misunderstanding of the message of Christ

The message of the gospel of Jesus Christ

God’s work in wisdom and foolishness, power and weakness

The desire of Jews and Greeks

Our cross-centered faith

The Cross Proclaimed and the Community of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)

How others see us

How we perceive ourselves

How God sees us when we are “in Christ Jesus”

The Cross Proclaimed and Paul’s Ministry (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

The Corinthians’ desire for Christian leaders who appear strong and wise

Paul’s apparent weakness and foolishness

The weakness and foolishness centered in Christ crucified 

The weakness and foolishness that demonstrates the Spirit’s power

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Dig Deeper

This week dig deeper in one or more of the following ways:

• Memorize 1 Corinthians 1:18 or 1:22-24
• Consider reading these books:
  • St. John Chrysostom’s Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians: https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf112/npnf112?queryID=33775666&resultID=1091
  • N. T. Wright, Paul: A Biography
  • Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture
  • Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus