FIRST CORINTHIANS Living as God’s People in a Pagan World II

FIRST CORINTHIANS

Living as God’s People in a Pagan World II

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1st Corinthians 1:18-25

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."

20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?


21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;

23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,


24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Two Mega-ThemesIn 1st Corinthians

• Living as Christians in a pagan world.

• Being the Church in a pagan world.




Living as Christians in a Pagan World

1. God’s People: Living as a Minority Group 1:18-2:16

2. Living as God’s People in a Litigious Society 6:1-8

3. Living as God’s People in a Sexually Immoral Climate 6:9-20

4. Living as God’s People in a Culture of Divorce 7:1-40

5. Living as Free People with a Cause 8:1-9:23

6. Living as God’s People in an Idolatrous Age 9:24-10:33

7. Living Steadfast, Knowing How It Turns Out 15









Overview: Living as a Minority Group 1:18-2:16

1. The Christian message seems foolish to the unbelieving world 1:18-25

2. The Christian message is not readily accepted by highly prominent people 1:26-1:31

3. The Christian message is transmitted by supernatural power, not human brilliance 2:1-5

4. The Christian message is a mystery that the unregenerate world just can’t get 2:6-15






Why are we a minority group?


• Vs. 18, Amplified “For the story and message of the cross is sheer absurdity and folly to those who are perishing and on their way to perdition, but to us who are being saved it is the [manifestation of] the power of God.”


• Don’t panic, God said it would be this way:– Vs. 19 “For it is written: "I will destroy

the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

• Don’t panic: it’s a fulfillment of prophecy:– Isaiah 29:14 “Therefore, behold, I will

again do a marvelous work Among this people, A marvelous work and a wonder; For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.”


• Man cannot reason his way to God– Verse 21, Amplified “For

when the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to perceive and recognize and know God by means of its own philosophy”


• Scholarship does not produce relationship– Vs. 20 “So where does this leave

the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made them all look foolish and has shown their wisdom to be useless nonsense.” (NLT)


1. Show me the proof– Vs 22-23 “For Jews request

a sign…”

Three Reactions to the Gospel:


2. Answer my questions– Vs 22-23 “…Greeks seek

after wisdom. but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness”



1. Show me the proof2. Answer my questions3. Recognition

– Vs. 24, HCS “Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God's power and God's wisdom”


A key indicator of our minority status…


• Is Christianity “a religion for losers”?

• Vs. 26, Phillips “For look at your own calling as Christians, my brothers. You don't see among you many of the wise (according to this world's judgment) nor many of the ruling class, nor many from the noblest families.”


• God’s deliberate plan• Vs. 28, Amplified “And God

also selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is lowborn and insignificant and branded and treated with contempt, even the things that are nothing, that He might depose and bring to nothing the things that are”


• Salvation: All of God’s doing– Vs. 30 “But you—and it is all

God’s doing—are in Christ Jesus: He has become for us a wisdom which is from God, consisting of righteousness and sanctification and deliverance”

• Vs. 30, Amplified “But it is from Him that you have your life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, [revealed to us a knowledge of the divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as] our Righteousness [thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God], and our Consecration [making us pure and holy], and our Redemption [providing our ransom from eternal penalty for sin].”

God’s Wise Secret Plan Brought Us Three Things Through Christ

• Righteousness: Set Right with God

• Sanctification: Set Apart for God

• Redemption: Set Free by God

FIRST CORINTHIANS

Living as God’s People in a Pagan World


1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,

4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,


5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;

7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;


8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;

9 but just as it is written, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND WHICH HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM."

10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.


11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,

13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.


14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.

16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.

























In spite of our minority status, we want to influence our society…


• You don’t have to be super-smart– Vs. 1, NLT “I didn’t use lofty

words and brilliant ideas to tell you God’s message.”

To tell people about Jesus:


• You don’t have to be a super speaker– Amplified “In lofty words of

eloquence”



• You don’t have to be super-confident– Vs. 3, Phillips “As a matter of

fact, in myself I was feeling far from strong; I was nervous and rather shaky.”



• You have to talk about Jesus & the cross– Vs. 2 “For I determined not

to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”



• You have to rely on the Holy Spirit– Vs. 4 “And my speech and my

preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power”



• You have to talk about Jesus and the cross

• You have to rely on the Holy Spirit

• You need to sell the Product and not the salesman– Vs. 5 “So that your faith might

not be based on men's wisdom but on God's power.”


Our minority status is the by-product of a spiritual dynamic…


• The recipients of God’s wisdom: the mature

• Vs. 6, NLT “Yet when I am among mature Christians, I do speak with words of wisdom”


• This wisdom doesn’t come from the cultural elite

• Vs. 6, Phillips “…it is not what is called wisdom by this world, nor by the powers-that-be, who soon will be only the powers that have been.”


• Hidden wisdom• Vs. 7, NLT “No, the wisdom we

speak of is the secret wisdom of God, which was hidden in former times…”


• It represents a plan for our glory

• Vs. 7, Weymouth “…that hidden wisdom which, before the world began, God pre-destined, so that it should result in glory to us”

• Colossians 3:4 “When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”


• No one recognizes this wisdom apart from it being revealed

• Vs. 8, NIV “None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

• Vs. 9, NRSV “But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’”– Isaiah 64:4 Also, Isaiah 65:17

• Vs. 10, Phillips “But God has, through the Spirit, let us share his secret.”

• Vs. 10-11, NIV “…The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.”

No one recognizes this wisdom apart from it being revealed


• The indwelling Spirit reveals our blessings

• Vs. 12, NIV “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.”



• People in their natural condition are unable to grasp spiritual truth

• Vs. 14, NAS95 “…But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God”

• Vs. 14, Phillips “But the unspiritual man simply cannot accept the matters which the Spirit deals with - they just don't make sense to him, for, after all, you must be spiritual to see spiritual things.”


• People in a supernatural condition are enabled to grasp spiritual truth

• Vs. 15, Phillips “The spiritual man, on the other hand, has an insight into the meaning of everything, though his insight may baffle the man of the world.”

• Vs. 16, Phillips “…Incredible as it may sound, we who are spiritual have the very thoughts of Christ!”

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FIRST CORINTHIANS Living as God’s People in a Pagan World II