1st Corinthians CH 2

Problems in the Church

So here we are in chapter two, obviously comes after chapter 1

but here in chapter two we are going to continue to look at the issues Paul is addressing with the church

now he is going to go a little more in depth

were not going to do a recap of the last chapter since we did that last week so we are just going to get right into it

1 Corinthians 2:1 “1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.”

1 Corinthians 2:2 “2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

So just like in chapter 1 Paul is addressing the church and telling them basically that the only thing that matters is the message of the Gospel

you see we can look at this and brush by it or we can look at this and say we have problems in the church today

the problem we have in the church today is that it likes to make church about anything other than God !

Paul in these first two verses said , I didn’t come to you preaching fancy messages or using fancy words but christ crucified

You see Paul didn’t do well when we look back in Acts ch 17 while He was in Athens , His ministry wasn’t perfect

He didn’t really preach the Gospel all that much

and he probably missed some of the Marks when it came to sharing the Full Message of the Gospel

There was a reason he never started a church in Athens and there is a reason he started one in Corinth

you have this awesome contrast when it comes to Preaching the Gospel vs Preaching with worldly wisdom

you see when churches stick to preaching the Gospel , Jesus is God of the Flesh , He died on the cross for our sins , and He rose again and Gave us Life, The church itself takes on Life and it grows

there is a simplicity to the Message of the cross and thats what God uses , God uses the foolishness of the cross

He doesn’t use the fancy Fog Machines, the preachers that have crazy messages that sound like a mathematic equation , he doesn’t use big buildings or cool people, he doesn’t use light shows and worship shows

He uses the Gospel and thats what it should be

now thats not a dig at pastors and preachers who are very gifted in the area of teaching

but its one thing to be gifted and its another to carry out your own agenda

when we take away from the gospel we are turning into the church of Corinth

Now when church’s shy away from the gospel and preach anything but the Gospel , they die off eventually

you see it today when a church decides that they want to teach based off of feeling and appeal to the masses

they always come to an end , eventually

Why ? Because they have veered off track and stopped preaching what truly matters and that is Jesus Died on the cross for all of us and has given us life

(Look at Mega church’s)

Again its not about fancy words , or worldly wisdom

its About Jesus ! Jesus Saves Men don’t !

Jesus Gives Life , Men Don’t

Preach Jesus = Life

Preach your own agenda = death

Galatians 6:14 “14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

If were going to brag about anything , let it be that Jesus died for us , no one should be interested in another man but Jesus

it is because of Jesus we have life , it is because of Jesus anything is made possible

1 Corinthians 2:3 “3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.”

1 Corinthians 2:4 “4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,”

Again Paul probably had to learn that Preaching Jesus was about Jesus Himself not about Himself !

so he acknowledges that

He came to them Humble, scared , timid

His own Limitations forced Him to rely on the Holy Spirit

His message was not fancy , his message was plain and simple , nothing special

Paul is simply rejecting any reliance on “HIS” message to persuade with Human wisdom

Preaching was not about persuading people with earthly wisdom to come to know christ

He relied on the Holy spirit to preach his Message

and the Holy spirit is what brings people to know God

the holy spirit is what allows a man to step out in faith and preach the Gospel

1 Corinthians 2:5 “5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

How often do we look at men and think to ourselves , wow He’s a good speaker , or wow he’;s a good preacher

How often do we allow those things to over shadow the message of the cross ?

Here in vs 5 Paul is saying our faith should not lie in the wisdom of men but in the power of God

I think this sums it all up

the wisdom of men should never be something we place our faith in

Faith should be placed in the power of God !

Paul understood, that he was there to Glorify God and no one else

the divisions that were taking place in chapter 1 came because men lost sight of Glorifying God and were caught up Glorifying Man !

Faith In The Power of God:

So to summarize all 5 verses

v1-A preacher or teacher such as Paul should be humble speaking in ways that are easy to understand

v2-Jesus is the Only one who matters , its the Message not the Messenger

v3-The messenger again is Humble and working through their own fears

v4-There message should be simple and easy to understand displaying the work of the holy spirit and the power in it

v5- faith should be in the power of God and Not Man

So theres One thing I want to talk about and Paul already did it but thats focusing on the Power of God or Having faith in the Power of God

Regarding these 5 verses we see that the church of Corinth was fixated on things that did not matter

they Lost sight of the Power of God and they placed faith in Men

So I want to look at some examples of the Power of God

Why should we believe in the Power of God over the power of Man

Lets Brake this down a Little

Gods Power

Power Of Conversion comes by faith In God and is a Gift through the Power of God

Romans 10:9–10 “9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

it is by the power of God that one is saved and brought into the body of Christ

christ died for us giving us the ability to experience Life

Again only by the power of God

Gods power is a life saving Power

Now the church of Corinth was a church that wasn’t doing so Hot, its because they weren’t focused on the Power of God

Power of Forgiveness:

Colossians 3:13 “13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

Gods power is a forgiving power

its a power that gives us the ability to forgive one another

without Gods power to forgive and show grace we see things happen Like divisions

again like the church of Corinth

Power to Love :

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 “4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Colossians 3:14 “14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”

1 Corinthians 13:13 “13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

John 3:16 “16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Gods power gives us the ability to Love

Paul Started the Church of Corinth and it was His love for the people that allowed Him to write this letter to Get their focus back in line with God

Gods power also gives us the ability to Love outside of our abilities

If you guys remember in 1st Samuel , Saul had David on the run for a number of years but it was the power God that gave David the ability to Love Saul through that Season

it was Gods power working through David to Love the man that Hated Him

Power to Provide:

Romans 8:32 “32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

God has the power to give us all things not just certain things

He has the power to provide anyone of us what ever our needs are !

it is through His power that he provides

Matthew 6:25–33 NKJV

25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

God again Has the power to provide us of all our needs

Power to Heal:

Jeremiah 17:14 “14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise.”

Luke 5:17 “17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.”

Jesus Heals Many People

Matthew 8:14–22 (NKJV)

14 Now when Jesus had come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever.

15 So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and served them.

16 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick,

17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.”

God has Power to heal the sick , and the physically injured

But again it is the Power Of God

The Power of God Transforms Sinners

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 NKJV

9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Gods power not only saves people but it transforms sinners

Gods power Gives sinners the ability to change the old life into a new one

Many of us here were previously jacked up sinners, but now we are members of God serving Him doing things we normally wouldn’t do

and thats all because of the transforming Power of God

God gives us all a second chance as Long as we pick up our Cross and follow Him

2 Corinthians 3:5 “5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,”

Our Power comes from God not ourselves and not Man

Paul in these 5 verses we went through made it about a demonstration through his life as an example

he didn’t make it about an explanation that was so complicated it won them over

We want people to come to know christ because christ is stirring them up, not because of an experience they had at church

yes God uses all things but As believers its very important to understand that the power of God is real and that the power of the cross is real

God uses us as messengers and the power comes from Him not us

Romans 1:16 “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

“The Gospel is still God’s power to change men’s lives. Effectiveness in evangelism does not depend on our arguments or persuasive gimmicks but on the power of the Spirit of God at work in our Lives and through the word that we share” - Warren Wiersbe