The Fool and the Foolish
April 14,
2013
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
The message of the cross is
foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved
know it is the very power of God. As the
Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the
intelligence of the intelligent.” So where does this leave the philosophers,
the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of
this world look foolish. Since God in
his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom,
he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs
from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified,
the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both
Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the
wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of
human strength.
Despite all the best efforts of philosophy and science,
God cannot be found or objectively understood.
The very effort to prove God tends to bring about feelings of
helplessness and frustration. Human
wisdom and human knowledge cannot reach God.
In fact, today the culture has largely given up the search and settled
for “spirituality” or disbelief.
Why is this? The
path to understanding and knowing God isn't found in wisdom or traditions. The Jewish people had their traditions and
institutional understandings of how the Messiah would come, what he would do,
and how he would act. When Jesus as
Messiah did not do as expected they could not recognize him. To be foolish is to be unaware and remain
unaware despite clear instruction. The
Jews didn't recognize the Messiah they had been searching for even when his
presence was announced. To the Greeks
who considered thought and argument to be wisdom, Jesus just didn't make
sense. Philosophy alone could not
comprehend God.
So how do we know and understand God? The answer is simply the Holy Spirit. The message of the cross is a message of
relationship. Salvation cannot be
confined to traditions or philosophy. It
must be experienced. So those the world
considered foolish actually spoke a greater wisdom than the world could
comprehend. Is there a traditional or
intellectual stumbling block in your life?
Are you willing to open your eyes to the greater wisdom found in
Christ? True power if found there.
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