So if you get done reading, again I wanted you guys to read up until the end of Chapter 2. Do you realize that the section actually goes much longer, but I stopped it there because it's a good stopping point. But once you guys finish reading that, please try to write out a summary and then you guys can look up or...

Okay. Let's see. Alright. So if you guys didn't get a chance to write a summary, please be in the habit of trying to do that when you guys read. Just by way of thinking through our own devotions. It is always good to look at things in great detail and it's always good to wrap your mind around that detail so that you have something to take away.

Something that will last, something that you can meditate on, right? And writing summaries for different sections is good. It's kind of like actually sometimes talking with somebody, you know? You can be in a conversation with somebody and talk to them over coffee for about an hour. Sometimes they'll say things and they're a little disconnected and you're kind of like, what are you talking about, you know?

And you want them to kind of boil down it by saying, wait a minute, so what you're saying is and then you summarize it for them and we do that because we want to understand. So likewise, get in the habit of summarizing sections and paragraphs so that you can retain and understand, okay?

Now I had you guys read up to the end of chapter two for the sake of summary, but if you notice, if you look at chapter three, notice how he says, "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ." Right?

So you think, okay, he's talking about now fleshliness. So rightly in my Bible, it talks about, or it has this title heading, Foundations for Living, but he references again the same thing that we mentioned at the very beginning. Look at verse four, "For when one says, I am of Paul and another, I am of Apollos, are you not mere men?" Oh, so now he's going back to where we started.

So you realize he's been saying so much already, but actually this section continues. So how to outline this whole thing is difficult. From one commentary to another, the outlines are really different. But I would again recommend you guys be observant of these things to see what is Apostle Paul's flow of thought, okay?

That being the case, I want to at least summarize section by section for us, and I think verses 10 to the end of chapter two is a good chunk. It's pretty broad, but it's not so small that we're kind of disconnecting his thoughts. Let me ask you guys, what are some summaries you came up with for chapters 1-10 through the end of chapter two?

Any volunteers to share their summary? Yes. You have sort of a long one. That's okay. So I guess I'll summarize the first part. Unity is essential because of the unity of Christ and the power of the gospel through Christ. The bigger part is, "God has totally upended the normal order of the world and its value system in order to bring glory to his name.

Now the wisdom of the world, the strength of the world, means nothing. The wisdom of God is revealed in Christ by the Spirit of the Holy Spirit. Only those he has called can use the wisdom of the Spirit of the Holy Spirit to do such a thing." So I guess I'll summarize the first part.

Unity is essential because of the unity of Christ and the power of the gospel through Christ. The bigger part is, "God has totally upended the normal order of the world and its value system in order to bring glory to his name. Now the wisdom of the world, the strength of the world, means nothing.

The wisdom of God is revealed in Christ by the Spirit of the Holy Spirit. Only those he has called can use the wisdom of the Spirit of the Holy Spirit to do such a thing." So we no longer rely on wisdom or strength of persuasion from our God. Nice.

Very good. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. But there are other things to notice and other things to summarize. So who else has another summary perhaps? That was really well said. If you can boil it down. Yes. Okay, do the shorter one. No divisions. Okay. Great. Anything else you guys see?

There has to be some middle ground. Yeah, there should be some middle ground. I'm going to call on a few people just so that, you know, to keep you on your toes. How's it going? Dee Dee, you're looking right at me, so. I kind of took questions from the first six and that one.

I think I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one.

I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one.

I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one.

I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. I'm going to go with that one. - You said that you have one spirit. You have one heart.

- Good, okay. Good. That was well said, too. Excellent. Okay. Anybody else? All right. So, you guys can see that, obviously, perhaps, again, sometimes I compare how I used to think about things when I first read it. Let's say when I was a young Christian in college or whatever, and then how I'm older, and then how I'm more of a Christian.

And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things.

And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things.

And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things.

And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things.

And I compare that to how I used to think about things. And I compare that to how I used to think about things. in verse 18 for the word of the cross is foolishness. And I want to ask you guys, so from your summary and from looking at this next section that we're gonna be focusing on today, verses 18 and down, what do you think is the logical connection for him from going to talking about unity in their vision to now talking about the foolishness of the cross?

Let's try to identify that. Okay, so you guys get my question, right? He uses the word for, which is a connecting word, and he goes from talking about unity to now for the foolishness of the cross. So the word of the cross is foolishness, okay? What would be the logical connection for him to say for, and then he's moving into this?

(water falling) Thinking about it. (water falling) (water falling) (water falling) Mm-hmm. (water falling) Mm-hmm. (water falling) Mm-hmm. (water falling) Mm-hmm. (water falling) Okay, good, good. Good, were you guys able to hear what he said? All right, good. So thank you for sharing that. So as you guys do your Bible studies, be always asking questions like this.

If you actually notice, looking down at our passage, starting from verse 18, he actually uses that word for a lot, verse 18, for the word of the cross, and then he asks in verse 20, where is the wise man, all this kind of stuff. Actually, sorry, verse 18, there's for, verse 19, there's for, verse 20, there's the question, verse 21, there is for, verse 22, there is for, and then connecting the next section, verse 26, there's for, and you notice that he's really building up a case, okay?

And so it's important for us to follow the logic. And Matt was really getting at to the right focus of what he's trying to do. He's talking about their unity and disunity, and he is looking at their disunity, and seeing it's not just a disunity as in like a discord between two people.

He's looking at their strife, and he's looking at their, you know, the factions that they have, and the dissensions that they have, and he's not just saying, hey, it's just relational problems, we can get through this. He's seeing it as a much bigger category, right? And so Matt was right.

In seeing their disunity, he was pointing to the fact that there is already then a contrast between worldly wisdom and God's wisdom. There is then an existence of a bigger, I guess something bigger at stake, which is their understanding of what is at the core of who they are, the gospel of Jesus Christ, right?

And so he is making a plea through this, he's making a plea through this, to say don't be misled by worldly wisdom, but come back to the core of the gospel, okay? Now, I mentioned for you, that, or I guess in your packet, that verse, verse 18, for the wisdom of the cross, sorry, for the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

That is like a proposition statement of the whole paragraph or thought from verse 18 through 25, okay? So think of that as your proposition. That is a great verse to memorize. A great verse to memorize, okay? Because it's giving us the spiritual position or the spiritual principle that he sees working in them when they are disunited, okay?

So, I wanna ask you a question here. Just from this one verse, what kinds of spiritual realities can you deduce from verse 18? (silence) Well, Matt already mentioned, like the world sees the cross as foolishness. That's the reality, okay? Sometimes we hope, right, that it wasn't so foolish when we go evangelize.

We wish it wasn't so laughable. We wish it wasn't so offensive, but that's the spiritual reality we have to accept, right? But what else can you deduce from that? (audience member speaking) Good, okay. So there's, you know, that the spiritual truth of our destiny, whether we're going to heaven or hell, relies upon saving knowledge.

Does that kinda summarize what you're saying? Yeah. What else? (silence) Okay, things of God are foolishness to the eyes of the world. You notice also how it's talking about, you know, in terms of those who are perishing and those who are being saved. You see how it kinda spiritual reality of the current condition, so to speak, that what God is doing currently.

So anyway, this verse is one that's really good to memorize, okay? Now I wanna move forward and lay out for you the rest of the paragraph in this way, 'cause I think there's more structure to be seen than kinda meets the eye. Just for your blank there, the logical layout of the passage from verse 18 to 25, because I noticed that there was this repetition of the word for, and for me then, I had a way to kinda outline the passage for me.

For could mean, yes, you know, like, for something, as in this is for the purpose of, or intent, or goal. For could mean kinda suitability or fitness. So I think I have blanks for you there. This is just, I'm gonna go through it quickly, okay? So the first one was, for could mean purpose.

Second one, for could mean suitability, like, hey, this is not for you to decide, or this is not for you to know. But as you guys know, for could also mean because. This is the reason, right? And I think that's what Apostle Paul is doing. So what is his main point is he's showing the superiority, or at least the crucialness, importance of the gospel, right, which is the wisdom of God.

So if you guys can, in that little blank, this is the way I would like to write it. Reasons why God's wisdom is superior, okay? So let me repeat that. Reasons why God's wisdom is superior, as a layout of the passage from verse 18 through 25, okay? Okay. So, I'm gonna read to us verse 19 and 20, and we're gonna observe the first reason.

And we're gonna observe it by way of just kinda, again, asking questions of what's taking place. So Apostle Paul has said, I look at your dissension, I see not only just relational problems, but I see a division of the way that you're thinking. You are thinking according to worldly wisdom.

And then, in describing it, he says, basically the foolishness, or the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved is the power of God. And he's going to lay down a case as to why the power of God, the wisdom of God, is greater.

Verse 19 says, for it is written, so I'm taking that for as to say because it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside. Where is the wise man, where is the scribe, where is the debater of this age?

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? My first question to you is, as we observe verse 19, what is God's attitude towards the wisdom of the world? In verse 19, when you read that, what is God's attitude towards the wisdom of the world? He what? He despises it.

Now, what's really interesting about that is this, is as we know God to be a kind God, wouldn't he be one where he wants people to exercise their discernment? And wouldn't he want them to exercise critical thinking and analysis and to exercise the use of their brain? Well, yes.

But what is he saying there? That he's going to destroy the wisdom of the wise and the wisdom of the world and all the wisdom of the clever ones, he's gonna lay aside. What's even more interesting about this is that this quotation comes from Isaiah chapter 29, verse 14.

You don't have to turn there, I'm just gonna tell you a quick story, okay? Isaiah is prophesying in a time, obviously, when the nation of Israel is not doing well. The northern kingdom is constantly under threat by the Assyrians of being destroyed, okay? Remember, the Assyrians are a nasty group, pagan group, and they ultimately destroy the northern kingdom.

Well, Sennacherib, who is the king of Assyria, is threatening Israel and saying, "I'm gonna destroy you, I'm gonna destroy you." And Isaiah gives a prophecy from the Lord telling the people, "Don't worry about it. "They're not gonna win. "They're gonna fail, they're gonna fail miserably." But what's really interesting about the whole story is this, is God makes sure to tell Hezekiah, through Isaiah, you are not going to win and they're not going to fail because you're strong.

You're not going to win because you have lots of advisors. You're not gonna win because you are clever, but you are going to win because I am with you. And so the story goes, over 180,000 men of Sennacherib, the Assyrians, get destroyed, not by the people, but by one angel, okay?

The reason why I say that's really interesting is because God is making a point to them that they're not going to be successful based on their wisdom, but He's telling that to His own people, right? He wasn't necessarily speaking and addressing Sennacherib. He was addressing Hezekiah. And if you know Hezekiah, he was a good king, but at the tail end of his life, he fell to his pride.

He fell to his pride. And so here, what we have, again, is this thought for us. When we try to apply our own wisdom, our own understanding, to scenarios and situations, that's fine, so long as it's what? According to the Lord's wisdom. And as soon as our wisdom, our cleverness, is placed above, placed priority over God's, it's not as if God says, "Well, good try, "but here's what I would have to say to that." God says, "No, not only is it not acceptable, "I am going to destroy whatever you place above my wisdom." Let me ask you a question.

From the Bible stories that you guys know, whether it be Old Testament stories or New Testament stories, what are some scenarios where people apply their understanding, their wisdom, their ingenuity, for whatever success or goal they wanted? What are some biblical examples of people going outside of what God was trying to do to accomplish their ends?

There's a lot. Just think about it for a moment. (silence) Abraham and Sarah. I don't have a baby, I'm getting old, so? He's gonna go use one of his servants. And then, you know, the story goes that there's strife then in the family, there's all this and that. What else?

(audience member speaks) Yeah, Peter, he's got a lot of moments, like in the Bible. Where he's like, Jesus is like, ah, you're not shaking his. There's a lot of moments like that. What other examples are there? Okay, are Isaac and Rebecca? Yeah, yeah. Right, oh, Rebecca, okay, I got you guys.

Rebecca and Jacob, where Rebecca is trying to fool Isaac by dressing her son up as Esau and making him all hairy. And he's all worried, like, I'm smooth, though. I don't have hair. And so the mom is thinking, like, just trust me, son, like a good Asian mom. And then he's like, it forces him to do all this stuff.

And yeah, and what does that end up in? Now there's family strife, now Esau hates him. And Esau is sitting there saying, when Isaac gets old enough and dies, I'm gonna go kill you. And then, you know, they're at odds and all that stuff. And he's known as a deceiver.

What other stories are there? - Esau would be an offended, often sacrificed, and was regarded as a hating person. And as a victim of his own. - Right, right. You know, it was forbidden. That role of the priesthood was only appointed by God. And Esau, because he wanted to make sure he has a blessing before he goes into a fight, decides, well, Samuel's coming late, so I'm just gonna go ahead and do it, you know?

And that ends up, again, actually, it's a pretty intense moment where Samuel starts to say, and the Lord has rejected you, you know? So, great example. Above these and more, we realize, what's really interesting about this scenario and all the examples you gave, a lot of those examples, it wasn't like the people were trying to accomplish an end that was like completely, completely contrary to God, right?

Like, did God wanna bless Jacob? Yes. Did God wanna provide Saul, like, victory in war? Yes. It was kind of strange to think about, these are God's people, but what ends up happening is, they apply their own cleverness and wisdom. And in so doing, it's almost as though they were pursuing a completely different ends than God was.

And so we realize, from passages like this, that even for us, when we think about our lives, when we think about situations and circumstances, yes, are we supposed to apply discernment and wisdom and careful thinking and intentionality? Absolutely. But we have to make sure that we never cross that boundary, we never cross that line, where we all of a sudden apply our ingenuity, and we decide, well, this is the only way it's going to succeed.

You see what I'm saying? And whether it's a silly goal like, I just wanna date somebody, and I wanna, you know, like, it's beneficial to have a family. Well, great. Do I think that's the Lord's will for the vast majority of the people in this age? I do. But when people start thinking, well, I'm gonna try out this Buddhist guy, and I'm gonna try out this, you know, Catholic girl, and all of a sudden, your wisdom takes over, then you're absolutely wrong.

Whether it's your job, whether it's your school, whether it's your family life, if you start to think, well, I know this is what the Lord says, but in order for this end to happen, I have to do X, Y, and Z. Now, all of a sudden, it's the same as, you're completely, completely overriding God, and you're designed to pursue an end that the Lord will not bless.

Okay? So, one of the things I want you to jot down is this. For verse 19, part A, an interesting truth, a principle we have to realize is, God's wisdom is exclusive. You don't say, okay, I understand God's wisdom, and I'm just gonna apply mine on top of that, no.

God says, it's God's wisdom, it's God's way, it's God's methodology, and the wisdom of the world, is he gonna be like, good try? No, he says, I'm going to destroy. God's wisdom is exclusive. But part B, we observe, he starts asking these questions, and I wanna ask you, when he asks these questions of like, where is the wise man, where is the scribe, where is the debater of this age, has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

Through these questions, what truth is he trying to conclude? Through these questions, what truth is he trying to conclude? Just try, you guys, you know. I'm not gonna be like, I will destroy your, (laughs) For me, I'm gonna say, good try. It's fine, and a lot of times, the things that you guys say are really insightful.

Excellent. They're not to be seen. And so what we realize is, where are they? They're not here. And so the principle that I see is, the wisdom of the world, the debaters of the age, the scribes of the day, guess what? They are temporary. And so by contrast, God's wisdom is what?

Permanent. And so, I left a big blank for you guys. The reason why God's wisdom is so much more powerful, the reason why it's so much more superior, the reason number one is because it's exclusively permanent. And nothing else is. Nothing else lasts generations upon generations for ages upon ages.

Nothing else lasts forever, like God would say. That out of the grass of the field and all the stuff would wither, his word, what? Lasts forever. God's word, his truth is exclusively permanent. And so that's what he asked. He was like, where are they? What have they become? And I wanna take a moment to say, you know, the things that I think are so, you know, people would try to elevate as to be so wise and so academic, so to speak?

What have that concluded? See, for me, I was a philosophy major. I feel like it was a really bad decision in my life. Now, I did learn how to read better 'cause my reading was horrible. And I did learn how to write better 'cause my writing was also horrible, as you guys sometimes see in your packet.

So at least I gained skill. But it did confuse me a lot because I started learning about things like metaphysics. You know, metaphysics, you know, just actually to start even broader than that, philosophy is a love of wisdom. Philosophy is questioning all these various things. What's your destiny? What's the value system?

What's your knowledge? How do you know things? Epistemology, that's the study of like your knowledge and the gaining of truth. And then I started learning the metaphysical stuff, talking about beyond physics, transcending the stuff of being, you know? And then you come out like, what do I know and what do I don't know?

What do I not know? And it's just an interesting thing. But what's the fruit of all that? Has that caused me to be a more moral and upright man? Has that caused me to be more disciplined? Has that caused me to be more godly? Has that caused me to love people more?

And then, you know, I realized there are certain areas where we should always excel in learning. We should excel in learning God's creation. We should excel in learning, you know, who we are. We should excel in learning truth. But there are things that really, you just keep learning and learning, it just has no fruit.

And for me, as, you know, someone who went to seminary, I considered, do I go to, you know, get a PhD in this? And I'm gonna just throw out a couple things for you guys. Right now, what's huge is redaction theory and source theory. You know what that is?

It's a bunch of PhDs sitting together, wondering what's the source of the Bible? Did they have common sources? Did they have certain people? And so they'll look at the book of Deuteronomy and say maybe it had a, you know, a priestly source that they all kind of corporately got, like, their resources from?

Or did they piece together different mythologies from their generation and age? So they're sitting there learning and learning and studying, and I'm gonna tell you honestly, if you go into the Christian academic world, if you don't understand that, they look at you as stupid. And they're like, oh, you don't know the broader discussion of what's going on in academic Christianity.

And I'm sitting there looking at them like, if you're gonna call me stupid 'cause I don't trust my Bible, call me stupid. You see what I'm saying? Like, I'm sitting here asking them, like, so you're gonna get your PhD, you're gonna learn for like five, six years, and at the end of it, you're just gonna doubt the Bible.

What's the fruit of all that? Seriously, it's this question of, like, when you apply worldly wisdom, where are you at the end of this? There's no godly wisdom, you have no knowledge of God. And so I see a vain pursuit of earthly wisdom, vain pursuit of new ideas and new systems and new theories.

I'm not saying all academia is bad. As a matter of fact, we've advanced a lot in different fields of study, and I think it's awesome, you know? But you have to realize there is a question in all that is, a lot of that is temporary. And I wanna say to you guys, just as Apostle Paul is looking at the church saying, you guys have to be wise, you guys have to be discerning, because there's so many pull, there's so much luring you to apply worldly wisdom to your circumstances, right?

Like, case in point, you know, lately I'm doing a lot of counseling for different scenarios in your life. How to, again, how to choose spouse, how to choose jobs, what to do in certain circumstances, how to deal with personal struggle, how to deal with emotional struggle, how to deal with all of this.

And to tell you honestly, in every one of those circumstances, there is either a worldly philosophy to apply, or there is a biblical godly philosophy to apply. And Apostle Paul is challenging them to be discerning enough to see that God's wisdom is stronger, God's wisdom is more, or is superior, okay?

I have some verses for you here. There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. He says in verse Isaiah chapter 19, well then, where are your wise men? Please let them tell you, and let them understand what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.

The princess of Zion has acted foolishly, the princes of Memphis are deluded. Those who are the cornerstone of her tribes have led Egypt astray. The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of distortion that have led Egypt astray, and all that it does, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

That's how God sees the counselors of Egypt. You know, the scribes of Egypt. That's how God sees them. So again, just kind of summarizing that point though, he's again pitting against worldly wisdom and godly wisdom. And he's saying godly wisdom is exclusively permanent. The rest, look at their fruit.

Where are they? Okay? Oh, it's already eight. Hmm, okay. Moving forward to verse 21. I'm gonna smash together then verse 21 and 22. He says, for since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know God. God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

For indeed, Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified to Jews a stumbling block into the Gentiles' foolishness. Okay? So, in this, there's another reason to be observed. And you look at what's being said here, and then in verse 21, part A, he says, for since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know God.

And I ask you this question, which is a pretty profound question in my studies of apologetics, okay? I read different theories of apologetics. There's what's called a classical apologetic. There's a presuppositional apologetic. And that's another field that you guys can study in your own time. And this question really struck out a core of why the different philosophies of apologetics existed.

Can a man from his natural state know God? Can they? What do you guys think? Yes, no, maybe so, I don't know. (laughs) (laughs) I'm just gonna let you keep going. (laughs) Good, good, Romans chapter one and two has a lot to say. It does say that they are without excuse for, you know, through creation, the things that are to be known about God are known, his vast power, all that kind of stuff.

And through the testimony that's in our heart, men are able to come to a point in which they recognize that there is God. And so that's why they're absolutely without excuse, okay? But there exists this question, and obviously this verse is kind of like, Pastor Mark, I think the verse kind of says it.

(laughs) It says, no, it cannot come to a knowledge of God. Well, what's really interesting to me about this is, he mentions that according to the desire of God, God, it was well pleasing to God, that through the foolishness of the message preached to save the people, and so on the flip side, it was pleasing to God, this wasn't God's plan and design, that a man will not sit and reason and then start climbing the ladder to the Lord.

You see what that's saying? And so to answer that question, in many sense, the answer is no. You can deduce that there exists a higher being, you can deduce that you are small. You can understand that you are this tiny, minuscule little thing in the vast array of all the universe, but you cannot come to a knowledge to understand God and have a relationship with the Lord.

And so, on the flip side of that, we understand, verse 21, God is limitless. Whereas the world is so limited, so what if somebody can study all their life, so what if somebody has observed the world, so what if somebody can really kind of pinpoint how things function on earth, and they can pinpoint how people function, and maybe they're the master at understanding and diagnosing people?

But what is the end of all that when an individual gains knowledge but has no power, whereas God, he does as is well-pleasing to him? He sets the criteria, he sets the agenda, he sets what is necessary of man. And so, for me, this passage, why is it that God's wisdom is so superior is because reason number two, God's wisdom is limitlessly powerful.

Limitlessly powerful. I think that's what he's getting at. In the wisdom of man, it could not know God, restricted. But God, in his wisdom, does as he pleased. That's his power, unrestricted, right? And so, as we think about that, there is our second reason as to why Apostle Paul is making this case that God's wisdom is superior.

And then in verse 22, it says, for indeed, Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified to Jews a stumbling block and to the Gentiles foolishness. What I'm actually gonna do is try to squeeze verse 22 through 24 all together, you guys. So let me read it in kind of unison here, okay?

So again, Jews seek for signs, Greeks seek for wisdom, for the Jews a stumbling block, Gentiles foolishness, verse 23, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

So what he does is he used two bookends. At the very beginning, this is the power of God. That's verse 24. Oh, wait, hold on. That's verse 25, sorry. Verse 25, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. So essentially, this whole paragraph, again, the main theme is God's wisdom is greater.

Now, in thinking through the middle part of it, I wanna hit upon just a convicting portion for all of us. Okay, a convicting portion for all of us. I asked this question in verse 22, why do the Jews keep seeking signs? What sort of signs are they seeking? These are all good questions to ask, right?

And for the Greeks, why are they keep seeking wisdom and what kind of wisdom are they seeking? Now, remember, Jews seek a sign, right? Jews seek a sign. And all throughout various moments in history, when they're interacting with God and when they're interacting with Jesus, they were always seeking a sign.

But the thing about it is, God gave them signs. Remember God miraculously healed people? He miraculously raised people from the dead? He miraculously caused coins to come out of the fish's mouth? But the fact of the matter is, even in an instance when Jesus healed the blindness of a man and then he sent them, and he sent the man away, that man went back to his hometown and he was praising the Lord and he showed himself to people.

Look, I was blind from birth, but look at me. That's John chapter nine, right? The response of the Jewish community, did they believe because they saw a sign? No, right? No, they did not. And so, there's a sense in which you think about it, they're seeking a sign, but what kind of sign are they looking for?

They're definitely not seeking a sign that God would give. They're seeking a sign in which would satisfy their own heart's desire. The sign they wanted was triumph and victory. The sign they wanted was overthrow the oppressive government of Rome. What the sign they wanted was rulership and superiority of Israel.

Likewise, the Greeks are the same thing. Did they not receive wisdom? Did Apostle Paul not reason with them? Did Apostle Paul not reveal to them? Did Apostle Paul not preach to them? Was he not at the street corner? Was he not at the temples, standing and preaching all day long?

The fact of the matter is, the reason why he denounces the wisdom of man, oh shoot, sorry, is because the wisdom of man is not really wisdom, is it? It's just fleshly. It's just seeking after the heart's desire. It's just seeking after the things they want in the moment.

It's just seeking after their ends. And so although they say, yes, I want a sign, great God signs, that's not really what they wanted. Yes, oh, I want wisdom, I want knowledge and revelation, that's not really what they wanted either. And so later on in the book, Apostle Paul's gonna talk about that.

Part of the reason why your dissension and your disunity exists is because underneath all this pride and arrogance and underneath all this wisdom and calling out Paul as my teacher and Paul as my teacher, there is something more base and fleshly. That's a convicting thing for us, isn't it?

When we think about the practice of our wisdom, our ingenuity, our cleverness that I mentioned earlier, you dig deeper down into why we pursue those things, why we apply those things into our lives and life circumstances, is it's not sometimes more deeply rooted in simple fleshly desires, things that our hearts have attached to.

And so, again, coming back to just conclude, in a moment of division, in a moment when the church is kind of in a pretty pinnacle moment, a crucial moment when they need to set their eyes straight, Apostle Paul is addressing, yes, there are relational issues where you guys are in strife with each other, but he extrapolates out and says, there is a spiritual issue where you guys aren't connected with true spiritual truth, where you guys aren't really thinking in biblical wisdom, but he is also going to address, even underneath that, there is a division in which your heart is seeking after that which God has not blessed.

All right, well, I hope again, you guys will continue just kind of study, or not kind of, but continue studying the passage in context, but I did wanna leave you guys with some discussion questions and thoughts for yourselves. And, oh man, can you read for me question number one?

I forgot to write it down on my own notes. Yeah. - What examples are there in respect to biblical wisdom and human wisdom? - Okay, now, when I say examples, you guys can address examples that are more broad, philosophical system, practices of the church at large, mainstream Christianity, okay, or practices that you see in more personal lives.

Question number two. Yeah, Chris, sorry. - Are there things that you want God to put you in charge of? - Okay, I did want you guys to ask more personal questions. So, there are times in which life circumstances, or wherever you find yourselves, you want to make good, wise decisions, but it's really hard.

And sometimes, you expect God to show himself, to prove his wisdom, to show his way before you act. Are there things like that in your life? Are there things where you want God to prove himself, or prove that this is going to work first, before you actually follow? Last question, Eugene, can you read that for us?

Okay. In this talk, it was pretty general, okay? In this talk, it was talking about pitting against worldly wisdom and biblical wisdom. But what would constitute worldly wisdom? If I sit down and do a pro/con chart, is that worldly wisdom? If I sit down and ask one of you guys for advice on what to do in my life circumstances, is that worldly wisdom?

Because you don't happen to be the Bible. What would classify as worldly wisdom? Like, to what contents, you know? So again, please talk about those things to make it a little bit more specific, okay? All right, let's pray and wrap up, and you guys can get into your discussion groups.

Heavenly Father, God, I do pray that every single one of us would learn to think more and more biblically, day by day. God, from both learning your scriptures and taking it into our minds and our hearts, help us to know that, but also help us to know experientially, to see the power of your truth.

God, that in moments where there's a decision to be made, we would always lean on the scriptures and practice it. For the Bible itself says that we are able to discern what is good and what is right based on our practice of godliness. So I pray, Father, that you would, again, help us to know these things, both from the scriptural propositions, but also from applying them in our lives.

God, I pray, Lord, that as Apostle Paul is rebuking the early church, rebuking them of arrogance and pride and exercising their own will above God's, I pray, Lord, that we would avoid the examples we listed earlier, where although you wanted to bless, the people had to have it their own way and they had to have it now.

I pray, Father God, that we would exercise great control so that, Lord, we would always be following your spirit's lead. God, I pray for our time of discussion. Pray that it would be fruitful. I also pray, Father God, that we'd be able to make applications into our own specific life scenarios.

We thank you in Christ's name, amen.