True Wisdom and Foolishness

Okay, I'm not going to ask how you're doing because you already told me, and I have a

pretty good memory.

So, I need your prayers.

I'm in trouble.

I'm way in over my head with the things that God has called me to do.

To be a dad and to be a husband are things that are just so challenging to me.

It's funny, I didn't know my kids are going to be in today to listen to this, so we'll

have to talk about this later.

But I learned so much from them, you know, and it's just amazing just to see kids grow

up and trying to figure out how to shepherd them, to build a foundation to where they

see godly wisdom and they trust the Lord.

And just kids, you know, I'm in trouble.

My kids, I have three high school kids or three kids that are going into the high school or

age.

And just the things that I'm learning in our house, it just catches me in awe.

So, this week, about two days ago, one of my kids, who will remain nameless, and you're

going to know right away who it is once I tell this, you know.

So, they came in and they said, look at this.

And I'm like, what?

And they go, can you take a picture of this?

I'm like, what?

Well, I got armpit hairs.

And I want to send them to my class because I'm the first person with armpit hairs.

There's three.

Three.

Three.

But I don't know why.

I don't know why they're only on my right side.

There's none on my left side.

And I said, that's beyond my pay scale.

Maybe you can ask Uncle Ian, who's the doctor.

He can tell you why they're growing, you know, irregularly or something like that.

And so, this morning, we woke up.

And I was trying to get him up.

And he got up.

He's like, oh, man, I got such a bad back.

My back is killing me.

And he goes, well, it's because you're unbalanced.

You have too many armpit hairs on this one side.

You need to get some more over here.

Now, my wife feels like we don't have three high school kids.

We have four high school kids, right?

Because she's considering me as that high school kid also, right?

But you learn a lot, you know.

And I learned lessons about the Lord from my kids.

I'll never forget one of the biggest lessons God taught me was through my daughter, Rachel.

We were living in China.

And Rachel was about two and a half.

And she hadn't learned to speak yet.

We think it was because she's learning two different languages.

Our helper was speaking to her always in Mandarin.

And I can remember her first words she said, of course, which is always daddy.

We have some argument about this in our house, whether it's dad or mom.

But I remember her first sentence she said to me.

And this blew me away because it stuck with me all these years.

We were at this retreat.

And we were late.

And I had to get her shoes on.

And so Christina tasked me with getting shoes on.

And as a dad, you don't want to fail at too many things.

And so you feel like you could at least get shoes on your kids.

And so I remember putting shoes on her.

And as I tried to get this first shoe on her and put it on her feet, this two-and-a-half-year-old, three-year-old kid,

what she did next surprised me.

She grabbed the shoe.

And she said, I do.

And there was this fury and intensity.

I do.

And I'm sitting there.

And my first reaction is to grab it back and say, I do.

But at that moment, I know that if I do that, Christina would walk in the room and watch me arguing with a three-year-old.

So I can't do that, right?

So I have to act more adultish, right?

And so I'm sitting there.

And I'm trying to persuade this three-year-old why it's in all of our best interests for me to put her shoes on.

And so after talking for about two minutes, feeling like I got this through her head, I went to put the shoe back on her.

And the exact same thing happened.

I do.

And she grabbed it back from me.

And I sat there, and I go, okay, I'll let you do it.

And I watched her do it, and I watched her put it on.

Now, in my mind, I'm just thinking, okay, this is this craziness.

But, you know, I thought about that story for all these years.

And I ponder it sometimes when I think about my struggle with God.

And I wonder if God feels that way with us sometimes.

I wonder if God wants to do certain things in our life.

And he wants to do some things for us.

And he wants to change us.

And he wants to make something amazing.

And when he's trying to do it, we grab it out of his hand, and we say, I do.

I do.

I do.

I do.

The passage today talks about the story I just shared.

And what Paul says in this Corinthians passage is there's two types of people.

There's people who say, I do.

And there's people who say, God does.

There's two types of people in the world.

There are people who live by worldly wisdom.

And there are people who live by godly wisdom.

There's two types of people in this passage.

He says it at the very beginning.

There are those who are perishing because they're living by worldly wisdom.

And there are those who are being saved by the power of God.

And I think about this, and I realize that, you know, this isn't new to the New Testament,

but this story has been going on forever and ever and ever.

I mean, in the garden, we're told that our parents were there, and they were looking at this tree,

and they saw this tree, and this tree looked really good.

And God said, don't do that.

But we're told that they looked at it, and they saw the fruit, and the fruit looked good,

and it looked good to make them wise.

And in Hebrew, what you understand is that this wisdom is coming apart from God.

It's becoming worldly.

And our parents have this choice.

They can go on this direction and be independent.

They can find their identity by themselves.

They can find meaning by themselves.

They can find purpose by themselves.

They can find truth by themselves.

They can do all these things apart from God.

They can, I do.

Or they can let God do.

And they chose to, I do.

And what you see right away throughout the creation story is that you and I were never made to be independent.

You and I were never made to be autonomous.

You and I were never made to do it on our own.

And because of that, we start this search.

We start this quest.

We start to search for our identity.

We start to search for meaning.

We start to search for purpose.

We start to go on this vision quest to look for things that we can anchor our soul to.

Because without God, without godly wisdom, we're looking for meaning and purpose in our life.

And we're looking for things to anchor our soul to.

So maybe this would be a great time to ask a question before we even start off is, what do you anchor your soul to?

What is it that brings you?

What is it that brings you purpose?

What is it that you think about and dream about in the quiet moments in Hong Kong, which are far and in between, that you have free time to think?

What is it that you anchor your soul to?

Is it godly wisdom?

God does.

Or is it I do?

I have to do this.

I got to get this done.

Is it worldly wisdom?

And Paul's in this church in Corinth.

Remember, we talked about it last week that he started it in 50 AD.

And it was going pretty good in the middle of this amazing city.

Corinth is probably just like Hong Kong.

I mean, it's probably more corrupt sexually.

And Hong Kong is probably more corrupt business-wise.

But they're just alike.

And in this city, he plants this gospel message.

He plants this message of wisdom, of godly wisdom, and what God's going to do in people's lives.

He talks about the cross, and people's lives begin to change.

But then after five years or so, he hears this message.

And what he hears is not good because the people have started to take the worldly wisdom,

and they've started taking the culture and the worldviews,

and they've tried to integrate it to the gospel message.

They've realized that the gospel message is so intense and so different and so simple and so plain

that they've tried to weave those wisdoms together.

And in Paul's day, wisdom just meant knowing how to live life.

It meant having this worldview that helped you order all the things in your life,

your priorities, and your values, and the things you did, your life, your death, your universe, your cosmos.

Wisdom was having some kind of world system to put all those things in order

and helped you live consistently, helped you live with integrity.

Now today, I think wisdom just means you're really good with people skills,

and you're talented, and you have a lot of experience.

But in Paul's day, wisdom was everything.

And it governed how we lived, and it governed who we are,

and it governed the quality of our life.

And so I just want to talk in this time, and we're going to keep this short,

and everybody that asks when I say that, but I do.

I want to talk about one thing.

I just want to talk about the wisdom of God.

And this passage is interchangeable because it also calls it the foolishness of God.

So I want to talk about the foolishness of God.

And what we see from the very beginning is that Paul, in this passage,

he's going back through history, and he's talking through the story,

and he's saying from that moment in the garden when we said we want to do, I do,

and worldly wisdom, worldly wisdom didn't work out very well for us.

It didn't really change the quality of our lives.

It didn't make us better people.

It didn't help us get rid of things.

And we're told throughout these stories that as we are going farther and farther and farther away from God,

that God, in his wisdom, is pursuing us.

He's pursuing foolish people.

And God is on this quest in your life, whether you know it or not.

God is on this quest in your life to give you godly wisdom,

to change your life, to change how you think, to change how you live,

to change your purposes, and to change your values,

whether you know it or not.

And we fight and we struggle with that because we have this worldly wisdom that we've owned

and we've earned and we have and we value in our lives.

And Paul begins, very beginning in verse 18,

and he says God pursues us and tries to fight off that worldly wisdom through the word of the cross.

And in Greek, the word of the cross just basically means the message of the cross,

the historical fact that the cross is real,

the things that the cross destroys.

And it's this message that in Paul's day and in the church of Corinth,

and I think in Hong Kong too, if you're wise,

if you're worldly wise, you have a hard time hearing this.

I mean, let's be honest.

What did you think the first time you heard the gospel?

If you're in the family of faith right now,

what was your reaction the first time someone told you

you needed Jesus to die on a cross to save you?

You know, my first reaction, and this is on, I got in a fight.

I was with my best friend on a basketball court,

and he told me that I needed Jesus Christ in my life, and I punched him.

Because the thought of me not being okay and not having my life together

and not being able to do it on my own,

I was just infuriated.

And I got in this massive fight with him.

Because I didn't like hearing the fact that I needed help.

And when you share the gospel, this message of the cross,

this foolishness of God to people,

most people's reactions are, well, that's kind of interesting,

but you know, that's not where I'm at.

And that's not what I need.

It doesn't apply to me.

And if you think about it, the message of the Bible,

I mean, it's pretty messed up, isn't it?

I mean, the message of the Bible is pretty crazy, don't you think?

I mean, when you talk about the Bible and God's written word

over 4,000 years, over three continents,

we talk about creation, we talk about our need for forgiveness,

we talk about sacrifice, we talk about judgment,

we talk about heaven, we talk about sin, we talk about brokenness.

I mean, to the people who live in Hong Kong,

in the real world, in the business world,

those ideas are foolishness.

I mean, if you're educated,

I mean, it's easier, and I don't understand why it is,

but it's easier for people in Hong Kong to understand

and believe in Buddha and feng shui and reincarnations and aliens.

Maybe it's because there's history channel specials

about all these things, and you can watch them every week,

and people like it, but that's just easier.

I think maybe it's also because we get to do something,

and we get to earn our way to God.

But when we hear the gospel, either you go,

wow, that's amazing, or that's the dumbest thing

I've ever heard in my whole, whole life.

One of the top atheists today said it this way

when he was presented with the gospel for the first time.

This is what he said in his book.

He said,

many of the teachings of Christianity are,

as well as being incredible,

they're mythical,

and they're immoral.

The idea of redemption on a cross for my sins

is crazy.

I would argue in my book

that I can take your place in prison,

but there's no way I could ever free you

from your responsibility of your sin.

To even suggest that is evil and foolishness.

To even suggest that is evil and foolishness.

And what we see is the world struggles

with getting rid of I do.

The world struggles with letting go of I do.

The world struggles with its wisdom

that it holds onto,

that makes their lives okay.

And verse 19,

it's a very famous verse.

If you look at it,

for it's written,

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise

and the cleverness of the clever,

I will set aside.

And it comes from Isaiah 29.

And what was happening

in the world of Isaiah at that time

is there was a king,

his name was Hezekiah,

and all of God's people were in Israel.

And it was bad.

It was like the worst time ever

because this Assyrian army

was coming in on Israel

and they were gonna decimate Israel.

And so King Hezekiah woke up one day

and he's surrounded by

like hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

And it looks hopeless.

It looks impossible.

It looks,

there's no way.

And Isaiah comes to them

and he says,

God has sent me to you

and God wants you to know

that it's gonna be okay.

And they're going,

yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, yeah, sure, for sure.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's all gonna be okay.

He goes, no,

God's gonna take care of you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And he goes,

no, God is gonna take care of you.

Will you trust him?

And the passage says

that at that time

the people of God have a choice.

Do they trust in their wisdom?

Or do they trust in God's wisdom?

And you know what happens, right?

What do you think,

who do they trust in,

their wisdom or God's wisdom?

Well, they trust in their wisdom, right?

Because their wisdom's so much better.

So they make these alliances

with Egypt

and all these other countries

that come in

and help them against the Syrians.

But God still says,

hey, I love you so much.

I'm pursuing you so much.

And even though you don't want my wisdom,

I'm gonna pour it upon you

and I'm going to save you

from these people.

And he does.

They wake up the next morning

and all the soldiers are dead.

And the Israelis go out

and they plunder the bodies.

And so there's this struggle

within the church of Corinth.

And I think in the struggle

in the church in Hong Kong

and maybe even within Watermark,

even though we're not five years old yet.

And we struggle with this idea

of God does versus I do.

We struggle with this idea

of worldly wisdom versus godly wisdom.

He goes on in verse 22

and he says the Jewish people wanted signs.

They wanted power.

They wanted success.

They're like most of the people

in your office today.

When they hear the gospel,

the gospel turns them off

because it just sounds stupid.

Do we have a slide here?

We have a slide.

This is a slide from a house.

This was in a house

of one of the churches,

around one of the churches

was planted about the time of Paul.

And it's about a guy named Alexander.

And so they found this

in a carving of a house.

And so the archeologists went ahead.

And so this is what people

thought of Christians.

And in Greek, it says this.

It says, this is Alexander

worshiping his God.

So in the culture

that the church was being born in,

in the culture that the church

was growing out there,

this is what the people

who depended upon the worldly wisdom,

this is what they thought of Christians.

They're worshiping Jesus.

But Jesus has a head of a what?

He has a head of a donkey

because he's stupid and he's foolish.

And what the passage is saying

is that everybody you go into

to talk to today,

everybody who doesn't know the Lord,

everybody in your culture

and at work and at school

and at your classroom,

when they hear this message

that God wants to save them,

what they hear

and what they think

is foolishness,

stupid,

impossible.

The Greeks in 22,

they wanted knowledge

and the Greeks just spent all day

just listening to new things.

And, you know,

Socrates said,

Socrates said the key to success

is the key to life.

The key to have a perfect society

is just to educate everybody.

So if you educate everybody,

then society is just going to get better

and better and better.

And this idea of Jesus dying on a cross,

that's foolish.

There's no way that anybody could save you.

And what Paul says in his passage

in verse 21 is what he's saying

is that you and I on our own wisdom,

you and I left to our own,

we just can't find God.

There's no way that you and I

can even understand God.

There's no way that you and I

can even think about God.

There's no way we can even get halfway to Him.

And the only way that we can come to God

is if we trust Him.

The only way that we can get to God

is if He does it in our lives.

And this message that you're going to share

and you're going to live by your life with

and your work and in your home,

people are going to think that's foolish

and that's terrible

and it makes no sense.

In verse 25, Paul goes on

and he says,

This foolishness,

the foolishness of God is wiser than men

and the weakness of God

is stronger than men.

And what he's saying to the church of Corinth

and what he's saying to you and I

is that God is doing things in our life

that are going to look foolish.

And God is doing things in our life

that are going to look crazy.

And God is doing things in our life

that are going to attack my pride.

And God is doing things in our life,

in our friends' lives,

that's going to attract their self-centeredness.

And when people hear the message

that we talk about at Watermark,

hopefully every day,

when they hear the message

that God made a way for them

to get back to God,

and that process is independent of them,

they don't have anything to do with it,

they just go and God does it all for them,

it bothers them.

And so don't be discouraged

when you're sharing with people in your family.

Don't be discouraged

when you're sharing with your spouses.

Don't be discouraged

when you're sharing with people in your work

because this message seems so incredible to them

and it assaults every part of them.

And it was so strong to the people in Corinth

that the church started to,

and it happens in Hong Kong

and it happens in America,

the church started to change the message of the cross.

They started to compromise the message of the gospel.

They started to soften the message of the gospel

because they really struggled sharing that with the world

because the world thought that that was stupid,

that it seemed illogical

and that there was no way that that could happen.

So Paul was concerned about that

and he goes on and he writes that,

you know, we walk in darkness

and that we can't see God

and we can't comprehend him

and we can't understand him

and in our own wisdom,

we can't even make it to God.

And now I'm going to offend you by saying this,

but we're going to say it over and over again

because it should be something that we rejoice in.

But what Paul is going to say in this passage

is he says,

you and I are broken.

You and I are rebellious.

You and I are deceitful.

You and I are in bondage.

You and I are slaves.

You and I are selfish.

You and I are self-centered.

And when Jesus comes

and he's crucified for us,

what he's saying is

what Jesus does on the cross

goes right to the heart of our problem

and the heart of our problem is our heart.

The heart of our problem is our wisdom.

The heart of our problem is when we first said,

I do instead of God does.

And when the church started to preach this message,

the society kept hitting against it.

But what about this?

What about that?

What about this?

What about that?

And the church was tempted to compromise.

They were tempted to change what was going on

and they were tempted to change the message of the gospel.

And Paul kept telling them,

don't do it.

Don't do it.

Don't do it.

Because if you change the message of Jesus crucified,

you're going to be in trouble.

The message of Hong Kong's wisdom is this.

You can fix everything.

You can fix the brokenness,

but what Paul is saying here is you can't.

Because people in their own wisdom

don't see the main problem.

they see the consequences of the problem they see poverty they see abandonment they see abuse they

see broken laws they see all these things out there and so when the world looks at this world

that we live in and they say well the way to fix this is to use worldly wisdom and so what we're

going to do is we're going to make more laws and we're going to make more regulations and we're

going to make more feed more hungry people we're going to educate more people we're going to do

politics and we're going to do medicine and all of those things are really good things don't hear

me those are all great things but the message of the gospel isn't about those things what paul is

struggling to keep this church on focus and what we will always struggle to keep us on focus is that

the message that we present to people is about jesus christ dying on a cross and that message goes right

to the heart of our problem it goes right to your and my heart it goes right to the place where i do

comes out the i do my wisdom comes out of my heart and paul says that when jesus died on the cross

which is amazing it's scandalous uh it's it's but god in all his wisdom attacks the problem not the

consequences and jesus comes in and in one step on the cross he destroys our heart problem

he takes away our problems and what we're told in this passage is that jesus frees us from everything

that entangles us jesus frees us from everything that snares us jesus frees us from everything that

puts us in bondage

and that the cross helps us it takes away the things that kept us from knowing god it kept away

the things that kept us from seeing god it kept took away the things that kept us from obeying god

and jesus on his cross comes in and he destroys all of our worldly wisdom all of our pride all of our

self-centeredness and the reason he does it by himself is so at the end only god can get the glory

so when people come to christ they don't go i found it like they did in the 70s there was a big

campaign it was a great campaign it was evangelistic campaign and all the cars in america had a bumper

sticker on the back and the bumper sticker said i found it it meant they came to faith

what this passage says is you can never find it

because you have blinders on

and the only way in your own wisdom

that you can find it is god this step visor

and shows you jesus

we've had people come to watermark for weeks and weeks and i met with them and talked to them about the

gospel and we've intellectualized and we have answered all their questions and in the end they walked away dissatisfied

i was on a mission trip to thailand i was teaching at probably the most prestigious university in bangkok

and i had a group of rotc candidates and we were talking about buddhism versus christianity

and in about two hours i was able to in a very kind way to dismantle all their beliefs about buddhism

and show them why it was so much more reasonable to believe in the cross and jesus christ and that that would free you

that would make you free

and at the end i asked every one of them so do you want to become a christian

and they looked at me and said no

i'm a buddhist

and that shouldn't bother you

because the greatest miracle that's going to happen in church

the greatest miracle that's going to happen in hong kong the greatest miracle that's going to happen in your life

as the holy spirit comes into your life

opens your eyes

takes your blinders off

and frees you up

and the church

struggled with this

because it didn't sound nice

and it didn't sound fun

and it beat against what the culture was telling them

of what success looked like

and what freedom looked like

so let me ask you a question

are you free?

have you experienced this freedom that paul's talking about?

i know for a long time as a christian

and i was a christian i didn't feel that freedom

i struggled with doing and being and doing all these things

and making sure that i did everything right and perfect

and that's not the message of the gospel

that's not what christ is talking about

that's not what paul is talking about

he's talking about at the cross

christ came

and he did everything necessary

to bring us to god

and that frees us

he gives us a new heart

he gives us a new way to think of god

he takes away our anger

he takes away our guilt

he takes away our shame

he makes everything new

and so the question is

do we

do we believe it?

do we believe it?

and that's what the church was struggling with in corinth

because they had come to faith

it changed their lives

but then as they lived with their friends

and they saw their friends life

and their friends were great people

and they were powerful

and they had wealth

and they were great speakers

and they had all these things

and as they started thinking about this message

over and over their head

they said

well this message seems kind of crazy to them

this message seems kind of foolish to them

maybe we should start talking about Jesus

and we should start talking about how to make your life better

maybe we should do self-help courses

and one, two, three

and if you do these three things

you're going to be rich

you're going to be a millionaire

and Paul comes in and says

don't do it

don't do it

because if you do it

you take away the power of the gospel

does that make any sense?

I've got to end

but I want you to think about two things

the first thing is this

today

as you leave here

in this week

if you're a child of God

you're going to be tempted

by worldly wisdom

you're going to be thinking about this message

that we've talked about

and you're going to say

it really sounds harsh

I don't know if it's going to work

in the business world in Hong Kong

I don't know if it's going to work

in the academic world in Hong Kong

and you're going to be tempted

to soften the power of the gospel

in your life

you're going to be tempted

to look just like the people in your office

and to talk

just like the people in your office

hopefully you're not going to treat your family

the same way you treat your colleagues

but it will be a struggle

and Paul says if we do that

we've lost the power of the gospel

we've lost God's power

to change our lives

you're going to walk into your classroom

and in your workplace

and you're going to feel foolish

because of the message of the cross

you will

and when people put you down

for your faith

you're going to struggle

with wanting to compromise

and what Paul is saying is

if you do that

you've forgotten who your savior is

if you do that

the message that you're going to share

with your colleagues

or your friends

or wherever you're at

isn't going to be the message

that's going to change their life

and it happens everywhere guys

it happens in the church right?

I mean in the church

when I first started working for a church

I was given this book

and it was an interesting book

it was Dynamic Church Growth

and it said

if you do these ten things

in your church

your church will grow

and so it said

examine all the ten things you're doing

and if any of these things are wrong

then keep doing it better

and if you get bigger

then it will get higher

and you can have more capacity

to fill people in

and if you do that

then your church is going to grow

now is that

is that worldly wisdom

or godly wisdom?

now all those things

might be good things

but if we're depending on those things

instead of the cross

to grow the church

then we're going to fail

I mean in your workplace

you're going to go into your workplace

this week

and you're going to be tempted

to display business behavior

as opposed to normal behavior

business behavior

where things aren't said

is it right or wrong

but the question is

is it permissible?

and what Paul says

is if you do that

you're compromising the message

that God saved you with

and even if those people

happen to listen to you

the message that you're giving them

isn't the message

that's going to give them life

it's going to be the message

that's going to put them in bondage

and kill them

worldly wisdom

in your home

it used to mean

to train up a child

in the way he shall go

and that should not depart from him

that used to mean

to give your child

a foundation of the gospel

and God's word

and build their life

on that foundation

today in Hong Kong

it means

give your kid

the best education possible

and give them everything

materially they need

is that godly wisdom?

I'm just getting to the age now

where I'm counseling

some of your kids

who've had everything

and they've had the best education

and what I realize

is that most of them

are lost

because they have no anchor

for their soul

my prayer for us

is that we wouldn't compromise

God's message

because the culture around us

makes us look foolish

and stupid

one last thought

what does it look like

for you to live this message out

in your workplace

what does it look like

for you to live out

the message of the word

of the cross

in your workplace

or your home

or in the university

or wherever God sends you there

what does that look like?

what Paul's going to tell us later

in this book of Corinthians

he's going to say

this is what it looks like

it looks like love

it looks like joy

it looks like peace

it looks like patience

it looks like kindness

it looks like gentleness

it looks like self-control

as you and me go out

and we live this message

of the cross out

what we're told

is that God is going to use us

because there's a world

desperate

for meaning

for truth

for identity

and they're trying to anchor

their souls to anything

and they're lost

they're lost

let's pray

Father we thank you

for your word

we thank you

that it is living

and active

and that it changes us

Father I pray for us

I pray for me

and the staff

that we would never

become so enamored

with numbers

and finances

and competition

that we would lose

the message

that your son

came to give us

I pray for those

of us in here

who are living

by worldly wisdom

I pray that you

would show them

that this worldly wisdom

is folly

and the only way

you can do that

is if you open

their eyes

to your son

Jesus Christ

Lord I pray

there's anybody

in here right now

who's on that search

that they would just

pray this prayer

that God

will you show yourself

to me this week

if you're real

will you open your eyes

open my eyes

to you

will you help me

see you

will you show me

will you bring people

into my life

that can talk to me

about Christ

and what he's done

and the power

of the gospel

and what I pray

for those of us

who are on this

journey of world

godly wisdom

and sometimes

we are like the

church of Corinth

and we tend to

compromise

and we mix

and we match

because we don't

want to seem stupid

and strange

and weird

and harsh

I pray for us

Lord that you

would guard our hearts

help us to go

back to the beginning

and help us to realize

that the only reason

that we're here

is because of your mercy

and your grace

and you opened our eyes

help us not to get prideful

like the church at Corinth

did

and they started boasting

of all the great things

they did

and all the great

accomplishments they did

but they realized

they missed the focus

of the cross

and the cross is saying

that it's not about us

it's about God

getting the glory

and it's about God

doing

and about God

boasting

and I pray for us

Lord I pray

that if any of us

are boasting

in ourselves

or we're boasting

in this church

that you would

just rebuke us

and we'd realize

that you

and you alone

get the glory

and so we come

before you

as a church

as your people

and we just

we are so

humbled

by your mercy

and grace

to us

may Hong Kong

be different

as we love

those around us

well

love them

through the power

of your son

and through your spirit

Father we love you

we need you desperately

we pray these things

in your son Jesus name

Amen