From November 2011 "Is Christ Divided"

Scripture 1 Corinthians 1:13-23 Selected Verses13 Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not! . . . 17 For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. 19 As the Scriptures say,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”
20 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. 21 Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. 22 It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. 23 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.”

Devotion

Those of us who are most familiar with the church discussions in our several denominations will recognize the importance of these verses immediately. The integrity of the Body of Christ has never been more in question, in my opinion, than it is at this moment.   Our theologians, preachers and others who are considered “wise in the things of God” have divided and devoured the people of God with their own “wisdom” which is in the light of the cross utter foolishness.

Our church leaders and scholars have been dissecting the corpse of a dead Jesus. One who lies in his tomb and patiently endures their irreverent poking and prodding done supposedly for the benefit of Christ’s church. They congratulate themselves on their expansion of knowledge, wisdom, and enlightenment. We listen to and read their “powerful” arguments explaining why our forbearers in the church did not understand the scripture the way we do now. That we have plumbed the depths of the lifeless body of Jesus in the tomb and uncovered what was hidden to the eyes of the generation of Christians, indeed the great cloud of witnesses who came before us.

All the while these unsuspecting folks who are doing what they are doing in good will. These people do genuinely believe that they are doing the right thing for the church yet they are failing to see what truth lies before them. The one who claimed to be the Resurrection and the Life will only stay dead for so long. This corpse that they are busy studying will not stay in the tomb will not remain there.

So tell me preacher, scholar, theologian, what happens to your speculations and your brilliancies once the corpse you have been so diligently working on comes alive in a mighty and awesome display of power. When the little bits of flesh you have been holding on to so proudly as new found knowledge slip from your hands and take their rightful place in the glorified body of the Risen Christ.

Lest anyone think I am writing this with undue pride I am one of those who have been working on a corpse. Although I now am beginning see dimly the risen Christ through the stain of sin and pride that covers my eyes I am aware that I have been terribly wrong about what I thought was wisdom. I am asking that this risen Christ cleanse my eyes. I am praying more urgently for others to see clearly what we have been doing in the dark of that tomb.

We have been operating on a lie that there is still a Jesus in the tomb to be studied. The devil has fooled us again. May our eyes be pierced with the stinging light of a risen Savior and choose to follow that Savior into the marvelous light of Christ’s Day and repent of our sin and live in Christ’s Kingdom. And having been thus saved from the tomb of sin let us seek to save others from the same fate. Glory to God, Amen.