Strength Found in Weakness

Transcript

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[0:00] Good morning, Foothill Covenant Church. I'm Ryan Clint. I wish I could be there with you today to be worshiped with you and to sing alongside of you and to have coffee with you afterwards. And it pains us to not be able to be there with you in person, just as it pains me and my family to not be able to be in our place of worship, our place of ministry.

[0:27] Many of you know us, my wife Isabel and I and our kids, David and Charlie. We usually live in Mexico and do work in Bible translation amongst the Maztec people. This is us when we were getting on the plane to leave Mexico. And we have our masks on. We're getting all sort of ready for that travel.

[0:53] As we're here in the United States, we continue to do some, we did to do Bible translation work with our lead translator who has a computer. And we set him up with an internet signal so that we can teleconference and continue translation that way. But we can't do all the steps. We can't do our community checks and we can't do several other steps. Not to mention the personal relationship building that is so necessary to have a good translation.

[1:16] And we can't do that without the help of the community. So you can be praying that we can go back to Mexico, but also be praying just for Mexico in this time of COVID-19. They are not handling it terribly well. The official or the government buildings and sort of all the businesses that pay taxes and that sort of thing. So the big telephone companies and whatnot have shut down and don't have office hours or anything. But all of the unofficial economy.

[1:45] So we're not doing that. The black market, things that aren't, that don't pay taxes. All of that is sort of running as normal. So a lot of restaurants throughout the country are opening up. And because people are living hand to mouth and there's not much they can, they need to eat. So the virus continues to spread. So you can be praying that God would not only protect the spiritual health of people there, but also their physical bodies.

[2:10] Yeah. So join us in prayer with them. So I have a hard time switching between watching a screen and watching the real world. And so I'm just going to have the scripture here. So if you'd like to read along just on the same screen, that's fine. If you prefer to read out of the Bible and just have it on your lap, you can do that as well. But I'm having here just in case it's helpful to you. So we're picking up and continuing this series of Corinthians that Hans-Erik has started last week.

[2:45] And he gave an introduction to the church, to the letter last week. And so he talked about how the church was a bit too full of themselves, a bit too concerned with their spiritual appearances, and also a bit too unconcerned with the physical world that they live in. And so we'll see those themes in what we're reading here as well. One thing I wanted to mention, just as a backup to this portion, is that right before Corinth, Paul was in. Athens. And Paul was brought to preach, or to teach, on Mars Hill in front of this group of philosophers.

[3:23] And it didn't go great. After he preached, he preached that famous teaching about you have an altar to an unknown God, and I represent that unknown God, and it's a lovely little piece of teaching. This is in Acts 3. But after he left, he was mocked.

[3:40] Acts does say that there were two two people, that came to know him, named Dionysus, or Dionysius, and Demaria, as two people that came to the faith, and those who were with them, probably their servants, or maybe members of their family. But it doesn't seem to go all that well. Paul doesn't write back to any churches there, and not much of that ministry is mentioned in other parts of the Bible. So, it wasn't all that successful. And I can't help but feel a bit of a sting there for Paul.

[4:15] So, in other times, Paul had had amazing ministry, even when he was in prison. When he was imprisoned, you know, when he writes in Philippians, he had the guards who were guarding him come to the faith. And even when he was enchained and sick, the Spirit moved through him and changed lives. And yet, when he's preaching in front of these teachers, instead of seeing changed lives, he received mockery. And so, that sting, I feel, in this section that Paul writes.

[4:50] So, what I'd like to do is I'd like to read through the passage, just all at once, and then return, and maybe pick up some smaller themes afterwards. So, first, let's read through the entire thing. So, this is 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 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, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.

[5:28] Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not change, and the wise did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Gentiles. But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were influential, not many were of noble birth, but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

[6:32] God chose the lowly things of this world, and the despised things, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are. So that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Jesus Christ, who has become for us wisdom from God, that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

[7:02] And so it was with me, brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom, as I proclaimed to you, the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

[7:18] I came to you in weakness, with great fear and trembling. My message, my preaching, were not with wise, persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power.

[7:36] That's the passage. Let's pray, and we'll go back and start. Let's read. Heavenly Father, these are your words, which you have sent to us. We love them. I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts will be pleasing to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.

[7:59] We pray this in your name. So, let's go back to verse 18. So, as I read this, I have a tendency to place myself as the hero in most stories I tell. Some of you have friends, or maybe some of you are this type of person, who, whenever they tell a story, it's to show it's because I was right. Yeah, so there's this one story. Everyone thought that we should go this direction, and we did go that direction. It turns out I was right, and we should have gone the other direction. Okay? When I read Scripture, I tend to cast myself in the light of the hero far too often.

[8:37] Verse 18 says, 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 Christ. Sometimes I read that, and I say, Yeah, we the church people are rad, and the unchurched are foolish.

[8:55] And that's what I take out of that, instead of being challenged by it. Well, Paul's going to not let me off so easy. He will challenge me. He'll make sure. He says, For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.

[9:14] But we need to shift our perspective and realize that God is not simply condemning the wisdom of other people. He's also condemning our wisdom. He's condemning what we think. We have to be ready to be challenged by this.

[9:28] Let's go into the next verse 20. So Paul is asking, Who are the wise men here? Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world? No one guessed the kind of work that the Holy Spirit would do in Jesus Christ. No one guessed that he would be born a child, that he would be raised, that he'd work as a carpenter, and then he would go and be crucified. No one figured this out. No philosopher. No teacher. No scribe. They missed it.

[10:09] But there are two things that Paul is previewing for us, or is going to talk about in this passage. One is that God aligns himself with the weak of the world. For since the wisdom of God, this is in verse 21, for since the wisdom of God, or for since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. So, God is aligning himself with the foolish. God is aligning himself with the weak things of this world. That is important. And not just as a rhetorical device. He really does align himself with the weak people.

[10:53] And also, another theme that we see here is that God's wisdom is otherworldly. It does not seem to make sense to the wise amongst us. These next verses should put a point on that point. Jews demand signs, and Greeks look for wisdom.

[11:18] So, the Jewish intellectual tradition was based in interpretation of the texts and scrolls. So, familiarity with the Torah, and ability to interpret the Torah, and know what signs that it predicts, was the heart of Jewish wisdom. Whereas the Greek wisdom was more about not the study of texts. It was based in an oral tradition. It was based in teaching and being able to present a coherent, structured philosophy. Being able to start at a certain set of elementals, and from those elemental principles to develop sophisticated thought. So, there is two different intellectual philosophies. And these two intellectual philosophies are present in the church at this time. They're present in the church of Corinth. Now, what happens is in verse 23, we preach Christ crucified.

[12:17] So, to those who are looking for signs, it proved to be a stumbling block. And to those who were looking for wisdom, it proved to be foolishness. So, Christ confused both of these worldviews. And I would suggest that it continues, he continues to trip up our worldviews today. Whether you were raised in the church, and consider yourself to have kind of a church culture, or raised out of the church, and don't have a church culture, a true understanding of crucified Christ should challenge your faith.

[12:51] The Jews were the religious ones. They were like the people raised in the church. And they didn't understand what the crucified cross meant. It was a stumbling block. And for those out of the church, Christ and seeing Christ didn't simply reveal itself as the wisest thing. It seemed foolishness.

[13:13] So, this otherworldly truth doesn't compute well in this world. In any of our cultures. And so, I need you to find a place where you can be challenged by the reality of this crucified Christ. It should shock you. It should cause you to reflect on your actions and on the way that you approach the world. If it doesn't do that, you might not be reading the scripture closely enough. You might not be vulnerable with the scripture. You might not be opening up your heart to let the scripture change you. Alright.

[13:54] Paul continues in verse 24. But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. So, for those who are called, this crucified Christ is power and it is wisdom.

[14:12] For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. What beautiful words. It reminds me of the book Flatland. I don't know if any of you have read Flatland. It's this little novella from the 19th century. It's kind of a... I think it's called like a romance or a comedy in dimensions. But it has these people who are in two dimensions and they have trouble understanding and interacting with these three-dimensional beings that talk to them. For those of you who haven't read Flatlanders, you may have played Super Paper Mario Brothers, which is an amazing game. It was on the Wii. It's super cool. I know George, my nephew, is a Mario fan and he's played it. It's a great game. Well, in this game, you are Mario and you're just like a paper doll. You know, and so you move on a side-scrolling screen through a side-scrolling world and you interact with people just like in the old Mario games and all the old Metro games and all of those.

[15:17] But the conceit or the idea in the game is that you gain a power which is to fold yourself and to switch into a different dimension. So instead of being on the xy-axis, you can fold yourself and you can appear on the xz-axis. And so you start to... Well, not xz. I guess it would be yz. So you can fold into the yz-axis. Now, one of the coolest ways when you figure this out, the power of this ability to fold yourself is the first boss that you come against is this dragon. So you see this like, you know, this green and red Chinese dragon sort of like snaking out, snaking towards you, but you can't interact with it. You can jump up, but you never can jump on it. You can't do your Mario power drop. You can jump and get on the dragon's head. You just miss and you just, you know, you just butt bomb the earth itself. So you can't interact.

[16:10] Until you realize when he's coming towards you, if you fold yourself from the xy dimension into the xz dimension, or the yz dimension, then you see the dragon coming, not rolling at you this way, but you see that you can... you see his width, the dragon's width, and as you jump up, you come down on top of the dragon. And then you can interact with it, and then you can... I forget what you do if you hit his head, but you can kill the dragon. So that's cool. But you couldn't do it just in the x and y dimension. So what God is showing here is the wisdom of Christ. So Christ crucified is not simply that it is wisdom beyond ours, just in wisdom of Christ, or a kind, just a lot wiser than us, or a symbol, just a lot more complicated than we can understand. It is beyond us.

[17:06] So this, the power and the wisdom of this crucified Christ is beyond humanity. It is about what all of us can understand. In order to figure out what it is, we would have to shift into a new dimension to understand this dynamic. So that's what I think about the greatness of this crucified Christ to us. It doesn't make sense to the world because the world is limited. It doesn't make... It's not wise to the world because the world does not understand the creator of the universe, who has created all things.

[17:38] For the foolishness of Christ is what... of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. What a lovely passage. Paul here, continuing in verse 26, calls us once again to humility and to aligning ourselves with the weak things. Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many of noble birth.

[18:11] The early church was not filled with wise people, with brilliant politicians and writers and teachers. It was filled with poor laborers. And God wanted it that way. God wanted it that way. There's something deep in God that aligns himself with the poor. It wasn't the son of Caesar, who was the son of God. It was the son of a poor, unwed woman in a backwater area of the empire who spoke a minority language. It wasn't even the pure Hebrew of the scriptures of the Torah. It was everything. It was Aramaic. So it was a variant, not respected by anybody.

[19:02] And so God came as this child. And he would grow and he would become crucified. There was something very challenging, very challenging to our understanding of power by this. The Mazatec people that we work among, the Mazatec, the word comes from Nahuatl, which is the language of the Aztecs. And it means the dear place. And so they called the Mazatec people just the dear people.

[19:30] But the Mazatecs refer to themselves as chuta nima, chuta meaning man or people, and nima meaning poor. When I first heard that, I was, I was bummed. You know, I said, well, that must, how horrible to have such a bad self-conception. But I began to heard the word nima used in other contexts. And so there's a phrase where you can say, um, which means he is a good person and poor. But it doesn't mean poor in the sense of not having money. It's like he's a good, humble person. He doesn't put on airs. He is, he is good to people. And he doesn't, he's not boastful about it. And so there's something about poverty or poor in that context, which means humble. There's a goodness to it. There's also lots of different things. There's different varietals of, varietals of banana that are in Mazatlan. But if you say that kakhi nima, that is a banana that is indigenous to that place. It's a common banana. It kind of grows by itself. It's suited to the place.

[20:36] And it's great. It's not a special banana. You know, you don't have to go through, do lots of things to make this banana or to grow these bananas. They're just kind of, will grow easy. And they're the poor bananas. There are bananas. And so you get these flavor of poor, yes, in the word, kakhi nima. But you also get the flavor of humility and maybe the flavor of indigenous, you know, belonging to this place. Common, the common banana. So if I were to do a dictionary, and I am doing a dictionary, I have three different entries, three different senses for this one word, nima. So the translation for the first one, which means is poor. The translation for the second one is humble. And the translation for the third one is common. I think that is the concept, that's closer to the concept of poor and weak that Paul is talking about here. And I think of in English when I think of weak or poor.

[21:37] Now I need to confess to you that oftentimes in my own practice of Christianity, I have not sought to be poor, but I have sought to be proud. When I was in high school, at Foothill, and on Wednesday nights, we'd meet for, we'd meet for youth group. And one of my favorite sort of sections that we did was on apologetics. And I loved, you know, learning all these anecdotes. You know, if you see a turtle on top of a post, you don't ask yourself how did the, you know, the turtle climb up onto the post. You ask who put the turtle there. Or, you know, the complexity of the world and the complexity of cell lining is more complex than a, all the gears inside of a box. So if we see a functioning watch, we don't ask how did these pieces get together, but who built the watch? Who is the watchmaker? I loved it. And I had fantasies of showing up at Mata Vista and being challenged on my faith by someone. And I would come out with the perfect anecdote and they would be gobsmacked and say, Ryan, you were right. God is, God is good. God is true.

[22:43] Well, I never used, successfully used apologetics to bring anyone to the faith. I have to admit, I have had the fortune of bringing people to faith in Christ, but it's never through those tactics. And I think I was wrong in looking for those kind of vain glorious moments to bring people to Christ. I found in my own life that listening to people and getting to know them better and to aligning myself with their need has been a far more, a far better way to help them to identify with his Christ. So if you want to get some information if you want to get some information if you want some information if you want some information if you want some information if you want some information to aligning themselves with weakness in this world so that we can find life in Christ. I think it becomes just another power play. In Masatlan, oftentimes there's four churches that are evangelical, the sort of Horm churches, and in many of them they want nothing more than for the Catholics to throw down their idols and to come congregate at their churches, which I want for them too. But there's sometimes a self-centeredness and an obsession with power and appearances there that I don't think is quite that healthy.

[24:24] So I think Paul is speaking to me through these words, and Paul is speaking to the Maztecs of this world, and I think Paul is speaking to you through these words. God has chosen the lowly things of the world and to the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are so that no one may boast before him. Amen.

[24:44] I look to boast in front of the world. Continuing in verse 30, Paul re-centers us on Christ. Remember that it is Christ crucified. Remember this is Christ. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God. That is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. Christ is the center of our faith. We cannot demand of him.

[25:16] For if we want to remember him for our life we must remember him for our life. For if we want to remember him for our life we must remember him for our life. For if we want to remember him for our life we must remember him for our life. For if we want to remember him for our life we must remember him for our life. For if we want to remember him for our life we must remember him for our life. For if we want to remember him for our life we must remember him for our life. For if we want to remember him for our life we must remember him for our life. For if we want to remember him for our life we must remember him for our life. For if we want to remember him for our life we must remember him for our life. For if we want to remember him for our life we must remember him for our life.

[25:44] Our forefathers that came, you know, the people that came to the Americas, oftentimes didn't bring the faith of Christ, didn't bring Christianity to the indigenous communities in the United States in a sense of meekness, in a sense of aligning themselves with the poor of the world. They sought to dominate and to bring the, instead of bringing Christ in who frees us, they brought a Christ who put us in chains. We had the statue of Juniper Serra, who was toppled recently, which reminds us of the complicated history of the missions and the complicated history that Father Serra had with the poor people, with the indigenous people of California.

[26:36] And I think we in the church get in a lot of trouble when we seek to practice out our faith in power rather than in weakness. So God is centering us, letting us, says, let the one who boasts, boasts in the Lord. May we only boast Jesus Christ. And he goes on, I love this second verse of verse two. And so it was with me brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I did not speak to you, I did not speak to you, I did not speak to you, I did not speak to you, I did not speak to you, I did not speak to you, come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaim the testimony about God. I think here we see Paul feeling the sting of Mars Hill and feeling that he didn't, he didn't win people over, right?

[27:19] They mocked him. But he said, for I resolved to know nothing while I was with you, except for Jesus Christ and him crucified. So Paul is seeking to understand this new work. This is not the Paul who writes from Philippians and who brought the jailers to faith. This is the Paul reflecting on the fact that Mars Hill people thought it was silly what he said, but he knows that it's powerful. And so he is seeking to understand what the meaning of Jesus, of the crucified Christ means. So if you brothers and sisters are feeling stung, if you remember how great his life for you was for you. If you remember how great his life for you the power that is orthogonal to this world. So the power that we participate in through Christ and the wisdom that we participate in through Christ isn't read as powerful or as wise in this world. Lean into that. What does it mean to serve a crucified Christ?

[28:56] And so, brothers and sisters, this is the last couple of verses here. It says, I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power.

[29:18] Let us consider what it means to align ourselves with the Spirit's power in this world. The Spirit's power which is not read as powerful. In your lives, do not seek, to exert authority of the world over others, but invite others into a relationship with this crucified Christ through service. It's not what we think.

[29:48] Not what we think. Too often we want to fight that paper dragon that's coming towards us, and we jump up and we jump up and we just can't land on top of the dragon. We can't do any damage at all. We need to shift and to participate in Christ, align ourselves with him, and we need to be a part of the church. So brothers and sisters, go in weakness.

[30:10] It won't always feel triumphant. It will usually feel like wisdom, but it is satisfying, and it is effective. It will change the world, and it will change other people's hearts. Would you pray with us quickly? Pray with me quickly. Heavenly Father, change me.

[30:30] Make me into the image of God. Make me into the image of your Son, who was crucified on the cross. Help me to give my life in service to others, so that more could participate in your word. And we pray that for all of us as we go out. Show us ways to serve. Show us ways to be servants to the world.

[30:55] We pray this in your name.