1 Corinthians 2:1-16
We’ve been in the 1st letter of Paul to the church in Corinth. They had many problems as an assembly. But Paul chooses to address Unity or divisions first. There were divisions in the church. And you might note on the pictorial outline that Paul’s solution to these divisions is for the people to turn and keep their eyes on Christ. Christ is the head of the church and He guides the Church by Spirit-led leaders, teachers and servants.
Why did Paul choose to address the problem of factions first? Because if we can’t come together under the headship of Christ, then we won’t be able to solve any problems in the church. A muddled doctrine of unity results in a muddled direction for the church.
And so, we have spent a couple of weeks on our own understanding of unity. And we will spend a couple of weeks more. We’ve already talked about…
Unity in our understanding of wisdom, (1:10-17, 2:1-2)
And when I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come as someone superior in [a]speaking ability or [b]wisdom, as I proclaimed to you the [c]testimony of God.
There is some level of disunity in most churches around what each member believes is the source of wisdom. We generally agree that the Scripture is our source of wisdom, but sometimes other material or philosophies can be placed alongside Scripture.
We have also looked at…
Unity in our understanding of the Cross of Christ, (1:18-25, 2:2)
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who [u]are perishing, but to us who [v]are being saved it is the power of God.
2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
There is disunity in a church when things other than the Cross of Christ take center stage or when other things crowd out the Cross of Christ. Social causes, fellowship, and even entertainment can be pushed to the foreground of the church’s mission. And, in the individual lives of Christians, the Cross of Christ can be placed in the background of a life dedicated to self-fulfillment.
Last week we considered…
Unity in our understanding of Greatness, (1:26-31)
27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the [ac]insignificant things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29 so that no [ad]human may boast before God.
31 so that, just as it is written: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Only the Lord is great. The world around us congratulates itself for all kinds of reasons; talent, education, position, and power. We must understand that anything great in us comes from God.
Disunity can result when we elevate people to positions of leadership based on non-Scriptural criteria; popularity, position, or even just availability.
Today we will begin looking at…
Unity in our understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit, (2:1-16)
Would you stand for the reading of God’s Word?
Pay attention to how many times Paul mentions the Spirit or the work of the Spirit.
Chapter 2 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.
Prayer
Unity in our understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit, (2:1-16)
If you look at the pictorial outline of this epistle you will notice that the top half tells you the problem that Paul addresses, and the bottom half tells you his proposed solution. His solution to disunity is coming together around One truth. No matter what the organization is, unity will only come when all of the members of that organization agree on the truth, or the goal, or the means to achieving that goal. The truth and goal for us in the church is Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He is our goal.
Romans 6:5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him,
My friends, this has to be the truth and goal of every member of this church. If it is not, we will not only not be united, we will be cease being a church of Jesus Christ.
But not only is Jesus our truth and our life, He is also the Way. He is the means of living as God would have us live. We can preach all day, every day about the truths of Scripture and about the life we are supposed to live. But at the end of the sermon, we are left with a question; how do I do that? How do I live like Jesus lived? We are human beings. We are like Paul who said this about “trying to be a good person,” about “trying to follow God’s laws” about “trying to be perfect;
Romans 15: 14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold [s]into bondage to sin. 15 For I do not understand what I am doing; for I am not practicing what I want to do, but I do the very thing I hate.
19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
23 but I see a different law in [v]the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner [w]of the law of sin, the law which is in [x]my body’s parts. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from [y]the body of this death?
Do you ever feel like that? You want to be like Jesus. You want to love people, have pure thoughts, do good deeds, but you drag yourself down?
Well, good news my friend. Jesus is not only the truth and the life, He is the way to that life. That’s where we come today. Unity in understanding the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said this to His disciples;
John 14: 15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another [g]Helper, so that He may be with you forever; 17 the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.
Jesus is the way to “the Christ-like life” because His Spirit comes to live in us.
But there was disunity in the Corinthian church about the work of the Spirit. Look at what Paul says later.
26 What is the outcome then, brothers and sisters? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. All things are to be done for edification.
Sunday worship was chaos in the Corinthian church and it was all under the guise of the work of the Holy Spirit. There was no order, there was on consistency of message. They were having service and supposedly the Holy Spirit led the preacher to start his sermon, then inspired a member to interrupt the sermon with tongues speaking, then someone else had to say something Spirit inspired, then another person blurted out another word form God. And the sermon was never finished and everyone left feeling disjointed.
So, Paul is saying that we have to come to a united understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit.
What does the Holy Spirit’s work look like? How will we know it if we see it? How can we know if something proposed or being done is inspired by the Holy Spirit?
Our unity is based in the fact that we all have one Holy Spirit living in us and directing us, leading us into all truth.
What does unity around our understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit mean? It means we are united in our understanding of what God says in His Word about the work of the Holy Spirit. Disunity characterizes the church that is not united in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
Points: The work of the Holy Spirit is to testify of Christ, The work of the Spirit is to reveal God to us, The work of the Spirit is speak through the Word of God.
I. The work of the Holy Spirit is to testify of Christ
Chapter 2 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
Let’s begin with verse 4:
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
Why do I say that the work of the Spirit is to testify of Christ? Because Paul, here, is describing his own preaching. He is saying what it is, and what it isn’t. It is “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” It is “the testimony of God.” It is “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” So, all together he is saying that his preaching originates from the Spirit, and its emphasis is on Jesus Christ. His Spirit inspired Spirit empowered preaching is pinpoint focused on Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
He is making a point about Godly wisdom versus worldly wisdom. He is saying that His preaching wasn’t wise by worldly standards, but it originated from the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit led him to pinpoint focus on what? Jesus crucified.
Oh, there are many pulpits today that have lost that focus on Christ.
And this is not the only place that tells us that the work of the Holy Spirit is to proclaim Christ. Jesus said…John 16:13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
The Holy Spirit is not on a self-promotion tour, He’s on a Jesus promotion tour.
So, how do you know if it is the Holy Spirit working or speaking through a person? Ask yourself; is the message Jesus Christ and Him crucified?
Now that doesn’t mean that there are not inspired messages that do not directly mention the Cross of Christ.
I could preach a sermon about the evil of murder. “Thou shalt not kill.” And it is possible that I don’t mention the cross of Christ. I should mention it. I should emphasize it. Because all of the Old Testament and its laws point forward to redemption in Jesus’ death.
But it is possible that I could preach that and not mention the cross. That doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit was not behind my preaching. I am still preaching the Word. But every message from the Holy Spirit can be connected to the cross, to Jesus, and will magnify the cross.
Paul goes on, back to verse 1
A. Not to be flamboyant or dramatic
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
He did not come with excellency of speech or wisdom.
The word for “excellency” means supremacy and dignity. I didn’t get into the pulpit putting on a show of superiority.
You know, when some people speak, the tone and delivery change based on the audience. If they are speaking to a group that they want to impress, the vocabulary and floweriness of their speech goes up a notch or two. That’s what Paul is talking about. He didn’t come to Corinth preaching the gospel for the first time with a theatrical performance.
The Corinthians would have been very familiar with such performers. Theater was a large part of ancient Greek culture. And traveling thespians plied their trade with entertaining speeches.
But Paul did not begin his gospel presentation to them, back when he founded this church, with highfalutin words, or sophisticated speeches. His job was to educate and persuade them, not impress them with his elocution.
It might be helpful for us to take a look back at the account of Paul first going to Corinth.
Acts 18:1, 4-5 After these events Paul left Athens and went to Corinth….4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. 5 And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.
11 And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
What was his focus: The Word of God and specifically that Jesus was Christ.
B. Directing our focus on to Christ
And so he says here about his Spirit inspired preaching.
2 For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
“I decided to know nothing but Christ crucified.” He made a conscious decision not to get into discussions or arguments about other areas of knowledge. He wouldn’t display his knowledge of philosophy, politics, or world culture. He wouldn’t put on a show of intellect. It wasn’t that he wasn’t intelligent or didn’t know about those things. And it wasn’t that he didn’t have opinions, or intelligent things to say about them. He just wanted to be sure the message remained the message. Christ crucified.
And that also meant that he didn’t want to elevate himself as the messenger.
C. Not elevating the speaker
3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom,
Paul further reminds them of when he first came to Corinth. He says, “I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.” Again, if you remember when we studied Paul’s time in Corinth in the book of Acts, the time of Paul’s going to Corinth was probably a down time for him.
He was driven out of many of the towns he went to. He had been beaten and imprisoned. Before Corinth, his fellow workers left him alone at Athens to go on some other errands. At Athens he saw very little fruit in terms of converts. Many, in Athens, regarded him to be a fool. And some propose that as he came to Athens, he may have also been dealing with a physical ailment that made him literally “weak, fearful, and trembling.”
So not only was he purposely downplaying himself as an intelligent man, he may have been literally sick.
But, he points out here, it all worked out for God’s purposes because it kept the focus on the message; Christ crucified.
And that is rule number one in the work of the Spirit; it centers on the message of Christ crucified.
So, if you want to know if something originates from the Spirit, ask who it promotes.
Too many today promote themselves, or even the Spirit Himself. There are some today who teach that they are commissioned by God to teach the work of the Spirit exclusively. Years ago I heard a charismatic preacher say that God told him that. Other preachers preach the gospel, preach about Jesus, preach about God, his job was to preach the Holy Spirit.
You cannot separate the Holy Spirit from Jesus, or God. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ.
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And the work that they preach that they say is of the Spirit are just outward “sign gifts.” The anointing of the Spirit, how to receive the Holy Spirit, how to receive the gift of speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, being slain in the Spirit, laughing in the Lord, running around the service in the name of the Holy Spirit, supposed healings.
Frankly, today’s charismatic services sound very familiar. Remember what Paul said to the church in Corinth?
26 What is the outcome then, brothers and sisters? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. All things are to be done for edification.
The central hub of the wheel of Christianity is Christ crucified.
So, if you want to know if something comes from the Spirit, look at the message. Is the message centered on Christ and Him crucified. Does the messenger seek to preach the “whole counsel of God?”
Ask yourself,
What do you seek in your life: experiences, spiritual gifts or knowing Christ?
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