Sermon 5 - 1 Corinthians 1:25

In this episode, we discuss 1 Corinthians 1:25 - Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Welcome back, brothers and sisters. My name is Pastor George Chobbs,
and we want to welcome you to New Disciple Fellowship.
We're planning a church in Kent County, Delaware, and we're
just so thankful that you found us. Please go to
New Disciplefellowship dot com for more information and news and events,
and all the sermons are there as well. If you'd

(00:48):
like to reach out to us, please do so via
email New Disciple Fellowship Church at gmail dot com. Today's
sermon message tching comes from First Corinthians, Chapter one, verse
twenty five. The foolishness of God is wiser than men,

(01:08):
and the weakness of God is stronger than men. So
let's take this verse and expound on it. First, let's
talk about Paul's letter to the Corinthians. Right, the First
Epistle to the Corinthians, commonly known as Verse Corinthians. Right.
We know that is the letter written by the apostle

(01:30):
Paul to the early Christian church in corinth Now, something
I always find interesting is you know, here you are
within the first generation of Jesus's passing, and the churches
are already falling away. Now imagine here we are two
thousand years later. You know, I would venture that most

(01:52):
churches would be getting a letter if Paul were here today.
So it's most people believe, right. The Elogians believe that
this letter was authored around fifty five AD from Aphesis

(02:13):
during his third missionary journey. So again you're talking twenty
five years after the death of Christ. Now, the purpose
was to address, you know, the disturbing reports of division,
obviously moral issues and even doctrinal misunderstandings, which is something
that the churches have a huge issue with today. Pardon me,

(02:37):
within the church that he had founded just a few
years earlier. Right, So Paul is aimed to restore the
community to its foundation in Jesus Christ, urging them to
apply the Gospel to every aspect of life. Now. Corinth
was a bustling Roman port city in ancient Greece, known

(02:58):
for its economic process arity, diversity, but also its moral laxity. Right.
It was a hub of trade, sports, religious pluralism, with
prominent temples like that of Aphrodite, which ritual prostitution was
common in that time. But this cultural backdrop influenced the church,

(03:24):
which consisted of a mix of Jews and Gentiles from
various social classes, and that led to tensions between their
new faith and their old habits. And I think that's
something that we as the church should take a look
at because here in the United States, and I'm sure
around the world as well, we're very traditional people. I'm

(03:47):
here to tell you that many of the traditions we have, yes,
even in the church, probably shouldn't be concluded in the church.
And that's something we'll touch on in an episode down
the road. But remember Paul spent about eighteen months establishing
the church, which is reflected in Acts eighteen. But after
his departure, problems arose, and as that happens in every church,

(04:14):
you know, here we are two thousand years later and
we're experiencing a lot of the same issues. I'm talking
about the church as a whole, right, the small sea.
So let's get into the word itself. Let's kind of dissectic, right.
We'll talk about the foolishness of God and the wisdom
of man. And obviously we're not saying that God is foolish,

(04:36):
of course, not that would be heresy, that would be blasphemy.
But what Paul is saying here is that as wise
as man thinks, he is and that's not even a
drop in the Pacific Ocean as God's wisdom. Right, because

(04:56):
the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the
weakness of God is stronger than men. And this is
something that we talk about when we go through difficult times.
We often blame God, God, why would you allow this
to happen? But when good things happen to us, when
we get that promotion at work, or we win the

(05:18):
bowling championship, we get pictures of ourselves and post them
on Facebook and Instagram. Look at me. It has to
be the glory to God for everything. And we have
to accept that when humans have free will, we're going
to make mistakes, and on and on and on. Right,

(05:41):
But when we think about Corinthians one twenty five, it's
very powerful scripture, right, and again history reinforce God is
not foolish or weak. Paul is using these words to
show the vast difference between God's wisdom and ours. So

(06:03):
what seems weak in the eyes of the world, like
a crucified savior, actually reveals the infinite wisdom and the
strength of God. And again, if you go back and
you look at Corinth Hence the letter to the Corinthians.
It was a city much like our modern world, wealthy, proud, intellectual,

(06:30):
but once again morally confused. They prized eloquent speech, human philosophy,
and the pursuit of honor and societal status was huge
in that time. So to them the idea of worshiping

(06:50):
a crucified man was absurd, right, how could salvation come
from weakness and shame and execution of a Roman cross?
But Paul insists the very message they despised, the message
of Christ crucified is the wisdom and the power of God.

(07:12):
And let's look at that. From the very beginning of history,
go back to Genesis, man has tried to outsmart God
garden of Eden, Adam and Eve believed that they could
be wise apart from him with a capital H. Humanity
built the Tower of Babel, thinking that they could reach

(07:34):
Heaven on their own terms. And that is an event
that you should think about and go back and read
Genesis and understand the true meaning of that story. You
have Kings and philosophers have risen, empires have flourished, and

(07:57):
scientists have proclaimed their discoveries. Yet the wisdom of man
has always fallen short in answering the deepest questions of
the human heart. Right, what are the Big Three? Why
do we exist? What happens when we die? And how

(08:18):
can a sinful man be reconciled to a holy God? Again?
Our modern world two thousand years later, no different. We've
advanced technologically. We now have artificial intelligence, medical breakthroughs, et cetera.

(08:40):
But with all of that, we still continue to drown
in confusion, depression, broken families, addiction, violence, war, etcetera, etcetera, etc.
The wisdom of man cannot cure the disease of the
human soul. That's why I They constantly state that you

(09:05):
can't fix secular problems with secular ideology. If you want
to fix a problem, it must be rooted in Christ.
You must have a moral compass. All these problems that
we face today, they try to remedy with secular ideology

(09:27):
and they are mere band aids at best. So let's
explain quote the foolishness of God. Right, So they're saying
that God chose a plan that would look foolish to
the world salvation through a crucified Messiah. Now think of it.
God did not send an army to overthrow Rome. He

(09:51):
didn't send a philosopher to outwit the Greeks, nor a
wealthy ruler to impress the powerful. He sent his son
to be born in a manger, raised in obscurity, rejected
by his own people, mocked, beaten, and knew to a cross.

(10:17):
So to the Jews this was a stumbling bog. They
wanted signs of power. To the Greeks, it was foolishness.
They wanted human wisdom. But to those who are called
both Jews and Greeks right Galatians three twenty eight, Christ

(10:38):
is the power of God and the wisdom of God,
as we read in Firse Corinthians twenty four. So just
in those two sentences we reference two powerful verses. So
what looks like defeat in the cross is actually victory
over sin and death. What looks like weakness the suffering

(11:01):
servant is actually strength that saves eternally. So I often
like to take modern twists and modern applications to scripture,
how can it be applied today? In seminary when you're
doing exegetical papers, that is something that they ask, how

(11:23):
can this be applied today? Because you were speaking to
people of today, not two thousand years ago. You need
to take the lessons and apply it to the world
we live in today. Now, let's be mindful that, sadly

(11:46):
the gospel still seems foolish to many people. They don't
get it, they don't believe it. The world says follow
your heart. God says the heart is deceited full above
all things, as written in Jeremiah seventeen, verse nine. The

(12:06):
world says you can earn heaven by being good enough.
God says, by grace, you have been saved through faith,
not by works Ephesians two, verses eight and nine. The
world says truth is relative. What does Jesus say? Jesus says,

(12:28):
I am the way, I am, the Truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father but by me John fourteen,
verse six. So look at our age, right. Your science
books tell you that we are accidents of evolution. That

(12:50):
Genesis one, it was really a big bang. The economists
tell us that prosperity will save us. The politicians will
look you in the eye and say our policies will
fix society. But look at the truth. Suicide rates are

(13:12):
through the roof, families are crumbling, wars are raging. All
of this creates anxiety and anxiety consumes us clearly. Clearly,
the wisdom of man is failing, and only God's so

(13:35):
called foolish plan, and that is the cross and salvation
of Jesus Christ can truly transform lives, forgive sins, and
offer salvation. So let's not forget that Jesus Christ willingly
embraced what people perceive as weakness. He was arrested, he

(14:01):
was beaten, and he was crucified. Yet it was his
perceived weakness that he bore all of the sins of
the world. His blood purchased redemption for all who believe.
His resurrection proved that death itself is no match for

(14:25):
the strength of God. When we read Second Corinthians twelve ten,
Paul reminds us that when I am weak, then I
am strong. Now we must ground ourselves and remember the
Christian life is not about boasting in our wisdom, our morality,

(14:46):
or our strength. It is about boasting in Christ alone,
giving God all the glory. So the question there in
lies how do we respond to this foolish gospel. We
admit our own wisdom and strength cannot save us. We

(15:06):
repent of our sins and believe in the finished work
of Christ on the cross. We trust in the one
who died and rose again. Romans ten to nine says,
if you confess with your mouth that Jesus's Lord, and
believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,

(15:26):
you will be saved. So this is the gospel. We
are sinners deserving judgment. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
took our punishment on the cross. He rose from the dead,
defeating sin and death, and all who place their faith

(15:49):
in him will have eternal life. To the world, this
may still seem foolish, but to those who believe it
is the wisdom and the power of God. So to
our beloved brothers and sisters, don't be deceived by the
false wisdom of this age. Do not trust in the

(16:13):
politicians or the politics as a whole technology human strength.
Salvation is only in Christ. Salvation is only with the
capital O n L Y in Christ. So let us

(16:33):
cling to what Paul wrote, the foolishness of God, because
we know it is wiser than the wisest of men.
Let us rejoice in the weakness of God, for it
is stronger than the mightiest man. And let us proclaim
from the highest mountaintop the cross of Christ, the wisdom

(16:55):
and the power of God until he comes again. Let's
close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your
word today. We confess that in our pride we often
trust in our own wisdom and strength. But your word

(17:16):
reminds us that even what seems foolish in your plan
is wiser than the wisdom of men, and even what
seems weak is stronger than the greatest power of this world. Lord,
help us cling to the cross of Christ, the true
wisdom and power of God. Teach us to boast only

(17:36):
in Christ, to walk with humility, and to trust in
your ways even when the world mocks or call it foolish.
For those who don't yet know you, and pray that
they are drawn to Your spirit, open their eyes to
see that salvation is not in themselves, but in the
finished work of Jesus, who died, rose again and offers

(18:00):
eternal life to all who believe. Father, strengthen us this
week to live out our truth and our homes and
our workplaces and our communities everywhere. May we shine as
witnesses of the Gospel, showing that Christ is our wisdom,
our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. We pray all

(18:26):
this in the strong and saving name of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. God bless you all. Thank
you for taking a few minutes out of your day.
Please do share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Stop by
the website New Disciplefellowship dot com if you'd like to

(18:48):
reach out. New Disciple Fellowship Church at gmail dot com.
May God bless each and every one of you. May
God be with you. Amen.