Introduction:
A. I love the story of the two men were digging a ditch on a very hot day.
1. One said to the other, “Why are we down in this hole digging a ditch when our boss is standing up there in the shade of a tree?”
2. “I don’t know,” responded the other. “I’ll ask him.”
3. So he climbed out of the hole and went to his boss. “Why are we digging in the hot sun and you’re standing in the shade?”
4. “Intelligence,” the boss said. “What do you mean, ‘intelligence’? Asked the worker.”
5. The boss said, “Well, I’ll show you. I’ll put my hand on this tree and I want you to hit it with your fist as hard as you can.”
6. The ditch digger took a mighty swing and tried to hit the boss’ hand. The boss removed his hand and the ditch digger hit the tree.
7. The boss said, “That’s intelligence!”
8. The ditch digger went back to his hole. His friend asked, “What did he say?”
9. “He said we are down here because of intelligence.” “What’s intelligence?” said the friend.
10. The ditch digger put his hand on his face and said, “Take your shovel and hit my hand.”
11. Some of us are smarter than others – and some of us take too much pride in our smarts.
B. The origin of much of the division in the church over the years has been pride in people and their knowledge and accomplishments.
1. That’s what was going on in the church in Corinth.
2. Different people in the church were proud of certain preachers, and they boasted of certain spiritual gifts they had – the result was division.
3. As the apostle Paul tried to deal with that situation, he pointed to the ultimate remedy for division that is rooted in pride – it is the proper appreciation for the Cross.
4. Preaching a crucified Christ does not minister to pride, arrogance and division.
5. It demolishes them all and binds us together in humble submission to the One who humbled himself and suffered for us all.
C. There is nothing about the message of the Cross of Christ that can be constituted as a ministry to pride.
1. In the eyes of the world, the gospel message is foolishness and the church is despised.
2. Paul presents these facts as a rebuke to the arrogance that was creating divisions at Corinth.
3. Let’s take a look at Paul’s arguments and see how the truths he presents should impact our lives and our ministry here at Wetzel Road.
I. The Divine “Foolishness” of God
A. Look with me again at verses 18-25, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’ Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”
B. God did not send a Savior in the way we humans were and are expecting.
1. The Jews had wanted a spectacular display of power – for they wanted a Messiah who would restore them to the glory days of David and Solomon.
2. The Greeks wanted philosophical speculation in the tradition of Plato or Aristotle – for they believed salvation would come to people through knowledge and special insights.
3. Neither the Jewish nor the Greek expectation had any place for a lowly man whose career ended with a horrible death which was reserved for the worst of criminals.
C. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (vs. 18)
1. The message of the Cross was not a popular one in Paul’s day, and it is not a popular one in our day.
2. Our culture wants a gospel that will make us wealthy, brilliant, beautiful and powerful – so we are not very different from the people of Paul’s day.
3. The Cross is scandalous. And it must have stunned Jesus’ listeners when He said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”(Lk. 9)
4. In the first century, the cross was far from that beautiful gold ornament that adorns many a contemporary neck.
5. It was the symbol of crucifixion - crucifixion was the humiliating, horrific death reserved for criminals.
D. But God, in His wisdom, has chosen the Cross of Christ to be the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1. God turns everything upside down in every way.
2. God turns upside down our human understanding of wisdom and power.
3. Paul grabbed a quote from Isaiah 29, saying, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” (vs. 19)
4. We can understand the full force of Paul’s argument when we note the wider context from which that OT quotation comes.
5. Israel had been surrounded by the Assyrians.
6. Human wisdom said, “Get help from the Egyptians to defeat the Assyrians.”
7. So God rebuked them for articulating a loyalty to God, while in reality, they put their confidence in human wisdom and strength.
8. The Corinthians had done the same.
E. Human wisdom can’t bring our salvation – it takes God’s wisdom.
1. Human power can’t defeat our enemies – it takes God’s power.
2. God does business in a different way than we humans do business.
F. Now let me make one point clear – Paul is not putting down education as a whole.
1. Christianity is not anti-intellectual.
2. God has given us brains, and we are supposed to use them.
3. We don’t have to park our brains at the door to be a Christian.
4. Praise God for brilliant scientists, philosophers and historians who have served God with their knowledge and intelligence.
5. So there is nothing wrong with increasing our education and using our intelligence, but we must realize that no amount of human knowledge and intelligence can bring us into a saving relationship with God.
G. There is no human accomplishment in the gospel.
1. The message of the Cross is a message of grace to sinful humanity.
2. The message of the Cross is that we are lost and we cannot save ourselves.
3. But God has acted on our behalf and has provided salvation through Jesus Christ.
4. Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice of himself as the Lamb of God on the Cross takes away our sin.
5. We are, therefore, saved by grace through faith, not by works, so that no one can boast. (Eph. 2:8).
H. But this message of the Cross – this message of a crucified Christ – is often considered foolishness and a stumbling block for many.
1. Many people, both then and now, are offended by the Cross.
2. They view the blood atonement as a primitive, barbaric concept.
3. They are too sophisticated for it.
4. And so ours is the age of user-friendly, seeker-sensitive services.
5. Many preachers do not proclaim the message of the Cross.
6. They don’t talk about human sin and personal responsibility for evil thoughts, words or actions.
7. Rather, they focus on positive and possibility thinking.
8. Christianity just becomes a slickly packaged scheme for living a better life.
9. Tragically, any attempt to make the gospel palatable by bringing it into line with the tastes of those to whom it is preached distorts it and empties it of its power.
I. For this reason, we must, like Paul, continue to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
1. We must not be ashamed of the gospel – for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. (Rom. 1:16)
2. We must preach the message of the Cross because it is the power of God and wisdom of God.
3. “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” (vs. 25) God is so much greater than we, in every way!
II. The “Despised” Church of God
A. As surely as the Cross is a source of humility rather than pride, so does membership in the church fail to minister to human pride.
1. Look at verses 26-29, “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”
B. What are the criteria necessary to get into the best fraternities and sororities, the finest clubs and the most sophisticated organizations of society?
1. Intelligence? Surely. What is your grade-point average? What did you get on your SAT or GRE? What is your IQ? What degrees have you earned?
2. Power? It helps to be powerful, doesn’t it? Money is power. The rewards go to the strong.
3. Family status? It often helps to be of noble birth. To be born into a good “legacy.” To be from “good stock.”
4. These are the people who are the rich and the famous.
5. They get written about in People Magazine or Vanity Fair. They are featured on Entertainment Tonight.
6. They are the smartest, most powerful, the richest, the ones with the right connections.
7. Are they the ones that are likely to be found in most churches? I don’t think so.
C. Paul reminds the Corinthians that the church at Corinth had few wise, mighty, or noble people.
1. He reminds them that most of them were common people.
2. Before their conversions, many of them had been thieves, harlots, and alcoholics.
3. Therefore, there was nothing about the church to justify the divisions they were fostering.
4. And even if they had been “something” in the world, that doesn’t make them “something” in the church.
5. There is no room in the church for pride and boasting.
D. One insult hurled at the church from the earliest days of her existence has been the rag-tag nature of her membership.
1. Celsus was a bitter second-century opponent of Christianity.
2. In his work called True Discourse, he attacked Jesus as the illegitimate son of a poor woman, and Christianity as the religion of vulgar and ignorant people.
3. Origen quoted Celsus in his work, Against Celsus, “Their commandments are like this. ‘Let no one educated, no one wise, no one sensible draw near. For these abilities are thought by us to be evils. But as for anyone ignorant, anyone stupid, anyone uneducated, anyone who is a child, let him come boldly.’ By the fact that they themselves admit that these people are worthy of their god, they show that they want and are able to convince only the foolish, dishonorable and stupid, and only slaves, women, and little children.” (3.44.)
4. To Celsus, Christianity’s appeal to the lower classes was proof of its falsehood.
5. To Paul, it’s appeal to the outcasts and dregs of society demonstrated God’s love and God’s wisdom.
6. God’s wisdom turns upside down our human understandings of wisdom and power.
E. God did not call Caesar or persons of rank to represent the gospel in the world; instead, he called a motley crew of freedmen, trades-people and slaves – along with a few people of higher standing.
1. The mixed socioeconomic status of the church was one of the most striking features of the early church.
2. And it should be a distinctive feature of the church today as well.
3. God is pleased when His people love and value each other equally, regardless of race, education, or economic status.
4. That’s something I hope we are putting into practice here at Wetzel Road.
5. I hope we are becoming color-blind. Nationality-blind. Economic-blind. Beauty-blind. Even gender-blind.
6. As God’s people we must love and value all people – that’s certainly a lesson Paul addresses in chapter 12.
F. Rich or poor, educated or uneducated, popular or unpopular, our pride must not be in ourselves – it must be in the Lord.
1. The clincher of Paul’s argument is found in Paul’s second Scripture quotation, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” (vs. 31) This is a quote from Jeremiah 9.
3. Look with me at the context of the quote, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD.” (9:23-24)
4. The wealthy and pseudo-sophisticated, the powerful and the talented may feel sufficient reason to take pride in themselves, but the humble and penitent seek their sufficiency in Christ.
5. Christians must see Jesus as their only hope and refuse to boast in themselves.
6. Our boast is in Him alone!
Conclusion:
A. What lessons can we learn from today’s Scripture section?
B. First, We learn that we must preach the Cross.
1. The Cross is the wisdom of God and power of God.
2. We must trust that God knows what He is doing.
3. God knows best how to draw and save people of all kinds in every generation.
4. We cannot improve God’s message in any way, we must simply trust in it and proclaim it.
C. Second, We learn that our value and our boast is in the Lord.
1. Some people think too highly of themselves, and others think too lowly.
2. God wants us to think rightly.
3. To think rightly means that we understand our value and worth in Christ.
4. Paul wrote in verse 30 that “Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”
5. Our worth and value are not found in our own personal righteousness, nor our accomplishments, but are found in Christ.
6. Your struggle in life may be accepting the gift of righteousness, holiness and redemption from God, because you don’t think you deserve it.
7. Others, like myself, may struggle to accept it as a gift, rather than seeing it as something to earn or deserve, and therefore become prideful.
8. For many years in my walk with Christ, I cruised along in immaturity and pride.
a. In my heart I boasted of my abilities, my value to the kingdom, my many good works.
b. In my heart, I would compare myself with others (of course, always comparing my strengths with their weaknesses).
c. All this lead to such foolishness and pride.
d. Thankfully, God helped me see just how sinful and destructive was my pride.
e. God helped me to think more rightly about myself and about others.
9. God wants all of us to humble ourselves and depend on Him.
10. God wants us to die to ourselves and put away sinful pride, or at the other extreme sinful self-hatred.
11. God wants us to receive His love and grace and to cling to the Cross.
D. Perhaps a good place to conclude is with the words to the powerful hymn by Isaac Watts:
“When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ, my Lord;
All the vain things that charm me most
I sacrifice them to His blood.
Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, me life, my all.”
E. The Cross is the basis for our salvation, our humility, and our unity.
1. Let us glory in the Cross.
2. Let us be devoted to the Cross.
3. Let us take up our cross and follow Jesus.
Resources:
The (Im)Perfect Church (Studies in 1 Corinthians), Rubel Shelly, 21st Century Christian, 1983.
First Corinthians (Interpretation – A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching), Richard Hays, John Knox Press, 1997.
1 Corinthians (The NIV Application Commentary), Craig L. Blomberg, Zondervan, 1994.
1 Corinthians (Bible Study Guide), Charles R. Swindoll, Insight For Living, 1977.
“You Can Have Authentic Wisdom and Godly Power,” by John Huffman, Jr. Sermon, October 2, 2005
