All You Could Ever Want // 1 Corinthians 2:6-16

The letter of 1 Corinthians is a treasure. It contains more teaching on the resurrection, spiritual gifts, marriage, and the virtue of love than any other book in the Bible.

! But it is not cold theology. 1 Corinthians is an urgent call for us to remember the gospel. And as a result, it's a call for us to be a cross-centered, holy, and united people until he returns.

Listen in to what God has to say to us through this inspired letter. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 6. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away.

But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.

None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor the heart of man, imagine what God has prepared for those who love him.

These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

For who knows a person's thoughts except the Spirit of that person which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God. That we might understand the things freely given us by God.

And we impart this in words, not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him. And he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?

But we have the mind of Christ. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Hallelujah. Please be seated. The hit movie, The Greatest Showman, tells the story of P.T. Barnum and his rise from poverty to create the Barnum and Bailey Circus that traveled throughout the world for nearly 100 years.

But really, the movie tells my story. The movie tells your story. The movie begins with Barnum dreaming of a show that would be wildly popular.

Drawing all these people. Dreaming of success and approval. One of the early songs he says, which he repeats through the movie in so many ways. Every night I lie in bed.

The brightest colors fill my head. A million dreams are keeping me awake. And all of us are not much different.

Falling asleep at the youngest of ages and on throughout life. Dreaming about what life could be. Dreams of what we could be. And often we fall asleep imagining that it's all in our hands.

As the character sings, we live in a world that we design. After quitting his job, Barnum quickly gained success through the show, drawing crowds of people.

Yet it was not the success he dreamed. His great show was a circus. A freak show. A collection of oddities.

The rich and famous thought it was absurd. That's not theater. That's spectacle. The power brokers wanted nothing to do with it.

And that's what Barnum wanted more than anything else. At least according to the movie. Barnum was crushed. And we all feel his pain.

We all know his pain. We're all born with this insatiable desire to be on the inside. A part of the in crowd. In the inner circle of whatever community we find ourselves in.

We want the acceptance of the powers that be. The stamp of approval. We want the applause of the ones that matter. It doesn't actually matter how many people applaud us.

Unless it's the ones that matter. The ones we've determined matter. It's what drives girls to hide their face and makeup. And middle-aged dads to stay too late at work.

It's what motivates gym rats and diet junkies. And self-hate for those who can't keep up. It's what pushes overspending.

Overcommitting. And overdoing. It's the treadmill we hop onto at a young age. But we don't hop off when our acne runs away. One author says, This pressure is like a descending escalator.

Running up a descending escalator. It's so tiring. But we have no time to wait. No time to rest. Because every moment of rest is a moment of losing ground.

And we can't lose ground. We want to win. And there are winners and losers in the game of life. This is our story.

This is our game. This is our life. In many ways, it maps right on to what's going on in first century Corinth. There was an in crowd and an out crowd.

There were winners and losers. There were the who's who and the who's not. We've talked about this already. But it just kind of marks this passage in a very powerful way. The winners were the spiritual, the mature, the wise in the ways of the world.

The ones who had attained knowledge. All of those terms are in this text. And they're loaded. They thought they were hot stuff because of what they had done. They looked down on all that could not climb so high.

They were puffed up with their chest out. But Paul says they are really just sacks of hot air. If you remember, Paul's been teaching that the only real line in the world is between those who are perishing and those who are being saved.

And those who are being saved are saved through Christ and Him crucified. So all that who's who and who's not is a bunch of bunk. And these verses, the Apostle Paul gets right to the point.

These verses are designed to bite. Now this Apostle Paul can be quite an encouraging guy. But these verses, he began thanking the Lord for them. But these verses are designed to bite.

They're designed to cut. Paul takes up their words. Mature. You see that immediately in verse 6. Yet among the mature. Then he uses their words of wisdom. We do impart wisdom.

We impart a wisdom that's different than the wisdom of that age. He uses knowledge four times in this passage in a verbal form. He concludes talking about who is spiritual. What Paul is doing.

He's taking up their words and using them against them. He's redefining the words they use to define status according to worldly measures.

Redefining them according to status according to the gospel. And in so doing, he's turning over our silly game of winning and losing. He's saying the chase for acceptance, approval, and applause, which all of us are tempted to chase, will not just exhaust you.

It will bankrupt you. Why? Because the world and all its desires is passing away. In a word, where we're going is the only thing that matters, ultimately matters about you, is what you receive.

The knowledge of God in Christ through the Spirit. The only thing that matters is not what you gain. Oh, that's going to be repossessed. The only thing that ultimately matters is what you receive.

The knowledge of God in Christ through the gospel or through the Spirit. So in a word, that's where we're going. But the three points, first is the Word does not know God through wisdom. The Word does not know God through wisdom.

I put that in quotes because the Apostle Paul is kind of using wisdom, this word wisdom, in a flexible way. Sometimes he's using it, wisdom, oftentimes he includes according to this age or of this age.

So he's using it in a flexible way to refer to, sometimes he's referring to what they think is wisdom and what he thinks or what the gospel says is wisdom. And you've seen that already, but why doesn't the world know God through wisdom?

And you would think we already know the answer, right? We've been listening to this letter, we've been reading this letter. The world does not know God through wisdom because the world thinks the cross is ridiculous.

What kind of king dies? Foolishness. But there's a deeper reason. In these verses, the Apostle Paul draws a thick, dark line between the things of earth and the things of God.

Between the things humans can attain on their own and the things only God makes known. No one knows God through their wisdom because God's wisdom is not of this world.

Look down there in verse 6, second clause there. Among the mature, we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age.

Now that's not a reference to demons or the devil. It's a reference to this worldly age. It's a reference to the wise. It's a reference to the power brokers of the age.

You remember he already talked about this. The philosopher, the scholar, the wise. Wise. It's a reference to the who's who in any age. So the wisdom of God does not make sense to the power brokers of any age.

Not that age or not our own. He repeats it, reiterates it down in verse 8. Look, none of the rulers of this age understood it. But why don't they understand?

Why doesn't the New York Times run a Monday column on the gospel? It's not because they're evil.

That's not the Apostle Paul's point. It's not because they're bad men, though, of course, they may be bad men and bad women. But why don't they understand?

Though it's because they're worldly. They're part of this world that's doomed. Do you see that in verse 6? Doomed to pass away.

That language which is picked up in 1 John 5. The desires of the flesh, the desires of the world, the pride of life are passing away. The one who does the will of God abides forever. And so, he's saying the reason they don't get it is because they can only think in terms of human achievement, attainment, acquisition.

They can only think in terms of human wisdom. They can only think in terms of the treadmill or climbing the ladder, so to speak. They can only think of an amassing possession so that everyone can see how wise you are.

But God's wisdom is foolishness. And God's wisdom in the Christian life continues to be foolishness. Many have no trouble with Christianity if it gets you out of hell or if it gives you some comfort.

But Christianity doesn't stop there. It calls you to a foolish life. It calls you to deny yourself. That's hate speech in this culture. It says anybody who takes away something I feel called to do, says I shouldn't do something I feel called to do or feel like I feel like I must do.

It's hate speech. Silence is violence. It calls you to stoop down to serve. It calls you to voluntarily sacrifice to give. It says your money is not your money, in fact.

It calls you to forgive those who sin against you. The Christian life is a foolish life. But there's also other realities of being in this world. Apostle Paul breaks this out in 2 Corinthians 4.

I'm talking about the reality of being in this world. The God of this world blinds the mind of unbelievers. The God of this world alerts us that being a part of this world means we have a blinding disease and a blinding enemy.

We have a blinding disease because of sin. We have a blinding enemy because of Satan himself.

And so no one knows God through wisdom because God's wisdom is not of this world. It's not in the Encyclopedia Britannica or on Wikipedia.

No one knows God through wisdom because God's wisdom is a mystery. And that's immediately where the Apostle Paul goes. Look in verse 4. But, that's a big, huge word there.

But we have a secret and hidden wisdom. The wisdom of God is not known to all or known by all because it's hidden.

And it's a secret and hidden wisdom. It's not known unless God makes it known. It is literally a mystery. That's the word there. And the Apostle Paul used that in different places. It's a mystery.

Not in the sense that it's unsolved like a crime that might be unsolved. We love to read about unsolved crimes, right? That's not what he's talking about. Mystery in the New Testament is often used to refer to something that was hidden, previously concealed, and yet is revealed through God.

In the gospel. One of the most beautiful places the Apostle Paul puts this is in Romans 16. Look there with me. He says, So you see, mystery is not something unsolved, but something kept secret until the appropriate time by God.

And he's saying the gospel is that mystery. The gospel is that mystery. What does he mean by that? Well, the idea is that the Old Testament is filled with fits and starts, but all of it is about the unfolding of the plan of God to save sinners through a crucified Messiah.

It's filled with all sorts of images, prophets, priests, kings, rams, lambs, snakes, and clouds, tabernacles, temples, but all of them were pointing forward to Jesus Christ.

It's a mystery that was not clear until the fullness of time, till God sent forth his Son to be born of a woman born under the law, to redeem those under the law.

So it's a mystery in that sense, but also in the sense that it cannot be known unless God makes it known. It's not of this world.

God must make it known. In light of all that Paul has spoken, he ends with this devastating picture of our situation. Look down there in verse 9.

What no eye has seen, nor the ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him. Now, this verse really turns the scholars in all sorts of a tizzy, because it's hard to tell what the Apostle Paul is actually quoting here.

Some say he's quoting Isaiah 64.4. Certainly has some parallels, but he has parallels with another text, Isaiah 65.17.

I think the best explanation, and he is writing scripture, so we're not wigging out about the other verses he wrote. But I think the best explanation is that he does a creative combo of the two, Isaiah 64.4, Isaiah 65.17, to make a devastating point.

On the one hand, whereas Isaiah 64.4 is saying, how unimaginable the salvation that God is working. No eye and no ear.

Imagine what God is doing. He's making a devastating point here. Not merely that it's beyond our wildest dreams, but that it's beyond our comprehension.

What God is doing in Jesus Christ, no eye can see it. On their own. What God is doing in Jesus Christ, no ear can hear it.

That's why Jesus says, let the one who hears, hear. What the Spirit is saying to the church. The idea is, not all those with those funny things on the side of their heads, hear.

Nor even the heart of man comprehend. We're all left like Isaac. I remember a couple years ago, it's not, no offense to Isaac, but, couldn't find him there.

A couple years ago, reading this story of Isaac, and was struck by it, you know, puzzled by the story of Isaac, you know, a dozen or more chapters are devoted to Abraham.

Abraham, quite a few are, to his father Abraham, quite a few are devoted to his son Jacob, and quite a few are devoted to his grandson Joseph, but only a few to Isaac.

Why is it? We're meant to learn something critical with Isaac. Isaac loved Esau more than Jacob, because he ate of the game that he killed, because of what he saw and tasted.

And if you remember, if you know your scriptures, this is one of, you know, sometimes you read the Bible, it just blows, I mean, it's amazing stories. I mean, it could be on the shelves in Walmart, or something like that. Well, this is one of those chapters, you know.

Isaac sends out Esau to go and kill some of the game, because he said he's about to die, he's already lost his sight. And so, go kill some of the game that I love so much, because I don't want to have one last meal. You know, everybody on death row gets one last meal.

And so, Isaac is about to die, and wants one last meal. But his brother, Jacob, comes in and tricks him. And in the process of this encounter, all of Isaac's senses, you know, the five senses, fail him.

Sight's already failed him. His son, Jacob, comes in and says, I am Esau. He said, that doesn't sound like Esau.

He said, I am Esau. Fails him. His touch fails him. He says, come a little closer. Let me feel your hands, because Esau was hairy, and Jacob, not so much.

Let me feel your hair. Jacob had covered himself with skin, the sins of an animal, so that he was hairy. His touch fails him. He takes some of the gain, not that Esau prepared from slaying some animal.

He takes the gain that his wife, Rebecca, had prepared for Jacob. And he eats it. His taste fails. He says, come a little bit closer, and let me smell you, because he was covered with these animals.

He smelled like the field, and so he thought, this is indeed Esau, and his smell fails him. Here's the reality.

That's where we are, apart from God revealing this mystery to us. We just have failed senses, wandering through this world, blinded to the mystery of God in Jesus Christ.

And so, these verses alert us to the desperation of our state. The world does not know God through wisdom.

Point two, all believers know God through the Spirit. All believers know God through the Spirit. Why don't the wise of the world see the wisdom of God in the cross?

Because it's a mystery. It's kept secret. But how can the apostles speak of these things? How can they know these things? You know, when it says we, firstly in verse 10, it's a reference to the apostles, to the apostolic message.

That's what Paul is saying when he says, my gospel, because he received this gospel from the Lord and now it's passed on to us. So, how can he speak of this gospel?

How can we speak of this gospel, the secret and hidden only by the Spirit? For God makes it known. Look at verse 10. For, it actually begins with four, for these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.

And so, he begins to unpack the Spirit's work in regenerating us and illumining the Scriptures to us.

On the one hand, the Spirit knows God fully. Look at the way he continues. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. The plan of God is secret, but the Spirit reveals it. The plan of God is hidden, but the Spirit searches it out.

It's almost as if the apostle Paul wants us to imagine a great search and rescue mission. And it's the Spirit searching out the depths of God. Who could know the divine mind? Well, the Spirit is searching him out with his flashlight to go into all the nooks and crannies, the deepest cave in the depths of God.

We're fumbling around in darkness and the Spirit has searched it all out. Verse 11 continues with a metaphor, kind of a comparison between the thoughts and spirits of a man and his thoughts and spirits of God, towards God.

For who knows a person's thoughts except the Spirit of that person? Who can know what someone else is thinking? Now, sometimes when you're a teenager, you might have a good guess, but who can really know?

We can know their thoughts. We can think we know their thoughts, but we can never really know for sure. And so he's alerting us, if we cannot know for sure the thoughts of another person, how much less could we know the thoughts of God?

But the Spirit knows the thoughts of God. That's the point of what he's saying. The Spirit is of God. Down there, the Spirit of God.

God. The Spirit is God. The Spirit knows the thoughts and intentions of God, the plans of God. Look at verse 11, second half. No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

So it seems like the Apostle Paul is just saying the same thing over and over again, but he's saying on the one hand, we can't know these things because they're hidden in secret, but we can't know these things without the Spirit. Help.

If anyone's going to think God's thoughts after him, going to be wise in this age or in any age, it must be by the power of the Spirit. One author says, no sentence, that sentence right there, verse 11, no sentence in the Bible underscores more emphatically the necessity of divine revelation than that one.

Only God can make himself known. God is known through God alone. So the Spirit knows God fully and yet the Spirit reveals God truly.

This is some of the beautiful verses. What the Spirit knows, he makes known. Look at verse 12. For we have received not the Spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God that we might understand the things freely given to us by God.

We're fumbling around in darkness, but the Spirit makes God known. The Spirit reveals the secrets. That which is hidden is made known. It's as if the Spirit is a brand new set of glasses that are strapped onto our face so that we can finally see the world that God has made.

That's what the Spirit does. I'll never forget the first day I got glasses at a high school, in high school, and I could see, I love the story my friend Craig tells in his book about getting glasses for the first time.

I thought about this as I was preparing. It's a wonderful story. He says, After I struck out for the 23rd time in a row, I know it was 23 times because all my teammates in the dugout were counting, my coach called me over to the pitcher's mound where he was standing, looked me square in the eye, and sympathetically said, You're having a hard time, aren't you, Coop?

I just nodded and held my head low. Then it was as if a light bulb went off in his head. He turned us both around, faced the outfield, and said, Craig, do me a favor and read that sign in the outfield.

I looked up and looked as hard as I could and said, Coach, you know nobody can see past a second base from here. He turned and yelled for my parents, seated in the bleachers, and said, Your boy needs glasses.

Craig continues, That week, my parents took me to the eye doctor who confirmed my coach's suspicion. It wasn't long before I was wearing my first pair of glasses.

Somehow, the doctor even convinced my parents that I needed sport goggles for baseball. Looking completely ridiculous, but feeling like the whole world had opened up for me, our family set off for the next baseball game.

I didn't have much time to prepare or practice, because it was, but it was, before it was my turn to bat, I remember standing at the plate, I could see the sweat dangling off the pitcher's nose.

I could clearly make out the numbers on everyone's jersey. I could understand the facial expressions of parents in the stands. I could read the sign in center field, but most importantly, I could see the ball in the pitcher's hand.

The first pitch came, and I completely freaked out. I jumped away from the plate, dropped the bat on the ground, and screamed for my dear life. It was the first time I'd ever seen a ball.

That might be hyperbole. At this point, I was shaking, but managed to pick back up the bat, dusting the dirt off.

I stood with my right knee trembling, if you know Craig, you can imagine it all, waiting for the second pitch. It felt like everything was happening in slow motion when the ball was released, floating its way through the humid air, and for the first time and 24 at-bats, I connected with the ball with a loud crack.

The sound to my ears was as new as sight to my eyes as I watched the ball climb through the windows of my tinted sport goggles up, up, up, over the head of the infielders, the outfielders, and finally, all the way over the head of the scoreboard.

I had broken my slump with a home run. Give it up. Arms lifted high. I bounced my way. Victorious play passed. First, second, third base before jumping on home plate like I landed on the moon.

He concludes, it's amazing what proper vision can do for us. It literally changes everything. You know, we are fumbling around like Isaac, Isaac, and the Apostle Paul is saying the Spirit is like these glasses that suddenly make out God and His truth and His promises.

That's what the Spirit does. It gives us eyes to see, ears to understand. It causes us to, ears to hear, it causes us to understand. Look down at verse 12 that we might understand.

That word is not merely like assent, or, you know, you might read a paper and understand a sentence. It's to know something truly and fully. This idea to know it like you know your own thoughts.

And so the Spirit regenerates us, illumines us, convinces us, assures us, roots us, and grounds us in the truth. It's meant to just make a shout for joy. What a glorious God we serve.

He finished all of it on the cross, and then He sends us His Spirit so that we might know it, be convinced of it, discover and enjoy its truth.

Who has found life in the gospel? Who has found strength in the promises? Who has found comfort in God's sovereignty? Who has found safety in God's wisdom? Every time you find something in the Scriptures of God, you owe a thanks to the Spirit of God.

But remember, the context is so vital. Remember the context. The folks in Corinth were talking all about who the mature were, who the in crowd were, who the who's who were, the wise, the ones with knowledge, the one who was towering over, answering every question in community groups.

They're talking about the ones who had that status, but Paul is saying, oh, that's nonsense. None of that matters. What matters is the Spirit of God.

The idea is there are not mature Christians and immature ones in this sense. There's not godly Christians and carnal ones, not wise or foolish ones.

There are just Christians because anyone who's confessed Christ has been born again by the Spirit of God. No one can say Christ is Lord, as Paul tells us in 12.3, unless the Spirit is within him.

So if Paul were present this morning, which is a fun thing to kind of think about, he said, listen, I know you want acceptance from the powers that be. I know you want that stamp of approval and the applause from the ones who really matter, but where does truly knowing the living God rank?

Where does having the lights on to spiritual reality rank? He would probably cut the other way, too, and say, if you have the Spirit of God, if you have wisdom, you have nothing to be proud of because you received it.

All of it was received. Point three, those who know God are unknown to the world. Those who know God are unknown to the world.

Why don't the wise see the wisdom of the cross? the world does not know God through wisdom. How does anyone come to know the wisdom of the cross? Well, all believers come to know the wisdom of the cross through the Spirit.

But how do those who know God relate to the world? In many ways, they're unknown to the world, and yet they're ambassadors to it as well.

In the final verses, the Apostle Paul seems to be saying the same thing again. So it's a little bit complex. I think there's a slight turn in the argument. Look down there, verse 14, the natural person does not accept things of the Spirit of God, they're folly to him.

So he's already kind of said that. The natural person does not accept him, he cannot accept him, he rejects him. They don't speak to him about the status that he wants, and so he rejects them.

Why? Because they're spiritually discerned. You see that at the end. But then he continues and says, the spiritual person, now remember, spiritual person there is not some who has this status, but all those who are Christians.

Spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. What in the world does that mean? On the one hand, it means that the Spirit sees the world as it is, that judges, I mean, sometimes we think of like a judge, or we think of someone sitting in judgment on all things.

That's not quite the point here. The idea is the Spirit, or the believer, rightly assesses things, rightly sifts things, rightly recognizes the value and the lack of value of things in the world.

And so, the believer can do this because he's been, he's lived in both worlds. He's been born again by the Spirit, and suddenly his eyes are open to the world. But the unbeliever can't do this.

They can speak of things in a physical world, but they can't speak of the value of spirituality, of spiritual things. They cannot speak of the beauty of holiness, or they cannot speak of true contentment.

They cannot think of an untethered contentment that's not tethered to something in this world. They cannot talk of the plan of salvation or the judgment that is to come.

So the idea is the believer, suddenly, after being born again by the Spirit, having the lights turned on and the glasses on, so to speak, he suddenly sees the world for what it is.

So he judges, he sifts everything, but he's also judged by no one. The believer is not judged by the world, you know? Now, if you ever asked somebody this question, the most well-known verse in the Bible is not John 3, 16.

It is Matthew 7, 1. Judge not, lest you be judged. In a culture where everyone does what is right in his own eyes, the verse, that's what the Bible says.

Judge not. Is that what Paul is saying when he says a Christian is not judged by anyone? Is that what he's saying? Is that everyone, is this kind of a spiritual version of everyone do what's right in their own eyes?

No one can tell me what to do? That is not it. I don't have to say, I think. That is not it. What he's saying is all the measurements of the world, all the ways they assess and determine value and worth have nothing to say to the believer anymore.

All of these things are just dust and ashes. They have nothing to say. And if we can put it this way to be, maybe, see what you think, it's the believer who's truly woke.

What I mean by that, this word woke came into our parlance about 10 years ago to decide the one who's alert to what's really going on behind things. And so people argue that behind critical theory and oppression and suppression and all these things is all the systems.

And so you need to be woke to see those systems. You need to be awakened to see those systems. And so conservatives respond on the other side. You've got to be awakened to conspiracy theories and things like that. Well, the Christian actually is awakened to the way the world really works.

And all of its tape measures are bogus. They need to be broken. They have no value. I mean, you see in this text the absurdity of running back to the measures of the world to measure your own life.

How will you measure your life? How will you measure yourself? Paul is saying only in the gospel.

And when you have the gospel all these measures they must be thrown out. The race for the biggest truck or the race for the nicest house or the coolest bass boat or any of those things.

All of those things are just dumb. They're foolish. They're foolish. He concludes in a staggering way.

He says, for who has known the mind of the Lord who's understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? We have the mind of Christ. He's quoting Isaiah 40 that great revelation of the character of God.

It's a rhetorical question. Who's known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? No one. No one. And yet he's saying here those who've been born of the Spirit those who have the Spirit do.

Not that we instruct the Lord but we understand the mind of the Lord. We have the mind of Christ. There's so much here but you know all of this means though we know God and are known by God we're unknown in the world.

There is this way of doing life. The foolish life that is the Christian life is absurd to the world. If there's no absurdity in your life you're probably not following Christ.

Nothing absurd in the way you do your finances. Nothing absurd in the way you love your wife. Nothing absurd in the way you pursue a career then you're probably not a believer.

Why? Because we're strangers and aliens in this world. This world is not where we're building our home. But though unknown to the world we're ambassadors to the world.

We see the world differently. I love the way the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5 he says from now on we regard no one according to the flesh.

What he's saying is we regard no one according to worldly measures anymore. but only to whether they've heard and understood the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So we don't just live happily ever after. We're woke you know we're awakened to the gospel so that we might be ambassadors of it.

Several months ago I read a book called Southern Discomfort the memoir of a female recording artist growing up in the backwoods prejudices and hypocrisies of the South.

One part really stood out to me and it might stand out to you as well. Except for I didn't turn the right page.

It's by this gal named Tina Clark who says one afternoon a notice she's in college at the time a notice was put in our sorority house about an upcoming talk by two representatives of something called the Campus Crusade for Christ.

Sounded like a hippie cult from California. I audibly groaned when I read the notice because attendance was mandatory or else face getting a demerit.

So that evening dragging my heels and slumping my shoulders I went in and sat down. Sure enough Ron and Nancy Kaiser!

We're an attractive 20-something couple from California. That's our Ron and Nancy! They were positively perky. Typical!

I thought and sat in the audience mentally chanting don't listen don't listen don't listen don't listen it's all a bunch of culty crap. Then I heard God isn't about what your neighbor is doing or even about what your priest or preacher is doing.

God is about you and your relationship with Christ. I sat up in my chair till running down the length of my spine as the word settled who were these people?

young and hip how could they also be Christians? I didn't know you could be all those things at once.

She continues a few weeks later I received a letter from the Kaisers urging me to come with them for this Bible study being an ambassador for Jesus.

Christ I share that story because we could all stand to be a little bit more like Ron and Nancy Kaiser. They're with us now Ron is 80 years old but they're still looking for who they don't know on a Sunday morning.

Arriving early so they can talk to someone they don't know. Looking for who lacks joy looking for who appears to not understand the gospel they're still on a mission.

I love that. Reading it in this book and then discovering this is exactly the same way they are. Perky couple testifying to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's what we're called into. God did not pluck us out from the world away from all the measures of the world so that we could sit on a gold mine for ourselves.

He gave us a message. We're ambassadors of reconciliation. In the greatest showman it took showman it took quite a while for P.T. Barnum to find his way off the treadmill.

He chased applause he chased success he chased happiness he didn't learn until he lost it all. and I understand they took quite a bit of liberty with the story.

One song captures the lesson of the movie quite well. All the shine of a thousand spotlights all the stars we steal from the night sky will never be enough never be enough.

Towers of gold are still too little these hands could hold the world but it'll never be enough never be enough then it repeats never never never so that you never want to hear it again but our silly game of winning and losing will never be enough either.

It's the gospel that plucks us out only the gospel only what God has done through Christ and opened our eyes to by the spirit is enough.

the only thing that ultimately matters about you is what you receive the true knowledge of God in Christ through the spirit may God help us let us pray Father in heaven we thank you for the gift of regeneration we thank you for the gift of illumination we thank you for the certainty that only can be gained by the spirit God we thank you for the word of God we thank you for the 66 books and so many wonderful things telling us about the plan of God fulfilled in Jesus Christ we thank you for the spirit of God that brings it to life God I pray that we would be delivered from the rat race to follow you in this foolish life of trusting you walking with you communing with you fearing you with the word on our one end and the spirit on the other help us we pray you've been listening to a message on first

Corinthians during a Sunday service at Trinity Grace Church for more information please visit us