Today's message is from 1 Cor 1:18 onwards.
Paul is writing to the church at Corinth. We know from the book of Acts that right before Paul comes to Corinth, he was at Athens. There he spoke the very famous sermon, often called the Mars Hill sermon.
Athens was the intellectual capital of the world at the time. Many of the greatest philosophers of that age are even today considered the primary leaders of the Western philosophical system. They include names such as Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato and preceded the time of Paul. Much of the foundations of even modern philosophy traces its roots to the frameworks established more than two millennia ago in Athens. It was there that Paul Paul delivered this message. It was a very intellectual and interesting message. At the end of his message, we read that many mocked Paul when they heard about the resurrection. The scripture says, "Nevertheless some believed." We read that says that he went to Corinth and started working among the Jews and the Greeks. There were people who were from a Jewish background and there were those from a Gentile or Greek background.
Paul writes:
"For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
The message of the cross is foolishness to those that are unsaved. What is the word of the cross? It is the message about the death of Jesus Christ and what it accomplished. It is difficult for many people to accept the news about the death of Christ:
Some do not even believe that Jesus died. "He was crucified, but did not die," they say.
Others do not believe it has any significance beyond being the death of a person. "People die all the time. There is no meaning beyond that."
There are a few who think Christ's death was trivial. "Oh, it was nothing. Just a weekend of trouble."
There are others who do not believe that He rose from the dead. "How can that ever happen?"
There is only one person who did not deserve of death. The Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, lived a pure perfect, sinless life, and was the only one who did not earn death, He did not deserve to die. That is why His death has power. We heard during worship that “the sting of death is sin.” Jesus had no sin in Him, so there was no power of sin, no sting on His death. That is what makes His death on our behalf powerful.
Because of God's holiness and His justice, it requires that the soul that sins must die. The wages of sin is death. We also know that each of us deserve sin, because we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Every sin, even the ones that are trivial in our eyes are sins that deserve death in the eyes of a completely holy God. No one who has committed any sin has any claim on heaven. But in His graciousness, the LORD has forgiven our sin and has made us heirs of that promise through the death of His Son on our behalf. The only person in this world who did not deserve death, our Lord Jesus Christ, died in our place so that we could enter into His presence.
No wonder that it sounds like foolishness to those that are perishing.
To those that do not believe in Christ, we know it is the power of God. To the Romans, Paul writes that he was:
“not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone that believes first to the Jew and then to the Gentile.” Rom 1:16
Jesus walked to the cross willingly to pay the price for our sin. His coming to the earth was not to have three years of public ministry. The purpose of His coming was His substitutionary death on our behalf. Even though this statement is breathtakingly powerful, to the unregenerate mind, the message is foolishness. It makes no sense to the regenerate mind.
For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” This is from Isaiah 29:14
The wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever people or the understanding of the prudent, or the intelligence of the intelligent, God will frustrate.
We are never going to influence God with our cleverness. We may influence or impress some people, especially those that are unconverted. But the godly people know when the power of God is at work.
Paul was tired of the worldly wise people. He was tired of intellectuals who he had encountered at Athens. There is so much knowledge that the philosophers try to acquire. They ask the big questions:
Questions of origin - "Where did I come from?"
Questions of meaning - "What is life? What is its meaning?"
Questions of purpose - "What am I to do?"
Questions about knowledge - "How can I know something? How do I acquire it?"
Questions of destiny - "What will happen to me after I die?"
When man uses human thought powered by human language and human resources to try and find answers to questions that are deep, the end is often not satisfying. It sounds learned and sophisticated; but it is not lifegiving. The lessons of philosophy, when you look at it closely, make you miserable. Unlike the gospel of Christ that gives life, because it is God's word.
God's word teaches us:
That our origin is from God. We come from Him. We were created by Him and for His good pleasure.
That mankind fell away because of sin. The only religion in the world that identifies the source of mankind's problems acccurately is the Christian faith. We know from the scriptures that the problem is sin. Even a beautiful, harmless little baby that grows up will have a tendency to do things that go against rules and laws. With training, conditioning, and controlling of environments, we often try to limit the amount of damage that can be done. But the fundamental problem is sin.
That the remedy is the cross of Christ. The substitutionary death of Jesus Christ has paid the price for sin.
Faith in Him and in His finished work on the cross is how we are saved from sin.
“Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” 1 Cor 1:20, 21
The intellectual powerhouses of that time and of this time could not and cannot understand the message of the cross using their intellectual abilities. Because it does not make sense to the natural mind. "How can God die for mankind? "Who would die willingly for another person?" "How can the death of Jesus save us from sin?"
“For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 1 Cor 1:22-24
Often, Jesus would speak to the Jews, especially the Pharisees, and someone would ask to see a sign to show that He was from God. It was an important part of their thinking. Jesus did miraculous signs at many occasions, proving that He was the Son of God. However, seeing them, most of them responded in disbelief still. They would argue whether it was lawful for Jesus to heal a cripple, a paralytic on Sabbath.
The Greeks, the intellectuals, demanded knowledge. However, to them the preaching of the cross was foolishness. But to the saved, it is the power of God that saves them! God was well-pleased through the seeming foolishness of this message preached to save those who believe.
We all notice that it is not the message itself. The same message could be preached to two people with a similar background, upbringing, and thinking. However, only the one that God draws is likely to respond to it. To the other one, it seems foolish. It has no appeal.
We could also try and gather every argument in favor of the message we are preaching. Everything from apologetics. Anticipating the objections raised and preparing with counter arguments. "I am not prepared enough!" "What if they ask another question?" "What if they ask about another topic I am not familiar with." The ones that are most equipped with all these arguments are not the ones evangelizing the most. They are busy in seminaries talking to Christians and intellectually advocating on these topics. Often we realize that that is not what brings people to the saving knowledge of Christ. It is the exuberant testimony of a simple witnessing Christian that often brings the knowledge of Christ to others. So stop waiting to be more prepared and start sharing the gospel.
Begin talking to others about Christ. To your family, your friends, your neighbors, your colleagues. If we're not ready to do that, let us cry out to the Lord to enable us. To strengthen us to do that. And He will give us the words to speak.
Peter said this:
"Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;" 1 Pet 3:15
When someone comes and asks you the reason for the hope in you, it is okay to be defensive and present logical arguments. But in sharing your faith, speak from your heart what the Lord has done for you. If the Lord was able to change your life, He is able to change the lives of others as well.
To the Jew and the Greek who are not saved, the message of the cross is foolishness. It does not make sense to them. They are not able to understand it. But to those that are ready to believe, this same message of the cross is the power of God unto salvation.
To those that believe, both to the Jew and the Greek, the gospel of Christ is the most precious message to them. It is God's power and God's wisdom. At the cross, we see the light, and the burden of sin is rolled from our hearts. Jesus takes our sin and holds us close. And by the power of God and by the wisdom of God, He lifts the burden of sin from us and sets us free. Hallelujah!
By natural ways of cleverness and intelligence and thinking and enquiry and human wisdom, we are not going to be able to understand God’s message of salvation. It happens when by the mercy of God, He draws us and in humility we approach Him. The message becomes the life-giving, life-changing message of salvation in our lives.
May the Lord touch our hearts and embolden us to take His message of salvation to those around us.