1 Cornithians - Part 4

Introduction

Review: A few weeks ago we began a series on 1 Corinthians. Just to remind you what we’ve covered so far:

Corinth was a major City - very large, cosmopolitan

Corinth was a beautiful, yet wicked place.

Corinth was located at a major commercial crossroads - this is why it is so prominent.

The Church at Corinth had been planted by Paul - He had spent 18 months there working.

He has written back and forth to them once and he’s now received word from one of the House Churches that there are some problems in the Church. He’s also received a letter from them to ask him some pastoral questions.

He writes 1 Corinthians to respond to the issues in this Church and to answer their questions

Our First week, we said he begins dealing with their issues by reminding them of their identity. He reminds them who they are

They are set apart and sanctified in Christ Jesus

They are “Saints”

They are members of a bigger body of believers all over the world.

Our Second week we said that Paul moved to reminding them of Who God is and what he had done for them.

Paul reminds them to be thankful to God.

Paul reminds them God had given them everything they needed to live as Saints

Paul reminds them that the Faithfulness of God is their foundation

God had called them into fellowship with himself. This idea of fellowship means and intimate sharing. A better word might even be “communion.”

Last week we talked about how Paul begins to address divisions within this Church.

They are supposed to be united - With one voice, one, mind, and one purpose.

Instead they are divided

Paul Says - “Stop being divided! Christ is not divided and we don’t follow a man, we follow Jesus!”

Setup: Tonight We want to take a look at what Paul has to say as he continues to address their divisions.

Opening Story/Illustration:

Transition to the Text: Let’s look at this text Tonight

Text: 1 Corinthians 1:17-2:5

1 Corinthians 1:17–2:5 LEB

17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the gospel, not with clever speech, lest the cross of Christ be emptied. 18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the intelligence of the intelligent I will confound.” 20 Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. 22 For indeed, Jews ask for sign miracles and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a cause for stumbling, but to the Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. 26 For consider your calling, brothers, that not many were wise according to human standards, not many were powerful, not many were well born. 27 But the foolish things of the world God chose in order that he might put to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world God chose in order that he might put to shame the strong, 28 and the insignificant of the world, and the despised, God chose, the things that are not, in order that he might abolish the things that are, 29 so that all flesh may not boast before God. 30 But from him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, “The one who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.” 1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I decided not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I came to you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling, 4 and my speech and my preaching were not with the persuasiveness of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and power, 5 in order that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Transition to Points: Remember that we said last week, the Corinthians had taken the ways and attitudes of the world and had brought them into the Church. They had their favorite teachers who they followed and they thought this made them elite.

This would have been the way the Greeks thought - Arguing over their favorite philosopher.

Paul concludes that section by reminding them - God sent him to preach the Good news - Not with fancy words or impressive rhetoric of a Greek Philosopher or some kind of special human wisdom.

Greek Philosophers would have come with fancy words ands human wisdom - But Paul comes to them with Something different. What is it that he comes with? Let’s look at this tonight!

Points

Paul reminds them they are acting foolish!

They think they are demonstrating wisdom, but they are acting like fools.

By doing what the everyone else around them did (Arguing over their favorite preacher) they show they have not properly understood the message of the gospel.

They are still viewing the world from their old perspective!

We must change our perspective!

When we come to Jesus our perspectives about a lot of things must change:

Our perspective on Power

Our perspective on what it means to be successful

Our perspective on greatness

Our perspective on influence

ALL OF THIS MUST CHANGE!

The American Church has similar problems - We view power and success the same way the world does.

I was in a Sunday School class a few years ago - and I was teaching on the 7 Churches in Revelation. I began by asking this question - What makes a successful Church in America? I got typical answers. Large. Nice building. Great programs. Enough income. Large staff. Etc.

Then I asked a follow up question - What makes a successful business? The answers were the same.

If you look at the 7 Churches in Revelation - The ones that were “successful” were the ones Jesus got on to the most. And the ones that we deem unsuccessful are the ones he commended!

Paul appeals to the Cross

The message of the Cross is foolishness

1 Corinthians Exegesis and Exposition

Since the cross represents painful death and profound humiliation, it calls into question the conventional wisdom about power and the divine. The ancients took for granted that deities possessed power, and the degree of their power determined their ranking in the pyramid of gods. In the cross, that pyramid is turned upside down. The most powerful God appears to be the most powerless. The cross makes hash of all secular and religious attempts based on human wisdom to make sense of God and the world. Victory is won by giving up life, not taking it. Selfish domination of others is discredited. Shame is removed through divine identification with the shamed in a shameful death. God offers a new paradigm that makes the experience of shame the highest path to glory and honor (Stansbury 1990: 472).

Let’s put this in terms we can understand today

The cross was a nasty, horrible means of execution.

Preaching the cross would have been equivalent to this statement today: There was a man who lived in the one of the worst areas of Georgetown and hung around some of the worst people you know. He was arrested for inciting rebellion against the government, went to trial, and was convicted. He died in the electric chair. BUT he miraculously came back to life. That man was actually God himself and the electric chair is now a symbol of your salvation. Think about how odd that sounds!

Yet this is what Paul says - God uses foolishness and works in ways that makes us often scratch our heads. He doesn’t work like the world works!

Paul tells us the cross is foolish to the world - to those who are perishing. BUT to those being saved it is the power of GOD!

Paul quotes Isaiah 29:14

Isaiah 29:14 LEB

14 therefore look, I am again doing something spectacular and a spectacle with this spectacular people. And the wisdom of its wise men shall perish, and the discernment of its discerning ones shall keep itself hidden.”

In Isaiah’s time the people of Judah were trying to look to the nation of Egypt to save them from the Assyrians. This looked like wisdom - But this was not God’s way.

In a similar way - The Corinthians were trusting the preaching skills of their favorite preacher - Rather than trusting in true power - CHRIST CRUCIFIED

In 1 Corinthians 1:20, Paul says

1 Corinthians 1:20 LEB

20 Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

What’s he saying here? These are popular in their culture. God says - I’m going to make fools out of all the stuff you think is so powerful. The wise, the scholar, the philosophers who think they are so smart I’ll make it all seem foolish Compared to my Wisdom - The Power of Christ Crucified.

He continues: 1 Corinthians 1:21-23

1 Corinthians 1:21–23 LEB

21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. 22 For indeed, Jews ask for sign miracles and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a cause for stumbling, but to the Gentiles foolishness,

He reference the cross as foolishness and preaching the cross as foolishness

Jews would have suffered persecution for their belief in one God and the dietary laws they followed.

They want a Messiah to come and deliver them from Rome.

They want someone to come and replay the 10 plagues of Egypt and have them delivered.

Greeks would have looked for a powerful man of logic to present things logically and compellingly.

Instead they get, what is referred to in Greek, a skandalon, a stumbling block!

A Crucified Messiah who defies human logic!

This is the point of preaching. Preaching points us to the cross.

People are simply to believe in the cross and be saved!

And this means that, they cannot boast.

The Corinthians had been boasting in their favorite teachers and preachers and philosophers.

There is no room for boasting! God alone was responsible for their salvation

Their preference for their favorite preacher might seem like a small issue, but Paul says it’s not.

He sees it as self centeredness, human pride misplaced and left unchecked.

This is not a small matter and it had the potential to destroy this community.

In chapter 2 he returns to Christ Crucified.

HE did not come with successful programs, pleasing rhetoric, or a successful method. His only boast was that he knew Christ crucified. It was this that brought the Spirit’s power and was nothing remotely related to human wisdom!

We must remember the Cross

Here is our problem - We are ok with hearing this message when it comes to our Salvation. YES! We know its the cross that saves us. YES! It’s foolishness.

BUT we see the character and nature of God in the CROSS and then we go on and live our lives as if God acts different in every other situation. SURE, God saves through the cross. We got that. BUT then God uses success and power and wisdom the way that we think.

But this misses the point. These are Christians he is writing to. They are divided. He’s reminding them to look back at the very nature of who God is - His work on the cross shows us who He is!

AND THIS IS WHO HE IS - A God who gives of himself. Who is humiliated. Who dies. This is our God - Sitting in the electric chair, fried. His body still twitching from the shock that just went through it. This is how our God works to save the world. This is how he brings reconciliation. This is how he heals relationships. This is how he conquers.

And this is our example.

Conclusion

For Paul, the answer to their divisions was to get back to the CROSS!