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Rev Graham Harrison           Sunday May 17th a.m. 1998

1 Corinthians 1:26-29

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence [1 Corinthians 1:26-29].

The gospel of course centred in the message, Christ crucified. Paul puts it quite explicitly in the second chapter: 'For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified' [1 Corinthians 2:2]. Previously in this first chapter he has expressed it like this: 'But we preach Christ crucified' [1 Corinthians 1:23]. That was, as he described it, a stumbling block unto the Jews, as well as being foolishness as far as the Greeks were concerned. But he was not to be moved from that message of Christ crucified.

The two objections, as we have already noted earlier in the chapter, were these: first of all - and no doubt Paul would have had the majority of the congregation in view at this point, because they would have been basically Greeks there in the city of Corinth - that the gospel was 'foolish'. In actual fact the English word that comes from the word that is used here for 'foolish' is the word 'moron' or 'moronic'. If you call somebody today a moron, you certainly would not be saying something very complimentary about him. But that was the sort of thing that these Greeks were saying about the gospel - it is something moronic, so foolish, not even elementary. It is trivial, it is not even worth the consideration of rational men. So the Apostle has been mentioning that objection.

Then, particularly with the Jews in mind, he has raised the other objection that it was weak. He who was 'the Christ,' could never have been crucified - at least not according to popular Jewish understanding. It was impossible that the One who had been sent to deliver the people of God should end up Himself being nailed to a cross apparently as a helpless victim. Consequently the two words 'Christ crucified' were incompatible to the average Jew.

So here were these well-meaning Corinthian Christians who were saying, 'Look! We are surrounded by Greeks with all their tradition of learning and wisdom, and by a significant minority of Jews. We want to impress them with the gospel! If they start out from the point of thinking that it is either foolish or contemptuously weak, we are not going to get anywhere. We want somehow to be able to relate to these people at a more profound level and to disprove their popular ideas. We need to come at them in some more high-powered intellectual way so that they will see that we are not fools, we are not morons. Then, if we are able to explain to them the death of Jesus Christ, we will show that was not something that was weak.'

Paul says: 'I am not going along those paths at all! I shall preach in the future as I have preached in the past. You cannot move me from this. The line that I have taken is a line that is dictated by the very nature of the gospel.' Then Paul introduces something else. It is as if he is saying: 'You know the trouble with you and with the thinking that you are giving yourselves up to, is that you need to be humbled. You have not recognised that above everything else this is what the gospel does when it comes to a man; it humbles him. And there is nothing so humbling as this realisation that the gospel that the world dismisses as foolishness, or else as something that is so contemptuously weak, is in fact the wisdom of God and the power of God.

These then are the lines along which Paul has been arguing. He has made this very explicit statement that it is God's purpose to humble all human wisdom and all human strength. He has actually quoted from the Old Testament: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent' [1 Corinthians 1:19]. It is nothing but the preaching of the cross that actually does this - that is what the gospel accomplishes as it shows God's supreme wisdom and God's incomparable power.

Now in these particular verses, what Paul does is to say: 'I can prove that argument to you very, very simply. I can prove my case to you without any difficulty at all. Have you ever thought about yourselves? "For ye see your calling, brethren!" Look at yourselves! "Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called" - and you are the very people who are asking for some injection of great wisdom and great strength into the gospel - but the gospel that saved you, is not that gospel that now you are looking for! Look at yourselves! You do not come from up there, you come from right down here - most of you are from the bottom layers of society. There are not many geniuses among you. There are not many amongst you who were in positions of high authority in society. Nobody who is high born, or not many at any rate. Have you taken leave of your senses? Do you not realise that you in fact are a wonderful vindication of the rightness of the message that was preached to you. You are therefore giving yourself up to something that is really incomprehensible if you are arguing as I understand you to have been arguing.'

So that is how Paul approaches it; he tells them to look at themselves. 'For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.'

I wonder what their reaction would have been when they received that, perhaps when they gathered on the Lord's day to worship God and to hear somebody preaching! One of the leaders of the church stood up and said: 'We have had a letter from the Apostle Paul. He seems to have got wind of one or two things that we have been saying and doing. It is quite a long letter and I want to read it to you!' Then they began at 1 Corinthians 1:1 and went on to the end of chapter 16! I am quite sure there must have been a few embarrassed people in that congregation. Perhaps there would have been a few indignant people in the congregation also! Maybe especially when these verses were read out. 'For ye see your calling, brethren...' and then he progressively cuts them down to size. 'Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called'. Paul is reducing them in their own estimation.

So here the Apostle is showing us something not simply about the method of the gospel but about the wonder of the gospel, and I want us to pay particular attention to the very way in which he expresses it. 'For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.' He does not say 'not any' but 'not many' and there is a difference. You can have a form of snobbery that is an inverted snobbery. We are all familiar with the sort of snobbery of somebody who operates at a high level in society and will not deign to come down to the level of lesser mortals - but you can have snobbery operating in the reverse direction as well. Somebody perhaps comes from a quite ordinary background and makes considerable progress in life and does not become big-headed or anything like that - he is still is as he has always been. But the people from whom he has come somehow react against him; they feel resentment that he has got on. It is really an inverted form of snobbery and both forms are entirely out of place in the Christian Church. So Paul says 'not many', he does not say 'not any'.

The story is told of a lady who is famous in Christian history in Britain, Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. She was a noblewoman who lived in the eighteenth century. When she was converted she sought to witness to her fellow members of the aristocracy. She knew George Whitefield, the greatest preacher of the Methodist Revival, and would invite him along to her salon in London where he would preach the gospel to members of high society. The Lord and Ladies would be there and Whitefield would preach exactly the same gospel that he had preached to the miners in Kingswood or to the mobs on one of the commons in London - there was no difference at all in the message that he preached. Sometimes people were converted. The story is told about Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, that she used to say of herself that she was saved by an 'm' - and the 'm' is the 'm' that begins the word 'many'! If Paul had said 'not any' the Lady Huntingdons of this world would have been damned - but Paul did not say 'not any' he said 'not many'! 'For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called', and it is something that we always need to remember. Snobbery can have two faces, the obvious and the inverted, and both forms are equally obnoxious to the Christian message!

So this is the way in which Paul drives it home to these people. I am sure we can all think of individuals that have been known to us and perhaps that are still known to us - people, who as we put it, have got on in the world. They have risen above their circumstances; maybe they were very intelligent people, or perhaps they had a particular skill in business and really made advances in the world. That is good, there is nothing against that for a Christian. But I am sure that you can also think of that sort of person who has also got on, but who has forgotten where he has come from. Perhaps if ever your path crosses with theirs again, you begin to feel that you are a bit of an embarrassment to them! They do not greet you as a long lost friend; rather they keep you at a distance and now assume airs and graces that are quite ridiculous.

As I say this I can think of what to me has always been an amusing example of it in my own experience. When I was still a theological student I was the student pastor of a sleepy, little, village - and I think each one of those words is necessary - Baptist Chapel in Oxfordshire. One Sunday, after the evening service, the wife of one of the deacons came to me and said, 'Next Sunday Miss So-and-So will be here.' 'Oh,' I said, 'And who is Miss So-and-So?' Then she began to tell me. 'She comes once or maybe twice a year.' Miss So-and-So was the lady from the village who had made good. She had become the head of the telephonists at the local market town about four miles away. Sure enough when she came next Sunday, you could almost imagine her in the royal car giving her grandiose wave to the adoring crowds. Everybody was holding their bated breath. Really I found it all rather amusing, but it was an illustration of this same point. Here was somebody who in her own little way had got on as far as those village people were concerned. But they had managed to get everything out of perspective and she was happily playing the part. She was coming on what was in effect a state visit to the little chapel from which she had originated.

'For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:' and as if he is not content with that, Paul continues with increasing emphasis. 'But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:' Foolish, weak, base, despised, things which are not, - that is how he is describing the congregation, there in Corinth. You can imagine them squirming on their seats with indignation. 'Who does he think he is speaking of? Does he not realise what we are?'

But, you see, this was how Paul was speaking of them and speaking to them. He was saying in effect, 'Do you not realise that in what God has done in you and with you, you are a remarkable testimony to the wisdom of God and to the power of God. All your Greek learning could not have helped you. No, all the moralisings of the Jews did not do you any good either. But Christ crucified was preached and you - yes you, so many of whom in the eyes of the world are foolish, weak, despised, non-entities, nobodies - experienced the mercy of God! Look at what He has done to you; look at the difference that has taken place in your lives!'

Then my mind goes over to those wonderful words: 'Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you' [1 Corinthians 6:9-11]. In other words he says to them, 'You know what you used to be. Think what you were when God called you, when He came to you and saved you. Many of you were in one or other of these categories: fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers - and all the moralism of the Jews and the learning of the Greeks did not help you! But "Christ crucified" did! Look at the transformation that has been wrought in your lives by the gospel. That is not foolishness;' he says, 'that is wisdom, God's wisdom. Men might call it foolishness but it is profound wisdom. Men might call it weakness but there is strength here.' So Paul is telling them to look at themselves.

Now these verses teach us a number of very interesting and very important truths about the church. Let me approach it like this a nd put a question to you. If you are a Christian this morning, why are you a Christian? How would you answer that question 'Why am I a Christian?' I would be more interested, not actually in the content of what you say in reply, but rather in the form in which you reply. You see if you begin with the word 'I', it is almost guaranteed that there will be something deficient, if not fundamentally wrong, about your answer. If you begin with 'God', it is inherently much more probable that you are on the right lines. Why did you become a Christian? 'Oh it was because "I"...'- and then you come out with something about your intelligence or your wisdom in seeing the right way, etc. But that is not what Paul is after here! He is speaking about the grace of God.

Why were these people Christians? It was because God had called them, because God had chosen them. You notice how he puts it: 'For ye see your calling, brethren.' That is referring to the call of God not to their occupations or professions. When the Apostle Paul had stood there in Corinth - preaching first of all in the synagogue and then probably in the open air - there was something more to his preaching than a mere man discoursing on the subject of religion. There was this divine voice, the divine call that came through as Paul was preaching, with the result that one and another of these Corinthian individuals found that God was speaking to them. God was calling them and they had responded. 'For ye see your calling, brethren'. Then in verses 27 and 28: 'But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are'.

Why are you a Christian? If you are a Christian you are a Christian because God has called you, God has chosen you - not because of something in you, but because of the initiative of God. About twenty years or so ago I remember a little paperback being published, I forget the exact title but it was something along these lines - 'Why I am a Christian'. That was the gist of the title, if it was not the exact wording. They had assembled a whole collection of quite eminent people; some of them were politicians, some of them were leading businessmen, scientists, professors, sportsmen, scholars - all sorts of people from all walks of life, who were Christians and who were happy to be called Christians. They had invited each of them to answer the question 'Why am I a Christian?'. Chapter after chapter more or less gave you the life story of this particular individual and how at such and such a time he decided to become a Christian for these various reasons.

Amongst the individuals that were approached there was a quite well known minister of the gospel whom I happened to be acquainted with. I turned to what he had to say and all that he had written was about two paragraphs. He did not give us any biography; he answered simply in terms of the grace of God. God had had mercy upon him, a sinner. I suppose the editors of the volume were probably kicking themselves for having asked him in the first place, because what they were expecting from him was what all the other people had given - but he had made his point! He had seen that you do not impress the world by producing professor So-and-So, or an individual who is a great sportsman or another who is a scientist or a politician, and say, 'Ah, look, if these are Christians, you can be too!' It is a foolish argument because you could bring out not one but innumerable volumes of other professors and scientists and sportsman, who would not touch Christianity with a barge pole - and the logic of the argument is, 'If they are not Christians, I am not going to be either!' No, a Christian is a Christian by the grace of God - solely and simply because God is a gracious, a merciful God, who is kind towards sinners. 'For ye see your calling, brethren, ... God hath chosen ... God hath chosen ... God hath chosen'.

So it speaks to us of the sovereign grace of God - the grace that seeks us out when we are sinners. All that we can say, as the language of many of our hymns puts it, is along the lines: 'He drew me, and I followed on'. But the initiative was with Him.

No man can truly say
That Jesus is the Lord,
Unless Thou take the veil away,
And breathe the living word;

Lord I was blind! I could not see
In Thy marred visage any grace;

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
'Come unto Me and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down
Thy head upon My breast!'

I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary, and worn, and sad;
I found in Him a resting-place,
And He has made me glad.

Just as I am, without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee,
Oh Lamb of God, I come!

Paul is always working on this principle that from beginning to end it is the grace of God, not human merit or human distinction, that causes God to choose people. It is this sovereign grace of God. That means that the church is really quite unlike any other institution in society. All other institutions look for qualifications. If you want to join a political party you have got to ally yourself with the political principles of that party. There is many a club that would divide itself up from the rest of society because of the particular part of society from which it draws its members. You can never bridge the gap and get into a select club like that. In all these ways human institutions are exclusive of those people who do not happen to have the particular qualifications that they deem necessary for membership of that society.

But it is not so with the church. There is one qualification, faith in Jesus Christ. But granted that, anything goes as far as human differentiations are concerned. It does not matter where you come from, whether you are high born or right down there at the bottom of the pile. It makes no difference what your politics are, how much your bank balance is, or is not, what sort of person you might be temperamentally, your race or the colour of your skin. All of these things are irrelevant. In the church people of all these distinctive positions are able to come together and find their oneness, their unity in the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is something absolutely distinctive in that way. And surely the church is a great testimony to the grace of God when you see it reaching these parts of society that are quite untouched by all the moralists and the politicians and the reformers of this world - when you discover that here is somebody helpless in the grip of sin and God has rescued him. Nothing but the grace of God can do that. That is a great testimony to God's power and God's love.

Let me drive it home to you in terms of an illustration. Think back to the time of your school days, or your youth. There was a game being played. You were being divided up into two teams and everybody had to line up. Two captains were chosen; they tossed up and the winner had first choice Then the process began. 'I will have him'. 'Oh, I will have him.' and on it went, one by one. Of course if it was a game of football and you were the captain, you would choose the best footballer first of all. If it was rounders, then somebody who could handle the bat. But the lines gradually got shorter and shorter until the people who were left at the end were useless. Nobody wanted them, but somebody had to have them. Do you see the point? It is as if God has begun at that end! 'Here is somebody that nobody wants. I will have him! I will make something of him. Here is somebody who is weak, somebody who is despised, somebody who is never going to be anything in this world. I will take him!' God works not on the basis of our qualifications, but in terms of his grace and his mercy.

Perhaps some of you can think back to the embarrassing experience that it was to be left there as perhaps one of the last two, or even the last one - not to be chosen, but one of the captains was landed with you. He had to have you. Thank God there is no need for anybody to be embarrassed in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes, and to His everlasting praise, He takes the rubbish of society. He takes that which society would cast on the scrap heap - and He makes of them trophies of His grace.

Why does He do it? Well Paul gives us the answer in verse 29: 'That no flesh should glory in his presence'. No flesh should glory before Him, no flesh should boast before Him, that is what he is saying. We all have the tendency to boast. We all like people to think well of us. We enjoy the congratulations; we enjoy the looks that people give to us and the whispers that they are making about us if we assume that they are whispers that are creditable and commendable. But with the Christian, God must have the glory. Why am I a Christian? Because of the grace of God. Why are you a Christian? Simply because of the grace of God. It was not that God saw your potential, and said, 'I would like him, I would like her in my church. I could possibly do something with him. If I add my grace to his inherent ability, why, anything is possible!' No, that is not so! What you have is by the grace of almighty God, and therefore all the praise, all the glory, must be given to God.

Perhaps some of you saw on your television newsreels recently a degree awarding ceremony, I think it was the Open University. It reminded me that sometimes you get these universities awarding what they call an honorary degree to a certain eminent individual. You are never quite sure who is the giver and who is the recipient of the honour - is it the University bestowing honour upon the person that they are giving the degree to, or is it really - and perhaps this is the case with some of the newer Universities - seeking to get a bit of kudos from the individual that they are giving the honour to? Well, in this matter of the gospel and the church, all the honour is to God. We do not bring anything that rubs off on Him by way of praise and credit. Instead we are entirely the recipients of the mercy of God.

Paul makes this point because men need to be humbled before God. Nobody ever becomes a Christian without being humbled, without being brought low before God. One of our hymns describes the gospel invitation:

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
'Behold I freely give
The living water ...

... - thirsty one,
Stoop down, and drink, and live!

So once again let me put to you the questions that these words of Paul press upon us. If you are a Christian, 'Why are you a Christian?' And then the other question, 'Have you ever been humbled before God?'

Amen.
 

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