Be Like a Wise Birdie

Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, John Lennon, Mark Zuckerberg, Katharine Hepburn, Neil deGrasse Tyson: all of these people have denounced our Father in Heaven (Jesus said, “If you knew Me, you would know My Father also” - John 8:19b), and yet they are heralded as among society’s elect. Let that settle in and do not be dismissive. Step back and consider the big-picture. These people are venerated. Heck, when Steve Jobs died not so long ago, people were pouring over his memory as if he were divine. Granted, he was likely an intellectual genius and, obviously, he was super wealthy, but what does his Creator have to say about Steve and the rest of the elite?

Those of low estate are but a breath;
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.
I love that phrase, “those of high estate are a delusion”. The New Living Bible translates this phrase as “the powerful are not what they appear to be.” If we’re going to marvel at anything, it should be at the efficiency of their trickery, their counterfeit authority that often stretches far beyond their realm of expertise. They are antichrists and the world seeks their counsel for deliverance. “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18). Antichrists cannot save themselves, never mind uphold the expectations of their idolaters. Because they “lean on their own understanding” (against God’s will - Proverbs 3:5), they do not truly know God - “the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so” (Romans 8:7). Since they don’t know God, they cannot reason with Him, nor do they desire to.

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
“I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE,
AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.”
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God,

God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
In verse 21, our Creator (the Creator also of the aforementioned social elite) explains the delusion of those still blinded by the lies of the kingdom of darkness: “the world through its wisdom did not come to know God.” Dwell on this statement, for it explains everything being examined here. Allow me to paraphrase:

Never assume social status implies wisdom. The world is full of wealthy fools and educated idiots. Natural man possesses his own theology (whether or not he uses this term isn’t important), where he is god of his own domain. Nothing is more foreign to a believer in Christ than this foul supposition which rejects God’s dominion. Therefore, without a consensus on the sovereignty of God, there is no intersection for reasoning.

Again, in 1 Corinthians 1:21, we have “the world through its wisdom did not come to know God.” The principle here is human wisdom never produces godly thinking. In fact, because of the utterly depraved nature of the natural heart, human wisdom is borne of antagonism towards God. Not only is the natural man unwise, he is absolutely stupid due to his lack of divine wisdom. Can you imagine if I walked up on stage with Elon Musk (the founder of Tesla and a self-described atheist) and publicly stated that he is stupid. Which of us would be promptly mocked and escorted off of the stage? And yet, I’m the one standing up for eternal wisdom, for the Word of truth. I don’t mock for the sake of mocking, but for the sake of the Gospel, I will contend. In general, I become the stumbling block whenever I speak up for the truth because it exposes the darkness, where idols thrive. “So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth” (Galatians 4:16)? Maybe Mr. Musk would, in the presence of his loyal disciples, sit me down with a mic to discuss God. Therein lies the trap…and the core reason for this blog. Consider me like a wise birdie...

Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net
In the sight of any bird;
But [sinners] lie in wait for their own blood;
They ambush their own lives.
...

How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded?
And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing
And fools hate knowledge?
The bird in v17 represents a person with righteous wisdom. For example, if that scenario with Mr. Musk and me were to ever play out, I’d likely refuse the seat on stage, the baited net, so to speak, preferring to let the Holy Spirit work the crowd supernaturally in ways I could not. I may seek an opportunity to present the Gospel, but that’d be about it. In setting a snare for the righteous, the antagonistic elite make traps for themselves and then walk right into them, while the wise birdie flies away. Hence Solomon’s scornful remarks in v22 regarding man’s affection for wisdom being infinitely beneath God’s (that’s right, worldly intellectualism is called “simple-mindedness” in the Bible).

Why would we ever esteem the simple-minded? Furthermore, why would we ever entertain reasoning with someone who speaks of fantasy and delusion amplified by unfounded self-esteem? These are the same people who crucified Jesus Christ because, not only did man not esteem Him, they resented Him for siding with His sovereign Father.

He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Let us not be too quick to throw stones, though, we believers can become delusional ourselves if we aren’t careful. We might lower our guards regarding the basic truth that unregenerate man is unreasonable, when in fact, he’s not only unreasonable, but insensible! Because man is born dead in his trespasses and sin he is completely unaware of his desperate state. Why do you think unbelievers often seem so secure and happy? It’s because they have no sense of feeling, no response mechanism, when it comes to God’s perspective on their vileness. It’s a bit like spiritual sociopathy in the sense that there’s no horror or remorse associated with even the highest academic understanding of man’s fall in the Garden. Without God’s helping hand in terrifying them, they remain unaffected, pleased with their own work for themselves.

If this is the estate of natural man, how does a believer reason with them? If a person can’t feel the pain we feel, how do we express the deeply felt need for repentance? We can only explain what the Bible has to say, nothing more. God teaches man about his offensiveness and need for repentance. We’ll never excite or revive a dead soul; that is God’s work in the conversion process. Both repentance and saving faith are grace gifts from God - it’s a miracle that He saves any of us, but He certainly has. It’d be easier for us to teach a donkey advanced calculus than illuminate an unbeliever’s soul with divine wisdom - only God is able to accomplish the latter. If man is unreasonable, then do not try to reason with him on his own ground, lest you be seduced into the trap.

The collective jeering of the antagonistic elite has reached a fevered pitch in America. I encourage you to not be influenced by numbers or by the oppressive nature of our society. We are afloat with a ship of fools - so foolish that they hate without cause. Attempting to reason with them will only stir the pot of hatred in them, exciting the flesh to rear up in defiance.

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

“He who hates Me hates My Father also.

“If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.’

“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,  and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”
It may come as a shock to some that unregenerate man hates Christ without a cause. But, this is what the Bible clearly tells us. An unregenerate man chooses this hatred, for he is wholly wretched, depraved from birth. What are we ever going to accomplish by arguing with such a person about things eternal? Doing so is like kicking a hornet’s nest - you’re bound to get stung. They are blind, lost, reprobate. Only God can bend the will of mankind. How can a man even say the words, “I believe in Jesus Christ” without divine intervention, without the will of God somehow inserted in him, by grace? He cannot. G. H. Bishop of the Dutch Reformed Church rightly said:

Man can no more turn to God than the dead can sit up in their coffins. He can no more originate a right desire than he can create a universe. God the Holy Spirit alone, by sovereign, special interference, calls dead sinners to life and creates within them "the desires of their hearts"—the first faint fluttering of a breath toward holiness.

There is nothing special about social elitism other than the special blindness to Truth that predominates it. We ought never presume divine wisdom exists on a scale set by world standards. There is no correlation between social status and divine wisdom. If the Bible shows us anything it’s that man tends towards inverse proportionality on the subject. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25). This is why I sometimes ask my congregation, “Where are all the doctors, lawyers, big business men/women, and the local celebrities? Why are they not interested in our messages?”

I suppose all of this is just a long-winded way of repeating what Jesus has already said, “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces” (Matthew 7:6). James, Jesus’ brother, warned us of our natural tendency to give honor to those exalted by society.

My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.

For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,”have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?

Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?
Do not waste your time or energy trying to navigate carnal reasoning, whether privately or in conversation with unbelievers. Toss carnal reasoning in the trash with authority. If it makes said company stumble, then you know you did it correctly. “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13). If it was appropriate for Jesus to behave this way in the presence of all, then it is appropriate for His disciples. “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7). Exercise this discipline on the authority of Jesus Christ, who said:

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
To Hell with the idols of this age.

Love in Christ,

Ed Collins