The Fool's Errand | 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5 | Patrick Martin | FBC Mount Pleasant, TX

y'all I will acknowledge that there are many of you in the room who will have never heard as many words come out of my mouth as you will hear today so I hope that I have your attention for all of them y there are tasks in life that seem pointless they seem that there's just no hope to accomplish them there's a term that we give to such tasks they're Fool's errands they're defined as being an activity that has no hope for Success it's that feeling that you get when somebody has asked you I'm sure somebody has asked you at some point to do something that just doesn't make any sense it seems dumb it seems like you were set up to fail from the very beginning y'all there were some videos that I've seen over the past few years years I've seen several of them where parents are trying to pick on their kids as you know I know that that never happens but they asked their children to go into an auto store and to go ask somebody ask them to help them find something called blinker fluid okay blinker fluid you know if you don't know what that is if you're not too well versed in the automobile it's that stuff that you pour into a place in your car so that you can work your blinker so that you can work your turn signal and so sometimes when you see people going down the road and they're not using their turn signal and you're getting so fed up with them saying why won't you use your blinker well I'm telling you they're trying they just do not know that they ran out of blinker fluid well of course the child comes back to the car and of course their parents are filming their reaction and they're coming to the car and out the window you see them all exasperated frustrated just ready to let their parent parents have it as soon as they get in the car and once the car door opens they say dad cuz it's usually dad there is no such thing as blinker fluid no such thing they were set up to fail from the very beginning there are also those tasks that we're asked to do that are technically possible you could in theory do it but what's the point it seems pointless it seems like it's too difficult to really be done see I could ask one of you out here rather I can ask the entire all of you the whole crowd the whole congregation today to go to the beach in Galveston Texas go and count every single individual piece of sand each grain and hold it in your hands and sift through it and count one two three four and then you say I don't know if I counted that one already so you have to start over y'all it is technically maybe theoretically possible but so so difficult and tedious and pointless that why would you ever try Fool's errand y'all I was in New York City a couple of weeks ago and y' there is a lot of people in New York City did you know that there are millions of people in New York City but did you also know that there are millions of people with a hard heart towards Christ in New York City yall it's easy to look out into a crowd it's easy to look out into the masses and think what difference can we really make can we really convince any one person or rather any multitude of people to follow Christ and whether I'd admit it or not sometimes it's easy for me to look out into wherever I'm at whether it's New York City or right here in Mount Pleasant and think is this just another Fool's errand is there any point to this can we really expect anything to change you I don't want to go into the whole story of New York what went on there we're going to have a report tonight sharing with you stories that our students have I will share a little bit with you about that uh this morning and then hopefully encourage you to come tonight to that but y'all we're going to be in uh 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18-25 uh and I just as I was in New York this passage kept coming to my mind as we shared with people in New York y'all Paul Paul is addressing here in chapter 1 he's addressing divisions arguments friction as if that ever happens in church who should they follow they're asking who holds more weight is it Paul that they should listen to should they listen to Apollos should they listen to sephus because not all of them are right about all things Paul says the answer is none you're not listening just to one person they were told about Christ the message of the Cross and he says that the message of the Cross oh it didn't come with elegant speech they weren't able to convince them of the message by themselves it's he says that it is God's power alone to convict convince save and transform join with me in 1 Corinthians 1:18 I know there's a lot here to read through so bear with me and we'll walk back through it a bit starting at Verse 18 it says for the word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing but to those those who are being saved it is the power of God for it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the Discerning I will thwart verse 20 where is the one who is wise where is the Scribe where is the debater of this age has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world 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 for Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom but we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and Folly to Gentiles but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God for the foolishness of God is wise wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men for consider your calling Brothers not many of you were wise according to worldly standards not many were powerful not many were of noble birth but God chose what is wise what is foolish in the world to shame the wise God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong God chose what is low and despised in the world even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God and because of him you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God righteousness and sanctification and Redemption so that as it is written let the one who boasts boast in the Lord and I when I came to you brothers did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified and I was with you in weakness and in fear and a much trembling and my speech and my message were not imp plausible words of wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God we're going to walk back back through a lot of this passage but let me start with this that worldly wisdom lacks transformational power worldly wisdom it lacks transformational power let's unpack that going back to 1 Corinthians 18 it says for the word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing I want to I want to give you some news okay you know write this down you know take note of it but those who are not Christians those who don't believe in Christ okay they do not think nor do they act like Christians okay this shouldn't surprise us and nor should we expect them to think or to act like Christians y'all but here's the reality of those outside of Christ that their minds their hearts are things that are set totally upon things down here upon the Earth upon flesh that their minds and hearts are set only upon things that are of the Flesh and the scripture says that to set your mind completely on the things of the flesh is to be against the things of the spirit and vice versa their very nature is that of Flesh you know I'm not here to demonize I'm not here to make this an US versus them I'm not here to Rally you up against non-christians not at all we're here to love those who are not in Christ but we're also not going to shy away from the reality that the wisdom or logic of the world is under the power of sin it's under the power of the flesh their judgment is clouded their logic is only established through their separation from Christ and this is the logic of the world some examples not exhaustive basic do what makes you feel good follow your heart do what's best for you and do whatever it takes to succeed no matter the cost use your body however you see fit and oh as long as I'm not hurting anyone else what does it matter I could go on there's a lot we could talk about but I'll stop there you see logic of the world ultimately it's focused upon self focused upon self and when the purpose of life is all about me and I myself have become my own God then the things of God they not only do they not make sense not only can I not understand the gospel but the things of God seem very foolish in 1 verse 22 Paul says Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom I will start start with the the Greeks there for a moment this seeking of wisdom it's part of this is this idea that I will do and I will think whatever makes sense to me if God exists I must be able to make God makes sense in my mind I must have adequate answers to all of my questions I must be able to wrap my mind around who God is in order for me to believe that this God of the Bible is the real deal I must be able to understand it I need satisfying answers to all of my questions about scripture about the Lord before I will believe y'all there were several in New York City who said that they just couldn't make Christianity make sense some of them had questions about the Trinity how does this God being three in one work how how can I wrap my mind around it and because I can't I won't believe y'all let me be clear on this when God has to fit in a box that we have created in our mind when I have to be able to wrap my mind around who God is whoever he is or then that God can be no God at all you see if the God that I believe in has to make complete sense to me or agrees with me all the time about everything that I think then this isn't the god of the Bible it's a God that I have constructed it is a God that I have created when I have to be able to comprehend God with my mind and I have and God has to agree with me about what I think you see the scripture says that God's ways are above our ways his thoughts are above our thoughts that there is no ability that we have to completely understand and comprehend who God is and if we were this would be a God that's created not the one that actually exists in scripture there are those who demand signs God must show such and such a sign he must do such and such thing that I want him to do that I demand that he should do for me to be proven to that he exists that he is real that this message that you're presenting me with is the real deal you are those who demand a sign who demand that God do something part in particular before that they will believe those who are set upon something that God has not yet done or hasn't acted in the world are become blinded and unwilling to acknowledge all that God has already done they fail to acknowledge what God has done in Christ the sign that he has provided to us in his son y'all there are many many things that God still does in the world today he still saves he still heals he still does so many things but for us to demand that God writes a message to us in the sky and if he doesn't do it I won't believe then it is used to Blind us from the truth of what God has already done arguments can seem logical but really arguments made against the gospel they are resistance and it is a wall that is a spiritual issue it's a spiritual issue they become a defense mechanism a defense mechanism to cling onto sin and selfishness In the Flesh all the while believing that if you go your own way think your own way believe what you want to believe then you can ultimately fulfill and find the fulfillment that you desperately crave I want to make note that the gospel is folly to those perishing perishing you see there's a Brokenness in this world that worldly wisdom it just can't heal there's a pain that exists in the human heart that just can't be addressed with the answers that we try to construct in here in our heart in our mind there is a need for love forgiveness accepted peace that the world just doesn't have for us though they would claim to y'all somebody can be absolutely convinced of their complete happiness outside of Christ of where they are without God in their life they can be convinced of their happiness but let me assure you that that happiness that anybody anyone clings to it can be here in one moment and then completely swept up from underneath them in the next Gone forever you see worldly wisdom it keeps us trapped and the enemy Satan uses it to keep us trapped to keep us blinded to the truth of the Gospel to keep us blinded to the love that God has for us to keep us blinded to the transformation that God can bring into our lives should we believe in Jesus it keeps us from living a transformed life you see there was a man named Joshua in New York City he he had many talents as he explained and I believe him he said he had talents in film he was a comedian he could have done he could do several things with his life and he had this logic this wisdom that he conjured up that says as he was kind of debating whether he should fully you know commit himself to the Lord or not he said maybe I should just follow the devil for a while and live with the devil so I can get money I can get the things that I need I can become successful and then later I will turn that and now I will use it for good I will use it for God I will do Godly things with it that seems silly when I say it like because that's literally what he said like hey I'm going to Dance with the Devil for a while and then I'm going to go live for God y'all it sounds silly in that way but how many of us have been in that place where we have decided I'm going to go off and do this here for a while maybe we don't think about it that explicitly ly but that's what we're doing and then later I'm going to go get right with the Lord I think we I think a lot of us have been there I've been there in my life as well you see the reality of Joshua's life was that he had no stability he didn't have a stable place to live he had been arrested six times he'd been kicked out of the apartment that he was living in with his girlfriend and he had nothing that he had planned for but yet it was this logic this wisdom that he had conjured up in his head this thing that was the wall between him and living a life transformed with Christ and I had to lovingly ask him not condemning but lovingly say where has this what you have in your mind where has that gotten you some of us have to ask ourselves the same thing y'all we can have reasonable conversations there are logical arguments that can be made concerning spiritual matters we can engage conversation with people we don't shut down every question that they have but y'all I want to be clear that the goal of sharing Christ is not to argue with somebody into belief it is not to to beat them over the head with the gospel or with facts that we believe until they will believe our goal is to share the message of Christ simply the message of Christ with hopes that the Lost would encounter the Living God you see while worldly wisdom lacks any real power to transform a broken life in the gospel the gospel the message of Christ worldly wisdom encounters the Living God in the gospel worldly wisdom encounters the Living God y'all we have got to share and to stand Upon A belief that there is power in the gospel we have got to believe that there is power to transform even the most broken even the most Wayward even the most hard-hearted life that there is out in the world there is no need on one hand for us to depend upon arguments or debating skills in order to convince somebody into belief but on the other hand there is no need for us to throw up our hands and say what's the Hope what's the point this is just another Fool's nobody's ever going to believe this they're so hard-hearted I can't even talk to them what's the point y'all we have got to cut through the middle of that and decide that we are going to just be faithful to share the gospel and believe that God has power as we're sharing it to save those who are far off share the gospel in two chapter 2 veres 4 and 5 Paul says my speech and my message were not impossible words of wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power so that your faith may not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God y'all I have some good news for a lot of you that there is not a need for all of you to become crafty speakers to become the most persuasive person in the world in order to start sharing Christ with somebody all that is required of you is to be be faithful to do it is to be faithful to share the simple message of Christ and it's simple it's that while we were Sinners separated from God with no hope in the world with no hope in this life and in life to come Christ fully God In the Flesh has come to us to meet us where we are lived a life that we could not live perfectly spotless without blemish he did it and we couldn't the death that he died on the cross of course he took upon our sin completely upon himself he died rose again three days later and all those that would trust that would believe in Christ that would come to Jesus would have their sin completely removed past present future all of it all of it really really all of it gone and then they would receive a trade the righteousness of Christ completely all of it upon them and there is hope there is the love of God that rushes into our life and now once we who are far off are have now been brought near to God in relationship with the Living God today and forever more it is this simple message that as we plant it as we walk it by sharing over and over again as we pray for those who listen to it that we believe all the while that God alone has the power to convict of sin to convince and to draw people to belief in Christ you see the world does not need us to answer according to its wisdom or its Logic the world needs an encounter with the Living God there's a man named Steve that we met in New York City we've actually met him twice we met him last year and this year as well you see Steve I want to share the whole story but Steve knew a lot he knew so much rather he had so much in his head that there was no room for God in there those who believed in God they were brainwashed naive they didn't know any better and certainly one person that didn't know any better was going to be an 18-year-old from Mount Pleasant Texas that would go share share Christ with him and as he spoke with one of our students Tristan he thought Tristan was just another young kid that was only believing what his parents told him denying the power of the Gospel in Tristan's life but you see over the two days that they spent talking and I and I got to meet him at the end of this and hear this from him myself this hard-hearted man who we anybody would think is too far off he said that those were two of the best days of his life this older man this older man talking to an 18-year-old from Mount Pleasant Texas he wasn't ready to believe probably not super close to believing but yet he saw something different in trist not because he had all the answers to his questions be but because he saw the reality of the power of God in his life and I believe that Steve encountered God whether he knew it or not and he didn't need all the right answers he needs to keep hearing the gospel y'all I would ask you that you would pray for Steve because God can reach him do you believe church that God has the power to heal do you believe that God has the power to deliver do you believe that God has the power to save then share the gospel get out of the way and watch God do it you see the power because there is power there is proof and and evidence in the power of God working in the gospel and that proof is on display and should be on display in every believer you see the evidence of God's power is displayed through our testimony the power of God the evidence of God's power is displayed through our testimony how many of you when I describe the wisdom of the world the way that the world thinks that hey been there used to be me that's how I used to think that's what I used to do that's where I've been I used to be the person that was so far off that nobody could ever reach it would have seemed pointless for anybody to come talk to me about things of the gospel and yet here you are today new in Christ transformed changed with hope that you didn't have and sitting in a completely different place that you're in today than you were back then y'all we put God's power on display when we tell the world look how God saved me Paul says in 1 126 and 27 he says for consider your calling Brothers not many of you were wise according to worldly standards not many were powerful not many were of noble birth but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise and then in 30 and 31 he says and because of him you are in Christ Jesus and became to us wisdom from God righteousness and sanctification Redemption so that as it is written let the one who boasts boast in the Lord y'all if you're look if you're in the room looking at the world with the sense of hopelessness that sharing the gospel just seems like another Fool's Aon that there's no point to it let me remind you and hopefully that you believe this that it is just as much of a miracle for God to transform and save your life as it is and will be for the most lost soul that there is out in the world we needed and we still need Christ just as desperately as they do y'all my life was at a Crossroads it was at a a place where I could have really gone the wrong direction and be in a completely different place than I'm in today there was some stuff in my life that could have really wrecked me and yet God at just the right moment just the right time and just the right place when I was between high school and college he brought somebody into my life that simply was faithful to share the gospel with me he didn't have a fancy message he just sat down with the Bible and shared the message of the Gospel with me and he didn't know it was in my mind he didn't know it was in my heart he didn't know how far away I was he didn't know anything and he didn't know that Christ was working in in my life in that moment and he didn't even know this that I was saying yes to Jesus right in that seat I was in and God changed my heart and and my mind changed soon after and just one immediate example I was writing up in my car to meet with this man and I was listening to music okay I'm going to tell you let you in on something my favorite music artist when I was in high school all right get ready was Eminem all right so I tell my students this I've told them this story and like there's so many things that they do not remember that I say but this seems to be one of the only things that they remember that my favorite rapper was Eminem and so every now and then someone will be like hey Pat did you know that the that Eminem just came out with new music I say one I say why do you know that and two I'm just like thinking they're trying to like test me to see if I've just slipped back into my old ways or something like that but y'all I'm writing up there probably 34s of the song that I'm listening to if a clean version even existed would need to be bleeped out but y'all when I got back in that car after God did what he did I turned on that that car not remembering what music was about to come on I'm telling you it just sounded different it sounded wrong and I'm not just thinking it was guilt because you know I just met with the preacher y I'd been to church and been to church and from church and didn't have any conviction about any of that before but in that moment it just sounded wrong and I couldn't last 30 seconds without turning that off and and y'all I not perfect by any means but I've not listened regularly consistently to music like that songs like that since that very day y'all I have to remember often just what God had to do to save me and what he had to do to get a hold of me and let me remind you that if God got a hold of you if he's gotten a hold of you he can get a hold of anyone and what is stopping you from presenting Christ to everyone else why would we look at anybody else as being too far gone you see God didn't send us out to fail he didn't send us out on a Fool's Aon he sends us out with an assurance that we will see his power as we live Faithfully you know there's such a need for us to share Christ right where we're at right here in Mount Pleasant Texas we don't got to go to New York City we don't we don't have to go somewhere to get on fire to share the gospel we need to go right here stay right here there was a broken and dying Community out right out those doors and what is needed is faithfulness to live right where we are in the context of where we're at and share Christ and since there's such a great evidence of God's power through our testimony and let me be clear this is a testimony of the past of what God did in our life but this should also be a testimony of what God is doing right now in your life not just displayed through what you say what you say you know about the Bible but there should be a reality of God's power working in and through you that is noticeable that is palpable that people can look at and see that is different and that power is displayed through our testimony of who God is and we as body of Believers right here in Mount Pleasant we must be convinced that sharing the gospel is no Fool's errand do not give up do not give up I'm telling all of you to not give up but I also I'm telling some of you to start thankfully this is not on all of us alone it's not on one particular person out here in this room today to convince the whole community that we're in of the Gospel what we are called to do and to be is faithful with what God has righten front of us with what God has right around us with the person that we see every single day and encounter every single day we are to be faithful with what God has in our immediate context let me ask you what's your attitude towards the lost have you counted anybody as too far gone is there anybody in your life right now that you are too hesitant or resistant to share the gospel with for any reason maybe you're nervous about the questions about about speaking to somebody about what you're going to say let me remind you not to trust your own ability but trust that God will do what he says he will do when you are faithful to open your mouth you know sometimes all it has all it takes to get to a conversation about Jesus is simply do you go to church somewhere open the door what do you think about God you can ask people that straight up what do you think about God sometimes they won't want to talk but other times they'll talk a lot more than you think they they wanted to maybe you're out here and you're realizing I haven't had this transformation in my life what you're talking about in The Encounter With God that you're talking about I haven't had that I haven't experienced it but I want that and we would love to speak with you pray with you and show you how you can begin this new life in Christ how you can overcome the logic and wisdom of the world that keeps you trapped and follow Christ which leads you transformed new and in this relationship with God that's built upon forgiveness love peace and of the spirit whatever God whatever the Lord is calling you to do in your life right now I don't know what it is right in this moment do not delay let your answer be yes and remember remember that sharing the gospel is no Fool's errand do not give up father we thank you for this morning we thank you for your word Lord that that convicts us and convinces US father to not just stay in and gather for ourselves more knowledge more understanding but rather it sends us out father to be a light in the world it sends us out not on a Fool's errand father but God if we would just be faithful to share Lord I know I know and believe God that we will see the world and our community we would see individual lives transformed God we pray for those conversations that will occur we pray for those that you're going to put in our path Lord that we're going to see as soon as today tomorrow God we pray that we wouldn't wait father but we pray that you would would convict us that you would convince us father of the need to share Christ God if there's anybody in this room Lord that needs to be encouraged God we pray that you would draw them God if there's anyone in this room that doesn't know you Jesus we pray that in this moment you would draw them to Faith Lord whatever you're calling us to do we ask that we would be willing to surrender say yes and Obey and live and the power of the Gospel it's in Jesus name we pray amen