Who would have thought it? The St. Louis Rams were the best football team in the NFL this past season. They compiled a 13-3 record, then beat the Vikings and Bucs in the playoffs, and finally edged out the Titans to win the Super Bowl. But, six months ago, if you would have said the Rams would win Super Bowl XXXIV, most people would have said you were crazy. After all, last season the Rams had a 4-12 record. Their starting quarterback was injured and would be out for the year. In his place would be a fellow named Kurt Warner who a few years before was stocking shelves in a grocery store and had just been playing in the Arena Football League. It seemed foolish at the beginning of the season to suggest that the Rams would be this year's Super Bowl champions. As they kept winning each week, many folks still insisted the Rams and Kurt Warner really were not that good. The fact that they ended up being the best team in the NFL this year was a big surprise. Now, a couple of months after the Super Bowl, football fans may be getting used to thinking of them as champions, but six months ago that idea seemed incredible.
Friends, the Christian gospel, the message of God bringing us salvation through Jesus Christ, was also a big surprise. Those of us who have grown up in the church maybe view the gospel as an obvious truth, as a no-brainer. We sometimes think, "Of course, Jesus died on the cross to save us." But, as we will see in our text today, though the gospel is very true, it is a very surprising, shocking truth. Who would have thought that God would choose this way of bringing salvation to His people? It is a far bigger surprise than a Rams' Super Bowl victory. As we continue our journey through the Book of 1 Corinthians, we will be exploring Chapter 1, Verse 18 through Chapter 2, Verse 5. Here Paul helps us understand how foolish Christianity seems to some, in both the 1st and 21st Centuries. Yet, we also see what a marvelous plan God has implemented through Jesus. Let's pause and pray that the Lord would speak to us through His Word today.
Paul says God surprises us with the gospel, the good news that God brings us salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus. God has worked in a way that human beings would never expect. 1:20 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? People have always been good at giving God suggestions on how He should do things, suggestions that are really foolish. Paul speaks of three ways God has surprised us:
First is through the cross of Jesus Christ. 1:18 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. To those who are not Christian believers, the message of the cross seems silly. Those who have experienced its power, however, know it is God's means of salvation. He explains what has happened in 1:22-24 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. First Century Jews had some great advice for God. Send us a Messiah, a Messiah who will conquer the Romans and destroy all our enemies. Send us a Messiah who will be king and who will make life much better for us. So the Jewish people kept looking for signs or indicators that the Messiah had come. Some of the things Jesus did: healing the sick, calming the storm, and feeding the 5000 made people think that maybe He was God's anointed Savior. But then He was crucified on a cross. God would never let that happen to the Messiah. Didn't the Old Testament say, "Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree?" The cross was certainly a stumbling block to these Jews because from their perspective it was proof that Jesus was not the Messiah. Of course it is not the cross, but their perspective which causes them to miss the truth. The cross also is a barrier to other folks. Paul says this message is foolishness to Gentiles, which includes Greeks, Romans, the Irish and all the rest of us who are not Jews. People often react with scorn to the message that the Son of God brought salvation by willingly dying on a Roman cross. "God would never do something like that! It sounds so gory and primitive. Certainly God would come up with a more proper way to save people." This negative reaction to the cross is seen today, even in the church. A professor at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary recently said, "We don't need a Jesus dying on the cross and other weird stuff like that." There are plenty of folks who would prefer a bloodless, much more pleasant Christianity. But that is not the gospel message.
Indeed, it may be that even the early church struggled with the offense of the cross. They used the fish as their most common symbol of faith. It was not until well into the 2nd Century that the cross became an identifying mark of Christians. Yet, right from the beginning true Christians understood the essential, central role of Jesus' cross, even if they were not completely comfortable with it. 1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. That's Christ crucified; Christ dying on the cross. That God would bring salvation through the cruel death of His own Son is certainly a huge surprise. Who would have thought that the cross of Jesus Christ would be the source of life and hope?
The second way God surprises us is by saving ordinary people. 1:26-28 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,... Now, be honest. If you were God, and you were going to bestow your grace upon certain people and call them to be your followers, whom would you choose? Wouldn't you go for the best and the brightest? Wouldn't you choose brilliant Ph.D.s, folks with dynamic personalities, people who were extremely gifted in various aspects of life? But, when the Corinthians looked around, that is not who they saw in their church. All they saw were ordinary people. In fact, quite a few of the folks were a bit below average. The great scholars, influential political leaders and famous celebrities were not there. Now, if God would have packaged the gospel in a more attractive and sophisticated form, maybe He would have ended up with higher quality people in the church. For example, if one needed an IQ of 150 to understand the gospel, then God would have insured that His church was made up of only top-notch intellects. But, He did not do that. He was not establishing a team of rocket scientists. Instead, He was gathering a group of ordinary people whose lives He would transform in extraordinary ways, and thus enable them to be His ambassadors to a needy world. That certainly is a surprising way to do things.
That has, however, always been God's way. In Deuteronomy 7:7, we learn that the Lord chooses Israel, not because they are the strongest nation but because they are the weakest. Even in our day, God continues to choose and use people that we might not expect. Yes, in our country there are quite a few Christian celebrities. Kurt Warner, the quarterback of the Rams, is one of them. We have political leaders, successful businessmen and university professors who are all committed followers of Jesus Christ. Yet, in academic and media circles, and lots of other places as well, Christianity is often scoffed at. We also need to remember that most Christians today don't live in the United States. It is in the Third World countries, in Africa, Asia and Latin America, where the church is growing the fastest. Most of these Christians in other countries have little education and live on a few dollars a day. The United States is really an anomaly, a freak among nations. In most of the developed countries such as western Europe, Japan, Australia, and to a large extent Canada, the Christian church has very little influence. Less than 5% of the people in Sweden go to church on a typical Sunday. Here, the figure is 45%. One missionary said that in New Zealand it is now much more socially acceptable to be an atheist, than it is to be an evangelical Christian. The church continues to be made up primarily of very ordinary people. Who would have thought that God would choose to do things that way?
Thirdly, God surprises us by using simple preaching to bring people His message. 2:1-4 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,... Now, obviously we don't have any tapes of Paul speaking, so it is hard to imagine exactly what he sounded like. As we read the New Testament, though, it seems obvious that as Paul preached he was always sincere; that he spoke with great passion; and that his arguments were very clear, logical and hard to refute. Though a young man named Eutychus once fell asleep and fell out of a window while Paul was preaching (Acts 20:9), I don't think that was the norm. When Paul preached, people listened. I have a feeling Paul's preaching fit a description coined by Martin Lloyd Jones, "logic on fire." Yet, Paul notes that there were other folks who were much better speakers. Eloquence, the almost magical use of words which can make things sound better than they actually are, was not one of Paul's gifts. Paul's friend Apollos was an eloquent speaker; Chuck Swindoll or Chuck Colson are eloquent speakers, but Paul was not. He spoke plainly. He also did not use the sophisticated arguments and rhetorical tricks that some other preachers did. Oh, he was a brilliant man. He was one fellow in the church whose IQ was no doubt above 150, but he kept his message very much to the point, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, just as God had called him to do. Who would have thought that God would use this simple style to have such a huge impact on the world? But that's what happened. Paul's preaching was indeed a demonstration of the Spirit's power.
I think there are some similarities between Paul and Billy Graham. In many ways Billy Graham is a very average preacher. There are many more eloquent, brilliant and dynamic speakers around than Billy. Yet, like Paul, he is always sincere and passionate. People can tell Billy Graham means what he says. And, like Paul, he sticks to his point. For over fifty years, he has stuck to his point, telling people the gospel message that salvation comes to all those who will put their faith in Jesus Christ. And, like Paul, Billy Graham's preaching is a demonstration of the Spirit's power, as hundreds of thousands of people have professed faith in Christ after hearing him speak. Fifty years ago, who would have thought that God was going to use this young man from the mountains of North Carolina in such a fantastic way? Who would have thought that in a time when there are so many sophisticated types of media, that God would still use the very simple tool of preaching, one man proclaiming the truth of the Christian gospel, to bring life and hope to so many? It is a surprise, but that's how God has chosen to work.
OK, maybe you are thinking, "Well, Pastor Dan, what Paul writes seems nice, maybe even interesting, but it really doesn't have much to do with me and my life, does it?" Well, yes, it does. Let's talk about four important lessons we learn from this text. First of all, the surprising nature of the gospel points to its truth. Has someone ever told you a story which seemed incredible, but you decided was probably true just because no one would ever go through the trouble of making up something like that? Paul reminds us it is that way with the gospel. You see, if Paul were making up a religion, he would have come up with a more proper means of salvation than the Son of God dying on a Roman cross. He would have made it a religion which would be embraced by all of the best and brightest folks around, all the beautiful people. If he were inventing a religion he would find the most dynamic, articulate spokesmen and have them proclaim the message. But, Paul is not making up his own religion, and neither were other apostles and neither was Jesus Christ. Christianity is God's way of doing things, not what we as human beings think is the best way to do things. We have talked before how Christianity is fundamentally different from any other religion. All other religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, much of Judaism and even corrupted forms of Christianity, focus on what people can do to reach God. Christianity is about what God has done to reach human beings through His Son Jesus Christ. Christianity is different, because all other religions are products of human wisdom, while the gospel has divine origin. The only reason why Christianity says Jesus died on the cross in our place to provide salvation is because that is the truth, that is how it is. The fact that we find the gospel so surprising is because it is not something human beings thought up, but something which God has planned. When those times come that we have doubts, when we start to wonder, "Is Christianity really true?," we need to remind ourselves that the surprising nature of the gospel message is evidence it is indeed from God.
The second lesson for us is that human reason, by itself, leads to a dead end. Greek culture, including folks in Corinth, had great confidence in their wisdom and brains. They thought they could think their way out of any problem. "Not so," Paul says. Human wisdom can not even comprehend the most important message of all, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, please understand that Paul is not anti-intellectual. He believes reason has a very important role when used in the right way. His goal, according to 2 Corinthians 10:5, is "to take every thought captive for Jesus Christ." Here, however, Paul is warning us against what Francis Schaeffer used to call "autonomous reason," where we try to figure out things apart from what God has told us in His Word. The right way to use our minds is to build upon the foundation of God's revelation which is found in the Bible and in the person of Jesus Christ. By believing what God has said in His Word, our reason will then enable us to understand many things about the world God has made. On the other hand, reason by itself has led people down some very tragic dead-end roads. Human wisdom, autonomous reason, has reached conclusions which say there is no absolute right or wrong and that we as human beings are really no different from other mammals. Those are logical conclusions if Darwin's evolution is true. In fact, some scientists now argue that our free-will is an illusion because all of our thoughts and actions are biologically determined. In other words, I am only preaching this sermon today because it is what my DNA tells me to say. Yet, our experience, our instincts, our biblically-informed reason, all tell us those ideas are absolute baloney. We know they are wrong. But if left on its own, our mind can lead us to believe such silly things. Friends, all of us, whether we are studying science in the fourth grade, writing a masters thesis in college, or just reading a magazine article at home, need to submit our minds to Jesus Christ and need to use them in the right way to understand what is true.
The third lesson is: As Christians we should not boast about ourselves, but about the Lord. In Verse 29, Paul says the reason why God has worked in ways that we would not expect and has chosen to use people we would not expect is "so that no one may boast before Him." Instead, 1:31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." Boasting can sometimes make us look very foolish. I like the story of the fellow who had just arrived in heaven. He saw a large crowd gathered and was told that it was show-and-tell time. An angel asked if there was anything he would like to share and he said, "Well, yes, I would like to tell how I survived the most terrible flood ever, back in 1947 when I lived in Tennessee." The angel replied, "Oh, that's fine, but just remember, Noah is in the audience." Friends, whenever we boast about our wisdom or our abilities, there is someone even greater than Noah in the audience. The Lord God hears our bragging. Compared to Him our understanding and strength is nothing. When we boast to anyone else about how smart we are or how talented we are, we're really boasting to God, and that is a very foolish thing to do. Instead, we need to boast about the Lord. We need to tell others how wise, how good, how merciful, and how powerful He is. When someone compliments us and says, "Boy, you sure did a good job on that," we should not respond, "Yeah, thanks, I know I am pretty good." Instead we should say something like, "Thank you. I am just grateful that the Lord has given me the ability to do that." That is what Kurt Warner did when the Rams won the Super Bowl. Rather than boast about his accomplishments, he chose to boast about the Lord, on national television. May God help us to do the same thing when we enjoy success.
The fourth lesson is: Our trust should be in God, not in someone else or something else. Again this is an application that Paul explicitly points out in text. 2:5 ...so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. I read an article this week about a computer expert who is now afraid that an overuse of computers may spell the end of human civilization. I have no way of knowing if that fear is justified, but I do know that our faith should rest, not in the human wisdom typified by computer technology, but on God's power. Surveys show that Americans view "education" as the most important political issue. Now, friends, don't get me wrong. I believe education is a wonderful and important thing. As one bumper sticker read, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." Yet, I am afraid that many folks overestimate the value of education. Do you realize that the best educated nation on earth in 1939 was...Germany? Yet, these folks chose Adolf Hitler as their leader. Education does not necessarily produce wisdom. We also need to remember that while education always makes people smarter, it doesn't always make them better. There are plenty of very well-educated, evil people in the world. So, friends, our faith should not rest on human wisdom which focuses on education, but rather on God's power. Some scientists are claiming that advances in medical science and genetic engineering will make it possible for people to live to the age of 150, or even 200, by the year 2100. I kind of doubt that, but even if it is true, what happens after you live for, say 200 years? You still die. Eternity is a lot longer than the 70-80 years, but also a lot longer than 150-200 years. Our faith should not rest on human wisdom which works so hard to add a few years to our life span, but instead we should be confident in God's power.
Friends, our text today is another reminder that we need to trust God because He knows what He is doing. Though our lives may seem very confusing at times, though it may often seem that God is far away and has forgotten about us, we still need to trust. As the hymn writer said, "God moves in mysterious ways, surprising ways, His wonders to perform." He promises that in the end all things will work out for our good and His glory. Trust Him, He knows what He is doing!
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