August 10, 2012
Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness"; -- 1Corinthians 3: 18-19 (NIV)
The Gospel of John tells the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. The Scriptures actually reveal that the Pharisees who brought this woman before Jesus did so specifically to see if He would say something they could use against Him. Did you get that? So their outrage was staged. They thought they were slick. They thought that they really had Jesus here. This wasn't just a rumor of a sin that was punishable by death they actually caught her in the act! There was no need for corroborative witnesses -- everyone knew what they were saying was 100% true! Such is the craftiness of man. Such is the wisdom of this world. Jesus doesn't even flinch. He just stoops down to write in the sand; almost as if He is giving them a chance to rethink the folly of their strategy. But the arrogance of man in thinking He is wise before God knows no end. They persist and finally Jesus catches the wise in their own craftiness:
They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!" Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. -- John 8: 7-9 (NLT)
They thought they were clever but Jesus turns their cleverness right back onto them. You want to deal in matters of sin and judgment? No problem -- cast the stone if you have never sinned. Otherwise, you are just one sinner condemning another. Brilliant.
That is what the Apostle Paul speaks to here in the key verses. The wisdom of the world versus the mind of Christ. As we progress further and further into the end times we see that the modern church is not remembering these teachings very well. Jesus instructed us to go out into the world and bring the Gospel to the lost. Instead we see too many churches who are content to bring the world into the church under the guise of reaching the lost. It is all based however on worldly wisdom. The modern theories of church growth all speak to the importance of being relevant somehow to the next generation. That is filled with human wisdom. So you see churches lowering their standards. Music that used to biblically focused and worshipping the King of Kings is now infused with the latest modern beats and poor theology. One hundred years ago we sang about being a wretch before a holy God and now we sing to that same God, petulantly demanding our blessings and inheritance. The idea of course is that you want to reach the next generation but when you compromise the Gospel, you reach them with a compromised God. He becomes their friend first instead of Lord of their life. As such, He doesn't have the same power. Do any of your friends have the power to grant you eternal life? To forgive your sins?
But the theories of church growth do not just muddy what worship is supposed to be. Once you have entertained the people with music, you still have to bring a word to them. But that word needs to be seeker friendly. It needs to not prick at their consciousness too much for fear that we will not seem relevant to them and they will not come back. The problem with a lot of the theories of church growth is they treat the sinner who needs the forgiveness of God as a consumer. So the human wisdom caters to man instead of to God. Church then starts to revolve around us instead of God. The word becomes this watered down milk that barely keeps anyone alive spiritually. We start to preach a bloodless Christianity. A sinless Christianity. Because the blood offends and no one wants to hear about their sins. Of course without proper recognition of your sins, you cannot be saved. Without the blood of Christ, you cannot be saved.
The key verses teach us that if we ever get to the point where we fancy ourselves wise by the standards of this age -- then we need to make ourselves foolish by those standards because they are not the standards of God. The Lord uses our wisdom to make us look foolish. Worship is not supposed to be entertainment for the saints. The Word of God is not supposed to make you feel better about yourself -- it is supposed to make you feel better about the God that you serve. The standards of this age have infected the modern church. We use worldly measurements to determine spiritual success. We confuse worldly achievements as moves of the Holy Spirit. Attendance is up! Tithing is up! God must be prospering the church! Not so fast. Broad is the path to destruction. God is looking for obedient sheep -- not purpose driven, seeker friendly, emergent sheep.
But contrary to the warnings from the key verse, I think we have deceived ourselves in these last days. We mix secularism into nearly all phases of our church management, growth and implementation. As a result we create carnal Christians at best or at worst, goats who fancy themselves to be sheep. Think that is an exaggeration? Try and take someone's ministry from them or speak to them about personal sin. See what kind of reaction you get. We have churches that are filled with the latest secular fads and leadership theories but devoid of the power of the Holy Ghost. Plenty of programs and ministries to get plugged into but not a lot of healings, signs and wonders. Realize too that there is a price to be paid for carnality. The stronger we are on the worldly side the weaker we are spiritually. The spiritual realm is where we win and lose our battles beloved.
Lastly, is this an indictment of everything worldly? YES. The Bible cannot be clearer. Come out from among them. We are to have no fellowship with darkness. A little leaven ruins the entire batch. He who is friends with the world is an enemy of God. Compromise always starts small as to desensitize us to its nature. This is not however an indictment of intentions. I always try and assume the best of intentions. But when we stand before Christ to give an account He will not be discussing what we intended. He will only be discussing what we did.
Rev. Anthony
