“For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

1 Corinthians 1:17 (ESV)

As Paul expresses his disappointment at divisions in the Corinthian church, he teaches an important truth about preaching. He reminds them that his purpose while in Corinth was to preach the gospel, not baptize (which was at the heart of their divisiveness).

The first part of this sentence might seem odd at first, but the second part of the sentence provides the explanation. At first glance you might be asking… “If baptism is an important part of New Testament Christianity, why would Paul brag about his minimal participation in the baptism of new believers?” His goal was not to diminish baptism as much as it was to elevate the gospel. He was emphasizing the priority of preaching the simple message of the gospel.

This verse presents two important truths to digest.

Preaching the gospel must be the primary task of gospel ministers. And by ‘gospel ministers’ I mean those men who are called by God and set apart by the church for the ministry of the Word as pastors, missionaries, church elders, and the like.

At least two applications emerge for our churches. First, any man who aspires to this calling and does not love to “preach the gospel” must reevaluate what exactly he feels called to do. Second, any church that encourages or allows her pastor to veer from this task as his primary focus must revaluate her understanding of the role of ‘pastor.’

Preaching that depends on eloquent wisdom removes the cross’ power. The gospel plus anything (wisdom, creativity, novelty, etc.) makes the gospel less about the cross and more about the something else. When a ‘sermon’ springs from a creative element or a contemporary idea or the preacher’s intuition then what we hear is not powerful to save. Because when the cross is not the central element of the message, our message is simply not the gospel.

At first these talks might seem effective at drawing a crowd or “Christianizing” a community, but we must not trade immediate effectiveness for eternally significance. The Bible is clear: only the gospel (grounded in the cross) is powerful to transform lives!

So we’re left with a question… If the goal of Christian ministry is life transformation, why do our sermons contain so much ‘wisdom’ and so little ‘gospel’?