[b]God’s Weapon—Man’s Weakness[/b]
[i]by L.E. Maxwell[/i]

“It is much easier to stand up for Christ than to be identified with Him. Most leaders of God’s young people are strong for Christ, but they are not yet “weak with Christ.” His weakness they fear and refuse, yet it is this very weakness that opens the door to Heaven’s power. Little wonder that without this power there is such a scramble for the help of the world, the patronage of its princes, the loan of its resources, and the use of its wisdom. Remember, the early church employed none of these. Come to Corinth and listen to the apostle Paul. Facing that carnal and conceited world, he knew that he did not have “what it takes.” Hear him confess, “I was with you in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling…that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God…I determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (I Corinthians 2:3, 5, 2).

Over against the Apostle’s confession, let us set forth the reasonings of modern orthodoxy were it facing the evangelization of Corinth: We need a strong man for Corinth. Paul has been brought up at the feet of Gamliel. He has what it takes—is second to none. He can stand on any Corinthian platform and face the people fearlessly and without apology. Paul is just the man to send to Corinth. But I hear Paul confess in no mock humility that he has nothing to prevent much fear and trembling. God has so “unlearned” the Apostle of his worldly wisdom that he fears and trembles lest the people sense anything of the artistic or the oratorical in his presence or presentation. Paul dared not seek to make the Cross acceptable to Corinthian taste and preference lest their faith stand in the wisdom of men and not in the power of God. Paul preached the Cross in all its bald, unadorned reality—just the mean, plain helpless, foolish message of a crucified Nazarene. Paul could say with the heavenly old John Woolman, “I was jealous of myself lest I should say anything to make my testimony look agreeable with that mind in the people which is not in pure obedience to the Cross of Christ.”

Paul embodied his message, and therein he had God’s secret weapon. As to method and message he followed his Master. He who preached Christ crucified was himself crucified to the world, to its ways, to its wisdom—crucified together with Christ. He counted the world’s wisdom but refuse and folly; he feared and trembled lest he conceal the naked Cross, or smother its cutting power in the flowers of oratorical eloquence that he would make the Cross of Christ of none effect.

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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon