The gospel doesn’t make sense. We have established that in Part I of this series.
With all the wisdom I have acquired in this world, with what I know of how the world works and with all my human knowledge and understanding, I will think the message of the Gospel foolish, because it is so different from what I would expect.
I would expect a Gospel where I need to do something. In all truth, I still often act like I believe that. I have been a follower of Jesus for many years now, and still so often I fall into the trap of thinking I need to do good things, read my Bible more and pray harder because then He’d love me more.
But in actuality, He doesn’t love me more, because He already infinitely loves me. He has already infinitely loved me before I spoke my first prayer or was even able to read. It’s impossible to love me more than He already does.
No matter what I do, He will always love me.
But that doesn’t make sense in a world where I always have to do something to be better. So, to get the ultimate best thing, it seems impossible to not do anything for it.
It sounds foolish that all I need to do is accept that gift for myself. It really doesn’t make sense in the wisdom of this world.
That is the foolishness Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians. That is how the Gospel sounds foolish to those who don’t believe. Those who don’t believe have to rely on their worldly wisdom to understand, but it doesn’t make sense.
Paul writes: “God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21 NIV). The Messiah wasn’t like the Jews expected 2000 years ago. Jesus wasn’t what the Greeks thought Him to be 2000 years ago. Jesus isn’t what we so often expect Him to be today.
The Jews expected miracles, the Greeks expected wise words (1 Corinthians 1:22), and we would expect to have to earn it (amongst other things).
That is what makes this message so difficult to understand. That is why it is sometimes a battle to accept it for ourselves, and why so often I fall into the trap of running according to my worldly wisdom instead of acting in the godly wisdom that has been revealed to me.
God used the foolishness of this world to fulfill His plan, to save us from exactly that foolishness. He knew that we would fail at saving ourselves, that it’s impossible for us to do so.
That’s why He sent His son, but no one saw Him coming the way He did.
The beauty of it is that because of my own foolishness, I would never be able to understand this. I am not following Jesus because I was so wise to accept this gift for my own life. My worldly wisdom prevents me from understanding this myself.
I am a Jesus follower because the Spirit revealed the secrets to me that I wouldn’t have understood otherwise. There is nothing I have done to earn it, nothing I have achieved, nothing I have understood on my own.
Instead, the Spirit of God revealed it to me (1 Corinthians 2:12-14).
The only thing I did is accept it for myself. That was my free choice. I could have said no. For some mysterious reason, I said yes. But other than that, it was all God. The Spirit. All grace.
It is all grace.
The message of the Gospel is foolish from a worldly perspective. The reason why some of us don’t think it is foolish but accept it as truth is not because some of us are wiser, better, or more perceptive.
It is because God, in His infinite grace, for some unknown reason, has revealed it to us through His Spirit. And for some other unknown reason, I accepted.
Read part three of this series here.
This is part two of a three-part series about foolishness and wisdom. Read part one here.
