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WILL THE CHURCH MAKE YOU SMARTER?

A new book just came screeching into our Voice of Prophecy offices this last week . . . and it’s one of those that a person reads with real mixed emotions.  This is written by a pastor formerly in my Adventist denomination, and now he’s left that faith heritage and is pastoring for a different group.  And so these 384 pages explain his reasons for the defection.

Well, that’s kind of painful, and maybe you’ve experienced something similar.  It’s hard to read about faults and fissures and frailties, and this book outlined some of those.  And it’s difficult to realize that someone who was, so to speak, digging in the same trench you were, is now laboring across the way with at least a partially different agenda.

In a way, this puts us right back into the middle of our heart cry for this radio week, where we chose this as a title: I PRAYED FOR WISDOM — AND GOD SAID NO!  And when Christians labor and sweat over doctrinal differences, we want to cry out with renewed intensity: “Why, Lord?!  Why’d this have to happen?  Why can’t two people who are brothers in Jesus read the same Bibles and come to identical conclusions?  Why does anyone ever have to leave one tent and go serve in another?  Please!  Give us wisdom to understand all this!”  And we feel inadequate to dig through hard Bible verses and come to right answers.  Especially when people much, much smarter than we are have done even deeper digging, more exhaustive study, and have fragmented into so many churches and movements and sub-movements and sub-sub-movements.  What hope is there for us with our mediocre prayer meetings GPAs, to discover ALL truth?

Well, this particular book got handed from Party A to Party B to Party C, etc., just in the last day or so, so we certainly don’t have all the answers to that particular discussion.  And yet, I still find that the Bible contains good news in this very area of conflict.  As we seek for wisdom, and as we wrestle with denominationalism . . . the Word of God is still a great ally and friend.

I’d like to very simply share three or four verses that are giving ME comfort today as we consider this red paperback that got handed to us.  And the best of all, maybe, is found in Ephesians 1:7, 8.  Here’s the assurance of God as expressed through Paul:

“In Him [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all WISDOM and understanding.”

Now notice with me first of all that our salvation and redemption is offered through the blood of Jesus alone.  Forgiveness of our sins, the riches of God’s grace . . . these great gifts are ours, friend, exclusively because of Calvary.  I can’t help but wonder if this particular volume might not have been printed if we’d held to that pillar of truth more clearly all the way through.  But let’s also notice how Paul tells us that God lavishes on us these gifts of forgiveness and salvation and grace . . . how?  “With all wisdom and understanding.”  Some Bible students have wondered if that’s wisdom given to us (as part of verse nine) or God’s own wisdom (if you link that expression to verse 10.)  Well, since the Bible comes to us without punctuation, it’s not entirely clear, and it certainly suits our purpose today to surmise that Calvary and God’s grace provide us with the extra bonus gifts of wisdom and understanding.

And actually, doesn’t it work out that way in our practical experience?  We’ve been saying all week that people who focus on Calvary and the great mysteries of the Cross of Jesus, people who feed on those scenes around that wonderful, pivotal weekend . . . well, people like that just grow and grow in wisdom.  God makes them wiser every time they turn their hearts and minds in that direction.

But now a related thought just two pages over, and this is found in Ephesians chapter three now.  Here’s verse 10 of that passage:

“[God’s] intent was that now, THROUGH THE CHURCH, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.”

Now, here is an overwhelming thought; in fact, the scholars who write the Bible notes for the NIV Study Bible describe this concept as “staggering.”  But Paul tells us here that God pours out His wisdom, all of the heavenly insights of the Godhead itself, through His church.  And not just to those who are in the church, but to the whole watching universe!  Angels in other worlds and solar systems, holy beings living all throughout the galactic kingdoms under God’s authority . . . are watching what happens on this scruffy, sinful little planet.  But when the Church of Jesus Christ forms after Calvary and the Resurrection, God demonstrates or manifests His wisdom through that Body.  To us who are IN that Church, and also to a watching world and also a watching intergalactic audience.

Here’s that NIV text note word for word:

“It is a staggering thought that the church on earth is observed, so to speak, by these spiritual powers and that to the degree the church is spiritually united it portrays to them the wisdom of God.”

Now maybe you don’t care a whole lot what God’s space creatures on faraway planets a trillion light years away are learning.  But isn’t it good to know that God wants to make you wiser and me wiser . . . THROUGH this avenue He calls the Church?  He really does!  When you are IN church — not just sitting in a pew on Sabbath or Sunday morning — but a seven-days-a-week member, a participating man or woman with spiritual gifts, a person who lives his or her life IN the Church — God is going to grant you wisdom through that worldwide organization. He’ll feed your mind through sermons and Bible study.  He’ll bless you and enrich you through corporate prayer as “two or three gather together.”  When you read Christian literature that only is available through the Church, as you dialogue with God-fearing friends you would otherwise never know, as in your own prayer time you become tuned in to the promptings of the Holy Spirit . . . friend, that’s how our God answers our prayers for wisdom.  Many, many times it is through the Church!

You know, that’s why I notice this latest book with such mixed emotions.  How I yearn for this Christian pastor, this brother in Jesus, to have stayed with MY church!  We need him!  We need his wisdom, his insights, his particular understanding of God’s Word!  We need in my church his passion for Calvary, for the simplicity of the gospel message, for insisting that we never relax with our creed and refuse to keep examining every doctrine.  Like I say, we need that IN the Church.

At the same time, though, I thank God that the process, sometimes painful, sometimes rough-and-tumble, of fleshing out the Word of God, of seeking WISDOM, is continuing for him and for me and for all of you.  Better the hurt of debate than the sedation and peace of spiritual slumber.  Who knows how God may yet bring collective wisdom to all of us through the trials and discussions we go through?

Here’s just one more Bible promise for us to consider before we close: Colossians 3:16:

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another WITH ALL WISDOM, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”

And that brings us back full-circle to our prayer for wisdom.  Friend, do you want heaven’s wisdom today?  Then let God’s Word dwell in you “richly.”  Let’s teach and admonish one another . . . and let’s be willing for another person’s study, maybe even his book, to teach and admonish US.  Let’s stay in the Church where that teaching, that lively debate, can instruct and edify us.  And yes, let’s fill our minds with the great music of the Christian faith, so that we wake up each morning singing about Jesus Christ and His goodness and about Calvary and “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross.”

Do you pray for wisdom, friend?  Good!  God is going to answer that prayer, because He has a beautiful plan to make you wise and perfect in the way that’s best for His kingdom.  Together IN His Church, let’s start taking those first steps together.