Series on First Corinthians

→ You ever try to share the gospel with somebody who is just heaped up on worldly wisdom? Oh man, they just stick their nose up, "This is ridiculous, it’s just ridiculous."

It’s like [this] guy one time, a Harvard professor, was debating a creationist professor and they had their charts out there and he showed like four and a half billion years ago, the universe formed, lightning struck a rock and life crawled out and he gave his spiel. Well, then the creationists got up there and he was showing his timeline, he says, "this happened here, this happened here, in the gap to the ark." And the professor trying to shame the creationist said, "Sir", (you’re not supposed to interrupt an opening argument in a debate, but he did, because he’s wise in his own eyes) he said, "there are over 150 breed of dog, do you presuppose that I accept that all those dog came from that ark?" The creationist who was empowered with the wisdom of God looked at that guy’s chart and looked at his chart and he said, "Do you see what you’re proposing? You’re proposing all 150 breed of dog came from a rock!"

You know, they polled the students, this is why they don’t debate creationists anymore, They say, "No, no, no, it’s settled science!" That’s what they all say [anymore], settled science.

Anyway, they polled the Harvard students prior to that debate and a good majority of them said, "No God, no God, no God." After the debate they polled them again, this time the majority, super majority of them said, (about the Creation argument), "Yeah, you know, this is science [too], this is more plausible."

And so, that’s why all these debates you read about [took place] back in the 40s and the 50s and the 60s. Then they just stopped debating, because they kept on losing. They’re ignoring us, like we’re stupid. That’s exactly what Paul says,

→ They’re perishing, they’ve already written it off.

→ He gave [them up and turned] them over to their lust. They’ve chosen their path.

(Like many today,) the ancient Greeks were big into worldly wisdom. There [was] a group of “mental elites” called, the "sophists" (the Greek word for wisdom is sophia, the Greek goddess of wisdom is:…​ Sophia). These sophists would display their eloquent speaking skills of memorized lectures to appear as all-knowing experts. The epicurean [& stoic] philosophers, you know, Socrates, Plato, all these guys, they were, "quote," enlightened…​

In fact, to the Greek, there were only two [kinds of] people in the world, the Greeks and barbarians. The term barbarian came from the expression for the person for whom Greek was not their primary language. It came from the term to babble (like ba, ba, ba. We would say blah, blah, blah); and to the Greek, all others were not even worth listening to. Often their clever attitudes would lead them to talking down to others with disdain.

Paul even used the word barbarian to the Corinthians (which he visited after his time in Athens)

This disdain was captured when Paul first went to Athens.

You know, when Paul came to Athens, he was invited to speak at the Areopagus because some philosophers had heard him when he was preaching daily in the marketplace. So, what did the philosophers think of Paul? Luke says in,

Luke continues in verse 21

That’s what these elites would do, sit around and discuss new things. The Greek philosophers, you know, lover of wisdom, that’s what that means, philosopher. It sounds fancy does[n’t] it? I majored in philosophy. You love wisdom. Oh yeah, [that’s great], I do too! You don’t need a degree to love wisdom, by the way. To the lost, it is foolishness…​

The gospel is the lifeline extended to lift us out of a world of darkness and into the safety of His everlasting arms. It is a powerful message which opens the door to submit to a new Master and carry a new hope. God’s wisdom is empowering for the longing-heart in search of the Creator of the universe. God’s wisdom, predominantly through the gospel account, is powerful.

And as said in 1 Corinthians 1:18b - …​to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

That’s the wisdom. That is more supreme than anything else. Paul continues in verse 19

In that passage, Isaiah described the ignorance of the Jewish people prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. They honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him (verse 13 of Isaiah 29). In the same way, the “clever” ones, in Paul’s day, would not listen to the gospel message, for to them it was like babbling.

(SR: Douglas makes a personal comment using the personal pronoun, "I" here in his sermon. Normally, when he does that I try to find a similar situation from my life that I can substitute. However, I’m going to give you his comment because it’s a sobering thought about higher education.)

Douglas says, "I have two degrees in the Bible and ministry. It doesn’t mean anything if I don’t follow what God’s word says. In fact, I found, the more education you get, I said, "No more Bible degree", somebody said "Get an MDiv." I looked at them, I said, 'No, because people that I know, that often get the PhDs in the Bible, it’s like the Bible doesn’t mean anything anymore [to them]'. It’s like too much studying has made thee mad."

(SR: 1 Corinthians 1:18, For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.) — The Wisdom of God is Powerful!