1 Corinthians 1:18-25.                     Wisdom or foolishness??                             8/3/15

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.

This morning our reading here mentions two words a number of times: wisdom and foolishness. Now at the present time I wonder if many people are unsure as to which is which and where this wisdom is found, and what really is foolishness. For today it seems to be that foolishness is applauded and wisdom is looked down on. We struggle to know what is good and what is bad.

Today we hold education up as being of utmost importance. It is the scholar - the intelligent person that is the one that gets on in the world. It was said on the TV or internet and therefore is has got to be right. I have got 500 friends on Facebook, but no one to have a coffee with. The media says God is dead, so therefore we can get on with doing what I want to do with my life. And list goes on.

But already we are starting to see what our text means when it says: the intelligence of intelligent I will frustrate. There are many frustrated highly educated people in our society today. Thinking they are wise and that they have answers to many of the problems that we see around us, they are finding that these ideas are not working out as their educated thinking suggests it should. Over the next years take note of what happens to those who think they are wise - take note of what happens to those who put all their attention toward education and knowledge. Take note of what happens to a selfish, self-centred society.

But of course that is only one aspect of what constitutes so called wisdom in our present day – there are many others as well. However, what about foolishness? I don't know about you - but I find very few people, particularly the well-educated, are able to put things in simple terms any more. It doesn't matter what we talk about they seem to have to use language and terms that are quite complicated. All it does is confuse everyone and puts wider gaps between people. It is used to put the focus on the individual not what is good for all.

These same people can then be very quick to dismiss anyone who puts things simply. The person who has a knowledge of the simple basic things of life is considered foolish. The things of the past that have been most helpful and good for hundreds of years are now considered as foolish and stupid.

Unless we have ‘a piece of paper’, or are a professor or philosophers we are consider not worth listening to. To take Christ and Christianity too seriously today is also considered foolish. Even to say one believes in God is to turn many people from listening to us. There are many in our community suggesting just that - even from people who should know better.

So this reading today is very important in helping us to get things in their right perspective again. Because it is ever so easy for us to follow or be influenced by what is happening in our society around us. Even within the Church there can be similar misunderstandings as to what constitutes wisdom and foolishness.

There are those who consider themselves wise: they know the church doctrines off pat: they perhaps have the ability to convince people and are good speakers: they may know all the principles put forward by the modern church growth movements: or they may know all the new ways to interpret what the Bible says; but are they necessarily wise - or are they fools.

Then there is another aspect brought into this thinking when Paul comments on those people who are constantly looking for signs as proofs that something is good and right. Under the influence of the charismatic movement there is growing trend within Christianity toward looking for and demanding miracles. Or with the church growth movement in see that ‘bums on pews’ are proof that some program is good. Great importance is placed on these signs and wonders these days.  Again the emphasis is being placed in the wrong areas – the wrong thing is looked to as being important.

In light of all this then, what is important? What is it that we should hold firmly to if we are to be truly wise? Where do we find what is right and true?

Well today again we are reminded that it is there in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. It is only as we look to that cross that we see Jesus as he needs to be seen, and find the real wisdom to live by every day. Without Jesus Christ and the cross our lives and living are nothing. They are floundering’s in a sea of disillusionment and searching.

To see why, we need to look closely at that cross. There we see what needs be seen and understood in order to be truly wise. There, yes, we first of all see our human predicament. There the reality of each one us hangs - that is sum total of what we deserve: the sum total of our human wisdom and striving: for all of us. Now that is a bitter pill for us proud human beings, yet that is the reality of each and every one of us.

We think we are not too bad - we are basically good people, living pretty reasonable lives; As good as everybody else, anyway. Well look again - there on the cross is the sum total of the best that we can do. That is where our wisdom leads to.

Here remember that this is what God's righteousness and justice pronounces for you and me - guilty to death. If we are honest with ourselves we have to agree. As much as that is a bitter pill for us to swallow.

But look again - who do we see on that cross? Is that you or me - when it comes time for us face judgement day? It should be; but no, there hangs God's own Son - completely innocent, not deserving that in any way. But he is doing it voluntarily so that it doesn't have to be you and me. He is taking on himself the punishment that we should have coming to us. He sacrificed himself for our failing to heed the importance of God in our lives. He did it so that we can be looked on as innocent people – even though we are not. There is utter foolishness to our human way of thinking; but there is God's wisdom at work.

Yes he loves us so much that he wants to free us from that, because he doesn't want us to go to hell. Instead he wants to free us from the chains of sin and guilt that hold us down and open up and give us free access to God and everlasting life with him in heaven. He seeks to give us love, hope and a new and better life. And it is there on the cross, and only there, that this is made possible. Nowhere else will God's love and forgiveness be found. If we understand that we are wise unto salvation. Truly wise!

Yes there on the cross we see and are brought face to face with the reality of our lives, but also with the love of God which frees us from our human predicament, and changes our future possibilities. There we soberly see where our human striving leads, but joyfully see God at work freeing us from it all. Then along with Jesus' resurrection we see and come to understand something of the power of God that is at work in our lives.

With that wisdom, we then can live life in a way that is at odds with the world around us: But in a way that is good and helpful, and truly loving. We not only don’t need to get our own way, for we have everything that is good and important. We can also suffer injustice and lose even, for it cannot take away what Christ has won for us on the cross. We thereby can do what is best for the other person, instead of for self all the time.

With this wisdom we also can now hold firmly to what Jesus, and in fact the whole of Scriptures says, for there we have the certainty that God has what is good for us and our daily living. As we hold to this sure word we are not left wondering aimlessly from one new idea to the next.

There in that simple message we have the wisdom of God that we need in order get through our life here on earth and into an eternity in heaven with God almighty himself. There we have that which enables us to confidently get through this life and into an eternity in heaven with our Lord. So let us not forget what God's Word has to say here. Others may and will find this message foolishness, but they are the fools

What is important is that we cling to that simple message of the cross and not allow ourselves to be distracted by much knowledge or the need to see signs and wonders  in order to think that we are on the right track. In Christ and him crucified we have what is important – all the rest is secondary.

So in everything look first and foremost to Jesus Christ and the cross and there we will find true wisdom. Then also glory and honour will go to where it belongs: our great God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

AMEN  

Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish