The Foolishness Of Christmas Series

A large number of life's greatest blessings start out as stupid, moronic foolishness in the

eyes of many people. This was the case with Samuel Morse, a pastor's son and an artist who

left his art for a new idea. He thought that a message could be sent by means of electricity.

He labored for years in lonely obscurity living alone and cooking his own meals. After 4

years he had a working model of the telegraph. In 1837 he applied for a patent but nobody

was interested in such nonsense. He tried in England, France and Russia but foolishness was

not popular anywhere. He finally got the chance to demonstrate his contraption before

President Van Buren, his cabinet and leading scientist. They all too, considered it much ado

about nothing. For 5 years he labored to improve his instrument and finally got a grant

from congress to make an experimental line. It was considered such an idiotic project that

some congressman failed to get re-elected because they voted to support this lunatic fringe

idea. On May 24, 1844, the test was ready for sending a message from Washington to

Baltimore and back. A text of Scripture was sent and back came the historic reply, "What

hath God wrought!"

Morse the moron became more the genius over night and the world over he was famous

and honored. As a man of God, he gave all the glory to God. He said, "It is all of God. He

used me as His hand in all this. I am not indifferent to the rewards of earth and the praise of

fellow men, but I am more pleased with the fact that my Father in heaven has allowed me to

do something for Him and His world....unto God be all the glory."

The birth of the electronic age of communication was a gift of God to modern man. But

man in his supposed wisdom considered it pure foolishness until he saw it's valued

consequences. There are numerous examples of this in the realm of science and literature

and the arts. Many of the great hero of history were are first considered fools and unworthy

of serious thought. The greatest example of this in all of history is God himself. God's ways

are so different from the ways of human wisdom that when man first considers them they

seem like foolishness.

This may sound like radical language but it is not my choice for effect, it is the language of

Paul. The Greek word he used in I. Cor.1:25 for the foolishness of God is moron. This was

one of Paul's favorite words. It is used to all it's forms 23 times in the New Testament and 14

of that 23 are by Paul. All the other 9 are from the lips of Jesus. So Paul and Jesus are the

two New Testament authorities on the moronic foolishness of life. Paul is especially fond of

this word in this letter of First Corinthians, for of his 14 uses of the word, 10 of them are

right here in this one epistle.

Paul is so intent on the contrast between the foolishness of God and the wisdom of men

that he considers it an honor to be one of God's morons. In 4:10 he says, "We are fools for

Christ". He uses the word morons. In 318 he urges the Corinthians to become fools or

morons in order to be wise. Paul goes out of his way over and over again to stress that the

ways of God in the eyes of the worldly wise are just plain foolishness. Now what does all this

have to do with Christmas?

Christmas is the being of the foolishness and weakness of God that ended on the cross. The

resurrection was the great transition. It was the smartest thing God ever did through His

Son. It was wisdom and power. This was more like it for a God-sheer genius and awesome

power. But the story of Jesus in His birth to the cross-the Incarnation and the Crucifixion:

these were events of madness and folly. These were the foolishness and weakness of God.

The whole story of Jesus is going backwards and instead of from rags to riches, it is a

riches to rags story. The wisdom of the world says you move from weakness to power. The

goal of life is to get more not less. You labor and fight to climb higher in status and power.

You move from being poor to being rich. That is the flow of life, from less to more.

Now we come along with the story of an all powerful God with riches beyond the wildest

dreams of earthly men. He has infinite resources and yet He comes up with a plan whereby