In times of crisis, we might be tempted to combine the gospel counsel found in Jesus with man's wisdom. We might reason that since our case is dire, we could benefit from both secular counsel and gospel counsel, but we would be wrong to think this way.
Trying to combine the wisdom of man and the counsel of the gospel is like trying to harmonize light with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:15). It doesn’t work. At some point, the two counsels will contradict or even wholly oppose each other, which will be confusing and detrimental to your situation.
The conflict between the wisdom of man and the gospel is not new. When writing to the church at Corinth—a church fraught with all kinds of sin problems, including sexual impurity—Paul wrote:
“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” 1 Corinthians 1:18-20
Question 2. What is the “word of the cross” to those who are being saved?
From the beginning, the devil has tried to cast doubt on the sufficiency of God and His Word for His people. In the garden of Eden, Satan met up with Eve and began the conversation with, “Did God really say…” And in the end, Eve was deceived into thinking that there was wisdom to be gained by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:6).
And many years later, in the desert, as he was tempting Christ, Satan tried the same tactic with the words, “If you are the Son of God…” But Jesus was not deceived. He succeeded where Adam and Eve and humans throughout time have failed. He thwarted Satan with these words, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Now notice this from Hebrews 1:1-2, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world…”