Brothers and sisters in Christ, how wise do you feel? How confident do you feel in your knowledge of how things in the world work and in your understanding of God’s Word?
How successful do you feel? Do you ever feel like you are behind in the world, that you are basic and operating at an elementary level? Do you envy others out there who seem to be doing better than you? For some it is hard to be truly confident in this world if you do not have years of experience in a field or the recognition of a PHD degree.
We began our worship service with Psalm 1 which describes a contrast between the one who walks in the way of the Lord and the one who walks in the counsel of the wicked. This familiar Psalm helps us to see that the difference in the world is not between those who do well for themselves and are blessed with talent and success and those who are not.
Instead, there is the choice whether to follow the wisdom of the world or the wisdom of God. We heard in our Epistle reading: 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
The wisdom of God is called folly by the world. People think it is foolish to trust in God for your well being, to put your trust in a God that you cannot see. People think it is foolish that God would send his Son to us to die on the cross. People celebrate human wisdom and persecute those who do not bow down to it.
They persecute because the truth of God’s Word threatens them and makes them feel inferior. They pressure Christians in response to their insecurities, desiring to make Christians feel embarrassed and apologetic over the teaching of scripture and the wisdom of God.
But Paul celebrates this great power of God, that his wisdom which looks like foolishness to the world is the power of God that brings Salvation. He says give me this foolishness of God any day of the week.
Looking at the world we live in, we see how often the wicked seem to prosper. We see how self assured people are who live by the values of our world and with scorn toward those values that come from God’s Word.
God promises that this wisdom will be destroyed. This wisdom will face the ultimate reality check when the Lord returns and the earth is destroyed. The wisdom of the world cannot stand for even a moment against the judgement of the Lord.
Fortunately, we are not doomed to live by this fleeting wisdom. Our wisdom as God’s people is a wisdom that sees a bigger picture about how God’s kingdom always comes first, and how blessed we are to be a part of this kingdom.
Psalm 1 shows that the wisdom of God is built on a difference between the righteous man and the wicked. The righteous is learning and growing from God’s Word while the wicked scoff at God. Blessed is the man who walks in the Lord’s way, who meditates on His word day and night, who prospers in all that he does.
This is a way way that none of us can truly walk. If we try and try with unrelentless commitment to reach this righteousness- we are only worshipping our obedience and our determination. However good our intentions, we fail to live in righteousness as bound as we are by our sinful nature with it’s selfish desires and motives.
Jesus alone is that righteous man of Psalm 1, he is the fulfillment of the Psalm. He alone is obedient to the Father’s will and without sin, he alone is free of the curse of original sin. He alone is blessed with a perfect union with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
And he came to bring us to that restored communion with God. He brings us to this state of blessedness because he joins us to him, he leads us to walk in the way of righteousness by becoming our life. That is our wisdom that we choose over the world’s wisdom- to never lose sight that Jesus is our righteousness.
This is the wisdom to see that our glory is to humble ourselves and follow Jesus- not exalt ourselves. How foolish it is trying to build up your own reputation, when you would only be gaining something for the moment in this world. Instead the Lord leads us to seek treasure where moth and rust cannot destroy.
As we live by God’s wisdom we face persecutions and hardships that we would otherwise not have faced. And yet we are still blessed. The persecutions only serve to humble us and lead us to follow Jesus more purely.
We face difficulty in our personal individual lives- but this does not mean we are cursed. The cross transforms difficulties into blessings, refines us through our trials through the wisdom of God. We are blessed because the cross is placed on us and with the cross we have the promises of life everlasting that the Son of God brings to us.
In our society we might think of someone who is blessed by how many friends or how much money is made, how long a life and how healthy and problem free. But these are the world’s ideas of blessings.
How much greater than wealth that perishes and fame that fades are the blessings of God’s kingdom.
As God’s people, the church we enjoy fellowship with the body of Christ. A fellowship where the mercy of Christ defines our relationships, not power. We live in a society where you are expected to always apologize and repent of your sins to the consensus of the world’s wisdom, and never receive forgiveness.
How much different is life in God’s kingdom where you will not be abandoned if you let people down or disappoint people one too many times. Instead through confession and absolution we have in the church a way to bring restoration to strained relationships, and every day a new start as new creations in Christ.
Jesus taught, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. We are blessed as God’s people with a knowledge of the truth of what is good and right in life. We know what it means to walk the way of righteousness, we know that it is all about repenting of our own sins and finding in our Lord’s promises forgiveness and hope. This knowledge of the way of salvation means that you can look at the world differently and not see everything around you as a temptation or as an annoyance to your own superiority.
In contrast the life ruled by sin has a distorted view of the world in which you do not see your own sin, and in which you do not see God. Through the blessings of God’s kingdom, we are the pure in heart, and we can see God. We see God in receiving the gifts of the gospel in worship, where we are renewed and refreshed and live in hope.
We see God as we receive his body and blood for our salvation. We see God when the victory Christ has won for us gives us a confidence that we are one in Him, we are his own possession, wonderfully made, for His glory, and blessed beyond what we could ever imagine for ourselves.
There are indeed two ways to live in the world and two different wisdoms to live by. May the Lord always keep us wide unto salvation, even unto the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.