"The Wisdom of the World" -- I Cor. 1:18-20
Luke 23:39-43 (NIV) 39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." 42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. 43 Jesus answered him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise."
Now, according to that passage, would you say that the thief who asked Jesus to remember him is in Heaven today? Would you say that thief said or did something while he was on the cross that got him to Heaven? Yes? Then what was it? It's not a trick question. What did the man say that got him to Heaven? "Remember me when you come into your kingdom."
Would you say that what that man said is enough to get anybody into Heaven or was that just for that man? It's enough for anybody, right? By what he said to the other thief, we know that the man knew he was a sinner. He admitted, "We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve." And by saying, "remember me when you come into your kingdom" he was believing that Jesus was dying for him personally and he was confessing that Jesus is God.
Do you know that he was saying the A,B,C's of salvation? He admitted he was a sinner, believed Jesus died for Him and he confessed it. ABC, admit, believe, confess. It's that easy, isn't it? Well, I'm here to say this morning that that is not fair. That's too easy for this guy. How is it fair that this thief, who is getting what he admittedly deserves, is able to say one sentence and gain all of Heaven when it cost Jesus everything?
Jesus is beaten and abused and tortured after living 33 perfect years and all this scumbag has to do is say one sentence after he has lived a life of crime and all is forgiven and he is now walking the streets of gold?! I can tell you that if I were God it would be different. If I were God it wouldn't be that easy. You would have to do something to earn it. You would have to prove yourself worthy, at least a little bit. That just makes sense, right? No free lunch. You gotta work to get something, all that stuff. Jesus dying on the cross for my sins and paying the price I deserve to pay is just too hard to believe. Surely there has to be more.
A leading manufacturing company developed a new cake mix that required only water to be added. Tests were run, surveys were made, and the mix was found to be of superior quality to the other mixes available. It tasted good, it was easy to use and it made a moist, tender cake. The company spent large sums of money on an advertising campaign and then released the cake mix to the general market. But few people bought the new cake mix.
The company then spent more money on a survey to find out why the cake mix didn't sell. Based on the results of this survey, the company recalled the mix, reworked the formula, and released the revised cake mix. The new cake mix required that one add not only water, but one egg. It sold like hot cakes and is now a leading product in the field. You see, the first cake mix was just too simple to be believable. People would not accept it. The same is true of salvation by grace. (Illustrations for Biblical Teaching; Green)
But the Bible tells us that it really is just that simple. It's not just from this example in Luke about the thief on the cross. Paul wrote the whole book of Galatians to basically say just that. But he could have written 10 more books about salvation by grace and people still would not have believed him because it's just too simple. Ironically, it is the wisdom of people that keep them from believing. And that is what our passage in 1 Corinthians is talking about this morning.
This was just one of the many problems in Corinth back then and Paul wrote 1 and 2 Corinthians to try to address some of the problems in that church. Corinth, Greece was a multicultural city of both Romans and Greeks plus every other nationality that might be passing through this great crossroads of culture and enterprise. And because it was so multicultural, every culture brought their own beliefs and it was a problem in the church.
Let's read what Paul tells them in 1 Corinthians 1:18-20.
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. 19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." 20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
A leading economic expert, Professor Irving Fisher of Yale University, had this to say about the bright future of the stock market and the American economy: "Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." His statement was spoken in early October 1929, just a couple of weeks before the stock market crash that ushered in the Great Depression. (Illustrations for Biblical Preaching; Green)
That's a somewhat humorous look at man's wisdom but let me give you another, more somber illustration of man's wisdom. Think about all the laws and rules and regulations for transporting babies and young children in a car. You can get a heavy fine, and rightfully so, for not having your baby in a car seat. There are regulations stating how big the child must be, how the seat is positioned, which way the seat is turned, all to protect a baby. Car manufacturers make special air bags and even special seats for carrying your newborn home from the hospital.
And yet, in some instances, if you don't want that baby, or if it is too inconvenient to have that baby all you have to do is go to an abortion clinic and you can have, what they call "the fetus terminated". That sounds a lot better than "murdering the baby". But that is man's wisdom. Outside the womb, it's a baby that has laws to protect it. Inside the womb, it's a mass of protoplasm that is expendable.
But Paul, here, is specifically talking about the wisdom of the cross; the wisdom that God had to provide a way to Heaven and fellowship with Him by way of His Son's death on that cross. He says it is foolishness to those who are perishing. To those who are using their own wisdom, it makes no sense. It's crazy to think that God would send His own Son to earth to live a perfect life and then die on a cruel cross to provide the only way for man to be able to know God.
I have said before that Christianity is the only religion where God comes down to man and shows him grace. And that every other religion came about basically by some guy sitting under a tree somewhere trying to use his own wisdom to think about how a man can know God and so he comes up with Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Rastafarianism or Scientology. And if the guy is really smart he figures out a way to make some money off the deal. But whatever it is, it always involves man doing something to earn his way to Heaven or whatever they decide to call it.
Man has a hard time believing that God, the Creator of the universe, would just give away all the riches of Heaven to anyone who admits, believes and confesses. That surely must be too simple. And while it is simple, I propose that it is not always easy. And while it can be done in just a sentence or two, as we saw with the thief on the cross, those sentences pack a lot of weight so I want to look closer at what it means to admit, believe and confess.
If this is the wisdom of God and it is the only way to Heaven then we better know what it means. We better understand "the message of the cross" as Paul says. This is the first of 5 messages on the message of the cross and the wisdom that is available to understand it. And for this first one, I want to start by looking at what it means to admit to being a sinner.
Romans 3:23 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". And almost everybody would admit to that much. The problem comes when you talk about what that sin is and what it really means to admit to it.
I have a friend with a grown son who posted something on Facebook the other day. It was extremely well-written and well-thought out but it broke my heart to read why this young man will never go to church again. That's what he says. He will never go to church again because people in church are too judgmental. He doesn't want people telling him how to live his life. And he doesn't want people imposing their beliefs on him.
I can understand how he would have a problem with church. I hear people saying all the time that Christians are too judgmental and I am sure that there is that problem in a lot of places. Matthew 7: 1 says not to judge, lest you be judged but what it means is don't condemn. We all know that is God's job to condemn a person and I'm sure some people do condemn others for doing wrong and we shouldn't do that.
But God gives His children discernment to be able to identify sin. That's not judgment. That's a big part of the job of the Holy Spirit in our lives, to help us be able to know what pleases God and what displeases God. Now, obviously we are not to go around making it our mission in life to point out every sin in every person we meet. But it is a part of our job to be able to identify sin and to be able to call it what it really is.
John 7:24 says, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." The Pope said this past week that it's not his job to judge homosexual priests. Well, I say somebody better! If he doesn't do it then it will become so commonplace that you won't be able to tell the church from the world. We have to be able to stand up at the right time and place and lovingly and with broken hearts and without pride, call sin "sin". And that's not always easy.
You can call it an alternative lifestyle or a choice you have made or just a small problem you have or an oopsie-boo boo, but God calls it sin and so should we. In fact, if we fail to stand up at the right time and place and call it sin, then we sin because we have not judged with righteous judgment. And it should cause you some sort of pain or at least uncomfortableness when you judge because righteousness will never be comfortable. There is too much here for one sermon. I gotta move on.
Now, there is another aspect of admitting that we are sinners. When the thief on the cross asked Jesus to remember him when Jesus came into His Kingdom, he was admitting that he was a sinner but he was also doing something else that was vital to the process. And it is something that people don't like to hear about much anymore. Almost everybody can admit they are a sinner but nobody likes to repent of that sin.
Yes, I said it. I said the "R" word. Repentance is not something talked about much even in church anymore. The megapastors have figured out that if you talk about love and joy and peace all the time then people will come. But if you talk about repentance it may start to put a crimp on your building program. I think that the reason nobody likes to repent is that there is no pride when truly repent.
When you come to God and agree with Him that you have offended Him with your actions and that you are sorry and you don't want to do it again and you need His forgiveness there is no way you can be proud. And pride is the root of all sin. It was the root of Satan's fall in the beginning and it is what keeps him going and trying to kill us every day. Pride is what makes a man say, "Oh, sure I'm a sinner. Everybody is a sinner. But there is no way I am going to admit that my way of life is wrong and admit that the Bible is right."
Repentance is letting go of all pride and all selfishness and admitting that you are wrong and turning away from that sin to go in the direction God wants for you. And without repentance there is no forgiveness. And without forgiveness, there is no relationship with God and there is no Heaven for that person. And that's not easy to do and it's not easy to hear and it's not easy to preach.
It pains me as a pastor and as a friend to tell a person that they need to repent. There is no easy way to say it. Chances are good that the person won't take it well. But it is my responsibility and it is your responsibility to tell me or anybody else about the consequences of unrepentance. Amos didn't proclaim to the nation of Israel that they should try harder. John the Baptist wasn't a voice crying out in the wilderness that people are ok and that he is ok. And Jesus didn't preach that meditation was the key to Heaven. Every one of those and so many others all through the Bible preached very simple, but not easy messages to what? Repent!
So, we see that the act of admitting, the A in the A,B,C's of salvation, involves calling sin "sin" and also repenting of that sin. Now, let's look at the B and talk about believing that Jesus died for us. It's funny to me that people who don't know a lick about the Bible are able to quote John 3:16. Everybody knows it. When somebody holds up a sign in the end zone that says John 3:16, nobody says, "What's that mean?"
It says, "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." I think I quote it from the King James because that's how I learned it as a kid. But that word believes is in there and most people don't pay a whole lot of attention to it but it's obviously an important word.
It means to put your faith and trust in something or someone. It's a word that requires action. Without action, your belief is just a head knowledge that is untested. If you say you have faith and trust in something but you never prove it or your actions never show it then you can't really say you believe. James says that faith without works is dead.
A minister was talking to a professing Christian and asked him if he was active in his local church. The man responded, "No, but the dying thief wasn't active in a church and he was accepted." The minister then asked if he had been baptized. The man said, "No, but the dying thief was not baptized and he was accepted." The minister then asked if he ever took the Lord's Supper and he got the same answer. "No, but neither did the dying thief and Christ still accepted him." The minister then commented, "The only difference between you and the dying thief is that he was dying in his belief and you are dead in yours."
When you believe that Jesus died for your sins, it is not just a belief between you and God. The ramifications of that belief change every aspect of you right then and continue to change you the rest of your life. The proof of that belief is a life that is changed and is not satisfied until everybody else believes and is changed as well. It's not about forcing your beliefs on other people as my friend was saying on Facebook. It's about having a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ that you want others to have because of the wonderful ways it has changed you.
Yes, some of those changes have been difficult. As I said, it is simple but not always easy. It is simple to admit. It is simple to believe. And it is simple to confess. None of it is always easy, but it is simple. Let's close with a quick look at what it means to confess.
Romans 10:9 says, "If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." That word "confess" means to declare openly and freely that you are guilty as charged. You confess that you are a sinner and you confess because you have a deep conviction that Jesus is not only the way to heaven but that He is Lord of your life. And you want everybody, including and especially God to know it.
We have all heard the saying that confession is good for the soul but did you know that it is good for the body as well? Research shows that confessing that you are overweight helps you to take off those extra pounds. Confessing that you have a bad habit helps you to break that habit. And not only is it good for the soul and the body, confession is also good for the mind as it brings peace and joy.
Numbers 32 says, "you may be sure that your sin will find you out." You might as well confess it now while you have the chance. It's not easy, but it is simple. Take it from the thief on the cross. It's not easy to admit that you are a sinner. It's not easy to believe that Jesus died in our place. And it's not always easy to confess. But it is simple. And I would love to pray with you right now and give you the opportunity to do that.
