Introduction:
1. Many years ago, a young man who had just got out of Bible College where he’d spent several years learning all the theological words he thought would make him a successful preacher. He was hired by a country church & was determined to bringing new people to Christ. So he set out to win his first soul. He came upon a farmer busily working in his field and, not sure if the man was a Christian, he asked “Are you laboring in the vineyard of the Lord?” The farmer didn’t even look up “Naw, these are soybeans, not grapes.” Realizing he had asked the wrong question he said, “You don’t understand what I’m asking. Are you a Christian?” With the same lack of interest the farmer replied, “Nope my name’s Jones. You’re looking for Jim Christianson. He lives a mile south of here.” The determined young preacher refused to quit. He asked the farmer, “Are you lost?” “Nope! I’ve lived here all my life,” he answered. “Are you prepared for the resurrection?” the frustrated preacher asked. This caught the farmer’s attention and he asked, “When’s it gonna be?” The young Preacher smiled, “It could be today, tomorrow, or the next day!” Taking a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiping his brow, the farmer said, “Well, I’m terribly busy with harvest right now, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention it to my wife. She don’t get out much and if she hears about it she’ll want us to go all 3 days!" (From a sermon by Jeff Strite, Confession Is Good For the Soul, 10/24/2010)
Cell #1— I Corinthians 2 is on page 871 of the Bible in your pew.
2. Sometimes part of the problem is that Christians spiritual vocabulary doesn’t match up with people who don’t know much about God and they don’t understand what we’re talking about. The young pastor had to learn that lesson the hard way and sometimes we make the same mistake. We assume people understand what we’re talking about when they don’t have a clue.
3. To be honest, it’s easy to never think about sharing the message of the Bible with others, because many people don’t want to hear it and frankly are offended if we try to share our faith.
4. That is unfortunate though, because while many people aren’t eager to hear about your faith, that’s not true of everyone. Everyone needs to hear about God’s love and many are searching for the hope God offers, they want to hear, although most of them won’t come right out and tell you that.
5. In this second message from 1 Corinthians, I want to share what Paul tells the believers in Corinth about God’s message. He gives them some principles about the message and in doing that helps them better understand God’s love for them and how to better be able to share God’s love with others. Let’s read 1 Corinthians 2 together now…
1 When I first came to you, dear brothers & sisters, I didn’t use lofty words & impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan.
2 For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified.
3 I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling.
4 And my message & my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever & persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.
5 I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.
6 Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten.
7 No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began.
8 But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord.
9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, & no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”
10 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything & shows us God’s deep secrets.
11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, & no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.
12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.
14 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them & they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.
15 Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others.
16 For, “Who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.
6. Let’s pray and then we’ll dig into 1 Corinthians 2 together. Prayer
TS— This morning I want us to discover 3 things about the Bible’s message. Let’s begin by looking at…
Cell #2—
I. The SIMPLICITY of the Message 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
1. Paul came to Athens and gave a famous speech on Mars hill to a group of seasoned orators who were used to debating on a high philosophical and intellectual basis. These people liked to show off how much they knew. He used the idol to the “Unknown God” as a means to reach these people. But it didn’t work very well although a few believed. Coming from Athens Paul entered Corinth. Here he preached to the Jews, who rejected him. Finally he left the synagogue and went next door, renting a hall and preaching the gospel for about 18 months. Many Bible scholars think Paul was fed up with the rhetoric of the Athenians and had figured out that he couldn’t use “eloquence or superior wisdom” with the Corinthians.
2. Many of the philosophers and teachers in Corinth depended on their wisdom and eloquence to gain followers. While it may have been tempting for Paul to try the same thing there that he had in Athens he made a conscious decision to simply declared the message of Jesus in the power of the Spirit. As one pastor put it when it came to Corinth, “Paul was an ambassador, not a salesman.”
3. He could have focused on the great deep meaning of the Christian faith. In verse 1 he says he could have used “lofty” words to describe it, but he didn’t. In fact, look at verse 2. There is says that he decided not to focus on anything else except Jesus and His death for them. Paul realized and communicated to them this important truth.
Cell #3—
Without Jesus and His death there would be no Christian Faith. (2)
4. The point is that Jesus and the crucifixion is the very core of the Christian message. There are some things you can take out of the Christian message and still have Christianity, but you cannot take Jesus out of the Christian message without destroying it. Christianity without Christ is… well I’m not sure what it is, but it’s not Christianity.
5. Did Paul mean that he literally forgot every part of the Christian message except for Jesus and the cross? NO, but he choose to focus only on Jesus and the cross because they are foundational to faith. He didn’t allow the logic that the Greeks were obsessed with to become his focus, he was intent on Jesus and Him crucified as the focal point of his message. They might misunderstand something else but they needed to understand the truth about Jesus’ sacrifice and that it was for everyone.
6. Richard Foster, in his fine book, Streams of Living Water, told of how Billy Graham preached at Cambridge University in 1955. For three nights he tried to make his preaching academic and enlightened, few students responded to his message. Finally, Graham realized that presenting the intellectual side of faith was not his gift and began preaching the simple message of Jesus rescuing us from our sin. Foster wrote, “The results were astonishing: hundreds of sophisticated students responded to his clear presentation of the gospel. It was a lesson in clarity and simplicity that he never forgot.” (Stephen Chapman, 1st Christian Church, Chicago, IL)
7. Billy Graham experienced the very thing that Paul was talking about. In fact, I want you to look back at the passage and see where the great Apostle went next. He admitted to them that when he came to them with God’s message the first time he came “in weakness— timid and trembling.”
8. Paul wasn’t saying that he got stage fright, that wasn’t his point at all, but Paul realized that if the Corinthians understood the message of salvation it wasn’t going to happen because he did such a great job of explaining it, it would be because of what he brings up in verse 4. Instead of using clever words and persuasive speeches he relied upon the Holy Spirit’s power to communicate with them.
9. Paul wasn’t suggesting preachers shouldn’t care if they’re interesting. He was trying to help them understand that while we are to share God’s message as well as we can, people getting it isn’t ultimately about us being great teachers, it’s about the power of the Holy Spirit at work in people’s hearts. Here is the point…
Cell #4—
When it comes to sharing our faith, we don’t have to understand every theological detail; we need to share Jesus’ Loving Sacrifice and rely on the Holy Spirit. (4)
10. As smart and gifted as Paul was he came to realize that spiritual success doesn’t come from how gifted the pastor is, or how good you become at sharing your faith. No, people coming to faith in Christ happens because God’s Spirit helps people understand what you and I could never hope to explain clearly enough. Again, I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t do our best, but let me be clear, we can’t make it clear enough for people to get it if God isn’t working in their hearts.
TS— And that brings us to the second thing about the message that I want us to discover today…
Cell #5—
II. The MYSTERY of the Message 1 Corinthians 2:6-9
1. You can see where I get this if you look at verse 7. Paul says the wisdom he’s speaking of is “the mystery of God.” For a moment go back to verse 6 though. As he begins this section of his message Paul says, when he is among mature believers he does speak words of wisdom.
2. In the early Church there were two distinct kinds of instruction. First, there was what was called Kerygma. That is the message a herald announces for a king. It was an announcement of the basic facts. That is the first part of what Paul did, when he came to Corinth he shared the basic facts of the faith; the facts about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. However, there was a second type of instruction called Didache. Didache is a second stage for those who have already received the basic message. That is what Paul is getting at here. So far he has been talking about Jesus Christ and him crucified; that was the basic announcement of Christianity; but, he didn’t stop there, he went on to teach them the deeper meaning of the basic facts of the Christian faith.
3. Paul uses a word here for mystery that is rather technical. The verse says, “the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God.” The Greek word that we get the word mystery from here means a message whose meaning is hidden from those who don’t have the necessary background, but that is crystal clear to those who do. It would describe a ceremony carried out in some society whose meaning was quite clear to the members of the society, but made no sense to an outsider. What Paul is saying is, “We go on to explain things which only the man who has already given his heart to Christ can really understand.”
4. It only made sense to them because they had been believers long enough that they now understood more than they had at the start. But Paul makes an interesting point that brings what he’s saying to an even higher level. He makes the point that
Cell #6—
Though we never fully understand God’s plan for us, He knew how He would redeem us Before the World Began. (7)
5. What we have come to understand was part of God’s plan before He created the world. What we’re coming to understand now, was part of God’s plan in eternity past. He knew how He was going to redeem us before He created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. His plan to send Jesus to die for us wasn’t an afterthought; as difficult as it is, it has always been part of God’s perfect plan.
6. Those who don’t know God don’t understand it and even those of us who do can’t begin to fully grasp it. Notice what he says in verse 8. He says if the world had understood the truth about who Jesus was and why He came they wouldn’t have crucified Him.
7. Then he takes his point to a greater conclusion. He says, “this is what the scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, not ear has heard, & no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.” That’s just another way of saying, we’re never going to fully understand what’s going on while we are here. We can understand more of God’s plan than we do now, but we’re never going to fully grasp it. I thought about how to communicate his point. Let me summarize it this way...
Cell #7—
God loves us and has a plan for our future that’s Greater Than We Can Imagine. (9)
8. God’s plans for our future go far beyond our wildest imagination. We may think we understand the greatness of salvation and God’s plans for us, but we only begin to scratch the surface of it. We can only understand a little bit of it.
9. It’s sort of like what happens when a young couple is expecting a baby. You can try to explain to them how their life is about to change, but you can’t. It’s one of those things that they can think they understand, but they don’t. Until you are a parent, you can’t understand how deeply you can love a helpless infant. Until they grow a little and you go through the teething, the terrible twos, potty training, getting ready to go to school for the first time, and the joy and pain of having to eat the words, “my child would never do that” several times that you begin to appreciate all your parents went through in raising you. Even then there is still to come the joy and frustration of their first crush. The joys of their achievements and the frustrations of their failures. The same is true on a much higher level with God and His plans for us. We simply can’t presently understand the wonderful things that God has planned for His children. We must accept the fact that He understands things we don’t presently grasp.
TS— That brings us to the final thing we need to understand about the message.
Cell #8—
III. The SOURCE of the Message 1 Corinthians 2:10-16
1. There is only one way we can understand God’s message. You will understand that in verse 10. Look at what Paul says there. “But it was to us that God revealed these things by His Spirit.” Let me be clear, you aren’t going to understand God without His help. The brilliant can’t understand God, but those who are common can if God shows us.
2. That makes even more sense when you understand that God cannot be known unless He helps us to know Him. Let me to ask you a question. What am I thinking? Would someone volunteer to tell me? Why don’t I have a volunteer? The truth is that you can’t know what I’m thinking if I don’t tell you. Paul illustrated the truth about God by making the same point. Just as nobody can know your thoughts unless you tell them, on an even greater level there is no way we can know God’s thoughts or God’s ways without His help. Here’s the point…
Cell #9—
If we cannot understand someone else unless they open up to us, we certainly cannot understand God unless He Reveals Himself. (11)
3. Those who aren’t believers cannot really understand God; they cannot grasp the greatness of God’s love and the amazing nature of God’s plans. Just as someone who only speaks French cannot understand a message in English, or Chinese or Spanish or Portuguese no matter how important the message may be.
4. If you don’t have the key to the story you aren’t going to be able to make sense of what’s happening. It’s sort of like the story I heard of a man who got a free ticket to the Super Bowl from his company. Unfortunately, when he arrived he realized the seat was in the last row in the corner of the stadium. He was as close to the Goodyear Blimp as he was to the field where the game was being played. About halfway through the 1st quarter he noticed an empty seat 10 rows off the field right on the 50 yard line. He decided to take a chance and made his way through the stadium and around the security guards to the empty seat. As he sat down, he said to the man sitting next to him, “Excuse me, but is anyone sitting here?” The man said no. Now, very excited to be sitting in such a great seat for the rest of the game, he said to him, “This is incredible! Who in their right mind would have a seat like this at the Super Bowl and not use it?” The man replies, “Well, actually, the seat belongs to me. I was supposed to come with my wife, but she passed away. This is the 1st Super Bowl we haven’t been together at since we got married in 1967.” The lucky man said, “That’s terribly sad, but still, couldn’t you find someone to take the seat, a relative or a close friend?” The older gentleman said, “No, they are all at her funeral.”
5. It’s only when you understand the full story that it makes sense. It’s only when, according to verse 16, we understand the things of God because we have the mind of God that we get it spiritually. If God doesn’t help us, we won’t understand the things of God. We cannot understand the Lord’s thoughts unless He teaches us. Here is the point.
Cell #10—
Just as someone blind cannot be an Art Critic and someone deaf cannot be a
Music Critic; someone who isn’t a Christian doesn’t have what is necessary
to fully understand God’s Truth either. (14)
Conclusion:
1. If God doesn’t reveal Himself to us we aren’t going to understand God’s message. We aren’t going to be able to make sense of God’s involvement in our lives and in the lives of those around us. We may be close to what God is doing but we won’t understand it.
2. We returned from vacation two weeks ago today. I want to tell you about an experience we had on our trip. We drove to New Orleans and went on a cruise. I think it was on Thursday night while we were eating our dinner that one of our servers asked where we were from. We told him Missouri and he told us that one of the families just a couple tables away was from Missouri as well. Shy person that I am, toward the end of the meal I went to the other Missouri family’s table and told them what our server had said and asked where they were from. They live in Springfield. I told them that we live in St. Louis, but that I grew up near Poplar Bluff. The man said, “I grew up in Poplar Bluff too.” I explained that actually I lived in a much smaller town near Poplar Bluff, the tiny town of Fairdealing, which is about 20 miles to the southwest and he said, “My grandparents lived in Fairdealing.” He began telling me where they lived. Come to find out his grandparents were my next door neighbors.
3. Here’s the way this applies to today’s message. The grandson of my next door neighbor from 30 years ago was sitting only a few feet away from me every night of the cruise, but I didn’t know it. Both of us missed it completely. Until God shows us the truth about Himself, we can be near what He’s doing & still completely miss it. We need God to show us the truth about Himself. We need to be willing to share the hope God has given us with other. Not pushing it on them, but sharing the hope we’ve found. Would you commit to doing that as we conclude this morning? If you’re here this morning & God’s love is finally making sense to you would you accept Him? Let’s pray.
Warren Wiersbe, Be Wise: 1 Corinthians, (Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Communications) 2001.
John Walvoord, Roy Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: 1 Corinthians, (Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor) 1983.
Jack Cottrell, Tony Ash, Richard Oster Jr., The College Press NIV Commentary: 1 Corinthians, (Joplin, MO: College Press) 1995.
William Baker, Ralph Martin, Carl Toney, Philip Comfort, The Cornerstone Commentary: 1 Corinthians, (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale) 2009.
Frank Gaebelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: 1 Corinthians, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan) 1981.
Bruce Barton, Greg Asimakoupoulos, Jonathan Farrar, Linda Taylor, Dave Veerman, Neil Wilson, Life Application Bible Commentary: 1 Corinthians, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale) 1999.
Alan Johnson, Grant Osborne, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: 1 Corinthians, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP) 2004.
A. M. Robertson, Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament, (Nashville, TN: Sunday School Board of the SBC) 1932.
William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible: 1 Corinthians, (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster) 1975.
Tom Fuller, The Foolish Wisdom of God, (Newberg, OR: Calvary Chapel) 2003.
Don Jaques, We Have the Mind of Christ, (Oak Harbor, WA: Christ Community Church) 2006.
Chris Appleby, Wisdom or Foolishness, (Surrey Hills, Canada, Anglican) 2003.
