students of jesus

C.S. Lewis - A Dead Guy

Augustine: Even Deader

“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.”

Well, yes, and we all know what happened to his Egg-ness, don’t we?

One of the great pitfalls of reading the scripture resides right inside my own head: there’s a distance between what the Spirit speaks and what I hear. I trust the Bible. It’s the revelation of God’s heart and mind. But I don’t trust me. I’m capable of missing the point, of reading my own values into the text. I’m capable of using God’s wonderful words for my own devices instead of his purposes. That makes the Bible a dangerous place to visit, but I’m not giving up.

Monday’s post marveled at what kind of God would celebrate when smart people are clueless, and I’m still awestruck by this idea: God isn’t impressed with my wisdom or intelligence, but he is impressed with the condition of my heart. If I ever compete with the Almighty on Jeopardy, I’m toast. Yet he will bend low to comfort a contrite spirit. While meditating on these things, I came across the opening of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. In the first two chapters he talks about the wisdom of men and the wisdom of God. Here’s a sample:

• I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.
• Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
• The world through its wisdom did not know him . . . 
• God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise;
• When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom

So much for the way the world thinks. Then Paul begins to reveal God’s wisdom:

• We speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom hidden . . .
• "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"

What if our approach to following Jesus is fueled by the world’s idea of wisdom? I’ve met too many “smart” Christians. Perhaps you have too: the guys who can quote the Bible from start to finish and are happy to tell you what it means; the guys who bring the “been there, done that” attitude to the revelation of God’s word. I once knew a pastor who told a young man, “I’ve done the hard work of studying the scripture. I know what it means, so I don’t have to keep going back to learn it again and again.”

I’d like to suggest four checkpoints suggested by these first two chapters of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians:

If anyone could have brought worldly wisdom to bear on the scriptures, it would have been Paul. Even in his day Paul was recognized as a man of vast learning and intelligence, but until Jesus confronted him he was clueless. Instead, he spent three days in Damascus, blinded by the light of Christ, rethinking his life of study. Perhaps he spent three years (see Acts 9:9 and Galatians 1: 16-18).

What if Mars Hill is a cautionary tale: Most 21st century scholars hold this speech up as a great example of evangelism. Paul came to Corinth directly from Athens, where he gave his “great speech” on Mars Hill--but was it really great? Acts 17:34 tells us only a “few men” believed. You can read his own reflections regarding his time in Athens in 1 Corinthians 2: 1-5.  It’s surprising! Perhaps when he visited the seat of philosophy he fell into the wisdom trap and tried to play the world’s game. He certainly changed his method when he got to Corinth.

True wisdom rests in Jesus Christ, and he is within our reach. Paul reveals that Jesus is the wisdom of God, and he defines the wisdom of God as “righteousness, holiness, and redemption.” (1: 30) What if wisdom is knowing what to love and whom to fear? What if we have accepted the world’s idea of wisdom and applied it to following Jesus? What if worldly philosophy is merely the Bill and Ted version of God’s true wisdom?

It’s possible to be a Christian, even a smart one, and still be radically unspiritual. How many of us marry the wisdom of this age to our expression of the faith? Many churches operate on the principles of business and marketing. Others operate in the realm of power politics--both right and left. Still others (far too many) apply the scriptures like a lawyer applies mercy. Shouldn't we take three days--or three years--to ask whether our ideas of Christianity come from Jesus or someone else?

Humpty Dumpty applied his dizzying intellect to the meaning of the word “glory.” We saw how it worked out for him. Is it possible we do the same?

A while back my friend attended a Christian college. He needed to fulfill a general education requirement in the social sciences, so he signed up to take a psychology course called “Mental Disorders.”  He expected some consideration of the Christian view of the human psyche but the very first day in class set him straight: “There are certain psychological problems,” the professor intoned, “That cannot be fixed by prayer.  That’s what we will be talking about.”  Prayer, Christianity, faith, the Bible or Jesus were never mentioned again during the semester.  In effect the professor said: “Enough with Christianity, let’s get down to how things really work.”

Poor Jesus.  Each day, at workplaces all across North America, he gets checked at the door.  I’ve begun to imagine high-rise office buildings where Christians can stash Jesus in a cloakroom off the lobby before getting on the elevator and heading up to their law offices, accounting practices, engineering firms, insurance companies, and investment bullpens.  Most of these businesses probably have a Christian fish in their logo.

In his essay, Jesus the Logician, Dallas Willard points out the separation between Jesus and the real world:

“There is in our culture an uneasy relation between Jesus and intelligence, and I have actually heard Christians respond to my statement that Jesus is the most intelligent man who ever lived by saying that it is an oxymoron . . . How could we be his disciples at our work, take him seriously as our teacher there, if when we enter our fields of technical or professional competence we must leave him at the door?”

What about it?  Is he the smartest guy ever, or what? And if he’s so smart, why wouldn’t he have something to say about how to get the job done?

Yes, we respond: Jesus can remind us to tell the truth and be kind to small animals--but what does he know about estimating the raw materials required for this construction site?  But what if Dallas Willard is right?  What if Jesus was--and is--the smartest guy alive?  What will he say to us as everyday followers?  Was the Apostle Paul merely engaging in flowery speech when spoke of Jesus, “In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:3)

The calling of a disciple is to make life application in Christ.  Jesus was a carpenter, true--but what if he was a doctor?  Jesus is looking for someone today to demonstrate the answer.  What if Jesus was a marketing executive? Or a car salesman?  Or a wife and mother? These are no idle questions. They go to the heart of our life in Christ and our calling to put him on display in the human situation.  When my friend’s (Christian) psychology professor exempted the life of God from consideration of the human psyche, she set herself on a course to ignore the surest reality in her field.  Willard recommends the Christian faith because it helps you integrate with reality.  After all, who created the human psyche?

This issue is significant for individual Christians but also for the church at large.  Christian books pour forth daily, dealing with every conceivable life issue: marriage, family, business, personal discipline.  Many of these well-meaning treatments look to “the latest” results of research, science or technology and attempt to baptize secular learning with Biblical window-dressing, much like the Christian psychology professor who presumes that the faith is unable to speak to her discipline.  If, in fact, all the treasures and wisdom of his age are hidden in Jesus Christ, shouldn’t he be the first place we look? Why do we turn to  “objective” sources of research or academia only to apply a Christian wrapping paper after coming to our conclusions?

How can we make application in Christ?  How can we discover the hidden treasures of wisdom in him?

• Recognize Jesus the Wellspring: Jesus is our model. Not a “spiritual model,” or “ethical model.” He is simply the source of all wisdom and knowledge.  Those who recognize the Source will turn to him first and ask for revelation from him before examining other sources.
• Trust the Biblical record: In my opinion the downside of Biblical scholarship in our age has been distrust of the scripture’s inspiration.  To recognize the God-breathed nature of the Bible does not limit the text to one and only one meaning, but instead opens it up to the possibility that the infinitely intelligent and creative God has placed more and more in the Bible for us to discover.
• Look for the Living, Resurrected Lord: Jesus, the smartest guy who ever lived, is alive today.  Not only alive, he is accessible: he promised that he shows up whenever two or three get together in his name.  He--and his wisdom--are not remote.  His treasure-trove of wisdom and knowledge is, among other things, mediated by his Spirit and found in the communion of the believers who assemble in his keeping.
• Look for His witness in so-called “Secular” Wisdom: Proverbs depict Jesus as the Wisdom of God, dancing daily in the Father’s sight, rejoicing in the creation of the world (Proverbs 8).  Jesus is Lady Wisdom in the marketplace. Jesus, the wisdom of God, delights in the Father’s creative genius whether that genius is discovered in worship or in Wall Street.

What we must not do is check Jesus at the door.  He is, in fact, the Wellspring of wisdom and truth beyond our imaginations.