Maybe you have heard or seen the game show, Are You Smarter Than a 5^th Grader. It’s a show were adult contestants are asked a serious of questions from 1^st grade to 5^th grade, in the basic subjects we all should have learned while in elementary school. They have several 5th graders as a panel that answers the same questions given to the adult contestants. To make a long story short, if the contestant can answer a set amount of questions correctly, they will win the cash prize and be deemed that they are indeed smarter than a 5^th grader.

Of course this sounds simple, but I have found that I am not smarter than a 5^th grader because my old tired brain has locked away or did a memory dump of all that information that I thought I learned when I was 10- 11years old. Oh I can answer several of the questions, but there is always one or two that I simply don’t remember.

By now, you may be wondering what does this have to do with anything.

Well the concept of how smart we think we are, especially when it comes to the simple Gospel of Christ, is the basis of my message today.

Now before you stop reading, please don’t take offense to me challenging anyone’s intelligence or discounting the many years of academic or biblical study and the effort in achieving higher degrees of education. I don’t believe there is anything wrong with acquiring knowledge and improving our minds. In fact, I have a desire to get my Master’s in Advance Bible Study.

However, my message lies in the following scriptures:

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.(John 3:16,17)

And my favorite verse;

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… (Genesis 1:1)

While there are many, many scriptures that simply explain why we exist and our purpose for being created by an Omnipotent, All –seeing and knowing God, these few I will use as my foundation.

So I pose a few questions to you: What is it about these scriptures that are hard to understand? Why can’t we accept them as true? Why can’t we believe them?

Could it be as simple as we are too smart or too sophisticated, too advanced in our knowledge and wisdom, to believe in something as simple as:

1. 1. God being powerful enough to send His Son, Jesus to die and be restored to life, as a sacrifice for our sins, so that we can be saved.
2. 2. God loves His creation so much that He figured out a way to be just and true to His creation and provide a way for us to remain with Him forever.
3. 3. God is THE creator of all. Of us, this world, our lives.

In making a self-examination, I find that in order to accept these 3 scriptures and all the rest, I would have to recognize, that no matter how smart I think I am, how many degrees I achieve or how much studying I do; I will never, ever be smarter than God.

But we do rationalize or excuse away the truth that God is the source and reason for our existence. Because of sin, we are separated from our Creator and therefore sentenced to die and spend eternity apart from Him. And that one man, God Himself, could sacrifice His life for all mankind, so that we no longer have a death sentence due to our sinful nature.

Yes, our vast knowledge and wisdom, debates with this concept of love and forgiveness. Because our basic nature cannot perform such an ultimate act of self-sacrifice and unconditional love, we cannot perceive this as possible.

I never watched the game show long enough to see if anyone ever won the grand prize and therefore could claim that they were indeed, smarter than a 5^thgreater. However, I know without a doubt, that I am not smarter than God. So I must believe in His Word, His Character, His Position and His Love.

I will close with this final thought. The message of the Gospel of Christ truly is simple, in my humble opinion. We cannot work our way back into God’s presence. We cannot buy our way into God’s presence. We cannot rationalize our way back into God’s presence. We can only, humble ourselves, let go or our wisdom, understanding and knowledge and accept and believe by faith, that God is God of All and that Jesus Christ is His Son, that died for our sins, so that we can have eternal life with Him.

Our life and existence is not a game show. It is real and we have a choice to either do things our way or God’s. My prayer is that we are smart enough to choose God’s way.

Bro. Dracy

For God So Loved The World…….John 3:16