"A Study of 1 Corinthians" by Hiram Kemp - Part 2

same page, how to be unified. And he's going to approach this through various

means. In the first 4 chapters, which is where we're at at the moment,

Paul's talking about unity rather than division as it

relates to personalities and preachers. The church at Corinth was divided over their favorite

preachers. If you look at 1 Corinthians 1:12-13, Paul talks about

1 Corinthians 1:12–13

some of the things they were saying about some being of Cephas, of Peter,

some of Paul, some of Christ, some of Apollos. And Paul's

saying, I want you all to be unified. But as you work throughout the rest

of the book, this idea of division is going to continue to crop up.

Sometimes it'll be about sexual immorality in chapter 6,

or marriage in chapter 7, or whether or not Christians can

eat food that's been previously sacrificed to an idol in 1

Corinthians 8 through 10. But the heart of 1 Corinthians is we need unity that

honors God rather than division. And here's where we've been so far. 1 Corinthians chapter

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

1, Paul gives them some reminders, and he starts by saying, 1 Corinthians 1 and

verse 2, Christians, you've been sanctified and you've been called. That is,

the Corinthians, with all the problems that he'll address,

he starts off positively by encouraging them, hey,

remember where you came from. You've been sanctified, that is, set apart.

You've been called by the gospel out of the world into fellowship with God.

You've been recipients of grace and peace. That's 1 Corinthians 1:3-4.

1 Corinthians 1:3–4

He says the Corinthians have been enriched in every way, meaning they don't lack any

spiritual gift, and he'll say more about that in chapters 12 through 14,

But he's starting out praising them for what they already possess. And then in

verse 9, he says, God has called you into the eternal fellowship with

him and with his Son Jesus Christ. And then the last thing, and this is

where Neil left off, he goes against— he starts talking about the problems,

the arguments against division. And the way he does this is look at verse 13.

He says, is Christ divided? Was Paul

crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul? So Paul

urges them to unity by basically asking several rhetorical questions.

He says Christ is not divided, Christ is the only one that was crucified

for you, and he's the only name into which you were baptized. And then he

emphasizes in verse 17 that Christ did not send

him— that's Paul— to perform the act of baptism, but instead to

preach the gospel. And from there— and really this argument is going to

go from chapter 1 and verse 18 all the way through chapter 4— as Paul

stresses to these Christians it doesn't make sense for you to be divided

at all, especially about preachers and personalities, because look at all

that God's done for you. And ultimately, keep your eyes fixed and

focused on the person and the work of Jesus Christ. So this morning, what we're

going to talk about is what Paul continues to say about wisdom, about where

his wisdom and the other apostles' came from ultimately in relation

to Jesus, and then what does true spiritual maturity look like. So if

we can do it, we're going to try to work pretty quickly up through chapter

3. I told Neil I'm going to try to get through chapter 3, and then

yesterday I was studying and I text Neil and I said, I don't think I'm

going to get through chapter 3, but we're going to see. But here's what I

want you to think about, and Neil touched on this last week, and I just

want to remind us of it. If you're in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, after Paul

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

says you've been called into this fellowship, in verse 10 he says,

I'm urging you therefore, brothers, that you all speak the same thing,

that you be perfectly united in the same mind and in the same judgment.

I think it's right, and we do this when we preach, when we teach,

when we talk about evangelism, we tend to talk about religious division

from the standpoint of denominationalism and what a great sin and problem

that is in relation to the religious world. And I think that's fine, that's biblical,

and that's right. But keep in mind, what's equally silly and sinful

is division in the Lord's church and in the body of Christ. Furthermore,

that's the division that the New Testament spends the most time thinking about.

1 Corinthians 1:10 wasn't written about different denominational groups.

1 Corinthians 1:10

Neither was John 17:20-21 or any of our other

John 17:20–21

favorite passages that are urging Christians, hey, stick together, don't splinter off into

different groups. It attacks that. It has something to say to that. But the

heart of those passages isn't about, hey, you over there, don't start another church.

It's about those of us that are in the church, remain unified,

be God's people, and don't embarrass God by being divided.

So, let's see what Paul has to say in relation to wisdom

and what God wants. First thing Paul does is he talks about the countercultural wisdom

of God. This is 1 Corinthians 1. I'm going to read 18 down through 25.

For the word of the cross is folly, or foolishness, to those who

are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved, it is the

power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. Where is the one who is

wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know

God, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save

those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,

but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and

foolishness to the Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and

Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the

foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger

than men. So, Paul's attacking their division. Again, they're divided over preachers, and he

does this first by saying God's wisdom is countercultural to the world

and the way that they view wisdom. So, here's a question: What's the

difference between wisdom and intelligence? What's the difference between somebody

being wise and somebody being smart?

Application. Wisdom is proper application of intelligence.

Wisdom is the proper interpretation or application of intelligence.

Okay, so you're intelligent and you apply it, that's wisdom.

Anybody else? I said application. Wisdom helps us to apply

what we learn. Yeah, wisdom helps us to apply what we learn. So if a

person's intelligent or smart, they know what?

They know a lot of stuff. They know their material. But if a person's wise,

what does that say about them? They know how to use their material. And what

Paul's going to drive at— and which one do we often elevate in our world?

Do we elevate intelligence or do we elevate wisdom?

We often elevate intelligence. Even in the church sometimes you'll hear us talk

about how smart somebody is or how sharp their mind is. But what God often

is elevating is not just that your mind's filled with a bunch of information,

but that over time you have learned how to skillfully use it. And Paul's going

to talk about the difference between earthly wisdom and heavenly wisdom. Andy, and then Kim.

An intelligent person knows that the stove is hot.

A wise person doesn't touch it. That's right. Yeah, that's a great point.

Kim?

Oh, experience. Yeah.

Experience plays a part in wisdom too.

We can be intelligent and we can be wise, but if

we have an experience that somebody else has

not had, that can also make us wise.

Yeah, that's right. Wisdom comes by this idea of experience. You've done something enough that

you know how it's gonna work out. Miss Laura, and then Chuck. I don't know

where it is, but the Scriptures tell us that wisdom comes from the Lord.

Yes. And so, if you have— you can't have real true

wisdom if you're not in the Lord. Yeah, I don't know if you heard Miss

Laura. She said true wisdom comes from the Lord, and you can't have true wisdom

if you don't know the Lord. Paul's gonna say that later in 1 Corinthians 2.

But the passage you're probably thinking about is Proverbs 2:6. It says, wisdom comes

Proverbs 2:6

from the mouth of the Lord, and from him comes understanding. And so, yes,

we're going to see that true wisdom comes from God, and we'll see very quickly

why Paul's making this point in a church that's divided. Hey, get a handle

on what it really means to be wise. Chuck, go ahead.

Because they have confidence in their knowledge.

Yeah. And the things they believe in. But also, I've always liked

the definition in Job 28:28, and he said, to man,

Job 28:28

the fear of the Lord is wisdom. Yeah. And to depart from evil is understanding.

So they don't have the fear of the Lord. That's right. Yeah, and we'll talk

more about that in classes of people and why people respond a certain way.

But just keep in mind, in a church that's divided, the one true answer to

division in the church, no matter what the issue is, is always an exalted

view of God. If I see God right, I'm going to see you right.

If I see God wrong, I'm always going to see you wrong. And so,

what Paul's going to do is say, listen, this church is divided. For them,

it's over preachers. But really, Paul's solution in these first 4 chapters,

it really wouldn't matter what we were divided over. Paul's solution is you need

a bigger and more exalted view of God. And that's what Psalm 121:1

Psalms 121:1

says, right? I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my

help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth.

So now let's get into what Paul says about God's wisdom. Notice verse

18 and verse 19, for the word of the cross is foolishness to those

who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of

God. And then in verse 19, it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of

the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. So Paul says

God's wisdom is manifested through the preaching of the cross. He says

the word of the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing. People in the

world, as Chuck mentioned, that we might view as intelligent or smart,

They probably don't care much for the cross, but that's what God used

to get his message across. And then in verse 19, he quotes a passage

from Isaiah 29:14, and he says, this is how

Isaiah 29:14

God has always operated. God has always been taking things

that humanity thinks are impressive and wise and showing that they're foolish,

and things that are despised and overlooked by humans, God exalts those

and says, I can do great things with them. Think throughout the Bible how many

times this happens over and over again. What happens at the Tower of Babel in

Genesis 11? God had previously told Adam and Eve to do what?

Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. But man

in their wisdom says, we'll build a tower, we'll build a ziggurat all the way

up to the heavens. And God comes down and what does he do? He thwarts

their wisdom and disperses them throughout the earth. What does God say

about his Word and his message in Isaiah 55:8-9? My thoughts are

Isaiah 55:8–9

not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways. As the heavens are higher

than the earth, So are my thoughts over yours and my ways over yours.

Paul's saying, Corinthians, I know you got your favorite preachers and

I know you think you know what makes somebody skilled and intelligent and

great, but God's been at this a lot longer than you. And the things that

are highly exalted among people are often despised with God,

Luke 16:15. And so he's saying here, hey,

Luke 16:15

God destroys human wisdom. So don't fall into this trap

of loving and exalting the wrong thing. And how does God do it? He does

it through the message that we preach. Verse 20, where is the one who is

wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?

Paul is calling out these different groups that the Corinthians who love wisdom might

have praised and might have exalted. And he's saying, bring these people out. Where is

the wise? Where is the scribe? God's already embarrassed them.

God's already shown the wisdom of this world to be of no profit at all.

How did God do that? How did God make foolish the wisdom of this

world? Through what?

Through the cross. Yes, Kim, through the cross. Now let's ask a different question.

How does God make foolish the wisdom of this world? Through the cross. How does

he do that? The answer is the cross. But how does the cross make foolish

the wisdom of this world? And the cross

says what? Life. Yeah, through the cross, God turns everything upside

down. Victory comes through defeat.

Life comes through death. Triumph comes through humiliation.

Everything the world lifts up, and this is our responsibility as Christians,

Christianity is ever challenging the narratives of the world.

Paul's saying, hey, don't get into these little different groups and parties

and these factions based on your favorite preachers. If Christianity was based

on the wisdom of men, you might expect that, but God's always turning things upside

down. Don't fall into this trap. God changes things and God

does it in a way that people would have never thought. Throughout Jesus's earthly ministry,

Jesus was getting his disciples together and he was saying, these are

the things that ultimately lead to success. And everything Jesus said and taught was

directly contrary to everything that the world might lift up and say, hey,

this really makes you somebody, this makes you special. What does Jesus

say in Matthew 16:24? If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,

Matthew 16:24

take up his cross, and follow me. Then after that, he says, whoever will save

his life will lose it. Whoever loses— that doesn't make sense to the world.

If you want to live, die, and if you want to die, live. Jesus is

saying, my wisdom isn't like this world. And through the message that we

proclaim, we continue to show the wisdom of this world is foolishness. I saw

a couple hands. Kim, did you? And then Bill.

Sorry, I repent.

Blame me. That's all right, Kim. Blame it on me. For sure.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, Jesus comes to our turf and lives the life we

should have lived and died the death we deserve to die. And he did it

on our turf with the very same temptations and hardships. And the

gospel continues to highlight that. That's what makes him unique. Bill.

Yeah, and the world just loves power. Yeah, but you don't find this humility.

Yeah, exactly. And then at the end of this chapter, Paul says the problem

for Jews and Greeks versus the wisdom of God is God's doing something completely

different. Look at verses— really verse 22 down through verse 25.

For the Jews demand signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified,

a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. So in

the ancient world, you had these 2 groups. Jews and Gentiles. Jews believed they were

in, they believed the Gentiles were out. Paul says, if you look at verse 18

and 19, there are now 2 different groups: those who are being saved and those

that are perishing. And the way God's going about saving people is

a way that neither one of these groups, Jews and Gentiles, would have liked.

What does Paul mean when he says the Jews demand a sign? What does that

mean? Look at verse 22: for the Jews demand signs.

What does that mean? Yeah, when Jesus

was on earth, they said, if you're the Messiah, prove it. Matthew 16:1-4, Jesus says,

Matthew 16:1–4

you foolish generation, you desire a sign. Jesus didn't come and

do miracles exactly like they expected, and so they looked at the message

of the cross and they said, this can't be the Messiah, he's unimpressive. It says

the Greeks, they seek after wisdom. Study the ancient Greco-Roman

world and you will find out they couldn't believe in their mind that a

great and awesome and mighty God would die. Jesus was unimpressive to them.

Because he died. He says, hey, the Greeks seek after wisdom,

Jews require a sign, but to those of us that are called,

Christ is the one that ultimately dies for our sins. Look at verse 24,

to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of

God and the wisdom of God. The foolishness of God is wiser than men,

and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Paul starts out by telling the

Christians in Corinth, true wisdom operates in a

way that's completely foreign to the world. And so Corinthians, don't adopt the thinking,

the mindset, and the worldview of the world that surrounds you, because God is

always doing something completely different. Why do you think Paul starts

out this way? You talking about people struggling with their favorite preachers, preacheritis, division.

Why does Paul start out by saying, hey, basically summarizing

what we just studied, God's smarter than everybody else. God's wiser than anybody you

could think of, and he's always doing something in a way the world would never

imagine? Why not just start out, hey, stop being divided, it's a sin to be

divided over preachers. Why does Paul start out by trying to show the Corinthians,

hey, look how smart God is? Not the messenger. Yes. The message.

Yeah, Paul's putting the focus on the message rather than the messenger. Anybody else?

Why start out by saying, hey, look at how brilliant and how

magnificent the mind of God is, if you're talking to people that are divided?

He's the ultimate authority. Yeah, I think Paul's saying, hey, you should be more

impressed with God than with God's messengers and God's servants.

Don't fall in love with these men. Think about the God who gifted you these

men and gave them their ability. All right. Yes,

Miss Laura, go ahead. What was that?

Yeah, yeah, and it's ultimately God's standard for

sure. All right, next Paul says these are the kind of people that God calls.

Look at verses 26 down through 31. He says, for consider your calling,

brothers. Not many of you are wise according to worldly standards.

Not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.

God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what

is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to

nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of

God. And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became

to us wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,

so that as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

In verses 18 through 25, Paul has this sort of zoomed-out

view, and he says, hey, you really need to appreciate the wisdom of God compared

with the thoughts of men. But then in 26 through 31, Paul says,

Corinthians, consider your status and your state before God and

how you got to where you are. So here's a question: Who does God want

to be saved? Everybody. How do you know that?

Yeah, 1 Timothy 2:4 says God would have all people to be saved

1 Timothy 2:4

and come to a knowledge of the truth. What does John 3:16 say? For God

John 3:16

so loved who? The world. Yeah, your name's not in the Bible, but you can

substitute your name in John 3:16 and do no harm to the text

John 3:16

because God wants everybody to be saved. Now, what was that?

Yeah, his actions. Exactly.

Yeah, that's right. And then let's follow up with this. God wants everybody

to be saved, and this kind of goes to what Chuck was saying a moment

ago, but what kind of people typically respond favorably to the gospel?

Like, God wants everybody in the world to be saved and come to repentance,

2 Peter 3:9, but throughout history, and maybe in our own

2 Peter 3:9

experience, what kind of people typically respond favorably

to the gospel, and why is that the case? The humble,

people that are broken. What kind of people responded to Jesus?

The poor. Who else? The hurting. Yeah.

Why is that the case? Why do you think these types of people typically responded

favorably to the gospel? Yeah,

yeah, they saw their need and their dependence on the Lord. Luke 15, for example,

verses 1 and 2 says, then drew all the tax collectors and the sinners

to hear Jesus. They came to Jesus because in the end Paul's saying Christianity

is not about who's the smartest. It's not about who's the deepest intellectual.

It's not about who's read the most and studied the most. The key in Christianity

is who sees their need the deepest. Those are the

people that typically respond to the gospel. Go to James chapter 2. Just look at

James 2 · chapter mention

this passage in this context. James is talking about a similar thing, a church that's

divided into different groups based on partiality and favoritism.

And James makes this point about the kind of people that typically respond to the

gospel. Now, Let me say parenthetically, all sorts of people become Christians.

Rich and powerful and wealthy people obey the gospel in the book of Acts too.

But the Bible makes this point: most often the people

that respond favorably are the people the world doesn't think too much of. James 2:5,

James 2:5

he says, listen, my beloved brethren, has not God chosen those

who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of

the kingdom which is promised to those who love him? But you've dishonored the poor

man Are not the rich the ones who oppress you and the ones that drag

you into court? So James is saying, hey, don't fall out over all these rich

and powerful people. The people you wouldn't expect, the poor, the despised,

the lowly, those are the people that typically respond to the gospel.

We'll talk about evangelism in chapter 2, but I think a question for us is,

are those the kind of people that we reach out to? I mean, the kind

of people that were drawn to Jesus, are those the kind of people we flock

to? And Paul's going to make this point about the Corinthians. Go back to 1

Corinthians 1. Look at the kind of people that God called. Verses 26

and 27, consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you are wise according

to worldly standards. Not many were of noble birth, but God chose

what's foolish in the world to shame the wise and what is weak to shame

the strong. God's specialty is taking nothing and

making something glorious out of it. This starts in the beginning of the Bible.

Genesis 1, before God creates anything, what does the Bible say in Genesis

1 and verse 2? The earth was without form and what? And now

it's filled with all these gracious and good and beautiful things. And that's every

human life. Without Jesus, we're without form and void.

And what is God often doing throughout Scripture? He's forming and creating

and shaping us into what we couldn't be otherwise. I mean, He says the

same thing to Israel in Deuteronomy 7. Hey, I didn't choose you because you were

the most beautiful and numerous and awesome nation. Deuteronomy 7:6-13.

Deuteronomy 7:6–13

He says, I chose you because I made promises to Abraham, and I intended

to make good on those promises. Think about the disciples of Jesus. What do you

know about that group of the 12? Luke 6:6-12 tells us

Luke 6:6–12

the men that Jesus selected. What's impressive about the disciples? What kind

of men did Jesus call and say, hey, here's going to be my inner circle?

Common people, tax collectors. One of them's a zealot, which was a group

of people in Judea that were really insurrectionists against the Romans.

Fishermen, just common everyday people. What did he make of them?

12 men that started as a small nucleus in Jerusalem and

eventually changed the world. What are the Corinthians divided over?

Personalities and preachers. Here's my guy, he's the most impressive.

Paul says, don't fall for that. God will take nothing and a nobody and

make them somebody great. And you already know this is true because he's saying,

look at verse 26, it's exactly what God's done with you.

You might not watch sports, but if you do, just think about this for a

minute. Why do sports teams want the first-round draft pick? Like, why do

they want the first person picked? Or if you don't watch sports, take that out

of it. Why do firms and companies want the person that graduated at the top

of their class? Why do they want the very best?

Proven entity, for sure, that's a part of it, but why else? Why does the—

why do the Tennessee Titans, if they could have it every year, We want the

first pick. Why do firms and companies, hey, they want the person that graduated

at the top of their class? Do better, they're better to—

what'd you say, Brian? Help them succeed. More than help them

succeed, it's deeper than that though. The reason why they want it, they cannot

succeed without it. They can't win if they don't have— I mean,

companies and teams and people, they actually need the best.

God is saying to the world, I don't need that. We sometimes fall out over

celebrity culture. Hey, guess who became a Christian? As if somehow, hey, now we're on

the map. This person will give us a name. I don't know if you've read

the Bible, but God will give you a name. God doesn't need anybody to prop

him up. God will take nobodies all the time. He'll take anybody that obeys

the gospel. But sometimes we think, oh, guess who sort of believes in Jesus?

I mean, they may not be a New Testament Christian, but isn't this great advertisement

for God? And Paul's saying, God doesn't need that. I mean, God doesn't need the

best and the brightest. His specialty is actually taking somebody in the

backwoods that you wouldn't even think about and saying, now look at what I can

do through this person's life. And he's saying, Corinthians,

you should know this of all people and see it just the way that

God does. It's a reminder to us, don't be so easily impressed

by the exteriors and the outward appearance because God often is not.

Bill. Jesus says,

blessed are the poor in spirit. Yeah. For theirs is the kingdom. That's spiritually bankrupt.

Yeah. Come to him with nothing. That's right. That's who he wants. That's right.

Yeah. Jesus wants people that come to him with nothing and that are spiritually bankrupt.

And then God chose the unexpected on purpose and for a purpose.

Why does God use the people that according to the world aren't really worth much?

Why does God take nobodies and then use them? Well, Paul tells you,

look at verse 28 through 31. Kim, you taught me something this morning. If I

keep talking, people will forget what they've got to say and I will get through

3 chapters. So, That's the goal. All right, let's see.

God chose what is weak in the world. Look at verse 28,

low and despised, even things that are not, to bring to nothing the

things that are. And verse 29, he did it so that

no human being might boast in the presence of God. So God does

this on purpose so that nobody will come

into his presence and boast. And this is Paul's idea. And he's gonna

bring this up in chapter 4 and verse 7, where he'll say, What do you

have that you haven't received? And if you've received it, why do you behave as

though you haven't? Whatever you love about somebody, whatever you think

is so impressive and so great about them, where did they get it from?

They got it from God. Remember a couple slides back, I had the ultimate answer

to all religious division, especially in the church, is an exalted

view of God. You'll stop having preacheritis and partiality and favoritism.

If you just love God more and see what really makes this person special,

or whatever makes this church great, is not us. It's not our talents, our gifts,

our ability. It's the God behind it. Paul says,

God holds everything together. In him all things consist, Colossians 1:17.

Colossians 1:17

He upholds everything by the word of his power, Hebrews 1:3.

Hebrews 1:3

All the attention, all of the glory— God does this on purpose so when it's

all said and done, nobody will have anything to boast about.

Excepting God. That's how he wants it. Look at Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Look at Ephesians 2 and look at verses 8 and 9. This is about the

process of salvation, and Paul in Ephesians 2 is talking about how

we were saved, and he brings up this same point that yes, it's God's doing,

but God works it out so that nobody else will have anything to brag

about or boast about. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, for by grace have

Ephesians 2:8–9

you been saved through faith. It's not your own doing, it's the gift of God.

Not of works. Why not? He doesn't want anybody boasting.

When you get to the end of your life, if your life were a movie,

it's going to be the shortest credits of all time. Produced, made,

manufactured, and starring God. That's it. Nobody else.

It's all going to be about how great God was if we live and do

it right. And that's what Paul needed the Corinthians to see. Look at verse 31.

So that as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the

Lord. So let me ask you, why does

a church that's divided need this message?

This message about the kind of people that God calls and that God deserves

all the glory for everything. Why does this church at Corinth need this message?

We probably got some strong personalities and they're dividing over strong personalities.

Yes. Now let's get more personal. Why do we need to hear it?

Yeah, so wake-up call in what sense?

That's right.

Yes, and throughout the Bible, God's constantly

bringing this up. It's in little snippets that we might just run by. So like

1 Chronicles 16:10, the one that glories,

1 Chronicles 16:10

glory in the Lord. Psalm 105:3,

Psalms 105:3

glory only in the Lord. Psalm 115:1,

Psalms 115:1

not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but to your name give glory.

And here's why 1 Corinthians 1:31, though simple to read,

1 Corinthians 1:31

is such a challenge. Because all of us are kind of like crooked

lawyers, and our discipleship contract with God, we just kind of want

to sneak in the bottom, in the footnotes, just a little bit of the percentage

of glory for ourselves. We're just a little bit glory hungry.

Just, God, give us 2%, you can have 98%. And Paul's

saying, No, all of the glory, all of it belongs with who?

God. We need this message because, hey, church is healthy.

People placing membership, people being baptized,

church growing. And lest we forget,

why is all of that happening? Oh, I know why. We've got an awesome website.

Nope. I know why. A lot of programs. It's tempting. We might not

say it vocally, but we can start thinking, hey, we just kind of got our

act together a little bit better than other people. Paul says no such thing.

It's not your preachers. It's not— I mean, everybody has a part. 1 Corinthians 12

is going to get into that. But you know who has the biggest part?

God. And it's not enough to know that intellectually.

You've got to regularly be rehearsing and saying that because there's a subtle

deception that comes in and that says, you know, God's amazing, but I'm pretty

special too. And Paul says in verse 31,

as it is written, let the one who boasts

Boast only in the Lord. What kinds of things do people typically boast in?

Accomplishments. What else?

What do we boast in just in everyday life? Don't think necessarily spiritual or

religious. What kind of things do we boast in? Family.

Our education. Things, materialism.

Yeah, so all of these things, all of these things. Somebody said one

time people tend to boast about 3 primary things: their

face, their place, and their race. And you had no part in any of

those 3. You look the way you look, you didn't pick the face you've got,

you just got it. Where you're from, oh, I'm from here, I'm special. You didn't

pick that, you were just born there. Your race, you had nothing to do with

it. We boast about things that were just gifted to us by God.

And Paul's saying, Corinthians, if you see God as he truly

is, you'll see each other properly and you won't be divided. All right,

chapter 2. Paul now talks about the wisdom that God reveals.

1 Corinthians 2, I'm going to start out by reading verses 1 through 5.

Paul says, when I came to you, brothers, I didn't come to you proclaiming the

testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing

among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was

with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and

my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in the demonstration

of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the

wisdom of men, but in the power of God. So, and this goes back to

what Ms. Laura mentioned earlier about where wisdom comes from, and Chuck with Job 28:28.

Job 28:28

Paul's saying, hey, you guys love preachers, but the preachers the

Corinthians loved, all of their wisdom came from the same place. And where was that?

It came from God. And so Paul's saying, hey, lest you think we're special,

chapter 2 is all about where does real wisdom come from. I think

Neil mentioned this last week. The Greek word sophia for wisdom, it appears some 17,

20 times throughout this epistle, and a large part of them are concentrated

in chapters 1 and 2. And Paul's saying real true wisdom,

whatever you admire about us as preachers, it came from God. And so

Paul demonstrates wisdom in his evangelism efforts. Paul says

when he came to the Corinthians, he didn't want to know anything about them or

anything among them except Jesus Christ and him crucified. In verse

1, when Paul says, I didn't come with lofty speech or wisdom,

Paul didn't mean he wasn't a gifted speaker. If you read

the sermons in the book of Acts, it's apparent that Paul was gifted.

But what Paul is saying is this: the most important thing about his preaching

and teaching wasn't his outline, the way that things were structured.

It wasn't this impressive presentation of the gospel.

It was the message itself. And more than that, Paul says

he actually did this on purpose. Like, Paul tried to

make his preaching and his teaching as simple and as plain

as he could. You know why? Because Paul— look at verse 5. What does he

mean in verse 5? I did this so that your faith might not rest in

the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Why does Paul say

that? Or let me ask it to you a different way. When you go to

a wedding, why is it wrong to wear white? I know some of you are

like rebels. I'm wearing white anyway. But why is it wrong to wear white at

a wedding? Why wouldn't you wear a tiara to somebody else's birthday party? Or like

And when somebody else is graduating, you just show up to the graduation in your

cap and gown. I know a couple years ago on Facebook they had people around

graduation time— maybe if you did this, we forgive you, okay? People are putting their

graduation pictures up like, listen, your time's passed, right? Like, why don't

you do that? Why? Because it's not about who?

It's not about you. Like, if you wear white, a flowing white

dress to somebody else's wedding, it's just— Paul's saying, listen, when I preached,

when I evangelized, when I taught, I didn't wear white.

Paul says, I didn't do anything to put any shine on me because on purpose,

look at verse 5, I really didn't want you converted to Paul.

I wanted you converted to Jesus Christ. He says, I did it so that your

faith might not be in the demonstration of the power of men, but instead

in the power of God. Paul said, 2 Corinthians 10:10 will

2 Corinthians 10:10

say about Paul's speaking ability, they say his speech is contemptible,

but he's mighty in his letters. So people said, hey, Paul's a great

writer, but not a great speaker. Paul says, I'm doing it on purpose.

I really don't want to over and outshine Jesus. Paul wanted to

do his best, but Paul didn't want anybody to get any mixed

up ideas about where the true power came from. What does

John say in John 3:30 about Jesus and him? They said,

John 3:30

hey John, he's making more disciples than you. And John says, he must increase,

but what? How do we do this?

Like in our evangelism efforts, how do we make sure that

we hide behind the cross and don't make it about ourselves, but instead make

it about God? As we evangelize personally, teach publicly,

what can we do to make sure, like Paul, hey, people will see the real

wisdom is really in God? And maybe you've studied

the Bible with people before and they're like, man, I don't know the Bible,

you really know it. And they view it as like this sort of jigsaw puzzle

and you've just got all the answers and all. How do we show people,

hey, it's really not like that? It's not about how brilliant a person is or

how smart I am. It's ultimately about the power of God. How do we do

that? Because that's what Paul did, and that was his answer to this division.

How do we do it? Through the Word. Stay in the

Bible. Yes, but not just stay in the Bible, point people where?

To the Bible. So when you study with somebody and talk about religious things,

don't say our church or I think or

I believe. We talked about the pronouns. Instead, say things like, hey, You know,

your Bible says, hey, you can find it right there in the Bible.

It actually says this. Hey, turn your copy of God's Word to,

and they can fold that up and leave your presence. And they still got all,

they got the answer key with them. It's not in a person. It's ultimately

in the God who gave us the wisdom. And then he says, the wisdom of

the world should be contrasted with the wisdom of God. Look at verses 6 through

10. Paul says, yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom,

although it's 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. As it is written, what no eye has seen and no

ear has heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man 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. All right,

in this section Paul starts talking about, yes, We got our wisdom from God,

but he gets a little bit more detailed and talks about how God gave it

to them. So Paul and Peter and the other apostles, they received

revelation directly from God. That is, God gave them the words,

they wrote it down. We receive it indirectly from them. But look

at verse 7 and verse 8. Here Paul says we impart a secret or hidden

wisdom. One of the ways the New Testament refers to, like, the gospel

plan of salvation is is called a mystery. And some

people say, like, this idea of mystery can be sort of viewed as a sacred

secret. God was going to save the world through Jesus Christ. Who knew about that?

Nobody but God himself, not the details. In fact, Paul says

in verse 8, none of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they

did, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory. The devil didn't know what

God was doing. As he's leading Jesus up to be crucified on Calvary, he thinks

this is the end of it. But God had bigger plans. Side note, that's just

the note for us about how the devil works in our lives. Sometimes we think

like, the devil knows my thoughts, my temptations, he knows everything. Paul says the devil

doesn't know everything. God's up to all sorts of things the rulers of this world

have no idea about. But instead, in verse 9, what nobody

has ever seen or heard or imagined, God has revealed. Sometimes people look

at verse 9 as if it's talking about heaven. It's a quote from Isaiah

Isaiah 64:4

64:4. Now listen, it's true about heaven.

Nobody's seen it. No eye has ever seen it. No, no ear has ever heard

it. But in this passage, Paul's not talking about heaven. Paul's talking about the gospel

system and the plan of salvation and this revelation that the apostles received.

Nobody thought of it through human genius, but God revealed it.

In verse 10, that's what he says. These things God's revealed to us.

So we know this isn't talking about heaven because in verse 10 he says,

hey, what I just told you in verse 9 that nobody had any idea about,

God's revealed it to us. So, how did Paul know what to write in Ephesians

and in 1 Corinthians and in Colossians? God did what? God told

him. It's not that Paul was so smart, it's because God gave it to him,

and that's contrasted with the wisdom of the world. And then the last thing he

says in chapter 2 is there's a wisdom that's received from above, and this is

verses 11 through verse 16. 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 to 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 because they are folly

or foolishness to him, and he's not able to understand them, but 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.

So again, Paul doubles down and just kind of goes in a detailed way through,

hey, God gave us the wisdom. Nobody knows what God's

thinking. In verse 11, he says, you can't know a person's thoughts unless they tell

you. Paul, how do you know these things about God? God's revealed them to us.

We wrote them down comparing spiritual ideas with spiritual truths.

And then he says in verse 16, we have the mind of Christ.

The apostles, that is Paul and Peter and James and John,

have the mind of Christ because God gave it to them. And zooming

out and dealing with this issue of division, Paul says you don't have to be

divided because the wisdom that we have that you're so in love with,

it came to us from God. And guess who the Corinthians have?

They've got God too. And so they don't need to be divided over who's the

faith— their favorite preacher, because the God who gifted those men is the

same God working in and through them. All right, chapter 3. We're not going to

get far, but we can say we made it, okay? Yeah, 1 Corinthians chapter 3.

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

This is where Paul starts talking about how do we correct the problem? How do

we correct the division? The first thing he says in 1 Corinthians 3 is

come to terms with spiritual immaturity. 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 3:1–4

3:1-4, but I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual

people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed

you with milk and not solid food, for you were not ready for it.

Even now you're not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there

is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only

in a human way? For when one says, I follow Paul, and another, I follow

Apollos, are you not being merely human? Here's a question: how

do you know whether or not you're spiritually mature or immature?

Like, what are some of the marks of a person that's spiritually mature or

the marks that a person's spiritually immature? How do you know? What are some of

the biblical marks that will mark a person as spiritually mature or spiritually

immature? Sometimes the things

they say. Yeah, their mouth will tell you, their speech will declare what they are.

What else?

Their level of faith, for sure. What else?

Do you trust God with all your heart? Yes.

What is Paul talking about here? What makes these people immature?

Strife. One of the ways you know you're spiritually immature is this: what

kind of things are you willing to divide over? Like, what kind

of things are you just willing to fall out about and say, hey, you know

what, these guys are doing it over personalities? And Paul says, I don't

care how much you know. In chapter 1, he said, hey, you don't lack any

spiritual gift. You guys are speaking in different languages, you're prophesying,

but you're spiritual babies. You know why? I could just look at you.

Kids fight about that. Listen, kids argue about their toys.

Wise, mature people learn how to effectively use their tools.

Kids talk about, hey, I'm better than you. I got a bigger Barbie

house than you. I've got a shinier toy car than you. That's what kids do.

And sometimes, Warren Wiersbe says this in his 1 Corinthians commentary,

sometimes the biggest room in the church building is the nursery.

We call it the auditorium, but it's the nursery because you've just got nothing but

spiritual babies fighting over little petty things. And Paul's saying, this is how I know

you guys aren't mature. We tend to think maturity spiritually is driven by one

thing. I'm gonna just be honest with you. Nobody said it, but here's the thing.

We think about knowledge. You know a lot, you must be mature. You come a

lot, you must be mature. Paul says, no, not do you know a lot,

do you show a lot? Are you mature by the way you behave?

Can you just let slights go past you? Do you always have to have your

way? And how quickly are you willing to divide?

And Paul's saying, these guys, you couldn't be spiritually mature Because

you say, I'm, I'm of Paul, I'm of Cephas, and I'm of Christ, and that's

not spiritual maturity at all. Another passage on this would be Hebrews 6:1-4,

Hebrews 6:1–4

where Paul, or the Hebrew writer, says, hey, if you stay in

these pet and elementary doctrines, you're not spiritually mature.

Like, if all you ever talk about is baptism, repentance, the laying on of hands,

Paul says that's what spiritually immature people do, and there's a time for that,

but then you've got to press beyond that. Second, he says you've got to correctly

see yourselves as God's servants. This will help with spiritual maturity.

Verses 5 through 9, he says in 1 Corinthians

3, starting in verse 5, what then is Apollos and what is Paul? Servants through

whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered,

but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters

is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who

waters are one, And each one will receive his wages according to

his labor. For we are God's fellow workers, and you are God's field,

God's building. What'll help heal religious division is

correctly seeing God's servants. Paul planted, Apollos watered, but who gave

the increase? So God is hiring for 2 positions,

only 2, planters and what? That's all you can be.

That's it. God's gonna give the increase.

And division in the church is healed, and we can come together and be unified

when we see ourselves as God's servants properly. Who's causing the growth?

Paul actually says in verse 7, hey, so neither he that plants or

waters is anything, but it's about God who ultimately gives the growth.

How is this a relief in evangelism? I planted,

Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

It's not all on us. It's what?

I sow the seed, I water it, I come back and check and try to

encourage, but who's going to give the growth? Sometimes we say

things, oh, this person, like, and I, I don't, I believe people have talents and

gifts, but we, oh, this person's so skilled. And no, God gives the growth.

It's not a person standing in the baptistry the most. It's God opening hearts

through his word and his tools. And yes, people have talents and gifts and abilities,

but you know who's the most gifted in the kingdom of God? The God who's

over the kingdom. It's all about him. Paul is driving back to this repeatedly so

that we give all the praise, the honor, and glory to the right person.

And he says what the truth really is, and this is in verse 9,

and we'll quit. You're God's workers, you're God's building.

All of us are equal on the same team, working for the same

God. And what we should be doing is competing on who can

glorify and praise and honor and boast in God the most. And if we

do that, we won't be divided. We'll gather around the same throne and be seeing

each other as teammates on the same team. All right, thanks for a good Bible

class. We'll pick up in chapter 3 and verse 10 next week.