Why Does God Choose the Foolish?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - Good Monday.

00:00:05.960 | Today's question on the table asks,

00:00:09.200 | why God chose the foolish things of the world

00:00:12.640 | and not the wise and powerful?

00:00:15.040 | Why not use the wealthiest innovators

00:00:17.640 | and the smartest geniuses and the most articulate orators

00:00:21.500 | and the world's greatest athletes

00:00:22.840 | and most recognizable movie stars

00:00:24.520 | to spread his gospel around the world?

00:00:29.020 | Why does God prefer to choose and use

00:00:32.880 | the weak in his mission?

00:00:35.160 | The question comes from a podcast listener

00:00:38.200 | by the name of Euclid, who lives in the Philippines.

00:00:40.920 | Hello, Pastor John.

00:00:42.080 | I have given my life to the Great Commission

00:00:44.920 | and desire to share the gospel to all nations.

00:00:47.760 | In 1 Corinthians 1:27, it says that God chose

00:00:50.840 | what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.

00:00:54.380 | God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

00:00:58.740 | Here's my question.

00:01:00.820 | Why didn't God save all the worldly wise

00:01:03.180 | to proclaim the gospel to the whole world?

00:01:05.780 | Wouldn't that have made a faster and greater impact

00:01:08.740 | in world evangelization than simply choosing

00:01:11.660 | a bunch of foolish people to do his work?

00:01:16.200 | - Well, praise God that he chooses to use his foolish people.

00:01:19.200 | (laughing)

00:01:20.040 | - Amen.

00:01:20.860 | - The answer, the first answer I'd say is

00:01:23.660 | the impact of all those wise people,

00:01:27.340 | all those smart people, those intellectual people,

00:01:29.220 | those gifted people might have been faster

00:01:32.320 | and might have been outwardly greater,

00:01:34.140 | but it wouldn't have been Christianity.

00:01:35.940 | - Yeah.

00:01:36.960 | - If the son of God had come into the world as a warrior

00:01:41.340 | or a philosopher to impact the world

00:01:47.380 | with his power and his intelligence,

00:01:51.480 | the impact would have been quicker

00:01:55.100 | and more outwardly impressive,

00:01:57.660 | but it wouldn't have been Christianity.

00:01:59.620 | We can hardly overestimate,

00:02:02.960 | and I've been impressed with this so much recently

00:02:05.940 | working through 1 Corinthians for a look at the book.

00:02:09.260 | We can hardly overestimate the importance

00:02:13.020 | of the decision God made in heaven,

00:02:16.980 | indeed before the foundation of the world,

00:02:19.820 | that he would redeem a people and define a people

00:02:25.020 | through the weakest and most despicable death imaginable,

00:02:30.020 | the slaughtering by crucifixion of Jesus Christ,

00:02:36.060 | the son of God.

00:02:37.260 | It was a scandal, a stumbling block,

00:02:41.380 | an absolute foolishness, a shame, an utter indignity,

00:02:46.380 | and that is how we are saved.

00:02:51.560 | That is how the gospel triumphs.

00:02:55.040 | The entire first three chapters of Paul's letter

00:02:59.240 | to the Corinthians is written to clarify

00:03:02.540 | for the Corinthians and us

00:03:04.920 | that Christianity will not be defined by

00:03:07.640 | or it will not spread by the excellence of human oratory

00:03:12.640 | or the impressiveness of human intellect.

00:03:17.320 | Those two focuses, the pride in Corinth,

00:03:21.520 | were the great oratory and the great intellect.

00:03:26.160 | And evidently, the Corinthian church

00:03:28.360 | was quite enamored by these things.

00:03:32.360 | They were boasting by saying, "I am of Paul.

00:03:34.840 | "I am of Apollos.

00:03:35.880 | "I am of Cephas."

00:03:37.280 | And they were finding borrowed boasting,

00:03:39.480 | borrowed celebrity, borrowed praise

00:03:42.160 | by lining up behind the teacher

00:03:45.880 | that they thought would be superior

00:03:48.020 | in oratory or intellect.

00:03:50.620 | And Paul devoted three chapters

00:03:54.040 | to showing why this is not the meaning of Christianity,

00:03:58.320 | nor is it the way forward for Christianity.

00:04:02.160 | When Paul heard that they were saying, "I am of Paul,"

00:04:07.160 | he cried out, "What, was Paul crucified for you?"

00:04:12.960 | It's good to believe that they were turning

00:04:16.680 | the message of Christ crucified

00:04:18.800 | into a matter of boasting in his skills.

00:04:22.800 | Then three verses later, he says,

00:04:25.920 | "Christ sent me to preach the gospel

00:04:29.120 | "not with words of eloquent wisdom,

00:04:32.840 | "lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power."

00:04:36.340 | Those were the two issues, human eloquence,

00:04:40.100 | human intellect, oratory, erudition,

00:04:44.680 | clever with words, sharp with brainpower.

00:04:48.480 | These were the great focuses

00:04:50.400 | of admiration and pride in Corinth.

00:04:53.000 | And Paul said, in effect,

00:04:55.320 | oratory and intellect might get bigger crowds,

00:05:00.080 | might get bigger acclaim,

00:05:02.920 | might have a quicker impact on the public,

00:05:05.680 | but it wouldn't be Christianity.

00:05:07.420 | It would, in fact, be a denial of Christ

00:05:13.080 | and an emptying of the cross

00:05:15.920 | because the cross of Christ

00:05:18.960 | means the end of boasting in human achievements.

00:05:23.400 | It means the replacing of that kind of boasting

00:05:27.440 | with Christ-exalting, childlike trust in a Redeemer

00:05:32.440 | because of how desperately needy and sinful we are.

00:05:37.740 | The cross of Christ isn't just Christ's death,

00:05:42.300 | it's our death.

00:05:44.560 | I am crucified with Christ,

00:05:46.680 | crucified to the self-salvation

00:05:50.040 | and self-exaltation of pride.

00:05:53.700 | Then in chapter one, verse 18, Paul says,

00:05:58.140 | "The cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,

00:06:02.800 | "but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God."

00:06:07.800 | Then in that amazing verse 21, three verses later,

00:06:12.640 | he tells us why human wisdom,

00:06:16.160 | human intellect, reason,

00:06:19.040 | what we are by nature alone,

00:06:22.040 | why intellect, reason, nature

00:06:25.840 | cannot find ultimate wisdom in God or salvation.

00:06:30.480 | Here's what he says.

00:06:31.880 | "Since in the wisdom of God," that's the key phrase,

00:06:36.100 | "by and in the wisdom of God,

00:06:38.920 | "the world did not know God through wisdom.

00:06:42.040 | "It pleased God through the foolishness of what we preach

00:06:45.080 | "to save those who believe."

00:06:48.120 | God's wisdom decided that human wisdom

00:06:53.000 | would not be the way of salvation.

00:06:55.360 | Rather, faith in divine foolishness

00:06:59.700 | would be the way of salvation.

00:07:01.720 | Verse 25, "The foolishness of God is wiser than men

00:07:06.720 | "and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

00:07:12.340 | And the point to emphasize for our friend Euclid

00:07:14.940 | in the Philippines is it never looks like that.

00:07:18.580 | It never looks like it.

00:07:20.020 | The foolishness of God is wiser than men,

00:07:22.620 | but it doesn't look like it.

00:07:24.700 | It looks like foolishness.

00:07:26.460 | And the weakness of God is stronger than men,

00:07:29.460 | but it doesn't look like it.

00:07:31.220 | It looks like weakness.

00:07:32.600 | That's Christianity.

00:07:35.560 | This is the way the gospel advances in the world.

00:07:40.620 | Paul says it again in chapter two, verse one,

00:07:42.680 | "When I came to you, brothers,

00:07:44.220 | "I did not come in with lofty speech or wisdom."

00:07:49.220 | There it is again, lofty speech,

00:07:51.520 | skillful, impressive Greek eloquence or wisdom,

00:07:54.660 | philosophical impressiveness.

00:07:56.460 | Why, Paul?

00:07:57.860 | That's what Euclid is asking.

00:07:59.540 | Why not use lofty speech and human intellect?

00:08:03.780 | And verse five gives the answer.

00:08:06.780 | Chapter two, verse five,

00:08:08.380 | "So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men,

00:08:12.260 | "but in the power of God."

00:08:13.560 | Now, Euclid began by quoting 1 Corinthians 1:27

00:08:19.540 | and asking, "Why didn't God save all the worldly wise

00:08:24.460 | "to proclaim the gospel to the whole world?

00:08:26.080 | "Wouldn't that have made a faster and greater impact

00:08:28.880 | "in world evangelization?"

00:08:30.620 | So let's end where Euclid began,

00:08:35.100 | because that paragraph gives two clear answers

00:08:38.340 | to the question, why wouldn't God do it that way?

00:08:41.580 | Here's what he says.

00:08:42.720 | "Consider your calling, brothers.

00:08:44.700 | "Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards.

00:08:47.680 | "Not many were powerful.

00:08:49.480 | "Not many were of noble birth.

00:08:52.000 | "But God chose what is foolish in the world

00:08:55.160 | "to shame the wise.

00:08:57.180 | "God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

00:09:00.980 | "God chose what is low and despised in the world,

00:09:04.100 | "even things that are not,

00:09:06.000 | "to bring to nothing things that are."

00:09:08.460 | And here's his first answer.

00:09:09.980 | "So that no human being might boast

00:09:14.900 | "in the presence of God."

00:09:16.300 | And then he continues.

00:09:18.640 | "And because of him," because of God,

00:09:20.980 | "you are in Christ Jesus,

00:09:22.640 | "who became to us wisdom from God,

00:09:25.080 | "righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,

00:09:27.520 | "so that," and here's the second answer,

00:09:29.860 | "as it is written, let the one who boasts,

00:09:34.500 | "boast in the Lord."

00:09:36.080 | So why not spread the gospel among the nations faster

00:09:40.400 | and with greater impact through wise,

00:09:42.840 | powerful, noble-born people?

00:09:45.580 | Two answers.

00:09:46.420 | One, so that no human might boast in the presence of God.

00:09:50.480 | Number two, so that those who boast

00:09:52.860 | would boast only in the Lord.

00:09:56.040 | God's aim in world evangelization

00:09:59.520 | is to put an end to human pride

00:10:04.280 | and to make Jesus the focus of all human praise.

00:10:09.280 | His ways are not our ways.

00:10:11.900 | We just need to settle it.

00:10:13.660 | His ways are not our ways.

00:10:16.180 | Christ crucified defines everything.

00:10:21.000 | - Amen, Pastor John.

00:10:21.940 | The cross of Christ defines everything, all of it.

00:10:25.140 | When it comes to the means, the message, and the messengers,

00:10:29.780 | God's entire mission is shaped by the foolishness

00:10:32.540 | of the cross of Christ.

00:10:34.100 | That's why Paul can say we are completing

00:10:35.960 | or filling up Christ's afflictions as we reach the world.

00:10:39.480 | All those connections really landed on me recently

00:10:41.900 | as I wrote a book, a summary of the first decade

00:10:44.620 | of this podcast.

00:10:45.500 | We'll be talking about that in the coming months.

00:10:47.920 | I took our first 10 years of episodes

00:10:49.980 | and synthesized them thematically into one big book

00:10:53.360 | that will be released in early 2024.

00:10:56.900 | But this point resonated with me

00:10:58.460 | as I wrote that section on this theme.

00:11:00.580 | It's not despite our weakness and suffering,

00:11:03.500 | but it's through our suffering that we reach the world

00:11:07.220 | with the message of the suffering Christ on the cross.

00:11:11.320 | Glorious, profound, counterintuitive,

00:11:14.980 | and entirely contrary to the claims of prosperity preachers.

00:11:19.720 | The implications are far and wide.

00:11:21.880 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

00:11:24.180 | We'll see you back here on Thursday

00:11:26.100 | where Pastor John applies all of this

00:11:28.020 | and shares the gospel with a non-believer.

00:11:31.200 | We'll see you then.

00:11:32.140 | (upbeat music)

00:11:34.720 | (upbeat music)

00:11:37.300 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Why Does God Choose the Foolish?

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