Sun, 28 August, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.
1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Paul was aware of what would impress the Corinthians. He knew they loved to hear people who spoke eloquently and who presented brilliant arguments. They loved to listen to wonderful speakers. And Paul, with all the formal education that he had, was able to give them what they wanted, if he so desired.
Yet, Paul purposefully did not attempt to impress them with his formidable rhetorical skills. Instead he attempted to speak as simply as possible, avoiding any attempts to sway people by his speaking ability. Why? Because Paul wanted the message of Jesus Christ to be what the people focuses upon, not his own presentation. Paul didn’t want people walking away from his preaching saying, “What a great speaker Paul is.” Rather, Paul wanted them to walk away saying, “What a great God Paul preaches of.”
What do we learn from this?
It is possible for us to use the talents that God has given us in a way that calls attention to the talents themselves rather than pointing others to Christ. We need to beware of our own tendency to magnify ourselves, even as we are presenting the gospel to others.
But of course the main danger here is for the preacher. There is an inborn desire within us to be liked by others, and to impress others. A pastor can fall into this trap in his sermon, and find that he is preaching to impress the people rather than to bring them the full counsel of God’s word.
But as lay people, we too can fall into this trap as well. For example, our public prayers can often be formed so as to impress the people around us rather than to reach God. If we are thinking about how the people around us are going to react to our prayer, we are focusing upon the wrong thing, and we are falling into this trap that Paul warns us about.
We need to purposefully attempt to always serve God, rather than building up ourselves in the eyes of others.
Where is Christ in this passage?
For Paul, the focus of all preaching is Jesus Christ. All preaching should point people to Christ and the crucifixion. This should be no surprise, since the preaching should be based upon scripture, and the scriptures themselves are focused upon Jesus Christ.
