God’s Fools
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (NLT)
Intro: There is a story about a little girl who proudly wore a shiny cross on a chain around her neck. One day she was approached by a man who said to her, “Little girl, don’t you know that the cross Jesus died on wasn’t beautiful like the one you’re wearing? It was an ugly, wooden thing. It is just foolish to have a shiny cross represent Jesus.” To which the girl replied, “Yes, I know. But they told me in Sunday School that whatever Jesus touches, He changes.”
. That’s what many people feel about the cross and about Christianity.
. The concept of God coming to dwell among man and sacrifice himself for the wrongs that mankind does is just foolishness.
. The concept of the cross is foolishness.
. A well known visiting American Preacher was speaking in a church in South America and gave some advice to a congregation about Evangelism. He said, “Don’t tell people about the cross, it doesn’t work. That’s why the Franklin Graham crusades are no longer effective. Just tell them that God loves them and has a plan for them. My ministry proves that. I have thousands that attend my church every Sunday. The message of a crucified Jew is ridiculous to the modern mind and an ineffective tool for Church Growth. So move on to something better. A crucified Messiah is stupid, but promise them prosperity, give them emotional experiences, provide them with self esteem – then you’ll fill the pews.”
. The cross is foolish and offensive to many in our world today.
. While we may think this is a new idea or movement, it is not.
. In writing to the Christians in Corinth, He warned them of this very same thing.
. We are back in 1 Corinthians this morning.
. What Paul is doing in our scripture this morning is contrasting the foolishness of man, which they think is wisdom , and the wisdom of God, which they think is foolishness.
. He is still dealing with divisions within the church.
. Remember where Corinth is. It is in Greece, just across a bay from Athens, part of the Roman Empire. The Greeks were in love with philosophy. They had many different philosophical parties that had their varying views of mans origin their destiny and even their relationships with the many gods that the Greeks worshipped. Factions developed within these philosophical groups and as the Corinthians were being converted, they were bringing this baggage with them. They had a view of the world or a way they wanted the world to function and exist and they brought that into the church.
. Remember that they didn’t have scripture as we do today, all they knew was the word of mouth teaching and preaching of Paul, Apollos and Peter.
. They brought their culture into the church with them. We see this today in many places, especially Africa. We are spreading the Good News and people are being saved through their faith in Jesus Christ but they bring all their cultural issues into the church with them. They must be taught the way of God.
.It’s not just in Africa or some foreign land. Here in America, we bring our views and we add insights to God’s word that is not there.
. A few years ago the topic of the day on an Oprah Winfrey show was "Having Affairs With Married Men." She had brought together several people who were having affairs to get their comments on how they felt about it.
One lady responded very positively, saying that her affair with a married man had been a long-standing affair, & she was very happy in it.
Then someone raised the question of morality. Instantly, the woman took offense. "Wait a minute," she said. "I’m a Christian, but I want everyone to know that my personal life & my religion don’t interfere with one another."
Then she went on to say, "I believe in a God who wants me to be happy. And if this man makes me happy, then God approves of the relationship."
That’s an amazing belief, & I wonder where she found it, because it’s not in the Bible. But that kind of thinking is not new at all. It has been around for a long time.
B. People have always wanted a God who will place His stamp of approval upon their life-style, never requiring any change for the better. And they have come up with all kinds of euphemisms to make it sound all right.
So what used to be called "living in sin" is now called "a committed relationship." What used to be called "abstinence" is now called "a neurotic inhibition." And what used to be called "killing the unborn" is now called "pro choice.
. These are the current trends, the philosophy of the day.
. Paul was writing about problems such as this when he penned our scripture this morning.
. 1 Corinthians 1: 18-25
18The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.
19As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”
20So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish.
21Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.
22It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom.
23So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.
24But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.
. Paul writes that the cross is foolishness to those that refuse to believe.
. They would rather rely on their own wisdom than the message of the cross.
. We have always had philosophers and scholars and great debaters. What have they accomplished? Depravity still exists in the world. Sin still exists in the world. Philosophy and wisdom has actually tried to elevate man above God.
. Romans 1:25 tells us that man has:
. “… traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself,…”
. Man is still doing this today.
. The concept of a Jewish man dying on a cross for the things that we have done and will do wrong is just foolishness to many today.
. Their philosophical views and their scientific minds see this cross as foolishness.
. Paul writes that while it is foolish to these people:
. “…we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.”
. Since this is the case, Paul writes
. 20So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish.
. While the philosophers may think they are wise, while the scientists may believe that they understand everything, this simple cross that represents our salvation makes them look foolish.
. Paul then describes two types of people. He speaks of the Jews and then the Gentiles.
. You do realize that we all fall into one of those two categories don’t you.
. All people who are not Jews are Gentiles.
. While Paul uses ethnicity in identifying them, we can see that their philosophies also separate them.
. They also describe those who think that the cross is foolish today.
. In verse 22, Paul identifies the dividing issue within both groups.
. 22It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom.
. First we see those who don’t have faith because they will only believe if they have a sign from Heaven.
. These people want God to do miraculous things in their lives before they believe.
. A Jew wanted a miracle from God to prove that their long awaited Messiah had come.
. It’s amazing that Jesus performed miracle after miracle after miracle and yet most Jews refused to believe.
. In John Chapter 9, the story of Jesus healing the man who had been blind since birth by spitting on the ground and making mud. He then rubbed this mud on the blind mans eyes and told him to go wash the mud off. He did and he could see.
. He told everybody about it and they took him to the Jewish leaders and they acknowledged that he had been healed but would not accept the healer.
. Even though they had seen the miracle, they still would not believe.
. These same people would not believe in Jesus after He had risen from the dead.
. His death and resurrection was foolishness to them.
. The desire for proof is most frequently an evasion, an excuse for not believing.
. We come to the cross, to the saving power of the cross through the conviction of sin. The guilt that comes along with the things we do wrong.
. Paul tells these people that it is not miracles that you need in order to be saved. It’s the cross and what Jesus did on it for you.
. You are foolish if you are waiting on a miraculous sign in order to be saved.
. Next, Paul covers everybody else. He covers speaks to the Greeks. Those that want to come to salvation intellectually.
. They want to hear all the facts and weigh it over in their minds.
. They were always searching for the truth yet never wanting to embrace it. They only wanted to debate and argue about their perception of truth.
. We see this played out with Paul debating with the philosophers in Athens. Acts 17
Paul had been asked to come and tell them about this new philosophy.
.Let’s look at a little bit of the conversation.
. Verses 22,23,24
22So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way,
23for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.
24“He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples,
. Paul goes on to tell them about God and his story of salvation and the resurrection.
. Then he wraps up and in verse 32 we see:
32When they heard Paul speak about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed in contempt, but others said, “We want to hear more about this later.”
. The ones that wanted philosophical proof laughed at him and scoffed him.
. Scripture tells us that some did believe but it leads us to believe that the majority did not.
. Many today are like these philosophers. They feel that they are intellectually superior and that if you could not prove the message of the cross by natural wisdom.
. Folks, the philosophy of the day has no place in the church.
. We see professed Christians questioning the virgin birth because reason, science tells us that this cannot happen.
. This is foolishness, they say. How can the 21st century man believe this?
. Mans reason will tell you that God doesn’t become flesh.
. Mans reason will tell you that He would not allow people He created, weak mankind to nail Him to a cross.
. Reason will tell you that you cannot be resurrected back to life again.
. Reason says that this does not make any sense.
. There are people within our churches that look at the cross as foolishness for all of these reasons.
. Paul was battling the worlds system and philosophy coming into the church.
. We are also in that same battle.
. If this cross is foolishness, Paul writes further in 1 Corinthians that the church, Christians, are to be pitied for our foolishness.
. Chapter 15: 12
. 12But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead?
13For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either.
14And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless.
18In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost!
19And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
. If the cross is foolishness then we have no hope.
. Paul closes out this section in verse 30 with this:
30God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
. The cross is foolish to many but God has made what Jesus did on the cross the wisdom of the ages.
. Folks we must never let our scientific and philosophical agenda’s get in the way of the cross.
. The cross is the wisdom of God, we must never forget it.
Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT
Illustration from sermon central
John MaCauthur, Commentary on 1 Corinthians
Melvin Newland, The Message Of The Cross, sermon central
