"Foolishness Made Wise"
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Sunday, April 22, 2012

Introduction: Have you ever met a really intelligent person? I mean a person who wowed you with their knowledge? I have known many intelligent people in my life. I am amazed at how some people are just so much smarter than others. If they are reading directions, they get it right away. If they are watching a complex movie, they can follow the plot line completely. When you talk with them, they are able to bring into their conversations quotes from famous authors. Like I said, they are quite impressive.

But there can be a problem with being too intelligent. Many times, those who are intelligent don’t have much common sense. They don’t know how to interact with others very well. They have trouble with the lack of knowledge that most people have. And even more, they may not understand how all the knowledge they possess fits into the scheme of every day life. They do not know how to transfer their knowledge into their living.

You see, as I’ve talked about before, there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is the accumulation of information. Wisdom is being able to use that information for life. As the well-known author and minister Chuck Swindoll said in his book The Strong Family, “Wisdom is the ability to see with discernment, to view life as God perceives it.”

I. Where is the one who is wise? (1 Corinthians 1:18-23; John 3:16; Psalm 33:10; Romans 1:21-22; Proverbs 14:12)

We have just finished Lent season, concluding on Easter Sunday. We talked about how Lent season is the time for us to remember the basics of why Jesus Christ came into the world and to understand what He did for us. But this is a problem for many people, especially when it comes to the cross. As the apostle Paul starts out in 1 Corinthians 1:18- He says, “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing…”

a. Those who are perishing- First of all, let’s understand who Paul means

when he talks about “those who are perishing.” There are only 2 classes we can fall under: one, is those who are perishing; and the other is those who are saved. Paul is trying to make it clear here that those who are perishing, are the ones that deny that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. The biggest reason they deny this is because they cannot believe that one whose life would be ended on a cross, in death, could be God’s Chosen One./ But the scriptures tell us clearly tell us that “God so loved the world that He gave His One and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.” The word “gave” used in John 3:16 is the Greek word “didomi” which means to “give up to death.” It is in the “aorist” tense, which means that it is an event with no time reference. Meaning, that Jesus’ death is for all people in all times who believe. But those who do not believe will indeed perish!

So we have a problem here, and that is that those who are perishing, who don’t believe that Jesus’ death on the cross saves them, are thinking that they can discern life and death and eternal life better than God. Those who don’t believe in what God has done believe they have a better alternative to what life and death are all about. They believe that they can save themselves by their own means. What the Bible teaches, is to them foolishness. It doesn’t make sense. They can’t process it in a way that gives them an understanding of how things should be.

Example- There is a story of a woman who was having trouble getting her car started. Every time she would turn on the ignition she would get a clicking sound. So naturally she thought that her battery was dead. Without checking with anyone, she sent her son down to purchase a new battery. When he returned he put the battery in and she tried to start the car again, but she got those same clicking sounds./ Finally, she called a mechanic who took one look at her cable ends and analyzed her problem. He said, “Ma’am, you have a good battery but your cables are bad.” That day she learned a good lesson about her car; you must always make sure that you have a good connection to the battery.

You see, those who are foolish, really just have a bad connection to the power source; GOD. Their cables (which is what they believe in) are not connected right. They think they have the right answer (like the woman sending her son to the store for a battery), but they are misinformed, and therefore are not making a wise choice.

b. God makes the world’s wisdom foolishness- As Paul continues, we read in

verse 19- “For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise…’”/ Now what Paul is really doing here is making a play on words, because no one is wise except for God. We humans think we are wise. But we fool ourselves. We think we know a lot, but we are blinded to our foolishness. We think we have it figured out, but we don’t!

This is not a new thought, for from of old/ God’s way has stood in contrast to what humans think is wisdom. The book of Psalms and the book of Proverbs are filled with verses that explain wisdom. Psalm 33:10 tells us, “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the people.” You can tell here that it is nothing for God to frustrate the plans of even the strongest and wisest. People always think their way is right, but God confounds their wisdom and intelligence.

And isn’t it foolishness to think that we can know more than our creator? As Romans 1:21-22 says, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as

God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish

hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.”

People’s hearts become so darkened that they no longer acknowledge that there is a God that created them. People get so lost in their thinking that they believe they know more than the creator. They have gotten to the point we they do not have any sense that there is One who is greater and wiser than they are. And so therefore, they become the ones who are wise… in their own minds! But as Proverbs 14:12 states, “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.”

II. Christ: A Stumbling Block- (Luke 20:9-19; 1 Corinthians 1:23)

Let’s turn our attention back to Jesus Christ. As Paul says, Jesus is the One who becomes the greatest stumbling block.

a. Jesus’ time- In Jesus’ day we see this to be true. You don’t have to search

the scriptures very far to see this. Let me give you an example:

Story 1- “The Parable of the Wicked Tenants” which is found in Lk. 20:9-19, we read, ⁹He went on to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. ¹⁰At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. ¹²He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. ¹³"Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.' ¹⁴"But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. 'This is the heir,' they said. 'Let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' ¹⁵So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. "What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When the people heard this, they said, "May this never be!" ¹⁷Jesus looked directly at them and asked, "Then what is the meaning of that which is written: " 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone^’? ¹⁸Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed." ¹⁹The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.

Now we could say many things about this parable, for it is a rich and wonderful Bible passage. But for our purposes here this morning, I want to just make a couple of observations. The first observation is that this is a story about how people through the ages have treated God. The vineyard represents our world. The slaves represent the prophets that God sent to tell the people about Him. The son represents Jesus, God’s Son. And what did they do in this story? They rejected and killed the son.

The second observation is that when Jesus finished the story, the Scribes and Pharisees (the religious leaders) wanted to get rid of Jesus. However, they didn’t get rid of Him at that time because they feared the people./ They didn’t fear Jesus, because they didn’t believe that Jesus was God’s Son and had the power to bring them salvation. Jesus was a stumbling block to them because they believed He was falsely leading the people astray, teaching about His death, and how His death would bring life to the world. They couldn’t see, because they were blinded by their foolishness. As Paul says in 1 Cor. 1:23- “For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.”

b. From Jesus to now- There is much more I could say about what

happened in Jesus’ day, but let us turn our attention to modern times. Even today, Christ is a stumbling block for so many. You hear people say things like: “Christianity is so narrow, because it teaches that there is only one way to heaven; by believing in Jesus Christ.” Our world has trouble believing that Jesus was God in the flesh, and that His crucifixion is what brings salvation to people.

And so to try to get around this teaching, people will twist the scriptures. What they try to do is to make it so that the Bible doesn’t teach that Jesus is God in the flesh. If Jesus isn’t God in the flesh, then even if He did die, His death doesn’t bring salvation. Instead people try and say that Jesus was as perfect a human being as there could ever be. Jesus is not our savior, but our example of how we are to act and live. Or they say that Jesus is god-like. Depending on the group then, Jesus is referred to in different ways:

For Eastern-oriented religious groups, he is an avatar—one of the many incarnations of God. For Christian Scientists, he is the Great Healer.

For political revolutionaries, he is the Great Liberator. For Spiritualists, he is a first-rate medium. For Jehovah Witnesses, he is a god, but not on the same level as Jehovah, God the Father.

But the problem with all of this, is that it is foolishness. There is nothing in the Bible to support these claims; they are twisting scripture to develop a theology that fits into their belief system and lifestyle. But the Jesus of the Bible was the second person of the trinity, God in the flesh, crucified for our sin, and by whom we gain salvation!! This is not foolishness, it is truth!

III. God Is Wiser Than Humans- (1 Cor. 1:24-25; 1 Jn. 4:10; Prov. 2:1-5)

a. The wisdom of God- The Greek language has three words for

wisdom, and all three are used to describe God’s wisdom. The first is sophia, from which we get our word philosophy. It means insight into the nature of things; an ability to see through, to comprehend truly and fully what is going on. So sophia is having insight to the point of knowing things not only on a worldly level, but on a spiritual level as well. It is being able to understand the whole of things.

The second Greek word for wisdom is phronesis. Phronesis is taking insight and applying it. It is the ability to discern right modes of action in any given situation. Sophia and phronesis must be married to produce the fullness of wisdom.

The third Greek word for wisdom is sunesis. Sunesis, often translated as understanding, describes this marriage, this joining of sophia and phronesis. Sunesis is really the uniting of the reality/ with what is perceived.

For example, in Matthew 13:14-15, Jesus is quoting from the prophet Isaiah:

“You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn—and I would heal them.”

God alone has this kind of fullness of wisdom. God is able to understand the nature of things, the deeper meaning of life, and knowing what to do to get the desired result. And in this wisdom, God chose to have Christ crucified.

b. Wisdom and Power- Paul then finishes this passage with these

words in verses 24-25: “But to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

On a school bulletin board there was found this message: “Free! Wisdom on Mondays through Fridays. Bring your own container.” (Amusing Grace, p. 149, #504)

The good news for us is that God’s wisdom to us is free. And the container we bring is our bodies and our minds, through faith. Those who believe, are the called. And as called we have access to the wisdom of God, which comes through Jesus Christ. Those who are called, know that the crucified Christ means power. Before the call/ we were defeated by sin; blinded by sin. After salvation, as we respond to this call, we now realize there is a new power at work in us; the power of God.

Christ is also the wisdom of God. This idea of wisdom runs through this passage. Paul’s joining together of wisdom and power is important. Had the way to God been through ‘wisdom,’ Christianity would have opened the way to salvation only to the intellectually gifted. The power in the cross opens the way for the humblest to know God and to overcome evil. Through Christ there is a wisdom superior by far to anything the philosophers could produce. So in this way, the ‘foolishness’ of God proved to be true wisdom. (Tyndale, NT Commentary: 1 Corinthians, by Leon Morris, p. 46)

So we see here that Paul is saying that the things of God, which might seem foolish to us, is wiser than any wisdom we could attain; and anything of God which might seem like weakness to us, is stronger than anything that could come from humans. God’s least bit of wisdom is greater than our greatest wisdom. God’s least bit of strength is greater than our greatest amount of strength. We cannot match God in any way, shape, or form.

Just because we don’t fully understand why God would choose to become human and die on the cross, doesn’t make it foolishness. What it does show is God’s great love for us. As we are told in 1 John 4:10- “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” And so we need to hear these words from Proverbs 2:1-5:

“¹ My child, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, ² turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, ³ and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, ⁴ and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, ⁵ then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.”

Conclusion: In a Peanuts comic strip Lucy and Linus are talking. Linus asks Lucy: “When you get big, do you want to be somebody great?” To which Lucy responds: “That’s an insult.” Linus, confused by her response asks: “How is it an insult?” To which Lucy says: “I feel that I’m already great.” (The Parables of Peanuts, by Robert L. Short, p. 55)/ The sign-seeking Jews were blind to the significance of the greatest sign of all when it was before them, because they thought themselves to be great and wise. The wisdom-loving Greeks could not discern the most profound wisdom of all when they were confronted with it, because they too thought that they were great and wise./ We as well, too often think that we are already great and wise, and so we fail to seek to understand God’s great wisdom in coming to earth in Jesus Christ, and being crucified for our sin. I pray we would leave here today, humbling ourselves in a way that allows us to accept what God has done for us, see the great wisdom in the greatest event of our history, and through this event, accept that God’s wisdom is there for us to seek and understand. Amen.