“Wisdom” and Her Illegitimate Children

11/14/19

Far too apparent in American culture now, as it has been also in the past, is the growing traction of a false gospel throughout the West and has evangelical Christendom well within its reach. This false gospel has come against the church and against our culture in the form of environmental and cultural activism, or as I would put it, knowledge and science—falsely so-called. The problem I have seen, as an observer of these things is twofold: First, proclaiming Christians who commit themselves to some sort of activism do so with worldly justification; second, and of greater import, is the fact that I am an observer of these things at all. The type of person and activism being discussed and condemned here, is the kind of person who proclaims faith in Christ, and the kind of activism which doesn’t. What I mean is activism that is centered on something other than Christ and the advancement of His kingdom is simply sin made to look appealing to the eyes and stomach. It has the appearance of life-giving, knowledge-granting fruit.

When Jesus says, “seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:25-34), thoroughly dispels the idea that worldly gain and worldly anxiety about the needs of the flesh are a good and righteous way of living. In fact, He contrasts the needs of the flesh with the righteousness of God and His kingdom. Sowing seeds of worldly treasures reaps worry and anxiety. Sowing seeds of the Kingdom reaps the needs of the flesh that the world agonizes over. I would even go so far as to say, that when one seeks first the righteousness of God, and the kingdom of God, a person realizes the things they once ulcered over (money, food, clothes, etc.) have already been added to them. Not because they have more than they once did, but because they can echo the sentiments of Paul as he lies in chains, saying,

“Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:11-13

The apostle Paul often told the churches of those who walk as enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things (Philippians 3:18-21). Their god is their stomach. They glory in their shame. These are the same people of whom Isaiah spoke, saying

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)

This is where I imagine a person squinting, trying to find the connection between evil and shame, and any grandiose planet-saving idealism (and all its subsets). Here’s where our definitions and standards bring to bear. Justification matters. There’s a difference between a person who gives to the poor for praise, and one who gives in secret to the glory of God. Only one of these things is good, by God’s standards, anyway (Matthew 6:1-8). And this is what I mean that one of the problems of activism is that I can observe it. Righteous deeds practiced before men aren’t righteous at all. They may be deeds, they may fill the stomach, but it’s a false god, a false gospel. Saving the world is a futile endeavor when it’s already been done. You can’t do it better, so you shouldn’t try. If you care about the environment, the animals, the poor, the downtrodden, and the oppressed: stand on the foundation of Christ, and build the temple. Christ didn’t come to clean up Gehenna, he came to raise the dead, heal the sick, the blind, the lame, and the deaf, to show the world that he also could raise dead men’s hearts, make broken ones whole, set free the spiritually bound, blind, and broken to see past the physical needs of the flesh, and to see the glory of God, and experience forgiveness of sin and peace with God through Christ. Dead men aren’t raised when we ban plastic straws. That type of problem will be solved when dead men raise to life in Christ, and they seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Jesus made an acute point that I’ll feel free to steal to say this: wisdom is vindicated by her children, and the children of this wisdom, falsely so-called, are illegitimate, and by no means do they vindicate her.