The Foolishness of Man, the Wisdom of God

The thing about being home is that I suddenly live in a preacher's house again. Which means that in the event of something happening to prevent the scheduled person from performing such and such a duty, I become immediately susceptible to becoming a fill in. Normally, not a big deal. Except in the event of communion.

The last (and first) time I prepared a communion thought, I thought I had a pretty good basis going in. I worked super hard on it during the week before the service and practiced it a good amount. Come Sunday morning, I was terribly nervous and I don't think I communicated anything effectively. It was a train-wreck, at least from my perspective. I was very shaken up and vowed to never do it again.

Which brings us to about eleven this morning, when my father walks in the room and asks me to prepare a thought. I immediately told him what a terrible idea I thought that was, given the last time, but he said that he didn't remember it being that bad. I told him that if no one else was available, I would, but I really wasn't comfortable with it. He couldn't find anyone else on such short notice, so I'm spending my Saturday evening praying and writing, writing and praying. I'm a little more confident, as of this moment, but I remain terribly nervous about tomorrow. At least if it goes badly this time I never have to do it again!

This is the thought I've prepared, as of 9:31 CST, Saturday night.

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”[e]

So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles,[f] Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

This semester, I’ve been learning about the reasonable-ness of our faith, particularly in one class. The more that the professor talks about the archeological and historical and philosophical evidence for the hope that we have, the more amazed I become at the God we serve. He’s given us such compelling evidence so that we can reasonably put all our hope in Him! It seems like everyday, more and more historical Biblical records are proven true by archeological discoveries and the Bible has been proven time and again to be the most reliable book of antiquity. There is an astonishing foundation for the faith that we hold and the more I discover that, the more I am amazed at the wisdom of God. I truly believe that anyone who approaches the claims of Christianity with an open-mind and investigates thoroughly all that we believe will only find that Christianity is legit.

There’s one event that has captivated everyone’s mind since its occurrence-one event that causes all of it’s hearers to do a double-take: the death and resurrection of Christ. Thousands of theories have developed regarding our Savior and the work that he came to do, some even crazier than the truth-at least to those of us who know the truth. Looking from the outside in, it’s no surprise that they see this as foolishness. It goes against everything ingrained in the flesh to imagine that a perfect man would willingly endure the most humiliating and painful death possible and it’s just crazy to imagine the same man rising from the dead three days later and ascending to heaven forty days after that-all for the sake of reconciling people to God, people who frankly, were quite unimpressive. But to us who have seen the truth and accepted it, to those of us called by God to salvation, that very event is the power and wisdom of God. It’s truly the best thing that God has done for us, to reconcile us to Him and draw us into His presence, so that we can approach Him confidently as our Father. The cross, the terrible and humiliating death, the one so scorned by the ancient world, so painful, has made us right with a God who desperately loved us but couldn’t bear the sin that we’d chosen. The cross, which seems so foolish to men, is the most amazing and beautiful thing God ever did. This death that serves as a stumbling block to many was the most perfect demonstration of God’s love for his creation.

Let’s pray:

Heavenly Father-

How strange it is to us that such a terrible thing would become a glorious one! How strange it is that One so perfect and holy would leave heaven just for our sakes. Jesus, as crazy as we think it is, we are so thankful for your sacrifice. Lord, remind us of the strange wonder of Your cross. Remind us of your love for us and the life you laid down. Teach us to appreciate your sacrifice more and more each day and reveal a little more of our your love to us. Teach us to love you as you have loved us.

In your precious, holy name, Amen.