May the mumbling commence!
Our God is dynamite. Nothing will outlast the Lord. All things are temporary and fail. Only God is eternal. Think about the great civilizations – the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire, the Incan Empire, the Aztec Empire, the British Empire… All of them had their day. All of them have fallen.
Yet the Judeo-Christian faith lives on thousands of years after the death and resurrection of Christ on the cross.
I think of these facts as I think about the United States. The United States has had its day. And that day seems to be waning.
So, what do we feel and think and say about that? Where are the wisdom and power and strength to come from? They will not come from elaborate arguments or intricate plans or worldly wisdom. All of these are puffs of smoke. The American dream, as idealized, has never really existed.
It is time, once again, for the simple and powerful facts of the Judeo-Christian faith to rise to the surface. Paul illuminated them quite well in First Corinthians chapter two. Read a passage from that chapter below:
In the same way, my brothers, when I came to proclaim to you God's secret purpose, I did not come equipped with any brilliance of speech or intellect. You may as well know now that it was my secret determination to concentrate entirely on Jesus Christ and the fact of his death upon the cross. As a matter of fact, in myself I was feeling far from strong; I was nervous and rather shaky. What I said and preached had none of the attractiveness of the clever mind, but it was a demonstration of the power of the Spirit! Plainly God's purpose was that your faith should not rest upon man's cleverness but upon the power of God.
We do, of course, speak "wisdom" among those who are spiritually mature, but it is not what is called wisdom by this world, nor by the powers-that-be, who soon will be only the powers that have been. The wisdom we speak of is that mysterious secret wisdom of God which he planned before the creation for our glory today. None of the powers of this world have known this wisdom – if they had they would never have crucified the Lord of glory! (Verses 1-8)
The bedrock fact of the Judeo-Christian faith is Jesus’ death upon the cross and his resurrection on the third day. For those that demand empirical evidence, for those that are married to the scientific method, this fact is on shaky ground.
I can understand why Paul felt weak, nervous, and rather shaky. When you know that you are ministering for an all powerful God and you are ministering to a vulnerable people, there should be a rather pronounced case of the nerves. If there isn’t, then we probably do not appreciate or fully understand what is at stake.
In our weakness and nervousness, the power of God is made evident. Whatever is accomplished by us is not attributable to our own prowess. Success can only have come from God. God is the only correct place to put our faith.
This weakness and nervousness and clinging to the facts of faith is wisdom to those who are spiritually mature. It is pure nonsense to the people of the world.
Then Paul writes the statement that echoes throughout all time. Wisdom that is discarded by the powers-that-be will endure. And the powers-that-be will soon become the powers that have been.
I do not put my hope on the power of the Constitution or the political process. I do not put my hope on any political party or on any individual candidate – regardless of if that candidate is on a local school board or occupies the Oval Office in the White House.
My hope and faith and strength come only from Jesus the Christ. There is no one or nothing better to place hope and faith on. Jesus is the source of my wisdom and my strength.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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