Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / September 18, 2022 | 1 Corinthians - Making the Mind of Jesus

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September 18, 2022 | 1 Corinthians - Making the Mind of Jesus · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, everybody.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's good to see you.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: What does it mean to have true wisdom?
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: What does it look like?
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: What does it sound like?
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: And how do we find it?
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Those are some questions that people have asked for a really, really long time, long before you and I were here.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: What does it mean to have true wisdom?
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because our world says that we can find wisdom in a certain way.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: And as we're going to see this morning, the Bible says that wisdom comes from another location.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you probably put a monetary value on true wisdom, if you told somebody that they could actually have it, if they only paid a certain amount of money, people would give their life savings in order to find it.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yet we see that God gives it for free to those who know and love him, except we often don't exercise that ability.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: So as we're going through our series this morning in 1 Corinthians, we are looking at sort of this idea, this competition between our wisdom, and when I say our wisdom, I mean the world, our flesh, that wisdom, and we're looking at it in contrast to God's wisdom.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I also have to let you know, we uh we're gonna go through a lot of text this morning.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Out of all of our weeks in 1 Corinthians, we are going to cover the most ground this morning, okay?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a good thing we need to do it because we can understand the full argument.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: But it's gonna be a little long.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um I have a family member right now who is reading the unabridged version of Les Miserables, and uh it's clocking in at like 4,000 pages, right?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh when they say they're halfway done and they're 2,000 pages in, you're like, that's that's pretty intense.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: So they love the book, right?
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: They love the story, they love the characters and all these kinds of things, and they're a huge fan, and so they want to read the unabridged version.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care that much about the story, but at the same time, I do care a lot about understanding the Bible's explanation for these kinds of things.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So as we walk through our text this morning, you're gonna be like, because we're gonna cover basically the last half of chapter one and all of chapter two, I want you to know that I could give you a summary, but I don't want to do it until the end because I want you to see what Paul is saying.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Alright.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I am going to break it up, though, into uh we can call this sort of four different acts here.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: There's uh the first one is chapter one, verses eighteen through twenty-five, the foolish wisdom of the cross.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Act two, or verses twenty six through thirty-one, uh, God's chosen fools.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Act three, chapter two, verses one through five, the foolish human wisdom, and verses six through sixteen, true wisdom from God.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, one thing I want you to look at, and I'll continue to explain this, but you're gonna see the words fool and wise used a lot this morning, or foolish in wisdom.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna have to kind of track these things together because Paul uses them both literally and ironically to develop his point.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: But the last thing before we get into the text, though, is we need to say, like, where are we right now in the context?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Last week we looked at verses 1 through 15 in the first, or 17 in the first chapter.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And right, Paul was developing this statement.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: He said, There's divisions among you in the local church, Corinth, this big melting pot of people, economically, socially, racially, there are all these different ways, but most importantly to them in that Greek culture, they were lifting up these leaders as being wise, and they were then developing factions within this local church.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: They were fighting against each other, because one would say, I'm from Paul, another would say, I'm from Apollos, and another would say I'm from Cephas or Peter.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so Paul is going to continue against that, though now he is looking at the reasoning for their division, right?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Beforehand, it was simply the fact that they were divided.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: They should not be divided, and because that's not what God's church should look like.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: We shouldn't be divided either.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: But now, now he's going to go hard in the paint on this idea that the reason that they have lifted up these people is because they are overvaluing wisdom, right?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And a particular brand of wisdom that does not align with God.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we see here in chapter one, verse 18.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: It says, For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Where is the one who is wise?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Where is the teacher of the law?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Where is the debater of this age?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Hasn't God made the world's wisdom foolish?
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Paul says here, for the word of the cross.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, what is he talking about?
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: What is the word of the cross?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: We have to spend a second on this.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: The word of the cross is simply the fact that our God, our Savior, Jesus Christ, was crucified.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: We have lost in our culture the significance of what it means to have been crucified in the Roman Empire.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was unbelievably embarrassing.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: It was something for criminals, it was a humiliation for families who would see their relatives put up on a cross and left there to die.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Not only was it an excruciating death, but Jesus, as he was going to the cross, was despised.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: He was beaten, he was bruised, and then he died, this very humbling and embarrassing and torturous death.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's really not an analog to what we have today.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the electric chair.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: But back then, being crucified in and of itself was this shocking statement that only the worst criminals received.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so for Jesus to go get hung up on a tree, that was really dramatic.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Not only was it dramatic, but it ended up becoming a problem for those in the Gentile and Jewish world.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: They say it is, well, it's a little thick.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Excuse me here.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get this figured out.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: There we go.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: So the word of the cross for some is foolishness.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's foolishness to those, as it says, that are perishing.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: But it is the power of God to us who are being saved.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: The cross is a dividing point, right?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: It divides, it bisects the world, and everybody falls on one side or the other.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And we're going to see, as Paul is going to develop this argument, that there's going to be two sides here, and it is those who are saved understand the word of the cross, the crucifixion of Jesus.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Those who are saved understand it to be wisdom from God.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: But those who reject the cross, who say that it is foolish, right?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: They are the ones who are perishing.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're going to see these two things.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: They're going to fight against each other all morning long.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: What does it mean when the cross divides people?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Who falls on what side, and what does it mean for each of them?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: We see that it was part of God's plan to do this.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: This right here, this is from Isaiah 29.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says, For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: The cross is this dividing point.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it is foolishness to those who are perishing.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yet Paul is going to continue on this line of thinking.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, But it was God's plan.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was God's plan to present the cross in all of its terribleness as the way that the Savior would die for the world, and that people would receive that, and then they would make a choice.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then he says, Where are all of those who make their living on these speeches?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Where are all of you scholars and you students of the law and those of you who have puffed yourself up and say that you know what is actually happening in the world because you're wise?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Where are all of you?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Please stand up so I can talk to you right now.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Where are the people who think that they can reach the end and do well by thinking uh more deeply about what is going on rather than trusting in God?
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's kind of silly, but if you've ever used one of these Chinese finger trap devices, this is what's going on.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, the more that you who are you wise, the more of you struggle against this world, the more of you try and think that you can get there on your own, you are leading yourself in this trap and you look like a fool.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: But in reality, if you relax a little bit, you understand what is going on, and you submit to the will of God, you are the one who becomes wise.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we see these things that they're coming together.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is sorting, Paul is laying the foundation for his argument here.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Who are those that place their trust in the cross, the foolishness of it?
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: They are the wise ones.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now we see in verse 21 here, he says, For since in God's wisdom the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness, foolishness of what is preached.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: For the Jews ask for signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Christ, uh foolishness to the Gentiles, excuse me.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yet those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, because God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: So here we get the next layer, and this is one that I'll be honest with you, it might be hard for some of you to take on.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: We've already established the fact that it was part of God's plan, that he was going to present something to humanity that was hard to accept, right?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: That humanity, in its flesh, in its thinking, would not be able to arrive at the conclusion of God by its own efforts.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so we see that in God's wisdom, the world did not know God through its own wisdom.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: These are two different kinds of wisdom that are being presented here: God's wisdom and human wisdom.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was God's plan that we couldn't arrive there on our own.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: It might be hard for some people to accept.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: But God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: What is this talking about?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well, those are the two main cultures that we're engaging with here in the time that Paul wrote this, right?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: You've got the Jews, which Paul was a Jew himself, he was a Pharisee, and he was relating to them.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: And to them, the idea of a God dying, of their God dying, Yahweh, that would be a huge stumbling block.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Our Lord does not die, he is king over all.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so the idea that you would tell them, hey, listen, I know this is hard to grasp, but he became flesh and then he died on a cross.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: They'd be like, no way.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: My God would not do something like that.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: When the Messiah comes, he is going to take over the Roman Empire.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to destroy the world's powers.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: He is going to do all of the things that I expect him to do, and I'm going to walk off with him in triumph.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's no way that he would die on a cross.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says, okay, this is a stumbling block for you then, because he definitely did.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: To the Gentiles, to those in Corinth, right?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: To the Greeks.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Here he's saying, this is foolishness to them.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Why is it foolishness?
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because you, I mean, we learned all this in grade school.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Think about the Greek and the Roman pantheons, right?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're saying, hey, I want you to trade Zeus and Jupiter up on Mount Olympus, throwing thunderbolts, you know, and doing all this crazy stuff.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to trade this pantheon.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to trade the gods who service your every desire and help you to find all manner of pleasure who basically confirm your way of life.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to trade it for a God that died on a cross and tells you to pick up your own cross and to follow him.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, thanks.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: That was the foolishness for the Gentiles.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Why in the world would I ever follow after a God?
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's alright that he died, I suppose, but he suffered a lot.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: And he's telling me that I should suffer.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'll pass.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yet those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: In the wisdom of God.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now we see, we just continue.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is one step after the other.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: The wisdom of God that has been presented is personified in Jesus Christ.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so wisdom is not a concept, it is God Himself.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it is the one who came to die for us.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Christ is the power of God.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to see that later on.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, here we see this is where the irony comes in.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says in verse 25, I'm trying to do quotes and I'm not going to do a good job.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: The foolishness and the weakness is compared against us.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: God's foolishness, right, the power of the cross, the testimony of the crucified.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: We haven't even talked about the resurrection.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's way, that's the end of 1 Corinthians.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, this is simply him with nails through his hands.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: That foolishness, it is better and wiser than human wisdom.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: And God's weakness, right, which would be seen through Jesus Christ on the cross, that is stronger than human strength.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: God is taking the world and he is flipping it on its head.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: The way that we think of the world is not the way that God thinks of the world.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: And when those things are flipped, right, a new reality is presented.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: The world thinks that it is wise.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And God knows that he is wise.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: One of them is right.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'll let you in on a little secret.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: It is not the world.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: As God's wisdom looks at the world's wisdom, it is foolish.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: And as God's wisdom sees his own wisdom, right, it is wise.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: That is probably the greatest thing that you could understand from that first part there.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Is that these things are being flipped on their head and they don't combine with each other.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: As Christians, we like to combine these things.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: We like to say that I have the wisdom from God and I have human wisdom.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: And these things sort of, they sort of blend together in this wonderful, like holy smoothie, right?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: That I'm how I'm going to live my life.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: And when those things come together, is I can get more of this wisdom and I can get more of this wisdom, and then I have the best of both worlds.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And while Paul says later on, I mean, there's a bit of a subtext going on here because Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 is so strong and so rhetorically sound that people, liberal commentators, have said that it was written at a different time than the letter and inserted here because it is so, it follows itself so well.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Paul uses rhetoric.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Paul uses these things so that he can proclaim the gospel.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: He just doesn't rely on it.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't make that the argument in and of itself that he can explain Jesus well.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I am boldly proclaiming Christ on the cross, something that is hard for all of you to understand and accept.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, that is the wisdom of God.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, up against the way that they are valuing these different leaders.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: They say, oh man, when they talk, they're so smart.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Did you hear him the other day?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: My goodness, his words, he's so eloquent, the way he speaks.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, fantastic.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: In the birthplace of democracy, they had a lot of talking heads, and these people would be paid just to speak.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: And they say that is how we value those in the church.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, no, no, no.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, the thing that they are railing against is actually wisdom.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: As we continue on here in verse 26 now, Paul moves his argument back to the church at Corinth.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, fellow Christians, consider your calling.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world, what is viewed as nothing to bring to nothing, what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in his presence.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, in order that, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: You're in the Church of Corinth, you're listening to this letter, and Paul says, Not many of you are wise.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, mm, okay, thank you.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Says, not many of you are well off.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, thank you for reminding me, Paul.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I know.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Says, uh, not many of you are powerful.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, okay, I feel like this is getting personal now, you know.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Not many of noble birth.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Paul doesn't say this though to insult them.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: See, the church at Corinth, there were some wealthy people, certainly.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there were people who supported Paul's ministry out of their wealth.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: The majority of the church at Corinth, though, was middle class to poor.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: They were the working, they were blue-collar people, right, who are working in this city.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: And they, the church, uh, beyond that, probably held a number of slaves among their members, as brothers and sisters.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so Paul is speaking to people who are not a part of the upper crust of society and telling them, he says, look at yourselves.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: He says, look for the example of how God plays out this wisdom in the world around us.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: He says, the world is looking at all of these fantastic people and the government leaders and the wealthy landowners and so on and so forth.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And they're saying they're the ones, right, who are so fantastic.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: And God says, Yeah, but look who received the word.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: He says, it's you guys who aren't of a noble birth, who by the world's standards, that's all of this.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is all Paul is saying, from the world's standards, you're not powerful.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: From the world standards, you're insignificant.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: From the world's standards, you are not strong, and some of you are even despised.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I know for some of you guys, you have felt that way before.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: And what Paul is saying here is that with all of these things, God chose them.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: God had chosen what was weak, God had chosen what was insignificant and despised in the world.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was his choice to pick those kinds of people who understood true humility to be the ones who received Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: And importantly, all for God's glory.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: See, he took those who were viewed as nothing to bring to nothing what is viewed as something.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says, God is using you.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: And he's not going to throw you away because he loves you, but you are a part of his plan.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: And he has chosen every single one of you individually to be somebody who receives the wisdom of God.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: And he is doing it to people who have no claim upon this wisdom by the world's standards, so that then the world around them can see the wisdom of God flowing through them in their spirit, and they can be turned on their heads because they are the ones who are actually fools.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you see how this is kind of being inverted here?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: God's framework for the entire world is he is going to take the lowly, he is going to raise them up so the high may be brought down.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: It is he is the great equalizer because he does not care about the world's perception, and he is going to lift up these people, and he is going to show them to the world as the ones who have received this foolishness, so that the world can be brought in their opinions to nothing.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: God is doing this, it says, so that the one who boasts can boast in the Lord.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's actually taken from Jeremiah.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is the full passage that Paul was quoting here.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: The wise person should not boast in his wisdom, the strong should not boast in his strength, the wealthy should not boast in his wealth, but the one who boasts should boast in this that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, showing faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: For I delight in these things.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: That is what we are supposed to be boasting in.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: God says, I have ordered things in such a way that no one can stand before me at the end of time and say, God, I'm pretty great.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: I've done a lot of this on my own.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: Aren't you so lucky to have me?
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: God says there's not going to be a single one of those kinds of people.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: I've done everything for them.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: I've ordered things in such a way.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: It is my wisdom that I'm going to present something that people think is foolish that they must accept by the grace of God and the power of God to save their souls.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody gets to heaven because they figured out a good argument.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: They only get to heaven by accepting the foolishness of the cross.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: One last thing I want to point out here before we move on, though, is that for the first time Paul has begun to explain what true wisdom looks like and feels like.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to see a greater component of that in a moment.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: But for the first time, we've understood that wisdom comes from God, true wisdom comes from God.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: We understand that it is personified in Jesus Christ.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: We understand that he is the wisdom of God.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: But we also understand now through here that the wisdom for us is our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: Words that we use in the church a lot to describe our status before God, right?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Righteous meaning that we are seen as right and we are seen as clean before God, that we are sanctified, that we are becoming more holy.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: If you went through Leviticus with us, you're familiar with that word, that we have been made into an holy instrument for the Lord, right?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that we have been redeemed by God.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: We are not in our past life, but we have been brought forth, right?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: Such a significant word for people who, I mean, think about a slave in the church in Corinth, hearing that they were redeemed by God.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: All of these things, though, is their new status because they have heard and accepted the Word of God.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: You are righteous, you are sanctified, you are redeemed.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: That is the wisdom of God, is putting on sort of these new binoculars here or glasses or whatever you want to call it, that you understand the world from God's perspective, not from the world's.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's the change that's happening here.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: We're moving from looking at things from the world's perspective to looking at things from God's perspective.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, part of that is knowing where you stand with God.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have trusted in Christ, you're righteous, you're redeemed, you're sanctified.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: That should change the way that you act.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, now we move to Act three, if you will.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: Beginning in chapter two.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: When I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mystery of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom, but on God's power.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: If there was an argument that Paul could make to the church in Corinth for why they should not follow him, this would be it.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I have not come with any of the things that you're saying you value in a leader.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: I have not come with eloquent speech.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't come with sort of this power of persuasion, right, and great rhetoric.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I have come, in fact, with a thing that some of you say is foolish.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: And he puts, you can say he puts all, he goes all in, right?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: He's pushing all the chips to the middle of the table.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I, in fact, I did nothing except come with Christ and him crucified.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Once more, I right, we when we talk about Jesus, we normally associate it with Jesus Christ, right, killed, resurrected.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's sort of a one-to punch.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Paul has left off punch too, right?
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is dead.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: That is his argument here.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I came to you with that.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you've ever been to um walked like gone window shopping or walked into a uh like luxury goods store, uh, you get the sense of what's happening here.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you walked into one of those stores, you see that their walls aren't lined with merchandise, but in fact, they've got lights sort of shining on individual pieces that you can go up and you can examine and you can see the quality of what you're looking at.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's Paul with Christ crucified.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: He says, look at it again.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: You turned away, look at it again.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to see Christ and Him crucified.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, I'm not trying to come up with another clever argument.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, the thing that you're rejecting is the thing I'm gonna keep pushing in your face because that is the wisdom of God.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: I knew nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is like walking to a butcher's shop and saying you're a vegan.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't work.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is not persuasive to them.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: But Paul is concerned with something greater than that.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Paul intentionally subverts their expectations, he inverts their worldview.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: And he's trying to convert them on the way that they think about wisdom.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: The whole reason that they were being divided as a church.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that your faith might not be based on human wisdom, but on God's power.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where we have to go now.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's the space that we're stepping into as we're kind of coming to an end, or we've got this last section to look at here, is now where Paul sort of kicks it into high gear, and he says, I've done away with the world's wisdom.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's foolish.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: I've done away with sort of this idea that you should be lifted up high.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: God chose the foolish.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: And now he's going to look at God's wisdom and he says, But don't ever think that God's wisdom is something that needs to be defended by us, because it is driven by the power of God through the Spirit of God.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, if you can understand that, if you can get why this is something that you should care about, you're going to see actually how foolish the world is and how wise God is.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 6, beginning, if you will, Act 4.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: True wisdom from God.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says, We do, however, speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age or the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: On the contrary, we speak God's hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: But as it is written, what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human heart is conceived, God has prepared these things for those who love him.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: We speak a wisdom among the mature.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says, don't think that we have, you know, thrown the baby out with the bathwater.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: Think of Proverbs.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: God loves wisdom.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says we just use it in a certain context.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: This wisdom among the mature, who is it for?
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: It is for those who love God.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's who Paul's talking to right now.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: He says, we speak a language that is defined by God and for the people of God.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's a language that only really works here within the church, and even though we want other people to be brought into it, he says, there are things that we say that sound like madness to the people outside the church.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, um, I want you to uh sacrifice yourself and make other people great, and you're not going to get anything in return.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: Until eternity, when God will give you the crown of glory for your service and the way that you took up your own cross.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: But right now in this world, uh you don't get anything in return.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what about, hey, I don't want you to store up any treasures in the world that we have right now.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to think about eternal treasures that you can have that don't rust or fade or that the moth or worm will eat, but that you can be storing up treasures in heaven.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do you see how crazy that sounds to people who don't know Christ?
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like foolishness.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Don't think about the now.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Think about eternity.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: And think about how you can bring eternity into the now.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: That is madness for people who are living for the now.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says, Among the mature, among those who love God, though, we speak a language.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: We speak God's hidden wisdom in a mystery.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this can kind of trip us up here.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: What's a mystery?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this whole thing is about God revealing stuff to us.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, remember, it was part of God's plan that he was going to present something that would confound the world, right?
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: That the exact place that the world would point to foolishness, he says, actually, that's where the power of God rests.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: That on the Jesus Christ being crucified, right, with a crown of thorns on his head and a mocking sign next to him, people casting lots for his clothing, God says, actually, that's going to save the entire world.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is something that we can't comprehend, but we can through God.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: So, what's going on here then is Paul is saying that the mystery, which was, oh goodness, um, predestined before the ages for our glory, means that it was part of God's plan before we were ever around that Jesus Christ would die for our sins.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: That mystery, which was lost on people who were around Jesus, right?
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's what uh uh verse 8 says, that none of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: So Paul is saying the greatest empire of the world at the time, Roman Empire, greatest religion of the time, uh Jewish Judaism.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh both of them joined together to crucify Jesus.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: You've got Pilate, Pontius Pilate, and you've got the Sadducees.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: And both of them said, this guy should die.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: The wisdom of the world and its highest form, the religious leaders of the day and the Roman Empire were the ones who came together to crucify Jesus.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says, if that's not evidence enough, I don't know what it is.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: He says, This is the mystery that God has revealed to us is that even though the rulers rejected him, we understand the truth.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, uh, what no eye has seen, nor ear has heard, no human heart has conceived, God has prepared those things for those who love him.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's sort of a combination of a couple verses, but mostly Isaiah 64 4.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Paul keeps referencing these Old Testament passages here.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, God was doing this for those who love him.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now we get to the good stuff here.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: For who knows a person's thoughts except his spirit within him?
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now we have not received the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: And we talk about the human spirit.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: Paul gives his own illustration here.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: He's trying to help us understand.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, okay, I want you to get that the Spirit knows God.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: So think about your own mind.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows your thoughts but you?
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, in sort of that way, the Spirit of God knows God's thoughts.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the Spirit of God, knowing God's thoughts, is given to you as a Christian so that you would know God's thoughts.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: You tracking with me?
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: How A, amazing that is, and B, fantastic that God would do such a thing for us out of love.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: The Spirit knows God's thoughts.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: Who among us knows the mind of God?
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: Who among us understands his ways?
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: And yet God chose to reveal those things to us by his spirit.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: But we have not received the Spirit of the world.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: But the Spirit who comes from God, that's the Spirit that we've received as Christians, brothers and sisters in Christ, those who have trusted in the foolishness, right, of what the world says, the wisdom of God.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: We've received the Spirit so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: When I was in college, um I uh I cut people's hair, right?
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Is uh just a thing to do for others.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: About 10 years ago, I had a really terrible experience at Great Clips, and so I said, I can do that.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm just gonna get a bad haircut, I can give myself a bad haircut for, you know, however much.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so I bought a wall, you know, clipper, and for 10 years I've cut my own hair.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: So back in college, though, I used to cut my friends' hair, and I did it for free, right?
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just a thing I did to connect with people, and so I would cut their hair, didn't have that many options, right?
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I could put on a guard and buzz, somebody said.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I had another friend, though, who was sort of in the same circle with me, and he bought a wall trimmer, you know, and he started charging five dollars to cut people's hair.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: You might not believe me, I did just as good of a job cutting people's hair as he did.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: I really did.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: But after over the span of a couple months, all of the friends that I had been cutting their hair, they started going to him.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because, as I would contend, and I'm using for this illustration, there was something about perceived value there.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: That the$5 haircut was better than the free haircut.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: Go with me, right?
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: So there's something to be said though here for how we have missed all of the free gifts that God has given to us.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: I said this at the beginning, but if you told somebody, right?
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you told a Christian, hey, do you want to know the mind of God?
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to understand true wisdom?
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to know his will and have a glimpse into the mystery of eternity?
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: It would cost a million dollars.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know how many people would pool their money together so that they could understand those things?
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know how many people would give up their life savings so that they could have that?
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: If they could be assured that it was true.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yet it's given to all of us freely.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: And how many of us actually take advantage of that?
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: We really don't.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's absolutely something going on here about the perceived value, and going further into it, you don't, it doesn't cost you a single thing.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: It costs Jesus his life.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: Christ crucified is what brought you this free subscription service to God's Holy Spirit.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's fantastic.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's amazing that God has done this, and I think it's important that we recognize that for every single person who knows Jesus, they have access to this.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: They have access to the Spirit of God.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: They, well, not only do they have access, they have the Spirit living within them already.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that the Spirit of God, which it knows the mind of God, isn't always exercised.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: You can think about this if you'd like, like a bloodhound.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: The scent is out there.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: If you tell me to go and find a trail, first of all, I've got really terrible sense of smell.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm helpless.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't do a single thing for it.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: You take a bloodhound out there, a hunting dog, they can find a trail that is days, sometimes weeks old.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: The scent is out there, right?
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: I just can't perceive it.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: But the dog can.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: God's will and his wisdom is out there.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: By our own human wisdom, we can't perceive it.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: It is God's wisdom that we can't perceive it, which you can wrestle with that on your own.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: But by God's Spirit, you have been given freely the code to unlock this.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: You can understand the will of God.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: You can understand his wisdom.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: You can understand what it means that the cross of Christ and Jesus Christ crucified, why it is foolish to the world around us, why people say, what you believe is crazy, and yet for those of us who trust in Christ, we can honestly say, actually, I don't think it is.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think it makes perfect sense.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: That is the Spirit of God within us.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: To finish out this morning, we also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God's Spirit, because it is foolishness to him.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: He is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone for who has known the Lord's mind that he may instruct him.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_00: But we have the mind of Christ.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, now we're coming full circle, right?
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: We're back to almost our original argument.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: Remember the whole time Paul has been saying, there are factions among you, there are divisions based upon the leadership, you're evaluating the leadership based on human wisdom, and you should not be doing that.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: So now we are coming full circle into what should be happening, right?
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: What are we to do with all of these things?
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: We speak these things, we speak this language to one another, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: But we also understand as we go about the world that it makes sense that our actions don't look like the world's actions around us.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: We are spiritual people.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: We evaluate things from a spiritual perspective.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is the whole gig, guys, right?
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: The wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: They look at things differently.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, if we are spiritual people, if we know God, we look at our situation differently than people who are not spiritual.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: He summarizes this by saying that we have the mind of Christ.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: He says, you have the mind of Christ.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: Which, again, an amazing statement.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: An amazing statement.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: That we have the mind of God Himself.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's not something you have to achieve.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: You have it already.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's not something that you need to show to other people necessarily to impress other people.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_00: It is something that allows us to act in a certain way because we have knowledge of God, we trust in God's plan that has been revealed to us, and now we act like we're a part of God's plan.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is the full circle part.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says, now take all of these things and apply them.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: Go back into your environment where you're dividing over all these foolish things.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: Understand and shine a spotlight on Jesus Christ crucified, even if people say it's silly.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you're also going to act like you have the mind of Christ, not like you have the mind of the world around you.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: You have God's spirit.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_00: This right here, who has known the Lord's mind, that we may instruct him, is Paul's last reference.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's Isaiah 40, 13.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: Who has known the Lord's mind?
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: You.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: Who has known the Lord's mind?
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: You do now.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_00: You have the mind of Christ.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_00: You understand it.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: Are you using it?
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: So in closing, I want to kind of finish with these two thoughts here.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: I asked this question at the very beginning.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: I said, what is true wisdom and how do we get it?
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: So if I didn't explain myself well, which is very possible, true wisdom is not making wise financial decisions.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's not finding the right group of friends.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's not giving good advice, okay?
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's not reading more self-help books, all right?
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_00: There is a wisdom that is practical, that is applied, that is proverbial as we read in God's own book.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_00: But true wisdom is understanding things from God's perspective.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: Part of that means you know where you stand in accordance with God, right, which people outside of the cross can now understand too, that they are perishing.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_00: But it is also that the Spirit of God lives within you and helps you to understand these things of God.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_00: That you are spiritual people and you evaluate things spiritually, not by the world's standards.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that means that your metrics of Are going to look different than the world.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to do things that the world calls foolish because you know God.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: And you're going to do things that they say you shouldn't be doing because you have a different perspective.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: But how do we get this?
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: Part of it, you already have it.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you know Christ and you've trusted in him, you already have the Holy Spirit within you.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, it's from him that we get this.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: So part of it is recognizing that we just don't access it enough.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think partly because it's a free gift.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: We don't appreciate it enough.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: We haven't put any skin in the game.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: But the last thing I want to leave with you, though, is this concept that we can grow in wisdom.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: We can grow in wisdom.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: The Spirit of God is not a Wikipedia article that you could just click on links that you like and learn more about God.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: It is a muscle that is living and breathing.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: And for some of us, we know the way that we can grow more wise, but we choose not to use it.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: What is the best place for us to learn more about God and His will for us?
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: It would be the Bible.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_00: How many of us are reading the Bible that often?
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_00: How many of us are reading the thing that's revealed to us, the mystery of the world?
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: Not often as we should.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: In closing, I want to close as Paul closed.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: You see, in chapter 3, verses 18 through 23, Paul concluded his argument.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_00: We're not going to go through it on here, but I want you to just listen to his words.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is fitting for us as we finish this morning.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_00: Paul in chapter 3, verse 18, he says, Let no one deceive himself.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: If any one among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool, so that he can become wise.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, since it is written, he catches the wise in their craftiness.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's from Job 5.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_00: And again, the Lord knows the reasonings of the wise are futile.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's Psalm 94.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: So let no one boast in human leaders, for everything is yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, everything is yours.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: And verse 23, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_00: What a beautiful thing it is to know the mind of God and to be called a fool by the world.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you for today.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you that by the power of your Spirit we might know you.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_00: God, that is a mystery to many.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, and many people call it foolish.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: But Father, we know that it is true wisdom.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: That Jesus Christ crucified is our Savior.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_00: And Father, we preach Him crucified.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_00: We preach a Savior that died for the sins of the world.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: We preach a Savior and we believe a Savior, Lord, that the world calls foolish because we know it is wise.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: Father, please help us by the power of your Spirit that rests within those who believe in this foolishness.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_00: God, help us to see these things from your perspective and not from our own, to trust in your vision for the world and not our own vision for the world.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_00: And God, to act accordingly.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_00: Father, it is hard.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: We're surrounded by a world that does not see things as you do.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: But we pray, Lord, as they rail against our view, God, that we might stand firm.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: Not with eloquent wisdom, but allowing your work on the cross to be our defense.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_00: God, we love you and we thank you.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name we pray.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_00: As you leave today, remember you gotta say hi to three people.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget.