If you would like to download and print the transcript, please click here.
GRACE IN THE MESS: In Our Weakness
1 Cor. 1:26-2:5
5 Reasons why God’s Wisdom is Superior to Man’s!
- The permanence of God’s wisdom. V. 19-20
- The power of God’s wisdom. V. 21-25
The 3rd reason why God’s wisdom is superior to man’s.
- The paradox of God’s wisdom. V. 26-28
1 Corinthians 1:26-28, “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,”
The word “despised” here means “to be considered as nothing.”
Paul is reminding the Corinthians that before coming to Jesus they were just average at best. There was nothing special about these people, but God choose them and transformed them into something special.
Jesus did the same thing in choosing His disciples. There was nothing special about them. They were fisherman, tax collectors, just average men.
Then even after 3 years with Jesus one of them denied Jesus 3 times when another betrayed Him. But God transformed them when the Holy Spirit came upon them.
God can take the uneducated and make them wiser than a PHD.
It is for these that Jesus provided salvation.
In my home church there was a guy we all called Mac. Mac was the church janitor, a part-time job. He also worked at the Toro factory in town and truly was the stereotype for a factory working janitor.
He was overweight, missing teeth, dressed poorly, talked like a hick and he was an elder in the church.
During one of my school breaks when I was back home, I was talking with Mac and he was telling me what he had been learning from his study of Ephesians. He had a somewhat unique interpretation of one particular verse. Particular enough for it to stand out in my memory.
I returned to Liberty for the next semester in which I was talking Ephesians in Greek. Then one day we got to that verse. The Professor told us ‘This is the reason you take Greek gentlemen. In Greek we can see clearly the message of this verse, but in English you don’t see this meaning.’
Can you guess what he pointed out? Yep, old Mac in his study was able to come up with the meaning of this verse in English which was only clear in Greek. God showed Mac the truth of the word.
Mac didn’t have a college degree; he barely got his High School degree. But Mac was a student of the King.
I walked out of that class that day in amazement of what God can do in revealing truth to someone who simply pursued Him. Mac, with all of his disadvantages loved Jesus, who made Mac one of the wisest men I have ever known.
Let me illustrate this with one more story. What would you think of a wild looking guy who lived in the wilderness, ate bugs and wore scraps of cloth for clothing?
Matthew 11:11, “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
The 4th reason why God’s wisdom is superior to man’s.
- The purpose of God’s wisdom. V. 29-31
1 Corinthians 1:29-31, “so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
The primary purpose of the wisdom of God that produces salvation is that God be glorified.
Once God is glorified God reveals His purpose for His people in verse 30. Paul shows us the 4 purposes God has for us.
- We receive God’s wisdom.
God gives us His wisdom which then changes us in how we live our lives. God’s values and perspective becomes ours.
- We receive God’s righteousness.
This happens at the point of salvation, once and for all. We are made right by God. This is like a judicial ruling. ‘Innocent’
- We receive God’s sanctification.
Our righteousness is a judicial declaration which states we are innocent. Sanctification is how that declaration becomes reality.
Sanctification is a process. It means to set apart, made holy. It is the how we become like Jesus. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit in us.
The evidence of sanctification is seen as we develop the fruit of the spirit in our lives.
- We receive God’s redemption.
To redeem means to buy back. God purchased us by paying the price with Jesus’ sacrifice. This is the point in which we boast.
Our boast says, “God did this” as we point to our redeemed heart. “GOD DID THIS!’
The 5th reason why God’s wisdom is superior to man’s.
- The presentation of God’s wisdom. V. 2:1-5
1 Corinthians 2:1-5, “And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.”
Paul came not as a philosopher to convince, but simply to testify to what he saw God doing. That’s it!
This is why we focus on preaching from Scripture vs self-help style messages. I would rather tap into the wisdom of God than for you to listen to something I come up with that I might think of as cleaver. Simply to make you feel good.
The power is in the Word of God, not man’s wisdom, not my wisdom.
It is Jesus alone, not distracted by human arguments. This is why your testimony, your faith story, is so powerful. It is the story of God’s work in you. The power of the gospel.
In verse 3 Paul says, “I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.”
The weakness that Paul comes in is the power of the gospel. The phrase “fear & trembling” is a phrase Paul uses several times, and he uses it when there was a deep concern over an important or even urgent issue.
He’s telling the Corinthians to pay attention, this is important.
You see, the words we use, no matter how cleaver we think they are, are weak if not empowered by God. Reliance on God and the work of God in our lives is vital.
The great preacher, Johnathon Edwards, in order to avoid weak humanly words would simply read his sermons. He spoke in a monotone, but his reliance on God resulted in the first great awakening.
In the same way, Paul didn’t rely on his own wisdom, but Gods.