The “In” Crowd

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.  For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”  I Corinthians 1:18-19

I remember back in high school that I was not one of the students who were in the “in crowd”, you know, the really popular kids, most of whom came from the more affluent side of town.  However, my friends and I had our own “in crowd”.  High school kids are notorious for forming cliques based on race, looks, socio-economic status, etc.  But I have found as I have grown older that it is not just kids who form cliques, but adults do the same, even in churches.  Now there is nothing wrong with having a circle of friends because we all have those we favor, but excluding others for not having the supposed “criteria” that would otherwise welcome them in if they possessed this criteria, for Christians in particular, is not how Christ expects His brothers and sisters to behave.

I thought of those old high school days when studying I Corinthians.  The Apostle Paul had his own problems with the “in crowd” in Greece.  He had been preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Corinthians and before that in Athens.  The language that Paul used was plain and simple so that anyone could understand the call to repent and believe on Christ.  He shunned eloquent and deep philosophical rhetoric, which he called “a wisdom of words”, because he knew that most of the common folks, i.e. those not highly educated, would not understand what he was preaching, and thus the gospel would have no effect upon them.  The Greeks, those in the so-called “upper ranks” prided themselves on their learning and their use of oratory, debate, and discussions which took up much of their time.  The gospel is simple enough so that anyone of any age, sex, race, or nationality can understand it, and profound in that the most highly educated person can appreciate the value of its truth if only he or she will listen with his or her heart rather than just his or her head.  However if the ones who claim to be too “sophisticated” for the simple truth of the gospel refuse to accept it, they will be the ones to lose out on the joy and peace that could have been theirs.

I suppose it could be said about these folks that they were “too smart for their own good”.  Paul preached to them about Jesus, who was born to a mother who was of no notoriety among the citizens of Israel.  Her name was not on some board of directors.  Jesus’ adopted father, Joseph, was no CEO of a major corporation.  They didn’t live in a mansion on the coast nor belong to the country club.  Neither one of them had university degrees nor had they published a great book of philosophy.  Thus to the “upper crust” of Corinth and Athens, they were viewed as “nobodies” who had a Son that died with thieves, hanging on a cross, naked and exposed, yet they were supposed to believe that He was the Savior of Mankind?  They considered Paul’s message to be nothing more than a foolish notion made up by an itinerant tentmaker in an effort to gain attention.  I can just hear them laughing uproariously at him, pointing their fingers and mocking him.  If they had only listened to Paul as he preached the gospel, the unvarnished truth for all ages, with their hearts and not their prejudiced and closed minds, then they would not have eventually perished, leaving all their “knowledge” behind and finding themselves in the eternal realm of the foolish.  They had spent their time taking care of the intellect, but forfeiting their eternity where no one would be impressed with their knowledge.

To those who are saved because they believe the gospel, they recognize Jesus’ suffering, death on the cross, and resurrection as the very power of God to forgive a sinner and cleanse him or her from head to toe.  There is not feeling more satisfying, joyful, or relieving to know that God has forgiven the one who repents of sin and places faith in Jesus Christ, becoming His follower, and being committed to honor and serve Him for the remainder of one’s life.  Thus, who is the truly intelligent one–the one who mocks and rejects the only way of real life or the one who embraces the truth of God’s word, laying aside pride and giving complete loyalty and dependence on the One who loves us unconditionally?  I am going to go with the second choice–the real “in crowd”.