In the name of Christ Jesus, dear fellow redeemed people of God,

When members from other WELS churches visit our church, they often pause for a while as they catch a glimpse of the front of our church. Not many WELS churches have a crucifix at the front. Most of our churches just have a cross at the front. But ours depicts Christ hanging on the cross. That bothers some people. Some think that the cross should be empty as a way of saying that Christ has risen from the dead. We certainly agree that Christ has risen from the dead. And yet, those who made the decision to put a crucifix up here had a good point too. The apostle Paul tried to portray "Christ crucified" before the eyes of the Christians at Corinth. He wrote:

1. THIS IS GOD'S POWER.

The Jews looked for powerful miracles. The people of Israel who were believers did remember the mighty deeds of the LORD. He created the whole world. He sent the Flood, sparing Noah and his family. He delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt with ten powerful plagues. He showed his power at Mount Sinai too. When the believers of the Old Testament thought about God, they thought about his power. They thought about the miracles that he had done.

When Jesus came, he did miracles, but the Jews didn't believe in him. When they demanded miracles, Jesus didn't comply. He would not put on a show. Instead, he pointed them to his death and resurrection. That was the sign of power that he gave them. But it didn't make any sense to them. Think about it. The cross seems like a nice symbol today, but in those days it was like an electric chair or a gas chamber. If you look at the crucifix, Jesus does not look all that powerful. He humbled himself to save us. Yet we must not forget that Christ remained almighty God in the flesh. He revealed that power when he rose from the dead. But, the message of the cross is a message of power too. The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans (1:16), "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." We should not be ashamed of the cross or the crucifix, because it is a reminder of the gospel, and the gospel is the power of God that works faith.

People today do not know this any better than the Jews did. When "seekers" are looking for a religion, many of them begin by looking for "power." This sometimes leads them to charismatics and Pentecostals who claim that they can do miracles. Many gullible people fall for many hoaxes and false claims this way. Who among all of these so-called "faith healers" has ever healed one broken bone, so that you could look at the X-ray before and the X-ray minutes later and say, "Yes, it's an amazing miracle"? Instead of testing such claims, gullible people just accept them. They are seeking "power," but they are looking in the wrong place.

God's power is in the gospel. There is the dynamite power of God. There is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. There, in the gospel, we find the power of God, Jesus Christ, our Savior. After all, only God can bring people to faith, and he does this through the gospel. Faith comes from hearing the message of the gospel. So, the gospel is the power of God.

But first, people need to hear the Law. Unless people hear the Law, they may not realize how desperately they need a Savior. Even then, some people don't get it. If someone can read through the Ten Commandments and say, "I've kept all of these," he is either a liar or he does not understand what the Ten Commandments really say. If you really know God's commands, they will lead you to despair of yourself. They will lead you to say, "How can I possibly do that, perfectly, all the time?" On the other hand, if you have a merely superficial understanding of God's commands, you might say, "Oh, yeah, I do that." But that is wrong! No one loves God above all things all the time. No one has that perfect love and trust for God that God demands. Not one of us is perfect. We can't even keep the First Commandment, and then there are all the rest! Have we taken God's name in vain? Have we failed to gladly and regularly hear the Word of God? Have we failed to obey those in authority? Have we committed the sin of lust or of greed? Have we been guilty of gossip? Have we been envious or jealous of what others have? Let's just admit it! We have sinned. God knows that we have. And so we deserve God's temporal and eternal punishment. The Law shows us our sins and our desperate need for a Savior. But the gospel points us to our Savior, "Christ crucified."

God took all of our sins and placed them on Jesus. He died on Calvary's cross as the full payment for all of our sins. There on that cross, Jesus atoned for our sins, and for the sins of the whole world. From that cross, Jesus cried, "It is finished," or "Paid in full," because there, on Calvary's cross, he redeemed us. He won our forgiveness. So he didn't stay dead. On the third day, he rose from death. He had won peace with God for sinners. Whoever believes in Jesus shall not perish but have eternal life. And the way that people are brought to faith is by hearing this message of Christ crucified. That's why we preach Christ crucified!

2. THIS IS GOD'S WISDOM.

It seems that there's always someone who thinks he has a better idea. The Greeks were that way. Many of the Greek men had too much free time. They spent much of their time hearing and discussing the latest ideas. They enjoyed their philosophers. They dabbled in science. They were tuned in to worldly wisdom. To be fair, it is not wrong to use the brain that God has given us to the best of our ability. We should seek to learn and to grow in our knowledge. But there are limitations to what man can know by nature. And man should never think that he knows better than God. But arrogant people think that they do. The Greeks thought that they knew better than God. When Paul preached God's Word to the Greeks at Athens, they called him a babbler or a seed picker. Most of them thought that his ideas were nonsense. This talk about someone dying on a cross and rising from death made no sense to them at all. They rejected it as foolishness.

Many people today think that they know better too. Many churches today seem to be afflicted by "church consultants," who claim to have some kind of special wisdom about what it takes for churches to "grow." Yet, they all seem to copy and steal from one another the same old ideas. One big idea is this: take down the cross in the church. They would not like this crucifix at all. They think you should have a big orchestra and a stage and plays and skits. They don't like the idea of a pastor preaching. So what? We should follow God's Word instead. It says, "We preach Christ crucified!" Shame on us if we ever depart from this sacred truth. We don't need that so-called "wisdom" that conflicts with God's Word. We need God's wisdom. And this is God's wisdom: Christ crucified.

Not many people have this wisdom. Just pause to think about how many people in this world really do not know the way to heaven. Islam does not teach the way to heaven. Today's Judaism does not proclaim the way to heaven. None of the other world religions teaches the way to heaven either. The religions of this world are all religions of the law. You have to do it. You have to earn it. You have to be "good." You have to save yourself, somehow. It's up to you. That is the world's wisdom. And that is the devil's lie. That is NOT the way to heaven. The way to heaven is narrow. Today's liberal churches claim that everybody gets to heaven. They claim that there are many ways to God. That's not true. Jesus said, (John 14:6) "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." The only way to heaven is by believing in Jesus Christ, our Savior from sin who lived our life and died our death and rose from death with our forgiveness. Any other religion leads to hell. That is why mission work is needed, because millions and millions of people are lost and perishing. If they never hear the gospel, they cannot believe. If they do not believe in Jesus as their Savior from sin, they cannot go to heaven. And we want them to go to heaven. So, we want to preach Christ crucified to them.

May we never be ashamed of the cross of Jesus Christ. Let us lift high the cross of Christ for all the world to see and know that Jesus Christ is their Savior from sin. May we always "preach Christ crucified." And, may we always personally believe in Christ crucified for eternal life. And then, at the end of our lives, may our confession be clear. Many people think about what to write on their gravestones. Some used to write, "Rest in peace." Others write clever sayings. We have a hymn that suggests one that is hard to beat. It says: "This the superscription be: Jesus crucified for me" (CW 319). If that is not written on our gravestones, may it be written on our hearts: Jesus crucified for me! Amen.