In This Edition:
A Know-Nothing Preacher
What’s New On The West Side?
Top Picks: Resources For Centering on Jesus & the Gospel
A Know Nothing Preacher
At first blush, it looked like Corinth was an ideal place for a speaker with a message. Everyone there would drop what they were doing and huddle around the newest speaker in town with excitement and anticipation as if it were game day at Reynolds Razorback stadium. But there was a catch—at least for Paul. You see, they came to hear a speaker, not to receive a message. They saw power in public speaking. It was a demonstration of great skill. Speakers had great presence, and spoke with eloquence and the wisdom of the age. Speakers were graded on how well they could sway a crowd with verbal manipulation or cunning. So they sought to win over the people by telling them what they wanted to hear. They were salesmen, and their biggest export was themselves. One of the greatest speakers of that era said “when I came to the great cities, they begged me to speak to them, they flocked to my doors from the break of dawn, and I didn’t have to pay a dime for their praise, because my speech resulted in everyone admiring me.”
But Paul, called by a crucified and resurrected Lord, armed with the counter-cultural message of the cross, defied all expectation. “When I came to you, brothers,” Paul tells his readers, “I did not come proclaiming to you the mystery of God with eloquent lofty speeches or human wisdom.” In fact, “I came to you in weakness with great fear and much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but in demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Cor 2:1-5, ESV/NIV). So what did Paul preach in Corinth? If he didn’t give them smooth words and fair speeches, couched in human wisdom—If he instead wanted only to demonstrate the Spirit’s power, so that their faith would rest not in homespun wisdom but in the power of God—what did Paul do differently? “For I decided,” writes Paul in verse 2, “to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2, ESV).
This seems to be Paul’s mission statement in Corinth and I would like it to be my mission statement here at West Side…
And so, Lord willing, I too will preach Christ crucified. You see, I believe heaven touched earth in the person of Jesus Christ. I believe the powers of darkness were lassoed at the cross. I believe Satan and all of his minions laugh at our perceived success stories; they rejoice when we focus only on our issues.
But the demons shudder, and the heaven’s quake, and the angels sing for joy and my Father is glorified when we preach Christ crucified.
Excerpt from a sermon preached at the West Side Church of Christ titled “A Know Nothing Preacher.” This lesson also appears on the Life on the West Side podcast (Season 2, Episode 1). Available on all podcast platforms.
What’s New On The West Side?
Partners in Ministry
I am blessed beyond measure to be working alongside Steve Reeves and Casey McDonald in ministry at West Side. They wear themselves out in well-doing, and have been encouraging to me in my first month of partnering with them in the gospel. Casey serves as the adult education minister and has put together a slate of new classes for all ages beginning this week. Steve is the former preaching minister and continues to serve as a minister to the senior saints as our “golden ages” minister. You can find Steve’s past sermons on the West Side YouTube page and a collection of his sermon outlines here. May God continue to bless these good men.
West Side is bustling with new life, and you can feel it in the halls! Crosspointe Preparatory Academy has moved to West Side and their contagious enthusiasm for learning is a welcome presence during the day. There are larger “care groups,” smaller personal “agape groups,” numerous ministries of service, gatherings large and small, a financial peace ministry, a singles ministry, an evangelism ministry (local, national, and international), an intergenerational approach to youth and family ministry, and an opportunity for children to participate in our “Christian Soldiers” gathering every Sunday evening, which culminates with a public presentation to end our assembly. West Side is a service-oriented community of faith and we want you to consider yourself part of our family, whether in person or on-line, in Searcy or around the world. If we can be of help to you, or if you would like to let us know that West Side is a home-away-from-home for you, drop us a line at prayers@wschurch.net.
Social Media Presence
Remember that you can follow us on social media to keep up with what we are doing. West Side is on facebook, and I am on facebook, instagram, and twitter.
Watch My Sermons and Read My Manuscripts
If you are interested in catching past sermons (in video and manuscript format), you can find these on my website. Once you click on a sermon title, the video of the sermon will appear. Below the video, choose “bulletin” for a manuscript of the lesson, or “notes” for the sermon notes & devotional study guide.
Get Sermon Notes, Devotional Study Guide, & Recommended Resources
Each Sunday, members and visitors to West Side are encouraged to visit this page to get this week’s sermon notes. These include outlines of the lesson, a list of all Scriptures cited, some devotional questions for small group, family, or private devotional, and links to recommended resources to dig deeper into the message.
Upcoming Series
Beginning August 21, we will kick off a new Sunday morning series exploring the goodness of God. A helpful resource during this series is James Bryan Smith’s book The Good and Beautiful God.
On Sunday nights, I am finishing up a series on the fruit of the Spirit and will soon begin another set of lessons discussing our access to the Spirit’s power and promises entitled “God’s abiding presence.”
On Wednesday evenings, beginning this week, we will walk through the Gospel of Mark in an adult auditorium class titled “Jesus Christ and the Mysterious Kingdom of Suffering Servants.”
I’d love for you to join us. Live stream is on facebook and YouTube, and archived messages will be on my website.
Top Picks: Resources For Centering On The Gospel
Centering your preaching, teaching, living, and devotional reflections on the gospel of Jesus Christ is rich and rewarding. But it may not come naturally. If “of” in Mark 1:1 is an objective genitive (which is “by far the most dominant view” of Markan scholars), then the first verse of the first written gospel announces that the gospel is not primarily a list of rules to be obeyed, a prescription to be followed, or a system to adopt. The gospel concerns a person: Jesus Christ. This is why Paul determined to know nothing except Jesus Christ crucified. “We preach Christ crucified” was Paul’s mantra (1 Cor 1:23). When the book of Acts says the disciples went everywhere preaching the “word,” it cannot refer to an elaborate system or the text of Scripture (the New Testament was still being written). It refers to the message about Jesus Christ, the announcement of his incarnation, atonement, resurrection, exaltation and enthronement. Many good and important (even necessary) things follow from this, but we must never confuse the gospel with antecedents to the gospel, responses to the gospel, or corollaries with the gospel. We must not confuse our pet projects, personal agendas, favorite issues, or peculiar practices with the gospel.
To this end, allow me to share some helpful resources that either clarify this point, or operate from this perspective. Each selection shines a light on a helpful aspect concerning the gospel, and has helped me orient my thinking.
Focus on Jesus as Gospel
Jim McGuiggan has long been a favorite preacher of mine, whose preaching, teaching, and writing constantly focuses attention on the Christ who takes hold of our hearts. I would recommend starting with his earlier (out of print) work The God of the Towel, though you can easily find his republished edition with some changes. Then there is Jesus, Hero of My Soul, Where the Spirit of the Lord Is, The Dragon Slayer: Reflections on the Saving of the World, and Behold, Your God.
Two other important and helpful books along this line are K. C. Moser’s The Way of Salvation (1932) and Norman Bales’ How Do I Know I’m Saved? (1989).
Tim Keller consistently offers lessons that emphasize the gospel is about the one who died on the cross. His Gospel in Life sermon podcast offers plenty of wonderful treasures. Here are some specifically on the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of his favorite sayings is that “the gospel is not the A, B, C’s of the Christian faith; it’s the A to Z.”
King Jesus Resources
Several writers have tried to help clarify and deepen the general evangelical vision of the gospel, moving beyond simply emphasizing the atonement (which declares Him Savior) to include the enthronement of Christ as Lord. This is a helpful corrective. Try N. T. Wright’s How God Became King, Scot McKnight’s The King Jesus Gospel, or several of Matthew Bates’s works, such as Salvation by Allegiance Alone, Gospel Allegiance, Why the Gospel?, and The Gospel Precisely.
The Nuances of Grace
Philip Yancey helped a generation come to appreciate the radical nature of grace in his book What’s So Amazing About Grace. I am eternally in his debt. But grace is a richly nuanced concept in the New Testament. John Barclay has written extensively to show that while grace is “unmerited” in terms of priority (God offers it before we have anything to offer Him) and in terms of comparability (what He offers is far more than anything I could ever equal), it does come with a reciprocal expectation of allegiance under His Lordship. See his larger work Paul & the Gift, or his more accessible summary Paul & the Power of Grace.
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My name is Nathan Guy, and I serve as the preaching minister for the West Side Church of Christ in Searcy, Arkansas. I am happily married to Katie and am the proud father of little Grace. You can find more resources on my website over at nathanguy.com. Follow me: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
