The World’s Wisdom VS God’s Wisdom

Context: Paul writing to a church he was part of starting, dealing with their issues

He started with Unity and then He clarifies what they are United around

This church, like us, is geographically situated in ‘This World’

We are called to be in this world but not of it; Spiritually ‘Set Apart’ by following Christ

It starts with a clear understanding of and belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Everything we are as a church starts with the reality of Christ!

Who He is, and what He has done are not understood by the means of this world

God’s ways are scoffed at by the popular culture of our day, as they were 2000 yrs ago

1st Corinthians 1:18-31

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” (Isiah 29:14)

• Not believing in the unconditional gift of the Cross = The height of foolishness.
• The only way to truly experience the ‘Very Power of God’ is to surrender to Him
• God says HE WILL

So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.

• The pursuit God is not an educational, philosophic, information based endeavor
• God’s way is for you do it His way and that is by ‘Relational Faith’
• You don’t need to know everything, you don’t even need to know much:
• You just need to know The TRUTH

It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.

• Jews wanted a replication of Moses
• Greeks wanted to ‘reason’ it out with logic
• The Gospel of Christ dosen’t fit mold of this worlds thinking (never has, never will)

But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.

• The only way it makes any sense is that God enables it
• God is calling, will you let him be heard in your heart & soul?
• It’s beyond ‘This World’s’ capabilities to fully understand God’s wisdom & strength

Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.

• Did any of us really know anything before God called us?
• I know I was truly humbled…I thought I knew somethings…
• I’ve been considered foolish by friends, family & others for being a ‘Real Christian’
• They think I have wasted my life…we will see

God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

• The manner of Christ’s birth was a low as it gets
• The manner of Christ’s death was the epitome of nothing: shameful & despicable
• But through this God, and God alone made the way for us to have EVERYTHING
• True Faith takes no credit for the salvation of Christ…But we do take part!

COMMUNION: Celebrating & ‘Taking Part’ in ‘The Gift’ of Christ-Given Salvation

This is a Sacrament only for Surrendered Disciples of Jesus Christ (Start Today)

God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:24)

• Being united with Christ is an ongoing practice
• The Lord’s Supper is a: Remembrance / Reconnection / Reenactment of GRACE
• Who Christ is and what He did enables us to:
  • • Enter into a right relationship with our Creator
    • Become pure & Holy, Christ’s purity and Holiness become ours
    • End being ‘Owned’ by Sin…it still oppresses, us but dosen’t own us
• Since we could make none of that happen, we have nothing to take credit for

Application Questions:

Why does the reality of the Gospel destroy the wisdom and intelligence of the world?

Why does God not want us to know Him through ‘Human Wisdom’?

Why do you believe Christ is the power and wisdom of God?

Why is the reality of God displayed through foolish, shameful and despised things?

What are some ways you can ‘Boast only about the Lord’?

Biblical Justice: Justice from God’s Point of View

One Race is about the reality that all humans are of One Race. It has been proven scientifically we are all one race: The Human Race.

What we look like, where we are from, various customs & culture are different expressions of the Trinity Itself in the creation of humanity / ‘mankind’. As one race we can be united to each other by our Creator no matter the differences and experiences we have. He does it by putting HIS Spirit in us when we surrender to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As Jesus Christ’s Church we can choose to stop accepting the premise that people are of different ‘Races’ in our language, attitudes, perceptions and actions. We should not expect this to happen without of our being yielded to God’s spirit.

There’s a reason the ‘World’ wants to perpetuate the lie of different races: Division

The result of lies being the basis of human relations is what we call ‘Injustice’. In many ways, because of the lie that people who look different are different ‘Races’, there is a human legacy of injustice, it is the legacy of sin.

Please remember injustice is due to rebellion against & denial of God that results in people establishing & perpetuating injustice that forms a system of humans sinning against God & each other by oppressing each other. Injustice is the by-product of sin. It is not due to a lack of opportunity or education or access to resources it is due to SIN. That is a Biblical Theology Point of view

Justice is too big a topic for one sermon, but we can build the proper foundation If we are to define Justice from a Biblical point of view (the only one Midtown takes), we must begin with the Author of Justice as revealed by the Scriptures; not our feelings, preferences, ideas or what the culture thinks about ‘Justice’.

If we will allow God to define Justice, then as His people, we should be in agreement with Him as to how ‘Justice will be served’…

We must pursue Justice in every way possible, but we have to let what Justice is be defined by God and be good with HIS timetable for when. HIS way for how…

The bottom line is we start with Who God is, and what Scripture says about HIM and Justice.

Psalm 145:3

His greatness no one can fathom / His Greatness is unsearchable / No one can measure His greatness / There are no boundaries to His greatness / His greatness is beyond discovery.

• Multiple translations same point: HE is beyond our comprehension
• We can approach Him with humility based on that reality

Psalm 33:4-6

For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.

• HE & HIS WORD set the standard, not you and me or the culture or politics
• The love of justice is who HE is
• HIS dominion / sovereignty is absolute (Biblical Theology)

Isaiah 5:15-16

So people will be brought low and everyone humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled. But the Lord Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts.

• Views, ideas, emotions & intentions of people apart from God’s will (arrogance)
• HIS Justice will be exalted… NOT human justice
• The reality of HIS actions will prove HE alone is Holy

Jeremiah 12:1

You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?

• Jeremiah ‘knows of’ God’s Righteousness, but he doubts…just like we do
• From Jeremiah’s point of view it seems that God is making some mistakes…
• Is God not paying attention? Does HE not care?
• When we come at it as though we understand the entire situation we are mistaken

God’s answer: Jer 12:5-6

“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?

• You can’t even keep up with other things I Created…
• You stumble (SIN) when you are in best possible situations…
• It is an object lesson in what we started with: God is beyond us…

Our way forward is to humbly recognize The Author & Perfecter of Justice so we can be ‘Instruments’ of HIS justice!

Zachariah 7:8-10

And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’

• As God’s People we are Commanded
• Administer means to DO it…not to post it, or read a book about it
• Show mercy, don’t just think it’s a good idea
• You & I, today & tomorrow, can work to end oppression (based on Scripture)

But there is a danger in our own ‘Working’ for Justice if we loose sight of WHO it must always be about and that it can only come from HIM. For followers of Jesus Christ how we begin to foster Justice is clear…it is about connection to the source of true Justice.

Micah 6:7-8

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

• The answer is an obvious NO…the example is the worst excess of man’s ways. 
• God has shown us, how he wants it to be: ‘Shalom’
• If we truly ‘Walk’ with HIM, we will DO Justice
• True love can only be expressed in ACTION…to love kindness is to ‘BE KIND’

1 John 3: 18-19

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence.

• Words & Speech VS Actions & Truth…notice which side truth is on?
• Beware of those who claim to seek Justice apart from The ‘Source of Justice’  
• We belong to the truth because we have surrendered our lives to ‘The Truth’

You cannot overcome evil with evil…

You cannot bring about justice with injustice…

God defines Justice in His Essence

God is always against people treating other people unjustly

Injustice is established & perpetuated by SIN based on LIES

You cannot be on the side of ‘True Justice’ and be against Jesus Christ…

Application Questions:

What are some ways you can seek humility in your approach to God & Justice?

How can you increase your understanding of God’s idea of Justice?

What can you do to ‘Administer Justice’ & not oppress the marginalized?

How might you discern who is concerned with ‘Biblical Justice’ VS ‘Human Justice’?

There is only one ‘Race’: The Human Race

We are using terminology DESIGNED to divide us.

Terminology that creates a mindset that we are ‘different races’

When we say someone or something is ‘Racist’ we are perpetuating the thinking that is behind division, hate and oppression because it perpetuates the lie of different races. Many factors divide people groups, but the truth is, race is not one of them.

Throughout known history it was understood there was only 1 Race: The human one

The idea that there are different races is Anti- Biblical…

It’s not supported by science, it has no basis in reality!

It is a construct of sin and evil that was used and continues to be used, to justify oppression, subjugation, hatred, division and in short the perpetuation of sin

Our country’s history of oppression based on the lie that there are different races of people is not the only example of this: Sin is world wide

We want to join God here to address this lie & foster reconciliation of divided groups

OneRace is a movement of prayer and unity, comprised of Biblical Christians of all backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities, in the metro Atlanta area.

We start by changing the way we look at what divides us, calling it what it is, and then moving to reconcile & unify the ‘Body Of Christ’ so we can lead our communities

We are going to gather together to denounce the sin of ‘Racism’ (the labeling, discriminating, alienating, classification and oppressing of people based on the idea that there are different races)

I am here to tell you, there is only one race: THE HUMAN RACE

This is not just semantics, it’s about Biblical Truth VS A Lie from the pit of Hell

We are going to expose the lie with God’s truth and let His word direct our actions

Genesis 1:25-27

God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

• ‘Offspring of the same kind’…This is God’s way (It’s Good)
• Human Beings made in ‘Our’ (The Trinity) Image One Race, the Human Race
• No Subdivisions or Different Classifications One Single Entity
• God says all humanity expresses HIS Image

God has expressed His nature and being in the billions of humans from thousands of places & cultures. The totality of the entire human race expresses God’s image

Where there is disdain for any facet of the human race this is ultimately disdain for the image of God.

The idea that we are different races denies Biblical truth

Let’s look at the history of the term ‘Race’

Throughout history people have been classified by geography, language, ethnicity, religion and culture. The concept of “Race” as a system of classification emphasizing differing skin colors and other physical attributes was first used in the early 1700’s.

By the 1800’s so called scientific debate on Race grew beyond identifying physical differences to include the concept that “racial variation” was a result of humans having different origins. (Darwinism)

These classifications set humans in a hierarchy by race (since there were different races, some must be better than others) and formed the basis for racial supremacist thinking and justifications for slavery, segregation, the doctrine of anti-Semitism practiced in Nazi Germany, and the race based practices of Japan in WW2.

The concept of different races of people was scientifically disproven by the late 1950’s yet the concept of classification by race was embedded in many societies, especially here in the United States, and continued to be perpetuated.

On average, each human being is 99.5% similar in DNA to every other human being.

The truth about race? There is One Race, The Human Race

God sees all Humanity as One Race, if we are HIS people we should agree with Him

@ Midtown Church:

We desire to be a body that draws it’s values and culture from the Scriptures.

We desire to be a body that sees things from Jesus Christ’s point of view

Now recognizing that we are One Race, how do we move forward?

2 Corinthians 5:16-20

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

• Ending division by ‘Race Classification’ will not happen from a secular source
• It will take spiritual change
• We can ‘Pay It Forward’ with Reconciliation
• We follow Christ’s example and attitude
• As Ambassadors for Christ we’re to be agents of unity, actively fighting division

Ephesians 2:13-16

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

• God is in the reconciliation business
• Jesus is where that starts for each of us
• We can intentionally allow him to break down any hostility we have

Colossians 1:19-22

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.

• Our un-deserved reconciliation to God by Christ is the catalyst
• We can be free of the false accusations of the Devil which fuel division

Satan’s plan is to continually accuse us to one another so that he may divide humanity and encourage us to perpetuate sin against one another.

The lie that people are racially different is the foundation of supremacist ideologies which dehumanize both the holder of the ideology, and the victim of oppression that is justified by such thinking.

‘Racism’ denies the truth that all humans are made in God’s image. There is such a thing as ‘Racism’, it is the perpetuation of the lie that humans are of different races.

1 Corinthians 1:10

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.

• Paul’s appeal to the church at Corinth is possible
• We can be part of a group of God’s people who practice unity
• Not unity born of our similar culture, appearance, geography, but born of Christ
• Think it & Live it!

Unity in all that Christ stands for is our responsibility as citizens of His kingdom.

This means dying to our preferences and comfort in order to become one in Christ.

We don’t all become the same, we submit all our differences to The Cross

Reconciliation and unity in Christ are the norm for Jesus Christ’s Disciples

How can We be part of God healing old wounds & building a greater unity?

• Acknowledge what has divided us. SIN not DNA Differences not Race
• Acknowledge what has been done to people based on ‘Racism’
• Redefine ‘Racism’ as belief that there are different races rather than a catchall phrase for any kind of conflict between people who don’t look the same
• Repent of the sin WE have (We cannot repent for anyone else’s sin)
• Look to Christ to unify us as His body to intentionally work against division
• We can go to The Cross Together, United in our Humanity

A Vision of Perfect Worship: Revelation Chapter 4

“It is very little that we can know of the future state, but we may be quite sure that we know as much as is good for us. We ought to be as content with that which is not revealed as with that which is. If God wills us not to know, we ought to be satisfied not to know. Depend on it, he has told us all about heaven that is necessary to bring us there; and if he had revealed more, it would have served rather for the gratification of our curiosity than for the increase of our grace.” ~ Charles Spurgeon

Revelation Chapter 4

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.

• Opening of chapter marks a transition
• (linear time = after ‘church age’)
• 7 churches interpreted as ‘ages’ of Christ’s Church

At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.

• Define ‘In The Spirit’
• THRONE = Authority
• God’s Throne mentioned 14 time in this chapter 41 times in the whole book
• JASPER & RUBY Symbols of connection to the 12 tribes & Holiness / Justice

Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.

• 12 tribes of Israel + Jesus’ 12 Disciples / Apostles
• Represent Redeemed of all mankind
• Dressed in White = Purified / Forgiven
• Crowns = Reward for acted upon faith

From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

• Like the scene on Mt Sini when the Law was delivered to Moses
• Seven Spirits (Totality of The Holy Spirit)
• The Sea looked like glass…purifying barrier

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.

• They were similarly described in Isiah 6 and Ezekiel 1 & 10
• Angelic Beings that were not messengers but instead devoted to praising God
• They were there to lead the Elders in Worship

Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’

• Eyes everywhere on them was about seeing and being seen
• Worship only happens with total transparency
• They declare His uniqueness, one of a kind nature

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever.

• They react to the reality of God
• They fall down prostrate (posture of submission and humility)

They lay their crowns before the throne and say: ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.’

• Laying down their crowns says: ALL the glory is yours, we deserve none
• ABSOLUTE recognition of God’s sovereignty
• His worthiness is not dependent on our recognition of it
• The declaring His Lordship positions us where we should be

Application Questions:

Why should we pay close attention to scenes like this in Scripture?

How might you live if you had a vision of the ‘Reality of Worship’ in Heaven?

What can we do as a church to cultivate a greater sense of AWE for God?

What allows you to ‘get real with God’ when worshiping?

How can we build a culture @t Midtown of giving God ALL glory, for everything?

How can we as Disciples of Christ practice the reality of God’s Sovereignty better?

Philadelphia: A Vision of Obedience (Rev. 3:7-13)

After the last two weeks of hearing Jesus Christ address churches mired in sin and disobedience (Thyatira & Sardis) it is awesome to have the example of Philadelphia

Statements of Affirmation regarding God’s Covenant with HIS people

How God’s people respond to His love, Grace, Mercy, Holiness and Salvation: WITH OBEDIENCE!

And we are now given this ‘Vision for Obedience’ as Christ’s Church

Write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia.

• Gateway City, an outpost for the expansion of Greek thought & language
• Named in Greek: ‘City of Brotherly Love’ in honor of the founder’s Brother
• New city: just over 200 years old at this point

This is the message from the one who is holy and true, the one who has the key of David. What he opens, no one can close; and what he closes, no one can open:

• He defines a ‘Set Apart Reality’ Who He is defines who we are to be!
• Christ is the perfection of what David was a flawed example of: Obedience

Philippians 2:8

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

• The identification with Obedience as David modeled is the ‘Door Opener’
• This is a picture of what a real relationship with God looks like (David Example)
• What Christ opens to us is Salvation (Undeserved & Done Deal)
• What He closes is God’s Judgement and Wrath (Deserved & Done Deal)
• These are affirmations of the Covenant Promises made by God in The Old Test

I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close.

• He knows exactly where their hearts are by their actions
• He Says: ‘I know the reality of your obedience and THAT is the door’
• What they do comes from what they believe; that Jesus is The Christ!
• Once God opens the door to you it cannot be closed (Eternal Security)

You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me.

• It’s not about resources, it’s about a ‘Heart’ that obeys
• We are to be obedient with what we have (resources can be a curse)
• Denial of Jesus as the Christ is disobedience (in any way, shape or form)
• What does it mean to be ‘Disobedient to The Gospel’?

Look, I will force those who belong to Satan’s synagogue—those liars who say they are Jews but are not—to come and bow down at your feet. They will acknowledge that you are the ones I love.

• Legalistic Jews were persecuting ‘The Church’
• To be ‘Jews’ means be God’s People… more ‘playing church’
• The truth of who belongs to God will be found out (every knee will bow…)
• THIS church survived, Christianity survived, the Jewish community did not

Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world.

• The obedience to persevere in the face of cultural attacks takes ‘True Faith’
• Obedience that sets us apart can only come from knowing who we belong to
• Who do you belong to? Are you divided?

I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown.

• The idea that he is coming soon is to remind us tomorrow can be too late
• These guys told to hold on to what they have instead of to go back to original
• Crowns are about rewards for faithfulness and obedience (we lay them down)

All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it.

• Victorious = Biblical Salvation
• God uses HIS people to create His place of worship!
• Christ will use ‘The Saints’ to uphold HIS Church (Pillars)
• This is a permanent deal (More Covenant)

And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.

• This is an affirmation of who ‘Saints’ belong to
• Citizenship in God’s city is every Saint or True Confessor’s destiny
• This is Eternity

Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

• The repetition is to call our attention to the importance of this statement
• Listen & Understand: Life Application

Application Questions:

How is David an example to help you connect with God?

Why can it be an advantage to have little strength when seeking to obey Christ?

How do you tell the difference between being Obedient and being Legalistic?

What motivates you to persevere differently than ‘those who belong to this world’?

Why does Christ say He is coming soon?

How can you use your ‘Victory’ to be part of building a ‘Community of Worship’

In this message what’s clear about God’s Covenant with ‘those who belong to HIM’?