One would think that it would be universally true that no one likes looking like a fool, but that’s not really the case is it? There are countless websites, YouTube channels, gifs, tv shows and blogs that are solely dedicated to watching people do foolish, dangerous, stupid or ridiculous things – and they get thousands, even millions of hits and earn the content creators quite a lot of money. It would seem that today, acting like a fool, is not only popular but quite lucrative. Just the other day I watched a video where a guy filled a swimming pool with 1500 gallons of Coca-Cola, threw in some mentos and ice to make it cool and bubbly, and then proceeded to jump in. And then, just for good measure, they included some “tech destruction” by ruining a $2000 dollar flying quad-copter camera by crashing it into the pool. It made no sense.

Every single comment I read, from top to bottom, was about how stupid and wasteful it was – and yet, last time I looked, they had almost 5 million subscribers and the video had 22 million views. Foolishness, silliness, and stupidity, it would seem, is quite a popular pastime.

I’m not going to say that I’m immune from it. I’ve done some stupid things in my life. Sometimes to impress people, other times because I simply wanted the experience. I once drove my father’s car 212 km/hr down a long, steep hill on a highway out of town. That was dumb and I could have died. I once helped duct-tape a friend to a lawn-chair and throw him in the back of a car so we could take pictures of him in various, sketchy, locations. He still bears the scars from how tightly we taped him. Another time I ate nothing but Little-Caesar’s Crazy bread for three straight days, just to see what would happen. Actually, nothing happened and I enjoyed every minute of it.

That’s one kind of foolishness, and it seems to be one that a lot of people enjoy, but maybe there’s a different kind of foolishness that isn’t quite so popular; a feeling that no one wants to experience, and where even the most extroverted YouTuber dares not go. The section of scripture we are going to look at today uses the word “folly” and “foolish” a lot, but it certainly can’t mean “silliness”, “goofiness” or “simple stupidity”.

Open up to 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 and let’s read it together and then take it apart a bit to see if we can understand what God is trying to teach us here.

“For the word of the cross is folly 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, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 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. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

The Mines of Moria

The word for “foolish” or “folly” here both come from the same root word, MOROS. The word “folly” is actually the word MORIA, and if there are any Lord of the Rings fans here you’ll remember that word. It was the underground mining city where the Dwarves dug too deeply to extract more and more treasure from the earth until they accidentally awoke a demon called a Balrog. Their foolish greed literally drove them to dig their own tunnel to hell. In Tolkien’s made-up language MORIA means “Black Abyss”, but there’s no doubt Tolkien intended a double meaning for Christian readers who had studied the concept of the deeper meaning of folly in the Bible.

If you recall, the wizard Gandalf, was the guide for the group and was trying to get them to the Land of MORDOR to get rid of the ring, was something of a Christ-figure throughout the books. He didn’t want to go MORIA because of what had been awoken by the dwarves – the evil, or utter foolishness, of a society dedicated to an all-consuming greed – embodied in the danger of facing the Balrog.

As they try to sneak their way through the mines, everything inevitably goes wrong (just as Gandalf thought it would) and they are forced to make a break for the Bridge of Kazad-Dum, the very long, straight and narrow bridge to safety, without any kind of rail, spanning a great fiery chasm, where they would all have to cross single file. (Sound familiar?) It was on this bridge that Gandalf was forced protect those under his care by having them cross first and then turn to confront the demon, shouting “You Cannot Pass!”, breaking the bridge in half, sending the Balrog tumbling into the chasm, saving his friends.

Now, let me nerd-out a little bit more because Tolkien digs really deep her into his Christ-figuring. Before he breaks the bridge he shouts out some very specific warnings at the demon. He says, “I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun. Go back to the shadow! You cannot pass.”

Most people think it’s strange that the good-guy, Gandalf, would be a “servant of fire” and a “wielder of a flame”, but when you dig deep, you see here that this is no mere occurrence of fighting fire with fire. In Tolkien’s universe, The Secret Fire is the “Light of Creation that burns at the centre of the earth” and “Anor” is the name of the sun. He’s looking at the demon and saying, “Your dark fire, your destructive ‘flame of Udun’ (which is Tolkien’s version of Hell), will do you no good against me because I have access to the greater powers of light and creation.” [Or in today’s vernacular: “Hey demon, you better check yourself, before you wreck yourself.”]

This whole situation here, without question, is meant to show us a picture of salvation through Jesus Christ. They journey through a land of foolishness who releasing all the powers of Hell in their greed leading to a battle between a demon and the One who has the power of the Light of Creation.

It’s basically the beginning of the Gospel of John in storybook form!:

“All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:3-5)

Jesus says in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world.”

But that’s not where the Gospel of John’s opening chapter ends. By the third chapter, we read about the cost of what it takes to bring the people trapped in the black abyss of MORIA, the land of total foolishness, back into the light. It requires the only One who has lived in perfect light to go into the darkness, do battle with sin and evil, and cast the darkness itself into the abyss? How? By living a perfect life, and then dying in place of foolish sinners.

In John 3:13-21, Jesus says,

“No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

I have no doubt that’s what Tolkien was illustrating in this scene in Lord of the Rings. Gandalf had to die at the hands of the Balrog so his followers could escape the deep dark of MORIA.

But if you’ve seen the movie, or read the books, you’ll remember the last words that Gandalf said before he slid into the abyss: “Fly, you fools!”.

Interesting last words, aren’t they? His final message was to call them fools and command them to “fly”, or “run”, or “get out as fast as you can”. Why? Let me read it to you,

“With a terrible cry the Balrog fell forward, and its shadow plunged down and vanished. But even as it fell it swung its whip, and the thongs lashed and curled about the wizard’s knees, dragging him to the brink. He staggered and fell, grasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss. ‘Fly, you fools!” he cried, and was gone. The fires went out, and blank darkness fell. The company stood rooted with horror staring into the pit. Even as Aragon and Boromir came flying back, the rest of the bridge cracked and fell. With a cry Aragorn roused them. ‘Come, I will lead you now!’ he called. ‘We must obey his last command. Follow me!’”

Here we see the disciples, lost, afraid, alone, in the dark, and frozen with fear. It was the final command of their saviour that got them to move. “Get out of this dark place as fast as you can. Get away from the land of Darkness. Fly from the land of Foolishness. Do not stay a moment longer, or your enemies will find you again. Remember, you fools, that you must flee this danger, not stand in the darkness. I have saved you at the cost of my life! Why do you stand there in the darkness waiting for the enemy to surround you? Fly, you fools!”

Aragorn takes up the charge and leads the group out of MORIA. Perhaps he is the figure of the Apostle Paul here, taking up the commands of Jesus and reminding the disciples to obey their Lord as he does. In fact, later in 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul says just that, telling them, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

Jews and Greeks

With that picture in mind, let’s go back to 1 Corinthians 1 though and talk about that deeper form of foolishness I hinted at before, but let’s remember the context. It says in verse 22,

“For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles…”

The Jews and the Greeks both hated the idea of looking like fools. Not the silly, goofy kinds of fools we see on YouTube, but the kind of fool that no one wants to be. For the Jews, a fool was a sinner who had no access to the power of God, where a wise man was righteous and lived with God’s blessing. All through the Bible, we see demonstrations that the only way a Jew will change their minds is if God Himself comes down with fire, lightning, plagues and miracles. And even then, it doesn’t last long until they need to see more miracles.

That’s something they continued to request of Jesus. When He came back to the town of Cana where he had changed water into wine, he hadn’t stepped two feet into town before they came running up to him asking for another miracle. His reply was a frustrated,

“Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?” (John 4:48 – NLT)

After feeding the 5000 and walking on water to get to the other side of the sea of Galilee, the crowds caught up to Jesus and “said to him, ‘What must we do, to be doing the works of God?’” In other words, “What does God expect of us? What great deeds must we do? What laws must we obey? What impresses God the most?”

 “Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’”

All God requires is faith in Jesus. The works-oriented Jews couldn’t accept this. God must want more than just believing in Jesus as Messiah? He must want more than faith? What about circumcision, keeping the festivals, washing hands, going to the temple, making sacrifices…? There’s no way that God merely wants us to believe in You as Messiah, Jesus?

“So they said to him, ‘Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?'”

We’ll believe you only if you do a powerful miracle again. Feed us again like you did yesterday. Do something spectacular and then we’ll believe you.

That’s why Paul says that Jews demanded signs. They weren’t going to change their beliefs unless they saw a work of power.

For the Greeks, the worst kind of fool is the one who is taken in by a liar; the fool who listens to the wrong teacher or puts their confidence in the wrong place. Athens, the greatest city in Greece was named after Athena, the goddess of wisdom. No Greek ever wanted to be the fool who reported wrong, ridiculous, outrageous things that no one else could understand or believe.

For them, the concept of the Almighty, Invisible God coming down in the form of a dirty, human, baby, was impossible to believe. That God would choose to live and work and sweat as a man, get hungry and thirsty and tired, was ridiculous. That a Creator would become one of his Creations was insulting. And perhaps worst of all, that that the God/man would die, and then somehow be raised from the dead, was borderline insane. Believing, teaching and sharing Christian beliefs made you sound like a crazy person.

Afraid to Look Like Fools

And yet, that’s the gospel; “…a stumbling block to Jews and folly to the Gentiles.” This stumbling block became a problem in the Corinthian church and echoes the same problems that many churches, and many Christians, have today.

They become ashamed of Jesus and ashamed of the true gospel, so they change their beliefs to make themselves look less foolish for believing it. They are afraid to look like fools in front of their family, their friends, their culture, their workmates, their teachers or fellow students. They don’t want to look foolish to the scientific community, or even other religions, but instead of completely giving up on their faith, they change it to sound less foolish.

In Corinth, they were pressed on all sides to compromise. They lived in a pantheistic culture, with many gods, and yet the Bible teaches that there is only one. So they compromise a little to allow for the existence of other gods alongside their own.

The other temples had incredibly popular forms of worship that included ritual sex, prostitution, orgies, homosexuality, and other perverse things. And yet God was very clear about the rules for sex. But they thought that if they compromised their sexual integrity, perhaps it would be easier to get people to come to church.

The other religions in town had ecstatic performances with crazy exhibitions. The attendees would start drinking and the worship leaders would put on a huge display with instruments and dances, and stripping, and screaming, and blood, and more. Madness was an important aspect of their worship – and it was quite a show to behold.

And yet Paul tells the Corinthians that Christian worship services are to be orderly, respectful, one person speaking at a time, and then only those who have the spirit of God upon them and know what they’re talking about. He tells them that if they have no idea what’s going on in church, to save their questions for when they get home so that others aren’t distracted. That’s a HUGE difference! What a weird service that would be to all the newcomers! Every other temple and religion around them gets a good show, some crazy performance, and some sensuous perversion – and we have to sit here politely, sing some songs and listen to people take turns talking? No way, God! No way, Paul! That’s not how our culture worships!

So, to look less like weirdos, and more like the world around them, they changed things. But not just the way thy performed their worship services, they altered the very core of their faith. They didn’t want to sound silly to the intellectuals, so they compromised on the resurrection of Jesus. They didn’t want to seem closed minded, so they compromised on how salvation works and allowed other teachings like following the law, or having special knowledge, or a crazy experience, to be required for salvation alongside belief in Jesus.

In that short, two-year period when Paul had gone from Corinth to Ephesus, the fear of looking like fools to the people around them had gripped them so tightly that they had compromised almost everything so they could fit in. They changed the gospel. They ignored or altered God’s expectations. They refused to confront sin. And, to look cool and popular with the people of Corinth, they even tried to build bridges towards the other religions in the hopes of showing how similar they were. Does that sound familiar – because it’s still happening today.

And so, with a cry Paul seeks to rouse them saying, “Come, I will lead you now!… We must obey Jesus’ command. Follow me!” And what was Jesus’ command? A lot like Gandalf’s: “Fly, you fools! Run from sin! Don’t compromise the gospel. Don’t stay in the darkness MORIA. Don’t dwell in the land of fools. Don’t try to build bridges to the demons. Don’t befriend the orcs. Only a fool would do that. Fly! Get out of the darkness. Don’t dwell here anymore! You have been saved and are now children of light – live like it! (1 Thess 5:5)”

Christ The Power and Wisdom of God

But, in a great twist of irony, Paul never tells them that seeking great knowledge, deep wisdom and spiritual power is bad. No, we are meant to seek these things! But that all that they are seeking is truly found in Jesus! He tells these people who are thirsting for power and wisdom, not to stop searching, but to search where it may be found – in God.

“For the word of the cross is folly 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, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?”

He’s asking the question: “Where do you intend to turn for more wisdom or learning or than God can provide you? Where will you find the one who can debate with God and win?” “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

He asks them to consider what they know about God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ:

“Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”

It’s almost a challenge to find a better plan than the one set out by God through our salvation through Jesus Christ. I defy you to find a better, more comprehensive, more gracious, more powerful, more wise, more helpful, more all-encompassing, more hopeful message than the message of Jesus. Everything that the world has come up with – all of its religions and medicines and solutions– fall utterly short of what God has provided in Jesus Christ. You may feel like fools in your culture, the ways of the enemy, the ways of the world, are what is truly foolish.

You WILL Look Like a Fool

And so the simple conclusion today is this: Remember that if you are a follower of Christ, then you are going to look like a fool to the world and they will mock you. The Christian salvation message doesn’t make sense to those whose hearts are hard towards God.

One last Lord of the Rings reference (I promise). When the company gets out of MORIA they end up with the elves – the immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings – and the king of the elves, the wisest of all, says, “If it were possible, one would say that at the last Gandalf fell from wisdom into folly, going needlessly into the net of Moria.” His Queen quickly corrects him saying, “Needless were none of the deeds of Gandalf in life. Those that followed him knew not his mind and cannot report his full propose…”

I read you that to say, that when you are following Jesus, even the wisest person in the world may consider you a fool – because sometimes God chooses to make us look like fools as He works out His full purpose in our lives, and in this world. You cannot follow Jesus with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and be fully accepted by the world. You cannot follow Jesus with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and not end up being considered a fool by some. By following Him you have made yourself incompatible with the way the world acts and thinks.

You will speak differently, have different priorities, and relate to people differently. You will use your time differently and see your work differently than those around you. They will be driven by different desires than you. You will sacrifice things that they would never consider giving up, and you will do things that they would never consider doing. And they will call you stupid for it. They’ll call you a doormat, or a bible-thumper, or a goody-two-shoes, an idiot, or a weakling. They’ll call you a fool because in their eyes you are one.

You have to remember that the closer you walk with Jesus, the more foolish you will look to the world around you. You have to be ok with that. Jesus said in Matthew 5:11-12, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” In other words, God people get mocked and mistreated. They always have and they always will.

In John 15:18-19 Jesus said this,

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Don’t be surprised when following Jesus, sharing the Gospel, believing the Bible and obeying God makes you look foolish and causes the world to mock, persecute and hate you. That’s how it’s always been. Jesus was the most perfect, most loving, and most just man ever – and they mocked Him and killed Him. It’ll be the same with you. So remember you’re going to look like a fool when you follow Jesus, but God’s foolishness is wiser than any man’s wisdom. Don’t be ashamed of it. Jesus is the power and wisdom of God and the one way by which we are saved.