Human
philosophies have no lasting solution to the problem of sin. That was why Paul would
not seek to outdo them with his eloquence or any worldly subjects of interest. He
chose instead to stick to preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This did
not diminish his effectiveness in communicating the Gospel. In fact, in these
five verses he demonstrated what an effective communicator of the Gospel he was.
He observed several important elements that made his effective. It had to do
with the focus of his message, the attitude he brought into his preaching, the source
that gave power to his message and the purpose of his preaching.
To
communicate the Gospel effectively, Paul’s top priority was to share Jesus
Christ and what He had accomplished on the cross. Not that Paul had little
knowledge of other things but that he had chosen not to major on them. His
primary focus was on Jesus Christ and His crucifixion. He knew Christ. And knowing
Christ is different from knowing about Him. One is in the realm of experience
and the other only rest in the realm of the mind. His message was the outflow of
His personal knowledge gained through experience with Christ.
In
verse 3 Paul shared about the attitude he brought to his preaching. He did not
assume a superior attitude. He knew the seriousness of the message because of
the impact it could make. So he approached it gingerly knowing that it was not
him but the Lord. He acknowledged his human frailty because he was subjected to
physical weakness as others. His feeling of weakness was also an indication of
his dependence on the Lord for strength. In saying that he came to them in fear
and trembling, he was probably recollecting the incidence in Corinth, recorded
in Acts 18:9-10. He was anxious as he ministered to the people there. Then in a
vision, the Lord spoke to him to encourage him. He was told not to be afraid but
to go on preaching. The Lord also promised to be with him and that no one would
harm him. Paul rightly estimated himself, he knew as a human how frail and
fragile he could be without the Lord. But in the Lord, he found strength.
In
verse 4 Paul revealed that the power in communicating the Gospel was not in his
words but in the power provided by the Spirit. His words only had impact
because the Spirit carried the words and gave it the transforming power. Thus
the impact of his message was not in the words he spoke but in the transformation
of lives brought about by the Spirit. This is the demonstration of God’s power.
However, we need to know that to rely on the Spirit did not mean that there was
no self-preparation.
In
his preaching, Paul’s primary purpose was to have faith rested on the power of
God. He didn’t want himself or his persuasiveness to be the object of faith. Jesus
is the power of God to save, hence he would make Him the object of faith. As a
preacher, he was only the channel whereas Jesus Christ was truly the content.
Let’s
not forget that a message is truly good only when the Holy Spirit works with
the preacher and his sermon, and bring about amazing transformations in lives. The
purpose of that message must be to bring faith in Christ and changed lives. It
must not done to draw attention to the preacher to demonstrate the preacher’s
ability. For sermon samplers it’s time to evaluate sermons not based on the
eloquence of the preacher, but on the truth and intention of God and His Word,
through that preacher’s message.
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