3:18 ¶ 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.
To be wise in this world is to adopt the conventional thinking so
prevalent in your time. People are attracted by the same things that deceived
Eve in the beginning.
Genesis 3:6 And
when the woman saw that the tree
was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one
wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her
husband with her; and he did eat.
The Holy Spirit further explained
these impulses that are so built-in to the world system and your flesh.
1John 2:15 Love
not the world, neither the things that
are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is
not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the
flesh [good for food], and the lust of the eyes [pleasant to
the eyes], and the pride of life [desired
to make one wise], is not of the Father,
but is of the world. 17 And the world
passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth
for ever.
Jesus
gave a warning about things regarded highly by mankind.
Luke 16:15 And
he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God
knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination
in the sight of God.
The Holy Spirit warned us about
the philosophy of mankind through Paul.
Colossians 2:8
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain
deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ.
And about science that is not really
science.
1Timothy 6:20 O
Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions
of science falsely so called:
Jesus warned us about the dangers
of the worship of wealth and money, in the following verse given the name mammon, a Syriac term for the
personification of the financial system.
Luke 16:13 No
servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the
other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
For the Christian life Paul gave
very specific instructions.
1Thessalonians 4:11
And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work
with your own hands, as we commanded you; 12
That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
The world system you live in tells
you what to value, what to aspire to, and what it wants you to hold as
important. These things are almost never of God and will lead you into unbelief
and misery. We are told in America that seeking wealth is a good thing but we
must be careful of our attitude toward it, or serving mammon, as Christ told.
We also have this warning from Paul.
1Timothy 6:6 ¶
But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and raiment let us be
therewith content. 9 But they that will
be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in
destruction and perdition. 10 For the
love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they
have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Isaiah made many comments about
the so-called wise men of his time. As an example;
Isaiah 29:14
Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this
people, even a marvellous work
and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
The wisdom of the world focuses on
this short life on earth in this flesh. It knows nothing else. If you ignore
the facts that God has laid out for eternity you have been deceived by the
world as much as a magician deceives his audience with an illusion. This is
even done on a smaller scale by getting people to focus on what they want now
regardless of the consequences of their actions for their future.
Wealth, power, education, getting
your own way, surrounding yourself with as many material possessions as
possible to make you happy, acceptance by worldly friends and acquaintances, and
the general respectability that comes with a life well-lived by the world’s
standards do not lead to godliness.
And so, the church should not be
run by the world’s standards. Doing so is presents the church with its greatest
weakness. Trying to be like the world is the church’s greatest failure.
Fundamentalist churches are operated on an early 20th century business
model with an organizational structure that resembles the New Testament church in
a shadow but with more of a connection to the state-church of Rome than to any
church where Paul taught. A great danger of this, as Paul has taught here, is
the following of a man rather than Christ and the dilution of the church’s
spiritual power in the cult of personality. Like the Israelites of Samuel’s
time people want a person to rule over them rather than God. Little has changed
in the human heart since then.
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