"Christ our Wisdom" may not seem to be much of a sermon title. Not now. But maybe it will in just a bit. Consider with me this, our key thought--a most interesting one also from the fact that the preachers of the great flashpoint in Adventist history, the 1888 meeting--began to use it repeatedly at that time. We find it in 1 Corinthians 1:30: "But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory In the Lord." This text lists four things that especially concern us in our relationship with God. The first one is that Christ is made to be our wisdom. I'll be speaking on Christ our righteousness next Sabbath at Fairplain, and the last two, sanctification and redemption later. But now, Christ our wisdom. Our goal is that when we leave this sanctuary today, we will go from here determined to let our Saviour fill our lives more fully than ever before, in concrete, specific ways.

What is the background of this passage we are about to wade into? Quickly now. A look at the first nine verses shows that Paul opens this letter assuring the Corinthians that heaven has put at their command every resource they need to live out all the gospel as they await the return of Jesus. In every thing they are enriched by God, in all that they say, and in all that they understand. Verse five. Indeed, the testimony of Christ is confirmed in them. They lack no gift. With these resources, Paul says that God will confirm them "unto the end" 1 Corinthians 1:8. Yes. They have all that they need. But there is a problem. So 1 Corinthians doesn't end here.

The next seven verses illuminate the situation for us: there is a divided church; there is a party spirit, a fledgling "cult" of personalities is developing. Some align themselves with Paul, some with Apollos, some with Peter, and so on. In Acts 19 we find that Apollos had been in Corinth, where some had been baptized into "John's baptism" Acts 19:3. Apollos was a speaker of dazzling eloquence (Acts 18:24), but he was "behind the curve" on what present truth was for that time (Acts 18:25-26). Nevertheless, his eloquence earned him a real following. And so in Paul's absence the Corinthian's old patterns of living began to express themselves. They came to that time--a time which many of us have known in our own experience--a time when the "new" wears-off of one's conversion and somehow a subtle fogginess seems to entwine itself about us, and we submit to a spirit of sleepiness. Like the apostles on the mount of transfiguration, we seem unable to remain awake and exercise vigilance and watchfulness. We look back, and our hand-hold on the plow loosens, and we begin to slip back toward our pre-Christian--our "Egyptian"--ways. And because the Corinthians held back from a finished work in their lives, Satan got the foothold and was rapidly turning their eyes away from the self-denial of the One who was nailed to the cross, and the daily cross-bearing that changes us and makes us like our loving Redeemer.

And Paul specifically brings up the issue of baptism, and points out his gladness that he baptized but few in Corinth, as this was not his primary work. What his primary work is we find now as we begin looking together with verse 17. Look now with me there.

But Paul is very aware of how he is not to preach it. "Not with wisdom of words," to preach in this way would be to empty the cross of its power. Not just any cross, but the cross of Christ. A cross that "is to them that perish foolishness" 1 Corinthians 1:18. Notice that the way the cross of Christ is valued by those who fail to take God up on His gracious offer is the wrong way. They cannot see in it anything that they desire. And with this agrees the prophet Isaiah, speaking of the one whom was crucified on the cross "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him" Isaiah 53:2. Unfortunately, few seem to see anything in the cross, one way or the other. In our preaching we must not lance the cross, and extract from it its shame and bitter humiliation. The cross is the center because the life of Christ, when understood, can only evoke a definite response--a strong response. The cross will be either foolishness to us, or it will be understood as it truly is, "to us which are saved it is the power of God" 1 Corinthians 1:18.

By the way, the best translation of that is not "to us which are saved," but, "to us who are being saved." This is a crucial difference. It reminds us that the cross of Christ is the power of God for salvation to those who are actively involved in the process of salvation. If we settle on our lees--if we retire in all quietness and sink into a pattern of bearing the form of Christianity without living its power--then we will lose sight of the cross. And this we mustn't do!

But there is even more here. Let me press upon you more of the literal meaning of this text. It is not as much "the preaching of the cross" as we have it here, but a more precise understanding here is "the word of the cross." Literally, as John has it in the beginning of his gospel, the logos of the cross. Thus, it is not of preaching in general that is spoken of here, but specifically, the word, or the word of command of the cross. It is the command of the cross that makes no sense to those who perish. And what is the command of the cross?

• It is that we place Christ at the center of our lives, leaving no shadows--no un-surrendered nooks or cubby-holes--where we retain our secret rebellion against the kingdom of heaven.
• It means accepting the sacrifice of God in Christ in our behalf, and demanding no share in our own salvation--no glory for ourselves.
• It means bearing our own cross daily--a cross patterned after the cross of Christ--a selfless giving and living, and a self-denying obedience to the One whom we love.
• It means to go and live like Christ.

In this passage Paul contrasts two bankrupt ethnic emphasis. What are they? Read 1 Corinthians 1:22: "For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom."

"The Jews require a sign." And how many times did they approach Jesus for signs! You remember that He told them that He knew they had been attracted by the miracles and the free food, not by His purity. They even asked Him what sign He would give them. Over and over again, the Jews sought for supernatural signs and wonders from Jesus. See Matthew 12:38-39; 16:1; Luke 11:16,29; John 2:18; 6:30. But this was nothing at all new. God knew the predisposition of the Hebrews. In order to help Moses convince the elders of Israel that he was sent by God to effect their release from bondage, God gave signs. Exodus 4:8. And Hezekiah, when promised recovery from his sickness was granted a sign. 2 Kings 20:9. But this emphasis upon the supernatural was a distortion. Jesus finally said that no sign would be given to that generation, but the sign of Jonah. He, Jesus would rise from the dead on the third day. But they must believe on Him. The greatest prophet who ever lived, John the baptist did not do a single miracle. So much for signs and wonders! God wanted His people to come to Him on the basis of His love and truth, not through an ethnic false-measuring stick; not through the lense of a world-view that so blindly blurred the medium with the message.

"The Greeks seek after wisdom." The ethnic predilection that the Greek culture had established was the seeking of divinity through philosophy and wisdom. Their pantheon of gods was loaded; their roster of philosophers was not lacking. Homer, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Cicero, Plotinus, Plutarch, and Seneca, to name some of the more prominent individuals, put forth ideas, many of which although in modified form, have today lost little of their influence. The Greek world-view was a tissue of philosophical speculation from end to end. In the Mars Hill experience we see some of this in action. What did Paul find the citizens of Athens perpetually involved in? Always telling or hearing some new thing in a city given over to idolatry, so much so that they had erected an altar to "the unknown god" just to make sure they hadn't left an important one out. To the Corinthians, falling-back into this philosophical bottomless pit was a real danger. They dwelt in the midst now of a culture in which spiritual seeking was entirely in the context of philosophy.

But before we consider that answer, we need to ask what our own culture's chosen "poison" is. What is it that characterizes our culture? What all-permeating lense must we remove before we can participate fully in heaven's best option?

O.K. Now this part isn't Scripture. It's just my opinion. Our society is not one single homogeneous group, but a collection of diverse groups. Three things stand out to me as uniquely characterizing our society today: (1)science, (2)materialism, and (3)sensory indulgence.

Our society is characterized by reliance upon the ideology of science. This ideology says several things, among them, that humanity can control its own destiny, and that supernatural interventions are ruled out, because it proposes an atheistic universe--one without a God. This mind-set suggests that given time and opportunity, we are our own masters and can evolve indefinitely. There is no room for a transcendent morality in this setting.

The materialistic emphasis of our world points to the immediate and the fulfillment of personal desire. It strikes against the idea that there is a morality higher than one's self. It presents a kingdom of this world, and has no place for a kingdom founded on ideals instead of having stuff.

The sensation orientation says "get high now" on whatever you can. Life is a one-shot-deal, so do it now. At least get your part of the action. Experience is more important than ideals.

Now if this is true--if our world's equivalent to the Hebrew's supernatural signs and the Greek's philosophical mind-set is a three-fold mix of science-materialism-sensation indulgence--then could it be that just as their world was shallow and bankrupt, that ours is too? that in the very same way, we have nothing to brag about in comparison to them? that the real fact is that our society has made no progress at all over either the Hebrews or the Greeks? O yes! Could it be that we need the very answer that they needed...Paul's third option?

For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

Christ crucified means that the Maker of all things--the one anointed to be King and Messiah--the Champion of the Most High, came and submitted to immeasurable humiliations. First, The Maker became the Made-the Artist entered His painting-He went from 3D to 2D. Like a sphere becoming a flat circle upon a page, our Lord condescended to become less than He was, to move from infinity to finitude. The Express Image of God consented to wear the image of Himself. There is really no adequate way to express this idea, but perhaps you get the idea anyway. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, as of the Only-begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." John 1:14. He became as human as we are, so that we could become as obedient as He is. Yet He was still God. Although He refused to exercise His divine power while on earth, He retained a divine character. He offered up that perfect character upon the cold splinters of the cross, and it was acceptable to the Father.

He died for us while we were enemies, and while we were still without strength. He made the way of escape, and carved a ladder for us out of His suffering. He took all of His goodness and hung it upon the cross. For us. In spite of all our badness. And what was the mighty "piercing" or "crucifying" that He endured? He endured many things, but most of all He demonstrated the maximum in self-sacrifice. He gave His life for ours, and submitted to the possibility of eternal separation from His Father. Heaven was not a place to be desired without us. Although Heaven could have left us to die, our Maker intervened to bring His life to us. See what it says? "Both Jews and Greeks." And He would peel away from our eyes the darkness of our science, materialism, and sensation-seeking and give to us--to you and I--the gift of Christ crucified...

The gift of the cross.

The next four verses show that God's worst, if such a thing were possible, is better than man's best apart from Him. Christ is the Truth; everything else is a substitute-a spiritual aspartame. And those who become habituated in depending upon their own expertise often find it very difficult to humble themselves to believe in God. He chose the foolish and the weak things and the lowest things to put the world to shame before the cross, the instrument of shame!

Why?

"That no flesh should glory in His sight." 1 Corinthians 1:29.

And so while no flesh can glory in God's presence, still "But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." 1 Corinthians 1:30. Let's look at that phrase "But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus." That may sound hard to get a hold of. But consider with it a very similar statement in Romans 11:36: "For of Him and, and through Him, and to Him, are all things, to whom be..." what's the next word? "...glory forever, amen." Paul is there ending his argument from Romans 11, saying that God owes nothing to anyone, and can do as He pleases in this world. Because all that truly has meaningful value is from Him; all that lives does so only through His giving of life; and the nature of all things is to flow back to Him, for they are made for Him. We are made to be compatible with God, not out-of-sync with Him. We owe our very creation, continuing sustenance, and the fulfillment of our being, to Him and to no other. Anything that points to that which is less than God, points to that which is less than for humankind. We are made in God's image. We must set our sights higher and still higher, until they are fixed irrevocably upon Him, until we drink in so much of Him that His mind becomes our mind, and every facet of our character reflects God's own light back into His bosom!

How do we experience change? How do we enter into Christ Jesus and become "of God" the Father? It is through letting Christ be our wisdom. We must replace our culture with Christ's culture. Where we automatically tend to think, in many subtle ways, in the scientific mode, we must instead habituate ourselves to think in God's mode. We must reject the subtleties of an ideology that says we can get all the answers on our own, thank you very much. Instead, we need to listen at the feet of Jesus for heaven's orders. And we must reject the clamoring materialism that we wallow in, drinking in every commercial and letting the ad-man imprint his commercial desires upon our much-too-receptive minds. We must deflect the false-measuring stick of the world that says we need to get the latest and keep up with the Jones's. Haven't we figured out yet that keeping up with the Jones means being as in debt as they are? And we must go further, seeing through the lie that says "do it now or lose it now." There are some experiences that we really don't need to have. Just ask Adam and Eve. We need to see past all this godless tinsel and nothingness that frames our world, and pierce through to the cross! God must change our innermost values or we will never become like Him. Oh friends, Christ must become our science, our materialism, and our sensation.

At the center of our experience must be the shame of the cross, and a glorying in Christ crucified and none other. "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 1:31. What will we glory in, or whom? Let us change, I say, what we drink into our minds, so that we change what comes out of our minds. Let us change what we set our hearts upon, so that what we set our hearts upon changes the world. Make you the Bible the man of your counsel. Cross its bridges. Cross over. It is His Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom. But only we can receive the kingdom. What steps will you take to receive it? What changes will you make today, to see His face tomorrow? Don't end this day without taking a solid, purposeful step closer to the cross. Stand in the streaming light of His glory. We were made to, you know.

So what are we waiting for?

Last Modified 23 March 2000