THIS FOOLISH WORLD NEEDS CHRIST

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND WILL BRING TO NOTHING THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRUDENT. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world knew by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” 1 Corinthians 1:18-27

This is one of those wonderful scripture texts which just opens one after another thought to ponder, but we have more here than we can digest in our short time available. Before I say anything of my own, I would like to quote the first two sentences of Matthew Henry’s comments on this passage. They read: “Paul had been bred up in Jewish learning, but the plain preaching of the crucified Jesus, was more powerful than all the oratory and philosophy of the heathen world. This is the sum and substance of the gospel. Christ crucified is the foundation of all our hopes, the foundation of all our joys, And by his death we live.”

Today, many universities have full courses just to search and study the ancient, Greek and Roman, philosophers. I remember that, several years ago, there was a Chinese man, we simply called “Uncle Sam”. I don’t think I know what his full name was. I doesn’t really matter. He had been obedient to the Lord Jesus in Christian baptism, but he was not able to shake off the grip that the ancient philosopher’s teachings had upon him. He was pulled by the wisdom of men on one side and of the Lord on the other. On one occasion he had to be rescued because he was standing in the middle of a dark, but very busy street. In his drunken state, he was shouting at the cars that narrowly missed him. The wisdom of men can not cope with the power of God.

On this occasion, Paul stood on Mars Hill, shared by an ancient pagan temple which we know as the Parthenon. He preached to the Greeks in Athens, a sermon which may say was a failure. I think not! He did not win the philosophers, granted, but there were others, probably bystanders, who did respond. Never discount the bystanders, for many times they do not have closed minds to the truth of the gospel. The seed of the Word scattered there may take root and grow with amazing results, not necessarily in that particular day, seed takes time to take root and grow. Sometimes the believer needs time to ponder the word, before coming to a decision. That is the way I shop. I look at several various merchant’s products, then think about it and often end up back at the first place. We are in that sort of position today. We live in a double wide manufactured home, and we love it, but increasingly it is more difficult to travel to and from the church, our doctors, the dentist, the hospital, and for Phyllis even navigate the steps to our home-deck. So, we have been looking at retirement apartments, and we have found a delightful one in Plano, just minutes from all our activities. This is where we can help one another. We need to sell our home in order to afford the exchange. Pray with us to that end, the Lord approving.
Tis morning I was led to a free on lineadvert for homes such asours. The timeing is right, perhaps thiss the answer. They placed on line a beautiful presentation complete with a picture.

As Paul asked for prayers, and so also do we. But above all else, mttay His will be done.
Jesus died for us, let’s be eager to share His message.