The Simple Confusing the Wise

Being Shrewd in God’s Kingdom

Paul—probably not very many of us would doubt that he was a shrewd guy

He was engaged in a challenging work in a challenging environment.

He had to keep his wits about him.

A couple of examples:

About to receive a beating because he had caused a riot in the temple. Paul asked, “Is it lawful to scourge a Roman citizen who hasn’t been found guilty of anything?”

His ability to communicate effectively to people of different religions and cultures: Athens--”To the unknown god”

So we think of Paul as extremely wise

We think, “I’ll never be like Paul. I’ll never be as smart as him or be able to do what he did”.

But I think that Paul would disagree with you.

-end of chapter 2

There were divisions in church and they stemmed from “who followed whom”. Who was baptized by whom.

Paul says, if this is how you are going to act, I’m glad that I didn’t baptize any of you except these few people

And then he says this. Read 1:17 through end of 2 (4:20 to read)

This is a big mouthful and we aren’t going to digest the whole thing today. But I’m sure

What does this have to do with being shrewd?

Main Point: God uses the simple and weak things of this world to overcome the wise and the strong.

God chooses weak people to do mighty things

I know that God wants me to serve Him, but I don’t feel strong. And after these messages, I certainly don’t feel shrewd.

Personally—This has been what have struggled with in a huge way

I’ve heard a lot of good preachers. I am not that eloquent

I’ve seen some really good pastors. I’m not that spiritual. I’m not that caring. I’m not a visionary like that one is. I don’t know how to define a vision and get people on board with it. I don’t know how to organize very well. I don’t know what to say when people are grieving or how to rejoice with people

I’m just weak!

I thought I was pretty good at flying airplanes. I knew what to do with an airplane. I was generally pretty good at making decisions

But with this job, I just feel weak

And maybe God is calling you to something. You feel Him tugging you in a certain direction, but you just feel weak

Guess what?! This is where God wants you!

It always amazes me that Paul felt the same way

This giant of the faith

This man who seemed to know just the right thing to say and when to say it.

And Paul is not alone: Moses hiding in the wilderness; Gideon hiding in the winepress

Others, overtaken with fear but used in extraordinary ways

“I determined or decided not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified

This is God using weakness to defeat the powers of darkness

This is Jesus, glaying His absolute power and authority

Being born as a human baby (weak)

Living on earth as a man

Willingly allowing himself to be arrested, falsely accused, flogged and crucified

The most demeaning, agonizing, horrible form of death that humans could devise

All of this in order to defeat the powers of darkness

The world and the devil do not operate this way.

Shrewdly, yes. But they don’t understand how weakness can overcome the strong.

I’m always amazed at viral videos online.

Often the things that go viral are “uncommon” acts of kindness and graciousness.

They go viral because it’s something the world doesn’t understand and it seems odd to them

2:3 “I came to you in weakness and fear and with much trembling”.

God chooses a simple message to confuse the wise

2:1 When I came to you , brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

2:4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power

What is that message?

This is the Gospel message. The message of Jesus as Lord

The message of us becoming weak so that God’s glory may be revealed in us

This is a message that is not understood by

Why does God use weak people and a simple message for His work?

Shrewdness

The kings and rulers of this world (the spiritual rulers) only understand a show of strength to advance a cause

They expect that in order to be effective the message has to be wise and the messenger has to be powerful

But God has a different way of working.

What the rulers of this age and what the dark spiritual powers don’t get is that God wants all the glory for Himself

And the way that He is going to get that glory is to to extraordinary things through a simple message and weak people.

So to wrap this up:

Shrewdness is:

Leverage

Sideways

But most of all, shrewdness is a reliance on the very power of God

Allowing Him to take the weakness, frailness, inadequacy that we feel, our meager possessions, and leverage them for His Kingdom

It’s opening our mouth when He give us a message and allowing put power to our words

So that the power of His spirit is revealed through us.

This is shrewdness in God’s Kingdom!