Dr. Mary Healy - The Secret Wisdom of God (2019 Applied Biblical Studies Conference)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] wow what a roomful of wisdom it's beautiful anybody here feel like you've you've gained wisdom in the last day and a half anybody here feel like you've had a firehose of wisdom poured on you on the last day and a half I can see it you're glowing you're shiny glory to God I love speaking to this group in particular applied biblical studies conference because you're the people who don't just want milk you want meat not right you're hungry for a meat your biblical carnivores I love it so I'm going to be speaking about the secret wisdom of God let's begin with a prayer in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen Heavenly Father thank you for the incredible privilege we have of being your adopted sons and daughters in Christ and having access to the immensity of all of the riches of heaven in the Holy Spirit and we ask you Father to send your Holy Spirit upon us now send your holy fire on us O Lord to enlighten our minds and awaken our understanding to the breadth and length and height and depth of what you have given us that we might know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that we might be filled with all your fullness O God we give you glory and thanks three years beloved son Jesus Christ our Lord amen name of the father and of the son of the Holy Spirit amen I want to just start by proposing to you a little case scenario you are a priest or deacon or lay ecclesial minister or volunteer who just got assigned to serve in a new parish when you arrive you find that there are a few challenges you find that many of the parishioners are poorly catechized and fact just like the recent Pew survey showed only about half of them even understand the Church's teaching on the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist there's some who openly ignored the teaching of the church on morality especially sexual morality there's also some liturgical abuse going on there's a lot of irreverence at the liturgy besides all that there's tensions among the parishioners cliques have formed the charismatic prayer group is at war with the traditionalists you also discover that some of the parishioners are dabbling in new-age forms of spirituality like horoscopes and Reiki and then as you dig deeper you'll also find that a lot of the couples in the congregation are really struggling with marital problems meanwhile some of the wealthier parishioners seem indifferent to the needs of the families that are really struggling just to make ends meet besides all that there's a lot of gossip going on there's arrogance there's pride there's judgmentalism so finally feeling rather discouraged and desperate for guidance about what to do you write to a wise pastor to let him know what's going on and ask him for his advice what parish have I described wait don't answer that I have just described to you st. Paul's in Corinth in the first century the church founded by no less than st. Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles and you whom I have just described are one of Chloe's people that you find mentioned in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 11 who have just written a letter to the founding pastor Paul and lo and behold he actually writes back to your surprise and delight and he writes back a letter to the whole parish and it becomes known in history as first Curren the end st. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians did you know that every single one of the problems that I just mentioned some of which you possibly may have experienced at one time or another is actually addressed by st. Paul and the letter we know as first Corinthians a church founded only about five years previously by the great apostle founded in the city of Corinth which was basically the Las Vegas of the ancient Near East and on this slide you see a picture of Corinth with a big mountain behind it on the top of that mountain was the temple to Aphrodite who was the Greek goddess of love and romance and sexuality so you can kind of imagine what life might have been like in Corinth when Paul went there preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and now he hears back these reports from the people in Corinth about five years later about all of these troubles going on but amazingly he's not discouraged and in fact right at the beginning of his letter he calls these very wayward people those made holy in Christ Jesus called to be holy he caused them God's holy temple for whom he thanks God continually these people he thanks God for them continually because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus that's not flattery Paul is speaking profound truth he is not discouraged or downhearted or defeated by their conduct because he knows the deeper truth of who they are in Christ he does however confront their problems head-on and in this talk I am going to unpack a passage in that letter first Corinthians that I believe is the key to Paul's response to the array of troubles in that parish and likewise in the church today that passage is 1 Corinthians - 6 to 16 I'm gonna unpack it so that we can learn from his wisdom as a theologian and as a pastor and apply it to the myriad of problems we're facing in our own situations in our own local church today now the essence of Paul's answer is not he doesn't he doesn't start out simply by saying hey guys shape up cut it out be nice can't we all just get along with one another no his answer is he lays a profound theological foundation he lays a foundation of truth for the radical transformation of life that he's calling them to and that's something characteristic of st. Paul in all his letters in one way or another he always begins with what God has done for us and then he moves on to what we ought to do in response sometimes I you know I listen to various homilies and teachings and preaching today and it looks to me like sometimes very often it's about 90% what we ought to do we ought to pray more we ought to give more we ought to be kind to one another we ought to sacrifice more and that's all good and it's all right and true and we need to hear it but very often it's 90% what we ought to do 10% if that what God has done for us but Paul spends far more time talking about who God is and what he has done for us and only then does he talk about what we are to do in response now of all the problems that Paul identifies in corinth disunity sexual immorality liturgical abuse descent from the Church's doctrine lack of care for the poor immature chaotic use of spiritual gifts which is the one that disturbs him the most which one does he attack first divisive 'no staring apart the unity of the body of christ that's the one that exercises the paul the most that's the one that he finds the most destructive that has to be dealt with first in order to deal with other the other problems so right off the bat he says i urge you brothers in the name of our lord jesus christ that all of you agreeing what you say and that there be no divisions the Greek word is Skiz Mata what where do you think we get from that schisms right there be no schism Atta among you but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose you know we think of the great ecclesial schisms that have happened in history 1054 the split between the catholic church and the orthodox church and then in the sixteenth century that the divide with protestants and and since then further splitting among different Protestant groups all of those there's great ecclesial schisms that have torn apart the unity of the body of christ they begin in the local church they begin in the family they begin with individuals being self-centered and prideful and judgmental and tearing apart that unity that is so sacred to God is symbolized by the robe of Jesus that wasn't torn when he was crucified and that's why Paul Paul finds it so crucial to stand against this spirit of disunity that's going on in Corinth now he talks about a lot of different facets of the problem the disunity their rivalries he talks about boasting a lot of you are boasting and he says you know I'm looking at you you don't look so hot you're not such hot stuff in the eyes of the world why are you posting there's jealousy there's inflated pride there's factions there's party lines and it seems like at the heart of their divisions is competition over their favorite leaders they're arguing about who's the greatest sounds a little like something that happened with the 12 apostles right arguing about who's the greatest I'm free Paul he's our founder he founded this church I'm for Apollo's he's much smarter and more eloquent eloquent and his biblical eyes that Jesus is just amazing he can take an Old Testament passage and get more insight out of it than John Bergsma well I'm for Peter Jesus chose him as the rock I'm for Luther I'm Pro Calvin I'm Pro Cardinals so and so I'm above it all I'm for Jesus Paul says you're all wrong you're all wrong because you're tearing apart the unity of the body of Christ it seems like in the case of the Corinthians right at the heart of their rivalry over who's the favorite leader is wisdom in fact wisdom the word wisdom is 17 times in 1 Corinthians it's only 11 times in all the rest of the letters of Paul put together so wisdom is really the theme in 1 Corinthians the Corinthians are enamored with it they're Greeks and Greek culture highly valued wisdom and wisdom was understood as as that kind of knowledge that leads to success an honor power an influence so they really loved wisdom so Paul spends the first part of his letter blasting wisdom so he says God says in isaiah i will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart the world didn't come to know God through wisdom you know with all the great achievements of Greek philosophy it didn't come to know God the Living God the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise and then Paul says I didn't come to you proclaiming the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God so he's saying stop being so infatuated with wisdom stop fighting over your favorite church leaders based on how wise you think they are now just so you don't start to get worried that I'm tearing down everything that's been built up so far in this conference I'm getting now to the place where Paul suddenly shifts gears chapter 2 verses 6 to 16 all of a sudden he begins to speak positively about wisdom all of a sudden Paul is saying wait don't get me wrong I'm not against wisdom I want you to be wise there is a Christian wisdom I want to impart to you when you're ready for it but it's totally different from the wisdom of the world now this passage chapter 2 verses 6 de'cine 16 is the key to resolving their disunity and all their other problems know full disclosure I actually wrote my doctoral dissertation on this passage so I'm packing 350 pages in 250 minutes but it's okay because Scott said I could take an extra two hours we'll get through it there are three parts to this passage the first part is God's plan for our glory second part is the Holy Spirit's revelation and the third part is spiritual and unspiritual people so let's look at each part of these and I'm just gonna give you my translation which is a more literal translation it's close to the RSV Catholic Bible but it's a little bit more literal so he says now even though I've been blasting human wisdom and all his pretensions yet among the mature we do impart wisdom though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away the rulers of this age who are the rulers of this age all the people that run the show not only government powers but the cultural elite the people who set the tone the educators who form the cream of the cream all of those who set the cultural atmosphere belonged to the rulers of this age and Paul and in this case he's talking about very literally the Sanhedrin and Pilate who colluded in putting to death the Son of God but there's something more behind them the rulers of this age are not just human beings the rulers of this age are also demonic authorities who are using human beings usually unbeknownst to them and that have a vast and intricate plan for the destruction of the human race Jesus called Satan the ruler of this world in any given era including our own era the rulers of this age can seem incredibly powerful they're in place they are successful they're beautiful everybody looks to them for how to think and how to act on how to live and how to speak and as Christians we can be profoundly tempted to bow down to the rulers of this age even the church can be tempted to and over backwards to avoid offending them to tone down our message to get on their good side today we could think of the secular media the global mega mega corporations that more and more making no secret of their hatred for Christianity and their willingness to punish those who don't tow the party line the agenda of this age fam gah do you know what fam guy is Facebook Amazon Microsoft Google Apple they all belong to the rulers of this age and they're tightening the screws on as Christians today aren't they they're starting to censor things that they don't like they're starting to make things difficult for those who want to proclaim the gospel in the public square and that's only going to increase they seem and in a human sense they are incredibly powerful more and more they they control the economic system I mean they can actually make a state governor cower in fear because they're gonna pull a huge amount of business out of that state if they don't support the party line about pro-abortion same-sex marriage etc Paul says they are done to pass away don't fear them because the whole present order of things when the rulers of this age are in control its illusory and it's very temporary and it's soon to collapse and there is another infinitely greater power at work in history there isn't Jesus and his kingdom and he's the only true ruler so I'm not giving you a wisdom like the wisdom of this age Paul says he says but we impart a wisdom of God hidden and mystery usually that's translated a secret hidden wisdom of God a secret wisdom of God which God decreed before the ages for our glory now it's right here Paul's getting right to the heart of what he wants to teach the core to resolving all the problems at Corinth there's a secret wisdom of God that I want to give you no wait a minute is Paul saying that he's got a secret knowledge for the elite is Paul saying that he's got an esoteric knowledge for the people who are really in that's what some of the pagan Greek mystery religions used to teach the way to salvation is the secret esoteric knowledge and only the insiders get it the ancient heresy of Gnosticism taught the same thing you got to be one of the elite it's a little bit like Freemasonry today the higher you go in Freemasonry the more access you get to the secret esoteric knowledge is Paul saying that some biblical scholars hold that that's what Paul is saying that shows the danger of doing biblical scholarship without the Holy Spirit you can read what Paul says and totally miss the mean you can understand the meaning of the words and the grammar totally miss what he's talking about no of course he's not saying that for Paul when he says mystery the wisdom of God hidden in mystery he's talking about the awesome incredible plan of God that was hidden for endless ages but now has been revealed in Christ it's been made known in the gospel and yet it's still a mystery because it infinitely surpasses our capacity to understand it it's infinitely beyond what we could grasp it's what God decreed before the ages for our glory the mystery is the glory of God's intention for us hidden in the heart of God for all eternity an incredible mystery and he says none of the rulers of this age understood this but if they had they would not have crucified by the Lord of glory none of them had any clue about the plain of God it totally confounds human wisdom it's totally other than what human logic would come up with no you might wonder if that well if the rulers of this age also include the demons don't the Gospels tell us that demons did know who Jesus was sometimes when Jesus does a miracle or when he cast out a demon they the demons shout I know who you are the Holy One of God didn't they know who he was yes they knew who he was but they didn't know the plan they did not know the plan because if they had they would not have crucified the Lord of glory that phrase is the it's the starkest expression of the paradox of the Cross in fact you can obliterate three or four major heresies with that phrase alone they crucified the Lord of glory they didn't crucify a mere man it's not that Jesus just seemed to be human or that the Son of God temporarily United with a human being and then he left when things got rough some of the ancient heresies held that or that he he's not really God he's sort of a lower God no it's the Lord of glory that's a title for God the Holy One the creator of all things it's the living son of the Living God who was crucified put to death by the rulers of this world so when they did that and when they whipped up the crowds to shout crucify him the rulers of this age thought it was their greatest triumph they thought it was their hour of finally doing away with a person who had really bothered them what was upsetting their plans instead it was their utter defeat that says Paul is the secret hidden wisdom of God in 33 AD on a hill outside Jerusalem the Lord of glory the omnipotent Son of God through whom the worlds were created was subjected to the most abhorrent horrendous grotesque form of capital punishment that had ever been known a God who decides to win back his world by hanging helpless powerless naked tortured on an instrument of torture to a worldly mind that is total absurdity and all-powerful God who hangs naked and hopeless Paul Paul are you saying to us Corinthians that that a guy who was executed 20 years ago by the state authorities in a backwater province called Judea is actually the king of kings and the Lord of lords through whom all things were created yeah that's the secret wisdom of God and now at this point Paul brings in his linchpin biblical quotation and this is what he this is how he shows this is all part of the plan and this verse is very famous I'm sure you know this verse verse 9 but as it is written no what no eye has seen nor ear heard nor the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love him now the question here is what exactly is Paul quoting if you look this up you find there there is no exact verse like that in the Old Testament the closest verse there is is in Isaiah Isaiah 64 verse 4 let's look at that because if you've ever learned from Scott Hahn you know that when Paul the old testament he always quotes assuming the broader context right he assumes you know the Word of God and he assumes you know the whole passage not just the little snippet that he's quoting so let's look at Isaiah 64 this is a prayer for God to reveal himself in power oh that you would rend the heavens and come down that the mountains might quake at your presence as when fire Kindles brushwood in the fire causes water to boil to make your name known to your adversaries and that the nation's might tremble at your presence when you did awesome things that we did not look for you came down the mountains quaked at your presence from of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear no eye has seen a god besides you who acts for those who wait for him this is the Prophet saying God look your your people are crushed we've been in exile were humiliated we're scattered we've been clobbered by our enemies God when are you gonna show up like you did in the Exodus with all those mighty deeds that's what Isaiah is praying that's what Paul is quoting but if you look carefully you see that part of what Paul quotes is not here there's nothing about the heart the heart part is missing here so there's actually another verse that Paul is combining with the Isaiah quote it's from Deuteronomy 29 now this is part of Moses's final speech at the end of his life when Israel is about to enter the promised land they've been through the Exodus and all the miracles they're about to enter the promised land Moses is about to die and he reminds them of all God's mighty deeds and he says to them you have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land the great trials that your eyes saw the signs and those great wonders but to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear you saw it all Israel you saw the plagues on Egypt you saw the Red Sea split in two you saw the rock split and water gushed forth you saw manna from heaven yet you didn't see you didn't get it you saw God's incredible provision for you and you didn't get it otherwise you wouldn't be still distrusting him turning to idols walking away from him you're spiritually deaf and blind and obtuse why didn't you get it cuz you're self-reliant you didn't think you needed him you didn't turn to him you haven't sought him Moses gives that kind of reproach to the people but a little bit later he he tells them you know you're because of your spiritual blindness deafness and stubbornness you're gonna go into exile you're gonna suffer a lot but that's gonna make you turn back to God and there's gonna come a day when you'll be humbled and in that day Deuteronomy 30 verse 6 he says God will circumcise your heart God will change your heart so that you will love him with all your heart with all your soul God is finally gonna give you the seeing and the hearing of the heart so that you get it so that you get what he's done for you and you're able to respond to him with wholehearted love so we have a lament for Moses we have the prayer of Isaiah Paul puts them together Paul weaves them together and what's his point now he's done it now God has done it what what Moses lamented hadn't yet happened and what Isaiah prayed for now God has done it now the thing about this this verse 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 said it's pretty much one of the most often miss quoted verses in the Bible because I would guess that all of you have heard it quoted this way as it is written no eye has seen nor ear heard nor the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love him period how many have heard it quoted that way yeah that's the way it's always quoted well they neglect the fact that it's not the end of the sentence Paul actually says at the end of the sentence all of these things that nobody could have seen or heard or imagined God has revealed them to us through the spirit in other words Paul is not talking about things that we are not to be revealed until we get to heaven one day he's saying what nobody could have seen or heard or imagined has now been revealed to us I changes the whole meaning so when Moses said Israel God hasn't yet given you the eyes to really see or ears to hear and Isaiah was praying God rend the heavens and come down Paulo sing he has rent the heavens and come down in fact if you read the Gospel of Mark what happens right after Jesus is baptized which Jesus getting baptized is his yes to the whole plan of the Father that he would be the suffering Messiah what happens right after he comes up from the water the heavens are rent they're torn open the prayer of Isaiah is fulfilled and then what happens at the very moment Jesus dies on the cross the curtain of the temple is rent it's another sign that the rending of the heavens the tearing of the barrier between God and man Paul is saying what nobody could have imagined before now God has revealed to us through the spirit and he doesn't just say that we can understand he says we can see we can hear very sensory the hidden wisdom of God that's now revealed it's not just a mental object its experienced God has made his magnificent plan visible and audible in fact Jesus says something very like that in the Gospels they ask him Jesus why do you always speak in parables he says this is why because seeing they don't see and hearing they don't hear nor do they understand just like Isaiah prophesied for this people's heart as grundle dull and with their ears they can barely hear them but they're their eyes they have closed lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn and I would heal them but then he says yeah all of that blindness and deafness applied in the past and it applies to the people who are not receiving my word today but it doesn't apply to you blessed are your eyes for they see and your hear your ears for they hear so now we've got to move to the second part where Paul explains what does that actually mean that the Holy Spirit reveals this hidden wisdom of God this is the spirit searches everything even the depths of God the depths of God what does he mean by the depths of God the spirit searches the depths of God let's look at a couple other places where Paul talks about the depth in Romans 11 oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways Paul has just been talking about the awesome plan of salvation Gentiles brought into the family of God along with Jew and he you saying who could have imagined it's the depth of the plan of God in Ephesians chapter 3 he says o that you may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height in depth the same Greek word bathos and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God it's also in the gospel you know at the beginning of this new millennium the third millennium pope john paul ii wrote a beautiful letter called at the beginning of the millennium and he gave the entire church a theme basically to lead us into this third millennium of the church's history anybody remember what that theme was put out into the deep that was the theme that he announced put out into the deep and it's from the Gospel of Luke where Peter has been fishing all night he hasn't caught a thing and Jesus says to him put out into the deep same word the bathos now on one level it literally means Peter go to the deep water in obedience to my word you're gonna catch the fish but there's a much deeper level what is the deep the heart of God you want to bear fruit you want to catch a fish you want to have life in your ministry and your mission put out into the deep the deep is the heart of God and then you'll catch the fish and then you'll find the fruitfulness that goes beyond human fruitfulness so when Paul says the spirit searches the depths of God he's talking about the very heart of God the unfathomable limitless ocean of love by which God gave us his only beloved son the Lord of glory to be crucified for us so that we could share his life forever so we could share his glory that's the hidden wisdom revealed by the spirit and he goes on to explain now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit that is from God so that we might understand the things freely given us by God so this is kind of a reproach Paul is saying look look Christians look look Church you haven't received the spirit of the world but your acting is if you had spirit of the world that's the deep-rooted values assumptions patterns of thinking that moves people today ignorant of God often disregarding God having nothing to do with the truth of the gospel leading to all the jealousy and boasting and ambition and divisive nasaan in Corinth that's not the spirit you've received but you're acting as if you had no rather you've received the spirit that is from God so that you can understand the free gifts of God the things freely given to us by God and what are the things freely given to us by God in a word Jesus the oh the the whole mysterious glorious plan by which God from all the Eternity decided to give us what was most precious the the pearl of great price for God the treasure of God's heart which was his son so that we could be free forgiven becomes sons and daughters all the Magnificent Grace's that have become ours in him freedom access to heaven and to all the blessings of God the Holy Spirit makes that known to us now a little example a priest friend some of you might remember father Francis Martin he used to speak at conferences here a lot and he used to say what happened when that man died yeah Jesus died on the cross we could we could all give a your religious answer about what happened when Jesus died but what happened when that man died what does it have to do with you that a Jew from Nazareth was crucified on a hill outside Jerusalem in 33 AD what happened when that man died only the Holy Spirit can show us and when he shows us it changes everything you could get an a on the religion test and still not know what happened when that man died and what it has to do with you just imagine you know saying to somebody God loves you without the Holy Spirit it's a little bit like saying to a completely colorblind person it's red you could say it again it's red and they don't get it because they're colorblind you could say a million times it's red it's red it's red don't you get it it's red then they won't get it they won't have any clue what that means because they're colorblind God loves you without the Holy Spirit it has no meaning Christ died for you you've been forgiven you can have a completely new life in him without the Holy Spirit it's like saying it's red an example for my own life when I was a student here at Steubenville as a grad program spring break up to bus loads of us students went down to Daytona Beach Florida during spring break like so many college students we went down to Daytona Beach to evangelize on the beach that's that's Steubenville for you and it was it was a beautiful kind of scary experience in many ways but one thing that really changed my life we just happened to be in a church on one of the nights there and we had a music band and they were playing a song it was kind of repetitive and the refrain of the song was Jesus is alive he is alive he is alive he is alive he is alive and all of a sudden as I was listening to that song I suddenly realized he's alive he is alive he is alive and that changes everything it suddenly hit me at a level it had never hit me before it was a Holy Spirit moment and suddenly I knew that it was like I began to see color for the first time suddenly I knew everything was different because Jesus really is alive we need that Holy Spirit revelation or another little example picture yourself on a mountain with his beautiful Vista before you and there's an attorney standing next to you he puts his arm around your shoulder and he says to you hey you see that beautiful village out there in the distance yeah he says it's yours you've inherited it Wow he says you see the mountains they're way off in the distance you see the that River running like a silver thread through the valley yeah it's yours you've inherited it you see that the forests and the rolling hill it's yours it's yours that's the Holy Spirit telling us what we have inherited in Christ our baptismal inheritance the Holy Spirit alone can make it known to us so that it's real to us and when we receive that revelation from the Holy Spirit the response is faith he reveals we believe he reveals our inheritance the kingdom faith goes and explores territory we begin to take possession of the kingdom that is ours faith gets deep to the degree the revelation is personal to the degree we have received the revelation of that hidden wisdom which is the awesome plan of God coming from the very heart of God the gift the crucifixion of the Lord of glory to the degree we receive that revelation our faith gets deep and once we discover the magnitude of what is ours in Christ we can't be dominated by other things anymore once we start to get that revelation from the Holy Spirit you can't be overcome by lesser things you can't be dominated any more by fear or anxiety or depression or guilt or anger or lust no those things are still gonna rise up in you because we're falling in a fallen world there's still rise up but they can't dominate you anymore when you get that revelation from the Holy Spirit Paul says that's what you need Corinthians and he goes on to say the Holy Spirit is also necessary for teaching others that secret wisdom of God we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the spirit interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual now here he's talking about anointed preaching anointed teaching why is there so much bland ineffective preaching in the church today why can kids go to 13 years of Catholic school four years of Catholic University and come out with a totally secular mind view or a world view how much have their teachers relied on the Holy Spirit the human mind is like black-and-white film so trying to transmit the wisdom of God the the gospel with the human intellect alone without the Holy Spirit's revelation it's trying to show a full 3d color movie on black and white film you miss it so Paul says anyone who wants to impart the faith teachers preachers catechist evangelists parents teaching their children the Holy Spirit has to give you the words you've got to ask him you got to rely on him to give you the words and he will he will give you the words st. Thomas Aquinas one of the most brilliant minds in church history used to weep before the Lord you'd go to pray before the tabernacle he would weep before the Lord every time he was about to give some kind of message or teaching begging the Lord to show him what to say and how to say it he did it how could we not okay so let's go on very briefly to the third part of the passage Paul shows now what's the effect of receiving that revelation from the Holy Spirit of the hidden wisdom well surprisingly begins to talk about two different kinds of people the spiritual and the own spiritual and he says the unspiritual person doesn't receive the gifts of the Spirit of God because they are folly to him and he's not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned now that word unspiritual it's one of those really hard to translate Greek words in Greek it's Sookie costs and it literally it's like the soulish person it's the person who lives by the soup K the soul alone you could say psychic but that's not exactly the meaning it doesn't mean psychic person but he means a person who lives by their natural faculties alone now the human soul is beautiful it's created by God we have amazing faculties of memory and intellect and will but it can't understand the gifts of God by itself it cannot understand that secret wisdom of God and the own spiritual person is the person who lives by the natural reason but the spiritual person the pneumatic costs person lives by the revelation of the Holy Spirit he gets it now is Paul again endorsing kind of spiritual elitism and he's you know is he saying some of you are spiritual some of you are unspiritual in a church already prone to boasting and division no he's seeing examine yourself examine yourself you have the spirit you're Christians you're baptized into Christ you have the spirit but are you a new Matty cost person are you thinking by the spirit are you receiving his revelation and taking it in are you living by it or are you living by the wisdom of this world and the rulers of this age Pham guy what are you living by the unspiritual person doesn't receive the gifts of the Spirit of God their folly to him he doesn't he doesn't get them they don't make sense the spiritual person on the other hand judges all things but is to be judged by no one well now is Paul giving a pass for arrogance presumption no but he's saying if you live by the revelation of the Holy Spirit you have an unclouded vision that lets you see everything in God's perspective in Kingdom perspective you're able to rightly discern relationships family issues the economy elections national news the troubles in the church everything you can rightly discern in the light of the Holy Spirit it is enlightening your mind on the other hand the unspiritual person can't even rightly discern things of this world much less of things of God and later in the and the letter Paul gives some examples he says you Corinthians you should be able to recognize your spiritual leaders that you're fighting over that's just servants of God you should be able to recognize the church as the Holy Temple that you can't tear apart you should recognize your body as a holy temple of God you should be able to recognize the Lord's body in the Eucharist you should be able to discern prophetic words you can do all that if you're living by the revelation of the Holy Spirit the spiritual person is to be judged by no one he can't be understood by the blind a seeing person can see everything the blind man does the blind man can't see anything that the sighted person is doing Paul is calling all of us be those who live by the Spirit and then he sums up at the very end for who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him but we have the mind of Christ what a bold thing to say we have the mind of Christ who can understand God's mind Paul says you can who can understand the wisdom hidden for ages and generations you can through the Holy Spirit you have that incredible privilege a couple verses later which I won't go into Paul says look if you don't have that if you're living by worldly wisdom you're actually living by the flesh it's even worse than you think your fleshly people and he says if you're still fighting with each other and saying I belong to Paul I belong to Paulus I belong to Cephas you're acting like human beings Paul actually says to them stop acting like human beings Paul what are we supposed to act like like God to have the mind of Christ it's not only to have his understanding it's to have his mentality and what's his mentality pure out toward self giving love utter humility utter gift of himself that's the way to unity in the body of Christ that's the way to resolve all the other issues in your local parish that's the hidden wisdom that God wants to give you I'd like to end with a prayer from another passage in st. Paul one of my favorites it's very closely connected with the passage I just unpacked and this one is from Ephesians chapter 1 the name of the Father and of the son of the Holy Spirit amen I pray that the god of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the Saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe according to the working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and Dominion and above every name that is named not only in this age but in that which is to come and he put all things under his feet and made him head over all things for the church which is his body the fullness of him who fills all in all amen named the father and the son of the Holy Spirit amen

Channel: Steubenville Conferences

Views: 4,900

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Keywords: Steubenville Conferences, Catholic, Franciscan University, Catholic Ministry, New Evangelization, Youth

Id: R7Stock_nM8

Length: 55min 20sec (3320 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 24 2019