1 Corinthians 1:18–31

¹⁸For 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. ¹⁹For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." ²⁰Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. ²²For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. ²⁶For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." (1Co 1:18 ESV)

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the truly spiritual man? Where is the good Christian who is following Christ faithfully? He is right here, sitting in the pews, standing in this pulpit. There is not a single one of us who is not wise, who is not a good Christian, who is not spiritual....at least in our own eyes. We are all theologians of glory. We see ourselves as being on the road to glory, and even if not, Jesus has fixed things so that we can somehow get back onto the glory road.

If I were to ask you, "What must you do to become a better Christian; to become more holy and righteous?" you would say things like, "Go to church more often," or "read the Bible more," or "work harder to be a good person." "Help my neighbor," or "be an honest and hard worker." "Then I would be a better Christian and more pleasing to God." But this is the path of human wisdom that looks to our own work, our own strengths, our own effort. This is the glory road. Hard work. Self-reliance. Dedication. Become a better person. You have it in you, just put it to work. It all assumes that we have what it takes in us. It glorifies ourselves. It is mere boasting. It is the theology of glory.

The only problem with this wisdom, with being super spiritual, with traveling the glory road is what God says in Isaiah and what Paul repeats here: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise." In other words, you can just take all your wisdom, spiritual insight, spirituality, holiness, hard work, and righteousness and throw it in the trash can, because that's how much it's all worth.

If you really want to see just what all your wisdom, spirituality and good works are worth, take a look at Jesus on the cross. Look close at those lashes on his back, at the bruises on his cheeks, at the thorns stabbing his scalp, at the nails piercing his hands and feet, at the bloody gash in his side—that's the work of all your wisdom, goodness, spiritual discernment and effort to be better people.

But alas, all your work, efforts, and goodness is the glory road. It's all about us, our work, our accomplishments, our brains, our glory. We are a proud and boastful people. We are a nation of competitive braggarts. We claim to be the best dressed, or have the best team, or the cutest baby, or the highest grades in school. We sing in Annie Get Your Gun, "Anything you can do, I can do better." We claim to have the best church, the best worship service, the best theology and that we are the most pleasing to God. We might even say to ourselves, "I've been a very fine elder, or committee member, or faithful member at church." Sometimes we even boast about our humility. We make sure everyone knows just how rotten and lousy we are, how much we have messed up, how much of a loser we are, all so people can admire our humility. We are all the shiny example of what God likes. We are each one a model Christian. Yes, if there is anything we are good at it is boasting.

So go ahead and boast of your wisdom and of being a spiritual Christian. Then look at Jesus on the cross. Do you see how glorious and powerful and mighty he is. No! You see weakness, foolishness, and shame. You see blood. You see death. But that foolishness you see in the cross is wiser than your wisdom. The weakness you see there is more powerful than your power. The shame you see in the cross is more glorious than your glory. For God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world to bring to nothing things that are praised and glorious, so that no human being "might boast in the presence of God."

The cross of Jesus is a mirror of your shame, your humility, your lowliness. That is why we observe the season of Lent in the church, to focus on our sin and shame. The cross is a mirror. He did it to bring us wise men to shame. To bring the strong and mighty to their knees. To bring the high-born down low. As the Virgin Mary sings in the Magnificat, "God has shown strength with his arm; has scattered the proud...brought down the mighty...and has sent the rich away empty." He did it to make us realize that such things like pride and self-reliance and our own wisdom and righteousness are an obstacle, a barrier to fellowship with him. Inflated, puffed up, full of ourselves, we cannot pass through the door to God. Our own wisdom, our own spiritual maturity, our own good works are nothing but "filthy rags" to God.

But to teach us the lesson of the cross, we sometimes must bear our own crosses in a variety of ways: by embarrassing moments, by outright failures in our life. God humbles us with our failures and weaknesses, our aging and deteriorating body, our illness and pain. Sometimes God even uses weak, simple, and even disabled people to shame us by their goodness, generosity, kindness, and humility; in order to rebuke our haughtiness and teach us. The story is told of a truck which could not pass under a bridge on the highway. While the baffled driver and the befuddled crowds of on-lookers stood by scratching their heads, a child in the crowd spoke up, "Why not take a little air out of the tires to make the truck a little lower." Much to the embarrassment of the driver and crowd, it worked. The truck was able to pass through.

God chose what is low and despised in the world so that no human might boast in the presence of God. By the cross we are stripped of self; of any goodness, any wisdom and discernment. We are poor beggars. We are but dust without merit or goodness. No amount of trying harder, working more, or self-improvement will avail because we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have nothing to boast about.

But, on the other hand, the cross itself is a reason to boast according to St. Paul. Consider your new calling. Paul says in verse 30, "You are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption." We have a sort of paradox here. We have nothing to boast about of ourselves, but because "You are in Christ Jesus," that is something to boast about. He has bought you with his own precious blood. He is your redemption and by your Baptism has joined you to himself. So that now you do have a righteousness to boast about—the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He has restored your relationship with God. You were born again by Baptism as God's children. You can now boast of holiness before God, that is, the holiness of Jesus Christ. For in Christ he has set you apart as something wonderful. Jesus Christ is your reason to boast. His suffering, betrayal, lashes, thorns, nails, blood, cross and death are what you can boast about. For in all of this He has become righteousness to you; his cross is the greater wisdom and it belongs to you. Jesus' suffering and death are his greatest glory and they belong to you Baptized believers. The weakness of his cross was his triumph over sin, Satan, and death. So in the same way, your weakness, humility, shame, and suffering in Christ are now your greatest glory. We may be weak to the world. We may be fools to the world. We may be humble and lowly to the world. But this is precisely what we have to boast about. So consider your calling: "Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth, but God chose the foolishness in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world to bring to nothing things that are."

Now, because you are in him, Christ Jesus has become wisdom from God to you. He has become your righteousness. He has become your sanctification. So that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." Amen.