The Foolishness of the Cross | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

1 Corinthians 1:18-25 New King James Version

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

20 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? 21 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. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

There is a picture used online when people are making fun of others in a meme the picture is of a man during different stages of transforming into a clown. The picture is 4 smaller pictures the first of the man without makeup and by the time we get to the last picture, he is a fully outfitted clown. People use this picture to make fun of someone else's views on a matter to indicate that this person, or what they said, makes them look like a clown. The picture is meant to represent the view that whatever that person says or believes, is so silly that they should be working in the circus. 

The other funny part about this meme is that joke is that the person offering this silly opinion does not realize what they are saying is wrong, they believe what they are saying makes sense, which makes them look even more like a clown. Oh, what a bad place to be in to think you know what is right but be completely wrong. We all have been there, we all have opened our mouths and put our foot in it. If you have not said something embarrassing in your life, I am pretty sure you are an infant or toddler and don't know how to speak yet, sooner or later we will all say something incorrect, no one is right all the time.

Even though we all mess up sometimes I submit to you that messing up is not as important as how you respond when you find out you were wrong. We have an example of people getting the wrong idea in scripture. 1st Corinthians was written around 54CE, it is a Pauline letter, there is no doubt that Paul wrote this one. Scholars believe that even though we call this letter 1st Corinthians, there is evidence that this letter was Paul's second letter to the church, the letter we call 2nd Corinthians is probably Paul's 4th. This letter comes about 10 years after the area was established as a Roman colony. In 1st Corinthians Paul had to let the people of the Corinthian church know they had gotten the wrong idea about some issues. Paul spent some time with the people of Corinth, started a church, taught them, then left. 

Corinth was a metropolitan city by a harbor with a diverse population, Corinth had recently freed slaves and some wealthier people making lots of money all living in the town. While from diverse backgrounds the people of Corinth had some similarities. No matter where they were in life, social status, economic status, education, the people of Corinth thought they could do whatever they wanted. The people of Corinth were concerned about their freedom and wanted to act out. The people in the city of Corinth wanted to have their freedom and act however they felt and the people of the Corinthian church wanted to have their freedom and act however they wanted. 

The church had started to become divided when Paul wrote this letter, not just between Jew and Greek, but they had started to divide based on who they followed, and economic and social status. Verse 12 says that the people were going around saying, I follow Paul, or I follow Apollos, or I follow Cephas, or I follow Christ. There is pressure outside of the church with Corinth being a Roman colony and the church folk separating themselves. This kind of behavior hurt the church and made the church look strange to the rest of the world when they already were not fitting in. It is popular and easy to be a Christian now it was not back then. Jesus was executed like a common criminal, someone who the Roman government was worried would overthrow them and people started setting up churches to follow this man. 

We need to step back and look at how our faith looks to others. The things we think are important, the things we think are wise, are not as important as we think. The cross is scandalous, our king of kings was executed like a common criminal and we use a symbol of the executioner's tool for representing our faith on logos and jewelry, we use it in symbolism when we say everyone has their cross to bear. 

Human wisdom does not compare to God's wisdom it is so far apart that God's "foolishness" is better than the best of human wisdom. God works in our powerlessness, what we think is wise is foolish. Paul understands that what he has in comparison to God is minor. Paul is responsible for sharing Jesus with so many people around the world, most of the New Testament are books credited to Paul, yet he thinks that he is not eloquent, and a terrible speaker. With the help of the power of God, working through Paul many lives are changed. 

The gospel challenges our human intellect, the gospel challenges us. Christ crucified to the Romans is not important but to Christians, this is a source of power and wisdom. To believers the cross is more than just an emblem or logo for church shirts, this is the symbol of true freedom from the bondage of sin and death. 

Though we know better, Christians sometimes fool ourselves into believing that we can rely upon our abilities, our expertise, our planning, and sophistication. Degrees, insurance policies, master plans, and systematic theologies are good things unless we pile them up to convince ourselves that we have life all figured out and our future neatly planned. In the shadow of the cross, such “wisdom” and thinly veiled attempts at control seem foolish.

The cross also reminds us of our unity as a church. Though we may sometimes hate to admit it, we are all tied together—liberals, moderates, conservatives—united under the cross. Our community of faith is formed around what seems to be utter foolishness—an instrument of torture and death used for the salvation of the universe. The savior has already won, the power of the gospel comes from God not social status. 

Something Worth Waiting For | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

Isaiah 40:21-31  King James Version

21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

23 He brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless.

24 Scarcely shall they be planted, Scarcely shall they be sown, Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, When He will also blow on them, And they will wither, And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

25 “To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the Lord, And my just claim is passed over by my God”?

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,

31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

One thing I don't like to do is to wait. Pre-covid if I had to wait for a table at a restaurant I don't want the staff to keep coming by telling me that it is going to be a little longer. These days if I order food on DoorDash or Uber eats, I don't want to see the estimated time for my food to arrive, keep going up. I hate waiting. I don't like waiting on this pandemic to come to an end, I don't like waiting on certain situations in my own life to change. I don't like waiting in general for anything. 

There are those who are waiting for loved ones to return home, 

for a report from the doctor, 

for the right person to become their spouse, 

for a home to live in. Some are waiting, and while they are waiting, it seems the only news they keep getting is the wrong kind of news. 

We all are waiting on some good news, especially when the bad news keeps coming. We all have a little bit of “news fatigue” that leaves us sometimes feeling depressed, powerless, and distrustful of news sources. It seems like the more news we take in, the more anxiety we feel or, on the other side, the more desensitized we are to the news. We hit a point like the Wicked Witch of the West did in the musical The Wiz, don't nobody bring me no bad news!

The People in the Book of Isaiah were waiting and it seemed like all they kept getting was bad news. The people in Isaiah were waiting for deliverance in the scriptures.In the book of Isaiah the Isralites were down and out, beaten up, and tired of waiting on something they could not see. 

The people of Jerusalem had by now been in captivity by the time of this writing for over 70 years. For many of these people, all they knew was Babylon. The Israelites had been captured by the Babylonians, who took them from their homeland. The Babylonians tried to take the place of the God that the Israelites worshiped. Isaiah 14:13 says that the leaders of Babylon said “I will be like the Most High”. These Israelites only knew of a corrupt government looking to remove their culture, heritage, and religious values. They know they are loved by God but they are currently captured by a government. The Israelites were waiting on a savior and deliverance that seemed like that salvation and deliverance would never come. These people were down and out, beaten up, and tired of waiting on something they could not see, then here comes the prophet Isaiah for 39 chapters telling the people how some of this was their own fault. 

The prophet Isaiah basically told them, “you wanted to worship government over God, this is what it got you! You want to be in the world and of the world, how is that working out for you?” The Israelites are waiting for deliverance. Isaiah is there to help. Yet Before he can do that, he tells them what they did to get there in the first place.  After letting the people have it for 39 chapters we transition into chapter 40. 

Isaiah is pleading his case for them to keep waiting on the Lord. He’s saying, Let me tell you what God is going to do... just wait on him. This is an appeal that Isaiah wants on the public record. “I know you have been waiting for some time now, I know you are tired of the bad news over and over again,  but let me tell you about how good God is.” 

Isaiah wants the people to activate their faith by activating their  memory! We can remember our history and know that God fulfills promises. Isaiah reminds the people what they should know and what they have heard. They may not have experienced it for themselves but God still has a history and that history has been passed down through the generations. 

Even though the people were suffering under Babylon, governments are not God, politicians are not God, kings are not God. Anything a government, king, or politician can do is temporary in the eyes of the Lord. The text says the princes will fall, they are like grasshoppers, they cannot reach the level of God, wait on something that is substantial to pull you through. The enemies are but a drop in the bucket, or dust on scales, they are less than nothing when compared to God.

God is a long term God and God is worth waiting for. God's word stands forever, God's word has prominence, and is timeless. God's word is worth waiting for. God created in the beginning and is creating now.  God does not suffer from “news fatigue.” As Isaiah says ,  in verses 28-29 “He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint And to those who have no might He increases strength

Not only does God have  the long term view in history, God offers power and strength to those who feel the fatigue of bad news in the present. Human beings tend to try to fix every problem or tell those who “should” be doing something to fix them. But as life in the pandemic has taught us, there are limits to human knowledge and ability. If we trust only in ourselves, we are bound to get tired of waiting when we fail or reach the end of our ability. Life can have us feeling disappointment and exhaustion when the reality sets in that we cannot “fix” everything on our own no matter how hard we try. But in all things, God is still worth waiting for. 

The Message translation of Isaiah 40:28-31 says

Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying, “God has lost track of me. He doesn’t care what happens to me”? Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening? God doesn’t come and go. God lasts. He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind. 

We have waited on things that were definitely worth waiting for, there are those who have waited on their spouse, thought they would never get married and found the right one. There are those who waited on the right house, tried over and over to get one only to fail time and time again but then the right house for the right price became available.  There are those who waited on children, thought it would never happen and now have blessings in their lives biological or adopted. There are those who waited on personal growth and success, struggled in business, struggled in personal development, but when they look at where they are now versus where they were back then, they know the phrase well, "if had not been for the Lord on my side where would I be..." and there are those who waited on many other blessings. If those things were worth waiting on, how much is the Lord himself worth waiting on? 

Waiting is hard when we are waiting on the wrong things. How much better would our stress levels be if we spent as much time praying as we do worrying about what someone else thinks? If we spent more time reading the Bible as opposed to watching the news? I am not saying we should not be informed but spending more time with God can't hurt. We have to put our time, talent, and treasure into things that will last for the long term. The Word of God lasts forever and God is worth waiting for. We can wait on the Lord. Waiting means that we are not always in control but when we let go, and let God we can experience God's power more fully. You might be tired now but wait on the Lord, he will renew your strength, he will recharge your batteries, he will give you the ability to keep waiting. Letting go and letting God will give you the energy to keep on keeping on. 

Frustration | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

Frustration

Isaiah 64:1-9 NIV

64 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,

    that the mountains would tremble before you!

2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze

    and causes water to boil,

come down to make your name known to your enemies

    and cause the nations to quake before you!

3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,

    you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.

4 Since ancient times no one has heard,

    no ear has perceived,

no eye has seen any God besides you,

    who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,

    who remember your ways.

But when we continued to sin against them,

    you were angry.

    How then can we be saved?

6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,

    and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;

we all shrivel up like a leaf,

    and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

7 No one calls on your name

    or strives to lay hold of you;

for you have hidden your face from us

    and have given us over to our sins.

8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father.

    We are the clay, you are the potter;

    we are all the work of your hand.

9 Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord;

    do not remember our sins forever.

Oh, look on us, we pray,

    for we are all your people.

We all moments when we struggle with frustration sometimes. Frustration happens when things don’t go the way we hope, resolutions don’t come in a quick and efficient way, when our patience gets low and our hopes and wants are left unattended. 

Like this pandemic. Or hurricane Harvey repairs that still need to be done. Or injustice in our government... frustration over not getting well soon enough, frustration over not getting out of debt when you want, frustration can come over the little things or the big things, short term and long term... 

frustration can build up over time, a few minutes, a few hours, days, weeks, months, years...

People felt frustration, and many other emotions in Isaiah's writing. This book was written in what scholars call the Exilic period. Isaiah was written after the land had been conquered by the Babylonians. A people separated from their land, separated from their friends and families, living life on terms they were not used to and did not like. For many years, Isaiah was written in somewhere between 586 BCE and 515 BCE so it was after Babylon conquered Israel and before the Temple was rebuilt. When Babylon conquered Israel, certain cities were destroyed, along with the major temple, and some of the people were removed from their homelands. The people of God were desperate, they had lost the building they worshiped in, and they were separated from loved ones, for years, for decades. 

We may not have been separated for years, but we are going on many months. Months of having to talk to loved ones in nursing homes through windows, 

months of people passing away in hospital rooms by themselves. 

Months of people calling this a hoax, 

months of people losing their jobs, holiday and travel plans altered or cancelled. 

Months of trying to figure out new technologies, 

months of trying to homeschool children or being nervous every time you dropped them off and picked them up. 

Months of churches not having face to face worship and some of those that did, have to keep taking breaks because someone or multiple people in the congregation tested positive for COVID-19. 

The frustration may not be all because of the pandemic, lives have changed, and this pandemic has made things more complicated. Families have changed over these months, homes don't look the same, people who used to be in the home are not anymore. Or you may have started off in March with one living arrangement now you have more people in your house than you signed up for. Jobs have changed, for those who still have them, schools have changed, little Billy catches a cold, don't you bring little Billy back in this school without a note from the Doctor saying he doesn't have COVID. Elective surgeries have changed, just ordering food has changed. 

Some people feel frustration because they can look at a situation, they can look at the condition of world around us and wonder, where is God? Maybe they wonder Has God decided to take a break while we suffer? I don't see him around; does he not see us out here repeatedly suffering? 

The prophet Isaiah felt like God was absent, not only absent but intentionally hiding from him and the people while they are suffering. The text says also that the people have sinned, missed the mark, fallen short of what God wanted them, what God has called them to be. It has gotten to the point that even the good things the people do are considered bad. Isaiah has asked for God repeatedly and to this point as far as he can tell God has not shown up. God isn't doing what the people want him to do in these times and the people are hurting, they are frustrated, angry even. They are caught in the middle of some bad conditions, some external factors outside of their control.... the pain and the pressure are mounting up. The people of God have an entire nation against them, they don't see God, and they don't know what to do. They are caught in the middle of some trouble and now they cannot even tell who is hurting them. They don't know if they want freedom from their pain or just vindication against those that hurt them. 

Their rebellion has brought the realization that the Israelites need God. 

Verses 1-3 Direct appeal 

Cry out to God, come through the heavens and tear them open. This is a direct appeal to God. Not only a direct appeal but also to remember what God has done. It may feel like God is absent, but we have seen what he has done before, we can pray that he does it again. Hold on to the other times he made a way out of no way, hold on to the other times he delivered you from the hands of the enemy. 

God's presence is awesome and amazing and when you have experienced it you want to have it again and again. You may feel frustrated when you don’t feel the presence of God - When you are missing it in times of trouble you want to call out to experience it again. I remember the song by James Cleveland and even though it's rough right I don't feel no ways tired. I've come too far from where I started from, nobody told me the road would be easy, but I don't believe he brought me this far to leave me. Isaiah is calling on the Lord, I need you, I have to have you, I can't live without you. 

Verses 4-5 Profession of Faith

The text says from ages past no one has heard, in times of trouble we have to work our faith. That is hard to do sometimes, but when we think about it, we use faith all the time. We eat food we didn't grow or process that we bought from a building we didn't build, drive a car on the road with other drivers we didn't train, go to a doctor and take medicine we didn't make. We exercise faith all the time. The text says you meet those who gladly do right. They want the Lord, say so, act like it. Just because there are no seas splitting right now doesn't mean that God abandoned us. 

Verses 5-7 Confession of Sin/Acknowledge God's anger

Isaiah is acknowledging that some of this mess they are in, and there is a confession of sin.  I find it interesting that the prophet says the people sinned because God "hid himself." When I read my Bible, I see that the people of God sinned whether they thought God was around or not. God was right in their face and they sinned. Nobody is perfect but time after time they missed the mark and they overlook their individual responsibilities. It’s seems that they are blaming God for their sins as he talks about God not being there. 

Like Isaiah, sometimes we get frustrated with our situations, but We have to acknowledge that we have contributed to some of our problems... some are our own fault, or maybe we did things to make matters worse.  As believers, we have to take responsibility for our own actions. If we acknowledge our own actions, we can start to take steps to change our situation while we wait on God.

Act like you can change a situation until God comes and changes it

So pray as if it depends on God, work as if it depends on you. We have to be willing to be active participants in our deliverance and that starts with acknowledging that we messed up. 

Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that "God would have us know that we must live as men who manage our lives without him." 

Verse 8 Let God mold you

When we acknowledge that we have some work to do and then start to do that work, it is that much better for God to do a work in us. God is the potter, and we are the clay, let those hands shape us, let the fire burn, let us come out of the furnace better than we went in. 

This time of trouble and frustration, this too shall pass, and we will be able to look back on it with a smile and say 'I remember that... that was a wild situation but if it had not been for the Lord on my side where would I be?" 

These down times are not the end times, they are half-time are you ready to play the rest of the game?

Verse 9 Urgent Petition - I just have to say it one more time, God I need you. I need you to breathe, I need you to come down here and see me. I am nothing without you God, I am lost like a ship without a sail. You are our father, and we are your children. We are family and we need some help. No problem with ending a prayer the same way you started, no problem with praying for something repeatedly. 

1 Thessalonians 5:17 New King James Version (NKJV)

17 pray without ceasing,

Philippians 4:6-7 New King James Version (NKJV)

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

God does love to visit...

· God visited Abraham in the guise of angels who sat down for a meal.

· God visited Jacob, wrestling with him in the night.

· God visited Moses in the burning bush, on Mount Sinai and elsewhere.

· God’s presence went with the Israelites through the wilderness in the form of fire and cloud.

· God visited Samuel as a boy, calling him in his sleeping hours.

· God visited Elijah in a still small voice.

God is with us...

· God is with us throughout shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders.

· God is with us throughout quarantine.

· God is with us throughout social distancing — God is going to come close.

If you still feel some frustration with the perceived absence of God, there is picture I saw with a quote on it. Mike Tyson training with Cus D'Amato. The picture said, when you sometimes can't hear God remember. The Teacher is quiet during the test. 

The Teacher is quiet when the students are taking the test, the teacher is still there, but watching while the students call back to the things they learned coming up to the test. 

It is quiet because we are waiting, waiting not only on God, but on our soon coming King during this advent season. Waiting for Christ blessed arrival.