MPC
16th March 2008.March 16 - 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 - "The Source of Wisdom"
MPC
16th March 2008.
Derek Hanna
If you were here last week when we did the passage before this one, or if you read it during the week, you might be tempted to accuse Paul of being simplistic.
He makes these grandiose claims that those who look impressive, those who sound impressive, the intelligent and the wise... are actually foolish. And instead of them having anything meaningful to say... meaning is found in the message of a crucified Jewish man named Jesus Christ.
If I was to paint a modern day scenario...
It seems little bit ludicrous for Christians to point to those in the world who are successful, intelligent, respected... and say, you know you don't understand how the world works. But we do.
If I was to wander up to James Packer and his billions, Tom Cruise and his successful movie career, Oprah Winfrey and her extraordinary media coverage...
And tell them that while everyone respects them, while they're successful in what they do, and while I personally don't have the talent to do what hey do... they have absolutely no idea how the world works... I'd be laughed at.
The world doesn't listen to the down and out, or even the mediocre, to hear how things work.
We don't get financial advice off the homeless. We don't get advice on running a successful business off the bankrupt. We don't get advice on how to run a successful church off someone with 5 people in their congregation.
We go to those who are thriving. Those who are winning. Those who have faced the world and won.
Yet Paul's argument in the passage is that this is a worldly way of thinking.
And it's fine... if you think the world will go on as it always has. It's fine... if you think there's no God. It's fine... if you think there is a God who doesn't bother to speak to his creation.
But God does speak. And God does show us what wisdom is. It's just a matter of knowing who to listen to, and how we understand.
Now God doesn't have to speak to us. He doesn't owe us anything, he doesn't need the answers we would give. It is us who needs to hear from Him. And this is why. Verse 6. Paul says the world is on a deadline.
Those who rule his world. Those who have influence and power. Those who define what wisdom is. They're heading for nothing.
I don't know if you've ever seen a building brought down. They set the dynamite at strategic points in and under the building. Then you have that great moment as enshrined in cartoons, where someone pushes down the lever... you wait for a few seconds, and then by some miracle of physics, if everything has gone according to plan, the whole thing collapses in a heap.
Paul is saying in v.8, that while God has set the charges around the building, it's the Jewish authorities and the Roman governors who pushed the lever. It seemed like a good plan at the time to get rid of a troublemaker...
But the few seconds of peace the world is experiencing at the moment, are really just the period between when the lever is pushed and the building implodes, when the Lord of Glory returns.
No matter how beautiful the architecture, no matter how impressive the material, no matter how many intelligent and wise people live under its protection... the building of this world is coming to an end.
Now God was always going to return. He doesn't let people rebel forever. But here's what's remarkable. Look at v.7. God spoke. He spoke something which was his alone to know and share. And what he shared was that there were some who would escape destruction, not to live in poverty, but to live in glory.
Look at v.9 there. No one could have worked this out. No one could have could have come up with this. No philosopher or orator who has ever lived, in Corinth or otherwise could never have known this... because it was God's alone to give or to withhold. But he chose not to withhold it... but to reveal it. And for the mature, for those who hear and believe in the crucified Christ, it's a message of future hope and glory.
And this is how he's chosen to reveal it. V.10. God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. Now before we get carried away and start claiming that every voice you hear is the voice of God... The us in this verse, as with the we in this passage, is not Christians in general, nor is it even the mature Christians in Corinth.
The us is Paul, and I take it the apostles who he is going to go on to defend in chapter 4 and chapter 9. It's similar in many ways to what he says in Ephesians 3:2-5. By the Spirit, God revealed to the apostles and prophets the mysteries of God in Christ.
And that's Paul's second argument. That he is the mouth piece of God. So when Paul says... "That the rulers of this age are coming to nothing... " (v.6,8) And when he says that God's people are going to experience glory beyond what they could possibly imagine (v.7,9)... He's not exaggerating, he's merely passing on the blueprint as it has been passed on to him.
See how he says it works in verses 10-11. Now with the number of people here this morning, there are any number of things going through your head at the moment. Now let me ask you to think of the thing that you would be most embarrassed about people knowing. Just as an exercise... let me pick someone to share that thing with all of us.
Of course I'm not going to do that... just as I wouldn't want to share the things I'm embarrassed about. But even if I did ask, there's no way I could force you to tell us. Your thoughts are your own. To share or to withhold. How much more with God then? For I might be able to guess what you're thinking from the look on your face... but I haven't got that opportunity when it comes to God.
But God's Spirit does know. Because He is God, and so has access to the very thoughts of God. So the Spirit knows what Christ achieved on the cross. The Spirit knows where the world is heading. The Spirit knows what the destiny is for those who reject the crucified Christ, and those who accept Him.
And it's this Spirit that Paul has received. Look at v.12. There is a fundamental difference between Paul's words and message, and those of the orators in Corinth. The words and message Paul is offering, is from God. The difference that makes here and now is this.
If we have a world view where there is no God, or the God we imagine does not bother to interact with the world and its inhabitants... then we effectively live in a closed system. We're in a gold-fish bowl, where there may or may not be someone looking in on us... but it doesn't matter, because they don't have anything to do with us. They don't affect us in any way. It's a world of natural order and empirical discovery... and that's all.
And so the only meaning for life there is, is what we come up with. It really boils down to - if it works, it must be right.
And that's essentially what we've got in Australia. Even those who believe in God consider him to have nothing intelligent to say on life, nor anything to contribute to how life should be lived. Our wisdom, our understanding of life come from history, our society and our own experience, and our opinion.
But the difference for Paul is that God has pierced the bubble that the world exists in, and has provided meaning from the one who created the gold-fish bowl, and all the little tadpoles in it - you and me.
It's like that footage you might see every now and then of scientists playing with cells under the microscope. They take their very fine syringe, they get their cell, and you can see them push the needle through the cell.
God has broken into the world, and spoken loudly and clearly. Most notably through Christ. But also through Paul here. Paul's words are not a reflection of the spirit of the world. Paul's words are the words of the creator.
Paul says he is the voice of the God who sits outside of time and space, who orders history, who raises up and brings down rulers, who gives wealth to some and poverty to others...
And God's words, even through a sinful man such as Paul, are timeless.
Paul is not like the orators and wise-men in Corinth. He doesn't desire status. He doesn't want a following. He doesn't proclaim to be a great speaker. And he's only got one message. What he speaks, v.13, is not another theory to explain the world, words of human wisdom.
What he speaks are words taught by the Spirit of God. Words and explanations of the mind of God. And what is probably a better translation of v.13, he speak Spiritual truths, to those who are spiritual... or those who have the Spirit.
Now at this point it wouldn't be a bad question to ask, if this is really God speaking, and if it's true wisdom... then surely everyone who heard would take note? V.14. Those who hear spiritual words, but don't have the Spirit of God to illuminate it, consider the words to be foolish.
Speaking God's Words to people, where God's Spirit does not exist, is like trying to describe a sunset to a blind person. Or like trying to describe the power of music to a deaf person. Or like trying to describe sunshine to an Englishman. The words are there, but there is no basis for understanding.
Paul has words of wisdom for Corinth - Spiritual words. But they are considered foolish, because they do not have the Spirit of God in them to apply the truth to their hearts. And it's that reason, according to Paul, that the message of the crucified Christ is rejected by so many.
The problem is not intellectual. The message is simple - we fall short of God's standards, someone needs to be punished for that, Jesus was that man in our place, through trust in his death and resurrection we too can have life.
The problem is not intellectual... Even while people have genuine questions - and Christianity can stand up to any philosophical, intellectual, historical attacks that are mounted against it... as it has done for 2000 years.
The problem is not intellectual. The problem is that because our hearts are hard, we do not want to hear what God has to say. We need his Spirit to discern the truth of His words.
The problem is not intellectual. The problem is spiritual.
If you have friends or family that want to talk about the inconsistencies, the falsities, the stupidity of Christianity... then equip yourself to lovingly debate and persuade with them, as we saw Paul did in Acts 18 in Corinth. But don't feel inadequate when they do not believe or understand. It's not an intellectual problem. It's a spiritual problem.
If you are here today, you're not a Christian, and you feel I'm doing you a disservice... I can only apologise for the words of Paul, who is speaking for God.
I'm not trying to belittle the legitimate questions you have about the accuracy of the Bible, the historicity of Jesus, the hypocrisy of those who call themselves God's people. I think there are genuine answers to all these questions, and I'd love to talk to you about them. But I am saying, as with me, as with every person who calls themselves a Christian - we cannot know God unless we have His Spirit. It's not an intellectual problem for any of us. It's a spiritual problem.
And that is why Paul says what he says in v.15. Those who are spiritual, such as Paul, are not subject to the criticism of those who are not on the same wavelength as him.
He operates with an understanding of what God is doing in the world, and he goes by God's priorities and laws. So his appearance and delivery might not look like much, and he may not be all that the Corinthians expect him to be... but such judgements are judgements based on the values of the world. Paul makes judgements on people and issues based on a spiritual mind - such as he will do with the Corinthians throughout the rest of this letter. He does not care what they think. He cares what God thinks.
For, v.16 - have the Corinthians known the mind of the Lord that they may instruct Paul on proper etiquette, proper values, proper wisdom?
No. That is the very point he is making. They haven't. But Paul has. Paul has the mind of God. And see how easily there he slips between God and Christ. The quote there from Isaiah 40 is speaking about Yahweh, the Lord God.
But Paul is happy to put Christ in Yahweh's place. Paul has the mind of the wisdom and power of God (1:24). He has the mind of Christ. Who are the Corinthians to gainsay him?
Now if you are reading this passage today, and before I started talking, you were encouraged because you thought this passage was all about you... but now you feel like a spectator looking on as Paul talks himself up... then you've missed the immense encouragement in this passage.
You see, God speaks. And he does it through Paul, and for us he does it through His Word that's been recorded. Paul was special. Not in that he was especially good, in fact he describes himself as the chief sinner. He was special in that it was through him that we have the timeless words of God. For the Corinthians, what God said, Paul said.
And for us, what God wrote, Paul wrote. As we read the very words of Paul letters, as we read the words of the Gospels about the Lord Jesus Christ, as we read the letters written by the apostles and prophets... we hear the God who speaks.
As we read Paul's Spiritual truths, and as these truths are applied to us by God's Spirit, we're invited into the secret and hidden mysteries of God.
We have access to the wisdom of God, and the power of God. We have the opportunity to see, understand and proclaim to others the mystery that God, through one man is starting a new creation.
As we're going to read about in chapter 15, the first man to rise from the dead (Jesus Christ) was the prototype of what we will become. We are mortal now, but we will be raised immortal. Our body here and now is perishable, but we will be raised imperishable.
The secret and the mystery of God is that a new world order has begun - and it began with the resurrection of the crucified Christ.
You're not a passenger. You are the ones for whom Paul is speaking. He received the revelation from God, so that you might benefit from it now. Not wisdom of this world. Wisdom from outside the goldfish bowl. Wisdom that explains from a position of truth, instead of a position of trial and error. Wisdom that is understood through God's Spirit.
Can you say that you have the mind of Christ? Not in the same way as Paul, no. But all Christians have God's Spirit, all Christians are in Christ, and you have God's Words recorded for you in the Bible. So do you have access to the mind of Christ? Absolutely. Not new revelation, but through his Word, by His Spirit.
We don't have mute God. Which is why we teach from God's Word each week. Which is why we meet during the week to hear what he has to say. Which is why we encourage everyone - Christian and non-Christian alike - to read what he has to say.
We have a God who speaks. Who explains his actions. Who calls those who are lost to come into the light. Who takes those who are rebels and promises them glory. We have a God who speaks. But we have a God who does so much more.
Let's commit ourselves to being people of the Word - in church, and in the community. And let us pray that as we proclaim spiritual truths, that God's Spirit might work through these truths to save those who are destined to perish.