Good morning, church.
Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 2.
We're looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 6 through 16.
It's found on page 953 in your pew Bibles.
Let's read this passage together.
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 heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
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.
Reality is often far stranger than we would expect.
One of the fascinating aspects of the history of science
is that many of the most groundbreaking discoveries
came as an absolute shock to most scientists of the time.
In 1888, Simon Newcomb, an early American astronomer,
said,
We are probably nearing the limit of all we can know about astronomy.
Well, he had, in his time, large telescopes didn't exist,
so he had no knowledge of distant galaxies,
the expanding universe, dark matter,
and all sorts of other things
that astronomers study and marvel at today.
Or in 1900, Lord Kelvin, the physicist,
said,
There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now.
All that remains is more and more precise measurement.
But not too long after Lord Kelvin said this,
physicists would discover what we call quantum mechanics.
At the very small subatomic level,
there are tiny bits of matter and energy
that don't follow the laws of classical physics.
Now, I won't try to explain quantum mechanics here.
I'm not sure I can.
But I'll simply say it's mind-blowing.
According to quantum mechanics,
light behaves both as a particle and as a wave.
And depending on how you measure it,
it behaves differently.
And the more precisely you measure one aspect of it,
its position, for example,
the less precisely you can measure its momentum.
So you can never really know where it is
or what it's doing anyway.
Quantum mechanics had all sorts of unexpected implications.
It has rocked scientists' and philosophers' worlds.
Now, it's not what anyone predicted
that we would discover,
but the evidence for it is undeniable.
So the history of science is full of these unexpected discoveries,
surprising revelations that no one could have predicted.
And if the past is any indication of the future,
the future of science may yield more such discoveries
that may revise or even overturn
some of our current scientific paradigms.
But one thing is clear.
Once a new discovery has been made
and supported by clear and compelling evidence,
the old ways of thinking
are never sufficient anymore.
When Copernicus, for example,
demonstrated that the earth revolves around the sun
and not vice versa,
some people tried to hold on to the old idea
that the earth was the center of the physical universe,
but over time,
it made less and less sense to do so.
Now, in this passage,
the apostle Paul is making a similar claim
about human knowledge of God,
what he calls the wisdom of God.
And this morning,
I want to look at two aspects of God's wisdom.
First, what God's wisdom is
and second, how we can know it.
So first, what God's wisdom is.
In particular, God's wisdom is counterintuitive
and paradigm shifting.
It means it's unexpected
and it makes us think in a whole different way.
So the wisdom of God,
you might say, well, what does that refer to?
Well, I think it refers to God's character
and God's plan for his creation.
And Paul's saying that's not something
that human beings can guess
or simply project their own wishes onto
or discover by their own reasoning
or speculation or experience.
Now, Paul's not saying
that we have no awareness of God at all.
Paul wrote in Romans,
God's eternal power and his divine nature
have been clearly perceived
ever since the creation of the world
in the things that have been made.
In other words,
many people throughout history
have had some awareness
of a transcendent being
or universal moral law
or an author behind the beauty
and order in the world.
These are common perceptions
across many cultures and religions.
John Calvin said,
human beings naturally have a common
and confused awareness of God.
But what Paul is saying
is that we may have some general idea
that there's something out there.
We may have some general sense
that there's something more
than ourselves in this world.
But Paul says,
the wisdom of God
has been secret and hidden.
Verse seven,
secret and hidden wisdom of God.
Verse nine,
what no eye has seen,
nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined.
It's not something
that we can guess
or discover
or expect.
But what Paul is saying
is that the wisdom of God,
God's character
and God's plan
for his people
has been revealed.
It's been revealed definitively
in the person and work
of Jesus Christ.
in chapter one,
verse 24 and verse 30,
Paul has said,
Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God.
And what that means
is in Jesus' life,
death,
resurrection,
and glorification,
God has shown us
clearly and definitively
his character
and his plan for the world.
And yet,
Paul wants to remind us,
Jesus Christ came in a way
that nobody expected.
Verse eight,
none of the rulers
of this age understood this.
Pontius Pilate,
the Roman governor,
condemned Jesus to death
even though he also said
that Jesus hadn't done anything
deserving criminal punishment.
For the most part,
the religious authorities
of Jesus' day
rejected Jesus' claims
and accused him of blasphemy.
Even Jesus' own disciples
didn't understand
what he was up to
most of the time
if you read the Gospels.
So what Paul is saying here
is that the message
of Christianity
is very counterintuitive.
That it's not just something
we would come up with
on our own.
It's not a wisdom
of this age
or of the rulers
of this age.
Verse six.
It's not just some combination
of our reason
and our intuition
and our cultural tradition
and our personal experience
all mixed together.
It's a totally new paradigm
that we would never
have come up with
on our own.
I mean consider
the central claims
of Christianity.
Number one,
Jesus the Messiah
died on a cross
for our sins.
Now many people
in Jesus' day
were waiting
for a Messiah.
Right?
A king.
A conquering king
who would come
and bring justice
and righteousness
to the world.
But no one expected
that this great king
would be executed
in a shameful
and publicly humiliating way.
In the Greco-Roman world
as Christianity spread
many people mocked Christians
for worshiping
a crucified man.
One satirist
named Lucian
of Samoseta
talked about Christians.
He said,
these misguided creatures
start with the general conviction
that they are immortal
for all time.
Which explains
their contempt of death
and voluntary self-devotion
which are so common
among them
and then it was impressed
upon them
by their original lawgiver
that they are all brothers
and sisters
from the moment
they are converted.
And they deny
the gods of Greece
and worship
the crucified wise man
and live after his laws.
That's what he said.
No one expected
the savior of the world
to be crucified.
No one.
And then
second major claim
of Christianity
is this same Jesus
who was crucified
was bodily resurrected.
Again,
no one was expecting this.
No one in
outside
outside the Jewish world
no one believed
in bodily resurrection
at all.
Some people were
materialists.
They thought,
well,
you die
and it's all
it's over.
That's it.
Other people
like Plato
said,
well,
you die
and your soul
flies off
somewhere else
to a different,
to the realms
of light.
Only the Jewish people,
most of them
at least,
believed in
bodily resurrection
that God
would raise
his people
to life
at the,
but they expected
this to happen
at the end
of the age.
at the final judgment
when all
the righteous dead,
the righteous
who had passed on
would be raised
to life
in God's new creation
but no one was expecting
a single person,
a single individual
to be raised
from the dead
in the middle
of history.
So it's,
you know,
it's one of these things
if you're,
if you're considering
Christianity,
you have to ask
the question,
how did these early
Christians
come to believe
something that no one
had believed before?
You know,
Christianity is not
like fusion cuisine.
Okay,
it's not a little
Jewish tradition
with,
mixed with pagan
superstition
with a side
of philosophical
reason
with special sauce
on top.
No,
Christianity was
and is a revolution.
It's a new paradigm
that has the potential
of overturning
and reframing
everything else.
C.S. Lewis
said this
about Christianity.
He said,
it is something
we could never
have guessed.
And yet,
once we have
been told,
one almost feels
one ought to have
been able to guess
it because it fits
in so well
with all the things
we know already.
And he went on
in another lecture
to say this.
He said,
when I accept
Christian theology,
I may find difficulties
at this point
or that
in harmonizing it
with some particular
truths that are
derived from science,
but I can allow
for science
as a whole.
Granted,
that reason
is prior to matter
and the light
of God illuminates
finite minds,
I can understand
how people should
come to know
a lot about
the universe
that they live in
by observation
and inference.
If,
on the other hand,
I swallow
scientific naturalism
as a whole,
then not only
can I not fit
in Christianity,
I can't even
fit in science.
if minds
are just brains
and brains
are dependent
on biochemistry
and biochemistry
in the long run
on the meaningless
flux of the atoms,
I cannot understand
how the thought
of those minds
should have
any more significance
than the sound
of the wind
in the trees.
He says,
Christian theology,
the Christian worldview
can account for
science,
art,
morality,
and even the insights
of non-Christian
religions.
The scientific
point of view
can't fit in
any of those,
not even science
itself.
And so Lewis says,
I believe in Christianity
as I believe
that the sun
has risen.
Not only because
I see it,
but because by it,
I can see,
I can understand
everything else.
And that's what
Paul wanted
the Corinthian Christians,
and that's what
God wants us
to do,
is to see everything
in the world
in light of the
crucified and risen
son of God.
to let go
of the mental
frameworks
and cultural
habits
and the things
that we tend
to hold on to
so tightly
and to reexamine
and reframe
everything
in the light
of Jesus Christ.
Paul says,
because Jesus
has come,
the wisdom
of this age
and the rulers
of this age
are doomed
to pass away.
Now,
you might say,
what does that mean?
Well, remember
what Paul's been saying
these last two chapters.
The wisdom
of this age,
the culture
of Corinth,
perhaps the culture
of New Haven
in so many ways,
was self-promoting,
self-exalting,
establishing your identity
and your self-worth
through competition
and comparison,
resulting in rivalry
and envy
and quarreling.
And Paul says,
the cross
of Jesus Christ
explodes
that wisdom
of this age.
It turns it upside down
because it says,
God's power
has been manifested
in weakness.
God's wisdom
was displayed
in what,
to the world,
looks like foolishness.
foolishness.
God came to establish
his glorious kingdom
among weak
and poor
and humble people.
He came to make
his dwelling place
within everyone
who will humble themselves
and confess
their sin
and admit their need
for God's mercy.
Paul says,
the wisdom of God
has come
in Jesus Christ
and so the pride
of this age
is doomed
to perish.
Paul also says,
the rulers
of this age
are doomed
to perish.
And some people
have wondered
what exactly
is Paul talking about?
Is he talking
about governments?
Is he talking
about demons?
Both?
Well, I think
the best answer
is this.
What are the rulers
of this age?
All authorities
and systems
that are operating
in opposition
to the wisdom
of God.
Seeking to establish
their own kingdom
instead of
God's kingdom.
You know,
most of the
Corinthian Christians
as we saw,
most of them
weren't powerful
and of noble birth.
And Paul wanted
to warn them,
don't be co-opted
by influential people
just because they're
powerful in this world.
Don't crave
their approval.
Don't envy
their high position.
Don't be intimidated
by their threats.
If you are in a position
of power,
Paul would say,
don't exercise power
just in the way
that this world
always expects you to.
Don't use your power
for your own
self-promotion.
Use it
as Jesus Christ did
to serve others.
Live as citizens
of the kingdom
of Jesus Christ,
the wisdom
and power
of God.
So that's what
Paul's saying.
He's saying,
remember who you are
in Christ.
Remember who you
belong to.
You don't,
and don't follow
the wisdom
of this age,
the pride
of this age,
or the rulers
of this age,
those authorities
and systems
that are operating
in opposition
to God.
He says,
brothers and sisters
in Christ,
in God's wisdom,
in God's eternal plan,
decreed before the ages
and carried out
in Jesus Christ,
verse seven says,
we are destined
for glory.
We have something
far better
than this world
can offer.
That word glory
in both the Old
and New Testaments
is a rich word.
It means
weight.
It means
brilliance.
It means
blessing.
It means
beauty.
It means
honor.
It means
salvation.
Verse eight says,
Jesus Christ
is the Lord
of glory.
And in him
we are destined
to share
in his glory.
And this glory
that we have access
to in Jesus Christ
is far beyond
anything we could
imagine
or come up
with on our own.
What no eye
has seen
nor ear heard
nor the heart
of man imagined
what God has prepared
for those
who love him.
Paul's paraphrasing
Isaiah 64
verse four.
And in the context
Isaiah was making
the point
that God will be
faithful to act
on behalf
of those
who wait
for him,
who trust
in him.
And Paul wants
to remind
the Corinthians,
remember who you
are in Christ.
Remember what
the wisdom
of God
is.
It's
counterintuitive.
It's not
what you would
expect.
And it's
paradigm shifting.
It changes
the way you
think and act
about everything.
So remember
that.
That's the
first point.
What God's
wisdom is.
Second point,
how can we
know God's
character
and God's
plan for our
lives?
And Paul's
answer in this
section is
God has revealed
this to us
by his
spirit.
Now some
of Paul's
language in
this section
is dense.
Sort of like
a double bacon
cheeseburger at
five guys all
the way.
Right?
With all the
toppings they
have.
And you can
barely bite into
it.
Right?
So I want to
take this bite
by bite.
So one or two
verses at a
time.
Verse 10
11.
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.
The point of
these verses
is we can't
know God's
wisdom.
Right?
God's plan and
purpose for us.
The heart of
God just by
looking in from
the outside.
Or just by
guessing.
You know maybe
you've tried to
reach out to
someone and
initiate a
friendship and
they just blew
you off.
Or maybe you
wanted to date
someone and
they wouldn't
give you the
time of day.
Right?
In order to get
to know another
person at a
deep level they
have to choose to
open themselves up
to you.
And even more so
with God.
God is infinite.
We're finite.
I mean if God
doesn't want to
show himself to
us we're hopeless.
Right?
We can't even
comprehend how the
natural world
works.
How can we
expect to
comprehend God?
The only way that
we can truly and
deeply know God
is if God
chooses to
show himself
to us.
God opens
himself up to
us personally.
The same point
that Jesus
made in the
passage which we
read earlier from
Matthew.
No one knows the
son except the
father.
No one knows the
father except the
son.
By nature only God
knows God.
Paul says no one
comprehends the
thoughts of God
except the spirit of
God.
Then the good
news is this.
Verse 12.
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.
So the good news is
God has opened
himself up to us.
He has drawn us
into himself.
God has revealed
these things to us
through the spirit.
Not only has he
sent Jesus to
become wisdom
from God on
our behalf.
As Paul said
righteousness
holiness and
redemption.
He has sent his
holy spirit into
our hearts.
So that we might
take that wisdom
into ourselves.
So that we might
have God living
in us.
By his spirit.
So that we might
personally know
him.
And experience his
love and glory.
This is what Jesus
promised to his
disciples the night
before he was
crucified.
He said I will
ask the father and
he will give you
another helper or
another counselor.
He's saying I've
been with you through
my life on earth.
He had been walking
with his disciples for
three years and he
said when I leave,
when I ascend back
into heaven, I will
send another helper.
Jesus Christ was God
incarnate.
When his disciples
were talking to him,
they were talking to
God himself.
But Jesus said when I
ascend into heaven, I
won't leave you alone.
I won't leave you as
orphans.
I'll send my spirit,
the Holy Spirit,
another helper,
another counselor.
God himself to be with
you and in you.
You will never be alone.
And so just like Jesus
warned and comforted and
guided his disciples when
he was on earth, the
Holy Spirit warns and
comforts and guides us,
particularly through the
scriptures.
But like Jesus went with
his disciples when he was
on earth, the Holy Spirit
goes with us wherever we
go.
Now the Holy Spirit does a
lot of things.
According to the New
Testament, he empowers us to
bear witness to Jesus.
He gives spiritual gifts to
every believer.
He is grieved when we
resist God's instructions.
He works within us to
produce good fruit.
He helps us to pray when
we feel weak.
The Holy Spirit's active in
a whole bunch of ways.
But this passage emphasizes
the Holy Spirit enables us
to understand God's
wisdom, God's character,
again, God's character and
God's plan for us as it's
been revealed in Jesus
Christ.
Now you might say, what does
that look like?
The Holy Spirit helping us to
understand the things freely
given us by God or the
blessings of our salvation.
Jonathan Edwards said, there
are two kinds of knowledge
that human beings are
capable of.
And the first kind of
knowledge is what sometimes
we might call like head
knowledge.
He says, merely notional
knowledge.
The second knowledge, he
says, that we might call
heart knowledge, that which
consists in the sense of the
heart.
As when the heart is
sensible of pleasure and
delight in the presence of
the idea of something.
There's a difference between
having an opinion that God
is holy and gracious and
having a sense of the
loveliness and beauty of that
holiness and grace.
He says, just like there's a
difference between having a
rational judgment that honey
is sweet and having a sense
of its sweetness.
You can agree that honey is
sweet without ever tasting it.
You say, oh yeah, sure, it is.
Other people say it, I believe
them.
But you can't have a sense of
its sweetness unless you've
tasted and seen that it's
good.
It's like New Haven pizza,
right?
Right?
You can acknowledge the fact
that people come from hundreds
of miles away just to go to
Worcester Street, to Pepe's and
Sally's or Bar and Modern.
Right?
And some magazine rated Pepe's the
number one pizza in the whole
country.
But if you've actually tasted
the pizza, hot from the coal
fired oven, right?
If you've personally experienced
its goodness, it's a whole
different kind of knowledge.
And you'll speak about it in a
whole different way.
And that's what Paul is saying.
The Holy Spirit enables us to
understand God, not just in an
opinion way and an abstract,
detached, distant way, but in the
second way, in a personal heart
way.
To stand in awe and reverence
before him.
To be overwhelmed by his glory and
love.
To taste and see that he is good.
To glimpse the eternal glory and
taste that eternal glory that we
are destined for.
In verse 13 through 16, show us two
results of knowing God in this way,
through his spirit.
First, Paul says in verse 13, we
have a growing capacity for
spiritual communication.
Right?
We talk about God differently, in
other words.
Second, we have a growing capacity
for spiritual discernment.
So let me look at these, those two
results of knowing God through his
spirit.
First, spiritual communication,
verse 13.
We impart this, or simply we speak
this in words, not taught by human
wisdom, but taught by the spirit
interpreting or explaining spiritual
truths to those who are spiritual.
Now, this doesn't mean that Christians
speak a weird language that nobody
else can understand.
Sometimes Christians do speak in sort
of weird ways.
But that's not the point.
Okay?
Paul wrote in normal Greek and some
of the other authors of the New
Testament, there's a whole range.
Some of them are very sort of
literary.
Some of them are very down to
earth, common language.
Okay?
So it's not about speaking in sort of
weird words.
What it does mean is that as the Holy
Spirit dwells in us, as we have this
experiential understanding, understanding
at a heart level of the blessings of
salvation freely given us in Jesus, we
speak about them in words to one
another.
You know, one of the real privileges I
have as a pastor is sitting down with
many of you and hearing how you came to
faith in Jesus or how the Holy Spirit is
continuing his work in your lives.
And so often I'll ask questions like, what's
your spiritual background?
Or how did you come to faith in Jesus?
Or what has God been doing in your life
lately?
Or what have you been learning from God's
word?
Now I realize that in some churches, it's
sort of unusual to ask those questions.
You know, sometimes you might talk about a
lot of other things, church activities and
Christian perspectives on politics and Bible
stories.
But sometimes in some Christian circles, we
rarely talk about what is God teaching you
through his word.
How did you, what is God doing in your
heart?
What sins is he exposing?
What struggles are you facing?
What joys are you experiencing?
But this is one of the privileges of having
God's Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
That we can speak to one another in words
about what Paul calls spiritual truths or
things of the spirit.
So we can study the Bible together and talk
about it and, and learn to discuss it.
And, and we all have more to learn.
We can help each other see how the Holy
Spirit continues to be at work in our
lives.
Sometimes that's a way you can encourage
someone else.
Sometimes it's hard to see how the Holy
Spirit's are working in your own life.
And sharing with someone else, this is what
I'm learning from the scriptures.
This is something I'm struggling with and
I'm praying about and sharing those things.
And sometimes you can say, you know, I can
see the Holy Spirit at work in you because
a year ago, you never would have been
concerned about that at all.
A year ago, you didn't even think that was a
problem in your life.
Now, now, now you realize it.
But now God's working in you, right?
Now maybe that's not the way to say it, right?
Now you, now you realize your problems.
But sometimes that's what the Holy Spirit
does is he shows us our sin more clearly.
But when he does that, that's good news.
It's not meant to make us despair.
It's meant to help us grow, meant to help
us turn to Christ and see that Jesus is all
that we need and all that we're facing.
So we can speak with one another.
We can share with each other all the trials
and the joys that come from being united to
Jesus. We can interpret or explain
spiritual truths or things of the Spirit
to one another who are filled with the Spirit.
So this is a growing capacity for spiritual
communication.
And so let me encourage you to pursue that.
If this feels new, if this feels awkward,
you know, if I ask you that question,
I'm not grading your answer and comparing it
to everybody else.
What's God doing in your life?
Sometimes the answer is, I don't know.
But, you know, I'm sticking with it.
And, you know, sometimes that's where you are.
And we can encourage each other to grow
in our life with Christ.
So spiritual communication.
Second, spiritual discernment.
This is verse 14 through 16.
Verse 14.
The natural person, that is a person without
the Holy Spirit dwelling in them,
doesn't accept the things of the Spirit of God
for they are folly to him.
And he's not able to understand them
because they are spiritually discerned.
Some of you can look back on a time in your life
when you heard about Christianity.
Maybe you grew up going to church,
but the message didn't hit home.
It just went in one ear and out the other.
And you heard it and you had no desire for it.
And that's what Paul's talking about here.
Apart from the Holy Spirit opening our heart,
we're stuck.
We're sort of like scientists
before quantum mechanics,
stuck in their old paradigms,
thinking that there's nothing beyond
what we've already come to know and experience.
And Paul says the Holy Spirit opens our eyes
to a whole new world.
Opens our eyes to see Jesus
in a way we haven't seen him before.
And Paul says through the Holy Spirit,
we have a growing capacity for spiritual discernment.
Verse 15 and 16.
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.
That's a quote from Isaiah 40, 30, 40, 13.
But we have the mind of Christ.
Now, what do these verses mean?
Well, the word translated judges in verse 15,
that verb,
is the same word translated discerned
at the end of verse 14.
So verse 15 could be translated,
the spiritual person discerns
or examines all things.
One person said,
the profane person cannot understand holiness,
but a holy person can well understand
the depths of evil.
In other words,
the more we understand the wisdom of God
revealed in Jesus Christ
and applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
our capacity for spiritual discernment grows.
Again, take the pizza analogy.
If you've tasted Sally's pizza,
my personal favorite,
you won't be too excited
to eat at Domino's tomorrow night.
Okay?
Now, if you only have New Haven pizza
once or twice a year,
maybe you can have Domino's
the rest of the time and be fine
and not be bothered.
But if you get into the habit
of eating really good pizza,
then that becomes your standard.
And Paul's saying,
it's the same thing with music.
I could use a music analogy,
but then I have to decide
what kind of music do I,
and everybody likes different kinds of music.
So, but you get the same idea.
If you've heard really good music,
pick your type of music,
you can tell the difference
between really good music
and mediocre stuff.
And in the same way,
when the Holy Spirit's at work in you,
when you feed on him day by day,
through prayer, reading his word,
you'll have a growing capacity
for spiritual discernment.
Discerning truth from error,
spiritual depth from spiritual shallowness,
godliness from selfishness.
Paul concludes this passage
by saying we have the mind of Christ,
which is just another way of saying
we have the spirit of Christ.
Now, maybe you read these last two verses
and you think,
but that sounds a bit,
doesn't that sound sort of arrogant?
The spiritual person judges all things,
but is to be judged by no one?
We have the mind of Christ,
the mind of the Lord himself.
But you have to read these words in context.
Look down at chapter three, verse one.
The next thing Paul says is,
but I brothers could not address you
as spiritual people,
but as people of the flesh,
as infants in Christ.
Verse three,
for while there is jealousy
and strife among you,
are you not of the flesh
and behaving only in a human way?
What Paul's doing in chapter two
is he's reminding us
of our identity in Christ.
He's saying,
in Jesus Christ,
we've received the Holy Spirit
who enables us to understand
and internalize
the blessings of our salvation.
But then in chapter three,
he says,
my dear Corinthian brothers and sisters,
you are not living as if this is true.
You're destined for glory
in the age to come,
but you're living like people
whose only hope is to be found
in your life in this world.
You've been given
the spirit of Jesus Christ.
You should be able to be discerning,
but you're living like people of the flesh,
comparing and competing with each other
and trying to establish your identity
by getting ahead of someone else.
You think you're mature.
But really,
you're infants spiritually.
That's part of Nick's sermon next week.
I won't preach any more of that for him.
But you need to see what Paul's doing
because sometimes people have taken
verses 15 and 16
or isolated verses in this chapter
out of context
and said something like,
well, I'm a spiritual person.
I have the mind of Christ.
Therefore, I won't listen to anyone else
who disagrees with me.
And I'm not willing to submit
to accountability from spiritual leaders.
That's exactly the opposite
of what Paul is saying.
Paul's saying to the Corinthians,
Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God.
And he displayed God's wisdom
by laying down his life
for others in love.
That's the pattern
of the mind of Christ.
He says,
if you have come to believe in Jesus,
the Holy Spirit lives in you.
And so you have the mind of Christ.
And so he'll call the Corinthians
throughout the rest of the book
to live into
and live out of
their identity in Christ.
As he said in Philippians,
Paul said,
have this mind among yourselves,
which is yours in Christ Jesus.
who though he was in the form of God,
did not count equality with God,
something to be grasped,
but emptied himself
by taking the form of a servant.
Being born in the likeness
of a human being.
Being found in human form,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient
to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Therefore, God has highly exalted him
and bestowed on him
the name that is above every name.
So that at the name of Jesus,
every knee should bow
in heaven and on earth
and under the earth
and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.
Paul says that is God's wisdom.
Jesus Christ crucified and risen.
Paul says,
remember who you are in Christ.
Remember this wisdom
that God has shown you.
Live out of that new paradigm.
And remember that God's spirit
is working in you.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you
for sending your son Jesus
to lay down his life
on the cross for us
so that we might be brought
into your family
so that we might receive
your spirit
and have you dwelling in us
that we might know you
and be overwhelmed
by your love and glory
and peace
and joy.
That our lives might be
characterized by holiness
and truth
and integrity
and mercy.
Lord, we thank you
for what you've done.
We pray that you would help us
to remember who we are
in you.
We pray that you would help us
to live not according
to the patterns of this world
but to be transformed
by the renewing of our mind.
Lord, we pray all these things
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Thank you.