Foolish Preaching

“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.”  ~1 Corinthians 1:21

Very seldom do I disagree with the ESV translation of the Bible. But when it comes to 1 Corinthians 1:21, it seems the King James is a better translation. Paul does not say, “…it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe,” although that is true, but rather, “…it pleased God through the folly of preaching to save those who believe.” In other words, God uses the folly — or what is perceived by the world (and sadly by some in the church) as folly — of preaching to save the lost. Paul, in this particular verse, is referring to the method rather than the message.

It is startling when you think about it! How has the Lord turned the world upside down for Christ? By what means, principally, have billions of people turned to Christ through the ages? Simply by men standing up and preaching.

Just as remarkable is that the Lord deigns to use even beige, mediocre sermons. The preaching is made effectual not by the grandeur of the sermon itself. “And I,” Paul says, “when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom … I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not plausible words of wisdom” (1 Cor. 2:1, 3-4). God condescends to use even ordinary sermons.

And then, just as remarkable, God’s preachers are, in themselves, nothing special! His preachers are broken vessels. God saves people through the preaching of unspectacular, ordinary men. I think, for example, of the conversion of the famous Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon on January 6, 1850. Due to a snowstorm, Spurgeon turned into a church haphazardly one Sunday morning. He writes, “The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed up, I suppose. At last, a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker, or tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach. Now, it is well that preachers should be instructed, but this man was really stupid. He was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The text was ‘Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.’ He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter. There was, I thought, a glimpse of hope for me in that text.” Spurgeon was saved that morning through the sub-par preaching of an ordinary plebeian man.

There is hope for me in this thought! Regardless of the poverty of my sermons, and regardless of the limits of my gifts, and regardless of how foolish, broken, and desperately sinful I am, the Lord may condescend to use even my preaching for the salvation of His people. Because the reality is it’s really not about me. Preachers are mere vessels — Amazon cardboard boxes to be folded up and discarded. The transforming power of preaching is found in the Word and the Spirit! It is the Word of the cross that is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18). It is the power of the Holy Spirit that is salvific: “And my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power … these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit … Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:4, 10, 12-13a).

This Sunday, and every Sunday, let us look to and pray for the transforming power of the Holy Spirit to flow through an ordinary sermon and a deficient man. 

Rev. Rob Dykes, Pastor of Preaching & Congregational Care