1 Cor. 1:18-31

Outline

Introduction - Christ is our Everything

Include a statement about his being worth more than anything , though the world does not want him. Include evangelism story.

Include a metaphorical story. (Include Thrasher story).

Christ is the power of God.

Jews demand signs to validate something being from God. (Matthew 12:38-41: They demand a sign from Jesus and he tells them all they will get is the sign of Jonah.)

They judged someone’s authority from God based on the signs that person performed. They were used to the prophets who came performing signs. Although he had actually performed many signs, they still did not believe.

Christ himself is God. All power belongs to him.

He is greater than Jonah. They could not see Christ because they did not truly seek God by faith. Many demand to see God do something before they will trust him. They may only believe the miracle, but deny the source. We must desire Christ because he is Christ, not merely because of what he does for us.

Christ is the wisdom of God.

Greeks sought after special wisdom. A Greek sophist would study in philosophy, rhetoric, etc. They regularly had debates in the public square to show off each other’s wisdom. This was popular in Ancient Greece and sometimes like a sport. Platonic teaching was popular during this time. Similar to many of today’s secular universities. Seek after worldly knowledge to boast in findings, rather than worship Christ.

Christ himself is wisdom. He is the source of life. Proverbs 9 explains how Wisdom is a person who was there with God while he created the universe. The universe was created in wisdom. Romans 12:1 offering ourselves as living sacrifice is “reasonable” worship. John 1:1 Christ is logos. Christ is logic of God. World created through him. It is vain and hollow to seek after wisdom and reject Christ.

Considering our calling.

Remembering what life was like outside of Christ, or comparing what we experience in Christ now to the world. I can testify of how life was like for me.

God is glorified by using what the world would never use. Could you imagine a child lifting a car off of the ground to save a person trapped underneath, and then claiming God helped them? Wouldn’t this be different than a body builder claiming that? Could you imagine a third grader winning a debate against a Harvard scholar? When it comes to the best way to live, what greeks called “Eudaimonia,” a third grade Christian is more wise than an atheist Harvard scholar. This is what it is like for a believer living in a world of secular powers and wisdom. We have the creator, and that is enough. Acts 4:13: Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

Conclusion - All glory belongs to Christ.

There is no room for boasting outside of Christ. Since God chose to use the lowly things, there is no boasting in our own works. Our life apart from Christ would be vanity and worthlessness except that he chose us. Include a gospel presentation. Christ crucifixion is truly wisdom and power as it allows a perfectly just God to have mercy on sinners.

This should affect what we choose to trust in, make much of, and live for. Could you imagine someone hiring you for a job, and you spend the whole day coming up with the grandest ideas, exerting wonderful strength, and having the assistance of all of the world’s finest resources to help you? What if at the end of the day you were not paid anything because you had done the job wrong. The one who hired you tells you that this job required faith in the manual he gave you. It required a perfection that only God himself could give. All of the world’s resources cannot do that. Only Christ himself working in your place could do it