Month: November 2018

95. Hidden Wisdom

 1 Corinthians 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory.

 God promises us hidden wisdom in Christ. He gives it to us in the Gospel, in which God speaks the wisdom of God in a mystery. A mystery is not a puzzle that is hard to figure out; it is something that is impossible to figure out or even to understand. The Gospel is hidden wisdom in that no one could see it coming until it was revealed in Jesus in the New Testament.

The Gospel was hidden because no one saw it or foresaw it. The Gospel is wisdom because it practically solves our problems and meets our needs. Indeed, what God did in Christ Jesus turns out to be the only possible way for God to arrange and pull off our salvation. There is no other way. This wisdom of salvation was a stroke of genius, and not human genius since no human would ever think of it.

The very love, grace, mercy, compassion, kindness, and forgiveness of God is too deep for a human being, or even for an angel, to comprehend. Paul has to pray in Ephesians 3 that we would be able to comprehend the height, depth, width, and breadth of the love of Christ. This hidden wisdom could not be taught or learned; it must be miraculously revealed; and it is a miracle as it could only be revealed supernaturally. The soul is the mind, will and emotions. The Gospel is hidden wisdom because it makes no sense to the mind until it is believed; it doesn’t stir the emotions until it is believed; it cannot be chosen until it is believed. After the Gospel is believed the soul can decide to accept it, be moved by it, and make sense of it.  And the promise is that the Holy Spirit does create faith through the Gospel so that the hiddenness is exposed and the wisdom is known. I can’t make this up, but by God’s grace and Spirit I can believe it.

94. Redemption

 1 Corinthians 1:30d …and redemption.

 Christ is made unto us redemption, as well as wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification. Christ is certainly a lot of things to us; indeed, He is everything to us. There is nothing in all the world or eternity that we shall want outside of Jesus Christ. In Him we want, lack and need nothing; Christ is everything.

Christ is our redemption: He has fully vindicated us, brought us back from slavery and bondage, bought us back from the one who owned us, completely destroying the legal papers and documents showing that we rightly belong to Sin and Satan, and destroyed Death, who had an inviolable claim upon us. In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has violently torn up the documents that bound us and torn down the strongholds that held us. We are free! We have been redeemed!

Redemption is a one-time event that has occurred definitively in the past, but the effects of that event are ongoing into the present and even affecting the future. In this way, Christ is our redemption, today and always, and He is continually redeeming us from bad situations and evil people in the physical world and from Satan and his demons in the spiritual world. Redeem is very close to the meaning of rescue, save, and deliver. It is a good thing that Christ did not just redeem us once because we continually need saving from something that the world and our flesh got us into.

No matter what is going on in our life at any moment we can always turn to Christ our Redeemer, our Savior. He is our redemption. Not only has Christ redeemed us once and the effects continue, but also He continually and actively redeems us in real live and present moment times. Christ is not far away in a distant place or long ago stuck in the distant past. He is right here, right now, living as our Redemption. He reminds us of His redemption in the gospel and tells us the gospel again and again every time we need to hear it. And we need to hear it a lot. God is the source of your life in Christ Jesus. God put you in Christ. God made Him redemption. You are wallowing in redemption.

93. Sanctification

 1 Corinthians 1:30c …and sanctification….

 Christ is made unto us sanctification, as well as wisdom and righteousness. In Christ, by faith in Him, we are sanctification (sanctified). We are made holy. In systemic theology, sanctification is considered in mtwo ways, the narrow sense and the wider sense.

In the narrow sense we are immediately sanctified, meaning that we are declared completely holy on account of Christ and it is received as a gift by faith,. This is technically true, and it is definitively declared to be true in this promise: “[Christ]…is made unto us sanctification.” The holiness and righteousness is complete and whole with nothing lacking; we cannot add to it. Even though we do not look or act sanctified by any stretch, we are; we don’t see it, but by faith we are. Within us is the new man, created in Christ Jesus for good works that we should walk in them. This new man, the Holy Spirit living in our spirit, is without sin; he does not keep on sinning. “God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. “ [1 John 3:9}.

In the wider sense we are progressively being sanctified, meaning that we are gradually living better lives, becoming more and more Christ-like. It’s a process; we are not perfected yet and will not be until we die. In other words, the actual life and behavior grows to line up more and more closely to the “holy man” within. The outward behavior of the soul lives out of the new man. The Spirit guides, directs and influences the soul to think, decide, say and do good works. Motivation and ability to live a more sanctified life arises directly out of the imputed and authoritatively declared sanctification. We are not normally able to discern what the Spirit is doing and what the soul is doing. We don’t see the Spirit’s inner activity, and because we don’t see it we are willing to take the credit for the good works. But Hebrews 4:12 says that the Word of God pierces to the division of soul and of spirit and discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart. We let the Spirit use the Word to discern motivations, and we let Him do the work of sanctification. We do not claim credit for good works done, but we do accept blame for bad works.

The promise says that we are sanctified already and also that we are in the process of being sanctified. The one is declared by God; the other is worked out by God. The “working out” is based on the “already done.” God did it and God is doing it.

92. Righteousness

 1 Corinthians 1:30b …and righteousness….

 Christ is made unto us righteousness, as well as wisdom. Righteousness should be a driving need for all of us, a goal to strive for with all our might and energy, a hope wished for with every fiber of our being. Unfortunately, it is not. Righteousness is not something most of us seek for with all our heart. We don’t even think of it as something missing. We don’t even think about righteousness at all, if we even know what it means.

But it should be important. Righteousness is desperately lacking in all of our lives. It is a need that we cannot live without. We should feel miserable because we are not righteous; we don’t even come close. The reason is that “without holiness no one shall see God.” God turns His back and He can have nothing to do with us unless we are righteous, that is, perfectly holy in thought, word, and deed. Instead, every one of us knows how to quote the saying, “Well, nobody’s perfect.” We also mock and ridicule those who are self-righteous and holier-than-thou. We are prone to be content with our sin, guilt, shame and utter sinfulness.

We know that often we have issues and problems, troubles and sorrows, worries and anxieties, but we seldom attribute the cause to our own sin and lack of righteousness. When bad things happen we may blame God instead of blaming the proper cause, the lack of God. When righteousness is missing, God is missing. When God is missing, all kinds of bad things happen. The cause of evil is the absence of God, not the presence of God. When bad things are happening or threatening we need to seek God and His righteousness by repentance and faith in the Gospel. But sadly, righteousness is not sought or even thought. How can we solve our problems if we don’t even know or care about what the problem is, a lack of righteousness?

We know Jesus says [Mathew 6:33], “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” But when we need to do it we don’t do it. We seek the kingdoms and rulers and governments and institutions of the world for answers, and then we wonder why things don’t get better. But the Good News is: Jesus is made unto us righteousness. We are declared righteous by faith for Christ’s sake, and it is a free gift. So seek Him. Seeking righteousness does not mean trying to be better. Trying to be righteous will be an eternal frustration. Finding righteousness, finding God, finding answers, will be forever impossible until God finds us by giving righteousness through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for Christ is our righteousness. Seeking righteousness means believing in Jesus. Need Him!

 

91. Wisdom

1 Corinthians 1:30a But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom….

 Wisdom = always knowing what to do. We all wish we were wise; we all want to know the right thing to do at the right time and in the right way. We need to be confident in making decisions; we often wish we could be more decisive. We know that at certain crisis points in life going one way or another, doing one thing or another, will make all the difference for our lives. We don’t usually voice this as a desire, but we truly do wish we were wise. If we were wise, we would always make good choices that lead to a better life.

Actually, this desire for wisdom is a part of the First Sin, the original sin of Adam. Satan’s temptation [Genesis 3:6]: “…the tree was to be desired to make one wise.” We desire the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in order that we may know what is good or bad for me, that is, what is to my advantage or not. In other words, how can I get more money, power and fame for myself? “What’s in it for me?” The problem with a sinful desire for wisdom is that it turns love inward upon myself instead of outward for others. I want wisdom for myself because I have taken the love God created me with and curved it in upon myself. So I choose to eat of the tree.

But God does promise us wisdom: He placed us in Christ Jesus whom God made unto us wisdom; He gives us Christ. However, the wisdom that comes from above is not the kind of wisdom that we selfishly wanted. The kind of wisdom God gives us in Christ is that we always know what to do for the good of others, and I am willing to choose that way even it means sacrifice for me. The consequences of having the wisdom of God and living God’s way are going to be good for our wellbeing and for us. This is the kind of wisdom we really want and need, but we must admit that it is too often the “wisdom from below” that we desire. This is repentance and faith. Then the Gospel has the power to effect this 180-degree change. Believing the promise that Christ is made unto us wisdom makes us wise: I know what to do. The Gospel changes both our desire and our ability to do it.

“With all your getting, get wisdom.” How do I get it? You get it by faith in Christ. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Fear of God = faith in Christ. Believe!

70. Power and Wisdom of God

 1 Corinthians 1:24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

 Christ is the power and wisdom of God. We believe in Christ; we are identified with Christ; we are one with Christ; we have Christ. Thus the power and wisdom of God are ours; they are with us and useful for us. Believers are those who are called: we are called by the Gospel. We now have power and wisdom, but it is not our power, for we are weak, and it is not our wisdom, for we are ignorant. It is the power and wisdom of God. Better than using our own power and wisdom is using the power and wisdom of God, which is Christ in us. He is so much stronger and wiser than we are.

It is awesome to imagine how Christ uses the power of God for our benefit and our salvation. His power absolutely crushes the Enemies that work against us and against our good. Jesus’ innocent suffering and death definitively removed the authority of Sin, Death, and the Devil. His bodily resurrection is the violent overthrow of these Enemies. That very violent resurrection power can be used to overcome the debilitating problems and challenges that seek to steal and kill and destroy. We exercise that power by speaking the word of the gospel with the authority and conviction of faith. We can never repeat that Good News often enough: we can never hear it enough because we get distracted quickly and easily and slip into the weakness of forgetfulness and unbelief. Remind yourself of this promise of power as often as you can take the time to listen.

It is wonderful to think about how Christ uses the wisdom of God for our good. The wisdom of the world sounds wise to us, but it is really foolishness and stupidity. Worldly humans would sooner believe what is visible and provable instead of the Word of God, the Eternal Truth, which is Jesus Christ. The wisdom and the power of God is primarily evidenced in showing mercy. Mercy looks like weakness and the cross looks like foolishness. But faith sees and receives Mercy, which is the power and wisdom of God. ”God is so weak and so unwise that He has mercy on the sinner;” however, that is the power and wisdom of God. We need that promise. Thank God for mercy.

89. Save

 1 Corinthians 1:21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

 The foolishness of preaching saves believers. That’s a promise. Of course, too much of the preaching that we hear in churches may indeed be foolish, but in the context it is preaching of the Gospel that saves. Preaching that contains purely Law and Morality does nothing, cannot save and produces either smugness or frustration. On the other hand, preaching only rainbows and light does no good either. However, preaching Law and Gospel saves. The Law is designed to convict of sin and lead to repentance by the need for the Gospel. The Gospel forgives the sin and brings faith in Jesus; Jesus is the One who saves.

The wisdom of the world with all its proverbs, axioms, aphorisms, clichés and good advice does not know God and it cannot lead one to know God. Only the preaching of the Gospel does that. For His own good reasons, God in His wisdom has chosen the apparent foolishness of preaching the Gospel to save believers. To the world preaching the gospel is foolishness, a waste of time, and makes no sense. But to the believer it is the power of God and it saves.

Technically, preaching is the means that God uses to bring the saving message of salvation in Christ Jesus, who saves. But it can be said: “The Gospel saves.” We need to hear this powerful saving message at least weekly in the public preaching of the Church. Additionally, we need to hear this preaching in our ear every day even if we have to speak the gospel to ourselves through the words of the Word of God. Thus the Gospel is useful for everyday problems for which we need solutions; it is useful for spiritual dangers from which we need salvation; it is useful for deceptions and temptations that we overcome by the blood of the Lamb. Preach the Gospel to yourself as often as possible. It has a “foolish” and unbelievable power to save.

88. Power of God

 1 Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

 Along with money and fame, power is one of the three great temptations offered from the world around us. It can safely be said that people want more power in their daily lives, and they want influence over those whom they can influence. And then they want to extend their influence over more people. Another term for power is control; we want control and we fear things getting out of our control. It’s such a problem that we have the issue of “control freaks.” Having power is our desire for controlling things for our own advantage, however we may interpret advantage. The lust for power or control is an integral part of original sin, or selfish ambition.

But the lust for power is an empty promise that yields no good result for us or for other people. It only leads to destruction. The desire for power probably stems from fear and insecurity. We need the power to protect and provide for ourselves; we can’t trust others to protect us or provide for us. But the basic problem is that we cannot trust in God above all things. I don’t know if I can trust my life and family and wellbeing in God’s hands. I know better than God what I want, but I need power to get it.

God understands this desire and He gives us our desire, and so He gives us power over spiritual enemies that seek to kill, steal, and destroy. It is a spiritual power. Most shocking, this power is in the “preaching of the cross,” The Gospel is the power that we really need, the power of salvation. But that sounds like foolishness, and we cannot believe it. This Theology of the Cross will always seem like weakness, loss and defeat; so we replace it with a Theology of Glory, which sounds like strength and victory. But that is not what God’s Word says; the Gospel is the power; the preaching of the cross is the power that saves. Take up your cross. Trust the Lord. Let His power rule according to His good and gracious will, for He is good.

It is hard to believe there is more power in humble service than in loud pride, shouting, and hatred. But we believe God’s promise: the preaching of the cross is the power of God. Do you want power? Preach the cross; believe the Gospel.

87. Fellowship of His Son

 1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

 The Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. He creates the fellowship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and our Lord. Jesus is the fellow we follow, and all who follow Jesus are a “band of brothers” mutually looking out for and caring for one another. All believers are related to each other with Christ as the center with whom each one is directly in a loving relationship. Believers are united to Christ by faith and as a consequence each is related to every other believer in Christ. Thus there is a fellowship. A fellowship is a group of disparate individuals related to the others in a group because of a commitment to a common interest. The interest, or shared experience, binds the members together. In this case the common interest is Jesus Christ. We all believe in Him, know Him, love Him and are committed to Him.

The individuals in the group may be very diverse in all the other interests of their lives with no commonality, but in the most important aspect of life there is a common bond. This bond of peace is a strong bond of love for one another because of Christ.There is an unseen unity in this fellowship that is in the Spirit. Since that unity is believed, but not seen, the spiritual unity is disturbed with factions, divisions, parties, denominations, and acrimony (divorce and even war) because of selfish human sinfulness, which is much more visible. It is easier to focus on the differences that we see than on the unity that we don’t see. When believers focus on the differences between them rather than on the Christ that binds them they miss out on the joys of fellowship, and what is designed for peace becomes war.

Fellowship and family relationships need to bind together in the Christ they love instead of the self they love. For this reason we need to believe the promise of the fellowship of Jesus because it is still true and real, whether we see and feel it or not. The fellowship is still there: it can be disturbed but not removed; it can be ignored but it won’t go away forever. We are called into the fellowship.

The fellowship metaphor is similar to the family metaphor in Scripture in that there a unifying bond within each group. The unifying bond is Jesus Christ, and He is the commonality that unites us with one another and with God. The fellowship is meant to be enjoyable and mutually edifying, not disruptive or divisive or divorceable. God joined us together in Christ; we cannot separate the union any more than we can be separated from Christ.

86. Blameless

 1 Corinthians 1:8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 We will be blameless in The Day. The promise is that God will confirm us unto the end, and when we stand in the Judgment we shall be blameless. Blameless – no blame = no sin – innocent and pure. We know we have sinned and incurred deserved guilt; we know we could not stand before God is His brilliant holiness. We are far short of His glory

But we also know that Jesus has washed away the sin and taken away the guilt and blame. We know He has made us righteous so that we can be holy and therefore we have confidence in Christ that we will stand in the holy brightness of God’s glory. We are good at blaming and pointing out the sins of other people; it’s fairly easy to see. We may be reluctant at first to point blame ourselves, but quite often we see our own sin and ugliness in plain view, exposed before the mirror of The Law. Sometimes we become even more critical of ourselves than of others.Self-blame and guilt can be spiritually and even physical debilitating. Satan uses self-loathing to drive us to shame and despair; he wants to drive us into such a black hole of blame, shame and guilt that we even consider suicide. Lack of self-esteem and self-efficacy is a destructive feeling because it has more than a touch of truth in it. We are poor, miserable sinners with no hope of improving our lives. But guilt and blame leads us to repent and believe the Gospel, in which Christ forgives all sins, grants righteousness in sin’s place, and He declares us blameless.

Thus, by hearing the Gospel, we know a new truth: I am blameless. But even if I know that now, then I may begin to fear that I will not hold on to such saving faith until the day I die and face the Judgment. Fear of losing faith and falling back into condemnation may sometimes rear it ugly head. But then we take hold of this promise that He will confirm us unto the end. We can trust the Holy Spirit to hold on to us and keep us in the one true faith all the way through the future. We have no doubt: we will be blameless in the Day.