Bill Johnson - We Need the Power of the Gospel
And when you go into a city like Corinth, you don’t need a philosophical message; you need a demonstration of the raw power of God that separates people from the torment that has kept them in bondage. There seems to be a greater faith in the return of Christ than in the power of the Gospel. In other words, what I mean by that is the faith is in the return of Christ to come and fix things instead of Him returning for something that has been fixed. The thought is that He needs to come to fix things instead of us seeing the full effect of the power of the Gospel. Because of that, the hope is in escape instead of demonstration, and we have a sense of indebtedness; we have an obligation, and that is to display the Gospel of power. It may work for you; it may not work for you.
We are all going to talk about this throughout this morning, but the design of the Lord is that this Gospel is the Gospel of power; it’s the only kind of Gospel there is. Unfortunately, in the hour that we live in, the church oftentimes creates buffets where you can choose chicken or beef or pork, string beans, corn, or whatever. You get to choose a Gospel with great power, minimal power, or no power at all. You get to choose loud worship, quiet worship, or no worship at all. You get all these options, and none of it was designed by the Gospel itself. The Gospel, when it comes in one form, is the form that transforms lives, and I don’t think the problem exists in this room at all; we all believe in the transformative power of the Gospel. I mean, you’re here because you believe that.
But I remember one Sunday night, a number of years ago, we invited folks forward who had any kind of addiction. I remember it well; we’ve done this many times through the years, but we had a group of about 10 or maybe 12 people right here, and we prayed over them corporately. We didn’t lay hands on them this time—sometimes we minister personally, but this time, no; it was just a corporate prayer. One of the guys came to me about six months later and said, «Bill, I don’t know if you know this, but do you remember that night you prayed over addictions?» I said, «Yeah.» He said, «My friend and I had both been heroin addicts for over 20 years, and instantly in that corporate prayer, we were completely set free; we have never desired heroin again.»
We believe that; we know that’s the reality of the Gospel. We know that’s absolutely true. Unfortunately, not as many who believe in that miracle of transformation of the individual have the same confidence in the transformation of a family, and yet, according to Scripture, in the Old Testament, one lamb was sacrificed per household. It was always meant to be families that were brought into the Kingdom. Even when I can find people who truly believe in the power of the Gospel to transform a family, there aren’t as many who believe in the transformation of an entire neighborhood. There are some who will believe for that one household to be changed, but maybe a few others, but not actual transformation. And even though sometimes I can find the person who believes in the transformation of a neighborhood, it’s hard to find the one who believes in an entire city, state, or nation. But it’s all the same Gospel; it’s the Gospel of power.
The Apostle Paul, certainly one of the ultimate heroes in Scripture, scares me. I think I’m going to walk up to him like this in heaven. His was so extreme; I love it. In Acts chapter 17, he preached at a place called Mars Hill. It was known as the place where philosophers gathered, and they would exchange ideas. It was almost like the weirder, the better; they just invited everybody in with a strange idea, and they would listen, discuss, and debate. Paul decided to go there to preach, and he preached a sermon that is often studied in Bible schools and other places where people are trained in preaching the Gospel; they study this sermon because it was so succinct, so abbreviated, and yet so complete. But strangely, at the end of this message in a profound place that needed absolutely huge transformation, there were only a small handful of converts as a result of this message. That’s chapter 17, and it ends with that story. Chapter 18 starts with Paul’s journey to Corinth from Mars Hill.
I want you to turn—did I tell you where to turn in your Bibles? Open to First Corinthians chapter 2. If Paul is anything like every other preacher I know, after they have done their best, they then review: Did I do it right or not? Did I get it right? Could I have done better? Some people call it the «Monday Blues.» I refuse to do Blues, but I get it; I understand. So here’s Paul. I’d like to suggest— it doesn’t say this in the text; I’m just guessing—I’d like to suggest to you that from Mars Hill on his journey to Corinth, Corinth is a city of perversion on steroids. I mean, a part of their worship to false gods is immorality; they’ve got a thousand prostitutes working in the temple. It’s a place of extreme perversion.
What happens in sin? Sin starts as something of the flesh, but when it is repeated over and over again, it becomes a spiritual sin that is empowered by the demonic; it becomes supernaturally empowered. In a city like this, massive, massive deliverance is needed. Paul knows it; he’s going into a hellhole with the Gospel. As he journeys, I’d like to suggest he is reviewing what happened on Mars Hill. I’m sure he felt good about what he shared because it was truth, but there wasn’t the impact certainly that he was hoping for. He makes his way to Corinth, and this is what he tells them—what he writes after his visit—in verse 1. Chapter 2: «And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.»
These five verses describe the frame of mind of this great Apostle as he comes into Corinth, and he says something that, goodness, you wouldn’t want to promote in any Bible school on the planet: make sure you go with fear, trembling, weakness; go completely without confidence. That’s not what you’re looking for! And yet somehow, going through this experience of seeing the Gospel of power demonstrated with such little power, maybe for this moment, he is going to take a risk. He says, «I wanted to make sure that your faith wasn’t in the wisdom of men.» Now listen carefully to me: anytime you move in the wisdom of God, it will be called the wisdom of men by your hearers. In other words, you will be credited for what you just said.
I don’t think that made sense. All right, it was better than your response. When you function in the wisdom of God, people applaud you for your wisdom. It’s the challenging part of navigating bringing the Gospel. You lay hands on the sick, and you automatically get credited. Part of it’s okay because it was your obedience; it was your faith. But it’s never independent of the source. I don’t know that it does any good to say, «It wasn’t me; it was Jesus.» I’m not sure that works. I keep teasing you with the story of somebody who comes to me or I come to them, and I say, «It’s a beautiful song you sang,» and they say, «It wasn’t me; it was Jesus.» I’m thinking, «It wasn’t that good! I mean, if it was—I’m sure if Jesus was singing that song, it would have been really good.»
So, you do pick up credit. If you will, probably the best illustration, strange as it may seem to you, is when the ointment was carried into the room and the woman broke the vial, the container, and poured this ointment all over Jesus. From her point of view, it was a gift to Him entirely, but she walked out of the room smelling just like He did. Everything that we give to Him completely splashes on us. As she wiped this ointment in with her hair, you know, into His feet and stuff, she walked out of the room smelling like Him. So there is something about this cooperation with God in the ministry of the Gospel that benefits us too, and that’s not to be denied. But, wow, there’s this tender moment where you realize, I’m a carrier, not a source. I said, yes, He’s honored, yes, but at the end of the day, it’s entirely by grace.
You know, people will say, «Oh, you know, you did a good job with this, you know, raising kids or whatever it might be.» You did a good job, yep, I know, and at the end of the day, it was entirely the grace of God. There’s not an alphabet that originated with me or from me that would be of any eternal benefit. Back to the story here, what Paul says here in verse 5, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, if it were not recorded in Scripture, that actually today would be called heresy. No one today in their right mind, with the heresy hunters that are searching—I know who you are—so no one preaching the Gospel today would say, «I want your faith to be in the power of God.» We would say, «I want your faith to be in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want your faith to be in the Gospel of Jesus.»
But see, in this day, there is no difference between the Gospel of Jesus and the power of God. See, today it’s compartmentalized; it’s the buffet. You get to choose this, choose that, but the Gospel only came in one way. And when you go into a city like Corinth, you don’t need a philosophical message; you need a demonstration of the raw power of God that separates people from the torment that has kept them in bondage. I love this part of the story so much because Paul decided—I don’t know; I don’t think this is the right way to put it, but work with me—not to dumb down the Gospel because we’re supposed to be a people of intelligence. We’re supposed to answer hard questions; we’re supposed to display the wisdom of God; we’re supposed to bring solutions to dilemmas and earthly crises, etc.
We’re supposed to be a part of the team on the planet that actually serves humanity in that way. That’s part of who we are. And yet somehow, he was able to make a choice to come in lower than normal—these are my terms, not his—perhaps to recover from the lack of breakthrough in the last place. And here’s the great mystery; I want to read this for you. It’s out of Second Corinthians; if you’re writing notes, write this reference: Second Corinthians 12, verse 9. You’ll recognize the first part of the verse. He said to me, «My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness; therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of God may rest upon me.»