1 Cor 2:2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

 

  

There is a focus here in Paul that is dynamic and which needs to be the focus of all of the church today. As Paul writes to the Corinthians he reminds them that when he was with them, the focus of his preaching and his life was Jesus. Paul was what he was because of Jesus and only because of Jesus. Paul had been called by Jesus and he had encountered Jesus as Lord of all, who now had total claim on his life.

 

When he says, “and him crucified” that is shorthand for “and for all he achieved on the Cross at Calvary” and implied is, “and his resurrection.” Paul was what he was because Jesus had given his life for him at Calvary and had taken his sins and given him a new life. Therefore there was nothing so important.

 

Now the same applies to us. Jesus died and rose again for us. Jesus took our sins on the Cross at Calvary and all obstructions that might keep us from the Father have been removed. Surely nothing can be more important than this? Church life, church politics, personal desires, surely all of these pale into insignificance next to the wonderful news that Jesus died to wash us clean of all our sins. Counselling cannot do it. Trying hard to live a good or a religious life cannot do it. Nothing can deal with the fundamental problem of our lives – except Jesus, and him crucified! That surely is what we should ALL be focusing on!