The Wisdom of God
Practical Church (1 Corinthians) • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
We are a few weeks into our study in 1 Corinthians. After digging into the context and background of the letter, we saw how Paul opened the epistle in thankfulness for the work that God had started within the congregation in Corinth. But we were also able to discern a few issues that were present in the mind of Paul as he began his letter. It was obvious that there were concerns of disunity within the body and that they were misusing their spiritual gifts.
Last week, we saw just how easily the church had begun to divide itself. Many of them had emotionally attached themselves to a preacher of the gospel, rather than the gospel itself. Paul was calling them to recognize that they had to unlearn their prior way of thinking and, instead, learn to think and discern like Jesus. After all, it was not these proclaimers of Jesus’ death and resurrection that saved them. It was Jesus Himself.
He, the Messiah, God in the flesh, should be the sole point of their focus. He had created them and brought them into order. It was His return to the Father’s side that initiated the coming of the Holy Spirit. And it was the Spirit who would help them achieve the mission that Jesus had laid out for them.
Paul closed last week’s passage by saying:
For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
He left us with this idea of the dichotomy of wisdom and the cross, this understanding that one is not compatible with the other. They seem to sound mutually exclusive. But why? What is wrong with wisdom? Every human culture throughout time has seemed to value wisdom above knowledge. Every generation looks to their gray-haired elders for guidance, in accordance to the wisdom that they have acquired over their years.
Why would Paul seem to say that wisdom is opposite of the cross?
[TITLE SLIDE]
Well, this morning, as he continues the opening of his letter, he will flush out this idea. And, in doing so, we will find that wisdom isn’t a problem. Instead, it is the employment of the wrong wisdom that is the problem.
Turn with me back to 1 Corinthians. We will continue in chapter 1, starting with verse 18:
[MAIN PASSAGE SLIDE x3]
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.
Again, as Paul makes clear in this passage, wisdom is not the issue. Human wisdom is.
[POINT 1 SLIDE]
Our Wisdom (vv 20,22)
Our Wisdom (vv 20,22)
Have you ever had a debate with an atheist?
Now, I don’t want to overly generalize, but most atheists are bummers to be around. If you are at a social event and everyone is smiling and having a good time, and you happen look in a corner and see a group of frowns, there is likely an atheist among them spewing their venom.
There was a joke a few years ago that asked, “how can you tell if someone is a vegan or a cross-fitter? Give them a minute and they will tell you.” Atheists tend to be this way. You won’t have to wait long to discern their position. They take everything super seriously and try to look for any trivial reason to interject their illogical belief that everything in our universe came from nothing.
These people tend to present themselves as intellectuals—too smart to fall for some religious mumbo-jumbo. They typically to look down on others, who they see as having an inferior intellect. And they often will refuse to even consider any other viewpoint because of their certainty in their position.
This personality is not new. It is indicative of someone whose heart is proud. They have already acquired all the knowledge that they need and have no capacity for greater learning. Their arrogance keeps them from being a life-long learner (for that is what we should all be—life-long learners, seekers of truth). It was common among both learned Jews and Romans to bathe in their knowledge and in the pride of their hearts. In fact, it is second nature to all of us because, as Jeremiah points out, our hearts in their innate form are wicked. Our wisdom is often prideful. Look at what Paul says in verse 20:
[PASSAGE SLIDE]
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?
Here, he begins calling out each of these prideful individuals. “Who among you is wise? Which of you is a Jewish scholar? Which of you is a great philosopher?”
Think back to a moment that you saw on tv or in a movie when there was a medical emergency on a plane. Inevitably, someone will cry out, “Is there a doctor on the plane?”
In that moment, every prideful heart with a PhD in religion or philosophy would flutter. Seated deeply within many of their hearts is a need to be heard and recognized for their academic achievement. But, these people are of little help in a medical emergency. This is not an indictment on doctors of religion, it is simply an observation of the human heart that has strived after knowledge for so many years. This is something that we must all wrestle with. As we gain knowledge, we must continually put our pride to death every time it pops us. It’s like a spiritual game of whack-a-mole...
And so is it with these men in Corinth. They desire to be seen and noticed and recognized for their great depths of knowledge. They desire to dominate those who would oppose their position. These men are not leading the church, but turning the church into a platform for politicking and debate.
Jewish scribes were known for their great and detailed knowledge of the Jewish law. They enjoyed displaying their knowledge in teaching and correcting those around them. The New Testament details countless interactions between them and Jesus, where they are constantly probing and pushing this new Rabbi’s theology, looking for ways to discredit him.
But what becomes obvious is that they are looking to beat Him in a battle of wits. They want the social capital that comes from winning a debate against the best and brightest young teacher. Like a chess student beating a master, or Rocky Balboa beating Apollo Creed, these men desire the glory that will come with conquering a someone clearly superior than them.
Paul singles out these prideful Jewish believers and calls them scribes to reveal the state of their hearts. And he does the same with the Gentiles by likening them to the Greco-Roman philosophers. He asks who these great debaters are. By debater, he means these Greek-styled philosophers, of which Corinth was overflowing. They were intellectuals determined to dominate one another’s position. In fact, because of the praise of the people, debaters were incentivized to get their opponent and their audience to yield. They were not seeking to be involved in a thoughtful conversation, that they might learn from the others position; they were gladiators in the mental arena seeking to strike a death blow to their opponent.
These Gentiles, which Paul often refers to as Greeks, were obsessed with their philosophical learning because that is what their society valued. And these church members were following culture and seeking after wisdom rather than God. For the Greeks, the height of virtue was wisdom. They desired it above all else. But Paul was calling the church to a higher virtue: one of holiness. The Corinthian believers weren’t called to be wise; they were called to be perfect.
We must understand that wisdom is neutral. It is a tool rather than a virtuous goal. It is not an end in and of itself, but should be applied to achieve better ends. Godly ends. For that reason, Paul throws in another word. He asks who is the debater of the age? By adding age here, Paul speaks of the age that is passing away. Human wisdom, just like this age, is temporal.
So, who is “the debater of the age?” While Paul is clearly speaking to those Gentile believers who would consider themselves philosophers, I think that we can surmise that power behind “the debater of this age” is Satan. Just like the Jewish scribes, he debated with Jesus over the Scriptures in the wilderness. Just as he did as the serpent in the garden, he wanted to twist the words of God to benefit him and subjugate his enemies. I think Paul is making a specific point here. Who is the power behind this division in the Corinthian church? Is it not the god of this age, who, as Peter puts it, prowls around like a roaring lion and seeks to devour whomever he can.
Satan has a vested interest in causing the church to divide and crumble. He will do whatever he can to render it ineffective. And just like in the garden, he has tricked these Corinthian believers into relying on human wisdom rather than God’s instruction. Paul continues:
[PASSAGE SLIDE]
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom
Paul says that the Jews demand signs. What does he mean by this? To properly understand what he means, we should look back into the gospels. The Jews were constantly asking for signs. What are the signs of the Kingdom of God? What are the signs of the age to come? What are the signs of the Messiah? In fact, there were times where they directly challenged Jesus to prove that He was the Messiah. How did He respond?
But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
His response to the Jewish scribes and Pharisees was to wait and see how He would fill the pattern of Jonah. Jesus wasn’t here to perform magic tricks on command. He was healing the sick and cleansing the lepers and driving out evil spirits, and still they wanted more proof. Why? Why did they need another sign? Because of their hard and stubborn hearts. In Luke 16, Jesus tells a parable about “The Rich Man and Lazarus.” In the parable, there is a rich man who cares not for the poor, even this dreadful Lazarus character that lies at his gate. They both die and enter into Sheol. But Lazarus is comforted in the bosom of Abraham, while the rich man is in the torment of the pit. He calls out to Abraham and asks for Lazarus to be sent back to earth to warn his family. Abraham’s response is:
He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”
This is what Paul is pointing to. What good is a sign if all you do is gather it as knowledge into your hard-hearted storehouse? For this person, more knowledge will push them further from God rather than draw them to Him.
He goes on to say that the Greeks seek wisdom. We have already discussed this at length. But Paul’s argument is about to become absurd to any person prone to philosophical thinking. Paul is going to pull forward the cross from verse 17 and present it as the remedy to human wisdom.
The idea of the cross is untenable for both Jews and Romans. In fact, the crucifixion was so deplorable that Romans refused to even speak of it in polite social conversation. The Roman historian Cicero said that, "The very word 'cross' should be far removed not only from the person of a Roman citizen but from his thoughts, his eyes and his ears."
But to the Christian, the empty cross is everything. And Paul is calling these believers to understand it. The Corinthians have become so mesmerized by human wisdom and rhetoric that Paul emphasizes the inverse foolishness of the cross. God’s wisdom is contrary to that of men. He has an upside-down kingdom (or right-side up).
It is not human wisdom that we should be chasing after. Instead, we should be chasing after God’s wisdom, as pictured in the image of the cross.
[POINT 2 SLIDE]
God’s Wisdom (vv 23-25)
God’s Wisdom (vv 23-25)
God’s wisdom is unlike our own. Where our wisdom comes from experience within creation and is based in pride, God’s wisdom comes from His definitive establishment of truth. He has built the structures and laws that uphold and restrain the universe. We merely observe them from the outside like astronomers peering into the sky. And Paul uses the empty cross as a construct for demonstrating the power of the Almighty Creator God.
We’ll continue on from verse 22:
[PASSAGE SLIDE]
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.
God’s ways are so far beyond our own. A scholar named Verbrugge says that “The most insignificant thought of God is wiser than the most profound thought a human being can come up with.”
Wisdom is one of the major themes throughout Scripture. It is a thread woven from creation to consummation. The book of Proverbs lays out much of this theology as it speaks of wisdom personified as a woman. There, in chapters 8 and 9, we find that wisdom was with God during creation. Psalm 104 praises God for His greatness in using wisdom during creation. Solomon would go on to teach us what true wisdom is in Proverbs 9:10. He says:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Jesus will be revealed in the New Testament to embody this wisdom. In fact, Paul will go on in verses 24 and 30 to implicate Him as the fulfillment of God’s wisdom. And look with me at what he writes to the Ephesians:
[PASSAGE SLIDE x2]
To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, (/) so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Here, Paul says that it is “through the church” that the “manifold wisdom of God” might be known. Known to who? Not just all men, but to the rulers and authorities, the powers behind rebellion against God.
Our job, as followers of Jesus, is to put our human wisdom to death and to learn the mystery of God, personified in Jesus Christ—who is the living wisdom of God—, so that we can proclaim it to the nations and the spiritual powers that stand behind those rebellious nations.
(Beat)
[PASSAGE SLIDE]
And that is exactly what Paul is saying here in verse 23. We preach Christ crucified. We preach the cross. We preach Jesus’ death on the cross in His victory over sin. And we preach the empty cross as Jesus’ victory over death. Jesus, the promised Messiah, put our sin to death and took our sin to the grave and dropped it off and then resurrected to new life that we too may throw off the promise of death have eternal life. Jesus lives!
David Garland says that “The gospel transforms the cross as a symbol of Roman terror and political domination into a symbol of God’s love and power.” And it is this cross that is an absurdity for those with prideful hearts, those devoted to human wisdom. Paul calls it “a stumbling block for the Jews and folly to the Gentiles.”
For the Jews, Christ crucified was a stumbling block for two reasons:
They couldn’t recognize Jesus as Messiah because they were looking for something else
They expected an Israelite King to ride into Jerusalem and push the Romans out of Israel
Plus they couldn’t get over the fact that Jesus was crucified, and therefore in their minds, cursed by God
Deuteronomy 21:23 “his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.”
For the Gentiles, it was folly because, in their minds, no reputable person would ever be crucified. And the thought that someone could overcome the deplorable and humiliating punishment of the cross was offensive to them. In a culture full of powerful gods, it seemed silly that the Most Powerful God would allow His Son to be murdered; that He would die to save others.
And, not only did Paul’s preaching of the cross ask them to worship this Messiah, but asked them to join Him in humiliation and death. Human wisdom cannot fathom this kind of love or this kind of thinking. But God’s wisdom is beyond our comprehension. His ways are not our ways. And since He is the One who ordered the universe, it is our job to submit to His wisdom. We must understand that our foolishness is a benefit to us, but only if we recognize it as foolishness.
[POINT 3 SLIDE]
Faithfulness (Application) (vv 18-19, 21)
Faithfulness (Application) (vv 18-19, 21)
And when we begin to understand that our wisdom is foolish and submit our hearts to God’s wisdom, we have the capacity to respond to Him in faithfulness. Jump with me back to verse 18:
[PASSAGE SLIDE]
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.”
Notice that the cross is a point of division between the foolish and the saved. Only those called and justified by the Spirit of God can accept the scandal of the cross. Paul will go on to say in chapter 2 that:
1 Corinthians 2:14 “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
In this age, the wise in the eyes of the world will come to nothing, but those who accept the wisdom of God and remain faithful to Him will inherit the age to come. Paul quotes Isaiah in verse 19 to make his point. In Isaiah’s time, the King of Judah had turned to Egypt for protection from the Assyrians rather than trusting in God. And Paul says that those who trust in human wisdom are just like him. They are trusting in something other than the Almighty Creator God to sustain them. Paul continues this thought in verse 21:
[PASSAGE SLIDE]
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.
God uses weak vessels who are faithful to Him for the proclamation of truth. We preach the cross, which seems foolish to the world, but has the power to overcome sin and death. It is His power, as seen in the person of Jesus, that moves the church forward and regenerates hearts. It is the Spirit that proceeds from the throne to indwell all believers that helps us to believe and to be a holy people.
So, what does faithfulness in the life of the believer look like? Faithfulness looks like the proclamation of the gospel. We preach the folly of the cross so that those who recognize the foolishness of their human wisdom may be saved.
(Beat)
We cannot properly proclaim the gospel without God’s wisdom. If we try, it will come with no power. Unfaithful preachers of the false gospel may win minds, but they will never win hearts to God. It is the cross that unleashes the power of God for transforming hearts and restoring humans into their order. The gospel is not good news without the cross. Let us all cry with Paul:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
[PREVIEW SLIDE]
Church, learn to recognize your human wisdom. Do not glory in it, but use it well. Put your pride and arrogance to death every time it pops up. Seek the wisdom of God, that which seems contrary to our nature. Engage with the Spirit in absorbing the pages of Scripture and the truth of the gospel, so that you will be prepared to preach the foolishness of their cross at every opportunity.
For those of you who have not made a decision to follow Christ, the church echoes Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:6 when he says, “Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.” All that we know here on earth is destined for destruction. This world will pass away, along with all of those who are loyal to it. By His death and resurrection, Jesus offers you new life. He calls you to follow Him today. How will you respond?
CLOSE IN PRAYER
CLOSING HYMN
CONGREGATIONAL BLESSING
