Treasure in Earthen Vessels by Rebecca

“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? 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.” – 1 Corinthians 1:20-21

 The believers of Corinth, to whom Paul was writing, had some problems – problems common to believers and churches of all ages, including today. Paul tackles the first without hesitation: contentions and divisions. “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” (vs. 10)

The Corinthians were splitting into factions, saying “I am of Paul,” or “of Apollos,” or “of Cephas,” or “of Christ.” They were being drawn away from truth and becoming embroiled in meaningless hairsplitting, arguing, and dissenting. Paul urges these beloved believers to return to their foundation and to walk in love. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; they were to all have His mind and to be joined together as His body. There is, of course, a place for loving debate and for separating from those who have departed from the Word of God, but that was not the issue in Corinth. Instead of debate being a means to the end of truth, truth had become a means to the end of debate. Jesus was no longer the goal. When we, for whatever reason, take our eyes off Christ and pursue something else for itself, it will always end in disaster. Paul did not want to see the precious fellowship of Corinth derail because of such tragic error.

The gospel of Christ is not debate. It’s not clever words. It’s not a means to achieve your own goals. It’s not a Band-Aid. The gospel is simply this: the power of God to those who are being saved. “For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (vs. 22-24)

If you don’t want the gospel, then there is no argument or proof – even if it be someone coming back from the dead – that will change you. The wisdom of the world offers a plethora of excuses you can use to discount the gospel in your life. God’s a myth; man can solve his own problems; the notion of sin is outdated and oppressive; evil is curable; evolution has disproved God; the Bible is full of contradictions; Christianity is a crazy cult; Christians are intolerant; religion causes problems; mankind is basically good; God is too harsh; truth is relative; there’s more than one way to heaven, etc., etc., etc. The answers to all those challenges are blindingly obvious, if you will only choose to open your eyes. It’s not reason that’s keeping you from Christ; it’s the fact that you just don’t want Him.

“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; 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, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.’” (vs. 26-31)

The wisdom of the world can’t figure out the gospel. To those who are rich and mighty in the world and its ways, the gospel is simply foolishness. But the Lord, in His wisdom, brilliantly disguised the truth in seeming folly so that the line between the believing and unbelieving might be clear. It pleased Him to fill His word with paradoxes and earthly impossibilities; to use the most unlikely instruments; to have infinite treasure in humble earthen vessels. He cloaks power with folly, so that true folly might be clear for all to see! He uses the weak and the poor and the low of this world to demonstrate the excellence of His glory and show us – believers and unbelievers alike – how weak and needy we really are. He wants us to be humble so that He might exalt us. He wants us to admit our own inability so that we might be filled with His strength. He wants us to realize our depravity so that we might grasp His mercy and redemption. He wants us to see the futility of this world so that we might experience the fullness of eternity.

Watch as this world comes apart at the seams. Witness the fruit of worldly wisdom. Weep at the results. Reject the false philosophies and the façade of wisdom. Reject the notion that you are “okay” and can manage on your own. Forsake the lusts of the world that is empty and passing away. And oh, please, turn to the truth and the power of God to those who are being saved!

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

2 Peter 3, “Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”