{"id":16868,"date":"2021-07-28T22:00:38","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T05:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1corinthians-1_10-17-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-07-25T14:59:05","modified_gmt":"2021-07-25T21:59:05","slug":"1corinthians-1_18-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1corinthians-1_18-31\/","title":{"rendered":"The Foolishness of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Corinthians 1:18-31\u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 1:18-31 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For 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.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For 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.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.<\/em>
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Brothers, 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.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are,
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0so that no one may boast before him.
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0It 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.
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 18-31:\u00a0\u00a0This world will try to tell you that “people are essentially good, that if\u00a0we\u00a0just\u00a0believe in ourselves, we can accomplish anything. We don’t need God, and we don’t need a Saviour.\u00a0 We can be our own saviour.\u00a0 All we need is ourselves.” \u00a0That’s man’s wisdom, the wisdom of this world.\u00a0 This “wisdom” is what the\u00a0Corinthians\u00a0were hearing from the mouths of so-called wise men, scholars and “philosophers of this age” (v20).<\/p>\n

Today you hear this same “wisdom” trumpeted by celebrities, artists, university professors, key note speakers at graduation ceremonies, and teachers of many religions. \u00a0“Believe in yourself and you’ll be fine” has always been the world’s wisdom, and it shows up in all sorts of different forms.\u00a0 The religious version of this wisdom is, “If you try hard enough, you can get yourself into heaven or become your own god.” The non-religious version is, “Believe in yourself, be whatever you want to be, do whatever you want to do, as long as you’re happy.\u00a0 You don’t need God.” \u00a0Either way, the world’s wisdom is about pridefully believing in yourself.<\/p>\n

In contrast, the message of Christianity is the complete opposite.\u00a0 Yes, we may be capable of doing some good, but we’re not nearly as good as we think we are.\u00a0 No matter how wise, intelligent, rich, powerful, experienced or good we think we are, our wisdom, intelligence, wealth, power, experience or perceived goodness cannot save us.\u00a0\u00a0We are all sinners in need of God’s forgiveness and a Saviour to save us from the penalty of our sin.\u00a0 That is why God sent His Son Jesus Christ: to be the Saviour that we so desperately need.\u00a0 Jesus died on the cross for sinners like us.\u00a0 When we humble ourselves and admit our need for that Saviour, Jesus saves us and becomes, as verse 30 says, \u201cour righteousness, holiness and redemption\u201d.<\/p>\n

Because the message of Christianity is so different, so radical, so counterintuitive compared to the world’s wisdom, many people either misunderstand it or reject it.\u00a0 As Paul says in verse\u00a018, “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.” \u00a0It is a “stumbling block” for those who rely on the “believe in yourself” wisdom that the world trumpets (see v22-24).<\/p>\n

For Jews in Paul\u2019s time, the message of the cross was a stumbling block in part because who ever heard of almighty God subjecting himself to death on a cross?\u00a0\u00a0Isn\u2019t God powerful and the doer of miracles, they might say?\u00a0\u00a0God dying on the cross is no miracle!\u00a0\u00a0For Greeks the message of the cross was a stumbling block because what they were looking for was \u201cwisdom\u201d, a spiritual idea or an insight that fit into their mould of what wisdom should be, which certainly did not include the notion that we need God to save us.\u00a0\u00a0Yet the message of the cross did not fit into the mould of what the Jewish teaches in Paul\u2019s time nor the Greek philosophers in Paul\u2019s time were looking for.<\/p>\n

By sending Jesus Christ to save us, God was rejecting all the human wisdom that says “believe in yourself”.\u00a0 As verse 19 says, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate”. \u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s why you won\u2019t find God by listening to the wisdom of this world.\u00a0\u00a0As verse 21 says, \u201cthe world through its wisdom did not know him [i.e. God]\u201d.<\/p>\n

For the world, belief in Christ is foolishness, yet God uses what the world calls foolish to save us.\u00a0 That way no one can say “I did it myself”; everyone can only say, “It’s only because of God’s grace”. \u00a0As verse 31 says,\u00a0\u201c<\/sup>Therefore, as it is written: \u2018Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.\u2019\u201d\u00a0\u00a0In this way, \u201cthe wise\u201d \u2013 i.e. those who think of themselves as highly intelligent, good, and sophisticated and put a lot of confidence in themselves \u2013 will eventually be put to shame by \u201cthe foolish\u201d who see their need for a Saviour (v27-29).<\/p>\n

Jesus, thank You for becoming a fool for us, how you allowed yourself to be accused, abused, punished and tortured like the worst of criminals, and you took it all without protesting. You were the Son of God, yet You allowed Yourself to become weak, even submitting to death on a cross at the hands of people.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that it is Your “foolishness” and Your “weakness” that have saved us, something which man’s own highest wisdom and greatest strength could never come close to doing.\u00a0 Thank You for Your foolishness!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 1:18-31 (NIV)
\n18\u00a0\u00a0For 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.
\n19\u00a0\u00a0For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
\n20\u00a0\u00a0Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
\n21\u00a0\u00a0For 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…….<\/p>\n

On verses 18-31:\u00a0\u00a0This world will try to tell you that “people are essentially good, that if\u00a0we\u00a0just\u00a0believe in ourselves, we can accomplish anything. We don’t need God, and we don’t need a Saviour.\u00a0 We can be our own saviour.\u00a0 All we need is ourselves.” \u00a0That’s man’s wisdom, the wisdom of this world.\u00a0 This “wisdom” is what the\u00a0Corinthians\u00a0were hearing from the mouths of so-called wise men, scholars and “philosophers of this age” (v20).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16868"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16869,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16868\/revisions\/16869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}