18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, 
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 
19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 
31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
— 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, ESV

Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians begins in the usual way one might expect a Pauline Epistle to open.  Then, the first order of business he addresses is disunity in the church.  Paul’s answer?  The cross, because the cross unites.  He says quite the opposite in the ensuing paragraph, yet without any contradiction whatsoever.  The cross unites, to be sure.  But the cross also divides.

The cross divides time, from “BC,” before Christ, to “AD,” Anno Domini, “the year of our Lord.”  Secularists have sought to change this by using “BCE,” before the common era, and “CE,” common era, yet the year numbers still reflect the literal life of the Lord Jesus Christ, and His cross.

The cross divides the Bible, between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  In the Old Covenant Christ is promised, in the New Covenant Christ is presented.  Saints in the Old Testament were saved by grace through faith in what the ritual sacrifices typified.  Christians in the New Testament are saved by grace through faith in the perfect person and finished work of Christ.  The division is still the Lord Jesus Christ, and His cross.

The cross divides people, all people living and all people who have ever lived.  Like the separation of time and the dividing of Testaments, there are only two sides.  The side you are on, lost or saved, depends upon what you have decided and done with the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The cross divides the lost and the saved.

When the Titanic collided with the iceberg in the spring of 1912, the passengers and crew numbered 2,223.  When the ship finally sank, most of them, 1,518 of the passengers, were lost.  Only a remnant, less than a third, 705 people, were saved.  

Various reasons are offered for the awful loss of life.  Overconfidence was one, the belief that “not even God could sink this ship.”  Malpractice by the captain and crew was a factor.  The ship did not have enough lifeboats and the lifeboats that were launched were not nearly filled to capacity.  Furthermore, between the time of the collision and the sinking, most people hesitated, not knowing what to believe, or what to do.  The rule held true, “he who hesitates is lost.” 

My point is if you were on that boat on April 15, 1912, then on April 16 one of two things were true.  You were either lost, drowned, perished; or, you were rescued, alive, saved.  

The same holds true for our immortal souls.  Sea faring or land loving, the days of our lives will come to an end.  Our mortal bodies will be shipwrecked by old age, disease, or disaster.  There will be no lifeboat, only a reckoning with the Lord.  In that moment one of two things will be true of you.  You will either be lost, or saved, for all eternity.   

This is something to think about before you die.  Paul helps, by writing in living terms.  He uses present participles to divide “those who are perishing” from “us who are being saved.”  It seems the line between “lost” and “saved” cannot be measured by a momentary decision, but in a lifetime of choices.

The first choice a lost person makes is to consider the gospel of Jesus Christ, “the word of the cross” as “folly.”  The vast majority, I fear much greater than the ration of fatalities on the Titanic, will choose not to accept it.  It seems either too farfetched or altogether unnecessary.  Paul uses two prime groups as examples, representing the religious and the secular.  

“The Jews demand signs.”  A lot of religious people are lost.  They may like rituals, they may follow certain rules, but they go through life lacking faith in a supernatural God who saves.  The incarnation, the perfection, the performing of miracles, the substitutionary atonement, the resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus Christ are all miracles.  Aside from mother Mary, no one witnessed them all.  Not seeing is not believing to the typical religious crow. 
 
Our Jewish friends and liberal Christian neighbors might change their minds if they saw some “sign” from Heaven, but God has already given the only one He is going to give.  It is the sign of  the cross.  Either the cross is “folly” or it is embraced by faith.  The cross divides the lost from the saved, even inside houses of worship.

Most of the world lives outside the realm of religion and rely on a secular philosophies of life.  Represented by the “Greeks [who] seek wisdom.”  All secular people are lost, by definition.  Salvation cannot be bought by inherited erudition, formal education, or expense of human energy.  Overachievers are typically underwhelmed by a gospel of grace alone.  They tend to look down on those with true faith, painting them as, in the words of a former President, people who cling to God, guns, and the Bible.  Our current President, not to be outdone, declared the gospel a folly to him as well, saying repentance and forgiveness are unnecessary to those, like him, who have never done anything wrong.  

Our secular family and friends rarely admit their own sin and really cannot conceive of a life beyond the grave, to be spent in one of two places called Heaven or Hell.  For them, this life is all you get, so get all you can, can all you get, and sit on the can.  At the end of the day, they will open up a can of worms.

The cross is crass, foolish, unwarranted to the lost.  It is a “stumbling block” they can neither see nor believe.  Our prayer for them is for God to open their eyes, convict their hearts, and save their souls.  Such prayers usually result in specific actions.

The cross calls the saved to reach the lost.

“Consider you calling, brothers (and sisters).”  By all means!

Consider this.  If you are saved, you did not save yourself.  It is, “Because of Him you are in Christ Jesus.”  God chose you before you were born, God predestined you to be born in a place and time where you would be born again, and God effectually called you out of sin and death and gave you forgiveness and eternal life.  He called you with the power of the cross.  

The cross comes with consequences and evidences.  By God’s grace you have “righteousness,” the inputed righteous of Christ placed on your account when you were justified by faith.  All who were called by this justification also live in “sanctification,” the ongoing calling and cleansing that makes you more like Christ.  This calling bears fruit until you are called one final time, this time upward, to your “redemption,” which in context speaks of your arrival in Heaven.  

The cross justifies.  The justified are sanctified.  And only those whose calling exemplifies justification and evidences sanctification can expect to enjoy glorification.  But much remains to be done before we go.

If God has called you to be saved, He has also called you to speak.  We speak to one another in worship and fellowship.  We speak to a lost and dying world in evangelism and missions.  

Though Christians come from different cultures, we live as equals.  The ground is level at the foot of the cross and the floor of the church.  When we walk out into the world, we must be careful to keep our feet on level ground when around unbelievers.  They are sinners, to be sure, but so are we.  But, we do have the one thing they lack, the only thing we can truly boast about.  “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

If you boast on yourself, lost people will find you arrogant.  We all know people who talk incessantly about themselves.  The sad part is, many of them are Christians.  It is not exactly a  winsome witness for Christ.

If you boast on other people, lost people will find you boring.  A word or two or a photo or three can be interesting, but to go on and on about your family’s great successes can unintentionally make another person feel inferior.  It is not exactly a winsome witness for Christ.

If you boast on the Lord, lost people will be divided.  Some lost people will take offense, to be sure.  This is the very definition of the “stumbling block.”  People intent on being their own god will never accept ours. But, a few lost people will believe, then they won’t be lost anymore.

The cross will give them shame, which God will turn into conviction and repentance.  The cross will give them an awakening, in which God will give them faith and understanding.  The cross will give them hope, the confident expectation of an abundant life with God now, and an eternal life with God forever.  Come to Christ and come on over to our side, lost people, and be gloriously saved!

This can happen, but not when we boast about how good we are.  We must boast about how great God is!  And the greatest thing God has ever done for us is the cross.

No more, my God! I boast no more, of all the duties I have done;
I quit the hopes I held before, to trust the merits of Thy Son.
Now for the love I bear his name, what was my gain, I count but loss;
My former pride I call my shame, and nail my glory to His cross.
The best obedience of my hands, dares not appear before Thy throne;
But faith can answer Thy demands, by pleading what my Lord has done.
— Isaac Watts

Sing this song, with your life and your lips, and thus fulfill your calling, to gain assurance of your own salvation, and to reach the lost for Christ.