K.I.S.S. . . . Keep It Simple Saint . . . sometimes I’d do well to do just that. So easy to complicate things . . . anything . . . everything . . . including my Christianity. There’s Scripture to rightly divide . . . doctrinal positions to settle on . . . grey areas to be worked through. Then there’s the self-evaluation . . . am I walking in a manner worthy . . . am I being a faithful steward of the material stuff I control . . . is my spiritual gifting being used within the Body of Christ? Not saying that any of this is bad . . . not at all. Just that sometimes it can make for a complex faith. But as I ‘m reading in 1Corinthians this morning I’m reminded that I need to be careful about straying very far from the basics . . . that I need to remain grounded in the foundations . . . that, rather than worrying about having it all together, I need instead to be resting in the power of God.

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.      (1Corinthians 2:1-5 ESV)

I’ve read 1Corinthians a few times before . . . I know what’s coming. They were, to say the least, a complex, and somewhat conflicted, church. Amazingly saved . . . wondrously gifted . . . and, it would seem, increasingly dysfunctional. Paul will need to address matters of internal politicking and divisions . . . of sexual immorality in the church . . . of saints suing saints . . of food offered to idols . . . of believers exerting “their personal rights” . . . of spiritual gifts misused . . . of drunkenness and gluttony at the Lord’s Supper . . . and of Body basics out of whack. As Paul addresses the many issues in this church, you sense this local testimony of believers is, to some degree, coming off the rails. Time to get back to the basics . . . time to rest in the power of God.

In wanting to do all the right things with all the right stuff God had blessed them with, these Corinthians, it would seem, were leaning heavy to their own understanding . . . and working out their salvation according to their own wisdom and, I suspect, their own power. So Paul begins his letter with Salvation 101 . . . Christ and Him crucified.

Christ the Messiah . . . the Son of God . . . the Lamb of God given for the sin of the world . . . He who knew no sin made the curse of sin on our behalf as He hung on Calvary’s cruel cross. The perfect spotless once-for-all sacrifice able to atone fully for the sins of all who believe. The Son of Man, come not to serve, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many. Salvation starts with Christ . . . it continues in Christ . . . it will be brought to full and perfect completion through Christ. The risen Christ . . . having conquered sin and death . . . now living in the lives of the sheep of His pasture . . . now being formed within the very fabric of those who have bowed the knee and owned Him as Savior and Lord. Christ, the love of God made known . . . wanting to be manifest today in His bride, the church.

Salvation past, deliverance from the penalty of sin . . . salvation present, deliverance from the power of sin . . . salvation future, deliverance from the presence of sin . . . all of grace . . . all of unmerited favor . . . all of Christ and Him crucified.

While I need to divide the Word rightly . . . and need to walk in a manner worthy . . . and need to serve in a way faithfully . . . I need to recognize the power to do so is only through Christ and Him crucified.

And when it’s about Him alone . . . His blessed person . . . His finished work . . . His unfailing promises . . . then debating the Word in our wisdom becomes discovering the Word through the Spirit’s illumination . . . and the dysfunction gives way to direction . . . and the division evaporates into submission . . . and the spotlight shifts from us and the glory is God’s alone. And our striving ceases . . . our abiding increases . . . and we rest in the power of God.

Even so, Lord Jesus, may I never lose sight of You . . . and You crucified . . . and You risen. All by Your grace . . . all for Your glory . . . amen!