“ THE FOOLISHNESS “ The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and complaint that we do not relate the ambiguities of the the weakness of God is stronger than men.” New Testament to the complexities of modern living. I Corinthians 1:25 n aui came to Corinth from Athens where he spoke people, trying to make Jesus Christ acceptable to on Mars Hill. Some think he failed in Athens highbrows. The big question is not whether Christ because he used the wrong approach but he did not can be made acceptable to them, but rather how can fail because some believed and a great church was they be made acceptable to Christ. He is not stand- begun and was still going strong in the Fourth Cen- ing, hat in hand, awaiting our verdict about Him. tury after the Corinthian church had long since dis- We are a generation of poor, lost sinners awaiting appeared. One thing is certain: at Corinth Paul set His verdict about us. up a standard we are in danger of forgetting in these If 1 had before me a congregation of unconverted sophisticated times. He declared that the Gospel is college professors, 1would say, “ Your problem is sin. a contradiction to the* wisdom of the natural man. God has done something about that. He loved us and He calls it “ the foolishness of God” and “ the weak- gave His Son to die for us. He raised Him from the ness of God,” terms we never use because they sound dead and that is the Gospel. The only thing you can so strange. We speak of the wisdom of God and of do is to believe it, admit that you are sinners, repent, God Almighty, but who ever thinks in terms of the * trust Christ as Saviour and confess Him as Lord. foolishness and weakness of God? Paul says that God That will solve your problem." If that sounds like over- upsets all our standards by choosing the foolish and simplification, 1 am not interested in arguing about weak and base and despised and things that are not it. There it is; take it or leave it. “ He that believeth to confound the things that are mighty and that the on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth not natural man is utterly incapable of understanding is condemned already because he hath not believed spiritual truth. in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” One might as well try to catch sunbeams with a Just because we can split atoms and have reached fish-hook, describe a sunset to a blind man, play the moon does not make the slightest difference in music for a deaf man or discuss nuclear physics with the basic need of the human heart. The answer is a monument in a city park as to discuss the things not found in clever preaching and liberal theology but of God with a man of this world. He is casting pearls in what Paul called “ the foolishness of God.” It is before swine. The unsaved person may be educated, just as relevant as ever in this day of guided missiles prominent, successful but none of that qualifies him and misguided men. This does not mean that scholar- to apprehend spiritual truth. Discussing current ship is unimportant and that we are not to study 9 4 events in the light of the Bible with a man who has the complex problems of today in the light of the not been born again is an exercise in futility. No Bible, but the tendency is to judge the Bible in the dialogue is possible. “ Eye hath not seen, nor ear light of science and human wisdom. Bob Ingersoll heard, neither have entered in the heart of man, the was a noted infidel but it is to his credit that he things which God hath prepared for them that love stayed out of the pulpit. Today there are pulpiteers him.” who believe no more than Ingersoll did but who -<* Evangelical Christianity is blowing a fuse these draw church salaries for preaching infidelity. Inger- days trying to sound intellectual. We are trying to soli had a lecture on “ The Mistakes of Moses.” Some- dress up the foolishness of God in the wisdom of body said he wouldn’t cross the street to hear Inger- 4 man, trying to fortify the weakness of God with the soli on the mistakes of Moses but he would go a long power of man. We have gone off the deep end trying way to hear Moses on the mistakes of Ingersoll! to be profound and have made ourselves ridiculous. We have no easy answers to the issues of our y, 1 remember hearing a young preacher in a coun- day but Jesus Christ is the Answer and by the Holy try church praying that God would deliver his con- Spirit we can meet any issue in the name of our gregation from “ psychological blocks.” 1 imagine Saviour and Lord. The early church did not hold semi- those farmers wondered what ailment that could be! nars on slavery and symposiums on Caesar. They We are talking to people who are not listening met the world of their time with a supernatural pow- about questions nobody is asking. 1 suppose the in- er, not a conference of experts. If Pentecost had tellectuals in the days of the early church could have started with a committee meeting and a panel dis- asked what Peter and John knew about the problems cussion, Christianity would have died at birth. They of living in the Roman Empire. So today we hear the were flaming witnesses, “ open on the Godward side,” 8 THE KING’S BUSINESS But those early Christians turned the world upside down with the simple story of a crucified and risen Lord. Today, we talk over the heads of the common
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