Whatever Happened to the Message of The Cross?

Not For Itching Ears

The sign said, “Now serving Starbucks coffee!”

It was the late 90’s and the premium coffee craze was taking the country by storm. Everyone who liked coffee LOVED Starbucks or soon would. So it wasn’t surprising that some business would be utilizing the brand name to promote what they were doing. It made pretty good sense. It would not have fazed me a single bit if any other company was doing it. However, this massive sign was hung in front of a local evangelical Christian church. The message was crystal clear: “Come to our service on Sunday, we have free Starbucks coffee!”

With the arrival of the church growth movement and the seeker-sensitive ministry focus it birthed..

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Wise Men Exhibiting Foolishness

“Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” Romans 1:22-23 (NASB)
In ages past “wise” men exhibited their foolishness by worshiping idols of medal, stone, and wood. Today they embrace false doctrines such as humanism. Convinced than man has no need of God, the Bible, prayer, or any divine assistance, they exalt human intelligence as the key to progress. One of the most dangerous sins being committed today by man is to worship the creature instead of the Creator.
By removing Biblical influences from government, education, and elsewhere, they have opened the door to moral and spiritual chaos. How desperately we need a reemphasis on the true wisdom that is centered in Jesus Christ and His gospel.
“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. As the Scriptures say, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.’
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. 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. . .This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.” 1 Corinthians 1:18-21; 25 (NLT)