1 Corinthians one 26-31 July 13 2008
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip. As they lay down for the night, the fire dwindling nearby, Holmes said: "Watson, look up and tell me what you see".
Watson said "I see a fantastic panorama of countless of stars".
Holmes: "And what does that tell you?"
Watson: "Astronomically, it suggests to me that if there are billions of other galaxies that have roughly similar stellar population densities as represented by my view, that, potentially, trillions of planets may be associated with such a galactic and, therefore, stellar population. Allowing for similar chemical distribution throughout the cosmos it may be reasonably implied that life-and possibly intelligent life-may well fill the universe.
Also, being a believer, theologically, it tells me that the vastness of space may be yet another suggestion of the greatness of God and that we are small and insignificant.
Meteorologically, the blackness of the sky and the crispness of the stellar images tells me that there is low humidity and stable air and therefore we are most likely to enjoy a beautiful day tomorrow.
Why? - What does it tell you, Mr. Holmes?"
Holmes: "Someone stole our tent".
We often miss the obvious and the obvious teaching of this passage is God will have nothing to do with human pride and arrogance. We get pride and self-sufficiency out of our status, our money, our toys. We are funny people like that. Somehow what we wear or what we own or who we know makes us important and gives us a feeling of self sufficiency. The Corinthian disciples were beginning to get a feeling of pride and self sufficiency from human standards and Paul does not mince words at all. He says, do not boast in mere men, boast only in the Lord who graciously called you and gave you Jesus Christ! If it was not for him, you would have and be nothing.
The emphasis placed on pride, and its opposite humility, is a distinctive feature of biblical religion. Rebellious pride, which refuses to depend on God and be subject to him, but attributes to self the honour due to God alone, figures as the very root and essence of sin. Pride was first revealed when Lucifer attempted to set his throne on high in proud independence of God (ISA. 14:12-14). Adam and Eve in pride sought to be like gods with the result that man’s entire nature was infected with pride through the fall. Pride was the undoing of Satan and of all humanity! Pride continues to be the prime means by which we rebel against God. Hence we find constant condemnation of human arrogance in the Scriptures. In Proverbs 8:13 it says, “To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Psalm 10:4 attributes pride to atheism, “In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” Pride is the downfall of King Nebechadnezzarer of Babylon when he dares to utter, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” God is said to scatter the proud and we learn from this passage of Scripture how God does that, through the message of the cross and through choosing the foolish things and weak things and the lowly and despised things. Pride is eradicated and crushed in the person of Jesus Christ. There is no room for human boasting in the cross. In the message of the cross there is only boasting in God who displayed his wisdom in the perfect work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the message of the cross and in his choosing of us, God has taken those things we humans like most to brag about and made them nothing. How true it is God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. The cure for such pride is to consider your calling and your Savior! Boast in God!
I. Consider Your Calling
Paul tells the Corinthian disciples to “think” or “consider” what they were when they were called. This is the fourth time we have encountered this word, once in verse one (called to be an apostle), once in verse 2 (called to be holy), once in verse 9 (called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord), and once in verse 24 (to those whom God has called). Here, just as in every other instance, it refers to God’s act of calling people to salvation. “It is shorthand for God’s act of calling them purely on the basis of grace, without regard o their moral worthiness or their status as gauged by human standards. In choosing them, God overlooked their lack of spiritual merit and flouted [defied, ignored] all worldly measures of human worth” (Garland, 73). The church is composed of called out ones. God has called us out of our sinfulness into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ and hence we have been enriched in every way.
What Paul tells them to consider about this calling of God to salvation is “what they were.” It says “not many” not “not any” of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. The wise are the learned, clever, and experienced. The influential are those whose wealth gives them social and political levers of power. Those of noble birth are the well born who have a proud lineage and belong to the wealthy ruling class.
So the first thing I want to point out about this calling of God is it disregards earthly status. The Corinthians church needed to be reminded of this precious truth.
Consider the society and culture of the city of Corinth. Garland says, “Unless something quite exceptional happened to an individual, persons living in this era did not rise up the social ladder but remained within the confines of the social class in which they were born. Prestige belonged only to those of noble parentage. All the terms Paul uses here overlap and refer to the privileged elite as opposed to the plebeians” (Garland, 73, 74). Murphy-O’Connor puts it this way, “They [that is the wise, influential, and of noble birth] run the economy. They set the standards. They determine who succeeds and who fails” (10). Beacham observes, “Rome was a highly stratified and therefore immensely self-conscious society characterized by complex systems for defining, signifying, and acknowledging status” (34). This is a society where money and status were worshipped as goddesses. Many are caught into this vicious cycle of constantly clamoring for prestige and honor through the right friends, having a lot of money, and saving face. The citizens of Corinth are obsessed with exalting themselves and trying to leapfrog over others to attain honor and prominence (Garland, 75).
We are not to imagine that none of this infiltrated the church in Corinth. The Corinthians put a great deal of emphasis on status also and Paul is quick to remind the disciples of their calling. Not many of you were, by human standards, anything special and now that you profess faith in the foolishness of the cross, what little status you may have had, is gone by worldly standards! Additionally, if Scripture teaches anything it is that we are all equal and one in Jesus Christ.
It is important here to notice the phrase “by human standards.” Paul is laboring to get the Corinthians to have the right perspective – God’s perspective. They are guilty of judging things by human standards and such standards have no place in the kingdom of God’s church. Human standards are that which foster boasting and self-reliance, self reliance and boasting is ungodly and absolutely opposed to the gospel.
Consider this fact, Paul says, when God called you, not many of you were the cream of the crop! Paul is pointing out that being wise or influential or well born cannot possibly be a criterion of being a Christian or being spiritual. God’s grace can reach anyone. But being well regarded in the surrounding pagan society is in no sense an advantage. If God accepted people on such grounds, he would compromise himself. He would be a snob, the kind that is impressed by superficial advantages. God is not impressed with human standards. Gordon Fee paraphrases it this way, “Look at what was involved in the fact of your being called by God; who you were when he called you. His point in getting them so to consider themselves is that in calling out a people for his name God showed no regard for their present values – worldly wisdom or merit. Indeed, in calling them he chiefly chose those who are a living contradiction to those values” (Fee, 79).
When Paul proclaimed the message of the cross, it did not attract the wise and powerful. They certainly are not excluded, but most tend to exclude themselves by rejecting the wisdom of the cross as foolishness.
This is a truth all too relevant for us today! We put a lot of emphasis on status. It is very important to us. We want people to see by how we dress, or walk or talk or by what we drive or own that we are desirable. We confer great status on those with education from superior schools, with those who have certain jobs, and with those who have a lot of money and power. We want the honor and prestige that comes with status. We want people to say that we are socially acceptable. Very true is the statement –
The trouble is that too many people
Are spending money
They haven't yet earned
For things they don't need
To impress people they don't like.
Those whom James wrote to were guilty of this greed for status and were showing favoritism. It says in James 2:1-5 My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
God is not impressed with human standards and success nor should we.
The second thing I want to point out about this calling of God is its purpose. God chose to do it this way to “shame the wise” to “shame the strong” to “nullify the things that are” so that “no one may boast before him.”
Instead of taking advantage of what the world esteems as wise, strong, and significant and exalting it, God took the foolish, the weak, and the lowly and despised things and exalted them. What madness and folly to the world! “God chose the foolish because the wise thought the cross was sheer folly as a means for saving the world, the weak because the strong thought they were powerful enough without God, and the low and despised because the high and mighty did not care to debase themselves by attaching themselves to a crucified Messiah. (Garland, 76). God has upended the hierarchy and reduced the “somethings” to nothing! He has rendered the pride and wisdom of the world completely inoperative.
Throughout the biblical narrative God consistently chooses the most unlikely figures, and Paul maintains that God has continued this pattern in choosing the believers at Corinth. God’s choices disclose that the church’s creation and success can be attributed only to God’s power.
He has done all of this so that “no one may boast before him” (1:29). Not only has he shamed and nullified the world by choosing so many people whom the world does not highly esteem, God has taken this step to shatter human boasting. God acts to redeem fallen men and women because he is gracious, and for no other reason. He does not owe anyone in the world forgiveness and eternal life. As DA Carson puts it, “if he gave out these wonderful gifts on the basis of a formula worked out by the immigration departments of many countries – the more education, skills, sophistication, and wealth you have, the easier it is to get in – then many of those who come to know God by faith in Jesus Christ would have a legitimate ground for boasting. But God takes the action he does “so that no one may boast before him” (Carson, 30). I am the LORD, that is my name! I willnot give my glory to another or my praise to idols” (ISA. 42:8). “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another (ISA 48:11) Again and again Paul has to warn the Corinthians against the dangers in their boasting (1 Cor. 3:21). If one has any deep understanding of the gospel, one must say, with Paul, “where, then, is boasting? It is excluded” (Rom. 3:27).
God could have chosen to do nothing and save no one, but instead he has chosen to do this! “When this principle is applied to the Corinthian situation, Paul’s point is that no apostle, let alone any house-church leader, can receive credit for the creation of the group of redeemed saints in Corinth. All stand empty before God” (Garland, 78).
The Corinthians are living proof that God’s perspective and categories of wisdom and power are radically different from human standards. Salvation is God’s free gift, secured by the reprehensible death of Jesus Christ. This revolting death is God’s triumphant act, his most dazzling and powerful deed, the action by which he trashes all human pretensions to wisdom and power. God’s salvation springs from God’s grace, and it is received by those who trust in him – not by the “beautiful people” or by the rich and powerful.
The lesson to be learned from this passage is God’s marvelous grace and love toward us, and that though the world may look upon us as average, ordinary, simple yoopers living in the end of the world, or at least close enough to see it, to God we are significant.
A RENOWNED violinist announced before a concert that he would play one of the world's most expensive violins. He played the first composition flawlessly, and the audience was thrilled at the performance.
After taking his bows, the musician suddenly smashed the instrument, completely demolishing it, as the audience watched in horror.
The violinist explained that he had been playing a cheap violin, and then, picking up the expensive instrument, he drew the bow across the strings. The sound was beautiful, but most of the people couldn't tell any difference between the music from the expensive violin and the cheap one. The quality of the instrument was secondary to the skill of the violinist.
It's something like that in our service for the Lord. The Master can take ordinary instruments like us and produce beautiful music from our lives. The results of our service depends not so much on us as it does on Him. The apostle Paul said that "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise" (1 Corinthians 1:27). God did so "that no flesh should glory in His presence" (v. 29).
Like that cheap violin, we can be instruments in the Master's hands to declare the beauty of the Lord and to bless others.—RWD
God is shaming the wise and strong and nullifying the things that are so that no one may boast before him. This is nothing new. He has done this from the beginning.
Another beautiful lesson from this passage is all those who are in Christ are valuable, and though the world may scorn and ridicule and mock, we know in the end they will be the ones who are shamed and brought to nothing. Often we are plagued with thoughts like “I have no gifts. I have no talents. I always fail. Do you really want to use me Lord? Why, what can I do?” Often one hears someone say “I am only a janitor” or “I am only an average student” or “I am just a housewife.” I am a nobody. Underestimating one’s usefulness to God is nothing new.
The work of God is not done by great people but by ordinary people who are committed to Him.
During a Billy Sunday evangelistic campaign, a mentally impaired boy came faithfully each night to sing in the choir. “Joey was not very bright,” said Homer Rodeheaver, the well-known song leader for Billy Sunday, “but he never missed any of our meetings and wouldn’t leave until he shook my hand. Sometimes I was embarrassed by the way he constantly tailed me, and I secretly wished he’d go away.”
Then one evening a man came to Rodeheaver and said, “Thank you for being kind to my son Joey. He’s not right mentally, but never has he enjoyed anything so much as singing in the choir. He worked hard doing simple chores for people so he could contribute to the collection. Through his pleadings my wife and five other children came to this evangelistic campaign and have now received Christ. Last night his 75-year-old grandfather, who has been an atheist all his life, was saved, and tonight his grandmother also came forward. Now our entire family is converted!’” Joey was one of God’s faithful servants.
God used the hesitant, inarticulate Moses to lead Israel to freedom (Ex. 3:13; 4:10). When God looked for someone to conquer the troublesome Midianites, He chose unimpressive Gideon, calling him a "mighty man of valor" (Judges 6:12). Gideon responded, "How can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house" (v.15). But God persisted, saying, "Have I not sent you? . . . Surely I will be with you" (vv.14-16).
Gideon became God's man for the task. The Lord gave Gideon just 300 men to help him, rather than thousands (7:1-7), so that God alone would receive the glory.
He used men of the herds and flocks, as well as fishermen and farmers to accomplish His work and record His words. A simple carpenter and a peasant girl raised His Son.
That's still the way God works. Although we have "mega-methods," mass media, and superchurches, it is ordinary people who do God's extraordinary work. A grandmother prays faithfully for her 14 grandchildren and talks to each one about trusting Christ. A clerical worker witnesses to everyone in his office. A Christian takes a meal to her unbelieving neighbors when their baby is hospitalized and assures them of her prayers.
When we ask, "Does God really want to use me?" the answer is clear. God chooses "the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty" (1 Cor. 1:27).
God has been using ordinary people like you and me for thousands of years. Why would He stop now?
II. Consider Your Boasting
Paul is not saying that Christians have nothing to boast about. Rather, he is saying that if they boast about the things the world boasts about, they are boasting about the wrong things.
First I want to point out God is the source and cause of our salvation. The phrase, “of him” expresses both the source and cause of our being in Christ. Our existence in Christ Jesus is from God and it is also because of God that we have this being. It was God’s good pleasure to save us as it says in 1:21, to call us (1:24, 26), and choose us (1:27, 28). All that believers have comes from God, which explains why we can boast only in what God has done for us in Christ and not in ourselves. This is taught in various parts of Scripture. Romans 11:36 says, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” 1 Corinthians 8:6 says, “yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.”
Second I want to point out the manifold blessings of this salvation. He has saved us by making us belong to Jesus Christ, who is the wisdom of God for us. God did not overturn the wisdom of the world and pride just for the fun of it but to bring salvation in Jesus Christ! The folly of the crucified Messiah became the manifestation of God’s wisdom. The fruit of God’s wisdom in Christ is righteousness, holiness, and redemption! We have been acquitted of our guilt and now share Christ’s righteous character, indeed we have been declared holy and we have been delivered from sin and its penalty. Boast then in what God has accomplished in the wisdom of Jesus Christ.
This brings us full circle again to our beginning discussion of pride. Human pride and boasting has no place in our faith. It is self exalting and puffs itself up.
If these verses teach anything it is that the only thing of ultimate importance to humans is the knowledge of God! This knowledge does not belong to those who endlessly focus on themselves. Those who truly come to know God delight just to know him. He becomes their center. They think of him, delight in him, boast of him. The better we know God, the more we will want all of our existence to revolve around God, and we will see that the only goals and plans that really matter are those that are somehow tied to God himself, and to our eternity with him!
The lesson to be learned from this passage is God’s ways are not our ways and praise the Lord for that or we would all be in a heap of trouble. Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” The context of this quote from Isaiah is that of salvation and “finding the Lord while he is near and can still be found.” It is an expression of God’s matchless grace in how he has totally and thoroughly confounded the wisest of the wise and the cleverest of the clever by providing salvation through the artifice of a cross! What madness and folly to the world yet to us who believe by God’s matchless grace this is breathtaking. God has not so arranged things so that the foolishness of the gospel saves those who have IQs in excesses of 130. Where would that leave the rest of us? Nor does the foolishness of what is preached transform the young, the beautiful, the extroverts, the educated, the wealthy, the healthy, the upright. Where would that leave the old, the ugly, the introverts, the illiterate, the poor, the sick, the perverse” (Carson,19)? No, we are saved by God, not because he chooses those who boast some superior trait or insight, not because he loves people who judge themselves to be wise, but because he has determined to rescue those who believe him. By his grace, we trust him, we rely on him, we abandon ourselves to him. He is our center, our rock, our hope, our anchor, our confidence. And thus God quietly and effectively banishes the wisdom of our culture as utter folly.
Therefore, “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD” (Jer. 9:23, 24).
Be loud about it! Vaunt in it! God has provided salvation in the person of Jesus Christ! He is the wisdom and power of God, in him is found righteousness, holiness, and redemption! Proclaim it to the world! Forsake your pride, let go of your worldly wisdom and humble yourself under the mighty hand of God who will in due time exalt you in the glory of Christ! Boast in the Lord your folly!