Mar. 03, 2024

Foolish Wisdom

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

There is a major flaw in Christianity that no one seems to want to talk about.  You know what it is?  The Christian message sounds like foolishness.  This is not a new problem; in fact it has been with the church from its earliest years.  Paul faced just such a problem as he proclaimed the Gospel among the Gentiles.  A few believed and some even said they would like to hear more. The church in Corinth was in a hard spot from the very beginning.  But it wasn’t getting the people of Corinth to a place of faith that was the problem, it was keeping them there. The cross is something that the world cannot understand. When Jesus says, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt 10:38), “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14), “Many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Mark 10:31) and “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant” (Matt 20:26) All this seems foolish to the world. The message of the cross humanly speaking doesn’t make sense. But it is by Jesus death that we have life, by His forgiveness we have freedom, by His sacrifice we are saved, by His death we have deliverance, by His blood we are blameless, by repenting we are reconciled, His affliction for our atonement, His curse for our crime, His mortality for our immortality, His end for our eternity, His oppression for our offense, His  suffering for our salvation, His grace for our guilt, His pain for our pardon. All this we accept through faith and to the world that all seems foolish.

Questions:

1.    What does the world think is the major flaw in Christianity? 

2.    What was Corinth like?

3.    What was the message that Paul was sharing with the church at Corinth?