Influencers

Our wisdom comes from knowing that we received our salvation through the power of the cross.

It always fascinates me where sermon prep goes sometimes and this week it led me to discover a brand new job title.

Influencer.

I didn’t realize it was a real career but it is - it’s a career path.

I got started with this train of thought when I remembered that the White House has had a couple of events for social media influencers.

So I looked that up and sure enough.

On March 11, 2022, the White House had 30 Tic Tok influencers and they were briefed on the White House’s position on Ukraine.

That was reported in the Washington Post.

Then, on October 9th, the White House briefed 20 influencers on the Inflation Reduction Act, more news on Ukraine, student loan forgiveness and why everyone should get a Covid 19 booster shot.

That event was reported by NPR.

If you are an influencer, you could get invited to the White House - dig that!

Did you know there was a career path called influencer?

Go to Indeed.com.

They tell you what an influencer is.

They define the various tiers of influence - each tier has a name.

They outline the 10 steps necessary to become an influencer.

And they tell you that the average salary for an influencer is $52,000 a year.

What is an influencer you might ask?

An influencer is “a person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media,” according to Oxford Languages.

They influence you to purchase everything from a particular type of gummy bear, to doing the ice bucket challenge, to having a particular stance on the war in Ukraine.

In other words, their job is to influence their followers to know, “This is the way, walk in it.”

They are championing their wisdom.

There is a direct parallel between our culture and the culture of the Corinthians.

It takes practically no work to find the similarities.

People came to their Odieum to speak - to champion their wisdom.

People came and listened - and liked what they heard.

So they adopted that wisdom - they were influenced, right?

Others adopted the same wisdom.

Still others rejected it and listened to another influencer and adopted their wisdom.

And they formed their own group.

And pretty soon, that way of thinking bled over right into the church.

“I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or, “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.”

How is that different from:

“I follow Osteen,” “I follow MacArthur,” “I follow Copeland,” “I follow Jeremiah,” “I follow Stanley,” “I follow Oprah,” “I follow the View.”

Each one of those folks are influencers.

They are each saying, “This is the way, walk in it.”

So here is the big question:

How do you know - how can you know - which influencer to listen to and which influencer to reject?

Our text is from 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5.

This is a most fascinating passage that deserves some very detailed study.

But today, we’re only going to hit the high points.

Today is Baby Dedication day.

Over the 936 weeks from birth until High School graduation.

Your child will have a lot of influencers speaking to them.

What will be your child’s baseline telling them who to listen to and who to ignore?

Hear now the word of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 1:18–2:5 ESV

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 age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 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. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to 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, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

In the intro, I’m hoping that a certain sentence triggered in your mind.

“This is the way, walk in it.”

Did you hear it?

It’s from Isaiah 30:21

Isaiah 30:21 ESV

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

Anna was our first born and, like all toddlers, she always walked towards the most dangerous things.

She did that one morning and I walked up very quietly behind so as to not startle her.

And I put one hand to her left and one hand to her right so if she fell, I could catch her and keep her safe.

When I did that, the Lord spoke that verse into my mind.

He let me know, that’s what He does for me - and all of His children - every day.

That’s a simple explanation for the word wisdom.

This is the way, walk in it.

There are two wisdom’s you can follow.

You can follow your heart - as everyone on the face of the planet it seems is telling you to do.

Or you can follow the Lord - which is what this text is telling you do do.

When you follow your heart - what you are saying is that you are all that and more.

It is our basic and most seductive idolatry - I will be self-sufficient.

That you either know the way or you’ll find the way and you’ll walk in it.

When you follow the Lord - well, you are saying that the Lord is all that.

That he will show you the way and you will walk in that way.

The question is, and it wholly belongs to you.

Which wisdom will you choose?

I’d love for us to take a deep dive into this passage, but let me summarize something for us.

In verse 22, Paul says, 1 Corinthians 1:22 “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,”

Jews are to this day looking for a messiah, a savior to come and make Israel the center of the known universe.

This messiah will come in amazing power.

He will crush his enemies.

He will restore Israel and the singular apple of God’s eye.

He will cause them to rule and reign over the entire world.

“Jews demand a sign,” is saying that they are looking for a demonstration of that dominating military and political power.

They want to see a sign of it.

And you might say, well Jesus came healing the sick, making the blind see, the deaf hear and the lame to walk.

Sure he did - but did He crush Rome?

Where were His political victories - He had none.

In fact, He was crucified as an insurrectionist against the authority of Rome.

“We have no king but caesar,” they said.

Following a defeated messiah is folly - it’s stupidity - it’s insanity.

They needed to keep looking.

The Greeks on the other hand gave us philosophy and reason.

Take every problem, apply the right philosophical and scientific principles and you can solve the problem, every time.

The mind is everything.

Reason is the solution.

I don’t know what you grew up with, I grew up with this:

“We only use 10% of our brain power. Can you imagine what we could accomplish if we used it all?”

Have you ever heard that?

I was raised on that.

Raised on the idea that if I wholeheartedly apply myself to anything, then I can do anything.

If I can dream it, I can do it.

Jesus could not be there answer.

Jesus didn’t have enough sense to keep Himself alive.

He might have outsmarted the Jews in the temple.

But the sophistication of the Greeks, Jesus wasn’t a player.

He was killed as He deserved, and, as we say, dead men tell no tales.”

Following a dead messiah is folly - it’s stupidity - it’s insanity.

And, as U2 said, the Greeks, us, we, “Still haven’t found what we’re looking for.”

Both the Jew and the Greek - that’s equivalent to us saying today - both the blacks and the whites - both the liberals and the conservatives

Everyone needs to keep looking for a better Lord than Jesus.

It would be ridiculous to follow Him.

Paul uses the words folly, foolish, stumbling block, foolishness, weakness.

This is what Jesus is to all who reject Him.

We need to keep looking.

Lots of people, even in this room - think they need to keep looking.

And if we keep looking, one day we can figure it all out.

But here’s the problem with a god we can figure out.

“A God discovered by human wisdom will be both a projection of human fallenness and a source of human pride, and this constitutes worship of the creature, not the Creator.” Gordon Fee

Listen to 1 Corinthians 1:28-29 “God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

It is God’s purpose for us to know that all of everything, everywhere at any time is from Him and Him alone.

That is God’s wisdom.

1 Corinthians 1:30-31 “And because of him [because of the Father] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.””

He is our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption.

Paul didn’t use those words for us to look them up and define them all.

He used those words to say, Jesus is our everything.

But this doesn’t make sense to the world.

This is not how the world thinks God should operate.

But this is what He did, He made an executed messiah our power and our wisdom - He made mankind’s criminal our King.

You know what the Lord is saying?

This is the way, walk in it.

So what is Paul reminding us about in chapters 1 and 2:

He’s reminding us that God wants us to flourish.

He’s reminding us that God saved us.

He’s reminding us that being saved changes everything - especially how we think and act.

He’s reminding us that we have everything we need to follow Jesus like we need to.

And today, He’s reminding us that we were saved by the power of the cross.

It doesn’t make earthly sense, but it is heavenly wisdom.

While we were of no use to God whatsoever, He sent Jesus to live a perfect life.

But then He died on the cross to save us from our sins.

His blood for ours.

His punishment for ours.

His death for ours.

But then He was raised from the dead because death couldn’t hold Him.

He ascended into heaven and one day He’ll return to make everything right again.

But until then, He sent the Holy Spirit.

To wake dead men up - so they could see Jesus.

And they could be saved.

1 Corinthians 1:30-31 “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.””

Jesus is our everything.

This is the wisdom of God.

The wisdom that saves us.

Let us pray.