E-Note 6/18: The Foolishness of God

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

This past week I have been thinking about those penetrating words from 1 Corinthians 1:26-27 that we heard last Lord's Day: "Brothers, 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. 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." There is, I think, something that keeps us from fully appreciating these words.

Like the apostle Paul we live in an age where those who are wise by human standards, where those who are influential, where those who are of noble birth all seem quite confident that religion is obviously for weak and marginal people. Obviously. The unbelieving scholar, philosopher or intellectual would hear those words from the apostle Paul and say, "Duh! I knew that already. Of course Christianity is for the uneducated and the lowly born. Religion is a crutch for such people because knowing they have failed in this life they imagine succeeding in a life to come. They are fools."

So let me ask the obvious question: Are the strong of this world really and truly shamed by God's choice of those who are weak? Are the wise of this world really and truly shamed by God's choice of those who are ignorant by human standards? No. Not yet. But they will be. That is the key to fully appreciating Paul's stunning point: not yet have they been shamed. Right now they are the wise and the strong. Right now they are glorious before the world and the world vindicates their unbelief with all its attendant systems and philosophies and policies. The shame God is bringing upon the worldly strong and the worldly wise is not yet, it is still to come. It is slow and subtle. It is even something of a conspiracy. But it is coming.

You see the worldly strong and the worldly wise will be divinely shamed only when they discover that it was their pride in not being worldly weak and their pride in not being worldly ignorant that kept them from recognizing the wisdom of God in Christ crucified. In the plausibility system of human pride the necessity of a crucified redeemer is utter foolishness because it debases and discounts all that man would see elevated and rewarded: his own achievements. Christ crucified doesn't eradicate achievement but it does eradicate boasting in it. And this is the great scandal of the cross, that God accepts us only when we boast in the weak, marginalized and ignobly born Jesus of Nazareth, strung up to die between criminals. When we are found at his bloody feet praising God for such mercy, then evidence of the Spirit's work in ushering fools into the wisdom of God is on display. But the proud do not have eyes to see it.

Paul's point to the Church is powerful and shocking: God is preparing the shame of many by choosing for salvation weak and lowly men who boast in a weak and lowly Christ. When the strong and high-minded discover that the way up was down they will be shamed by the deception their own pride led them into. On that day of discovery they will be like guests who show up at a grand ball only to discover that the exorbitantly expensive tickets they are holding are counterfeits. They will gnash their teeth when they see the Master of the house greet by name lepers and freaks and no-names who are welcomed in only on the basis of their great love for the disfigured Master. Those who had no glory in the presence of the world will be radiant in the Master's presence then. The worldly strong will be so disgusted by the scene they won't want to go in even if they could. They will be eternally destitute and still they will not regret their pride.

Of course there is hope even for worldly boasters. Paul says, "Not many of you were wise...." That "not many" clearly suggests that God chooses even a few from the top of the world's summits for Christ. If you have eyes to see them you will. In one important way they are very much like their more lowly born and more worldly ignorant Christian brothers: they are fools for Christ. Paul is a beautiful example of this. In Acts 26 he bears testimony to the resurrection of Jesus before the Judean Governor, Festus, and the Herodian King, Agrippa. Suddenly Festus lashes out at Paul: "'You are out of your mind, Paul!' he shouted. 'Your great learning is driving you insane'" (Acts 26:24). Fools for Christ do not disdain false accusations of this sort nor taking the risks that elicit them.

Be sure of this, however, God's fools do their most important work in Lord's Day worship. To disengage from all the things we share with the citizens of this world and gather to praise the thrice holy God with the lowest of men (if you are high) and with the highest of men (if you are low) is truly God's foolishness and might. As Christ's Church of fools unites weekly to testify to our foolish love for the disfigured Master, God, in that time "destroys the wisdom of the wise" with such power that even our children will be saved.

Yours in Christ, John