1 Corinthian 2:10-16; 3:1-9 The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 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. --- Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
In the above focus we see Paul is much troubled by a lack of spiritual growth in the Corinthians. He knows the people are still closer to the unredeemed than they are to the new life God has given them. His measurement of maturity is the scale of unity that they are residing in now as new creatures. Rather than be at peace with each other because they are now brothers and sisters IN CHRIST, they are disputing about what man they should follow in their walk with Christ. This disputation is not a little thing to Paul, for the following of men and their wisdom, their perspective on the gospel, will lead to a falling away from Christ and the Spirit of God. Rather than listening to the Spirit of God resident inside of them, they are tuned into the voices of people, some of them follow Peter as their guidance, others Paul, Apollo, and even some claim to follow only Jesus. This is shocking to Paul because he knows that following the wisdom and knowledge of people will lead to division within the body of Christ and may even lead some people away from believing the truth. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! (Galatians 1:6-8) The question that Paul will address in his letter to the Corinthians is that salvation comes only through faith IN CHRIST and not through any other means. This message Paul preached to them at the beginning; their conversion to new creatures came through their trust in Christ’s work and not their own. Now Paul sees the wisdom of the world infiltrating the church. As in the secular world, the Corinthians are considering a different avenue to be right with God, based on the wisdom and knowledge of mere humans. How does Paul know this? Because they are selecting different people to be their spiritual leaders in their lives and more than that, they are fighting with others about who the church should follow: Paul, Peter, Apollo, or Christ in the flesh. Selecting spiritual leaders and fighting over who is the best leader is a dangerous route for the church of Christ. This kind of disputation in the secular world is very common, who the people should follow and what man or woman should be exalted as their leader. Jesus in addressing the disciples about this characteristic of men women to squabble over leadership warns his disciples. “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. (Matthew 23:8-12) Paul now sees in the Corinthians a desire to exalt mere humans to a place of leadership. Paul knows this is a sign of carnality and has nothing to do with spirituality. And as we look back into church history, we find the church of Christ being split into factions hundreds of times, and sadly people losing out in knowing Christ as their Savior.
Later on Paul tells the Corinthians that it is dangerous to judge people on their qualifications, charisma, knowledge and wisdom. These are characteristics of the flesh, standards that are used in the world to determine who should lead men and women. However, as new creatures in Christ, Christians' eyes should be fixed on heavenly characteristics: humility, servanthood, holiness, grace, mercy, and goodness. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:15-17) The new creation seeks the man or woman who is willing to wash the feet of all the parishioners, the man or woman who is a servant to all. In the secular world, exalted leaders lord it over everyone, all people are less than they are in their perspective. They rule in arrogance and shameful boldness. However the nature of God is the opposite of the secular rulers. He loves his creation and is willing to do anything for them, even die on a cross. The prophet Jonah knew the nature of God: merciful, compassionate, slow to anger with unfailing love. Instead of the destruction of Nineveh as Jonah broadcast for three days in the city of Nineveh, God relents and does not destroy this wicked city and its people. This causes Jonah to pout: he is mad at God for his goodness to this wicked people. Jonah would have toasted God’s destruction of Nineveh, but now he sees these wicked people being blessed by God. Instead of the fiery judgment that this city deserved, God revealed his true nature of love, mercy and goodness towards those he has created. This angered Jonah; he wished for death. But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” (Jonah 4:1-3) Paul understands that God is a good God and that He alone should be followed as the Holy Spirit leads, not as humans lead in their own understanding of life, using their fleshly perspective, garnered through they own wisdom and knowledge. Paul was fearful the Corinthians were willing to follow men, and their revelation of God not what he had given them that was learned directly from God through the Spirit’s gifting in him. Paul explained this to the church at Galatia. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:11-12) The mystery of God hidden throughout the ages was given to Paul by direct revelation. He had to be blinded by Jesus on the road to Damascus so that he would receive this mystery of God willingly. What was this mystery: that all people everywhere could be made right with God through their faith and trust in Jesus of Nazareth and that Jesus on the cross paid the price for all men and women’s sins. He alone satisfied God’s wrath on sin which is death, by dying on the cross to ransom men and women from the penalty of eternal death. Paul wanted this message of God’s grace and mercy to prosper in the Corinthian church. As Paul said to the Galatians, the unity of Christ should abound in the lives of all Christians. We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:15-16)
Sadly the knowledge and the wisdom of the flesh about spiritual redemption almost always fall in the category of doing right or wrong. The law to control the human nature is very prominent in people’s ideas about finding God or being right with God, but his kind of attitude produces hard soil. The law relies on people doing right, not wrong, on people being good, not bad. The law demands that people work to be like God, to be acceptable to god. But salvation comes through Jesus’ work on the cross. When people cannot put aside the idea of working for their salvation, the devil swoops down and takes the idea of God’s grace and mercy from them. He snatches away what was sown in their heart. The law does not flower into praising God; it keeps the self-willed plant, wilted and dying. The law cannot defeat the weeds in life. It contains no strength to defeat the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth. The nature of life and its activities will choke the word of life, making people who depend on obedience to the law unfruitful. Therefore, what is the life that will produce an abundant crop? The seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. (Matthew 23:23) What is good soil? Good soil Is always Christ. He produces in us his will. And his will is the salt of earth, the light of the world. The good soil provides for the growth of roots, causing the plant to survive no matter how much trouble or persecution the plant experiences. The new life will prosper no matter how strong the wind is against its survival. Paul is concerned about the Corinthian church because they were losing good solid ground by their arguing. He knew that if they depended on anyone’s view about the new life they were experiencing they would not survive. Therefore, he warned them of following men. What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. They are God’s field. Because of being God’s field they should be spiritually minded, not depending on the say of men or women or the ideas of the flesh. He tells them they need to grow up, accept completely the grace and mercy of God in their lives. We know good soil produces a bountiful harvest. Good soil produces those who are willing to endure no matter what the cost is in this world. In our lives we should catch the wind of the Holy Spirit that comes from the heart of God. Let us hear his voice, for those who hear his voice are God’s own children. People around this breakfast table, do not follow men or women; instead, follow the mystery of God which comes through Jesus Christ the Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5) Let that life live in you and that light shine in you, and death and darkness will have to flee.
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