1 Corinthians 1:26-31

October 8, 2017

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

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The sermon starts at 16:00 in the audio file.

Or, Boasting Like a Nobody

I’m not sure what evangelism and apologetics and pastoral ministry were like a couple hundred years ago. We have some books, we can study history, but it’s hard to get a full picture of both what men wanted to say and what men wanted to hear. Since I’ve been alive and able to listen to gospel preaching and gospel presentations the emphasis is usually on how much value and worth and significance the other person has in God’s eyes. You don’t have to search too far to hear, “God values you so much that He sent His Son to die for you.” But, is that true?

What is man’s worth in God’s eyes? Does God see something of value in us that causes Him to love us? Yes, men are made in God’s image. No other created being in the universe has such capacity for glory as a human being. We do believe that all human life, all human lives, are valuable in this respect. But even at this point no person has inherent importance. Any value is still a gift and worth is borrowed. Our best glory is reflected glory.

And that was before the fall of mankind in Adam. We are all born into Adam’s guilt. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. We are sinners and we sin. We are wretched.

Yet men want to feel good about themselves. They want others to think they are great. They want respect and appreciation and admiration. They want to be liked, and get likes.

In his 17th century book Pensees, Blaise Pascal wrote:

That something so obvious as the vanity of the world should be so little recognized that people find it odd and surprising to be told that it is foolish to seek greatness; that is most remarkable. (Pensees, 5)

The cross does not boost our egos, it kills them. The cross does not make us feel good about ourselves, the cross demands that we repent from loving ourselves. Love of self belongs with wisdom as the world defines it. That’s why the world thinks that a crucified Christ is folly. But the word of the cross is the power of God and it ruins the world’s evaluation of status. Some people think a crucified Christ is foolish, yet a crucified Christ saves fools.

Paul could have pointed to any number of proofs, but he starts with the personal testimonies of those to whom he wrote. They were not special, certainly not in the world’s eyes. They didn’t have extra influence. They were nobodies. And Paul says God chose them to receive everything in Jesus. All they lost was pretense and all they gained was glory in God.

There were quarrels in the church (1 Corinthians 1:11) apparently not based on who was speaking the truth but who said it better. Believers were tempted to divide from one another based on a pecking order of personality and external preferences. But the church isn’t built around significance, it’s built around the cross, and the significant people of the world think a crucified Christ is offensive. Paul wants the believers to boast, but to boast like a nobody. To get them there he urges them to consider their calling.

The Fact of Their Calling: They Weren’t Significant (verse 26)

Paul’s first evidence is the status of most of the church. They weren’t great or popular or pretty people by worldly standards.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Paul tells them to stop and assess, as if he said, “Look at yourselves! No one thought of you as anything special.”

The wise guys are those esteemed for their education and intelligence, at least according to worldly standards (κατὰ σάρκα, “according to the flesh”). The powerful are the influential; “the strength in view is not the strength of the weight-lifter but the strength of the opinion-maker” (Carson, The Cross and Christian Ministry, 27). Those of noble birth are those with [...]