Outline:
Introduction
- Rachel teaching Jonathan
- We are “mature”; our instinct is to “do God one better.”
But as children redeemed by the spirit, we really should know better. Our Father created us, knows what we are created for, and desires to grow us in conformity to him. Our challenge is to let him be God.
There are two Spirits
- Ru’ach, Pneuma (pneumonia, hammer)
- Gives life (12 / 13) physical breath (Adam, the World)
- Gives understanding
They are opposed to one another
- Life says “It’s all about you”
- God says ‘Humble yourself…’ & Phil 2:5
- Looking in the mirror all your life?
- Miller Lite commercials – false dichotomy
- Escape the premise – His is the only framework that works.
- Truth & Happiness
The Spirit of God is Superior
Verse 7 says that this Spirit looks to our glory. If we are created in the image of God, then when we live in the spirit of God, we are glorious creatures.
Look at Verse 11 – it says that the only way to know a person’s thoughts is to have their Spirit. Well that’s what the Holy Spirit is – God’s thoughts
And look at verse 13 – it says that we have the Spirit of God who is willing to teach us. It will interpret spiritual truths to those of us who are spiritual.
Conclusion – Lance Armstrong / Floyd Landis
Our Father really does know best.
I love listening to Rachel talk. Let’s face it, even as four year-olds go, she’s a talker. I love watching her “teach” Jonathan about how he’s supposed to act in the world. When she’s doing it right, I hear words that I know cam straight out of Susan’s mouth. Sometimes, not so much. It’s like there are two spirits in Rachel – and there’s a battle to see which one will come out of her today.
As we grow up and break away, our instinct is to believe that we have matured in our own world, capable of discerning the thoughts of God, and doing him one better. I know that I have learned to say “If only God would listen to me” sarcastically, but the truth is I want to teach God a thing or two sometimes.
But as children redeemed by the spirit, we really should know better. Our Father created us, knows what we are created for, and desires to grow us in conformity to him. Our challenge is to let him be God.
Paul knows this. When he wrote 1 Corinthians, he wrote it to a bunch of children. He wanted them to grow up too, but they needed to grow up right. So, as a Father works to get his children to learn to choose the right on their own, Paul is going to have a very simple message for his child church. Learn to choose well, he says.
He’s going to start by telling his church – there are two ways you can go. You can’t have them both – these paths are in opposition to one another. But one of them is superior. It may not look better, but choosing it means choosing life. It’s a basic message, but it’s one that is only doable when you start from the premise that your heavenly Father is right.
There are two spirits
The first thing that I hope you noticed in this passage is that there are two spirits. There is the Spirit of the Age and there is the Spirit of God. These are very different things. But, they are both spirits, so I want to ask the question, what is a spirit?
Well, at the most basic level, spirit is breath. When Genesis says the Ru’ach – the Spirit of God blew over the waters, when it breathes life into Adam; at one level it’s just saying ‘breath.’ The Greek word is pneuma, and if you’ve ever had pneumonia or seen an air-powered pneumatic hammer, you know that. And, that pneumatic hammer helps, because you see how the air gives it life. When we talk of an animated being – and that’s just the Latin word for spirit and breath, we’re all getting back to the same thing. The spirit is the breath of life.
But what is it, then, that this breath – this anima, this pneuma does? Well, our text boils it down to two things: It gives life physically, it gives life spiritually.
Look at verses 12 & 13 again. 2 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, [Why?] 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.
The fact that our breath is our physical life is obvious. There’s an old exercise in priorities that presupposes you are stuck on the moon and you have to decide what supplies you are going to take with you. Inevitably, someone neglects the oxygen, whereupon it is pointed out that without air, you’re only going to get about a minute outside the craft.
But we are more than just highly sophisticated chains of carbon that require oxygen for respiration. We are spiritual beings who live and breathe because we were given breath by God. The same power that animates our bodies animates our hearts and minds. We live and breathe the Spirit. We have the power to understand these things because we have been pnumea-ated – we have been animated by God.
So, the question isn’t, will we have a spirit, the question is, what type of spirit. And that brings us to our second point.
The Spirits are Opposed to One Another
When we were reading, we identified two spirits. The Spirit of God – the air that was put into us at birth – and the spirit of the Age – the air that we find ourselves too often in. These spirits teach us to discern very different things.
You know what the Spirit of the Age teaches. It says, ‘Life is short!’ ‘It’s all about you!’ ‘Grab it while you can – Carpe Diem!’ ‘You deserve a break today!’
But, as verse 7 says, we have a secret and hidden wisdom that says the opposite. “Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” We look to Jesus, who, though he was the very form of God, did not trust equality with God as something to be grasped. Frankly, if the people Spirit of this age had understood this power that comes from Christ’s humility, they never would have put Him to death – they never would have made his name the name at which every knee would bow and every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
You need to understand that the foolishness of the Spirit of the Age cuts to the very core of what it is. This world we live in is so backward, so foolish, that it can never hope to understand the power of the Cross.
Imagine, if you would, that you spent your whole life looking in a mirror. You read every book you saw backwards, everything was in reverse. What do you suppose your reaction would be when things were finally corrected? You’d think the right things were backward, and you’d want to see your reversed letters! That’s what happens when you live by the Spirit of the Age. If you are going to live by the Spirit of the Age, you are forever condemned to live life in a mirror.
But God wants to break through all that. The problem is, in order to see that, we need to break out of the world’s way of thinking.
Even Baptists, I suspect, remember the old Miller Lite commercials. One side of the stadium would break out with “Less Filling!” The other side would respond “Tastes Great!” It was, of course, a false argument, designed on both sides to make you think that their beer was the best. It was really no different than the old question, “Have you stopped beating your wife yet?”
There is only one way to escape a bad question with a bad premise – and that is to start back on solid ground. That’s what the Spirit of God does for us. He is Truth. He is Power. His is the only framework in which anything else will make sense.
You see, as long as we live by the rules of the Spirit of the Age, we are left with no framework to even understand the power of the Cross. The Spirit of God – the Holy Spirit – is the only framework in which we can understand the mystery of God – the mystery of the Spirit.
We can boast in the fact that our Spirit is more filling – that he always is the greatest. We know about the Spirit of the Age. He talks a good talk – he makes sin look so good. But in the end, he falls flat. The next morning when we wake up with the consequences, we know that he doesn’t deliver.
But for over 4000 years, people who have learned to rely on the Spirit of God have not regretted it. It may not make you rich, it may not make you ‘happy,’ but the Spirit of God gives you the only truth that doesn’t fail. C.S. Lewis said that the one who seeks the Truth may or may not find happiness, but the one who seeks happiness is sure to find neither. He’s right.
The Spirit of God is Better
And the reason is simple, the spirit of God is simply better. We have proof here. Look with me, if you would, back at our text.
Verse 7 says that this Spirit looks to our glory. If we are created in the image of God, then when we live in the spirit of God, we are glorious creatures.
Look at Verse 11 – it says that the only way to know a person’s thoughts is to have their Spirit. Well that’s what the Holy Spirit is – God’s thoughts. And guess what – his Spirit is willing to indwell us. We can be so close to God that we can literally have his thoughts. Isn’t that amazing, to think that we could think God’s thoughts?
It really adds a new meaning to the cliché “Father knows best.”
And look at verse 13 – it says that we have the Spirit of God who is willing to teach us. It will interpret spiritual truths to those of us who are spiritual.
All of this adds up to a really simple proposition. The spirit of God may be opposed to the Spirit of the Age – but that doesn’t matter. The Spirit of God is better than the Spirit of the Age. The choice is ours, and both Spirits are more than happy to let us join. Wouldn’t you want to pick the real winner?
It sounds like a pretty good deal – if we are willing to accept it. But therein lays the rub. You see, until we have that Spirit, it’s going to seem foolish. People who live for this life – who live in the power of the spirit of this age just can’t accept it.
But here’s the deal – sometimes we need to push through what seems like irrationality to get to the best that lies beyond. It seems rational to think that if you want glory, you need to work for it, to covet it, to do anything for it. But as reasonable as that seems, it just doesn’t work.
Conclusion
You may not have heard about the Race Across America, but it’s a bike race that makes the Tour de France look wimpy. On Day One, cyclists will leave Oceanside, CA. Nine days later, the first one to show up in Atlantic City (NJ) wins.
At first, people used to think of it as nothing more than an exercise in going without sleep. And then, it turned out to be a Frenchman, taught the Americans that sleep is worth it. Taking just a nap here and there reanimated the cyclists and brought their times down even more. One the hand, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to sleep in the middle of a race. But when you have 3000 miles to pedal, it turns out to be the only strategy that works.
Even in the Tour De France, listening to the common spirit will lead you astray. Think about the seven-time winner, Lance Armstrong. You’d think that if you want the yellow jersey, you’d just want to bike as hard as you can, sprinting at every stage of the race. You might think that, but you’d lose. If you ask Lance Armstrong – or any other Tour de France winner – they’ll tell you that you win as a team. For three years, Floyd Landis was just a back-up cyclist on Armstrong’s team. In each and every stage, Armstrong played as much coach as he did competitor, carefully choosing each member of his team to ensure that he would have the victory.
In competing for Armstrong, Landis was able to secure his own place, and eventually his own team. I make no other assertions about what got him to the top. But see the point – even in something that seems as obvious as bicycling, the real path to glory lies in yourself but in your team.
As Christians, let me tell you that we are on the winning team. But if you’re going to win, you need to understand how we compete. We win by having the same mind as our team superstar, Jesus Christ. He doesn’t play by the rules you might expect, but that’s because his rules are better anyway.
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Corinth lies right on the heart of an important canal – sailors would dock in Corinth while their boats were dragged across a narrow bit of land, in order to save them going all the way around Greece.
When a old-fashioned sailor’s in town, you know what sort of thing he’s going to be looking for – and often it rubbed off on this little church.
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Long Branch Baptist Church
Halfway, Virginia; est. 1786
Sunday, August 26th, 2007
Enter to Worship
Prelude Betty Patterson
Meditation Philippians 2: 5 – 11
Invocation Michael Hollinger
*Opening Hymn #327
“The Old Rugged Cross”
Welcome & Announcements
*Hymn “Spirit of the Living God” #389
Morning Prayer [See Insert]
*Hymn “Baptized in Water” #465
*Responsive Lesson [See Right]
*Hymn #622
“Humble Thyself in the Sight of the Lord”
Offertory Betty Patterson
*Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow / Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise him above, ye heavenly host / Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
*Scripture 1 Corinthians 2: 6 – 16
Sermon
“Father Knows Best”
Invitation Hymn #321
“When I survey the Wondrous Cross”
*Benediction
*Congregational Response
May the grace of Christ our Savior / And the Father’s boundless love
With the Holy Spirit’s favor / Rest upon us from above. Amen.
* Congregation, please stand.
Depart To Serve
RESPONSIVE LESSON
The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.
It trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope.
That is the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
This testimony is true. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Tit 2:11-14;Tit 1:13-16; 3:3-6; Php 2:5-11
1 CORINTHIANS 2: 1 – 16
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, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
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. 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.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
We need help tidying up the church in advance of homecoming. If you can spend 2 – 3 hours on Saturday, September 8th, it would be really, really helpful!
PRAYER LIST
Cindy & Lee Thompson, Martha Puryear, Susan Schulz, Warren Lee, Irene Griffith, Cory Keely, Debbie Grigsby, Chris McLaughlin’s family,
Jeff Coleman, Long Branch Church
