God's Wisdom - Pt. 1

1 Corinthians 2:6-9

September 14, 2008

As we have studied Corinthians,

We are in the middle of the section in which Paul is

Confronting the arrogance of the Corinthian believers.

They were puffed up in their human wisdom, and were seeking to use that worldly wisdom as a means of boasting and glory.

Of course Paul has most recently been attacking such a mindset.

· The message of the cross is foolishness…

· Worldly wisdom doesn’t lead to salvation…

· You weren’t called in worldly wisdom…

· I didn’t preach in worldly wisdom…

And so the point has been made over and over.

By seeking to be considered as wise in the world,

The Corinthians were actually turning their back

On the gospel they claimed to believe.

As far as the world is concerned Christians are considered as fools.

And Paul has driven that point home.

But tonight, he shifts gears just a little.

While it is true that according to the world Christians are fools,

Their assessment is merely perception, not reality.

Christians are not actually the fools.

In reality, Christians are the wisest people on the face of the planet.

We have the ultimate wisdom, and the highest wisdom.

And that is a point that Paul will eventually get to

At the end of this chapter.

1 Corinthians 2:16 “For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.”

And so tonight Paul leaves the wisdom we are to reject,

And begins to talk about the wisdom we possess.

So tonight let’s look at some characteristics of God’s wisdom.

#1 THE PRESENCE OF WISDOM

1 Corinthians 2:6

You will notice how Paul begins.

“Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature;”

Lest the Corinthians assume that Paul is just advocating

That we all walk around as ignorant people,

Paul here assures them that there is much wisdom

To be gained in the Christian life.

And of course we know this.

Too many times in Scripture, we are told to acquire wisdom.

Proverbs 1:20-23 “Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice in the square; At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings: "How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge? "Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.”

Proverbs 3:13-14 “How blessed is the man who finds wisdom And the man who gains understanding. For her profit is better than the profit of silver And her gain better than fine gold.”

Proverbs 4:7-9 "The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, get understanding. "Prize her, and she will exalt you; She will honor you if you embrace her. "She will place on your head a garland of grace; She will present you with a crown of beauty."

And of course the reason we are told to acquire such wisdom

Is because it is beneficial.

Proverbs 8:12-21 "I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And I find knowledge and discretion. "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate. "Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding, power is mine."By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice. "By me princes rule, and nobles, All who judge rightly. "I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me. "Riches and honor are with me, Enduring wealth and righteousness. "My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold, And my yield better than choicest silver. "I walk in the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice, To endow those who love me with wealth, That I may fill their treasuries.”

Christianity is not about being ignorant.

But we must be selective.

There are two kinds of wisdom,

And we must only seek after one of them.

We are after the right kind of wisdom.

“a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;”

You will remember last week we saw the difference.

James 3:13-18 “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

We are after the wisdom from above, not the wisdom of this world.

And in regard to God’s wisdom, we should never be foolish.

In fact, Paul wrote to the Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:18-19a “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”

James said:

James 1:5 “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

And the writer of Hebrews wrote:

Hebrews 5:11-14 “Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”

The point is there is a true wisdom available,

And we are not to be foolish in regard to it.

We are to get as wise as we possibly can.

And so we are reminded that there is wisdom for God’s people.

God’s wisdom is available, and we are actually required to go get it.

The presence of wisdom

#2 THE PURPOSE OF WISDOM

1 Corinthians 2:7

We don’t come bringing philosophy and psychology

And all of the other wisdoms of the world.

“but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery”

The wisdom we are to speak and obtain is “God’s wisdom”

And it is “in a mystery”

“mystery” translates MUSTERION

“that which is held secret”

It is not wacky or confusing, it is simply not revealed to everyone.

Only the secret society we call “Christians” have access to it.

It is “the hidden wisdom”

Remember what Jesus said?

Matthew 11:25 “At that time Jesus said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.”

It is seen again after Jesus gave the parable of the soils.

Matthew 13:10-17 “And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. "For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. "Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. "In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, 'YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.' "But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. "For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

God’s wisdom is not freely available to any and everyone.

It is a “hidden wisdom”

That is why we see the statement throughout Scripture.

“he who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

God’s wisdom is only given to His children,

And it is given for a purpose.

“the hidden wisdom which God prepared before the ages to our glory.”

He reveals it to make us better.

He reveals it to make us more like Him,

And to ultimately lead us to eternal glory.

God doesn’t leave His children ignorant,

But has given them wisdom to ensure

That they will be continually conformed into the image of Christ.

In Christianity, there is no excuse for ignorance.

Ephesians 4:14-15 “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,”

Paul wrote to the Colossians.

Colossians 1:9-10 “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”

There is wisdom available,

And it is given for the purpose of making you more like Christ

And thus leading you to glory.

That wisdom ought not be rejected, but should eagerly be sought after.

The presence of wisdom

The purpose of wisdom

#3 THE PREEMINENCE OF WISDOM

1 Corinthians 2:8

Here Paul gives us another characteristic of God’s wisdom.

It is “the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood”

In other words, it was too lofty for them to understand it.

God’s wisdom is far above all earthly wisdom,

And at times it even baffles God’s children.

Remember what David said as he contemplated the omniscience of God?

Psalms 139:1-6 “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.”

At times God’s wisdom is too lofty for even believers,

But it is always too lofty for the world.

Man, in his own ability cannot grasp or obtain the infinite wisdom of God.

Remember what we read from Job last Sunday night?

Consider Solomon

Ecclesiastes 7:23-24 “I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, "I will be wise," but it was far from me. What has been is remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it?”

Eve tried to get it, and it got her in trouble.

Genesis 3:6 “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”

The point is that God’s wisdom is too high.

God’s wisdom is preeminent.

Isaiah 55:8-9 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Paul wrote:

Romans 11:33-36 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

God’s wisdom is too lofty for the world to even understand it,

And they even proved so.

“for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;”

Jews and Gentiles alike proved they were not wise enough

For they didn’t even recognize His Son.

Paul even gave testimony to this fact.

1 Timothy 1:12-13 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;”

Paul said, when I was lost, I was too ignorant to see what God was doing.

And so is the world.

Man’s wisdom can’t even comprehend God’s wisdom.

That is why Paul said in chapter 1

1 Corinthians 1:25 “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

Jesus had God’s fingerprint on Him like no human before or since, but they could not see it.

Jesus spoke with more wisdom than any other man before or since, but they could not understand it.

Instead of grasping and understanding God’s wisdom,

It was way over their head, and they crucified Him.

The presence of wisdom

The purpose of wisdom

The preeminence of wisdom

#4 THE PEOPLE OF WISDOM

1 Corinthians 2:9

Over and over in this text Paul has said that

ONLY A SELECT FEW ACTUALLY GET GOD’S WISDOM.

BUT WHY DOES GOD GIVE IT TO US, AND HIDE IT FROM THEM?

The answer is found here.

This is also the means by which we can get wisdom.

“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.”

God’s wisdom is reserved for those who love God.

Love of God is the chief objective of Christianity,

And it is the ultimate fruit that salvation is sincere.

Matthew 22:37-38 “And He said to him, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' "This is the great and foremost commandment.”

John 14:15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

True and genuine love for God is the greatest fruit of salvation.

And when we have this genuine love for God,

The benefit is God’s wisdom.

The Old Testament says it a little differently,

But I want to show you that it is essentially the same thing.

You are probably most familiar with this statement.

Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

(Also in Psalms 111:10 & Job 28:28)

But what does that mean?

What does it mean to “fear the Lord”?

Proverbs 8:13 "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate.”

Proverbs 16:6 “By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for, And by the fear of the LORD one keeps away from evil.”

So in both of those we learn that “fear of the Lord” and obedience

Walk hand in hand.

Proverbs 23:17 “Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the LORD always.”

This is not merely obedience, but a heart that longs for righteousness.

They taught to obey God with a love for truth,

Which is the equivalent of loving God.

God’s wisdom is not humanly discovered,

But is available to those who truly love God.

In fact God saved it for them.

THE POINT TONIGHT IS THIS:

We are not called to fill ourselves with the world’s wisdom,

But to love God with all our heart

And allow Him to fill us with His wisdom.

We as believers are fools to the world,

But in reality are only considered fools

Because our wisdom is so far superior to theirs.