TWO KINDS OF WISDOM (1): DEIFYING MAN

(Luke 20:19-26)
February 5, 2017

Read Luke 20:19-21 Wile E. Coyote the WB cartoon character who is

always trying to destroy the Road Runner by means of elaborate plans using
Acme mail order contraptions like a rocket sled, jet-powered roller skates,
earthquake pills, etc. Of course, he always fails. Always ends up squashed
flat, knocked senseless or burnt to a crisp by his own devices. Dont tell me
you dont remember this stuff! Now just put the Pharisees in Wileys place
and you have a perfect picture of the last week of Jesus life. His enemies
come at Him in waves intent on destroying Him, but they all go away burnt to
a crisp as Jesus uses their own devices against them. Its an incredible display.

Most teach this passage is about Xns and government. But that is a sidelight.
This is an epic battle of cosmic proportions between Jesus and the elite of His
day pitting human wisdom vs. Gods wisdom. Every time it looks like the
enemies win, and every time Jesus turns the whole thing around. Human
wisdom can look very attractive. Many give their lives for it. But it is no
match for divine wisdom. So this text powerfully demonstrates. Human
wisdom vs. divine wisdom. 2 weeks to characterize them Human wisdom
this week. Divine wisdom next. What characterizes human wisdom? How
could I recognize that Im going down that road to nowhere?

I. Disregards Sin

Keep in mind, Jesus enemies thought they were right -- defending Gods
honor. They believed Jesus was a blasphemer. They were absolute fools for
closing their minds to the evidence, but they thought they had it right. They
were spiritually blind. They are a perfect illustration of those God identifies in
II Cor 4:4: In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the
unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of
Christ, who is the image of God. They were absolutely blind to truth.

BUT that didnt take them off the hook. They were culpable. They refused
the cure which starts with acknowledging you are blind. How do you
know? You downplay sin. Thats why Jesus comes back to this subject over
and over. Spiritually blind people deal with sin in every way imaginable
repress it; deny it; ignore it; downplay it; minimize it; excuse it; rationalize it;
anything but repent of it. A low view of sin is the sure sign of spiritual

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blindness. If you bristle every time someone says sin and your first reaction is
to explain it away in your case, look out you are spiritually blind and in
mortal danger.

Note the context for this encounter. 19 The scribes and the chief priests sought
to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this
parable against them, but they feared the people. These guys hate Jesus and
want Him gone NOW. Why? Because they perceive the parable He just told
was about them. It was about the vineyard tenants who acted like owners in
the absence of the true owner. Like all Jesus parables it was intended to
expose their sin and elicit repentance. Instead it stirred up hatred. That alone
showed their blindness. True God-followers live a lifestyle of repentance;
unbelievers take offense at any mention of the word sin.

When Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the church door at Wittenberg
igniting the Protestant Reformation, guess the main topic? justification by
faith? A protest against the sale of indulgences? All there, but the emphasis
was, repentance. The first thesis read: When our Lord and Master said,
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Mt 4:17), He meant that the
whole life of believers should be repentance. Repentance doesnt start and
end at conversion. The Christian life is a continuous exercise in repentance
as we plumb the depth of our sin. Christians arent just repentant people,
theyre repenting people. If your heart rebels against that, look out. You are
almost certainly on the outside looking in.

Jesus enemies couldnt stand that implication: 19 The scribes and the chief
priests sought to lay hands on him [euphemism for kill] at that very hour.
It wasnt repentance that was in their hearts, it was murder. They wanted to
kill the only completely sinless man who ever walked the face of the earth.
How blind can you be? And their sin is shown by their methods. They spied;
they misrepresented; they flattered; they lied; they were hypocrites -- sinful
thru and thru, but in complete denial. Human wisdom glosses over sin.

Thats because it hates accountability. But what if God is real; what if sin is
real; and what if we are accountable? Then what? I once got a tour of the
Indianapolis speedway, including its museum. But there was 1 thing missing.
There was no mention anywhere of the 40 plus drivers who have died there.
No plaques, no memorial, no museum section nothing. No driver has ever
been pronounced dead at the track. Driver Scott Goodyear once explained:

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You dont go look at where it happened. You dont watch the films of it on
television. You dont deal with it. You pretend it never happened. Denial!

According to the Bible, this is exactly the way human wisdom deals with the
sin. Denial! Rom 1:18, 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their
unrighteousness suppress the truth. Human wisdom deals with guilt by
suppression rather than confession. Psychology teaches us to ignore, deny,
rationalize or otherwise excuse what can only be remedied by repentance. So
if you find yourself shaking your fist at the very mention of sin, look out. You
are headed right into the storm of Gods eternal wrath. Human wisdom can
only lead to disaster because it disregards sin.

II. Deifies Man

It pays lip service to God, but by it actions, human wisdom exalts man. It
chooses man over a God it denies or feels has disengaged. You see it in the
partnership here. The scribes and chief priests were on the attack. Scribes
were mostly high level, highly educated Pharisees and the priests were
Sadducees. Mt 22:15 and Mark 12:13 tell us Herodians were also part of this
conspiracy. Now, these groups hated each other. Pharisees were nationalistic,
longing for a Messiah to overthrow of Rome. Theyd rather fight than switch.
The Herodians and Sadducees had sold out. Like the Vichy govt in WWII
France, they accommodated! Theyd rather switch than fight.

These groups couldnt agree on anything except on thing. They agreed that
they hated Jesus. Theyd have killed Him immediately except they feared the
people who were still a day or two from turning against Him as well.

What Luke is showing us here is that while human wisdom comes in many
different flavors it unites in its desire to deify man and bring God down.
These scribes and chief priests are face-to-face with God in the flesh, but
rather than accept His revelation, they elevate their own opinions. They
believe they are more clever than He. They have devised a question they
believe He cannot answer. They willingly challenge Gods ultimate revelation,
Jesus Christ, with their own contrived wisdom elevating man above God.

Its Eden being played out over and over again. In Gen 3:5 Adam and Eve fell
for the lie: you will be like God. You can be your own God. Its the longest
running play in history. You can be your own God. Its the foundation of every

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Christless religion and philosophy known to man. It is the inevitable result of
elevating human wisdom above divine revelation. It doesnt matter its flavor
Islam, Buddhism, Shintoism, Confusianism, Humanism, Secularism,
Atheism it doesnt matter the title look deeply enough and youll find, you
can be your own God. Its the deification of man.

Its always been there, but with the scientific discoveries that led to the
Enlightenment, the religion of Man came to full flower. The novelist, Ayn
Rand made the case as bluntly as anyone ever has: "Reason is man's only
source of knowledge and his basic tool of survival. Man is an end in himself
which means that each individual must live by his own mind and for his
own sake." It is Gen 3 all over again. It is the Tower of Babel all over again.
Its Nebuchadnezzar pompous proclamation: Is this not great Babylon that I
have built (Dan 4:30) all over again. Its the nations raging in Psa 2:3, Let
us burst their bonds apart [from God] all over again. Its the scientist Carl
Sagan pontificating with absurd certainty: The universe is all there is, was,
or ever will be. Its the atheist Robert Ingersoll raging, If there be a God,
let Him strike me down in one minute and at the end of that minute saying,
See there is no God, as though Gods grace could be exhausted in one
minute. Its the longest running play in history you can be your own god.

But its just as foolish now as it ever was. It didnt work in Eden; it didnt
work in at Babel; it didnt work in Babylon, it didnt work in 1st century
Palestine and it wont work in 21st century America. Gods reaction is what
you would expect of One who omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent: Psa
2:4) He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. If
you fear the opinions of man more than God; if you desire mens approval
above Gods, please reconsider. The idea that man can pit himself against God
and win is a delusion. Before you decide that science has proven God out of
existence, stop and consider that the science books are rewritten every 10-20
years. Gods truth is the only truth that does not require constant revision.

ABCs evening news has an American Strong segment. After the marathon
bombings Bostonians turned it into Boston strong. Great means of rallying
and rebuilding a community. But society is radically mistaken in adopting a
Human strong defiance of a God who graciously withholds instant
judgment. John Piper says, Instead of proclaiming strength should we not
be acknowledging our human weakness apart from God. God-ignoring,
God-minimizing, human-exalting, city-exalting, nation-exalting ideologies
are evil. That's the main problem in America today: The absence of God in

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most spheres of life is perceived to be normal; even Christians feel it as
normal which is why absorbing the culture all around us and its priorities
is so dangerous. Human wisdom condemns itself in deifying man. Man is
king; man rules; man is god.

III. Devalues Christ

Human wisdom always devalues Christ. These men rejected His word, His
authority and His Person. Remember they were having this conversation
because they rejected His parable about their acting like they owned their own
lives. V. 19 tells us, they perceived that he had told this parable against
them. They heard the word, knew it was for them and flat rejected it.

That led to their devaluing His authority. Rather than submit to His warning,
they decided to kill Him. It all comes down to that, doesnt it? With Jesus it is
either bow to His Lordship or join the crowd at the cross crying, Crucify
Him! Jesus never left any middle ground.

Worst of all they judged they were more clever than He. They thought they
had asked a question He could not answer. If He said, Pay Caesar, Hed
lose His following. If He said, Dont pay Caesar, He would offend the
Romans. Either way, they win; He loses. They used pretense and flattery that
they might catch him in something he said. They were the pinnacle of human
wisdom smart, educated, elite. But they erred badly in thinking they knew
more than the Son of God. We will see next week how Jesus turns their whole
ruse around against them in 30 seconds. How many times have we seen that?
How could Jesus win against the worlds best time after time? How is it they
could never get the better of Him? Because human wisdom is no match for
Gods wisdom. Never has been; isnt now and never will be. Never.

But this little verbal exchange could fit very nicely into the 21st century,
couldnt it? Human wisdom still thinks it can outwit God. Human wisdom still
willingly and defiantly devalues the Son of God. Human wisdom still pits
itself against the Word and Person and Authority of God in a battle that it can
never win! But it never stops trying.

The methods may change a little. Thus Dorothy Sayers points out that the
people who killed Jesus never accused Him of being a bore. She says, On the
contrary, they thought him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later
generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with

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an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the
Lion of Judah, certified him "meek and mild," and recommended him as a
fitting household pet for pale curates and pious ladies. Shes right. Human
wisdom, in which much of the religious world is complicit, has reduced Jesus
to a parody that we pull out now and then at funerals and other hard times for
a bit of comfort while ignoring completely His own statement that His
followers are those who deny self, take up their cross daily and follow Him
daily! Were smarter than Him and dumber than ever. Because thats where
human wisdom leads.

Conc But, of course, it is not human wisdom that will win in the end. They
put Jesus in a grave, but they could not keep Him there. In the end, God will
not be denied. Paul brought it all right back to Christ in I Cor 1:23 but we
preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but
to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and
the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the
weakness of God is stronger than men. And if you want to see what that
looks like in living color, you have only to look at Dan 2 where God gave a
vision of a great image to Nebuchadnezzar representing all of human history.
It accurately predicted the rise of Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, Rome and a
yet future Roman empire. These embodied all the best of human effort,
intelligence, power and culture. But God describes the end in Dan 2:44-45:
44 And in the days of those kings (end time rulers) the God of heaven will set
up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to
another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to
an end, and it shall stand forever, 45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a
mountain by no human hand (Jesus Christ), and that it broke in pieces the iron,
the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to
the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation
sure. In other words, God wins!

What that says, Beloved, is when it comes down to a contest between what
your human reason tells you and what God has revealed to you, the only wise
thing to do is to go with God. To put your wisdom and desires above God is to
deify man, and that will always lead to disaster. Peace and eternal reward are
on Gods side.

A man stopped to watch a Little League baseball game. He asked one of the
youngsters what the score was. The little fellow replied, "We're losing 18 to
nothing." The man looked at him and said, "You don't look very

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discouraged." "Discouraged," said the little boy. "Why should we be
discouraged? We haven't come to bat yet." If youre thinking human wisdom
yours or others is better than Gods, keep this in mind the game isnt over;
Jesus hasnt returned yet; God hasnt had His final at-bats. When He does,
human wisdom has as much chance as Wile E. Coyote; you dont want to be
on that side. Lets pray.

Song The Solid Rock