This crucified Christ is also God’s wisdom. In order to accomplish anything, we need both power and wisdom. We have pointed out that wisdom is for planning and purposing, whereas power is for carrying out and accomplishing what is planned and purposed. In God’s economy Christ crucified is both God’s power and His wisdom. It is possible for us to have power or strength without having wisdom or the way. If we have power without wisdom, we may use our strength in a foolish way. Therefore, we need Christ as both power and wisdom.
The crucified Christ as God’s power and wisdom can be applied to the problem we face with our temper. Without exception, we all are bothered by our temper. Who can say that he has never lost his temper? After experiencing a certain amount of growth in life, we come to hate our temper and long to be free from it. I know of some sisters who, shortly before the day of their wedding, made a vow that they would never again lose their temper, especially never lose it with their husband. However, in every case this vow was broken. Not only in married life but in all kinds of situations in our daily life, we are troubled by our temper.
Many Christians who love the Lord and seek Him have prayed something like this: “Lord Jesus, You know how easy it is for me to lose my temper. Lord, You are Jehovah the Savior. I ask You to save me from this sin of losing my temper. O Lord, deliver me from this.” Although many have prayed in this way, none have been delivered from their temper as a result. In ourselves we simply do not have either the power to overcome our temper or the wisdom, the way, to do it. We may think that prayer will give us power and wisdom. However, even when we pray, we still do not have power and wisdom. But when we call on the name of the Lord, enjoy Christ, and are filled with the life-giving Spirit, we have no problem with our temper. Spontaneously we have both the power to overcome our temper and the way to deal with it. What is this power and this way? It is the death of Christ. Only the crucified Christ is the power and the wisdom to deal with our temper.
We may also apply the crucified Christ as God’s power and wisdom to our need for patience. We all desire to be patient. But I have never met a person who is truly patient. We value patience and we desire to be patient, but we cannot be patient. However, when we experience the crucified Christ, we automatically have patience. This crucified Christ becomes to us both the power and the wisdom for patience. As a result, we have both the strength and the way to be patient. Actually, we do not try to be patient. We simply are patient through our experience of Christ crucified.
The crucified Christ can be applied to all manner of human experiences. For more than forty years, we have been preaching nothing other than Christ and Him crucified. Within this crucified Christ there are the elements Of resurrection and ascension. Thus, when we enjoy the crucified Christ, we also enjoy His resurrection and ascension. The key to experiencing the resurrection and ascension of Christ is found in Christ’s crucifixion. Crucifixion is the threshold into all the riches of Christ. The cross is the way to experience Christ with all His riches. Apart from Christ’s crucifixion, there is no gateway for us to enter into the riches of Christ.
Ephesians 1:9 speaks of God’s good pleasure which He purposed in Himself. In Ephesians 3:11 Paul refers to “the purpose of the ages which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Furthermore, in Ephesians 1:11 Paul says that God “operates all things according to the counsel of His will.” The crucified Christ as God’s wisdom is related to God’s plan according to His good pleasure and also according to God’s way to fulfill His will. God’s plan according to His good pleasure and His way to fulfill His will are deep and profound. Nevertheless, these profound matters can be applied to our experience.
We have seen that when we experience the crucified Christ, He becomes to us both the power of God and the wisdom of God. Since we have the crucified Christ as God’s wisdom, there is no need for us to seek a way to carry out God’s will. Simply by experiencing the crucified Christ, we spontaneously have a way to do God’s will. We become very wise in doing the will of God. No longer is it necessary for us to make up our mind to do God’s will or to determine to do the will of God. Doing God’s will does not even depend on our praying, “Lord, Your will be done.” Christians everywhere pray for the will of God to be done. It is common in Christian services for believers to pray, “Lord, not our will, but Your will be done.” But no matter how many times believers pray for the will of God to be done, the will of God is not accomplished. If you want to do the will of God, there is no need for you to pray the words, “Your will be done.” As long as you experience the crucified Christ, Christ will become to you God’s wisdom to fulfill His plan. You will have the wisdom of God to do His will. Perhaps you may not understand this at the time. But if you look backward after a period of months or years, you will realize that you did have God’s wisdom to carry out His plan according to His will. This, of course, is not your natural wisdom; it is the crucified Christ as God’s wisdom.
When we experience the crucified Christ, we are terminated. All that we are, all that we have, and all that we can do—all is completely terminated. To be terminated, there is no need for you to crucify yourself. There is not even any need for you to reckon yourself dead. You are terminated simply by experiencing the crucified Christ. Actually, it is impossible for anyone to crucify himself. But when we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, as we are enjoying Him and experiencing Him, His crucifixion will terminate us. All that we are is terminated by this crucified Christ.
Crucifixion is the way for us to be delivered from the flesh, the natural life, and the old creation. Christ crucified is not only the power; He is also the way. To the Jews, such a Christ is an offense, and to the Greeks, He is foolishness. But to us who have been called, the crucified Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom for us to be delivered from all negative things. We thank Him and praise Him that we are now in the process of being saved. The more we are saved by experiencing the crucified Christ, the more we enjoy Him.