1 Corinthians 2:6-16

Good morning, church.

Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

We're looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 6 through 16.

1 Corinthians 2:6–16

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,

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.

Amen.

Thank you.