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If I asked you to name some great speakers – who comes to mind? Oddly, when I thought about it, the first person who came to my mind was Oliver North. Remember Ollie North? He was the guy who helped mastermind the sale Iran/contra scandal of the Reagan administration. I watched the Congressional hearings when Ollie testified. No matter the question Ollie was not fazed – in fact he often came back with these great patriotic sound-bites that were incredible.
Its kind of odd because what North and others did was illegal – yet it sounded so right. As it turns out, a flowery speech conceals many weeds.
Want to know who else was a really good speaker? Adolph Hitler. Hmmm. In fact, Hitler created an entire group whose sole job was to make movies and provide communications (read – propaganda) to persuade people to join his cause. It worked – and what resulted was one of the worst atrocities ever committed and nearly swept the world.
Both Hitler and North succeeded by using oration to make patriotism the focus, not the activities going on under the surface. Who can argue with patriotism after all?
We like good speakers. We like to be entertained. This was very true back in the days of Corinth. The problem then as now is oration can get in the way of real wisdom. Many times on Easter Sunday we expect a great oration – it’s a special day, after all. While there’s nothing wrong with a good sermon – this Easter I want to focus our thoughts not on a good speech, but on a Good Savior. And, coincidently, that’s what we see in chapter 2 of 1st Corinthians.
1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.
To understand what Paul is saying – let’s look back at the events he speaks of in Acts, chapter 17:16 through 18:8.
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 gentiles. It didn’t work very well – but some believed.
Coming from this backdrop Paul entered Corinth. There he preached to the Jews, who rejected him. So finally he left the synagogue and went next door, renting a hall and preaching the gospel for a year and a half.
You gotta think that Paul was pretty fed up with the rhetoric of Athens and so he determined not to use “eloquence or superior wisdom” with the Corinthians.
2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
So instead of showing off his intellect – and he had it, believe me, he “resolved to know nothing.” The way the Greek is constructed here could suggest that Paul decided before coming to Corinth to sort of “forget” everything except the story of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion.
Do you ever get caught up in intellectual debates about Christianity? I’m not saying that debating is bad, or intellect is bad – but when the focus of the debate is to show how much you know, instead of how much you can know Him – something is wrong.
Good advice – don’t let your intellect crowd out Jesus. And don’t get side-tracked when sharing the gospel with someone. I’ve had many discussions where members of a cult will try to pull the argument into some obscure Scriptural reference that they believe supports their cause. We should always take the debate back to the central issue – the person of Jesus Christ.
Not only did Paul put aside intellectual arguing when sharing the gospel at Corinth, he did something more:
3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
Paul ends Chapter 1 talking about how it’s not through the powerful but through the weak that the gospel came – “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise” (1 Cor 1:27). He’s making the same argument about man’s oratorical and intellectual prowess – it’s not in the strength of the speaker, but in the strength of the message.
Some might think they are unable to give the message of the gospel unless they’ve gone to Toastmasters or taken a speech class.
Paul says he came in “weakness and fear” – when you think about what awaits those that reject the gospel you’d tremble too. The key wasn’t in Paul’s ability to impress – but in the Spirit’s ability to bring life to the words.
He brought a “demonstration of the Spirit’s power.” Remember Romans 1:16?
“16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”
Just sharing the good news that Jesus paid the penalty for our rebellion against God so that through His death and resurrection we can have a sure relationship with God carries with it a power like you have never known. What is that power? It’s the ability to change a heart by faith.
There is no need to win the lost with words alone. I remember one time when I was a young Christian, and I was at a home Bible study and there was this guy we were witnessing to and he just didn’t get it and we were thinking – man, we’ve got to get this guy to accept Christ, no matter what! And we argued and cajoled and finally he agreed to accept Christ, but I think it was more a matter of getting us off his back than real faith.
That being said – Paul is not arguing that there is a lack of wisdom in the gospel – it’s just a different kind of wisdom.
6 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.
It’s true – you have to have spent some time in the Lord to really understand and begin to appreciate what He’s done. In the beginning, all you need to realize is that you have sinned and the only way out is through Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Then as you begin that relationship you read the Word and learn about why God sent His Son, and the prophecies spoken about Jesus and the deep theological implications behind it all.
Paul gets into it in more detail in a moment, but it’s another reason not to get caught up in arguments over transubstantiation with someone who doesn’t know the Lord. Stick to the basics.
7 No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
Some Christians pull out of this that there is a “secret” wisdom of God that only they can understand – but that’s not what Paul is saying. Another way of saying it is that it is a wisdom “that God has not revealed previously.” But that “secret” is now an open secret.
8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
You see, the rulers of Paul’s age, and even those who lived under the Old Covenant, didn’t understand the secret of the gospel – that God would send His own Son as a payment and sacrifice for our sins, once for all. They knew a Messiah was coming, and those that clung to that hope are saved – but God shouted the secret far and wide when Jesus came on the scene.
9 However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him"-
I love this verse – it’s actually probably a paraphrase of several Old Testament verses like: Isaiah 64 and 52.
Isaiah 64:4
4 Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
Isaiah 52:15
15 so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. or what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.
The “he” of verse 15 is revealed in verse 14 of Isaiah 52
14 his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness--
Obviously a reference to the Messiah Jesus on the cross. While man was busy messing things up, God was busy preparing wonderful things for those would trust their lives into His care – then revealed this to His people:
10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
That’s why it’s so hard for a pre-Christian to accept the things of God – the promise of heaven, or everlasting joy, of peace, of no more crying or tears – of comfort and safety and no more sin. It has to be revealed by God’s Spirit – you aren’t going to find it in the world system around you, you are not going to find it by worldly wealth, position or power – and you’re not going to find it by gaining wisdom created by man.
No next, Paul talks more about the role of God’s Spirit in all of this:
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 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.
Paul says – it takes a person’s spirit to understand what it is to be human – and so it takes God’s Spirit to understand the things of God – and it is His Spirit then that reveals those things to us.
And it is that spirit part of us that reaches out to God’s Spirit – our spirit was born dead – separated from God – but was made alive by the life given by the Son of God through the Spirit of God.
12 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 world doesn’t understand God – but that’s not the spirit God has given us. Jesus said: (John 16:13) 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.
So we need to ask God for His Spirit to give us understanding – not from a human point of view, a worldly point of view – but from a spiritual point of view.
13 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.
You’re not going to grow in Christ by reading “7 Habits of Successful People.” You’re not going to understand the things of God by applying the wisdom of Buddha. This is an easy thing for us to fall into – watch out.
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.
So the person who does not know Jesus Christ isn’t going to accept spiritual truths – again, don’t get bogged down in theology with a pre-Christian. The only truth they should grasp is “I’m a sinner, and Jesus is my only way out.” But after that, then comes understanding:
15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:
Once we have the Spirit of God living and active in us, then we can apply the spiritual truths we have learned in all areas of our lives – but until then it just won’t make sense. That’s why it doesn’t work to take the 10 Commandments or the Beatitudes and say “I’m going to live by these things.” Well first of all its impossible apart from the salvation of Jesus – but second of all, you just won’t understand them until you have God’s Spirit to teach the real meaning to you, then give you the power to live it.
16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?"
This is quote from Isaiah 40:13. He’s reemphasizing the fact that only God can reveal what is God’s. And He has:
But we have the mind of Christ.
We need to act on this – you have the mind of Christ, if you are a Christian. A few years ago there was this fad WWJD – “What Would Jesus Do.” Let’s start a new one: WWJT “What Would Jesus Think.” If you think like Christ you are going to act like Christ. Learn about His character and values, pray for God to give you insight – and then think and live like Him.
Conclusion
1. Have Hope
I want to go back to verse 9: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"
What do you see around you: trouble, trial, sin, drudgery, weakness?
What do you hear around you: doubt, despair, blaspheme?
What does your mind conceive the future will be like – more of the same?
I have some good news for you – as bad as things seem, as out of control, as hopeless – the best thing you can imagine is not anything near as wonderful as God has not only imagined, but also created for you.
If you love Him, and have given your life to Him, He is busy preparing a place for you.
Jesus said: John 14:1-4 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
It’s a place where He will wipe away every tear, it’s a place where there will be “joy inexpressible and full of glory.” It’s a place where relationships will be restored, lives built, where you can finally take a deep breath and relax – knowing there is no longer any other shoe to drop and ruin it all.
So Jesus says to us today “Take courage. It is I. Do not be afraid.” (Matt 14:27). Instead wait expectantly for His soon return – make that hope an “anchor” for your soul in hard times.
2. Be Discerning
We have the mind of Christ, but how often do we let our thoughts stray into anger, greed, lust, or sin?
2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
