Just Give Me Jesus! - 1 Corinthians 2

1 Corinthians 2 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not 

come with  eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him 

crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my

preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s 

power, 5 so that your faith  might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

In the first church I served on the pulpit there was a small gold plate with these words inscribed on it, "Sir we would see Jesus!"  It really helped me when I was nervous getting up there to preach.  It gave me confidence because I realized all I really needed to do when I preached was to give people Jesus.  All I needed to do was get out of the way. That's right the key to preaching effectively is getting out of the way, not worrying about performance, and presenting the gospel with clarity in the power of the Holy Spirit.  It is the Holy Spirit that convicts people in their hearts of their need for Christ anyways.   

This verse actually comes from John 12:21, when some Greek speaking Jews had come up for the Jewish festival of Passover.  They had heard about Jesus and now they wanted to meet him.  So when they met Philip, who was a Greek speaking Jew, they said to him, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus!"  Philip went and relayed this to Andrew, and Andrew and Philip went to tell Jesus.  Notice they didn't try to be Jesus they led the people to Jesus.

This is why Andrew was called "the bringer" because he brought people to Jesus. 

Paul says something similar today when he says he determined not to come before the Corinthians with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power so their faith might not rest in him but in Jesus.  Paul is in effect saying, "I want to take the focus off of me and put it on Jesus."  

Paul often shared that he was not the most polished speaker in the world, but when he spoke it was clearly about the Good News, the primary message of Jesus crucified for our sins and raised from the dead on the third day.  Paul calls it is his testimony.  Paul is not philosophizing but sharing what to him is factual.  It is his story of how he had experienced Jesus, the Son of God, and Savior of the world on the road to Damascus.  

If you remember from chapter 1 yesterday one of the divisive issues in the church was that some claimed to follow Apollos, some Peter, and some Paul.  It was said that Apollos was quite a great speaker and this might have been why some people started saying they followed Apollos rather than Paul or Peter. 

This text is a good reminder for any preacher or teacher of the gospel.  Their message, while it can contain personal anecdotes, analogies, and stories, always has as its primary focus what God has done for us in His Son, Jesus.  The other aspects of the sermon can be used to draw out or lead people to deeper understanding of the gospel but should never distract from the principle message.  

Here is a cute story that puts this into words...

"If a preacher is not careful, he will get in the way of the gospel instead of being a servant of the gospel. They can obscure Jesus by their preaching, either in the presentation or the message. Like the little girl, who when a smaller man was guest speaking could finally see the stained glass window of Jesus behind the pulpit said, “Where’s the man who usually stands there so we can’t see Jesus?” (Guzik)

The next time someone give you a chance to share the gospel, determine to give a witness for your faith.  Your testimony.  And if you feel afraid or anxious just say to yourself, "Sir we would see Jesus!"