Insight for Living

Chuck Swindoll: All ground is level at the foot of the cross. There is no captain or colonel or general, there is no sergeant or corporal. There is no CEO. Not in the family of God, all the ground at the foot of the cross level, level.

Bill Meyer: Somewhere along the way, the cross became all too familiar. And familiar things stop demanding anything from us. But the Apostle Paul refused to let this happen. In his first letter, he told the church at Corinth something that stunned them. The message of the cross looks foolish to the world, and yet it's the very power of God. And in his presence, the ground is level. Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll examines how Paul preached and what that means for every one of us who carries the name of Christ.

Chuck Swindoll: It seems, our Father, it takes us a lifetime to learn how we ought to live. And so many, including us, have run in the wrong direction for so long. And then we realize the cross, and it puts everything into perspective. It begins within and our hearts are changed, and it grows without and our lives begin to be changed.

By and by our tongues fall under the control of your power, our minds think your thoughts, our feet walk in your paths, and our wills submit to your ways. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross. We fall back on it and we think of it, and we realize at the foot of that cross, all things are level. And we can but look up and give you our praise as we have done. All hail the power of the name of the one who hung on the cross. We magnify your name. We exalt your name together.

From a busy and active week, we pause for this time of worship, deliberately setting aside the things that would otherwise bring us anxiety, and we focus on the cross together. We pray our Father that as we do that, it will rejuvenate an awareness within us that life is meant to be lived out, not just lived in. Remind us of the value of serving you, being among your hands and feet, your voice, your presence.

These are treacherous times, even dangerous. Oh, our Father, we place before you decisions, choices. We pray that you will raise up your people, that we may be led of you in a unique, significant way. Now our Father, as we in this moment turn our thoughts to your Son, may his cross become for us preeminent. We thank you for the cross in our Savior's name. The name of the one who hung on that cross, we pray and give. Everyone said, Amen.

Bill Meyer: You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into today's topic on your own, be sure to purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible study workbook by going to insight.org/offer. Chuck titled today's message "The Cross We Proclaim".

Chuck Swindoll: It's possible in the Christian life to help the wrong side and not know it. We could call individuals like that wrong-way Christians. Or if you want to go back to that group that seemed to sort of set the pace for it to start with, wrong-way Corinthians. My Bible is open to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and there we read the rather sad account of a church that was squabbling with one another. Paul calls it like it is, verse 11, chapter 1: "I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are quarrels among you."

There are quarrels among you. Now what are the quarrels about? "Well, I mean this, that each one of you is saying, 'I am of Paul,' 'I am of Apollos,' 'I am of Cephas,' 'I am of Christ.'" You see, there were splinter groups in the church. One group said we follow only Paul the apostle, the one on the road to Damascus who was wonderfully transformed and he's the founder of our church and we listen only to Paul. Others would say, but have you heard Apollos? Oh, there's no one like Apollos. And the third group said, but Peter. Peter was walking with the Savior before either Paul or Apollos named his name as Lord. Peter we follow. Then there was this ultra-pious group: we follow only Jesus. We only listen to him. They're all wrong-way Corinthians.

Verse 13: "Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he?" A little sarcasm in that. "Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God I baptized none of you," a little barb in that, "except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void."

So Paul decides to set them straight. And he does it without mincing words. Chapter 3, verse 1: "Brethren, I could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh. I could speak to you only as carnal." Wrong-way Corinthians, wrong way. "Even as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, but you were not able to receive it. Indeed, even now you're not able." That's the tragedy. After all this time, you still expect to be nursed, bottle-fed.

Why? Verse 3: "Because you're still sarkinos. You're still flesh. You're still driven by the things that characterize lost humanity. You're still fleshly, for since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not sarkinos? Are you not fleshly? Are you not walking like mere men?" meaning like the lost person. "For he says when one says 'I am of Paul' and another 'I am of Apollos,' don't you sound like you're just a bunch of lost people following the popular one? What then is Apollos? And who is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, after planting Apollos watered. After watering God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth."

Back to chapter 1, verse 18. What the apostle decides to do when he exposes these people in all their carnality is to point them to the cross. Look here: "Since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." Don't think preaching is foolishness; it's just a method that seems foolish to the world system. Why on earth would intelligent people come and sit and listen to somebody preaching? I mean, how moronic can you get?

I like the way Eugene Peterson renders this section. Listen: "Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb, preaching of all things, to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation." Well, then what does the lost person want? Well, read on. Verse 22: "The Jews ask for miracles." The word "signs" is the idea of miracles. "Show us a miracle, prove it with a miracle and we'll believe it. Do what you cannot do in natural ways and whoo, we'll be impressed. We're looking for signs." And the Greeks search for wisdom.

But I love this, verse 23. Paul says, "But we," who by the way was an incredible intellectual, studied under Gamaliel, Pharisee of the Pharisees, he was the up-and-coming chief Pharisee, brilliant Jewish mind, and then came the road to Damascus where he was converted. And as a result, he started running in the right direction. And as a result, verse 23, he preaches Christ crucified. We're back to the cross. To the Jews, it's a stumbling block. To the Gentiles, here's our word again, moronic.

Now if you question that, next time you find yourself in a sophisticated group, bring up the cross. Just bring it up as a topic of conversation. "Hey, by the way folks, I've been studying a great deal about Jesus and his death on the cross." Boom, hang on. Not a soul in the group will go, "Good for you, what a great study!" They'll go, "What? What? You believe what?" That's the whole point of this section of scripture. But God honors the proclamation of the cross to change lives. Roy Riegels was absolutely positive he was running in the right direction. And along came his buddy and said, "Wait, I'm going to tackle you." He said, "What do you think? Get out, this is my touchdown." You look back you go, "Oh, Roy, please, please, please, wrong direction." But to him, it was the right way to run until he was tackled and somebody said, "Hey man, that's their goal line."

"We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, to the Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, Christ the wisdom of God." Why? Because 25 says, "The foolishness of God is wiser than men. The weakness of God is stronger than men." Now I love it when we get to verse 26. I have to believe that Paul had tongue-in-cheek for just a moment, just a little touch of apostolic humor here. We're talking about sophisticates, those who are noble bluebloods, those who are really slick. He says, "Consider your calling, brethren. We want to look at an opposite group, look around. There were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble." Didn't say any, said not many.

Meaning what? Well, let's put it this way: this congregation is not made up of the brightest and the best in the world's eyes. I got the idea that it would be helpful for us to realize that we represent, in the world's eyes, that which is foolish, that which is weak, that which is base, and that which is despised. Those aren't my words, they're all found in 27 and 28. And I thought, well, let's look around. So why don't you do that? Look around. Just take a look. If you haven't noticed yet, you shook their hands, but maybe haven't taken a real good look. Look around. Just whisper, "Are you blueblood?" just go ahead. You got really, really great roots?

I also took note of some places people could come from. I just pulled out an atlas and started looking. Booger Hollow, Arkansas, is one of those. Booger Hollow, not Bogie, Booger Hollow. Lizard Lick, my son-in-law told me about Lizard Lick, North Carolina. And Spivey's Corner. Now maybe you heard of Spivey's Corner. They have the hollering contest there. Hollering contest in Spivey's Corner. If you're from Spivey's Corner, don't tell anybody, just leave it. How about Prattsville, Arkansas? How about Pee Wee, West Virginia? Dime Box, Texas. I'll tell you my favorite one for creativity: Nameless, Tennessee. "What shall we name our town?" "I don't know, let's go with Nameless." "Good idea, let's call it Nameless."

Folks, in case you've been sitting around a room full of mirrors, in case you like Narcissus have been staring in the pool a little too long, focused on your image, look a little deeper and you will not see a lacy, slick little rainbow trout. What you will see is a wide-mouth bottom-feeding catfish. If you don't like that, that's part of your problem because you've forgotten your pit. You've forgotten your depravity. You see, all ground is level at the foot of the cross. There is no captain or colonel or general, there is no sergeant or corporal. There is no CEO. Remember that the next time you're in a church where the top guy is called CEO. Off base. There is no president. There is no cabinet. Not in the family of God. All the ground at the foot of the cross level, level.

I love the way Jim Elliot wrote it in his journal shortly before being martyred: "We're all a bunch of nobodies trying to exalt the somebody." Praise God. You start there, you'll run in the right direction. Look at it. Verse 27: "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise." Who would have ever thought it? "And the weak things of the world to shame the things that are strong, the base things of the world, the despised things that are not, to nullify things that are." You know, there's a lady in our congregation from a town that no longer exists, no longer exists: Picher, Oklahoma. Picher. "Where are you from?" "Zero." Ain't even there anymore. Me, I'm from the great metropolis of El Campo. Great white way. Right down the road from Rosenberg, Bay City, Wharton. If you go further south, Palacios. Palacios you can smell before you get there. Shrimp, great spot. Port Lavaca. Yes, boy.

Isn't this crazy? You know why I'll get there? That cross. That's how come I'm going to get there. I got nothing else to give, I just got the cross. I just have the Savior. He does all these things, verse 29, "so that no one may boast before God." When you run in the wrong direction, you're all impressed with all the human stuff. You love, you love all that pedigree. You love all that accent. You love all that special stuff, all that smell-good stuff. But when you're impressed with the cross, you see everybody at the same level at the foot of that cross. Whether it's the little kid in Harlem not knowing what tomorrow will bring or someone on Wall Street thinking about jumping from the 22nd story, doesn't matter. The cross levels all of us. Not many cultured, not many mighty. By that, it means powerful and prestigious and impressive. Not many noble.

You run in a wrong direction when you boast. If you want to toot your own horn, blow a trumpet for God. Nobody else cares. Get off your high horse. You're just folks. You're just wrapped up in the cross. And when you focus on that, it is remarkable what a filter system it'll give you in how to read current events, how to see life as it really is. You'll be so unimpressed because you don't hang around people to be impressed. You hang around folks with the hope of communicating and living out the truth, and the truth sets us free from all that other pizzazz.

Now how about Paul, since we've been going on and on about how important this is? How about Paul? Let's ask him. Give us your testimony. "Alright." Verse 1, chapter 2. "Here's my testimony. Here's the honest truth coming from the man who was running in the right direction. And when I came to you," by the way, if you do a little quick rehearsing, a little punch the rewind button and go back, he's just fresh out of Athens, one of the few failures in Paul's public ministry. He wound up on Mars Hill, Areopagus, where all the eggheads from Athens hung out. And while there, he delivered his message. It's a profound message, but they didn't care anything about him. He was such a seed picker, this klutz from Tarsus who stepped away from what could have been a grand future and embraced this Jesus.

So he's come out of that, and if you will, he's kind of got his tail between his legs when he gets to Corinth. A little discouraged, it can happen. "When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." I take my time here because I want it to really sink in. Nothing except Jesus Christ. I wasn't interested in your salary. I wasn't interested in your pedigree. I wasn't impressed by your prestigious background or even for a few of you your impressive roots. Didn't care, don't care, never will care. I wanted to know, however, how you were doing with the cross. Do you really know Jesus? Is he really your Savior? I determined to know nothing but that.

Robertson and Plummer write, "I not only eschewed all affection of cleverness or eloquence, but I went to the opposite extreme of nervous self-effacement." You see, Corinth put a premium on the veneer of false rhetoric and thin thinking. Gullible people are easy marks for pulpiteers. You can whip up a crowd anywhere if you'd handle it on your feet. "Whoo, have you heard so-and-so?" But what is he saying? Who is he exalting? "I determined to know nothing except Christ and Christ crucified."

Well, what was Paul like when he was there? He tells us in the next two verses. "I was with you in weakness, in fear, in much trembling. I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling." You maybe didn't know that about Paul. You know the Corinthians later wrote him and said, "You know, his letters are very weighty and impressive, but in his presence, he's weak." Well, he says, "I was not all that impressive. My preaching and my message were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." Oh yeah.

You see, when you are around individuals like this, you know they have a lot more behind the counter than they ever put on display. You know there is depth as well as breadth. You know that there is a humble sense of security and confidence, whereas there is restraint in manipulating people. Gullible people love to be manipulated, and Corinth was full of them. I mean, they just moved from the theater back to the place of ministry and thought, "Do it like that. I mean, look at the crowds they get." Paul says, "I didn't come to grow up a crowd, I came to deliver the truth, and my words were not that persuasive."

I love the words of G. Campbell Morgan in his work on Corinthians. Listen to this very brief statement: "Years ago a great man, a good man, a saintly, scholarly, devoted, said to me speaking of another preacher, 'Yes, he's a wonderful preacher, but you know, he has sacrificed the prophet to the artist.' Preachers should think of that," writes Morgan. "It is possible to sacrifice the prophet to the artist, to be so concerned with eloquence and language and phrasing and beauty of style that the impact of truth is lost. That is what Paul meant."

Bill Meyer: The Apostle Paul wasn't interested in impressing anyone. He came to Corinth weak, uncertain, and completely dependent on God's power. And his weakness became the very channel through which the Spirit worked. There's a lesson in that for all of us. When we stop trying to dress up the truth and simply trust it, something changes. You're listening to Insight for Living.

If something Chuck Swindoll said today has caused you to want to explore this topic more deeply, we have a brand-new booklet for you. It's the one that Chuck wrote after presenting this message called "The Cross We Proclaim". While today's world is impressed with credentials, eloquence, and image, Paul said he was determined to know nothing, nothing except Christ and him crucified. What does his bold statement really mean, and how does that mindset make a difference in your life today?

Those questions and their answers are the heartbeat of Chuck's brand-new booklet, "The Cross We Proclaim". Today is one of those rare days when the message you heard on the program and the resource we offer are perfectly in sync. So if today's message stirred something in you, we invite you to respond. Call and request the booklet "The Cross We Proclaim" today. It's yours when you give a gift to financially support the ministry of Insight for Living.

It's your donation that provides Chuck's teaching on the radio, online, and through our podcast, reaching listeners who need to hear about a cross that levels all of us and a Savior who rescues all who come to him. Call us at 800-772-8888. Be sure to mention you'd like to receive Chuck's booklet "The Cross We Proclaim". You can also write to us at Insight for Living, Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, Texas, 75034, or call us at 800-772-8888. You can also go online to insight.org/donate.

Do you ever feel powerless to do the right thing? I'm Bill Meyer. Chuck Swindoll describes how to deploy the power of the cross tomorrow on Insight for Living.

The preceding message, "The Cross We Proclaim", was copyrighted in 2008, 2009, 2016, 2019, and 2026 and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2026 by Charles R. Swindoll Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.