Fool’s Wisdom

1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5

February 2, 2014

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            It is in the nature of God to create and redeem; to form and to reform.  From the beginning it has always been so.  God spoke and out of nothing came something:  light, earth, water, wind, life.  And it was good.

            And when humanity took that which was good and turned it bad; God returned and transformed ugliness into a masterpiece.  The cross was the brush God used to paint light and life again.  And it was good.

            Let us pray:

            God of the universe, we seek wisdom, we yearn for understanding and we look for answers to our questions.  Each time we discover something new brings us closer to that wisdom and understanding.  But, there are always more questions.

            Lord, you have said that your ways are not our ways, neither are your thoughts our thoughts; and that which appears foolish to us often reflects your deepest wisdom.  Guide us Lord as we gather at the foot of the cross to seek wisdom and find answers and learn to live as you have called us.  Amen.

            In March of 1991 the Presbyterian Outlook magazine reported that Occidental College, then century of Presbyterian institution in California removed the cross from the front of its campus chapel.  They did this because the faculty was afraid it gave false signals to the community as to the nature of their commitment to the Christian faith. They were not the first nor last religiously founded school to do that.  In fact today there are a number of churches in our own community and country who have done the same thing.  You will find no cross in some very well-known and very large churches.  The reason this is so is because they believe it is bad PR. They believe the contemporary view of the cross is too violent.

            Personally, I was kind of glad that the Occidental College took down the cross. They no longer believed in it and were honest about their feelings.  They did not want to pretend to be something they were not.  I confess I become impatient when I see pictures of notorious musicians who sing the joys of sex, drugs and rock and roll while huge silver crosses dangle around their necks.  For them it is obviously only a piece of jewelry, only a decoration.  I believe it is more than that.

            This cross is a symbol of a particular person and a specific event.  If that person of Jesus or the event of his crucifixion is offensive to you then leave it along, but don’t try to co-opt it for your own purpose or use it simply as a decoration.

            That is evidently what the Apostle Paul thought.  When writing to the believers in Corinth he said, “For the word of the cross is foolish to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  There were those then and today who think the simple message of the Gospel is too simple and too unsophisticated, so the cross becomes a stumbling block.

            The objections came from two quarter:  Paul wrote, “For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom.”

            Those who had come from Jewish backgrounds came with the memory of the mighty acts of God.  So, they wanted to see “burning bushes” and the “parting of seas.”  They remembered when the walls of Jericho came tumbling down. They remembered Daniel in the lion’s den.  They wanted to see new signs, experience new miracles.  They wanted to see some action.

            Jesus encountered this attitude in his ministry as well.  (Matthew 12:38).  He resisted the temptation to put on a show every day because he understood the inverse effect this can have on faith.    We always want more, and bigger, and better.  That’s why we like the SuperBowl.  It’s bigger than an ordinary game with more hoopla and razzmatazz.  But, next Sunday real football fans will scan the TV listings for something to watch, and the golf channel just doesn’t do it.

            The endless thirst for big miracles can blind us to the small miracles that take place around us every day.  This does not strengthen faith nor help ti to mature.  Rather it weakens it and makes it more dependent on the next big thing. So, the cross becomes a stumbling block because it seems more like a defeat than a victory.

            The other group Paul identifies as Greek.  They have a different litmus test.  They seek wisdom.  On the surface this is a noble pursuit.  All of us should seek wisdom and greater understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

            What Paul had noticed on his visit to Athens (Acts 17:22) immediately before his visit to Corinth is that there are those who like to play around with ideas and notions and thoughts, but neve4r commit to act on those ideas.  They are like the guys sitting around in a bar solving all the world’s problems.  They are like students in a college dorm room who know exactly how the world should run.  They are window shoppers who never have any intention to buy.  Many saw these intellectual debates as a harmless afternoon’s diversion.  It was kind of like playing “Trivial Pursuit” - lots of facts but no practical application,

            When Paul went to Athens he played their game and joined in their fun and engaged in their debates; but when he weighed the results he realize that for all the cotton candy theology and eloquent speech, there were not many changed lives.  It hadn’t really made a difference.  His preaching was for many a pleasant afternoon’s distraction, but had no more relevance than a passing gladiatorial game or night at the theater.

            So, on his journey from Athens to Corinth, Paul re-evaluated his strategy and he made a preaching decision.  He called it KISS, Keep it Simple Stupid.  “When I came to you, I did not come with superiority of speech, or of wisdom.  I determined to know nothing among you except Christ Jesus and him crucified.”

            This was the brick wall the Greek listener had to get passed, because they couldn’t grasp the concept of God’s love being so great the he would give the life of his son on the cross.  This ultimate commitment seemed foolish.

            This characterization of the Christian faith has endured.  A while back Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spoke on this very text at a prayer breakfast in Jackson Mississippi.  He said, “We are fools for Christ’s sake.  We must pray for the courage to endure the scorn of the sophisticated world.” (Washington Post, April 10, 1996. 

            That was a wise prayer because scorn did follow in the form of columns and letters to the editor.  Many questioned the propriety of a Supreme Court Justice making his religious views known in such a public way.  Many thought he should have remained, to borrow a term from another persecuted group, “in the closet”.  Many today say our relationship with God should be a private matter.

            But, how private can it be?  To have faith in God is to center yourself and your existence on an ultimate being, an eternal reality.  It is to say, “All that I am, and all that I will be is given to you Lord and I pray I will be guided by you.” How can that be kept in the closet?  It has to impact the way in which we perceive the world and the way in which we live.  This is especially true for Christians who lift high the cross.

            The crucifixion was not a wiggle your toes in the water experience.  Jesus was not hedging his bets.  He made a complete commitment.  It was a full-fledged dive into the cesspool of sin.  It demanded full compliance to the will of god.  Anyone who holds onto that cross must do the same.

            There is an old saying that puts it this way:

            Love that reaches up is worship,

            Love that reaches out is affection,

            Love that stoops down is grace.

            And this is the point Paul is trying to make.  He used two illustrations.  First he urges the members of this church to look at themselves.  He said,  be honest now, “For consider your calling brothers and sisters, that there were among you not many who were wise in the ways of the world, not many mighty, not many of noble birth; but God has chosen he weaker things of this world to shame the wise.”

            By the yardstick used by the society in which they lived, the people in this Corinthian church barely measured up.  There was nothing special about them, nothing extraordinary.  Few of them made the “Who’s Who of Corinth”.  Not many of them made the society pages in the local newspaper.  They were nothing special.

            But, God stooped down in the form of his son Jesus Christ and lifted them up.  So, there was no reason to boast, no claim to make about their superior spirituality, nor pride is self or achievement.  It was all God all the time.  And it is the nature of God to create and redeem, to form and reform.

            Then Paul used a second illustration.  He turned to himself and said, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.”  Was Paul just being modest?  No he was being honest.

            Follow with me Paul’s self-evaluation found in 2 Corinthians 10:7-10.

            “You are looking at things outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is in Christ, let him consider this again.  For they say, “My letters are weighty and strong, but my personal presence in unimpressive, and my speech contemptible.”

            Ken Taylor summed this up, “When Paul gets here you will see there is nothing great about him, and you will have never heard a worse preacher.”  Evidently Paul was noting to look at and he didn’t have one of the deep resounding preaching voices.

            So, Paul is saying if God could use even me to reform and transform, imagine what he can do with you.

            And in the centuries since, we have seen God use ordinary everyday folks in extraordinary ways.

            Consider those who Jesus chose.  There wasn’t a professional athlete or theater star or political hotshot in the bunch.  There were no millionaires or debutants.  Who did Jesus choose?  Fishermen and tax-collectors, carpenters and nobodies.

            But, they went out and changed the world.  And why?  They had seen the nail scarred hands and that made all the difference.

            Some of you know John Gordon as the Confederate general who tried to extort a hundred thousand dollars from the city of York during the battle of Gettysburg. If the city fathers could come up with a hundred thousand dollars, he would not burn York to the ground.  They came up with 27,000 and he took an I.O.U for the rest.

            He led the last official attach against the Union forces at Appomattox in April of 1865.  After the war General Gordon late3d became a candidate for the United States Senate to represent his home state of Georgia.

            When the state convention opened, a fiery political opponent stormed down the aisle with his anti-Gordon ballot in his hand.  On the platform sat his old commander with a once handsome face, now disfigured by the scars of battle.  As he saw Gordon, memories of the old days came back and he changed his vote to support the General.

            Then turning to Gordon, fighting back his tears, he said, “Forgive me, General, I had forgotten the scars.”

            It is as we remembers the scars on the hands and side of Jesus that we realize to the depths of our souls that God has shared in our suffering and so can speak a word of hope, a word of courage, a word of comfort, and ultimately a promise of victory through Christ’s rising from the dead.”

            You see it is the nature of God to create and redeem; to form and reform.  From the beginning it has always been so.

Let us pray:

            Lord, every time we look at a cross on a church steeple or around our necks or in a National cemetery we are reminded of your full and complete commitment to us.  You have not waited for us to climb some kind of ladder to heaven, but reached down instead to pull us up and so we offer our praise and thanksgiving and our full devotion.  Amen