The Wisdom of Becoming a Fool
(1 Corinthians 3:18-23)
Series: Chaos & Correction (1 Corinthians)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
• Take your Bibles and join me in 1 Corinthians, chapter 3 (page 769; YouVersion).
Our series of messages through 1 Corinthians is entitled, “Chaos & Correction.” There was chaos in the church at Corinth, and Paul brings correction to the church by way of
the Word of God. He writes this letter to correct the chaos and the first area Paul addresses is the dissension and division occurring in the church. Many of the church
members divided among themselves into various cliques and groups. They were not groups uniting together in a common purpose, but rather groups that had formed from
prideful, self-righteous behavior. Some said they were followers of Paul, some of Apollos, some of Cephas, and still others of Christ. And the idea was like, Our group is
more spiritual than your group!
So Paul addresses this problem of arrogance by focusing upon the cross of Christ. He talks to the Corinthians about the difference between living for the world and living for Christ. Christians are to think differently, act differently, live differently than non-Christians. We would expect unbelievers to act in these ways, prideful self-centered,
self-righteous behavior—but not Christians.
When we were last together we studied Paul’s metaphor in
verses 11 and following, where he describes the church
body as a temple. And he writes about how each
Christian builds this temple with either good materials or
bad materials. If we build with good materials like gold,
silver, and precious stones, then we will enjoy a reward in
heaven on the Day of Judgment. If, however, we serve
the church using bad materials like wood, hay, and straw,
then our good works will burn up on the Day of Judgment.
Given the context, good materials are things like the right
attitude, the right motivation, godly Christian behavior.
Bad materials are things like self-centeredness, self-righteousness,
proud, divisive behavior. Christians can
serve the church with the right attitude and motivation or
the wrong attitude and motivation. So Paul calls for the
church members at Corinth to correct their prideful hearts
by no longer acting as the world acts, the world being
those who are not followers of Christ.
So just prior to our passage this morning Paul reminds the
Christians that collectively they are a church body in whom
dwells God Himself, by way of the Holy Spirit. He says,
You all are a temple, you all have the Holy Spirit within
you.
Now he continues in verse 18 by again contrasting worldly
behavior with Christian behavior. The world accuses
Christians of being fools. The world believes they are
wise. And Paul reminds the church at Corinth that it is
Christians who are actually wise and non-Christians who
are actually fools. Listen for this now as we read verses
18 and following.
• Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you
seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool
that he may become wise.
19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with
God. For it is written, He catches the wise in their
own craftiness;
20 and again, The Lord knows the thoughts of the
wise, that they are futile. 21 Therefore let no one
boast in men. For all things are yours:
22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or
life or death, or things present or things to come—all
are yours.
23 And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
• Pray.
Introduction:
I wondered what it would be like if we inserted our own
names into 1 Corinthians and our church here at
Henderson’s First Baptist divided up into prideful, self-centered
groups. I am of Brother Todd, I am of Rich,
or, I am of Matt. I stand with Alan, I’m with Ms. Ellie,
or, I’m with Ken, or Jim. Or some of us said, I am of
this class or, I am of that class. I’m a follower of this
deacon or that teacher. And the idea is the same: We
are more spiritual than you because we identify with this
person or that person.
That was the problem at Corinth and it could become a
problem here. Rather than uniting together as one
church, the people at Corinth had divided into various
prideful groups and factions. And Paul seeks here to
correct that prideful and arrogant behavior by reminding
Christians that they don’t belong to the leader who
baptized them or the one whose teaching they loved the
most, rather Christians belong to God. So our boast is
not to be in human leaders, but our boast is to be in God.
To boast in human leaders is to act foolishly. Foolish,
spiritual arrogance is the very root of divisiveness in the
church. So Paul reminds us that Christians are to act
wisely and Christians define wisdom differently than the
world defines wisdom.
So in these last six verses Paul gives us the benefits of
becoming a fool in the eyes of the world. He answers
that question, Why be a fool in the eyes of the world?
Two main reasons, number one:
1) You will have True Wisdom (18-20)
The world defines wisdom largely by knowledge. That is,
the more you know the wiser you are. The more science
you know, the more arts and literature you know, the more
mathematics you know, the wiser you are.
By the way, speaking of math, awhile back I tweeted this
statement: “It has happened again: another full and
fulfilling day without once using algebra.”
That’s a statement that resonates with anyone other than
a lover of mathematics! But you know, the world defines
wisdom by the knowledge of disciplines such as math,
English, history, current events, and so forth.
Now I believe in all of those things—even math! I think
there is biblical support for studying hard and learning as
many facts as one can about all things, but wisdom is not
really defined by the knowledge of facts and information.
Wisdom is defined differently.
Have you heard this poem? It’s by my favorite author,
Anonymous. It gets a little closer to the right definition of
wisdom. Listen to this:
He who knows not and knows not that he knows not, He is
a fool—avoid him.
He who knows not and knows he knows not, He is simple
—teach him;
He who knows and knows that he knows, He is wise—
follow him.
So this gets us a little closer to the difference between true
wisdom and folly. But years ago I learned a definition of
wisdom I have always liked. It goes like this: Wisdom is
the ability to see things from God’s perspective. You may
want to write that down: Wisdom is the ability to see
things from God’s perspective.
And the point is: often what the world considers wisdom is
at odds with what God considers wisdom. Rather than
seeing things through the eyes of the world, try to see
things through the eyes of God. As God says through the
Prophet Isaiah, My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor
are your ways My ways (Isaiah 55:8). Wisdom is the
ability to see things from God’s perspective.
Now look at verse 18:
18 Let no one deceive himself (so it’s possible for us to
think ourselves wise when we’re really fools. Let no one
deceive himself). If anyone among you seems to be
wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may
become wise.
That’s just a great way to put this, isn’t it?! If you are
defining wisdom as simply the knowledge of facts and
information, then you’re seeing things only through the
eyes of the world. And if you’re defining wisdom as the
more facts you know, the wiser you become—Paul says,
No, time out. You are deceiving yourself. Furthermore,
you need to become a fool so that you may become wise.
That is, you need to become what the world considers
foolish in order to become truly wise. So we’re back to 1
Corinthians 1:18: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.
True wisdom is found in Christ. True wisdom is found in
the Gospel. True wisdom is found in Christianity. Verse
19:
19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with
God. For it is written, He catches the wise in their
own craftiness (that’s a reference from the Old Testament
book of Job; Job 5:13); verse 20:
20 and again, The Lord knows the thoughts of the
wise, that they are futile (that’s from Psalm 94:11).
So here again now in 1 Corinthians, Paul is contrasting the
so-called wisdom of the world with the so-called
foolishness of Christianity. And he’s like, Even by those
standards, know that ‘the foolishness of God is wiser than
men (1 Corinthians 1:25).’
So actually it is Christian living that is wise and non-
Christian living that is foolishness. And think about it, if in
fact we amass all matter of worldly knowledge, we can
converse fluently in the arts and sciences, we know all the
great philosophers, we’ve read all the great books, we can
identify every geographical location on a world map, we
can locate every single constellation in the night sky, we
have memorized the entire periodic table of elements, but
we don’t have Christ. What are we?
We are smart, we are educated, and these are all good
things. We ought to aspire to be the smartest student in
our class, the most knowledgeable employee or worker in
our field—but without Christ we are lost. And if somehow
we have gotten the idea that it is through all of our smarts
that we are truly wise, then sadly we are truly fools.
So be smart, work hard, study, grow, learn—but don’t
confuse the knowledge of worldly disciplines with wisdom.
Wisdom is living for Christ, following Christ, carrying the
cross of Christ on your shoulders every day. That is true
wisdom.
Don’t forget that Christian husband. You can work all day
to support your family and make a wheel barrel full of
money each week, but if you’re not leading your family to
follow Christ, you’re living a fool’s life.
Don’t forget that Christian wife and single mom. You can
shuttle your children to every soccer game and band
competition each week but if you don’t teach them how to
live for Jesus, you are modeling for them a fool’s life.
Young people, don’t live for the passing pleasures of sin.
Live for Christ, live a wise life, follow Jesus Christ and live
for Him.
Be a so-called fool in the eyes of the world and you’ll be
wise in the eyes of God. Remember that if the world calls
your Christian faith foolish, remember that you have true
wisdom. Number two, if you’re a fool in the eyes of the
world, not only will you have true wisdom, but secondly:
2) You will have True Wealth (21-23)
21 Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things
are yours:
Paul is correcting that boastful behavior that the Christians
at Corinth had unfortunately adopted. Remember, they
had divided into different cliques and factions, and groups,
splitting into one group over here and another group over
there. Some were saying, I follow Paul, and another, I
follow Apollos, and still another, I follow Cephas.
Paul says in verse 21, Let no one boast in men. That is,
You don’t belong to these men. You don’t belong to Paul,
to Apollos, to Cephas. You don’t belong to these mere
human leaders, you belong to God! That’s how he
concludes this chapter, verse 23, And you are Christ’s,
and Christ is God’s.
So Christians should take care not to place human leaders
before God. Paul had said earlier in this chapter that he
himself was nothing, Paul is nothing, Apollos is nothing.
He says, Neither he who plants nor he who waters is
anything (1 Corinthians 3:7). So don’t boast in human
leaders, boast only in God (1 Corinthians 1:31).
Then Paul turns this whole thing around in a way we may
not expect. He says, You were thinking you belonged to
Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, but actually they belong to
you. He says at the end of verse 21, For all things are
yours (verse 22 now):
22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or
life or death, or things present or things to come—all
are yours.
Wow! All things belong to the Christian. How is that
possible? Verse 23:
23 And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
That is, because you are in Christ, you have everything.
So follow Paul’s logic here. He argues, It’s not like you
Corinthians were thinking with this business of, I am of
Paul, or, I am of Apollos, or I am of Cephas, (1
Corinthians 1:12; 1 Corinthians 3:4). He’s like, You all
don’t belong to the apostles; the apostles belong to you
all! The apostles are servants of the church, ministers to
the church body.
You don’t belong to these leaders. They weren’t crucified
for you. They didn’t die on a cross for your sins. You
weren’t baptized into their name. They were merely your
servants. You don’t belong to them, they belong to the
church. They didn’t die for you, Jesus died for you. Again,
verse 23:
23 And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
That is, just as Christ obeyed the Father, lived for the
Father, submitted to the Father, so we are Christ’s. We
obey Christ, live for Christ, submit to Christ.
But again, note the Christian’s true wealth. Trace it again
from verse 21. Don’t boast in mere men, boast in God.
Why? Verse 21, because all things are yours, verse 22:
whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas—you don’t belong to
them, they belong to you. They are merely human
servants of the church. They belong to you along with
other things that make you truly wealthy. What other
things? Verse 22 continuing:
…the world…life…death…things present or things to
come—all are yours.
Christians do not belong to the world or to life as though
this life were all there is. Christians do not belong to death
as though death were the end of everything for the
Christian. No, these things belong to the Christian. Even
things present and things to come. These things all
belong to the Christian. Wow, such spiritual wealth!!
The non-Christian belongs to the world and lives for this
world only. The non-Christian is shackled by life in this
world, can’t see beyond the rigors and disciplines of this
world only. The non-Christian is held in bondage to death.
The non-Christian cannot see beyond things present and
has no hope for things to come. Don’t miss this in verse
22!!
But the Christian—the so-called fool in the eyes of the
world—the Christian has true wealth.
Because the Christian, verse 23, belongs to Christ. Paul
says, You are Christ’s! The Christian enjoys all things; all
things are his—the world, life, death, things present and
things to come.
To quote the song we often sing:
No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
Do you see the benefits of being a so-called fool for
Christ? Remember these things when the world beats you
up this week! Remember these things when people
persecute you or make fun of your Christian convictions.
Why be a fool in the eyes of the world? Because fools for
Christ have:
1) True Wisdom
2) True Wealth
• Stand for prayer.
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