1 Corinthians 1:18-31 "Wisdom & Power of Christ" Part One

INTRODUCTION

The Obvious—Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are camping. They pitch their tent under the stars and go to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night, Holmes wakes Watson. "Watson, look up at the stars and tell me what you deduce." Watson says, "I see millions of stars, and if even a few of those have planets, it's quite likely there are some planets like Earth, and if there are a few planets like Earth out there, there might also be life." Holmes replies, "Watson, you idiot, somebody stole our tent!"

Sometimes we just need to acknowledge the obvious > TRYING WAY TO HARD TO BE CLEVER!

Church at Corinth lived in A CULTURE prided selves on LOVE OF WISDOM & ORATORY

Had cultural bias & blind spots

MISSED some OBVIOUS spiritual truths

One is valuing GIFTS of the Spirit over the FRUIT of the Spirit = LOVE

Many influence by a FOUNDATIONAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS

Interpreting faith by their preconceived WORDLY VALUES

Faith was built on on wisdom or power > Not a PERSON

World ridiculed the church for message of Cross

People within church were pressuring Christians to conform to their expectations & values

Needed some encouragement to stay centered on JESUS & Message of the Cross

Maybe you can relate to their plight in our culture today!

These words are for you!

1.0 THE WORD OF THE CROSS IS THE VERY POWER OF GOD (1:18-19)

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.

Word of the cross—Cross has become symbol of Christianity

We are so familiar w/ cross as a shape, jewelry, decoration, symbol

Forget the horror of what it represented

Shameful execution > Not spoken of in polite company

Like having a guillotine, noose, electric chair as symbol of our church

Folly to those who are perishing—Strange and shocking!

Folly = μωρία mōría n. related to our word “moron;” it means silliness, absurdity, dullness, or stupidity.

To us who are bing saved—For believers, our eyes were opened to the true MEANING OF THE CROSS

Power of God—Message of the Cross is the Gospel

Romans 1:16 ESV

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.

CROSS is the answer to all of man’s problems

Able to deliver us from sin, death, and Satan by bringing new life & raising the dead

Can save the worst of sinners in the most desperate situations:

Powerful Gospel—In January 1990, inmates [of Colombia's Bellavista prison] rioted after daily violence prompted prison guards to walk off the job. Local leaders called on the Colombian army to intervene. But days into the standoff, Oscar Osorio, a Bellavista convict who became a prison chaplain, gathered a handful of Christian volunteers and singing hymns and carrying white flags, Osorio and his volunteers marched in procession through the prison gates, unsure if their lives would be spared.

Osorio found the prison's public address system was still working, so the chaplain boldly called prisoners to repentance. Stunning prison authorities, the inmates laid down their weapons. The riot was over. But more than that, the killing stopped and the gospel swept through Bellavista like a holy fire.

CROSS is the means God chose to paid for our sin through the substitutionary death of Jesus:

Galatians 3:13 ESV

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Cross is the location of the GREAT EXCHANGE

Jesus told us that it is a picture of what it means to be a FOLLOWER OF JESUS:

Luke 9:23 ESV

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

God will eventually EXPOSE man’s intelligence, cleverness, and understanding for the foolishness it is!

Easy Solution—Mensa is an organization whose members have an IQ of 140 or higher. A few years ago, there was a Mensa convention in San Francisco, and several members lunched at a local café.

While dining, they discovered that their saltshaker contained pepper and their pepper-shaker was full of salt. How could they swap the contents of the bottles without spilling, and using only the implements at hand? Clearly this was a job for Mensa!

The group debated and presented ideas, and finally came up with a brilliant solution involving a napkin, a straw, and an empty saucer. They called the waitress over to dazzle her with their solution.

They said: "Ma'am, we couldn't help but notice that the pepper-shaker contains salt and the saltshaker..."

The waitress interrupted, "Oh, Sorry about that." She unscrewed the caps of both bottles [one marked with S & one with P] and switched them.

Those that scoff at JESUS & Message of the CROSS will one day be COSMICALLY CORRECTED by the King of Kings

All of their solutions will be nullified with the Wisdom of God & Power of God

2.0 CHRIST IS THE EMBODIMENT OF THE WISDOM & POWER OF GOD (1:20-25)

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.

Where is the SCHOLAR? Where is the SCIENTIST? Where are the MEDIA? Where are the DOCTORS?

Man has tried to DEFINE GOD, DEFINE TRUTH

God has made foolish their attempts

Through their wisdom, man did not know God

TRUTH WINS IN THE END

It pleases God to use what they call folly to save them!

We often waste time trying to ARGUE people into the Kingdom

How about trying the WISDOM of God

How about trying the POWER of God

JESUS & Message of CROSS

The reality is that GOD REVEALS HIMSELF TO US

We cannot find him on our own

Our search is limited, our reasoning is faulty

Cross is foolish & offensive because:

Whoever is executed that way takes on a shameful reputation as worst of criminals.

God initiates with us, we cannot find Him on our own. We have to admit we are powerless & can never know without Him showing us.

We have to admit we are sinners and have deserved the punishment of hell.

We have to trust Him to save us! Our own good works are never enough!

God’s way of thinking in not like our way of thinking:

Isaiah 55:6–9 ESV

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God specializes in saving the WICKED & UNREDEEMABLE

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.

Jews—Look for powerful people to convince them

People that can do miracles, signs, and wonders

If God is real > Show me! > Miss all that God has done

Demanded signs:

Luke 11:29–30 ESV

When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

Wanted God on their own terms!

Jesus did all these things, but their hearts were still hard

Stumbling block to the Jews

Expected a CONQUERING KING who did spectacular MIRACLES

Weren’t looking for a SUFFERING SERVANT

According to the Law, anyone who is crucified is CURSED

Greeks—Look for smart people to convince them

Loved philosophy, education, oratory skills more than truth

Loved the debate, but didn’t want answers

Reasoned to justify their lifestyle choices

They heard the Gospel clearly presented

Just wanted new ideas! > One reality is boring!

Folly to Gentiles

Didn’t see Jesus as powerful as their mythological gods

No Roman citizen would ever be humiliated to the point of crucifixion

Didn’t believe in a bodily resurrection

We can relate more to the Greek mindset—People demand scientific evidence > Want alternate realities & new ideas > Desire alternate truths

Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God—God’s ANSWER to our problem of sin wasn’t POWERFUL SIGNS & wasn’t WISDOM

A PERSON! > JESUS, God become man

Jesus is wisdom personified

Jesus is our All Powerful God made flesh

John 14:8–9 ESV

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Taking time Knowing and Experiencing Him:

John 17:3 ESV

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Slow down, Commune, Abide

We are acting like Martha, hurried & busy about many things

We need to be like Mary, choosing what is best & sitting at the feet of Jesus

3.0 GOD DELIGHTS IN CHOOSING THE HUMBLE (1:26-29)

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.

Consider your calling—No one can boast in their own ability to FIND & CHOOSE GOD

Not wise, powerful, noble—Instead of being full of themselves, they came to God empty & spiritually poor

Even a strong person that admits their need for Jesus is seen as weak in the world

God chose—He initiated with us!

Great reversal of the Kingdom of God:

Luke 1:52 ESV

he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;

Luke 13:30 ESV

And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

God delights in choosing the humble:

After the 72 returned from preaching, healing, casting out demons > Jesus rejoiced in their humble ministry

Luke 10:21–22 ESV

In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

God doesn’t need powerful leaders > People that present the POWERFUL & WISE JESUS

Acts 4:13 ESV

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

Foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men—God is not foolish or weak

Paul uses their misconceptions to make a point

Jesus took n our shame and was crucified

Jesus became weak for us & died

His death brought something man’s strength could never bring, eternal life! > Victory!

If we have God’s wisdom, we are WISER, and if we have God’s strength, we are STRONGER!

The world is like a candle & God is like the sun

4.0 LEARN TO BOAST IN THE LORD (1:30-31)

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.”

Have you ever tried to separate yourself from those “foolish Christians”

Prop yourself up with science, understanding, politics, knowledge, education, training, abilities, etc.?

What do you find their confidence in?

How do you show yourself respectable?

HOW ABOUT TRYING TO BOAST IN JESUS > Not yourself

Jesus becomes EVERYTHING WE NEED:

Wisdom—Jesus is the answer to everything!

Righteousness—He became your sin > You became His righteousness

Sanctification—To be made Holy > You are now a saint because of Jesus

Redemption—To be purchased w/ blood of Jesus > Your value is much higher than you can ever imagine!

*Setting aside my pursuit of popularity for Jesus!

Philippians 3:7–8 ESV

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

Are you willing to set aside your confidence in your wisdom, strength, reputation, etc.?

Discover CONFIDENCE in Jesus!

APPLICATION

Today, there remains a TEMPTATION to make our Christianity about everything BUT JESUS!

1. SEPARATE JESUS FROM WORLDLY VIEWS

Stop trying to interpret Him based on what the world values

Stop trying to call Him down on your side of the battle

Joshua 5:13–14 ESV

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”

Stop worshipping the Americanized Jesus—success, blessing, no suffering. etc.

2. PURSUE THE PERSON OF CHRIST

Choose to no longer place other PURSUITS before JESUS

Slow down, abide in Him

Discover your confidence in Him

Eternal life is knowing Him & Father

3. SIMPLY PRESENT JESUS TO THE WORLD

He is the WISDOM & POWER of God

You cannot make him more palatable to those who are perishing without presenting a different Jesus

You cannot add anything to Jesus to make Him a better Savior

Jesus & Him Crucified