When God gives you His thoughts, there is no way, not by a entire universe of difference, that they can be anywhere close to your own thoughts. That’s impossible. His thoughts are not your thoughts, and they never have been your thoughts. Not even close.
But, there is a certain group in this world whom God calls the wise and the prudent who believe differently. The wise and the prudent are those who insist that they really do know the truth in advance of hearing it from Jesus’ words. They cannot imagine, much less seriously entertain, any contradiction to their own way of thinking. Not even from Jesus Himself.
And consequently, when they hear the words of Jesus, they mis-hear them. They bring their own non-contradiction bias to His word. And instead of contradiction, they find in His every word the confirmation of everything they already knew and everything they had always believed. Self-contradiction is, to them, an utterly ridiculous notion.
Their opinions, most often based on the words of Moses, always hold an equal weight with the ‘opinion’ of Christ. And if it comes down to any significant difference between what they think and what Jesus says, they will be the true and God will be the liar.
But they are totally unaware of what an incredibly bad attitude God has towards anyone, no matter how wise they are, who thinks that they already know what He knows before He ‘unconceals’ it.
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent, declares God (1 Corinthians 1:19).
God is the only Expert in the room. And He doesn’t abide pretenders well. To not confess Christ, that is, to not say the same words as Christ, is to contradict Christ. And to contradict Christ is to be wise and prudent.
And God has promised to utterly destroy the wisdom of the wise and prudent who do not say the same words as His Christ.
The word used here for “destroy,” apollumi in the Greek, is also a combination of two words. Recall that the word apo means “to the farthest extent,” or “utterly”. That’s the same first word used here, to express the most forceful application possible of the second word.
The second word, olethros, means “ruin, death and destruction.” I will bring the wisdom of the wise to utter ruin, death, and destruction, declares God.
Can you even try to imagine what God’s feelings must be towards anything that he declares He wants to utterly destroy? This is God Himself speaking. And this He hates with all His heart. And if God wants to utterly destroy the wisdom of the wise who declare that they already know truth before they hear it from Him, you probably should feel the very same way about such worldly wisdom too.
Why would you try to make the truth of the gospel wise and smart and logical and acceptable and reasonable by this world’s thinking, when you know in advance that God hates those very qualities already?
Astonishingly, God’s own contradiction to the wisdom of the wise is foolishness. When you attempt to offer the truth of the gospel as anything other than the foolish contradiction in which God has offered it, you bring yourself into direct opposition to His stated intentions. You find yourself standing on the exact wrong side of this very dangerous equation.
You are absolutely unauthorized to offer anything to the world that is not utterly foolish, lest, in your own ‘wisdom,’ you strengthen the very things that God Himself has promised to destroy. And lest in your own ‘wisdom,’ you wind up contradicting Christ as well.
There are those who might object to the idea that God would hide anything of benefit, much less the very truth about eternal life itself, from anyone at all, even from the wise and prudent. Any God Who would hide those things, they insist, would be a deceitful God. And a mean God.
But is it deceitful or mean for the shepherd to hide the sheep from the wolf that would eat them? The shepherd would argue that it isn’t. And so would the sheep. Is it deceitful or mean for the businessman to hide his money from the thief who would steal it? The businessman would argue that it isn’t. And so would his dear wife. Is it deceitful or mean for the loving father to hide his children from the destroyer? The father would argue that it isn’t. And so would his safe children.
Listen very carefully: God thinks that the wise and prudent are the wolves, the thieves, and the destroyers.
Jesus said,
If it seems good in God’s sight that He hides it, and good in Jesus sight that He hides it, it probably also needs to seem good in your sight that He hides it. Even if you don’t understand why. Especially if you don’t understand why. Because what you especially don’t want to be in God’s estimation is wise and prudent.
So, if you were God, and you wanted to hide your wisdom from the wise and the prudent of this world so that they would never find it, where would you hide it?
If you were God, you would simply hide your wisdom in foolishness.
That would be the only place where the already-wise would never even think to look for it. Because that’s the only place the already-wise never go. The fact that they never go to foolishness is, by their own definition, exactly what makes them wise.
And if you were God, and you wanted to hide your strength from the strong of this world, where would you hide it so that it couldn’t be found?
If you were God, you would hide your strength in weakness, of course.
That’s the only place where the already-strong would never even think to look for it. Because that’s the only place the already-strong never go. The fact that they never go to weakness is, by their own definition, exactly what makes them strong.
And if you wanted to hide Your righteousness from those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others, where would you hide it so it would never be found?
Why, of course, if you were God, you would hide your righteousness in the greatest sinfulness you could find. Perhaps in a publican. Or even a harlot. (Matthew 21:31)
That’s the only place the already-righteous would never even think to look for it. Because that’s the only place the already-righteous never go. The fact that they never go to sin is, by their own definition, exactly what makes them the righteous.
And that’s the brilliance of God.
God hides the things that He never wants to be found in this world right inside their utter contradiction. And they remain hidden from all those who would never see the need to contradict themselves. Because they are, in their own estimation, already-wise and already-strong and already-righteous. And who in his right mind would ever want to contradict those things in this world?
So, if you were God, where would you hide life, if you wanted to make absolutely certain that those who sought life in this world would never find it?
Why, of course, if you were God, you would hide it right inside death.
And those who sought life in this world through their own wisdom, strength, and righteousness, would never even think to look for it there. They would already know that life could never be found in death. How absurd! To believe that life was hidden in death would require an utter contradiction of both themselves and everything that is perfectly obvious to them by their very own observations.
And consequently, in God’s very own wisdom, the cross, which looks exactly like death to the wise and prudent, would actually become His very own contradictory ‘cover-up’ for eternal life.
And, if you were God, where would you hide death if you didn’t want the wise and the strong and the righteous of this world to even see death coming?
Why, of course, if you were God, you would hide death right inside their biggest and best life now.
And those who sought to avoid death through their own wisdom, strength, and righteousness would never even think to look for death there. They would already know that death could never be found in life. How absurd! To believe that death was hidden in life would require an utter contradiction of both themselves and everything that is perfectly obvious to them by their very own observations.
And consequently, in God’s very own wisdom, their best life now, which looks exactly like life to the wise and prudent, would actually become His very own contradictory ‘cover-up’ for eternal death.
By the world-contradicting wisdom of God Himself, life would be hidden inside death. And death would be hidden inside life.
And that’s exactly the utter contradiction that Jesus declares to His followers:
That’s the very contradiction of life, hidden from the wise and prudent, who already have their own words, and revealed only to the babes, who have none of their own words: Choose life, says Jesus, and you’ll die. Choose death, says Jesus, and you’ll live. And when He thinks about that utter contradiction, Jesus jumps for joy. And if you take up your cross and follow Him, so will you.
How marvelous is it that God, in His wisdom, has chosen the very contradiction of what man in his wisdom has chosen:
It’s not the things that God finds foolish that He chooses to confound the wise. It’s the very things that the wise themselves find foolish. It is the foolish things of the world, says Paul. And it’s not the things that God finds weak that He chooses to confound the things which are mighty. It’s the very things that the mighty themselves find weak. It is the weak things of the world.
That’s why everything He chooses is always the very contradiction of everything you would naturally choose.
In God’s contradictory wisdom, the foolish and the weak and the sinful of this world are actually the wise and the strong and the righteous. And the wise and the strong and the righteous of this world are actually the foolish and weak and the sinful. And consequently, the wise and prudent miss the thoughts of God by precisely an entire immeasurable universe.
The wise always choose the best of this world. In utter contradiction, God always chooses the worst. The wise always choose the strongest of this world. In utter contradiction, He always chooses the weakest. The wise always choose the righteous of this world. And in utter and astonishing contradiction, He always chooses the sinful.
And apart from a willful contradiction on your part, you’ll never choose what He chooses. And apart from a willful contradiction on your part, you’ll remain wise in the eyes of this world, but ever so foolish in His. It’s simply not in you, apart from obeying the utterly contradictory directive of Christ, to ever contradict yourself naturally.
Why does God always choose exactly the opposite of what the wise and prudent of this world choose? He does so, says Paul, so that no flesh should glory in His presence.
The wise of this world always glory in the wise and in the strong and in the righteous of this world. That’s their nature. They never glory in the foolish or the weak or the sinful of this world. That would be an utterly foolish, weak, and sinful contradiction.
But here’s what they don’t get, and can’t get, unless He “unconceals” it: compared to Him – there are no wise. And compared to Him, there are no strong. And compared to Him – there are no righteous. No, not one.
If He is our wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, then we are authorized to be none of those things to ourselves.
If you still glory in the things which you can see instead of in those things that you cannot see, then you don’t yet understand Who He is, and you cannot possibly glory in Him.
If you don’t yet understand, by the word of utter contradiction, that when you see His wisdom and strength and righteousness, they will always look exactly like their contradictory opposites in this world, then you don’t yet understand Who He is and you can’t possibly glorify Him.
The apostle Paul says, But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world (Galatians 6:14).
We glory in the cross. What an unimaginable contradiction. The cruel cross on which He was crucified, the one that guarantees both the world’s crucifixion to me and my crucifixion to the world, is the only place where I can really glory in Him.
All of His wisdom that looks like foolishness, and all of His strength that looks like weakness, and all of His righteousness that looks like sin, is found in the cross.
And only by glorying in the contradictions of foolishness and weakness and sinfulness – to the absolute and utter exclusion of their worldly uncrucified opposites – do we repudiate the glory of everything else in this world that is not foolish and weak and sinful.
And only in so doing do we give Him the glory that He alone deserves.
God chooses the foolish and the weak and the base and the despised and the sinful of this world. Do you?
If you don’t contradict yourself, you won’t. And if you don’t take up your cross and follow Him, you won’t. And if you don’t choose death over life in this world – you won’t.
If God chooses the foolish and the weak and the despised, why would you spend your entire life trying to become, and encouraging others to become, the very things that would guarantee that God would never choose you? Why would you strive to become wise and strong and righteous when those are the very qualities that God utterly rejects?
Imagine bringing your new-born baby to your pastor so that he could lay his hands on him and bestow on him the blessing of God. Imagine your pastor taking your child in his arms and lovingly beginning to pray:
“O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, bless this child. May he be, among all the other children of the world, the most foolish of them all. May his weakness greatly exceed all his peers and may he be despised and rejected by all who meet him. May he, like Paul, always see himself as Chief among sinners...”
After about the second sentence out of his mouth, you’d be slapping that pastor right upside his head.
“How dare you prophesy those awful curses over my baby!” you would cry.
Unless you knew what few know: those are the only qualities that God ever chooses in anyone. If He does not find those very qualities in whomever He examines in this world, He categorically rejects them, with extreme prejudice, as worldly-wise and not heavenly-wise.
And if you knew that – and if you were living the very life of self-contradiction to which Christ has called you – and if you were glorying in nothing but the cross and its crucified life rather than the crown and its uncrucified life – then you would know that your loving pastor had actually blessed your child to be at the very head of heaven’s class by blessing him to be at the very back of the world’s class.
But if you were woefully ignorant, and if you didn’t know that Christ had called you to a walk of contradiction, and if you were glorying in life instead of death, then you would have your equally ignorant pastor bestow the exact ‘blessing’ on your child that would guarantee that God would never choose Him under any circumstance. Not by an entire universe.
And if God chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, can the foolish things of the world remain chosen if they do not remain foolish?
And if God chooses the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, can the weak things of the world remain chosen if they do not remain weak?
And most astonishingly, if God chooses the sinful of this world, the publican, to confound the righteous of this world, the Pharisee, can the sinful remain chosen if, in his own eyes, he does not remain sinful?
The idea that God chooses the foolish and the weak and the sinful in this world so that He can transform them into the wise and the strong and the righteous in this world, is certainly not what He did with His only begotten Son.
If God had wanted to show His wisdom and power and righteousness in this world, then having Jesus crucified in utter foolishness and shamefully criminal weakness was exactly the one thing He would never have done.
The wisdom and strength and righteousness of Christ have never been seen in this present world. And until He returns in power and glory, they will continue to remain hidden.
In the present time, only a few knees will bow and a few tongues will confess. Few there be that find it, said Jesus. But then, every knee and every tongue.
In this world, here and now, His real wisdom will continue to look like foolishness, and His real strength will continue to look like weakness. And His real righteousness will continue to look like sin. And so will yours if it’s real.
Those who think that the world will see His glory in their own glory have precisely the opposite definition of “glory” that God has. They think wisdom and strength and righteousness are glorious. He thinks just the opposite.
The real wisdom of God can only be found in the foolish. And the real strength of God can only be found in a weak. And the real righteousness of God can only be found in the sinful. Only in the publican. Never in the Pharisee.
Through the cross. Not the crown. Through foolishness. Not wisdom. Through weakness. Not strength. In this world, by this world’s measure, through sinfulness, not righteousness. In this world, His glory will always be inglorious. And if it’s not, it’s not His glory or His wisdom or His strength or His righteousness. It’s just yours.
When Paul prayed three times for God to remove his most troubling affliction, Jesus answered with an astonishing word of utter contradiction:
Paul says that he glories in his infirmities so that the power of Christ may rest upon him. No infirmities, no reproaches, no necessities – no power of Christ resting upon him. “Your best life now” never confesses pleasure in necessities, infirmities, and distresses. That word is, to them, anathema, the very curse of God. According to them, that’s Satan and his doing. “Your best life now” confesses its pleasure only in the utter contradiction of all those things. And in so doing, “your best life now” utterly contradicts God Himself.
Jesus did not say to Paul, As soon as you get past that problem, as soon as you get the victory over that terrible situation, as soon as you get that financial breakthrough you’ve been praying for, then finally I’ll get some glory out of you and your situation. No, He gave Paul the absolute and utter contradiction of that.
My strength is made perfect in weakness. Perfect. That’s how I’d describe your awful, weak, foolish and distressing situation. Perfect. Not perfect for you, but perfect for Me and my eternal plans for you.
And here’s Paul’s contradiction out of that word from Christ: Only when I am weak, then am I strong.
Now that’s a contradiction!
For we preach not ourselves, declares Paul, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
This is the language of contradiction. Paul says that our message to those around us is not about us at all. It’s only about Christ. And contrary to what you’ve been told, His glory, says Paul, can be seen through us only in the contrast of what He really is to what we really are. His glory can only be seen by way of contradiction.
The light that shines out of the darkness is made to appear all the brighter by its contrast to that darkness, declares the apostle.
If I light a match in the light of the noonday sun, you can hardly see it at all. But if it’s dark enough, when I light the match, its light will actually blind you. Ours is the darkness. His is the light. The greater the darkness in our present circumstance, the more visible His light becomes.
This treasure is displayed, Paul explains, in a plain and ordinary earthen vessel, so that the treasure, by its brilliant contrast to its plain backdrop, will be manifestly all the more excellent. God doesn’t put His treasure in a beautiful box. He puts it in an ugly one. And the treasure looks beautiful. He puts it in a weak one. And the treasure looks strong. He puts it in a sinful one. And by contradiction, the treasure looks righteous.
God wants the treasure to look excellent. Not the box. He’s the treasure. You’re the box. If you want to keep the treasure in a ornate gold box, the excellence of the treasure will always be lost in the excellence of the box. This is the message of “your best life now”: the goal is that you should become a most beautiful box. A beautiful, empty box. No contrast. No contradiction. You’ll look excellent. But God won’t.
It should be your greatest desire that God paint your life with the blackest and darkest background possible, so that men may see His brilliant excellence by contrast.
Who do you know that is concerned even in the least with a better resurrection? No. Just a better life now. Or, more precisely, your best life now.
It’s by contradiction and by contrast. Not His wisdom in your wisdom. But His wisdom in your foolishness. Not His strength in your strength, but His strength in your weakness. And not even His righteousness in your righteousness, but His righteousness in your sinfulness. Then men won’t ever get confused as to who is really wise and who is really strong and who is really righteous. They’ll always know for certain that it isn’t you.
Men don’t see God’s excellence in your excellence. According to Paul, they just see your excellence in your excellence. And men don’t see His glory in your glory. And, astonishingly, men don’t even see His righteousness in your righteousness. Even if you want them to. They just see your righteousness in your righteousness.
We are, in this world, says Paul, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that by utter contradiction His life might also be manifest.
We bear the dying. We do not bear the life. He bears the life, because He has already borne the dying. Now it’s our turn. If we do not bear His death in us, He cannot bear His life in us. He commands the light to shine out of the darkness. He never commands the light to shine out of the light.
The first contradiction is the contradiction of life itself. If any man would come after me, Jesus says, he must Choose death. And only by choosing death in this world will he choose life in the world to come.