What does First B Jackson teach about message of the cross?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on the message of the cross starts with 1 Corinthians 1:18: the cross is either foolishness to those who are perishing or the power of God to those being saved, and there is no middle ground between those two responses. Pastor Ray, who led the church through 1 Corinthians starting in 2014, kept returning to that verse as the anchor for the entire letter, not just a heading for one chapter. Every problem Paul addresses in Corinth, whether divisions, pride, or sexual immorality, gets resolved by pointing back to the cross. The gospel the cross carries is not "do better, keep the law" but that Jesus kept the law perfectly and offers that righteousness to anyone who will receive it.
Pastor Mark, teaching from 2 Corinthians, pressed the congregation to understand what it actually means to carry that message. Using Paul's image of a Roman triumphal procession, he made the point that the person carrying the gospel is not the conquering general in the chariot but the prisoner whose life is entirely in the hands of the Victor. Christ has conquered sin and death, and the fragrance of that victory spreads differently depending on who receives it: to those being saved it is the scent of life, and to those who are perishing it is the smell of death. There is no version of faithful gospel proclamation that avoids that division.
The teaching from 2 Corinthians 4 adds the question of how a person keeps going under that kind of pressure. Paul's answer, as the preaching at First B has laid it out, is that the minister does not lose heart because he received this ministry the same way he received mercy, undeservedly. That is why the open statement of the truth, without craftiness and without tampering with God's word, is the only method Paul will use. The message of the cross does not need to be made more appealing. It needs to be declared honestly and left to commend itself to every person's conscience before God.
Taught from 1 Corinthians 1:18 · 2 Corinthians 4:1 · 2 Corinthians 2:12-17 · 2 Corinthians 4:2 · 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
23 For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread.
24 When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.”
25 In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- September 6, 2015 Always Carrying the Dying of Jesus Paul shows that the gospel of Christ's death and the Spirit's freedom transform believers together, as one body, from one degree of glory to another.
- August 23, 2015 Thanks Be to God Who Always Leads Us in Triumphal Procession Paul shows that carrying the gospel means being led like a prisoner in Christ's triumph, not marching as the victor. Sufficiency comes from God alone.
- November 30, 2014 The Message of the Cross Is Where It's At A review of 1 Corinthians traces one steady theme through every chapter: the message of the cross is foolishness to some, but God's power to all who believe.