Sermon November 9th – 1 Corinthians 2:1-16
Paul begins chapter two by saying, “When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.” As he pointed out in the last chapter there is really no such thing as “human wisdom.” It would be more accurate to say, “what humans call wisdom,” and he pairs it with “eloquence.” Fancy words, clever speech, charm and charisma can easily be confused with the truth. Many people have been distracted by charmers and miss the truth. Paul, by contrast, relied only on the Power of God. SUBSTANCE before FORM. GOD GIVES UNDERSTANDING AND GOD GIVES POWER THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT. IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE SPIRIT YOU ARE MISSING THE ACTIVE INGREDIENT NEEDED TO UNDERSTAND SPIRITUAL THINGS. He says this plainly in v.14, “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.”
Discussion Questions
1. How have you seen charismatic leaders charm people into missing the truth of Scripture? How do you know this is not happening to you?
2. If you have given your life to Christ and been born-again you have the Holy Spirit living in you which gives you the ability to discern spiritual things. How should your posture be towards those who do not have Christ and therefore cannot understand the things of the Spirit? How can you best help them to see?
