The Christian World View

glory in the lord joy
Hope for Today (English)
The Christian World View
Loading
/
1 Corinthians 3:18-23

The United States Space Center was excited when the probe to Jupiter entered what scientists thought is Jupiter’s atmosphere. Perhaps by now, they have a report. They anxiously awaited the electronic transmission of whatever data the probe might find.

For centuries men have pondered the universe. Centuries ago the Lord called Abraham out under the open sky and said to him, “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them” (Genesis 15:5). And God said, “So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (verse 16). Perhaps Abraham might have been able to see two thousand stars with the naked eye in the Middle East clear sky at night. We now know there are multitudes of more than two thousand.

King David was humbled by what he saw. We may say his worldview is expressed in Psalm 8:3-9:

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the Son of man, that thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea. Oh, Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth.

Let’s go a little farther and see what the prophet Isaiah thought when he looked at the heavens. Isaiah 40:12-14 may express something of his worldview:

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?

We ponder, Who is God? What has He done? How valuable for life is all the accumulation of knowledge like the space probe anyway? How does it all add up?

The apostle Paul, in the midst of the Greek/Roman philosophies, has a strong word for the twentieth-century man regarding a worldview. Look at what he wrote in I Corinthians 3:18-23:

18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

The apostle discusses several basic IDEAS as he developed THE CHRISTIAN WORLD VIEW.

The first idea is:

THE CRAFTINESS OF PERSONAL DECEPTION

18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

Paul gives us a warning. “Let no man deceive himself.” That is easily done because when one is deceiving himself, he doesn’t know it. He is not aware of what is happening. He thinks he is on the right road when he is on the wrong road. It is most subtle. A man’s opinion says, “I am wise. Look what I have accomplished.”

We know that these people are advocating self-esteem. Say to yourself, “I am number one. I am number one. I am number one.” Knowledge for its own sake is empty.

A know-it-all is left high and dry. A friend of mine once was responsible to train the forklift operators in a warehouse. He told me some time ago that a person came in who had applied for the job, but when he tried to teach him, he seemed to know everything. He said, “Oh yes, I know. I know. I know. Yes, I know.” But it turned out that he did not know. He could not operate the forklift in the warehouse. So my friend told his supervisor, “Don’t send me anymore ‘know-it-alls.’ They can’t be taught.”

The craftiness of personal deception is especially true in religious matters. I have met people and talked to them about their need of Christ, and they responded, “I have my way.” That is personal deception.

Now hear what another has to say about this:

We must divest ourselves of our fancied wisdom and become fools in our own eyes, in order to be spiritually wise. This is a general law. Pride or self-conceit in regard to any branch of knowledge or art is an effectual bar to progress. We must confess our ignorance in order to attain knowledge, our weakness in order to attain strength, our folly in order to attain wisdom…How often are anxious souls kept back from entering into peace because they will not renounce their own ideas of the way of salvation! Only when they submit entirely to God’s way as little children do they enter the kingdom.

So the first idea the apostle Paul discusses is The Craftiness of Personal Deception.

The second idea is:

THE CHOICE OF PERSONAL INCEPTION

19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

What is the starting point? According to the apostle Paul, it is the renunciation of personal wisdom. He says, “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” That is the needed evaluation. Evaluate the wisdom of this world, and see how it is in total conflict with the wisdom of God, quite useless. Now we must understand that we need to know the common things of life. Yes, but the apostle Paul is talking about the philosophical ideas, the ideas that underlie the whole concept of wisdom in this world. Divest yourself of worldly wisdom that takes no account of God. It is a dead-end street.

The wisdom of this world argues in circles. It can never get out of its own maze. God seizes the wise in their own reasoning. Paul explains this in Romans 1:18-21:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

What a picture!

As the apostle Paul said in I Corinthians 3:19-20, the Lord knows the reasoning of the wise. “He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” The Lord knows the dialogues of the wise. Their “profound discussions” lead to no satisfactory conclusion. Their dialogue is when they just talk it over, talk it over, and talk it over.

Where one starts will determine where he ends. Again, hear what another says.

The speculations of men regarding God and our relation to him, however much of truth they contain, are yet on the whole vain, inasmuch as they fail to reach an adequate knowledge of him. Those who have worked the longest at the great problems of life are the readiest to confess this. One after another the world’s wise men have wrestled with them and passed them down to their successors unsolved. Or look at the schemes of men for the regeneration of the world. Education, aesthetic culture, the teaching of morality, social communism, and religion made easy, all have been tried and found wanting. None of them can redeem mankind from sin and restore them to their lost dignity. And in nothing do men seem so foolish as just in those things in which they think themselves wise. They are caught in their own net. Their schemes of salvation work their ruin.

So start with the wisdom of God! Remember, the second idea is The Choice of Personal Inception.

The third idea is:

THE CONSOLATION OF PERSONAL PERCEPTION

21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

Here the apostle gives us a whole new realization. Do not glory in men glory in God! Glorying in men leads to the dead-end street I was talking about. All things are yours. What a tremendous perception! What a tremendous concept! No longer do we need to dabble around with the wisdom of men. We now have access to the wisdom of God. All things are yours. That will erase the party spirit.

Paul, Apollos, and Cephas were mere men. Shift from them to God is the apostle Paul’s emphasis. That is the consolation we have. All things are yours, the world, life and death, things present, things to come. All are yours. What a tremendous concept! What a tremendous perception!

Paul’s world view takes in all, confined in Christ and God. That is a great release! Relish this fact, my friend. If you are a Christian, you have been released from the foolishness of men and ushered into the wisdom of God. Relish this fact.

Man’s rightful place in God’s good world was lost in the Garden of Eden when Eve listened to the serpent. Mankind was to have a more direct and intimate role in the control of the world and the managing of it. But that was lost in the Garden when Eve listened to the serpent.

Now by Jesus that rightful place was regained in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He said, “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). He was the perfect Man who lived the perfect life. So then our position has been regained in Him. We experience it in a spiritual way now. Eventually, we will experience it completely.

Indeed, as another has said:

All things are ours only because we belong to Christ. He has recovered for man his lost sovereignty, and in Him, we receive what He has won for us. The crown is again placed on our heads; we become
joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), who is Heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2). Apart from Him, we have no title. And belonging to Christ, we belong to God; for “Christ is God’s.”

Praise the Lord! With this new perception comes great consolation. All is ours because we belong to Christ.

Paul developed the Christian worldview by showing us these advancing ideas:

THE CRAFTINESS OF PERSONAL DECEPTION

There is only one way.

THE CHOICE OF PERSONAL INCEPTION

We must choose God’s way.

THE CONSOLATION OF PERSONAL PERCEPTION

We belong to Christ.

Put God in His rightful place, and you will experience a great release! And you will marvel that all things are yours.

Receive Weekly Encouragement

Sign-up to get a sermon straight to your inbox on a weekly basis!