 Today we are continuing our series called The Kingdom of God is like… and hearing yet another parable from Jesus about the kingdom of God. Remember, a parable is an earthly story that tells about the kingdom of God. We’ve heard two – both centered around farming.
We’ve heard so far… …The Kingdom of God is like a farmer sowing seed – it lands on a lot of different soil types and has a lot of different results; just as God’s Word falls on lots of different heart types and has a lot of different results. …The Kingdom of God is like a growing seed – the seed grows with repetitive, repeated, faithful, and persistent care; just as the seed of faith grows with repetitive, repeated, faithful and persistent use of God’s Word. Today we are adding yet another farming parable to our list of Jesus’ parables and it’s going to teach us yet another facet of God’s kingdom. Before we begin, let’s pray: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is the truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; open our ears to hear what you want us to hear; open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. The Story of the Mustard Seed The parable is taken from Mark 4 which is the same chapter that the last two parables are from. So, it’s quite likely that Jesus tells it as a follow up to the other two parables that we mentioned before. I love Jesus’ opening introduction to the parable in verse 30: Again Jesus said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?” You kind of get the impression that the disciples need some help. They sat through two parables of Jesus – two teachings about the kingdom of God. The first one they were confused about. After the second one, didn’t seem to help much. They must have been a lot of blank stares. And now Jesus, the omniscient, Lord of heaven and earth, is trying to explain the divinely complete and eternally developed kingdom of God to these temporal, finite, and much simpler humans. It’s kind of like trying to give directions to someone who doesn’t really know the area. Has that ever happened to you? Maybe you’re trying to get them to church. You tell them: Head south on Falls of Neuse until you get to Newton Rd. Turn left and then it’ll be the little brown church to the right. Blank stare. Do you know where Ravenscroft is? The library? It’s in that general vicinity. Scratching their heads. Go to the Han Dee Hugo Station. Turn left. Go 2500 feet. Turn left into the Parking lot with the sign for Gethsemane Lutheran Church. Still nothing. SIGH. Just take my GPS. Jesus shares that frustration. Trying to teach the things of God to puny minded humans beings. So he says… The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. (v.31) Question: If you wanted a BIG plant to grow in your garden, how big a seed would you need to plant? The bigger the seed; the bigger the plant, right? A sunflower seed. A pumpkin seed. An avocado pit. They’re pretty big in the world of seeds; they must produce big plants. It makes sense. But… What about a mustard seed? Have you ever seen one of those? (Think of the Grey Poupon Mustard jar.) They are super tiny and barely visible if I held one up for you in the front of church. In fact, it’s so tiny – that if I planted it – and if anything grew from it – I’d expect it to be a tiny, little grass sprout. That’s it. But… When planted, the seed grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade. (v.32) It’s bigger than a sunflower. Bigger than a pumpkin plant. Bigger than an avocado bush. It’s basically a tree. About 6, 7, 8 foot high. Big enough that birds land in its branch. All of that happens from this little seed. It’s amazing. Such a small, insignificant seed leads to an incredibly significant plant! II. False Expectations What’s the point of Jesus’ story? Is Jesus just a really big fan of mustard? Should we all go to Food Lion and grab a yellow, squeezable bottle of French’s mustard to put in the offering plate next Sunday? Remember – a parable is an earthly story that teaches us about the kingdom of God. So… Think about it… What is God trying to teach us about His kingdom? This past Monday at 9:30am I went to a local retirement home. It’s something that I’ve been doing for about 5 years now. I head to the home. I do an acapella, communion-less version of today’s service. I tell the people there about Jesus. To be fair – when we first started, they put me on in the big living room area. And…I’m pretty loud. It wasn’t hard to get people’s attention. There was plenty of room. Usually we’d gather together about 20 some people to worship Jesus on a given Monday. But… Recently they relocated me to a much smaller side room because some thought I was a bit of a distraction. Recently the Lifestyle Coordinator that I worked with was replaced with a new coordinator. Recently that side room has become a storage room of sorts - scrunching the chairs and causing us to lose space to Thanksgiving decorations. This past Monday morning...there was one lady who joined me for worship. It wasn’t the one who shouts “Amen.” It wasn’t the one who sings along. It wasn’t the one who nods at key points of the sermon. It was the one who falls asleep about 3 minutes in. I will not lie. I started to think: What’s the point? Why be here? It isn’t anything BIG. It isn’t anything SIGNIFICANT. This can’t be the work of God because it isn’t BIG and SIGNIFCANT enough! You ever thought like that? Have you ever thought… Why am I attending this INSIGNIFICANT church service? It’s not even Christmas Eve. It’s some random service in October. Why am I telling my kids this INSIGNIFCANT Bible story? They don’t even look like they’re listening. Why am I making this INSIGNIFICANT invite to worship? My friend couldn’t care less. Why am I prepping for this INSIGNIFCANT Sunday School class? There’ll be, what, 2 kids here? Why would I have my child baptized? It’s an INSIGNIFICANT splash of water. What could it possibly do! Friends, we are buying into a LIE. Work in God’s Kingdom needs to SEEM SIGNIFICANT or it will BE INSIGNIFICANT. The lie suddenly becomes: Every time I share the message of Jesus; it needs to be greeted with SHOUTS of joy or it was worthless… Each worship service needs strobe lights and smoke machines or it’s not really work in God’s kingdom. Each Bible passage on Facebooks need to go viral or it will be utterly worthless. Each time I teach kids, I need about 30 of them, lined up – like soldiers – listening to my words like the kids from Sound of Music or I might as well quit trying. Careful. You’re listening to The Lie. And it’s most dangerous when it comes to personally connecting with God. Because we think: I need to go to climb some mountain, in some freezing Antarctic culture and find a Sherpa on the very summit. That’s SIGNIFICANT and that’s connecting with God. I need to go to some forest, deep in the jungle, to find a TEMPLE OF DOOM and an ancient artifact that will solve God for me. That’s SIGNIFICANT. That’s the way to God. I need to spend hours in a laboratory, dissecting, experimenting, and divulging in order to unlock the secret God particle. That would be SIGNIFICANT and that would be the way to Him. I need to give thousands of dollars to some charity to get my name on one of their plaques to ensure that God might like me. That’s SIGNIFICANT and maybe then God would pay attention to me! We envision these grandiose ideals on how to connect with God, when God has simply, clearly made himself absolutely accessible through something seemingly insignificant. A book. The Bible. Friends, if this what you believe - That’s God’s Kingdom only shows up in the SEEMINGLY SIGNIFICANT. In the BIG Seed. In the FLASHING LIGHTS seed. In the ABSOLUTELY IMPRESSIVE seed… You are in danger of missing it altogether. III. The Unexpected Reality Like many of the people at Jesus’ time… They expected the Savior to be look like someone SIGNIFICANT. Like a king coming from a beautiful palace. Like some soldier with a giant sword. Like a general with a myriad of soldiers behind him. Like an activist enacting visibly massive political upheaval. But that’s not what they saw in Jesus. Instead of a beautiful palace, he came from a feeding trough in some dilapidated barn. Instead of a giant sword, he swung a carpenter’s hammer. Instead of a myriad of soldiers, he had 12 disciples – 4 fishermen, an accountant, a political activist, a betrayer and 5 guys whose jobs were so insignificant they aren’t even written down in Scripture. Instead of massive visual political upheaval, thee enacted invisible personal, spiritual change. Even in his death – He seemed insignificant! He didn’t die fighting a dragon. He wasn’t fending off some super villain. He didn’t go in some epic explosion. He hung on a cross. Where many common criminals hung before. Where many common criminals hung after. TRUTH: Jesus’ LIFE seem insignificant, but there is no LIFE more eternally important. Because with his death he removed all of your sins. With his blood he removed all of your guilt. With his resurrection he declared heaven to be yours! It might look common. It might seem insignificant. It might seem like a mustard seed of a teaching. But belief in Jesus leads to a mustard plant like growth into the Kingdom of God itself. And.. If Jesus’ LIFE seemed insignificant, but there is no life more eternally important… Jesus WORK might seem insignificant, but there is no WORK more eternally important. That insignificant looking church service, can reinvigorate and replenish your faith in the Savior. That insignificant looking Bible story – can fill your kids with trust in their Savior. That insignificant invite to worship, might be one of a series of calls from God to bring that person to His kingdom. That insignificant looking Sunday School class, could strengthen the faith of a future SS teacher who will continue to multiply God’s kingdom long after your gone. Those insignificant looking drops of water, wash away sin and bring you into God’s eternal kingdom. And… That insignificant looking, off-key acapella worship service in that stuffy, back storage room with only one person in attendance…might strengthen that person’s faith just enough to bring them home to heaven. Like an insignificant looking mustard seed, God’s kingdom grows into the most eternally significant. IV. What Now? 1. Do the Seemingly Insignificant Work on memorizing Scripture. Sing “Jesus Loves Me” with your kids. Bring your kids to worship – even when they don’t want to. Bring yourself to worship – even when it’s not a celebration Sunday. Tell a coworker about Jesus – even if it’s not some incredible doctrinal statement. Do the seemingly insignificant work this week and you will be doing the eternal important work of God’s kingdom. And it’s not just personal… When you’re leaving today, look behind across the parking lot. There’s an incredible new ministry center out there with an incredible ability to Plant the Message of Jesus in the Hearts of North Raleigh. To be fair – it looks SIGNIFICANT. But the work surrounding it – hasn’t always been… Meetings. Paperwork. Phone calls on hold to subcontractors. Emails typed to potential parents. Fixing the little tiny door latch for the cabinet in the janitor’s closet. On its own, the work seemed insignificant. But together… Wow. Keep doing the insignificant when that opens. Greet visitors. Spend an extra minute talking to a parent about their life. Add a dollar to the offering plate. Paint a wall in the Fellowship Hall. Keep praying. Do the Seemingly Insignificant work of God’s kingdom because there is nothing of more eternal significance. 2. Remember the Eternal Significance Segue with me. To something that isn’t a parable. Segue with me. To something that is a glimpse into the future. Segue with me. To the reality of heaven itself – the ultimate goal of God’s kingdom. After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9, 10, 13, 14) Look at that multitude. Look at those people. It’s impressive. It’s eternally significant. But. If you look closely enough you might see… There’s that person that you shared that seemingly insignificant Bible verse with. There’s your neighbor that you shared a seemingly insignificant church invitation with. There’s your child that you shared a seemingly insignificant 5-minute Bible story with. You can't say for sure, so we must keep sharing God's Word. It's important! The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed… The work can look insignificant, but there is no work of more eternal significance.
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 When you think of someone wise, what does that person look like?
A pair of bifocals so that he can easily read the strenuous ideas of Voltaire and Shakespeare? A sweater draped around his shoulders to keep him warm as he sits in the annals of the library? Hair neatly parted in two, completely symmetrical and geometric? A pipe -- filled with tobacco--allowing his mind a burst in thought with each puff? John the Baptist didn't look anything like that. He had wild hair. He lived in the woods. He wore camel skin for clothing. He had pieces of leftover locust breakfast in his beard. He probably didn't smell all that great, but he certainly looked foolish. That's what the Pharisees thought. They were the wise people of John's day. They thought John looked foolish and they thought his message was just the ramblings of a lunatic hermit. "Water baptism for forgiveness? Repentance for the kingdom of God? What was he talking about?" Then John said something that through them for a loop. "Look the Lamb of God that takes away the Sin of the world." They looked and they saw Jesus. He looked more put together than John, to be fair, but certainly not a Messiah. Another foolish thought from John. Jesus approached John. John poured water on his head. Jesus came out of the water. Then, the skies opened up. A brilliant light shone. A dove rested over Jesus. A loud voice from heaven spoke and said, "This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased." Basically what John said. Maybe John wasn't so foolish after all. ******************************************************************************************************** In America, we have our own definition of what wisdom looks like. God’s Wisdom often looks very different from that definition. So. Who’s right? Where is real wisdom? With God? Or with humans? Today is the next sermon in our CounterCultural sermons. I. Human Wisdom Claims God’s Wisdom is Foolish Take a look at the words from 1 Corinthians. Take note that 1 Corinthians is a letter written to a group of newbie Christians who lived in a very worldly society. There was false god worship, sexual immorality, and over drinking. There was also a place in the center of town where wise people could go to discuss the latest thoughts and ideas about the economy, philosophy, and theology. Some of their godless thoughts were conflicting with Godly thought. So Paul writes an important reminder to this young church. He says in 1:18, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Focus in on the first half of the verse. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. Have you ever heard of the Flying Spaghetti Monster? It is the official deity of the Pastafarians – a play on Rastafarianism, but also a parody of the Christian faith. The whole point of this religion is to mock the foolishness of religion. That’s clear as soon as you enter their website and read their "tagline.” “The Flying Spaghetti Monster boiled for your sins! Be touched by his Noodly appendage before it is too late.” To the world that’s hilarious – “Yep, Christianity is foolish! Virgin births, talking bushes, universal floods, a non evolutionary beginning. The message of the Bible is foolishness.” But to believers – to us—it isn’t so much funny, but it’s heinous. Why is there such a disconnect? Why is God’s wisdom in such direct contradiction to human wisdom? Here are three reasons. 1) The Time Gap The saying goes: “With age comes wisdom.” It’s more than just something to keep those of us growing older calm. It means that the more experiences you have and the more time you’ve been around, the more you will learn. Think of an electric outlet. Hopefully you have experienced enough in life to know that it is unwise to get your finger wet and sick it directly into the hole. A young child may not. Unfortunately, they might not listen to wisdom and have to learn just how bad of an idea it is through experience. Same thing with your high school student. You might warn them about just how bad over drinking while underage will be for them. But, they might not listen after your talk. But after the experience of the awful hangover, a flood of guilt, and getting kicked off of the sports team, they might listen. God has way more experience than human beings. The oldest person on earth is 121 years old. He has 121 years of experience. He has had 121 years to fill his brain with knowledge. But that’s nothing compared to God. God is eternal. God has been around forever. He has been around longer than all of our ages in this church and in Raleigh combined. In fact, he’s eternal! He existed before time began. He’s the one who began time. He’s the one who began the world. He’s the one who invented history. He’s the one who invented experience. When you compare the knowledge of someone who has been around from before the beginning of time and someone who has been around for 30ish years, there will be a contrast in knowledge. Even if the younger one thinks he's smarter (your three year old as to when his bedtime should be) it doesn't mean he is! Just cause we think we've lived enough years to think we're wise, doesn't mean we are! It's probably why older people are more patient in this area than young professionals. They've lived life. They've learned they aren't always right. They learned humility and they realize that they don't know everything. That makes them wiser, wouldn't you say? It's true with us and God. We need to stop thinking that "We're adults now. We can do this on our own," and start trusting the One who has been around forever. 2) The Knowledge Gap I don’t know a lot about rocket science. In fact, if I took a look at the mathematic formulas necessary for getting into space – it would look like a bunch of gobbledy gook to me! Numbers, letters, strange symbols. I don’t see the wisdom in any of it! But that doesn’t mean it isn’t wise. Just because I can’t understand it, doesn’t mean that the formulas for rocket fuel are unwise. It just means I’m unwise. But it’s an interesting phenomena, isn’t it? The mind with less knowledge writes off greater knowledge simply because it doesn’t understand it! Don’t you think this happens with God? Take the definition of marriage. God says it’s between one man and one woman. God – the one who’s been around from eternity. The one who has an infinite knowledge of the universe. God who has an infinite knowledge of you and me. Yet here we stand as 21st century beings whose 30 year old brain can be contained within a baseball hat and we say, “God, you’re wrong. Let’s change the definition.” Really? I love the story of Job. Job lost everything that he owned in the first two chapters of the book. Then the next 36 chapters relay a dialogue between Job and his friends in which his friends try to get him to curse God. They want him to ridicule God and basically confess, "God, I'm smarter than you and I would never have let this happen." In the last three chapters, a new character is introduced. It’s God. In chapter 38, God makes a few very sarcastic (yet very good) points: “Job...Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?...Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place?...“Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? ... Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?...Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this. What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings? Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!" In short, God’s response is this: Job, you aren’t so smart. Stop trying to think you are. Stop trying to think that you’re smarter than God. 3) The Sin Gap Yet humans still do. This leads to the third, final, and biggest reason that there is such a difference between Godly wisdom and human wisdom. The sin gap. God is holy. He is just. He does not sin. He cannot sin. That means that his mind works perfectly. Humans? Not so much. We’re filled with sin. Sin surrounds our lives. It affects our actions and it affects our minds. Our minds don’t work so perfectly. We aren't sinners because we sin, but we sin because we are sinners! Sin doesn’t just cause us to say hurtful things; it causes our minds to think, “I want to say hurtful things.” Sin doesn’t just cause us to engage in premarital sex; it causes our minds to think, “I want to engage in premarital sex.” Sin doesn’t just cause us to do the opposite of what God says; sin causes our minds to think “I want to do the opposite of what God says.” Sin leads us to categorically and naturally rebel against all of God’s wisdom, because that’s what sin does! Romans 8:7 says this, "The sinful mind is hostile to God’s Word. It does not submit to Him, nor can it do so.” Siebert Becker, a former seminary professor, wrote an awesome book entitled “The Foolishness of God.” In his study, he makes this assessment: Humans reject the Bible, not because they don’t understand it, but precisely because they do understand it.” Isn’t that the truth? The main reason we reject God isn't because God's Word is too difficult for us to understand, but because we don't want to. For the times that when our tiny, unexperienced, sinful minds have rebelled against our timeless, all knowing, holy God’s wisdom – we ask God for forgiveness. II. God Proves Human Wisdom is Foolish While humans think that God’s wisdom is foolish, God has done things in a bit different fashion. God doesn’t just think human wisdom is foolish, God proves human wisdom is foolish. In two specific ways. I. With Miracles… Take a look at verses 19-20: It is written: ‘I, the LORD, will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’ Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? Hasn’t he?
Suddenly these categorical statements of human wisdom look absolutely foolish! God has proven it. He’s the one who created this world. He’s the one who knows the mysteries of this world. He’s the one who has no problem opening up the manipulating the current laws of science and gravity in order to show human beings that maybe we aren’t as smart as we think we are. II. In His Salvation Plan Verse 21 says this, “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was therefore pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." Earlier today – what did the kids say was God’s plan of salvation? Jesus died. Our sins are gone. Through faith we’re saved. When you break it apart, it sounds foolish. To the Jews, they said, “There needs to be some kind of fantastic incredible miracle taking place –a Laser light show or an awesome battle – when God comes to save us.” Jesus came back to life, but they still didn’t believe. The Greeks demand, “We want wisdom. We want to have to search for truth and talk about truth and mull over truth and then once with have the truth we’ll believe it.” Jesus said “Found it! It’s me.” But they didn’t believe. My Jewish neighbor once said to me, “You Christians are so crazy. You believe that there’s nothing you can do to save yourself, that Jesus did it all, and through faith you are forgiven and saved without having to do anything to be saved.” My answer sounded foolish in my mind before I said it, but I said it anyways: “Yep.” The Gospel is foolishness to human wisdom. But the Gospel doesn’t come from human wisdom. It comes from God. Therefore “through the foolishness of what was preached…God has saved those who believe!” Through the foolishness of what was preached, God has saved you and me. This is the reason that God chose this way for salvation: Listen to what Paul says next: “26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth." I love this passages because Paul is using the Corinthians as an example of unwise people being saved. “Ya’ll aren’t that smart. Ya’ll aren’t rocket scientists. You’re fishermen, prostitutes, and farmers.” You didn’t have jobs that required a Master’s degree! "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” Because boasting doesn’t work. Being a Christian isn’t about “I figured it out.” It isn’t about “I’ve got the truth and you don’t.” It isn’t about “I was smart enough to figure this whole thing out.” If it were, then millions would be lost because they didn’t think they were smarter enough to figure salvation out, and millions more would be lost because “I am smart and have figured out salvation,” when in fact they haven’t. No, Christianity isn’t about our wisdom. It’s about God’s wisdom. Trusting in God’s wisdom necessitates that we stop trusting in our wisdom. It necessitates that we say “God, I don’t know it all. God I need you. God you are wise and I trust you.” And when we do that – when we admit that we aren’t as wise as we think – then, here’s the kicker-- we have true wisdom. Therefore, it is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God our righteousness, our holiness, and our redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” “I’ve got a God who walks on water.” “I’ve got a God died and comes back to life.” “I’ve got a Jesus who is 100 percent true God and 100 percent true man at the same time.” “I’ve got a God who is three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – all at once, yet there aren’t three God, there’s only one.” No…I can’t explain all those things. I’m not that wise! But my God is. And I trust Him. Amen.  In the wake of Father’s Day, it’s always nice to reflect on fatherly wisdom. Dads teach us how to change the oil in our cars, how to open a bottle without a bottle opener, and to always brush your teeth before putting on your necktie.
I saw a Father’s Day card that said, “Happy Father’s Day Dad! Thank you for all the advice you have given me over the years. Today, I’d like to say that I’m finally going to follow some of your advice.” On the inside it read: “I’m not going to waste money on a gift for you.” Ha. Dads are good for all kind of practical, quirky, and useful wisdom. But what about your other Dad? What about your Heavenly Dad? What kind of wisdom has God the Father passed on to you? In the past two weeks we’ve talked about the Christian heart and the Christian voice. Today we’re going to learn about the Christian mind and the wisdom it possesses. ************************************************************************************* Our lesson comes from 1 Corinthians 1 beginning at verse 26. “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” In this paragraph, Paul is writing to a young Corinthian congregation. In the Corinthian world where many types of wisdom were lauded and sought after, Paul reminds them to search foremost for the wisdom of God. What is that wisdom? Paul starts by identify three things it is not. 1) Christianity is not about BOOK SMART WISDOM. Paul writes, “Not many of you were wise by human standards…”. That’s still true today. We don’t require that you get a high sore on your SAT. We don’t exclude people from the church until they’ve gotten a Bachelor of Arts degree. And we don’t hold periodic games of Jeopardy with the high scorer being written in as the next Council member. Christianity is not about BOOK SMART WISDOM. In fact, the teachings of Christianity often go against conventional wisdom. Today is Trinity Sunday. Do you know what Trinity means? Three in One. Today is a celebration of the fact that we have a God who is ONE and yet is three PERSONS. Three persons who are divine and distinct and yet there is not three gods, but ONE God. In other words, we are saying, “1 + 1 + 1 = 1” Huh? But it’s more than just the Trinity. Scripture says other things that are not reasonable to the human mind. Jesus is one hundred percent God and one hundred percent man. The world was created in only 6 days and the age of the earth is only thousands of years, not billions of years. Some guy died on a cross. And somehow, that takes away all of the punishment for my sins? If you follow Christian logic, you will fail Math, Science, and possibly Social Studies. Christian wisdom is not about book smart wisdom. 2) Christianity is not about STREET SMART WISDOM. Society might agree that book smart wisdom isn’t necessary for success in this world. There are plenty of people who have made it big without so much as a high school education. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerburg are all multibillionaires who didn’t finish college Is Christian wisdom simply street smarts then? Paul writes, “not many of you were influential…” To be influential in Corinthian society meant you were a business man. This was a place of the market. The better your business did the more influence you had in rules and laws that were made – even if it were simply through a few extra bucks slipped to the government. This being said. There was no requirement in the ancient church that prospective members had to have good business sense. They simply preached the Gospel to the rich, the poor, and everyone in between. This is still true today. To become a member of our church, we don’t have a sit down interview where you prepare a PowerPoint presentation explaining how you think we can maximize revenue and get our brand out into the North Raleigh area. We aren’t a collection of business owners. We aren’t about ‘growing a business.’ When we canvass, we don’t skip the apartments and head directly to the homes that are 1.5 million or above -- because they might have some business wisdom. In fact, Christian wisdom is not all the smart for business. Think for a moment what might happen if you follow the following business practices in the dog eat dog American business world. “If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.” (Mt. 5:39) “Humble yourself – don’t exalt yourself.” (Luke 14) “The last shall be first, and the first shall be last.” (Mark 10:31) “Don’t be greedy.” (Luke 12:15) Ever seen Shark Tank? In the show, you get a chance to pitch your entrepreneurial business model to multibillion dollar business sharks. They aren’t too kind if they think you idea stinks. How do you think they’d react to such Christian ideals? The point? Christian wisdom is not about influential wisdom. 3) Christianity is not about POPULAR WISDOM Paul adds one more negation to the type of wisdom that is involved with Christianity. He writes, “Not many were of noble birth.” In the ancient world, these were princes and princess. Governors daughters and centurions sons. While this is, in part, a genealogical position, there is still a certain type of wisdom involved with being royalty. (i.e. Walk with your chin raised and always lift up your pinky finger when you drink tea.) In America, there aren’t kings and queens as such, but we still have royalty. Musicians, actors, actresses, even reality TV stars garner our constant attention. These pop culture icons also have their own a wisdom and culture. In fact, if you don’t follow it, you’ll never make it into Hollywood. I’m thinking about Matthew McCauneghey winning an Oscar for best actor, thanking the Academy to raucous cheers, and then thanking God – to crickets. “Who’s God again?” Or it leaks into our ‘non Hollywood lives” as well, doesn’t it? Popular wisdom tries to dictate our decisions.
Maybe you already knew this, but God's wisdom is not always (usually) popular. ******************************************************************************************************** In fact, the world might not consider Christian wise at all. It doesn’t make rational sense. It doesn’t fit into academia. It isn’t even all that popular. Some might call it (and have called it) stupid! And…. ….That’s, the point. Look at verse 27-29. God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29) Grasp what Scripture is telling us in that section. God chose things that the world would consider foolish! God looked down at human knowledge of physics, human business sense, and human popular opinion and he chose things that were the exact opposite! There are some very good reasons why God chose to do things in such a splendidly opposite way of human beings. 1) God is eternal! His knowledge is way beyond you or me. It’s way beyond some Scientist who’s been alive for 40 years. It’s beyond some politicians who's lived to 50. It’s way, way, way beyond some actress who specializes in Science. Of course, his wisdom is different! It’s like how a child and an adult tie their shoes differently. The adult carefully bends over and politely and precisely ties the shoelaces into a perfect bow. The child bends over, wiggles his fingers around his laces, and finally stuffs the knotty mess into the back of the shoes. The adult is wiser because they’ve been around longer. God is wiser than any human being because he is eternal! He has always been! 2) God is holy. Humans, scripture tells us, are sinful. We are selfish. We are greedy. We are hateful. We worry about ourselves. Now think about this, it means that our collective thought process will always be sinful. It will always be influenced by this hatred. There will be traces of selfishness in every single attitude we have. God? He doesn’t have that. This means that it will be naturally the exact opposite of human thought. And he can never support these sinful human thoughts, because then, he’d be sinful! It’s why State fans are never caught dead into Tarheel blue. They can never support Carolina! God can never support sin. NEVER. Yet, humans are so stupidly sinful that we look at God’s ways and say, “You’re hateful. Not me!” 3) The final reason is God chose to do things in a way that is so drastically different from human reason? Love. 1 Corinthians reveals it to us this way, “God chose the foolish things…the lowly things…the things that are not…so that no one may boast before him.” God knew that because of sin, not a single person would ever be wise enough to gain heaven. And he also knew that our sinfulness would affect our thinking such that we wouldn’t even acknowledge it. Instead, we find ourselves thinking, “I’m doing just fine. I’m good enough. I can figure it out on my own.” Is it any wonder that every religion in this world, why there are shallow differences, preach the same basic doctrine? Buddhism says, “Live a peaceful life and earn heaven.” Mormonism says, “Life a like like Jesus and earn your own planet.” Islam says, “Follow Islamic Law and earn paradise.” Why are they the same? This is the best that sinful human beings can come up with is to try our sinful best to remove sinfulness by doing sinful things. Thank God that his plan is different:
This is God’s plan. So different and so marvelous, endorsed by all three persons in the Triune God.
What does all of this mean? It isn’t about you. Thank God. In fact, it isn't about anyone even remotely similar than you! (Can you imagine a salvation plan enacted by a sinful human being? It will result in sinful people sinful failing to win a sinful result!) Salvation is about Jesus, our Savior. It’s about the Father our perfect Justifier. It’s about the Spirit, our Sanctifier. Through faith in Jesus Christ, you are saved! And praise be to God for making this plan so different that it sticks out as Divine wisdom! Otherwise, we’d be stuck in our sinful human head: “I’m awesome. I figured out God. I have the smarts to make it to heaven. I deciphered it with my decoder ring. God, of course, selected me for heaven, because of my wisdom!” But it’s not about you. Paul said it this way, “It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (v. 29-31) Kids love to boast about their dads. “He’s the smartest guy I know.” He’s stronger than your dad. He was awesome at baseball. If only he hadn’t of hurt his leg, he’d probably be more famous than Babe Ruth.” Why not boast about your heavenly Father? “My heavenly Father is so wise he planned my salvation before the beginning of the world.” “My heavenly Father is so powerful he raised my Brother Jesus from the dead!” “My heavenly Father is so loving he forgives me for my sinful pride and arrogance.” “My heavenly Father is the best. Holy. Incredible. Absolute.” Dad. Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. Amen. |
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January 2021
Pastor Phil Kiecker
and his wife, Julianna love serving the community of North Raleigh.
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