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Dividing the Word of Truth
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Timothy 2:15)
This
is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to
be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1Timothy 2:3-4
1 Corinthians (Lesson 06)
I want to welcome
everyone back to Home Bible Study© I pray you all had a wonderful time with
family and friends these past two weeks and I pray you remembered to keep our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the core of all your joyous celebrations.
But we all know not
everyone experienced a joyous Christmas Season this year.
Our nation was
ravaged by extreme weather during the week of Christmas and this continued during
New Year’s Week. Many people lost their
homes and many people lost their lives due to these storms. Houses can be rebuilt; rebuilding a home is another matter altogether for
the loss of a loved one changes everything.
I am reminded that tomorrow is promised to no one and
today is but borrowed.
Although these
unfortunate people are no longer front-page news, believe me when I say they
are worthy of our attention and our prayers.
So, please take a minute and consider the people who have suffered
greatly this holiday season; and ask the Father
of mercies and God of all comfort to comfort all those who have been pressured by these storms, especially those
family members who are grieving the loss of loved ones. Thank you
It’s truly been a
mixed-bag these past two weeks with Christmas’ arrival, the celebrations
accompanying it, and then the severe weather which swept our nation, among
other negative newsworthy items, but the media thrives on bad news so I try not
to get too much of that. Time marches
onward, as they say; the year 2015 is now the subject of history while the year
2016 waits to bloom - much like an artist’s blank canvas with each one of us
holding the painter’s brush.
I’m one of those people who haven’t surrendered to
the “come-on” regarding the New Year holiday which means in part that I won’t
be up at midnight exploding things and getting inebriated is never on the menu. For yours truly the arrival of the New Year simply
means Believers are one day closer to the
glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ and I need to start thinking
about my taxes.
That being said, I
know millions of people will revisit a New Year’s tradition where individuals
make resolutions; i.e. make changes
in one or more areas of a person’s life - for the better. Dieting, exercising, and forsaking cigarettes
are three areas of concern, so they normally appear on this short-list but
there are many others. When all things are
considered, I believe people make resolutions, seek changes, because they want to be happier than they currently are.
There is no common
consensus as to what will bring the greatest happiness, but people everywhere long to have it… and this is good,
in a round-about way, actually. I say
this because evil lurks in trying to find happiness
in ways that dishonor and displease God.
But goodness consists in finding happiness
in ways that honor and please God.
Everybody’s trying
to please somebody either self or someone else.
Living to please
God should be the goal of every Believer.
The desire of Paul’s heart was for the Thessalonian Church (and every
Believer) to live this way: Finally then, brethren, we request and
exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and (do
what) please God (just as you
actually do walk), that you excel still more (1 Thessalonians 4:1;
Ephesians 4:1).
To walk and to please God are not two separate and distinct activities.
Walk always emphasizes one’s personal behavior
or godly lifestyle.
Pleasing God is the outcome of walking (living) properly before a Holy God.
This means the more
we choose to live our lives in ways that bring honor and glory to God the
Father, the happier we’ll be.
Therefore I pray
one of the changes you’ll consider
this year is an enthusiastic commitment to Bible study for Godly wisdom brings happiness to the Believer. This isn’t my opinion this is what the book says: Happy is the person who finds (the)
wisdom (of God).
And happy is the person who gets understanding. Wisdom is worth more than silver. It brings more profit than gold. Wisdom is more precious than rubies. Nothing you want is equal to it. With her right hand wisdom offers you a long
life. With her left hand she gives you
riches and honor. Wisdom will make your
life pleasant. It will bring you
peace. As a tree makes fruit, wisdom
gives life to those who use it. Everyone
who uses (Godly) wisdom will be happy
-Proverbs 3:13-18. (International Children’s Bible)
********
Please
open your Bible at 1 Corinthians 1:18.
The Wisdom of God
1 Corinthians 1
18: For the (what) word of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the (what) power of God.
19: For it is
written, “I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF
THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.” (Isaiah
29:14)
If
you’ll recall from an earlier lesson, I mentioned that our Apostle Paul wrote
his letter to the church in Rome from the city of Corinth, Greece, while he was
on his third missionary journey. He was wintering
there and collecting an offering from the Gentile Believers in the region for
the poor church in Jerusalem, around 55-56 AD.
I
mention this again for those who are just joining us, to remind the regulars (group),
and for these two reasons:
#1: Before Saul (Paul) was chosen to be the steward of God’s Grace, he caused other
Believers to suffer greatly (Galatians 1:13, 1:23; Philippians 3:6). Now suffering
would be connected to Paul’s life as a Believer and for the gospel
(2 Corinthians 6:3-10; 2 Corinthians 4:8-12).
No matter what city or town Paul entered he had to contend with those
who opposed the gospel of Jesus Christ, those who placed an undying faith in
the Law of Moses, and he had to defend his apostleship.
2: The city of Corinth was no different. Paul had spent 18 months ministering there
during his first visit but as I said before these Believers forgot some of
Paul’s teachings and they ignored some of his doctrinal instructions
outright. In addition, Paul had to
defend his apostleship: Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I
am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord (1 Corinthians
9:1-2).
All
this quarreling led to disagreements
within the church which caused dissension.
The most serious being rival factions.
Believers in Corinth turned against each other by identifying themselves
with whichever teacher they held in high esteem. Paul expressed this theme in 1 Corinthians
1:11-12 saying: each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and
“I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.”
Two
common reasons for a divided church are differences over doctrinal beliefs or
one or more faction’s devotion to a particular personality… today it could
sound like this: “I choose to follow Franklin Graham,” “Well,
I prefer Joyce Meyer, she speaks my language,” “If you
want solid preaching, you need to hear T.D. Jakes, because everybody’s chasing
him,” “Not true, Joel Osteen has the
largest church following in America and lives in a $10 million dollar home;
he’s the man!” – kind of thing. But Paul
is saying, Be ye followers of me,
even as I also am (a
follower) of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1 – KJV translation)
Paul
addressed the most important problem of division
in this church at verse 17 and he makes his case starting in verse 13 by
emphasizing unity with these 3
points:
Christ is one v13;
Christ is the one
who died for His church v13;
Christ is the one
saved individuals are baptized into v17.
It’s
all about Jesus Christ. This is
the common thread that binds these verses together and it should be binding all
the Corinthians together as well.
Furthermore, there is one cross,
that binds His church together – one
Lord, one faith, one baptism (Ephesians 4:5).
Now
the second most important thing on his list of things to discuss with these carnal Christians is the wisdom of God vs the wisdom of man.
Paul
is in effect warning these Corinthians not to put their faith in the wisdom of men but in the power of God with these words:
…and my message and my preaching
were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the
Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of
men, but on the (what) power
of God (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).
When
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he wanted them to know that there are only two
camps in this world those who are perishing and those who are saved.
Scripture teaches us that an individual is either an enemy of God or a
saved child of God. Contrary to popular
belief, there is no safe-ground in between – no “fence-sitting.” It is one or the other (Romans 5:10; Colossians
1:21; James 4:4)
Those
in the camp of the perishing consider
the word of the cross foolishness. Paul uses the word foolishness five times in the next 8 verses. In case you’re unaware, when a word or phrase
is repeated in a Bible verse, paragraph, or even in the same book it means we
need to sit up and pay attention; the writer of Scripture is emphasizing it.
1 Corinthians 1
18: For the word of the cross is foolishness (Moria in the Greek language) to
those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power
of God.
Paul
writes all those who are perishing (literally,
speeding along on the highway to hell) consider the cross foolishness. The basic
Greek word for foolishness is Moria (pronounced: mo-ree’-ah).
Our English word moron comes from this word. The Greek word conveys the idea of something
that is despicable, ignorant, ridiculous, and stupid. I’m sure you know what moron means or
indicates. If someone called you a
“moron,” you’d probably be insulted; you might even become upset. But this is the word Paul has chosen to use
here, and he’s directed it to his audience not just once but 5 times.
The
majority of people down through the ages have considered the cross to be moronic.
Now
I’m not smart enough to determine the #1 reason why people reject the cross or its message, but if put on the
spot I would surmise the cross offends
people’s pride more than anything else! By this I mean to say people can’t earn a place in God’s heaven (salvation)
through human effort or intellect, and they resent the notion. Salvation can only be accomplished by appropriating
God’s free gift of Grace; this removes man’s works from the equation altogether.
In
addition to this, God’s invitation of salvation is extended to all people, knocking down every barrier
erected by man. God the Father leveled
the “playing field,” if you will, at the foot of the cross. Everyone, Jew or
Gentile, black or white, yellow or red, college graduate or high-school
drop-out, rich or poor, comes to God through faith (alone) based on the work of
Jesus Christ, at the cross, where “it is finished;” and this ruffles men’s feathers too. It was one of the issues that brought about division
in the church at Corinth.
Let’s
not forget that these Corinthian’s were steeped in idolatry and
immorality. They were saved but never
jump to conclusions believing them to be “spiritual giants.” They lived their lives with both feet firmly
planted in Satan’s playground (the world)
causing their spiritual growth to be underdeveloped.
One
of the signs of this was the Gentiles love for philosophy and human
wisdom. Greeks, after all, were the
great philosophers. They would go about spreading
various philosophies and attracting listeners to themselves. Often the more eloquently a person spoke in
public forums the more influential they were perceived to be and so the whole
Greek culture was philosophically divided into a number of groups.
America’s
political party is divided into two main parties, the Democrats and the
Republicans, for example. In Greece,
however, there may have been as many as 50 dominating philosophies, so the
populace was split into groups that held varying viewpoints regarding man’s meaning here on earth and his destiny.
By the way, the word “philosophy” simply means “man’s wisdom.” In the Greek language, the word literally
means, “the love of wisdom” (Sophia and Phileo = “to love wisdom.”)
So,
one of the issues our Apostle Paul had to deal with in Corinth was the various
philosophies regarding “the cross.” Even though these Corinthian Believers were
united in Christ Jesus by faith and they identified commonly with the cross, they still held stubbornly onto
the varying philosophies that they originally believed in. I call this baggage. Each one of these people
brought their baggage into the church
when they became a Believer and wouldn’t turn lose of it! Just as Democrats and Republicans fail to see
eye-to-eye on many political issues, the people in the church never agreed on
things either because they held to their particular philosophies, a.k.a. baggage.
Unbelievers
are a different story. - For the word of
the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing… i.e. those who have chosen not to know God,
those who have elected to spend eternity in hell, those for whom God’s heart is
grieved – the cross is utter foolishness. It’s foolishness
to those who are perishing because
they have elevated their own worldly philosophies above the one true God.
Permit
me to deliver a simple message: God who
took on human flesh died on the cross,
He paid the penalty for your sin and mine, and by putting your faith in that
act and in His bodily resurrection you can be saved, and your eternal destiny
forever secured in heaven. But 9 times
out of 10 this message will bring a mocking response; something akin to: “How stupid to believe that the death of one
man on one hill on one piece of wood at one moment in time
is the determining factor of destiny for every man and woman who ever lived…
that’s ridiculous (moronic).
The
vast majority of people in these last
days (Hebrews 1:2a) when they’ve come face to face with Jesus Christ and
the subject of His cross have walked
away from God’s invitation of salvation in unbelief. However, to the Believer the word of the cross… is the power of God unto salvation... Because in it “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith” (Romans
1:17) – that is why the gospel is the power
of God to salvation.
The
cross is everything to a Believer
and to His Church. Paul writes: But
for me, may it be never to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, through which the world has
been crucified to me and I to the world
(Galatians 6:14).
The Contrast
The
NIV translation uses the word message in
verse 18 and the KJV translation uses the word preaching
at verse 18. It is the Greek word Logos (pronounced: log’-os) and literally means “the word,” and this is how the Bible translators have it in the NASB
translation: “For the word of the cross…”
Now
I want to show you something. Let’s go
back to verse 17 where Paul emphasizes preaching the word (gospel) of wisdom.
The Apostle Paul contrasts the
word of wisdom (the gospel) with the word
of the cross – whereas human wisdom is set defiantly against the cross.
To
clarify, the word of the cross means
all that the cross entails; by that
I mean to say everything written in Scripture before the actual event points to
it (Psalms 2:1-3), and everything written in the Bible after the cross explains it (Romans 6:3-14). The word
of the cross is the revelation of God the Father to sinful man and woman.
I
am reminded again of what our Apostle Paul said at Romans 1:16-17: “For I
am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation
to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Gentile). For in
it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written (or
what did God say) “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man (and woman) SHALL LIVE BY (what) FAITH.”
The
best definition of Faith I’ve ever
heard is taking God at His Word or God
said it, I believe it; and that’s that (Hebrews 11:6)! The other thing worth mentioning here is
this, although people love to rationalize and compare their philosophies while
reading through God’s Word, remember the Bible is addressed to faith and not to reason.
The word of the
cross, which
appears to be foolishness to a dying
and unsaved world, is in fact the power
of God unto salvation. I liken this
to a swimmer caught in a strong riptide, too far from shore and too weary from
trying to break free from the current’s pull to save himself, refusing a
life-preserver thrown to him by a passing fisherman, saying pridefully, “No
thanks, I got this; I can make it back to the beach on my own,” when the truth
is without the help of a Savior he will perish.
Men
and women because of their rationalism, their elevation of the human ego, and
their desire for their own philosophies, won’t stoop so low as to accept
something as simple as the message of Jesus’ cross. But what does this
book say?
and He Himself bore
our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live
to righteousness; for by His wounds you (insert your name here if you believe) were healed (1 Peter 2:24).
Let’s
move on to verse 19.
1 Corinthians 1
19: For it is
written, “I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF
THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.”
Paul
borrows a brief message from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 29:14) here. In this passage Isaiah is referring to
“political shrewdness.” Paul applies it broadly to every form of human wisdom
which seeks to exalt its own cleverness. The point Paul is making is this: all human schemes that fail to take the
Creator God into account will ultimately come to ruin: Woe to
the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “Who execute a plan, but not Mine,
And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, In order to add sin to sin; (Isaiah
30:1-2).
Isaiah
mocked the failed scheming of the worldly-wise Jerusalem politicians who sought
to ensure Israel’s safety – minus the LORD God’s assistance. But their efforts came to naught, because
their alliance with Egypt so alarmed Assyria that it sparked the invasion they
sought to avoid. Isaiah reminds them
that God is the Creator and humans are mere creations, and that God will turn
their world upside down (Isaiah 29:16).
God doesn’t require human assistance to accomplish His plan and His
purpose for His creation, and He sets aside the cleverness of the clever.
Paul
has illustrated the word of the cross
with this reminder from the O.T. of how God works with His people in terms of
redemption. God doesn’t need anyone but
Himself to accomplish His plan of salvation, as Scripture clearly indicates He
is an all-wise God (Romans 11:33).
(To
be continued)
[Published weekly
on Friday]
©
Copyright 2011
GJ
Heitzman’s Ministry
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Rights Reserved
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