Christ The Wisdom Of God

Theme: Christ the wisdom of God

Text: Jer. 31:7-14; Eph. 1:3-14; John 1:1-18

Today is the first Sunday of the year 2003. It is a time to reflect on God’s love and the many blessings we have in Christ Jesus. Many people, however, wonder where these blessings are. They do not enjoy them neither do they see evidence of them. They only see the evil in the world and blame God for it. One evil facing the world is that of armed robbery and we in Ghana have not been spared. An increasing number of people have fallen victim to this crime and innocent lives have been lost. These days it appears that armed robbers are targeting cars and quite recently one of my daughters was attacked by armed robbers a few metres from the house. We often see this as a problem for the police and feel there is nothing that individuals can do about it. Or more often than not we prefer to just ignore the problem and have in fact become experts at ignoring problems. Just leaving our homes we cannot fail to notice the people, mainly children, selling all kinds of goods on the streets. Some of these children actually live and sleep on the streets. We pass by them everyday and it has become such a common sight that we are no longer concerned about their plight. Rather we have begun to see them as a source of cheap bargains. They are so desperate to sell something that they end up accepting very low offers, which prevents them from making any reasonable profit. We, however seem to forget that these children are growing up. What happens when they become adults and can no longer sell on the streets? Will they not become the next generation of armed robbers? Can we not do anything to help them? If it would mean that you give up your home to live under the conditions these street children live under just to help them, would you do it? I don’t believe you would, neither would I. But this was what Christ did. He left His home in glory and came to live among us so that He could bring us out of the hopeless situation we find ourselves in and save us from destruction. In the wisdom of God Christ become flesh and lived amongst us as one of us. Christ is the wisdom of God for in Him are ‘hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’.

To reveal God to us, it was necessary that Christ should move to our neighbourhood. Not too long ago people living in an area knew each other personally. Today we appear to have neglected this very important part of life. But even when we do not know our neighbours personally, we are always curious to know their names and find out what they do for a living. When the Son of God came to live among us John calls him “the Word”. He had always existed as the Son of God with the Father in heaven but He now chose to come into the world in a human body and live with us. His name “The Word” is very revealing. Before every word is spoken it is preceded by a thought. So the “Word” really means thought expressed in speech, a Spoken thought. That is the work the Word came to do on earth. He came to put into words God’s thoughts towards us. Who can put God’s thought into words if not God himself? Only Christ could do this because He is God. We are not only interested in the names of our neighbours and what they do but also in more personal things like their family and where they lived before they became our neighbours. John tells us that “the Word was with God” meaning that Jesus Christ, as God, was a separate Personality from God, the Father and the Spirit, and that as God He came from God.

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through various ways. He used the prophets, He used angels, burning bushes, a giant fish and signs in the heavens. On one occasion He even used a donkey. Today He speaks to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. God the Father sent His only Son into the world to bridge the communication gap that separated us from Him in order that the relationship which sin had destroyed might be renewed. In the wisdom of God Jesus Christ is God’s Final Word to mankind. He is the completion of the message that the Father had been communicating since the day of creation. Jesus came into the world to restore our relationship with God so that God’s divine Will for us could be accomplished. In order to have a relationship with us God had to reveal Himself in a way we could understand. We must relate to one another to have a relationship. Those who are married know that being attracted to a member of the opposite sex is not enough for a relationship. You could see their physical appearance and form a mental image of what they were like but you could not have a relationship with that person without speaking to him or her. It is what they say that really tells you who they are. Not only do they have to speak, but they also have to speak in a language that you understand. God became one of us to be able to speak to us in a way that we could understand so that we may have a relationship with Him and enjoy His blessing. These blessings belong to us not because of what we have done but because God sees us as chosen in Christ. This is enough reason for us to value all that Christ has said to us and treat Him with every respect and reverence. Enough reason for us to spend time with Him and make every effort to understand what He is saying to us. We need to hear God’s word, believe Him and obey Him.