Sermon

Demonstration of the Spirit

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

February 8, 2026

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1 Corinthians 2 (ESV)

1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

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I was a little heavy handed last week. We spoke about the concept of the stumbling block that the gospel caused for the people of Jewish heritage, and the foolishness or folly the gospel appeared to the wise philosophy minded Greeks. The stumbling block was that the people of faith needed signs to be swayed. And for the wise, they needed logical arguments.

Our contemporary era of history is not much different. When I was in Ukraine twenty years ago I heard similar arguments. One of the students we were talking to was meeting with my roommate demanding one of those signs while I was out shopping. The student said that he would believe if God would fill a glass with water. My roommate said that just as the student said those words I opened the door and announced that I found the good water and asked if anyone would like a glass. My roommate did not know I was out shopping, I did not know there would be water at the store, most of the water there was carbonated or mineral water so we did not like it, so when we found distilled water we bought it. And the timing was precise. Was it a sign? My roommate believed it was. The student did not think the same. In his mind, it did not count because I brought the water, not God.

That is the stumbling block of wanting signs. How do we determine if it is a worthy sign?

Today in the second chapter of this letter to the people of Corinth, Paul continues this thought. “When I came to you, brothers, [I] did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.” When I read Paul, I do not quite understand what he is talking about here. Of all the writers of the New Testament, Paul is considered the most educated and the one that presents the most well formed theological thoughts. He speaks well, he has wisdom, and yet he says he did not come proclaiming the testimony of God with lofty speech and wisdom. Is he a liar?

This is why it is important to study context. And when I speak of context I am speaking not only of the words before and after this chapter. This is usually what we mean when we use the word context. When I speak of context we also need to account for the history, geography, and society surrounding the words written. Paul speaks with wisdom, he speaks with clarity, but he does not use the same methods as the philosophers. He would go to the places where the philosophers spoke and he would speak. He would say things like: to the Jews, I became a Jew, to the Gentiles I became a gentile. He became all things to all people for the hope to save one. But what does he mean in this instance when he says that he did not proclaim the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom?

He is not using the arguments of the philosophers. He does not use the wisdom of humanity.

“I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Paul says.

This statement reminds me of interview that Karl Barth once gave. I mentioned it in passing last week. Barth wrote one of the most intense theological libraries in the church. His church dogmatics is something like twelve volumes, and in it he challenges most theologies formulated prior to the 1930’s. When giving this interview he jokingly said, “the answer is Jesus, now what is your question.” The answer is Jesus.

What this means is the beginning point of our understanding of God must start in the revelation of Jesus. Our understanding of life, the universe, and everything begins not with Genesis 1 but with John 1. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. All our understanding of God comes through Jesus, because of the incarnation. God came to live among us, God taught us, and through Jesus we gain the wisdom of God. But that vicarious life is not one way. Christ was not only God coming down to man, but he is man lifting humanity to God. Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus humanity is lifted back to the place we were created to dwell. Through Jesus humanity is restored to a right relationship with God. Not by our works but by the works of God himself.

This is what Eric has tried to put in a lot of his music, and why I appreciate his attempt at writing music. At times yeah it seems weird. To think that God the Father is with us in hell seems far fetched, but it comes through the works of people like Barth and CS Lewis. They speak of hell as the place of darkness within us all, that place where we are afraid to let God in, but God is already there. God already knows what we are thinking, what we feel, he knows, because Jesus was buried in that separation. But a loving God will not force us. He will not force us to believe, he will not demand of us any more than he is willing to endure. And so the gate to hell is locked from the inside. We reject life with God, even though God came to us.

It is foolish to the world’s mind. We cannot fathom the incarnation. This is the stumbling block to many. One of the greatest hurdles for Islam is the incarnation. How can Jesus be God’s son? Because God cannot procreate like us. We try to explain God using our wisdom, our understanding and we fall short. We fall short because we have no frame of reference, except Jesus.

Paul understood this. He says, “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, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Paul had weakness, fear, and trembling. I could say that Paul was a Quaker, but that defeats the point. Paul knew his message seemed weak and foolish in the mind of the world. The testimony of Jesus tells us to love our enemies, to do good for those who persecute us. The teaching of Christ is to turn the other cheek, when someone strikes you. How many of you have made these claims on social media lately? I have. And immediately, I am bombarded with comments from all sides telling me how stupid I am. I am told that I do not support military families, I am told that I am weak, that if we do good we will only get taken advantage of. And you know what they are all right. It is foolishness if we look at it through the wisdom of mankind.

If we were to get rid of the military, those that seek to destroy us would just walk in and conquer us, then what would we do? I understand the foolishness of the Gospel. If we do good to those that would cause us harm what is stopping them from taking everything we have? Yet this is what Paul went out to teach. It is foolishness to the world. To stand in front of people saying it is difficult, because I know that each of us have opinions. I understand the weakness, the fear, and the trembling. I have stood up and voiced these sorts of things even when everyone was in opposition, and I thought every day I would lose my position. And I have lost a job because of stances I have taken. I have been overlooked for promotions because of my stances. I have been completely misunderstood and wrongfully accused. There is fear when we speak, because the world does not understand. Paul does not stay with the fear, he then says he did not use plausible words of wisdom, but demonstrations of the Spirit and of power.

I want us to stop for a moment with this. Demonstration of the Spirit and of power, what is Paul speaking about? The Jews demanded signs. They wanted tangible proof right before their eyes, like the student in Ukraine. Paul had just said that desire was a stumbling block, yet here he says his message was demonstrated in the Spirit and of power. Is he speaking of signs? Of miracles?

One could say that, yet Paul calls that a potential stumbling block. This entire chapter is filled with irony. Its filled with things that are and are not. It is confusing.

Miracles did occur throughout Paul’s ministry. I will not deny that they happened. Miracles still occur all around us. At times we are able to recognize them and at other times they can become stumbling blocks to our own faith.

The mysteries of God are revealed in demonstrations of the Spirit and of power. The mysteries are revealed in the lives of those that are willing to let the Spirit work through them. Paul was able to convince the people of Corinth not through his dramatic speaking ability, not through all the miracles, but it was his life lived within their view.

This is the vicarious humanity of Christ. It is what the Orthodox call the dance of the Triune life.

Life lived in mutual joy and profit. Life lived, in serving others. Life lived loving our enemies doing good for those who persecute us, and turning the other cheek. Paul lived. Paul faced ridicule, he faced pain and persecution and yet he lived.

The people of Corinth watched Paul, they saw how he lived. They listened to his seemingly crazy words, and they saw something they could not explain. They saw a mystery and it drove their curiosity.

I have been told on multiple occasions, that I live with my head in the clouds. That the things I hold important are foolish. I see it in many areas of my life. As a pastor, I have been asked to perform weddings and officiate funerals, when I do these I always say the same thing when I am asked how much I charge for the service. I do not charge. I do not have a set rate. People pay me what they feel led to pay. And I have been paid nothing, or a thousand dollars, as far as I am concerned I am adequately paid. I even do this foolishly in many of my business endeavors. People will ask me how much one of my 3D prints will cost, I will tell them what it costs me, and then give them a suggested. In every case I have made twice as much as I would have had I given the price worldly wisdom would dictate. This has happened just this week, I quoted a reasonable price that would cover the materials and time, and they willingly paid me five times what I quoted. This has happened multiple times and I am not giving you financial advice, because that would be foolish. You cannot build a business on that model. What I am saying is that God has a way of making things work out. It is a mystery. It often flies in the face of the wisdom of the world. Would I like to see miracles? Would I like to see many things, sure. But this is something I have learned from experience and faith. People will try to take advantage of us. They well try to get power over us, they will attempt to control and rule us. But when we stop the fight, when we speak the truth and just live the life we are called to live, we survive, and we have a joy and peace that remains a mystery.

Scripture tells us, Jesus tells us “do not be anxious about you life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?… But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

We cannot argue people into faith, we cannot argue people into believing anything. We can see miracles all around us and people will scoff and poke holes in what we have seen with our own eyes. We can use lofty words, we can design the greatest programs, we can do so much and it will mean absolutely nothing to the world. But what we can do is live the life we are called to live.

Barth said the answer is Jesus, now what is your question. It is through Jesus, his life, his teachings, his interactions with those around him, his suffering and his death, his burial, and his resurrection that we have true life with God. The answer is Jesus, because when we consider what Jesus would do, when we seek to understand how Jesus would react in our situation, we find that we can know. We can have his mind and know his ways. And when we live that life in and through him, people will see the mystery. People will wonder why and how, they will ask and they will scoff. They will poke hole and they will wonder. But we are not called to save their souls, that is God’s job through Jesus. We are called to make disciples, we are called to saturate everyone around us with the grace and mercy of God, we are called to provide an answer to the life we have, not with well formulated augments, but with the truth as we have lived it. The answer is Jesus.

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Folly to Wisdom

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

February 01, 2026

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1 Corinthians 1:18–31 (ESV)

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” ²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. ²² For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. ²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ 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; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰ And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

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The past few weeks have been a bit stressful for me. I call it stressful, but the reality is that a great deal of it has been of my own doing. A couple of weeks ago I spoke about being absorbed in temporal affairs and how our faith and practice encourages us to not be unduly absorbed. Well I have been absorbed, and I continue to get absorbed.

When I was in graduate school we spent a great deal of time learning about various theological positions. That is the point of higher education, it brings several different ideas, concepts, and theories together and then you are supposed to consider all the information and then in my case, we take these different concepts and answer a question or provide encouragement through a situation using your understanding of theology. While providing that answer you were to consider various positions, and how they might provide encouragement, or how they were wrong. So I read a great deal of theology. I read how people in the early church approached different situations, how people in the Medieval Church considered things, I studied liberal theology, fundamentalism, and Trinitarian Incarnational Theologies. Each of these theological positions emerged to help the people face the trials of their daily life. Each of them used scripture, studied scripture and the human condition and attempted to provide an answer to help their society, their culture move forward and to provide hope.

This might surprise some of you, because we look at some of these theologies and we assume that they were simply trying to deny Christ. We look at the Medieval Church with their superstitions, indulgences, and almost magical theologies and we judge them as being idolaters. But we often look at them through our contemporary concepts. How do you explain God to an illiterate population? How do you teach scripture or spiritual disciplines when there is so little life experience out side of farm work to draw on? Or after the enlightenment, when the stories we were told in church and the emerging sciences do not seem to line up? How can you explain creation, the resurrection, the apocalypse to come? Different groups tried to do different things, and each of these groups had their reasons and all of them were devout in their own manner.

Where does this leave us. We are just one branch along an ever growing vine. We like so many before us as seeking and searching for something to give us hope. We look at those in the past we laugh at their ideas. We take one side or the other. We say Fundamentalism is more correct than the Liberal theological position, but we have not fully examined either to a deep degree. We fail to recognize that Fundamentalism often promoted racism and slavery in the past, where liberal theological positions brought about the social changes that lead to the abolition of slavery, as well as civil rights, and women’s rights. I remember once sitting in Sunday school a few years back when I mentioned that most of the theological positions of Friends lean more toward liberal theological thought, and people were shocked. We were shocked because the definitions of the words have changed. What we think about when we hear the words have changed. We over look the good that emerged, but why? I have thought about these things this week.

We are currently in hockey season, and since there is supposed to be a parent volunteer in the locker room I am often the parent that sits in that room with all the really loud kids. All too often I spend the first half of the week with a headache from the shear noise within the locker room. But it is interesting what some of the discussion points are. We get plenty of the 6-7 memes stated through out. And believe me I understand why adults think it is a sign of brain rot within our society. I get it, but I listen to these kids. They are smarter than we give them credit. Some of the ideas they share are astonishing and if we would simply listen to them for a moment we might see improvement. But what astonishes me the most is how many are thinking theologically. We often say the youth want nothing to do with church, the reality is they do not want anything to do with our perception of what church is, but they are very interested in Christ. There is probably more concern with discipleship among the children today than there was when I was a child. The difference is they are not afraid to ask the questions that challenge our faith.

Paul begins today’s passage, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” This is one of the truest statements ever mentioned in scripture. He goes on to say, “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?”

I want us to stop for a moment. And consider those three questions. Where is the one who is wise, the scribe and the debater? Paul is writing this letter to the church located in Corinth. This is a cosmopolitan city located on an isthmus within Greece. This narrow strip of land became important to commerce, because they could either carry the cargo a short distance across the few miles of land or spend days sailing around the land mass to the west. Most traders felt that the time saved was more beneficial than risk of losing a ship in a storm on sea. The ships are coming in and going out. They unload the cargo and they transport all the goods across the land along with the ship itself and they place it into the sea on the other side. While the ground crews are doing this the traders and sailors are spending their time in the city sharing news, talking about what is going on in the world, and taking in the sights. Since this trade hub of a city has people coming and going it became a center for not only trade but wisdom. Philosophers came to teach, religious orders set up temples to accommodate various beliefs, and those seeking power would often try to gain support. These are the wise, the scribes and the debaters. And the followers of Jewish traditions were among them.

Paul says that the cross of Christ is, “a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

I want us to consider this. To the Jewish people the cross of Christ is a stumbling block. Why? For the Jews they demand signs. Why? Seeing is believing. We give Thomas a bad reputation because he doubted that Jesus rose from the grave, but he was no different than the majority of the people among his culture. They had in their minds that the anointed one would do certain things. That prophecies would be fulfilled, and that the messiah would raise up an army to push back the overlords, and they would usher in Israel’s golden age once again. But they needed to have proof. They did not want to get involved if this messianic figure was not the real thing, because their life depended on it. In their mind the messiah was amazing. His kingdom would have no end. This either meant he would march to Rome and conquer the world, or he was invincible or immortal. The cross of Christ is a stumbling block because as powerful as Jesus was in the world, he died. He died on a cross, an instrument of torture used only against those that challenged and failed to rise up against the empire. The cross of Christ challenged them, it challenged the very core of their belief system, and they needed to see something to prove their minds wrong.

Now the Greeks seek wisdom. What could possibly be wrong with this? The cross of Christ to the wisdom seeking Greek is folly. Its foolish, it is a waste of time. Have you ever consider why they might think this?

I have spoken about various theological perspectives, and although I am probably more aligned with fundamentalism than liberalism on most things, there is something about that tradition that is suspect, something that has moved on into Evangelicalism. It has been part of our tradition as Friends for our entire history to some degree. That concerning part of that theological tradition is self. This concept of self is something that has been incorporated into our faith through Greek thought. It is largely the fault of Apostles like Paul, because he was presenting the Gospel to the Gentiles he would often use their understanding of the world to illustrate theological concepts. And part of the Greek thought process is to make yourself worthy of divine attention. If you look at Stoicism, or Plato they often speak of the body as being corrupt and the spirit pure. And we should focus on making the spirit as pure as can be, and the sign that you gained favor was that you would have blessing in this world. This self centered thinking leads us to make decision on how it benefits me. The cross of Christ is folly to the Greek mind because Jesus taught differently. Jesus taught us to love our enemies, do good to those that persecute you. Fundamentalism often focus on the self, but it twists the self centered teaching to form a hybrid of sorts. I do good for others, so I can have blessing. I will love my enemies so that I will conquer my enemies. I have a personal relationship with God, and as long as I keep that personal relationship in check, God will bless me. I am probably stepping on toes, because that is what we all have been taught. We were taught that everything we need to know is found in the scriptures. Anything outside that will draw me away, will hinder my personal relationship with God. Fundamentalism is like a weird mix between Stoicism and Israel. But who is the scribe, the ones that study scripture thinking that they will find life?

Paul then says that the foolishness of God is wiser than men, the weakness of God is stronger than men.

I want to be a wise person. I like knowing things. I like to think that I could have an intelligent conversation with just about anyone. I am very much a product of Western civilization. But I have come to recognize areas of limitation.

Liberal theology, wanted to make the world a better place. They saw alcoholism as a social ill ruining our society, so they worked to remove it. They saw slavery as a social ill, so they wanted to remove it. They saw that the teaching of Jesus was the ultimate example to be followed, and if we could only live by that example everything would be great. Its funny how liberal theology and fundamentalism can sometimes overlap. The difference is liberal theology is also wisdom based. But they looked toward a different place. They looked at wisdom from our perspective, if we can know more about the world around us we would be closer to God.

Wise, the scribes, and the debaters. This past week in the locker room one kid was talking about the end of days, and the meaning of life. I of course because I am a nerd said that the meaning of life, the universe, and everything is 42. That answer did not amuse them but it did me. So I had to tell them that it was from a book, and that I had a friend that is a math teacher, and she told me that the meaning of 42 is math, because if you assign a number to the letters in math, it adds up to 42. This led me to ask them what math then has to do with life, and I asked what makes 42 in math. Because I am just as immature as a lot of the youth today, the answer of course is 6-7. They laughed at that, but then I asked another question which tied to the initial discussion of the end of days. I asked this one kid, what would happen at the end of days. He said that he knew that everyone would take the mark of the beast and those that did not would not be able to buy or sell, and that only the people sealed with the Spirit would go to heaven.

I asked him what the mark of the beast was. He of course told me, 666. I then asked what the mark of God was? He did not know. I then asked what the mark would be. At this time most of the kids were listening to some degree. And the mark he knew would be on the forehead or hand, but he did not know exactly what it would be. I asked why the hand and the head, why 666.

Six is often seen as a number that represents man, because that was the day mankind was created. And seven represents completion of creation, fullness of creation, or God because the 7^th day we are to rest and focus on God. I then said that the people of Israel were to bind the law to the their fore head and wear the commandments on their hands. And that some took this to be literal and they actually strapped little boxes to their heads to hold scripture and wrapped straps around their arms with the law of God written on them. The mark of the beast was referring to this, its is on our forehead and on our hand, but the number is 666 because what we are thinking about and the actions we do with our hands are focused on ourselves on man. What we can get, how we can get ahead. How we can survive. But God wants his law in our minds, and our activities to reflect his ways. And what is the law of God?

Jesus once answered that question by saying, “love God with all you heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And the second is like the first love neighbor as yourself.” The mark of the beast is 666, love self with all your heart, mind, and strength. Jesus we would assume taught 777, but there is a twist in that. How do we love God, with heart, mind, and strength? That answer is a 6. It is a balance between 6-7.

I present to you the theology of 6-7. you are welcome. It is not brain rot, but it is the law of God. Its a stumbling block to the Jew demanding signs and its folly to the Greek seeking wisdom, because it is not fully focused on man or God. It is not focused on what God can do for me. How my nation can be greater, or great again. It does not care about where we are from or what or degree is. It is a balance between God and man.

That balance is important. It is very important. If we get the balance off just a bit we can be thrown into destruction. The era of history where liberal theology had its greatest strength was shortly before the second world war. And it was also during that time that Fundamentalism was strong. These two theological thoughts came to clash but it happened in a very unfortunate way. The liberal theology wanted to make the world great. And they had they believed science to help them do that. The Fundamentalist side wanted to make the world holy. And one man was able to mix both sides together and make something terrible. We can manipulate words, we can take the best intentions of devout Religious teachers, and make them support terrible things. We can make it sound wise, we can make it sound holy, we can make it sound like it is God’s divine mandate. We can take the seven mountains of society, and make a Christian nation.

I have had people ask me why I do not support certain ideas, why I have posted things that sound one sided. I studied historic theology. I saw how the church and state together ended up. We had that in America, when the north and the south divided over the issue of slavery. We see it in Europe during the Reich. The church becomes divided over what is right based on the wisdom of man. Germany was deep in that debate when a mustached monster came into power, and it crippled them. Liberal Theology could not help, and neither could fundamentalism. Both were crippled because they lacked balance. And out of that fire a different voice started to speak. And that voice said the answer is Jesus now what is your question.

During one of the darkest times of Western history, a new theological branch emerged. A branch that took scripture serious like the fundamentalists, and also encouraged justice toward all humanity. It became known as Trinitarian Incarnational Theology, but at the time it was seen as dangerous. Too liberal to be fundamental and too fundamental to be liberal. No one knew what to do with it. But it was that theology that inspired Bonhoeffer and Karl Barth. It is this theological position that led encouraged Bonhoeffer to write Life Together, and the Cost of Discipleship. They said the answer is Jesus.

And the answer is Jesus, because Jesus is the Word or the Wisdom of God. Jesus is the power of God. But his power is not like the power of the world. His wisdom is not like the wisdom of the world. His commands are 6-7. His prayer is “Our Father, holy is your name, your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Notice something, our father, and Your kingdom. We are together praying, not my father in heaven but a community. In Jesus the incarnate, God with us, he brings us back into community with God, He restores the balance between humanity and God. So that we can live fully in him. No longer separated.

And that is how the first century Christians lived. They lived in community. They shared what they had. They cared for the sick, the widow, and the orphan. Their numbers grew daily as did their persecution. What they taught was a stumbling block, it was folly. And yet they lived. The harder people opposed them the stronger they got. The poorer they got the more they accomplished. Nothing in worldly wisdom applied it did not make sense. But the answer is Jesus.

How should we look at our current situation? The answer for those in Christ is only Jesus. What does Jesus call us to do, what is his teaching? Love God with your all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. But who then is our neighbor the scribes asked Jesus. This is where Jesus gave the parable of the Good Samaritan, and he asks who was a neighbor to the one suffering? And that is the answer. That was the answer given to Adam and Eve, the answer given to Israel, and given to the disciples. Go into the world loving God and loving your neighbor. Or as we saying, become a people Loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit, and Living the love of Christ with Others.

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God Will Sustain You

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

January 18, 2026

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Click to read in Swahili

Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili

1 Corinthians 1:1–9 (ESV)

¹ Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, ² To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: ³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵ that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— ⁶ even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— ⁷ so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸ who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

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What is our purpose? Why are we here?

These questions often ring in my mind, and I am sure they ring in yours also at times. All too often our existence seems to get placed under the weight of the world, and we begin to question what the point really is. This is why the first query of our faith and practices asks, “Do you earnestly seek to maintain a life in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you practice the daily reading of the Scriptures in your families, giving time for waiting upon the Lord? Are you watchful not to be unduly absorbed by temporal affairs? Are you careful to avoid places and activities inconsistent with a Christian character”

I get unduly absorbed. I have admitted on many occasions that I am a news addict. This began when I was in Junior High School and it has persisted throughout my life. I grew up on the farm, and when you work on a farm you spend a lot of long hours alone in a tractor or working in a pasture. In the days before smart phones and wireless internet, before unlimited access to YouTube, all you had to bring entertainment while working was the radio. But the radio gets monotonous. I got to the point I could tell the time based on which song was playing on the radio because they would play the same playlist over and over every single day, I could quote the ads word for word in the voice of the reader, and I could basically tell the joke the DJ would say after a song before the DJ said it. I grew to despise our radio stations, and if you play Ace of Bass around me I might turn into the Incredible Hulk. We had very few options in the middle of nowhere though. I could tune in maybe three stations, one played country, one played pop, and the other was the public broadcaster that often played classical music.

What does someone in my position do? Well you flip the radio to the AM setting and see what you can find. I grew to love hockey because I would often hear a hockey game playing on a random AM station, sometimes I could get Chicago, often St Louis, but usually Dallas Stars. But during the day, there was news radio. I loved the news radio stations because at least it was not the same thing every single day. It was funny, interesting, informative, and it kept drawing you back each day because what if you would miss something important.

As I became an adult, my jobs would often lend themselves to similar themes. I worked in lawn care, going around treating lawns and making them look exceptional, again alone in a truck listening to the radio. I worked in landscaping, and since I had chemical application licensing I often found myself working alone in a truck. I found that as I continued to do this, I was getting angrier and angrier about things. And often I was only getting one side of the issue because I was only listening to one station. And rarely did I question things.

Then the call to ministry began to take hold of my attention. I switched the channel away from the news, or more accurately commentary on the news, and I began to listen to Christian radio more. At first I would listen to the music channel but quickly found that the music channel played the same playlist like every music station, so I began to listen to sermons and Christian oriented news. I eventually became a pastor and I continued this practice, and I found myself back in the same cycle. I was getting absorbed into the news once again. But this time I was hearing the news in contrast with scripture, and I was listening to the news alongside sermons. And I found myself in a dilemma. What I was hearing said in scripture and what I was hearing in the sermons and on the news often did not synchronize. I was being told to believe certain things in the sermons but the scriptures they were using were often taken out of context and in many cases the meaning was being twisted.

I listened to these teachers, these news broadcasters, these leaders I once respected say one thing and then over the course of years, when their party was in power they said the opposite. That is when I realized I had a problem. I was in the process of what is now called deconstruction. The faith I thought I had, the faith I thought I was taught, and the faith I was currently listening to was not meshing with the words I was reading in scripture and the experience I was observing in life.

What was I to do? I was a pastor. A leader within the church? Do I leave, or was there something to stay for?

I do not have all the answers. I am not the type of person that will try to debate with you and convince you that I am right, but I do have a tendency to argue. I am a news junkie, and I am a nerd so I read a lot. And at times I am like a pressure cooker and the valve just has to let out some steam. But as I went about my personal deconstruction I asked questions. What is the point? Why are we here? What is our purpose? This lead me to places I never imagined. Because I began to listen to some of the questions that people asked not to find an answer to win an argument, but instead I began to weigh the question with contemplation and prayer. The big culture war questions, proof of scripture questions, theology questions. I used them as places to pray instead of debate.

Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and in the beginning of his letter he says some powerful things. He introduces his letter as he usually does, “Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our bother Sosthenes. (sOs thAEnAEs)” If you look at most of Paul’s writings, he writes the letter in community. He usually is writing with someone else, in conversation with them. In this case he is conversing with Sosthenes. We do not know a great deal about this man. When I looked him up in my study, all I found was that he wass possibly the synagogue ruler that was beaten by Gentiles in Corinth, which can be found in Acts 18. Unfortunately that is all we can say, it might be that man. That is the problem with most scholarly activities. We cannot prove much of anything for certain, with any degree of accuracy.

That is the weakness of the discipline of Apologetics. What can we prove about faith? We just went through the season of Christmas where we celebrate the birth of Jesus. The problem is we cannot prove Jesus was born. I know the gasp you might have. We cannot prove it because we do not have multiple sources apart from scripture. Jesus does not have a birth certificate that we can find in the archives of Bethlehem. But we can provide greater proof that Jesus died. We can prove someone died but cannot prove they were born makes little sense I know. That is the limitations we face. But there is something more. We have community. Paul is writing with Sosthenes. If they questioned Paul, they could ask Sosthenes, and if they questioned them both, well Paul has a long list of others that he is also writing with in his other letters. There is a community of people living together, and they are saying similar thing. People can be wrong, but within a group, as you listen to multiple stories you can usually determine if this is or is not something that is believed to be true.

That is why I do not discredit tradition. I know that there are times where tradition and mythology can be fantasy but often there is truth within the story that is more important than facts. Did St Francis really preach to the animals? Who know but what is the truth? Compassion and empathy. Francis loved creation so much that he shared the gospel even to the birds.

Paul does not limit his community to merely Sosthenes. He is writing, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

We often overlook these greetings, at least I do. I find them to be a bit flamboyant, and although I do not use plain speech as many of my ancestors did, I use simple speech. And Paul is wordy. But in this greeting he is telling us that this letter does not only apply to the people of Corinth it is for everyone that is called to be saints with all those who in every place call upon the name of Jesus. He is their Lord and ours.

God is for all people. This was what I hope we got out of last week’s message. God is and has always been for all people. Yet he chose to reveal his wisdom through one group or nation. It was through that group that God would give his teachings or his commandments, and it was ultimately through that group he would come in the flesh to live among mankind. Does this mean that the people of Israel are saved through their heritage? No, they like everyone else must become saints along with everyone else. We all must believe and call upon the name of the Lord.

This was part of my struggle with faith. I heard a lot of sermons that called groups of people the spawn of Satan. I heard a lot of political commentary saying that one side of the other was anti-Christ. I heard a lot, and then I knew people too. I knew people that were among the despised group that had greater faith than I did. And I wondered how this could be. Just so you know preachers on AM radio can be very interesting, in an off the wall sort of way.

“To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.” We need to accept them at their word. We need to recognize that although we might be in very different places, if they claim Christ they are together with us. We are the church.

This means something. It means that although I struggle with many people, I need to remember that they also are loved by God. They too are children of the same Lord. And if they are of the same Lord we need to listen to them.

This is tricky. I mentioned that I listened to a lot of different voices. I heard many sermons on that AM radio. Many of the things said were twisted to such a degree it is hard to believe we worship the same God. And that is the point Paul is making. We need to listen before we speak, and offer grace and peace. The same grace and peace our Lord offers us, because I might be the one that is mistaken.

Paul continues by saying. “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge.”

Does this mean that I know everything? Nope. Does it mean you know everything? Again no. What does he mean? God gives us grace, and when we come together in mutual care, when we come together in humility and submission to each other and with God, God will grant us wisdom and knowledge for what is needed in that moment. This is the point of the Quaker Meeting for Business. We do not vote in our sessions of business, instead we wait for the Spirit of God to move us to a solution. It can be a slow process. It can be a drawn out process, and at times it seems pointless. But I have watched it work.

I have sat on various boards and participated in countless committee meetings, I have listened to many passionate people, and there are many times where those passionate words are listened to, and later we find that by listening to those words, we are in a worse position than we were previously. There there are times where those passionate voices were quieted by a lone voice that asked a question no one was considering. Because that question was asked, the meeting had an obligation to reconsider, to still their voices and to seek a different path forward.

When we come together without the power structures of this world, and come instead as a community of equals. When we submit to each other and seek what benefits the entire community instead of what is right from our perspective. It is in that moment we are able to hear the wisdom. It is in that place where we can be enriched with the light of God. It is in that moment we are able to use the gifts we already have available to us to accomplish the things we once thought were beyond reason.

There is a vulnerability in that manner of thinking. There are times where we must step back. There are times where we have to admit that my position is lacking. There are times where we must concede and compromise. And in our cultural understanding that is scary. It is scary because we are approaching things as individuals or a dominate majority, instead of a community. It is scary because we are required to give the person we might not agree with the same dignity as we would those on our side. But there is a promise within that process.

“As you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

As you wait revelation comes. But from what do we test this revelation? We test it against what we already know. This is why the Query begins with, “Do you earnestly seek to maintain a life in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you practice the daily reading of the Scriptures with you families, giving time for waiting upon the Lord?” We are to sit with scripture, read the words within the pages of the book, and as we read those sacred words we are to let them flow deep within us. And as those words flow through us, we begin to ask the questions we are wrestling with at this moment. We do this as individuals, as families, and as a Meeting. We let the wisdom of scripture flow, and guide us through the questions that cause us to pause.

And we then look at the world around us. How is the fullness of our fellowship with Christ, and our contemplation of Scripture leading us to interact with the world around us?

I would like to use just a simple example. We all realize that our Meeting is multilingual. Several years ago that could have presented a problem. It is not that we do not love and respect all people, it is that we were not prepared as a meeting. What were we supposed to do? What does the wisdom of God tell us to do?

I am happy to say, that this was not a very difficult problem. Even though many among us are just as opinionated as I, when it comes down to the people with us we are of one spirit. We love the ones that God brings to us, and we do all we can to encourage them in their faith. Our diversity of saints makes this Meeting, it makes us recognize the fullness of the Gospel. It allows us to appreciate the vastness of God’s grace all the more. We would not be who we are without everyone here, because we are a community with each other. And the grace of God will sustain us through our trials, if we are willing to wait for his revealing and listen to his Spirit speak through our own souls and those around us.

That is wonderful. It is amazing. But how does this help us everywhere else?

How do I encourage the faith of a friend? How do I handle the illness of a loved one? How do I deal with the doubts I have within my own life? What do I do when I question the very existence of God?

Where is our focus? Are we focused on the problem, are we being unduly absorbed in the problem to the point we are distracted from all else? That is why I confess this morning. I am unduly absorbed at times. I argue on facebook, when I should be sleeping, praying, reading or doing something productive. I will listen to the news because I want to know what is going on in the world. I am concerned with what is happening in Ukraine. I am concerned with what is happening to our northern neighbors. I am concerned with what happens in South America, and in Africa. I am concerned. But often that concern distracts me from the reality that we are here now at this time and place for a purpose. God is calling us to participate in his kingdom right here and for all eternity. Am I willing to submit? Am I willing to lay myself aside and give what I have mind, body, soul and spirit to the God that loves me and the community of saints together here and in every place?

I can become distracted. I am distracted. But God will sustain us. He will provide a way forward if we will only wait on him. And he will show us how to offer Grace and peace to those around us just as He have offered it to us in our Lord Jesus Christ.

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