The Christian Mind conference
Lawson: A foolish message, a foolish messenger and a foolish method
By Paula R. Kincaid, The Layman, March 20, 2012
“The heart of the message that we study, that we learn, that we teach, that we preach, that we bear witness to is absolute insanity to the world,” Steven J. Lawson told the attendees at the 2012 Ligonier Ministries Christian Mind Conference. “And the day our message stops being foolish to the Greeks – and this world – is the day our message has lost its purity and lost its power.”
Lawson’s topic “Foolishness to the Greeks” was based upon I Corinthians 1:18-25.
Throughout history, Lawson said, man has pondered the questions of ultimate reality: “Who am I? What am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going? Who is God? What is truth? What is reality? Where will I find fulfillment? What is success? What is death? What lies beyond death? What happens after I die?”
These were the searching questions that Greek philosophers of the ancient world were trying to answer, Lawson said. The Greeks pursued philosophy – what Lawson described as “the love of wisdom – that means man’s wisdom … Philosophy is man’s diagnosis of man’s problem and offers man’s solution as he lives in this world.”
The ancient Greek culture was “saturated with these philosophies,” he said. “All of these ideologies and philosophies were coming down from Athens to Corinth.”
He said that Corinth was a “cosmopolitan metropolis – a cultured society” that loved for the philosophers to come and speak. “The philosophers of the day were the rock stars of the day … It was no ivory tower type of philosophy. It addressed the real issues of the day.”
“Paul came to this bastion of philosophy, and he immediately began to preach the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Lawson said. “He put the Gospel up in the marketplace of ideas in the first century and the Gospel was in direction opposition to the philosophies of the day.”
“For Paul and the apostles and all of the writers of Scripture – and for the Lord Jesus Christ Himself – the only true answers to all of these life questions are found not in philosophy but are found in the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” said Lawson.
Foolishness
Lawson said that according to the text, Christians have a foolish message, a foolish messenger and a foolish method. “Therein is the foolishness to the Greeks,” he said.
Note first, he said that the “message that has been entrusted to you and me … in the eyes of the world, it is a foolish message.”
Verse 18 states the “word of the cross is foolishness …” The word of the cross is the Gospel of Christ, said Lawson, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture and He was buried and raised from the dead. “This is the epicenter of our message. It is the word of Christ. It is Christ and Him crucified and it is the only way to salvation.”
“We are not just dogmatic about the cross,” Lawson said, “We are bull-dogmatic about the cross.”
“No matter how carefully we present it; no matter how much apologetics we provide; no matter how many supportive evidences we can surround it,” he said, “the word of the cross is unequivocally foolishness to those who are perishing.”
“It is idiotic to those who are perishing — dumb, stupid, unintelligent, insane, madness, lunacy. It is nonsense to those who are perishing and it is so because the cross in the first century was a sign of shame. … There was no greater shame than to be publically executed on the cross,” said Lawson.
The reason the message was foolishness, he said, was because “the Christians preached that the eternal destiny of every man and women hinges on their relationship upon the one who hung naked on that cross.”
Lawson said that to those who are saved, the message of the cross is “the power of God … It is the power of God to reconcile us to God.”
He said verse 21 explains that “this was God’s plan before foundation of world … the world through its wisdom did not come to know God – not a one of them, no exceptions. All who would cling to the wisdom of this world are on a bridge to nowhere. No one can come to know God when they draw from the dry cistern of this world’s thinking.”
“We are describing a sunset to blind people. We are describing a beautiful symphony to those who have no hearing,” he said.
“Paul will tell us in moment that God is so pleased in the foolishness of the message, the messenger and the method,” Lawson said, “so all credit, all glory goes to God alone – so no one can take credit for the winsomeness of the message.”
Lawson noted in verse 22 that “We don’t give the Jews what they want. We don’t give the Greeks what they want. We give them something else. We give them the truth. We give them that which is contained in the wisdom of God and the power of God.”
“We preach Christ crucified,” said Lawson, which he called a “complete oxymoron.”
Lawson said it is two words that do not go together. “The word ‘Christ’ means the anointed one, the Messiah. … We preach this Christ, crucified. We preach a murdered messiah, a dead deliverer, a slaughtered savior and crucified conqueror. In the eyes of the world, the message of the cross is illogical – to the Jews a stumbling block, they can’t get past it and to the Gentiles foolishness.”
In verse 24 is the main thread that runs through the opening chapter: “Those who are called by God,” said Lawson. The words refer to the sovereign summons of God. The word “called” is found in verses 1, 2, 9, 24, 26. “The sovereign call of God is the only way that their eyes will be opened; the only way their ears will be opened; the only way their hearts will be opened; the only way they will be drawn into relationship with Jesus Christ.”
“We must never dummy down the message and try to make this — which is foolishness to them — try to make it brilliant to them,” Lawson said. “To those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, this is underscoring there is only way to Christ. … Do you see how totally dependent we are as we study the Word of God? … We really are totally dependent on the Holy Spirit to call on those who God has chosen to save.”
As for the foolish messengers, “that is you and me,” said Lawson.
In verse 26, Paul states “consider your calling, brethren.” Lawson amplified the word “consider,” add it up, reckon, think, ponder, … consider where you were when God called you … for the most part God has called those who the world considers foolish.”
Lawson said that according to the text, there will not be many who are considered wise, noble, well-born or who have political clout in the kingdom of God. “On the whole, we are merely common men and women with an uncommon message,” he said.
“This was God’s sovereign choice,” Lawson said. Before God created the world, He was already the architect of an extraordinary plan.
Lawson said that humans would have chosen the high and mighty as messengers, because they bring influence and clout. “If that person says ‘I need to be saved,’ then I’ll do it, and the danger if that happens is that my faith is in that person. … So God has chosen the foolish message and the foolish messenger to shame the wise … He has chosen those who are weak to shame the things that are strong.”
“God has intentionally reached to the bottom of
the barrel,” said Lawson. “We didn’t make the ‘Who’s Who’ list, or even the ‘Who’s Not.’ We are God’s first round lottery picks … God has passed over the kings and mighty of this world in order to take ordinary people like you and me to give us the message, so when people called into His kingdom the only explanation can be God, because look at us. We are all nobodies telling everybody about somebody.”
“It is only the teaching of sovereign grace that enables us to fully and completely boast in the Lord and as long as I feel I am making a contribution to my own salvation, it is a divided house in boasting in the Lord. But, when I understand it was all foolishness to me and it was by the grace of God that He brought me to Him, then all glory goes to God.”
Lawson then traveled into the first couple of verses of chapter two for his final point – the foolishness of the method.
Verse one speaks of superiority of speech or wisdom. Lawson said the “superiority of speech” refers to the delivery and the “wisdom” refers to what was said – or the message.
Lawson said that if he heard the comment “If the message never changes we are free to present it however we want” one more time he would scream, because the phrase is in direction opposition to what Paul said.
Paul writes that there will not be worldly doctrine in the church and there will not be worldly delivery in the church.
Paul wrote, “I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom. I did not come with man’s perspective or mans solutions, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.”
Lawson said that proclaiming is the way the message is to be delivered and that “superiority of speech does not mix with proclaiming; wisdom doesn’t mix with the testimony of God.”
Verse two shows that Paul was resolute “I did not budge to the left or to the right.” Paul preached Christ crucified, said Lawson.
“A preacher that does not preach Christ crucified is like a barber who does not cut hair,” said Lawson. “If you do not preach Christ crucified, you have missed the point of the word of God.”
Verse four speaks of Paul’s “message and preaching.” Lawson said that the message is the doctrine and the preaching is the delivery. Paul is saying that it is not “just what I say but how I say I,” according to Lawson. “It would have corrupted the message if I had come to you in a way that was not wholly dependent on the Holy Spirit. … so that your faith will not rest on the wisdom of men but on power of God.”
“If you bring a message that is speaking to the world and deliver it in a fashion that they like, they will commit their lives to men and the wisdom of men,” said Lawson. “But those that bring the foolishness of the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit regardless of what the intelligentsia of the world may say, their faith will rest on the Word of God and the power of God.”
Lawson concluded by saying, “May you and I be used by God in the lost and dying world … relying exclusively on the truth of God that the spirit of God may proclaim the truth: That although we are great sinners, Christ is a great Savior and whosoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. God will use foolish messengers such as you and me so that all honor and all boasting will go to the Lord.”
Steven J. Lawson, senior pastor of Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala., serves on the ministerial board for Reformed Theological Seminary and the board of directors for the Master’s College and Seminary. A teaching fellow for Ligonier Ministries, Lawson teaches in the doctor of ministry program for Ligonier Academy of Biblical and Theological Studies. He has authored many books, including The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon, The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards, and Pillars of Grace.