Sun, Feb 02, 2020
A subversive status symbol?
1 Corinthians 1:18-31 by Craig de Vos
Series: Sermons

What does it mean to be successful in life?

 

According to my late father… 

being successful begins with going to a good school and getting a good education…

working hard and doing well––

even if that means going without––

such as forgoing social and sporting activities in your final years of school…

so that you might concentrate on your studies…

get into University…

get a degree and get a good job––

a job that’s well-paid…

and that’s held in high regard by the community…

something honourable or noble…

something prestigious––

a profession like medicine, or law, or engineering.

And, having achieved that, it means continuing to work hard…

so that you can earn more money––

not to spend on frivolous things…

such as luxury items or designer labels.

No!

It means earning as much as you can…

saving as much as you can…

and investing it wisely in property––

even if that means borrowing as much as you own.

For my dad, success meant working hard…

going without…

and accumulating wealth…

so that you would be comfortable as you got older…

so that you could retire on a reasonable income…

and not have to worry.

For other people, of course, success means accumulating status symbols:

having the mansion in Beaumont or Highgate…

the Rolls Royce…

the trophy wife…

antique furniture and Armani suits.

For others, success lies in the amount of power that they wield:

the number of people that they can boss around…

the number of lives that they can control…

or the amount of influence that they can exert––

whether it be running a company…

or running a country.

For others, success means being popular, well-known, or famous…

having your picture in the paper or on the cover of a magazine…

scoring the winning goal or hitting the winning run.

 

On the whole, we’re a success-driven society.

And that drive for success may be propelled by deep-seated fears or insecurities;

or, the attempt to insulate ourselves from the pain of past experience;

or, simply, because that’s what we have been brought up to strive for and to emulate.

But, as a society, we respect the high achievers.

We adore our sporting heroes––

at least when they’re winning.

We envy our glamorous actresses and celebrities.

We admire those who seem to have it all––

those who can juggle being a wife, a mother, and a pioneering medical researcher.

Of course, the flip side is that we tend to label people who aren’t successful:

loser…

failure…

bum…

sponger…

deviant.

We live in a society where power, possessions, and prestige are important.

We live in a society where people’s identity and worth is determined by their achievements…

by what they have accumulated…

by how successful they are.

 

In the first century, Corinthian society was somewhat similar.

The well-to-do lived in a constant state of rivalry––

always battling one another for prestige, power, and control…

taking each other to court…

and trying to better each other through wit, learning, and rhetorical skill;

or trying to outdo each other in the grandness of their parties and banquets;

or in owning more slaves or land than everyone else. 

It was a society where people’s worth was dependent on where they were born…

and into what family.

It didn’t depend on what job they did…

but on whether they owned enough— 

especially land— 

so that they didn’t have to work.

It depended on how many tenants they had to work their land;

how many slaves they owned to staff their mansions and country estates;

how many ordinary working people they could control or manipulate.

And what mattered most was honour––

how you were publicly perceived;

how you spoke and dressed;

how much you gave away in public benefactions…

the number of temples or bath-houses that you paid for…

and on which you could proudly affix your name.

Corinth was a society where power, possessions, and prestige were important.

They determined someone’s worth.

 

So Paul reminds them who they actually are as a community.

He points to the nature of the Corinthian church itself:

Not many…were wise…not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth”.

In other words, very few of them were elite…

wealthy…

well-to-do…

successful.

Something that would have been embarrassing for those who actually were…

who would have felt uncomfortable associating with their inferiors.

But Paul reminds them that they all belong together.

That, together—

educated and uneducated…

powerful and powerless…

successful high-achievers and also-rans––

together they are the people of God.

They are chosen by God––

all of them––

to show that all of their posturing…

all of their power-plays…

all of their pretensions…

all of their petty rivalries…

all of their distinctions and labels…

are ultimately empty, futile, and meaningless.

Indeed…

God chose 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, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.

In other words, Paul is saying, God doesn’t operate as society does.

God doesn’t think as we do.

God doesn’t make the sorts of distinctions that we do.

God doesn’t reward us according to our achievements.

God doesn’t value us depending on whether we’re successful or not.

Indeed, according to society’s values and goals, God is utterly illogical…

foolish…

weak.

The very nature of the Christian faith is contrary to ordinary common sense.

It’s absurd.

Because the cross is anything but a symbol of power…

or privilege…

or success…

or achievement.

After all, the cross was a punishment for slaves and foreigners––

for those without power––

and it was meant to utterly shame and degrade.

And yet, Paul claims that this symbol of absolute powerlessness demonstrates God’s power.

It also demonstrates the depth of God’s love––

and the indiscriminate nature of God’s love.

And, if we recognise that, then everything changes:

all that we value…

all that we strive after…

all that we think defines who we are…

all that we think gives us worth.

The cross reveals a God who defies human logic:

a God who loves the unlovable;

a God who accepts the unacceptable;

a God who welcomes the foolish, the powerless, and weak;

a God who embraces the despised…

the loser…

the deviant…

and the bum.

None of our successes or achievements—

our education or skill…

our power or possessions…

our prestige or our popularity—

make any difference to God.

God’s love is not something that we can earn or achieve or win.

We just have to be foolish enough to accept it.