By: Rev. Jonathan Cowan
“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimonyof God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1Co 2:1-5 ESV).
Confidence; who does not want it? I grew up on the West Coast of Canada on Vancouver Island. I have served in ministry in British Columbia, Alberta, Georgia, Missouri, New Brunswick, and now Ontario. Everywhere I have been, it does not matter if it was the west coast, east coast, mid-west, or south, people desire confidence and are drawn to it. Humanity loves the confident. We swoon over them. We listen to them, buy their books, and subscribe to their Youtube channels, Instagram stories, or podcasts. We even vote for them. We love the confident and desire to be confident.
I am in no way confident. I struggle with confidence, so you can imagine my surprise when our moderator called me up and asked me to write on confidence. My first thought was, “Bill, you got the wrong guy,” but my love and respect for Bill kept me quiet.
When I was in my first year of seminary at Covenant, they had a guest lecturer come for our homiletics class. I was new to the Reformed world and had no idea who this guest lecturer was. He taught on 1 and 2 Timothy. I was struggling. I was in seminary in my late 30s after a difficult personal journey. During that first lecture in the chapel at Covenant seminary, I wondered if I just needed to throw in the towel. I was surrounded by men I assumed were confident. In my class, there were military officers, lawyers, businessmen, and even a former NFL player. I was a struggling dad, working at Chick-Fil-A, living below the poverty line. I was working full-time, studying full-time, and trying to balance work, school, and family. It just did not seem to be working.
In that first lecture, the visiting professor made a statement that I had mulled over repeatedly. He stated that most North American churches would not hire Timothy. I was stunned. He went on to describe Timothy from what we know from Scripture. He painted a picture with his words of a man who struggled with confidence. Timothy was no Type A personality, yet God used Timothy mightily. For a struggling seminary student about to throw in the towel, the words of Dr. Ferguson that day gave hope. Hope not only for me but for most in my class. You see, I was obsessing over confidence as defined by the world, not the confidence needed for this life.
The world wants a confidence that is shallow and boisterous. It wants a confidence that must be loud and noticed. It wants a confidence dependant on what we can do, what we can know, and who knows us. Yet that confidence easily fades the moment injury, failure, and even age sets in. This is the confidence so many around North America are seeking, and I dare say around the globe. A confidence dependant upon others recognizing that we are great. It is easy to succumb to. It is easy to crave. It is incredibly hard to keep, for it is fleeting. There is always someone else coming along who is newer, better, stronger, or wiser. Eventually, this confidence fades as the unexpectant happens or, most often, as age sets in and robs us of our former glories.
This year I will celebrate 50 years on this earth. My wife and I have begun in the past three years to faithfully go to the gym. No, it’s not to get the dream body. I have a five-year-old at home, and I want to play with her. This requires me to get fit. As we have begun to work out, I can not help but notice the middle-aged men trying to get back their former glory, boasting of what once was. Confidence and wisdom, according to the world, means we must be the best, and others must know it. It seeps into the church and, dare I say, the pulpits as well. We must be the best and let others know of our confidence.
Paul, however, takes a different approach. In dealing with an overly confident church, Paul challenges the Corinthian view and, I would suggest, our culture’s view of confidence and wisdom. Paul announces that when he came to this confident group of people, he did not come with lofty speech or wisdom since he declares in verse 3: “And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,…” Verse 3 reveals a very different Paul from the one I have often heard described. Paul came in weakness and in fear and in trembling.
Ponder those words. That does not sound like the confidence the world is seeking. Yet it is the confidence this world needs. It is the confidence that must be proclaimed from our pulpits. It is the confidence that must be mastered in the pews. A confidence in the message, not the messenger. This is crucial for all who hear the gospel, for as Paul goes on to state, “that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” To build up the church through the confidence of men robs the church of resting in the power of God. Paul understood the message of the gospel was and is, and always will be, more powerful than those who are called to deliver it. Paul here is in no way saying do not prepare to preach, do not study, do not examine those who are called. No, Paul is saying to make sure your faith rests in the message, not the messenger. Make sure your hope is built on the eternal Triune God and His power to save sinners and not on another sinner.
You and I just have to look around North America to see the results of hoping in the messenger. Think of the celebrity ministers who have fallen due to sin. Some of it has been immorality, but most of it is relational sins, as warned against in Galatians 5 and Colossians 3. They become conceited, they bully, they play politics, and the power of the gospel is forgotten as the church becomes obsessed with the power of men. The result is always the same: hurt, abuse, and often the diminishing of such churches.
The gospel calls upon us to have confidence, but not in men. We must have confidence in our triune God and the power of His gospel (the only gospel). The gospel calls upon us to also seek wisdom, but not the wisdom of men. We must have the wisdom of God. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul declares Christ is that wisdom. Christ is the wisdom of God, and chapters 1 and 3 declare the wisdom of this world is folly. The confidence and wisdom we are to seek is the work of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. We are to look and strive after true power — the power that transforms sinners into saints, that makes the dead rise from the grave, that forgives sins to the uttermost (Hebrew 7:25).
Education is great. Ability is good. Being known within our community is wonderful. None of it compares to the power of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. None of it is where we place our confidence. Our confidence is to only be placed in the one who has the power to save sinners. Our confidence is to be placed in the one who unites all His people to himself. Jesus Christ is our righteousness, he is the one we boast in. He is the one we place our confidence in, for he has never failed and never will. He will never grow weary, his bones will never creak, and his mind will never lose its edge. He is perfection and glory, the one in whom the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell.
Here is where confidence is to be found: in one man, the godman, Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and savior. Ministers and elders, is this the one we point to, or are we trying to get God’s flock to look to us? Ministers, elders, and deacons are we so confident in Jesus that we can serve him without recognition and glory? Congregations, are we so confident in the power of the gospel that we can be ministered to by ordinary men? Are we so confident in the power of the gospel that it is ok to serve and minister and never be noticed?
At times it is very easy to forget Paul’s challenge to the Corinthians. We want the church to be bold and powerful. Who does not want to see a triumphant church? Yet often, we are tempted for this to come about through the wisdom and confidence this world craves. Paul’s words challenge all in the church. To place confidence in men is to place confidence in what will fade away. The best minister, the greatest orator, and the strongest leader pales in comparison to the Triune God. Why would we ever want to put our confidence in them? Ministers, elders, and deacons, you know you sin. You know, on your best days, you pale in comparison to the glory of Christ. Why would we ever want our congregation to hope in us? No, beloved of God, we need more Timothies and Pauls who preach and serve in fear and trembling. We need more congregations who serve and minister in weakness because what is desired the most is Christ crucified to be displayed in us.
For Christ to be displayed as crucified meant that Paul had to do something very difficult. We know from the rest of His letters Paul was a gifted man. Paul was an educated man, yet Paul humbled himself; he denied himself so that the right one was exalted. Our cultures don’t need look-alikes; they need something different — Congregations and office bearers denying themselves and proclaiming Christ crucified. We need ordinary men and women looking not to the approval or wisdom of our culture but to the power of our Triune God. We need to look to God to do what we cannot and advance His kingdom, His way. It comes through the ordinary means of grace (prayer, word, and sacraments). It will involve a commitment to gather together Lord’s day after Lord’s day, and if I can be so bold, twice a Sunday to receive the ordinary means of grace. It will not be flashy. It will, at times, appear to the human eye and mind very plain and possibly very weak. But under the surface is the power of God regenerating His people for His glory.
We need to have confidence in the power of the Spirit working through the plain word of the gospel rightly proclaimed, diligently studied, and obsessively obeyed. May we place our confidence not in ourselves nor in our ability but in the power of God, Christ crucified. He will save all His people. Praise God!