Sermon Tone Analysis

It is very interesting being a pastor.

People treat pastor’s differently.

Once they find out that you are a pastor, they start using different words.

They put out their cigarettes and pretend that they don’t get drunk every other evening.

They also have this idea that a pastor has a special connection with God.

Even those who do not consider themselves religious will ask a pastor to pray for them.

Others will consider the pastor as the ultimate source of all things spiritual, because he is the one who has studied.

He is the one who knows God.

Because of that, he alone can speak for God.

He alone can share the Gospel.

He alone can counsel others in the ways of God.

And yes, I am here to share truth, to counsel those who need help, and to correct those who are sinning in belief or in action.

However, a pastor is not a super-Christian.

I am a sinner just like everyone else, desperately in need of God’s grace.

I do not have special access.

The truth is all those who are spiritually mature can know and reveal the things of God.

Paul opened his letter by reminding the Corinthians who they are:

They are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, part of the family of God.

Based upon who they are, they are to be unified, because their unity is based upon the truths of the Gospel alone.

He is reminding the Corinthians that the Gospel is based on the wisdom of God, not on any supposed human wisdom.

Let’s read the passage at hand:

Pray

We are going to spend two weeks on this passage.

Over the course of these two weeks, we will see that the spiritually mature can know and reveal the things of God.

Today, we will discuss that the spiritually mature can know the things of God.

1A.

The spiritually mature can know the things of God

I have to define two things.

First, I need to define “Spiritually Mature.”

Those who are ready to receive σοφία are those who have attained the spiritually adult perception that wisdom is not a “human device and artifice”; it is “dangerous when preachers think they can use it as a substitute for Christ crucified.”

Spiritual adulthood entails perceiving that wisdom comes from God as a gift in Christ (1:30) which enables the self to live responsibly and wisely for others and for the good of the whole community.

This brings adult responsibilities.

Spiritual maturity means that one is following Christ, seeking his ways and reflecting his ways to the world around.

Spiritual maturity is the opposite of the Corinthians.

At the beginning of chapter 3, he bemoans the fact that they are spiritually immature:

They are not following Christ.

They are not seeking his ways or reflecting his ways to the world around.

Part of spiritual maturity is understanding what wisdom is.

Wisdom is discussed a bunch in Scripture, but mostly in Proverbs.

Solomon associates wisdom with the Fear of the Lord

For one to fear the Lord, one must respect God and live accordingly.

Someone who says that they have an awe of God and yet lives completely against God, does not have an awe or a fear of the Lord.

Action must follow knowledge.

Think about Job.

He was described by God as someone who feared the Lord.

Job lost everything and yet refused to speak disrespectfully about God.

Even when his wife said: curse God and die; he didn’t.

So, let us parallel this with wisdom:

This is wisdom: Knowing something and living according to that knowledge.

Specifically, knowing the ways of God and living accordingly.

Which is why the quote earlier said:

Spiritual adulthood entails perceiving that wisdom comes from God as a gift in Christ (1:30) which enables the self to live responsibly and wisely for others and for the good of the whole community.

This brings adult responsibilities.

There are many people who know things, but they do not live accordingly.

There are many people who know the Bible, but they do not live accordingly.

These are not wise.

They are just knowledgeable.

Most of the world is not wise.

Why?

1B.

God hid his wisdom

Because God hid his wisdom.

The wisdom of God is found through the Salvation which Jesus Christ offers.

Paul says:

God hid his wisdom.

Mankind could not know God by themselves.

Paul wrote in Romans

While God has revealed himself through creation, so that no one is without excuse.

His plan of salvation, his process of bringing people to himself so that they might know him and act accordingly, was hidden since the beginning of time.

Therefore, since the beginning of time, true wisdom could not be found.

But, since the beginning of time, humanity has tried to worm their way to God.

Think about all the religions of the world.

Each one has tried to bring human wisdom to bear on knowing God.

Each religion has an aspect of Christianity, but ultimately, each religion brings spiritual death.

Remember, Paul has spent the last several paragraphs saying that human wisdom will not bring someone to God.

In the wisdom of God, only God can bring someone to himself.

So, Paul begins a list of where true wisdom is not found.

He says that it is not found in the rulers of this age.

He of course is speaking of the political leaders of his time.

But, the same is true of today.

Wisdom is not found in the political leaders of our society.

You say, “I know that.

Never trust a politician.”

I can guarantee that everyone has someone that they look up to.

Some Republicans look to Donald Trump.

Others look back to Bush or Reagan.

And these politicians can do no wrong.

Democrats look to Obama, Kennedy, or FDR.

However, they are all human and they all do not bring wisdom.

No one in government has ever provided wisdom on how to live life, on what laws should be made, on anything.

Because no one in government is God.

Now, even though wisdom is not found in government and policies, God does bestow wisdom on governing officials so that they do not completely run a nation into extinction…most of the time.

Wisdom is not found in the rulers of this age.

He says that wisdom is not found in the wisdom of this age.

He is speaking of cultural understanding.

Every society and culture has a way of doing things.

If you have traveled to Omaha, you will notice that those in Omaha live differently than we do.

Often, they think differently.

Those on the west coast or the east coast are definitely different than we are.

Travel to Mexico, Brazil, Germany, China, Russia, Korea, and you will notice that they live differently and think differently than we do.