Text: 1 Cor. 2:1-12
12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
With the crowds gathered … the old man rises to speak:
“Standing beneath this serene sky, overlooking these broad fields now reposing from the labors of the waning year, the mighty Alleghenies dimly towering before us, the graves of our brethren beneath our feet, it is with hesitation that I raise my poor voice to break the eloquent silence of God and Nature.”
Two hours and nearly 22000 words later the second speaker begins in a voice somewhat higher pitched and reminiscent of his Kentucky and Indiana heritage:
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
The old man, Edward Everett - pastor, politician and orator - the day after their Gettysburg Addresses were delivered sent this short note to President Abraham Lincoln saying:
“I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.”
http://www.stepbystep.com/Edward-Everetts-Gettysburg-Address-126998/
2 And I, [Paul writes] when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
The apostle Paul was called on the Damascus Road by Jesus himself to be his messenger to the Gentiles. Though a Pharisee and teacher of the Law, Paul was not gifted with a powerful presence or lofty speech. His second letter to the Corinthian church makes reference to this when Paul writes:
10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.” 2 Cor. 10:10
And later he says of himself:
6 Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.
But it was to demonstrate God’s power and wisdom through the working of the Holy Spirit – so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Those who are wise in the faith always take the focus off of them and point outside themselves to where our focus must be.
John the Baptist – proclaimed the message of repentance and pointed to the one who was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
In the eyes of the world John was somebody! People were coming to see him, to receive what he offered and who knows … if he played his cars right he might build a great following and continue to draw more people and followers to himself.
In our world … self-importance is big and success is paramount. But God’s wisdom is different. John said:
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”
The focus of John was to herald Christ and to call attention to the work Christ came to do and in that call John was faithful, pointing to the redemption that is found in Jesus and his saving work.
In a sense God’s wisdom is hidden from the world in the folly of the cross and Paul is proclaiming that wisdom to the Corinthian church.
7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.
Ill.
In 1846 former president John Quincy Adams suffered a stroke. Although he returned to Congress the following year, his health was clearly failing.
Daniel Webster described his last meeting with Adams:
"Someone … a friend of his … came in and made particular inquiry of his health. Adams answered, 'I inhabit a weak, frail, decayed tenement; battered by the winds and broken in upon by the storms, and from all I can learn, the landlord does not intend to repair.'"
Today in the Word, April 11, 1992.
Many in our midst know this all too well. The sinful condition is open to full inspection and we all, friends, loved ones and members of the body of Christ see it unfold before us. If it were in our power to heal we would remove the affliction that plagues our love ones … or even as it were offer to take their place.
8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
“Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34
For if they had understood … Christ would not have been crucified and we would not be redeemed.
We would be dead in trespass and sin. So it is with the hidden council of God. He works in his way and in his time to bring low things that are exulted and raises up that which is despised. While the Messiah was expected the form in which he came was not expected except through the revealing of the Spirit.
Our wisdom, by the working of the Holy Spirit, sees not what man sees but what God has revealed. The wisdom of the world and the rulers of this age could not see it or they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
God in Christ in humiliation became what we are. Through the union of flesh and blood into the divine essence the Lord of glory – Jesus Christ became man. This wisdom of God and the power of God cannot be understood apart from the work of the Spirit.
In demonstration of the Spirit Paul preaches Christ crucified 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Dear friends, God has given you peace and life through the revealing of his son by his Spirit so that God’s wisdom is made perfect in weakness and perfect in you, who were once dead in trespass and sin.
But you have received faith in God’s son for the work that he has done for you and by faith in him you are adopted and sealed by his Spirit. You are saved not by your knowledge and wisdom of Christ but by Jesus Christ and his work for you.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
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