Monday, May 18, 2026

Opening Scripture

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7

Opening Prayer

Gracious Heavenly Father, you are holy and exalted! May your kingdom come and your will be done in my life, home, and community, just as it is in Heaven. Help me to trust you today to meet all of my needs. Help me to forgive others, just as you have forgiven me. Help me to resist temptation and overcome the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Daily Bible Reading

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

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. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Reflection  

We’re in the final week of Eastertide, heading toward Pentecost Sunday. Our theme over these past weeks has been “Shaped by the Spirit.” Over the next six days, we will continue to explore how the Holy Spirit works in the lives of believers to accomplish God’s will and purpose.

The Eastertide season celebrates what God has done (and continues to do) as He works out His great plan of redemption in and through the Church. Originally, these fifty days were full of surprises, as time after time, God shocked His people by revealing that what He was up to was infinitely bigger than what they expected.

It began that first Easter morning with the women who went to Jesus’ tomb at daybreak carrying spices. Their confusion and despair were turned to shock, and then joy when an angel asked them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

It was embodied in the disappointment of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, who summed up the collective sentiment with the statement: “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” Their confusion and despair turned to shock, and then joy, when Jesus broke the bread, and their eyes were opened. “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

It continued that first Easter evening when the frightened disciples were hiding behind locked doors “for fear of the Jews.” Their confusion and despair were turned to shock, and then joy when Jesus suddenly appeared and said, “Peace be with you.”

After several such appearances where, according to Luke, “he showed himself and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive,” Jesus’ followers began to believe the unbelievable: Jesus was back!

But their joy was turned to shock, and then confusion and despair when suddenly, “he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” More uncertainty. More waiting and wondering.

Then, at the Feast of Pentecost, to everyone’s surprise, “suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

Time after time during that first Eastertide, God shocked His people by revealing that what He was up to was infinitely bigger than what they expected. And it’s still happening today! God’s great plan of redemption defies human reasoning.

That’s the essence of what Paul says in today’s passage. “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.” Hopefully, the longer we follow Jesus, the more we come to expect the unexpected. That’s part of what it means to live by faith.

Human intelligence cannot save the soul. Jewish scholars, Greek philosophers, and modern scientists are incapable of grasping the infinite wisdom and majesty of God. Those who trust in earthly knowledge are doomed to frustration and destruction. Apart from God, the mystery of the ages that has now been revealed is beyond mankind’s reach.

The message of “Christ crucified” is “scandalous” (skandalon) to the Jews and “moronic” (morian) to the Gentiles. To the unregenerate human mind – blinded by Satan and the forces of evil – eternal salvation solely by faith in the sacrificial death of Jesus is complete foolishness… which is why it requires divine revelation even to be considered.

Paul’s warning against relying on “wisdom” or “knowledge” for salvation was also an assault on the Gnostic heresy that plagued so many of the early churches. While this false teaching took different forms, it essentially involved “hidden knowledge” that contradicted the apostles’ teaching. Typically, Gnosticism included a distortion of facts about the nature of God and the belief that the material world is all bad, while the spiritual world is all good.

Before the creation of the universe, God chose a plan of redemption that would confound humanity’s self-promoting efforts. And He ordained “the foolishness of preaching” (kērugmatos) – proclaiming the message of Christ crucified – as a primary means of distribution so that (as Paul will say tomorrow) “your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.”

Flourishing Habit

Flourishing Congregations

In today’s passage, Paul is still addressing the problem of division within the Corinthian church. Earlier in this letter, he says, “I appeal to you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought” (1 Corinthians 1:10)

The word here translated “perfectly united” (katērtismenoi) is the same word Paul used in Ephesians 4:12, when he explained how the functions of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are supposed to equip God’s people for ministry, so the body of Christ will be built up. As we observed there, it denotes “mending” what is broken and “completing” what is unfinished. The goal in all of this is relational unity, spiritual maturity, and fullness in Christ.

“The message of the cross” involves more than just the way of salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus. It involves a reorientation of life among believers that enables peace in conflict and unity in community. “Christ crucified” is what brings us together. If we’re not careful, even followers of Jesus can lapse into depending on “the wisdom of the world.”

Here’s what James says about wisdom from God. “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere” (James 3:13-17).

Godly wisdom produces humility, compassion, genuineness, and impartiality. As Paul declares later in this letter, “knowledge puffs up while love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). Earthly wisdom cannot grasp the inverted economy of the Kingdom of Heaven where: “The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matthew 23:11-12).

The Corinthian Christians were operating based on their personal preferences and unsanctified “common sense.” The result was a continuation of the quarrels and disagreements that naturally exist within a diverse group of people. It seems they were experiencing what James described in his letter.

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:1-3).

Paul offers the solution to this problem in his letter to the Romans. “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you” (Romans 12:3).

He’ll have more to say about that tomorrow.

Can you think of a time when your confusion and despair turned to shock, and then joy as God did the unexpected in your life?

Remember: Nothing changes until something changes!