Foolish Stumbling Or Wisdom From God? Series

Corinthians Series (Part Two)

Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

OPEN WITH PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING

We are going to continue on with our series in 1st Corinthians today. If you remember from last time, we looked at Paul’s introduction to the letter, and we looked a little bit at the historical background of the city, and Paul being sent there by God. We talked about how the church got started there through the preaching of the Gospel, and about how all of us who are believers have been called saints BY God, and called into fellowship with Jesus Christ our Lord.

So today, let’s go ahead and open up our Bibles to 1 Corinthians 1:18-31and if you would, follow along with me as I read through that passage. (READ).

Paul begins this section by saying, “The Word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing.” In the original Greek it says, “For the ‘Logos’ of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” And “Logos” means more than just simply “the word”, or “the message”. It has to do with the Word of God, the Logic of God, the concepts, the precepts, the reasoning… So we might say, “God’s reasoning for the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” Some Bibles translate it as “The Message of the Cross”, and I think that’s a pretty good translation, because that encompasses much more… or at least I think it helps us see it more clearly. The reason God sent Jesus to die on the cross… the reason the cross brings about our forgiveness and reconciliation, what the cross accomplished for us, all of those things are intended when Paul writes, “The Logos of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.”

Now Paul goes on and says, “But for those of us who are being saved, it’s the power of God.” So for us as Christians… we see the reason for the cross, we understand what Jesus has accomplished for us by dying on the cross… but for the perishing, it seems foolish. It doesn’t fit with worldly wisdom. And I’ll try to explain that a little more when we get down to verse 22, but before that, let’s look at those verses in between. Verse 19 – “For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’ 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?” Now let me stop there… Paul is calling folks out!

Remember; Paul is in Greece. He’s just come from Athens, the ancient worlds center for philosophical thought. The birthplace of philosophy. And he’s basically saying, “Listen, there’s a lot of worldly minded folks out there who think they’ve got it all figured out. They think they are wise.

I have met over the course of my lifetime, numerous people with amazing educational credentials. Ph.D.’s and Th.D.’s, people who were very educated, and at the same time, some of those Ph.D.’s and unfortunately a couple of those Th.D.’s were fools according to Scripture.

We went over that the other night – Psalm 14:1 – The fool says in his heart there is no God. And so education alone isn’t enough. I’m not against education, but it can’t change your heart. If you educate an un-repentant sinner, all you’re doing is creating a more clever sinner, some of the most educated people in the world are lost. That’s why verse 21 says, “The world did not know God through wisdom.”

The world CAN NOT know God through wisdom. Faith comes by hearing, and the hearing that produces faith comes as God speaks to you through the preaching of His Word. That’s in essence what Paul is saying here in verses 20 and 21. And then he expounds a little more on it as well… look at verse 22, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom…”

In today’s language we might even say, “Charismatics seek signs and traditionalists seek wisdom.” Verse 23 – “BUT WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.” Of course it’s a stumbling block to Jews… most Jewish people of the time, believed that their Messiah would come and throw off the yoke of Roman rule. They believed all the Messianic prophecies concerning a triumphant king, a king who would rule and reign and be victorious… and they tended to ignore all the prophecies about the Messiah being a suffering servant, and humble and who would be crucified. Just like today, they would pick and choose what Scriptures they wanted to believe and hold fast to, and they interpreted the Scripture based on what they wanted to happen rather than based on what Scripture actually said. And to the Greeks, the whole thing seems folly… it didn’t fit their “wisdom”… How does one be a Savior, when that Savior dies a criminal’s death? Doesn’t make any sense to them.