The Wisdom and Power of God: Cultivating and Spreading the Mind of Christ

Introduction

Exposition 1 (1-5)

The Power of God in the Gospel 1 (1-5)

Remember, last week we saw that the message of the cross is foolishness to the world and now Paul is going to talk about some implications of this

In verses 1-5 there are sever things to note

First, [1 Corinthians 2:1-3] DON’T READ

1 Corinthians 2:1–3 ESV

1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,

Paul says that he did not come in “lofty speech or wisdom” vs. 1

But instead Paul simply let them know the Gospel (Christ Crucified) vs. 2

And his presentation left much to be be desired vs. 3

read verse 3

So our first note is this

The power of the Gospel is not dependent on the skill of a speaker (1-3)

1 Corinthians 2:4 ESV

4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

The power of the Gospel is not dependent on the skill of a speaker (1-3)

Nor on the rationality of the message (4)

1 Corinthians 2:5 ESV

5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

The power of the Gospel is not dependent on the skill of a speaker (1-3)

Nor on the rationality of the message (4)

But rather directly in the power of God

I. God uses the weak of the world to display His power through the Gospel (1-5)

Don’t trust in your reason

Don’t trust in your rhetoric

Trust in God

Don’t lose sight of the fact that you believe by faith

Exposition 2 (6-16)

Spiritual Wisdom (6-16)

So in this longer section, let’s make a few observations

In verse 6, Paul is addressing an issue that could result from the previous verses.

Does God hate wisdom?

No, just worldly wisdom

Instead, Paul in this verse addresses “the mature”

Who are the mature?

...

So we’ve established that Paul is speaking to faithful believers or growing believers.

1 Corinthians 2:6 ESV

6 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.

He tells them that they are to be given and are to recieve wisdom.

Not in the popular sense of the word though...

Remember the popularity of Wisdom, Paul says that kind of wisdom leads to death

Instead, look with me at vs. 7

1 Corinthians 2:7 ESV

7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.

1 Corinthians 2:8–16 ESV

8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 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”— 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 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. 12 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. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 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. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

II. Believers, You have been given the mind of Christ through the Spirit! Use it!