Corinthians 3:18-23
“Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.” 1 Corinthians 3:18-23 NIV
Briefly put, these verses state the wisdom that God is opposed to here is a wisdom of the world. It’s concerned, in Paul’s context here, with evaluating preaching according to what’s persuasive according to the standards of men and not what is accountable to God and his revelation. It’s more based on the speaker than it is the truthfulness of the content. Another way to say it is, it’s skilled in the things of the world and not in the things of the kingdom of God. And my hope for us today is that we will see what true wisdom is according to God in His Word to us. And that our hearts will be lifted to worship God as we see in this passage, that all things are for us in Christ, the future, the present life, death. All things serve us and Jesus and all things are for our benefit. We are living in interesting times. We are witnessing the greatest explosion of information that the world has ever known. This exponential increase in the amount of knowledge isn’t just available to academic types, but it is available to you and me. Never before has so much information, about everything under the sun, been made available to such a large number of people and the amount of information is expanding rapidly each and every minute of every day. Our access to information and our opportunity to acquire knowledge has led to a nation filled with authorities. Everyone is an authority because if we don’t know about something then all we have to do is Google it, spend a few hours reading, and then we will know as much as anyone else, or so we think. To have a high opinion of our own wisdom, is but to flatter ourselves and self-flattery is the next step to self-deceit. The wisdom that wordly men esteem, is foolishness with God. How justly does He despise, and how easily can He baffle and confound it. The thoughts of the wisest men in the world, have vanity, weakness, and folly in them. All this should teach us to be humble, and make us willing to be taught of God, so as not to be led away, by pretences to human wisdom and skill, from the simple truths revealed by Christ. When Christians behave like the unsaved, it mars their testimony, stunts their spiritual growth, and causes the Holy Spirit to be quenched in their lives or grieved by their conduct. When I was a new Christian someone once said to me that Christian aught to behave as if Jesus is with them all the time. How would I behave if Jesus were standing right next to me? I can tell you that I would behave very differently. But this is not merely a hypothetical practice. The Spirit if God is with us all the time. Yet, we often do not curb our negative behavior. As Christians we must remember that we take the Spirit with us, whether we go to serve God or go to serve ourselves. Jesus is literally with us all the time. We must act as we believe that truth!!!
Father thank you for this day and the breath of life that is in Your Word. Lord let your abundant blessings fall from the floodgates of heaven over my friend and family today. Lord forgive us for the times we have fallen into the trap of carnality and worldly thinking. Lord we pray that we may keep the eyes of my consciousness upon the You. Lord help us from allowing the mind set of the world to infiltrate our hearts and affect our witnesses. Lord we pray that we may develop spiritual wisdom and forward the good news of the gospel in a mature manner to all, that does not engage in unnecessary squabbling or petty differences but is ready to give an instructive answer for the hope we have in You. Daddy we love you amen. Be a blessing. Love ya !!
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