WHAT A MIGHTY GOD! MAY GOD'S WILL BE DONE AS REVEALED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
Why call attention to a pretzel other than to get attention? the story of how and why this edible illustration was invented is intriguing as it pertains to praying for God’s Will to be done in us as revealed by the Holy Spirit.
Around 600 AD, a Monk decided to make a special treat for children who learned to recite their prayers. Christians in those days prayed by folding their arms across their chests with each hand touching the opposite shoulder. This clever priest formed dough to look like arms folded in prayer. He named his creation "petiole", which in Latin means "little reward”.
This novel reminder to pray (a pretzel shaped in the form of arms folded in prayer) caught on, and soon it was used also as an object lesson to teach children the concept of the Trinity - God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit - One God who exists equally and eternally in three persons, yet, who act in unity. In essence One, in effect Three.
When did this concept of more than one aspect of One God first appear in the Bible?
"In the beginning God". "God" in Hebrew is "Elohim" (plural - not three separate gods but one God in three beings). God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness . . . So God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created man, male and female He created them." Notice " us11 and "our" then the shift to "his" and "he". So:
Moses, divinely inspired author of Genesis, interchangeably used the singular and the plural in reference to God as if everybody ought to know what he knew - that the LORD God is so great and mighty that He cannot be confined or defined by finite terminology.
If we could explain God only in words that we understand, God wouldn't be God. As a matter of fact, don1t be surprised when we all get to Heaven to learn that God is so much more than we thought! (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)
Why worry about that which our minds cannot and were not intended to comprehend!
The greatest minds in history have gone to their graves still in amazement of God so great that He cannot be confined or defined by puny human terminology and explanations.
Daniel Webster, statesman and fervent Christian, was asked by an agnostic, "How can a man of your intellect believe in the Trinity?" His answer: "I do not pretend to fully understand the arithmetic of heaven - now." {Translation: I'll understand it fully when I get to Heaven!)
While finite minds try to grasp the wonder of it all - but fall short, the Word of God speaks clearly the message of salvation - that the sovereign yet loving LORD God acted in every aspect of His being to create then save lost humanity. So, how can we NOT bend knees and bow heads in worship before such a great and mighty God - Father, Son, Holy Spirit!
Now hear this:
All three persons of the Trinity are associated with our salvation experience {as stated by the Apostle Peter in I Peter 1:2):"To God's elect . . . who have been chosen according to the foreknow/edge of God the Father, thru the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ whose sacrifice of Himself cleansed you from sin and set you apart for the service of God." Furthermore: All three were involved at the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17) ... were invoked at our own baptism (28:19) . . . are engaged in spiritual growth (2 Cor. 13:14).
Now, with this background ... to the message at hand:
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul spoke of: our Trinitarian concept of salvation in terms of "the wisdom of God in a mystery'' - 1Corinthians 2:6-8 ... the Spirit of God as He who reveals the wisdom of God to the people of God - I Corinthians 2:9-11...the stark contrast between earthly wisdom and spiritual wisdom, concluding that: we (mature believers) have learned to think like Christ" - 1 Corinthians 2:12-16 ...
Although none of us has arrived - in the sense that we have no further need to grow spiritually - we have reached a level of maturity wherein we are able to comprehend the meaning of the gospel message which we received from the Lord --- conveyed to us by divinely inspired persons of God and interpreted to us by the Holy Spirit. So:
By now, surely we have learned to make a distinction between the wisdom of this world and true wisdom that comes from God – wisdom revealed by the Holy Spirit.
Wisdom in general means having the know-how – based on accumulation of knowledge, understanding, experience and insight – to achieve desired results (outcomes).
Worldly wisdom employs a different kind of know-how to achieve a far different kind of result: satisfying selfish desires, gaining personal power and prestige.
“True wisdom” originated with God who grants His gift of discernment to saints of God for using their know-how to advance causes that are right in God’s sight as revealed in His Word to accomplish His threefold objective: redemption, sanctification, glorification!
Paul appealed to mature saints of God to lead the way for babes in Christ – recent converts from pagan cultures to the new culture made up of followers of Christ – who were still clinging to unwise indoctrination by secular forces – both human and demonic.
Paul spoke of these forces as “princes of this world" described also as rulers of darkness, manipulators of minds, communicators of false doctrine - unbelievers who bombard minds with worldly thinking, worldly solutions and worldly ideology- and who, for the most part, take their cues from other individuals who know not our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ nor are led by the Spirit.
When all has been said and done - and the final chapter fulfilled- such ways and means will have amounted to nothing of eternal value. On the other hand: Christian wisdom centers in (focuses on) God's redemptive plan thru the ages, God's plan of salvation - predestined for our glory before the creation... revealed to us by the Holy Spirit ... imparted to others by believers who have been taught by the Spirit. Pass it on.
Christian wisdom is foolishness to unbelievers, yes! But also may be seen in that way by some immature believers - "'babes in Christ "who need to grow up ... to develop a bit further until they are able to discern spiritual truth!
Mature saints have been empowered - blessed and highly favored - to make right judgments, right choices, right decisions - and to take right actions for the good of the Cause and for the good of all.
Mature Christians have so cultivated their relationship to God in Christ that the Holy Spirit is as real to them as the morning light shining through a window to signal the start of a new day.
Shouldn't it dawn on us each morning that the Lord our God is not some distant deity but is right here with us - in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit! Think about how glorious it must have been at the baptism of Jesus when all three showed up!
Each morning when we awake, God the Father is with us to see us thru the day, God the Son goes with us all the way, God the Spirit is with us to teach us all we need to know and say, to help us do what we need to do as we pray.
God the Holy Spirit is our paraclete (one who goes along side us} - constant companion, reliable friend, sustaining influence, wise counselor, comforter who along with the Father and Son never leaves nor forsakes us.
With all we've got going for us, we are bound to have the mind of Christ ... think and act as did He ... go about our Father's business as did He - by separating ourselves from the ways of the world, by seeking to live for Him a life that is true, by striving to please Him in all that we do, by seeing people as did He -sheep without a shepherd - and by seizing opportunities presented to us by the Spirit: to learn, listen, love, let the Spirit lead us in paths of righteousness! Why not just be Christians?
It's okay to be thought of as "odd”. . . to bewilder the worldly-minded by our "unusual” acts of service solely to help someone else . . . to confound the not-so-wise of this world by putting our Christian beliefs into practice in everyday life.
Don't be surprised to be opposed by "the world of anything goes" when you stand up for Jesus and live out your Christian convictions!
The message of this study simply summarized: On our own, we cannot know partially or fully God's wisdom, or comprehend God's Will. However, the Holy Spirit knows. He reveals to us the mind (the thinking) of God.
So, we who seek “to know God and to do God's Will" must depend on the Holy Spirit to teach us and lead us day by day!
May the love of God the Father, the grace of God the Son, the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore! Amen!
