Foolish Things – 1 Cor. 118 For the message of the cross is foolishness 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 bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." 20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

The Gospel

• Not just another human philosophy.• Contrary to the wisdom of both Jews and

Gentiles.• Its God power to save sinful man!• Wisdom of world could not find God—found

idols & many gods (Acts 17:16-34).• God revealed His wisdom for finding Him and

saving man in His own way and it cannot be changed by man (1 Cor. 2:6-16; Heb. 1:1-2).

Christ Crucified

1 Cor. 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,

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

• The “foolish” message – “Christ crucified”• Stumbling block to the Jews.• Foolishness to the Greeks.

Salvation Through Christ1 Cor. 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than

men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise

according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.

Rom. 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

Foolish Things of God: Make an Ark

Gen. 6:14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood…• Likely had never rained as we know rain

Gen. 2:6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.Heb. 11:7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

• Noah preached to the people (2 Pet. 2:5).• Noah obeyed all God’s commands (Gen. 6:22).

Foolish Things: Strike Rock for Water

Ex. 17:5 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go.

6 “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

• No Power…– In the rock– In the rod– In Moses

• The power was in obedience to God’s command!

Foolish Things: ScapegoatLev. 16:7 He shall take the two goats and

present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

8 Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat.

9 And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering.

10 But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness.

Foolish Things: ScapegoatLev. 16:20 And when he has made an end of

atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat.

21 Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man.

22 The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.

Num. 21:5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses… 6 So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live."

9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

Foolish Things: Brazen Serpent

Josh. 6:1 Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in.

2 And the LORD said to Joshua: "See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.

3 "You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days.

4 "And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.

5 "It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him."

Foolish Things: Walls of Jericho

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days (Heb. 11:30).

Jud. 7:7 Then the LORD said to Gideon, “By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place.”

Heb. 11:32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:

33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.

Foolish Things: Gideon’s 300 Men

2 Kgs. 5:10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, "Indeed, I said to myself, 'He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.‘ 12 “Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Foolish Things: Naaman’s Leprosy

Jn. 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.

7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

Foolish Things: Healing Blindness

• Baptism (Mk. 16:16; Acts 2:38)

• What power is in the water to forgive sins?– As much as in Scapegoat to carry

away sins.– As much as in brazen serpent to

heal snake bites.– As much as in water to heal leprosy.

• Power is in Obedience to God!

Foolish Things: Baptism for Forgiveness of Sins

• Lord’s Supper (Mt. 26:26; 1 Cor. 11:26; Acts 20:7)

• Looks foolish to the world.• So called religious consider it

unimportant.• Command of God; Therefore it’s

Important!

Foolish Things: Lord’s Supper on First Day of Week

• Upright, Moral Life (1 Pet. 4:3-4).– For we have spent enough of our past

lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.

• Symbolized by NOT drinking and carousing around as they do.

Foolish Things: Leading a Pure Life

• All through the ages man has considered the instructions of God to be foolish.1 Cor. 1:27 But God has chosen the foolish things of

the world to put to shame the wise…

• No matter how we may reason, we cannot alter the Will of God to fit our situation.

• Don’t decide against anything just because it seems foolish (Prov. 14:12; Isa. 55:8-9).

• Just obey like Noah – who did ALL that God commanded him (Gen. 6:22).

Foolish Things