Saturday, August 11,
2012, 7:39 a.m. – The Lord woke me with this song:
Blessed
Assurance
/ Fanny Crosby
Blessèd
assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a
foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of
salvation, purchase of God,
Born of
His Spirit, washed in His blood.
Perfect
submission, all is at rest
I in my
Savior am happy and blest,
Watching
and waiting, looking above,
Filled
with His goodness, lost in His love.
This is
my story, this is my song,
Praising
my Savior, all the day long;
This is
my story, this is my song,
Praising
my Savior, all the day long.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read 1 Corinthians 2 (NIV 1984):
When I came to you,
brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to
you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with
you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear,
and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and
persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your
faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
We do, however, speak
a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the
rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God’s secret
wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory
before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they
had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is
written:
“No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love
him” —
but God has revealed
it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches
all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts
of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the
thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the
world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has
freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom
but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual
words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the
Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them,
because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about
all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:
“For who has known the
mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?”
But we have the mind
of Christ.
Two
Messages
Paul
described for us here two opposite types of messages: 1) The wisdom of this
age, and 2) The wisdom of God. He stated in his introductory thoughts that he
did not come to them with man’s wisdom and with the cunning and craftiness of
men in their deceitful scheming (see Ephesians 4), i.e. he did not come to them
with human wisdom and man’s persuasion (manipulation), but he came to them
humbly, with one sole purpose of preaching Christ crucified for our sins, and with
a demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power in his messages. He did this so that
their faith (and ours) might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. This
is a very important statement here, and I will get into it in further detail as
we discuss the “wisdom of this age.”
The
Wisdom of this Age
Paul
used several phrases here to describe the wisdom of this age: 1) Eloquent
speech, 2) human wisdom, 3) and persuasive words. Eloquent also means
persuasive, moving and stirring (emotionally) and is spoken often in way as to
invoke an emotional human response. Human wisdom is based in man, is fleshly
and worldly, and, in opposition to godly wisdom, is absent of the mind and
character of God. To persuade someone to do something, based in human wisdom
and eloquence, involves human reasoning, pleading, coaxing or manipulation;
often also based in lies and half-truths (lies) or twisted truth (lies).
Many
public figures, including preachers, politicians and the like have a tendency
to use man’s wisdom and persuasive methods over and above just speaking plainly
the truth and/or the truths of scripture. I believe we have seen this much in
today’s entertainment and marketing based churches (institutional) which market
Christianity, the gospel and the church just like they market big business.
One
such technique involves handing children some type of reward (prize; treasure)
for “asking Jesus into their hearts.” The intention is good, most likely, but
the danger is that a child will make a “decision” based upon the physical prize
he or she receives, and yet have no understanding at all about what it means to
accept Christ. This gives the child a false perception of who God truly is, and
it gives the child a false hope, potentially, if the child’s decision was based
on the physical prize instead of the eternal hope and value of making a heart
and mind change away from sin and toward God.
I
also find that the wisdom of this age teaches the philosophies of men over and
above scripture, often with a blatant disregard for scripture and a willful
choice to choose men over God. This practice is common among many of the clergy
and leaders in our churches. So, we must be very discerning, we must know what
scripture teaches, and we must check out what is being taught against the word
of God to make sure it adds up to scripture (under the New Covenant
relationship between God and followers of Jesus Christ).
I,
as well, have observed the wisdom of this age to embrace the philosophies of
this world, promoted strongly through TV programs, movies, modern music, video
games, and the like. I find rebelliousness, disobedience, disrespect, dishonor,
an entitlement mentality, absence of and disregard for definite rules and
standards, argumentative spirits, extreme selfishness, ungratefulness, lack of
self-control, love of pleasure in place of love of God, and opposition to the
truth of God’s word rampant today (see 2 Tim. 3), even among many confessing
followers of Christ. This should never be.
The Wisdom
of God
The
wisdom of God, nonetheless, is not based in human reasoning, intellect or
reasoning. It is based solely in the character of God and in his word, will and
purposes for all things in heaven and on the earth. It is spiritually discerned
and only comes through the Spirit’s power within the individual. We cannot
generate this on our own. It is not by our might or by our power but by God’s
Spirit that we are able to exercise such godly wisdom. It is based in truth and
with the goal to see people’s hearts and lives transformed by the power and
working of the Holy Spirit of God within them, as a direct result of God’s
grace and Jesus Christ’s blood sacrifice for our sins.
This
wisdom teaches the truths of God’s word concerning God – Father, Son (Jesus
Christ) and Holy Spirit. It teaches the truth concerning the gospel of Jesus
Christ and the whole counsel of God. It does not water down the message of the
gospel in order to tickle the ears of its listeners or to make it more palatable
and acceptable to its hearers. It teaches repentance – a complete change of
heart, mind, attitude and behavior, in changing from following after the ways
of sin and of the flesh toward following after God and his word, in obedience
to his commands. That is why it is for the mature, as opposed as for the
childish, immature and selfish who still want their own way.
If
the rulers and religious leaders of Jesus’ day had understood this wisdom, they
would not have killed Jesus, because they would have heard God’s voice speaking
and would have known that Jesus Christ was indeed their promised Messiah, the
Christ; the Son of the living God. Yet, they were following man’s wisdom and
rules taught by men that had nothing to do with heart change, so they were
blinded to the secrets of God’s wisdom because they were thinking with worldly
minds.
Those
who truly know Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior, who are listening to him,
and who are heeding his words and counsel, nonetheless, have had the truth
revealed to them. God, by his Spirit, has revealed to us who love (obey) him all
he has prepared for us. Amen! The way in which God reveals these things to us
is through his Spirit whom he has placed within those who have, by faith,
invited him into our lives to be Lord and Savior. When we accept Christ Jesus,
we receive the Holy Spirit, who then teaches us all things and reminds us of
all Christ has taught us. Through the Holy Spirit within us we can now understand
spiritual truths once hidden from us. We can know the thoughts of God, which he
chooses to reveal to us, his servants, because God lives within our hearts.
Yet,
mankind without the Spirit of God cannot understand the things revealed by the
Spirit of God and so they are foolishness to him. The problem here is that many
professing Christians and pastors and church leaders also find the gospel of
Jesus Christ to be foolish which is why they change it to conform to man’s
image and why they choose to follow the teachings, philosophies and marketing
schemes of men over and above the words of God.
Finally,
we have not received the spirit of the world, so we should no longer follow the
pattern of the world and all that the world has to offer us. Instead, our minds
should be set on things above and not on the things of this earth. We should
hunger and desire after God more than anything else on the face of this earth.
Our hearts’ desire should be to please him above all else. We should listen to
his voice speaking to our hearts and heed his counsel and wisdom. He loves us
so much that he wants the very best for us, and that very best is not by the
standards of this world, but by God’s standards of what will bring us into a
right relationship with him, and what will bring glory and honor to God
Almighty. Amen!
A
Believer’s Prayer / An Original Work / July 31, 2012
With my
whole heart,
Lord, I
pray to be Yours,
And Yours
always.
Lead me
in Your truth today.
May I
love You, and obey.
Lead me
in Your righteousness.
When I
sin, may I confess;
Bow
before You when I pray;
Live for
You and You always.
Love You,
Jesus,
You’re my
friend.
Life with
You will never end.
You are
with me through each day,
Giving
love and peace always.
You will
ne’er abandon me.
From my
sin You set me free.
You died
on that cruel tree,
So I’d
live eternally.
Soon
You’re coming back for me;
From this
world to set me free;
Live with
You eternally.
Oh, what
joy that brings to me.
I will
walk with You in white;
A pure
bride,
I’ve been
made right
By the
blood of Jesus Christ;
Pardoned
by His sacrifice.
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