Behold, The Foolishness of God: July 9, 2017

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

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. ¹⁹ For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”  ²⁰ Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²² Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.  ²⁶ Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰ It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹ Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

INTRODUCTION

1. The Foolishness of God is Seen in the Cross
2. The Foolishness of God is Seen in God’s Choice of Paul and the Disciples and in So Many Other Ways
3. The Foolishness of God is Seen in His Act of Saving You and Me from our Sin (because God Loves Us)

CONCLUSION:  (So, Will We Embrace the Foolishness of God?)

GREAT QUOTES FOR REFLECTION:

We were ensnared by the wisdom of the serpent; we are set free by the foolishness of God. – Saint Augustine

Therefore, let us repent and pass from ignorance to knowledge, from foolishness to wisdom, from licentiousness to self-control, from injustice to righteousness, from godlessness to God. – Clement of Alexandria

1 Corinthians 2:14-15 (The Voice)

14 But a person who denies spiritual realities will not accept the things that come through the Spirit of God; they all sound like foolishness to him. He is incapable of grasping them because they are disseminated, discerned, and valued by the Spirit. 15 A person who walks by the Spirit examines everything, sizing it up and seeking out truth. But no one is able to examine or size up that kind of spiritual person. – Paul the Apostle

The New Testament world of the apostle Paul breathed the atmosphere of pride in human wisdom and the philosophy of the Greeks. To those who epitomized worshipers of human wisdom, the cross of Christ was mere foolishness. Harvey Cox – Theologian

Our world in the West of the twenty-first century is no different. What the “wise” person of today’s world cannot understand, he or she tends to dismiss as foolishness too. Two thousand years of elapsed time have not improved this characteristic of the human mind to quickly deprecate what it cannot reasonably perceive.  – Del Tarr – Communicator and anthropologist and Missionary