SPEAKER_00: I encourage you to take your Bible if you have it with you and open it to the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians as we pick up where we left off a couple of weeks ago.
SPEAKER_00: If you do not have your own copy with you, that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: There is a copy of God's word in the pew in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: We'll be looking together this morning at 1 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning in verse 26 through the end of the chapter.
SPEAKER_00: Again, that's 1 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning in verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: God's Word says, For consider your calling, brothers.
SPEAKER_00: Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards.
SPEAKER_00: Not many were powerful.
SPEAKER_00: Not many were of noble birth.
SPEAKER_00: But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.
SPEAKER_00: God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
SPEAKER_00: God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Our great and awesome God, we bow before you this morning asking that you would enable us to boast in you.
SPEAKER_00: Show us yourself through your word.
SPEAKER_00: Show us Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Enable us to see Him so that all glory might be to you today and forever.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: There is an old story about a king who wanted to remind his people that God alone is sovereign.
SPEAKER_00: It's a story about King Canute.
SPEAKER_00: Canute reigned around the year 1000, and his rule extended over the areas of the world that we know today as England, Denmark, Scotland, and Norway.
SPEAKER_00: Those of you of Scandinavian descent can cheer right now, right?
SPEAKER_00: That area is sometimes referred to as the North Sea Empire.
SPEAKER_00: We have no way of knowing if the story is true or not.
SPEAKER_00: It was first recorded about a hundred years or so after King Canute reigned.
SPEAKER_00: So it might be true, it might not.
SPEAKER_00: But the story says that King Canute commanded that his throne be carried from his throne room and set on the seashore at low tide.
SPEAKER_00: So it was set out there on the sand, and then he walked out and sat in his throne.
SPEAKER_00: And in the hearing of all of his attendants, he commanded the rising waters.
SPEAKER_00: He said, You are part of my dominion, and the ground upon which I sit is mine.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore I order you not to rise unto my land, nor to wet my clothes or my body.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, as you would expect, the sea did not obey the king, right?
SPEAKER_00: Gradually it rose, covering first his feet, and then his ankles, and then his calves.
SPEAKER_00: According to the story, King Canute then rose up off of his throne, came out of the water, and said to all of his subjects, All the inhabitants of the world should know that the power of kings is vain and trivial.
SPEAKER_00: And that none is worthy of the name of king but he whose voice the heaven, the earth, and the sea obey.
SPEAKER_00: It's said in the story that King Canute never wore his golden crown again.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, he took it and he hung it on a wall above a picture of the Lord Jesus on a cross as a means to praise God, the only true and great king.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that story is true or not, but I do know that there is a parallel story in the Bible that is true.
SPEAKER_00: You may know of this story.
SPEAKER_00: God humbled the ancient Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar by driving him insane, perhaps giving him a disease known today as boanthropy.
SPEAKER_00: He thought and acted like an animal for seven years.
SPEAKER_00: And at the end of that seven years of humiliation, God restored Nebuchadnezzar's senses.
SPEAKER_00: When that happened, King Nebuchadnezzar declared that God's dominion is an everlasting dominion.
SPEAKER_00: His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
SPEAKER_00: All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing.
SPEAKER_00: And he does according to his will among the host of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say to him, What have you done?
SPEAKER_00: Now, on the one hand, we recognize that as true, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: The very thought of God requires that he be sovereign.
SPEAKER_00: And as an ultimate sovereign, it is understandable that there are some things that exist only under his control.
SPEAKER_00: For example, he has determined that the wind and the waves are beyond our control, but are still within his control.
SPEAKER_00: He is the ultimate sovereign.
SPEAKER_00: It's also true that God has determined that the sin brought into the world through Adam and Eve's rebellion cannot be undone by human beings.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot save ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, as we've seen in 1 Corinthians, God in his wisdom chose to use the death of his son and the proclamation of that message as the means to undo the curses' damage.
SPEAKER_00: Through that message, we saw in 1 Corinthians, God separates the people of the world into two groups.
SPEAKER_00: There are those who are perishing, and there are those who are being saved.
SPEAKER_00: The perishing are still trying to hold back King Canute's waves by their own ability.
SPEAKER_00: And even as they're standing in the sand with the water lapping at their toes, they are still saying, stop.
SPEAKER_00: They're still trying to build their own little kingdoms like Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: But those who are being saved have accepted by faith that God rules and that God does as he pleases.
SPEAKER_00: And they have come to believe that God saves through a foolish message.
SPEAKER_00: Through the message of Jesus Christ and him crucified.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there's an inherent issue in that truth.
SPEAKER_00: If God uses a message that by all appearances is foolish, that's what we saw in verse 18, 19, and 20 and 21 of 1 Corinthians chapter 1, if God uses a message that is in appearance foolish, then those who think they are already wise will not be likely to accept that message.
SPEAKER_00: They're going to think the message is foolish, right?
SPEAKER_00: And if that is the case, then it will be likely that the church will be composed of a majority of people whom the world considers foolish.
SPEAKER_00: The same thing with those who are mighty and weak.
SPEAKER_00: The mighty will not accept a God who dies.
SPEAKER_00: The noble will not accept a God who is crucified.
SPEAKER_00: Why would they do that?
SPEAKER_00: It's a foolish message.
SPEAKER_00: So what does this have to do with King Canute and Nebuchadnezzar?
SPEAKER_00: Well, both kings wanted their people to know that only God is sovereign.
SPEAKER_00: And here in 1 Corinthians, we see that sovereignty at work in salvation.
SPEAKER_00: We see here that God is the one who is sovereignly chosen the composition of his church.
SPEAKER_00: And he brings that composition about.
SPEAKER_00: Did the glory and the power of our own little kingdoms save us?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: No, we see here that God chose.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we're here.
SPEAKER_00: God chose.
SPEAKER_00: Three times we are told God chose, God chose, God chose.
SPEAKER_00: Now, why would that be here?
SPEAKER_00: Why would the Apostle Paul say that repeatedly?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's because the church in Corinth was proud.
SPEAKER_00: They boasted in themselves, much like Nebuchadnezzar boasted in his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: You can look at the book of Daniel and see that Nebuchadnezzar got up on the roof of his house one day and he looked around Babylon and he said, Wow, this is just a magnificent city that I've created.
SPEAKER_00: The Corinthians were saying, look at what we've done.
SPEAKER_00: Look at who we are.
SPEAKER_00: And here they are reminded to think very carefully about the divine side of salvation, that God saved them through a foolish message.
SPEAKER_00: So, in a direct way, the church was told that God's actions in salvation, God's choosing, leaves no room, zero room for boasting about who you are or why you're here.
SPEAKER_00: Look back at verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: The previous section here is summarized in verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as we saw last time, the foolishness refers to the message of the cross as it's viewed by the sinful world.
SPEAKER_00: They don't see it as acceptable.
SPEAKER_00: It's foolish, it's moria, it's insane.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't make any sense.
SPEAKER_00: But the reality is that God is working powerfully through that message.
SPEAKER_00: And to illustrate what he means, there is a call to think seriously about coming to faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 26, for consider your calling.
SPEAKER_00: The Apostle Paul asks us, the church, to think about, to consider your salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And there are three aspects to salvation that he wants us to consider.
SPEAKER_00: The first aspect that he wants us to think about is the recipients of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this for a minute, he says.
SPEAKER_00: God's method of using a foolish message, in appearance, it appears to be foolish, will by its very nature have an effect on the people in the church.
SPEAKER_00: If it appears foolish to those who are wise in a worldly way, then it is probable that the church will not have very many wise people according to worldly standards.
SPEAKER_00: If the message appears to be weak, then there will not be very many strong people according to a worldly perspective in the church.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point made in verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
SPEAKER_00: The common estimates are that the church in Corinth was composed of about 50 to 60 people at the time this letter was written.
SPEAKER_00: We really don't know for sure, but scholars tend to come to an agreement around those numbers.
SPEAKER_00: We do know that there were some educated people.
SPEAKER_00: We know that there were some middle to upper class society people.
SPEAKER_00: But the church in Corinth was comprised mostly of lower class people and even slaves, including some freed slaves.
SPEAKER_00: The majority in the church in Corinth were not the kind of people thought highly of in society.
SPEAKER_00: They would not have been highlighted on lifestyles of the rich and famous.
SPEAKER_00: They would not have their own reality TV shows.
SPEAKER_00: They would not be YouTube stars.
SPEAKER_00: They would not be sports stars known across the world.
SPEAKER_00: The church in Corinth was just like most churches today.
SPEAKER_00: It's filled with normal, common, everyday people.
SPEAKER_00: And in that society, those kind of people were looked down on by upper class folks.
SPEAKER_00: Now that doesn't mean there weren't any highly educated or even any wealthy people.
SPEAKER_00: It means they were not the majority.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what it says: not many of you.
SPEAKER_00: There's another old story of a woman from the English royal family about a couple hundred years ago.
SPEAKER_00: She said she was a believer in Christ, and she said that she was saved by an M.
SPEAKER_00: By an M.
SPEAKER_00: She always said, God said not many, instead of any.
SPEAKER_00: That's the first characteristic of God's work through a foolish message that we need to notice.
SPEAKER_00: In the Lord's church, there are not many whom the world considers wise, powerful, or of noble birth.
SPEAKER_00: There are some, there are some, but not many.
SPEAKER_00: Now remember, these are attributes, characteristics given by the world, by the sinful, unsaved world.
SPEAKER_00: The church is not composed of many, what we might say, high society people.
SPEAKER_00: Now God spoke of the world's tendencies to separate people into groups based on success, long before it was ever a problem in Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, God said through the prophet Jeremiah, let not the wise man boast in his wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Let not the mighty man boast in his might.
SPEAKER_00: Let not the rich man boast in his riches.
SPEAKER_00: But let him who boasts boasts in this, that he understands and knows me.
SPEAKER_00: So the wise, the mighty, and the rich of Jeremiah's text became the wise, powerful, and noble in Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what that tells us?
SPEAKER_00: That tells us that the problem identified here is not confined to time or nation or culture.
SPEAKER_00: Every culture, every nation of every age has categories that they apply to people to identify those whom they consider successful.
SPEAKER_00: And most of the time, those viewed as having worldly status, worldly wealth, or high positions in society will not be found in great number in God's church.
SPEAKER_00: Why is that?
SPEAKER_00: As we think about our calling, as we're told to do in verse 26, why is it that so few among us have worldly wisdom, have worldly power, have worldly status?
SPEAKER_00: We see the answer to that question in verses 27, 28, and 29.
SPEAKER_00: That answer is found in understanding God's intention, in composing his church.
SPEAKER_00: And we must not miss the intended contrast here.
SPEAKER_00: This chapter is all about the world's way versus God's way.
SPEAKER_00: And that was the problem in the church in Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: They were combining the two, they were bringing the world's way into the church and sort of making God's way the world's way.
SPEAKER_00: From the world's perspective, the message of Christ crucified is foolish.
SPEAKER_00: It is a stumbling block to some and utter nonsense to others.
SPEAKER_00: And the implication is that there is nothing in the gospel of Christ that is attractive enough for sinful people to embrace it.
SPEAKER_00: That's been true from the very beginning.
SPEAKER_00: The earliest known picture of Jesus' crucifixion was an image etched into stone in the city of Rome, just a few years after the gospel took root there.
SPEAKER_00: It's a rough image of a crucified man, but with the head of a donkey.
SPEAKER_00: Next to it is a young man scratched into the stone with his arm raised in worship.
SPEAKER_00: And the letters inscribed below the image read, Alexamenos worships his God.
SPEAKER_00: See, it was a common insult of the time to portray Christians as worshippers of a crucified donkey.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, a very early Christian book entitled Octavius records that people thought the religion of Christians is foolish insomuch as they worship a crucified man.
SPEAKER_00: Justin Martyr wrote a defense of Christianity to the Roman Emperor Antonius Pius around 150 A.D.
SPEAKER_00: He wrote, The world proclaims our madness to consist in this: that we give to a crucified man a place next to God.
SPEAKER_00: It is madness to believe in Christ crucified.
SPEAKER_00: Now the reaction to the foolishness of the cross was not confined to ancient times.
SPEAKER_00: Thomas Paine, one of the founders of the United States, wrote, What reason can there be in supposing or believing that God would put himself to death to satisfy himself?
SPEAKER_00: And in another place, he wrote, No story is more absurd and contrary to God's power than in Jesus and in his crucifixion.
SPEAKER_00: Now, oddly, Thomas Paine was a deist.
SPEAKER_00: He believed in God, believed in a sovereign God.
SPEAKER_00: He just did not believe in Christ crucified.
SPEAKER_00: He said, that's absurd.
SPEAKER_00: So from the very beginning, Christianity, the message of the cross is absurd.
SPEAKER_00: It has continued down all through the centuries.
SPEAKER_00: Just in case you think that it's a little different now, it's really not.
SPEAKER_00: Richard Dawkins said, atheist Richard Dawkins said in an interview, it's a terrible idea that God, this paragon of wisdom and knowledge and power, couldn't think of a better way to forgive us our sins than to come down to earth and have himself hideously tortured and executed.
SPEAKER_00: Message of Christ and Him crucified is utter foolishness to an unbelieving world.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a stumbling block.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we must recognize God's sovereign intention.
SPEAKER_00: We must understand this.
SPEAKER_00: You, if you have not already, you will encounter some who think the cross is foolish.
SPEAKER_00: Why would you ever believe in a crucified God?
SPEAKER_00: You will hear it in academia.
SPEAKER_00: From the elementary teachers to the university professor.
SPEAKER_00: You'll hear it in the workplace, all the way to the nursing home.
SPEAKER_00: You may even hear it in your own home.
SPEAKER_00: You will hear that the message of Christ and Him crucified is utter madness.
SPEAKER_00: It is foolishness.
SPEAKER_00: So you must know what God did and why he did it.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what he says: God chose.
SPEAKER_00: God chose.
SPEAKER_00: That's the divine work of electing or choosing that is then worked out in the drawing of the Father and the granting of faith to believe.
SPEAKER_00: That's what God did.
SPEAKER_00: Now, whom did God choose?
SPEAKER_00: We see three categories of people.
SPEAKER_00: God chose the foolish, God chose the weak, and God chose the nobodies.
SPEAKER_00: Now remember, these are general categories.
SPEAKER_00: God did and does still choose some outside of these categories.
SPEAKER_00: But the majority of the Lord's people, the Lord's church, are the opposite of those whom the world considers wise, powerful, and of high status.
SPEAKER_00: God purposely chose what the world considers foolish people, as opposed to those whom the world thinks are wise.
SPEAKER_00: These are folks whom the world would say they don't know any better.
SPEAKER_00: They just don't know any better.
SPEAKER_00: They've been deluded.
SPEAKER_00: They've been tricked.
SPEAKER_00: The wise of the world would say that foolish people are not able to see that Christ crucified is actually foolish.
SPEAKER_00: God chose the weak instead of the strong.
SPEAKER_00: The wise of the world think the cross is sheer folly.
SPEAKER_00: It's madness.
SPEAKER_00: It's a foolish way to save the world.
SPEAKER_00: But the strong think that they are powerful enough to save themselves.
SPEAKER_00: The strong think they're able to hold back the waves of destruction.
SPEAKER_00: They think the cross is a weak method.
SPEAKER_00: God is going to save.
SPEAKER_00: Why would he do it through death?
SPEAKER_00: So God chose the weak.
SPEAKER_00: Those of noble birth could not bring themselves to the point of associating with a crucified man.
SPEAKER_00: So God chose the low and despised.
SPEAKER_00: When he says there that he chose even things that are not, he's referring to social nobodies.
SPEAKER_00: The nothings is what it literally says.
SPEAKER_00: These are those that are on the lowest rung of the social ladder, maybe even not on the ladder.
SPEAKER_00: God chose the nobodies, the nothings.
SPEAKER_00: Now there's a couple of things happening here.
SPEAKER_00: One is that there's a reversal of norms.
SPEAKER_00: Unless there was something really unusual, people did not move up the social ladder in Roman society.
SPEAKER_00: If you were born into a particular segment of society, a particular societal level or strata of culture, that's where you remained for the most part.
SPEAKER_00: There are cultures still like that in existence in our world today.
SPEAKER_00: People are relegated to remain forever in the cultural status into which they were born.
SPEAKER_00: God reverses that.
SPEAKER_00: But isn't that what God's always done?
SPEAKER_00: God didn't choose Cain or Abel.
SPEAKER_00: He chose Seth.
SPEAKER_00: It was not Esau that was chosen, but Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, that was the agent of salvation, but Joseph, the one who was rejected by his brothers.
SPEAKER_00: Again and again and again, all throughout the pages of Scripture, we see that God's ways are not our ways, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so often that is evidenced by God doing or choosing in a way that is opposed to human standards.
SPEAKER_00: Now why would he do that?
SPEAKER_00: What is the point of this reversal?
SPEAKER_00: What is God's purpose in that?
SPEAKER_00: Why would God choose the foolish and the weak and the nobodies?
SPEAKER_00: Is it out of spite?
SPEAKER_00: Is it because the world as a whole has rejected him and he says, all right, that's the way you're going to be that I'm going to do this?
SPEAKER_00: That's what I would do.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I'd be irritated that they rejected me, and so I'd go the opposite direction.
SPEAKER_00: Did God choose these areas, these groups of people out of anger?
SPEAKER_00: Did he choose them to get back at those who are wise and strong and of noble birth?
SPEAKER_00: To repay them?
SPEAKER_00: Is it some form of justice?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what the text says in verse 29.
SPEAKER_00: So that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: God reverses, he flips over the way of the world in order to humble the world and his church.
SPEAKER_00: He reverses the pattern, the way of the world, so that all praise would be directed to his glorious grace.
SPEAKER_00: Now remember, we're talking here about the salvation experience.
SPEAKER_00: We're considering our calling to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: God's way of bringing to himself those that the world rejects is a way of humbling the world's status symbols.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that what Jesus said?
SPEAKER_00: He who must be greatest among you must be the least.
SPEAKER_00: We see that again and again and again.
SPEAKER_00: That God does the opposite of what we see in the world.
SPEAKER_00: God wants to proclaim to a world of unbelieving people that his weakness, his foolishness is stronger and wiser than anything that could ever come out of this world.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that what we read elsewhere?
SPEAKER_00: For by grace you have been saved through faith.
SPEAKER_00: And that's not your own doing, it's the gift of God, not a result of works.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: So that no one may boast.
SPEAKER_00: And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification.
SPEAKER_00: See, God's bringing the world down and bringing those he chooses up.
SPEAKER_00: He's reversing things.
SPEAKER_00: Now there may be another hint here to the book of Jeremiah.
SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah verse 8, chapter 8, verse 9 says, The wise men shall be put to shame.
SPEAKER_00: They shall be dismayed and taken.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, they have rejected the word of Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: So what wisdom is in them?
SPEAKER_00: God chose what is weak to shame the wise.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that throughout the pages of the Old Testament, God gives us hints and little insights into the cross of Christ before we ever knew it?
SPEAKER_00: God said, I'm going to shame the wise.
SPEAKER_00: The psalmist declared that none who wait for you shall be put to shame.
SPEAKER_00: But they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
SPEAKER_00: Now don't get all wrapped up about that wantonly treacherous, but that's hard to say.
SPEAKER_00: This is poetry.
SPEAKER_00: And so in this poetry, there are two lines.
SPEAKER_00: One line is those who wait for you, the other is those who are wantonly treacherous.
SPEAKER_00: So he's giving a contrast here.
SPEAKER_00: Those who are wantonly treacherous are those who don't wait for God, who don't trust in the cross, who don't trust in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: At some point, either in this, the time of this world or at the end of this age, this world and its godless wisdom will be humbled.
SPEAKER_00: It will be shamed.
SPEAKER_00: You know, our tendency can then be to go out and put placards on our cars or stand on the street corner with a sign saying the world is coming to an end.
SPEAKER_00: Repent now.
SPEAKER_00: Because we know that.
SPEAKER_00: We know that they're going to be shamed, and so we want to warn them of it.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm not saying that's inappropriate.
SPEAKER_00: What I do want to say is let's not simply point our fingers at an unbelieving world without first pointing our fingers at our own hearts.
SPEAKER_00: This was an intentional strike at the hearts of the Church of Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: They were boasting in their status.
SPEAKER_00: They were building themselves up and dividing the church based on their social status level.
SPEAKER_00: This is a jab right at the heart of every local church.
SPEAKER_00: When have we not looked down on others in the church?
SPEAKER_00: If we're honest, we've all done it a time or two.
SPEAKER_00: When have we felt judgmental to someone who we think has dressed really poorly for church?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we thought poorly of someone covered in tattoos.
SPEAKER_00: Or someone who's, you know, stood out by the entry, lit up a cigarette before coming into church.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we've thought poorly of someone that we know has a sordid past and we think, they're coming to church?
SPEAKER_00: Really?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we've kept the more well-to-do people in the church for our friends and distanced ourselves from those who have less, or maybe we felt like the more well-to-do in church have separated themselves and so we're left alone over here.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we think, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're right.
SPEAKER_00: God should have chosen me.
SPEAKER_00: I am weak.
SPEAKER_00: I am poor.
SPEAKER_00: So God should have chosen me.
SPEAKER_00: Well, if that's your attitude, you're just like everybody else.
SPEAKER_00: See, we find ways to puff ourselves up, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: We find ways to separate ourselves from other people to make ourselves feel better about ourselves as compared to somebody else.
SPEAKER_00: We are no different than the rest of the unbelieving world.
SPEAKER_00: We just do it differently.
SPEAKER_00: Examine your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters in Christ, there's no place for boasting.
SPEAKER_00: There's no place for pride, there's no place for feeling or acting superior before the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And if you do, if that is who we are as a church, if that is our heart, then we must be prepared to be ashamed.
SPEAKER_00: Prepare for God to humble you.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, as Peter says, it would be better if we would humble ourselves before the mighty hand of God.
SPEAKER_00: At the same time, if you are one of the foolish, the weak, and the poor from the world's viewpoint, if that is who you are, don't get a big head because God chose you.
SPEAKER_00: It's all of grace, no matter who we are.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as we've considered our calling, we've seen the recipients of God's calling and the intention of his calling.
SPEAKER_00: Notice briefly the result of God's choosing.
SPEAKER_00: And because of him.
SPEAKER_00: Who?
SPEAKER_00: Him.
SPEAKER_00: Who's him?
SPEAKER_00: God.
SPEAKER_00: Because of God, not yourself, not your accomplishments, not your status, but God.
SPEAKER_00: Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God.
SPEAKER_00: The world's wisdom gets us nowhere fast.
SPEAKER_00: So God gives us right wisdom found in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: What is that wisdom?
SPEAKER_00: Righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have time this morning to go into that, but we need to know that those three words describe the wisdom that is in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And they serve collectively as a synonym for salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Notice this.
SPEAKER_00: Because of him you are.
SPEAKER_00: You are.
SPEAKER_00: That's speaking of a state of being, of identity, of status.
SPEAKER_00: The Corinthians were walking in the world's way of wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: They classified themselves as wise, as powerful, as having social status, but that has no place in the church.
SPEAKER_00: Our identity, our status is in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: When we come to Christ, when we come to the cross, we leave behind any identity associated with this passing world, and we find ourselves in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We're no longer classified as somebodies or nobodies.
SPEAKER_00: We're no longer rich and poor, educated and ignorant.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, we come together and we are righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, and we are that only because God chose.
SPEAKER_00: When God calls us to follow Christ, we no longer boast in anything in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, we boast in Christ because through God's gracious choice, He has become our wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: He has become our strength.
SPEAKER_00: And our position, our status is now in Him.
SPEAKER_00: And that's better than anything this world could ever offer.
SPEAKER_00: So what do we do with this?
SPEAKER_00: How do we respond to this?
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you three thoughts quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, we are to have a change of mind.
SPEAKER_00: This all starts in your head.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he says in verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: For think about, consider your calling.
SPEAKER_00: That means it starts up here.
SPEAKER_00: We are to have a change of mind, which means we must repent of unbiblical thoughts and attitudes that lead to worldly strata, to divisions in the church.
SPEAKER_00: We are told here to think seriously.
SPEAKER_00: That means we are to respond with our minds to the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: But secondly, that change of mind requires a change of heart.
SPEAKER_00: That's evidenced in action.
SPEAKER_00: As we identify leanings and tendencies in our hearts and minds, we change them by submitting to Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: We renew our minds with the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: When those leanings and tendencies are molded by God's word, then we begin to think and to act differently.
SPEAKER_00: And instead of having divisions within the body of Christ, we fellowship with everyone across all those areas because in Christ we are one.
SPEAKER_00: The church displays repentant hearts when we come together in fellowship no matter who we are.
SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, we must boast in Christ and the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, let me encourage you.
SPEAKER_00: You are someone in Him.
SPEAKER_00: You may feel like you're a nobody.
SPEAKER_00: You may feel like you're a nothing in this world.
SPEAKER_00: But because God chose you in Christ, you are someone.
SPEAKER_00: We see the wisdom of the cross now because of Him.
SPEAKER_00: We are made sons and daughters of the Most High God because of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: We become righteousness and sanctification and redemption, and so we glory in the cross of Christ our Savior.
SPEAKER_00: That's exciting.
SPEAKER_00: And that's who we are for eternity.
SPEAKER_00: King Canute's waves will come crashing down around the world.
SPEAKER_00: Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian walls will fall down.
SPEAKER_00: This world will be ashamed.
SPEAKER_00: But for those who are in Christ, we are forever in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Let's celebrate that in prayer together.
SPEAKER_00: Our Lord Jesus, we praise you for who you are.
SPEAKER_00: We give thanks for what you've done.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we give thanks to you for your gracious work.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know everyone here, so you may have brought someone to our gathering this morning who is hearing of this word of the cross for the very first time.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe repetitively, and so they are hearing it anew in their hearts, and they are convicted.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, may they trust in you, may they lean on you, may they trust entirely in what you've done for them.
SPEAKER_00: And glory in the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.