It is incredible that even now in 2024 people are finding the transformative power of God to change their life in a simple, foolish and childish act in worldly terms. The world has never been looking for a naked, blood-soaked Jewish man on a cross. But when it has done then it has always found a wisdom that is higher, deeper and more profound than anything that came from the world and in any generation.
“We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
1 Corinthians 2:6-8
There is a ‘wisdom of this age’. The generation of Paul had a wisdom and it seeped into the church, it always does. It created church division as it was based on everyone thinking more highly of themselves. But that wisdom ended in that age. If we went back in time and stepped into the church strife we would have something to say because this wisdom is changeable and we would perhaps roll our eyes at why and what they were falling out over. Sometimes I think of how my whole life being spent in church and becoming a Pastor at 26 years of age, contending against the wisdom of the age 32yrs ago, actually seems like a different age in itself. The things my Pastors have to battle with today just wasn’t an issue for me a few decades ago. But is the world getting better with all of our wisdom? We like to think so. But is that blind arrogance. Not everything that is new and shiny is good. Not every new revelation is from God. Paul would come into our age today and say this wisdom is immature. For his message remains. In contrast there is a wisdom which is timeless. It is not immature and bound to the age that it appeared. In fact it is changeless. More than that it existed before the first age, ‘before time began’. The wisdom of the ages come and go but the crucified Lord of glory is before time and through all ages and the age to come.
There are ‘rulers of this age’. The generation of Paul had their Caesar’s and their high priests with all of their ‘wisdom’ of power, might and spiritual authority. Today who would be the rulers of this age. Would it be names of people that we go to or ideologies or the rulers of our age being perhaps unseen forces that are lived out in the culture of our day? At the cross these ‘rulers of this age’ decided that it was the best thing, the right thing, the wisest thing to crucify the Lord. 2024 the rulers of this age still think it is the wisest thing to bring about enlightenment and advancement in our culture even if it means we are walking all over the message of the cross. However for the ‘mature’ we know that 3 days later the true wisdom of God was made known and the true ruler rose victoriously.
There is a time limit on the ‘wisdom and rulers of this age’ and a conclusion, which is they both come to ‘nothing’. But we worship and serve the One who was crucified who is the ‘Lord of glory’, a phrase that points to all eternity as the next verses reveal.
So what?
- Spiritual maturity is often contending against the wisdom and those who rule in the age we live.
- Spiritual growth is counter-cultural.
- God’s plans and purposes do not take into account the wisdom and the rulers of the age. It is as if they ignore what man has to say. And man continues with no understanding of them.
- It is possible to understand and to discern the wisdom of God even though it doesn’t make sense to the world.
- The cross invites you continually into a wisdom that is higher, deeper and more profound than the best human minds and behaviours in any age.
Missions Paul 