Sermon Brief
Date Written: February 7, 2014
Date Preached: February 9, 2014
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: A Series from 1 Corinthians
Sermon Title: Foolishness, Fantasy or Freedom?
Sermon Text: 1 Cor 1:18-25 [ESV] – Read v22-25 here
22For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Introduction:
Last week we dived into the letter we know as 1st Corinthians and we learned that Paul was responding to some things he had heard about the church there in Corinth… it was a church dear to his heart because he had planted this church on his 2nd missionary journey. I told you last week that you could learn a little more about this church by reading Acts 18 along with Paul’s letter to them…
We learned last week that even though there were MANY accusations about this church… we learned that Paul still loved this fellowship very dearly! We also learned that Paul believed that they WERE a fellowship of saved and redeemed believers, no matter what rumors or situations had developed. God had saved them and they were HIS children…
We learned that Paul believed that the Corinthian church was NOT a lost cause, and that there WERE definitely things that needed fixing but that God was NOT done with them yet! Paul told them that he believed in them that they could turn things around if they would have the right focus… if they would stay in tune with God!
Paul did not condemn the people… but he DID condemn some of the people’s actions! God is not going to abandon those who struggle, but He is going to rally around them to give them His support.
We learned how Paul’s words apply to us today:
We learned that God loves you & you must trust in HIS salvation!
We learned that you can change…that God’s grace is greater than your failure!
We learned that you have received a spiritual gift(s) from God when you were saved and it is time for you to begin to serve!
We learned that you must stop looking for dividing walls, and that you must start seeking that which unifies us! Break down those barriers, lift up your fellow saints.
Today we are going to look at a few more verses of this letter Paul writes to this church that seems to have many problems, but a church that God has NOT turned his back on… a church he wants to succeed and flourish!
Turn with me and read 1 Cor 1:18-25 (ESV)
18For 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. 19For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20Where 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? 21For 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. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
In these verse Paul begins to address some of the issues that had been brought to his attention in the letters he had received! It seems as if there was a group OR several groups within the church or seeking to influence within the church… these groups did not accept on faith what Paul calls ‘the Word of the Cross’… or the story of the Christ event!
They were people who believed they had to figure it out or prove it wrong or show a better way… they could not accept the simplistic and rather bloody way God had brought about redemption…
The Cross: Ridiculous or Redemptive? V18
18For 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.
Paul uses the phrase, “the word of the cross” This phrase is a brief description of the entire Christ event. It represents the story that Christ came born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died a criminal’s death on a shameful cross, was buried and rose to life on the 3rd day to provide eternal redemption and salvation to all who received Him as MESSIAH…
There were many groups that the church was trying to reach. They were telling the Jews about Jesus and how He had fulfilled the role of Messiah and that Messiah had come… to accept Jesus as Messiah!
They were telling the God-fearers… those who were NOT Jewish but were seeking to follow God according to the Judaic ritual and religion..
They were seeking to tell the story of Jesus with those who believed Jesus was a criminal who had been executed by authorities and he had no standing in society…
They were seeking to tell the story of Jesus to those who didn’t even believe that God had anything to do with this world… that we make our own way and that there was NO life after this life…
Like the church in Corinth we are also seeking to share the story of Jesus to a world that is in different places. There are some who see Jesus as good teacher, but not a spiritual icon or the Son of God…
There are those who want to believe, but just cannot accept the simplistic nature of the Gospel… they want to make it more complicated than it has to be!
There are those who believe that God has NOTHING to do with us, if He even exists at all, and they scoff at those of us who do!
Here is how Paul addressed the church in Corinth to take the message of Christ to the world around them! He gave the church some really GOOD advice here…
He told them that there would be people they ran into that simply would NOT believe them OR they would ridicule and mock them for their belief in Him! The Gospel, tho’ dear to us, was not accepted by all…
Look what Paul says, “…it is folly to those who are perishing…” Now this is Paul’s understanding of those who do NOT know Christ! Paul understood that NOT knowing Christ was an impossible hurdle to get over on their own!
How could Paul make this blanket statement? Well I believe he could because he used to stand where they were NOW standing! At one time Paul believed that the word of the Cross was foolishness and heresy and he wanted to destroy it! So Paul really DID know how these people felt about the Gospel of Christ!
Paul mentions “Those who are perishing” and it is Paul’s short description of anyone who stands outside of God’s grace and mercy.
Only those who had accepted Jesus as Savior were immersed in the grace and mercy of God, and because Jesus was the exclusive way to God the Father, those who rejected Jesus were perishing in their sin… but those outside of the grace of God saw this as folly and foolishness… and many wanted to destroy it!
This is why Jesus said in John 6:44, “44No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him…” Because it is foolishness to those outside of God’s grace it is impossible for them to realize where they are and who they are before God… it is only thru the drawing and leading of the Holy Spirit can one come to know Christ as Savior!
BUT… Paul uses this short word to draw a line in the proverbial sand of theology… What Paul is saying is on THIS side we have those who think what we preach and what we say is total lunacy and ridiculous… BUT… there is another side!
That others side are those who have come to know Christ as Savior, they are the one’s who have surrendered to the leading of the Holy Spirit and have come to KNOW Christ as Savior! Paul describes these people as, “us who are being saved”
BUT wait a minute preacher… Paul says those who are BEING saved, I thought the Bible says “Those who call upon the name of the Lord shall BE saved!” Why does Paul us the phrase ‘those who are BEING saved?”
Well I want to tell you that BOTH are right… When we surrender our hearts to Jesus we are BOTH saved and being saved! You see our eternal ticket is punched and the grace of God has come to dwell with in us and Jesus said those given to me by the Father, NO ONE can take them from my hand. So when we come to salvation, we ARE saved!
BUT also Paul is speaking about those who are saved and their ever progressive path to spiritual maturity and ultimately ending in perfection in heaven, but until we get to heaven we have to settle for ‘being saved’ and moving ahead by maturing in the faith!
For those of us who are walking with God and maturing in the faith, the crucified Christ does NOT confuse or mislead us, we accept it and we have come to understand that this is how God chose to save those in this world who will be saved!
So often we want to make things FAR more complicated than they EVER have to be… The wisdom of this world sees our own progression in doing good things and ‘earning’ our own way as the way to get on God’s side… but God’s wisdom is quite different!
Now this phrase Paul uses, “…power of God…” as believers, we believe the power of God was and still is made manifest in Jesus! He came born of a virgin, he suffered and He died and was buried, He also rose from the dead conquering sin and death, freeing others to know eternal salvation thru what He accomplished! The power of God was made known thru the life and person of Jesus Christ!
So really what Paul was saying in so many words is that can do NOTHING to get to heaven… we cannot earn it…THIS confounds the world. They insist that there has to be SOMETHING we have to DO or accomplish to earn God’s favor OR they simply believe that there is NO way to earn God’s favor OR they don’t think it necessary because the don’t believe God cares or exists!
It confuses the world when we tell them that there is NO amount of good that they can do that will convince God they are good enough for heaven… this is the obstacle Paul is running into… this was the problem at the church in Corinth…many had come to believe that the message Paul had brought to them was a ridiculous msg that needed sprucing up… But Paul declared to them that the simple message of the Gospel is NOT ridiculous but it is redemptive!
Paul wanted them to understand that their wisdom would always fail in light of God’s wisdom… and that is the 2nd point of what I want to share this morning!
The Cross: Woeful or Wise? V19-21
19For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20Where 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? 21For 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.
Here Paul wants all the believers in the church at Corinth to understand that this was NOT from him, but this message and plan of salvation was from God, and to confound the wise (in their own mind) has always been God’s M.O. (so to speak)
In fact, we find God confounding the wise all thru Scripture. Paul tells us that ‘it is written…’ and what Paul is saying is that this concept of God confounding the wise with what they may believe to be foolishness… it is found all throughout Scripture! What Paul is saying here in this passage is actually a synopsis of 3 separate OT references…
Isaiah 29:14
14therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
Job 5:12,13
12He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. 13He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.
Jeremiah 8:9
9The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, so what wisdom is in them?
The bottom line here is that the cross represented a shameful death reserved for the less desirable element of society, thieves, murderers and rapists… So for the path to redemption to be associated with the shameful act of crucifixion on the cross… it was simply WOEFUL for many believers to share! After all the cross was a shameful and horrific symbol…there had to be a better way and many in the church were attempting to soften the message with clever words and arguments.
BUT Paul, without shame or hesitation, identifies the whole of the Christian experience WITH the cross of Calvary… In fact Paul goes on in most of His letters to say that without Calvary we would NOT be able to know the redemption we now have! This approach and information was NOT seen as wise by some in the church and they were seeking to present Jesus in a different light!
They believed associating Jesus with the Cross and that whole Cross event with this new belief system… that it would KILL it… because after all why would God submit Himself to such shame?
What Paul was addressing here was an attitude within the church at Corinth… the attitude was that the simple and shameful message of the Cross had begun to take a backseat with those who believed.
They thought themselves to be too smart to allowing anything so foolish to drive their philosophy or their walk with God! God was FAR too powerful to allow this… God was far too PERFECT to allow Jesus to suffer LIKE He did and in the manner He did…
It could be that the factions within the church in Corinth were trying to mute the message of the Cross and replace it with a more sophisticated message… a message that would enable themselves to use it for self advancement or self praise!
In other words their battle cry each day would NOT be “God I am a sinner, I see what you did for me on the Cross and I plead your grace and mercy!”
NO, their cry without the Cross would be “Hey look how good I am, look at what I am doing FOR God, look how clean a life I am living…” all the focus would be on them and not Christ, and we know that this attitude still prevails in churches today!
Preacher why do we need to go out and tell people about Jesus? We can just do some good things in the community and people will see how ‘good’ we are as a church and they will come! Doing ‘good’ in the community is something we should be doing at any time BUT doing good in the community is NOT how people come to know Christ…
Telling others about Jesus opens that door and it is only through us faithfully living out our Christian walk can and will people see Jesus through the guidance and eyes of the Holy Spirit and surrender to Him!
In v20 we can see three questions that Paul asks his readers. The 1st 3 are describing those the world considers wise. Look what Paul says, almost in a condescending tone: “20Where 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?
First Paul mentions, the ‘wise’… they were possibly a group of people we have come to know as the Sophists who were prominent during Paul’s time. Their system of belief was based on knowledge and exalted self-achievement, success, and excellence and boasting about these things… all of this without any personal sacrifice or service toward others…
Does this sound familiar to anything we may experience today? The atheists of today are people who exalt self-achievement, personal success and excellence, and to let others know of your successes… also personal service to others is NOT a priority as they believe those people should pick themselves up and excel on their own just as they have had to do…
Paul mentions a scribe who was an expert or one very knowledgeable and a very educated person. They knew how to write and were held in high esteem for their extended learning and ability to remember and know things…
Paul then mentions the debater of this age is one who believes that they know the answers to all the questions… they seek to debate or discuss all things and never seem to accept in faith anything they cannot discuss and prove…they seemingly have an answer for everything.
What Paul is doing is relating to the church about the people that the world holds in high acclaim… those pundits who speak & the people who follow, those commentators who shape public opinion with their words, and all those in this world believed to be wise… Paul says that they are all NOTHING in light of God’s great act accomplished in the WORD OF THE CROSS…the Christ event!
The wisdom of this world can speak great volumes, but it cannot bring us the redemption that Christ on the Cross has provided! All the wisdom of this world sees Christ on the Cross as foolishness and missed out on the glory of His redemption!
So what Paul is saying here in these verses is that the redemption of our souls thru Christ on the cross seems like FOOLISHNESS to the world…(a woeful look at salvation), but to the believer it is NOT foolish… but it is the wisdom of God revealed and His power to save!
Finally this morning, we can see Paul attempting to put a face to those rejecting the message of the cross.
The Cross: Awkward Misinformation or Access to God? V22-25
22For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Here in these verses we find Paul describing some people and their reasons why they believed the Cross was viewed as foolish!
Here Paul says that the Jews demand signs…but what does he mean by this? Well if we follow the path of the Hebrew nation from Abraham to their time as a nation at the top of the world’s economy… it was based on their relationship with a God who showed Himself on a fairly regular basis, especially during times of stress or difficulty!
God parts the Red Sea and the Hebrews escape Egypt!
God provides manna and water in the wilderness…and the Hebrews survive the wilderness!
God stops the flow of the Jordan River and the nation crosses on dry ground!
God tumbles the mighty walls of Jericho and a great battle is won!
We find that God revealed Himself in great and mighty ways… so much so that the Jewish people had seemingly depended on God’s signs instead of having a true faith IN Him!
The Pharisees demanded signs of Jesus as well… they wanted to SEE the power of God demonstrated before they would believe! They wanted PROOF that this was from God and of God… they could not believe the Word of Jesus! They could not see the signs God had placed in prophecy and down thru history as to the coming of the Messiah… they were stuck on looking for a sign!
The Greeks on the other hand were thinkers & philosophers & Paul’s encounter with them at Mars Hill in Acts 17 gives us a picture of what their mindset was toward this new belief system… They were genuinely intrigued at first but their focus was NOT a true relationship with God, but it was to know more and more…to absorb knowledge was their god of choice!
They could not accept Christ at his word or the message of Christ OR the word of the Cross because they could not put it together logically (in their minds) – they could not ‘see’ how it was possible! It defied the natural state of things and they could NOT see thru to the Supernatural…
Then Paul uses the word BUT… this is a transitional word that indicates a turning from what he had just said to a true position of understanding of a basic spiritual truth… that basic truth is described by Paul in the next phrase, “We preach Christ crucified…”
Our message is Christ as Messiah… the fulfillment of God’s promise of redemption! BUT the message of Christ takes Him to the cross to die a shameful death, to be buried and suffer great anguish… THIS is NOT acceptable to either group!
Paul says that to the Jews this is stumbling block… but that term ‘stumbling block’ really does not indicate the true opposition the Jews felt toward this message about Christ! It was not just a stumbling block… it was an affront or an offense to how they saw and understood God!
They were insulted by the belief that God would subject himself to such ridicule. However, more importantly, they had been the ones who had persecuted Jesus and had him crucified… SO, if Jesus were the Christ then that meant that they were blind to that AND it meant that they had been wrong about Him! Being wrong about Jesus meant that they HAD ridiculed God… and this was NOT acceptable… this was offensive to them!
Paul also says it was folly to Gentiles…which basically means that those who sought after knowledge and worldly wisdom… they could not see this event as being worthy or important to them! They saw a criminal being put to death… and the resurrection was OBVIOUSLY faked by Jesus’ disciples! No one can raise from the dead?
They were skeptics of the highest order… the Gospel of Christ and the Word of the Cross was nothing more than a fairy tale to them… a myth propagated by men who could not bring themselves to the reality that their leader was dead…so they dismissed it as FOLLY… a ridiculous fantasy!
BUT, again Paul turns from those who doubt to those who do NOT… he says that those who are called…they see it, they get it, they understand it…they may not fully comprehend it but they DO get it and they believe that it is possible thru the power of God and hey believe it to be faithful and true because of the wisdom of God…
In v25 Paul says:
25For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
I believe when Paul wrote this he was thinking about Isaiah writing when God told Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV): “…8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts…”
In other words, here Paul is reaffirming that God’s wisdom far exceeds that of human wisdom, but Paul goes one step further to clarify the word of the Cross… Paul says: “…and the weakness of God is stronger than men…”
Which meant that when men see a ‘weak God’ because He allowed Christ/Messiah to go to the Cross and die in such a shameful and horrific way… It may have seemed weak to humanity, but in reality this revealed God’s power and strength even more! God conquered sin and defeated death!
Thru the Cross event, God’s plan of redemption was now in place & able to redeem & save ALL who submitted to it… no LONGER did the Enemy have the stronghold, no LONGER was sin and death the final say in someone’s life! Jesus came and brought eternal redemption thru this seemingly weak moment by God!
So even at His weakest point, dying on a Cross and buried in a tomb… Jesus was still able to overcome anything and everything the enemy threw at Him AND… HE came out victorious!
Conclusion:
Paul’s wanted the church in Corinth NOT to fall prey to those in this world who seem to have all wisdom… those who seem to know things… those who seem to have it all together in the eyes of the world… He says to NOT fall prey to their earthly wisdom, but instead they should trust in the wisdom of God in spite of what earthly wisdom has to say about it…
We are called as believers today to trust in the God we say that we serve! How many times do YOU find yourself listening to the pundits of this world or the wisdom of this world and maybe thinking the Bible or this story of Jesus is a bit outdated & archaic?
Have you ever had those thoughts? I know that we ALL have & when we try to reason and use that human logic, it is not going to make sense! However, when we submit to the wisdom of God & surrender to His calling it will make wonderful sense and we experience the great peace of knowing that God is in control, even tho’ the world does not think so and cannot see it!
Truths:
The world will proclaim its wisdom supreme and belittle and ridicule the wisdom of Scripture/God’s word!
The world sees Jesus & the Cross as senseless and meaningless!
The world demands PROOF from God…
The world demands complete understanding of what it cannot explain & lacks faith in the supernatural
God’s plan does not make human sense…
Believer’s see God’s plan and accept it/embrace it/trust in it
Application:
What Paul was telling the church in Corinth was that the world was going to reject them and their message! Paul had heard what they were up against and what they were battling against! What Paul says to the church in Corinth is that they must have faith, that they must live out their faith and share it with those around them!
But pastor, how do I apply this to my life? I believe I can sum the application for this passage up in ONE word- it is PERSEVERE!
As a believer you will face mocking, ridicule and scoffers! To them Christ is senseless and meaningless, but Persevere in sharing your faith…
As a believer you will have those who doubt and question what you say and Scripture… they will say that they know better, but Persevere and trust in the Word of God!
As a believer, you will have people demands PROOF of God…but don’t fall into that pit! Yours burden is not to prove God is there, but to share what He has done for you! We don’t seek to prove God is there, we must Persevere in living out our faith in Him!
As a believer there are going to be MANY times when God’s plan does not make human sense…but persevere as God has our best at heart and He will NOT steer us in the wrong direction! PERSEVERE in trusting in Him and showing others your trust in Him!
Persevere in living out your faith and sharing it with others… there WILL be doubters, there will be those who say they know better, there will be those who demand proof, there will be those who will simply laugh at you and call you a fool… but remember what Jesus told His disciples just before He was to go back to the Father…
In John 15 He said, 18“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
So let’s apply that to our lives… if they hate you or mock you or doubt you… they have first done these things to God himself! Your calling is NOT to convince them but to be a witness of the One they doubt! Be a witness of the One they mock! Be a witness of the One they hate!
Be HIS witness, PERSEVERE in knowing that your obedience will bear fruit in seeing some come to know Christ!
Give invitation here!
