Continuing, Pastor Kyle points out that we tap into eternal living when we worship God together as the body of Believers in Christ. We receive encouragement when the Word of God is spoken, because as 2 Timothy 3:16-17 explains, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” The Holy Scriptures accomplish what God designed and intended them to do. Why do Christians pray, praise the Lord and give to the church and Christian work? John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” God gave where giving was a necessity and Christians follow His model where they can with our giving to help in ministry and in needy philanthropic assistance. Self-centered worldly wisdom says, “that is your money, so you do what makes you happy with it.”
1 Corinthians 1:18 says, For the word of the cross is folly to those [hell-bound] who are perishing, but to us [heaven-bound] who are being saved it is the power of God” [emphasis mine]. By faith, through God’s power, we can do what does not feel right at the time in order to do what He is asking us to do in our lives. When Christians rely on worldly wisdom, they miss the most fundamental aspects of obedience. It will never make sense or be able to convince yourself to it. The power of faith and widom work hand in hand.
1 Corinthians 2:6-16 explains that, among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.
But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
The Christian’s faith allows that glimpse into unimaginable possibilities that God wants to bring about in a person’s life. Christian wisdom helps us understand the timing of God to bring those possibilities about. But, what is this secret and hidden wisdom of God revealed through the Spirit? This secret and hidden wisdom is known through the faith of spiritually discerning Believer; it is the wisdom of the Spirit of God. The natural person, in their fallen state, lacks the spirit, so spiritually discerned godly wisdom and the things of faith do not make any sense to them. In John 3:3 Jesus explained, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The moving of the Spirit of God moving through the vehicle of faith is never opposed to godly wisdom; they always go hand in hand. Born again Christians have the mind of Christ.
Here is the target that every Christian should aim for: the fire of faith in one hand and the wisdom of God in the other. That secret and hidden wisdom that God wants you impart into your life will come by faith through the power of the Holy Spirit, but will be set into motion by the wisdom of God. Some of lean more to the faith side and some of us lean more to the wisdom side. But faith and wisdom should really be the right and the let hand of a Believer’s Christ-centered life. The reality is that we absolutely need both faith and wisdom working together in our Christian walk. Faith may say that someone you know needs to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and wisdom then says “here is how, where and when”. As a Christian, that is not you talking. It is the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit directing you through faith towards the wisdom of God spiritually discerned and helps to “stick to” what God “spoke to”.
It is not your wisdom; it is God’s wisdom revealed to you. Isaiah 55:9 tells us, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. God’s plan is always better than our plan. Wisdom is a gift. Faith is not about doing crazy, radical and wild things; it is about doing God things. It is about responding in the moment when is speak and as God is working in “real time”. Surround yourself with people of faith and purposely do things in your life to stretch your faith beyond the boundaries of your comfort zone and avoid being stuck. Faith is a gift.
Be blessed.
In Christ, Brian
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