Richard Dawson, 29 April 2015

I wrote last week about how important it is for us to understand the reverse logic of the Christian faith demonstrated most significantly in the Cross. The Cross, an instrument of torture and inhumanity—now the symbol of the Faith of God’s peace and the love of God’s Grace. And this upside down symbol represents all that we should be in the world and, indeed, the way God continues to work in the world, raising up the poor and powerless and bringing down the rich and powerful.
A further indication of how contrary our faith is to the way the world works is found in the remark Paul makes about the young Corinthian church made up as it was with… ‘not many [who] were wise by human standards, not many [who] were powerful, not many [who] were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;’ (1 Cor 1v26.) The question must arise in our minds, ‘Are we among the ‘not many?’ And the answer must be ‘No’ since if we truly know ourselves we will know that whatever our strengths, we come to God always out of our weakness and need. The question then arises—Who then is among the ‘not many?’ and the truth of this answer is that we may all be if we do not recognise the weakness in which we come to Christ. For even the wealthy and the noble if they come to Christ can only come in the knowledge of their sin and need and when they do so on this basis then they are no longer among the ‘not many’ but among those whose weakness has become their salvation.