Called a Fool | Dan Deeble | Wisdom Rx

Wisdom Rx

Nov 8

Written By Randy Frazee

Going Deeper

What’s the most (comically) foolish thing you’ve done?
Why is it dangerous to assume that, as Christians, “God agrees with us?” Where can that kind of thinking lead?
Does the numerical decline of the North American church feel like good news or bad news? How does this reinforce Westside Family’s mission (“Loving Jesus, Becoming like Jesus, and Sharing Jesus”) and strategy (A2 Communities)?
How will you become more reliant upon the Holy Spirit during these times?

Teaching Notes

THE WISE ARE HARD TO FIND.

Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1 Corinthians 1:20

THE WISE WILL BE CALLED A FOOL

Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,...
1 Corinthians 1:22-23

Dangers:

#1: When we find ourselves saying, God agrees with me.

#2: When we are simply being foolish

THE WISE HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT.

What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us…. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:12, 15

Church, you have The Holy Spirit.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. (John 14:16-17)
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)
Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4)
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”(Acts 1:8)
...When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. (Eph 1:17)
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:16)
...Do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say. (Luke 12:11-12)
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:26-28)
But the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23).
...But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16)

What is the source of our folly?

The cross, the resurrection, the incarnation.

...but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
The Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 1:23-24