In the Name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and may our Lord and Savior sanctify you in the truth, for His word is truth. Amen

The Eighth Sunday after the Epiphany (2011)

My Foremost Determination Rev. Toby Byrd

1 Cor. 2:2 (ESV)

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

For the past two and a half years as I served as your vacancy pastor I have preached a multitude of sermons from this pulpit. However, today is the first sermon I will preach as your called and installed pastor. Thus, for all practical purposes, this is my inaugural sermon. In as much as this is my inaugural sermon, I would like to focuses solely on that which saves us and that to which I will dedicate myself throughout my pastorate with you. I would like to focus on My Foremost Determination.

The Gospels state time and again that our Lord Jesus preached the Gospel. Not only did He preach the Gospel, but He instructed His Church to, “proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). Then, after He had perfected the redemption of the world and before He ascended on high, He commissioned His Apostles, and therefore the Church, to teach His flock, “to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:20). Furthermore, He clarifies this world-wide preaching of the Gospel by telling us to preach, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:46-48 ESV). Thus to bear testimony before the world concerning Christ, concerning His person and His work, this is our solemn duty, the very substance of our preaching. St. Paul says of this preaching, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16 ESV). He is even more explicit when he declares: “we preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23 ESV).

Thus Christ Crucified must be the keynote of all Christian preaching. The preacher who says all sorts of outstanding things about Christ, who lauds Him as the greatest of all men but fails to preach the crucified Lord, crucified as the Redeemer of all mankind, has utterly failed in his duty and he is not preaching the Gospel. St. Paul was aware of this important truth. Therefore, he says, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor. 9:16 ESV). Again he says, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14 ESV). Thus, in our text he announces this decision, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

From these opening remarks, do you now sense what will be the burden of my preaching, my ministry, during my pastorate with you? St. Paul was determined to preach nothing but Christ, and Him Crucified, and as God is my witness that is also my holy resolve.

When the Apostle Paul declares that the Crucified Savior alone would be the topic of all his preaching, it was not because he was suffering from a loss for words, or because his knowledge was so limited that he would have been at a loss to dwell on other subjects. No, instead St. Paul put himself under great restraint when he made this declaration. He was well acquainted with the wisdom of this world, with the writings of pagan philosophers, and with the literature of the secular poets. Moreover, he did not shrink from meeting their philosophers, Stoics, and Epicureans, in the marketplace at Athens. He was more than able of coping with their theories. Since he knew their way of thinking, he, too, could have philosophized. However, he was determined not to do that; and why not? Our answer is found in the first chapter of his first letter to the church at Corinth. He said, “in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom” (1 Cor. 1:21 ESV). He did not employ the philosophical talk of these intellectually elite to preach our Lord Jesus, because all such wisdom is foolishness in the sight of God. It never leads to God, it never satisfies the soul, and it always leaves man perplexed and dumbfounded.

A modern philosopher, once said, “The modern world has lost God and is seeking Him.” What a humbling confession! After so many centuries of search the world has failed to find God. So it will ever be. Man by sin has separated himself from God, and by his own intellect and powers he will never find his way back to God. The wisdom of this world is but straw and stubble for the soul. That is my conviction. That is Holy Scripture’s revelation. Therefore, you can understand why I shall not preach the wisdom of this world from this pulpit.

As an Apostle of Christ, St. Paul did not parade as an entertainer. In his ministry St. Paul traveled extensively. In those travels he saw Greek towns with their stately, pagan temples and public buildings, he walked the paved roads of the great Roman Empire, and he traversed land and sea to bring the Gospel to people lost in darkness. Although he was a powerful speaker, he was determined not to entertain his listeners, because that would have left the souls of his listeners empty and hungry. Moreover, as an entertainer, his words would have been of little more than a passing interest; they would not have had lasting value.

You will understand, then, that I shall not aim at entertaining you in my sermons. Just think if I should attempt merely to entertain you in your hour of greatest distress, in the days of deepest grief, in the moment when your sins weigh heaviest upon your soul, in your last bitter struggle as you are about to cross into that endless eternity! Would it not be sheer folly, indeed criminal, if under such circumstances I should attempt merely to entertain? What would you think of me if I were called to the bedside of your dying friend or relative and then would consider it my mission to divert their attention from the momentous event of their life by telling them some entertaining story? Would I not be a cruel murderer of a human soul by feeding it with such worthless dribble? I do not consider it the purpose of my ministry among you to act as an entertainer. Therefore, I shall constantly bear in mind that I stand before you as a dying man speaking to dying men.

St. Paul had been a Pharisee of the strictest kind, zealous for God and zealous according to the traditions of the fathers. He was well acquainted with the Laws of Moses, also with the numerous laws of the elders. He had learned Jewish Law at the feet of Gamaliel, whom the Jews ranked as one of their outstanding leaders. As a scholar in the Law, Paul could have moralized and preached moralizing sermons. But he would have led his hearers only into despair. He himself had to learn by the study of the Law that he was a miserable sinner, that the very thoughts of his heart were sin in the sight of God. He found no comfort in the Law; for the holy Law of God has not one whit of comfort for the sinner, but only curses and condemnation.

We have a goodly number of moralizing preachers within the church today. They are constantly dinning it into the ears of their hearers what they are to do and what they are not to do. However, they neither improve conditions in the world by their moralizing sermons, nor do they offer poor sinners the transgressors of God’s sublime Law, any consolation. However, I vow, with the help of the Holy Spirit, that I shall never be a moralizing preacher, for with all the moralizing I could not bring you one iota nearer to heaven.

Note that St. Paul declares that he would preach nothing but Christ Crucified. He does not say that he would preach nothing but Christ the wise Teacher, or Christ the Worker of wonderful miracles, or Christ the spotless Example of perfection. We know that Jesus was all these things. The people marveled at His wisdom, saying, “No one ever spoke like this man!” (John 7:46 ESV). He expounded the Law, and everybody was aware that He spoke with authority. He expounded the Scriptures in the presence of the Sadducees and taught us to find the doctrine of the resurrection of the body in a passage of the Bible in which we would have never looked if He had not have pointed it out (Matt. 22:32). We do not question any of His miracles nor try to explain them away by a deceiving interpretation. We also know that not even His shrewdest enemies could find any fault in Him, although He openly challenged them to name one. However, given all these things, I shall not preach Jesus the wise Teacher, or Jesus the Miracle Worker, or Jesus the great Example; alone. There are numerous preachers in our day who have some very fine things to say about Jesus; they praise His wisdom, they laud His spotless life, and they exalt Him as the great Miracle Worker. However, that is not the Christ whom St. Paul preached, that is not the Christ whom I am going to preach in your presence. What would Christ the wise Teacher avail you if He had not earned for you the way to heaven? What would Christ the Miracle Worker avail you if He had not performed the greatest of all miracles, the defeat of the enemy of your soul? What would Christ the spotless man avail you if in the hours of doubts and in your last bitter hours you are reminded of your sins? His perfection would only cause you to see you imperfections all the more and drive you into despair.

It remains, therefore, that the aim of a Christian minister must be that of St. Paul. He must earnestly resolve to preach nothing but Christ Jesus, and Him Crucified, for this knowledge alone is saving knowledge.

Why must it be Christ Crucified? First of all, because according to the prophecies of the Old Testament the Savior of all mankind was to be crucified. The Prophets not only describe the agonies and distress of the future Redeemer of all mankind as one who breathes His last upon the Cross, but they use language which leaves no doubt in our minds about the manner of His death. The writer of Psalm 22 points to our Lord’s crucifixion when he writes; “they have pierced my hands and my feet” (Ps. 22:16). Jesus Himself in His conversation with Nicodemus refers to the bronze serpent in the wilderness as a type of Himself, saying; “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14 ESV). Before His enemies laid hands on Him, our Savior spoke clearly of His impending death upon the Cross. After His glorious entry into Jerusalem, while speaking to a crowd, our Lord said, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32 ESV). Moreover, it is here that St. John writes these important words, “He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die” (John 12:33 ESV). Therefore, according to the clear statements from Holy Scripture, the prophecies concerning the Messiah, our Savior Jesus Christ, could only be fulfilled by His death on the Cross.

Then, again, Christ had to be the crucified Savior, since Jesus stood in the stead of the whole sinful world. On account of sin, the wrath of God brought the curse of death, both temporal and eternal, onto fallen man. Moreover, there was only one cure for this curse which afflicted the sinner; Christ, the only begotten Son of God had to suffer and die in our stead, saving us from God’s wrath. He alone was compelled to die an accursed death so we could be redeemed and reconciled to our heavenly Father. St. Paul makes this clear when he writes, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13 ESV). Now do you understand why it is Christ Crucified and none other that I must preach to you?

Furthermore, it is Christ whom I must preach. Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed, the Promised One, the One who was described by the ancient Prophets, the One who was portrayed not only as true man, but also as the everlasting God. He only, God and man in one person, could become the Savior of all sinners. If He is not the Christ, the Messiah, there can be no other. St. Paul tells us, “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Cor. 15:14 ESV). Therefore, I must fulfill my duty in pointing only to Him as the one and only Savior of your souls and the souls of all men.

Christ Crucified must ever be the heart and soul of all doctrine which shall be proclaimed from this pulpit. The preaching of God’s holy and terrible Law serves a most essential purpose, but the Law cannot save the sinner. It is the Saving Word of the Gospel, of the crucified Redeemer, which alone brings comfort to the heart of the sinner who has been alarmed and terrified by the Law.

The preaching of Christ Crucified must be the foundation for our joy at Christmas. The song of the angels, “Peace on earth, good will toward men” would be altogether meaningless if we did not know that Jesus established this peace by His blood upon the Altar of the Cross. The joyous festivities of Easter would merely mean that Christ by His resurrection had given one more proof of His deity, but if we could not look back to Good Friday, it would have no bearing on our salvation. If there had been no Cross on Calvary, His ascension into the glories of heaven would mean that He was the Lord of the earth and heaven; but it would not mean that we would follow Him into heaven. Remember, it was not the heavenward ascending Savior, it was the Savior on the Cross who with His pierced hands opened the gates of Paradise to the thief on the cross, saying, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43 ESV). Furthermore, it was the Savior on the Cross who said, “It is finished” (John 19:30 ESV).

As we look to Jesus, the Crucified One, we know He is also a sweet Comfort to us as the Wise Teacher, the great Worker of miracles, and as the spotless Example. He is the wisest of all teachers because He teaches us the wisdom which comes down from above, the wisdom which none of the wise of this world have ever found, the wisdom which is merely foolishness to the worldly wise; the Gospel of the Cross of Christ. He is the Worker of marvelous miracles, for in the light of the Cross we know that all His wonderful works prove that He has come to destroy the works of the devil. Moreover, as the spotless Lamb of God, He is our true Comfort and Joy at all times, for we know that He became obedient unto death, even death on the Cross, so we might be redeemed and reconciled to His Father in heaven.

The preaching of Christ Crucified shall be—so help me God—the keynote of all my preaching in your midst. My aim shall always be to make sinners see their only salvation in Him who bled and died for us that we might live, and to increase and deepen that faith in the hearts of all who have come to believe in the atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus as their only hope in life and death. Christ Crucified alone is my comfort. Christ Crucified alone shall ever be the comfort I offer to you. Amen.

May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.