The Wisdom of God and the Folly of the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:18-31)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.960 --> 00:00:08.029 Invite you to turn your bibles to First Corinthians, First Corinthians chapter one, 2 00:00:09.910 --> 00:00:18.469 where we will be resuming a series that I started about eleven months ago when 3 00:00:18.550 --> 00:00:24.899 we looked at the first seventeen versus of first scrinthians one. Tonight we're going 4 00:00:24.899 --> 00:00:29.739 to look at the rest of the chapter, so verses eighteen through thirty one 5 00:00:31.019 --> 00:00:36.649 for Scrintians one, starting in verse eighteen. Here now the word of God, 6 00:00:39.049 --> 00:00:43.250 but the word of the cross, is folly to those who are perishing, 7 00:00:44.450 --> 00:00:47.329 but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 8 00:00:48.570 --> 00:00:53.359 For it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the 9 00:00:53.479 --> 00:00:58.439 discernment of the discerning. I will thwart where is the one who is wise? 10 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:02.880 Where is this scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has 11 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:07.109 Not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the 12 00:01:07.189 --> 00:01:12.030 wisdom of God, the world did not know God, through wisdom it pleased 13 00:01:12.150 --> 00:01:18.579 God, through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe, 14 00:01:19.939 --> 00:01:26.299 for Jews demands signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucify'd a 15 00:01:26.459 --> 00:01:32.890 stumbling block to Jews and folly to gentiles, but to those who are called 16 00:01:33.609 --> 00:01:38.129 both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of 17 00:01:38.329 --> 00:01:45.329 God, for the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of 18 00:01:45.530 --> 00:01:53.040 God is stronger than men. For consider your calling. Brothers, not many 19 00:01:53.079 --> 00:01:57.480 of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful, not 20 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:04.030 many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world 21 00:02:04.109 --> 00:02:07.510 to shame the wise. God shows what is weak in the world, to 22 00:02:07.670 --> 00:02:12.270 shame the strong. God shows what is low and despised in the world, 23 00:02:12.629 --> 00:02:17.900 even things that are not to bring to nothing, things that are so that 24 00:02:19.139 --> 00:02:25.259 no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him, 25 00:02:25.740 --> 00:02:30.889 you are in Christ, Jesus, who became to US wisdom from God, 26 00:02:30.409 --> 00:02:36.969 righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, 27 00:02:37.009 --> 00:02:44.289 let the one who boasts boast in the Lord Amen. Thus far, the 28 00:02:44.360 --> 00:02:51.560 reading of God's word maybe seated. There are certain passages where I feel like 29 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:58.039 it would be a shame for me to actually preach, because the text just 30 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:04.229 so powerfully speaks on its own. In the first century, the city of 31 00:03:04.710 --> 00:03:10.909 Corinth was this thriving cosmopolitan seaport in Greece and like in so many of our 32 00:03:10.990 --> 00:03:19.180 cities even today, Corinth was marked by a fierce competition to climb the social 33 00:03:19.300 --> 00:03:24.219 ladder, to prove your importance to the culture and to society, and the 34 00:03:24.259 --> 00:03:29.449 way you proved your importance was very much the same as it is today. 35 00:03:30.289 --> 00:03:37.169 You receive a top notch education, learning about all the latest ideas and theories 36 00:03:37.370 --> 00:03:45.759 and philosophies, or maybe you learn to carry crowds through your charismatic persona and 37 00:03:45.879 --> 00:03:51.759 your ability to speak well in front of people, or perhaps you earn for 38 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:55.750 yourself great wealth through your business dealings, or maybe you find a way into 39 00:03:55.789 --> 00:04:01.469 the marble halls of power and influence. If you want to show that your 40 00:04:01.710 --> 00:04:06.710 somebody to this world, this is how you do it, one of these 41 00:04:06.750 --> 00:04:14.020 avenues, or a variation thereof. And it was this attitude towards worldly success 42 00:04:15.020 --> 00:04:18.660 that these new believers in Corinth, these new Christians, it's this attitude that 43 00:04:18.740 --> 00:04:27.050 they are bringing into the Church and it's tearing the church apart, the Church 44 00:04:27.089 --> 00:04:30.050 of Corinth. We get a glimpse of this if we look back at versus 45 00:04:30.490 --> 00:04:34.329 ten through thirteen, and you can see here, Paul lays it out, 46 00:04:34.449 --> 00:04:43.160 that the church has split up into factions, sort of like fan clubs for 47 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:48.560 boy bands. They are each following a certain leader, a certain leader in 48 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:51.839 the church, whether it be Paul, whether it be Apollos or Peter or 49 00:04:51.870 --> 00:04:57.509 even Jesus himself, and they're saying this is our leader, this is our 50 00:04:57.629 --> 00:05:00.509 guy and and they're bickering with each other, these groups, he's factions. 51 00:05:01.029 --> 00:05:06.069 They're fighting and arguing with each other over who's the best, who's the most 52 00:05:06.379 --> 00:05:12.779 superior. I think Apollos is a better preacher than Paul. Will Paul is 53 00:05:12.860 --> 00:05:17.339 more theological than Apollo. Sort maybe Peter's more important for the life of the 54 00:05:17.459 --> 00:05:23.329 church. Eat however they're doing it. They are arguing that their faction, 55 00:05:23.449 --> 00:05:29.449 their group, their leader, is more important, more theological, more sophisticated, 56 00:05:29.769 --> 00:05:38.519 more something than these other factions and groups and people. And unfortunately this 57 00:05:38.759 --> 00:05:46.560 divisive spirit didn't die out in the first century. It's still with us today. 58 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:49.149 Say It's alive and well in the church now, and it comes in 59 00:05:49.310 --> 00:05:58.629 all shapes and sizes. You've probably seen it either in former churches. You 60 00:05:58.750 --> 00:06:02.550 know, if you as you look back over your experience in different churches, 61 00:06:02.589 --> 00:06:14.899 different denominations, a variety of backgrounds and to a degree, factions in churches 62 00:06:15.459 --> 00:06:23.290 are almost inevitable. Unfortunately, I'm not a pastor here at covenant. I 63 00:06:23.329 --> 00:06:27.730 don't know the stay of the church, but I'm willing to bet there's probably 64 00:06:27.769 --> 00:06:33.839 some factions heaven here. I know there are rink on mountain. It's almost 65 00:06:33.879 --> 00:06:42.920 inevitable, and even confessionally reformed churches to have these factions maybe even more prone 66 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:49.269 to it at times. So the question is not is it going to crop 67 00:06:49.310 --> 00:06:55.110 up? The question is when? Is it here now, and if it 68 00:06:55.310 --> 00:06:59.550 is, what do we do about it? How do we respond to the 69 00:06:59.829 --> 00:07:04.620 that factionalism? And that's the question we have to bring to our passage this 70 00:07:04.779 --> 00:07:09.980 evening, to verses eighteen through thirty one, because Paul's point here is that 71 00:07:10.139 --> 00:07:16.129 these avenues of prestige and self importance that we value so highly, so often 72 00:07:17.410 --> 00:07:24.250 they don't get us anything with God, they don't earn us anything before him 73 00:07:24.610 --> 00:07:29.009 and they don't bring us near to him. It's not until you've been humbled 74 00:07:29.050 --> 00:07:33.680 by the Gospel, until you realize that you bring so little to the table 75 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:41.560 and that you've been given so much in Christ Jesus, that then you can 76 00:07:41.560 --> 00:07:48.230 actually start to love and care for and truly be one, just as Jesus 77 00:07:48.310 --> 00:07:53.629 prayed and his high priestly prayer in John Seventeen. Lord, let them love 78 00:07:53.709 --> 00:07:59.100 each other, let them be one as we are one. That can only 79 00:07:59.180 --> 00:08:03.660 happen if we've been humbled by the Gospel from Paul helps us realize this and 80 00:08:03.740 --> 00:08:07.459 get at this by reminding us of two things here tonight in this passage. 81 00:08:09.060 --> 00:08:13.250 First, he reminds us of the means that God uses to save us. 82 00:08:13.290 --> 00:08:16.769 Let me see this, in verses eighteen through twenty five, the means that 83 00:08:16.889 --> 00:08:20.930 God uses to save us. And then, secondly, Paul reminds us of 84 00:08:20.970 --> 00:08:26.569 the kind of people that God chooses to save. That's in verses twenty six 85 00:08:26.889 --> 00:08:31.320 through thirty one. So the means God uses and the People God chooses. 86 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:37.919 Thought that was clever. But so first the means God uses. Look at 87 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:41.629 me again, at verse eighteen. Verse Eighteen, for the word of the 88 00:08:41.789 --> 00:08:46.470 Cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being 89 00:08:46.549 --> 00:08:50.830 saved, it is a power of God. And this is a key verse 90 00:08:50.990 --> 00:08:56.379 for the section. It's densely packed and but Paul is going to unpack it. 91 00:08:56.580 --> 00:09:03.139 His whole argument in fact unfolds, as it will add of this verse. 92 00:09:03.100 --> 00:09:07.220 But I just want to point out a couple things here. That God 93 00:09:07.580 --> 00:09:15.490 saves us through a message that, by all worldly standards, is sheer foolishness. 94 00:09:16.690 --> 00:09:22.370 As if that's not enough, he then communicates that foolish message to us 95 00:09:24.250 --> 00:09:31.200 through the foolish act of preaching. This is the means that God primarily uses 96 00:09:31.799 --> 00:09:35.759 to save us. Look at what Paul says in verses twenty two and twenty 97 00:09:35.799 --> 00:09:41.549 three. For Jews demands signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ 98 00:09:41.750 --> 00:09:48.909 crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to gentiles. So Jews were 99 00:09:48.950 --> 00:09:54.580 looking for signs and wonders. They wanted a miracle performing Messiah, someone who 100 00:09:54.580 --> 00:10:01.379 had come in with power to kick out the Romans and establish a kingdom centered 101 00:10:01.779 --> 00:10:07.250 on Jerusalem. And the religious leaders of the Jews, they didn't appreciate this 102 00:10:07.370 --> 00:10:16.169 rabbi who came from nowhere's Ville and Galilee and started came in telling them that 103 00:10:16.690 --> 00:10:22.080 their righteousness wasn't all it was cracked up to be, that they in fact 104 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:28.960 were hypocrites who are like whitewashed tombs, and that the only hope for them 105 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:35.750 is to believe in the lamb of God who's taken on the sin of the 106 00:10:35.870 --> 00:10:43.750 world. Jesus was a stumbling block to the Jews. The Messiah had come, 107 00:10:43.230 --> 00:10:48.190 the promised one, the one they had been waiting for and expecting for 108 00:10:48.389 --> 00:10:56.139 hundreds and hundreds of years. But then he comes and they don't like him. 109 00:10:58.100 --> 00:11:03.409 He's at cornerstone, that rock of offense. That's the Jews. They 110 00:11:03.409 --> 00:11:07.409 were looking for signs and wonders. The Greeks, the gentiles, on the 111 00:11:07.450 --> 00:11:13.409 other hand, they were looking for wisdom and sophisticated dialog remember that Corinth is 112 00:11:13.490 --> 00:11:20.279 a city in Greece, central Greece, connecting north and south, southern Greece, 113 00:11:20.679 --> 00:11:24.799 and so there's trade, it's busy, it's a center of wisdom and 114 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:31.600 learning and commerce. It's an upand coming cosmopolitan urban area, and they are 115 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:37.710 certain. The Greeks are arching for wisdom, they're searching for how to do 116 00:11:37.309 --> 00:11:46.389 life well, thinking about ethics and metaphysics and philosophy. But when Paul, 117 00:11:46.870 --> 00:11:52.460 you remember, preach the message of the Cross on the areopagus in Athens and 118 00:11:52.580 --> 00:11:58.940 acts seventeen, his speech started off well. He was quoting some of their 119 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:03.049 poets. Oh, we like this guy, we like what he has to 120 00:12:03.129 --> 00:12:09.129 say. But then Paul got to the resurrection of the dead and immediately they 121 00:12:09.169 --> 00:12:13.250 shut him down and started an uproar and said, oh, that's Bologny, 122 00:12:15.250 --> 00:12:20.879 that's garbage, due to their philosophical view of the world and their ideas about 123 00:12:22.519 --> 00:12:26.919 physical things and matter, and as a result, they rejected the resurrection. 124 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:31.629 Why would someone want to come back from the dead into a human physical body? 125 00:12:33.429 --> 00:12:37.870 And so again, in their search for wisdom, they end up completely 126 00:12:37.909 --> 00:12:46.580 missing the vote, completely missing Christ, who is the wisdom of God. 127 00:12:46.700 --> 00:12:52.460 And just like with the Jews and just like with the Greeks, this message 128 00:12:54.019 --> 00:13:01.610 today is still often counted as foolishness, as nonsense, is garbage. Every 129 00:13:01.610 --> 00:13:05.409 Christmas and Easter it seems like someone else is trying to debunk the truth of 130 00:13:05.529 --> 00:13:15.440 Christianity, writing another book, discovering yet another false gospel. Someone else is 131 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:20.159 trying to undermine Christianity. But in a way, in a way, I 132 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:28.190 get it. It makes sense because just think about if you're a Christian here 133 00:13:28.309 --> 00:13:35.590 this evening and and you're believing the Gospel. What what is that? What 134 00:13:35.710 --> 00:13:39.470 are what is this body of truth that we are believing? We actually sang 135 00:13:39.509 --> 00:13:46.100 it with the apostles creed earlier but we are believing that God became man, 136 00:13:48.779 --> 00:13:54.850 was born into this world as a baby, lived a perfect sinless life for 137 00:13:56.049 --> 00:14:05.970 thirty three years, never getting upset unjustly at his brothers and sisters, never 138 00:14:07.049 --> 00:14:13.399 raising his voice to his mother or father, living perfectly in this world, 139 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:22.879 and then going through all that only to die a shameful criminal death on a 140 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:31.110 Roman Cross, unjustly, be treated, unjustly, tried, betrayed by his 141 00:14:31.269 --> 00:14:39.860 friends. Doing that for your sin, to pay the penalty that your sin 142 00:14:41.019 --> 00:14:48.059 deserves, and then three days later he rises from the grave, a grave 143 00:14:48.259 --> 00:14:54.970 which was sealed with the stone and guarded by Roman soldiers. When you put 144 00:14:56.009 --> 00:15:00.169 it like that, just it's sort of like, for a moment putting off 145 00:15:00.210 --> 00:15:03.409 your Christian mindset and just looking at it with from how the perspective of how 146 00:15:03.450 --> 00:15:09.919 the world must see it. It's it seems far fetched. Stringing all that 147 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:13.759 together, on top of the fact that this was this Jesus, was someone 148 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:18.320 who had been prophesied for thousands of years beforehand that he would come, it 149 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:28.389 sounds like, ah, that's really a stretch to believe that. So on 150 00:15:28.429 --> 00:15:33.070 a purely human level it does sound kind of crazy. It's not terribly sophisticated 151 00:15:33.190 --> 00:15:41.779 or intellectual. It's it's history, it's a story, and that's why Paul 152 00:15:41.899 --> 00:15:48.299 puts these pointed questions to the Corinthians in verse twenty. Where is the one 153 00:15:48.419 --> 00:15:54.649 who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where are is the debater of 154 00:15:54.809 --> 00:15:58.730 this age? It's like Paul is saying to the Corinthians, why are you, 155 00:15:58.970 --> 00:16:03.250 guys, bringing in this view of the world, the way the world 156 00:16:04.039 --> 00:16:08.759 thinks and acts? Why you bring that into the church? Look around you. 157 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:18.110 Do you see the topnotch elite philosopher here in your midst? Do you 158 00:16:18.269 --> 00:16:27.629 see the elite scholar of Jewish law? Do you see the world class orator, 159 00:16:27.750 --> 00:16:33.059 rhetorician in your midst? He Sang this to the Corinthians and it's like, 160 00:16:33.580 --> 00:16:37.620 and he's a rhetorical questions. The obvious answer that he's expecting to hear 161 00:16:37.659 --> 00:16:42.139 back as no, they're not here, he's saying. And so we have 162 00:16:42.220 --> 00:16:49.610 to ask question. Why not? It's because the world sees Christianity, sees 163 00:16:49.809 --> 00:17:00.009 this faith that we hold as foolish as putting a bunty stupid. Why would 164 00:17:00.009 --> 00:17:07.079 you be so gullible as to believe that? And so this is a mindset 165 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:14.119 that's causing the divisions and strife and tensions like we want to be like them. 166 00:17:14.599 --> 00:17:22.869 And Paul saying why? Because that mindset undermines the Christian faith that you 167 00:17:23.029 --> 00:17:33.380 hold and that you believe in its entirety. So Paul goes on and answers 168 00:17:33.779 --> 00:17:37.019 his own question in verse Twenty One. For since, in the wisdom of 169 00:17:37.099 --> 00:17:42.059 God, the world did not know God. Through wisdom, it please God, 170 00:17:42.140 --> 00:17:47.410 through the folly of what we preach, to save those who believe. 171 00:17:48.210 --> 00:17:53.130 So, in the world's way of thinking, Christianity is foolish precisely because it 172 00:17:53.369 --> 00:17:59.839 doesn't let you say I can somehow earn my way to God, climb my 173 00:17:59.960 --> 00:18:03.119 way to God, on my own merits, my own achievements, my own 174 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:12.950 accomplishments. Instead, the message of Christianity is a simple faith, a simple 175 00:18:14.069 --> 00:18:22.390 childlike faith. Even in this simple, foolish message, I am a sinner. 176 00:18:22.430 --> 00:18:30.619 Jesus came to save sinners. I need to trust Jesus. J Packer 177 00:18:32.180 --> 00:18:40.420 sums up even more simply. God Saves Sinners. That's it, when you 178 00:18:40.500 --> 00:18:45.329 boil it all down. That's the heart of what we believe. That's so 179 00:18:45.490 --> 00:18:53.769 simple a little child can believe it. So these great minds, the elite 180 00:18:56.440 --> 00:19:00.640 they're looking down on this. Again, Paul is saying, why would you 181 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:07.319 bring in that mindset into the church? And yet this word of the cross, 182 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:11.829 the good news of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, this 183 00:19:12.710 --> 00:19:18.990 foolish message is a power of God as well to those who believe, Paul 184 00:19:18.990 --> 00:19:22.150 says in Verse Twenty Four. Look at Verse Twenty Four with me. But 185 00:19:22.269 --> 00:19:27.180 to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God 186 00:19:27.779 --> 00:19:33.180 and the wisdom of God. So if you're a Christians night, this is 187 00:19:33.259 --> 00:19:37.099 what your hope is in, this is what you're anchored to. And if 188 00:19:37.140 --> 00:19:41.690 this is the case, we have no more reason to think highly of ourselves. 189 00:19:41.289 --> 00:19:45.529 We have no cause to think of ourselves as superior to any other group 190 00:19:45.650 --> 00:19:49.970 in the church, any other person in the church. All the ways that 191 00:19:51.089 --> 00:19:55.440 we might be superior to some Group of Christians or to other people in the 192 00:19:55.519 --> 00:20:02.799 church, those are the very ways that God doesn't consider when he looks at 193 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:07.509 us, because he doesn't look at you based on your own achievements, your 194 00:20:07.549 --> 00:20:11.630 own merits. He looks at you because of Christ. And this is why 195 00:20:11.670 --> 00:20:18.349 he's saying Christ is our wisdom, Christ is the power of God, he 196 00:20:18.589 --> 00:20:22.940 is what matters. He is what sets US apart, be wise and powerful 197 00:20:22.980 --> 00:20:29.059 in him. This is what he's talking about. What matters is the cross 198 00:20:30.460 --> 00:20:34.339 and whether you're trusting in it. So that's the first point in the means 199 00:20:34.420 --> 00:20:40.369 that God uses to save us. And then, secondly, Paul reminds us 200 00:20:40.410 --> 00:20:45.329 of the people that God chooses to save. So people God chooses. Look 201 00:20:45.329 --> 00:20:48.529 at me again, at Verse Twenty Six. For consider your calling. Brothers, 202 00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:52.960 not many of you are wise according to worldly standards. Not many were 203 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:59.559 powerful, not many were of noble birth. So to reinforce but what he 204 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:03.839 had just said about this foolish message that's at the heart of what we believe, 205 00:21:04.109 --> 00:21:11.190 Paul goes on. It's it's like he's being personal. Now he obviously 206 00:21:11.269 --> 00:21:17.029 knew personally the people that he was writing to, because this is this is 207 00:21:17.109 --> 00:21:22.259 it. He's not calling them dumb or stupid, but this is something that 208 00:21:22.380 --> 00:21:26.700 you need to have a personal relationship but the writer for it to come across 209 00:21:26.819 --> 00:21:34.170 well, because it is. It can be shameful. You're not very wise 210 00:21:34.210 --> 00:21:40.490 according to worldly standards. Now many of you are powerful, not many of 211 00:21:40.569 --> 00:21:45.049 you were of noble birth, and others your average common, simple ordinary. 212 00:21:45.049 --> 00:21:52.920 Yeah, that's that's us, that's me, and he's making this as a 213 00:21:53.039 --> 00:22:00.119 general observation over the Corinthian Church and he's telling them to think about this, 214 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:04.230 the station of life that God has put them in, and it wouldn't take 215 00:22:04.269 --> 00:22:08.950 very long to realize the truth of what he's saying. And not many of 216 00:22:08.990 --> 00:22:14.789 them were wise or powerful or strong or noble. But then the question again 217 00:22:14.869 --> 00:22:18.740 comes back. Well, why? Why did God choose to do it this 218 00:22:18.900 --> 00:22:25.380 way? Why did he choose these people as opposed to the rich, the 219 00:22:25.539 --> 00:22:30.690 powerful, the elite, those who have influenced, the visionary leaders who could 220 00:22:30.730 --> 00:22:36.849 lead the church with charisma and force of personality? Wouldn't that have been far 221 00:22:36.970 --> 00:22:44.640 more effective if those people were the ones that God has chosen as Christians? 222 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:47.200 And just think about that from my let's just think about that for a moment. 223 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:53.640 Why did God choose the people he did? Because, I mean, 224 00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:59.710 you look at fortune, five hundred companies, the revenue they generate, that, 225 00:22:59.869 --> 00:23:04.390 the intellectual leadership they have, the research teams that they can assemble, 226 00:23:06.589 --> 00:23:10.990 just the force. Think about what if that was directed towards the Church? 227 00:23:12.059 --> 00:23:19.099 Couldn't the Great Commission be fulfilled far faster? Couldn't far more resources be assembled. 228 00:23:19.140 --> 00:23:25.259 If we had several Bill Gates, you know, who were Christians and 229 00:23:25.660 --> 00:23:29.289 donating to the church, couldn't we had couldn't we be able to help far 230 00:23:29.410 --> 00:23:37.130 more people if it was these kinds of people who God had chosen instead of 231 00:23:37.130 --> 00:23:45.759 the unwise, the non powerful, the simple? Why? Why? Will 232 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:52.559 Paul gives us the answer in verses twenty seven through twenty nine. The God 233 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:57.029 shows what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God shows what 234 00:23:57.150 --> 00:24:02.150 is weak in the world, to shame the strong. God shows what is 235 00:24:02.269 --> 00:24:04.869 low and despise in the world, even things that are not to bring to 236 00:24:06.069 --> 00:24:17.940 nothing, things that are why? So that no one may boast and the 237 00:24:18.019 --> 00:24:25.809 presence of God. The same exact reason why God chose Gideon, the coward 238 00:24:26.369 --> 00:24:32.130 hiding out in a wine press from the miny nights, and gave him three 239 00:24:32.170 --> 00:24:37.609 hundred men to go up against this vast army of midian nights. It's why 240 00:24:37.730 --> 00:24:44.599 God chose the Little Shepherd Boy David, he was only fourteen, sixteen, 241 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:49.920 teenager, to strike down the mighty giant Goliath, who had slain so many 242 00:24:49.960 --> 00:24:56.349 from his youth. The reason why God chooses people like you and like me 243 00:24:56.470 --> 00:25:00.789 to be in his church to be his saints, to call his own, 244 00:25:03.750 --> 00:25:10.619 because we know who we are. We know that we don't bring much to 245 00:25:10.660 --> 00:25:18.059 the table. So the victory has to come from God if the church is 246 00:25:18.339 --> 00:25:22.329 to advance, and even forget that, if the church is to stand against 247 00:25:22.369 --> 00:25:26.930 the gates of hell, the attacks of the gates of hell, it has 248 00:25:26.970 --> 00:25:30.730 to be God's power, it has to be God's wisdom, it has to 249 00:25:30.849 --> 00:25:37.160 be the sheer force of who God is doing the work, because we're not 250 00:25:37.319 --> 00:25:42.839 capable of it. We're so inept. We're like the church in Corinth. 251 00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:55.829 Or we're like that story of the the Scottish castaway on an island who was 252 00:25:55.910 --> 00:26:03.910 there for ten years and then was eventually rescued and the ship, the sailors 253 00:26:03.950 --> 00:26:07.539 that found him, saw that he'd built a little hut on the beach. 254 00:26:08.660 --> 00:26:17.940 There's a little sign over it that said Second Presbyterian Church, and they asked 255 00:26:17.940 --> 00:26:22.529 him why is why is this the Second Presbyterian Church? Said Oh, I 256 00:26:22.569 --> 00:26:30.970 left the first one that I built on this deserted island. And so we 257 00:26:30.410 --> 00:26:38.039 that's us. That's us. If it was up to us, the whole 258 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:41.960 thing that come crashing down like a house of cards, but it's not. 259 00:26:42.359 --> 00:26:48.349 It's built on the Rock, on Christ Jesus, animated by the spirit of 260 00:26:48.430 --> 00:26:56.069 God, aiming for the glory of God. That's what ensures its success. 261 00:26:56.549 --> 00:27:02.900 God chooses the week, the foolish, the nothings, so he might get 262 00:27:03.380 --> 00:27:07.900 all the glory. And he's chosen us because he's strong, because he's wise, 263 00:27:08.579 --> 00:27:15.210 because he's so sovereign, he can strike straight blows with crooked sticks like 264 00:27:15.369 --> 00:27:21.609 us. That's the power of our God, and because he's chosen us, 265 00:27:21.730 --> 00:27:26.329 Paul says, our identity is no longer tied to who we are, to 266 00:27:26.529 --> 00:27:32.680 our accomplishments, to our merit. It's tied to Christ. He gets to 267 00:27:32.839 --> 00:27:37.200 this and versus thirty and thirty one, because of him. You are in 268 00:27:37.480 --> 00:27:45.990 Christ Jesus, who became to US wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and 269 00:27:47.230 --> 00:27:53.190 redemption. Everything that's necessary, everything that's important, everything we need, we 270 00:27:53.390 --> 00:28:03.859 have through Christ Jesus. None of it comes from ourselves. Why? So? 271 00:28:03.980 --> 00:28:07.940 That, as is written, but the one who boasts boasts, and 272 00:28:07.140 --> 00:28:15.170 the Lord Paul here quotes Jeer My hundred twenty four. Everything positive about us, 273 00:28:17.089 --> 00:28:22.849 every good habit you have, every act of love and service you evidence 274 00:28:22.970 --> 00:28:26.960 towards your brothers, and sisters here at Covenant. All of that is due 275 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:33.880 to the work of Christ in you again. Otherwise, we would just be 276 00:28:34.039 --> 00:28:38.640 butting heads and clashing all the time, and that means that we can't boast 277 00:28:40.279 --> 00:28:49.069 in ourselves. Our accomplishments are wisdom. Let the one who boasts tonight boast 278 00:28:49.150 --> 00:28:51.990 in the Lord. Let's pray