Sermons 2026

Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 

Theme “Wise Foolishness” 

Outline 

1. God’s Wisdom is not wisdom of the world 

2. How wise do we think we are, learn really quickly we are not wise, faith not something of our will/intellect (Stumbling block to Jews, folly to Gentiles) 

3. Yet, God chose us to be wise in Christ, gives us of His Spirit to thwart the world’s wisdom. (30-31) 

Sermon 

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the First letter of Saint Paul sent to the church in Corinth, the first chapter verses eighteen through thirty-one. 

Beloved lambs, I pray that you are doing well today. Do you know what I have here? I have a large book. There are lots of books about a wide variety of topics. This one is about some of the words in the Bible. We can find books about plants, about animals, about the human body, the solar system, if you can think of it, you can find a book about it. We can learn many things, but Saint Paul says that no matter how much we learn, it is foolishness in comparison to knowing God and what He has done for us. How can we have God’s knowledge and be truly wise? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you. 

1. God’s Wisdom is not wisdom of the world 

How wise are you? We place a lot of importance upon being wise in the world. The world says you use your knowledge or your wisdom to do whatever makes you happy. For most people, they quantify their happiness usually in terms of financial gain. They try to get the most money for the least amount of work, because we are lazy at our cores. You can make a lot of money just by knowing a lot of random facts. Contestants on the TV show Jeopardy strive to accumulate as much money as possible by answering accurately and quickly. The value of each correct response varies from $200 to $1,000 in the Jeopardy round and $400 to $2,000 in the Double Jeopardy round. If you got every answer correct, you could win a maximum of $566,400, not bad for knowing a lot of facts in a single day’s work. One of the contestants, Ken Jennings ,has won $2,520,700 for only being on there for six months. To make that amount, we would have to do nothing but work an 8-hour day for 26 years. Truly, knowledge and wisdom can pay good money. 

But what if you are not book smart? You can still be knowledgeable. Many people put their trust into how much they can do with their street smarts, their experience, and what they have done with their hands. Many people take pride in the fact that they know how to fix anything at home no matter what goes wrong. There are thousands of YouTube videos on home repairing everything from how to put in a sink to snaking a drain or fixing a washer and dryer. We take pride that I did it myself, plus I saved money by not having to call in a professional. Or maybe you consider yourself a good judge of character, able to tell if someone means well or if they mean evil merely by looking at them, and how they act. That’s called body language and psychology, knowing how someone might act before they do is certainly something that we can take pride in knowing.

 2. Worldly wisdom fails 

As wise as we may consider ourselves in this world, whether by our book smarts, the work of our brains, or the work of our hands, everything will fail us. No matter how much we may make, there is always another bill to pay. Bank accounts are very quickly drained. All our knowledge equals nothing in the end. No matter how much we can learn, eventually as we age, all of it is as dust on the wind. Just think, how much has changed over your lifetimes? Teachers teach differently than they did twenty years ago. Trying to help someone with schoolwork is a challenge compared to when you were younger. There are updated ways to do math, reading, English. New ways to get to the same old answer of 2+2= 4. 

As we get older, our knowledge fades, memories are not as good as they once were, even familiar faces and names that we have known all our lives can be erased by the dread diseases of Dementia and Alzheimer’s. With knowledge as fleeting as this, we can never put our trust into it. They cannot bring us true and lasting knowledge. That comes only from the Knowledge of God. 

We cannot use our own intellect to even begin to understand the mind, and plans, of God. Before God, we know nothing. Our deepest and best knowledge is the same as a fool. On our own, we cannot understand what God has done for our Salvation. As Saint Paul writes, “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, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles ” 

Our reason struggles to understand Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. It fails logic and understanding. The Jews demanded miraculous signs from our Lord while He walked thie earth, they did not believe that what He was doing was in accordance with God’s will. They balked at this idea that a man could die a horrible death like a common criminal in order to save us. A criminal, crucified upon a cross saves me? The Gentiles seek after wisdom. They loved nothing more than learning new knowledge and debating traditions and customs in light of what they had learned. They bulk at this fact, that even after two thousand years, I can be saved and forgiven of my sins. It defies all manner of logic, time, and physics. Even our own sinful nature bulks at the fact that salvation is freely given. There is nothing in this world that is free. Everything comes at a cost, even it if is free, you are the cost in your data and privacy. What do you mean that everything God does is given freely? Surely, there must be something that I can do or add to God’s work! 

3. God chose us to be wise in Christ 

There is nothing that can add to God’s work. He has done it all, everything on our behalf.. While our reason, logic, and knowledge have their places, they are only the handmaidens to Holy Scripture. As we confess in the meaning of the Third Article. What does this mean? I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true. We confess that it is not because of ourselves that we are saved. It is not my strength, my reason, my wisdom, or intellect. 

Rather, God chose us in Christ Jesus purely as an act of love to receive His knowledge. In grace, and mercy, He gives us of His Holy Spirit, that we can be wise! Wise not in worldly wisdom, but in Godly wisdom. We can know and believe that what Jesus did, He did for me and you. That yes, a man, beaten, whipped, and crucified upon a cross is indeed our Savior. He is no mere man, no teacher, miracle worker, or philosopher, He is God in the flesh for you, true man and true God for our salvation. Jesus Christ through His perfect life, death, and resurrection has defeated sin, death, and the power of the devil. Graciously, He gives you the Holy Spirit in the Word of God and in the Sacraments, that while the world may think that we are fools, we are wise in the eyes of God. “30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” ” We boast and trust not in our own wisdom, not in how much we know or have forgotten. We boast and trust not in the work of our hands or minds, for well we know how feeble they are. Rather, we place all of our boasting and trust in the Lord and what He has done for us upon the cross of Calvary, that by Jesus’ death and resurrection we are saved. We go forth in that boldness and confidence to spread the wisdom of God to the rest of the world, that they too may become wise beyond all understanding, and live with us in eternal life forever. 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep, your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 

Amen.