5th Sunday of Lent, 2022 - Fools for Christ

 "We are fools for Christ” (1 Corinthians 4:10).

Paul experienced what many pastors, including myself, have experienced. He had gotten crossways with some of the people at Corinth. They were at odds with him, criticizing him and resisting his leadership. As a result, the body was divided. Conflict kept the members at odds, not only with Paul, but with one another. Each faction believed they were right and, therefore better than those who believed differently.

Paul wrote what we know as 1 Corinthians to address the issues that had the congregation in turmoil. He addressed the issues by addressing the thinking that fueled them. The conflict was fueled by thinking that Paul called “the wisdom of this age” (1 Corinthians 2:6). This wisdom was at odds with the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 2:7) which the Spirit teaches (1 Corinthians 2:13).

Paul’s words remind us that every church conflict is fueled by and kept alive by members who live out of the wisdom of the world rather than by the Spirit-guided wisdom of God. The wisdom of the world operates out of a self-serving, me-centered spirit. It runs on anxiety, not knowing how to negotiate the differences that are an inherent part of life and society. The wisdom of the world is us-them thinking. It creates power struggles that lead to winners and losers. It produces conflict that results in division and polarization.

Paul indicated that those in the church who engage in conflict are following the wisdom of the world. They are spiritually immature (1 Corinthians 3:1-4), living out of their innate self-serving nature, i.e., the flesh (1 Corinthians 3:3). They cannot understand the ways of God which the Spirit teaches (1 Corinthians 2:14). The ways of God are foolish in their minds (1 Corinthians 2:14).

In dealing with the Corinthians, Paul refused to engage the ways of the world. He refused to exalt himself as right or as better than them. He refused to give up on them, abandoning them as hopeless. He refused to use his power to attack them. He refused to use his position as an apostle to lord it over them, demanding submission. Rather, he continued to engage them, teaching them and calling them to think with the wisdom of God. He sought to help them, using the conflict as an occasion for learning and growth. He lived out of a servant heart.

In other words, he followed the ways of God that looked foolish if you are trying to win an argument. He choose to be a fool for Christ (1 Corinthians 4:10).