Our Foolishness, God’s Wisdom
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10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Synopsis: God's foolishness is mans salvation.
18 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. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 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? 21 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. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 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. 27 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; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Our objectives tonight
Truth on Its Head: Unusual Wisdom in the Paradoxes of the Bible To the World, God’s Wisdom Is Foolishness
To the World, God’s Wisdom Is Foolishness
Truth on Its Head: Unusual Wisdom in the Paradoxes of the Bible To God, the World’s Wisdom Is Foolishness
To God, the World’s Wisdom Is Foolishness
Truth on Its Head: Unusual Wisdom in the Paradoxes of the Bible To Christian Believers, God’s Foolishness Is True Wisdom
To Christian Believers, God’s Foolishness Is True Wisdom
According to the journalists, we are now living in the Information Age.
We can push a few buttons and get information about almost any person, place, thing, or event.
We are glutted with facts and theories, but starved for wisdom.
And so-called brilliant people continue to say and do dumb things and get paid for it.
The Christian poet William Cowper wrote that
“knowledge is proud that he has learned so much, while wisdom is humble that he knows no more.”
Eric Hoffer wrote in The Passionate State of Mind, “The hardest thing to cope with is not selfishness or vanity or deceitfulness, but sheer stupidity.”
The words of poet T. S. Eliot from The Rock:
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
There were serious problems in the church at Corinth because some of the members were boasting of their knowledge but unaware of their ignorance.
They were trying to mix the wisdom of this world with the wisdom of God and the formula was definitely wrong.
They were proud of what they thought they knew, but paupers when it came to knowing God’s wisdom.
We should learn that the people of God today often make the same mistakes the Corinthians made.
Instead of opening our Bibles, calling a prayer meeting, and seeking God’s wisdom, we hurriedly “share ideas” and ask how the world is getting things done.
Lacking the leading of the Spirit, and ignorant of the difference between wisdom and knowledge, committees soon disagree and end up with carnal division instead of godly decision.
Sixteen times in 1 Corinthians 1–2, Paul uses the word “wisdom,” and five times he uses the word “foolishness.”
These are the two key words of our study tonight.
To the World, God’s Wisdom Is Foolishness
To the World, God’s Wisdom Is Foolishness
Many say about the Bible “no longer much of anything in it for them.”
They prefer reading Plato.
Human wisdom has been quoted saying, “As for the Christian theology, can you imagine anything more appallingly idiotic than the Christian idea of heaven?”
Saul of Tarsus was also a brilliant man who stumbled over Christ and the cross.
But one day he was blinded that he might see and he trusted Jesus as his Savior and Lord and became Paul the apostle (Acts 9).
18 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.
Paul suffered persecution because he preached Christ and the cross, and he boasted in the cross as the power of God for the salvation of lost sinners.
14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Paul’s living identification with the crucified Christ was the secret of His life and service.
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Because of Christ, Paul was a transformed man.
The Bible does not encourage ignorance; it encourages us to grow in wisdom so that we will know how to make the right use of knowledge.
Science has a right to boast of its many achievements, and I for one give thanks for the good things science has contributed to our lives, especially in the field of medicine.
But it is wrong for science to leave out the Lord and take credit for what He has given us.
The Lord wants us to enjoy His blessings, but we should give Him the glory.
We may buy sleep but not peace of heart.
We can remove stains and wash off dirt, but apart from the Lord’s power, we cannot renew the mind or cleanse the human heart.
As I write these words, the newscasters are telling us that there are forty-four critical “danger spots” in our world where innocent people are being killed, valuable property is being destroyed, and freedom is being taken away.
There is no man-made medicine available to change the sinful human heart, but “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
There are many accounts in the Bible of the foolishness of mankind in rejecting the wisdom of God and depending on the “wisdom” of this world.
Of course, it all begins with Eve disobeying the Lord and influencing her husband Adam to join her in eating the fruit of the forbidden tree (Gen. 3; 1 Tim. 2:14).
Next came the foolish builders of the tower of Babel, who defied God and built a tower (Gen. 11:1–9).
The whole enterprise failed because the people rebelled against God.
From the confusion of Babel in Genesis to the destruction of Babylon in Revelation 18–19, every enterprise of man failed that was not planned and directed by the Lord.
12 There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.
Jesus gave a parable about a successful farmer who ended up a fool because he forgot that one day he would die (Luke 12:13–21).
Our Lord also told about a man who built his house on the sand and lost everything, when he could have built on rock and saved everything (Matt. 7:24–27).
To build on rock means to obey the will of God.
It is foolish not to have Jesus Christ as the foundation of life.
Jesus called the five bridesmaids foolish because they failed to bring oil for their lamps as they waited for the bridegroom to arrive (Matt. 25:1–13).
Acts 27 describes the destruction of a ship in a storm because the leaders were foolish and refused to obey God’s will.
Paul warned the centurion, the owner of the ship, and the helmsman that if they set sail, the ship would be wrecked in a storm.
But the centurion believed the “experts” rather than Paul and the majority of the passengers voted to set sail.
When a south wind began to blow softly (Acts 27:13), the leaders were sure it was safe to sail, but they sailed right into the storm!
Of course, we must remember the biggest fool of all: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’ ” (Ps. 14:1).
1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is none who does good.
There is a vast difference between the knowledge of this world and the wisdom of this world.
Nowhere does the Bible condemn human knowledge, for the Lord created a marvelous universe, a superb planet earth, and an astonishing man and woman.
He built into His creation laws and principles that are so accurate we can build our entire scientific endeavors upon them.
We were created after the image of God and given brains to think with so we could exercise dominion over creation, enjoying and employing the treasures and pleasures of His handiwork (Gen. 1:26–30; Ps. 8).
Wisdom is the right use of knowledge, making the most of God’s gifts as He commanded us, all for His glory.
It is unfortunate that our world is being unwisely used and abused so that human bodies and divinely supplied resources are being defiled and destroyed.
Air and water are polluted; plants and animals are wastefully destroyed as are valuable minerals; and the environment God has given us is being wasted.
People who live only by the wisdom of this world think that Christians are fools for believing the Bible and living by faith, but the “scientific world” has experimented and written their own “bibles.”
Have they forgotten that the same God who wrote the Bible also wrote into the universe (including planet earth) the scientific principles that keep the machinery running?
The laws of science are the laws of God, and if NASA had ignored those laws, there would have been no successful ventures into space.
Whether it be for saving a marriage, raising children, holding a job, running a business, or building a church, God’s wisdom points the way to real success:
1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
To God, the World’s Wisdom Is Foolishness
To God, the World’s Wisdom Is Foolishness
Paul states it boldly:
21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
In their “wisdom,” people replaced the living God with dead idols that they had manufactured themselves!
The sociologists tell us that “religion” began with the worship of many gods and idols and worked its way up to faith in one true a living God, but just the opposite is true.
Mankind began with a clear knowledge of the true God and rejected Him for the worship of gods they made themselves.
Our world today is filled with dead idols that control the lives of people, things such as money, property, movie stars, athletic teams, or heroes, status, authority, fame, achievement, pleasure, and pride of education, to name but a few.
Some people have even made idols out of a religion, worshiping a “system” instead of the eternal God.
Anything we trust and live for other than the true and living God is an idol and must be put out of our lives.
Idolatry thrives on ignorant unbelief, while the worship of the true and living God thrives on faith and obedience.
Many of the world’s “great” people feel that pride is the indispensable ingredient for achieving success.
You must be somebody important and let others know how important you are.
But Jesus says,
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
King Solomon wrote,
2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with the humble is wisdom.
The truly great people in the Bible did not promote themselves but left it to the Lord.
God told Joshua,
7 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.
It was not easy to be successor to Moses, but Joshua left it in the hands of the Lord and succeeded to His glory.
Too often Christian leaders imitate the world and focus on promoting themselves instead of magnifying the Lord.
“No sin cuts us off so effectively from God and our fellow man as the sin of pride,”
said Emil Brunner in a sermon.
“That is the root of all sins—the magnifying of the ego.”
It is unfortunate that some of the methods of the lost world are being brought into Christian ministries, while the wisdom of the Lord is being ignored.
Pity the Christian workers who never ask God to give wisdom but only that He would bless the clever plans they have made.
David imitated the Philistines and had the ark of the Lord carried to Jerusalem on a cart rather than on the shoulders of the priests, and the venture was a failure (2 Sam. 6).
When King Rehoboam followed the counsel of his worldly minded young friends instead of that of the experienced elders, he divided the kingdom (1 Kings 12).
More than one ministry has almost been destroyed by proud leaders who got their guidance from the world and not from the Lord.
We need as much of this world’s knowledge as we can get, but we need the wisdom of the Lord to help us process it and use it.
Our motto should be, “Learn all you can, and use it to the glory of the Lord.”
Daniel and his three friends mastered the “wisdom” of the Babylonians but succeeded in maintaining a godly witness in a pagan land because they trusted the Lord for the wisdom they needed day by day.
For Christians, God’s Foolishness Is True Wisdom
For Christians, God’s Foolishness Is True Wisdom
People who are still lost in their sins consider the message of the gospel foolishness and the people who believe that message fools.
Most of these people have never read the Bible or given serious thought to who Jesus is and what He can do for them.
They build their case on the agnostic flotsam and jetsam that they pick up here and there, and if invited to discuss the gospel, they excuse themselves because they have “more important things to do.”
To them, Jesus is only an unemployed Jewish carpenter who thought He was God and died as a criminal on a Roman cross.
His followers convinced people that He had risen from the dead and returned to heaven, and many ignorant people believed them.
To them, it is all foolishness from beginning to end.
We who are Christians must live as “wise fools.”
We are wise because we trust Jesus Christ and accept the word of God, even though the message of the cross seems like foolishness to unbelievers.
To them we are fools.
The gospel is a message of grace, and grace is something unsaved people cannot grasp.
Why would God become man and suffer and die?
How can another person’s death affect people today?
The cross looks like defeat, not victory!
People are accustomed to do things for themselves and to work for what they want, and they stumble over the free gift of forgiveness.
They wrestle with the facts of a shameful cross and a free gift of salvation but yet the logic of salvation eludes them.
Only our prayers and the work of the Holy Spirit can enlighten them and bring fruit from the seeds we have planted.
Salvation by grace may not seem logical from a human point of view, but this salvation is available—and it works!
We don’t push people into the kingdom head first; we pray them into the kingdom heart first.
Our dependence must be on the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Paul mentions Him eight times in the first three chapters of 1 Corinthians, and what he wrote parallels what Jesus said to His disciples in the upper room (John 14:15–18; 15:26–16:15).
The Spirit works in and through believers and convicts the unsaved of their guilt and need of Christ.
We must not depend on clever approaches in presenting the gospel but only on the ministry of the Spirit (1 Cor. 2).
We must be taught by the Spirit and led by the Spirit.
Paul emphasizes the unadorned preaching of the gospel that clearly presents Jesus and the cross (1 Cor. 1:18–2:5).
Why? So that Jesus Christ is glorified and not the preacher!
The world’s wisdom mixed with the gospel robs the message of its power (1 Cor. 1:18–23).
Pharaoh and the Egyptian army must have laughed as the Israelites came to the Red Sea, but God opened the sea and the Jews crossed on dry ground.
The Egyptian army was drowned.
The inhabitants of Jericho must have laughed at the Israelites as they marched around their city day after day, but it was Joshua and his people who had the last laugh when Jericho’s walls collapsed and the city was captured (Josh. 6).
How important it is for God’s people to be “wise fools” who are willing to be called “fools for Christ’s sake” (1 Cor. 4:10) so that He will receive all the glory.
10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.