Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "A Study of 1 Corinthians" by Hiram Kemp - Part 2

Transcript

"A Study of 1 Corinthians" by Hiram Kemp - Part 2 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

0:00
same page, how to be unified. And he's going to approach this through various
0:04
means. In the first 4 chapters, which is where we're at at the moment,
0:07
Paul's talking about unity rather than division as it
0:11
relates to personalities and preachers. The church at Corinth was divided over their favorite
0:15
preachers. If you look at 1 Corinthians 1:12-13, Paul talks about
0:19
some of the things they were saying about some being of Cephas, of Peter,
0:22
some of Paul, some of Christ, some of Apollos. And Paul's
0:27
saying, I want you all to be unified. But as you work throughout the rest
0:29
of the book, this idea of division is going to continue to crop up.
0:31
Sometimes it'll be about sexual immorality in chapter 6,
0:35
or marriage in chapter 7, or whether or not Christians can
0:38
eat food that's been previously sacrificed to an idol in 1
0:42
Corinthians 8 through 10. But the heart of 1 Corinthians is we need unity that
0:46
honors God rather than division. And here's where we've been so far. 1 Corinthians chapter
0:50
1, Paul gives them some reminders, and he starts by saying, 1 Corinthians 1 and
0:54
verse 2, Christians, you've been sanctified and you've been called. That is,
0:58
the Corinthians, with all the problems that he'll address,
1:01
he starts off positively by encouraging them, hey,
1:04
remember where you came from. You've been sanctified, that is, set apart.
1:08
You've been called by the gospel out of the world into fellowship with God.
1:12
You've been recipients of grace and peace. That's 1 Corinthians 1:3-4.
1:17
He says the Corinthians have been enriched in every way, meaning they don't lack any
1:21
spiritual gift, and he'll say more about that in chapters 12 through 14,
1:24
But he's starting out praising them for what they already possess. And then in
1:28
verse 9, he says, God has called you into the eternal fellowship with
1:33
him and with his Son Jesus Christ. And then the last thing, and this is
1:36
where Neil left off, he goes against— he starts talking about the problems,
1:40
the arguments against division. And the way he does this is look at verse 13.
1:44
He says, is Christ divided? Was Paul
1:48
crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul? So Paul
1:51
urges them to unity by basically asking several rhetorical questions.
1:56
He says Christ is not divided, Christ is the only one that was crucified
1:59
for you, and he's the only name into which you were baptized. And then he
2:03
emphasizes in verse 17 that Christ did not send
2:06
him— that's Paul— to perform the act of baptism, but instead to
2:10
preach the gospel. And from there— and really this argument is going to
2:13
go from chapter 1 and verse 18 all the way through chapter 4— as Paul
2:18
stresses to these Christians it doesn't make sense for you to be divided
2:22
at all, especially about preachers and personalities, because look at all
2:25
that God's done for you. And ultimately, keep your eyes fixed and
2:29
focused on the person and the work of Jesus Christ. So this morning, what we're
2:32
going to talk about is what Paul continues to say about wisdom, about where
2:36
his wisdom and the other apostles' came from ultimately in relation
2:40
to Jesus, and then what does true spiritual maturity look like. So if
2:44
we can do it, we're going to try to work pretty quickly up through chapter
2:47
3. I told Neil I'm going to try to get through chapter 3, and then
2:50
yesterday I was studying and I text Neil and I said, I don't think I'm
2:53
going to get through chapter 3, but we're going to see. But here's what I
2:55
want you to think about, and Neil touched on this last week, and I just
2:59
want to remind us of it. If you're in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, after Paul
3:02
says you've been called into this fellowship, in verse 10 he says,
3:05
I'm urging you therefore, brothers, that you all speak the same thing,
3:09
that you be perfectly united in the same mind and in the same judgment.
3:13
I think it's right, and we do this when we preach, when we teach,
3:16
when we talk about evangelism, we tend to talk about religious division
3:20
from the standpoint of denominationalism and what a great sin and problem
3:25
that is in relation to the religious world. And I think that's fine, that's biblical,
3:28
and that's right. But keep in mind, what's equally silly and sinful
3:32
is division in the Lord's church and in the body of Christ. Furthermore,
3:35
that's the division that the New Testament spends the most time thinking about.
3:39
1 Corinthians 1:10 wasn't written about different denominational groups.
3:43
Neither was John 17:20-21 or any of our other
3:47
favorite passages that are urging Christians, hey, stick together, don't splinter off into
3:51
different groups. It attacks that. It has something to say to that. But the
3:56
heart of those passages isn't about, hey, you over there, don't start another church.
3:59
It's about those of us that are in the church, remain unified,
4:03
be God's people, and don't embarrass God by being divided.
4:06
So, let's see what Paul has to say in relation to wisdom
4:10
and what God wants. First thing Paul does is he talks about the countercultural wisdom
4:14
of God. This is 1 Corinthians 1. I'm going to read 18 down through 25.
4:19
For the word of the cross is folly, or foolishness, to those who
4:22
are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved, it is the
4:26
power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
4:29
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. Where is the one who is
4:33
wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?
4:37
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
4:40
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know
4:43
God, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save
4:47
those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
4:51
but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and
4:55
foolishness to the Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and
5:00
Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the
5:03
foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger
5:07
than men. So, Paul's attacking their division. Again, they're divided over preachers, and he
5:11
does this first by saying God's wisdom is countercultural to the world
5:15
and the way that they view wisdom. So, here's a question: What's the
5:19
difference between wisdom and intelligence? What's the difference between somebody
5:23
being wise and somebody being smart?
5:25
Application. Wisdom is proper application of intelligence.
5:30
Wisdom is the proper interpretation or application of intelligence.
5:33
Okay, so you're intelligent and you apply it, that's wisdom.
5:36
Anybody else? I said application. Wisdom helps us to apply
5:40
what we learn. Yeah, wisdom helps us to apply what we learn. So if a
5:43
person's intelligent or smart, they know what?
5:47
They know a lot of stuff. They know their material. But if a person's wise,
5:50
what does that say about them? They know how to use their material. And what
5:54
Paul's going to drive at— and which one do we often elevate in our world?
5:57
Do we elevate intelligence or do we elevate wisdom?
6:01
We often elevate intelligence. Even in the church sometimes you'll hear us talk
6:05
about how smart somebody is or how sharp their mind is. But what God often
6:09
is elevating is not just that your mind's filled with a bunch of information,
6:12
but that over time you have learned how to skillfully use it. And Paul's going
6:16
to talk about the difference between earthly wisdom and heavenly wisdom. Andy, and then Kim.
6:20
An intelligent person knows that the stove is hot.
6:24
A wise person doesn't touch it. That's right. Yeah, that's a great point.
6:28
Kim?
6:32
Oh, experience. Yeah.
6:36
Experience plays a part in wisdom too.
6:40
We can be intelligent and we can be wise, but if
6:44
we have an experience that somebody else has
6:48
not had, that can also make us wise.
6:52
Yeah, that's right. Wisdom comes by this idea of experience. You've done something enough that
6:56
you know how it's gonna work out. Miss Laura, and then Chuck. I don't know
6:59
where it is, but the Scriptures tell us that wisdom comes from the Lord.
7:03
Yes. And so, if you have— you can't have real true
7:07
wisdom if you're not in the Lord. Yeah, I don't know if you heard Miss
7:11
Laura. She said true wisdom comes from the Lord, and you can't have true wisdom
7:14
if you don't know the Lord. Paul's gonna say that later in 1 Corinthians 2.
7:17
But the passage you're probably thinking about is Proverbs 2:6. It says, wisdom comes
7:20
from the mouth of the Lord, and from him comes understanding. And so, yes,
7:24
we're going to see that true wisdom comes from God, and we'll see very quickly
7:27
why Paul's making this point in a church that's divided. Hey, get a handle
7:31
on what it really means to be wise. Chuck, go ahead.
7:42
Because they have confidence in their knowledge.
7:45
Yeah. And the things they believe in. But also, I've always liked
7:49
the definition in Job 28:28, and he said, to man,
7:52
the fear of the Lord is wisdom. Yeah. And to depart from evil is understanding.
7:56
So they don't have the fear of the Lord. That's right. Yeah, and we'll talk
8:00
more about that in classes of people and why people respond a certain way.
8:03
But just keep in mind, in a church that's divided, the one true answer to
8:06
division in the church, no matter what the issue is, is always an exalted
8:10
view of God. If I see God right, I'm going to see you right.
8:13
If I see God wrong, I'm always going to see you wrong. And so,
8:16
what Paul's going to do is say, listen, this church is divided. For them,
8:19
it's over preachers. But really, Paul's solution in these first 4 chapters,
8:23
it really wouldn't matter what we were divided over. Paul's solution is you need
8:27
a bigger and more exalted view of God. And that's what Psalm 121:1
8:31
says, right? I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my
8:34
help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth.
8:36
So now let's get into what Paul says about God's wisdom. Notice verse
8:40
18 and verse 19, for the word of the cross is foolishness to those
8:44
who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of
8:48
God. And then in verse 19, it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of
8:51
the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. So Paul says
8:55
God's wisdom is manifested through the preaching of the cross. He says
8:59
the word of the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing. People in the
9:03
world, as Chuck mentioned, that we might view as intelligent or smart,
9:06
They probably don't care much for the cross, but that's what God used
9:10
to get his message across. And then in verse 19, he quotes a passage
9:13
from Isaiah 29:14, and he says, this is how
9:17
God has always operated. God has always been taking things
9:21
that humanity thinks are impressive and wise and showing that they're foolish,
9:25
and things that are despised and overlooked by humans, God exalts those
9:29
and says, I can do great things with them. Think throughout the Bible how many
9:33
times this happens over and over again. What happens at the Tower of Babel in
9:36
Genesis 11? God had previously told Adam and Eve to do what?
9:39
Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. But man
9:43
in their wisdom says, we'll build a tower, we'll build a ziggurat all the way
9:47
up to the heavens. And God comes down and what does he do? He thwarts
9:50
their wisdom and disperses them throughout the earth. What does God say
9:54
about his Word and his message in Isaiah 55:8-9? My thoughts are
9:58
not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways. As the heavens are higher
10:02
than the earth, So are my thoughts over yours and my ways over yours.
10:05
Paul's saying, Corinthians, I know you got your favorite preachers and
10:08
I know you think you know what makes somebody skilled and intelligent and
10:12
great, but God's been at this a lot longer than you. And the things that
10:16
are highly exalted among people are often despised with God,
10:20
Luke 16:15. And so he's saying here, hey,
10:23
God destroys human wisdom. So don't fall into this trap
10:26
of loving and exalting the wrong thing. And how does God do it? He does
10:30
it through the message that we preach. Verse 20, where is the one who is
10:33
wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?
10:36
Paul is calling out these different groups that the Corinthians who love wisdom might
10:41
have praised and might have exalted. And he's saying, bring these people out. Where is
10:44
the wise? Where is the scribe? God's already embarrassed them.
10:48
God's already shown the wisdom of this world to be of no profit at all.
10:51
How did God do that? How did God make foolish the wisdom of this
10:55
world? Through what?
10:58
Through the cross. Yes, Kim, through the cross. Now let's ask a different question.
11:02
How does God make foolish the wisdom of this world? Through the cross. How does
11:06
he do that? The answer is the cross. But how does the cross make foolish
11:10
the wisdom of this world? And the cross
11:14
says what? Life. Yeah, through the cross, God turns everything upside
11:18
down. Victory comes through defeat.
11:21
Life comes through death. Triumph comes through humiliation.
11:25
Everything the world lifts up, and this is our responsibility as Christians,
11:28
Christianity is ever challenging the narratives of the world.
11:32
Paul's saying, hey, don't get into these little different groups and parties
11:36
and these factions based on your favorite preachers. If Christianity was based
11:40
on the wisdom of men, you might expect that, but God's always turning things upside
11:44
down. Don't fall into this trap. God changes things and God
11:48
does it in a way that people would have never thought. Throughout Jesus's earthly ministry,
11:52
Jesus was getting his disciples together and he was saying, these are
11:56
the things that ultimately lead to success. And everything Jesus said and taught was
11:59
directly contrary to everything that the world might lift up and say, hey,
12:03
this really makes you somebody, this makes you special. What does Jesus
12:06
say in Matthew 16:24? If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,
12:11
take up his cross, and follow me. Then after that, he says, whoever will save
12:15
his life will lose it. Whoever loses— that doesn't make sense to the world.
12:18
If you want to live, die, and if you want to die, live. Jesus is
12:22
saying, my wisdom isn't like this world. And through the message that we
12:26
proclaim, we continue to show the wisdom of this world is foolishness. I saw
12:30
a couple hands. Kim, did you? And then Bill.
12:35
Sorry, I repent.
12:39
Blame me. That's all right, Kim. Blame it on me. For sure.
12:43
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
12:49
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, Jesus comes to our turf and lives the life we
12:53
should have lived and died the death we deserve to die. And he did it
12:57
on our turf with the very same temptations and hardships. And the
13:00
gospel continues to highlight that. That's what makes him unique. Bill.
13:06
Yeah, and the world just loves power. Yeah, but you don't find this humility.
13:10
Yeah, exactly. And then at the end of this chapter, Paul says the problem
13:15
for Jews and Greeks versus the wisdom of God is God's doing something completely
13:19
different. Look at verses— really verse 22 down through verse 25.
13:23
For the Jews demand signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified,
13:27
a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. So in
13:32
the ancient world, you had these 2 groups. Jews and Gentiles. Jews believed they were
13:35
in, they believed the Gentiles were out. Paul says, if you look at verse 18
13:39
and 19, there are now 2 different groups: those who are being saved and those
13:43
that are perishing. And the way God's going about saving people is
13:47
a way that neither one of these groups, Jews and Gentiles, would have liked.
13:50
What does Paul mean when he says the Jews demand a sign? What does that
13:54
mean? Look at verse 22: for the Jews demand signs.
13:57
What does that mean? Yeah, when Jesus
14:01
was on earth, they said, if you're the Messiah, prove it. Matthew 16:1-4, Jesus says,
14:05
you foolish generation, you desire a sign. Jesus didn't come and
14:09
do miracles exactly like they expected, and so they looked at the message
14:12
of the cross and they said, this can't be the Messiah, he's unimpressive. It says
14:16
the Greeks, they seek after wisdom. Study the ancient Greco-Roman
14:20
world and you will find out they couldn't believe in their mind that a
14:24
great and awesome and mighty God would die. Jesus was unimpressive to them.
14:27
Because he died. He says, hey, the Greeks seek after wisdom,
14:30
Jews require a sign, but to those of us that are called,
14:34
Christ is the one that ultimately dies for our sins. Look at verse 24,
14:38
to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of
14:42
God and the wisdom of God. The foolishness of God is wiser than men,
14:45
and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Paul starts out by telling the
14:50
Christians in Corinth, true wisdom operates in a
14:53
way that's completely foreign to the world. And so Corinthians, don't adopt the thinking,
14:57
the mindset, and the worldview of the world that surrounds you, because God is
15:02
always doing something completely different. Why do you think Paul starts
15:06
out this way? You talking about people struggling with their favorite preachers, preacheritis, division.
15:10
Why does Paul start out by saying, hey, basically summarizing
15:13
what we just studied, God's smarter than everybody else. God's wiser than anybody you
15:18
could think of, and he's always doing something in a way the world would never
15:21
imagine? Why not just start out, hey, stop being divided, it's a sin to be
15:25
divided over preachers. Why does Paul start out by trying to show the Corinthians,
15:29
hey, look how smart God is? Not the messenger. Yes. The message.
15:34
Yeah, Paul's putting the focus on the message rather than the messenger. Anybody else?
15:37
Why start out by saying, hey, look at how brilliant and how
15:42
magnificent the mind of God is, if you're talking to people that are divided?
15:46
He's the ultimate authority. Yeah, I think Paul's saying, hey, you should be more
15:49
impressed with God than with God's messengers and God's servants.
15:53
Don't fall in love with these men. Think about the God who gifted you these
15:57
men and gave them their ability. All right. Yes,
16:01
Miss Laura, go ahead. What was that?
16:04
Yeah, yeah, and it's ultimately God's standard for
16:08
sure. All right, next Paul says these are the kind of people that God calls.
16:12
Look at verses 26 down through 31. He says, for consider your calling,
16:16
brothers. Not many of you are wise according to worldly standards.
16:20
Not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
16:23
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.
16:27
God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what
16:31
is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to
16:34
nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of
16:38
God. And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became
16:42
to us wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
16:46
so that as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.
16:50
In verses 18 through 25, Paul has this sort of zoomed-out
16:53
view, and he says, hey, you really need to appreciate the wisdom of God compared
16:57
with the thoughts of men. But then in 26 through 31, Paul says,
17:00
Corinthians, consider your status and your state before God and
17:05
how you got to where you are. So here's a question: Who does God want
17:07
to be saved? Everybody. How do you know that?
17:12
Yeah, 1 Timothy 2:4 says God would have all people to be saved
17:16
and come to a knowledge of the truth. What does John 3:16 say? For God
17:20
so loved who? The world. Yeah, your name's not in the Bible, but you can
17:23
substitute your name in John 3:16 and do no harm to the text
17:27
because God wants everybody to be saved. Now, what was that?
17:31
Yeah, his actions. Exactly.
17:35
Yeah, that's right. And then let's follow up with this. God wants everybody
17:39
to be saved, and this kind of goes to what Chuck was saying a moment
17:42
ago, but what kind of people typically respond favorably to the gospel?
17:45
Like, God wants everybody in the world to be saved and come to repentance,
17:48
2 Peter 3:9, but throughout history, and maybe in our own
17:52
experience, what kind of people typically respond favorably
17:56
to the gospel, and why is that the case? The humble,
18:00
people that are broken. What kind of people responded to Jesus?
18:04
The poor. Who else? The hurting. Yeah.
18:08
Why is that the case? Why do you think these types of people typically responded
18:12
favorably to the gospel? Yeah,
18:15
yeah, they saw their need and their dependence on the Lord. Luke 15, for example,
18:19
verses 1 and 2 says, then drew all the tax collectors and the sinners
18:23
to hear Jesus. They came to Jesus because in the end Paul's saying Christianity
18:28
is not about who's the smartest. It's not about who's the deepest intellectual.
18:32
It's not about who's read the most and studied the most. The key in Christianity
18:35
is who sees their need the deepest. Those are the
18:39
people that typically respond to the gospel. Go to James chapter 2. Just look at
18:43
this passage in this context. James is talking about a similar thing, a church that's
18:47
divided into different groups based on partiality and favoritism.
18:51
And James makes this point about the kind of people that typically respond to the
18:55
gospel. Now, Let me say parenthetically, all sorts of people become Christians.
18:59
Rich and powerful and wealthy people obey the gospel in the book of Acts too.
19:02
But the Bible makes this point: most often the people
19:06
that respond favorably are the people the world doesn't think too much of. James 2:5,
19:11
he says, listen, my beloved brethren, has not God chosen those
19:14
who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of
19:18
the kingdom which is promised to those who love him? But you've dishonored the poor
19:21
man Are not the rich the ones who oppress you and the ones that drag
19:25
you into court? So James is saying, hey, don't fall out over all these rich
19:28
and powerful people. The people you wouldn't expect, the poor, the despised,
19:31
the lowly, those are the people that typically respond to the gospel.
19:35
We'll talk about evangelism in chapter 2, but I think a question for us is,
19:39
are those the kind of people that we reach out to? I mean, the kind
19:42
of people that were drawn to Jesus, are those the kind of people we flock
19:46
to? And Paul's going to make this point about the Corinthians. Go back to 1
19:49
Corinthians 1. Look at the kind of people that God called. Verses 26
19:53
and 27, consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you are wise according
19:57
to worldly standards. Not many were of noble birth, but God chose
20:01
what's foolish in the world to shame the wise and what is weak to shame
20:04
the strong. God's specialty is taking nothing and
20:08
making something glorious out of it. This starts in the beginning of the Bible.
20:12
Genesis 1, before God creates anything, what does the Bible say in Genesis
20:15
1 and verse 2? The earth was without form and what? And now
20:20
it's filled with all these gracious and good and beautiful things. And that's every
20:24
human life. Without Jesus, we're without form and void.
20:27
And what is God often doing throughout Scripture? He's forming and creating
20:31
and shaping us into what we couldn't be otherwise. I mean, He says the
20:35
same thing to Israel in Deuteronomy 7. Hey, I didn't choose you because you were
20:39
the most beautiful and numerous and awesome nation. Deuteronomy 7:6-13.
20:43
He says, I chose you because I made promises to Abraham, and I intended
20:48
to make good on those promises. Think about the disciples of Jesus. What do you
20:51
know about that group of the 12? Luke 6:6-12 tells us
20:55
the men that Jesus selected. What's impressive about the disciples? What kind
20:59
of men did Jesus call and say, hey, here's going to be my inner circle?
21:03
Common people, tax collectors. One of them's a zealot, which was a group
21:08
of people in Judea that were really insurrectionists against the Romans.
21:12
Fishermen, just common everyday people. What did he make of them?
21:16
12 men that started as a small nucleus in Jerusalem and
21:20
eventually changed the world. What are the Corinthians divided over?
21:23
Personalities and preachers. Here's my guy, he's the most impressive.
21:26
Paul says, don't fall for that. God will take nothing and a nobody and
21:31
make them somebody great. And you already know this is true because he's saying,
21:34
look at verse 26, it's exactly what God's done with you.
21:39
You might not watch sports, but if you do, just think about this for a
21:42
minute. Why do sports teams want the first-round draft pick? Like, why do
21:46
they want the first person picked? Or if you don't watch sports, take that out
21:49
of it. Why do firms and companies want the person that graduated at the top
21:53
of their class? Why do they want the very best?
21:56
Proven entity, for sure, that's a part of it, but why else? Why does the—
22:00
why do the Tennessee Titans, if they could have it every year, We want the
22:04
first pick. Why do firms and companies, hey, they want the person that graduated
22:08
at the top of their class? Do better, they're better to—
22:12
what'd you say, Brian? Help them succeed. More than help them
22:16
succeed, it's deeper than that though. The reason why they want it, they cannot
22:20
succeed without it. They can't win if they don't have— I mean,
22:23
companies and teams and people, they actually need the best.
22:27
God is saying to the world, I don't need that. We sometimes fall out over
22:31
celebrity culture. Hey, guess who became a Christian? As if somehow, hey, now we're on
22:35
the map. This person will give us a name. I don't know if you've read
22:38
the Bible, but God will give you a name. God doesn't need anybody to prop
22:42
him up. God will take nobodies all the time. He'll take anybody that obeys
22:46
the gospel. But sometimes we think, oh, guess who sort of believes in Jesus?
22:49
I mean, they may not be a New Testament Christian, but isn't this great advertisement
22:53
for God? And Paul's saying, God doesn't need that. I mean, God doesn't need the
22:56
best and the brightest. His specialty is actually taking somebody in the
23:00
backwoods that you wouldn't even think about and saying, now look at what I can
23:03
do through this person's life. And he's saying, Corinthians,
23:07
you should know this of all people and see it just the way that
23:10
God does. It's a reminder to us, don't be so easily impressed
23:15
by the exteriors and the outward appearance because God often is not.
23:19
Bill. Jesus says,
23:23
blessed are the poor in spirit. Yeah. For theirs is the kingdom. That's spiritually bankrupt.
23:27
Yeah. Come to him with nothing. That's right. That's who he wants. That's right.
23:30
Yeah. Jesus wants people that come to him with nothing and that are spiritually bankrupt.
23:34
And then God chose the unexpected on purpose and for a purpose.
23:38
Why does God use the people that according to the world aren't really worth much?
23:42
Why does God take nobodies and then use them? Well, Paul tells you,
23:45
look at verse 28 through 31. Kim, you taught me something this morning. If I
23:49
keep talking, people will forget what they've got to say and I will get through
23:51
3 chapters. So, That's the goal. All right, let's see.
23:55
God chose what is weak in the world. Look at verse 28,
23:59
low and despised, even things that are not, to bring to nothing the
24:03
things that are. And verse 29, he did it so that
24:06
no human being might boast in the presence of God. So God does
24:10
this on purpose so that nobody will come
24:13
into his presence and boast. And this is Paul's idea. And he's gonna
24:17
bring this up in chapter 4 and verse 7, where he'll say, What do you
24:20
have that you haven't received? And if you've received it, why do you behave as
24:24
though you haven't? Whatever you love about somebody, whatever you think
24:28
is so impressive and so great about them, where did they get it from?
24:33
They got it from God. Remember a couple slides back, I had the ultimate answer
24:37
to all religious division, especially in the church, is an exalted
24:41
view of God. You'll stop having preacheritis and partiality and favoritism.
24:45
If you just love God more and see what really makes this person special,
24:49
or whatever makes this church great, is not us. It's not our talents, our gifts,
24:53
our ability. It's the God behind it. Paul says,
24:57
God holds everything together. In him all things consist, Colossians 1:17.
25:01
He upholds everything by the word of his power, Hebrews 1:3.
25:05
All the attention, all of the glory— God does this on purpose so when it's
25:08
all said and done, nobody will have anything to boast about.
25:12
Excepting God. That's how he wants it. Look at Ephesians chapter 2.
25:16
Look at Ephesians 2 and look at verses 8 and 9. This is about the
25:20
process of salvation, and Paul in Ephesians 2 is talking about how
25:24
we were saved, and he brings up this same point that yes, it's God's doing,
25:28
but God works it out so that nobody else will have anything to brag
25:32
about or boast about. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, for by grace have
25:36
you been saved through faith. It's not your own doing, it's the gift of God.
25:39
Not of works. Why not? He doesn't want anybody boasting.
25:44
When you get to the end of your life, if your life were a movie,
25:47
it's going to be the shortest credits of all time. Produced, made,
25:51
manufactured, and starring God. That's it. Nobody else.
25:54
It's all going to be about how great God was if we live and do
25:58
it right. And that's what Paul needed the Corinthians to see. Look at verse 31.
26:01
So that as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the
26:05
Lord. So let me ask you, why does
26:09
a church that's divided need this message?
26:13
This message about the kind of people that God calls and that God deserves
26:17
all the glory for everything. Why does this church at Corinth need this message?
26:22
We probably got some strong personalities and they're dividing over strong personalities.
26:26
Yes. Now let's get more personal. Why do we need to hear it?
26:31
Yeah, so wake-up call in what sense?
26:35
That's right.
26:39
Yes, and throughout the Bible, God's constantly
26:43
bringing this up. It's in little snippets that we might just run by. So like
26:47
1 Chronicles 16:10, the one that glories,
26:50
glory in the Lord. Psalm 105:3,
26:53
glory only in the Lord. Psalm 115:1,
26:58
not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but to your name give glory.
27:01
And here's why 1 Corinthians 1:31, though simple to read,
27:05
is such a challenge. Because all of us are kind of like crooked
27:08
lawyers, and our discipleship contract with God, we just kind of want
27:12
to sneak in the bottom, in the footnotes, just a little bit of the percentage
27:15
of glory for ourselves. We're just a little bit glory hungry.
27:18
Just, God, give us 2%, you can have 98%. And Paul's
27:22
saying, No, all of the glory, all of it belongs with who?
27:26
God. We need this message because, hey, church is healthy.
27:30
People placing membership, people being baptized,
27:33
church growing. And lest we forget,
27:36
why is all of that happening? Oh, I know why. We've got an awesome website.
27:41
Nope. I know why. A lot of programs. It's tempting. We might not
27:44
say it vocally, but we can start thinking, hey, we just kind of got our
27:47
act together a little bit better than other people. Paul says no such thing.
27:51
It's not your preachers. It's not— I mean, everybody has a part. 1 Corinthians 12
27:55
is going to get into that. But you know who has the biggest part?
27:57
God. And it's not enough to know that intellectually.
28:01
You've got to regularly be rehearsing and saying that because there's a subtle
28:06
deception that comes in and that says, you know, God's amazing, but I'm pretty
28:10
special too. And Paul says in verse 31,
28:13
as it is written, let the one who boasts
28:17
Boast only in the Lord. What kinds of things do people typically boast in?
28:22
Accomplishments. What else?
28:26
What do we boast in just in everyday life? Don't think necessarily spiritual or
28:30
religious. What kind of things do we boast in? Family.
28:35
Our education. Things, materialism.
28:39
Yeah, so all of these things, all of these things. Somebody said one
28:42
time people tend to boast about 3 primary things: their
28:46
face, their place, and their race. And you had no part in any of
28:51
those 3. You look the way you look, you didn't pick the face you've got,
28:53
you just got it. Where you're from, oh, I'm from here, I'm special. You didn't
28:57
pick that, you were just born there. Your race, you had nothing to do with
29:00
it. We boast about things that were just gifted to us by God.
29:03
And Paul's saying, Corinthians, if you see God as he truly
29:07
is, you'll see each other properly and you won't be divided. All right,
29:10
chapter 2. Paul now talks about the wisdom that God reveals.
29:14
1 Corinthians 2, I'm going to start out by reading verses 1 through 5.
29:18
Paul says, when I came to you, brothers, I didn't come to you proclaiming the
29:21
testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing
29:25
among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was
29:29
with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and
29:33
my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in the demonstration
29:37
of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the
29:40
wisdom of men, but in the power of God. So, and this goes back to
29:44
what Ms. Laura mentioned earlier about where wisdom comes from, and Chuck with Job 28:28.
29:48
Paul's saying, hey, you guys love preachers, but the preachers the
29:52
Corinthians loved, all of their wisdom came from the same place. And where was that?
29:56
It came from God. And so Paul's saying, hey, lest you think we're special,
30:00
chapter 2 is all about where does real wisdom come from. I think
30:04
Neil mentioned this last week. The Greek word sophia for wisdom, it appears some 17,
30:09
20 times throughout this epistle, and a large part of them are concentrated
30:13
in chapters 1 and 2. And Paul's saying real true wisdom,
30:16
whatever you admire about us as preachers, it came from God. And so
30:20
Paul demonstrates wisdom in his evangelism efforts. Paul says
30:24
when he came to the Corinthians, he didn't want to know anything about them or
30:27
anything among them except Jesus Christ and him crucified. In verse
30:31
1, when Paul says, I didn't come with lofty speech or wisdom,
30:34
Paul didn't mean he wasn't a gifted speaker. If you read
30:37
the sermons in the book of Acts, it's apparent that Paul was gifted.
30:40
But what Paul is saying is this: the most important thing about his preaching
30:44
and teaching wasn't his outline, the way that things were structured.
30:48
It wasn't this impressive presentation of the gospel.
30:51
It was the message itself. And more than that, Paul says
30:55
he actually did this on purpose. Like, Paul tried to
30:58
make his preaching and his teaching as simple and as plain
31:02
as he could. You know why? Because Paul— look at verse 5. What does he
31:06
mean in verse 5? I did this so that your faith might not rest in
31:08
the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Why does Paul say
31:12
that? Or let me ask it to you a different way. When you go to
31:15
a wedding, why is it wrong to wear white? I know some of you are
31:18
like rebels. I'm wearing white anyway. But why is it wrong to wear white at
31:22
a wedding? Why wouldn't you wear a tiara to somebody else's birthday party? Or like
31:26
And when somebody else is graduating, you just show up to the graduation in your
31:28
cap and gown. I know a couple years ago on Facebook they had people around
31:32
graduation time— maybe if you did this, we forgive you, okay? People are putting their
31:36
graduation pictures up like, listen, your time's passed, right? Like, why don't
31:40
you do that? Why? Because it's not about who?
31:43
It's not about you. Like, if you wear white, a flowing white
31:46
dress to somebody else's wedding, it's just— Paul's saying, listen, when I preached,
31:50
when I evangelized, when I taught, I didn't wear white.
31:53
Paul says, I didn't do anything to put any shine on me because on purpose,
31:57
look at verse 5, I really didn't want you converted to Paul.
32:01
I wanted you converted to Jesus Christ. He says, I did it so that your
32:04
faith might not be in the demonstration of the power of men, but instead
32:08
in the power of God. Paul said, 2 Corinthians 10:10 will
32:11
say about Paul's speaking ability, they say his speech is contemptible,
32:15
but he's mighty in his letters. So people said, hey, Paul's a great
32:19
writer, but not a great speaker. Paul says, I'm doing it on purpose.
32:22
I really don't want to over and outshine Jesus. Paul wanted to
32:26
do his best, but Paul didn't want anybody to get any mixed
32:29
up ideas about where the true power came from. What does
32:33
John say in John 3:30 about Jesus and him? They said,
32:36
hey John, he's making more disciples than you. And John says, he must increase,
32:40
but what? How do we do this?
32:44
Like in our evangelism efforts, how do we make sure that
32:48
we hide behind the cross and don't make it about ourselves, but instead make
32:52
it about God? As we evangelize personally, teach publicly,
32:56
what can we do to make sure, like Paul, hey, people will see the real
33:00
wisdom is really in God? And maybe you've studied
33:04
the Bible with people before and they're like, man, I don't know the Bible,
33:06
you really know it. And they view it as like this sort of jigsaw puzzle
33:10
and you've just got all the answers and all. How do we show people,
33:12
hey, it's really not like that? It's not about how brilliant a person is or
33:16
how smart I am. It's ultimately about the power of God. How do we do
33:19
that? Because that's what Paul did, and that was his answer to this division.
33:22
How do we do it? Through the Word. Stay in the
33:26
Bible. Yes, but not just stay in the Bible, point people where?
33:31
To the Bible. So when you study with somebody and talk about religious things,
33:34
don't say our church or I think or
33:38
I believe. We talked about the pronouns. Instead, say things like, hey, You know,
33:41
your Bible says, hey, you can find it right there in the Bible.
33:44
It actually says this. Hey, turn your copy of God's Word to,
33:47
and they can fold that up and leave your presence. And they still got all,
33:51
they got the answer key with them. It's not in a person. It's ultimately
33:55
in the God who gave us the wisdom. And then he says, the wisdom of
33:58
the world should be contrasted with the wisdom of God. Look at verses 6 through
34:01
10. Paul says, yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom,
34:06
although it's not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age
34:09
who are doomed to pass away, but we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of
34:12
God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the
34:15
rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified
34:19
the Lord of glory. As it is written, what no eye has seen and no
34:23
ear has heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man what God
34:27
has prepared for those who love him. These things God has revealed to us through
34:31
the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. All right,
34:34
in this section Paul starts talking about, yes, We got our wisdom from God,
34:37
but he gets a little bit more detailed and talks about how God gave it
34:41
to them. So Paul and Peter and the other apostles, they received
34:45
revelation directly from God. That is, God gave them the words,
34:48
they wrote it down. We receive it indirectly from them. But look
34:53
at verse 7 and verse 8. Here Paul says we impart a secret or hidden
34:57
wisdom. One of the ways the New Testament refers to, like, the gospel
35:00
plan of salvation is is called a mystery. And some
35:03
people say, like, this idea of mystery can be sort of viewed as a sacred
35:08
secret. God was going to save the world through Jesus Christ. Who knew about that?
35:11
Nobody but God himself, not the details. In fact, Paul says
35:16
in verse 8, none of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they
35:19
did, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory. The devil didn't know what
35:23
God was doing. As he's leading Jesus up to be crucified on Calvary, he thinks
35:26
this is the end of it. But God had bigger plans. Side note, that's just
35:30
the note for us about how the devil works in our lives. Sometimes we think
35:33
like, the devil knows my thoughts, my temptations, he knows everything. Paul says the devil
35:37
doesn't know everything. God's up to all sorts of things the rulers of this world
35:41
have no idea about. But instead, in verse 9, what nobody
35:45
has ever seen or heard or imagined, God has revealed. Sometimes people look
35:49
at verse 9 as if it's talking about heaven. It's a quote from Isaiah
35:53
64:4. Now listen, it's true about heaven.
35:56
Nobody's seen it. No eye has ever seen it. No, no ear has ever heard
35:59
it. But in this passage, Paul's not talking about heaven. Paul's talking about the gospel
36:03
system and the plan of salvation and this revelation that the apostles received.
36:07
Nobody thought of it through human genius, but God revealed it.
36:11
In verse 10, that's what he says. These things God's revealed to us.
36:14
So we know this isn't talking about heaven because in verse 10 he says,
36:18
hey, what I just told you in verse 9 that nobody had any idea about,
36:21
God's revealed it to us. So, how did Paul know what to write in Ephesians
36:25
and in 1 Corinthians and in Colossians? God did what? God told
36:30
him. It's not that Paul was so smart, it's because God gave it to him,
36:33
and that's contrasted with the wisdom of the world. And then the last thing he
36:36
says in chapter 2 is there's a wisdom that's received from above, and this is
36:40
verses 11 through verse 16. For who knows a person's thoughts
36:44
except the spirit of that person which is in him? So also no one comprehends
36:48
the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we
36:51
have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God,
36:54
that we might understand the things freely given to us by God. And we impart
36:58
this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit,
37:02
interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural
37:06
person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God because they are folly
37:09
or foolishness to him, and he's not able to understand them, but they are
37:12
spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things,
37:16
but is himself to be judged by no one, For who has understood the mind
37:20
of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
37:22
So again, Paul doubles down and just kind of goes in a detailed way through,
37:26
hey, God gave us the wisdom. Nobody knows what God's
37:30
thinking. In verse 11, he says, you can't know a person's thoughts unless they tell
37:34
you. Paul, how do you know these things about God? God's revealed them to us.
37:37
We wrote them down comparing spiritual ideas with spiritual truths.
37:41
And then he says in verse 16, we have the mind of Christ.
37:44
The apostles, that is Paul and Peter and James and John,
37:49
have the mind of Christ because God gave it to them. And zooming
37:53
out and dealing with this issue of division, Paul says you don't have to be
37:57
divided because the wisdom that we have that you're so in love with,
38:00
it came to us from God. And guess who the Corinthians have?
38:04
They've got God too. And so they don't need to be divided over who's the
38:08
faith— their favorite preacher, because the God who gifted those men is the
38:11
same God working in and through them. All right, chapter 3. We're not going to
38:15
get far, but we can say we made it, okay? Yeah, 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
38:19
This is where Paul starts talking about how do we correct the problem? How do
38:22
we correct the division? The first thing he says in 1 Corinthians 3 is
38:26
come to terms with spiritual immaturity. 1 Corinthians
38:29
3:1-4, but I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual
38:33
people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed
38:37
you with milk and not solid food, for you were not ready for it.
38:39
Even now you're not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there
38:43
is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only
38:47
in a human way? For when one says, I follow Paul, and another, I follow
38:50
Apollos, are you not being merely human? Here's a question: how
38:54
do you know whether or not you're spiritually mature or immature?
38:58
Like, what are some of the marks of a person that's spiritually mature or
39:02
the marks that a person's spiritually immature? How do you know? What are some of
39:06
the biblical marks that will mark a person as spiritually mature or spiritually
39:10
immature? Sometimes the things
39:13
they say. Yeah, their mouth will tell you, their speech will declare what they are.
39:17
What else?
39:20
Their level of faith, for sure. What else?
39:25
Do you trust God with all your heart? Yes.
39:29
What is Paul talking about here? What makes these people immature?
39:33
Strife. One of the ways you know you're spiritually immature is this: what
39:38
kind of things are you willing to divide over? Like, what kind
39:42
of things are you just willing to fall out about and say, hey, you know
39:43
what, these guys are doing it over personalities? And Paul says, I don't
39:47
care how much you know. In chapter 1, he said, hey, you don't lack any
39:50
spiritual gift. You guys are speaking in different languages, you're prophesying,
39:53
but you're spiritual babies. You know why? I could just look at you.
39:56
Kids fight about that. Listen, kids argue about their toys.
40:00
Wise, mature people learn how to effectively use their tools.
40:03
Kids talk about, hey, I'm better than you. I got a bigger Barbie
40:07
house than you. I've got a shinier toy car than you. That's what kids do.
40:10
And sometimes, Warren Wiersbe says this in his 1 Corinthians commentary,
40:14
sometimes the biggest room in the church building is the nursery.
40:17
We call it the auditorium, but it's the nursery because you've just got nothing but
40:22
spiritual babies fighting over little petty things. And Paul's saying, this is how I know
40:25
you guys aren't mature. We tend to think maturity spiritually is driven by one
40:29
thing. I'm gonna just be honest with you. Nobody said it, but here's the thing.
40:32
We think about knowledge. You know a lot, you must be mature. You come a
40:35
lot, you must be mature. Paul says, no, not do you know a lot,
40:38
do you show a lot? Are you mature by the way you behave?
40:41
Can you just let slights go past you? Do you always have to have your
40:45
way? And how quickly are you willing to divide?
40:49
And Paul's saying, these guys, you couldn't be spiritually mature Because
40:53
you say, I'm, I'm of Paul, I'm of Cephas, and I'm of Christ, and that's
40:57
not spiritual maturity at all. Another passage on this would be Hebrews 6:1-4,
41:02
where Paul, or the Hebrew writer, says, hey, if you stay in
41:05
these pet and elementary doctrines, you're not spiritually mature.
41:09
Like, if all you ever talk about is baptism, repentance, the laying on of hands,
41:13
Paul says that's what spiritually immature people do, and there's a time for that,
41:16
but then you've got to press beyond that. Second, he says you've got to correctly
41:20
see yourselves as God's servants. This will help with spiritual maturity.
41:24
Verses 5 through 9, he says in 1 Corinthians
41:27
3, starting in verse 5, what then is Apollos and what is Paul? Servants through
41:31
whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered,
41:35
but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters
41:39
is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who
41:42
waters are one, And each one will receive his wages according to
41:46
his labor. For we are God's fellow workers, and you are God's field,
41:49
God's building. What'll help heal religious division is
41:52
correctly seeing God's servants. Paul planted, Apollos watered, but who gave
41:57
the increase? So God is hiring for 2 positions,
42:00
only 2, planters and what? That's all you can be.
42:04
That's it. God's gonna give the increase.
42:07
And division in the church is healed, and we can come together and be unified
42:11
when we see ourselves as God's servants properly. Who's causing the growth?
42:15
Paul actually says in verse 7, hey, so neither he that plants or
42:19
waters is anything, but it's about God who ultimately gives the growth.
42:22
How is this a relief in evangelism? I planted,
42:25
Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
42:29
It's not all on us. It's what?
42:32
I sow the seed, I water it, I come back and check and try to
42:36
encourage, but who's going to give the growth? Sometimes we say
42:40
things, oh, this person, like, and I, I don't, I believe people have talents and
42:43
gifts, but we, oh, this person's so skilled. And no, God gives the growth.
42:46
It's not a person standing in the baptistry the most. It's God opening hearts
42:49
through his word and his tools. And yes, people have talents and gifts and abilities,
42:53
but you know who's the most gifted in the kingdom of God? The God who's
42:57
over the kingdom. It's all about him. Paul is driving back to this repeatedly so
43:01
that we give all the praise, the honor, and glory to the right person.
43:04
And he says what the truth really is, and this is in verse 9,
43:06
and we'll quit. You're God's workers, you're God's building.
43:10
All of us are equal on the same team, working for the same
43:14
God. And what we should be doing is competing on who can
43:18
glorify and praise and honor and boast in God the most. And if we
43:22
do that, we won't be divided. We'll gather around the same throne and be seeing
43:26
each other as teammates on the same team. All right, thanks for a good Bible
43:29
class. We'll pick up in chapter 3 and verse 10 next week.