Foolish To the World

1 Corinthians 1:18-31New International Version (NIV)

Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom

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.

26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Over the course of the next several weeks you will probably hear me speak a lot about an author named C.S. Lewis.  Christianity Today named Lewis’ book, titled Mere Christianity, as its number one book of the 20th Century.  Lewis served in the British Military in WWI and compiled Mere Christianity between 1942 and 1944.  He gave several talks on the BBC and incorporated those talks, along with some additions, into the book.  If you want to get the basics of Christian theology and orthodoxy then this book is essential and still relevant many years later. He reasons everything so wonderfully with many illustrations to help make his points.  One such illustration he often relates to are the keys on a piano.  While I do not know much about music and even less about a piano, his illustrations are incredibly easy to follow.  Lewis says, “Think once again of a piano.  It does not have two kinds of notes: the right notes and the wrong ones.  Every single note is right at one time and wrong in another.”  In this instance, Lewis is speaking of following our impulses as absolutes.  He goes onto to give the example of strictly following our impulse to always love humanity at all costs.  Seems plausible that this instinct is one that could be followed in such a manner.  Lewis makes the point that we cannot simply act in such a way that our only focus is the betterment of humanity.  He says that if we act in such a way that eliminates justice that we will find ourselves making up evidence in trials and breaking agreements “for the sake of humanity.”  He offers this example as a way to show us that no one impulse, no matter how pure it seems, can serve as an absolute guide.  

To the world, this kind of thought seems foolish.  And in my research, I have found that there are large portions of the world that see Lewis’ writings and reasoning to be exactly that.  The chapter that I am drawing this information from Lewis comes from one on the Moral Law.  The point of Lewis’ reasoning is this: we would not have the moral law if not for Christ.  Many people think we can be good and righteous without God but Lewis’ point is that we would not know what good and righteous looks like if not for God’s love and grace.  We only know what a straight line looks like because we have something to compare to. Lewis is still fighting the fight that Paul was fighting 2000 years before him.  The Greeks demanded wisdom and thought the meaning of life was only found in knowledge and philosophy.  The Jewish leaders demanded signs and miracles.  All of these things undoubtedly point to God but none of them can stand alone as an absolute guide or impulse.  75 years after Lewis’ writings in Mere Christianity, I am standing before you telling you the same thing.  No one ideology, theology, philosophy or any other -ology or -ophy can stand alone as an absolute.  They can all understandably point us towards God but none of them are God.  This is the point the hearers of Paul’s words were missing, this is the point that those who disagreed with Lewis’ writings were missing and it is the point that most of us are still missing.  

Through many struggles in parenting I have realized that the same parenting techniques and style will work for all of my kids.  For those of you who are teachers, how many different ways must you teach something before all of your students understand it?  Several.  Coaches, how many different ways must you instruct your players to do something before they all grasp it?  More than your patience sometimes allows.  Nurses, does the same treatment work for every patient who is suffering from the same illness?  Unfortunately, no.  Farmers, does every hybrid work the exact same on every piece of dirt?  Nope, different varieties may yield very differently on the same farm.  Does a half-inch wrench work on every 5/16 bolt in every situation all the time?  Not all the time, hence the need for ratchets and sockets.  Does every emergency situation require the exact same technique to secure safety of those involved?  Simply, no.  Remember, all the keys on the piano are right at one time and wrong at another. This is the absolute beauty of what God has given us.  And it is the absolute frustration as well.  We often think a relationship with God is the end-all-be-all in the sense that the realization of God’s love for you should fix everything.  It does... Eventually... but the path taken is so different for each of us.  I know that in a part of my life I believed wisdom was the answer for finding meaning and in another part, demanding signs and miracles was the answer.  I could have been labeled both a Greek and Jewish leader. Verse 25 is on the front of your bulletin and it says, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”  His foolishness is wiser than our attainable wisdom and his weakness is stronger than any strength we could achieve.  A relationship with God doesn’t make life less messy, it only provides a cleaning service if we are willing to pay the price.  

The price is nothing... but at the same time, it is everything.  Confusing, right?  I know.  God sent his son, part of Himself, to die for our sin and all He asks in return is nothing short of all of who we are.  It may not make sense but it will.  I hope.  A relationship with God is not like putting your toe in the water and pulling it out when it feels too cold.  A relationship with God means jumping in, wholeheartedly and being fully committed.  The action to be forgiven costs us nothing.  But being in relationship with God costs us everything.  Personally, it is this idea of giving everything, all the good and the bad but mostly the bad, to God that keeps me from reaching the heights of God’s will.  We all have that one thing that we don’t talk about.  That one memory or bad experience or sin that few, if any, even know about.  We don’t even like talking to God about it in the security of our own mind.  That is what is holding us back.  And to be honest, that is one of the reasons why our faith can seem foolish to the world.

Paul also mentions some of the other reasons why our faith seems foolish to the world.  (reread verse 27&28)  God gives strength to the weak, He chose foolish things to shame the wise, He chose the lowly things to nullify the things that are.  Why would God, who could choose anything, choose the weak, the foolish and the lowly?  He does so to help us realize how far we have come and how much further we need to go.

A couple of points to close out.  First, one of my favorite takeaways from Lewis is his point on the difficulty of a relationship with God.  If Christianity were something man made, wouldn’t we have made it easier?  Why choose the meek and lowly or the faith of a child?  Wouldn’t we, in all our infinite wisdom, have chosen the strongest and brightest?  This is Paul’s point as well.  Our faith doesn’t make us weak and or easy to manipulate.  It does exactly the opposite.  It helps us to find our weakness and if we so choose we are allowed to become stronger through Christ by exposing those weaknesses, offering them to God and allowing Him to do something with them.  In other words, it only makes us more aware of where we need to improve and we are able to freely choose to do something, or not, about it.  Lastly, we cannot let any one impulse be our only guide.  We may have the impulse to focus solely on the life and sayings of Christ.  Albeit a great example, only using Jesus as our only guide does not paint the entire picture of God because we leave out the Holy Spirit and the earlier Hebrew traditions and we miss out on so many other aspects of God.  Jesus helps us to only paint one part of the picture of God.  In today’s society, labels and political parties and pro this vs pro that are tearing us away from one another and from God.  God is the only absolute. By using Him as our guide, it encompasses every part of creation. We know love because He first loved us. We are losing God as our guide and we are playing the piano like there are two sets of keys. The correct keys are the impulses we believe to be true and the wrong ones are what they believe to be true.  This is not an excuse to make faith or God into whatever fits neatly into your life.  Rather, God has given you the piano to play and the sheet music to follow. It is your choice on how beautiful the sound will be.