Jonah Albrecht…July 20^th, 2025…Trinity 5…1 Corinthians 1:18-25…Better to be a Fool in the Kingdom of God

To the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever, Amen.

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly 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 the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” ²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. ²² For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

It takes a foolish person to hold onto a foolish idea. I think we could all agree on that statement. We certainly see many foolish ideas in our society today that are still held onto, fervently. Things like the flat-earth theory, or that the sun revolves around the earth and not vice-versa. You might encounter other ideas you would consider “foolish” as well, I simply chose these because the evidence is pretty overwhelming to the contrary.

Now, what would you say if I called every single one of you in here a fool? I would guess that your reaction would be one of indignation towards me. Well, you are all fools. Not truly, of course, but deemed a fool by the wisdom of the world around you. Why? As Paul says, it is because of the cross of Christ. The fact that you believe God’s Son took on human flesh to die, and by His death we are saved, is what makes you foolish. When you put it that way, logically speaking, it does sound kind of foolish. But it is not foolish, nor is it some far-fetched fantasy that we all decided to gather around every week.

The cross of Jesus Christ, for you, the Christian, is the power of God that has forgiven you of all your sin and has granted you eternal life in heaven. Today, Paul shows us why It is Better to be a “Fool” in the Kingdom of God, than the wise of the world. May the Holy Spirit be with us and bless our study of His Word.

A background on the ancient city of Corinth will help us understand why Paul even broaches this topic to begin with. Corinth was a trade city located on the Isthmus of Corinth. It was the major port between the eastern and western portions of the Mediterranean world. A rich and bustling city, Corinth was home to people from all backgrounds, from Jews to the most outlandish pagans. It’s people was known for their revelry and sin. Somehow, it became the home to a bustling Christian church.

See, the people of Corinth were very religious, but they were the type to “test a little bit of everything.” This opened the door for the Gospel to take root and the Holy Spirit to turn many to Jesus through the Apostle Paul’s teaching. But this fledgling congregation was under a constant barrage. If you read through Paul’s two letters to the members at Corinth, you would wonder how they were able to withstand all the problems they were facing. Especially having the epicenter of their faith, the cross, called foolishness.

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

What was at the heart of the idea that the cross of Jesus is a foolish thing? Well, it boils down to two things. 1. A self-righteous attitude 2. A total misunderstanding of God’s love. And this is why Paul refers to the cross as a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Greeks. If you are walking down a pathway and you keep tripping over a cinderblock and it is keeping you from reaching your destination – that is like a stumbling block. In the spiritual sense, it is something that causes you to fall into sin or to lose your faith.

For the Jews, it makes sense that their stumbling block was the cross. They didn’t want a Savior who would die at the hands of the Romans, they wanted a Savior who would destroy the Roman oppression. They didn’t need a sin-Savior, but a slave-Savior. It is that lack of awareness of their own sin that caused them to miss the kingdom of God.

That same stumbling block is not lost on our generation either. Consider how many “churches” today refuse to even mention the cross because to do so means you have to talk about people’s sin. Who wants to go to church to hear about how bad of a person you are? Me! I do! Because me, in my wisdom, thinks that I am doing pretty good in God’s eyes when I am the exact opposite. I need to hear about the wickedness of my heart that caused my Savior to bleed because my heart is deceitful above all things.

The power of the cross is that it reminds us exactly what the price was to pay for our sin. It wasn’t a slap on the wrist. Justice, God’s Judgement, meant death. Only, that death wasn’t laid out on those who deserve it.

And that is where the theology of the cross is folly to the Greek. Every single Gentile in the Roman Empire knew what crucifixion was and what it meant. The Romans weren’t crucifying your every-day minor criminal. Crucifixion was reserved for those who were enemies of the state – the rebels, murderers, thieves, and traitors. Remember, there were two criminals who were crucified with Jesus and the one confessed they were getting what they deserved for the crimes they committed. To that line of thinking…why then would a “Savior” die a death like that? It made no sense to them.

To the Gentiles, the gods were superior beings who ruled over mankind in a very similar manner to how mankind rules over mankind. If the king is happy – the people are happy. If the gods are happy – the world is happy. But if the gods are angry – judgment and punishment come. This is the result of the great “wisdom” of the world. Their idea of God could never surpass the limitations of mankind. For that reason, the cross is foolish. 1. What God would become human? 2. What God would die? 3. What God would punish His Son instead of His enemies? It defies logic. But that is exactly the way God wanted it.

²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

Since the very beginning, man has attempted to reach God by his own wisdom. But what has the wisdom of man gotten us? It brought sin into the world. It resulted in the world being destroyed by the Flood – the effects of which we still see today. Man’s wisdom gave us the confusion of languages – not to mention dark and disastrous sins. Cain, the first murderer and his great-great-great grandson Lamech who gloated in his murderous spree. Child sacrifice both past and present. Bribery, jealousy, thievery, adultery and fornication, gossip and covetousness. Even the best of human nature cannot outpace the evil of man’s heart.

So is it any wonder that God did not leave salvation up to man’s wisdom? Man’s wisdom would always and only look to himself as the arbiter of justice and truth. And an honest look into our sinful hearts would reveal how foolish of a proposition that would be. All men, whether Jew or Greek, miss out on the Kingdom of God because they are searching inward and not upward. Instead, God in His mercy has chosen a different way to reveal Himself and that is in the cross of Jesus.

While it might seem foolish to the world, it really shows the wisdom of God. Sin could not go unpunished – it would contradict God’s own nature as good and perfect. But God is a God of love and mercy. To us, those two things are incompatible. To show mercy means to withhold justice and vice versa. But not with God. Jesus becoming true man to be the world’s substitute defied any and every logic known to man. The Bible admits that. Paul writes to the Romans in chapter 5, “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die” For a world full of ingrates and sinners? Not so much.

It didn’t stop there. At the end of Jesus’ life loomed the cross. Not just the torture and agonizing death at the hands of the Romans, but the full wrath of an angry God over your sin and mine. That is something the world’s wisdom cannot see. They don’t understand that it was God’s love and joy, even, that put Jesus on the cross. The writer to the Hebrews says, who [Jesus] for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Ponder that in your heart. While facing the agonizing death on the cross and the torment of hell, God your Savior had joy. Why? Because He knew that He was saving you from your sin. That is how important you are to your God and Savior.

The cross was meant to be a symbol of shame and deterrence. It was supposed to steer people away from following in the path of the person being crucified. That is not what the cross means for someone like you.

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

The cross has become the embodiment of the power and wisdom of God. The means by which God executed His justice to completion, but was able to show mercy to those whom He created and loves dearly. Dear friends in Christ, do not be ashamed of the cross of Jesus – for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. It is your lifeline, your hope, your future. It does not stand as a symbol of death, but a testimony of the price paid to have peace with God.

Take heart in this: You might not be the smartest or brightest among the world-renowned scientists and engineers, but you are much wiser because you know God and God calls you by name. The wisdom of God that you receive will not answer every single question that we might have on this earth, nor should we expect it to. As Paul writes to the Corinthians, For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

We will know all things in the heaven. Until that day, let us keep looking to the cross – the heart and soul of our faith. But also let us look beyond it to the empty tomb. The cross was where salvation was won. Jesus risen from the empty tomb is where life became yours. Without the empty tomb, the cross means nothing and vice versa. But with the two together, you have the full picture. You have your sin defeated, death defeated, and eternal life won. If the world calls you a fool, do not shy away and hide your faith, rather look at the cross and look beyond it to the tomb. And you will see what a blessing it is to be a Fool in the Kingdom of God – saved forever.

Amen.