The Message of the Cross

Well, good afternoon, brethren! Happy Sabbath to you! Thank you, Caleb, for that beautiful piece of spectral music. Just so inspiring. Thank you for the time and sharing with us the beautiful talent that you have. I was really encouraged to hear a lot of the announcements. I think that the hotline or the counseling line that's been set up, I really hope that you heard that, you got that information. Spread the word on that. I think that's a really great step forward as we support one another in our walk with God. And also excited to also see some of the other fun things going on, certainly with the Derby, and really appreciate Mr. Malizzi, us spearheading that, getting that going. I think that's a great thing that was done during the pandemic. Well, I only have a few more Sabbaths with you, and I've been praying and meditating on what it is that I would like to leave you with in my final two sermons here with you, speaking today. And then I look forward to seeing you next Sabbath on the 5th, and then our final Sabbath on the 19th. Maurice will not be able to join me next Sabbath there when I'm with you, but I will both be there on the 19th, where I have a chance to give you that second sermon. And as I was meditating on that, I was thinking about the world of 1996, when Maurice and I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, and how different a world it was from our world today of 2022. And I think about the people listening here today, who remember the world of the Bay Area or the United States in 1976, or 1966, and how things have so dramatically changed. And if we thought the time was short in the 1990s, or certainly the 1970s, it certainly seems as though things have fallen apart since that time. It seems we are headed for difficult times economically and politically, but more significantly, I think we, as God's people, are not as prepared as we should be to face the future together. And I just want to kind of let that phrase sink in for a moment, because what I'm talking about is facing the future together. We've talked at length, and I think we know that independent Christian is a non-sequitur, that we are called to a body. We're called to be part of a community. We are part of the church of God, God's church with Jesus Christ as the head of that church. And we can read the words of Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verse 12. You don't have to turn there. I think you'll recognize the citation when I give it, but you can note in Ecclesiastes 4 verse 12, it says, though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. And we cannot in agreement that is a truth. But when the time comes, when the pressure is applied, will we stand together despite our differences against the spiritual forces of darkness? I think, unfortunately, our track record over the past 25 years has not been good in this regard. Solomon's words, after all, are about not being overpowered by an enemy, but standing firm. And I ask this question, or I pose this thought about Ecclesiastes 4 verse 12 and the age of social media, because it is not often the voice of reason that we hear in this age, but the voice of extremism that gets amplified. And we can be swept up into being worried about this or that or upset about x, y, and z, whatever it might be.

We are different people from different backgrounds, and we can ignore or pretend that we aren't, but that would be self-deception. God has called us from diverse ethnicities, diverse social backgrounds, and diverse life experiences. And these differences influence our views on what should be done to improve our communities, our lives, our national prospects, and how we engage with our friends and colleagues at work and school. But should they define us as followers of the way? Can we have different views and still be of one mind? Can we have different views, but when the persecution comes, stand with one another? Today, I want to take us back to the first principles of the oracles of God, as it says in Hebrews 6 verse 12. First, principles as to what unites us are faith in this life. Our faith in the life, sacrifice, and eternal power of our Savior and King Jesus the Christ, who is one with the Father. Will we stand together on the gospel of Jesus Christ? If we let anything, any person, or any idea become bigger than this, we splinter and fracture. And I think over the years we have seen fracturing because I think we have allowed ourselves to align with ideas that are less important than what Christ came preaching. Today, I want to discuss what Jesus preached and what Paul preached and what we should be preaching with and without words in our lives, and certainly what the Church of God is preaching and what we have to be part of preaching. What is the gospel? Or as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, what is the message of the cross? And how should that message unify us as much as it defines who we are? The title of today's message is The Message of the Cross.

That's a quote from 1 Corinthians 1 in verse 18, which we'll get to. And it's not language that we often use, which is why I wanted to use it, because I wanted to get behind that phrase, define that phrase, and let that phrase sink in because it is who we are. It is how Paul describes unity in the face of division. Nearly a decade ago, this idea crystallized in my mind during the Feast of Tabernacles in France. It happened after church services, I think, on the seventh day of the Feast. Maurice and I were having lunch with a group of people, and I found myself sitting in a restaurant between two wonderful and deeply converted women, one French and one American.

The American was visiting France for the Feast, and of course the woman from France had traveled to the Feast that year from her home in France. When I say that these were two deeply converted people, I mean to say that these women had dedicated their lives to serving God and His Church. They each had been tested through the decades. They both were highly regarded in their respective congregations. Their faith had stood the test of time, and frankly, I would consider it a privilege to work for either of these people in the world tomorrow.

During lunch, a French woman turned to the American, and of course I was between them, so she looked across me to her and asked in French, why is it that there is so much resistance in America to providing free health care to all of its citizens? You see, at this time the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, was just being implemented. And for this woman in France, it was hard to imagine why there could be such resistance in the United States to providing more affordable health care to people, especially to the poor.

And it was my job to translate this question and facilitate the conversation between these two people. And as I translated this question into English across to the woman here, I saw the look on this wonderful American woman's face as she was confronted with a dramatically different worldview. You see, from her perspective, the Affordable Care Act was an intrusion of government into health care.

It was an overreach of government authority into the lives of citizens through a requirement to have health insurance, and just another sign of a move towards socialism in this country. How was she going to respond in a respectful and kind way to someone who had appreciated socialized medicine her whole life? How was she going to respond given her deeply held conviction about the role of government in American life? And so for the next 20 minutes, I translated for these two women as they discussed their views on socialized medicine, the role of government, and how they viewed these things from the perspective of being a part of God's church.

At times it was tense, as I think each of them had not come face to face with someone who had such different views on the subject, and yet it was beautiful. It was a conversation that I wish they could role model for all of us here. It was beautiful, as both of these women knew what mattered most in their lives, and it wasn't their views on medicine and government. It was their calling as children of God to be in God's kingdom. It was their calling to be the bride of Christ. It was their calling to repent, to be meek, and to walk humbly with their God.

And this translated into the respect and the love they showed one for another in that conversation as sisters in Christ. And as I was studying God's Word recently, I came across a scripture, and it reminded me of what this situation could have been, and yet wasn't. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 10. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 10. The beginning of the book of Corinthians steps us into a world that was not about these two deeply converted people, or maybe could be.

And perhaps that's a discussion for our sermon chat, but it was a world nonetheless where there was reporting of—I think the word we'll see here is—contentions. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 10. Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

If we continue in verse 11 and 12, we can see that there were contentions about leadership, who was in charge, and likely each of these groups had different philosophies on how things were to be done in the church and in the community. Verse 11. For it has been declared to me, concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you.

Now I say this, that each of you says, I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, or I am of Cephas, or I am of Christ. And in verse 13, Paul poses the great rhetorical question of the first letter of Corinthians. Verse 13. Is Christ divided?

The answer is no. Of course Christ is not divided, but does that mean that we can't have different opinions on things? Does that mean that there is not diversity of thought based on our diversity of backgrounds? Certainly not. And what it means is what Paul goes on to explain in verse 17 and 18. And he uses language and phrasing that is not as common in everyday language today, and maybe not as commonly used in the church of God, but it is language that I think we need to understand if we're going to learn to talk, live beside, and maybe die beside a brother or sister in the faith who comes from a different type of dinner table than the one we grew up with. Look at verse 17. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. He's going to talk about the gospel, and he's going to talk a lot about it. To preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. The cross of Christ transcends, as we're going to learn, the wisdom of the Greeks or the philosophies of the Jews or whatever kind of way that we want to describe it. It is a beautiful and wonderful and amazing thing. Verse 18, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. The power of God. And so, as Paul begins to share his response to the divisions in the Corinthian congregation, he begins by invoking first principles, by highlighting the core of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. A follower of Jesus Christ understands the cross of Christ, as it says in verse 17, and the message of the cross, as it says in verse 18. Through this understanding, a Christian can connect to the very power of God. If we could tap into the very power of God himself, wouldn't we want this? And yet, here it is. It is the message. Or as some translations say, the logos, or the word, logos or the word of the cross. And again, we have different views on what that word means. In Greek, it's storos, which can mean an upright stake, or a cross being placed on a stake. In the face of divisions at the church in Corinth, Paul begins his letter by taking them back to the core of their faith. And as I said in verse 18, he uses the term the message of the cross. It's not a common way for us to speak. In fact, compared to our Catholic and Protestant friends, we don't place the same emphasis on the symbolism of the cross because it may not even have been a cross on which Christ died. It may have been a stake or a tree. The language is not exactly clear from the Greek, but that doesn't change the emphasis that Paul is making. The message of the cross is not a phrasing we use, but we need to understand what it means. So how do we define this? How is this defined? Well, in this chapter, we don't see something defined in that way, but we do see an equation here. We see an equation that the message of the cross is the power of God. It's an equation. Think about it in mathematical terms like 1 plus 1 equals 2, or in this case, 2 equals 2. The message of the cross is the power of God for those who are being saved. That's us, you and me.

And so the message of the cross equals the power of God. And so if we want to know what the message of the cross is, we can look for other scriptures where the power of God is mentioned, such as in Romans 1 verse 16. You can hold your place there, but go back to Romans 1 and verse 16. And let's read that Paul brings up a similar equation.

Romans 1 verse 16. Hopefully you've turned there. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God.

It is the power of God to salvation and for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek. And it's interesting because there's a reference to Greeks and Jews, as well in 1 Corinthians 1, and there is a reference to the gospel. But this time in Romans 1 verse 16, it's called the gospel of Christ. The gospel of Christ is the power of God, it says in Romans 1 verse 16. So we know that the message of the cross and the gospel of Christ both provide us with the power of God, and they're very likely the same things, as we'll see. The question then is, how did we define this gospel of Christ, or this message or word of the cross? So I'd like to pause for a moment, and I'd like to ask you to write down—hopefully you're taking notes—what you believe the gospel of Christ is. You need to write this down. Just take a minute. Don't worry, I can't see you. I don't know what you're going to write. The person next to you doesn't know what you're going to write. Well, perhaps if you're there meeting with a family or friends, perhaps they can peek over at your answer. But I think getting grounded in your own words will help remind you of what the core of our shared belief system is. What is the gospel of Christ?

I hope all of us could answer that question in a heartbeat. Now that you've written it down, let's turn to some scriptures that help define this term, and let's see how you did and what you wrote down. Let's start in the book of Mark. Book of Mark, first chapter. We were there last week talking about the Son of Man in chapter two, but now let's go to chapter one.

I feel such an affinity for the Book of Mark. It just feels like that first written account. I imagine it coming out and people reading it furiously, just remembering what it was like to be with Jesus, remembering what it was like to see the healings, to see the miracles, to hear the words spoken. In Mark first chapter, verse 14, we read, Jesus—excuse me—we read, now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel. The word gospel is a very religious word, but it simply means good news. It just means good news. He's preaching some great news. Good news! Who doesn't like to get it? You know, you grab your phone and somebody says, I got good news! Oh, what's that? Good news! Something to be excited about, something you're passionate about, something to be enthusiastic about. He came preaching good news. He came talking about a kingdom that would be established on this earth, and this was good news, because conditions in the first century were not good.

He came telling people to look forward to something, a new age, a new age of peace, a new age spoken of by the prophets. And if people wanted to be ready for it, they needed to change their thinking. They needed to turn around from the direction they were going, or put another way in a religious term that we also use. They needed to repent. And not just repent, they needed to believe. They needed to have the vision of the kingdom to become their belief system. And when that happened, and when this does happen, other things become less important.

Our views on problems today become less important, because what really matters is the good news of the future kingdom of God. We understand that God is all-powerful, and He's allowing events to unfold before us with the ultimate goal of establishing His kingdom. Just like in the first century, they would have had to understand this when He says, repent and believe. And us trying to influence events or become upset about things we see because we don't like them, it isn't really a thing anymore. Yes, we will sigh and we will cry because of the suffering that is caused by poor choices and the influence of the adversary on people around us.

Yes, we will sigh and cry, and there will be a mark on those who sigh and cry. But we are upset. We're not upset because people are doing things the way they shouldn't be doing them. We're just sad, and we sigh and we cry. And so if you wrote down the gospel of Jesus Christ as the gospel of the kingdom of God, you would be right. But let's see if we can get a little more granular. I think we need to understand this in more detail. And Jesus gives us more detail than just this. Mark gives us this message that he came preaching the kingdom of God, saying, repent and believe. But let's turn to the account in Luke chapter 4.

Because the context of what's here in Luke chapter 4, verse 14 to 21, comes at that sort of same context. It says in Luke 4, verse 14, then Jesus returned in the Spirit to Galilee, and news of him went out through all the surrounding region, and he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

And verse 16, and then he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, as our custom is, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath. We go to our church assembly on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, the Son, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. Good news! If you look in the New King James Version in Isaiah 61, where this is quoted from, it says, good tidings. The good news, he anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and the recovery of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And then he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down, and all the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him.

They were waiting for something else, and now he was going to deliver it. And he began to say to them, today the Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. This is how Luke outlined how Jesus launched his ministry by saying he was proclaiming a new beginning, the acceptable year of the Lord, a reference to the Day of Atonement in the year of Jubilee. The good news message is about hope for those who need it.

It's about healing from the physical and spiritual diseases of this world. It's about freedom from slavery. It's about liberation from oppression. This present world has disease, slavery, discrimination, hopelessness, victimization, contention, division. That's what this world is about. But the good news of Christ, the message of the kingdom of God, is that diseases will be healed, slavery will be ended, oppression will cease, discrimination and victimization will end. That's what he's saying is that message that he came preaching. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And in verse 18, when we think about 1 Corinthians, it says this future is the result of the work of Jesus the Messiah. When Paul talks about the message of the cross, that's the the end point of that of that work. It's that time when he sacrificed his life and was later resurrected, the firstborn among many brethren that we all might follow in his footsteps.

You know, at the time that Jesus was preaching here in Luke 4, he knew how the next three and a half years would go. He knew how they would end. It would be on a stake or on a cross, the worst form of execution. And so, writing 20 years after Jesus' death, Paul connects this gospel message of the kingdom to the method by which it was made possible, the cross, the execution. And he uses the phrase message of the cross, but it is still the same message of the kingdom of God, this message that says that God's kingdom will come and that, through Christ's sacrifice, we have an opportunity to be part of that kingdom, to be part of the family of God. And later in verse 42, we see Luke uses the same language as Mark. One page over, Luke 4.42, now when it was day, he departed and went into a deserted place, and the crowd sought him and came to him and tried to keep him from leaving them. And he said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose, I have been sent. He had to preach the kingdom of God. This was why he was sent. How much more clear can we be? This is why Jesus was sent. And he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. That's how chapter 4 ends. Jesus was sent to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God, the good news of the kingdom of God, the coming of a new age. And those who wanted to be part of this new age, those of us who want to be part of this new age, will need to be different than we were before. We will need to repent and believe. Our worldview will need to change, and how we thought about things before will need to change. And we can read between the lines and how those early disciples had to change their ways. Look at Luke 6. Just one page over. It's easy to get there, right? Luke 6 verse 12 verse 16. Luke 6 verse 12 to 16. Look at the list of his disciples. We can read to this quickly, but there's something that's very profound about this list. Luke 6 verse 12. Now it came to pass in those days that he went out to the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called his disciples to him, and from them he chose twelve, whom he also named apostles, Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the zealot, Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who also became a traitor.

It has been pointed out in an article on ucg.org written in 2017 by Nicholas Bizik. I encourage you to read it. It's a short article, but he points out in this article that Jesus had among his disciples people who came from completely opposite ends of the political spectrum. Matthew was a tax collector, and Simon the zealot was a member of an extremist movement devoted to liberation from Rome by any means, including violent means. Matthew was a collaborator with the Romans who learned to work within and even profit from Roman rule. Simon, called the zealot, would have dedicated his life to a violent overthrow of Roman rule. The zealots would have hunted down and killed collaborators like tax collectors, and yet each of these men repented. They rejected their previous worldview to learn about a coming kingdom, a kingdom that would require neither violent action nor contribute to the victimization of the Jewish people. And all of the followers of Jesus would need to be the same. We just see in this list quite a contrast in the type of men who were called and who rejected their previous way of life. And of all the people who were called that we can read about in Scripture, the Apostle Paul himself likely had to change the most. Although I wonder about Simon the zealot, that must have been quite something to dedicate your life to learning how to kill and suddenly move away from the move away from that. But we have a lot written about the Apostle Paul and not a lot written about Simon the zealot. Turn with me to Philippians 3 verse 3. Philippians 3. Philippians 3 verse 3 2.11. And let's see the kind of transformation that Paul had to go through. An example for us and how he describes his change in worldview. Philippians 3 verse 3.

For we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. This verse powerfully describes who we are as God's people. We worship God in Spirit. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. And we don't put our faith in our bodies, in our minds, or in our imaginations of our hearts. We put our confidence in our elder brother Jesus the Christ in his message, the message of the cross. Now notice how Paul continues verse 4. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews concerning the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal persecuting the church, concerning righteousness which is in the law which is in the law blameless. But what things were gained to me, he says, these I have counted lost for Christ. Loss. Yet indeed I also count, he says, all things, loss, all things, all. You can underline that all, every single thing that was part of his old way of thinking is gone. All lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, garbage, that I may gain Christ. The words of Paul they speak to a complete change of thinking. Whatever views we had before had to be thrown, had to be thrown out. Paul says he counted all things but as loss for Christ, for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ.

He even goes so far as calling them garbage. Are we ready to call our opinions garbage, our views garbage? Verse 9, and be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Paul's life goal was to be in the resurrection, and this meant suffering as Jesus did, living his way of life in a way that Jesus did, and being willing to die for his beliefs. There's no room for our personal views on worldly matters, taking preeminence over things that Paul is discussing here. Isaiah 55 we know says that, speaking of God's thoughts, God's thoughts are not my thoughts, nor are your ways my way, says the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours and my thoughts than your thoughts. In 2 Corinthians 10 verse 5, Paul talks about bringing every thought into captivity. Every thought must be examined to determine if it is informed by a vision of the kingdom of God. How did Paul himself define the gospel message? How did Paul himself define the gospel? What are the final words in Scripture on this topic? Turn with me to Acts 28. Acts 28 verse 30 to 31. The conclusion of the book of Acts, the conclusion of this Magnus Opus, this great work of the disciple Luke, whose first volume was Luke and second volume was Acts, how does Luke conclude this great work of his in verse 30 of chapter 28? Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house and received all who came to him, doing what? Preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus with all confidence, no one forbidding him.

The gospel message places our hearts and minds far away from the silliness of the world's concerns. It places our hearts and minds on the serious matters of preparing to rule with Christ for a thousand years, which means being in a constant state of repentance from dead works. It means eliminating the pride that separates us from God and from our brothers and sisters. And the marvelous thing about the end of the book of Acts, as has been pointed out, is that there is no amen. There is no conclusion because the story continues. The story continues about the preaching of the gospel, the kingdom of God, as it says, the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ. Because that story is still being told in your life and in my life and in the work of God's church today. And all this means learning to stand together with our fellow laborers, no matter our life backgrounds, no matter our differences. Because with the humility that comes from God, we accept that our views today on how to solve things are just ill-informed musings of the weak creatures that we are. The gospel of the kingdom of God, on the other hand, is the power of God working in our lives to transform our thinking. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians 1.

1 Corinthians 1, and we'll conclude with how he concludes this discussion. 1 Corinthians 1, and let's look at verse 22 now to 25 and see how Paul finishes his thought about the message of the cross and the power of God. Verse 22, for the Jews request a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. Verse 24, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. You see, at that time, the Jews had one view of the world and the Greeks had another. The Jews thought they were the people of God and they were righteous because they had the law. The Greeks, on the other hand, sought after wisdom wherever it could be found. By this time, Greek thought had hundreds of years of philosophy behind it from Plato, Aristotle, Gabbathagoras, and the list goes on. By the first century, the entire world was influenced by Greek thought. In fact, there's some discussion of whether this reference to the Greeks could also be a reference to the Gentile world in general. The reason that's a little bit confusing is because, well, Greek thought had so permeated the whole Roman world that it was hard to differentiate from just the Greek thought versus a sort of a Hellenized, what we say, a Greek-influenced thought of wherever you were in the empire. Both worldviews could seem pretty good to the people at the time if they were coming from that particular perspective, but they were both views that did not take into account the power of God. So God's people don't worry about either, because they hear Paul's preaching of Christ crucified. And as verse 24 says, this is the power of God and the wisdom of God. And so the Jewish worldview and the Greek worldview, they were just poor, weak ways of trying to understand the world. The true way of understanding the world was to understand the world to come and how everything that happens now has some purpose in moving inexorably towards that kingdom. Everything that's happening to us right now is about moving towards that kingdom of God. And we have got to get on board with that thought and not be worried about what is sitting right in front of us sometimes. God will take care of that. He will guide us through prayer and through study, through meditation and through fasting, to be able to deal with what's in front of us based upon His power and not our own power, because that's what it means. That's what it means to be aligned with the gospel of the kingdom of God, the message or word of the cross. That's what it means. That power gives us the power to deal with what is in front of us right now. And if there was ever a time when we needed to be united in that vision and faith about the coming kingdom of God, it is now. Let our diverse backgrounds bring vibrance to our community of believers as we learn to share our perspective in a humble way that reflects the priority of the message of the cross, submitting to one another in love. Knowing that whatever perspective we have, it's subservient to the good news of the kingdom of God. It's a weak musing of weak creatures, and we need to just get off the the pridefulness of what we might be thinking is right or wrong in those areas. Our thinking must be informed by the kingdom of God and how these things move towards the kingdom of God. Let us rejoice and stand together like a three-fold cord that cannot be broken because as God's people, we know that this gospel of the kingdom of God, this message of the cross, the gospel of Christ, is what we stand on. And Paul says we must stand and stand firm on this message.