Wisdom, Foolishness, and the Way of God

Turn with me to first Corinthians 1 verses 18 through 25 is our passage tonight.

Hear the word of the Lord for 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 for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart for 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 her Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God for the foolishness of God is wiser than men in the weakness of God is stronger than men. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. We pray with me, Lord Jesus, thank you for being infinitely more wise than we could ever hope to be. Thank you for wisdom sometimes looks like folly, and for strength that sometimes looks like weakness or Jesus. I asked that you would work in these words that I speak tonight that they would be true to your word than anything that I say which is untrue to you would be forgotten that the light of the gospel would shine forth in this church this evening would be with us now and be with us as we hear in with me as I speak. In Jesus name I pray, I'm maybe seated tonight. We have before us. One of my favorite passages in all of Scripture, and when I first read this I was reminded of a character from a Russian novel. Now people here Russian novels, they think of names they can't pronounce and authors they can't pronounce. Don't let that throw you but there is a character in the work by man named feet, Theodore Dostoevsky, I can barely pronounce it myself and he published a classic novel called the idiot main character of this book is a man by the name of Prince Mishkin and Dostoevsky wanted Mishkin to be a portrait of someone he considered truly Christian. So the most pure Christian man. He could think to portray one of the hallmarks of this Prince Mishkin is his unassuming nature, and he's brought into the various homes of lords and masters in Russia and he often takes a servile attitude even though he's a prince himself, and he always considers others to be better than himself and his reward for this behavior is to be thought of as an idiot. Hence the title is thought of as a joker simpleton because he's always deferring to the people around the authorities in his life work rule. They were terrible people and Dostoyevsky wanted to see what would happen when a truly Christian man showed up in a society that hated God one point in the novel there is a man named Rob Dawson and Rob Dawson is one of the early wormy villains of the story and Mishkin and Rob Dawson are writing together on a train and this villain entices the entire train car full of people to literally point and laugh at Prince Mishkin because it is close because of the way he speaks Mishkin just laughs along with the crowd to him.

He's just happy to see that people are excited. He's just happy to see that people are laughing. Which of course makes the crowd laugh at them even harder as they think he's truly sick. He doesn't even realize or excuse me, they think he doesn't realize that he's being laughed at Mishkin is the possessor of a subtle and understated strike and he knows what's happening. But he is content to look like a fool. I think we could compare that to God's wisdom which Paul so eloquently writes about in our passage tonight. Today, if you take the Bible for what it is you take it as God's word.

You are thought of as simple as uncritical. And yet, in our passage this evening. Paul tells us that this is the key to all the wisdom we could ever want. Because behind these words.

Working through these work is God himself. So this evening, I'd like to give you four points from our text. I'm shaking it up from the three point outline. I know that's crazy but everybody just hang on will be okay and the first is the historical situation and context. When you do a sermon from you know a random epistle is always a good idea to set it in its context. To that end, let's talk a little bit about Corinth. The church that Paul wrote this letter to Corinth is about 50 miles from Athens is right in the heart of Greek culture. It's a city near the sea, which meant that a lot of commerce would've been going through Corinth was also a hub of Roman pagan worship along with such worship came a tremendous number of questions for the young church in the city for the Christian, the church in Corinth had actually been established by Paul himself in acts chapter 18 and many of Paul's dear friends were present and were active in this church such as the husband and wife pair you may have heard of the evangelists Priscilla and Aquila. They were active in the church. Corinth and the things that Paul had taught to this church and was telling them to tell everyone else work in conflict with their pagan culture was interesting is when we read first Corinthians.

What we notice there's actually a lot of the same problems in our culture today. The letters to this church have been called masterworks of pastoral theology and Paul is making every effort to instruct the Corinthians in everyday life.

The church was wrestling with these sorts of questions me know if any of these sound familiar. How should I think about what I eat and drink what should I do when I'm in conflict with another Christian, what should we do if somebody is practicing sin doesn't seem sorry there's a big one a huge one that ties into our culture today, which is what does God say about intimacy.

Paul addresses all of these concerns because he had a deep and passionate love for these believers.

In fact, in our text tonight. A bit before the actual passage that were going to talk about.

Paul launches right in as soon as he's done with his greeting into the most pressing issue in Corinth and that day and might not be exactly what you expected to be its unity in the church, its people, saying, well, I follow Apollo's will I follow Christ will I follow Paul and people were dividing amongst themselves. Let this be a lesson for us.

We should be for one another in the gospel. All the other issues outside the church cannot be properly handled until the church is on the same page.

So let's assume the best of our brothers and sisters in Christ. After all, love believes all things right. Paul Gross goes to great lengths to defend the unity of the church and to show the pettiness of saying I follow Paul or Peter or Apollo's in verse 17 Paul makes this point. He says if he was a terrific speaker. He would actually be distracting people from Christ because he would be encouraging people to follow him and his clever words and not the words of the Lord. Paul is not actually a gifted preacher, not in the sense that he was wildly eloquent. The thing that was special about Paul's preaching is that it was anointed by the Holy Spirit. It was weak.

It was unimpressive. It was only through that act foolishness of what we preach, as Paul puts it, that God changes hearts. When Paul was weak. God is strong. So in our passage, then Paul's making this point to fix the divisions in the church. You have to learn the wisdom of God that wisdom is not gonna sound the way you expect is not going to look the way you expected to look rather, it looks a bit more like Dostoyevsky's Prince Mishkin.

Sometimes the wisdom of God, looks like foolishness. Often, it makes us look foolish as our friends will give us weird looks for talking about God or perhaps we feel the need to take a stand for the gospel, even though it's gonna make a conversation tense which brings us, of course, to the second point of our sermon tonight and the meat of our passage looked down at verses 18 through 2118 says for 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 for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart where is the one who is wise. Where is the scribe. Where is the debater of this say has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world presents 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 point to is this the way of the cross and the wisdom of God the way of the cross and the wisdom of God. You know the cross is actually a shameful thing in the ancient world. It's so shameful that in those days when you are in polite company. Maybe when you are a garden party and some Lord's house somewhere you wouldn't even bring up the word cross I mean imagine you are at some black-tie cocktail event you wanted to talk about electric chair be a little strange, but the cross was especially grisly and terrible to Romans Romans had perfected its terror and I'm sure I don't need to tell you the horrible horrible way of dying that the cross was, but this shameful thing. This terrible thing is the very first thing that Paul talks about already in Paul's writing. We see he's got an unflinching character, Paul brings up the cross as the greatest good that the world has ever known this thing that nobody wanted to talk about was the very thing that Paul says is the best thing that you can ever hope to happen to you. The cross Martin Luther read this passage and he picked up on this theme in spades. He wrote a work called the Heidelberg disputation, which was right at the beginning of the Reformation and Martin Luther loved this passage in his work Heidelberg disputation. Paul cites this passage repeatedly. First Corinthians 118 through 25 in Luther.

I wouldn't say he invented this idea but maybe was the first to put these words on it. He had an idea called the way of the cross. This was a way of looking out into the world, and trying to see everything as God sees it as men see it but is the ultimate wise God sees it. I think this idea is not something Luther just made up against something directly taken from Paul and Luther's ideas sort of works itself out in this way, he says there's two kinds of theologians in the world. He says there's the first kind which is a theologian of glory, love, glory they love praise and he says there's a theologian of the cross. That second category theologian of the cross. Luther writes this about the theologian of glory. He says they're the ones who call evil good and good evil.

He writes further, there are those who do not know the cross and hate it and necessarily love the opposite wisdom, glory, power, and so on. Therefore, they become increasingly blind and hardened by such love for desire cannot be satisfied by the acquisition of those things which it desires that is an incredible sentence of the go read it again desire cannot be satisfied by the acquisition of those things which it desires, Luther writes, just as the love of money rose in proportion to the increase of the money itself, so the thirst of the soul becomes thirstier, the more it drinks. This holds true of all desire.

What's Luther saying he saying if you love glory and you love praise and prestige. You'll never have enough, you will never get enough to satisfy mean.

Think of the last achievement that you received when you like to get another one when it be nice if you had just one more. It's really tempting to try and think of those things as the ultimate thing which is going to make us happy. Luther says you're a fool to chase that dream enjoy the good things God has given you, but do not set your heart on theologians of glory look at outward appearance. They totally missed the point of the cross at all. They see Jesus hanging on a tree and they say that his weakness is foolishness and we are all like this I mean the apostles literally walked with Jesus for three year and they still thought that Jesus was beaten when he was on the cross.

Why do we think we would do any better than them. We are unable to see Jesus for who he is, until the Holy Spirit quickens us to receive his true Luther's come back to this theologian of glory, of those who love outward honor is to go into a second category, the theologian of the cross. Now the theologian of the cross is one who sees God not in spite of suffering and pain and death not against those things. But in those things because of those things through those thing. Look at verses 20 and 21. How is God made foolish the wisdom of this world by breaking its power and rising from the dead. Jesus invites you to this victory through faith, we must know that Africa sign up for this we should not expect to fare better than our master Luther knew this he describes the theologian of the cross is the one who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross. Luther says this and it's worth quoting at length to just hang with me. The manifest invisible things of God are placed in opposition to the invisible, namely his human nature, weakness, foolishness, God wished again to be recognized in suffering, so that those who honor God should honor him as he is hidden in his suffering is not sufficient for anyone and it does not do him any good to recognize God in his glory and majesty, unless he recognizes him in the humility and the shame of the cross. Thus, God destroys the wisdom of the wise is Isaiah 4515 says truly, thou art a God who hiatus thyself, so also in John 14 eight where Philip spoke. According to the theology of glory show us the father Christ, set aside this silly thought about seeing God elsewhere and led Philip to himself saying Philip, he was seen me has seen the father. For this reason, true theology and recognition of God are in the crucified Christ, for no one comes to the father except through him we boil this down.

You want to receive Christ. Don't go searching in the highest places don't go looking for glory is not confined to the way you think you are. Go to dark Gethsemane. As the old song says go to dark Gethsemane and learn from Jesus Christ to die. Think very often we come across difficulties in our life we think to ourselves, where Scott is he doing when it feels like we can't provide for our families when were overwhelmed by our work when we just can't seem to get ourselves out of bed in the morning because we just can't bear the prospect of one more day. It is tempting to start leading strange ideas come into our heads to start to think well where is God yes, but also is God really loving me. Does God love me surely not. I know it's difficult it's impossible even to believe that God can work in our pain and are suffering when we are tempted to despair when were tempted to look at our own lives in despair with remember the cross, not in a superficial sort of surface level way, but in a way that acknowledges the character of God. The cross is not just a point of historical relevance such as something that happened 2000 years ago that we don't really need to worry about.

It is the foundation of all of life because outwardly the cross looks evil, right meet only sinless man who ever lived is tortured to death. This seemingly evil act and act that appears to be complete injustice is the very means by which God makes the wounded hole. He makes the wounded hole by wounding another. He makes us whole. He forgives our sins by killing his son. This event is very event that makes an sense of all the others.

I mean, there's a reason that our calendar is organized the way it is Jesus himself as the focal point of history is the very hinge on which all of history, turn. I'm telling you is this, get it out of the abstract for a moment. The next time you're standing in the kitchen, unsure of where your next meal might come from with thoughts creeping into your head. Once you really want to share with anybody. Once it make you think maybe maybe be better to die maybe be better to die than keep living. Remember that God does not just work to take us out of our misery.

And when he doesn't take us out of our misery.

That doesn't mean he doesn't love us. It is these very acts that God uses to give us life deeper than we could ever imagine.

It is through these thing that God reveals himself and if you like my scriptural proof for this principle, I invite you to look at the simple and the terrible words of Luke 2333 say this, they came to the place that is called Golgotha. There they crucified .3 .3 verses 22 through 24. This is Christ's call to the elect.

It's her third point. Christ's call to the elect something that always strikes me about the gospel, something that could even be a stumbling block to certain people is that it's it's really simple. It's simple. Now it's depths are unfathomable because were talking about the things of God but the message is at least clear God the father sent God the son became a man, fully man and fully God. Jesus was crucified and suffered the penalty for my sins and an act of pure love and mercy God the spirit enables me to trust Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. JI Packer used to sum it up in these three words he said you want to know the shortest gospel presentation. It's this God saves sinners, that is the simple gospel is profound. It's amazing. If one were all here but so hard to put in the words not supposed to be. It's supposed to be available to everyone. So why is it that some believe and some don't.

Seems straightforward. Why would anybody not believe this will look down at the first part of verse 24 in our passage says this, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, so that in mind what's the difference between the believer and the unbeliever said that the believers were spiritual more amazing stronger. No. One thing God's call. Paul contrasts the Jews and Gentiles with believers. He says the Jews could not accept a Messiah who would die at the hands of Romans, instead of rebelling against them. They saw Jesus, and they thought he was weak.

The Greeks, who love to their philosophy couldn't accept such an unsophisticated mess. These were the intellectual elite of their day in the Greeks wanted wisdom. They wanted clever ideas and great rhetoric. They didn't find that the message of the cross. They despised what they perceived was the shame of the cross and in doing so, the Greeks lost the highest wisdom they ever could've found in the Jews lost the most ferocious strength they ever could've hoped for. And it's because God had not given them his call now this is a specific call. Often times in the Bible the way words are used really depends on a really determines their meaning. So you can use one word in a certain passage and it means a certain thing you can use a different word another passage.

It can mean something not totally different, but certainly has a different nuance to it now. Here's what I'm saying this word call here talking about God's effectual call what theologians referred to as a just to put it in plain English, this is God's specific call illustration helps here. Imagine I'm standing in a crowd there's people walking past me trying to get somewhere I just wave my arms and say, hey, look over here now. Handful people might turn in glance, but nobody's gonna stop what they're doing and just come over and talk to me, which is not very likely. But if I yell hey Amy Laura. She's in that crowd to get her attention got her attention right. This is the kind a call that Paul is talking about. It's a specific call. It is a call to each and every one of those who are elect. It's that cold brings people into God's presence now. Sadly, many Greeks and Jews just weren't interested in a Messiah like Jesus but they didn't have an ability to turn their hearts to God on their own and as you might've noticed this problems not diminished with time. I've a friend of mine McCall and Joey. Joey is a tremendous philosophical mind is younger than me, he's smarter than me, he's read probably dozens books more than I have extremely, extremely bright guy when we talk I a really hard time keeping up with the sky were friends but I can tell he's just kind of on another level. He's very interested in trying to understand the world around it actually is studying philosophy right now in University and I enjoy talking to him about the sort of thing. But whenever the conversation turns to religion just not interested is not interested in any sort of practical God. Any sort of God that would make a demand on him when he talks about God. It's very vague, very ethereal sort of unspecific what I want to talk to him about Christ is like a wall springs up between the two of us sure many of y'all could think of.

Maybe not exactly the same person but a similar person in your own life whatever fan family and friends recoil at the gospel well it's because God hasn't called them yet hasn't called them in this specific way. The thing is, that should not cause us to despair because God could change their hearts in an instant. It should make us despair.

It should make us pray mass that you would pray for these friends of yours and for my friend Joey. We never know what God is going to use to draw people to himself well I say that we do know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So we don't know the specific thing that God by using someone's life.

But we know it's going to involve his word in your prayers bag for God to speak this call, remember that God creates by speaking any re-creates by doing the exact same thing with the word God can re-create that stubborn and evil human heart DC why we pray because God is able to do these things if God wasn't able. What would be the point DC why he can be trusted because the same God that were praying to the one who said it is finished, and bowed his head and died on the cross, Jesus looked weak but to those with eyes to see it. He is strong stories of him bleeding and dying and rising again are not popular in today's world. In fact they seem like foolishness.

People say well that's silly. People don't rise from the dead.

I feel like saying back, but that's the point. These are the most profound things we could ever hope to find in here's point for point for the wise fool in the strong weekly down in verse 25 says the foolishness of God is wiser than men in the weakness of God is stronger than that really sums it all up doesn't the foolishness of God is wiser than men in his weaknesses stronger than men know. I do want to make a couple of quick comments here.

First, I know what comes to mind when we read this passage Elise becomes my mind. Wait a minute, is Paul saying that God could be weak, saying that God can be foolish to say.

And of course the answer that question is no. John Calvin helps us clarify this issue. He writes that here Paul is using poetry. He's using a poetical form both not saying that God is foolish or weak.

Paul is making a point using rhetoric which by the way, is ironic because the Greeks seek good rhetoric in here Paul is using it, there still not listening to them. But Paul's point is to say God's wisdom is far beyond our own and what appears to be weak in him is stronger than any strength humanity could muster in any apparent foolishness is wiser than the most learned human wisdom's ways are not our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts as the prophet Isaiah says Calvin saying that Scripture sometimes uses expressions like this to clarify God's ways. God's far above us. That is the point Paul is trying to make his wisdom outclasses arts and this is an invitation to trust him. It's not an invitation to cower. So turn to Christ, if you haven't already given a shot seems odd to put it that way but try it.

Don't miss your chance to get this wisdom from God. Know this being said, allow me to conclude with a quick application in middle and an illustration so I was writing this. It's all sort of heady stuff you know it's high theology is kinda racking my brain on how we can apply this I mean how do we think about God's wisdom in our day-to-day life and eventually I was reminded of Ephesians 5 and first Peter three. The marriage passages of Scripture. Of course, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and how did he love the church he died for her. What is that have to do with our passage. I would say this. Don't be afraid when you're out with your friends and you want to leave to go do something to make your wife happy and they want to call you Web server act like she is got your back pocket or something like that.

Don't be afraid they might think you're a fool. But you are loving your wife the way Christ loves his church do something for her and wives, submit to your husbands, but this is right in the Lord. Wives of the church. I think have a special way to display this a tremendous opportunity to show this principle because guess what what I just said is incredibly offensive to the outside culture. The world is going to think you're not just crazy for this thing. I think your enslaved now.

Don't here. This is a command to a sort of begrudging obedience. Try submitting to your husband even on something you disagree with them on now. This assumes that is not a jerk that is not lame bleeding you in the sin course, you must obey God, but I think you'll find something truly profound and radical and countercultural about this because I think you'll find wives, you will win his heart. Peter even writes that if your husband husband is not a believer you could be instrumental in winning him to the faith for such submission. What's more, in the highest thing the greatest thing is that you will find that you have please God, God will be pleased with what appears to be weakness for when you are weak. Then you are strong, his grace will be enough even for you.

God's wisdom will appeal appeared to be foolish, oppressive, but God will be pleased and he will strengthen you to do what pleases him is his power is made perfect in weakness know I'm taking a class this semester and Gnosticism that family of heresies from the early church guys believe some strange things and here's my illustration from my class and Gnosticism. You have all these wild beliefs and a lot of them were written down in Gnostic Gospels, so if you look at the word gospel. It literally means good news for the Gnostics were trying to write their own good news. A different good news from the Christian message as I'm going through my course. I bought a book book that is a collection of Gnostic Gospels, the essential Gnostic Gospels, the ones you have to read my favorite one is the one where there's a little intro to it that says all who read this book are guaranteed to be saying I read it I don't feel any different.

But anyway, I noticed something about this collection about this essential Gnostic gospel collection. The price tag originally on the dust jacket says he sell the book for $20 discount on the front cover, but says it's been bargain priced for seven I got it for four bucks a line I here's my point in this. I'm borrowing this from a friend of mine, the wisdom of this world has a shelf life really does not gonna last forever. Now things might seem clever for a time, but on God's timeline. There is only one source of true wisdom. And there's only one source of never-ending strength. It's Christ himself. Don't listen run to him cry out to him. No him above all else, let's pray Lord Jesus, thank you for being strong when we are weak. Thank you for working through things which seem even evil Lord things that we can make no sense of these, the very things that you use to shame the wisdom of this world to glorify yourself and we thank you for that.

I asked the woodwork in our hearts.

Now that you would be with us as we approach the Lord's table, Lord, please let us be strengthened by the sacrament it's in your name we pray on