church

INI
Third Sunday after Epiphany
January 25, 2009
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

THE MYSTERY OF GOD’S WISDOM
I Corinthians 2:6-16

Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Our text today comes from the second chapter of
Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, beginning with the sixth verse, as follows:

However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom
of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we
speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained
before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had
they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is
written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of
man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has
revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes,
the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the
spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things 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 know the things that have been freely
given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s
wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things
with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of
God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is
rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the LORD=2 0that
he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ. This is the Word of
God.

In the name of Jesus Christ, who is to those who are called the Power of God
and the Wisdom of God, Dear Fellow Redeemed,

In The Mystery of the Blue Train, written in 1928, renowned British author
Agatha Christie introduced her now famous detective Hercules Poirot. He was
assigned to solve a case in which a wealthy heiress lost her life – and her
precious collection of rubies – one night on the famous Le Train Bleu as it was
speeding through the French countryside. Poirot, as usual, sifts a multitude of
clues and ignores a number of red herrings on his way to untangling the mystery
and solving the crime.

Do you like mysteries? Many people do, and I think one reason is that they
never stay mysteries for very long. In other words, by the time you reach the
end of the book you discover the mystery. You find out what happened and
why, and you understand the reasons behind all the events that so baffled you
earlier on. Well, this morning you and I are here to consider a mystery. Not the
Agatha Christie type, but something far more serious. So serious, in fact, it’s a
matter of life or death for every person here today. This is a mystery concerning
God’s eternal plan to save mankind. It was what Paul believed and preached,
and it’s also what we believe and preach. Consider with me the theme,

THE MYSTERY OF GOD’S WISDOM
I. It is hidden from the world.
II. It is revealed by the Holy Spirit.
III. It lifts us above every judgment.

We seldom think about it, but in the Near East of the first century the Apostle
Paul had a lot of competition in his quest to reach people with the Gospel. The
arts of rhetoric and public speaking were at their highest flower. There were
many convincing speakers out there trying to gain adherents for whatever their
cause or movement happened to be. Like them, Paul too presented a message
of great power. But unlike them, the power of his message didn’t rest on his
personal skill as a public speaker. In fact, Paul would probably have gotten an F
in rhetoric. For in the section just before our text he admits, And I, brethren,
when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom
declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything
among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in
weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speec h and my preaching
were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the
Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in
the power of God. – I Cor 1:1-5. Paul might have gotten an F in delivery, but he
got an A in content! For Paul had a one-track mind. All he cared about was the
Gospel – Jesus Christ and Him crucified. All he preached was the Gospel –
Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Paul’s message was certainly about wisdom. But he emphasized that it was
NOT about “…the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are
coming to nothing.” By the way, did anyone else get nervous this past Tuesday,
when our new president said in his inaugural address that he intends to
“…restore science to its rightful place”? I wonder what he considers the rightful
place of science to be. Personally, it’s hard for me to put a lot of trust in science
when science keeps coming to nothing. Isn’t it true? The wisdom of this age
always comes to nothing. Scientists insist that we accept their "facts" as absolu
te truth. And yet they seem to change their “facts” with every passing year! Up
until a few years ago, e.g., scientists taught the “fact” that the Columbia river
canyon was scoured out by millions of years of slow erosion. Now the “facts”
have changed. Now they say it all happened in a matter of hours, in a huge
ice-age flood that took place ten thousand years ago. I wonder what they’ll say
fifty years from now. You can be certain it will be something completely
different!

How good can the wisdom of this age be if it keeps changing? Paul said that
the wisdom he preached wasn’t like that. The truths of the Gospel don’t change
over time. As Scripture says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and
forever.” But the Gospel IS a mystery. And one of the things that makes it a
mystery is that it is hidden from the world. Paul says, “We speak the wisdom of
God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for
our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew.’

The wisdom of God is the key that unlocks all knowledge, especially the
knowledge of eternal salvation. But Paul calls it a hidden wisdom. That's
because, by nature, human beings just can't find it out. It's a mystery to them.
But not a mystery like a mystery novel, where anyone who can read will solve
the mystery in the end. The mystery of God's wisdom is totally locked to the
mind of natural man. It's insoluble. He just doesn't have the equipment to
receive and understand the wisdom of God. In verse 14 Paul says, But the
natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. People who aren't Christians just don't get the Gospel. Martin Luther
had a great quote about this, he said: "[The unbelievers] are just like a log, a
stone, or lot's wife That's how much natural ability they have to perceive the
blessedness of the Gospel."

Rather, Paul says, the mystery of God's wisdom is revealed to us by the Holy
Spirit. He quotes the Old Testament when he says of the Gospel, “Eye has not
seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which
God has prepared for those who love Him.” God's plan to save mankind from
sin was so strange, so other-worldly that no one would ever have guessed it in a
million years! Isn't it true? If you had to come up with a plan for people to be
saved from their sins, what would your plan be? The first thing that comes to
mind is work. If you've done things wrong - work to set them right. Make up for
your mistakes by doing good and being good. That would be my first guess. And
in fact that what most people think Christianity is. But that wasn't God's plan.
God's plan was that His holy Son, Jesus Christ, should step into your place and
bear the punishment for your sin FOR you, as your substitute. When Jesus died
on Calvary's cross, He offered the full payment that your sins required. How do
we know God accepted that payment? We know it because of His resurrection.
The empty tomb of Easter morning is proof of your complete justification in the
eyes of God, beyond a shadow of a doubt. Now that's a plan that no one would
ever have guessed. In fact it's a plan that no one CAN guess, or can believe or
understand according to their natural ability.

Solution? God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. Through the
preaching of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit has come into your heart and created
faith there. Faith which clings to Jesus Christ as your only Savior from sin and
death. And just as no one knows a person's inmost thoughts better than the
spirit of that person himself, no one is better able to reveal to us the mystery of
God's wisdom than God's Holy Spirit Himself. Paul says, God has revealed
them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep
things of God. For what man knows the things of a man=2 0except the spirit of
the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things 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 know the things that have been freely given to
us by God.

Finally, Paul tells us something very encouraging about the mystery of God's
wisdom. It lifts us above every judgment. For …he who is spiritual judges all
things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. And by the "spiritual," once
again, Paul is talking about you, the believer. The Holy Spirit has brought you
to faith and has opened your eyes. So from your point of view the mystery is
solved! Now, of course, you are perfectly able to judge and discern how
precious are the spiritual gifts God has given you: pardon for your sins, peace
with God, the privilege of prayer, the priceless gift of God's Word, the promise
that you're going to live forever in heaven. Elsewhere Paul says, For it is the
God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)

But did you notice? Paul says something further here. Not only is the spiritual
person the only one who can correctly judge and appreciate spiritual things,
Paul says that the Christian is the only one who can correctly judge ALL things!
He who is spiritual judges all things. You need a Spirit-worked faith in God to
truly appreciate anything in this world. And the opposite is true as well - if you
don't know God, you obviously won't have a proper appreciation for God's
creation. Solomon said, The fear of the Lord is the BEGINNING of wisdom.
Without faith, you can't judge anything correctly. As I mentioned earlier, if you
don't know God, you can't really put science in it's proper context. If you don't
know God, your appreciation of the arts, and literature and culture will be
totally off. Obviously if you don't know God, your view of history is going to be
really be messed up! And on and on.

But as a Christian, you are different. The mystery of God's wisdom lifts you
above, and gives you a superior judgment. You can appreciate the pink light of
a sunset on Mount Rainier, because you know who created both the sun and the
mountain. As a Christian, you can truly appreciate a beautiful work of art like
Handel's Messiah, because you share the faith that inspired it. As a Christian,
you can appreciate the incredible beauty and complexity of the human body,
because you have faith in the one who formed it. With the Psalmist you can say
to the Lord. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your work s, And that my soul knows very well. (Psalm 139:14)

The spiritual person is lifted above every judgment. He himself is rightly judged
by no one. For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct
Him?” But we have the mind of Christ. Not that you'll never hear judgment,
just the opposite. The world is judging Christians all the time. You just don't
have to listen. After all, you know the mystery, they don't. You have the mind
of Christ; they don't. The same things that are important to Christ are important
to you. You've heard the Gospel and you believe it. So really, how can
unbelievers sit in judgment over you? They'll keep trying, of course, but one
Lutheran writer pointed out how absurd it is for non-Christians to tell Christians
how they ought to live. He said, "What folly for those who have not even the
ability to receive the things of the Spirit of God, to sit in judgment on these
things and on the people who glory in their possession! Do they=2 0mean to
instruct Christ? Will they attempt an impossible, presumptuous, blasphemous
thing like that?"

Your Spirit-given faith lifts you above every judgment. Even God's judgment!
A fearful day of reckoning is approaching for those who have rejected Christ,
who loved darkness rather than light. But you have nothing to fear from that
Day. For you were washed…you were sanctified…you were justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (1Co 6:11) You are no
longer even under the judgment of God. And on that Day, you will be ushered
into eternal life just as certainly as the fact that Jesus died for your sins and rose
again for your justification. Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who
hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall
not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. (Joh n 5:24) What
a day that will be! I wish we were already there! We will be soon.

Human beings, of course, do advance in knowledge. Faster and faster all the
time. In fact, they say that human knowledge is expanding at a rate of more
than 2000 pages of information per minute. That means that if you were to read
24 hours a day for fifty years straight, by the time you finished you’d be one and
a half million years behind! But who really cares? Most of today’s knowledge
will be obsolete in fifty years anyway! But there’s one thing that won’t be
obsolete, one thing that will be as fresh, as resonant, as absolutely vital then as
it is today – the Gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. This is the
mystery of God’s wisdom: hidden from the world, revealed by the Holy Spirit,
and lifting us above every judgment. As God enables us, let us cling tightly to
that unchanging wisdom and never let it go. As we confess with the hymnist:
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day,
Earth’s joys grow dim, it’s glories pass away.
Change and decay in all around I see –
O, Thou who changest not, abide with me! AMEN.