The Mind of Christ
Godly Living in the Today's World: A Study in 1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted
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Two Wisdoms
Two Wisdoms
1 Corinthians 2:6–10 (NIV)
We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—
these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
The wisdom of the day is focused on self. The Jews were seeking a wisdom that would shift their position before God through good deeds and obedience to the law. The Greeks were seeking a wisdom that would lead to greater enlightenment and spur greater human thought.
Sadly both of these wisdoms lead only to fruitless pursuits and temporary fulfillment. How many good works must be done in order to position yourself as holy and blameless before Almighty God? How can human reasoning unlock the hidden truths of a universe that finds its origins in a Creator who is greater than? These pursuits only lead to circular arguments and broken feelings of inadequacy. Look at every major belief system of the day. To function, every belief system has had to either deny reality or embark on the same circular journey as the greeks and the Jews.
Instead, Paul points us to the wisdom of the Lord. The wisdom of God is unchanging no matter our circumstances and situations because the God who has bestowed this wisdom upon us is not only greater than and outside of our circumstances and decisions, but He has also walked through our circumstances and decisions. This is why we keep returning to a book written thousands of years ago to find the truth and answers for today. God’s wisdom is timeless because He is timeless.
The Mind of Christ
The Mind of Christ
1 Corinthians 2:11–16 (NIV)
For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
The key to godly wisdom and godly living is a relationship with God. Who can know the mind of God apart from God?
We are seeking the truth of One who created all things. His wisdom is rooted in the true reality that there is more than just the physical. Our physical truth is only a partial picture so at best, human wisdom can only provide half truth. God though has the whole picture. His truth is absolute for it comes with the understanding of both the physical and the spiritual.
Through Christ, we have been given the mind of the Spirit. We are indwelt with the Spirit.