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Plainly Speaking with Karl J. Forehand The Foolishness of the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:18-25) by Karl J. Forehand When I counsel with families that have lost a loved one, I often share this passage with them: “"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” (2 Cor. 12:9). In hard times, we often resort to our “strength,” instead of our weakness. But, God’s power is perfected in our weakness! Is it possible that often we are too strong to let God work? Is it possible that we are often too smart to allow God to teach us? God works at the point of our surrender – when we are weak. If we perceive we are strong enough, smart enough or tough enough, we don’t access the power of God in our lives. Paul expressed this idea in the message about the “Foolishness of the Cross.” 1. The 1^st problem: Same message – different perceptions For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (I Cor. 1:18) He says, “to those who perish” the message is “foolishness.” Why is that? They cannot understand spiritual things. I Corinthians 2:14 tells us, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” The persona without Christ (who is perishing), does not have the right spectacles to see the things of God clearly. But, his lens is not just blurry – it is totally dark. Until the Holy Spirit helps him “see” things correctly, they will appear as foolishness. Their frame of reference is constantly being proven inadequate. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside." Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (I Cor. 1:19-20) There are inevitably new “flavors of the month” to secular theology. Dr. Spock admitted much of what he taught was wrong after many failed in his life. Darwin admitted, near the end of his life, that he might be wrong that there is some design behind creation. God continually destroys conventional wisdom, so that it has to be constantly refurbished. Where is the person you heard the most from a year ago? They have probably faded into anonymity. Their flawed theology does not stand the test of time – God proves them foolish repeatedly. Their wisdom does not bring them closer to God. For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. (I Cor. 1:21) Most of these people are trying to apply human wisdom to help them understand God. They are trying to make it logical – trying to make God fit into their systems of reasoning. They are trying to use a system that takes them away from God to help them understand God. It is not wonder, that they eventually throw up their hands in disgust. They resolve “If my complex system doesn’t work, how could this simple one?” But what about “those who are saved?” To them, it is the “power of God.” Why is that? The power is by God’s initiative. We didn’t receive the power when WE realized we needed it; rather it was provided for us in advance. That’s why it is powerful – it was prepared for us. It was initiated by the power of God. The power is for His results. The power has an eternal result. Salvation (or deliverance) is eternal. In the message of the cross, we have a wisdom that lasts. Eternal things are powerful things. A powerful wind could drive a sail boat a great distance; but an eternal wind, even a gentle one would be a powerful thing. The power is by His method. God chose the kerugma, the preaching, proclaiming or heralding of the message to be the delivery system. God gave us not so much a theology as a message. This message has to be communicated. The power is in God’s attitude. This passage tells us that God was “well-pleased” to give us this power. God is not like Jonah who was reluctant to bring God to the people. God is “excited” about giving us this power through the message. 2. 2^nd problem: Same message – different expectations For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (I Cor. 1:22-25) Did you know that you get different answers based on the questions you ask? What are we searching for? That has a lot to do with what we find. The Jews were looking for signs. They wanted a powerful military leader who could lead them the way their leaders of the past had lead them. They easily destroyed Jesus from that standpoint – they crucified Him. They wanted physical power, they found weakness (in their eyes). They saw a manger, a ministry of peace and a crucifixion that they just couldn’t reconcile. It was too simple – they tripped over it – it was a stumbling block to them. Today, we often look for traditional solutions to eternal problems. If it isn’t tested, we don’t believe it will work. We want a supernatural version of a tested process. Do you see the irony in that approach? Yet we still try to mold God into our traditional frame of reference. When God says things like “The first will be last,” we often can’t fit it into our traditional models. The Gentiles (Greeks) were looking for wisdom. Actually, they called it wisdom, but it was actually just knowledge. They loved brilliant philosophy. They listened to every idea if it was reasonable. Why was the Gospel message foolishness to them? It rested on the hinge of the cross. The Roman citizens saw the cross as something they shouldn’t even look at or think about. They said “It’s not reasonable – it doesn’t fit into our contemporary 1^st century model of what is logical.” We say, “It doesn’t seem wised to trust the salvation of mankind to such manual process.” A Jewish couple, a carpenter, a cross – give me a break! That is way too manual of a process when we have computers and the likes. Surely God could do things in a more contemporary way! The truth: God does not do things in a traditional way like the Jews expected; nor does He do them contemporarily like the Greeks expected. He actually does them uniquely, so that only He can get the glory and so that they are totally appropriate. Summary Where are you? The Christians job is to accept the message. Are you willing to accept the wisdom of God and the power of God, even though it is packaged in a simple way? Have you rejected it as foolishness? Have you believed, but not become committed? Are you making your Christian walk too complicated by analyzing instead of trusting? I invite you to fully accept this “foolish” message and find the wisdom of God. Karl J. Forehand Back to Writing archives Ministry of Plainly Speaking▐ Books by Karl▐ Writing Archives▐ HOME