Faith based in the power of God rather than in the wisdom of men!

“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”  (1 Cor. 3:1-5 ESV)

What lens are you looking through?

A man and his wife stopped to get gas at a full service gas station which included having their windshield cleaned. Afterwards, the man said to the attendant, “The windshield is still dirty, please clean it again!” The attendant dutifully cleaned the glass again as he was told. The man looked over the job and then said, “The windshield is still dirty! Clean it again!” At this point, the wife grabbed her husband’s glasses from his face and said, “Your glasses are dirty!” She cleaned them and handed them back to her husband. He put them on and exclaimed, “The windshield is clean!” The problem wasn't the windshield, but was the lens the man was looking through that affected how he saw things. In the same way, everyone sees the world through some kind of lens made up of their own world view, philosophy or paradigm. It may be worldly or Christ centered.

Don't be taken captive by philosophy and empty deceit!

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” (Col. 2:8 ESV)

Words not taught by human wisdom

“And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” (1 Cor. 2:13 ESV)

Avoid foolish controversies!

“But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him.” (Titus 3:9-10 ESV)

Avoid irreverent babble!

“O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge.” (1 Tim. 6:20 ESV)

The hidden wisdom of God

“Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” (1 Cor. 2:6-10 ESV)

It seems foolish to the unbeliever!

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

The world didn't know God through wisdom but He saved those who believed!

“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.” (1 Cor. 1:21 ESV)