In Performance or In Demonstration?

Dear Bethelites,

In the church at Corinth, there were the philosophers and teachers who used their own wisdom and eloquence to win followers. They depended on their own clever arguments to try to convince the people to believe in the gospel. It was like a performance of their own ability to “sell” the gospel, rather than a demonstration of God’s power. As one theologian puts it, we are ambassadors and not salesmen of Christ.

We must never trust in our own abilities to “sell” the gospel, but rather to faithfully share the gospel and allow the Spirit to do His convicting work in the hearts of the listeners.

Verse 1, And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.

When the Apostle Paul came to the Corinthians and declared to them about God, it was neither the way he spoke nor the content of his preaching that was intended to impress the people nor to solicit a response from them by worldly wisdom.

The phrase the testimony of God means the witness of God. A person can only testify what he himself has seen, or heard, or experienced. He is not to speculate, or give his own opinion about who God is, but to faithfully present the facts and truth about Him.

Verse 2, For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

Paul was determined or resolved in his heart to preach nothing but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. He did not preach Jesus simply as the perfect Teacher, or the perfect Master, or the perfect example; although all those things were correct about Christ but the focus of his message was Jesus being the divine Saviour. This was the most important message, without which man cannot be saved.

That does not mean that his message was only about evangelism and the gospel, and nothing else. Paul was the one who wrote most of the New Testament epistles in the Bible and that include the great doctrines of the faith, and he had taught the whole counsel of God’s Word. What he meant here was that Christ was always central in his message.

Verse 3, And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.

Here Paul was speaking about being mentally timid or physically afraid of opposition whenever he preached. He was emphasizing the awesome responsibility of faithfully discharging his duty as a preacher.

Every preacher of the gospel ought to have a similar experience every time he enters the pulpit; he must be conscious of his own weakness so that he would depend solely upon God. He is fearful and trembling because he is afraid that he may misrepresent the gospel, as he is mindful that this may be the last time he is preaching the gospel, or the last opportunity for the person who is listening to his preaching. When one considers this awesome responsibility, how can he not feel inadequate, fearful and trembling! The puritan Richard Baxter once said, “I preached as (I am) never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men!”

Verse 4, And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

If the Corinthians had been persuaded by the enticing words of man’s wisdom to believe in the gospel, then their faith would be built on the wisdom of men rather than the power of God. Their faith would be built upon the sand rather than upon the rock.

The word demonstration means “legal proof presented in court.” Have you ever attended a court where the judge asked to see your documents; it may be a case dealing with personal injury, or some type of lawsuit, or claims, and you are required to produce the documents as a demonstration. When Paul preached on the resurrection of Christ, he demonstrated or presented biblical documents regarding the proof of Christ’s resurrection. When he preached the gospel, the Holy Spirit used his preaching to change and transform the lives of the listeners, and that was all the demonstration Paul needed to prove that his message was from God.

What are the dangers of the enticing words of man’s wisdom?

I. They make the gospel less offensive

Firstly, the enticing words of man’s wisdom would always try to remove the offensive nature of the gospel. They want to take it away, and preach the gospel in such a way that nobody would be offended. They want to accommodate everybody that no one is going to miss heaven. They know that people are offended when they are told that no matter how good or sincere they may be, it is still impossible for them to obtain salvation based on their own ability or morality. The gospel of Christ would not let man take any credit. Salvation is one hundred present in Christ alone!

Thus, they would not simply share the gospel about what Christ had done; how He lived a perfect life, died on Calvary’s cross and rose again from the dead to obtain salvation for every man and woman whom He represented.

II. They sensationalised the gospel

Secondly, the enticing words of man’s wisdom would try to sensationalize the gospel. They would use very clever or persuasive articulative speech, and through emotional manipulation, they are able to influence the minds and emotions of an audience into making some sort of public decision for Christ. Sometimes, they would employ fear or even mob mentality (everyone says yes, so the people are pressured to say yes too). Like the way some politicians would stir the hearts of the people.

Martin Lloyd Jones shared the story of a certain preacher who was preaching to a large congregation. The preacher was giving a warning about the sinner who did not heed the signs of impending judgment. He described a scene in which some tourists were at the shore. It was a beautiful day and there was a long stretch of rocky path leading out into the sea and the tourists decided to walk out along the path. The tide was low, and they walked along the rocks, and they went as far out into the sea as they could get, and there they laid down on the rocks and enjoyed the sun. But slowly the waters began to fill up the rocks around them, encircling and trapping them as they were basking in the sun. Up to this point, the tourists were oblivious to the danger, and the preacher was very graphic and with his powerful imagination and articulative skills, equaled with his powerful voice to represent how the people on the shore were shouting warnings to the oblivious tourists to run before the tide comes in, he shouted, “Get off, flee, escape!”

Martin Lloyd Jones said, “The entire congregation rose to its feet and ran out of the church.” Lloyd Jones went on to say, “What was affecting those people was surely not the truth, but rather the graphic description of the scene, brought about by the imaginative power of the preacher. The same thing could be done in the movies or dramatic plays.” How true!

The preaching of the gospel is not about performances or the enticing words of man’s wisdom, but the demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

III. They confound the gospel

Thirdly, the enticing words of man’s wisdom would confound the gospel, so much so that the ordinary lay person could not understand. They do not want to keep their message simple, because they want to sound very profound and scholarly. They are very concerned about persuading those educated and intellectual people within their congregation, and they are not particular about those uneducated ones because they think those people can be easily convinced.

When Martin Luther was still alive, there were few people who could match his scholarship. Yet Luther said, “When I preach, I regard neither doctors nor magistrates of whom I have above 400 in my congregation. But I have my eyes on the servant maids and the children. And if the learned men are not well pleased with what they hear, well, the door is open!”

IV. They cannot transform lives

Finally, the enticing words of man’s wisdom is just an emotional arousal with no spiritual benefits at all, as they cannot transform your life. They are not converted because there was no transforming power of the Spirit.

Verse 5, That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “The power that is in the Gospel does not lie in the eloquence of the preacher, otherwise men would be the converters of souls. Nor does it lie in the preacher’s learning; otherwise it would consist of the wisdom of men. We might preach until our tongues rot, till we exhaust our lungs and die, but never a soul could be converted unless the Holy Spirit be with the Word of God to give it the power to convert the soul!” God is not against the gift of preaching; after all He is the One who has gifted certain individuals with the spiritual gifts to preach. But He is against those who trust in human wisdom, and the cleverness of man’s argument and eloquence of speech, rather than trusting in the power of the Spirit. For the enticing words of man’s wisdom cannot save, no matter how eloquent those words may be. It is only through the faithful preaching of God’s Word and the working of the Holy Spirit that lives can be saved and transformed.

With love in Christ,

Pastor Paul Cheng