Paul continues to lovingly correct and exhort his Corinthian brethren, earnestly desiring the best for these believers. He doesn’t want them wasting their resources on the wisdom of the world. He knew that though the world promises satisf...action to those who obey its lusts, that road, in the end, only leads to anguish, emptiness, and destruction.
When Paul visited Corinth and planted the seeds of truth in those believers’ hearts, he did not come with “excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.” (vs. 1) He had determined “not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (Vs. 2-5)
Christianity is so far beyond religion. It’s infinitely more than an organization, a system, a society, a creed, or anything human. It turns the world upside down precisely because it is not of this world. It cannot be defeated by the world because its power is not of the world. The Church – the Body of Christ throughout history – withstands the gates of hell itself because the Head of the Church is greater than hell.
I, as a Christian, have the Spirit of the LORD. I’m not part of the world anymore. I’m not trapped in its lies and its ruin. The very nature of the Living God indwells me, and He lifts the veil of death and sin from my eyes and my heart. I can see and understand things that even the most hailed intellectuals of the world are utterly blinded too. Paul says it so perfectly: “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For ‘who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” (Vs. 13-16)
By the grace of God in Christ Jesus, I’ve been given the “Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.” (Isaiah 11:2) I have the Helper, the Teacher, the Comforter; the Spirit of Truth and the One who “comes alongside.” I am being transformed into His glorious image. There are no words to express the fullness granted to the child of God! I am not led by man; I’m led by God Himself! The Sovereign Creator of the universe is literally, at this moment, living in my heart. He is my shield and my exceedingly great reward! Is it any wonder that Paul pleaded with the Corinthians to drop their foolish dabbling in the wisdom of the world? They had the True and Infinite One all for the asking!
Psalm 34:8, “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!”
1 Corinthians 2:9, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
How can you persist in the futility and the hopelessness of the world when Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart? How can you not run to Him and throw yourself into His outstretched, longing arms? How can you gladly cast aside all the refuse you’ve been hanging on to? How can you turn away such infinite, unfathomable love as was demonstrated on the cross of Calvary?
Forget the world. Forget all your selfish ambitions. Forget your pride. Forget the sin that’s killing you. Answer the door. Let the Lord come in – before it’s too late.
When Paul visited Corinth and planted the seeds of truth in those believers’ hearts, he did not come with “excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.” (vs. 1) He had determined “not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (Vs. 2-5)
Christianity is so far beyond religion. It’s infinitely more than an organization, a system, a society, a creed, or anything human. It turns the world upside down precisely because it is not of this world. It cannot be defeated by the world because its power is not of the world. The Church – the Body of Christ throughout history – withstands the gates of hell itself because the Head of the Church is greater than hell.
I, as a Christian, have the Spirit of the LORD. I’m not part of the world anymore. I’m not trapped in its lies and its ruin. The very nature of the Living God indwells me, and He lifts the veil of death and sin from my eyes and my heart. I can see and understand things that even the most hailed intellectuals of the world are utterly blinded too. Paul says it so perfectly: “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For ‘who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” (Vs. 13-16)
By the grace of God in Christ Jesus, I’ve been given the “Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.” (Isaiah 11:2) I have the Helper, the Teacher, the Comforter; the Spirit of Truth and the One who “comes alongside.” I am being transformed into His glorious image. There are no words to express the fullness granted to the child of God! I am not led by man; I’m led by God Himself! The Sovereign Creator of the universe is literally, at this moment, living in my heart. He is my shield and my exceedingly great reward! Is it any wonder that Paul pleaded with the Corinthians to drop their foolish dabbling in the wisdom of the world? They had the True and Infinite One all for the asking!
Psalm 34:8, “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!”
1 Corinthians 2:9, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
How can you persist in the futility and the hopelessness of the world when Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart? How can you not run to Him and throw yourself into His outstretched, longing arms? How can you gladly cast aside all the refuse you’ve been hanging on to? How can you turn away such infinite, unfathomable love as was demonstrated on the cross of Calvary?
Forget the world. Forget all your selfish ambitions. Forget your pride. Forget the sin that’s killing you. Answer the door. Let the Lord come in – before it’s too late.
