Get Smart Series

GET SMART

I Corinthians 2:6-16

S: Holy Spirit

Th: Live the Difference

Pr: WE THINK DIFFERENTLY (OR AT LEAST, WE ARE SUPPOSED TO…)

?: Why? Why do we think differently?

KW: Reasons

TS: We will find in our study of I Corinthians 2:6-16 three reasons why we, as Christians, think differently.

The _____ reason we think differently is we are…

I. ADVANCING (6-8)

II. APPREHENDING (9-13)

III. ASCERTAINING (14-16)

Version: ESV

RMBC 01 February 04 AM

INTRODUCTION:

Have you ever met anyone that needed to get smart?

ILL Notebook: Understand (thermos)

A not-so-smart guy walks up to the return counter at Kmart and says to the clerk, "I’d like to return this thermos.”

"Is it defective?" replies the clerk.

"Yes", says the not-so-smart guy, "It does not work the way it’s supposed to. I was told it would keep hot things hot, and cold things cold and it doesn’t do either.”

"What did you put in it?” asks the clerk.

The guy says, "Two cups of coffee and an ice cream sandwich.”

Well, that is definitely not a smart guy!

He definitely doesn’t fully understand the concept of a thermos, right?

TRANSITION:

Do you know that in the same way, there are people that don’t get it when it comes to the good news that we find in Scripture?

They just don’t understand it.

And it makes us ask this question…

1. Why is it that some understand the good news readily, while others put it off or scoff at it?

There are many that scoff at the Christian faith.

In fact, it was Sigmund Freud that suggested that religion was for the weak and stupid; that religion was a crutch for people.

Then there are others that think that the Christian faith is fine, but it is not important to them.

And others believe that they are just not good enough to be a Christian.

So why don’t some people get it?

I believe that the answer is found in a theme that we have spoken of and alluded to during the past weeks of our study of Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth.

The answer is found in the death of Jesus the Messiah.

For Christ’s death is a severe indictment of our hopeless and sinful condition.

It reveals our utter insufficiency to help ourselves.

But this indictment is fully contrary to the wisdom of the world, which is wholly devoted to achieving and maintaining its own self-sufficiency.

Interestingly, Paul writes to the Corinthians because of their lack of understanding and their lack of application of this truth.

For when Paul writes, he is saying that…

2. The Corinthians needed to get smart and live differently.

You see, they were no longer acting as if they understood the good news.

Whether they realized it or not, they were now acting more like those that had dismissed the good news as opposed to those that had received it.

They were not living differently than the world.

They were acting the same.

For they had fallen into the trap of factionalism, and as a result there was a lot of arguing going on.

There was a real lack of unity in this church.

It didn’t help, as we will discover in further studies, that some felt that they had arrived spiritually.

This spiritual arrogance was harming the church.

You see…

3. If we are to live differently, then our thought processes must also change.

Many of the Corinthians had fallen into this spiritual arrogance by pursuing human wisdom.

They were fascinated by the Greek philosophies and were integrating them into their thinking.

But when they did so, it had the wrong result.

They were acting just like those without the Lord in their lives.

And the net result was ironic.

For though they are spiritual, they act unspiritual.

While they were pursuing knowledge and wisdom, in the process, they were missing the very wisdom of God.

You see, as believers in the Lord Jesus…

4. WE THINK DIFFERENTLY (OR AT LEAST, WE ARE SUPPOSED TO…).

Well, the question we want to ask today is…why?

Why do we think differently?

So…

5. We will find in our study of I Corinthians 2:6-16 three reasons why we, as Christians, think differently.

Now, as we consider these reasons, we will discover that there are similarities in their meanings.

They are not far removed from one another, but we are using them to give us a workable framework for this text.

So…

OUR STUDY:

I. The first reason we think differently is we are ADVANCING (6-8).

[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. [7] But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. [8] None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.