Sermon Notes:

This morning we continue our series, “Growing in Grace”, where we are working our way passage by passage through the letter of 1 Corinthians. As we journey together through this letter, we learn how the Gospel applies to the real everyday challenges we face as believers in Jesus Christ living in a fallen world.

When may people think of salvation in Jesus Christ they are thinking of salvation from Hell. That is a wonderful blessing, but it is not the only one we receive. We also receive new life and are being changed into new creatures fit for the Kingdom of God. We saw last time that only the power of God can do this.

In our text today we get some insight into how God does this, and it is incredibly encouraging. The Spirit of God uses the word of God to shape the people of God. That is the main point of the message, the Spirit of God uses the word of God to shape the people of God.

If you have your Bible, please turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. If you are using the blue pew Bible, it is page 1188. If you do not own a Bible, please consider that one our gift to you.

Last time we saw that through the Gospel, God is bringing the wisdom of the world to nothing. Paul then used the congregation at Corinth to illustrate his point by showing that not many of them were prestigious by the standards of the world. Now, he begins chapter 2 by pointing to the example he set when he was with them.

2 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. ² For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, ⁴ and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Paul’s ministry was not characterized by humility because he was incapable of eloquent speech or learned discourse. We know that Paul was a highly educated man. We know he was familiar with the literature and philosophy of his day, and we even see hints that he had some training in rhetoric. He certainly could have tried to persuade through highly polished and informed arguments and speeches, but he chose not to do that.

He says, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” His entire focus was on the urgent need for them to know Christ. His confidence wasn’t in messaging or marketing but in the truth and power of the Gospel. He was a well-educated, well-traveled, well-read, brilliant man but his desire was to use every minute available to them to focus on the plain preaching of the Gospel and rely upon the Spirit to draw those who would be saved. This is the pattern for faithful Christian ministry. If the church grows because of the message of the Cross, God receives all the glory because as we saw last week, there is nothing attractive in that message to human thinking.

So long as there are people all around us going to hell, our ministry opportunities should never be wasted on entertainment or the cares of this world. Preachers who focus on those things might as well be re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Judgment is coming and we have the only message of salvation.

I have heard that the church needs to remain relevant to the culture. Paul understood that the Gospel did not need to be made relevant because it already is, and nothing he could do would make it respectable to those who were perishing. If we would be like Paul and spend more of the time and energy on the Gospel that we currently spend on politics, entertainment, hobbies, and social media we might have ministries that look more like that of Paul.

Paul didn’t care how smart or informed they thought he was. He was also not worried about maintaining some sort of public persona or strong reputation. He says, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling…” He wasn’t relying on worldly models of leadership. He knew his authority came from God and he wasn’t looking to impress anyone. The modern models of pastor as celebrity or CEO would not have impressed him.

He also did not rely on manipulative communication methods to convince people of the truth of the Gospel. In fact, he did the opposite. He says, ⁴ and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. It was the transformation of the lives of those who came to Christ that gave evidence of the truth of Paul’s message.

There are some preachers who can whip everyone up to excitement and use their oratorical skills to create enthusiasm and emotional momentum. We want to avoid that. Like Paul, we want listeners to be moved by the truth of the message rather than the eloquence of it. Our messages are not designed to build to a crescendo that results in an altar call, rather, they are designed to clearly present God’s Word with the conviction that He will do the rest.

Paul has given them an example of Christian ministry and Christian living in how he deals with them. It doesn’t meet their expectations, but that is because they are still worldly in how they see things. He was actually giving them wisdom that was far above the external appearances of wisdom they were still attracted to.

It is sort of like when you are a little kid and one of your relatives buys you a savings bond for your birthday instead of a toy. The bond is worth far more than the cheap plastic toy that you would soon discard, but in our childish thinking we are still drawn to the toy. It isn’t until we mature that begin to appreciate the true value of what we have been given.

The Corinthians (and us) have been freely given something of tremendous value but are only beginning to understand and appreciate how much better it is than what we were hoping for.  

Paul continues in verse 6,

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. ⁷ But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ 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”—

Nobody who puts their faith in God and in the message of the Gospel will ultimately be disappointed. The Gospel sounds like foolishness to the world, but God is the one who created the world, and He has decreed that through the word of the Cross His people will be transformed and receive gifts that Paul says we cannot even begin to imagine because they are unlike anything anyone has ever seen.

Paul says if the worldly rulers knew these things, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. Isn’t that an interesting thing to say? How could sinners put to death the Lord of Glory? Here we see the great mysterious plan of God. Jesus is truly God. He is the Lord of glory. He is also truly human. He could die. But sinful little clods of dirt could never crucify the Lord of glory unless it was his will for them to do it. Paul says this was part of God’s plan. He had decreed it before the ages for our glory.

You see every one of us is a sinner. Our hearts are corrupt, and we have rejected God over and over. We do not deserve glory, we deserve punishment. But in His great mercy, God decreed that His son would come as a substitute for every sinner who would put their faith in him.

That he would be punished and die in our place for our sins. He was cursed and crucified on a cross, and then on the third day the stone was rolled away, and the Lord of Glory was raised from the dead. Now he is in heaven preparing a place for those who love Him and soon He will return again to bring those who believe in Him to God where we will experience things the heart of man has never imagined.

These truths come from God Himself. They are not observed or deduced; they are revealed by God. Verse 10,

¹⁰ these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. ¹¹ 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 only way for us to know this Godly wisdom is if God reveals it to us. In the same way that the only person who really knows what is in your mind is you, the only one who can know what is in the mind of God is God. You see, even if we could prove with 100% certainty to the world that Jesus rose from the dead it would not prove that He did so for sinners or that God accepted His atonement on our behalf. The only way for us to receive the wisdom of the Cross is for God Himself to reveal it to us.

He continues in verse 12,

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. ¹³ And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

Paul has been building up to this amazing statement since back in chapter 1. Our main point of the message today is a summary of these two verses, the Spirit of God uses the word of God to shape the people of God.

Let’s unpack this a bit because it is both profound and practical. It is something that we can spend a lifetime meditating on, but can also immediately use to help us as disciples and disciple makers.

The first thing I want to point out is that this revelation is by grace. These things are freely given by God. To those whom God chooses to reveal Himself, He does so freely and not in response to what we do. When Moses asked to see God’s glory God said, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.” There are no rituals or magic formulas that mechanically unlock divine mysteries. We see these false teachers on TV telling people that if they send money, or use certain prayers, or whatever that God will respond in a certain way. God doesn’t work that way, He is not a butler. Whatever He gives, He gives freely, and He gives it to whoever He chooses to give it for His own glory.

The next thing I want you to see is that all of this comes from the Spirit. The Spirit of God is God and therefore knows the mind of God perfectly. Therefore, the revelation of the word of the Cross is pure and true. It is of divine origin. It is taught by the Spirit. Paul is showing that they have received the promises of the New Covenant that God would put His Spirit within His people and they would all be taught of God. Without the Spirit of God obtaining this wisdom is impossible.

The third thing I want you to notice is that it is a rational revelation. Paul says, “we impart this in words”. Language requires and assumes a rational, logical, doctrinal revelation. What is revealed is truth. The revelation comes in verbal statements that make claims about what is ultimately true in the universe. It means that human language can convey certain truths about God and we must either accept them or reject them. These spiritual truths, which are given in words, are interpreted, they are processed in the mind. In fact, Paul tells us elsewhere that we are being transformed by the renewing of our minds.

These verses help us avoid two opposite extremes, both of which have infiltrated the church from the world. A pursuit of godly wisdom is like a road with a ditch on each side. If we veer too far to one side, we fall into the ditch of mysticism. If we go too far in the other direction, we fall into the ditch of rationalism. The truth Paul shares here helps to keep us right in the center of the road.

Mysticism is the idea that we come to know God through spiritual experiences and direct revelations. Some forms of it claim that divine wisdom and encounter really cannot be expressed in words. At the extreme, it is a merging of being between the human and divine, so they are connected in a way that goes beyond cognitive processes. It is something beyond rational. Many religions use drugs and music and rituals to produce an ecstatic state so participants can receive vivid visions and experiences that are considered more real than logical thoughts about God.

Elements of this mystical approach have infiltrated our churches to various degrees and have caused much confusion and harm. It is not uncommon to hear teachers elevate experience over doctrine. I have been told several times through the years that methodical Bible study is unspiritual or a modern invention. There is apparently no need to study if you believe your intuition or spiritual leadings will give you wisdom. I have heard that someone can truly believe the Gospel but not be saved because they do not have certain kinds of experiences.

I have met some who claim God speaks directly to them. Others who make their decisions based upon how they feel moved or led by the Spirit. They see no need for the hard work of learning the Bible because the Spirit will teach us all things. It comes in various degrees and kinds, but it is not uncommon. Much of the growing heresies in the word of faith and extreme Pentecostal movements are very mystical in their orientation.

Paul, however, says heavenly wisdom comes from words that are taught by the Spirit. He is talking about the authoritative revelation given to the apostles. He is talking about the same thing when he says in 2 Timothy 1:13 to Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me…” It is what Jude calls “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” He isn’t talking about personal revelations; he is talking about Scripture. It is the truth that saves us, and that truth is revealed by God in the Bible. That is our standard. That is how we verify that a message comes from God. We can verify any claims by looking to see if they contradict the truth found in the words the Spirit gave us. The Holy Spirit does not bypass our minds and does not reveal new information through mystical experiences. We are saved as whole people and the worship of God includes our minds.

We must also be careful, however, not to fall into the other ditch. There is a difference between something being rational and it being rationalism. Rational means that it logical and consistent. Rationalism means that unaided human intellect sits in judgment over the reasonableness of a claim. The wisdom of the Cross is rational, but it is not rationalism.

No matter how hard we study, if we do not have the Spirit of God, we will never benefit from the wisdom found in the Bible. If we do not have the Spirit of God, then we will not recognize the word of God for what it is. This is not because the Holy Spirit gives new information to believers. All the truth needed for salvation is right there in the plain meaning of the words of the Bible for anyone to read.

Unbelievers can learn the meaning of the sentences in the Bible by studying them. What they cannot do, however, is understand the full significance or authority of what they are reading. They cannot discern it properly because they do not recognize it as God’s word. They read it as something neutral and external to them. To them it is merely history or literature. They cannot obtain its wisdom because they do not hear it as the voice of almighty God speaking to them.

There are several unbelieving Bible scholars who have remarkable insight into the meaning of biblical texts but who, for all their learning, remain in spiritual darkness. Remember that the Pharisee’s of Jesus day had the entire revelation of God’s word in the Old Testament. Most of them had studied it their entire life. They got many doctrinal details correct and yet missed the essential point of it all. Their learning did them no good because they had no spiritual life in them. In John 10:26–27 Jesus tells them, ²⁶ …you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

Since God is truth there is a moral element to knowledge. Sinners suppress knowledge in unrighteousness because every truth ultimately points back to Him. Before we can benefit from the word of God, we must first experience the new birth that leads us to seek God. Once we are born again, which Paul refers to in our passage as becoming those who are spiritual, the Holy Spirit illuminates the word as we read it and study it.

The Spirit illuminates the word by convicting believers that it is God speaking to them. We no longer just understand what the Bible is saying as sentences floating in the air. We recognize God speaking to us. We are convicted and shaped by it. We move from understanding to belief.

Have you ever read a passage of Scripture and then re-read it a few years later, and maybe even then again, a few years after that, and see something you never saw there before? The words didn’t change but you did. Through this illumination, the Spirit transforms our capacity for truth, and He draws our attention to connections and insights that we were previously blind to. He draws from the well of the Scripture what we need at that point in our life and strengthens us.

By the way, this work of the Holy Spirit in bringing the truths of the word to our mind is what I believe is often happening to well-meaning brothers and sisters who experience what they think is God speaking directly to them. They are hearing the voice of God more clearly as the Holy Spirit brings to their mind truths of the Bible as they apply to their immediate circumstances.

I cannot tell you how many times a faithful brother has told me that the Lord shared with them that we should do some or other thing that is plainly commanded in the Scripture. As they prayed, the Holy Spirit brought these scriptural truths to their mind to be applied. That is wonderful, but that is wisdom- not new revelation.

The Spirit is always working with the word. In fact, one way to evaluate teachers and preachers is to see if they are emphasizing one while neglecting the other. Throughout the Bible, they are always together.

Jesus says in John 6:63,

⁶³ It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life…

The word of God is the tool the Holy Spirit uses to clean us and shape us into mature children of God. Ephesians 5:25–27 says,

²⁵ … Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

The Spirit uses the word to penetrate into the deep things of our heart. Hebrews 4:12 says,

¹² For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Is Christianity a mystical faith or a doctrinal faith? It is inseparably both. We cannot separate the word of God from the Spirit of God. We cannot separate the truth of God’s word from our experience of Him in our lives. In our pursuit of spiritual wisdom and growth we must attend diligently to God’s word. Study it methodically, meditate upon it, and ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to the glory that is there. Our study time should be devotional, and our devotional time should be based on truth because the Spirit of God uses the word of God to shape the people of God.

Paul continues in verse 14,

¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ¹⁶ “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Again, we see the total depravity of sinners that deprives us properly discerning spiritual things. We must have the Spirit of God, or we can do nothing. The world laughs at us, but they do not understand. We are not under their judgment anyway. They cannot judge us because they are blind. Whereas we can judge all things because we have the truth.

Paul then says something stunning. He says “we have the mind of Christ.” This pulls it all together. In the word of God, we have the very thoughts of God. We have in these pages the full revelation of God’s plan of salvation. In these words, taught by the Spirit we have been given the mind of Christ. We know what Jesus would do. We know what Jesus would say. Through the written word of God, the Holy Spirit gives to us the thoughts of the eternal word.

I want you to close your eyes for a moment. Now, I want you to think of a bright pink gorilla with hair all over him. If you can picture that raise your hand. Ok, put your hands down and open your eyes. Do you know what just happened there? I was able to use words to transfer an idea from my mind to yours. I was also able using words to translate a thought in my mind to an action on your part.

Do not underestimate the intimacy of words. If we seek an intimate connection with God, there can be nothing greater than to share his very thoughts. In the Bible, we have the thoughts of God expressed in words that our poor creaturely minds can process. For a child of God to study the bible with reverence is the most intimate Spiritual experience any human can have. Since the goal of our life is to be made like Christ and since we have the mind of Christ in the word of God, illuminated by the Spirit of God, we have every spiritual blessing we need to mature in Christ.