1 Cor 1:18-25

¹⁸For 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. ¹⁹For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

²⁰Where 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? ²¹For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²²Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

²⁶Brothers, 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. ²⁷But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

When Pastor Lawrence Bommet was at our house he described the two churches he had planted In Kenya that both have an average attendance of about 800 people. I asked him how many of those were new converts and he said that about half were new believers. I wondered why the gospel was being received in Africa so freely but rejected so freely in the U.S. Lawrence answered that the spiritual harvest in Africa was clearly a work of God. That is a great answer—and a very Biblical answer. It corresponds perfectly with our text in 1 Corinthians. 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. This verse bears out my personal experience—it seems the more I share the gospel with others the more it is rejected. Last year I even had one man yell at me and tell me that what I believe is foolish. I didn’t think he wanted to hear me quote this verse at that point! Why is the cross so difficult to accept? Because through the cross God purposefully set out to destroy our pride. You cannot carry any pride to the cross because it is immediately incinerated. In the next verse Paul quoted from Isaiah 29 where it was written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

At its core, the cross is the most powerful divine force ever conceived. There is nothing more awesome in all of God’s creative and redemptive acts than the cross of Christ. The cross is an act of pure power and pure reason, but to the unbeliever it appears to be an act of weakness and irrationality. Think about what Jesus did during his three years of ministry, Through his miracles and teaching he gave convincing proofs that he was the Messiah. He spent three years convincing people that he was God, and then he was killed like a common criminal. To the watching world that doesn’t look like power, it looks like weakness. It doesn’t appear to be an act of wisdom and intelligence but a foolish and worthless act. In our sinful nature we crave power and knowledge but the cross levels our lust for power and knowledge.

In v. 22 Paul wrote, Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom. Most Jews rejected the cross because Jews demand miraculous and powerful signs and the cross appeared as weak to them. In the O.T. God regularly revealed his power through the miraculous. The God who delivered the Jews from slavery in Egypt was a God of ultimate power. God did not negotiate with the Egyptians, he punished them with his power. Paul was right about Jews demanding miraculous signs because this is exactly the way they talked with Jesus. In John 6 they asked Jesus “what miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert.” In effect they were saying, “Come on Jesus—the God of Moses showed his power with the daily manna. Where is your power, you pretender!” In the OT God acted in mighty power so the Jews reasoned that the coming Messiah would display equal or greater power than Yahweh himself. They weren’t satisfied with Jesus’ lesser miracles of healing—they demanded something really big and utterly miraculous—something so obvious and powerful that that it could not be denied.

People are asking the very same question today. Many times people have said to me, “If God is real, why doesn’t he show himself all the time? Why don’t we see proof of his existence? Why don’t we see miracles every day? First of all we could say that if miracles occurred all the time they really wouldn’t be miracles, would they? What do you think happened to the Israelites in the desert? If manna appears on the ground every single day for forty years, it ceases to look like a miracle and becomes a daily routine. If you wake up every morning to see the cloud of glory hanging over the tabernacle you begin to doubt if that is really the miraculous manifestation of God or just a natural occurrence. And it’s not just the ancient Israelites who demanded a sign either. You and I do it all the time. How many times have you had these thoughts or found them spoken on your lips—“If God is all powerful, why doesn’t he heal my marriage? Why did God let my mother die? Why did I lose my job? Why are all these bad things happening to me?” What we are asking for—even demanding—are miraculous signs. We demand that God act and then we complain when he doesn’t follow our plan of how God is supposed to act. I am not saying that every time we cry out to God over pain and suffering that we are demanding a miraculous. Sometimes these are innocent cries for help, but an innocent cry for help can, if we are not careful, easily become a demand for a miracle.

The Jews’ problem was demanding miraculous signs but the Greek’s problem was looking for wisdom. In Acts 18 Luke recorded that the Greeks in Athens spent all of their time listening to the latest ideas and trends. Greeks had an insatiable quest for knowledge that they thought would bring them a better life and even immortality. The Greek philosopher Socrates said, "The secret to a successful society is education. If we can just give everybody a good education, then it must follow that the world will get better & better." The insatiable thirst for knowledge is even greater in the 21^st century. When we were living in Michigan there was a huge billboard for the University of Michigan which simply read “Knowledge Heals”. There is a degree to which that is true. I am sure that Tim Chaffey is happy that medical knowledge has advanced to the point that he can be cured of leukemia. My dad wrestled with leukemia for five years and I believe his struggle helped to soften his heart to the gospel.

Knowledge can bring healing and can benefit a society to a degree, but along with the benefits, knowledge also brings hubris and pride. Our generation is at the peak of medical technology. The first test-tube baby, referred to today as “in-vitro fertilization”, is now 27 years old and pregnant for the first time. In-vitro fertilization is extremely common today and it’s hard to imagine that it was pioneered only 28 years ago. Today the latest medical ethics debates surround stem-cell research and cloning. Dolly, the first cloned sheep is now old news. Scientists are working on xenotransplantation, which is the transplanting of animal organs into humans. If it is possible to transplant a pig heart into a human to save his or her life, should we do it?

Our generation is accumulating knowledge at an exponential rate. But polls have shown that the more educated you become the less you need God. George Barna did a survey which showed that higher education is associated with an increased rejection of a Biblical worldview.[i] In other words, the more knowledge you attain, the more likely it is that the cross will appear foolish to you. Have you found that to be true in your experience? This does not mean that we should neglect education. I believe that Christians should be some of the smartest, hardest working people in our culture, but we should be warned that the pursuit of knowledge by itself can be a hindrance to following Christ. Two thousand years ago Paul predicted the outcome of this Barna poll. In v. 21 he wrote, For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him. No one can ever be smart enough to know God on their own. All of the combined knowledge and power of mankind could never lead anyone to God.

Our lust for power and knowledge does not gain us one ounce of God’s favor. In fact, it works against any pursuit of God. Verse 25 says For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. Did you know that God was foolish and weak? Obviously God it is not possible for God to be either foolish or weak but Paul was illustrating a point. Whatever could be considered the least manifestation of God’s power is greater than the greatest example of man’s power. Right now Israel and Hezbollah are lobbing hundreds of missiles across one another’s borders. They are both demonstrating some of their military power. In the United Sates we are proud of our military power and most of the world is afraid of our power. But even if you combined all of the world’s military strength into a single force, it would be nothing compared to the smallest of God’s power. What would be an example of God’s “weakness”? How about a single blade of grass pushing through the soil? What about the flutter of a butterfly’s wing or a beam of sunlight cascading through a window? This “weakness” of God is stronger than man’s combined strength.

What is the first thing that comes to mind when I say the words God is…? Love, right? Isn’t that how most of us would complete that phrase—God is love. God is the perfection of love, God is the source of love. If you asked 100 people on the street to describe God probably all of them would say God is love. So what do you think of this phrase—God is hate. Do you agree with it? Kind of makes you squirm in your seat, doesn’t it? But it is true. If you love your children you must also hate anything that would harm them. If you love truth you must hate lies. If you love good you must hate evil. In a world of sin, hate must come alongside love or else love isn’t really love. There is something that God hates with a holy passion and that is pride. God hates pride. He hates our boasting; he hates our self-sufficiency; he hates our self-conceit and our self-centeredness. He despises our smugness, our presumption and our vanity. God must hate these prideful attitudes in us because they keep us from humbling ourselves before him.

If God does not choose people who think they are wise or powerful, what kind of person does he choose? The answer comes in v. 27. 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. ²⁸He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹so that no one may boast before him. God chooses humble, weak and powerless people. You see examples of this all over the place. The Dalits in India are the lowest people in the caste system. They are so low in fact that they aren’t even considered part of the caste system. They are despised by the higher castes, can only do dirty, manual labor jobs and can never rise above their life as social pariahs. But guess which people are most likely to receive Christ in India? The Dalits! A full seventy percent of India’s 25 million Christians are dalits. [ii] In India God has chosen the foolish, weak and despised people to follow him. This may be why God is working in Africa as Pastor Lawrence reported. Most believers in Africa are not of noble birth and great wealth. Most of the house churches in China are filled with working class people. The cross appears weak and foolish to those who consider themselves to be wise and powerful. Conversely, the cross appears strong and wise to those who know that they are weak and powerless.

This is how Chuck Colson of Prison fellowship accepted Christ. He had no need for God while he worked in the halls of power in the White House with President Nixon. While he thought he was brilliant and powerful the cross was foolishness to him. But then he was stripped of his position and was facing a prison sentence and suddenly Colson was weak and needy. In his utter humility the cross loomed large and powerful. This formerly powerful man wept like a baby in his car as he accepted the free grace of Christ found in the cross.

What about you? Do you want God on your own terms? How much of this past week was spent seeking God and his truth? The last time we ate at Fazolis in La Crosse the lady that hands out bread sticks was a sweet, older woman. The restaurant was not busy that day so we received many visits from the breadstick lady. Again and again she came with a near relentless offer of warm bread. We had had more than our fill of carbs and so turned her down numerous times. This is a small picture of Christ in our lives. He comes repeatedly throughout the day offering to us his warm truth and sweet comfort, but most of the time we feel full and self-satisfied and reply, “No thanks, I’m OK”. Again and again he offers and each time we give God a polite rejection. Why do we do this? Because our power and our knowledge give us the illusion of sufficiency and this is a quiet boasting.

Let me close with the end of this passage with applies to all of our quiet boasting. ²⁷But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

[i] The Barna Update, October 21, 2003

[ii] www.dalitchristians.com