The Sermon on the Mount (Carl Heinrich Bloch) Zephaniah 2.3, 5.1-12 3.12-13/Matthieu
The preaching of Christ's death on the cross is foolishness in the eyes of those who are lost. But to us who are * saved, it is the power of Dieu.19 Is it not written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and I will reduce to nothing the understanding of intelligent?
20 Where is the wise? * Where is the specialist of the Act? Where is the debater of this world? God did he not changed foolish the wisdom of the world?
21 Indeed, where the divine wisdom manifested itself, the world did not recognize God through wisdom. That is why God saw fit to save those who believe, with a message that seems to herald a folly.
22 Yes, while, on the one hand, the * Jews demand miraculous signs and, on the other, the Greeks seek ' wisdom, 23 but we preach a Christ crucified. Jews crying foul. The Greeks, at the absurdity.
24 But for all those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ that we preach manifest the power and wisdom of Dieu.25 For this "madness" of God is wiser than human wisdom, this "weakness" of God is stronger than man's strength.
26 Consider your situation therefore, brethren, who are you, God has called you to him? We find that some of you wise by human standards, few leaders, few members of high society! 27 Not! God chose what the world considers foolish to confound the "wise" and he chose what is weak to shame the strong.
28 God has selected what no nobility and that the world despises, on what is considered insignificant, to nullify what the world considers important.
29 Thus, no creature may boast before God.
30 By him, you are united to Christ, who became for us wisdom from God: in Christ, indeed, are we to acquittal, * Purification and release of péché.31 And It was so in order to respect this command of Scripture:
If someone wants to take pride, he puts his pride
in the Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear friends
,
Remember that this season of Epiphany begins with the story of the visit of the Magi to Bethlehem. Our text in Matthew 2 tells us that it is in Bethlehem, the Magi or wise men, from the East1 - saw him stop a star in the sky, which had guided them throughout their journey. These men had made their trip for one reason and that was to pay homage to Jesus, King of the Jews, the Messiah.
And note that on arriving in Bethlehem, these scientists, these wise men worshiped Jesus with joy. This may seem surprising, since the Magi were not Jews, yet they entered the house where Mary and her Son, and they fell to their knees in homage to him. They offered him valuable gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. The Magi had only one goal, and it was to worship Jesus, to worship, to honor him with gifts of great value. Jesus was the center of their attention.
But leave Bethlehem for a little while, and go towards Corinth. We're not in Judea, we are in Greece. At the time of the Apostle Paul, Corinth was already a great city built on a strip of land between the Aegean and Ionian Sea in the west. The people of Corinth was estimated at 250,000 inhabitants and 400,000 slaves free. Corinth was a maritime power, and its port was the largest port in the classical Greek world. Corinth was also an industrial city known for its luxury industry: it produces textiles, furniture, bronzes and especially ceramics. Corinth was a point meeting between the West and East. It was a wealthy city.
So it's not surprising to learn that Corinth - this intersection frequented by traders and travelers of all nationalities - was also a place of cultural exchange and education. People who came to Corinth and lived there much interested in scholarship and philosophy. They believed, like their countrymen in other major Greek cities, that philosophy helped the man to strengthen the physical, moral and spiritual. And related to that interest in philosophy was the search for wisdom. The Greeks were known for their exaltation of wisdom. Often, in Corinth, as elsewhere, one heard of intellectuals, teachers and philosophers repeat the maxim: "He who is wise, is king."
is in this context that the apostle Paul wrote his text on "the wisdom of men and the foolishness of God" in the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 1. 18 to 31). In this passage we learn that the wisdom of the world is not the means chosen by God to know, and we learn that the systems of thought and philosophies of the world are not, either, hold a fair concept of God and his revelation.
Let our text together. We read:
"Indeed, the preaching of Christ's death on the cross is foolishness in the eyes of those who are lost. But for us who are saved it the power of God "(1. 18), and
" God Has not changed foolish the wisdom of the world? "(1. 20) and
" Indeed, where the divine wisdom manifested itself, the world did not recognize God through wisdom. That is why God saw fit to save those who believe, with a message that seems to announce a folly "(1. 21).
We may well ask, "What is this foolishness of God? "Quite simply, the" death of Christ on a Cross ";" Christ crucified "(1. 18, 23). By the death of Jesus on the cross, something incredible and improbable, God chose to save mankind.
Indeed, in the eyes of the world:
it is not "reasonable" to think that God would send the Messiah to be born in a manger in a stable located next to an inn;
it is not "reasonable "to think that the mother of the Messiah would be a virgin, betrothed but not married, this is
not "reasonable" to think that a small child, vulnerable and raised in a modest and unassuming, who would become King of the Jews, and especially
it is not "reasonable" to think that the king of the Jews or the Messiah of the world, died nailed to a cross, "hanged on the gallows" (Galatians 3. 13 to 14.) and that this would be the sole means chosen by God to save the world.
No, the "madness" of God, that is to say, his desire to redeem the sins of mankind by the death of His Son on the cross, is neither reasonable, nor understood by the world .
But our text urges us to go further. We have talked about the so-called "madness" of God, but where then is the wisdom of God?
We find our answer in verses 24 and 30. Paul writes: "... what we preach Christ manifest the power and wisdom of God," and then "For (God), you are united to Christ, who became for us wisdom from God. In the Epistle to the Colossians, Paul writes that "(Christ) are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
God who is wisdom itself, and whose thoughts are not ours was chosen before the world began to put the fullness of his wisdom in Jesus, and God, whose ways are not ours Galatians 3. 13 to 14. , Has also chosen before the creation of our Earth, to use Jesus to accomplish our salvation.
If we read the entire verse 30 of the first chapter of Corinthians, we learn that not only Christ has become for us wisdom from God, but that "in Christ, in fact, we are for acquittal, purification and liberation from sin. "
The French text of our Bible has lost some nuance of the original text, because the sentence in verse 30 was written specifically to show that the acquittal, purification and liberation from sin are the direct results, and derived directly from God's wisdom - the wisdom that is fully embodied in Jesus Christ, that wisdom which provides for the death Jesus on the cross for the salvation of all mankind.
Now it might be more interesting to do another drawing, a diagram showing the cross on which Jesus died, and where we would put the words "wisdom", "payment", "purification" and "Liberation sin "to the ends of each board of the cross.
Why? Because in God's wisdom in the wisdom of Christ, the cross is central. She is the epitome of "madness" of God to the world and those who are lost, but it is the very symbol of the wisdom of God for those - for us! - Who are being saved. The cross - which reminds us bluntly the sacrifice of our Lord - is the "power of God" (1. 18).
We would be remiss if we forget that in his wisdom, his grace and love our God has called us to himself. He has called us individually and personally, to understand the "madness of God "And respond to the message of the cross. As our text assures us in verse 24: "But for all those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ that we preach manifest the power and wisdom of God" and again in verse 26: we are "(those) that God has called him."
Our God is the Lord who calls his people. He who called people like Lazarus from death to life (John 11. 1 - 44); him, who called the light to shine out of darkness (2 Corinthians 4. 6), and he, who calls still in existence that does not exist (Romans 4. 6) - we called again this morning.
Earlier this message, I announced that we will visit three cities. Indeed, we found ourselves in Bethlehem, then to Corinth, and now ... Prailles, Deux-Sevres.
We who find ourselves this morning Prailles have been called by God to recognize his wisdom, which is quite different from the wisdom which we can claim ourselves. This is why at the end of the first chapter of Corinthians, Paul wrote: "If someone wants to experience the pride that he puts his pride in the Lord "(1. 31).
Yes, God calls us to be like the Magi who traveled to Bethlehem to see the fullness of God's wisdom is manifested in Jesus Christ his Son, to love and honor because that he is the king of the Jews and the Messiah of the world to praise our God who in his wisdom planned the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to accomplish the salvation of mankind.
In the letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote: "In my case, I do not want to put my pride any price other than the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. By it, indeed, the world of sin has been crucified to me, as I've been to this world "(6. 14).
While recognizing the futility of our own wisdom, come to Jesus tonight again and contemplate what it is - the wisdom of God - and what he did for us on the cross. Let us adore him, and bring him the most precious gift we can offer: the offering and the sacrifice of ourselves.
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