The Nr 4 Indicator that you might be in a Dysfunctional Church

You might be in a dysfunctional church if everyone is "full of themselves." What do I mean by "full of themselves?" Let's look at the scripture, and then I will explain.

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;
the intelligence of the intelligent I
will frustrate.”


 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its
wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than
man’s strength. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25)
New International Version. 1996, c1984 . Zondervan: Grand Rapids

Paul is writing this letter to a church where the people were believers. He even declares that they have been given all spiritual gifts. These people knew the gospel of the cross that Paul was emphasizing. Why did he need to say it again? The people were "full of themselves." They thought
that Paul was right, but this was just basic information. They were already initiated; there must be something more. They were sophisticated and they desired words of "wisdom". Gnosticism (there is no real indication that Gnosticism was present in the Corinthian church) was the belief that salvation comes through knowing and believing the secret, esoteric knowledge. Corinth may not have had gnosticism but they had that kind of attitude. That is also the reason that there was so much division there. By the way, some of the more bizarre, Gnostic beliefs are found in "The DaVinci Codes.

"Paul goes to the heart of the matter. The message of the cross was not just basic, it is central. It may sound foolish to those who are unbelievers, but it is the power that delivers believers from death to life. The message of the cross is about the death of Jesus for us. It is the story that God sent His Son to be a part of us, to die for us and, after the resurrection, to live for us. This is probably not the way that most of us would have redeemed the world. I am quite certain that I would have come up with a different idea. But the cross defies and destroys human concepts on
how to save humanity.

Human wisdom has limitations. God is not found by human wisdom, it is found by God's revelation of Himself. One really can't understand God by human wisdom. The problem is that although God gave us brains and the ability to reason, God doesn't always act in ways that seem reasonable to
us. The message of the cross to many is an embarrassment. The two major groups in the early church were Jews and Greeks (since the Greek culture was dominant, most ethnic groups were labeled as Greeks). Jews couldn't accept Jesus, because they wanted some kind of miraculous sign
that would prove that He was who He said He was. Greeks love wisdom, andthey thought that this was the way to God. The cross was a scandal to Jews. God wouldn't die on a cross. Their scriptures even said that anyone hung on a tree was accursed. To the Greek, the idea of a god
dying on a cross was just nonsense. Of course, God's paradox is that His foolishness is wiser than
human wisdom and His weakness is stronger than human strength.

Well, what is the message in all of this. What is dysfunctional about wanting more. It isn't wrong to seek wisdom, see next weeks sermon, but we must never lose the centrality of the cross. We must preach the cross of Christ without shame. We must not make things too complicated. As the
bumper sticker says, KISS -- keep it simple stupid! When we get so "full of ourselves" the we
think we are too good for the simple gospel, we are well on our way to dysfunction.