SERMON SPOTLIGHT * 10/19/25

Here’s what Paul wants the Corinthians Church – and our Church – to grasp: The gospel alone is the basis and the gospel alone is the power for the Church. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

TEXT: 1 Corinthians 2:1–5
TITLE: 25 Years – Celebrating God’s Grace
PREACHER: Tim Lambros
BIG IDEA: The gospel alone is the basis and the gospel alone is the power for the Church.

POINTS:
I. God’s Aim – Grounded in the Gospel
II. God’s Method – Power through Weakness

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.

“This is a letter the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church 3-4 years after it got planted. Paul is hearing some things, and he’s concerned enough to pen this letter. In just a few short years, the Church has become enamored with Corinthian culture. A culture that was infatuated with rhetoric and philosophy and fascinated with the oratory skills of those who spoke about these things.”

“He will eventually get into some serious corrections for the Church, but first, he wants to make sure some foundational things are understood.”

“Here’s an observation we can benefit from before we even get too deep into these verses. This Church is not 25 years old. This Church isn’t even 10 years old. Why is that important? Even a Church planted by the Apostle Paul can drift. Churches like ours are made up of imperfect pastors and imperfect members. All are called to guard against drift or enchantment with anything this world offers. Just as Paul is going to ground this Church in the gospel because they have drifted, we too must guard the rich deposit of the gospel.”

“Notice how he begins. Both in his manner and especially in what he proclaimed/what he preached, he was focused on Christ and Him crucified. In his manner, he was not going to prioritize what the world in that day prioritized – lofty speech or worldly wisdom.”

“Note Paul’s shorthand on the gospel. Christ and Him crucified. At the heart of what Paul proclaimed, at the center of the gospel message, is the Cross of Jesus Christ. The gospel message is much more than the Cross, but in Christ crucified, Paul begins to bring clarity on what’s most important and what makes their Christianity distinct! The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the prism which all the other amazing things God does for us come through. Why? Because in the Cross, God takes away all our pride and boasting.”

ILLUSTRATION - Prism picture

“The crucifixion is the lens to our relationship with God, our sins forgiven, and power of the Holy Spirit.”

“Church, it’s so easy to drift. It can become all about your leaders, what your Church has accomplished, and your identity can become about how gifted your Church is. This is what happened in Corinth.”

“Paul wanted them to know nothing apart from Jesus and Him Crucified. Why so narrow? Here’s why … The gospel message, Biblically understood, takes the knees out of human pride. …Your basis, grounding, identity must be about what God has done and nothing about what you have done.”

“Even after our eyes are opened up to Christ crucified – As individuals and as a Church we can easily drift and move away from the solid foundation of Christ crucified to the shifting ground of human accomplishment.”

“It happens to individuals, and it happens to Churches. Paul is a wise Pastor. He’s going to bring serious corrections but wants to ground them by bringing clarity first. Clarity on what the basics are, clarity on what their identity is. He wants this Church grounded in the gospel and very clear that their life in Christ is built upon what God has done for them, NOT what they are doing.”

“Church, it’s so easy to drift. We only drift away from the gospel. We never drift toward the gospel – it takes a vigorous and constant commitment to keep the main thing the main thing and make sure cultural creep doesn’t move us away from the foundational truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

“God wills that the gospel ALONE shape, mold, impact, influence every part of your life – parenting, marriage, work, conflict resolution, etc., etc. Corinthians, I came so you would be grounded in the powerful message of the gospel in every part of your life.”

“What Paul says in the next few verses explains more of the WHY behind his church planting and Pastoral goal of grounding this Church in the gospel. God, in His kindness, has preserved in Holy Scripture this example from the Corinthian Church for all of us to learn how quickly we can drift. We not only need to be grounded in the gospel, but we also need to know about the power in the gospel.”

“Paul’s message of Christ crucified is the good news that Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life as God in the flesh, was brutally beaten beyond recognition, and was unjustly crucified on a cross. When Christ hung on that cross between heaven and earth He was the utmost picture of weakness. Even though He looked weak and helpless, the Cross is the wisdom of God and the power of God.”

“What’s Paul getting at here? Paul wants the Corinthian Church to understand something very, very important. Not only is the gospel message the basis and grounding of our faith, but the gospel is also where the transforming power for change comes.”

“The gospel doesn’t just make power available; the gospel is the power of God! The gospel isn’t a message about the power of God, it is the power of God. Same thing Paul wrote to the Church in Rome.”

“God wants to drive this truth home to the Corinthian Church and to us because of two universal truths: 1. God hates pride – pride exalts man. 2. Man inherently believes he has the power to save himself.”

“God had to send His son Jesus Christ, and provide the power to save IN THE message of the gospel to make it impossible for man to have any part of God’s saving grace.”

“Paul wants this Church, and God wants all His Churches, to know that the gospel ALONE saves and is the power for salvation. Man will always want to elevate his ability, and the gospel will always be foolishness to those who are perishing.”

“God saving us through weakness is foolishness to the wisdom of the world because there’s no room for human pride to be inserted into the equation. The wisdom of the world wants to create and redefine what was accomplished on the cross so that, in some way, human effort, human achievement can be claimed.”

APPLICATION:
We build: We build on the gospel alone. It must influence and penetrate every part of our life. It must be our identity. We must guard from drifting.

We Boast: But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ … Galatians 6:14
Paul definitely boasts – but boasts in the cross of Christ. Let that be our boast.

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Romans 1:16
1 Corinthians 1:17-30
2 Corinthians 12:8-10
1 Corinthians 2:3-5

QUOTES:
Paul Tripp - “Every unredeemed sinner attaches his identity, hopes and dreams, and meaning and purpose to something other than God. It might not be money. It might be power, control, fame, physical health, intellectual gifts, and so on. For a while, these things satisfy our hearts and make us feel as though we don’t need a Savior. But they always leave us empty.”

John Piper - “… if we are following the dictates of merely human wisdom, the claim that the King and Creator of the world was executed like a criminal because we are such horrible sinners will simply be regarded as an intolerable foolishness.”

Gordon Fee - “A final purpose clause in v. 5 gives the reason for all this, that their faith might be of God and in God alone and not in human wisdom.”

SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
King Of Love
You Made Us Your Own
Man Of Sorrows
It Is Well With My Soul
The Solid Rock

NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life - John 14:6

THE BOOK OF THE QUARTER: