“The foolishness of preaching”

(1 Cor 1-18-25)

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

Where 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? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom. God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

This preacher loves to take note of times when what is going on in the world is contrary to what she reads in the Gospel. For me, this is the meat and potatoes of sermonizing, but it can be hard to swallow some days. When preachers see things like this, the contrasts become our illustrations for preaching on the scripture text of the day, but the contrasts must also challenge us.

For example, here’s one we really don’t pay attention to. From Matthew 6:19: Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Now these words are in direct contrast to the wisdom of the world that clearly tells us that we need to store up treasures on earth. Now, of course we know that it is very important to plan for the future, especially in our world today. And we know that, for ancient people, these words would have landed quite differently.

BUT this clearly illustrates how the wisdom of the world contrasts with the wisdom of God because the wisdom of God tells the truth about how we know our heart is where our treasure is. And it tells us that if we are finding power and meaning in our lives through piling up money and treasures for investment, we have forgotten that power and meaning ONLY comes from God.

See how this works? So, our text tells us that God has made foolish the wisdom of the world. Rather, God made foolish the wisdom of the world through the foolishness of preaching. So, as we fools stand up and try to proclaim the Gospel, every once in a while, we get something right. Every once in a while, we find that we can point out how the wisdom of God can transform our lives.

Today’s text shows that all of us preachers and lay people alike, should not take ourselves so darned seriously. As verse 21 says, “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided through the foolishness of our preaching, to save those who believe.” So, lest we forget that preachers and all church people are only human, remember 1st Corinthians, chapter 1:21! God can work even through us fools!

Once we begin to notice times when the wisdom of the world is called into question and the foolishness of the Gospel wins, we might even become fools for the Gospel ourselves.

In thinking about how to illustrate this truth, I remembered a time some 25 years ago. Now, some of you remember Blessing, right? …For those who didn’t know her, she was our dear friend who was a refugee from Nigeria. She came to Akron to live with her brother Sam who was a graduate of the University of Akron.

Now Blessing’s husband, John, had been executed by the Nigerian government in 1995, along with 8 other men who were protesting the actions of several international oil companies. They were called the Ogani 9. The oil companies in collusion with the corrupt Nigerian government had polluted the coastal area of southern Nigeria. The fishing and the farming industries were the only means of making a living in coastal Nigeria. In addition, the pipelines these global oil companies had built were shoddy and dangerous. Many local people lost their lives attempting to break into the lines so they could heat their homes. Things were terrible for the people who lived in the Port Harcourt area.

Blessing’s husband, John, was a preacher and a brave man who was standing up for his people. He could not be quiet about these injustices. After a while he was arrested and eventually hanged by the Nigerian government. Blessing, on hearing this news, had to escape to a refugee camp in Benin because her life would have been in danger if she stayed. Eventually she was able to make it to the United States, to Akron, in 1997. A friend of mine in Columbus contacted me, suggesting I reach out to this brave woman. This began a wonderful friendship between her and me and with our congregation here in Peninsula. You all helped her out time after time. Presently she is living in Fort Worth, Texas.

So, there’s the background for my story. Back in the late 90’s my step-grandmother had died at a grand old age of 93. Now, our family and she were not that close, but her passing represented the loss of the last person in her generation.

When I heard of her death and the scheduling of her funeral, I made plans to be there. In the meanwhile I had told Blessing about Lena’s death. She asked me when the burial would be. I told her Thursday. She immediately said, “I will go with you.” If you knew Blessing you would hear this, not as a question, but as a statement of how things would be.

I protested, “Oh Blessing, you don’t have to go. You’re so busy with school and work.” She insisted, “I will go with you,” even after she realized she would have to change her hair-do appointment!

Now, I was glad to have her with me—she was my precious friend, but how often does a woman take off work and cancel a hair appointment to go to the funeral of someone she doesn’t even know—especially a very, very old person? Most of us simply don’t have the time or the inclination to do that sort of thing, right? We probably think to ourselves, “Oh, it won’t make any difference if I’m not there.” I can say this because I rationalize my absences this very way too.

I think Blessing’s insistence on going with me to the funeral reflected a difference in our cultures. For her, when the loved one of someone you love dies, you are there, no matter what the sacrifice. And I was grateful that she was there. I was newly divorced and doing a lot of things on my own. Her strength, her presence, her faithfulness was, in fact, a blessing to me and my family.

In today’s text we are faced with a difference in cultures: the wisdom of the world clashes with the foolishness of the Gospel. The message of the cross is the power of God—and that contradiction seems foolish when lined up beside the world’s wisdom. The world’s wisdom tells us that no good thing can come from death on a cross—that it is only a defeat. I talked a bit about this last week when Peter rebuked Jesus for declaring what his fate would be.

Well, I think that we run into tensions all the time between the wisdom of the world and God’s wisdom. Sometimes we even have opportunities to make choices between God’s wisdom (as foolish as it might seem) and the wisdom of the world.

Blessing’s knowing that she needed to be with me and my family was a basic and fundamental aligning herself with knowing that being together at important times in life is God’s way. Another time she put everything aside to be with us was when my sister was on her death bed. Blessing insisted that she go with me to sit with Linda and pray and sing. Now, this wasn’t necessarily convenient for Blessing or for me, but I knew how important it was for her and me, but she brought a holiness to my sister’s deathbed that cannot even be described. This is about following the wisdom of God AND the foolishness of the Gospel. It is the way we ought to live in the Jesus House, the way we are the body of Christ for each other. It is the sacrifices we make for each other in spite of the cost in time or money.

Now, the world tells us we must consider our own needs first (and sometimes we really do need to do that), but God’s wisdom, the foolishness of the Gospel tells us we need to be there for each other.

So where does that foolishness of preaching come into this? Well, I bet you already are able to write a do-it-yourself sermon here. A world-smart preacher will tell her congregation what they want to hear. She might say, “Oh, I understand why so-and-so makes you uncomfortable when they come to church, so if you ignore that person, they’ll probably go away. A foolish preacher, on the other hand, challenges her congregation at every turn by asking them to welcome all people all the time.

A world-smart preacher and her congregation will not go public with the church’s position on LGBTQ people. “We’ll just do this quietly and gradually,” they might think. A foolish preacher, as well as a foolish congregation who follows God’s wisdom will insist on signs and banners and publicity everywhere.

…Now, I know that I am a people pleaser and my approach on many issues during my career has been to gradually, carefully try to move people toward what I see as the Gospel position without going straight at it. As a result, I am usually loved, but I wonder sometimes if I’ve made a difference.

For example, after 9 years in Wellington, I was hearing about how many in the congregation were disagreeing with the guy who followed me when he decided to take on the Lorain County Fair Board for selling Confederate flags at the Fair. I thought to myself, “Did you folks not listen when I was preaching?” Well, the thing is, I didn’t have the courage that my successor had to take that very brave position because I knew there were folks who would not like it. So, I preached a general “love and welcome all people” message, but I didn’t drill down on what it means for a church to quietly allow an organization in their town to get away with selling symbols of hate.

So, there you go. Paul, my successor, in that case, understood and practiced the foolishness of preaching which IS the wisdom of the Gospel. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

…We are all works in progress on this topic. It’s really hard to be a fool for Christ, but it is finally what we are called to do. Jesus has shown us the way, the way of the cross—and the foolishness of preaching. Amen