A Service That Attracts God

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Introduction

• My good friend John Baldwin, Pastor of Berea Baptist church, shared this Facebook post:

Instead of designing a church service to attract people, have a service that attracts God.  He will draw the people.

 

This was from the Facebook page “A Modern Day Ruth”

• John posts a lot of witty observations on church life and his church is doing amazing.
• In our responsive reading, we read the passage that includes Isaiah 29:14:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

• Well, I like to think of myself as reasonably intelligent, but I think I’m in trouble here.
• Conventional wisdom says that we should design programs and processes to attract people to us.
• Paul said: “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.”
• So, the people who need to understand this message the most aren’t going to get it.
• But he also said: “but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
• The world has twisted God’s creation in so many ways that God seems out of place.
• We have science now – we don’t need God (or so the world would have you believe)
• Scientists quickly dismiss the 7-day creation story yet they have no problem with a Big Bang Theory.
• If we are going to attract God and let Him attract others, then how do we do that?
• Paul asks a series of 3 questions that might help us:

1. Where is the wise person?
2. Where is the teacher of the law?
3. Where is the philosopher of this age?

1. Where is the wise person?

• Who are some of the people that you look up to and considered “wise?”
• I immediately think about people in the world.
• People in the news perhaps; famous people who did something wise?
• In the field of politics, I think of Gerald Ford who pardoned Richard Nixon and helped heal the nation or Ronald Reagan and his views on economics and the Soviet Union.
• First thing: forget about arguing your point even though you are right. My opinion is just that: my opinion.
• In the field of religion, I think about Billy Graham and how he so effectively brought people to Christ through his messages. But I especially appreciated how he ministered to so many different presidents of the United States.
• What about our entertainment figures? Don’t we tend to look up to them and glorify them?
• We put them up on pedestals because of their acting ability when they really may be rotten to the core.
• How many of us remember Bill Cosby the character until we learned the truth about Bill Cosby the man?
• And one of the finest athletes in football history was OJ Simpson.
• Yes, we tend to glorify people who excel by human standards.
• Paul tells us about the trap of glorifying humans in verse 26:

Brothers and sisters, 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.

• Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
• If we are to attract God and let Him attract others, then we must stop glorifying humans and glorify Him instead in everything that we do

2. Where is the teacher of the law?

• Where is the teacher of the law?
• Today the law is the law of physics, chemistry, genetics, etc. Scientists are the teachers of the law now.
• Sadly, I don’t think there will be a lot of scientists in heaven.
• I really don’t expect to see Stephen Hawking, for example, but let’s dig a little deeper.
• Many of the most famous scientists of all time were atheists, but some will surprise you.

Sydney Brenner, an atheist, was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in 2002 for his contributions to understanding how genes function during development.

 

But it was Gregory Mendel, a Roman Catholic Augustinian abbot, who founded the science of genetics; and identified many of the mathematical rules of heredity; and identified recessive and dominant traits.

 

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, also an atheist, was a brilliant astrophysicist who studied stars and their structure, including how they evolve. His work earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983. Chandrasekhar’s work contributed to our understanding of black holes.

 

But it was Charles Townes, a member of the United Church of Christ wo invented the laser and maser and established that the Milky Way has a supermassive black hole at its center.

 

John McCarthy, an atheist, was an American cognitive and computer scientist best known for founding the field of artificial intelligence.

 

But Charles Babbage, a Protestant devotee who devoted a chapter of his autobiography to a discussion of his faith was the father of the computer and invented the Analytical Engine, a Turing Complete computer in 1837 – the first general purpose computer.

• In all fairness, there are many great scientists who are known to be believers.

Michael Faraday, Isaac Newton, Florence Nightingale, Blaise Pascal, Samuel Morse, and George Washington Carver just to name a few.

• Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
• If we are to attract God and let Him attract others, than we must stop letting science be the law, and turn to the Bible as our law and God will respond to that.

3. Where is the philosopher of this age?

• Who are the philosophers of this age? Whose opinions about life do we value the most?
• There’s a new standard for contemporary philosophy in the world: social media influencer.
• The top 5 most followed Instagram celebrity influencers are:

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (605M followers)
2. Lionel Messi (487M followers)
3. Kylie Jenner (399M followers)
4. Selena Gomez (429M followers)
5. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (390M followers)

Other celebrities who just missed the top 5 include Ariana Grande (379M), Kim Kardashian (364M), and Beyoncé (317M).

 

• These people’s opinions or philosophies about life are powerful in today’s society.
• If these people say something’s good, it’s good. If they say buy it, people buy it.
• There are people on the internet who are reshaping our ideas about morals, gender identification, religion, and just about everything we’ve ever known.
• And now, there is a new force on the horizon that is powerful and dangerous.
• This new force is Artificial Intelligence or AI for short.
• AI is the answer to the question: “What would happen if computers took over?”
• When you interact with AI, it is processing millions of bits of information about you.
• Based on information gathered about you, it makes decisions or suggestions for you.
• The opportunity for evil to creep into AI is subtle but devious.
• The enemy is constantly trying to reach you and encourage you to sin.
• The internet has proven to be highly efficient and fast; allowing evil to creep in with sin.
• We have people being victimized for money to pay for scams.
• We have criminals stealing people’s identity to commit theft in their name.
• AI will cause the internet and other computer-based devices to be even more dangerous.
• What are some of the computer-based devices you have?
• How about your phone, your watch, your pacemaker, your car, your TV, your house.
• What about your refrigerator? Washer and dryer?  Stove, microwave? Everything.
• With my cell phone I can remotely set the thermostat for our Myrtle Beach house, turn the hot water tank on and off, open and close the garage door, lock and unlock the front door, and set the alarm.
• Computers are everywhere today. And AI will make them all potential decision-makers.
• So, the new philosopher of this age will soon be the computer and AI.
• Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
• If we are to attract God and let Him attract others, then we must make Jesus the philosopher of this age and turn away from social media and AI as our teacher.
• For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.