God’s strange Wisdom

Introduction

Illustration

Generally people give themselves away by what they go on talking about the most almost to the point of obsession. It doesn’t take much time before we discover. If we had any doubt about what Paul was the most excited about, the first paragraph of 1 Corinthians gives is away. His central concern is all about Jesus. It would be easy to read this letter and assume that Paul’s main concern was to whip the Church into shape.

You only go around once in life, go for the gusto. This focuses on you and your desires. You deserve a break today. Focuses on You, and today. A confident individualism, a personal felt deserving of all this life can give to us. Our own individual consciousness is revered. What do you think? We have created think tanks for people just to go built up our own knowledge and own thoughts. One idea that is prominent in the New Testament and the history of Christianity, but has almost faded into the backdrop of our society today, that’s the idea of the Church.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t think that the church is going to shut it’s doors all together, in fact you have more mega churches than ever before that are bursting at the seams. They have become no more than the passing expression of their church members. There churches doctrine is determined by their internal poles, there services are determined by what they perceive those outside of their churches want, there budgets reflect nothing more than the desires of their members, they see Sunday morning gatherings as nothing more than their once a week personal devotionals. This is not your quiet time. When we come to church we do not come as merely individual consumers pushing our shopping carts down the isle of the church. I wonder why you come to church? What is the use of the church? If you are a non-Christian this morning I understand that this may not be speaking directly to you. What use is the Church is not so much what it does for you as what it does for God. We need to turn the corner of self-centered and self-absorbed view of the Church. Paul begins to look at how we look at and respond to the Church and it’s members.

HISTORICAL BACKROUND

This is the 2nd letter that Paul wrote to. Paul founded the Church at Corinth, in fact he spent a year and a half in Corinth. Paul was very familiar with the life and people of Corinth. The city of Corinth was on a major trade route to the east. It was in response to a letter that the church had written to him, it say’s for example, “now about such and such.” This is the second longest letter that Paul wrote. Paul covers a large range of thoughts and questions not only of Christian living but also in everyday life. The main concern of Paul is to teach the church of what it is to be like.

Paul gives away at the very beginning of his letter to the Church at Corinth his two main concern for the church. He tells the church in that we are to be HOLY. Also in verse 8 that God would keep you guiltless until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1) Our Speech (how we talk or communicate our message)

2) Our Knowledge (the way we think)

This is possibly one of Paul’s more intimate letters simply because of his close relationship with the Corinthians. Paul highlights 2 very important aspects of how we live the Christian life.

1) Our Relationship to the World.

2) Our ongoing conflict with the world.

The church and the people at Corinth were definitely a beautiful mess or you could say a hot mess. Paul reminds them that the thing that bonds all Christians together is our personal relationship to Jesus Christ.

BIG IDEA: To ensure that you are mature avoid the allure of the immature.

The mature listen to real TRUTH, boast in the POWER of the cross, seek the WISDOM that does not come from this world, are filled with the SPIRIT

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1.WHAT TRUTH ARE YOU BEING LED BY?

v.10-17 Paul states the Problem

*Who is leading you? Are you following biblical teaching? (many are led by peer pressure, religious opinions formed without careful study of the Scripture of Biblical foundation.)

4 Issues identified

1.) Arguing over teachers as rallying points.

2.) Arguing in the name of Wisdom.

3.) Arguing that led to boasting in mere human wisdom.

4.) Arguing that led to Paul being judged.

Truth has died in our Culture

The concept of truth has been dying a slow death for many years and has become more noticeable in the past decade or so. In the early 2000s, comedian Stephen Colbert picked up on this cultural phenomenon by coining the term "truthiness," which went on to become Merriam-Webster's word of the year in 2006. Similarly, in 2016 in the wake of our presidential election, Brexit, and accusations across the political spectrum about "fake news," Oxford Dictionaries named "post-truth" its word of the year. Shortly thereafter, commenting on the presidential inauguration, Kellyanne Conway famously spoke of "alternative facts." In response, Time blazoned the question "Is Truth Dead?" on its April 3, 2017 cover.

Then in 2018, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani claimed "truth isn't truth" during an interview with Chuck Todd on NBC.

What exactly was causing the division at Corinth? Paul is concerned that the church at Corinth should learn the right way of dealing with what we have called ‘selectivity’. Basically when a few Christians begin to stress one aspect of truth over another, they need to be aware of what they are doing and must refuse to react negatively. The major problem with all of these splintered groups was the fact that they had all taken their eyes off of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Historical: The Hellenistic culture was a great influence among the Corinthians. There were many philosopher’s, many who were sophisticated in their language and their thinking.

NOTE: Paul reminds the Corinthians that he did not come to them with lofty speech or wisdom.

When the word of God is not set up as the supreme authority, division is inevitable.

Paul in 2:2 say’s that he desires to know nothing among you except Christ Crucified.

This happens in churches today when evangelical pastors and leaders begin substituting their own ideas for the truth of Scripture. The substitution may not be intentional, but it will always happen when the Bible is neglected. A Bible that is not studied carefully cannot be followed carefully.

1:12 “I follow Christ”. This is the most difficult slogan of all. The very placing of Christ’s name next to merely human leaders and the probability that ll of these leaders were equally following Christ, the fact is that this is what Paul would desire that they all do, this was used to show the ridiculousness of their division and quarreling.

. Roman soldiers divided the earthly belongings of Jesus, by gambling for His seamless robe rather that tear it. These were hardened men, but they saw the beauty and value of the robe and refused to tear it. Perhaps this is an illustration of the unity of the church. To divide the church was to “tear” or destroy something of great value and beauty that belongs to Christ.

v. 13 Question: “Is Christ Divided?” - No human leader, not even an apostle, should be given the loyalty that belongs only to the Lord. Such an elevation of leaders leads only to contention, disputes, and a divided church. Christ is not divided and neither is the body, the church. Paul depreciates his worth in comparison to the Lord Jesus.

v. 18 Question: “message of the cross?” - God’s total revelation, that is, the gospel in all its fullness, centers on the incarnation and crucifixion of Christ (2:2).

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2.WHAT POWER ARE YOU BEING LED BY?

1 Corinthians 1:18–25 ESV

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. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 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? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

The Cross is the Power of God to those who are being Saved by it.

There is nothing ambiguous about the Cross. For the Christian the cross needs no explanation. It is everything for life and Christian living, but for those outside of the church it has no real bearing on their lives.

WHY FOOTBALL PLAYERS SAY HUT

Hut! An article in The New York Times pondered why this word keeps hanging around:

It is easily the most audible word in any football game, a throaty grunt that may be the sport's most distinguishing sound. Hut!

It starts almost every play, and often one is not enough. And in an increasingly complex game whose signal-calling has evolved into a cacophony of furtive code words—"Black Dirt!" "Big Belly!" "X Wiggle!"—hut, hut, hut endures as the signal to move. But why?

Most football players have no idea why. A pro ball center said, "I guess because it's better than yelling, 'Now,' or 'Go.' Some people have used 'Go' and that's awful. That doesn't sound like football." A former quarterback reckons he shouted "hut" more than 10,000 times during games and practices. "I've been hutting my way through football for 55 years—but I have no clue why."

The article conjectures that "Hut" may come from the military backgrounds of many early pro football players. But that's just a guess.

v .18-25 “Paul argues from the very nature of the Gospel itself.

Illustration

David attempted to bring the Ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem after the exiles. But instead of following God’s rules by having only those in the order of the Levitical priests to carry the ark. When those carrying the ark stumbled Uzzah put out his hand to catch the ark and was immediately killed by God.

Our logical plans for God and salvation fail.

God has “prescribed the way” in the cross and the plan of Salvation.

When you go to the doctor with a problem what to you expect to get out of your visit? You expect to get the cure, or a prescription that will put you on the road to healing. The cure has been provided in the cross but when we choose another power in our lives it weakens the cross in our lives.

v. 18 perishing...being saved: Every person is either in the process of Salvation or in the process of destruction. Each persons response to the cross of Christ determines which one you are on the path towards. To the Christ-rejectors who are in the process of being destroyed, the gospel is nonsense. To those who are believers it is powerful wisdom.

v. 20 Question: Where is the Wise? Human wisdom always proves to be unreliable and impermanent.

v. 21 in the wisdom of God (v.21) - God wisely established that men could not come to know Him by human wisdom. God designed to save helpless sinners through the preaching of a message that was so simple the “worldly wise” saw it as nonsense.

v.26-31 Paul leans on their experiences as newly formed followers of Christ.

v.27 God has chosen the foolish things (v.27) - God disdained human wisdom, not only by disallowing it as a means to knowing Him, but also by choosing to save the lowly. He does not call to salvation many whom the world would call wise, mighty, and noble. God’s wisdom is revealed to the foolish, weak, and common, those considered nothing by the elite.

v. 31 “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

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ILLUSTRATION

The Coney is a rock badger, a bit larger than the prairie dogs that infect our state of Colorado. Coneys are gray, the color of the rocks. As long as the coney, the rock badger, is on the rock sunning itself, it's almost impossible to see. When a predator comes to attack, the Coney will run into a hole, the crag in the rock. If a vulture or an eagle wants to sweep down on the coney, it has to knock down a mountain to get at it.

One thing about Coneys, they know where their security lies. If a coney decides to go off on the prairie, venturing away from the rock, then it's vulnerable. It doesn't matter how courageous the coney is. It doesn't matter whether or not it's been taking body building lessons at the local gym. The most courageous coney falls victim to the smallest wolf or lion. When it wanders away from the rock, a Coney is dead meat.

"If you have the wisdom of a badger, you'll know where your security is. And the security you must have is the security of God’s wisdom."

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3.WHAT WISDOM ARE YOU BEING LED BY?

1 Corinthians 2:1–16 ESV

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

*God’s wisdom transcends the wisdom of this world.

*God wisdom transcends the wisdom of the world.

God does not move us beyond the gospel; he moves us more deeply into the gospel, because all of the power we need in order to change and mature comes through the gospel …. The gospel does not simply ignite the Christian life; it is the fuel that keeps Christians going and growing every day. Real change cannot come apart from the gospel.

Paul preaching has brought about their existence and all stand in contradiction to their new stance that is based merely on human merely human wisdom.

*What is the difference between the wisdom of a mature follower as apposed to someone who is not mature?

There are two groups of people. The world is made up of those without the Spirit and those who are spiritual.

“The son of King Solomon Rehoboam did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord” It say’s that when the rule of Rehoboam was established and he was strong that he abandoned the law of the Lord. Because he was unfaithful the king of Egypt came up against him.

*The mature follower sets his heart to seek after the Lord and His wisdom.

v.6 “Mature” - Paul uses this word to refer to genuine believers who have been saved by Christ. The author of Hebrews uses a similar Greek word in Hebrews.

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.

v. 7 “Mystery” - this term does not refer to something puzzling, but to truth known to God before time that he has kept secret until the appropriate time for Him to reveal it.

The deepest mysteries of human life - love, death, joy, and beauty lead us all to the deepest mystery of them all, the mystery of God. So God’s past, present, and future have at least been unveiled in and through Jesus as our Messiah. According to Paul world history divides into two ages. There is the present age, the period of history characterized by human rebellion, sin, despair and death. There there is the age to come, the time when the one true God and king will rule over all the world, bringing an end to the rule of the forces of evil and darkness that oppose him. The age to come has already broken into the present age in Jesus the Messiah.

2:14 “The Natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God, for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned........... but we have the mind of Christ.

ILLUSTRATION

In a recent (2017) book, Kenneth Boa compares a soaring eagle to Christians learning to soar through the power of the Holy Spirit:

God seems to like eagles. Thirty-three Bible verses mention them! Eagles are true flying birds, meaning they get off the ground by flapping, but they soar by thermals. Eagles begin flight training around four months old. But even before that, at about two months, they stand up in the nest and spread their wings when they feel gusts of wind. They're training to know the thermals! Thermals are the columns of air formed as heat rises from the ground. Because heat rises, these air columns push up and up, displacing the cold air around them. By staying in the warmth of the thermal, the birds continue to soar. Eagles become experts in this.

In this magnificent aerodynamic action, gravity isn't deactivated—it's still at work—but the higher principle overcomes gravity. Eagles drop down when they step off a branch. Then, they start flapping like crazy. Once they're in the air, though, their wings don't have to work very hard, and while soaring, they use a small fraction of the effort required to rise. They're almost at rest and can just enjoy the pleasure of flight.

When we first begin following Christ (or practicing a spiritual discipline) we're like eagles spreading our wings. Once we start flapping, though, we lift up. Maybe after a few tries we're back down on the ground. But through repeated practice, we finally soar. Also, in Greek, the Holy Spirit is called pnuema, which means "current of air." Think about what this means for us! We flap and flap, but eventually we catch the current of air, and we soar. This is how the Holy Spirit works with our training. He's not only our coach; he's the power behind everything we do.

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4.What Spirit are you being led by?

1 Corinthians 3:1–9 ESV

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

No one can comprehend the Cross apart from the Spirit.

2:6-3:4 For those who have the spirit are given divine wisdom that only Comes through the Spirit, however the Corinthians had been acting like those who do not have the Spirit.

*How would you identify a mature Christian? How would you identify an immature Christian?

Illustration: how do you know when a baby is mature enough to handle solid food?

Baby can sit up on their own without support.

Baby has lost the tongue thrust reflex and does not immediately push the food out of their mouth.

Baby is ready and willing to chew..

Baby is developing pincher grasp between the thumb and forefinger.

Baby is eager to participate at meal time.

v.1 “Infants in Christ.” - the people at Corinth had no excuse for not being mature, since Paul implied that he should have been able to write to them as mature, in light of all he had taught them.

v.2 “milk.” - not a reference to certain doctrines, but to the more easily digestible truths that were given to new believers.

v.2 “Solid Food” - refers to deeper features of the doctrines of Scripture. The difference is not in kind of truth, but degree of depth. Spiritual immaturity makes people unable to receive the richest truths.

2:14 “the natural person does not accept the things of the spirit.

There are basically two types of people those who have the spirit and are led by the spirit and those who do not have the spirit and are led by the flesh.

If a person is Christian why do we still struggle with the flesh?

Read .

16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

English Standard Version Chapter 7

15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.

23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.1

1) The Mature Christian seeks unity; children pick fights.

2) The Mature Christian seek God’s wisdom over man’s. children picks heroes. These immature Christians were arguing over preachers (v.4).

3) The Mature Christian shows evidence of spiritual progress, Children picks the milk carton.

4) The Mature Christian follows and imitates Christ. Children follow and imitates the world. What lessons in your life teach others in the church? 2:16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. “have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus.” (humble yourself, obedience, look to the interest of others above your own.)

5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

God uses us to make things happen in His church (vv. 6-8)

1) We do different things but God makes it successful.

34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

2) Our purpose should be that of serving God.

CONCLUSION

The church as a family speaks of growing in spiritual maturity. (DEPTH)

The church as a field speaks of quantity growth. (WIDTH)

Both kinds of growth need to be in the local church.

  Illustration

John the Baptist said of Jesus, “He must become greater; I must become less” (). Tell the story of this Scriptural scene and emphasize that this should be the attitude of every Christian worker.

How is God becoming greater in your life, your work, your home, your relationships, your marriage?

THE CHURCH IS THE WISDOM OF GOD ON FULL DISPLAY.

Significant human transformation always involves training, not just trying.

Spiritual transformation is a long-term endeavor. It involves both God and us. I like to think of it as crossing an ocean. Some people try, day after day, to be good, to become spiritually mature. That's like taking a rowboat across the ocean. It's exhausting and usually unsuccessful.

Others have given up trying and throw themselves entirely on "relying on God's grace." or perhaps have begun to follow peoples wisdom and not God’s. They're like drifters on a raft. They do nothing but hang on and hope God gets them there.

Neither trying nor drifting are effective in bringing about spiritual transformation. A better image is the sailboat, which if it moves at all, it's a gift of the wind. We can't control the wind, but a good sailor discerns where the wind is blowing and adjusts the sails accordingly. This is how it is with the wisdom that God has given us through the inspired word of God.

Working with the Holy Spirit, which Jesus likened to the wind in , means we have a part in discerning the winds, in knowing the direction we need to go, and in training our sails to catch the breezes that God provides.