1 Cor. 1:18-31God’s wisdom vs. Mans foolishness
Intro:
In 1 Cor. 1:18—2:5 Paul continues to
deal with the problem of division in the church,
A)
In this section Paul makes a contrast between the foolishness of men, which
they think is wisdom, and the wisdom of God, which they think is foolishness.
B) It is a contrast between
God’s true wisdom and man’s supposed wisdom, between God’s supposed foolishness
and man’s true foolishness.
1)The ancient Greeks were in love with philosophy,
Their culture was
built
around it.
C) They believed that
philosophy “love of wisdom” was all–
important
1) They had perhaps as many as
fifty identifiable philosophical parties or movements, which vied for
acceptance and influence.
D) Each had its views of man’s
origin, significance, destiny, and relationship
to their many gods
E) Some of the philosophies had
detailed schemes for the religious, political, social, economic, and
educational ordering of society..
1) Philosophy provided a view,
invented by man, of the meaning of life, values, relationships, purpose, and
destiny.
F) So there were as many
philosophies as there were philosophers, and people
tended to line up behind their favorite.
1)Unfortunately many of the Corinthian converts
carried their spirit of
philosophical
division into the church.
G) Some of them still held onto
beliefs of their former pagan 1philosophies.
1) They were divided not only
regarding Christian leaders (1:12) but also
regarding
philosophical viewpoints.
Society in our own day still
is enamored of various philosophies.
Tolerance
is popular one today
B) The world today, just as in Paul’s day, is
caught up in the admiration and worship of human opinion, human wisdom, and
human desires & aspirations.
1) TALK SHOWS - CALL IN &
TELL IS WHAT YOU THINK.
C) Men are continually trying
to figure out on their own what life is all about—where it came from, where it
is going, what it signifies
D)Modern
man has made gods of education and human opinion.
Just as in Paul’s time, the
church today has not escaped the problem. We ourselves can fall prey to current
trends in human thought.
A) One commentator commented on
the problem in this way
“ Some Christians frantically look almost
everywhere but to God and His Word for values, meaning, guidance, and help. Or
they add human ideas and insights to Scripture. We sometimes are more concerned
about human opinion than about God’s Word-“using” Scripture, but not fully
believing, trusting, and obeying it.”
B) Martin Lloyd–Jones has
commented, “The whole drift toward modernism that has
blighted the church of God and nearly destroyed its living gospel may be traced
to an hour when men began to turn from revelation to philosophy.”
C) But the trust in human
wisdom that we call modernism isn’t modern at all
1) It began with Adam and Eve,
when they set their own judgment above God’s, and was in full bloom in Paul’s
day/ continues to this day.
Paul Challenges this problem
in the passage of scripture before us tonight - by contrasting the wisdom of
God w/ the wisdom of man.
A) Paul does so by taking them
once again back to the cross. V.18,
18 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.
B) 1at understand that The word
message in v. 18 is the Greek word Logos - it speaks of the sum total of Divine
Revelation -
1) And Christ is the Living
embodiment of that Revelation.
C) In Philosophy you basically
have theories & opinions / but in Christianity you begin w/ Facts not
theories.
D) The Message of the Cross begins
w/ the incarnation - God became a man. Jesus was the Physical expression of
that Fact.
1) Follow the facts & they
take you to a cross & an empty tomb
D)
So the word of the cross includes
the entire gospel message of God’s plan and provision for man’s redemption
E)
But Paul says the word of the cross is foolish to those who are perishing Why?
1) v.23 - foolish to the Greeks
- Ever study Greek Mythology?
F) The Greek gods would never
have done that - become a man to save their creation. Lower themselves / Zeus Hercules / Atlas
The idea of a God who would
leave his throne & take the form of a servant & humble himself even to
the point of death - was absurd.
A) It was a message that made
no sense to them. In Greek culture Crucifixion was never talked
about ( Reserved for the worst of sinners)
1) cross
was equivalent to electric Chair / or guillotine/
The message of the cross
makes no sense to a lot of people today either
A) But it is a foolish idea to man in general because the basic instinct
of fallen man is to say what can I do to
earn it.
1) But the cross declares - paid in full
! It is finished ! It is done !
C) Those to those who are
perishing it is foolish - but to those who are being saved it is the power of
God
1) Both Brilliant &
Beautiful Plan.
CC) Young old strong weak
talented & untalented - good bad - pretty not so pretty / tall short / are
all put on the same plain.
1) All can be saved.
D) What greater display of love
than to die for Your enemies - God has been throughout time - seeking to convey
to man his love
1) Desiring that man would -
love Him & follow Him - In giving Christ it was a radical display
E) Yet He not only provided for
man’s salvation - but also for his walk
1) Now God empowers us to live
for Him & walk w/ Him - to all who believe power is available .
Now in v. 19 Paul quotes the
Prophet Isa. Illustrating this point of God’s wisdom being manifested in Power
by referring to a great invent that took place in the history of Israel
19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."
A) The Quote is from Isa. 29:14
. When Isaiah made the prophecy, Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, was planning
to conquer Judah.
1) The Lord told His prophet
not to worry or fear, because the king’s plan would fail.
B) But it would not fail
because of the strength of Judah’s army or because of the strategy of King
Hezekiah and his advisors.
1) That is when the Lord gave
this word. “The wisdom of their wise men
[would] perish, and the discernment of their discerning men [would] be
concealed”
C) See Judah would be saved
solely by God’s power, with no human
help. And that is exactly what God did.
1) He destroyed 185,000 men of
the Assyrian army with just one angel
(37:36). The full account is given in 2 Kings 17.
D) This is but one example of
God working in this way on behalf of His people. Joshua & Jericho / Gideon
& 300 men.
1) God continually told Israel
that He would fight for her. All she had to do was trust and obey.
E) Men are all inclined to try
to solve their problems and fight their battles by their own ingenuity and in
their own power.
1) But human ingenuity and
power only get in God’s way.
Solomon
tells us(Prov. 14:12).“There is a way
which seems right to a man,”, “but its end is the way of death”
That is the plight of the
man who tries to live his life apart from God.
Paul
in Romans 1:18–23. Pretending to be wise,
such men are fools.
Jeremiah
asked, “The wise men are put to shame,
they are dismayed and caught; behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
and what kind of wisdom do they have?” (8:9).
If
men reject God’s revelation, what truth is left, what sort of wisdom do they
have? (James 3:15). It “is not that which
comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic”
Note
that description it is Earthly Natural & Demonic
A) Being earthly, it never gets beyond what man can see, touch, and measure.
Being natural, it is based on human
desires and standards.
1) Being demonic, its real source is Satan. That is human wisdom.
B)“But James goes on to say, the wisdom from above,” “is first pure, then
peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering,
without hypocrisy” (3:17).
C)
In v. 20- Paul continues to contrast the wisdom of God w/ the wisdom of
man. By asking where has the wisdom of
man 20 Where is
the wise? Where is the scribe?
Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish
the wisdom of this world?
21 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.
Paul
asks three questions, but essentially he is asking this one question: "What true standing does human wisdom
give to you?"
A) “Where are all the smart people that have the answers?”
B) Paul asks where is the
scribe ? Scribes were those who studied past history - they were the
researchers of the day
1) Problem is they didn’t learn from
the mistakes of the past.
Paul also refers to debater
of this age? That was the Greek approach. A)The Greeks loved to get together to debate
the philosophies of their day.
B)
They were the Rush Limbaughs & the Larry Kings of the day
the
conflicting philosophies and opinions of the day.
1) Paul is raising the
question, "Where does that get you?" The implied answer 2 both
questions is clearly: Nowhere.
B) We could ask the same questions today - We boast of our advanced
knowledge yet - How much closer to
peace is man than he was a century ago—or a millennium ago?
1) How much closer are we to
eliminating poverty, hunger, ignorance, crime, and immorality than men were in
Paul’s day?
C) In many ways Our advances in
knowledge and technology and communication have not really advanced us.
1)We are more educated than our forefathers but we
are not more moral.
D) We have more means of
helping each other but we are not less selfish.
1) We have more means of
communication but we do not understand each other any better.
E) We have more psychology and
education, and yet more crime and more
war.
1) “We have not changed, except in finding more ways to express and excuse
our human nature. “
Winston
Churchill once said these remarkable words:
Certain it is that while men
are gathering knowledge and power with ever-increasing speed, their virtues and
their wisdom have not shown any notable improvement as the centuries have
rolled. Under sufficient stress, starvation, terror, warlike passion, or even
cold, intellectual frenzy, the modern man we know so well will do the most
terrible deeds, and his modern woman will back him up.
So Paul says look at man -
where is the wise - Man boast of His wisdom - yet he is worse off today than he
was a century ago.
I think at this point we
must make a very important distinction. There is a difference between human
knowledge and human wisdom.
A) Important not to confuse the
two: See man has increased in his knowledge
but he hasn’t really become wise.
B) Knowledge is the discovery
of truth, and God always encourages it. He gave us minds to use. There is
nothing anti-intellectual in the Scriptures
1) God has given Man the gift
of reason to search & unravel and discover the millions of secrets he has
hidden in the universe
C) To give yourself to a
discovery of the laws of physics and what is behind matter is good
1) And it is Great to study
human anatomy. Astronomy There is great
benefit in increasing our understanding of those things .
D)
But The discovery of that truth is meant to lead us to God. So Knowledge is the discovery of truth.
1) Wisdom is the use of truth.
Application of truth.
E) And the point that the
Scriptures make is that there is something wrong about human wisdom -- it does
not know how to use truth.
1) Because in all of mans
knowledge he has come to the conclusion in his that there is thinking - there
is no God .
Human wisdom sometimes sees
the immediate cause of a problem but it does not see the root, which always is
sin. It may see that selfishness is a cause of injustice, but it has no way to
remove selfishness.
It may see that hatred
causes misery and pain and destruction, but it has no cure for hatred. It can
see plainly that man does not get along with man, but does not see that the
real cause is that man does not get along with God.
So Human wisdom cannot see because it will not see. As long as it looks on
God’s wisdom as foolishness, its own wisdom will be foolish.
. In other words, human wisdom itself is a basic part of the problem.
Peace,
joy, hope, harmony, brotherhood, and every other aspiration of man is out of
his reach as long as he follows his own way in trying to achieve them.
And That is basically what
Paul says in v. 21 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not
know God,
B) What is the major fault of
the wisdom of man? Well, despite his claims to have penetrated the secrets of life, he has failed to discover
and acknowledge the greatest fact of all --
God himself.
C) T. S. Elliot says, All our knowledge only brings us closer to
our ignorance, and all our ignorance closer to death, but closer to death, no
nearer to God
Now
what is God's answer to this? Well, Paul gives it to us in Verse 21: it pleased God through the foolishness of
the message preached to save those who believe.
God’s whole plan was to
provide a way whereby man could come to know Him.
A) Answer Jesus Christ &
Him Crucified - that is what we preach.
B) Jews ask for a sign - Greeks
seek wisdom - but we preach Christ - to the Jews a stumbling block to the
Greeks - foolishness.
C) Stumbling block to the Jews
Because that didn’t fit their view of Messiah.
1) Peter rebuked Jesus - this is why ?
D) Greeks foolishness Already mentioned how the
Greeks felt about crucifixion - worst criminals .
1) Today mass murders / rapist
/ child molesters ! cross was equivalent
to
electric Chair / or guillotine/
E) Pictures in Churches -
electric chair - on roof tops - around necks
1) Preach unless you take up
your electric chair ….. disciple
F) So a stumbling block to the
Jews & foolishness to the Greeks but 24 to those
who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God. 25 Because the
foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than
men.
So Paul in making his
contrast 1st gives an illustration from O.T. history - then he asks
them to consider - where mans wisdom has taken him
And then in v. 26- 31 He ask them to look at themselves
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according
to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame
the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the
things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are
despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the
things that are,
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from
God; and righteousness and sanctification and redemption;
31 that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in
the LORD."
A) Not a who's who ! but a who's he / In
heaven we are not going
to be running around going Do you know
who's here?
1) We
might be surprised by who made it - but the focus
isn't going to be on who' who
/ but HIM!
B) Paul the focus isn't on how wise we are " I found it" No I lost it
and He found me !
1) Love
v.27 Foolish things of the world to confound the wise
C) the wise of the world can't figure out how
God changes sinners
into saints / they can't duplicate
such a miracle
D) We
look at this & say God you are unreal / He gets the glory v.29-31
1) In heaven we are not going
to be boasting about all we
did for God / and we
shouldn't here !
E) Just a bunch of foolish things / God is
using!/ Don't be held
back by your flesh!
As we come to Chapter. 2
Paul uses Himself as an example v1-5
A) Paul says I didn't come to you w/ Human
wisdom & persuasion / I
didn't come trying to convince you
intellectually
B) I came preaching Christ / Jesus Christ
Crucified / the gospel / that
was my message ( And God worked
Powerfully )
1) H.S.
grabbed a hold of your heart & mind . You believed and
were changed ! Made new in
Him!
C) Does that mean that there is not a place
for apologetics in sharing
Absolutely
not / doesn't mean that at all !
1) But that is not to be the
premise from which we begin / must
start w/ Christ !
D) In Yugo street witnessing ( Jesus
...... Don't believe in God or the
Bible ) so we talked about origins /
reliability of the bible
1) But
we always came back to Christ / YOU MUST ! KEY
Paul said I came to you in
weakness / preached Christ so that
your faith would be in
Christ & not men !
A) Forget about Paul , Apollos , Peter, Chuck
Smith , Billy Graham ,
John Courson - Whoever / Do you know
Christ!
B) At this Pt. in Chapter. 2 Paul focuses on
the characteristics of the wisdom of God in the message of Gospel!