In lesson three Paul takes aim, not at superstar pastors, but the philosophies and values of the world around us. The Corinthians were very much in the middle of a culture that valued philosophy and discussion as a way to arrive at truth. Paul's time before the Areopagus in Acts 17 was like that, where people got together to find out the latest-"Now all the Athenians and the foreigners residing there spent their time on nothing else but telling or hearing something new" (Acts 17:21 ).
In some ways we as a Christian culture are moving in that direction. I was frankly shocked as I read the Sunday (September 19, 2010) Oregonian article entitled: "My House (of Worship) is Your House."
In it, Pastor Tim Winslea said: The congregation is "very post-modern" in its theology, says Winslea, who co-pastors with his wife, the Rev. Elizabeth Winslea. "Christianity is our story," he says, "but we don't think it's the only valid story." In sermons, the Winsleas quote not just from the Bible but from the Quran or Buddhist texts. "This church is clearly designed for spiritual seekers," Tim Winslea says.
Post-Modern is really post-Christian. The Emergent Church is really the Divergent Church when it comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the name of inclusiveness we have excluded the only truth that really matters: the truth about the condition of man and the truth about man's only Savior: Jesus.
Now don't get me wrong, I think we can present the gospel using different methods, different media-but the message of the gospel should never change. In verse 17, Paul he did not bring "clever words, so that the cross of Christ would be emptied of its effect." The divergent gospel is no gospel. It has no effect of salvation-and that's what it should be all about. Otherwise it's a nice way to make ourselves feel better as we head for hell.
In verses 18 through 31, Paul takes to task those that began relying on the philosophies taken from culture rather than Christ.
18
Paul's just gotten done saying he didn't come with "clever words." We don't win people to Christ by our rhetoric or lofty arguments or public speaking skills.
In fact, Paul says, the actual message of the gospel seems pretty foolish. The only way to heaven is through a man who lived in Palestine 2,000 years ago and died by Roman execution? Are you kidding me?
What makes sense to us is doing something, anything, to get, find, or earn our way.
It doesn't make sense but it works. It isn't words that matter, but power. As I mentioned last time, Paul himself said the gospel is the "power of God to salvation." There is something about realizing who we are and what God has done that cuts through the noise. And there certainly is a lot of noise around us.
19 - 21
Paul paraphrases Isaiah 29:14 . He's basically saying that all the philosophies and "expert" thinkers got it wrong. In the battle between every other religious or philosophical construct they lose and Jesus wins. Human thought will never lead to the gospel so we need godly thought to get us there.
Whether or not you have taken philosophy or think of yourself as a philosopher, there are three basic questions that every human wrestles with:
1. Origins (where did I come from?)
2. Destiny (where am I going?)
3. Purpose (what am I doing here?)
You don't find the answers to those questions through high human thought but through the lowly humility of bowing to God's thought.
What is that message? God is good, we are not, we are doomed to be separate from all that goodness. God, in His goodness, chose to do what we could not, pay for our evil, give us new life, and make us good like Him through the cross of Jesus Christ. If we put our weight down on Him, He will lift us up to be with Him forever.
God's answer to those questions we all ask are 1. God created the heavens and earth. 2. Those that trust in Jesus will go a place Jesus prepared for us and 3. While we are here we are to become like Him and share that good news with everyone we can.
22 - 25
The values of this world can be summed up in a few clichés:
* Money really does buy happiness
* You only go around once in life so you gotta grab for all the gusto you can
* If it feels good, do it
* Man is basically good
* All roads lead to God
* Might makes right
* The one who dies with the most toys wins
Believe it or not, you probably subscribe to one or more of those values. They basically come down to: Being admired by others, avoiding pain and pursuing pleasure. God is in the process of re-programming our minds into a different value system. But convincing us can be difficult.
Some people have the "show me" mentality. They want absolute proof that they can see, hear, taste, and touch. The Jews were like that. Others want to be convinced by philosophical arguments and have every question answered to the satisfaction of their own logic like the Greeks.
God provided the one sign he's going to give: the cross. And God provided the one message to satisfy us: the invitation of the gospel attested to by the entirety of the Bible.
Our problem is that we think are so hot and so smart-but if you can make room, just enough room, for a being that is smarter than you, then you can make room for the gospel, which seems foolish but is actually true.
26 - 29
Paul asks the people to consider that among them were few philosophers, decision makers, or rich people. God doesn't need them for what He is doing and doesn't need their support. That doesn't mean you can't come to Christ as an educator, politician, or wealthy person-it just means you can't rely on that stuff to get close to God-it will take you in the opposite direction.
Instead of picking Herod or Pilate, or the Emperor, God chose a poor family from a backwater country to birth the King of the universe and save all of us who have the audacity to trust Him.
We humans are prideful to the core. That pride, and our efforts, have no part in what God is doing, He made the gospel this way so that we can't boast that we did any of it!
30 - 31
God gave us what lacked to get what we didn't deserve. He gave us Jesus-the Son of that couple from backwater Bethlehem. Jesus became wisdom from God. John says "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God" (John 1:1 ).
Not only did Jesus portray for us the real thought and mind of God, but he gave us right standing with God (righteousness - 2 Corinthians 5:21 ), made us holy like God (sanctification - 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 ), and paid the penalty for our evil (redemption - Mark 10:45 ).
So when we boast, we do as Jeremiah (9:24) says for us to do-boast in what God has done-not what man thinks he can do.
Conclusions
The Corinthians wanted to be like everyone else. But the point of receiving the gospel is that you become something else.
2 Cor 5:17-18 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.
We should be different. We need to be different. Yes, it makes us stand out. It makes our former friends uncomfortable, even if we never utter a word. The simple fact that we refuse to talk and act like we used to is witness a plenty. The pressure is on to conform back into the world's values. We need to decide whether we want to continue to trust that what Jesus said and did was right-and if so, let Him make us appear foolish to the world so that His power might flow through us to bring others from darkness into His marvelous light!
It's not about ...
Money, power, intellect, or human accomplishment (beauty or physical prowess), it's about Jesus. The rest will burn. Literally. If that makes you sad, you may have too tight of a grip here. Jesus said "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:21 ).
It IS about ...
So you might wonder...if nothing I value on earth is in heaven, then why go there? The truth of the matter is, everything you never knew you needed and wanted is there.
Jesus said: (John 17:3 ) "This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent-Jesus Christ."
So eternal life is about relationships-with God first and foremost and with those that we have fellowshipped and those we will meet.
But there is something else. In Psalm 17 , David is complaining to God that he has forsaken evil to follow Yahweh, yet the people who don't know God have fat bellies and riches and can pass on everything to their children.
At the end of the Psalm he makes this surprising declaration:
Psalms 17:15 "But I will see Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied with Your presence."
Notice that? "I will be satisfied." We may not know the value system of heaven, but we do know that it will satisfy like nothing else, certainly unlike the value system of this world that always wants more.
Let me conclude by sharing a couple of disturbing scriptures:
Col 2:8-9 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. NKJV
2 John 7-11 Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves so that you don't lose what we have worked for, but you may receive a full reward. 9 Anyone who does not remain in the teaching about Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home, and don't say, "Welcome," to him; 11 for the one who says, "Welcome," to him shares in his evil works.
This stuff is happening right now inside the church. We read about it in the newspaper and we need to pay attention. I conclude with just a headline from another Oregonian article. This is a quote from an archbishop who says, defending the church, that "we're not any worse than the culture." If that's all we can say, folks, we are in deep trouble!
