Introduction:
A. Kids do say the darndest things! Listen to a few conversations between teachers and their students.
1. You be the judge if its wisecracks or wisdom.
2. TEACHER: How old were you on your last birthday? STUDENT: Seven.
a. TEACHER: How old will you be on your next birthday? STUDENT: Nine.
b. TEACHER: That’s impossible. STUDENT: No, it isn’t, Teacher. Cauze, I’m eight.
3. TEACHER: George, go to the map and find North America. GEORGE: Here it is!
a. TEACHER: Correct. Now, class, who discovered America? CLASS: George!
4. TEACHER to 8 year-old: Billy, name one important thing we have today that we didn’t have ten years ago. BILLY: Me!
B. Kid’s wisdom is different than adult wisdom, and adult wisdom is different than God’s wisdom.
1. In the passage of Scripture under consideration today, we will learn that there is a vast wealth of wisdom sealed off to everyone except Christians.
2. Paul wants the Corinthians and us to learn that the words “taught by human wisdom” alone are woefully lacking in comparison to those “taught by the Spirit.”
C. These words about God’s wisdom are not given by Paul as just an important truth, rather they are offered as part of a discussion or argument that Paul is making to the Corinthians.
1. They are a second point that Paul made as he tried to heal the wounds of division in the church at Corinth.
2. Last Sunday we looked at the first remedy that Paul gave for division, and it was a proper appreciation for the Cross.
3. Today we will see that the next remedy is to encourage the Corinthians to focus on true godly wisdom.
I. Paul’s Preaching
A. The first five verses of Chapter two act as a bridge from Paul’s discussion of the Cross to his discussion of the wisdom given by the Spirit.
1. There is hardly a more moving passage in all of Paul’s letters than these verses.
2. Paul really reveals his heart as he discusses the manner and motive of his preaching.
B. Paul’s manner of preaching at Corinth, and everywhere else, was designed not to call attention to himself.
1. He employed no empty rhetoric or cleverness.
2. The modern imagery might be to say that Paul did not “sell” his gospel at Corinth with the manipulative techniques of an unscrupulous used-car dealer. Like Billy Fucillo, “It’s Huge, Tom, Huge.”
3. No, Paul simply exalted Jesus. He preached the Cross.
4. He took seriously the words of Jesus when Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself” (Jn. 12:32).
C. When Paul says in verse 3, “I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling,” some have supposed that this refers to his sense of defeat over his ministry at Athens, where he was preaching just prior to his arrival in Corinth.
1. But from reading Acts 17, one would hardly get the sense that his work there had been a failure.
2. It is much more reasonable and suits the context much better to see these words as descriptions of Paul’s sense of unworthiness to be preaching such a wonderful message.
3. I can tell you personally that I labor continually with a sense of inadequacy similar to Paul’s sentiments. I am not worthy, nor capable without God’s grace, wisdom and power.
4. Every faithful preacher, minister and elder ought to have that sense of inadequacy for the task of ministering to God’s people and sharing the greatest story ever told with the lost.
D. Paul’s motive in ministry was to glorify God and to cause people to put their trust in the power and wisdom of God and not in the power and wisdom of men.
1. Some of the evangelistic methods used in our modern times do give cause for alarm.
2. Some of them are centered on charismatic personalities, or use manipulative presentations.
3. The “conversions” produced under such methods must be sustained in some artificial manner by keeping the group very tightly knit in some type of cultic allegiance.
4. Paul’s motives were pure and so he refused to use such methods.
5. When he wrote to the church at Rome, he warned them about persons causing divisions in the church at Rome, “I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people” (Rom. 16:17,18).
6. Paul’s own example with the gospel stood in sharp contrast with those who, whether at Rome or Corinth, would use the gospel in a self-serving way and thereby generate divisions.
7. We must seek to be like Paul in our manner and motives in ministry.
II. The Spirit’s Ministry
A. Even though Paul’s point in the first chapter was that no one should become haughty and prideful about knowledge, and that the message of the Cross was foolishness to those who are perishing, he was not trying to say that Christians don’t have knowledge and wisdom.
1. On the contrary, Paul wrote, “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. No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began” (1 Cor. 2:6,7).
2. Available to the Christian is a realm of knowledge and wisdom that goes far beyond the wisdom of this world.
3. In these verses 6-16 of chapter 2, Paul makes seven assertions that have huge implications for you and me.
4. Let’s look at each of them in the time we have remaining for today’s lesson.
B. Assertion One – There are two kinds of wisdom.
1. One kind of wisdom is “temporal” wisdom – it is the wisdom of this age, and the rulers of this age.
2. It is a wisdom that has limited horizons and is doomed to pass away.
3. What are some examples of this temporal wisdom? Here are a few.
4. There’s Naturalism which tells us that we live in a closed universe of cause and effect.
a. It says that what we experience through our senses is all that there is.
5. There’s Secular Humanism which places us as human beings at the center of all reality.
a. It says that we should be good to each other, and that it’s wrong to be bad, but there is no clear definition of what is good or bad.
b. It is a one-dimensional effort to somehow figure out how human beings can live together without any notion of divine or any kind of higher power.
6. There’s Hedonism which declares a universe that has no real meaning, so “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”
7. There’s New Age Mysticism which informs us that reality is found within ourselves and, with intense meditation, we will come to a greater awareness of who we are and how to function in relationship to others.
8. There’s Materialism which promotes wealth and power as the purpose for living. “The one with the most toys wins.”
9. Certainly there are other kinds of temporal wisdom, but all of these serve to illustrate the emptiness of the wisdom of this age.
10. Worldly wisdom fails to explain where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going in a way that gives us real meaning and purpose.
11. The other kind of wisdom is “eternal” wisdom – it is the hidden wisdom of God that has been in place since before time began.
12. It includes God’s natural revelation of Himself and special revelation of Himself and His Will.
13. Worldly, human wisdom doesn’t even have categories for things outside of time.
14. God’s wisdom is eternal and is the ultimate truth on which you and I can stake our very lives.
C. Assertion two – None of the rulers of this age fully understand this eternal wisdom.
1. Sometimes Paul uses the phrase “rulers of this age” to describe evil, supernatural powers, but here it appears that he is referring to human leaders.
2. In verse 8, he says that these are the ones who crucified Jesus.
3. Not many of the rulers of this world understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
4. The wisdom and currency of the kingdom of God is different from the kingdom of humankind.
5. The eternal wisdom of the kingdom of God is viewed as foolishness to the kingdoms of this earth.
6. Its currency and wisdom doesn’t make any sense – it is puzzling to people without the Spirit.
D. Assertion three – No one can figure out this eternal wisdom on his or her own.
1. It is impossible to come to this truth of God without God’s specific revelation.
2. Paul paraphrases an OT statement from Isaiah 64 when he writes, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him - but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.” (vs. 9, 10).
3. Paul is saying that the most brilliant persons who have ever lived could never come up with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the wisdom of God.
4. Yes, we human beings have amazing capacity for learning and understanding all kinds of things, but eternal wisdom is beyond all of us.
5. We cannot know it nor understand it without God’s assistance.
E. Assertion four – God has revealed His wisdom to us by His Spirit.
1. Paul makes an interesting human analogy at this point, he says, “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:11)
2. No one knows your or my deepest inner thoughts unless we tell them, right?
3. Our inner selves are a secret, they are private, and no one is going to know them unless we tell them.
4. Most of us keep those inner things to ourselves, don’t we?
5. I can look around the room, but I don’t know what you are really thinking.
a. I can speculate about what you might be thinking…“When is this guy going to be done?”…Wonder what I’m going to have for lunch?”…“Wonder who is going to be voted off American Idol this week.”
6. Husbands and wives might say to each other, “I know what you are thinking…” But in reality we really can’t know what someone else is thinking unless they tell us.
7. The same thing is true with God.
8. No one can know who God really is or what He is thinking unless He initiates His self-disclosure.
9. The good news is that God’s Spirit does know God’s thoughts and has made them known to us.
10. God has revealed His wisdom to us by His Spirit.
F. Assertion five – We have received not the spirit of this world but the Spirit of God.
1. Paul wrote, “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words” (1 Cor. 2:12,13)
2. Have you ever employed a tutor?
3. There are some things that we might really struggle to understand – math, science, English, foreign languages. I’ve had my trouble with most of these.
4. There is no shame in needing a tutor – everybody has different brains and different abilities.
5. God has given us a spiritual tutor.
6. When we become Christians, we receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).
7. In 2 Corinthians 1:22, Paul wrote, “[God] set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
8. The Holy Spirit is God himself, and is given to us to impart spiritual truth to us.
G. Assertion six – The person without the Spirit cannot understand and receive the things of the Spirit.
1. Look at verse 14 “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
2. The unspiritual person lives only in the temporal.
3. The wisdom of the Spirit is idiotic and meaningless to him or her.
4. But because we have the Holy Spirit, and we know and value the wisdom of God, then we accept God’s claim on our lives, and we willingly bring our lives into line with God’s commands.
5. Whether it be in the area of money, sex, entertainment, or anything else, we submit ourselves to God’s wisdom and will.
6. The person without the Spirit would recoil against such thinking.
7. They would say that it’s their own business and nobody else’s what they do in their sex life, with their money or time, or anything else.
8. The truths of the Spirit are spiritually discerned, and the person without the Spirit cannot accept nor understand them.
H. Assertion seven – The spiritual person has the very mind of Christ.
1. Paul concludes the progression of his argument by declaring that a person who is spiritually alive has the Holy Spirit operating in his or her life to the point that they can have the mind of Christ.
2. But as we know, just having the Holy Spirit does not guarantee that we have the mind of Christ. We who are believers can quench the Holy Spirit; we can get out of step with the Spirit.
3. We can revert back to a previous stage in our spiritual development in which we function as worldly, or infants, not at all ready for the deeper things of God.
4. But the exciting fact is that you and I are capable, as we are enabled by the Holy Spirit, to have the very mind of Christ, and to have the wisdom of God Himself.
5. And here’s the kicker – when we have the mind of Christ and the wisdom of God it will produce unity and peace, rather than pride and division.
I. See, Paul has not left his original subject or goal that he has been discussing.
1. He is trying to bring the divided Corinthian church back together.
2. So, he points them to the Cross, and he points them to the wisdom of the Spirit.
3. James did the same thing in his little letter, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness” (James 3:13-18).
Conclusion:
A. As I said last week – God turns everything upside down.
1. God’s kingdom is so different from the kingdoms of the world.
2. God’s wisdom is so different from the wisdom of the world.
B. I’m assuming that you, like me, want to have the mind of Christ.
1. We want to have the wisdom of God that only comes from the Spirit of God.
2. And we want that wisdom from above to make our lives beautiful, bringing a harvest of righteousness.
3. God’s wisdom will lead us to humility and unity; grace and peace.
C. I invite you today, if you have never called on the Lord for salvation, to do so.
1. Offer your life to the Lord by acknowledging your need for His forgiveness.
2. Acknowledge your need for His healing, wholeness and wisdom.
3. In faith and repentance, be buried with Christ in baptism, and arise to walk in newness of life.
4. You can become a new creation in Christ, today.
D. On the other hand, maybe you have already become a follower of Jesus Christ, but have allowed the life He offers to be smothered by self-interest, pride, or doubt, or something else
1. If that’s the case, please know that God has not given up on you.
2. Invite the Lord to once again be the very center of your life.
3. Acknowledge how much He loves you and wants you to reciprocate that love.
4. Welcome the wisdom that only the Holy Spirit can provide.
5. And be restored to fellowship with God and His people.
E. May these words of the hymn writer Kate Wilkinson be your prayer and mine:
“May the mind of Christ my Savior, live in me from day to day,
by his love and power controlling all I do and say.
May the Word of God dwell richly in my heart from hour to hour,
so that all may see I triumph only through his power.
May the peace of God my Father rule my life in everything,
that I may be calm to comfort the sick and sorrowing.
May I run the race before me, strong and brave to face the foe,
looking only unto Jesus as I onward go.”
Resources:
The (Im)Perfect Church (Studies in 1 Corinthians), Rubel Shelly, 21st Century Christian, 1983.
First Corinthians (Interpretation – A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching), Richard Hays, John Knox Press, 1997.
1 Corinthians (The NIV Application Commentary), Craig L. Blomberg, Zondervan, 1994.
1 Corinthians (Bible Study Guide), Charles R. Swindoll, Insight For Living, 1977.
“Superficial Verses Spiritual Wisdom,” by John Huffman, Jr. Sermon, October 16, 2005
