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Sunday, October 16, 2005
Rev. Dr. Harold E Kidd
1 Corinthians 2: 6 - 17
DISCERNING THE
DEEP THINGS OF GOD
Cultivating Sanctified Imagination for Prophetic
Witness in an Unholy and Unsanctified World
"The Spirit searches
all things, even the deep things of God."
1 Corinthians
2: 12
Initially I would have to
confess I had to do some exegesis on this theme in order to better understand
my assignment. Amen.
“The Deep Things of God:
Cultivating Sanctified Imagination in the Third Millennium.” Lord, help. As I
began to ponder this theme, the Lord led me first to consider key words.
(1)
Sanctified - comes from the
word sanctification (hagiasmos) which carries the basic idea of being set apart
for or dedicated to God upon the basis of the atoning work of Christ. Sanctification does not suggest that we are
already holy, but rather that we are undergoing a transformation process; we're
on a spiritual journey under the direction of the indwelling Holy Spirit, amen,
of being made more and more in character and conduct like Jesus. Since God is holy and separated from sin,
this "sanctifying" must express itself in purity of life.
(2)
Imagination - in the
Biblical text is related to mind and our thought life. The mind. That place
where our thoughts live. The mind. That place where thoughts become the
creative genesis for new ideas and creative power. That place where thoughts
begin to paint upon the canvas of our imagination, mental images which can lead
to either blessing or ruin.
The mind is of such
importance in receiving revelation from God in a third millennium seeking to
squeeze us into its mold, the mind is of such importance to God in our ability
to receive with understanding His divine purpose for personal life and for the
church in a third millennium that would pollute our minds with worldly values
and worldly wisdom, that we are instructed to "Be transformed by the
renewing of our minds, that we will be able to test and approve what God's will
is -- His good, pleasing, and perfect will." (Romans 12:2) Paul seemed to
recognize, even in his own time, that the mind cannot discern the voice of God
if it is overwhelmed or been conformed to worldly thoughts. It is a reality
that whoever or whatever has control of our minds has control over us.
Our actions are a direct
result of our thoughts. If we are under bondage of a negative mind, we will
live a negative life. We cannot live a life of being more than a conqueror
while being mentally bound by negative thoughts. If, however, we are under the
control of a positive mind, we live life irrespective of its many trials and
challenges, with a positive outlook. Perhaps this is why Paul so encourages the
church in
"Whatever
is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think
about such things." (Philippians 4:9)
In this text Paul was
encouraging believers to center their minds on exalted things as a means of
living above the vast influences a non-Christian culture and religious
pluralism had upon the people of his time, the 1st century. And one
of my personal beliefs is that this 21st century in which we are
living, this 3rd millennium if you will, is very little different
from 1st century
When we consider the religious,
cultural, and social-economic context out of which Paul addressed the
Corinthian Church, is it that far different from that of our own day and time?
From around the world of
Paul's day, objects of luxury made their way to
We must remind ourselves
that the Christianity of Paul's day was in similar context as it is today. Paul
lived in a Pre-Christian world. Christianity was the new fledgling faith
seeking to take root. And Jesus had called Paul to give prophetic witness of
the saving gospel of Jesus Christ in a world proliferated by all kinds of
religions and idol worship.
Whereas Christianity was a
new emerging faith among the religious pluralism of Paul's day, ours has been
described as a declining faith amidst religious pluralism. What is being termed
the post-modern, post-Christian world, wherein Jesus Christ is no longer viewed
as the Savior, but as one among many.
The false gods of Paul's day
are yet contending for the minds of God's people today. Who are some of these
false gods? They are: Aphrodite, the goddess of love, desire, and beauty.
Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Mammon, the god of materialism. Bacchus, the god
of alcohol and revelry. Aries, the murderous and bloodstained god of war. We
are still worshipping these false gods.
Human wisdom and knowledge
have failed us. Our own scientific understanding of nuclear energy is about to
eat us up. We don’t know what to do with nuclear waste, radiation effects, and
toxic waste. We have created a situation by our destruction of the environment
which is creating global warming, the greenhouse, the gradual decline in our
polar ice caps -- effects that have us not knowing what season of nature we are
in. It feels like summer when it should
be winter. When I lived on the East
Coast I can remember one year when cherry blossoms, which normally bloom in the
spring, were blooming in October.
From Ripple to Canadian Club
to Cutty Sark to pill
popping to marijuana to PCP to cocaine to Ecstasy, our worship of Bacchus, the
god of alcohol and drugs, is killing our best young minds. Our worship of the
god of Mammon has us in serious trouble.
Worshipping Mammon makes us
lie, cheat, and steal to get ahead. Worship of Mammon has many churches more
worried about finances than fulfilling the Great Commission. The Wall Street
Journal is read more fervently each week than the Word of God.
Worshipping the goddess of
Aphrodite is killing Americans. Sex that
has no meaning to marriage. Sex that has only recreation as its purpose. Sex is
no God. From gang-banging to terrorism, to wars on just about every continent,
Aries has got us killing us without regard to life or God, the creator of all
humanity.
Like Paul's
world, the world we live in this morning is very holy and very unsanctified. In a world then such as this, how is it possible for the believer to
cultivate a sanctified imagination, enabling one to be faithful to the
prophetic witness of Jesus Christ, if one's own mind is under attack with
worry, grief, anxiety, fear, mental exhaustion, the cares of this world, as
well as the very temptation itself to be conformed to the images and thinking
of this world. Paul uses military language when he speaks to us of what is our
imperative for cultivating a sanctified imagination, when he declares in 2
Corinthians 10:4-5,
"For the weapons of our warfare are not
physical (flesh and blood), but they are mighty before God for the overthrow
and destruction of strongholds, (in as much as) we refute arguments and
theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty
thing that sets itself up against the (true) knowledge of God and we lead every
thought and purpose away, captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah,
the Annointed One)."
Cultivating sanctified
imagination. This is that of which Paul speaks in this very text. And again,
this word is out of the Corinthian context, the
Sanctified
imagination is where God dwells. Sanctified imagination is where God
lives. Sanctified imagination is
where the gateway of one's mind has been opened and has welcomed into its
domain the presence of the Holy Spirit. Sanctified
imagination is when the Spirit begins to mess with and exorcise those
thoughts which have become strongholds against God's word and our faithful
witness to His word.
Sanctified
imagination is where the Spirit imparts
divinely inspired truth for edification and proclamation. Sanctified imagination is the Spirit enabling us to see beyond the
veil which separates earthly demonic counterfeit imitations of what has the appearance of angels from actual kingdom
realities. Sanctified imagination is God in Christ thinking his very own
thoughts in us. Paul says it best (Philippians 2:5-8):
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in
Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal
with God but made Himself of no reputation and took upon Himself the form of a
servant and was made in the likeness of humanity. And being found in fashion as
a man, He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross."