How do you evaluate people? The verb evaluate is built on the root word value. How do you evaluate people? How do you decide what they're worth? Or maybe to put it more simply, how do you decide what you think about somebody? Now, perhaps you've never really considered that. I mean, the whole process normally happens subconsciously with most of us. It's not really something we ever think about. But think about it now. Is it based on how much education they have, whether they have a college degree or a graduate degree, which college they went to, a community college or a private college or a state institution, a university? Is it the degree they have, a liberal arts degree or maybe a professional degree? Maybe for you, it's more about how much money they make or the job that they have. Or maybe it's more physical with you, whether they keep themselves in shape, how attractive they are, how strong they are, how much physical labor they can do, or what kind of skills they have with their hands, maybe musical skills. Or perhaps with you it's the teams they root for, Clemson, or the Braves, or the car they drive, or the clothes they wear. or how many followers they have on Twitter. Perhaps you're influenced by the color of their skin. Our country is in an uproar right now over critical race theory, which is nothing but racism turned inside out. Many of our children from elementary school through college now are being taught if they're white or male, If that is to be held against them, their oppressors, if they're people of color or female or homosexual or transgender, then they have more value to make up for how they've been victimized. There are probably dozens more criteria that might influence how each of us evaluate other people. But there is a related but much more important question this morning that will be our focus, and that's how does God evaluate people? The Apostle Paul believed that how God evaluates people ought to shape how we, as his people, evaluate others. And that's the whole point of the next paragraph here in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. So let's read it together, beginning in verse 26. 1 Corinthians 1, beginning in verse 26. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. And the base things of the world, and the things which are despised, God has chosen. And the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. but of Him you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and rejection. That as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. Now, in the first three verses of this paragraph, in verses 26 through 28, we learn that God's evaluation, the way God evaluates, turns the world's value system on its head. These three verses concern those whom God has called those whom He has chosen. You'll notice that the word chosen is used three times in verses 27 and 28. Here is how God chooses. Here is how God evaluates human beings. Now, these three verses contain a contrast. between those whom God has not called, in verse 26, versus those whom He has chosen, in verses 27 and 28. So let's begin in verse 26. In verse 26, Paul describes those God did not call. And he describes them in three ways. First, not many wise according to the flesh have been called. Those of you that have been here for the past couple of weeks, you know that Paul has been focused on this idea of wisdom since verse 18. In verses 18 through 25, he contrasted the wisdom of the world with the wisdom of God. And in this verse, he's talking about the wisdom of the world. He's talking about those who are wise according to the flesh. We talked about this a couple of weeks ago in the Greco-Roman culture. They greatly valued wisdom. They put philosophers and philosophical systems on tall pedestals. The word philosophy comes directly from the Greek language. It means love of wisdom. And based on what Paul said back in verses 18 through 25, there must have been quite a few in the Corinthian church who bought into this worldly value system. They evaluated other human beings based on how much Greek philosophy they knew, how much worldly wisdom they had, even those within the church they evaluated in this way. And Paul says to them, in effect, Just look around your own church. Among the Christians that God has called and saved, do you see a bunch of philosophers? Do you see people who are highly educated in the philosophical systems of your day? Who are educated in rhetoric and how to argue and how to persuade? Look around. And basically Paul says, there's not many. Today we might say, look around Midway. You see a bunch of PhDs? Now I want you to take note, Paul did not say there are not any wise. It's not that there aren't any that are educated that God saves. But Paul wants the congregation to look in a mirror, as it were, and see the kind of people that God has called to salvation. It does not include many that are wise according to the world's evaluation system, many that are highly educated in the worldviews and the philosophy of the day. And then verse 26 describes those that God did not call in a second way. Not many mighty or powerful. And again, Paul uses the adjective form of the same word that he used back in verses 18 through 25. He spoke of the power of God in verse 18 and again in verse 24. And here in verse 26, he speaks of the powerful. Paul is pointing to those who have power after the flesh in the eyes of the world. Now, when we think of power in our society today, who has power? We think in terms of government, mayors, governors, congressmen, senators, president. I mean, even bureaucrats at the state level, at the federal level have some measure of power. We think in terms of the military. I mean, generals, you know, they have people that can kill you. That is certainly a measure of power. In our nation, I think power also, we must think in terms of money. President Andrew Jackson famously said, money is power. You know the golden rule, don't you? He who has the gold makes the rules. Money is power. Paul said, look around the church. Your church is not filled with the powerful. God doesn't call and save the powerful, at least not many. And then we find a third word in verse 26, not many, noble. And that word in the original language is literally good born. And we would smooth it out in English and say well-born. And so, this is a description of people who because of their birth have status, have rank, have position. Now, this word doesn't really resonate much with us today because we're Americans and our Declaration of Independence rejects the idea of noble birth. All men are created equal. We don't value noble birth, but you know, in many places, in many times, the family you were born into was more important than anything else. It certainly was in Paul's day. Let me read you a couple of paragraphs that I read this week from a breakpoint commentary on work, on the value of work. So I'm quoting now. Physical labor was devalued in the ancient world. The exception in classical Greece and the early days of the Roman Republic was farming, which was considered the proper pursuit of citizens. All other labor was viewed as demeaning. In the later days of the Republic, and this would have been the time of Paul, As plantation agriculture replaced small farms, the work of farming was also seen as demeaning and relegated to slaves. By the time of the Roman Empire, all physical labor was only thought proper for slaves and lower classes. Though the foundation of the empire's wealth, the upper classes believed that production was beneath them. Their attention, or so they thought, belonged in the more refined areas of life, such as arts and philosophy. Now that gives you a better idea of what Paul is talking about here when he uses that word well-born. If you were born into the upper classes, you had it made. You had leisure to study philosophy and art. You knew nothing of physical labor. Those things were beneath you. And apparently there was a desire on at least some in the Corinthian church to climb the ladder to that kind of a status. And again, Paul replies, look around your church. Just look and see those that God has called and saved. You don't see very many noblemen, very many noble women, do you? And so the first half, these verses are the first half of what we might call the great reversal. By whom he calls to salvation, God turns the world's value system on its head. The second half of this contrast is in verses 27 and 28, and it takes this great reversal to a surprising conclusion. So in these two verses, 27 and 28, Paul describes those God has chosen. And again, he describes them in three ways, and these three ways are parallel to the three descriptions that I just explained in verse 26. First of all, Paul says, God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. The foolish things. In the original language, that word is mora, from which we get the word moron. Notice that he's talking here about the foolish things of the world. That's whom God chooses. He's talking here according to the world value system. Now, who are the foolish according to the world's value system? You're a follower of Jesus Christ? What a moron! What a jerk! You believe an ancient Jewish rabbi was actually God? What a doofus! What an idiot! You believe that because this man Jesus died by Roman crucifixion, your sins are forgiven? What a putz! What a doofus! Now, you and I may be all of that and more in the world's eyes, but because God has chosen us, it changes everything. We may be fools as far as the world is concerned, but we are now the children of God. We are now new creations. We're saints, the temple of God, forgiven, adopted, redeemed. But Paul makes a surprising statement about God's choice at the end of this sentence here, this first sentence in verse 27. I want you to get it. Let me give you the Gerard paraphrase. God chose morons like you and me for the purpose of putting to shame the worldly wise. God had a purpose in this great reversal. By whom he chooses to save, God is determined to put to shame those who are wise and educated in the eyes of the world. Now, the New Testament consistently uses this phrase, put to shame, in its ultimate and eternal sense. I mean, God is not putting the wise and the educated according to the world system to shame here in this present time. No, in the here and now, they're respected. They're highly regarded. They're anything but shamed. But come judgment day, when they have to face God, God will put them to shame. And we're talking about eternal shame. We're talking about the eternal rejection and condemnation of God. Shamed in the lake of fire. The second description in verse 27 is parallel to the second word in verse 26. God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty or powerful. Now, that word in the original language that's translated weak things is many times translated sick in the New Testament. It means a person who is literally without strength. For instance, in James 5 and verse 14, we read, is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him. Now, James isn't talking about somebody who has a cold. James is talking about somebody who is so sick that they can't get out of bed. They are literally without strength. And so the word here in verse 27 is not talking about somebody physically without strength. It's describing a person who is without strength or without power in society. So who in that day would have fit this description without power, without strength in that ancient society? Lepers, slaves. Historians tell us that up to one-third of the people who lived at this time were slaves. Now, many of them were enslaved because their country was conquered in some kind of a war, in some kind of a battle. But they had no power. They didn't even have power over their own bodies, over their own persons. And a great percentage of that Corinthian church was probably slaves. Paul said, look around the church. Look at the people that God has called and saved. There are not many powerful. God calls those without power. And why? Again, I repeat, to demonstrate his purpose to put to shame those with power in the eyes of the world. Notice, Paul repeats that word shame here. I mean, this is a little bit in your face, isn't it? We can't escape what Paul says. God chooses to save in order to put certain types of people to shame. And then finally, in verse 28, Paul outlines a third parallel. God has chosen the base things of the world and the things which are despised and the things which are not. Now, that word translated base in verse 28 is the opposite of the word noble or well-born back in verse 26. In the original language, it's the word a genies, a genies, which literally means, a means without, genies becomes our English word, genes, without genes. without genes, without family, without any connection to a family that makes you something, that gives you status. But Paul, in this verse, adds a couple of more descriptors. First is the word despise, someone who's looked down on, the lower classes. But the third word here in verse 28 is the most interesting. Our New King James Version translates it, the things which are not. And I didn't find any modern versions that really gave this the punch that it ought to say. The way we would say this today is God chooses the nobodies. God chooses the nothings. God chooses the zeros. And then taking off from that idea that God chooses nobody's, God chooses nothing's, Paul changes up the last part of this statement. In verse 27, Paul repeated that God chooses to save the foolish and the powerless for the purpose of putting to shame the wise and the powerful. And we expect that Paul is gonna repeat that refrain here in verse 28. We expect him to use that word put to shame again, but he doesn't. And he writes one of the most memorable turns of phrase in the entire Bible. God chose the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are. I actually prefer the old King James Version. God chose the things which are not to bring to not the things that are. But let me give you my Gerard paraphrase. God chooses zeros in order to zero out the positives. God chooses nobodies in order to make nobodies out of the somebodies. That's the great reversal. Now, if you trace the work of God down through church history, You will see this principle. You will see this great reversal worked out again and again. God chooses to save the foolish, the powerless, the nobodies in the eyes of the world. Think of where God is at work today. Is God primarily at work today in America, in Europe, in the first world? Is that where God's at work today primarily? We would like to think so, but shake your head. No, that's not primarily where God is at work, my friends. God is primarily at work in the third world. God is at work where they are weak and powerless. where they have no status, where many of them are in poverty. This is how God works in salvation. Look around the church at large. Look at the church throughout the world, and this is what you see. God is still choosing the foolish, the powerless, those without genes, the nobodies. Now, let me give you an example that I'm familiar with. In the past, I've mentioned Dayspring International to you. My friend Bob Statler was here two or three months ago with his daughter, and he's worked with that ministry for years. And it's the burden of that ministry to take the gospel to the Dalits in India. Any of you familiar with the Dalits? The Dalits are literally the outcasts. So historically in India, there have been four castes defined, four statuses, but there were certain people that were left out of any of those castes. They were literally outcasts. They were outside of the caste system. They had no status or standing in Indian society whatsoever. They were literally nothings. Literally nobodies. Now, because of their status as outcasts, Very few of them had any education. Many of them could not read. These are not the kind of people that you can reach with literature. And so what this ministry has done is they bought a film of the life, a very accurate film of the life of Jesus, and they equip nationals, national workers, with a motorcycle and a projector and a copy of the film, and they send them out. And they show that film wherever they can show it. At times, in the face of violence and opposition. And tens of thousands of people have been saved by watching. Among those Dalits, they've started 4,000 churches. Now, is that because of how wonderful this movie is? Is that because they have such a fantastic plan for that mission board? I don't think so. I think the secret is right here in this verse. God chooses the foolish things and the powerless things and the nobodies. The question for us here at Midway Bible Church is how should that affect our evangelistic efforts? How should that affect where we focus our evangelistic efforts? How should that affect how we should focus our mission efforts? Hold that thought. Don't answer me. I will repeat this question in the second service. So come back. And we'll discuss that question. If this is how God works in salvation, if we really believe what Paul is saying here, then that ought to influence how we do evangelism. That ought to influence how we do missions. Now, if you've really been tracking what Paul says here in these verses about this great reversal it ought to leave you with a big question. Why does God act like this? God chooses to save the foolish and the powerless and the nobodies for the purpose of putting the wise and powerful and somebodies according to the world's value system, putting them to shame with a determination to make them nobodies literally, eternally. I mean, I can't think of a better way to make somebody a nobody than to send them to an eternal hell where they have nothing and no one. That's what God says He's determined to do. Why does God evaluate people in this way? Well, Paul gives us a very clear answer to that question in verses 29 and 31. God is determined that men boast in nothing but Him. God is determined that men boast in nothing but Him. Paul answers the question plainly in verse 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence, and that word means before His face. God will not have any human being glory before His face. That's why. In verse 31, Paul quotes from the Old Testament from Jeremiah 9 verses 23 and 24. There's a sense in which Paul is actually preaching a mini-sermon to the Corinthians here from that text in Jeremiah 9. So keep your finger here in 1 Corinthians 1. Let's turn back to Jeremiah chapter 9. Jeremiah 9 verses 23 and 24, thus says the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories, glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight, says the Lord. I want you to notice that verse 23 there has that same threefold description that we've been talking about that we find back there in 1 Corinthians 1, verses 27 and 28. The wise, the rich, the mighty, those who have status. Now this passage, along with our Our text back in 1 Corinthians 1 teaches two truths about God, about who God is, about the way he thinks, about the way he works, two truths that we must not forget. Number one, God is determined that no human being will boast before his face. And God accomplishes that in two ways. according to verses 26 through 28 back in 1 Corinthians 1. Turn back with me now to 1 Corinthians 1. God has determined that no human being will boast before His face. He accomplishes it in two ways. First, number one, those who reject His Son in their pride and their arrogance. He shames eternally in hell. He leaves them with nothing for which they can be proud or boastful. He makes nothings of them. Any person who puts confidence in themselves, in anything that they have or anything that they've accomplished or anything that they are, instead of Jesus Christ, God determines to shame eternally. He leaves them with absolutely nothing to boast about. But then God accomplishes this purpose in a second way, really in the opposite way. God calls some to salvation. He chooses some of us to be his children. And verses 26 to 28 reveal the kind of people that we must be if we claim to be one of God's children. We cannot boast in our own wisdom. We cannot boast in our own power. We cannot boast in our own status. Now it's apparent from this paragraph that there were Christians in the Corinthian church who still valued wisdom and power and status so much that That's how they evaluated people, even other people in the church. That's how they evaluated themselves. And Paul is making clear here how counter that is to the gospel. For any follower of Jesus, any genuine child of God to have that attitude does not compute. When we turn to follow Jesus, we say with the Apostle Paul, I count all that I could possibly boast in as refuse, as garbage. Now, we've been talking about the world's value system. Verse 26 talks about the foolish things according to the world. according to the flesh, the powerful according to the flesh, those who have status according to the flesh. But let's talk about God's value system for a minute. If we would be saved, we must come to the place to where we are willing to say, yes, I have been foolish. Not in the world's eyes. I have been foolish in God's eyes. I've played the fool as the fool is described in the book of Proverbs. I've sinned often. I've rejected God's wisdom. Yes, I am weak. I am powerless spiritually in God's eyes. I have no power with God in me that is in my flesh. There dwells no good thing. I have no strength to keep God's law. I have no noble birth God would recognize. By birth I am a child of sin. I am a child of wrath. I'm a nobody in God's eyes. I have no standing with Him. And when God calls us, when God chooses us, that is just exactly how we will see ourselves. God ordained a plan of salvation in which a human being must come to the place where he boasts in nothing of his own before he can be saved. I am foolish. I am powerless. I am a nobody. Now I'm ready for Jesus. But it's not true to say that a genuine Christian may not boast at all. Because verse 31 makes clear that we may certainly boast, but only in the Lord. That's the second point. that Paul makes here. God directs us to boast in the Lord alone. He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. Rather than glory in my wisdom and in my power and in my status, we glory in the Lord. And that's the point of verse 30. I've kind of skipped over verse 30. Our wisdom, our power, our spiritual riches are to be found where? Where? In Christ. That's why verse 30 begins, it seems kind of out of kilter when he begins with that and he says, in Him, we are in Christ who is our wisdom. Christ is our boast. When we're tempted to boast in any of our accomplishments, in something that we think we are, let's pause and remember this text. God will not let me or you boast in any way, but we can always boast in Jesus Christ. You know, we often sing that song in our new songbook, In Christ Alone. It begins with the phrase that says, in Christ alone, my hope is found. But maybe today we'll sing it with a little bit different words. In Christ alone, my boast is found. Now this truth applies not just to how we evaluate others, but also how we see ourselves. We live in a day in which the gospel of self-esteem has permeated our society. I mean, it is so much a part of our public education system today that nobody even notices it anymore. We have now trained at least two generations of American children to boast in themselves. I mean, we haven't even trained them to boast in their accomplishments. It's just in themselves. And if you think this thinking hasn't leached into the church, then you're blind. Many evangelicals are no better than the Corinthians. They see self-esteem and positive self-image as essential to human flourishing. I went out and looked at a website today, you know, looked at this from a positive, a psychological perspective. And that's how they phrase this. If you don't have self-image, if you don't have positive self-image and positive self-esteem, then you can't flourish as a human being. And so we need to be very careful to obey what this passage says in how we think about ourselves. It tells us clearly what God will do with any attitude that causes us to boast in anything or anyone other than Him and His Son, our Savior. We've got to replace the gospel of self-esteem with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our attitude must be summed up in the words of verse 30. Christ has become our wisdom and our righteousness and our sanctification and our redemption. In Christ, I am God's child. I am Christ's friend. I am a member of the body of Christ. In Christ, I am a saint. I am complete in Christ. I am seated with Christ in heavenly places. In Christ, I am God's temple. I am God's coworker. I am God's workmanship. That word workmanship is the word from which we get our English word poem. It means a work of art. I am God's work of art. but only because of Jesus Christ. My only boast is in Him. And you want to get the kicker? I am a new creation. God took a nothing. That's what this passage says I am. God took a nothing and made me co-heir with Jesus Christ. That's creation. But it's all in Jesus Christ. In myself, I am foolish and powerless and nobody. I am nothing but fodder for hell. Everything that I am, I am in Christ. And if you belong to Jesus Christ, it's no different from you. He alone is our boast. Now, before I close, let me make one more point. I have framed this passage, I've framed this message in terms of how God evaluates human beings, but I think you can see, as I've talked about this passage, that this passage also focuses on how God saves and who God saves. To use a big word that theologians use, it's about soteriology, it's about the doctrine of salvation. So I want to talk about this. I couldn't find where to fit this into the message to this point, so it's just an appendix at the end. In terms of the doctrine of salvation, this passage emphasizes two truths. Number one, in the matter of salvation, God chooses who will be saved. Verses 27 and 28 repeat that three times. God has chosen the foolish things of the world, and God has chosen the weak things of the world, and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised, God has chosen. Boom, boom, boom. We can't escape the truth here in this passage that God chooses who will be saved. And this truth is directly tied to a second truth. In the matter of salvation, God is determined that no human being should boast in His presence. In the matter of salvation, God is determined that no human being will boast in His presence. He desires that men boast only in Him and in His Son, our Savior. Now that two-fold emphasis in this passage, explaining how God saves and who God saves, leads to the doctrine of election. God sovereignly elects who will be saved. You can interchange the word choose with elect. God chooses who will be saved. God elects who will be saved. It's the same thing. God alone gets the credit. God alone gets the glory. Now I preach election here, but most of you sitting in the pew have never heard me talk about it but maybe one time. How many of you have ever heard me say the word election before today? So this is not a hobby with me. You won't hear me talking about the doctrines of grace every Sunday. I don't preach election every Sunday, but when the text talks about it, I preach it. And this text talks about it. So I'm preaching. Now, there are a lot of good conservative Bible-believing Christians who do not like the doctrine of election. They try to explain it away. And I know this because of the church I grew up in. My father was an elder from the time I was born. Taught the adult Sunday school class. I never heard my father ever say the word election. I grew up in that church from nursery to college. Same pastor. Pastor Nitz, a great man of God, I never heard him say the word election. At some point I asked my dad about this when we were, I think it was when I was in grad school, when we were studying this doctrine. And here's what he told me he believed. He admitted that God elects men to be saved. You can't elude that truth. This is what the New Testament says. You can't say you don't believe in election. I mean, Scripture says this. But he said God elects according to his foreknowledge. And Scripture says that in Romans chapter 8. And he explained that verse to mean that God looks into the future from eternity past, God looks into the future and he sees who will believe on Jesus Christ. And based on those who will believe on Jesus Christ in the future, God chooses who will be saved. God elects based on seeing who will believe on Jesus in the future. Takes care of the problem, right? But it doesn't solve the problem that we face in this text. Because you see, in that scheme, if I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, God's choice of me is based on my choice of Jesus. I was smart enough to believe in Jesus. I was wise enough to believe in Jesus. I have reason to boast. No. I look at this text And it tells me that when God saves, He is determined that no human being will boast. He is determined that all the glory and salvation shall be His alone. And that's the case only if my salvation from beginning to end, from beginning to end, depends upon Him. It begins with His choice of me, and it ends with Him granting me the gift of faith. God chose me. Glory, all glory to His name. And God shows you all glory to His name. Now, I conclude my message this morning by challenging you to repent in the simplest sense of that word. The word repent simply means to change your mind. And after what this passage teaches in regard to the gospel, in regard to the Lord Jesus Christ, in regard to salvation, I challenge you to change your mind this morning. I challenge you to change your mind in regard to how you evaluate others. The most important factor in the life of any human being is whether God has called them to salvation. Have they turned from depending on their own wisdom or power or status to trust in Jesus Christ alone? There are only two kinds of people in the world. That's the biggest evaluation that any of us can make. Do you belong to Jesus? or is God determined to put you to shame ultimately and eternally? And then I challenge you to change your mind in regard to how you evaluate yourself. This is tough. If you're like me, most of us as Americans, especially American males, We evaluate ourselves based on what? We evaluate ourselves on the job we do. I mean, I am what I am because I do a good job. No. I am what I am because of Jesus Christ alone. If our value is tied to anything else, we need to repent. We need to change our mind. God has determined that we will boast in nothing but Jesus Christ. And then finally, some of you may need to change your mind about God. The picture that Paul paints of God in this text makes some of us uncomfortable. This is who God is. We don't get to put God on the potter's wheel and fashion him in the shape that we want to. This is one of those texts where God speaks for himself and tells us who he is. And we need to say, he's God and I'm not. And therefore I will bow the knee before the God who has revealed himself. So do you need to change your mind this morning? about something that this passage teaches about God, about Christ, about salvation, about who you are, about who I am. Could I have ever had bowed pleased every eye closed? You respond, and we'll close in prayer.