Simple Message

The introduction of this passage tells us how wonderful and simple God's message is. Paul went to the Corinthians with one thing on his mind: Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. Verse 3 gives a bit of an insight into Paul's journey so far. He started out strong, but as his journey went on, he met more opposition and was at times on the run from people who wanted to kill him. From these events that have affected Paul's life, he has chosen not to focus on anything but Christ. By doing this, he allowed the Holy Spirit to work in him and through him amongst the people he met and spoke/preached to. To me, this is like a 'how to' guide on missioning. The one thing we should have our minds on is Christ, and God will do the rest. If your mind is focussed on big schemes and ideas rather than the message of Christ, then you may hinder the Holy Spirit's work. Also, by focussing yourself on Christ, you are shifting the focus of the audience away from your own 'marvelous ideas' to the true message that God wants everyone to hear.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

1Dear brothers and sisters,when I first came to you I didn't use lofty words and brilliant ideas to tell you God's message. 2For I decided to concentrate only on Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. 3I came to you in weakness--timid and trembling. 4And my message and my preaching were very plain. I did not use wise and persuasive speeches, but the Holy Spirit was powerful among you. 5I did this so that you might trust the power of God rather than human wisdom.

1 Corinthians 1:23-30

This epistle is one of the first of Paul's letters, addressed to the people of Corinth. There are many problems in the city: the people worship money and the like, and Paul addresses these problems throughout the letter. I picked this passage for my journalling because I think wisdom is one of the things many people strive for in life. Everyone seems to want to be wise, and make it one of their goals in life to become wiser. In these verses, it says that God's foolishness is even wiser than man's wisest. God, at his worst (if there even is a worst) is still wiser than the wisest men of the earth. Also, Paul goes on to say that God chooses the foolish and despised things on earth to shame the wise. This reminds me of the incident in the temple where a poor lady gives one gold coin for the offering thing, while the rich man gives thousands. The lady has given her entire savings... one gold coin, while the rich man gives only a small portion of his wealth. Who is shamed? The rich man! The "wise" and boastful. Both in the beginning and the end of this passage, Paul says that Christ is the wisdom and power of God and from God. If we believe and have faith in Him, we are made righteous and holy before God. Christ is the wisdom of God.

The passage

23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
26Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption