December 3, 2023
Adult SS Class

Impact

Capture their attention.

When is the last time you looked at your high school yearbook? What would be the top few things, without even looking, that you know we would find if we were to open one up this morning? Crazy hairstyles? Strange clothing styles? There would be no lack of the weirdness of the early 2000s, or 90s, or for some even farther back than that. But one thing that there would be a lack of for sure, we would find signatures and notes signed by our friends that show a lack of wisdom. Little notes, autographs, and scribbles with all of the wisdom of an 18-year-old.

Connect with those listening.

When I think of my yearbook, it reminds me that we often hear about taking a verse out of context. Romans 8:28 or Philippians 4:13, for example, are often quoted but sometimes misused. This morning’s chapter has a verse that I took out of context over 20 years ago. In our high school yearbook, there were places to put a brief quote under our picture. For my quote, I put 1 Corinthians 2:9. What a beautiful verse about heaven and the wonderful things that God has prepared for us in the future… right? We’ll come back to this verse in a little bit.

Identify

Reveal their need to learn.

Whether we are dealing with a yearbook quote that will collect dust in an attic or show up at Goodwill one day or not, we all still have the responsibility to know what the Bible says, what those words are teaching us, and how to apply that to our life. In one word, we need wisdom.

What does wisdom look like for a lost young person? It looks like trusting in Jesus Christ and being saved.

What does wisdom look like for saved adults, half-way through life, with kids getting older, perhaps moving out soon, and life changing in ways you never could have dreamed of back when your yearbook pictures were taken… we also need wisdom on how to serve Jesus Christ in the stage of life we’re in with a focus on what he wants us to keep at the forefront.

Relate to those listening.

We don’t know everything, the more we learn the more we realize we don’t know, and pastor or youth worker or teacher or spouse or parent, or any other area of responsibility that each one of us have in some way, we have the responsibility to help those around us with the wisdom God has given to us.

And quite often, we don’t feel adequate do we? Well, we shouldn’t feel adequate as humans. And that is the very thing Paul will say in chapter 2. We need a wisdom that is more than human but is spiritual. And since it is spiritual, it only has one source. Chapter 1 spoke about division among personalities. Chapter 3 will say it again. But here in chapter 2 Paul tells us what “Personality” will teach us when it comes to things of the Spirit.

Idea

What is my main point?

The cross of Christ (chapter 1) and the wisdom of God (chapter 2) that will know how to view all of life through the lens of a crucified Savior can only happen by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Instruct

The Message of Christ

We saw in our first lesson from Acts 18 how the church at Corinth began. Paul taught them for 18 months. What was his message?

1. His message was not filled with artful language to reach the mind in a way that the orators of his day would have spoken.
2. Among the wisdom and style of the Corinthians speeches, Paul decided that his message would not be described by its delivery but by its content. His message was on Jesus Christ. Note the emphasis “and him” (demonstrative pronoun: this one right here). What word describes Jesus Christ? Crucified. Not crucified in the sense that it happened in the past tense as only historical fact, but crucified in the sense that while it may have happened in the past, it still matters today (so, there must have been something happened after that crucifixion that is out of the ordinary).

His settled resolve was that he would do only what served the gospel of Christ crucified, regardless of people’s expectations or seductive shortcuts to success, most of all the seduction of self-advertisement. Neither then nor now does the gospel rest on the magnetism of “big personalities.”¹

3. The proof of the message’s power was not in how Paul delivered it, but it was in something that happened through the power of the Holy Spirit. This power of the Spirit does not mean it was loud, or clever, or funny, or mesmerizing.

But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
1 Corinthians 4:19–20

His message was single-focused (about Jesus Christ), simply delivered (not flowery), and “seeable” results (lives changed through the gospel).

5. So that (for this purpose) that their faith would not be in Paul, or Peter, or Apollos, or anyone else, but their faith would be brought about by God’s power which is demonstrated through the gospel of Jesus Christ believed, despite not being seen, by faith.

The Wisdom of the Holy Spirit

There is a need for wisdom, but what Paul has in mind is not a worldly, human wisdom. So if Paul does defend wisdom, and he says that we do indeed speak wisdom to people, what kind of wisdom is it?

It is not a wisdom that comes from this world, or from the highest of this world (or the unseen rulers above them?), and it will not pass away. So, it must be an eternal wisdom.

7. Paul calls this wisdom a mystery and hidden. And it is pre-planned by God. How do you get it, a secret initiation?
8. If this wisdom was known… and what event does Paul go to as his thoughts are on wisdom? Guess. A crucified Lord.

The hidden mystery is no longer hidden mystery. It is a proclaimed Person.

To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Colossians 1:27

That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Colossians 2:2–3

Foundation for this truth?

How can Paul say that Christ is the wisdom of God sent to us? How does Paul base his argument? He uses the Old Testament.

9. This verse is from Isiah 64:4

For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, Neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, What he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.
Isaiah 64:4

I said in the beginning that we would get back to this verse. How many of you have heard of this verse and thought that it refers to heaven and how good it is going to be? Most of us. How many even used this verse in your yearbook senior picture thinking about heaven? I did.

But Paul has a different goal. Paul does not point people to heaven so much as he is more concerned to point people to Christ (remember, he talked about Jesus Christ literally/mathematically more than anything else in his writings. How many times did he talk about his trip to paradise? Once.)

Paul knows the context of these Old Testament “verses” better than we could ever imagine. He isn’t pulling verses out of thin air to put on a coffee mug or wall hanging. So where does this beautiful verse come from?

Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, That the mountains might flow down at thy presence, As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, To make thy name known to thine adversaries, That the nations may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, Thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, Neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, What he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.
Isaiah 64:1–4

This verse comes from a passage that describes God tearing the heavens open and coming down to his people in a marvelous way. That happens in the future, right?

This passage is also used in another place in our New Testament. This passage is alluded to when Jesus was baptized.

And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Mark 1:9–11

The word that Mark uses to describe the heavens opening is a word he doesn’t use often to describe something opening. He uses it again at the end of the gospel to describe an event at the, guess what, crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.
Mark 15:38

The veil was torn in two at the crucifixion. The sky was torn open at Jesus baptism and the Holy Spirit descended.

You want to know where true wisdom is found? It is found in the mighty coming down of God in the person of Jesus Christ in a way the world wouldn’t think of as mighty—being dipped in a river and nailed to a cross.

The work of the Holy Spirit

10. And that wisdom is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. He knows all. He knows all of God’s mind.

How do you know what is in someone’s mind, especially perfectly? We can’t. But we can know the mind of God because the Holy Spirit is God.

12. We have received that Holy Spirit. This does not mean we will know all of God’s wisdom, Christ, perfectly. It is so that we might understand what we have in Christ, and this is an ongoing work in our life.

What are the things freely given to us? Does Paul use that language anywhere else? Is there going to be an event in your mind Paul connected with this “all things” language?

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Romans 8:31–32

We see again that Paul is connecting a crucified Savior (delivered up for us) with his teaching about what is freely given as a gift to us.

What are those things? Anything that God uses (Romans 8:28) to conform us to the image of his Son (Romans 8:29). This will often include all things that seem to go against being a child of God according to human wisdom (Romans 8:35–39).

How do we understand the trials of this life being used by God to make us look more like his Son in ways that are often so slow and so imperceivable that we question is God even for us or has he turned against us?

That takes the wisdom of the Holy Spirit as he focuses our minds and hearts on the crucified Jesus Christ.

13. We learn that immediately, right? We wish. It is learned slowly as people teach us with wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit and is taught to people with the Holy Spirit. Spiritual wisdom that informs spiritual teaching that reaches spiritual people. All a work of the Holy Spirit.
14. Without the Holy Spirit these things (conformed to the image of a crucified Savior by going through all sorts of afflictions that we go through in this life?!) will seem foolish.

When you are struggling to have faith or it seems that these things just don’t add up, don’t give in to the temptation of thinking misunderstanding means foolishness. If we all understood what God was doing, then we wouldn’t need to be taught. But we do need to be taught because we are still learning and in a constant state of more and more understanding. There may be dark nights where the devil says to just give it all up, this is silly, this is foolish, are you sure you really believe God is for you and that this is the way of wisdom…

Do not name anyone but think through the list I printed of each person on the SS email list, where they are right now, what they have been through that I know about, perhaps things that I or nobody knows about. What are the things I have seen and heard with this group of people that would/could have caused them to think, “God, are you sure you know what you’re doing?” If I could talk to them one-on-one, look them in the eye, and point them to Jesus Christ and say “this is how Jesus is with you in abcxyz.”

15. And then on top of all the inward battles, you may have people come along and try to judge you and condemn you. But Paul says that someone with the Holy Spirit can judge/evaluate all of these things but when it comes to other people who do not have the Holy Spirit, they cannot judge you (though they think they are… use the book example of someone with no sense of smell trying to tell you what something smells like and taste like—it’s all talk). Let the world and its wisdom say what it will, those who belong to God can learn with wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit that points us back to Jesus Christ. And whether it is the division at Corinth or the problems of Anderson, Starr, and Iva, the one we belong to is not ignorant but is omniscient.
16. Tell us Paul, how do we know you are not just making all this up? Any proof, what’s your foundation. Again, he goes back to the Old Testament, this time using the same book as used in verse 9.

Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, Or being his counseller hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, And taught him in the path of judgment, And taught him knowledge, And shewed to him the way of understanding?
Isaiah 40:13–14

(Remembering that Paul knows his Old Testament well, it shouldn’t shock us that he quotes from a chapter, surprise surprise, that has in its background the coming down of God in a mighty way that at first sight didn’t look very mighty (the beginning of the chapter is the passage that is used to described John the Baptist crying in the wilderness to Prepare the way for the Lord. Pray that God gives us wisdom the everywhere we look we see the wisdom of God connected to the coming of Christ.)

Inspire

What changes could take place to celebrate when we return?

If Jesus used this message to impact people in several ways, what might those be?

There will be major things you face. And there will be minor things that come up. And, you may find out that what looked minor actually had very, very major consequences. I recently talked to someone this week about a young person who decided to make a very major decision. What do you say in those situations?

Sometimes we don’t know what to say. Sometimes some events leave us at a loss for words. But as we learn more about what the Bible says, and as the Holy Spirit applies it to our life, we will slowly gain godly wisdom.

In chapter 1, we saw that Paul addressed the thought of church unity by taking them back to the cross: “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?”

In chapter 2, we see that Paul addresses human wisdom: “human wisdom isn’t sufficient. If it was up to human wisdom we would not have a crucified Savior (2:8).” It seems like whatever the topic, Paul is taking it in someway back to Jesus Christ.

How do you take current issues, present struggles, hurts and heartaches back to an event that happened 2,000 years ago? You can’t, but you can take them back to the person who died on the cross but is alive as we sit here this morning. And whether you get a direct answer or not, one thing will be sure: if you are spending time asking Jesus about how the cross and resurrection work in this situation, that might be part of the solution in the first place—you’ve begun to look to Jesus, the very thing Hebrews 12 tells us to do anyway as we run this race (looking unto Jesus…), taking your mind off things of the earth and setting them on things and Him above.

What biblical promises can I give them as they go out?

So in this chapter about the centrality of the cross of Christ to Paul and that godly wisdom is not of human origin but from the Holy Spirit, Paul ends this chapter with hope.

“We have the mind of Christ.” How can Paul say that we have something that the Old Testament says, “Ain’t nobody known this!”

The Old Testament people of God could not look forward to what Jesus was going to do on the cross, but with eyes opened by the Holy Spirit we can look back to what he did. And that is why Isaiah said, “you can’t know this” and Paul said, “but now we can.”

We can look back to where Jesus was crucified and resurrected. And that is where, most powerfully, you will see the wisdom of God on full display for this world and even the unseen world to behold. Whether we are talking about the problems at Corinth or the problems we face today, if God is not taken by surprise at the most tragic even in world history (but actually planned it), then there’s nothing, NOTHING, you will go through this week that God has not planned, that Jesus did not die for, and that the Holy Spirit will not use to give you more wisdom about the one you love who first loved you… and as we’ll see in chapter 13, what could be greater than gaining more wisdom about “the greatest of these: love.”

1. Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 212. ↩