Sunday, 30th March 2008, Koramangala Methodist Church, Bangalore

The Sunday after Easter was a little bit different in the sense of walked instead of biking to church. I reached early to hear the choir practicing songs for praise and worship and for a change I sat in the middle instead of the corners. The sermon was taken by Pastor Andrew and I was wide awake for most of its part, which was a different experience altogether.So here goes the sermon...

1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5
Corinth a place where church was established by Paul. Corinth a cosmopolitan city. Corinth a place where ship building was the major occupation. Corinth a place where many philosophy thrived. Corinth a place where people were fascinated by preachers and cult leaders. Corinth a place where people loved wisdom. Corinth a place of pluralistic community. Corinth a religious city, the light of Greece. Corinth a place where immorality thrived. Corinth a place where prostitution thrived. And here was a where a church was established. Bangalore is also cosmopolitan. Do parallel exist between our city and Corinth? How should we as a church be. Like flies getting attracted to dead meat are people flocking to this city like that.
1:21..What is wisdom of God, wisdom of man....Human wisdom is constantly craving for the quest for God. With human wisdom many Gods get created. If you recognize and portray how God should be then that can also be called as idolatry. Greeks looked for wisdom as God. Here Paul introduces Gods wisdom. We preach Christ was crucified. Crucifixion is humbling and shameful....and for Greeks Messiah getting crucified was foolish. Greeks were in lookout for personality who could speak but God's wisdom is not the same. God reveals himself as a God who suffers. The glory of God is experienced by his love and grace. God chooses a weak thing in life to show his love, grace and forgiveness. The cross is the power of God. It is the saving power and a power which overcomes the enemies. God's wisdom is that he operates in weakness which dismantles conventional beliefs. His ways are different. Ask God to show his wisdom. Here then will come the answer that he chose corinth when she was weak and sinful. The parallel is between the weak thing(cross) and weak people.So we should not boast as the glory is Gods'. Then ask give more evidence as I am not satisfied. 2:1 is an another example of God's wisdom. Nike ad says just do it, but here you can't do it all alone. When we recognize our weaknesses then God takes care of them. Our faith must be in the power of God not in our mere wisdom. Weakness could be anything. It could be loneliness, ill health, financial problem....God says that he will operate in our life with his wisdom we just have to submit.


Wow that day it was sounding more interesting than today when I tried to replicate it. Still I have to say the content is still good enough to be consumed by a believer.