Tag: decreed

29.f. ” See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit”

 

Colossians 2:2  that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.

 Romans 11:33    Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

 2 Timothy 3:15-17   and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

 1 Corinthians 2:6-7   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.

 Matthew 10:26   “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

 Ephesians 3:9    and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things,

 Colossians 2:8   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.

 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11   The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,  and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,

For Paul, real riches were found in the believer’s full assurance. Many lack full assurance about the character of God and are unconvinced that He is really good and loving. Others lack full assurance of their salvation and wonder if their Christian life is for real. Great freedom and confidence comes when we come to this full assurance.  “You will only find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Jesus. He has them all.” It’s not wrong to seek after wisdom and knowledge; but we must seek it all in Jesus. Real wisdom is not hidden in secret books, but deposited in Jesus Christ so that all can access it. When Paul describes the truth of God with words like riches and treasures, he reminds us that God’s truth is precious and worthy of sacrificial seeking. (Guzik) 

It might sound simple, but deceivers are deceivers. They won’t announce their false doctrine as false doctrine, and it will often be similar enough to the truth to be dangerous. Combining The Word of God with worldly knowledge and wisdom will never end well.  Dilution of God’s Word will never lead us into deeper understanding, knowledge, and wisdom.  On the contrary, it will confuse, weaken, and leave us unsatisfied.  We never obtain complete wisdom, knowledge, and understanding but we certainly will grow and mature in it for our entire lives.  Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, we will mature if we are diligent in our intentional choice to humbly seek, surrender, obey, follow, trust, and rely on and in Jesus Christ, the mystery of God to man.

29.d. “A secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory”

 

Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

 1 Corinthians 2:7    But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.

 Ephesians 3:3-10   how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly.  When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ,  which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.  This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

 Jeremiah 6:10    To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it.

 Jeremiah 3:15   “‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

 1 Corinthians 2:6    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.

In the Biblical sense, a mystery is not a riddle. It is a truth that can only be known by revelation and not by intuition. Now it can be known because it now has been revealed to His saints. There are aspects to God’s plan that were not clearly revealed until Jesus Christ. The mystery of salvation for all who would believe and trust in and rely on Jesus Christ. The mystery of God’s grace, mercy, and love reaching out to all mankind.  The mystery of the new birth and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The mystery of hope, joy, peace, courage, love, gentleness, kindness, patience, in all things at all times through the power of the Holy Spirit. Our hearts ought to overflow with thankfulness and our lives are lived in such a way that in all things Jesus Christ is honored and glorified.

22.c. “Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom”

1 Corinthians 2:6  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. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

Do you ever wonder who the “among the mature” is referring to?  Some may argue that it is related to age.  Others would say saved and unsaved or mature and immature believers. Paul did use mature in Ephesians and Philippians as believers who had grown from the elementary concepts of salvation, redemption, and forgiveness to personal application and food for everyday growth, understanding, and knowledge in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  These mature would grow in discernment (wisdom) and understanding.  In this, the mature would understand the world and culture they lived in and how it was always trying to draw them away from honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ.  They would clearly see the separation from things of God and things of this world.  They would discern what was proper and right for their soul.  The immature (baby) Christian would put anything into its mouth and would follow after anything that was pleasing to the flesh.  The immature would be easily swayed toward things that were not God-honoring. Ignorance does not exempt them from the expectation of growth in their life.  

The Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not the end of wisdom but rather the beginning of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, power, grace, love, mercy, courage, strength, joy, and peace.  

3.a. That he may turn again to the remnant of you

2 Chronicles 30:1  Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover in the second month— for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem— and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly. So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed. So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying, “O people of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to the Lord God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see. Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you. For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.”

Zechariah 1:3-4    Therefore say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 11:7    For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice.  Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”

Jeremiah 44:16    “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you.

When you read God’s word do you look for warnings or just promises of blessings? They both go hand in hand.  We are blessed when we commit to God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.  We are blessed when we commit to honor, serve, glorify, worship, praise, follow, trust and obey Jesus Christ.  God’s word speaks warnings and blessings but requires us to read it and want to hear it speak into our heart and mind.  We get to choose if we hear it and allow it to permeate our heart and mind.

Time and time again we read of a generation of people and nations that either no longer seek God or they commit anew to seek and serve Him with humble heart and mind.  Hezekiah saw the evil actions of Ahaz and what power the King had in leading people toward or away from God.  He chose to commit to lead the people back to true worship of and commitment to God.

We need to be mindful of how easy it is to be lead away from God when our commitment is lukewarm.  When we are lukewarm we seem to have an outward appearance of commitment but our ears are closed and our hunger and thirst for His speaking into and leading our lives is only with our lips and not with our heart and mind.

God knows and as well we know if our heart is being filled with an appetite and hunger for Him.  We do well to examine our heart and what is residing in it.  Commitment to honoring and living for Jesus Christ requires us to place Him first and always be mindful of our sinful nature and wandering away from Him.  Staying in His word with a desire to be blameless and holy for the single purpose of honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ will keep the door to our heart and mind open to hear Him speak and lead.