THE FOOLISHNESS OF GOD (Part 2)
THE CHOSEN NOBODIES
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
A British parlor maid named Gladys Aylward grew up among the poor of England, and because of a learning disability, dropped out of school and become a domestic servant for a well-to-do British family. Her job demanded long hours, hard work, and low pay. When she was in her late twenties, she was riding a bus, reading a newspaper. There was an article about the need for missionaries in China. From that moment on, Gladys’s heart was broken for China, and she resolved to go herself. She applied to the board of the China Inland Mission, but they turned her down. Crushed with disappointment, she returned to her small upstairs room, opened her purse, and turned in upside down. Two pennies fell onto her Bible. She said, “O God, here’s my Bible! Here’s my money! Here’s me! Use me, God.” She started scrimping and saving every penny she earned, and she finally determined that while she could never save enough to travel to China by ship, she could scrape together enough for a train ticket across Europe and Asia, a dangerous crossing because of a war blazing on the Manchurian border.
The day finally came when a few bewildered friends and family members gathered at London’s Liverpool Station to see her off. She traveled from England across the Channel to the Hague, across Europe to Moscow, and across Siberia toward China. Bundled in an overcoat and orange frock, Gladys carried her bedroll, two suitcases (one stocked with food), and a bag clanking with pots and pans. Day and night the train pressed on into the frigid, Siberian wasteland, and finally stopped in the dead of night in the middle of the wasteland, at the war zone. The other passengers, all soldiers, disembarked and headed in the direction of gunfire. Gladys got off and starting trudging back, suitcases in hand, the way the train had come and nearly died before she found the nearest station.
By sheer determination Gladys Aylward finally arrived in China and moved in with an older single missionary woman --- who, as it turned out, didn’t quite know what to do with her.
To make a long story short, Gladys Aylward, parlor maid from England, became one of the most famous missionaries of the twentieth century, a woman who has been called “the most noted single woman missionary in modern history.” A popular biography about her was made into a movie starring Ingrid Bergman. She was featured in an episode of television’s “This Is Your Life.” She dined with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. She traveled the world, speaking in some of America’s greatest churches.
Gladys once said, “I wasn’t God’s first choice for what I’ve done for China. There was somebody else . . . I don’t know who it was --- God’s first choice. I don’t know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasn’t willing. . . . And God looked down . . . and saw Gladys Aylward” (Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes, pp. 459-460).
However, I would have to disagree with Miss Aylward. I don’t believe she was God’s second, third, or fourth choice. I believe she was God’s first choice. Why do I think that? Because God delights in saving and using the nobodies of the world.
TITLE: The Chosen Nobodies: part 2 of the series, The Foolishness of God
TEXT: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Many of you probably have childhood memories of teams being picked before a game of baseball or soccer. The biggest and the best are always picked first. Maybe some of you experienced the embarrassment of being picked last. You were considered the least athletic or the least popular. You hoped that just once you wouldn’t be picked last, but every time it was the same --- last. But God isn’t like us. The kid who always is picked last on the playground is the one whom God would pick first.
PROPOSITION: God has chosen to save the nobodies of the world so that all boasting will be eliminated except boasting in Him.
I. GOD SAVES THE NOBODIES OF THE WORLD SO THAT NO ONE MAY BOAST BEFORE HIM (vv. 26-29).
A. God doesn’t save many of the wise, influential, and wealthy people of the world (v. 26).
Paul wants the Corinthians to recall what they were before they were saved. He says to them, “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called.” What were they? Paul states, “Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many influential; not many were of noble birth.”
The Corinthians had a problem with pride. Paul writes in 4:18, “Some of you have become arrogant,” and he declares in 5:2, “You are proud.” So to combat the sin of pride, Paul reminds the Corinthians of their humble past. No many of them were “wise,” “influential,” or “of noble birth.” “By human standards” they were nobodies.
Application: The same is true of us. None of us belong to the world’s elite. He didn’t choose to save only the popular and beautiful people of the world --- people like Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, and Ben Affleck. Instead, God has chosen to call ordinary people like you and me to salvation. We should thank God that He doesn’t value the standards of the world.
Some opponents of Christianity have tried to turn Paul’s words against the gospel. They say that only the ignorant and the foolish become Christians. For example, in the second century the critic Celsus sneered at Christianity in these terms:
Their injunctions are like this: “Let no one educated, no one wise, no one sensible draw near. For these abilities are thought by us to be evils. But as for anyone ignorant, anyone stupid, anyone uneducated, anyone who is a child, let him come boldly.” By the fact that they themselves admit that these people are worthy of their God, they show that they want and are able to convince only the foolish, dishonourable and stupid, and only slaves, women, and children. [Contra Celsum 3.44]
Many contemporary intellectuals work very hard at conveying the impression that all Christians are simpletons.
However, Paul’s point is not that you have to be a fool or poor to be a Christian. Notice that Paul repeatedly says “not many” rather than “not any.” In the days of the great evangelist George Whitefield, the Countess of Huntingdon used to say that she was saved by an m: God’s Word declares “not many noble,” not “not any noble.” Some of the world’s wise, influential, and wealthy people have been saved --- not many, but some.
So what then is Paul saying in this verse? His point is that being wise or influential or of noble birth cannot possibly be a qualification for being a Christian.
No one could argue that the Christianity is basically a high-class operation with a few exceptions to prove how open-minded it is. Rather, it is a low-class operation with a few sophisticated exceptions to prove that the “wise” and the “influential” and those “of noble birth” are not necessarily excluded. God’s grace can reach anyone --- the wise and the illiterate, the influential and the unimpressive, the rich and the poor.
But Paul makes it very clear that being highly regarded by the world is in no sense an advantage in the eyes of God. The wise, influential, and wealthy people of the world need just the same amount of God’s grace in order to be saved than the world’s ordinary folk.
Application: Why is it that we constantly parade Christian athletes, media personalities, and pop singers? Why should we think that their their experiences of grace are of any more significance than those of any other believer? (Example: former member of Korn).
God doesn’t save many of the wise, influential, and wealthy people of the world. What is God’s reason for this?
B. The salvation of the nobodies of the world disgraces the somebodies of the world (vv. 27-28).
Instead of choosing only those who are “wise,” “influential,” or “of noble birth,” “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He 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.”
God has nullified the things that seem to be so important to the world: intellect, power, wealth, popularity. God has shown that these things are passing away --- they are temporary. They have no eternal importance. They do not help a person to obtain salvation.
The wise man can’t figure his way into heaven. Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children” (Matt. 11:25).
The influential man can’t force his way into heaven. Jesus stated, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to me [not even the most powerful man on earth] except through me” (John 14:6).
The rich man can’t buy his way into heaven. Our Lord once declared, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matt. 19:23-24).
It’s not that God favors the lowly people. It’s true that God chooses who will be saved, but it’s also true that God gives people the freedom to chose to be saved. I believe that any person can choose to be saved, but the reality is that those who are great according to the world’s perspective find it very difficult to humble themselves before God and put their complete trust in Jesus Christ. Their wisdom, influence, and wealth become barriers between them and salvation. They are used to being self-sufficient. They feel they are fine without God.
I don’t think Paul wishes to demean the Corinthians when he describes them as “foolish,” “weak,” “lowly,” and “despised.” Instead, he wants them to praise God for His grace shown to them. The world ignored them, but God chose them.
As proud men and women of the world parade their mighty intellects, God chooses the simple. As self-centered leaders of the world lust for more power, God chooses the weak. As the wealthy people of the world compare each other’s riches, God chooses the poor. Why? Why does God choose more nobodies than somebodies?
C. No one can boast that his or her wisdom, influence, or wealth was any advantage in receiving salvation (v. 29).
The wise man cannot boast, “I am saved because of my intellect.” The influential man can’t boast, “I am saved because of my power.” The wealthy man can’t boast, “I am saved because of my money.” Boasting in ourselves has been eliminated.
If anyone has a proper understanding of the gospel, one must say, with Paul, “Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded” (Rom. 3:27). It is only by God’s grace that we can be saved.
II. GOD SAVES THE NOBODIES OF THE WORLD SO THAT THEY MIGHT BOAST IN HIM (vv. 30-31).
A. It is because of God --- and only God --- that they are saved (v. 30).
Paul states, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus.” It is not because of us that we are saved. It is only because of God that we are in Christ Jesus.
We might not be wise by human standards, but Christ “ has become for us wisdom from God.” “Wisdom from God” is true wisdom. It is the wisdom of the cross and all its benefits: “righteousness,” “holiness,” and “redemption.”
It is only because of God that we are saved. So, again, we have no reason to boast in ourselves. But there is one kind of boasting permitted to Christians. Actually, it is commanded of them.
B. Since salvation is completely due to God’s grace, all who have been saved must boast in Him (v. 31).
Paul concludes by quoting Jeremiah 9:24: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Application: The Corinthians were a group of Christians who had a problem with pride. They were boasting that they were more spiritual than others, that their opinions were the best. So Paul says to them, “Wait a minute! Think back to what you were when God saved you.” We struggle with pride just like the Corinthians. We need to be reminded of our past. I think Paul would say to us, “You weren’t great by human standards. God didn’t save you because of what you were. You saved you in spite of what you were. So don’t start boasting now. Don’t start feeling superior now. Be humble because the only reason why you’re a Christian is the grace of God.” If we would stop to think about this, we would have less division and more love in our church.
INVITATION
· God has eliminated all spiritual boasting. Would you resolve to boast less and love more?
· Maybe you haven’t yet been saved. God doesn’t care about how great or unimportant you are by the world’s standards. He will receive you if you put your whole trust in Jesus Christ who died for your sins and rose again.
