ES1COR04 1 Corinthians 2

1 Corinthians 2 NIV

1 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. 6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him— 10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

1-5

Last time we looked at 1 Corinthians we saw that Paul did not put faith in man’s wisdom and the theme continues here. What do we think it means to share the Gospel with others? Sometimes we think it is about trying to convince others in winning arguments or, if we find the right form of words then we might get them to think that the Gospel is true. This is not the case. Sharing the Gospel is simply sharing the facts of God’s love for people; It is bearing witness to what God has done through Jesus Christ in bringing people salvation and that it is available to all who would come. It is the Holy Spirit’s work to bring the words we speak to life to convict them of the truth of what we are saying – it is not our work to convict them – just to tell them. That does not mean that we should be ignorant about how to answer the questions that come our way which we should answer with the wisdom God gives to us…just as we would be prepared for a job interview and think about answers to the questions that would be raised…we should also think about the questions that would be raised and think of answers to them beforehand. Be ready to give a defence for the hope that is in you, we are told in 1 Peter 3:15. But it is not about winning arguments, it is not we who saves. We, in all our words and actions, need to be pointing the way to Jesus not to ourselves.

Whilst Paul was among the Corinthians he made it his purpose not to know anything other than Jesus Christ crucified. The Corinthians put much stall by people knowing things and Paul had to make sure that he did not become one they would respect for his abounding knowledge, for remember his education was far advanced, but rather in Jesus who is the fount of all knowledge – this is the Jesus Who died to Himself and this. Knowledge puffs us up – makes us proud. It is the “I know more than you” attitude – and Paul was counteracting against this by only knowing one thing – that Jesus was crucified and that is all that one needs to know. Knowing Jesus Christ – this is not just about head knowledge but this is about knowing WHO Jesus is. We can know about Jesus. We can have all the knowledge and facts about Jesus. But even as Christians can we say “I know Jesus”?

Paul was simply contrasting the so-called lofty wisdom of the Corinthians with the lowly message of Jesus and the cross. Obviously Paul did not simply expound on this doctrine or claim only to know this but Jesus and the cross are the central pillars upon which everything else rests for without it there is no gospel, no salvation, no hope.

Who would not say we are fearful and weak when we come to share the Gospel? Paul was no different – his personality, his manner of being did not win over the Corinthians to God but the power of the message of Jesus crucified for us. For Paul, in what he was saying, had more to do with his physical health - that though he was obviously weak at that point in time it did not distract from the message for the power of God was at work bringing salvation. Though the tools of God, Paul and we are weak, it is God at work to bring about His purposes through us. Paul’s approach to sharing the gospel was simply with simplicity and not with their kind of rhetoric. The preaching was straightforward. We have to be careful as Christians to be concerned with the message of the cross than with the pull and attractiveness of the preacher. It is WHAT is being preached that matters not WHO preaches it.

Health, by the way, is not guaranteed in this life as the majority of us know, and we should never be shamed by those charlatans who claim we should never be ill or that we lack faith to be well. It is possible to lack faith, of course. If God’s speaks to us about healing and we refuse to believe that is one thing. It is interesting to me that those same preachers of prosperity have to wear glasses or get cancer.

6-15

Who is the Spiritual and who is the natural? The natural person is one who is not spiritual – someone who is worldly.

1 Corinthians Teaching the Text

After recognizing the bankruptcy of secular materialism, younger generations now recognize their need for spirituality. Similar to the situation in ancient Corinth, it has become hip to be interested in spiritual matters and engage in spiritual exercises. It is, of course, a good thing when people take time to reflect on the meaning and purpose of their lives; but, as Paul warns the Corinthians, such does not equate with authentic Christian faith. Paul is quite adamant that although many spiritualities (human wisdoms) are offered and followed, only God’s wisdom, as revealed on the cross, has the power to save lives both here and eternally.

These spiritual seekers reject the true spiritual life that is found in Christ alone. However, when one is ‘born again’ we begin to understand the spiritual and accept them. It is not of our effort or our accomplishments but God has revealed them to us. We should not be surprised that there is opposition to the Gospel or to Jesus because people of the world cannot understand it. If the rulers of Jesus’ time had realised who Jesus was they would not have crucified Him and so we should expect that we will not be understood either.

16

If we have the mind of Christ why then is there so much division in the Church between members of a Church or between Churches – why do we not have unity? This is something we looked at this morning in John 17. We do have unity, just not union or uniformity.

So, what do you think? Do I have the mind of Christ? Do you? When I think about this, and whether or not this is the mind of Christ or not, but I think that I do not have the mind of Christ. I certainly do not think that I think the thoughts of Christ after Him. Otherwise surely everything I do, everything I think, would be perfect. So then, if I do not have the mind of Christ and nor do you, how can I think the thoughts that I should think?

But note that the sentences were talking in the singular until now but the pronoun is changed to ‘we’.

If it is ‘we’ who think the thoughts of Christ who is the ‘we’ referring to? It must be the body of Christ. And it must mean that collectively as His body we can think the thoughts of Christ. It is in the body that we can find out the will of God. On our own you or I can go off half-cocked, do what you or I think is the right thing. As Scripture believing Baptists we believe in the priesthood of all believers and decisions are made in the fellowship about the right way forward. This is right – as the body of believers here we need to seek God’s will through the consensus of the congregation as we all have our portion of what is the mind of Christ and together we can see the way forward for our fellowship.

Does it make it impossible then for each of us to know the mind of Christ individually in our own situations? Of course not! We have to look at and study His Word, allow the words to sink into us so that they become part of us. We would not necessarily go to the Church for every decision we make – we need to ask God – you can ask others to pray too, and ask for wisdom. Some will be able to advise you – but I caution you to look to God first and seek confirmation from God in the thing that you want to do. First we need to read and do what the Scriptures tell us; faith and deeds, hear and do. Finding the mind of Christ then starts with the basics - and this is necessary for us to find God’s will together: The will of God is not that hard to find out if we put into our lives the simple spiritual disciplines.

But what if it is not just that – how about the way we live? What is the mind of Christ for that? We have been not only given the mind of Christ but the power to live for Christ.

1 Corinthians Teaching the Text

Habits are hard to break. It is difficult to swim against the current. It can be dangerous to stand out in a crowd. Such expressions illustrate the difficulty of living a life that follows God’s wisdom. The temptation to make little or no lifestyle change after becoming a Christian is enormous. In light of the cultural pressures from our surroundings, and from other church members, it proves easier to follow the crowd and reduce faith to an additive—something that adds yet another nuance or flavor to life. To act like Christ, to consider others greater than oneself, to give up personal rights, to accept suffering

So, how do we start this journey:

Romans 12:1–2 NKJV

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Having the mind of Christ means that we are concentrated upon God’s Kingdom and will. The daily things of this world means that we can become worldly and therefore we find that the things of this world chokes the life out of us as Christians.Our Christian Life means that we live for God’s Kingdom and to live in a godly way. To seek God for solutions to our problems – but whatever our daily problems are we are we know that God is our help – and more than that we should see things in perspective – we are here in the world for a very short time – and there are many in this world who are in a far worse off situation who do not complain about their lot but are concerned about how to survive day-to-day; None of us are yet in that situation where we do not have food or a roof over our heads.

[But, you do know that in a world that belongs to God it can be shaken to the core. At this very moment 100s of billions of locusts are destroying crops in Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, South Sudan and are moving north with the expectation that this largest of ever seen plagues could actually be 500 times bigger by June. Africa and Southern Europe could be sent into famine. Then, of course, there is that other plague called Coronavirus (COVID-19). The economic fallout has already reached parts of Europe because car parts are not being exported from China, people are being laid off work, people have no money to spend that our system so depends upon and we are not immune here in Wales. A virus hard to contain due to way we all travel nowadays. In Australia those who came off the ship virus free according to the tests developed it afterwards, after the 14 days of quarantine. Soon our own economy can be stretched. The government has said that once it gets to 100 confirmed cases here that anyone with a cold has to self-quarantine for 14 days. The knock on effects of millions of people staying at home is hard to estimate. Whom will we trust? ]

The mind of Christ is more than simply knowing what Christ would have us do or how we are led. The mind of Christ has a much higher purpose than all of this. The mind of Christ is given to us for our very purpose of living – and that is fellowship with God; to know God; to be in unity with God; to abide with God. The Trinity is about fellowship within the Godhead. The Father loves the Son, Gives the Son, Gives the Spirit who gives glory to the Son and the Father and the Son glorifies the Father and the Father glorifies the Son. They are in perfect unity and fellowship with each other. It is into this that we are called – into a relationship, a community of perfection and maturity.

Further to this the mind of Christ is given us so that we can walk in perfect unity fulfilling our humanity, doing His will and enjoying God forever – this is the Kingdom of God at work – we pledge allegiance to our King. We are all princes in the Kingdom; children of the King. And one day we will reign with Him.

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

For me this sums it up; that God has prepared so much for us who are His – but what separates this from everything else – it is not knowing God but loving God in which there are things yet to be discovered, to be revealed…we can know something of these things because God has revealed them by His Spirit – we have understood the Gospel, we have responded – and we know what is to come – but until it comes we will not be completely aware of how great these things are to be. I read this earlier and it struck me:

"At three things I shall wonder in heaven: first, that I shall not find many there of whom I was certain; second, that I shall find many there whom I was sure I wouldn't find; but lastly, and most wonderful of all, that I am actually there myself."

To conclude:

We are to share the gospel with others not with great convincing words but simply, truthfully sharing the facts and testifying to its truth.

Be content in being humble, not showing off our knowledge or understanding of things but still not lacking in being able to answer the usual questions.

Understand what it is more and more on a daily basis to not just know about our Christian faith, to know about Jesus but to know Him personally – talk with Him, listen to Him, walk with Him.

Make it an aim to gain the mind of Christ in our daily living; soak in the Word of God. Have fellowship with God and Christians regularly.

Look forward to that day when we will spend eternity with our Lord and King.

No one knows the day or hour when the Son of Man will return and He will come at an hour when no one expects Him.

John Newton, who was dying, called upon his secretary to write a letter to a friend. "I continue to be in the land of the living," his secretary wrote in her desire to help him. But he corrected her. Instead, he instructed her to write, "I am still found in the land of the dying, but soon I shall be found in the land of the living."

To live is Christ. To die is gain.

Benediction

Bibliography

Vang, P. (2014). 1 Corinthians. (M. L. Strauss, Ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.