We want power and winning. God wants losers.
This is adapted from a video on this topic, which you can watch here.
The scrawny kids are always picked last in gym class. God does the opposite: He wants the weak ones.
Many Christians are drawn to what the world considers powerful, effective or influential, like celebrities or political leaders, because we think that will help the church. They’ll make Christianity more popular and acceptable, the thinking goes. We want their power and influence on our side — as if God works through that.
We see this mindset especially in politics. Many Christians think the church needs the power of the state if we want to win — meaning, winning in power, winning in culture, defeating our enemies. They think we need a strongman who will protect us and fight for us, much like the Israelites who demanded a king.
Related: God doesn’t define winning like we do
Related: Holiness is more important than winning
Some Christians think the size of our churches and ministries is key. Whatever we do, it has to be big. Megachurches have the amenities, technology, and entertainment to impress people.
And then, of course, there’s money and wealth. The prosperity “gospel.”
As if to sum all this up, there’s a movement that calls itself Christian but thinks we need what they call the seven mountains — things like media, business, entertainment, and government. The New Apostolic Reformation believes the church will take over the world through those areas.
What all this has in common is that our definition of power, success, and influence is the same as the world’s definition.
Two opposite theologies
This article by Carl Trueman discusses the difference between a theology of the cross and a theology of glory. Here’s how he defines a theology of glory:
“In simple terms, the theologian of glory assumed that there was basic continuity between the way the world is and the way God is: if strength is demonstrated through raw power on earth, then God's strength must be the same, only extended to infinity.”
And he described how this plays out practically in today’s church:
“… the cultural norms of many churches seem no different to the cultural norms of – well, the culture. They often indicate an attitude to power and influence that sees these things as directly related to size, market share, consumerist packaging, aesthetics, youth culture, media appearances, swagger and the all-round noise and pyrotechnics we associate with modern cinema rather than New Testament Christianity.”
By contrast, a theology of the cross …
“was the notion that God reveals himself under His opposite; or, to express this another way, God achieves His intended purposes by doing the exact opposite of that which humans might expect. The supreme example of this is the cross itself: God triumphs over sin and evil by allowing sin and evil to triumph (apparently) over Him. His real strength is demonstrated through apparent weakness.”
These two theologies basically describe a theology of strength and a theology of weakness; a theology of winning and a theology of losing.
This dichotomy reminds me a lot of 1 Corinthians chapter 1. That’s such a remarkable passage because it destroys the world’s ideas of what real power is, and more importantly, it glorifies God. It teaches us a lot about how He works.
We must be foolish
In ancient Greece, Corinth was a big city of wealth, power, and influence. It was a major center of commerce, trade, and culture. Corinth was a very worldly city, and the church there was a very worldly church. They had a high regard for what the world considered to be wise, mighty and noble (remember those words).
But in this passage, God turns all of that upside down, starting in verse 17:
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
In ancient Greece, during the time of classical Greek philosophy, the big thing was wisdom of words. If you wanted to be somebody — if you wanted to be relevant — you needed to speak with wisdom of words.
Paul says here that he doesn’t do that. He does not conform to what the world values. He even says using wisdom of words would make the cross of Christ of no effect; it would hinder the gospel.
I’m sure some people in that church would think, how could wisdom hinder the gospel? Isn’t wisdom a good thing? Don’t we want to impress people with wisdom of words? Don’t we need to speak their language? If we speak with wisdom of words, they’ll give us public forums in front of large crowds! Don’t we want to reach more people? If we don’t speak with wisdom of words, they’ll think what we’re saying is … foolishness!
That would be funny because Paul uses that word in verse 18:
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
So Paul says, yes, our message is foolishness to the world. I can imagine his Corinthian readers tilting over this: How are people going to listen to us if they think we’re preaching foolishness?? We’re not going to get big crowds if we’re preaching foolishness!
There are Christians today who think similarly: Whatever you do, don’t come off as backwards, unscientific, or bigoted. That’ll embarrass us. That’ll turn people off. They won’t come to our churches, and we won’t be accepted in society. We’ll never have power if we do that.
But this text shows that not only is our message foolishness, but God wants it that way, because it’s His power. His power destroys the world’s power. It destroys the wisdom of the wise. It brings the world’s understanding to nothing. It makes the wisdom of this world foolish.
How so? That’s what Paul talks about next:
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
With the world’s wisdom, you can have power, prestige, wealth, popularity, and influence in this world. But what the world’s wisdom can’t do is help you know God. Without that, everything else is meaningless.
God alone decides how anyone can know Him. People have all kinds of ideas on how to know God, but none of that matters. That’s not for us to decide; we’re the sinners.
Nor do we get to decide how to reach people. We don’t get to decide what works. Only God does.
God has decided that this preaching must be unlike the world’s ways, culture, and ideas of power and wisdom. He has decided that the message and the method must be foolishness to the world. If it’s going to save people, then it must be foolish.
We must be offensive
In the few verses, Paul illustrates how foolish the message must be:
22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the Greeks, who sought after wisdom, believing that a guy who was crucified is Lord and Savior is absurd, and even more ridiculous is the claim that He rose from the dead.
To the Jews, the idea that God would become a Man and suffer is blasphemy. It’s an offensive stumbling block. That’s why they condemned Jesus to die.
For many Christians, the prime directive is to not offend people. Don’t turn them off, don’t make them feel bad, don’t be negative, or else we won’t reach them. But if we water down the message to reach people, what are we reaching them with? Not the gospel.
These Christians think we need to tell people what they want to hear, but Paul didn’t do that. He’s saying the gospel is two things many Christians don’t want it to be: foolish and offensive.
We must be weak
And, also, weak. If Christians are foolish and offensive, we won’t have the world’s power. We won’t be elected to office. We won’t become big movie stars. We won’t be invited to parties. Chances are, we won’t have huge megachurches. That’s to mention nothing of the persecution that God promises if we desire to live godly in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:12).
We don’t want to be foolish and weak, but that’s what God wants. Why? Verse 25:
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
God decides what’s wise and what’s strong.
What’s wise? He is.
What’s strong? He is.
What the world thinks is foolish is so much wiser than them. What the world thinks is weakness is so much stronger than them. It’s the world that’s backwards, not God. It’s the world that’s weak and foolish, not God.
A lot of people say Christians are on the wrong side of history, but it’s history that’s on the wrong side of God.
In Luke 16:15, Jesus said, “what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” The world’s power, wealth, and wisdom are an abomination in His sight. So why would God want to work through what is highly esteemed among men? Why would He choose to work through the world’s power, wealth, and wisdom?
Our weakness glorifies God
The rest of 1 Corinthians 1 tells us what God has chosen:
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are …
Many Christians want to be wise, mighty, and noble — according to the world’s terms. Or at least, we want the wise, mighty, and noble on our side, helping us. We want a tough strongman in the White House fighting our enemies for us.
But God chooses the foolish things, the weak things, and the lowly things, and everything that we think is wise and mighty is put to shame.
Why is God so serious about this? Verse 29:
… that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God — and righteousness and sanctification and redemption — 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
When we preach the gospel, God doesn’t want the world saying, “Hey, look at them and how big and cool they are.” He wants them to say, “Wow, look at God and how great He is!” That happens when He works through the foolish and the weak, because then, you know it’s Him doing it and not us. He chose the opposite of what we would choose, because it’s the weak things that glorify Him the most.
We see this throughout Scripture:
God chose a tiny nation to be His people, not a powerful empire.
God chose a shepherd boy to be king, not his stronger older brother.
God chose a peasant couple to raise the Messiah, not royalty.
Jesus chose lowly fishermen and a hated tax collector to be His apostles. They didn’t get any help from the world; the government persecuted and slaughtered them. Some Christians would call them losers, but through them, God turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). Only God can do that.
When we act in our own strength and wisdom, we’re basically giving glory to ourselves. We’re saying we don’t need God. But nothing gives glory to God more than doing something that only He can do.
God wants it so that He is our only source of strength, so that the only way we’ll get anything done is “not by might, not by power, but by His Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6).
The strongman we elected president, he’s all about might and power. He looks down on the weak and lowly. He likes to call people losers. But that’s who God wants — He wants the losers, because that way, you know He’s the winner.
