LOSING IS GAINING (1 OF 5)
Scripture: ?Matthew 16:21-27
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Losing Is Gaining (1 of 5)
Series: Paradox
Dave Gustavsen
?Matthew 16:21-27
Today we begin a brand new series called ''Paradox.'' What is a paradox?
Deep down, you're really shallow.
A crowd is the loneliest place.
Less is more.
Those are three examples of a paradox. A paradox is a statement that appears contradictory or absurd. Like, ''What do you mean, 'less is more'? It's opposite!'' But then you look closer, and you go, ''Wait...sometimes when I'm in an argument, and I say less, it has more impact. Less really is more.'' So a paradox is a statement that appears contradictory, but when you look closer, you realize it makes sense in a way that you never saw before.
So why are we talking about this in church? Because if you really want to take Jesus seriously, you have to understand paradoxes. If you think about it, it kind of makes sense that if God is really God, he would look at things from a different perspective than we do, right? In Isaiah 55, God says, ''As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.'' So if Jesus really was communicating the thoughts of God, it makes sense that his teachings would stretch us. 1 Corinthians 1:25 says ''the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom.'' Sometimes you hear Jesus say things, and it sounds foolish-it just seems crazy. But when you look closer, you realize it's wiser than any human wisdom.
Maybe the best way I can illustrate this is with physics. What happens when you take a pencil and you drop it into a glass of water? It looks like this. So here's the question: is this pencil crooked? Is it disjointed? No! The pencil is completely straight. But because of the refraction of light through the water, the pencil appears to be crooked. So think about this: when you take God's perfect truth from heaven, and you pass it into this very imperfect world, and we look at it with our imperfect human wisdom, what happens? It look ...
Series: Paradox
Dave Gustavsen
?Matthew 16:21-27
Today we begin a brand new series called ''Paradox.'' What is a paradox?
Deep down, you're really shallow.
A crowd is the loneliest place.
Less is more.
Those are three examples of a paradox. A paradox is a statement that appears contradictory or absurd. Like, ''What do you mean, 'less is more'? It's opposite!'' But then you look closer, and you go, ''Wait...sometimes when I'm in an argument, and I say less, it has more impact. Less really is more.'' So a paradox is a statement that appears contradictory, but when you look closer, you realize it makes sense in a way that you never saw before.
So why are we talking about this in church? Because if you really want to take Jesus seriously, you have to understand paradoxes. If you think about it, it kind of makes sense that if God is really God, he would look at things from a different perspective than we do, right? In Isaiah 55, God says, ''As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.'' So if Jesus really was communicating the thoughts of God, it makes sense that his teachings would stretch us. 1 Corinthians 1:25 says ''the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom.'' Sometimes you hear Jesus say things, and it sounds foolish-it just seems crazy. But when you look closer, you realize it's wiser than any human wisdom.
Maybe the best way I can illustrate this is with physics. What happens when you take a pencil and you drop it into a glass of water? It looks like this. So here's the question: is this pencil crooked? Is it disjointed? No! The pencil is completely straight. But because of the refraction of light through the water, the pencil appears to be crooked. So think about this: when you take God's perfect truth from heaven, and you pass it into this very imperfect world, and we look at it with our imperfect human wisdom, what happens? It look ...
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