God's Wisdom vs. Human Understanding: Unpacking 1 Corinthians 2 | Ep 767

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Hello, good people, and welcome to daily biblerefresh,

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brought to you by voiceofgoddaily.com.

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Indeed, I am doctor Brad Miller here to offer you a fresh

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perspective on the reading of the scriptures, which is

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based on 3 three qualities. Being

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understandable, we read from the new testament

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version of the bible only from the message translation,

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and we focus in on the revised common lectionary.

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We're in year c, and today's

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selected verse is the particular verse in the epiphany

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season. We also like to make it relatable so it is

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understandable and relatable. We give you a couple of points to ponder, to

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think about, and applicable, we give you an action point. We have a

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prayer, and then we we conclude everything in

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less than 10 minutes. Our reading did for the day is from

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1st Corinthians 2:1 through 13, reading

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from the message. You'll remember, friends, that when I first

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came to you to let you in on god's sheer

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genius, I didn't try to impress you with polished speeches

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and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and

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simple. First, Jesus and who he is, then

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Jesus and what he did, Jesus crucified.

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I was unsure of how to get about to go about this and felt

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totally inadequate. I was scared to death if you want the truth of it. And

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so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else.

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But the message came through anyway. God's spirit

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and God's power did it, which made it clear that your

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life of faith is a response to God's power,

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not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me

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or anyone else. We, of course, have plenty of wisdom to pass

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on to you once you get your feet on firm

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spiritual ground, but it's not popular wisdom.

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The fashionable wisdom of high priced experts that

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would be out of date in a year or so. God's wisdom is something

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mysterious that goes deep into the inter

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into the interior of his purposes.

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You don't find it lying around on the surface. It's not the

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latest message. It's more like the

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oldest. What God has is has as the

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way to bring about the best in us long before

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we ever arrived on the scene. The experts of our

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day haven't a clue about what the eternal plan is. If they had,

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they wouldn't have killed the master of the god designed life of the cross.

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That's why we have this scripture text. Here it

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is. No one's ever seen or heard anything like this. Now

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never so much as imagined anything quite like it, what

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god has arranged for those who love him. But you've seen and

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heard it because god, by his spirit, has brought it all out

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into the open before you. The spirit, not content

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to flit around on the surface, dives into the

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depths of god and brings out what God planned all

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along. Whoever knows what you're thinking and planning except

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you yourself. The same with God, except that he

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not only knows what he's thinking, but he lets us in

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on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life

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and salvation that he has given us. We don't have

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to rely on the world's guesses and opinions. We didn't learn this by reading

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books or going to school. We learned it from God who taught us

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person to person through Jesus, and we're passing it

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on to you in the same firsthand personal

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way. Wow. A great, passage of scripture here about

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God's wisdom, which really goes beyond human understanding.

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So let's reflect for a second on 1st Corinthians 2:1

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through 13, and Paul's talking here about

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wisdom and the power and the simplicity of sharing the gospel.

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Here's a couple of points to ponder. There is a power

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of the authentic of authentic vulnerability.

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Paul admits to his fears of inadequacy and reminds us

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that true spiritual leadership isn't about perfection

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or a polished performance, And in our age of

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seeking a perfection and polished performance, this is goes

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against the grain. There's carefully curated social media

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post, which you all know about it, where everyone, where many

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people want to appear as an expert. Well,

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Paul's words are refreshingly countercultural. His message suggests that

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our greatest impact often comes through authentic

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vulnerability rather than a projected or

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perceived strength. Another point, this goes

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beyond a binary thinking. When Paul speaks of God's wisdom being

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mysterious and deep, he challenges a tendency to reduce

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faith to simple formulas or or certainties.

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Progressive Christianity embraces a mystery that understands

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that God's truth often lies beyond our human

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constructs and our comfortable categories. And this

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vast passage of scripture here advise us to move past the

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surface, move past any interpretation that would just

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touches on the surface, and dive deep into the to

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the complexities of a relationship with God. One more

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point. This is about the experiential over

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intellectual knowledge. Paul emphasizes that

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understanding God comes through a direct personal

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experience rather than some sort of an academic study alone.

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And this validates the diverse ways that people experience

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God and understand God. And it suggests that

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theological truth isn't confined to

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traditional educational institutions or processes

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or any established religious institution that's passed on from

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some supposed higher authority. It's a deeply

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democratic version version of a vision of a

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spiritual wisdom which can come to us individually.

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Here's your action step. I want to invite you to practice

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holy vulnerability. That is share a genuine

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struggle that you have in your faith journey. Share it with a

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trusted friend or maybe a small group that that you're part of or

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just maybe journal about it. And rather than looking for

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solutions, listen. Listen to other

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people, listen the way God speaks to you,

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practice prayerful listening, and

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practice holy vulnerability. Look to

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Paul for an example of this, being authentic and

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to build a genuine spiritual depth in your own life and a

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genuine spiritual depth in community with other

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people. Before we pray, I wanna remind you

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that we have a resource for you that will help you go even

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deeper to the scriptures. It's pretty simple. In fact, we call it the

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a b c 123 bible study guide. You

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can get it at voice of god daily.com, and

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it's free to you. Abc 123

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at voice of god daily. Let's pray. Oh,

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god, we thank you for meeting us in our uncertainty and inadequacy,

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and help us release our need to appear perfect or to

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have all the answers. Guide us deeper into your wisdom

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that transcends human understanding. May we find

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courage in our vulnerability, hope in our questions, and

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connection in our shared journey. Give us grace to

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trust that your spirit is at work even and

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especially in our moments of doubt and weakness.

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Amen. Well, it's been good to be with you. My name

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is doctor Brad Miller, and it's my pleasure to be with you here

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every day on the daily bible refresh. And I hope

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that you would join me tomorrow as we delve into another passage of

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scripture from the revised common lectionary. You

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can find everything about us at voiceofgoddaily.com.

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We invite you to invite others to join us on a daily walk

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for a daily Bible refresh. Until then,

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remember that God's loyal love doesn't run out. His merciful

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love doesn't dry up. It's created new

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every morning.