Foolishness to the World
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
In 1879 an invention was made that was meet with ridicule.
Some of the comments about this invention was as follows:
It is “unworthy of the attention of practical or scientific men.”
It is“an absolute foolish fire.”
It’s “a fairy tale”...
“a sham”...
And “offered false hope.”
It is “a conspicuous failure.”
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In the eyes of these critics...
This invention was a total bomb...
It was shear foolishness.
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This was the ridicule that meet the invention of the world's first commercially viable electric light bulb patented in 1879 by Thomas Edison.
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Despite the ridicule, the electric light bulb is now considered one of the greatest inventions of all time that changed the whole world.
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Despite being mocked, Thomas Edison joined forces with Joseph Swan to make the Edison-Swan United Company which came to be one of the world’s largest producers of light bulbs.
Soon, the Edison Electric Illumination Company of New York was established with financial contributions from some of the wealthiest investors of the time, including J.P. Morgan himself.
Other inventors threw in their lot with Edison and eventually, the company grew into what we call today General Electric.
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You see Church, the world may mock and call things foolish but often times the world is just blind to the truth.
This is no greater shown than the world’s attitude toward the things of God...
And this takes us to our study for today.
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So, please turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians.
We will be conducting our study in Chapter 1 and focus on verses 26 through 31.
Our message this morning called, “Foolishness to the World”
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Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
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.”
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) Your Calling
1) Your Calling
Verse 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.
The “calling” that Paul is referring to is the effectual or personal call to salvation.
This is when God personally calls you to salvation.
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Paul know this personal calling well as he experienced it in a very dramatic way on the road to Damascus.
Despite not always being as dramatic as Paul’s experience...
All Christians experience this call...
And all people who experience this call positively respond to God as they have their hearts softened and eyes opened.
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The reason for this calling is not tied up in any way to your current or future actions.
In fact, God is clear that He chooses to call individuals before they did anything good or bad.
Take a look at Ephesians 1:4:
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
God chooses us before the creation of the world.
God chooses to call individuals so they will be holy or set apart.
God chooses these individuals that he will call to be blameless before Him for they will be covered in the blood of Christ.
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So, this is a holy calling as it says in 2 Timothy 1:9:
9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
You see Church, we are not called because of the good works we are doing or will do.
We are called according to His own purpose.
We are called according to His own grace...
And that grace comes to us from the sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary...
And this was determined before the foundation of the world.
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The ones God calls are often the least likely.
They are the one’s that the world has written off.
They are the ones whom the world says are weak, and poor, and foolish.
But God has a purpose for the one’s He calls.
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Take a look at James 2:5:
5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
This very much seems to be the case most of the time.
This note from The Reformation Study Bible is very helpful in understanding this pattern we often observe:
“God’s election is not contingent or conditioned on qualities that He discerns in those whom He chooses.
Moses reminded the Israelites that God had chosen them despite the fact that as a people they were both few and rebellious.
Likewise, most of the believers in Corinth lacked the wisdom prized by Greeks, the power admired by Romans (and Jews), and the pedigree admired by Greeks, Romans, and Jews.
They had also been lacking in ethical purity until God’s grace washed and sanctified them in Christ.”
So, we see that God often chooses to call those whom the world sees no value in...
And this takes us to our next point.
2) Foolish to the World
2) Foolish to the World
Verses 27-28: 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; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
God chooses the things the world says are foolish...
And the things the world says are weak...
And the things the world says are low...
And the things that are not...
In order to shame the ones who claim to be wise...
And those who claim to be strong...
And those who claim to be in high standing...
And those who claim they have made something of themselves.
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So we are to be though of as low, weak and foolish for Christ’s sake.
Just take a look at what the Word of God says in 1 Corinthians 4:10:
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.
The reason for this is that to thew world...
The cross is considered foolish.
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The world mocks Jesus because He died on the cross.
They mock Jesus for being forgiving and sacrificing His life.
They mock the goodness and kindness of God.
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But the world has a very misguided perspective and lack an understanding of eternal truths.
1 Corinthians 1:18 rightly says:
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.
The cross may be foolishness to the world but we know it is truly wisdom from God.
We know that the events at the cross leads to the Good News of how Jesus voluntary gives up His life for His sheep.
So, we can’t help it but preach Christ crucified.
We can’t help it but preach 1 Corinthians 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.
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.
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So, what do actual foolish people say about God?
What does the world claim about God?
Look to Psalm 53:1 and see that it says:
1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good.
We see this in the beliefs of the world.
In the popular secular science...
Theories and scientific laws are being taught that remove God from the equation.
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Schools and universities are removing references to God...
Federal and state laws are put in place as if God was not there...
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This is the foolishness of the world that is perishing.
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Although they claim that there is no God...
Deep down in there hearts...
They know God is there...
They just refuse to honor Him like it says in Romans 1:21:
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.
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But God took the outcasts and gave them the wisdom of God.
It was all an act of mercy and grace.
So, no one could look to themselves and feel proud.
Instead, we as believers must acknowledge that it is God and God alone who saved us from wordly foolishness.
And this takes us to our next point.
3) We Can’t Boast In Ourselves
3) We Can’t Boast In Ourselves
Verse 29: So that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
To boast about anything other than our Lord is an act of foolishness.
Psalm 12:3–4 boldly says:
3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts,
4 those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?”
No achievement...
No reputation...
No merit...
No good work will ever put us in right standing with God.
If achievements or reputation or merit or any good work was possible even to contribute a fraction of a percentage of your salvation...
Then it would be something that you can boast about.
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But God does not give that as even an option.
God is no respecter of one’s achievements or reputation or merit or good works with regards to salvation.
For Salvation is 100% (not 99.9%) of God.
Ephesians 2:8–9 makes it crystal clear.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
The whole reason that salvation is a 100% free gift from God...
Is to prevent anyone from boasting.
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So with with free gift comes God’s wisdom.
Wisdom that the world can’t understand.
And this takes us to our next point.
4) Wisdom From God
4) Wisdom From God
Verse 30: And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
So, why does worldly wisdom conflict with godly wisdom?
The answer is that God’s wisdom is so much higher than the wisdom of the world...
And our big mistake is that we often believe God thinks like us but He does not.
His ways are higher...
His ways are better...
His ways are eternal...
His ways are good...
As Isaiah 55:9 says:
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
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God’s wisdom is like no other.
Nobody has perfect knowledge except God.
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It is not even possible to teach God anything.
As Job 21:22 says:
22 Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high?
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Verse 30 continues to say that God is our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
God is our righteousness because Jesus took our place while He hung on that cruel tree in Calvary.
And by trusting in Him we are covered in His blood that was shed.
So, in the eyes of the Father...
Instead of seeing us...
Who are wicked sinners...
He sees His Son.
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God is our sanctification as it is the Holy Spirit who lives in us that guides us to be molded in the image of the Son.
God is forming us to be more like his Son in the process of sanctification.
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God is our redemption as it was Christ who redeemed us from our fallen state...
When God made us brand new when He took the horse blinders off our eyes...
When the scales where removed...
When our stone heart was made a heart of flesh...
We were able to answer that holy calling from God...
We were able to answer the personal call from God.
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So, all this truth should make us boast in the one who had mercy on us and saved us.
And this takes us to our final point.
5) Boast in the Lord
5) Boast in the Lord
Verse 31: So that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Whenever you see the phrase, “it is written” that means the author is quoting Scripture.
Here Paul is quoting Jeremiah 9:24.
Starting from the verse before that to give some context, the referred to Scripture from the Old Testament reads as:
23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,
24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
Paul does not just quote the Old Testament but can be seem saying the same thing in his own words in another of his letters.
In Galatians 6:14 he says:
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.
I also love how the psalmist says similarly in Psalm 44:8:
8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah
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So, beloved...
Let us boast only in our Lord...
Let us only boast in the cross...
For it is God that had mercy and grace on us...
And it is for His purpose alone that we are saved.
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Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
As this message comes to a close I want to share this:
Minister Bob Russell wrote about a father who watched through the kitchen window as his small son attempted to lift a large stone out of his sandbox.
The boy was frustrated as he wrestled with the heavy object because he just couldn’t get enough leverage to lift it over the side.
Finally the boy gave up and sat down dejectedly on the edge of the sandbox with his head in his hands.
The father went outside and asked, “What’s wrong, Son?
Can’t you lift that rock out?”
“No, sir,” the boy said, “I can’t do it.”
“Have you used all the strength that’s available to you?” the father asked.
“Yes, sir,” the boy replied.
“No, you haven’t,” the father said.
“You haven’t asked me to help you.”
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As we heard in the message from John Adams in the video we saw earlier...
And as we heard in the passage that we just studied together...
We can confidently conclude that God uses ordinary people to do His will.
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In the world’s eyes we may not be sen as anything special...
When faced with a challenge we may feel unequipped...
But we have something that the world does not have...
We have God...
We have the blood of Christ that covers us...
We have the Holy Spirit in us...
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So remember the words of 1 Corinthians 2:1-5:
1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.
2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,
4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
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Paul did not use fancy words and eloquent speech to win souls for Christ...
He simply and plainly presented the Word of God...
And we all are to do the same.
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So, although we are just ordinary people in small town that the world may ignore...
We can accomplish great work for the kingdom of God by simply being faithful to our Lord and Savior.
For true success is measures in the eyes of God and not the world.
For to be used by God to lead one lost sinner into relationship with God is greater than all the riches of the world...
And this is why I joined Village Missions in the first place...
And this is why our church decided to partner with this wonderful ministry.
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So go out this week a be a mirror to reflect the light of Christ...
Go and share the wonderful good news that there is hope for lost sinners if they repent and believe the Gospel...
Go and boast about the Lord and Savior who saved you.
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To God be all the glory.
Amen.
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Please join us for one more song from the Praise Band.