When Folly Is Wise

If God’s people would please
take their Bibles and turn to 1st Corinthians once again. 1st Corinthians chapter 1. You know, basically where we
are. Paul has begun in his opening
chapter here to the Corinthians, he’s dealt with the formalities
and in chapter 10, he got into it quickly into addressing the
sin in the Corinthian church, which was basically that of disunity,
division. Paul had begun the process of
trying to repair and restore this priceless treasure of the
church that he had been privileged to help establish. Having identified that threat,
he obviously wants to counter that threat. We began last week
in observing that threat being countered by the apostle himself,
because the division was in part about him. There were those aligning
themselves under his name and opposing others in others’ names,
Apollos and Peter, and even of Christ. Well, Paul, first of
all, lays down boundaries for ministry. He wants to argue from
those boundaries that there are things that he was providentially
prevented from doing, baptism being foremost, that he sees
a deadly and disfiguring feature of this church. the division
over personalities, and he identifies his own calling, narrows his
calling in order to forestall this division and even stop it
altogether. He wants to point out the God-given
boundaries, ministry parameters, that really have safeguarded
him. And so there were not only ministry
parameters, as we saw, that Christ is not a divided Christ, that
Paul was not a savior, that Paul was not crucified for anyone,
but we also saw parameters on Paul’s ministry, that God had
providentially hindered him from doing more baptisms so that there
would not be more division. But then Paul lands by telling
us last week of the necessity of these parameters, and that’s
where I want to begin this week. What is the reason for these
limitations? Well, because Paul had his duties. He couldn’t do all things. He
couldn’t be all things to all people and still accomplish what
God had primarily sent him to do, which was to preach the gospel. That leads to a discussion of
the foolishness of the cross there in verse 18. And the fact
that that same Foolishness, as judged by some people, those
who are perishing, is also the very means that others are saved. Well, in verse 19, he closes
out that discussion by saying that, I will destroy the wisdom
of the wise and the cleverness of the clever. I will set aside
a quote from Isaiah 29, 14. which was basically Paul’s forecast
of where he’s going for the next four chapters. It’s going to
be an interplay, a contrast between earthly wisdom and divine wisdom. And the whole purpose of that
passage is to suggest that God is already at work destroying
the wisdom of the wise. And with that, Paul initiates
a segue into his second main argument against the division
within the Corinthian church. It’s his argument from wisdom. So if you would, please read
along with me, beginning in verse 20 of chapter one, all the way
down through verse 31. Where is the wise man? Where
is the scribe? Where is the debater of this
age? Has not God made foolish the
wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God
the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God
was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached
to save those who believe. For indeed, Jews ask for signs
and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, a stumbling block,
and to Gentiles, foolishness. But to those who are the called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ is 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 consider your calling, brethren, there were not many wise according
to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen
the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. And God has
chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which
are strong. and the base things of the world
and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that
he may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast
before God. But by his doing you are in Christ
Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God. and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption so that just as it is written,
let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. Paul closed that previous paragraph
with that quote from Isaiah 29, 14. I will destroy the wisdom
of the wise and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside
It’s divine prophecy, as we saw last week. And the citation,
as we saw from Isaiah 29, 14, was originally given to the Jews. It was a rebuke to them for their
hypocrisy, for the way that they were dealing in their service
with God himself. And they were specifically adopting
man-made wisdom. men’s ideas over those of God
himself. And God rebukes them by undercutting
the very thing in which they had placed their hope, namely,
their worldly wisdom. And so when Paul quotes it here,
he’s basically echoing this thought as being equally true today.
That God is already destroying the so-called wisdom of the wise
by the simplicity of the gospel in the cross of Christ. And with
this, as I said, Paul initiates a discussion that will carry
all the way through to chapter four. What we want to consider
this morning is when folly is wise. When is what the world
calls foolishness really wisdom? And what we want to do is uncover
the wisdom of foolishness. And it is as if I probe us into
a deep, dark cave, what I would call the cave of foolishness,
in order to mine out the jewels of wisdom. That’s what Paul does
in the remainder of this chapter, and I would suggest to you that
there are four nuggets of wisdom, four jewels that we must consider. First of all, that we’ll look
at this morning is the humiliation of divine wisdom. It’s not divine
wisdom being humiliated, it is the humiliation of all other
wisdom when standing next to divine wisdom. In verses 22 through
25, then, we will look at the power of divine wisdom. The divine wisdom actually accomplishes
something. Thirdly, we’ll look in verses
26 through 29 at the proof of divine wisdom. And I believe Paul probably encouraged
the Corinthians themselves to look around to see the mighty
things that God had done in their midst in saving others. That’s the proof. And then lastly,
we’ll look at the graces of divine wisdom. The humiliation, the
power, the proof, and the graces of divine wisdom. But for this
morning, for our purposes, let’s look first at the humiliation
of divine wisdom. It’s found there in verses 20
and 21. Look again at verse 20. Where
is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is
the debater of this age? God by means of the Holy Spirit,
working through Paul here, is goading the men of the world.
Just as he had done in Isaiah 29, the passage that Paul cites
in verse 19, you, he says, who put so much stock, all of your
stock, in fact, in the wisdom of men, where is your so-called
wise men? The Greek word for wise man here
is sophos, from where we get our word sophist. What the Greek
mind valued most highly were these sophists, a professional
teacher of rhetoric and philosophy who was at the same time a perpetual
student, a professional egghead who bandied about all kinds of
ideas, but never landed on a single view as truth. This is Paul’s
challenge to the Greeks, whose entire worldview was built around
worldly wisdom. What the Greek mind desired was
what we would call philosophy. just theory and speculation about
life’s questions, not definitive truth. Such philosophy was built
around the astute observations of men. But other than simple
proverbial statements, they never settled on any definitive positions
about life’s most important questions. It was just a never ending cycle
of speculation and debate and speech making, good oratory,
entertainment, really. It never took a dogmatic, concrete
position. And that’s because really God
had blinded their eyes in their arrogance. Luke 10, 21 cites
Jesus’ words. At that very time, he rejoiced
greatly in the Holy Spirit and said, I praise you, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things
from the wise and intelligent. Such a wobbly philosopher was
considered wise because he could talk. and discourse at length
at a scholarly level over a great variety of topics. That was Greek
wisdom. But with all of his learning,
and all of his observing, and all of his thinking, and pondering,
and speculating, and theorizing, and speech making, he was never
able, even himself, to come to the place of eternal salvation.
Let alone lead anyone else to that place, a place of everlasting
rest. The problem was they never really
dealt with the problem and the reality of sin. They never arrived
at the need of a savior and they never desired or sought redemption. That is redemption through Christ’s
blood atonement. Would you turn briefly to 2 Timothy
3? It paints a very fascinating
picture, especially in concert with the day and age in which
we find ourselves. 2 Timothy 3, start with me in verse one. Realize
this, that in the last days, difficult times will come. For
men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant,
revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving,
irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal,
haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of
pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness,
although they have denied its power, avoid such men as these.” And then Paul tells us why. For
among them are those who enter into households and captivate
weak women, weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,
always learning. Such was the Greek philosopher.
Always learning and never able to come. to the knowledge of
the truth. And so Paul probingly inquires,
almost needling those that would hear this message, where is the
wise man? And he turns to the Jew very
pointedly and asks a similar question. Where is the scribe? The scribe here to the Jew would
be considered the equivalent of the wise man to the Greeks,
the sophist. This was the scholarly man of
the Jews, the rabbi, the man of exceedingly great learning
and insight. The scribe was a man who had
a far better chance at landing on positions of truth because
he trafficked in the Old Testament scriptures. In the ancient days,
a scribe was merely the secretary to the king and he would write
out and generate the king’s edicts. But in time, in Jesus’ time,
a scribe was a fastidious student of the law, God’s law. He would
transcribe biblical documents as well as teach them. And it’s
no accident. that Paul takes this as the only
opportunity in all of his writings to utilize this term, scribe,
that Paul knew. Paul knew the sordid history
of the scribes in their relationship to Christ. He knew how different
the scribes’ teaching was from the Savior’s. Without any real
power or authority, He knew of their bitter attacks on Jesus.
They called him a blasphemer. They demanded signs. They grumbled
about Jesus and his friends. They scrutinized his every move,
especially his actions on the Sabbath. They criticized his
disciples. And Jesus knew full well of their
hatred that it would only grow and ultimately And eventually
these very scribes would be among the ones leading the charge to
kill him. No wonder they drew that eightfold
rebuke recorded in Matthew 23. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites. And so look. How sad is this? Paul asks the same question of
the Jews that he asks of the Greeks. Where is he? Where is this scribe? One who knows the deep things
of God, who can lead you heavenward, where is he? And he signifies that he was nowhere
to be found. Even the Jewish scribe, one so
trained and knowledgeable about the Word of God, was nowhere
to be found when it came to leading others to saving faith. And the silence is deafening. And so he inquires about a third
helper. Where is the debater of this age? And while the wise
man was the creation of Greek culture, And the scribe was a
product of Jewish culture. The debater really could be either
of those men. Paul basically asked them to
look out and to see where is that wise man, whether Greek
or Jew, who’s prepared to go toe to toe with Almighty God. Where is that one with all the
answers? Where is this erudite scholar,
either from the Greek schools of philosophy or from the rabbinical
schools of Judaism, who is skilled enough to contend with God on
the stage of ideas and truth? And the silence is once again
deafening. And the questions, while rhetorical,
are not and cannot be answered Such men are reduced to utter
silence before God. And so both the wise man and
the scribe are nowhere to be found intellectually, unavailable
to contend with God himself. And since no one else is prepared
to expose them, why he’s over there? Since no one else steps up to
answer Paul Will. It’s the last question in verse
20. Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? No wonder
they don’t want to step up. It’s utterly ludicrous what they
would propose. Paul’s answer comes in the form
of this fourth question. And it, just like the previous
questions, is rhetorical. But this one, unlike the previous
three, expects an affirmative answer. Has not God made foolish
the wisdom of the world? Indeed, he has. And this rebukes
any person who alleges any measure of wisdom that is independent
of that which God alone supplies. God has laid human wisdom low,
even to the point of being foolishness itself, the very epithet, with
which they described the message of the cross. Of course, no one
is willing to stand. No one is willing to debate or
contend with the Almighty because God has completely nullified
the so-called wisdom of the world. When Paul refers to the world
here, I want you to notice it could better be translated as
the age, the wisdom of the age. Paul is speaking of the state
of society, the state of the things of his day, academic,
ethical, social, all of it. Paul elaborates on the miserable
state of things in Romans 1, you know that, right? God in
his infinite wisdom had uncovered the reality of so-called wisdom
the wisdom of the world, and he labeled it as foolishness. And he did so by allowing that
man made wisdom to just run its course. Let them do their thing. And then he finished it off.
By completing his plan of redemption in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Would you take your Bibles and
turn to Romans 1, keep a finger in 1 Corinthians, we’ll bounce
back and forth, but I want you to just note something. This is the destruction of man-made
wisdom. You’ll see it in verse 22 and
23. Professing to be wise, they became fools. and exchanged the glory of the
incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man
and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. They totally idolized the things
that God has made as opposed to worshiping God himself. Their man-made wisdom degenerated
into a blinding stupidity. There was this vacuum. where
learning did not lead to righteousness, the vile filth of corruption
filled the void. The greater man’s boasting of
their attainment of knowledge, the greater the fall into chaotic
and godless thinking. One pastor said of that event,
this is the great unhappiness of man. Not only to feel this
malady, but to extract a matter of pride from what ought to be
his shame. They love their sin. They love
their foolishness. What they esteemed their wisdom
was truly their folly. All their knowledge for which
they valued themselves was no avail in promoting virtue or
happiness. That is exactly what is taking
place. God had obliterated worldly wisdom
by allowing it simply to run its course into utter futility,
which makes this entire verse the real-time application of
the prophecy that Paul quotes back in verse 19. I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will
set aside.” God has confounded worldly wisdom completely. How? Look at verse 21. Back to 1 Corinthians, if you
would. Keeping a finger in Romans. Look at verse 21. And the most
basic initial thought in this sentence reads like this, the
world did not come to know God. That’s the ultimate test of ideas
and philosophies, isn’t it? Does it save? Shouldn’t that
be the ultimate concern? How do I deal with the problem
of sin? But the reality was that neither
Greek philosophy nor Jewish understanding of Old Testament prophecy and
law ever led anyone to salvation. The bottom line was that neither
of those approaches, the Greeks’ pursuit of wisdom or the Jews’
pursuit of legal interpretation, led sinners to being saved. Neither
the teachers of these ideas, not their countless pupils, Greeks
and Jews, ever came to saving faith. It’s not as if they didn’t
try, and it’s not as if God didn’t give them plenty of help. Think, just listen, and think
for a minute on Psalm 19. Listen to how indicting this
is. The heavens are telling of the
glory of God. Their expanse is declaring the
work of his hands. Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there
words. Their voice is not heard. Their line goes out through all
the earth, and their utterance is to the end of the world. In
them he has placed a tent for the sun, which is as a bridegroom
coming out of its chamber. It rejoices as a strong man to
run his course. Its rising is from one end of
the heavens and its circuit is to the other end of them. And
there is nothing hidden from its heat. He’s talking about
the sun. And he says that every day, every
person ever born, all they have to do is look up in the sky to
see a testimony of God in his power and might. And they miss
it. They miss it or better yet, they
suppress it. They know God is God. They know
what he’s like. If you have your finger in Romans
one, turn back there. You know, the context of this
passage, there were some criticizing Paul saying that he was promising
things that he had no intention of keeping. Perhaps he was even
ashamed of the message that he was proclaiming. He wasn’t ashamed
Glanced down at verse 15 thus for my part I am eager to preach
the gospel to you also who are in Rome for I am not ashamed
of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone
who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek and For
in it that is in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed
from faith to faith as it is written, but the righteous man
shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven. Against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that
which is known about God is evident within them. for God made it
evident to them. How? How is it that every person
ever born knows that there’s a God? And we can start there
as Christians. We don’t have to prove that there’s
a God in order to have a spiritual conversation. They know there’s
a God. How? Because God made it evident
to them. How? Look at verse 20. For since the creation of the
world, All they have to do is open their eyes and see the magnificence
of God’s creation. And they know that there’s a
God. They may not know his name. They may not have his address.
They may not know exactly how to approach him, but they know
there’s a God. Look at it. His invisible attributes,
His eternal power, His divine nature have been clearly seen,
being understood through what has been made so that they are
without excuse. Every person ever born on the
face of the planet knows there’s a God. Would you turn back to 1 Corinthians
1 and glance at the sentence? Paul points out that the world,
through its wisdom, did not come to know God. And note that this was their
wisdom. Their wisdom failed here at the
most important question of life. These were not just run-of-the-mill
thoughts or ideas. These were their best ideas. This was their best attempt at
discovering truth. Back in Romans, Paul had elaborated
on the divine revelation granted to every person. But here, this
knowledge should have led them into an intensified pursuit of
the knowledge of God, and it didn’t. Here in 1 Corinthians,
he details the abuse of that knowledge. Paul just says they
suppress it. Here in 1 Corinthians, he points
out that they spiritually blinded themselves to the truth. They had a form of wisdom, wisdom
in a sense, but it was not saving knowledge. And in the end, it
was vanity, futility, emptiness, failure. God had not left himself
without a witness, but they couldn’t see. They would not see. God stymied their attempt at
gaining and exercising worldly wisdom. Glance again at the passage. Verse 21, Paul says that the
fact that the world did not come to the knowledge of God through
their own wisdom was itself bound up in the wisdom of God. This
was God’s plan. These things didn’t just happen,
they were ordained in the eternal decrees of a sovereign God. Once
again, God draws a careful contrast here between the wisdom of men,
which leads nowhere, and the wisdom of God, which leads believers
to salvation. The only thing that worldly wisdom
accomplishes is nothing more than speculation
and opinions. God’s wisdom emanates from his
eternal decree. It is settled from all eternity
to bring those who thought that they were wise to empty shame,
while at the same time bringing those who humble themselves as
little children to faith and salvation. According to God’s wisdom, the
best course for humanity was to allow their vain philosophies
and interpretations to simply run their course. That humanity
might see and know their utter emptiness, and that’s exactly
what Paul, as you know, goes on to say in Romans 1. Even though
they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but
they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became
fools, and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God
for an image in the form of corruptible man, birds, four-footed animals,
crawling creatures. Paul declares plainly here that
this vexing truth was spoken not only of the Greeks, the Gentiles,
it was true also of the Jews. And worse, because in the Jews,
in addition to the general revelation that the Gentiles squandered,
the Jews were blessed with a special revelation of God’s word. and
the many theophanies which God had revealed himself, the pillar
of fire, Mount Sinai, and so many more. No wonder, Paul, let me give
you the good news. Turn to Romans 3. Romans 3, look down at verse
21. But now, apart from the law, The Gentiles are under sin, the
Jews are under sin, and the law is of no help. But now, apart
from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being
witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For
there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through
the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly
as a propitiation in his blood through faith. And given that, given that man’s
wisdom, worldly wisdom had failed completely, And also, according
to the fact that God’s wisdom was the answer, we come to the
second statement in 1 Corinthians 121, which you turn back there. I just ask you to glance at verse
21 once again. because this is also in the eternal
counsel of God Almighty. This is His wisdom. In the wisdom
of God, God was pleased through the foolishness of the message
preached to save those who believe. Just utterly astounding. According
to God’s great exercise of wisdom, In the total overthrow of earthly
wisdom, God utilized a message that the world would judge as
foolish. A message of salvation through
faith in one who was crucified for sinners. This, Paul says,
pleased God. This approach made God happy. In the message of the cross,
God was pleased. It pleased God. Paul uses this
same word in Colossians 1 to speak of the nature of Christ. It was the Father’s good pleasure.
It pleased God for all the fullness to dwell in him. This plan of
redemption was according to God’s good pleasure. It didn’t just
happen. Not only that some should esteem
this message as foolish, but that some also might hear this
very message, this means of salvation, that they should come to know
God intimately and savingly. Human wisdom had utterly failed
to save sinners. So God, in his wisdom, ordained
that a message of a crucified Savior, foolishness to the world,
would be that very means of salvation. And so, there is yet another side to
that verse we considered a moment ago. We looked at Luke’s version
of that statement of Christ. Here’s Matthew’s. At that time,
Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that
you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent
and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, this was well pleasing
in your sight. Whereas God had hidden his saving
truth, who were arrogant, wise in their own estimation, he had
revealed them fully to those who were humble, spiritual infants
who were willing to humble themselves and acknowledge their crying
need for a savior. Worldly wisdom couldn’t do this.
God did. Worldly wisdom did not savingly
enlighten anyone. God did. Worldly wisdom could
offer no hope. God did. Worldly wisdom could
not save. God did. And that which the world
regarded as nonsense, foolishness, moronic, God used to save sinners,
which had to be a stunning rebuke to Mr. Worldly Wise Man. Jesus
Christ was indeed the true light coming into the world that enlightens
every man. When Paul speaks of the message
preached here, he isn’t talking about a particular sermon or
even the particular act of communication, that of preaching. When Paul
speaks of preaching here, it refers to the message itself,
not the manner in which it’s delivered. Paul is talking about
the message preached, the gospel. The message of Christ crucified
for sinners. That message was the very foundation
of the gospel, especially for Paul. that Jesus had died for
sinners in such an inglorious manner. Remember, this is the very thought
that led us into this discussion, chapter one, verse 18. Glance
down at that verse. For the word of the cross is
foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us, who are
being saved, it is the power of God. To the Galatians, Paul
reminded them that the cross was the only ground of boasting. To the Philippians, Paul said
that the cross was the greatest mark of Christ’s humility. To the Colossians, he said that
the most stupendous accomplishment ever for sinners was Christ going
to the cross through him, as he said, to reconcile all things
to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross.
Paul could never bear to accommodate the harsh critics of his God
and Savior, whose wisdom it was to couch man’s redemption in
the vicious and humiliating crucifixion of Jesus. And when Paul speaks
here of the foolishness of the message preached, that’s not
his esteem of the gospel. That’s not his opinion of the
message of the cross of Christ, and it certainly isn’t God’s
opinion. Nope. The assessment of this message
of salvation by faith in a crucified Savior was considered foolish
in the hearts of the men of the world, both Jews and Greeks.
The world considers the message of the cross foolishness, and
it’s judged as such because it cannot be attained through their
intellectualism or their crafty pursuits. But only through faith,
foolishness, cries the world. And here, the final word on Wisdom
and foolishness is not pragmatics, what works. It’s not tradition,
what have we as a people always done. It’s not sophistry, what
makes sense from a human point of view. It’s not rhetoric, mere
words that sound good, but do not give life. None of that. The ultimate question is what
saves. God was well pleased through
the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. The message that actually does
something to and for the believer. It grants the believer in Christ
everlasting life through faith in Jesus Christ. And this believing
is not a one-time act, but it’s an ongoing, active, vibrant,
ever-increasing confidence in the finished work of Christ.
It grows. Such faith delivers the sinner
from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. It
deals with his sin fully and finally, and it declares those
righteous who were once doomed sinners. In spite of the majority
opinion who deem this message to be utter foolishness, there
were those, there have always been those, who heard the simple
message of the gospel, That Christ died on the cross for sinners. Who believe? They believe in
the message that the world considers foolishness. They took God at his word. No
wonder Paul in Romans one. Said as we read. In it. that is in the gospel, the righteousness
of God is revealed from faith to faith. That faith will grow. And so as we close this morning,
I wanna ask you, do you really believe this? Do you really believe that there’s
a God? And that he’s a holy God, and
at the same time, a merciful God? a God who longs for peaceable
fellowship with his creation? Do you really believe that God
ordained a plan of redemption from eternity past to save sinners? Do you really believe that you
are a sinner and that without some kind of divine and merciful
assistance that you are doomed for eternity? that your sin was
so great that even if there were not another single sinner like
you, Christ would have gone to that cross. Do you really believe that God
sent his own son to take on human flesh? That Christ would leave
his father’s side to do that? Do you really believe that in
God’s wisdom, he purposed for his own son to die and in glorious
cross. To make payment for the sin of
the world. The God’s justice system was so great that it demanded
a perfect sacrifice. Do you really believe that? Do
you really believe that simply by placing your faith in that
message, in that Savior, in that God who ordained such a plan? Because if you believe all of
that, you’re a fool. Well, that’s what the world would
say. And if you’re worried about what
the world thinks, You’re already on shaky ground. But if you still
believe all of that, all of those things, not just a one time assent,
but even as you sit here this morning, you are able to assent
to all of those things. Even if the entire world. Every
last person stood mocking you for believing such things. And
you pressed on. then you have laid hold of God’s
wisdom. God has imparted to you his wisdom. It’s a wisdom that saves. It’s folly that is at its core
truly wise. Would you humble yourself before
him? Our merciful God, we know that
we did not deserve such wisdom. We know that we were foolish
ourselves and inclined to all kinds of sinful activity. And yet in your infinite mercy,
you drew near to us and you brought us to repentance. You showed
us our sin, which was so great and so horrible, and yet you
had mercy. You showed to us a Savior, a Savior who had already suffered
on our behalf and paid our penalty in full. You showed to us Christ,
our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, whatever the world calls
it, call it foolishness if they will. For us, it is the wisdom
that leads to salvation, and we rejoice in it. We pray these
things in Jesus’ name. Amen.