Have you ever been called an idiot, imbecile, or stupid? Have you ever been looked at as being overly naive or ignorant? Chances are if you have given any time sharing your faith with those who consider themselves superior in our culture, you have either been called these things or have been considered to be naive by others. If you have, you are among a powerful group of people.
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 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; 1 Corinthians 1:26, 27
Have you ever felt ill-equipped to share the Gospel with others? Have you ever felt less valuable than others? Have you ever felt God has a great plan for everyone but me? If any of that is true, then this is the scripture for you.
The word "foolish" means to be dull, dense, or slow. This word was used to make fun of people and to degrade them. How often because of our beliefs, we are considered imbeciles, morans, or idiots. The world cannot grasp its own limitations, and the pride of people in the world is too large to recognize that they are in need of a savior. When we believe, foolishly in the world's eyes, that there is a God in heaven, that He created all things, and that He is in control, we seem idiotic to a world that can't believe in anything they can not see, feel, or quantify. We "put to shame," which means to confound, frustrate, embarrass, confuse, or leave them scratching their heads, every wise person. We walk in love and freedom because of Jesus, and these too are hard to see, feel, and quantify!
The "wise" Paul is talking about means the naturally brilliant, the illuminated, the sharp. Most of the early church were the lower classes, less cultured, and uneducated. It wasn't that they weren't brilliant people they simply had never been taught. They had more than enough sense to recognize their need for a savior and brilliant enough to realize everything had to come from somewhere. In fact, their believing actually made the "foolish" of this world intellectually superior because they knew and believed the truth, allowing the weak to put to shame the wise.
That being the case who are the real idiots? Is it those who are considered weak by the world's standards but recognized their need of a savior or those who are considered wise, but reject God?
Jesus said we would know the truth, and the truth would set us free. If you know the truth, you can set others free as well!
By the way, if you struggle with being able to defend what you believe I did a sermon series entitled "Please don't ask me" a series dealing with the questions Christians fear most. If you are interested in hearing them they can be found here: http://christiancenter.us/category/sermons/ You can scroll through to find the topics that most interest you.
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