WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED

I read about a little church in my homeland in the British  countryside that was established several hundred years ago. 

When it was first established they wanted to have no doubt about what they were preaching and so they built a little churchyard around the church itself, and on the front gate they put two pillars and across the pillars an arch. And across the arch it said, “We Preach Christ Crucified.”

 And as the years went by, the church changed and in the early years they had planted some ivy as the story goes and as the church changed, the ivy grew. And there came a time when people no longer wanted to talk about the cross. 

The preacher wanted to talk more about Jesus as the example, Jesus as the model of human virtue and the ivy grew and covered the last word. And the simple little arch simply said, 

“We Preach Christ. “

And the years went by and the leadership changed and the ivy kept growing. And there came leadership in the church who were very concerned about social issues, very concerned about psychological solutions, and that was their message. And the ivy grew and covered the next word, and all that was left was “We Preach.” 

There’s a real sense in which that has been the story of the church even in our own country. How much do we hear about the cross? Oh, we hear a lot of preaching about a lot of issues. Once in awhile we even hear someone preaching about Christ. 

But how about we preach Christ crucified? I Corinthians 1:23. We preach Christ crucified. Yes, offensive. Foolish for those who are perishing. But to those who are being saved it is what? The power of God, that can transform and save all who believe.