What would you have done?
Allow your mind to open for a moment, drift with me and consider
If you were God, think of it if you had the power to create all things as he has and the power to know all things as he does and no one could tell you what to do…
Then
In your wisdom oh mighty one what would your solution to the human race, sin, evil and the fall of creation be?
Would you snap your fingers and send Adam back to the dust, after all who would know, apart from the angels and one word from you and they could be silenced
Would you come in your almighty power and fire, a Holy shock and awe to force your will upon them until they (US) did good?
Would you do a superman and spin the world in the opposite direction until time itself was reversed and smite that serpent right were it hurt and smote that apple tree to a flaming bush?
Then consider again
God cannot lie, God is pure Love, God could not send Adam back to the dust and start again, his love would not allow it, he had to find another way a way of pain and hurt to himself, a way some would call foolishness a way that others find a mystery a way that others cling to and knowing with every fibre of their self it is the only way
So would you let it all of creation and genesis proceed knowing that the cross was the only solution
So would you step down from heaven to earth the price to pay?
A cross a wooden cross!
So were is the almighty in the cross, So were is the power to save, Is a man hanging, bleeding and suffocating to death really the best the creator of all things could come up with?
I mean come on look at man, what he has done sequenced the human genome, found the big bang, conceived evolution, reached the moon, flies around the world and on the list goes and on
Surely man could have done something grander, with more impact, a story, a film, hey even a trilogy directed by Peter Jackson – more than just a man on a cross and all that blood, torture, hatred its all so not PC is it
Imagine what the disciples and other followers of Jesus must have felt on the day thousands of years ago
As they fled or watched in shock and horror, what foolishness, no this is more madness, were is the victory, what does this mean?
But wait remember the text “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. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.“
So what is this message, what is the wisdom of God that transcends mans wisdom, this is the foolishness that is preached, so that God is pleased through the foolishness of what is preached to save those who believe
Stand rapt in awe
Consider a great scientist and thinker Albert Einstein, developed the theory of relativity and many others, he was quoted as saying the following “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed”
I agree, there is nothing more mysterious and beautiful than God, pausing in wonder and rapt in awe is worship of the purest form
Lets seek today and open our eyes to the God of Wonder, the God of Mystery and the God who’s foolishness eclipses the greatest of human wisdom
I think one of the biggest problems with church and Christians today is we have lost our sense of awe, our sense of sheer overwhelming wonderment, we are guilty of reducing God to the sum of our component parts, squeezing him into our comfort zones, to fit our order of services, to turn up when it best suits us, to be safe and controlled, we have it wrong
God is not safe, understand that, fear him we are talking of the force that brought all things into being for his pleasure, for his purpose, for his Glory and not ours, his, we are not even dust in comparison to God, give him thanks and praise that he loves us, for without that love we would not be
God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him
Remember this is the God that takes acorns of foolishness and turns them to oaks of righteousness
Then he isn’t safe?
In Exodus 33, as Moses crouched in the cleft of rock he asked God to see his glory, this is Gods reply, a self portrait if you like:
And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."
In C.S.Lewis’s book the lion, the witch and the wardrobe, of the magical kingdom Narnia, Aslan the Lion represents Jesus or God, Four children are the centre of the story, one Susan, says to the beavers (hey read the book or watch the DVD) after hearing that Aslan is a great lion and not a man, “Ooh! Said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man - Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” “That you will, dearie, and no mistake”, said Mrs Beaver; “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without there knee’s knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.” “Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy. “Safe?” said Mr Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
In your wisdom do not make God safe, he isn’t safe, but he is wise and we will look at his wisdom next
Gods Wisdom
The Greeks have many words to describe something, the word wisdom is no different, there are at least three (As described in Mark Buchanan book “ The Holy Wild”:
Sophia from which the word philosophy is derived, means insight into the nature of things, the ability to see through and to truly comprehend
Phronesis is insight or sophia applied and doing the right thing in light of it, you can have sophia without phronesis which is like a moment of wisdom giving way to folly, you need both to produce the fullness of wisdom
Sunesis often translated “Understanding” is the result of the joining of sophia with phronesis and is knowing the truth and acting on it, the ultimate wisdom
To the only wise God is the Bibles claim, God possesses all of these dimensions of wisdom in total completeness and perfection – God embodies all wisdom
But, God has hidden his wisdom from the learned and wise, hidden it from the intelligent, little children have more chance of understanding and finding the sophia of it all than the so call greatest of philosophers
God has done this on purpose, by design, by intent, he often disguises his wisdom as foolishness, utter foolishness which frustrates the intelligence of the intelligent, but delights children
God wants us to seek him, he hides himself, as on the road to Emmaus, or at the tomb as Mary and the disciples tried to understand, God want us to seek his treasures
We will consider three great expressions of the fullness of Gods wisdom. These are Creation, the Church and the Cross, the Sophia, Phronesis and Sunesis of God’s wisdom
Creation
Were do I start, to use the word awesome is not even enough, unbelievable, incredible, amazing, I could go on but as a boring scientist lets look at some of the facts
The human body – that’s US by the way, has over a trillion cells in its make up, each cell has over a trillion parts all needed for perfect function, each cell has piece of DNA that you need a microscope to see, that when unwound is over a meter long, carrying more information than a 1000 books and just to top it off is unique – its YOU, none other, same is true for all of the other billions of humans and all of those that have lived to date, impressive eh puts an ipod into perspective, puny toy indeed!
I could talk of the facts and figures of the galaxies, the planets, stars or life itself, but time is short, back to the wisdom theme
Think wonder, the smallness, the greatness, the infinite nature the staggering detail the fact that it all works together, the depth of design from amoebas to man the snugness of the fit of it all, how can it be an accident? What wisdom is that to even suggest it?
This is an obvious all surrounding form of Gods wisdom, does it not just want to make you worship him, this is a source of that mysterious that leaves you in wonder and standing rapt in awe, we should fall to our knees in praise of this magnificent work – but we don’t – familiarity breeds contempt, we need to rediscover the wonder and awe, I’ll tell you one good reason why, it brings joy to the Lord when we do
Gods creation covers all things yet to be seen by human eyes, beauty hidden just for his joy, details to extravagant for words-creation the force of life itself, indeed life itself, a child can enjoy a sunset, a flower, animals, the sea all of these wonderful things without the need to understand or explain
Creation is like Gods sophia were he shows his insight and understanding and utter comprehension of all things
The Church
Ephesians 3: 9-10 “and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”
God intends to make his wisdom known to all through the church, good luck you might be thinking, but its true, the church shows the manifold wisdom of God – I did say earlier it is hidden – very well on some occasions
Yes I’m talking about the church were people can receive pain, the church were you can come and go unnoticed, the church home of the bored, the church home of the joyless, the church that never claimed it to be perfect, but a place of supernatural exchange if you let it, a place of eternity and completeness, if you look, a place that never claimed it to be spotless or without fault, though a day will come when church will be radiant like a bride
We need to make sure that church is a place people want to come to, We need to be fully human under the authority of God to be like Jesus, free in his freedom, filled with his joy and love. We should engage in community not turn inwards in some Holy huddle and wonder why no one comes
It means we smile to strangers, It means treating all we meet as they are, precious to God, created in his image, irreplaceable, unique (remember that DNA) and wonderful creations, It means that we live as we are unconditionally loved, loved for all our ways and faults, for all our sins and failings loved and forgiven, how can we not do the same to others as God does for us?
We should radiate warmth, hospitality, inclusiveness, love and it is not an act it is from the inward / outward workings of the Holy Spirit and the Spirits fire and love, making us all ever like Jesus, step by step, breath by breath
Churches then are places were the dead are brought back to life, Were the sick in sprit are healed for eternity, Were the depraved can become Holy and divine, Were God does business and lives with his people, the heart of community not the periphery, seen blazing bright not hidden
A place that people want to come to not out of duty but need, hunger, want a place of purification, preservation and flavour a place of salt and light
But the crucial aspect is that God’s wisdom through the church is made known “to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”, this is Gods intent, through his Church not ours
We see it all from ground level were the true perspective is more lofty, only at the higher heavenly levels can the true form of the church been seen and observed, then the depth and many layers, the jewel like splendour can be seen. God displays this to the very rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms
They see us a people, an unlikely people, a sinful people, jars of clay cracked pots, a riffraff and ragamuffin band, standing by the grace and mercy of God, brought at great cost, the lowly things, the despised things, he brings us forth to make us righteous, makes us Holy and gives us the gift of redemption, the forgiveness of sins, Loved for ever, unconditional and free
The wisdom of God is not a demonstration of creative brilliance, managerial competency or technical mastery, the church is the Fathers heart unveiled and Jesus becomes wisdom for us, then he does through us in us and on our behalf what we could never do ourselves
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption our salvation as he died on the cross, our life for eternity as God raised him from the dead. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
Laughable, foolishness to the philosophers of his age, makes the rules and authorities in heavenly places shudder, God sought those who were nothing and made them, by His choice, his own sons and daughters
Gods wisdom is this: He chose us because he wants us as his own
The Church is like Gods phronesis, though his insight and understanding he decided to bring forth his church that his wisdom would be manifest. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
The Cross
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
Lets consider Gods solution to sin and evil as we started with thinking of our own
God said “This is how I will save them, I will come myself, in disguise, I’ll be born in a barn to an unmarried couple of an oppressed race in an occupied land at a time a violence and hate, I will live in obscurity for thirty years, wander like a homeless vagabond for three years in poverty and have a band of followers handpicked from the margins of society and rejected by the powers to be, with tempers, faults and weaknesses, who will disown me and betray me, I will make enemies or the rich and powerful and upset the religious establishment, then I will go to Jerusalem enter as a king and be crucified on a cross, killed like a criminal and laid out in a stone tomb, yes that should do it what a plan
Utter foolishness to Gentile, Greek and the Jew alike were is God in all of this, were is the wisdom of the wise
He’s there hanging on a cross, Jesus bleeding and praying “Father forgive”
It took the son of man dying on a cross to make us whole and to get back into the Fathers arms
With all of the wisdom of the whole human race, we would have never figured this out, never been able to achieve the final and complete solution, never been able to save our selves
But when we see it grasp it, we should boast of nothing else, we should trust in no one else. At the cross God made a way, and we can rest there for all eternity if we trust in his son Jesus turn him today don’t delay
This is Gods Sunesis wisdom, the joining of all things comes at the cross of Jesus Christ it is the ultimate truth and wisdom of God
To Him, the only wise God, be glory forever through Jesus Christ
Amen
