Embracing God's Foolishness
Notes
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A 2nd grade teacher says to her students “if there are any fools in this class please stand up.”
Nobody stands up .
But after 10 seconds, little Johnny stands up .
Then teacher says , "So you say you’re a fool?”
Johnny responds, " No ma'am I felt sorry for you standing all alone...
Historical/Cultural Context -
Historical/Cultural Context -
Paul preached the gospel in Corinth in the early 50s AD during his second missionary journey (Acts 18:1–18). When opposition grew fierce there, the Lord Jesus spoke to him in a vision assuring him that he had ‘many people’ in the city (Acts 18:10). With this encouragement, Paul stayed on for eighteen months, ‘teaching them the word of God’ (Acts 18:11). God used Paul’s ministry to bring about the birth and establishment of the church in Corinth.
Biblical Text -
Biblical Text -
For the message of the cross is foolishness 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 bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;
but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
-[Prayer]-
-[Prayer]-
Life Principle - Jesus Is Foolishness To The World. Embrace The Foolishness
Life Principle - Jesus Is Foolishness To The World. Embrace The Foolishness
Life Point- Live God’s Foolishness
Life Point- Live God’s Foolishness
Exegetical -
Exegetical -
For the message of the cross is foolishness 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 bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
Homiletical -
Homiletical -
First of all, what is the message of the cross?
That God showed us how exceedingly sinful we are through the Old Testament Law. It reveals our sin so that we have no excuse.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,
We know, that is in ourselves, we cannot keep the law perfectly. Hence.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
So what can be done?
God came in the flesh, that is in the incarnation of Jesus.
He was born of a virgin
Did signs, wonders and miracles
proclaimed Himself God, the second in the Trinity
Died and rose again after 3 days in the grave, declaring Himself the victor over death, Hell and the grave.
Because of this He bestowed Grace upon those who are being saved.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
This simple truth is saving knowledge.
It is the life changing power of God for the believer.
When you look at this from the world’s perspective it seems foolish.
When we look at this verse in ancient Greek. It means that:
To the people of the world, those who are being destroyed, those who are perishing, Those that the god of this world has blinded the eyes of people, it seems like absolute nonsense. They don’t get.
Why?
Because they aren’t regenerate believers
Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
So what do we know?
Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.
Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.
God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.
So does that mean we can just go on sinning?
The answer is, NO!
The born-again believer doesn’t want to sin, because he knows it causes God pain. It hurts His heart, and out of our love we don’t want to do that to Him.
Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?
Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?
Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death?
For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
Does this mean that we will always walk in righteousness and never sin again, No.
But it does mean, that we try not to sin and we ask God to clean us up. He does clean us up, by the way. But it is a progression, a process that should happen throughout our time left on this earth.
So what should we do when we do sin?
But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
We have been told that the power of God is in the Gospel. That the most wise of this world will perceive it as non sense.
But God says in:
For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
Why wouldn’t God use human wisdom?
Because he transcends all of creation. He is beyond what we can think.
Plainly speaking, because He chose not to use our stupidity for His plans.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says 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.
There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
So we have a choice, We either do it God’s way or we continue going down the road of death.
You see without the free gift of God, that cost Him so much, we are already dead and heading down the road to Hell.
It is God’s mercy that allows us to get off that road and become regenerate believers in Christ.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
not of works, lest anyone should boast.
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
This does not mean that the OLD Testament Law is sinful. It means that the Law shines a light on the sin that is already there.
We were once controlled by the law of Sin and Death.
We were slaves of sin and could not break free, but Jesus came in and bought us and made us His slaves.
When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right.
And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom.
But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.
Illustration -
Illustration -
Speaking of Freedom
The Fourth of July was coming up, and the nursery school teacher took the opportunity to tell her class about Freedom in the U.S.
"We live in a great country," she said.
"One of the things we should be happy is that, in this country, we are all free."
One little boy came walking up to her from the back of the room.
He stood with his hands on his hips and said, . . .
"I'm not free. I'm four."
Life Point - Preach God’s Foolishness
Life Point - Preach God’s Foolishness
Exegetical -
Exegetical -
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
Homiletical -
Homiletical -
Paul brings home some truths here. He asks where their wise people are, the scribes, philosophers etc. and then says to the church, “has not God made them all look foolish?”
Today we have a lot of people who are wise in their own eyes. They are in the church and out of the church.
They speak elegantly and tickle people’s ears telling them what they want to hear. Let me give you 2 large examples.
Those that can accept that there is a God, but want Him to be their errand boy. Popularized in the Word-Faith movement.
Those that don’t want to be held accountable to their sin, so they deny God and call us all stupid. Also, known as atheists.
By the way there is no such thing as an atheist. To be a true atheist and say that there is no God would mean you would have to know all things. You would have to know everything. By definition that would make you God. Because only He knows everything.
The best they can be is agnostic, meaning they believe no God because of faulty reasoning, based on their own experience. But they can’t know for sure.
Once you get a self-proclaimed atheist to admit their intellectual shortcoming you are one step closer in your evangelistic efforts.
That’s just a side note, I give that to you for free.
Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.
God saw that no matter how smart or wise we think we are, which produces Pride and arrogance, that we would never draw near to Him.
It’s like He said, oh yeah, well I am going to spread salvation through human beings preaching about how I chose to bring salvation and satisfy My justice.
This message to the world seems like nonsense and so does the method of transmitting it to the world, through preaching.
Preaching the Gospel in today’s America will not win you points. As a matter of fact, America is becoming more and more hostile towards the true Gospel.
Call sin, sin and saying you need to repent of your sins and surrender all you have to Jesus, is not popular.
Even in a lot of so-called evangelical churches!
Why?
Because they have traded the truth for a lie. They want to feel good and be affirmed in their sin. They want their best life now.
who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
People who are in churches today want Jesus as an add-on and not give up anything for Him.
That Jesus does not exist. When He comes into your life, He demands everything. You know what? You will give Him everything? You know why? Because what you got isn’t worth, being His slave, His friend, His worshipper.
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.
“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls.
When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!
Folks there are a few way to grow a church. Did you know that? But when your done, only one will belong to Jesus.
I could grow this church by watering down the Gospel and not confronting sin.
I could grow this church by preaching things that will make people feel good.
I could grow this church by preaching the Gospel, calling us all to prayer for salvations and Kingdom growth, and allow God to send whom He wills.
Now if you pick one of the first two options, you are in the wrong church because I won’t water down God’s Word and I won’t preach Heresy. Or if the body of the church wants to go that way, they can do it without me. Because I won’t do it.
However, If you want Jesus’ power and His will in this church and are willing to give your all to Jesus to see kingdom Growth and make disciples; then you are in the right church and the right local body of believers and we welcome you here.
Illustration -
Illustration -
Speaking of sharing the Gospel
The preacher asked a small boy to show him the way to the post office and the boy courteously obliged
"Thank you", the preacher said. "You are a bright and polite young man. How would you like to listen to my sermon this evening so that I may show you the way to Heaven?"
"You're going to show me the way to Heaven?" the boy said in astonishment."But you don't even know the way to the post office!"
Life Point - Rely On God’s Foolishness
Life Point - Rely On God’s Foolishness
Exegetical -
Exegetical -
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;
but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Homiletical -
Homiletical -
The Jews were looking for a political Messiah. They wanted someone to lead an army and overthrow the Roman government.
But they missed the whole part of the suffering servant. The crucifixion of the lamb.
Oh, He will be coming back with an army of the heavenly host, but not during His first appearance. During His first appearance, coming as savior He did something more miraculous, more joyous, and more wonderful.
For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,
So what did they do? They demanded Jesus give them a sign on their terms, on their command. That’s not how God works. We don’t demand anything from Him.
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”
But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.
The Greeks were always looking for a great wisdom a great knowledge. But God didn’t make this too complicated did He?
Just Romans 10:13:
For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
To the Greeks this was folly and nonsense. So they rejected the message.
Both groups as a whole rejected The Message.
Then Paul gets kind of indignant. “Oh yeah? You think this is foolish? God’s foolishness then is wiser than you are!” He goes on to say to the Jews, “You think Jesus weak because He isn’t the conquering political king? Even at His weakest, He is stronger than anyone alive.”
So let people scoff at you and call you names. Let them beat you and kill you for your faith.
Because Christ is the Power of God and The Wisdom of God. He said we would be beaten and hated. That’s OK!
Why?
Because our message is what changes lives and hearts. So don’t stop sharing the Gospel of Christ. Carry on, no matter what.
This is a high calling, a calling that on self-examination I know I can’t do it. I can’t do it without God’s empowerment. With God The Holy Spirit strengthening me.
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues.
You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.
But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak;
for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
Life Principle– Jesus Is Foolishness To The World. Embrace The Foolishness
Life Principle– Jesus Is Foolishness To The World. Embrace The Foolishness
Call to Action – altar call….
Call to Action – altar call….