BECOMING FOOLISH TO BE WISE – 1 Corinthians 3:18-23

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on August 5, 2018 under 2018 |

Bethany Bible Church Sunday message; August 5, 2018 from 1 Corinthians 3:18-23

Theme: We can afford to become ‘foolish’ in the sight of this world, because all things are already ours in Christ.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

We have been studying together from 1 Corinthians over the past several weeks. And particularly, we have been considering how Paul had been dealing with the problem of divisions within the Corinthian church.

The Christians in Corinth were behaving immaturely. They were dividing themselves up from one another under their favorite teachers and preachers. Some were saying that they were ‘of Paul’; others were saying that they were ‘of Apollos’, and others were saying that they were ‘of Cephus’ (or Peter). And they were doing all of this in an effort to follow the patterns of mere human wisdom that characterized the unbelieving world around them. They were trying to ‘out-do’ and ‘one-up’ each other in displays of ‘worldly wisdom’.

This has already occupied three chapters of Paul’s letter. And there is still another chapter’s worth that he will have to say about it all. But I believe that, this morning, we come to the crowning portion—the mountaintop—of this long section. In it, Paul gets very practical and very bold, and tells them what they needed to do about it all.

In 1 Corinthians 3:18-23, he wrote;

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. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s (1 Corinthians 3:18-23).

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Now; I have learned something very important as a pastor over the years. It’s a remarkable principle about life-transformation in Christ. I would like to share it with you; because I believe it is key to understanding this morning’s passage.

I am convinced that, whenever someone is suffering under a sinful habit or a destructive addiction of some kind, it is usually because they are actually pursuing something good that they truly need. It’s something that, in accordance with the way God has designed us, is right and proper to have. But because we are fallen in Adam, we often get trapped into trying to fulfill that good and proper need in sinful and destructive ways. And as a pastor, my challenge is to help people see how that genuine need is ultimately fulfilled in a relationship with Jesus by faith. Once we take the time to identify that good and worthy need, and once we see from the Scripture how Jesus ultimately meets that need for us in the deepest way through a relationship with Himself, and once we learn to conform our thinking to the truth of God’s word and trust Jesus for the meeting of that need in our experience, the power of that sinful habit or destructive addiction begins to be broken.

Think, for example, of an addiction to alcohol. Do you know why people drink to excess?—and in fact, why they take any kind of mood-altering substance? There may be lots of secondary reasons; but ultimately, it’s because they want to have control over their feelings and emotions. They want to have peace, or confidence, or a sense of well-being. That’s a right thing to want. Everyone needs a sense of peace and well-being in the circumstances of life. And the wonderful thing is that Jesus Christ offers that to us through a relationship with Himself. He promises us His own peace in the midst of the hardships and trials of life if we will trust Him and obey Him. We are designed by our Creator to have that need met through Jesus. But whenever we listen to the devil’s lies instead and try to meet that need in some other way than through the Lord Jesus—through alcohol or some other substance—we end up harming ourselves and becoming addicted to a substance that controls us instead of meeting our need.

And so, the cure is to first recognize the legitimacy of that need—that we truly need peace and well-being and confidence; and then to see how the Bible promises that this need is met through a relationship with Jesus—how He promises to give us His own peace, if we will ask Him for it and do as He tells us. Then, we ignore the devil’s lies, repent of our old way of thinking, and turn to Jesus and learn to depend upon Him for the meeting of that need. We may have some stumbles and tumbles along the way; but our Lord forgives us each time we fall, and washes us clean when we tell Him we’re sorry, and sets us on the right path again. And after a while, we find that we no longer need a substance to have peace. We have it—in far greater abundance—through Jesus. We have His own peace.

The same is true with every kind of sinful habit or destructive addiction. Why do people become addicted to pornography? It’s because they have a genuine need for relationship and intimacy with someone else. Such relationship and intimacy is an absolutely legitimate need; and it is ultimately met in a deep relationship with Jesus Christ who loves us fully and delights in us. Or why do people engage in violence or have outbursts of anger? It’s because they want to have a sense that their circumstances of life are brought under control. That too is a legitimate need; and it is ultimately met in a relationship with Jesus Christ who is the sovereign over all things and promises to providentially guide the circumstances of our lives for our ultimate good.

Well; as I have thought about this passage and talked about it with others, I have come to believe that Paul was putting this very same principle to work in respect to this particular problem in the lives of the Corinthian Christians. They were trying to become more important than one another through the avenue of ‘human wisdom’. They were identifying themselves inappropriately with their favorite teacher or preacher or apostolic leader; and were doing so in such a way as to say, “I’m more important than you, because I follow Paul”; or, “I’m wiser than you, because I follow Apollos”; or, “I’m more devoted than you, because I follow Peter.” They were measuring themselves by these ungodly, worldly, human-based standards—standards that they were borrowing from the ungodly principles of false ‘wisdom’ that they saw all around them in their culture—and were thus becoming divided from one another and were completely losing sight of their true Lord and Master Jesus.

Now; why were they doing this? What was the thing that they legitimately needed and were ultimately pursing in all this? They legitimately needed a sense of value. They needed a sense of worth. They needed to know that they were not just an insignificant ‘nothing’ in this world, but that they were truly important—that they genuinely mattered.

That’s something that we all really need. And we need it because it’s true to our design. No matter what the world may say, none of us is really unimportant or insignificant. If we have been made in the image of God, and if God sent His Son to die on the cross for us, then every one of us—no matter who we are or what we have done—is inherently valuable. Every one of us truly matters. Every one of us is immeasurably and eternally important. Nobody can bear feeling like a ‘nothing’ for very long; because it’s built into our very design—as beings who are made for an everlasting relationship of love with God—to have that sense of ‘importance’ and ‘significance’ and ‘value’ confirmed. We need to feel as if we matter; because, as eternal beings who are made in the image of God, we do matter!

Think, dear brothers and sisters, of how we see this demonstrated to us on social media all the time. When someone goes to a special event or a concert, why do they want to have their picture taken with a celebrity, or to get a selfie with a performer? There’s certainly nothing wrong with doing that in and of itself. It’s kind of fun. But if we’re honest about it, we like to show that photo off to our friends because, then, they will see that we’re with someone important; and that makes us feel just a little bit more important too. One friend of mine calls this ‘borrowed value’. We draw that temporal sense of ‘importance’—and that temporal boost to our sense of ‘worth’—by being identified, in some way, with that celebrity, or performer, or famous politician. People see our identification with that person and think, “Wow! They must be a little more significant than I thought they were! Look who they’re with!”

That sense of significance and importance and value and worth is a good thing to have. It’s something that we all need. But the Corinthians were going about meeting that need in a wrong and harmful way. They were identifying themselves with good and godly teachers and preachers, but in a very ‘human’ and ‘ungodly’ way; and as a result, they were elevating themselves over one another and becoming divided from one another. And how does Paul address the need? He does so by showing them that the good thing that they truly need is ultimately met in a deep relationship with Jesus Christ. Their sense of value and worth and importance is ultimately found in a deep, saving relationship of love with the Son of God, the King of glory, the Possessor of all things—through whom all things become theirs.

If those Corinthian believers would only come to believe that all of their worth and value was really tied up—in an ultimate and unlimited sense—to a relationship with Jesus; and that through Him, they already possess all the value and worth that they could possibly have in an infinite way; and that no relationship with any other ‘important’ person on earth could ever add one bit to the infinite worth that they already have in Christ, then their addiction to an inordinate association with their favorite teachers and leaders would be broken—and their sinful divisiveness with one another would come to an end.

Dear brothers and sisters; I can’t express enough how important I believe this is to our ultimate happiness and well-being in our Lord Christ—or, even more, to our usefulness to Him in this world as His witnesses. I believe that this passage teaches us that we can repent our efforts to try to be ‘important’ and ‘significant’ before each other in terms of this world’s fallen standards of ‘human wisdom—that we can even afford to be thought of as ‘foolish’ and ‘base’ in the sight of this world—because of a confident trust that all things are already ours in Christ.

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Now; to help this to sink into our hearts, let’s work backward through this passage. Let’s look first at verses 21-23; and get the theological truth established in our thinking. Let’s carefully note—as a first and basic principle—that …

1. ALL THINGS ARE ALREADY OURS IN CHRIST.

Paul wrote, “For all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (vv. 21b-23).

These believers had been dividing themselves up under Paul or Apollos or Cephas. They were saying that they were ‘Paul’s’ people’, or ‘Apollos’ people’, or ‘Peter’s people’. And they had it all wrong. The reality was that Paul was theirs—an so was Apollos—and so equally was Peter. God had given all three to them as teachers and apostolic leaders to serve their needs. To make themselves out to belong singularly to any one of those good and godly teachers would be to lose sight of God’s provision to the Corinthians of all of those teachers!

Dear brothers and sisters; please don’t misunderstand what I am saying. I don’t mean that false teachers or disseminators of false doctrine—in any way—belong to us. But when it comes to truly godly, biblical preachers and teachers, we shouldn’t cut ourselves off from any of them, because they all belong to us. Do you like one particular preacher on the radio? Have you gained a lot of good things from him? Praise God for that. But don’t rob yourself of the benefit of other good, godly, biblical teachers that may not be your particular favorite; because God gave them to you too. And do you gain benefit from your pastor? I certainly hope you do! But don’t hesitate to gain the benefit from other pastors and teachers from other denominations or church affiliations; because God gave them to you too. They are all yours! How rich you are!

Paul goes on to say that the world is also yours. Did you know that the Bible teaches us—in Psalm 24:1-2—that “The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein”? And if it is His—and you are His—then what is His is also yours! What’s more, Paul says that life and death are yours. I believe that he means that we have eternal life in Jesus; and that—just as the Bible promises in 2 Peter 1:3—we have “all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him”. Not only is all of ‘life’ ours but so is ‘death’; because our Lord has conquered death and take the fear of it away through His resurrection. Paul even says that “things present or things to come” are ours. He doesn’t mention the past, because we don’t live in that. Rather, the present circumstances are in His hand, and our future in Him is bright and glorious! “All things are yours!” Paul even says it twice!

When I think of this, I remember Romans 8:28-30;

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified (Romans 8:28-30).

You and I may not be able to lay our hands on ‘all things’—as if we could grab hold of them and do with them as we pleased. Rather, we’re given the promise that all things are in our sovereign Father’s hand for our good; and that He causes ‘all things’ to work together to serve His good purpose for us.

So; we don’t really have anything we have to prove to one another anymore in Christ, do we? We don’t have to try to make ourselves appear more ‘important’ or ‘worthy’ than anyone else anymore. Everything is already ours in Christ—if we will just trust in God’s promise that it is so.

And more; Paul also says, “And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” Can there be any greater significance to us than that we belong to the Son of God? How untrue it would be for us to say that we “belong” to Paul, or Apollos, or Peter, or any other human being! And that’s not where our true significance would lie anyway. Instead, it lies in the fact that we, and Paul, and Apollos, and Peter, and every other redeemed believer, all belong to Jesus Christ—the King of kings—the Lord of glory!—and that He belongs to the heavenly Father!

Paul will be telling us more about it in 1 Corinthians 15. There’s a great mystery in what he tells us there—but only because we do not yet grasp the full magnitude of it. He will be telling us about our resurrection through Jesus; and will say,

Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).

The Father as ‘all in all’; and the Son is subject to Him; and we belong to the Son—so how could we possibly have any greater worth than that? How could we have more significance or importance than we already have through a relationship with Jesus Christ? How could any other human being—or any other thing—or any other association of any kind on earth—possibly add to the unspeakably great significance that is already ours in Christ?

Oh; that we would only believe it! We would never try to ‘out-do’ or ‘one-up’ each other ever again!

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So then; that’s the great truth that we must grasp in Christ. If we have placed our faith in Him, and have trusted in what He has done for us on the cross, then we are already infinitely significant and important because we belong to Him and now have all things through Him. Nothing on earth could ever add to that; and there is nothing on earth that we could ever lack that would ever take away from it.

And that means that …

1. WE CAN AFFORD, THEN, TO BE CONSIDERED ‘FOOLISH’ IN THE SIGHT OF THIS WORLD.

Look back to the beginning of our passage now—to verse 18. Paul wrote to those poor, sinfully focused Corinthian believers—who had lost sight of their significance in Christ; and who were trying to make themselves significant before one another by the fallen standards of ‘human wisdom’—and told them; “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.”

I’m sure you know that Paul was not telling them to become genuinely foolish. The key to this is the phrase “wise in this age”; that is, to understand it as speaking of the fallen human wisdom of this world—the kind of so-called ‘wisdom’ that rejects God’s wisdom as displayed in the cross of Jesus; and that seeks to set up a ‘wisdom’ of its own—the kind of wisdom that Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 1:26 as “wise according to the flesh”. He warns that anyone who counts themselves ‘wise’ according to that kind of ‘wisdom’ is actually deceiving themselves. They’re being fooled.

The Bible teaches us that there is a kind of ‘wisdom’ that is self-deceiving. James 3:13-16 says,

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there (James 3:13-16).

And so, Paul urged his readers that if they were ‘wise’ in that way—that is, wise in the ‘worldly’ kind of wisdom—then they had better become ‘foolish’ in the sight of this world and place their full trust in the cross of Jesus Christ; so that they can be truly wise in the sight of God. It’s far better to be considered a ‘fool’ for the sake of true wisdom of God than to be considered ‘wise’ in that which God declares to be foolish.

Paul goes on to show us from the Old Testament that this is true. In verse 19 he said, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God”; and then goes on to quote from Job 5:13; “For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their own craftiness’ …” The so-called ‘wisdom’ of this world thinks itself to have out-smarted God the Creator—like a clever animal that outsmarts the hunter. But it only ends up tumbling right into the trap. No one should ever try to follow that kind of ‘wisdom’—and certainly, no one should ever try to ‘out-do’ one another in it.

In verse 20, Paul goes on to quote another Old Testament passage—this one from Psalm 94:11; “and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.’” I think that that whole section from Psalm 94 is worth reading. The psalmist wrote:

Understand, you senseless among the people;
And you fools, when will you be wise?
He who planted the ear, shall He not hear?
He who formed the eye, shall He not see?
He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct,
He who teaches man knowledge?
The Lord knows the thoughts of man,
That they are futile (Psalm 94:8-11).

Anyone who thinks themselves wise on those terms is … well … truly a fool. We should never measure ourselves against one another on the basis of such wisdom.

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I believe that Paul concludes the matter in verse 21 with wonderful clarity; “Therefore let no one boast in men.” Given the fact that the wisdom of this world is proven to be foolishness in the sight of God; and since we—right now—already have all things in Christ, and could never possibly be made more significant than we already are in Him …

3. THEREFORE, WE SHOULD CEASE MAKING OUR BOAST IN MEN.

In 1 Corinthians 1:25-31, Paul wrote;

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:25-31).

Dear brothers and sisters; let’s learn to rest completely in the immeasurable significance and worth that is already ours in Jesus Christ—all given to us completely by God’s grace through faith along with Jesus’ cross. And if we do that, then we will never again have to worry about proving ourselves to be ‘something’ by this fallen world’s false ‘wisdom’!

AE