The Challenge To Be a Fool
1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
Welcome - continuing 1 Corinthians
As we come to the end of the third chapter this morning, we are going to see Paul tie in much of what he has said through the first three chapters. Now remember, this was a letter, and there were no chapters or verses, so that Paul is still on the same theme is not surprising.
But here, he takes what he has already said and uses it to present to the Corinthians a challenge. He challenges them to both consider how they are living in light of all he has said, and to make a change to how they are living if they are falling short of their calling.
We have seen that Paul begins the letter by focusing on Christ as Lord. Nine times in the first paragraph, Paul invokes the name of Christ, and five of those times refers to Him as the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to keep that as the backdrop for the whole letter - the supremacy of Christ.
And we saw, Paul has this focus, because the Corinthians had the wrong focus. And he gives them a rebuke for their desire to glorify themselves through spiritual gifts and their desire to glorify other men who are merely servants of Christ.
And he reminded them that they are to live not by the wisdom of the world, but by the wisdom they have received from God. They are to live according to spiritual wisdom.
So, to that end, Paul has spent some time talking about their exaltation of men like himself and Apollos, and has tried to instruct them in thinking rightly about them. They plant and water, but God gives the increase.
They lay the foundation and build, but Christ is that foundation. Again, everything we looked at through last week, is all about Christ.
And what’s more, the Corinthians themselves are to be planters and waterers. They are also to build upon the foundation of Christ, because they have been built on that foundation.
And Paul now lays out this challenge, because doesn’t want all he has said to be dismissed by them. It would be easy to hear this letter read (how it would have been done*)and believe that Paul is talking about everyone else. To assume the immature believers are other believers.
In the same way, all that has been preached in this series so far - I don’t want any of you to just dismiss any of it.
It is so easy to assume that what the Bible seeks to correct is there for someone else. It is quite easy to come to church on a Sunday morning, hear the Word preached, and walk out glad that I don’t need to change anything.
As I’ve said, it isn’t uncommon for a brother or a sister to come to me after service and say “great message. I hope someone that needed to hear it was listening.”
Paul doesn’t want the Corinthians to do that. He doesn’t want any of them just assuming that it is others that are not living like they should as Christians. It is others who are living according to the world’s wisdom and the world’s ways.
So he lays out a two-fold challenge to them. And both parts of the challenge are in this one verse. He says:
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
He starts with “let no one deceive himself.”
That’s the first part of the challenge. And it’s the hard part.
Because self-deception comes just about as easy as self-exaltation for fallen man.
Now, this is not to say that none of the Corinthians were living out their faith, and doing it well. Remember what we saw at the start of the letter that Paul talks about the divisions some were causing because they followed him while others followed Apollos and others followed Peter. Yet there were some, Paul said, that followed Christ.
There were those in the church that were living out their faith well. For them, Christ was supreme.
And the same goes for us here. I do not assume that every correction offered from the Bible and preached from this pulpit is for everyone. I know for a fact that many of you are faithfully following Christ and living out your faith well.
I know that many of you are sold out for God. I know you are serving Him and serving others. I know that many of you are following the two greatest commandments.
But we all need to hear them, because we need to make sure that’s us. We need to make sure we are not deceiving ourselves into thinking we are living as we’re called. Because we still battle against the old man, and his heart is deceitful above all things.
So we all need to examine our hearts and our lives to make sure we are living out that love for God and love for others.
And we need to make sure we are doing that consistently. Not just on Sundays, not only when we are with our brethren in Christ.
We need to know whether or not Paul’s rebuke applies to us.
Just like the Corinthians needed to. Because, as I said, there were some in Corinth living out their faith, and some that were not, and there were some that were kinda living it out but not really like they wanted to or know they should be, but enough to think this was really about those that were doing it less.
There were some very mature believers who could receive the meat of spiritual wisdom - I’m talking like a 2 1/2” thick porterhouse of God’s truth - and there were some infants in Christ who could only digest the milk, and there were some who were somewhere in between, who could maybe handle more solid food, but sometimes still defaulted to milk because it was so much easier to digest.
But no matter where they were, Paul wanted them first to be honest with themselves about where they were.
Because he knew how easy it is to deceive yourself on this.
This word Paul uses for “deceive” here, it is not just the normal word for “deceive.” It is an emphatic version of the word. It means to be thoroughly deceived. Greek writers used this word to describe someone intentionally cheated out of something by someone. It is used of those swindled by con men.
It is the Word Paul uses twice to describe what Satan did to Eve in the Garden.
And here he says he wants to make sure the Corinthians aren’t doing this to themselves. Think about that!
He wants them to consider for a moment that they might be conning themselves - intentionally cheating themselves. What were they cheating themselves out of? Out of the fullness of the Christian life. They were cheating themselves out of building on the foundation of Christ.
And that may sound ridiculous at first - how can someone intentionally deceive or cheat themselves?
But in reality, fallen humanity is a master at doing just this.
We have all done it. We have all, in some situation or another, rationalized away not doing what we know God calls us to in His Word. We have all deceived ourselves into thinking that neglecting things like prayer or reading the Word or meeting together with other believers is just fine.
We can come up with plenty of reasons not to do those things.
We can deceive ourselves into believing we live with Christ as Lord when, at times, we are doing nothing of the sort. You know, when we’re with other Christians, it’s all about Jesus. He is Lord!
But then, when we are out in the world - depending on the situation, or our mood, or who we’re with - we live with a different Lord - be it another person, or our preferences, or worldly goods - our even our sin.
So we can live according to worldly wisdom and deceive ourselves into believing it’s Godly wisdom.
So we all need to take a long, hard look at ourselves to see if we’re doing that. We might even be doing it right now.
But when we do this, we aren’t just fooling ourselves.
We’re cheating ourselves. We are robbing ourselves of true joy and blessedness and spiritual maturity, and knowledge of God and of His presence, and so much more.
Sure, we may have faith, and we may be able to digest milk, but if we convince ourselves that’s enough, we’re deceived, and we are stuck. We are not going to produce fruit that way. No matter how much we may convince ourselves we will.
This is what Christ warned His disciples about in the Parable of the Sower. You probably know the parable.
If not: Matthew 13 - (summarize)
And Jesus’ disciples don’t understand the parable, so He explains it to them:
“Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
Paul is warning the Corinthians that their hearts might be thorny ground, and they don’t even know it. Sometimes, our hearts are thorny ground and we don’t know it.
This is what happens when we deceive ourselves about how we are living out our faith. Jesus warned that for some, deceitfulness or distraction choke the Word and it proves unfruitful.
And we need to notice something about Jesus’ explanation of this parable. There is one seed, and four types of ground.
Jesus makes it clear that the good ground are those who believe and who produce fruit. He is equally as clear that the path is an unconverted heart where the seed can’t even take root. That is the heart of an unbeliever.
But the rocky ground and the thorny ground? Jesus doesn’t offer clarity on whether or not He is describing believers.
In other words, we need to take that long, hard look at our own hearts, because though we may have the seed of faith planted there, our hearts may right now be the thorny ground.
And as Luke records Jesus’ words, that means: we hear the Word, like we do on Sunday mornings, but as we go on our way through the rest of our lives Monday to Saturday, we are choked by the cares of the world, the pleasures of life, or earthly riches - and our fruit does not mature.
This is what Paul is talking about. The planting and growing metaphor was Christ’s before it was Paul’s. And Paul wants the Corinthians to take a look at themselves and make sure they aren’t deceived.
And Paul is talking specifically about looking for thorny ground - about looking at how they live and being honest about whether they are living according to worldly wisdom or according to spiritual wisdom.
He says:
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
So the first part of the challenge was for the Corinthians to examine themselves and make sure they aren’t cheating themselves out of the abundant life that comes with living for Christ. They need to really consider their manner of living and decide if they are being choked by the things of the world.
In other words, they need to be honest with themselves: do they live according to worldly wisdom.
And if they do, then they have to move to the second part of the challenge: they need to abandon that worldly wisdom, because, as we have seen, true wisdom is spiritual wisdom.
And note how Paul puts it. If you think you’re wise in this age - according to these times - he says become a fool so you can truly be wise.
Paul is taking a shot at some of the Corinthians here. He is basically calling them fools for doing all the things he heard they were doing. They thought they were wise, but they were fools because they were wise in this age.
Oh, how often we live wise in this age?
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not advocating for Christians to be uneducated or unaware of what’s going on in the world. I encourage you all to seek to live intellectually stimulating lives. Be in the know on what’s going on in the world.
I am not saying we shouldn’t be concerned with the state of our world. We should be. That is the world Christ has us here to clam for Him.
I am definitely not advocating for we as the church becoming irrelevant to the world. Not at all. We have become too irrelevant over the last 70 years if you ask me and we need to get back out there!
Wisdom, though, is knowledge applied. It is how we live out what we know.
So we should know what those of the world care about in this age. But we shouldn’t care about the same things like they do.
We want to reach the world, so we should know what motivates them - what makes them tick. But those things shouldn’t be what makes us tick. Our motivation shouldn’t be the same as theirs.
We want to know how those of the world think so we can be relevant to those we want to evangelize, but we shouldn’t think like them.
This is what Paul is talking about by being wise in this age - he isn’t suggesting ignorance of the world around the Corinthians - he is talking about living like those of the world. Thinking like them. Seeking what they seek. Being motivated by what motivates them.
Paul says that if that’s us, we need to become fools according to that worldly wisdom. Otherwise, we are living like fools according to spiritual wisdom.
And this is how we can really see if we are deceiving ourselves. Because Paul has already made clear that what we believe as Christians, and what motivates us, and what makes us tick, and how we are to live - in short, faith in Christ - this is folly to the world.
And we need to understand that. We can’t expect the world to understand our motivations. They can’t do anything but think we’re fools for following Christ.
Paul has already said:
The Word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing
God saved us through the folly of the Gospel
Christ crucified is folly to the nations
The unsaved cannot understand the things of God, because they are folly to them
Spiritual wisdom is folly to the world.
But this works both ways.
What we believe is folly to the world. How we live is folly to the world. What’s important to us is folly to the world.
But what the world believes should be utter folly to us! What is important to them should seem ridiculous to us. How they live should be the height of foolishness to us.
Because it is folly to God!
1 Corinthians 3:18–19 (ESV)
If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.
Ask yourself - is how the world lives and thinks - what they hold as most important - what makes them tick - is that folly to me? Does it seem foolish to me?
Well, anytime it doesn’t, and how we live lines up with how they live, we are deceiving ourselves.
And I think it’s quite possible that we’re all doing this to some extent when we look at it that way.
Thank God the election is behind us, but let me use it as an example one last time. Because it really brings out what’s in people’s hearts, don’t you think?
Did any of us get caught up in the divisiveness of this election?
Did any of us buy into the lie that the biggest problem in our country is the economy?
Did any of us vote based on disdain for the other person or other party?
If we voted for the side that won: Did we take a little joy - or a lot of joy - in the fact that those on “the other side” were so crushed by the election results.
If we voted for the side that lost, did we say or think horrible things about those on “the other side” who won?
Those are thorns in our hearts.
That’s wisdom of the age.
That’s folly.
And please make a careful note - caring about our country and taking part in the political process is all well and good. Important, if you ask me.
Getting caught up in the worldly divisiveness, thinking and talking about this the same as the world, hating others, having the same priorities as unsaved people - that’s what’s folly.
Let no one deceive himself. If you are wise in this age, become a fool.
1 Corinthians 3:19 (ESV)
For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.
As Paul already said:
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,
Paul is bringing us back to this idea. That the wisdom of God is not the wisdom of the world. It is folly or foolishness to the world. But now he adds that the converse is also true, that the wisdom of the world is folly or foolishness with God.
Paul is saying that there is no middle ground. You are either wise according to God, or wise according to the world.
When it comes to how we understand and think about anything…anything! Be it politics, or sex, or the importance of objective truth - we have two ways to do that. By God’s wisdom, or the world’s wisdom.
How do we think about politics?
How do we think about money?
How do we think about people that disagree with us?
How do we think about people different from us?
How do we understand human value and dignity?
How do we understand how we are to treat those we like, and those we don’t like?
What wisdom do we live according to?
For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”
Paul is saying that those who are wise according to the world are wise in foolishness.
And he quotes the Old Testament. He takes a line from the book of Job. He - God - catches the wise in their craftiness.
Let’s look at this in context. Job is suffering - he’s lost everything in this world, he is in great emotional and physical pain.
And he says he wishes he was never born. That that would have been better.
And one of his buddies, Eliphaz, tells him that he must be suffering because of his own sin - that God wouldn’t punish him like this if he was innocent. And he recommends that Job just repent:
“As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause, who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number: he gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields; he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in the night.
In other words, God is in charge, and just as sure as He gives the rain, Eliphaz says, He will exalt the humble and humble those that exalt themselves. He will make sure that those who live according to worldly wisdom will not prosper, but they will be lost in darkness.
Let me ask you: is Eliphaz right?
Well, that depends on whether or not you consider what he said with worldly wisdom or spiritual wisdom.
Because, certainly, in this world, the wicked prosper all the time. Those who exalt themselves aren’t humbled very often in this world. But, of course, if we have a big-picture mindset we know that in the life to come everyone has to answer for what they do - we just talked about that last week.
But that isn’t what Eliphaz is saying. He is saying that those who do right by God prosper in this life. That God rewards those who live for Him with goodness according to worldly standards.
And so he is telling Job that he is suffering in this life because he isn’t living for God. He is being punished physically by God for his sin. God took everything from Job because he has sinned against God. God is disciplining him.
And we know from the book of Job that this is not at all the case. Job was upright and holy before God, and yet here he is suffering. And the “advice” his friends gave him was completely wrongheaded.
Now, why wold Paul refer to this conversation?
Well, the Corinthians were seeking earthly glory. And earthly exaltation. And living by worldly wisdom.
And they thought they were good with God.
They were deceiving themselves.
See, it is natural for fallen man to look at their situation in the world, using worldly wisdom, and decide based on that how pleased God is with them.
And that’s something else we’ve all done. Maybe we haven’t looked at our bank account and said “wow, God must really be pleased with me!”
It’s usually more subtle than that. Because I’d bet we have all wondered - when things go wrong or we suffer - I’ll bet we’ve wondered what we must have done for God to allow that.
Paul is saying that this is worldly wisdom. It is actually foolish to believe that our circumstances in the world necessarily reflect how we are doing spiritually, or that what happens to us is in this world is some indication of how pleased God is with us.
And the problem is that if we seek the things of the world - like some of the Corinthians were - and we get the things we seek , and we think with this worldly wisdom, we will continue to seek worldly things because we will feel like God is pleased with how we are living.
That is the self-deception Paul is talking about.
And that’s why Paul takes this line and flips it on its head by pointing out the truth in it. God does catch the wise in his craftiness. Those wise according to the world.
He just got done telling the Corinthians that what they do with their salvation will be judged. How they build on the foundation of Christ will be revealed. And in that day, God will catch the worldly wise in their worldly craftiness.
And they will realize they were doing nothing more than choosing to grope in darkness, when they actually had the light of Christ the whole time.
And Paul expounds on this even more when he says:
and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
Again, Paul is using this Old Testament line to speak of wordly wisdom.
This comes from Psalm 94. Let’s look at that Psalm to get the context of this line.
O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve! O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast. They crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; and they say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.” Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke? He who teaches man knowledge— the Lord—knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.
After Paul quotes the passage from Job where Eliphaz wrongly assumes that earthly prosperity means spiritual prosperity, he quotes this Psalm where the Psalmist laments the fact that the exact opposite is actually true.
Here, he wonders why the evil prosper in the world. Why they actually do better and have more power in this world than God’s people who live as they’re called.
And that leads those who suffer to say, not that God is punishing them, but that God doesn’t know what’s going on, or doesn’t care.
And the Psalmist corrects this thinking. He says: “fools, when will you be wise?”
You worldly thinkers, when will you turn to true wisdom - spiritual wisdom? God knows. God sees.
And the God who teaches true knowledge - the Lord - He knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath, or that they are futile.
The self-deception Paul is talking about is an exercise in futility.
And Paul loosely quotes this here, because instead of saying “The Lord knows the thoughts of man,” Paul says, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise.”
Why does Paul put it that way?
Because of what he already said. He told the Corinthians, remember:
But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?
And we saw, this “human way” and being “merely human” - Paul just says they are acting like men. He is saying that this is what man does.
But it’s not what men who have wisdom from God are supposed to do.
Men who are wise by worldly standards are who Paul is talking about by quoting this Psalm - The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise - according to worldly wisdom - and they are utter futility.
And the Lord knows exactly what those who are wise according to the world do - and they will be judged for it.
So by quoting both of these Old Testament verses together:
For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
He is saying that God does not offer worldly gifts as the reward for living according to our calling. Remember, when we are judged for what we do with our salvation, that is when we will receive our reward.
And he is saying that God sees - and God knows - what wisdom we are living by. And if we live by worldly wisdom, we may wind up with exactly what we seek in this life, but in the end, we can wind up with nothing. Futility. Because all of that will be burned by the fire of judgment, remember.
In laying down this challenge, Paul is pulling all of this together. All he has said about worldly wisdom over against spiritual wisdom. About seeking the things of God instead of seeking the things of man - which are attainable enough but will leave the Christian immature and lacking growth.
Paul asks them now: are you sure that isn’t you? Are you positive?
And if it is, you need to change the way you think. You need to realize that the wisdom you are living by is nothing but foolishness to God.
And some of the Corinthians were living according to worldly wisdom, and this is evident in how they exalted Paul or Apollos or Peter.
Because they were not exalting Christ. Remember, the whole idea is that Christ is Lord. He is supreme in the life of the believer.
And Paul brings them back to that here when he says:
1 Corinthians 3:21 (ESV)
So let no one boast in men.
As we already looked at, Paul is pulling this wisdom and folly talk from what he said earlier:
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,
But why did God do all of this?
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.”
Who or what do we boast in?
Paul says here: Christ gave Himself to become all things to us.
This is all about Christ. And God chose us to be fools according to worldly wisdom, that we may be all about Christ.
And how we think - and how we live - and what we seek - all of these will tell us exactly how much of our life is about Christ and what we really boast in.
Here, Paul talks about the foolishness of worldly wisdom. He brings in the Old Testament to tell the Corinthians that our worldly gains do not correlate to our spiritual gains, and that earthly rewards are not true rewards.
And then he says:
1 Corinthians 3:21 (ESV)
So let no one boast in men.
Paul is talking about their boasting because of the exaltation of others. Later, he will address their boasting because of their self-exaltation over spiritual gifts when he says:
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
And we’ll get to that.
But in all cases, Paul is referring to the fact that we have no reason to boast or to exalt anyone or anything other than Christ.
No reason!
And to do it anyway, is folly.
So we don’t boast in what we achieve because we don’t think about worldly achievements like the world does.
We don’t boast in worldly possessions because we do not think about them with worldly wisdom.
We don’t boast about our gifting because we are all just servants of Christ, and He really does the work.
So the fact of the matter is that no matter what the Corinthians believe according to worldly wisdom, the truth - wisdom from God - is that they are not “of” Paul, Apollos, or Peter.
Quite the contrary:
So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
Paul says, “you are not of me. You don’t belong to me. No. In Christ all things are yours!”
“All are yours, and you are Christ’s!”
They said, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or ‘I am of Peter,” but Paul says to stop thinking with worldly wisdom and understand that they are of Christ.
So they already have it all. They don’t need to seek anything but Christ, because in Him they have everything.
Paul says: “If you think you are of Paul, you’re wrong. God has given me to you to plant and water. He has given me to you to lay the foundation that has been laid in Christ.
And you have all things - all the things the world seeks after - you have them all because of Christ. The world, life, death, the present, and the future.”
Paul literally encapsulates all things in these. The whole world, in life or death, now and forever - we have all things in Christ.
Yes, as the Psalmist lamented, in this world the evil prosper and oppress God’s people. But in Christ, the world is ours. Christ said:
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
The world belongs to our King!
It is already ours if we belong to Him. And one day, we will reign with Him over the world He will perfect.
Worldly wisdom is obsessed with life and death. They seek to build a life on the wrong foundation as they seek after vain things.
But one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions, rather, Jesus said that He came to give life, and that abundantly.
Worldly wisdom seeks to avoid death. But it’s unavoidable, and for those who seek worldly exaltation, it is final. Except for those who belong to the One Who overcame death.
It’s all about Him.
And Paul places this life and death idea into eternal perspective, because the present and the future are ours. He Who is and is to come has given us Himself now and will forever. We already have the foretaste of what He will give us as our final reward.
Because He is all we need. And we have everything in Him now and forever.
1 Corinthians 3:21–23 (ESV)
For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
In Him we have it all, because we belong to Him, and He belongs to God.
And Paul is not drawing a distinction between Christ and God. He is actually pointing out the glorious truth of the Trinity. What we have, we have in Christ, and we have from God. This is a formula Paul uses elsewhere.
The point is that, unlike those of the world that seek the wrong things - unlike the philosophers who argue about ultimate truth - unlike those who seek self-exaltation - we need none of that. We have everything, because the One and only God Who is exalted above all - He has given us everything.
Because He has given us His Son.
He has given us Christ.
Paul is reversing the wisdom of the Corinthians who lived according to worldly wisdom and sought what the world sought. Everything is theirs in Christ - the whole world, in life or death, right now and forever - because they are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may be wise.
We have all things. We have everything we need in Christ. We belong to Him, and all things are already ours, because it’s all about Him.
Why would we seek anything else?
But we do.
I ask you thins morning: what are you seeking?
What is your life all about?
If it is not Christ, you are a fool. You are deceiving yourself. You are cheating yourself out of the fullness of Christ, which means you are cheating yourself out of everything, because all is ours in Christ.
Those of the world seek worldly things, and they want it all.
Brothers and sisters, if we seek Christ and Him alone, we have it all.
Let’s stop cheating ourselves. Let’s become fools according to the world that we may be truly wise.
Let’s commit ourselves, right here, right now, to making everything about Christ.
We belong to one else.
May we remember that, may we believe it with all our hearts, and we live it out to produce fruit a hundred-fold in the name of the One Who gave us everything.
