[AI translation] You may remember: at Christmas time, the preaching among us was that God was among us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, but that He had emptied Himself and hid His divine glory in such a very humble, lowly human life, in a servile form, that many did not notice, and others flatly denied it, saying: this cannot be God's representative on earth! He lacked any sign of the special, impressive divine power and glory. The way God walked among us on this earth in the person of Jesus was indeed not a spectacular, attractive, impressive way, but a very lowly way, walked in poverty, deprivation and humiliation. And yet, this was and is for us the true power and love of God. It was precisely in this way that God was able to stand beside us, that God became our friend and our brother in all the depths of human life. This lowly servile form in which God does His work on this earth is not only seen in the manger of Bethlehem and the cross of Golgotha, but is also the characteristic of those who represent Christ and His cause on this earth, through whom He continues to work in this world, that is, the Church, His faithful. That is why I would now like to speak of the hidden glory of the Church.What the apostle Paul writes in the passage we have read is not simply a report of the situation of the church at that time, but a characteristic of the Christian church at all times. It is as if he were saying to the Corinthians: your churches are almost a textbook example of the unadorned, unspectacular way in which God carries on and accomplishes His work. What was the composition of that church? "Not many were called wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God chose for Himself the fools of the world." (v. 26) The fools of the world, the weak, the noble, the nobodies of the world... Such were the men of the church at Corinth. Mostly slaves, dockers, small people, people who certainly did not have much influence or authority in the public arena. And this has remained a characteristic of Christian churches ever since. It is still very much the case today.
Let us not misunderstand, it is not that the talented, the beautiful, the wealthy, the influential and the influential in public life are excluded from the kingdom of God simply because they are beautiful, because they are rich, because they are highly respected. No. There are many examples in the history of the Christian church to the contrary. What great personalities, what brilliant spirits there have been in the ranks of Christ-followers! Just think of Augustine, or Thomas Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Pascal, Bach, Gábor Bethlen, Zsuzsanna Lorántffy, Dostoevsky, Albert Schweitzer. Let us not think that for the great minds the Gospel of Christ is too small. No! God can touch even the greatest individual. Yet there is a divine truth in Paul's characterization. Just look at the churches today. Not many of them are academics, artists, sports stars, political greats. For the most part, they are rather little people, careworn old people, spiritually broken people, simple men and women living in modest circumstances. It was precisely this that a brilliant mind like Nietzsche could not bear, and it was precisely because he said that 'Christianity smells so poor' that he thought Christianity was nothing but a rebellion of the castaways of life against a human class rich in success.
Indeed: such are the men to whom God has entrusted His cause on this earth. With such a helpless instrument as the Church, whose authority and influence are shrinking throughout the earth, God is seeking to triumph His reign in the world. And even the so-called leaders of a church are not really great men in the worldly sense. Neither was Paul. He himself confesses. (1 Cor 2,3) So it was precisely what the Greeks valued most at the time - the slight physical beauty, the brilliant oratory, the amusing art of conversation - that was lacking in Paul's personality and accomplishments. Who would listen to what such an insignificant, sickly man had to say? Why is it that God's ambassadors, his children, are very often insignificant men, burdened with all sorts of human frailties? Would not the Gospel have greater force if its followers were individuals with great physical and spiritual gifts? Why does God build His kingdom through men of simple, humble abilities, who are not considered by the world to be great at all? It is almost as if there is some divine design in this - and there most certainly is! God does not want His glory to be dimmed or obscured by any human glory. The world has already discovered how damaging it is to have a personal cult. Well, it is far more damaging to God's cause when human excellence and greatness become the focus of admiration and reverence, of adoration and adoration. How often it happens that a preacher with a great posture and a fine speech does not show Christ, but hides Him, so that the members of the congregation no longer see Jesus, the living Saviour who alone could help us, but His messenger who can speak so very cleverly. They do not delight in the grace of God, but in the art or science of human mediation.
It is a very good thing for a man to have a special gift and to put it to the service of God. But then there is always the danger that such a servant of God will become a star in the eyes of men, and perhaps even in his own eyes. Even in the most sacred service, vanity lurks: well done, what a shining star you are in the kingdom of God! And there is nothing more abominable to God than to have one's cause glorified for oneself. There is no more abominable blasphemy against God than to speak the name of God, the glory of God, the kingdom of God, the dominion of God, and at the same time to add to his own name, his own glory, and his own influence.
Why is it that God is almost as if He were taking care that the servants He wants to work through, the children He wants to use, should not be perfect and great in every way? "(1 Cor 1:29) That the faith of men may not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. It is as if God were deliberately forcing His children not to trust themselves, to remain in humility. To be nothing else in His service than transparents through whom the glory and warmth of God shines. Just as Jesus on this earth wanted nothing more than to glorify the Father and to make His image shine forth among men. That is why it happens that someone, for example, has been able to help thousands of people, to comfort them, to lift them out of the abyss, and then, when he himself gets into trouble, suffering, sickness, he becomes like a heap of misfortune. Or a case where someone has led many, many people to a living faith in Christ, and his word, his example, his discipleship in the lives of his own family, his closest relatives, remains ineffective.
God allows his children, whom he wants to use, to be broken at some point in life, to make a mistake, to be stuck in some human weakness, some frailty, so that the expectation and trust of men will not be stuck in them, but will continue to flow towards God. Everyone has a human weakness, a weakness. Everyone is human. In everyone, if you look closely, there is something disappointing. And that is good. It is necessary! Let us not judge our fellow human beings for it. For God hath not chosen the mighty, nor the strong, "but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to shame the strong; and God hath chosen the base things of the world, and the things that are not, to destroy the things that are: that no flesh should glory before him." For it is with the consciousness of our human frailty and weakness that we remain in the humility in which God can use us.
God's measure is different from ours. He may not be the most suitable for God whom we think is the most usable. Sometimes a very simple and humble instrument whom we disparage is used by God more mightily and effectively to increase His glory than one whom we admire for His excellence. Once, in the Syrian royal court, the testimony of a little enslaved believing servant girl was the catalyst for the army's commander-in-chief to be healed of his intestinal leprosy and converted to the living God. The world's largest Bible fellowship, this endless work of blessing began at the initiative of a sick little girl. The two students who last night secretly vomited snow from the sidewalk of a lonely widow's house have brought more gospel into the world than perhaps a logically constructed sermon. In a congregation, the smallest, most insignificant person may have an even more powerful role in representing the cause of Christ than a high-profile celebrity.
So says Paul: "God hath chosen unto Himself the foolish things of the world, to shame the wise; and God hath chosen unto Himself the weak things of the world, to shame the things which are strong; And God hath chosen unto Himself the things which are without excellency, and things which are despised of the world, and things which are nothing, to destroy things: that no flesh should glory in Him." If God does not find enough humility among the clever and the great, He prefers to work with the small and the humble, because they do not take away His glory. From the world's point of view, the cause of God represented by such little men may seem a troubling, insignificant and poor thing, but it is through the work of the anonymous and humble that God is spreading His healing in the world.
Today, Christian churches around the world are beginning to realize more and more that the church of Christ's strength is not in power, money, or recognized authority, but in humble service of love. The church was great not when it could intervene to fill royal thrones by its own command, but when it could still radiate something of the warmth of Jesus' love and service through its poverty and perhaps its despise. We come from an age when the church showed much and did little, and today God is training us to do the opposite. Let us be thankful for that! If a church does not want to share with its Lord in lowliness, poverty, insignificance, and seeks light, splendour, power: it is irredeemably secularised. The church of Christ must be able to renounce its desire to shine, to have authority and power before the world. Only if we can renounce our own glory and only if we are filled with the spirit of Jesus' humility will we see in our own lives something of the power and light of the Spirit that Jesus brought to earth.
A true Christian man is free from all the pursuit of individual glory, from the desire to be seen, from the instinct to dominate others, from the need to be the protagonist, from the desire to be the rival, from the desire to be nothing to himself! He doesn't even consider his humility and modesty as some special merit that elevates him above others. He wants only to be a messenger, a servant, an instrument of the supreme Lord, by whose grace he lives. He may be frail, stricken with disease, unimpressive in his physical appearance, but he is still a vessel of the Spirit of God! He may be in an insignificant position, working in a humble job. He may have a small personality, and yet in all this insignificance, poverty and lowliness, there shines a light that is beneficial to the people around him. Jesus of Nazareth, who brought the reality of the living God in himself to this earth: he walked among men humble, poor, humbled. What more then do those who seek to follow Him want? It may not be a spectacular or impressive journey by worldly standards, and yet it is in this very lowliness of the appearance of Jesus and His Church that the redemptive power of God continues to work!
Christ is defenseless, and yet He wins peoples to Himself. The church is a very wretched company, yet the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. What God has begun to work in this unseen, poor way, He is accomplishing, He is bringing to triumph. God is extending His rule in the universe from such concealment, yet unveiled, in the present age. He who lives in the light of this expectation will no longer be struck with the servile inferiority of Christ, with the many frail human aspects of His Church, and with the many imperfections of His children, His faithful. He dares to be last himself, that he may become the more fit instrument in the hands of his Lord for the increase of His coming glory.
Amen
Date: 12 January 1964.
Lesson
1Kor 2,1-5