Unity Sermon Part 1

I preached on Sunday. I thought you might be interested in the content. Over the next 3 days I will post sections from it (it is too long for one day). Hope you enjoy.

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“Taking up the Cross: It’s a Whole New Ballgame”
1 Corinthians 1:17-18; 26-31

A man sits alone in the dark in his shabby apartment with a bottle of scotch in his hand. He has not showered or shaven for days. He has eaten only a hot dog today. His meals are mostly liquid. He remembers the time not so long ago when he was eating steak and veal with the finest wines. Money flowed freely. He was always surrounded by beautiful people. His success was unparalleled. But a few bad investments, and few failed businesses, and it was all gone. Now he has no one. Now he has nothing. Everything has gone away from him.

Two women sit across from each other during their lunch break at the factory. They form a startling contradiction. One is embarrassed for anyone to see her eat, and so she barely eats a thing, and her figure shows it. She is rail thin, and her bones stick out from her skin. The other scarfs down her food with an insatiable appetite, then looks around quickly to see if anyone noticed. She is overweight and looks as though she is ready to bust out of her skin. Yet both women are keenly aware of how much they weigh, and every day leave the table berating themselves for not having the perfect figure.

A teenage boy drifts through the halls considering the answer to a proposition from Calculus class. He almost stumbles into a much larger boy with a varsity football jacket on. He recognizes the football player as his longtime friend whom he used to chase bugs with and camp out in his backyard when they were younger. He almost says “Hi.” But before he can mouth the words, the football player knocks his books out of his hand and mocks loudly for all those around to hear, “Watch where you are going 4-eyes.” They all get a good laugh out of it and walk off. The boy is left to wonder, what happened when we entered high school? Where did all the good times go?

An attractive woman in a business suit walks into the board room, with her notepad full of ideas firmly in hand. She thinks, “This time, I am going to make them listen to me.” She sits down around the table full of men. The meeting comes to order. After a time, it is opened up for ideas for the new advertising line that they must come up with. She speaks up. “I had an idea.” Immediately she is cut off by her sexist boss: “I have an idea. Why don’t you go and get us some coffee and bagels. We could be here a while.” Flabbergasted and once again defeated, she skulks off, wishing she could stand up for herself.

Two men walk down the streets, enjoying a nice day outside. As they excitedly talk to one another about the success of their favorite basketball team, a police cruiser rolls up. The policeman jumps out and says, “Where you boys think you’re goin?” Before they know it they are on the ground, cuffed and bleeding with a boot sole firmly on their necks. “You stupid monkeys. Why don’t you go back to Africa?” And every day they deal with this racism they think that such a suggestion is not a bad idea.

A woman sits in a chair. Before her lies her soon to be ex-husband’s pistol. Her past had finally caught up with her. Her husband had found out about the past that she desperately tried to forget, but never could. The guilt plagued her every day, but she could never come to grips with it. Knowing that her husband would divorce her if he found out, she tucked it away, deep in her heart, only to have it fester, and destroy what was left of her heart. The guilt of what she had done was too much for her. Now the one good thing in her life was abandoning her. She had nothing to live for. That pistol was her only way out.

“Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. No, Christ Jesus has become our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”

In the movie, “The American President,” the character played by Michael Douglas is the president. It was the morning of the day that he was to give the State of the Union address. But before he did, he did something completely unexpected. He addressed the media in a morning press conference and decided to tackle some issues that had been lingering. For too long the country had just placated and ignored the problems. The time for action was at hand. And so in this press conference he told them about his new approach and the new bills he was going to institute to help solve the problems. At the end of his press conference as he was walking off, one of his advisors said, “We have to rewrite the State of the Union.” And the Vice President replied, “Every Word. It’s a whole new ballgame.” They realized that everything they had assumed and thought would happen had changed. The dawn of a new day was upon them.

This week we begin a series about the cross, and the amazing changes that resulted from it. Specifically we want to look at how the early church viewed the cross. You see, the cross changed everything. It changed how they approached God, how they approached salvation, and how they approached themselves. Today I want to talk about one major change that the cross instituted. The cross, for all the divisiveness that came with it, brought unity. It changed the status of every human being, and completely flipped the way people approach each other and God.