Ravi Zacharias did a lectureship at Ohio State University. As he was being driven to the lecture, they passed by the Wexner Art Center.
The driver said, “This is a new art building for the university. It is a fascinating building designed in the post-modernist view of reality.”
* The building had no pattern.
* Staircases went nowhere.
* Pillars supported nothing.
The architect had designed the building to reflect his view of life. It went nowhere and was mindless and senseless.
Zacharias thought about that a couple of moments and then turned to the man and asked, “Did they do the same thing with the foundation?”
The driver laughed and said “You can’t do that with a foundation.”
APPLY: That architect was a worldly man. He was filled with worldly ideas. To his way of thinking, he could do whatever he wanted to do with a building because that’s what life was like. He REALLY BELIEVED that life was meaningless and senseless. And so he built a building to proclaim his philosophy of life - his theology.
That architect didn’t think like you and I think. That’s because he built his life on a different foundation than you and I have built ours.
Now, that’s important for us to remember because we are surrounded by people who don’t think like we think. We are surrounded by people who have built their lives on a different foundation than the one that we have on Jesus Christ.
Paul wrote: “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” I Corinthians 1:20-24
Christianity does not exist in a bubble. We are constantly exposed to the false thinking and philosophies of this world.
You go to church on Sunday, but the rest of the week we are exposed to people who don’t think like we do.
· You go to work or school
· You spend time with co-workers, friends, relatives.
· You spend time watching TV, or surfing the internet.
· You read, you talk on the phone and so, and so on.
Everyplace you go you’ll be exposed to somebody who doesn’t but into your Christianity. They may even reject or mock God’s kind of thinking. AND since a lot of these folks are very smart or very influential, we might be led to doubt or question what we believe.
There are going to be times when you and I are going to feel outgunned and outmatched.
So Paul wanted to set the issue straight:
On the face of things… we ARE outgunned and outmatched.
“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-27
And of himself, Paul wrote: “I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom” I Corinthians 2:1
I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.
My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power…” 1 Corinthians 2:3
His point was this:
Just looking at the church the world will tend to look at us as being :
· Not very smart.
· Not eloquent.
· Not very important
· Unpersuasive
· They’ll often see us as weak and maybe even foolish.
So, if that’s true - then how in the world are we ever going to win the world to Christ? I mean: we’re not eloquent, we’re not persuasive, we’re not all that important to many people.
That’s why so many churches and preachers try so hard to be eloquent, and persuasive and important in this world. They build majestic buildings and have powerful preachers and celebrity guests. They rejoice when the newspapers or TV reporters recognize them. And they glory in the praise and applause of the world.
They believe that IF they are popular and attractive… that they can win the world over to Christ.
But Paul says…that’s a pipedream.
The world isn’t looking for the things God wants to offer
Some of those in the world are looking for miracles, others are looking for wisdom
But God is offering something the world does not embrace.
1 Corinthians 1:18 says “… the message of the cross is FOOLISHNESS to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
So, if we can’t win people to Christ by our popularity… what can we do?
Well, we can learn to rely less on our impressiveness and more on the Spirit’s power.
Paul wrote: “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power…” 1 Corinthians 2:3
Did you catch that?
It is the Spirit INSIDE of us Christians that gives us the edge in winning the world.
You see, once we became Christians, that Spirit came and set up shop in our hearts.
Peter told the crowd at Pentecost: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive (what???) the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38
You can’t belong to Jesus if you don’t have that Spirit inside of you.
“…If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” Romans 8:9b
AND the Spirit is the mark of God’s ownership of us.
“Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:13b-14
So, what Paul is telling us here in I Corinthians is this:
The Spirit is what makes us think and live different than the rest of the world. And it’s the Spirit that will make all the difference in our ability to overcome the world.
ILLUS: Centuries ago, a French philosopher named Descartes struggled with the idea of reality. He wondered whether or not he could prove that he even existed (which gives something of an idea of how bizarre philosophers can get).
And since he wondered how he might prove that he actually existed, he wracked his brain and struggled with reasonings that eventually led to make his famous declaration:
“I THINK… therefore I am.”
That’s nice.
But that is a fairly pathetic statement.
By contrast God has something far more impressive to tell you and I.
YES, you exist. I created you. But this is what is really good: YOU THINK great things because His Spirit is inside of you.
“The Spirit is, therefore you think.”
That’s what God is telling us!!!
God’s Spirit inside of us makes us THINK like God thinks.
“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…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… But we have the mind of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 2:12, 14, 16
The Spirit makes us think like God thinks.
It is only thru the Spirit that I begin to understand how God wants you and I to live. And God’s kind of thinking is not reasonable to the world. How on earth would someone without the Spirit ever understand these teachings:
We see unseen things (2 Cor. 4:18)
We find rest under a yoke (Mt. 11:28-30)
We become wise by being fools for Christ's sake (1 Cor. 1:20, 21)
We are made free by becoming His bond servants (Rom. 6:10)
We conquer by yielding (Rom. 6:16-18)
We reign by serving (Mark 10:42-44)
We are made great by becoming little (Luke 9:48)
We are exalted by being humble (Mt. 23:12)
We become strong by being weak (2 Cor. 12:10)
We triumph by defeat (2 Cor. 12:7-9)
We find victory by glorying in our infirmities (2 Cor. 12:5)
We live by dying (John 12:24,25; 2 Cor. 4:10,11)
These things make absolutely NO SENSE to those without God’s Spirit inside of them. They might be able to comprehend WHY these statements are true… but they can’t make those principles be part of their lives, because God’s Spirit is not there to guide them into using them correctly.
ILLUS: In 1891, the White House was wired for electricity. But the President at that time – Benjamin Harrison was not happy about it. In fact, he and his wife were so afraid of being shocked by electricity if they touched the light switches that they continued to use the gas lights they were familiar with.
Now that seems odd to us because we live with electricity all the time.
We take the presence of electricity for granted.
In fact, we probably would have a hard time living without it.
In the same way, we need to be so used to being guided by God’s Spirit that we don’t even give it much thought. God’s Spirit should be so much a part of our lives that we couldn’t think of living without His influence.
But we think differently than the world thinks because we have the Spirit of God inside us. It’s that way of thinking that gives us the edge in overcoming the world and winning them to Christ.
But how do we lay hold of this power from God’s Spirit?
Well, first – we need to read God’s Word
Ephesians 6:17 tells us that we need to use “…the sword the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
The Spirit works THROUGH the Bible.
And that’s probably because He was the one who guided the writers of the Scriptures, guiding their minds so that the words would be exactly the ones God wanted in His book.
God’s Spirit is the force that makes it so that – not only is the Bible easier to us to understand - but He makes words of the Bible WORK in our hearts to change us.
It’s kind of like what it says in Hebrews 4:12 “…the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
You see, without the Spirit, the Bible is still a powerful book.
But WITH the Spirit the Bible becomes a life-changing force in our lives.
The more you know your Bible, the more God’s Spirit can work inside your life and the stronger and more useful you can be for God’s Kingdom.
That’s why it’s not only important to be in church & Sunday School/ Bible studies. But it’s also critical that you spend your time in private study of Scripture. The more you know of the Bible, the more God’s Spirit can unleash Himself inside you.
2ndly, God’s Spirit works inside us when we make our hearts more open to Him.
Ephesians 5:18-21 tells us to “…be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
What Paul’s telling us we need to do 3 things to prepare our hearts to be filled with the Spirit.
1st - Surrounding ourselves with Godly music. “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.” Too often Christians will fill their minds with music that isn’t Godly and this undermines the power of the Spirit in their lives. Spiritual songs focus your mind on things that please God and open your life to the Spirit’s life changing power.
2nd – Work at being thankful for all things in our lives. Paul writes we need to “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything.”
ILLUS: This morning I woke up grumpy. There were things I was not very thankful for and I was not in a very good mood. But then I realized I had to preach this sermon to you this morning and that this was one of the things I was going to share with you. I also realized I needed to practice what I preached… so I spent the next few minutes focusing on the things that made me unhappy and – one by one – I tried to find something to be thankful for with regard to those things. Sure enough, in a few moments I was at peace. It works, because God said it will.
And 3rd – Find ways of serving each other. “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
ILLUS: I visited an inmate this week in the county jail and he was lamenting that he was bothered by the fact that some of the “believers” who were behind bars weren’t living for Christ. He noted specifically that those who were thieves on the outside, were thieves on the inside too. I told him about that this was probably because they weren’t doing the things necessary to change their lives. They hadn’t learned to “give”, so they were still conditioned to “take”. I told him of the story of those in Nazi camps who were believers. They would often “tithe” a portion of their food to those who were struggling, and they made a difference in the atmosphere of the camp because of their spirit of “serving.”
That’s what Paul is saying we need to learn to integrate into our lives: a spirit of “giving” that makes us more usable by God’s Spirit.
When you learn to do those 3 things:
1. Surround yourself with Godly music
2. Create a thankfulness in your heart
3. Learn to serve others
God says He will fill you with the power of His Spirit.
Lastly, God tells us we need to “WALK in His Spirit”
Paul wrote, in Galatians 5:25 “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (NKJV)
Now, how will I know if I’m “walking in the Spirit”?
Well, Paul tells us: “… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23a
If you aren’t known for your love, your joy, the peace in your life, your longsuffering, your kindness, your goodness… if you’re not known as being faithful, gentle and self-controlled - YOU ARE NOT WALKING IN THE SPIRIT.
This starts with how you behave at church, but it should also influence how you act at work… and at home. If people at work or in your family can’t see that you love them and care for them by how you show kindness and gentleness to them. If they can’t see that your life is filled with joy and self-control, then you don’t have the power of the Spirit inside you. AND you will NOT be able to do anything valuable for your God.
CLOSE: But – when the Spirit is in control of your life - the changes that can take place inside you can make you a force for God.
ILLUS: Several years ago a Christian man shared how he became overwhelmed by the shame of having stolen grapes from a farmer when he was a boy. The memory nagged at his mind for so long, he felt a conviction from God to return and make restitution.
When he knocked at the door the farmer said ‘Come in.’
And there (he said) Seated on a chair before me was a man past middle age. He was putting on his shoes.
‘I-I used to steal grapes from you when I was a child.’ he blurted. ‘I’m a Christian now, and I want to make it right.’
The farmer looked at the currency in his hand and dropped his shoe.
‘My wife is in the backyard,’ he finally managed. ‘Go talk to her.’
So, he hurriedly exited to the yard. When he saw the farmer’s wife he repeated his confession and handed her the money. She looked at him quizzically, and said, ‘Thank you.’
A couple of weeks later he was sharing his experience with a friend and the friend laughed:
She said: “Did you know that farmer is an atheist? You really handed him a shocker.
I’ll tell you something else, Shortly after you left, my brother talked with his wife about buying some property. For some reason she told him about your restitution. You made quite an impression!’”
But that wasn’t the end of the story.
He said “A week or two later he had this strong impression that I should make a return visit to the farmhouse.” He didn’t want to go. He fought the urging… but ultimately – a month later, he paid a 2nd visit.
As he knocked at the door, the farmer’s wife greeted him smiling. She was alone. ‘Please come in. I have been asking God to send you back. I want you to tell me about Jesus Christ.’
She and I spent the next hour asking and answering question after question. She expressed her hunger to know Jesus. We prayed together. After we prayed, I rose to go.
‘Please, I want to know more,’ said to me, taking my hand. ‘Can you come back again next Tuesday? I have friends who would be interested in what you have told me, and they will be here then.’
That farmer and his wife had been atheists.
They weren’t going to be impressed by majestic buildings or powerful preachers or the endorsements of celebrities. But they were shaken by the power of the Spirit to change the life of a man who’d stolen their grapes.
Renowned atheist Friedrick Nietzsche once said:
“how me that you are redeemed, and I will believe in your Redeemer.”
And that is the power of the Spirit within us - the ability to show that we are redeemed by the change that God’s Spirit brings to our lives.
