Being the foil

This week's verse is 1 Corinthians 1:17:

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—and not with clever speech, so that the cross of Christ would not become useless.

 I think a lot of people probably don't like these verses. There are probably masters of apologetics who flip the pages quickly when they get to this section of the Bible. But it's not wrong to be able to make a well-constructed argument, or to be well-spoken or charismatic. It just makes things complicated sometimes.

In church, though, we're often pressed to try so hard to be awesome. We're asked to be perfect gospel salesmen, logistical masters of charity, weekly philanthropists when the plate gets passed. We're effectively told that God can't do anything unless we do it ourselves on his behalf. And yet when God is looking for someone he can use, he often picks the worst candidate, just to make his point.

When God is showing the false god Baal to be a fraud, He tells Elijah to soak his sacrifice in water. And then he lights it on fire so there can be no question where the fire came from. When he wants to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he picks the worst speaker he can find. And when he wants to spread the gospel, he picks Paul, possibly the most anti-Christian man in the world at the time. How do you train for that?

But suppose you're a good speaker. And you deliver some good sermons, and a lot of people come to your church. Do they come to hear the truth or do they come to be entertained? You can't tell. The same goes for any of the other amenities we offer as churches: potluck dinners, Christmas pageants, basketball for the youth, a good band, babysitting, comfortable chairs, and so on. Jesus even remarked on it when he was preaching once. Did the crowds gather to hear him, or did they just come to feed and see a show?

We hear about miracles happening a lot in underground churches where there is a lot of persecution. Do you think any of those people in those churches, where Christianity can be a death sentence, are worried about the parking, or whether the music is to their liking? Do you think they shop around until they find a church that can have them in and out in an hour so they can catch the football game in the afternoon?

But this is where God's power shines. Every well-rehearsed song, every perfectly timed sermon, every well-orchestrated amenity competes with him for glory. If you hear a great song and a great talk, how can you tell if you're excited because of something God is doing, or whether the experience was engineered to happen that way? What if the expensive sound system could drown out God's quiet voice?

We should certainly try all we can to do a good job. But like Paul, we should realize that God's power doesn't depend on it. The fact that we're so bad at what we do may be a good thing, when it comes to God doing his work through us. If we could do it all on our own, what good would the cross have done us?

This should embolden us. It's a call to arms for all of us imperfect people. His strength is made evident in our weakness. So we, in our bumbling, are the ideal vessels for him to use in doing his work! From now on, instead of using our weakness as an excuse, rejoice in it, because it provides a great contrast to show God's strength.