What is the difference between God’s wisdom and human wisdom? What difference does it make to being a Christian?

Thunderstorm in Sandwich

In the summer of 2004, we had three children under 5 and Fiona was 8 months pregnant with Anna. One day Fiona’s parents came to visit and we decided to go to Sandwich. From there we went on a walk by the river, grandparents, small children and 8 month pregnant wife!

As we went, some concern was expressed about the clouds forming. But I said with great confidence and wisdom… that’s nothing to worry about it. Somehow, my confidence and persuasiveness carried the day and we wandered further along by the river.

Then the lightening started, then the rain came. There we were, three small children, grandparents and an eight month pregnant wife desperately trying to stay dry and hoping that the lightening wouldn’t strike us – and that Fiona wouldn’t suddenly go into labour!!

It’s  a day my father in law will never let me forget!!

It just goes to show that no matter how confident and persuasive someone may be, it does not mean they are right!

Of course these days, we all have smart phones. In a similar situation, we would have looked at our phones, which would have linked us into a system involving satellites, super-computers and carefully constructed weather modelling programmes that would let us know whether a thunderstorm was likely or not. Smart phones are great in part, because they give us access to far superior wisdom at least when it comes to weather!!

Faith by the power of God

In verses 4 and 5 or our reading, Paul says:

“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.” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

He is writing to a group of Christians in Corinth and he is reminding them how they came to be Christians. It was not he said, because he had been the best most persuasive speaker around – quite the opposite, he was there in fear and trepidation and useless at public speaking compared to other speakers. It was not his talent that had brought them to faith, but something else: “the power of God.”

Jesus says something similar to Simon Peter, when he comes to realise who Jesus really is:

“Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17)

What Paul and Jesus are saying, is that faith does not come through human persuasion, but a miracle of God. In verse 12, Paul goes on to say that our understanding comes by the power of God to the work of the Spirit:

“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.” (1 Corinthians 2:12)

Just as a smart phone connects us into a far superior source of weather forecasting, the Spirit connects us to the mind of God, so that we can understand the message of what he has done for us in Jesus on the cross and so put our trust in Jesus. The Spirit does what no man can do through persuasion. It is by the work of the Spirit that we come to faith.

Sometimes people say that when they hear a sermon, it is as though God is speaking directly to them. At other times, people are overcome with emotion during a sermon or church service. For others there is a gradual realisation that the preaching that once seemed strange and odd is now making sense. All of this is not because of the persuasive nature of the preacher or preachers, it is the work of God’s spirit connecting us into the wisdom and mind of God, that we can understand what he has done for us in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

• When that happens it is exciting and wonderful! Perhaps God is doing that with you now? Maybe you need to respond and acknowledge the faith that God is giving you and take the step of faith to give your life over to him!

• Or maybe you need to learn to think less of the preacher and rejoice more in the God who by the power of His Spirit has brought you to trust in Christ as your saviour!

The  Argument in 1 Corinthians

And that last point is part of what Paul is trying to get his readers to do! At the start of the letter he had appealed to the Corinthians to stop dividing over which preachers they said they followed. They were following worldly attitudes in judging between and boasting about which preachers they thought were best!

In the rest of chapter 1, Paul goes on to challenge this kind of boasting by showing that the message of the cross turns the kind of things the world boasts about on their heads.  It overturns the worlds thinking on wisdom. Indeed, the kind of people God chooses to be in the church does the same. So, Paul concludes with a quote from Jeremiah in 1:31: ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’

And that is what Paul says he did when he came to preach. Notice in 2:1-5, Paul is talking about himself and his preaching to them. His aim he says was not to impress them with his great preaching style or compete with the philosophical teachers that were so popular. He came with a focus on  Jesus and his crucifixion.

In fact, the start of chapter 2 is Paul directly addressing their criticism of him. He seems to be saying to the Corinthians, ‘You judge me by the standards of the day, but I don’t care about the way the world judges, I came to bring you the message of the cross. And God in his power used that to bring you to faith!”

So at the start of chapter 2, Paul is defending himself, but by chapter 3, Paul turns things around from self-defence to challenge his readers. He says to them, “You are still worldly!!” In other words, their attitudes, even their criticism of him and their breaking into different fan groups of different Christian preachers, all fundamentally stem from worldly attitudes and assumptions, rather than attitudes and assumptions rooted in God.

How does he move from defence of his preaching to challenging their worldly attitudes? He does so by contrasting the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world. So, let’s look at the rest of chapter 2 and what he says about this contrast:

The Contrast:

Eternal verses Temporary – 2:6-7

Firstly, he reminds us that the wisdom of the world is temporary, but God’s wisdom is eternal.

Our society is often very critical of the attitudes and outlook of former ages. For example, the present call to remove statues of slave owners today reminds us that what was once thought acceptable: slavery, is now completely condemned by modern society. That attitude then has proved to be only temporary.

I was talking to a lady who is now 100. She remembers that before the second world war on bonfire night, children would run around on the beach at Ramsgate throwing fireworks at each other! What was acceptable then would be seen as a health and safety disaster today!

Human attitudes are constantly changing and evolving. But it raises the question, what today that we assume to be acceptable, right or OK, will be condemned by future societies?

Human wisdom is only ever temporary.

But God’s wisdom is eternal. It may be hidden to many, but it has always been there as part of God’s plan from the beginning of time. Because God never changes, it never changes. His wisdom is eternal.

Glory Forming verses Glory Destroying – 2:7b-8

But secondly, Paul says something amazing. The ultimate eternal goal of God’s wisdom is for our glory! The birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension and return of Jesus is all for one ultimate purpose – our glory!

As Christians we may be despised by the world and the attitudes of our age, but we know what the world does not know, that God will bring us to glory!

In contrast, it was human wisdom and especially the wisdom of human rulers that sought to destroy glory. When Jesus came to live among us and preached the wisdom of God, it was so radical and challenging to the human wisdom of the time, that they crucified him! They could not see that he brought them the wisdom of God, so in their so called human wisdom they sought to destroy ‘the Lord of glory’. What greater judgement of human wisdom could there be?

Spiritual Insight verses Unspiritual Ignorance – 2:9-16

Thirdly, Paul says that through the wisdom of God, we have Spiritual insight compared with the unspiritual ignorance of the world.

None of us is fully able to know what another is thinking. Paul says only a person’s spirit knows what is going on in a person’s mind.

It is the same with God, only his Spirit truly understands what is going on with God. Yet, the amazing truth as Christians is that we are given God’s spirit so that we can understand what God has done!

Non-Christians do not have this Spirit, so it is no surprise that they don’t understand God’s message. They are left in ignorance. They cannot understand the gospel message or the importance of the cross.

Two Lessons:

So, what lessons are we to take from this contrast between God’s wisdom and worldly wisdom.

Don’t let the world judge you

Firstly, it means that we should not let the world judge us – at least not by worldly standards.

If non-Christians do not have the Spirit, then they are in ignorance about God’s ways and attitudes, they are missing out on a big part of the picture of life, which means they cannot judge us properly.

Imagine being a musician, playing the piano and producing a wonderful piece of music. Then a deaf person comes up to you and tells you that you are mad to be sitting at the piano just pressing random keys down in strange ways!

The deaf man does not understand what you are doing, because he cannot hear the music the piano produces. In the same way non-Christians may think we are mad to live the way we do as Christians, but they aren’t seeing the overall picture, they do not have the spirit of God.

That is not to say we should never listen to the criticism of non-Christians! They do see some of the picture and their criticism may be valid and worth taking into account. But having listened, if we have satisfied ourselves that in the light of what we know by the Spirit of God it is not valid, then we can rest easy.

The point is do not let the judgement of the world, stop you from living for Christ – because ultimately the world is ignorant.

Don’t live by the world’s attitudes

Secondly, if as a Christian by the Spirit, you have been led to understand the good news of what God has given you through the death and resurrection of Jesus. If the wisdom of God that comes from the Spirit is so much better than the human wisdom of the age, because it is eternal and glory forming and gives you insight that others do not have, then how can you continue living by worldly attitudes?

We have the mind of Christ, we have the Spirit at work in us, how can we continue to live in the same ways as the rest of the world? That is the question that Paul will come back to again and again as he challenges the Corinthian church about the man ways they are going wrong!

Do you wonder why Christians boast in Jesus – didn’t he die on a cross? Where’s the power in that? This sermon may explain more….

What does the world boast in?

What things do you boast about? I would think most of us do boast to a certain degree even if unintentionally or without any boasting desire, it’s just human nature sometimes to compare. I managed to make a really good roast dinner using the Nigella method, I got ten out of ten in that magazine quiz, I won all my badminton matches last night, When I went to university in Cambridge, I have a PHD in feline Dion. 

It can Sometimes more obviously be seen with kids in the playground, they might play a game of my dads better than your dad or substitute any relative, my dads a faster runner than yours, well my dads smarter, my dad Cooks better, well mines more handsome. I read somewhere so not 100% if it’s true but one kid proudly boasted well my uncle is superman. You could think his boasting took it a little bit too out there. It’s turns out it was 100% true and was from the nephew of Henry Cavill who’s one of the more recent actors to play the role of superman.

Cooking, education, athleticism can all be good things! But it can be easy to fall into a pattern of boasting about what we have, what we’re good at, what we do. It focuses very much on ourselves. The world tends to boast in education, in status, power and money. 

Maybe as Christian’s we aren’t so different. Can we get carried away in what we have and can do and forget that all good things come from God. Do we give credit where credit is due. Not saying we should shy away from our talents but acknowledge who gave them to us. 

Paul would add to the list of things the World boasts about. He is saying in his letter to the Corinthians that the world also boasts about wisdom and knowledge. For the Christians in Corinth this was an area they were struggling with and an area Paul wanted to address. He doesn’t want them Boasting in their own wisdom and knowledge but in the good news of the cross of Jesus.

Two ways to view the cross

In our reading from 1 Corinthians 18 to 31 Paul says that there are two ways to view the cross. For Christian’s we see the  power of the cross. The cross is the power of God – it is the cross that has the power to change lives, not human effort and Paul wants this message clearly to be heard by the Corinthians. We’ll unpack that more later

The second way of viewing the cross according to Paul, is by those of the world, those perishing because they don’t know eternal life through Jesus. That second way views the cross as foolishness. The cross is foolish! It’s weakness. 

The cross isn’t about power or status or getting money.  The cross is about Jesus giving up everything for the whole world. Giving up his life. That seems in the worlds eyes as pointless, insane. Foolish. Worldly wisdom doesn’t understand the cross of Jesus.

In v23 Paul says that Christ crucified is a stumbling block for the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Why is it a stumbling block to the Jews? The Jewish people were waiting for a sign of their promised messiah. They thought the promised messiah (chosen one from God) would be a mighty warrior, someone who would rescue them, from the oppression of foreign rule. 

Jesus when he was alive tried to demonstrate that he was not that kind of messiah. He was not a mighty warrior. He was the humble gentle saviour, who showed no aggression going to the cross but willingly died for the whole world. When he rode into Jerusalem the last week of his life it wasn’t on a war horse but on a young donkey – a humble animal for a humble saviour.

But many of the Jews could not understand what the cross of Jesus meant. They wanted a sign in order to believe. There are a few accounts in the gospels in the bible where Jesus has these conversations with some of the Jews. Jesus says to them in not so many words that his death and resurrection will be the sign of who he is, but many still didn’t get it! The cross for them is a stumbling block.

The cross is a stumbling block to the Jews and then it is foolishness to the gentiles. Why is it foolishness to the gentiles? Gentiles were any non-Jew and around Corinth there was lots of influence from Greek philosophy , who placed high importance on wisdom, they liked new ideas and debating the issues of the day and the cross just seemed foolish.

Wisdom and foolishness turned on their heads

The power of the cross turns wisdom on its head from the world’s perspective. Paul is saying that the cross may be foolish to the world. But God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom as Paul tells us in v25. This thing that could be seen as human weakness, frailty, dying the death of a cross is stronger than human strength. The wisdom of the world is frustrated by the good news of the cross we read in v19 why? because through the cross everything that is seen as strong is surpassed through an act of sacrifice – that is strength!

Paul says to the Corinthians you might be being influenced by the Greek thinkers around you but remember where you came from. In v26 he says and I’m paraphrasing – You weren’t wise by human standards, you’re not noble or influential, why are you boasting in your wisdom. Earthly wisdom is nothing compared to Gods. God turns earthly wisdom on its head.

In v 27 we have these comparisons between who God calls and the world. God chooses the foolish things to shame the wise – the weak things to shame the strong – the lowly things, despised things, things the world doesn’t acknowledge to nullify the things the world puts status to.

Why? So that no one can boast in being a child of God through any action or intellect of their own, other than believing in what Jesus has done for them. But it is only because of and through Jesus that salvation is possible.

The bible is full of unlikely characters that God used to play their part in his story of bringing the world back into close relationship with himself. If you’ve not heard of these characters before, go away and look at their stories. Moses had problems with his speech and yet God chose him; Abraham was old; Gideon was a scaredy cat – had real issues with fear; Elijah was severely depressed; Rahab was a prostitute. All these characters in the Old Testament had a role in God’s story not because of who they were but in spite of it and all because of God. So there would be no doubt God was at work.

There are similar examples in the New Testament. By human wisdom choosing shepherds to be the first visitors of Jesus as a baby and choosing a woman to be the first witness to Jesus’ resurrection makes no sense. Shepherds were the lowest of the low and women were probably below them.

God turns the worlds understanding of wisdom and strength on its head. God chooses people and things the world might view as foolish, weak, despised, irrelevant, so that there can be no doubt that it is God at work. 

Have you ever felt foolish weak despised irrelevant……….

The cross seems foolish to the world but that is so that those that know the power of the cross can boast in Jesus. We know that salvation is offered through the cross, we have faith in Jesus, we know his forgiveness and have a restored relationship with God. We know it’s because of Jesus and  is not because of ourselves .

How is salvation achieved?

Salvation is only possible through the power of the cross. And Paul wants to communicate this clearly. So that the Corinthians understand that The cross is the only thing that makes salvation possible, it is the cross that brings us back into a relationship with God who created us.

Human intellect cannot achieve salvation. Human wisdom and reasoning didn’t get humanity there. God gave his chosen people chance upon chance to know God. To follow him in their own wisdom and strength. But it took the power of the cross to bring about salvation for all.

Salvation is through the cross not through human intelligence. In his explanation of this Paul quotes Isaiah 29:14 – I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate. 

Its good to look at the wider context in this Isaiah passage. A passage that in the NIV the compilers have called Woe to David’s city.  Isaiah was a prophet in the Old Testament sent to warn Gods people what would happen if they didn’t turn back to God and trust and obey him. 

These are some of the verses in Isaiah 29 which are surrounding the quote Paul gives. ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips but their hearts are far from me their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish …… you turn things upside down as if the Potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed to say to the one who formed it you did not make me? can the pot say to the Potter you know nothing

True wisdom is acknowledging the potter, the creator of the world and knowing salvation is through the cross not through our own human reasoning. And because of him according to v30 we are made right with God, we can be holy because of him and we are redeemed.

Boast in the cross

Therefore because of all this it says in v31 if we’re gonna boast in anything let’s boast in Jesus.  I want to bring us back to the opening verse – ‘for 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’.  The cross is good news! It’s not foolishness. The cross which turns wisdom on its head and can encourage us in our call to faith. Remember, God calls the foolish things, the weak things, the despised and  irrelevant things. God calls you, he calls me, because of the cross we are precious and all have a part to play in Gods plan. 

You wouldn’t necessary know it by seeing me up here. But I was incredibly shy as a teenager – tried to blend into the crowd – didn’t often put myself forward for things. But the power of the cross changes lives. God calls us to play our part and will help us in that through his spirit which we’ll look at more next week . He uses us so that we can boast in Him and I’m 100 percent here up front serving him in this way because of Jesus. God uses the weak things to shame the wise. Let that be an encouragement that we can all serve God in different ways, no matter how we might view ourselves or think the world view us.

The fact we can boast in the cross also reminds us that the world, those who view the cross of Jesus as foolishness are perishing. That’s the reality of the world as Paul sees it and so surely that motivates us to want to share our faith in Jesus, to sow seeds of the good news of the power of the cross. So that others like us may know the power of the cross and boast in Jesus’ salvation and restored relationship with the God who gave us life.

Let’s pray……