The Foolishness of the Gospel preached

1 Corinthians 1:18-23.

18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. 19 As the Scriptures say,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”[a]

20 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. 21 Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. 22 It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. 23 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.

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Have you ever wondered about the Gospel message? Just think about it, from a critical, humanistic and rational point of view. Break it down into a single sentence, and say it.

"I believe in a man, born 2000 years ago claiming to be the Son of God, who walked on this earth, died on a cross, shed his blood, and rose again 3 days later and those who believe in Him as your Lord and Saviour will have everlasting life”.

Now, how logical does that sound? The truth is, we believe in a foolish gospel. Paul even says it, foolishness to the greeks, who seek human wisdom. Gentile’s says “It’s all nonsense”. From even my own rational mind, I would think it’s also nonsense.

But the bible says, verse 24 – Christ is the power of God, and the Wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is Wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strengths.

The last couple of weeks/months i've been talking to a colleague of mine who's an atheist. I personally have no problems about people having their own beliefs, but if there is a bible-pusher, theres also an atheist pusher. And he's one of those, I usually spend most of my time arguing with him, and the problem is that deep down he has no answers, and therefore the easiest answer is to blame God.

He may complain about the moral breakdown of the church, or even the divinity of Christ, but one thing that I had have him cornered is the person of Jesus. But regardless of how much he argues with me, I try and keep it simple, because at the end of the day, I've come to realization that it is the power of the Holy Spirit that convicts people to the power and revelation of Jesus Christ.

But nevertheless, during those times, it had got me thinking about the "Foolishness of the Gospel" in that Paul talks about.

I went back and thought about it, and asked God, how come are Gospel is so hidden? It makes no sense at the same time it does as well. And I felt God answered me, do you know what else is foolish aside from the Gospel? Love.

I wish I can give you a definition of love, but I can’t. Love is more than just an emotion, it’s also a choice and sacrifice. It’s something that we need to survive and cannot live without, but at the same time we understand it so little. We know we need it, and yet we don’t understand it.

The problem about guys is that we think more with our heads than our hearts. The thing about us guys, is that we always want to understand it before we can identify it and allow it to change us. And thats why I believe we are slower at times. But God has created us that way for a reason.

I think that’s also partly why we guys tend to disengage with our emotions because we don’t understand and eventually it affects our capacity to love. We live in a society where people are getting smarter but the divorce rates are getting higher. We’ve even learned not to fool others but also ourselves. Like how I was hearing Pastor TD Jakes saying about a women he had to council “Oh Pastor, I don’t understand, last week, he gave me flowers for our anniversary and made love but this week he wants a divorce”. We can have sex and not be connected, we can hang out with friends our entire lives and never truly know them.

Men can do the most cruel evil things, we can dehumanize people, turn apathetic to the cries of humanity. All in the name of logic. Think about Eugenics, the Spartans used to kill their weak and dying babies to create a society of warriors. The Nazi's did the same thing so that they're species can be strengthen. Even Evolutionism teaches about survival of the species. Love takes a back seat and becomes a chemical balance in our brains.

And yet, love is not logical. There is an element of faith in the impossible. Parents who would do anything to help their disfigured child, giving him the best quality of life possible. People willing to take care of the elderly, despite them not having really much hope or aspiration to achieve much more in life. We treasure things that isn't logical but we know its right, because we care.

Strangely today I was also reading an article on LiveScience on “Why women stay in abusive relationships”. How can women keep on staying on, the highest reasons is “Dependency and affection”. Somehow women can see some inch of light in his character. “Oh but he loves me, he’s so caring when he’s not angry or drunk”. How can you keep on in a relationship when he beats you?

This statement… “I believe I can change Him, or I believe He can change”. You know what that statement speaks off? Love and hope… faith. But faith without Jesus is empty, for it lacks the life-changing power of Jesus.

So love, it's foolishness...

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Then it Hit me... Yes.. Gobsmack in the face.

This is what the Bible says Love is:

1 John 4:10 – And THIS IS REAL LOVE – not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Do you know why the gospel seemingly irrational? Seemingly illogical? A foolish Gospel?

The Gospel is foolish. Why? Because GOD BECAME A FOOL FOR ME.

God took on the mortal coil of man, powerless and weak, and he took the place of the lost soul wandering around in the dark doing as his hearts desires headed for destruction, THE TRUE FOOL, Me.

How foolish is it to die for someone, knowing that they might never understand, they might never feel, they might never know how much you love them, and reject it, never to reciprocate to that love that He shed his very life for.

The Foolishness of the Gospel. Jesus became a fool for me. Because He willingly became a fool for Love.

"I believe in a man, born 2000 years ago claiming to be the Son of God, who walked on this earth, died on a cross, shed his blood, and rose again 3 days later and those who believe in Him as your Lord and Saviour will have everlasting life”.

Yes, He died for me. But the wisdom of God is higher than the wisdom of man.

JESUS ROSE AGAIN! Yes I Love Him, his name is Jesus, and I LOVE HIM!

1 John 15:12-13

12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

He became a fool for me, can I become a fool for Him?