God's Wisdom Isn't Like Man's

God uses the weak things to call people out of the strength of man.  He uses the foolish things to call mankind out of false wisdom.

If we don't separate from the world, we cannot be saved.

The serpent lied to Adam and Eve and said the fruit of knowledge of good and evil would make them wise, but the wisdom of man is foolishness to God.

God likes humility more than strength:

Psalm 68:16-20 NLT — Why do you look with envy, O rugged mountains,

at Mount Zion, where God has chosen to live,

where the LORD himself will live forever? Surrounded by unnumbered thousands of chariots,

the Lord came from Mount Sinai into his sanctuary. When you ascended to the heights,

you led a crowd of captives.

You received gifts from the people,

even from those who rebelled against you.

Now the LORD God will live among us there. Praise the Lord; praise God our savior!

For each day he carries us in his arms.

Interlude Our God is a God who saves!

The Sovereign LORD rescues us from death.

The mountain of the Lord's house isn't the tallest mountain.  It's the mountain God selected. Zion is Holy Because God chose it, not because it is the best in human eyes.  Do we see things this way? Only if we are being changed by God to see His kingdom as truly the best.

God will only save those who die to what their flesh calls good.  Success in man's eyes is very different than success in God's eyes:

Matthew 16:20-27 NLT — Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.

Jesus valued faith, not popularity.  Jesus was never trying to win the world to God, He was always giving away human strength to obey God.

He said He did nothing of His own accord, only what the Father said was good.

Most want to feel good, not be changed.  Meekness and humility aren't natural to man. It must be repented into.

God's kingdom is a kingdom where meekness is the qualification for inheritance. If we try any other way to get into, extend or represent HIS kingdom, we will fall into judgment, not acceptance. If we remain in the old ways and keep growing in knowledge we become false the more our ways agree with what the flesh wants in light of what God wants.

A true experience with God isn't based on feelings, how many people come, how many people agree, or what we think our service looks like to the world.

Our success is entirely defined by the extent to which we abide in THIS meek vine.  The humble one

.. the one that doesn't judge success like the world.

1 Corinthians 1:25-29 NLT — This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength. Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

The events described in Revelation will produce an fleshy, arrogant, a falsely successful harlot that is entirely reactionary to circumstances and a meek, lovely, radiant bride that is unmoved by circumstances.  We have to pick which we would like to be.  We were born of the world. We must be reborn of the Spirit.

If our flesh cannot learn to accept this, then we will never see the truth of heaven.

John 3:1-12 NLT — There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.” “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked. Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

As long as we are ashamed of our weakness and celebrate our strength, we still reject some part of God's kingdom.