The Humbling Grace of God

[audio]

1 Cor 1:26-31 and assorted other scriptures

Preached 1/18/2014   (previous)

 

I. INTRODUCTION

We have talked about seeking the knowledge of God, and last week we talked about the alternative – the wisdom of man, and how well it stacked up against God’s wisdom (it didn’t).

The Corinthians that Paul was writing to appreciated “wordly wisdom”, but Paul said that the world’s wisdom fell short because the world rejected the gospel, which was God’s wisdom.  In fact, the wise people of the world looked at the gospel and not only said that it was foolish, but that it was offensive to them.  In other words, the world saw Jesus as weak and ineffective.  A messiah who died instead of triumphing over his enemies was bad enough, but dying on a cross was so offensive that it wasn’t even talked about in polite company.

Yet this was the message that God had given Paul to preach, and it had POWER (effectiveness) in saving people.  As we read in last week’s verses, not only had God chosen that method to save us to confound the wisdom of men, he was pleased to do so.  He was happy about it!

We must therefore

• Never be ashamed of the gospel
• Never try to supplement or enhance it with our own cleverness or fancy presentations.  Paul called this emptying the cross of Christ of its power.

This is the main thrust of the passage, though we spent some time last week drawing applications from it to the topic of human wisdom in general.  The culture we live in is very much like the one in first century Corinth, and the warnings against the futility of human wisdom not only affect our salvation but the effectiveness of our Christian lives. 

Remember that the overall context is the topic of division in the church.  The first problem that Paul talks about is the grouping of people in the church around different leaders and against each other.  The leaders were not causing this division – instead the people were identifying with the leaders or with their ideas or styles or personalities, and the result was division and then actual strife which was dividing the church.  Paul likened this to Christ himself being divided and expressed his horror at the outrageousness of this happening.  Never, never should this happen, and Paul wasted no time bringing the Corinthians back to Christ, and to the gospel which left all human wisdom in the dust. 

The intrusion into our minds of the ungodly viewpoints of the world’s system of thinking and morals is insidious – it is very hard to notice if you don’t constantly seek out the knowledge of God from his word.  How else can we possibly do it?  Our flesh and broken human intellect will not just stumble into it because of our inherent goodness.  We must do what Peter says to do in light of his precious and magnificent promises: 

2 Peter 1:5-8   ⁵ Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, ⁶ and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, ⁷ and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We must be constant, diligent students of the gospel. That is the only way for a Christian to live.  So why don’t we do this?

• First, some are phonies.  They become a Christian for a while because they perceive some other benefit – social, financial, moral – but never actually desired to have a relationship with Christ.
• Some, as in 2 Peter, are “blind or short-sighted, having forgotten [their] purification from [their] former sins”.  They need to (as Jesus told the church in Ephesus that had lost its first love) “remember from where you have fallen and do the deeds you did at first”.
• Some are just uninterested – they don’t need it – they have already arrived, like the Laodicean church in Revelation, where they thought that they needed nothing. What was God’s diagnosis of the church?  “you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked”.  If we are not exposed to the depth of the gospel, we don’t even realize our need.
• Some, like the Corinthians, are acting like unsaved people:

1 Co 3:1-3   ¹ And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. ² I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, ³ for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?

The great problem is that in all four of the cases above there is a great danger that they are not saved at all.  In the last passage, Paul is saying that their divisions and lack of interest in growing in the knowledge and wisdom of God (still eating baby food years after their salvation) means that they are acting as if they are not saved, since a mark of salvation is loving the things of God.  In that case, Paul has already said that he believes that he is talking to saved people, but he does not sugar coat the warning – “acting like mere men” means that their lives are not currently showing evidence that they are saved.  All over the gospels there are strict warnings aimed at people who are just “going through the motions”.  One thing that is crystal clear:  Our works do not save us, but what comes out of our hearts shows what is in our hearts, and if you do not love God or his people there is reason to suspect the validity of your faith.

II. Consider Your Calling

But there is one more big reason that we don’t seek or desire the wisdom of God – PRIDE.  This could be because of social status, ethnic background, economic position, human moral attainments, family connections, intelligence, business success, political power, or any of hundreds of other distinctions we make.  The Corinthians were REALLY BIG on social status and on human idols of fame and fortune.

We will see that in the next few verses Paul will go on to address how the gospel also destroys human distinctions, because that was the basis for a lot of the divisions in the church there:

1 Cor 1:26-31  ²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰ And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Wow.  Does Paul leave any room for human boasting?  Where does this passage leave human pride?  How does this passage address the problems in the Corinthian church (and our own modern churches)?

 

IIA. The Unconditional CALL of God  (26)

Remember that in the previous section Paul divided up the entire human race into two distinct groups – those who are perishing (lost), and “us who are being saved”  (Paul and the Corinthian Christians).  There was no middle group.  Over and over Paul uses words for “called” to describe the Corinthians as saved:

² To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ …

⁹ God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. ...

²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ...

²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers….

In addition, in section for today, he also repeats another phrase three times: “God chose”.  This chapter, and especially this paragraph, is full of descriptions and terms re-iterating the fact that God reserves sovereignty for himself even the initial steps of salvation.  There is no room for any pride at all, and nothing that we will be able to boast about when we get to heaven.  Nothing.

This is so offensive to people that even Christians have trouble accepting it.  We say “I understand that I was a sinner and I contributed nothing to my own redemption – it was all done by Jesus – but it only happened because I chose Him.  Yes, I found Jesus, which is why I will go to heaven”.  This still makes us better than the person who did not chose to do so.  (There is a beautiful illustration in conversation between Jill Pole and Aslan in The Silver Chair: “You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you…”)

 

IIB. The Strategic call of God  (26b-28)

Basically, this one word already has put a shot over the bow of human pride and accomplishment.  What follows is absolute humility before God.  It is a beautiful thing that Paul addresses this to adelphoi (brothers – and sisters) to include himself in the admonitions to follow.

1 Cor 1:26  For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

Paul says “you value fame and prestige, and it is tearing apart your church, but consider your calling!  God did not care about any of that.  He did not seek out the rich and famous – and you can see that by the makeup of the body of Christ in your church!”  Three things were not used by God as determinative:

• He did not judge by being σοφοὶ κατὰ σάρκα (sophoi kata sarka – wise according to the flesh).
•  He did not judge by being δυνατοί (dynatoi – powerful) – able, mighty, strong, strong in soul
• He did not judge by being εὐγενεῖς (eugeneis – noble) – of noble family or noble minded

We must be careful to note (!!) that this passage does not make the weak, poor, and lower class necessarily more virtuous than the other.  God had included some, but not many of these people.  Harry Ironside tells this story: “Lady Huntington, the friend of Whitfield and the Wesleys, who took such an active part in the great revival movement of those wonderful days, used to say that she was only going to heaven by an m.  When someone asked her what she meant, she stated that she was so thankful that Scripture did not say, “not any noble are called,” but “not many noble.” Therefore she got in by an m.”

The point is that in the wisdom and plan of God, He chose us completely without reference to any human standards.  God is no respecter of persons, and it shows in the makeup of the church.  And it is his deliberate choice to do so.  And the Corinthians (like us), with their love of human status, were not only missing the mark, but not learning from God about what was important to Him.

So who did God chose instead?  The next verse sets a stark contrast with the previous verse, using but (alla – strongest form of negation): 

1 Cor 1:27-28  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰ And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

• He chose the foolish things of the world - μωρός (mōros – we get moron from this word)
• He chose the weak things of the world - ἀσθενής (asthenēs - weak, infirm, feeble)
• He chose the low and despised things of the world -  ἀγενής & ἐξουθενέω (agenēs – low born, mean, base & exoutheneō -  of no account – despised utterly – set at nought)

Each of these was for a specific purpose:

• Choosing the foolish things was done to shame (kataischynō - t0 dishonor) the wise (sophos – remember “where is the philosopher?”)
• Choosing the weak things was done to shame (same word) the strong (ichyros – strong, violent, strong of soul, mighty – self sufficient?)
• Chosing the low and despised was done to nullify - καταργέω (katargeō – inactivate, deprive of power, cause to cease, put an end to)  the things that are.

We see a reversal here of verse 26.

• “Not many wise”  -> chose the foolish
• “Not many powerful”  -> chose the weak
• “Not many noble” -> chose the despised

God did not hate the former, He hated our belief that adherence to some low human standard somehow impressed Him or made God our debtor.   The argument here [Pillar p102] is that “since the recipients of the gospel in Corinth are not wise, its proclamation cannot be a form of human wisdom.”  Not only was the message unimpressive by the world’s standards, so were the people that He chose. 

The threefold repetition of the argument underscores the strength of God’s feelings about all human standards of greatness.  This is not a new thought, however.  Jesus, who said to his status-obsessed disciples “[Mar 10:43-44] ⁴³ But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all”, also gave his great address in the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount where he turned human standards on their heads.  In God’s kingdom there is no room for the world’s ideas of human status.  The meek will inherit the earth.  Those who mourn will be comforted.  The persecuted would rejoice, etc.

Destroyed here (katargeō) means loss of well being rather than loss of existence. The human idea of nobility was not considered by God at all in his counsel.  It was null and void.  God would destroy the human ideas of might and prestige.  The same word is repeated often in 1 Corinthians and its final usage is the triumphant cry in 15:26 “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”!  The cry “O death where is your sting?” echoes with the implied “Oh human ideas of status, where is your boasting?”  God makes nothing of our boasting by design and choice through his choice of the message and his choice of those in whom He makes the message effective.

But why did He do it this way?  For one reason:

1 Cor 1:29   so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 

To boast of anything in the presence of God is blasphemy.  We will ascribe all power and glory and beauty and righteousness and glory to God for all eternity.  Our joy will be acknowledging his glory and holiness.  (God has never owed us anything and never will – He will not be in our debt one iota.)  We cannot even comprehend this at present, but it will be glorious and joyful to live in the grace of God forever.

This was not new a new concept from Paul, or even in the New Testament.  God basically told Israel the same:

Deuteronomy 7:6-8a   ⁶ For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. ⁷ “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, ⁸ but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers,

Paul himself in 2 Corinthians 12 relates a similar thought from God when he prayed about his “thorn in the flesh”:

2 Cor 12:9-10  ⁹ But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

IIC. The God-Honoring call of God  (26b-28)

The chapter ends with the crescendo of Paul’s first argument

1 Cor 1:30-31  ³⁰ And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

The sentence starts with words telling us that we are in Christ Jesus “because of him” (“by his doing”).  There is no cause for human boasting.  Remember that in our oft-used evangelism verses:

Ephesians 2:8-9  ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

…the antecedent in the Greek to “this is not your own doing” is “faith”.  Your faith, through which you were saved, was a gift from God.  This is so humbling that it is easily stumbling.  (he he)  But Paul even points out how this is by God’s specific design – right after begging the Romans to make their bodies a living sacrifice he says

Romans 12:3-5  ³ For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴ For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Our humility before God and reliance upon Him for all things is the basis of unity in the body. Pride is out – there is no “self-made man” in the body, and God designed his kingdom specifically and methodically to mock and destroy all forms of human wisdom and prestige.

J. Oswald Sanders relates this story in the book Spiritual Leadership:

Once Saint Francis of Assisi was “confronted by a brother who asked him repeatedly, “Why you? Why you?”

Francis responded, in today’s terms, “Why me what?”

“Why does everyone want to see you?  Hear you?  Obey you? You are not all so handsome, nor learned, nor from a noble family.  Yet the world seems to want to follow you,” the brother said.

Then Francis raised his eyes to heaven, knelt in praise to God, and turned to his interrogator:

You want to know?  It is because the eyes of the Most High have willed it so.  He continually watches the good and the wicked, and as His most holy eyes have not found among sinners any smaller man, nor any more insufficient and sinful, therefore He has chosen me to accomplish the marvelous work which God hath undertaken; He chose me because He could find none more worthless, and He wished to confound the nobility and grandeur, the strength, the beauty and the beauty and the learning of this world.”

How to keep the body of Christ unified and not divided?  Humility.  And the gospel is the most humiliating message possible for the human soul.  Man-made religion always has people earning their salvation, earning God’s favor by works, making God our debtor.  But the gospel turns that all on its head – Christ is (a) our wisdom from God, and also our (b) righteousness and (c) sanctification and (d) redemption.

So that in the end there is only one conclusion:

"Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."