WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:05.200 Psalm 111, verse 10 says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:09.599 All those who practice it have a good understanding. 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:11.839 Now, wouldn't that be nice? 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:14.240 To have good understanding, right? 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:33.200 That would be so fantastic to have good understanding with your friends or school or good understanding of what's going on in your romance or your kids or your finances or that nagging illness or good understanding of what's going on in your spouse because it feels like they're going crazy or what's going on inside of you because you feel like you're going crazy. 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:37.520 I think we all would agree that good understanding would be fantastic. 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:45.840 And this says that the beginning of good understanding is wisdom, and the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:50.960 Now, 12 years ago, I saw uh the Rocky Mountains for the first time. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:53.280 Uh Christian and ever headed to a retreat. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:55.280 We flew into Denver when you're flying in. 00:00:55.439 --> 00:01:14.239 I saw him outside of uh outside the airplane window, but you know, you're up high also, so that wasn't that impressive at the moment, and then you land, get in the airport, get your car, you get outside of the airport, and you're driving west on the interstate, and that East Colorado just absolute flatness goes through Denver and then it just shoots up. 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:17.359 And we're not talking Kennesaw and Little Kinesaw, okay? 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:20.640 As glorious as they are, we love them. 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:22.000 There are mountains. 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:24.560 But that is overwhelming, right? 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:39.280 To stand before a mountain range that is just shooting up out of nowhere on that magnitude directly in front of you can be incredibly overwhelming, and you feel wonderfully small. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:41.439 It's so freeing. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:43.359 Maybe you felt that before, right? 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:51.040 You're standing in front of a huge roaring river, you're standing in front of a big ocean, and you feel wonderfully small. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:55.920 It simply resizes you in front of that greatness. 00:01:56.079 --> 00:01:57.599 Now back to Psalm 111. 00:01:57.760 --> 00:01:58.879 Why should we fear God? 00:01:58.959 --> 00:02:01.920 I mean, is not fear and anxiety the thing we're trying to work out of? 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:05.680 Like we're trying to avoid the panic attacks, not like welcome them in. 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:09.280 And does not perfect love cast out fear? 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:13.759 Well, probably some of this is an Old Testament writer working out his view of God. 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:18.319 It's very possible, but also some of this is just about healthy fear. 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:19.039 Right? 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:25.759 I mean, it's standing at the foot of these mountains or in the front of a huge ocean, and you have a little fear. 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:39.439 And that fear is actually wonderful for us because it resizes us, it puts us back into our right position, as not the center of the universe that controls all things. 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:41.759 That there is life bigger than you. 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:47.439 Stuff you can't control, and you will never be able to control. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:49.840 And healthy fear resizes you. 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:53.759 So all that gets us ready for this morning's text, 1 Corinthians 1. 00:02:53.840 --> 00:03:00.400 So we're in the third week of Lent, the season leading up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:09.599 1 Corinthians 1 18, for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:11.360 So this is a huge thought. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:16.719 I mean, church folks like to put it on a t-shirt for a retreat, but what does it mean? 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:18.639 What does it actually mean? 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:22.639 Well, verse 19, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:26.879 And by the way, Paul here is getting very literary, lots of literary technique going on in this passage. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:31.360 He's got repetition, he's got some irony going, he has some sarcasm going. 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:32.879 You can kind of hear it and pick up on it. 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:35.520 That's why he's turning words constantly through the passage. 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:40.319 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:41.759 Where's the one who is wise? 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:42.719 Where's the scribe? 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:44.240 Where's the debater of this age? 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:48.240 Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:50.080 So a few points. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:51.360 Point number one. 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:56.240 In the wisdom of the world, I am never enough. 00:03:57.120 --> 00:03:59.680 In the wisdom of the world, you are never enough. 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:00.240 Right? 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:04.240 Verse 20, has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:06.560 Now, what's the wisdom of the world? 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:10.240 Well, I woke up Wednesday morning and my mind was racing. 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:12.159 Will this sermon come together? 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:14.319 Will this sermon be any good? 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:17.680 Will I ever get to the book idea I have? 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:18.800 That project? 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:21.199 Do we have enough money to invest in that opportunity? 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:22.240 All good things. 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:30.720 I'm never enough before any of those, not to mention my mind's racing about the garage door remote controls that I have yet to fix and I need to. 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:34.000 And how I let down a few people this week. 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:43.759 And how I said that thing to that person, and I said it to kind of impress them, but as soon as I said it, I knew I sounded arrogant. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:49.839 And I did that and I walked away, and it was just, ah, why do I still do that? 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:53.360 Why am I still insecure in that way? 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:59.439 And I'm just never enough when it comes to forming my own righteousness and wholeness, and neither are you. 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:03.199 And the world's answer seems so wise. 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:05.519 Become more. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:08.079 Improve yourself. 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:11.120 Really, really work hard. 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:16.720 But it turns out without grace, that just wears you out even more. 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:25.519 Last week's in the Old Testament, but last week, David, who was preaching, he mentioned it as sort of like this hidden gospel picture. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:27.680 And it got me thinking about the story in general. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:30.319 So let's just think about Jacob here. 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:34.000 This unbelievably insecure guy. 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:36.879 So the story is this: the dad's dying. 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:39.279 And Esau's the dad's favorite. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:42.160 And Esau's this real manly guy. 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:43.519 He likes to be outdoors. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:46.959 He smells like trees and mulch and he's hairy. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:49.199 And then Jacob likes to be in the house. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:50.560 He's the mama's boy. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:53.519 And so the dad favors Esau. 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:56.079 And that's the dad's issue, right? 00:05:56.399 --> 00:05:59.040 That's not a great thing of the dad. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:01.439 And Jacob knows this. 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:08.000 And he's just dying for his imperfect dad's imperfect love. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:12.480 And so the dad is dying, and the dad's about to bless Esau. 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:25.839 The mom hears that the dad is about to bless Esau, but the mom, who is like Jacob and Esau, or the little package deal, the mom wants the blessing to go to Jacob, and so the mom circles back around to Jacob and says, Hey, dad's about to bless Esau. 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:27.439 Hey, here's a good idea. 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:29.519 You dress up, let's cook the meal. 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:30.800 We'll present it to him. 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:32.879 You can trick your dad. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:36.240 You can pretend to be your brother. 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:46.959 Then, then, if you're pretending not to be yourself, then your dad will finally favor you. 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:49.439 And Jacob does it. 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:50.800 That's the thing that's right. 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:52.639 He never even puts up a fight. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:59.120 Now, can you imagine how sad Jacob had to be? 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:07.600 And for how long Jacob had to live sad in order to have no issue with this. 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:18.079 No issue pretending to be something he's not in order to earn his dad's favor and blessing. 00:07:19.199 --> 00:07:27.360 Can you imagine dressing up like someone and something you're not in order to be loved? 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:29.120 See, this is the flesh. 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:33.040 This is the false self in operation. 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:46.480 Thomas Merton wrote this My false and private self is the one who wants to exist outside the reach of God's will and God's love, outside of reality and outside of life. 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:49.439 And such a self cannot help but be an illusion. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:59.120 We are not very good at recognizing illusions, least of all the ones we cherish about ourselves, the ones we are born with and which feed the roots of sin. 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:06.240 For most of the people in the world, there is no greater subjective reality than this false self of theirs, which cannot exist. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:12.480 A life devoted to the cult of this shadow is what is called a life of sin. 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:22.480 So Merton is saying the false self or your flesh, Paul calls it the flesh, it senses its emptiness. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:23.920 That's what it does. 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:39.039 And instead of confessing this over to God, instead of that, and living in that lack of control that that demands and in that nothingness, where if we did that, we would find life in the spirit. 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:43.200 We would find our true identity of the beloved children of God. 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:49.840 But instead of that, we let the flesh operate and we dress up like our brother. 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:52.559 And we find a million ways to do this. 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:55.360 And how is that going? 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:57.840 How does that ever go? 00:08:58.240 --> 00:08:59.600 But it's the wisdom of the world. 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:08.559 The wisdom of the world is pretend and perform for love and righteousness, but it is foolishness in the end, is what Paul is saying. 00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:18.639 See, the law of God calls you to perfectly have perfect purity in your heart, to perfectly love God, to perfectly love your neighbor. 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:19.919 That's the law of God. 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:22.639 It's the call for the Christian. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:24.960 It's what we should do. 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:32.559 And to do that with no selfishness, and no greed, and no lust, and no anger. 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:35.279 And how is that going? 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:45.840 Now, the law of the world would say, you know, build your wholeness on your status and your achievement and that perfect body that you're maintaining and forming. 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:50.799 But see, grace is salvation apart from all of this law. 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:54.799 Not that none of it's good, a lot of it's good. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:58.559 But grace is foolishness in this way. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:17.279 Because grace absolves and accepts and deems by its own power, which is the cross, that work was done outside of you and deems upon you the very thing you're working for in the law, and that is your acceptance. 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:20.559 Paul keeps going, verse 21. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:28.960 For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:30.720 Because it's so crazy, right? 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:35.279 I mean, this idea of grace, that you do nothing and you get everything, it's insane. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:41.519 Verse 22, for Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:43.440 See, there's the work and the power outside of you. 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:44.080 There it is. 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:53.600 A stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:59.919 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:04.399 Here's what Paul's saying, point number two in the wisdom of God, I'm always enough. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:08.240 In the wisdom of God, you are always enough. 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:16.720 So that Wednesday morning, I wake up, I have all my mind is racing, I got all these thoughts, I'm not quite living up to all this different stuff. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:21.759 Some of it's really good, some of it's neutral, some of it's bad, but I'm not living up to it. 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:27.759 And then I hear the song my wealth is in the cross, there's nothing more I want than just to know his love. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:32.000 My heart is set on Christ, and I will count all else as lost. 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:40.480 The greatest of my crowns means nothing to me now, for I counted up the cost, and all my wealth is in the cross. 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:46.320 See, grace, the cross, resizes us in all those needed ways. 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:53.120 It's like standing in front of the Rocky Mountains, standing in front of that cross, and we are made really small. 00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:55.039 We're actually made nothing. 00:11:56.159 --> 00:11:58.320 And it's incredibly freeing. 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:01.840 And then we can face all the things in our life. 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:03.840 All the stuff doesn't go away. 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:14.000 We can face all the things in our life, and we can even move into following the Lord and obedience, but because none of it is based on earning our acceptance, earning that favor of the Father. 00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:20.159 It's all because it's already been given as we accepted our nothingness. 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:21.600 And in that confession. 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:22.480 That's the gospel. 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:30.960 The gospel is you are absolved of all you have done and all you do and what you will do, absolved of it all, because God is gracious to you in the work of Jesus. 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:38.639 Your sin is cast upon him on the cross, as righteousness is given to you, and that is foolishness to anybody who loves merit. 00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:44.240 If you love merit religiously or secularly, this is foolish to you. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:50.240 Because grace lets people let you off the hook. 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:55.120 Grace opens up the possibility for gross negligence. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:01.600 Grace is messy, as it trusts and love and not in reward and punishment. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:14.240 In grace, God and Jesus as fully sufficient is absurd to everyone until you're exhausted and you're broken. 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:19.279 Priest and author, Richard Rohr, he writes this in his book, Falling Upward. 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:28.320 The bottom line of the gospel is that most of us have to hit some kind of bottom before we even start the real spiritual journey. 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:30.559 Up to that point, it's mostly religion. 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:36.559 At the bottom, there's little time or interest in being totally practical, efficient, or revenue generating. 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:39.039 You just want to breathe fresh air. 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:42.240 The true gospel is always fresh air. 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:44.879 And spacious breathing room. 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:52.639 What Roar is saying, quite poetically, is saying everything is fine while everything is fine. 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:55.279 But everything is not fine. 00:13:55.600 --> 00:13:57.679 And one day you'll realize it. 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:09.679 And then if you're like me, all your coping mechanisms no longer work, and your shame is a little bit louder than your escapes, and your religion doesn't work anymore. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:13.759 Your disciplines just don't quite give you that hit like they did. 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:17.039 Your false self, your flesh is letting you down. 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:24.080 The status doesn't hold you, the morality just doesn't quite hold you up as much, your anxiety is growing, and then what? 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:24.399 What? 00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:25.200 What now? 00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:26.080 What now? 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:28.639 Self-improvement? 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:30.720 Do a little more? 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:32.240 Be a little better. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:37.440 A list of how to be better at something. 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:39.840 No, I love a list. 00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:41.120 Because I love control. 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:44.240 I mean, I I love getting my men's journal or money magazine. 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:45.919 I mean, give me a list. 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:47.120 I love a list. 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:49.840 And a list is helpful, right? 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:50.879 That advice is helpful. 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:54.240 It helps me, often exhausts me, but it never heals me, right? 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:55.919 Never heals me. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:03.519 See, the wisdom of the world eventually falls apart on us when it comes to issues of the heart and the soul. 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:15.919 But now, now, as we see this, as we see that what the world calls wisdom is actually foolish, now we're actually ready for the wisdom that brings salvation. 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:18.240 And this is point number three, last point. 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:22.639 We are fools and God loves fools. 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:26.000 I am a fool, and God loves fools. 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:28.639 You are a fool and God loves fools. 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:43.120 The collect prayer in the lectionary that's paired with this text in the Book of Common Prayer, it reads this Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:16:03.919 Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:04.960 Amen. 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:25.519 So, my brothers and sisters, it may be foolishness in the world, yet may you live in the wisdom of God, Christ crucified and risen for you, the power of God in the cross, the grace, the acceptance given to you from outside of you, deemed upon you, that you are his beloved. 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:26.960 Let's pray together. 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:35.679 God, thank you for the message of the cross that is absolute in grace and truth. 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:49.759 That we are not as we have been called to be before your law, and we are not as we would even like to be, and we fail miserably when it comes to forming our own salvation, wholeness, righteousness, and value. 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:59.759 And we keep doing it, and for that we confess and we repent of this pride and of this exhaustion. 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:21.200 Help us to see that we are at the bottom, and that the bottom is a beautiful spot, for it's there that you rescue as our eyes are open to see that you are sufficient for us, that your grace is always enough, and always bigger than our sin, always bigger than our issues. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:36.720 God, thank you that while the world may call it foolish, and the world may want to put us to work, that your work has always been enough for us to help us to live at the foot of the cross. 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:38.240 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:38.880 Amen.