As I have been continuing to enjoy what God’s Book is
teaching me about how “the word of the
cross… is the power of God” (I Corinthians 1:18), I have had to consider
why so many people believe they are smarter than God.
Today, I got my answer:
“Where is the one who
is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God
made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the
world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what
we preach to save those who believe.” (I Corinthians 1:20-21)
I thought of all the wise men, and scribes, and religious
leaders, and debaters, who tried to beat Jesus in a battle of wisdom, and left
knowing that he once again made them look foolish.
I thought of others like the magicians of Egypt, and the
Pharaoh who would not let God’s people go, and the mob that called for Jesus’
crucifixion, and the religious elite who tried to stop the church from growing,
and even a man named Saul who tried his best to destroy the church. All were
shown to be utterly foolish in their attempts to stand against the wisdom and
the purposes of God.
So, it is one of these, Saul who became the apostle Paul,
that God now records in his Book for all to read, that God has “made foolish the wisdom of the world.”
Richard Dawkins’ attempt to deny God is proven as foolish. Bill Nye’s claim
that the Church’s preaching of Jesus as the Christ, as Creator, as the crucified
Savior, will be erased from future generations, is proven as foolish.
Why is this?
Because God did something in his wisdom that makes it
impossible for Worldlings to know God through their wisdom. It pleased him to
bring his message into the world through his Son’s birth of a virgin, his first
bed a manger, his first witnesses shepherds, making disciples of fishermen,
growing his kingdom in the hearts of prostitutes, and drunks, and tax
collectors.
To this day, “through
the folly of what we preach”, God continues to “save those who believe.” Where religions and governments seek to
persecute the church into oblivion, people are turning to the “word of the cross” in growing numbers.
Where scientific publications seek to stamp out belief in Jesus as Creator and
Savior by denying equality to Jesus’ brothers, people are coming to Christ
because they cannot escape “the word of
the cross”.
And so, while the world says we are foolish to believe in a
Savior who died for sins, God speaks the word of the cross into the hearts of
the poor in spirit; he brings them to mourn the sinful condition of their souls;
he leads them to meekly admit that they are unable to fix themselves, and so he
graciously awakens in them a hunger and thirst for the righteousness they see
in Jesus Christ, offered to them as the free gift of God.
As the poor in spirit see the power of God changing their
hearts through the word of the cross, they come into the kingdom of heaven
through repentance and faith; they are comforted in all the ways sin has broken
and ruined them; they discover their adoption as sons, and co-heirs with Jesus Christ,
and their hunger for the righteousness they long for is satisfied through their
faith-relationship with Jesus Christ.
The bottom line is that, anyone who takes God on in a battle
of wits and wisdom will be proven to be foolish. Anyone who repents of the
foolishness of the sinful world, and turns to Jesus Christ in faith, will
discover the joy of knowing God’s wit and wisdom forever. Who wouldn’t want a
Father like that?
© 2016 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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