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Scripture Reading
NRS 1 Corinthians 1:18 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. 19 For it is written,
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the
discerning I will thwart." 20 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? 21 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. 22 For Jews demand
signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23 but we proclaim Christ crucified,
a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to
those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God. 25 For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom,
and God's weakness is stronger than human strength. 26 Consider your
own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards,
not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God
chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in
the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised
in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29
so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30 He is the
source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 in order that,
as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
April Fools day began four hundred years ago in 1564 in
France. The current calendar that we use was adopted first by the French and it
changed when the New Year began from March 21st to January 1st.
But some still celebrated the New Year on April 1st, and they were
affectionately called Fools because of it, hence the name Fools Day. It became
an opportunity to play pranks on one another. Friday was the day when we
celebrated ‘Fools Day”, April 1st. But it also was Connie Taylor’s
birthday and Connie is no fool. In fact, this church could not do what it does
without Connie being a part of our family.
What does it mean to be foolish for Christ? I remember
staying awake many years ago and watching late night TV. On late night TV there
are more infomercials than any other time of the day. For 9.95 down, 9.95 a
month for 9.95 years you can own just about anything the foolish heart could be
talked into. I have watched people over the years get sucked into one good scam
after another. Estimates ranging in the billions of dollars are what experts
believe people are scammed into every year. I know of a woman in this community
who got scammed out of her entire fortune and lived her last years in near
poverty because of it. There is foolishness all around us every day of every
year. But what does it mean to be foolish for Christ?
Well we can start with Saul who we know as Paul. Paul was a
great zealot for the court of the Jewish faith around the first century. That
is until he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus. After that he gave up
all that wealth and prestige and all that went with it to live the life of an
Apostle in a world that hated him for what he was teaching. His foolishness
kept him almost constantly under the watchful eye of the Roman soldiers and he
was imprisoned. Five times he was beaten with a breath of his life and once he
was stoned and left for dead. I am sure his peers among the Sanhedrin were
saying, what a waste, what a fool he has become.
A few short weeks ago Denver won the super bowl. In the
years that will pass by we know that Denver will be remembered as the winner
and Carolina as the loser. Do we see the winners as being blessed and the
losers as those who missed the blessing? That is how we see the world is it
not? In fact over time Carolina will be lost to us as we simply remember the
winners of the game. Yet both had phenomenal seasons and should be proud of
what they accomplished.
Jesus turned our world upside down when He preached the
beatitudes on the side of the mountain. He teaches that those who are picked
last can in fact be the winners. That those who are understand that what we
need to seek in the Kingdom of God is very different than what people seek in
the world around us. Woody Allen said, "I've been poor and I've been rich,
and, believe me, rich is better." That is how we think in life today
especially in the Western world. But it is not how God wants us to think.
A sermon I read recently had this to say, a parishioner of a
friend of mine on the Internet once told him in a discussion of the beatitudes:
I feel strongly
that I have correctly heard and followed the
guidance of the
Holy Spirit all my life, and never once did I hear
the Spirit say, 'Be
poor in spirit, mourn a lot, be meek, be
persecuted for my
sake and so forth and you will be thrice blessed.'
Instead what I have
heard is 'I didn't give you those special gifts
to have you fritter
them away, get out there and go for it, go do
what I told
you! Oh yeah, and don't expect to be
blessed for it.'
What is it that God wants us to know? It is that we are
blessed when we take the gifts that God has given us and use them for the glory
of God in the world. That may very well mean that we find success by earthly
standards, but that is not what we are about. Foolishness is proclaimed by
those who do not understand the power of the Empty tomb. Foolishness is what
they call us who worship a man who went to the cross as a criminal and died
there. If you think about it, it is a little foolish to walk around telling
people that Jesus died on a cross and because of that you need to believe in
Him.
Paul proclaims that the truth is in the cross which is
foolishness to the rest of the world. The truth is that God is calling us to do
foolish things in the world to shame those who claim to have all the answers
while people beneath them starve to death. The truth is that God is calling us
to change the world through the ordinary, the marginalized and the poor. We are
called to be foolish so that the world can come to understand what God’s love
looks and feels like.
There are missionaries out there in the world today that are
being foolish for God. One of them is Randy Marshall and you met his family a
number of years ago when they came here. Randy is a missionary and he and his
family are currently in the Ukraine bringing this message of foolishness to the
young people around them. They send me an update almost weekly that chronicles
the successes and yes, even the struggles that they have. He told me once that
he was in Russia and lost everything he owned when they decided to kick him out
of the country. And there are hundreds just like him all over the world. They
are people who would take their talents and skills and bring the message of
foolishness, the message of love to the world. Some of these brave men and
women gladly put their lives on the line every day to do that work.
By the way, as the world tells Denver that they are
wonderful and Carolina that they are losers, as the world of football goes
through its annual upheaval of coaches being fired and players being moved,
those who are foolish for God are winning. Micah the prophet has told us what
we supposed to do in the world in verse 6:8, NRS Micah 6:8 He
has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but
to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
There is a small cathedral outside Bethlehem marks the
supposed birthplace
of Jesus. Behind a
high altar in the church is a cave, a little cavern lit
by silver lamps. You
can enter the main edifice and admire the ancient
church. You can also
enter the quiet cave where a star embedded in the
floor recognizes the birth of the King. There is one stipulation, however.
You have to stoop.
The door is so low you can't go in standing up.
Are you foolish enough to trust God to lead you where God would
want you go? Are you foolish enough to begin to be different in the world
around you? Are you ready to part of the world of fools?
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