Transcript

Sermon Transcript: The Wisdom You Need

9/24/2017 Jeff Schwarzentraub 38 min read

Well, good morning. Thanks for choosing to worship with us today. And as we go into God's word and hear his word proclaimed, his living and active word, let's prepare our hearts to hear exactly what he has to say to each one of us. Would you pray with me, please? Lord Jesus, we give you glory and honor and praise.

Lord, we know that you're on the throne. We know that you're infinite and that you're glorious and that you're reigning and you're ruling over all. And, Lord, right now we just want to thank you for your living and active work, that you would speak to us boldly today and that you would encourage us or convict us or correct us, Lord, whatever we need, Lord, that you would speak directly to us from your word. And, Lord. So for what you're gonna do in advance during this time, we give you praise because you love us so much to speak to us.

We give you glory because it's rightfully yours. We honor you and respect you because you are the God above all other things, God's. And it's in Jesus Christ's mighty and matchless name that we pray and all God's people who are ready to hear his word said. Amen. Well, I just want to encourage you to open your bible up to one Corinthians, first Corinthians.

We're going to be in chapter two this morning, starting in verse six, and we'll finish that chapter. And really what I want to talk to you about today is where do you get the wisdom that you need? In other words, every single one of us that comes into church, at times, we have things that we're asking, like, I wish I knew what to do, or, I'm stuck right now, or if only I knew the direction I needed to turn, or where do I get the answers that I need for this specific thing in my life, and how do I know how to get it? If that's you or if you've ever been in that situation, this is what the text is gonna answer for us this morning is, where do you get the wisdom that you need? And everybody in the world is running around trying to find wisdom, trying to know the answers.

And God, through his perfect word, is going to reveal to us, where do we get the wisdom that we need when we're looking for answers to life's challenges, where do we go and how do we get those things? So if you open your bible up to one corinthians, chapter two, we'll start reading, and then we'll unpack and as we do that today, I'll give you three things about the wisdom that you need. Three things you need to know about the wisdom that you need. Now, Paul's just finished telling them that when he came to them, he claimed to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ in him crucified. And he went to great lengths to tell them he didn't make it about himself.

He didn't make it about his eloquence, his superiority of speech, his intelligence, or anything else. He made it about the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified so that the faith of the corinthian people would not rest upon his preaching, but upon Jesus Christ himself. And so he's going to continue that. And here's why. Because for many people, even people in the church, they would say, born again believers would even say, I believe that Jesus is sufficient to get me into heaven.

I buy that. It's only through Christ. It's only through his shed blood. Yes, I believe he died for me. Yes, I believe he rose.

Glory, hallelujah. One day I'll be with him. But now that I'm a Christian, I need real answers. Now that I'm a Christian, I need real wisdom. Where do I go to get that?

Cause, I mean, Jesus gets me into heaven, but what's that got to do with me? Now, this is why Paul continues his thought process, beginning in verse six. Notice what he says. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature, a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory.

The wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood. For if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the lord of glory. And so Paul says, hey, I want you to know we do speak a word of wisdom among those who are mature. And so the first thing he's going to say is that for the wisdom that you need, when you say, I'm stuck, or where do I go? Or I need help, he's really going to answer the question, where do I get this?

Where do I go? And I would tell you this. The wisdom you need is, is found in the word, in the person, and in the work of Jesus Christ. Look no further. Look no further than the word, the person, and the work of Jesus Christ.

Notice what Paul says. Yet we do speak wisdom. Wisdom is understanding knowledge and put together for practical application. We do speak wisdom among those who are mature. Now what are the mature?

Who are the mature? I mean, many people think, well, that's like people who've been christians for a long, long, long time. Now, this word mature in the Greek is teleas. It can mean perfect and complete. It can also have a different nuance, which is what it's trying to talk about here, which is full membership or full initiation, meaning this.

The mature, according to Paul in this section, are people who have confessed Jesus Christ as their lord and savior, who have been born again and received the spirit of God in their life. That's who the mature are. That's what it looks like. Paul's not saying, hey, when I speak to the mature, it's the 15 of you over here that are really getting it. And the rest of you don't understand.

It's. This message is for anyone who has full membership into the body of Christ, anyone who's been baptized by the spirit of God into the body of Christ, anyone who has initiation into the body of Christ. In other words, any believer is privy to all the wisdom that God would have. In other words, God's not holding out on you if you have confessed him as your lord and savior. That's who the mature are.

So look no further than his word and his person and his work. Notice what he says about it. A wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away now. This age is not talking about just first century. It's talking about a historical period.

We could say the same thing about our age. The wisdom that I'm speaking to you is not of this age. We didn't create it in this age. The leaders of this age haven't come up with it. Paul was saying in the first century, we're not speaking a word of wisdom that people are creating in our age or that the leaders have come up with.

We're speaking a different kind of wisdom. Right? And the same is true in every generation. There are always and always will be self proclaimed experts on everything, right? So if you're looking for answers in life, I mean, you can google these kind of things.

I mean, Google self help, or go to the bookstore and look up self help. Or if you have problems in marriage, Google marriage. And you'll find myriads of books on marriage. If you have trouble with money, you'll have myriads of books on money. With all these so called experts in our age who will help you discern how to find answers to everything you need.

And Paul's saying, that's not the kind of wisdom I'm speaking to you. I'm speaking a wisdom far greater and far deeper than any person of this age could ever speak to you. What's the wisdom he's going to speak, he says, but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages of our glory. Now what's this mystery? It doesn't mean spooky, it doesn't mean mysterious, it doesn't mean hyper spiritual.

What the word mystery in the New Testament means is that which had not been revealed before has now been made clear to everyone. In other words, that which was hidden from us, we now know. And this mystery is something that God predestined before all the ages. Predestined simply means that God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, had a perfect plan for the world. And before the world was even created, the Trinity understood what was going to happen to reveal God to mankind, that it was already decided before the world was even created.

And it's God's plan. So it's his wisdom. That's what he's talking about. And this wisdom was before the world even began. Now here's what it's going to say about this wisdom in verse eight, this wisdom, which none of the rulers of this age has understood.

For if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Now, what's this wisdom? This wisdom is awesome. This wisdom is God revealing himself to us through his word, through his person and through his work. Okay?

That's what it looks like. Now think about this. In God's word, when we read in the Bible, starting in Genesis one, one. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And all through Genesis, you see the beginnings, you see the creation, you see all of this.

And what we discover in the New Testament is that in the person of Jesus, he's the creator of all things. What do we see in the book of Exodus? God. As what? As deliverer of his people.

What do we find in the person of Jesus that he's the deliverer of all. What do we see in the book of Joshua? That God is the conquering king and he's true to his promise. What do we see in Jesus that he's the conquering king and true to his promise? That everything we read about in scripture, those 39 books in the Old Testament, the word of God, the scripture reveals a person.

And this was hidden. Jesus in flesh did not come on the scene until about 2000 years ago. But he'd always existed as the second person of the Trinity, hidden from all mankind. We didn't know who he was. That's why I love John's gospel.

When John writes to his readers, he starts his book by saying, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Now, this word word is the greek word logos. Okay, logos. Logos to the Greeks was the hidden wisdom that no one understood. In other words, in the first century, very similar to our generation today, there are people who would say, I know there's something behind all this.

There's got to be a wisdom that created all this. Certainly, the mountains just didn't pop up out of nowhere. Certainly reproduction just doesn't happen where a life is formed. And it's just, wow, look what happened. I mean, there's got to be a designer or an order.

Now, we don't know what that is, but there's a logos behind that. In the beginning was the logos, and the logos was with God, and the logos was God. Now, here's what's really cool. You fast forward about 14 verses. And this logos, this word, became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

So what became flesh? This hidden wisdom that nobody ever knew about, of who created the world and who's in charge of all the world and who's sovereign in all the world is now being revealed in a person, which is why Jesus was born of a virgin, which is why he didn't have a sin nature. And when you study the person of Jesus, you see the fulfillment of the written word of God in the living person or word of God, right? So that's what Paul's saying, that if you want to find wisdom, you want to find it in Jesus. Here's why.

Because of the work of God. See, what was hidden was this hidden wisdom that we didn't know that then became flesh and found in the person of Jesus. And then what did he do? He came to demonstrate God's love for the world. By doing what?

By dying on a cross in our place, shedding his blood for all of our sins so that we could take all of our sin and put it on Christ. And Christ could take all of his righteousness and impute it into us. And Jesus not only died, but I got great news. Three days later, he rose again from the dead. 40 days later, he ascended into heaven.

He's just as alive as he's ever been. And Paul is telling the corinthians the way I'm telling you, because your God's alive and because your God alive, God listens when you have questions about your life go to Jesus, right? It's his word. It's his person. It's his work that has been hidden from everyone.

And if the leaders of this age had understood that they were standing before God and flesh, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. People do the same thing today. Well, we have never crucified Christ, but they speak ill of him and they talk bad of him, and they crucify him with their language. Why? Because they don't recognize him as all wisdom.

I mean, who knows more than Jesus? I mean, who has better understanding of your life than Jesus? Who put you together and knit you together in your mother's womb? Jesus, who gave you all the gifts and all the weaknesses that you have? Jesus, who knows everything about your life and cares about it all?

Jesus. Paul says, I speak to those who know Jesus, that in him is found all wisdom you need to know. Look no further than Jesus when you're going after him. Now, we think many times that when we have spiritual questions, we can go to Jesus. But when we have earthly questions, we need to find some other solution.

So it's fine. If I'm asking about salvation, then I'll go to Jesus. But what about, if I'm talking about parenting, I need a parenting book. I need to go talk to somebody who's parented before. And while I will tell you there's great wisdom in going and seeking out other people who have done it before you, the greatest wisdom you can ever get on parenting is from Jesus, right?

If you have questions about your marriage, there's nothing wrong with reading a marriage book. I've read several of them. But I will tell you this. When it comes to marriage, I would get rid of any marriage book if I could just keep this one. Because this book has far more to say about marriage than all the marriage books in the world combined about marriage.

And moreover, understand that every problem that we face has a spiritual root. Okay, when. I'm not saying if, hear me say this. When you have challenges in your marriage, not if. When you do, they are spiritually rooted.

They're not earthly rooted. Which is why if you don't go to Jesus for the answer, all you're going to do is treat the symptoms. When you have challenges in your marriage, you can go to an earthly counselor and talk about, you know, sometimes in marriage, there's a communication issue. Duh, right? Hey, sometimes you might have to be less selfish.

Duh. But when I go to God's word, I see that there's a spiritual attack against my marriage, that Satan hates my marriage and that Satan wants to destroy my marriage. And I better learn how to pray with my spouse, and I better learn how to understand who I am in Christ and that the purpose of marriage is not geared for my happiness, but for God's holiness shining through me. So even if I'm not happy, my marriage still may be really healthy. Right?

This book will teach you that the wisdom of this world won't. Or what about just take topics like, what about racism? That's a social problem, isn't it? No, that's got a spiritual root cause if you really understand the spiritual root of it, that all people are created in the image of God and God loves everybody. There can't be racism.

We're called to live. Treat everybody the same. It's a spiritual problem. Poverty and debt, that's a social issue. No, that's a spiritual problem.

How we steward and manage and save and do things with our money is a spiritual issue for how we relate to Jesus Christ. Everything has a spiritual root. And Paul says, when I speak to you who are mature, who know Christ, who love Christ, I'm going to give you a word of wisdom in Christ. Because Jesus wants to be Lord over everything. And I believe the Corinthians were doing something that many of us do in the christian church today, and that's we compartmentalize church and everything else.

We go to church when we have a spiritual need and we look somewhere else when we have other kinds of needs. Whatever needs you have can be found and met in the person, in the word and the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus is sufficient for all things. That's why Paul continued to preach the word. That's why he told Timothy to preach the word.

Because when you're hearing the word preached, I promise you you're going to get it nowhere else. When you're reading your Bible, I promise you you're going to get this wisdom nowhere else. Jesus knows everything. I mean, imagine a counselor you can go to that knows everything. Everything internally, everything externally, everything about your past and everything about your future and loves you enough to always tell you the direction you need to go.

That's who we're talking about here. Talking about Jesus, who loves you unconditionally. So Paul says, that's the way we speak this message. We speak this message among the mature that, where do you get this? It's in Jesus.

So fix your eyes on him and quit looking everywhere else. It does not mean, just so you know, just so I can clarify that christians are the smartest people in the world and that we know more than everybody else. It just doesn't mean that. And if you don't know that, just get to know some other christians and it will prove my theory right. It means this, if you have a problem in your car and you need a mechanic, it doesn't mean that you have to go to a christian mechanic to get your car fixed.

There may be somebody who's not a believer who can actually fix cars better than the believer that you'd go to, or because you need work done in your house. It doesn't mean you have to get a christian carpenter right. Don't ever call me, I'm a Christian. I can't do anything right. That's not what he's saying.

He's not saying christians are smarter. He's not saying christians are better. He's saying that Jesus Christ is deeper and richer and has all wisdom for all things. So in the deepest things, you're going to go to keep your eyes fixed on him first. Go to Jesus first.

And here's the great thing about who he is, that when you trust in his word and his person and his work for what he's done, and you confess him as your lord and savior, what happens? He deposits the Holy Spirit in your life, which is really his next point. I mean, if where you go to get this is in Jesus, then you might be asking, well, how do I experience this? Okay, I got the Jesus part down. I'll go to him, but how do I experience this when it comes to my marriage?

I really got some serious questions. How do I experience that thing you're talking about? Hey, when it comes to my finances, how do I experience that thing you're talking about? Hey, pastor, I'm trying to choose between whether I stay here or move to a couple different cities. How do I experience that?

I looked at Jesus, but how do I get that out of this? And that's Paul's second point. The wisdom that you need is generously revealed through the Holy Spirit who resides in us. The wisdom that you need is generously revealed through the Holy Spirit who resides in us. In other words, if you've trusted Christ, let me just tell you this, the Holy Spirit resides in you.

I mean, there's no other faith in the world that even comes close to even attempting to make that claim, let alone deliver on it. I mean, what we believe as Christians is that when you trust in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to Indwell. You, the third person of the Trinity, God of all God lives within you. I mean, have you thought about that for a second? Muslims don't claim that.

Hindus don't claim that. Buddhists don't claim that Buddha came and lived inside. I mean, you really puff out. But listen, as Christians we believe that when we trust in Jesus he dispenses the person of his holy spirit in us. Which means this, once he's there, you can't get more of him.

He's all there. It's just how do you experience the fullness of him? He's all in you. It's how do you experience all of him? That becomes the question.

That's what Paul is going to answer. He says in verse nine, but just as it is written. And he quotes Isaiah 64, four and 60 517. And see if you've heard this scripture. Things which the eye has not seen or ear has not heard and which have not entered into the heart of man.

All that God has prepared for those who love him. How many have heard that before? No eye is seen, no ear is heard, no mind is conceived or heart is recognized. What God has prepared for those who love him. I mean, I've heard that.

I've had people write that to me on nice notes. And really the way I get it taught is this, hey guys, one day what's coming is so good, we've never seen it, we've never heard about it. We can't even conceive it in our hearts or our minds how great it's going to be. All that he's got prepared for us way down the road for those of us who love him. Isn't that how you've heard it taught?

That's how I've always heard this taught. That's not what it says because notice the very next verse, verse ten says, for to us God revealed them through the spirit. Past tense. Say what? Means you already have it.

That in the Holy Spirit, what your eye can't see and what your ear can't hear and what your heart has not recognized, God has already prepared for you. I mean, what he's prepared for you is in this life. Yeah, I believe the future's coming. Yeah, I believe heaven's on the way. Yeah, I believe it's going to be more glorious than anything we have on earth.

I totally get it right. That's not what he's saying here. He's saying when you have the Holy Spirit in your life and when you're looking to Jesus for your answers, that the holy spirit in your life, whose job it is to magnify the Lord Jesus Christ will reveal things to you that your eyes cannot see right now. We'll reveal things to you presently that your ears cannot hear right now. We'll give you understanding in your hearts and minds about things you cannot understand right now.

All he has prepared for you because he what? Loves you. He loves you in this life, not just in the next life. And I don't know about you, maybe my story's a little bit unique, but after being a believer for a little while, I was like, okay, I know I'm going to heaven. I know I'm going to heaven.

I'm certain of that. And one day it's going to be great, and I'm certain of that. But what about all this in between stuff, like, what's he got for me now? And the answer I was usually given was, well, just keep on. Be obedient.

Well, why? Because God is pleased when you're obedient. Okay, I get that. But do I get anything now? That's just being selfish, brother.

That's not being humble. This is not what Paul is saying. He's saying the all wise, all knowing God of the universe who indwells, every single one of us who love the Lord, says this. When you have questions about your life and things you can't see meaning. I don't know what the future holds.

I can't see which direction I'm supposed to go, and I'm not really hearing clearly where I should be going, and I'm not really understanding any of this stuff. God says that he will reveal it to you. He's already revealed it to you. And in the Holy Spirit, you can have that, right. In other words, God already indwells you.

It's already there. And sometimes we're looking for all these answers outside, or sometimes we're praying for, give me more of the Holy Spirit. Give me more of the Holy Spirit. Give me more of the Holy Spirit. Here's what the Bible says in two Peter one, three.

That God has given you everything you need for life and godliness. What more can you ask for than the fullness of the Holy Spirit in your life? That's why the Bible tells you continually, be filled with the Holy Spirit in your life. Right? I mean, the Bible makes all sorts of promises, like psalm 84 ten, that no good thing will God withhold from those who walk up rightly.

In other words, when you're walking with the Lord and you're wanting to please the Lord, God through his holy spirit, begins to reveal wisdom to you about what you should do and how you should live. In other words, we're not asking God to come into our lives. God is already in our lives, and we're asking him to fill us so he can reveal to us who we need to be. And some of you may remember, if you've been a Christian about 20 years or longer, you may remember a song that was sung in the church ad nauseam. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.

Do you remember that song? Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. And then it was like, 42nd verse, same as the first.

And then we'd sing it again. You remember that song? Okay. That comes from ephesians 118 and following. It's one of my favorite prayers that Paul prays, is he prays for the church in Ephesus.

And he says, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of his calling and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power towards us who believe these are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might, which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, in every name that is to be named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things in subjection to his feet and gave him the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him, who fills all in all. Amen and amen. So what's Paul praying? I pray that God would open your eyes so you'd see what you already have.

It's already there. What are you looking for? And so many of us as christians, we hear the voice of the enemy discouraging us. You're never gonna get that job. Your marriage is never gonna work out.

You're never gonna get married. Your future's not gonna be good. You're never gonna make any money. We hear that voice loud and clear, and then we get discouraged. Rather than praying, God, open my eyes, that I can see all the riches and glory that you gonna give me in the future and that you have for me now, and that you have all wisdom for my situation.

And, oh, by the way, this is not prosperity gospel. This is not God. Give me a nicer, bigger house and a bigger car and all that. I mean, things of this age can come and go. You may have seasons where you have a lot, and you may have seasons that you have little.

That's not what it's saying. But you can always have the riches of Christ at all times and be filled to a full measure of joy in him, regardless of circumstances, because the spirit of God indwells you. I mean, many of us live our christian lives independent of the one who's actually living in us. We think we're alone. Jesus said, I will never leave you or forsake you.

Jesus said, I'll be with you always till the end of the age. It's not just that he's in heaven looking over us and interceding for us, which the Bible says he most certainly is. It's that he deposited his spirit who is in us, so he'll never, ever leave us. He's right here. What are your questions?

What are your questions? What are you going for? Because I have questions. I'm always asking God questions. And, oh, by the way, Bible students, it's great to go in the word and not just say, what does this mean?

What does this mean? What does this mean? It's great to go in the word and say, God, here's my question for you. What do you have to say about it? Do you know that at one point in time before I was married, I dated and I used to pray and say, God, I want to know who my wife is.

Anybody single here? Anybody single that hopes to get married someday? Here, three of you. Okay, great. That was a question in my life once upon a time.

You know what? I never found a book in the Bible called one kim, where do you go for that kind of wisdom? But I do remember as a single guy, I would read proverbs 31, and it said, an excellent wife who can find her husband trusts in her, and he lacks no good thing the heart of her husband trusts in her. And so I was always praying, God, give me a woman like that. And I remember reading all through proverbs 31.

I'm like, what an incredible woman that is. Now, when I dated my wife, it was the first time I could read through that scripture and be like, check, check, check, check, check, check. So it wasn't like God said, marry her. It was like, hey, it aligns with everything. My word is.

So you're free to go ahead and marry her. And he who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord. And I knew out of all the people I dated, I knew I totally trusted my wife because I knew she had integrity, and I never worried about that. Since I met her. And I don't worry about it now.

Why? Because the word of God revealed to me what I was looking for. What about moving to Denver, Colorado with our family? I've done that six times now where I've moved because the Lord's had me move. I mean, I know what it's like when the Lord starts working something through my spirit and I begin reading in the word and it's so evident what he's saying and where to go and what to do if I want to hear what it is that he has to say.

Right? Do you go to the Bible with questions? Do you go to God with questions? I mean, if this is just a book, it's a good book. It's a good book.

I like the Bible. It's very different than saying this book is the living and active word of our Lord. Jesus Christ is alive in heaven, the Holy Spirit is alive in me. The father is alive, and I want to please him. So when I go here, I am asking questions so that whatever he shows me authoritatively, I'm just going to do.

In other words, I'm not just looking down here. Oh, that's interesting. I'm putting this authority above me so that whatever this book says, then I'm saying this. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Even if I. What? Don't feel like it. Yes, sir. That's what your word says.

Now, if you believe that way, understand this, that the word of wisdom that God gives goes against the culture, and the culture will think that your wisdom is. What? It's foolish. It's foolish. I mean, just let me give you a couple examples.

Talk to people about debt and poverty. Talk to people about debt and poverty. I mean, if you're in debt, and I know some of you are, and you're dealing with some poverty in your life, do you know what the Bible has to say? One of the best ways to get out of debt and poverty, be generous, give more away. Say what?

I don't even have anything. Yeah. If you're generous and you're trusting that the Lord will provide for you, guess what he'll do? He'll provide for you. I mean, early on in my ministry, when I made absolutely no money, I mean, I was below the poverty line and what I was making, and I told the Lord, all right, as a youth pastor, I'm going to tithe.

And when I run out of money, that will be my sign from you that I'm quitting. I never ran out of money. I never did. I remember one day I got a check in the mail for $3,000 from a great aunt who was 92 years old that I'd only seen about five times in my life. And she said, when you and your sister were young, I put a CD away, and it's matured, and I'm sending you each three grand.

Three grand to me was like 50 grand at the time. I'm like, no way. I mean, I deposited that thing in the bank. I felt like I was a richest person. Person in the entire world.

Right? Why? Because God was showing me, if you'll be generous, I'll help you. Or how about another way to get out of debt and poverty? Be disciplined.

How about this? Spend less than you make.

Wow. That's a concept. That's not the wisdom of this world. The wisdom of this world is, hey, what's your credit rating? And how much can you spend even if you can't afford it?

Right? So the wisdom of the world's a little bit different. Oh, what about this? You're looking for authority and leadership. I want to lead.

I want to lead. I want to help people. I want to be in charge. Jesus said, there's nothing wrong with that. You know what the Bible says about how you get that authority?

Be humble and be a servant of everyone you come across. Make life about them, make your job about serving them, and then I'll elevate your authority and leadership. Say what? Go find me the leadership book today that says that. I mean, maybe there's a slight chapter that might reference something like that, but I'm just saying, go find the whole book that says, humble yourself to the point that even if people kill you, they get the best out of you.

Find me that book. See, that's what this book says. This book says Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on the cross. Therefore, God exalted him and gave him the name that's above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth that Jesus Christ is lord. You want to have all that authority?

Be willing to let other people kill you and crucify you in the sight of God for his name's sake, and he will elevate you. What does the world say about that? That's stupid, right? Or how about this? How about wisdom and changing others?

You want to change other people? You want to change anybody, just by show of hands, just, let's be vulnerable. Would anybody say, if I could, there's somebody in my life, I would change anybody? Okay, do you know how the Bible says to do that? The Bible says you want to see that person change?

Ask God to change you. And ask God if there's anything you can do to humble yourself before them so they can see the change that God made in you, and then God might change them. How about that? Hey, if you're married, that's a great way that you can start today, right? Anybody want to change your spouse?

Anybody want to change your kids? Ask God. God, change me so that I can demonstrate your love to my spouse or to my kids in a way that they don't currently see it. Do you know what I find? God is very loud on those kind of answers.

God loves it when we humble ourselves before him. Do you see how this wisdom is different than the world's wisdom? The world's wisdom is, how can I keep your comfort keeping you doing what you're doing and just add some things on so you'll feel better about yourself. God's wisdom is this, give yourself completely to Jesus, allow the Holy Spirit to lead you. And even if it seems stupid to other people, keep doing what God says.

I mean, I can tell you story after story after story after story after story after story over the last 25 years of everything we do. A lot of times I'll share the stories that we've done here, like moving to Colorado or starting a church or buying this building in a week for $2 million or whatever, every single time according to the world's wisdom. It's stupid. Go back and read any story in the Bible that you find of great faith, and if you just read the preface to the story, you'll say stupid. Seriously, Joshua, march around the city six times.

You know, the 7th day. March around. Seriously? That's your big war strategy? That's what God said it should be.

That's stupid. Except for the fact that God told him to do it and God's in it. Noah, seriously, you're going to build an ark? I mean, you're going to build a boat, you're going to bring all the animals of the world. Stupid.

It was till it started to flood, right? I mean, do you see that in Jesus is all wisdom? And many times when God asks you to go and do something that goes against the grain of the culture, it's only because he loves you and he's leading you in a way that the world can't even see or can't even begin to understand. That's what Paul was telling them. So notice what he says in verse ten at the end of verse ten, he says this, for the spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

I mean, in other words, why would you want the spirit to reveal it to you? Because the spirit knows everything. The Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is God. He's not a spirit.

He's the spirit. He's the Holy Spirit. He knows all. He has all wisdom. Somehow, someway, the Trinity is constantly communicating with one another.

And the spirit of God, through Jesus, is searching the father's heart to know everything about us and our situation, to reveal to us when we go after Jesus what we should be doing. And then he dispenses wisdom freely. Notice verse eleven, for who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? In other words, who knows you better than you do? You know, even while I've been preaching this morning, you're thinking a myriad of other thoughts that have nothing to do with this message.

Who knows that but you, right? When you and your spouse are having a conversation, who knows what's really going on in your head except you? When you're at work, who really knows how you feel about everything? You know you in a way you can't even explain you to somebody else. Who knows that except you?

Paul says in the same way. Notice this, he says in the same way, even so, the thoughts of God, no one knows except the spirit of God. I mean, no one knows who God is except God's spirit. Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which we also speak not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. In other words, when you allow the spirit of God to speak to you, the spirit of God is going to dispense wisdom about what the Trinity thinks about your situation.

And that's going to be countercultural and very different to what the world would say about your situation. I mean, it doesn't matter where you go in this book. It is counter cultural to everything that you would see in this world and this world's wisdom system. I mean, we could start in the book of Genesis in chapter one, and we could start a whole controversy right there. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth was formless and void. So how did God create the heavens and the earth out of zip, out of nothing. And then when you read through, it says that God created the world day by day by day by day, which means God created the world in 624 hours, days, and he rested on the 7th day, and that's how God created the world. Now, if you'll say that to christians who happen to be scientists, no problem. You say that to people who aren't christians that happen to be scientists, and they'll start giving you all sorts of data and all sorts of stuff which is scientifically unprovable, every single one of them, because they don't believe in God and they don't believe in a worldwide flood and they don't believe in anything that we believe.

So just keep going through Genesis, get to the worldwide flood. You seriously believe the entire globe, not like a hurricane irma or something like that, to just wreck something. You believe the entire earth was under an entire body of water for a period of 40 days? Absolutely I do. Do you believe that there was a real man named Jonah who was swallowed by a real fish?

Of course I do. Jesus even referenced that he did. Right. Do you really believe that Jesus is fully the son of God who died on a cross and rose from the grave and came out and still lived? Of course I do.

I mean, pick any truth you want in the Bible and the worldly wisdom will fight it. Why? Because you have to believe Jesus and you have to trust his holy spirit to reveal it to you. So a lot of the things that I would proclaim from this pulpit, now I'm telling you, when I was 16 years old sitting in church, I would have been there saying, idiot, idiot, dummy. I mean, seriously, you don't believe?

But now I believe it with my whole heart. I don't fight it, I just proclaim it. You don't have to agree with me. You're going to answer to God, and this is exactly what he says in the last part. If where you get this is from Jesus and how you experience it is through the Holy Spirit, you might ask yourself, then, why don't I have this?

And Paul is going to give us the answer. The reason you don't have this is that the true wisdom of God is only understood by those who are born again and receptive. People who are born again and receptive. Now notice what Paul says. But a natural man does not accept the things of the spirit of God, for they are what?

They're foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised or they're spiritually evaluated, spiritually discerned, spiritually understood. There's no way a person who is not born again can understand what God is saying about his word. I mean, if I hold up this book and I ask you, hey, do you guys see this? What color is it? You might say some sort of brownish black or whatever.

It's actually espresso. But if you held it up, you know, you see that. But if you were blind, you'd be sitting there saying, what book? I don't see anything. Why are you trying to trick me?

Right. If God doesn't open the eyes of your heart through salvation, if you're not born again by the spirit of God, you can't understand anything I'm talking about. Like, people can hear the exact same message and you cannot hear it. And a lot of people think they're born again because they believe the same facts about Jesus that the devil believes about Jesus. Did you know the devil believes that Jesus Christ is God's one and only son who died on the cross, who rose from the dead, who ascended into heaven, who rules over everything, whose permission he needs to get and seek before he can do anything.

Do you know the devil believes all that? But the devil's not a believer. So just because you believe all those facts, my mom and dad told me I need to believe Jesus died and believe that he rose and believe that he's God. Okay, I'll concede that. That's not being born again.

Born again is when you confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father. When you say, hey, listen, I'm coming under your authority now. I'm going to become your servant now. I want you to rule. And at that point in time, the Bible will go from a black and white book to just high def Technicolor.

Best sound you've ever heard. Full ears, full throttle, full experience of, he's in me. I know he's in me because if the Holy Spirit comes into your life, the third person of the Trinity, God above all gods, who created everything, who indwells everything, who is in us. And you're like, yeah, I don't know if he's there or not. I mean, how can that possibly be?

Could it be that you're just not born again? You just believe facts about God? That's just religion. Everybody has some facts. They believe about God, right?

So you must be born again. That's what Jesus told Nicodemus. And secondly, is this, you must be receptive. So perhaps you're born again, but you're not receptive. How many of you know that you can listen to this whole message today and leave and be like, I really didn't hear any of it.

I was thinking about something else the whole time. I didn't hear, because if you're not receptive, the enemy steals it. It's really interesting because in Mark, chapter four, Jesus makes this point as he's telling parables. And a lot of people said, well, Jesus told parables so that everybody would understand. You know, that's why he told stories.

He was a great storyteller. That's not why Jesus told parables. The Bible tells us why he told parables. In Mark chapter 413, as the disciples were asking about this parable of the soils, remember, this farmer went out to sow seed, and some fell on hard ground, some on rocky ground, on thorny ground, and some on good soil. And what happened to the seed?

And the disciples are, we don't get it. And Jesus said to them, do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? You don't get this one, you're not going to get any of them. Like, this is the important parable.

And he begins to tell the sower sows the word, and then he tells them, the ones that fall on the hard soil. When the seed goes out, Satan himself comes and takes away. If you're not receptive to hearing the word of God, even when you hear the word of God, read the word of God. Study the word of God. Satan comes and takes it away before it can take root.

Or perhaps it falls on rocky soil where you're like, oh, pastor, that was a great word. That was like the apostle Paul this morning. Whoo, I needed that one. And you have great, exceeding joy. But guess what?

There's no root system. The soil's not set. So when trouble and tribulation comes, what happens? It falls away because it's not rooted. And then some can fall among the thorns where you're like, that's pretty good, and it grows up.

But then the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of wealth and basically focusing on the whole world system choke it out, making it unfruitful. But Jesus said, when my seed, my word, falls on good soil, it always produces 30, 60, or even a hundredfold. It means this. There's nothing wrong with the word of God. There is nothing wrong with the word of God.

When the word of God is being proclaimed, when the word of God is being read, when the word of God is being studied, there's nothing wrong with this word. And anytime that your heart is receptive to what God would have to say, it will take root and it will bear fruit. That's what it does. But if your heart's not receptive, like, you can come into church as a believer and be ticked off. You can be mad, you can be frustrated with somebody in the church, you can be disappointed in your life circumstance, and you can listen to an entire message and it means absolutely nothing.

Or you can come hear the exact same word. So there's some today, I believe, that fall into all those categories. I know it every time I preach. Some. By the time you get to the car, it'll be like, there's nothing for me.

I didn't get anything out of that. I'm more excited about the Broncos plan, and I hope he shuts up soon so I can go see him, right? Some of you will. Some of you will be like, that was really good, but no desire for the seed to take root. Some of you are like, that's good, but I gotta keep my worldly thing going on.

But there's some of you here. I know you're listening and you're hearing the word of God, and you're like, listen, God. You're implanting this in my heart. I want all of this. And God's gonna use this word to produce 30 or 60 or 100 fold in your life.

That's the way his word works. If you're born again and you're receptive, God does a great work. Now, the natural man can't accept it cause he doesn't have the spirit of God. But notice verse 15. But he who appraises all things or evaluates all things, but he who is spiritual, I'm sorry.

He who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. When I have the Holy Spirit inside of me, I can evaluate everything God's saying. But even when the people of the world and the natural man say, what an idiot. Here's what's really going on. He tells us in verse 16, he quotes Isaiah 4013.

For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct him? In other words, when the natural man or non spirit filled people are saying, christians, you're foolish for listening to God. Why would you quit your job and go after and follow this when there's no security in that? And, hey, why would you make that decision to give your money to the church when there's really no return on it? And why would you?

All these kind of things. What they're really saying is when they're making fun of you and saying, you're foolish, here's what they're really trying to do? They're trying to instruct God as to what is right and wrong. And who can do that? How foolish is that?

But Paul says, but we have what we have, the mind of Christ. Did you know you have Christ's mind? Do you know he dwells within you? You have the Holy Spirit resident inside of you, and you have the mind of Christ. What else do you need?

Where am I going to get this wisdom? Because you have the mind of Christ. Jesus can talk to you. God's given us his revealed word. This is called revelation.

It's inspired, which means it's of God, which means it's inspiration. But there's this thing that happens when you have an open heart. It's called illumination. And God can use the same word to give a myriad of applications in your life. If you're receptive to hearing what he says, and he will illuminate it, and that's what we usually say.

God's speaking to me about this. He's illuminating his word and telling you something specific about your life and what you need to do. That's God. That's God active in you. And when you hear that, you should put it into practice.

We have the mind of Christ. Now. I love the mind of Christ because he's able to do things for us we wouldn't know how to do. One of my favorite stories in the Bible is found in Luke, chapter 24. After Jesus rises from the dead and he's walking.

It's called the road to Emmaus. He's walking to a town called Emmaus, and he's with these two guys. And in Luke chapter 24, verse 27, it says, then, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in the scriptures. How cool would that sermon have been all the way through the Old Testament with Jesus? Hey, let me just give you an insight into everything in the Old Testament and how it all reveals to me.

I would love to have that. I would love to have that on a DVD series, man, I watch that every day. Right? And then what? At the end, when they start to recognize who he is, it says in Luke 24 45, then he opened their mind to understanding the scriptures.

That's what it means to know Jesus. Before I was saved, I read this book. I went to a lutheran grade school. I memorized this book. I knew a lot about this.

When I became born again, it all began to make sense. First book I ever read was the book of James. It was five chapters long. I started reading through that book. I'm like, this totally makes sense.

How come nobody ever told me this before? Well, I didn't have the spirit of God inside of me. I had read truths about the book. I knew stuff and the scriptures I had memorized. I'm like, oh, it makes sense.

I know what it means. Why? Because the spirit of God was in me, which means you can go to God with anything. You can come and confess, Lord, I need you. And I don't know what to do.

And that's what we're always doing as christians, because any christian that would say, I've arrived now, I know everything to do. I know how to make all the decisions. Silliness, silliness. We don't know what to do. We go to God with everything.

God, how do I become a better husband? How do I become a better wife? How to become a better parent? Lord, what should I do in this situation with this person who's seemingly upset with me? Hey, Lord, how do I extend forgiveness here when I know it's going to cause a ruck?

Lord, I don't know what to do. I need you. I need your wisdom on this. Do you know God is gracious to give it all? You have the mind of Christ.

And Paul is saying, that's the wisdom. I'm speaking to you. The wisdom's found in Jesus. It's revealed through his holy spirit. And if you're born again and receptive, you can have it.

God generously lavishes it on you. What are you troubled about? What are you asking about? He's right there. He knows the beginning from the end, and he loves you unconditionally.

And he's willing to reveal it to you if you're willing to hear him. Amen. And so the way that I wanted to end our service today is just by singing a chorus or two to a familiar song that we do in our church all the time. Lord, I need you. Oh, yeah, I need you.

And as we sing and as I get us up, I'm going to have our prayer team come forward. You'll begin to notice they're all wearing yellow lanyards in our church now, which means whether you see these people at the front or out in the lobby or wherever they are, they'd love to pray for you. And the reason that we have a prayer team is not because, okay, the prayer team's arrived and they know everything and you don't. The reason the prayer team is here is because this is a group of people who are saying we're totally dependent upon Jesus and we just want to help you become dependent upon Jesus and just pray for his wisdom in your life. And so that's why they're here.

So during the singing of this song, for anything that you might have a need for, I'm just going to invite you if you want to come forward and pray with this team to do that very thing, would you just stand with me as we pray?

Lord, we give you praise. And, Lord, we confess that we need you. And just ask, Lord, in this moment, Lord, whatever we're asking for, we can do it right in our seat, or we can come forward with a group of people. But, Lord, we come and confess our need for you. In Jesus name, amen.