I would like to share with you a sermon from Doug Hamilton, preacher at the Junction City Church of Christ, Junction City, KS.

Chapter 1: Strong Division and Strong Wisdom

By Doug Hamilton, Junction City Church of Christ, Junction City, KS
Doug Hamilton Video link

Doug Hamilton entitled his lessons on the 1st chapter of 1st Corinthians: Strong Division and Strong Wisdom. In the 1st half of chapter one, which we already covered, Paul begins to address the strong division that had occurred at the church in Corinth.

Chapter 1:18-31 The Strong Wisdom of God

To start out with, let’s look at a passage from Isaiah to frame our minds as we view this lesson. God says in…​,

Isaiah 55:8,9 (ESV)

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

  • It would [be wise for] us to remember in this world of humanism, elitism, and narcissism, that we might not know as much as we think we do. Isaiah reminded the Israelites that they were not as bright as they thought. They had followed their “earthly, sensual and [demonic]” ways (James 3:15), and the result was destruction of their nation at the hands of Babylon.

    They thought they were wise, but did not possess the true wisdom of God.

1) The Wisdom of God is Powerful

1 Corinthians 1:18,19 (ESV), Paul wrote

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

In this section, we are introduced to a major contrast of the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world. The world and God are on two contrasting realms.

TO THE LOST, OF THIS WORLD, the preaching of the cross is foolishness.
BUT TO THE CHURCH IT IS THE POWER OF GOD
PAUL QUOTED, AS HIS PROOF PASSAGE:
Isaiah 29:14

“Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men will perish, And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.”

2) The Wisdom of God is Simple

1 Corinthians 1:20-25 (NASB)

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ [is] the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

THE EDUCATION SYSTEM OF PAUL’S DAY

  1. Number one, Wise Man: He was one that carried much wisdom in the head. He had the PhD.

  2. The Scribe: one whom was able to reason with the education which was embedded in the head.

  3. Then the third term is the Debater: He was the communicator and defender of his wisdom.

And so, those three, the entire educational system of that day Paul just listed there. And then now he compares them to the wisdom of God.

NO MATCH FOR GOSPEL

  • Even those three well-trained and well-educated men could not touch the simplicity of the gospel. Their too much studying hath made them mad (Acts 26:24). And in comprehending the wisdom of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, try as they might, they wouldn’t connect because they had so much worldly wisdom (the gods of this age) which blocked God out. [This] blinded the minds of the unbelieving that they might not see the light of the glorious gospel, the blessed God, 2 Corinthians 4:4. They would tend to over complicate [and] to intellectualize it.

THE JEW’S WISE MEN REQUIRE SIGNS

  • When it came to the message of Jesus, the Jews often required signs. He would communicate to them in parables, simple analogies and direct statements. He would even back up His testimony with a miracle; yet they would still want more signs. In fact, the Bible says in multiple places that the Jews would intentionally provoke Jesus in the hope of seeing a "sign from heaven!"

    Matthew 16:1 (ESV)

    And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

    Mark 8:11,12 (ESV)

    The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

    Luke 11:16 (ESV)

    …​others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.

    He finally tells them in Matthew 12:39

    "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."

    To the Jew, anyone hung on a cross was shamed (Deuteronomy 21:22,23). Therefore, Jesus was a stumbling block to the wise of this world. They expected their Messiah to set up an earthly reign, but what resulted was a stumbling-block. To Jews who held a worldly perspective of Jesus,

    Think about this…​ let’s put it in a modern perspective: 

    If somebody came to you today and said we have found the Messiah, he was convicted of treason & sedition, who was executed with old sparky (ie the electric chair). You’d have a hard time, a very difficult time, trying to process that. Now, that’s exactly how they would have processed it back then…​ a Jew. They just would not, they would not, want to hear that message.

    He was nothing more than an unproven stumbling-block to the wise men of the [Jews].

GREEKS SEARCH FOR WISDOM

  • The Greeks actually desired a deep and lengthy explanation in their standards of wisdom. The more complicated and difficult to learn, the more legitimate it was [to them]. To hear such a simple message was utter foolishness. It is to this which Paul could testify concerning wisdom and the Greeks (Corinth is in Greece, after all). For those in the Corinthian church who tried to over complicate Paul’s preaching, he wrote,

    1 Corinthians 4:10,

    We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor.

    You see, that sophist (PhD) attitude was seeping over into the church. Paul was not an eloquent speaker. Remember that? He was a good writer.

    But some of these people, we find out later on [were like…​], "Well, look at Paul, we have old Frank here, the convert, he was a sophist and he actually became a Christian, and man, he’s speaking like five dollar words every word. He sounds [very sophisticated]."

    It’s sad that Paul needed to defend himself & his preaching to THE CHURCH!

GOD’S WISDOM IS SIMPLE

Everyone that is searching is able to understand for God made it that way.

  • There is such a thing as evil

  • We are not intrinsically good, contrary to the lie the world tells us

  • Jesus came to testify to the truth

  • We ALL have sinned & fall short of the glory of God

  • The truth will set us free, His word is truth

  • Jesus proclaimed the truth, calling us to repent

  • Jesus proclaimed He is the Son of God, He is the way

  • Jesus called us to believe in Him, that He is able to do what He promised.

  • Jesus called us to die in the likeness of His death, to be crucified with Him

  • To be raised in the likeness of His resurrection

  • To walk in His light and become mature in Christ and acquainted with righteousness.

That’s the plan.

(SR; that my rendition, Douglas stated the plan another way, like this:
If you want to go to heaven, Jesus has a simple pattern.

  • Do you believe the gospel?

  • Do you repent?

  • Will you confess Jesus Christ is Lord?

  • Will you be baptized for the remission of your sins?

  • And will you walk in the newness of life? )

To the Greeks of that day, it was foolishness.
But to those who are being saved, it is the power of God.
And it is simple to learn and understand.

3) The Wisdom of God is also Fair

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (ESV)

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.”

Note
1 Corinthians 1:31, quoted from Jeremiah 9:23,24 (ESV)

Thus says the LORD: “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, 24 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.”

  • Roman colonies, such as Corinth, were organized in terms of citizenship, birth and wealth. There were, basically, the “haves” and “have nots.” You were either somebody or a nobody. There wasn’t anything in between. There was NO middle class.

    Paul again identified three types of people making up the social elite.

    1. The Wise: As covered before, these were the well-educated.

    2. The Powerful (Mighty): These were those who held power in the colony. They would have likely worked for the government.

    3. The Noble Birth (Rich): These are the ones that were born into royalty or nobility [and wealth].

THESE WERE THE SOCIAL ELITES

  • They were the social elites of the day, the privileged. They were in control of the information, decisions and outcomes for the populace. If you were not privileged to be in these elitist groups, then you were a peon (ie everybody else). That’s all there were.

    Notice the wise were part of the intellectual elites & now also the social elites.

    Douglas gives an example of man’s unfair wisdom

    I’ve been to India many times and they still have the remnants of the caste system there. (SR: The Hindu caste system divided their society into hereditary classes of privilege or not). If you were born an "untouchable," there’s a chance likely you will die an untouchable, limited to scooping dung of passing animals, cleaning toenails, cutting hair, living in the streets, not even owning a pair of shoes. You are born into that class. There’s nothing fair about that. They have a soul. Do you know that 98% of everyone in India who converts, [by] the millions, are former untouchables. And it drives the Hindus nuts about that. Because see, if you [have] a mindset that I’m untouchable that I’m a spiritual peon and you let people wag their finger in front of you, then you’re nothing more than an untouchable. You’re the lowest rung of the ladder. If you get that mindset, you can’t do anything with your life there. But with Jesus, His wisdom, God’s wisdom, is fair. Jesus makes everything even. There’s nobody here better than anybody else before AND after baptism. We all get one soul. But the nice part about being with [one another] is that if we have succumbed to the watery grave of baptism [then] we’re in the same covenant and that’s where everything is leveled off.

FEW OF THESE [INTELLECTUAL OR SOCIAL ELITES] IN THE CHURCH AT CORINTH

  • In the church at Corinth, there were a few of these [privileged types] in the congregation, but the bulk of the members were not so.

    And so, if you were not privileged to live in an elitist group, your were just your average, every-day, run-of-the-mill saint. They had some that came in that thought they were super Christian (SR: which is one reason why they had such a problem with division within the church). God doesn’t play favorites. You’re either on the team or you’re off the team and everyone who’s a Christian is picked first. You’re not the scraps like on the playground. You know the kids that got picked last all the time.

The point is there is nothing more fair than the wisdom of God found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus makes all things even.

WISDOM OF GOD IS FAIR

  • No respecter of persons - We must see that the wisdom of the world is NOT fair. The world also recognizes that too. But they deflect responsibility from their wisdom and say, "life isn’t fair!" And I’m telling you the world isn’t fair. There are injustices all the time. And it isn’t gonna change! No politician is ever gonna change it. You can only address it. That’s it.

    We must see that the wisdom of God IS fair. He is no respecter of persons, but a lover of all. His wisdom is fair. It is through Him that all are made righteous, are sanctified and are redeemed.

God’s Wisdom is Powerful, Simple, & Fair

Application:

We live in a world where there is a heavy emphasis on worldly wisdom, but the Christian would be wise to cling to the gospel wisdom. The wisdom which we yielded to in the beginning of our relationship [with Christ].

Never forget that God’s wisdom is powerful, simple, and fair.

  • It is powerful, for it saves.

  • It is simple, for any searcher can [find it and] understand it.

  • It is fair, for it is for all.

Don’t ever neglect the wisdom of God.

Invitation

We are extending the invitation, now, to anyone who is subject to it. Come,…​ while we stand and sing.