Foolishness of Unbelief

Introduction

It’s not often you speak to someone who is an unbeliever who admits the power of God. You may come a cross a pagan who recognizes God has power even though they do not worship God. You may run into an agnostic that really doesn’t care one way or another and as long as you do not try to “force your religion” down their throat they are apathetic. But then there are the atheist. Those people who activity seek to destroy Christianity. They may even know a little about Christianity, but they only know just enough to attempt to discredit and destroy it. They make wild accusation like; “God is vengeful, God is unfair, or God is mean.” Here is a fun example

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They hold these views and try to destroy Christianity because to them .........

God’s message looks foolish

God’s message is opposite of what we are taught

We were taught to revere strength

We were taught to idolize wisdom

We were taught to avoid suffering

God’s message is hard for unbelievers

Unbelievers rely on the tangible

Things they can touch, taste, see, hear, smell

If you can hold it in your hand it is real

Things have to be real

Unbelievers rely on reason

It must be rational to them for it to be possible

It must make sense

Unbelievers only look for benefits

They will never intentionally suffer

They will never intentionally submit to pain

For unbelievers the cross makes no sense. How could a weak person save us? On the cross Jesus was weak. How would Jesus suffering bring about salvation? Salvation only comes through conquest, not through suffering.

John Chrysostom, Homily IV “For the things which tend to salvation [the unbeliever] knows not; and those who are careful about them they consider to be troublesome. Now this ensues not from the nature of the thing, but from their disease. And [it’s] just what the insane do, hating those who take care of them, and besides reviling them, the same is the case with unbelievers also. But as in the case of the former, they who are insulted then more than ever compassionate them, and weep, taking this as the worst symptom of the disease in its intense form, when they know not their best friends; so also in the case of the Gentiles let us act; yea more than for our wives let us wail over them, because they know not the common salvation”

So what is it they do not know?

God’s message gives wisdom

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers 1.12: Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians Homily IV

Just so with regard to the things of God; should we desire to explain them by the wisdom which is from without, great derision will ensue, not from their infirmity, but from the folly of men. For the great things of all no language can explain.

All true wisdom comes from God

Proverbs 9:10 NIV

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Isaiah 33:6 NIV

He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.

James 1:5 NIV

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

We cannot have true wisdom without God.

”Supposing there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It is merely that when the atoms inside my skull happen, for physical or chemical reasons, to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me, as a by-product, the sensation I call thought. But, if so, how can I trust my own thinking to be true? It’s like upsetting a milk jug and hoping that the way it splashes itself will give you a map of London. But if I can’t trust my own thinking, of course I can’t trust the arguments leading to Atheism, and therefore have no reason to be an Atheist, or anything else. Unless I believe in God, I cannot believe in thought: so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God.”

—C.S. Lewis

Unbelievers have to do mental gymnastics

In order to disprove God and Christ unbelievers have to come to crazy conclusion

Or they have to ignore basic evidence

Through our faith we are given God’s perfect wisdom

God’s Perfect Wisdom

Greeks look for wisdom, Jews look for signs

They both want some tangible means for belief

We are blessed because we believe without seeing

John 20:29 NIV

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

We have wisdom because we have faith

Our salvation comes from God and not from the world’s wisdom

When we believe, we will be saved

when we are saved, we will understand

Conclusion

God’s wisdom may be strange to those who do not believe. The cross seems counter productive. To suffer for another seems strange. To revere weakness seems just wrong. But to those of us who believe we know that God’s strength is all that matters. The cross was God’s chosen method for salvation. To suffer for another is the greatest gift we could give or receive. And we know that God’s strength is what is most important and his strength is greatest when we are weakest.

So God’s wisdom may seem foolish to those who don’t believe but to us who believe God’s wisdom is everything. Let us pray.