"In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy!" (ESV says, "faithful"!)
 
Last week, in I Corinthians 3:16-23, the apostle Paul continued to exhort the Corinthian "brothers" about the jealousies and strife, and divisions and factions, that were occurring in the church of Corinth--things that were threatening to destroy the "church of God in Corinth," the church that Paul had founded, built on the foundation of Jesus Christ!  "Do you not know," he asked, "that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"  And that God jealously guards that which is holy, and that "if any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him--for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are"!  So, he urged that they not follow the ways and wisdom of the world by living as they were, among other things, in "boasting in men" and favoring one leader over another, all of which was "foolishness to God"!  Don't you know that "all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come!  All things belong to you and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God"!  MacArthur commented that, "In Christ not just some but all good and holy things are for the believer's blessing and God's glory"!  And we noted how the apostle Peter (in II Peter 1:3) wrote, "Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and excellence"!  And Paul added, in Ephesians 1:3-4, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless in Him"!  And so, the basis, and necessity, for them to be united together as believers and servants of Jesus Christ!
 
And with that, speaking of "servants of Jesus Christ," and setting the scene for our lesson last night on I Corinthians 4, where the apostle Paul begins by explaining more about what a true servant of Christ actually is, how he should live, what he must endure, and how he should be viewed by all of us!
 
"Let a man regard us (speaking of himself, Apollos and Cephas, and all fellow ministers), in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God"!  The word "servant" in this passage, in the Greek, meaning "under rower"! Picturing large big-bellied, wooden ships which in those days had three levels of oars, with slaves at the bottom level of the ships known as the "under-rowers," or "galley slaves," following the captain's commands, and performing the most menial, and despised, task of rowing at the bottom tier of the boat!  
 
A slightly different word for "servant" is used in II Corinthians 6:4, with the Greek meaning "table waiter"--where Paul writes, "...in everything commending ourselves as servants ( or "table waiters") of God"!  And so, Paul pictures a "servant of God" in these passages as being nothing more than a third-level "galley slave," or "table waiter"!  (Jesus used this same second word for servants, incidentally, in describing His disciples, in Luke's gospel!)
 
In that II Corinthians 6 passage noted above, Paul goes on (in verses 4-10) to describe some of the things that came along with being a true servant of God (or at least it did for him, and it's all but mind-boggling!): "in much endurance (he says), in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labor, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth; in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well known, as dying and yet we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things"!  Wow!
 
But not only a "servant of Christ"!  A "steward of the mysteries of God"!  A "steward" typically describes a special kind of servant who is entrusted with the administration of another person's property, or estate, charged with looking after his master's interests, and being accountable to him for what happens!  And "the mysteries of God" refers to divine revelation previously hidden!  Paul wrote about this, you'll remember, in I Corinthians 2:7-9, where he said, "But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 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, but just as it is written: 'things which the 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 that love Him"!
 
And so the Bible is the unfolding of the "mysteries of God," and the faithful steward who is accountable to God will diligently attend himself to it!  The apostle Paul exhorts Timothy, in II Timothy 2:15, to "be diligent in presenting himself approved to God as workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth"!
 
The apostle Peter writes (in I Peter 4:10), "As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God!" And so, we too as believers are called as "stewards of God"!
 
Whew!  The Bible Hub notes how I Corinthians 4 "portrays the paradoxical nature of apostle life as lowly in the eyes of the world but rich in spiritual blessing"!
 
MacArthur notes that the most important foundational virtue of a servant of the Lord--the "benchmark of a faithful servant"--is summed up with the word "humility"!  And we see that quality consistently manifested in the ministry of the apostle Paul!  Acts 20:19. for example, describes Paul traveling through Asia, "serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came to him through the plots of the Jews"!  In Ephesians 3:8-12, he writes, "To me, the very least of all saints (note his own assessment of himself!), this grace was given to me, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery (there it is again!) which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.  This is in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.  Therefore, I do not lose heart at my tribulation on your behalf, for they are for your glory!"
 
In verses 6-7, Paul returns to his concern about strife and factions in the church, noting how he had used himself and Apollos as "illustrations" for the Corinthians (as the Phillip's translation puts it) "so that they might learn from them how not to assess man above his value in God's sight, and thus avoid arrogance and the friction that comes exalting one teacher against another"  (ESV says "becoming puffed up in favor of one against another"!)
 
Then, beginning with verse 8, Paul resorts to using "sarcasm" to rebuke the Corinthians about how they viewed themselves spiritually, in their false way of thinking--likening them to the "lukewarm Laodiceans" (of Revelation 3) who John describes as those thinking of themselves, and presenting themselves before the world, as rich and wealthy and in need of nothing, not realizing that they were wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked"!   By contrast Paul notes how "God has exhibited us (again speaking of himself and Apollos) as last of all, as men condemned to death--becoming a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men...and fools for Christ's sake"! He goes on in his sarcasm: "You are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor!  To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; and poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless!  We toil, working with our hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now"!  (Seeming to picture the apostles as being dragged into the Roman colosseum as a "spectacle to the world," like doomed gladiators in the arena!)
 
All this reflecting the kind of treatment the apostle Paul was willing to endure in order to proclaim the gospel! (Giving further credence to the Bible Hug's assessment, "portraying the paradoxical nature of apostolic life, as lowly in the eyes of the Lord but rich in spiritual blessing"!
 
Interestingly, Jesus, in Matthew 19:28, said to his disciples that "those who left everything and followed Him, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, would (one day!) sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel'!  
 
So why did Paul write what he did (as noted above)?  To shame the Corinthians?  "I did not write these things to shame you," he says, "but to admonish you as my beloved children"--picturing himself as their "spiritual father," through the gospel!  And for that reason, Constable notes, he became very stern with them and felt a tremendous sense of responsibility as a loving father to his children, to exhort them and set an example for them, and calling for them "to imitate him" as he sought to imitate Christ!  And for that purpose, he said he had sent for Timothy, "his beloved and faithful child in the Lord," who he said would "remind them of my ways which are in Christ"!
 
And so, as Constable notes, Paul concluded this first major section of his epistle (chapters 1-4)  "by asserting his apostolic authority, which led him to exhort and try to correct the Corinthian's shameful conduct and carnal philosophy, ending with a warning that if they didn't respond to his gentle approach (as a loving father!) to correct their problems, he would have to deal with them more severely when he returned to Corinth (speaking again as a "spiritual father")!  We'll see!
 
I'm sure that Paul could relate, with all of us as fathers (whether just physical, or "spiritual" fathers), to the apostle John's words in 3rd John 4. "I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth!"
 
"Rise up, O men of God, for you the church doth wait!"  Sing it with me!
 
Lowell 

"For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.  For it is written, 'He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness; and again, 'The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless!" (I Corinthians 3:19-20)
 
Last week, the apostle Paul wrote (in I Corinthians 3:1-3) that he "couldn't speak to the Corinthians as spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, infants in Christ...unable to receive solid food...since there was jealousy and strife among them"--leading to factions and cliques in the church, and stymieing their growth as believers who should be working together and united in Christ!  And so Paul spends the first four chapters of his epistle, basically addressing this problem--thus something that obviously was a "big deal" to God!
 
Paul said that "according to the grace of God given to him, like a wise master builder, he laid the foundation, and another is building on it...but that each man must be careful how he builds on it; for no man can lay a foundation other than the one that is laid, which is Jesus Christ...and if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work!  And if any man's work remains, he will receive a reward...but if it's burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire!"
 
And so, we are all builders, Paul says, and the materials that are laid on the foundation represent our "works," good or bad!  We can't be saved by works, but Ephesians 2:10 says that "every Christian has been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them"!  Works are not the source of a Christian's life, but the marks of it, MacArthur notes!  And II Corinthians 5:10 says that, as believers, we will all "stand before the judgment seat of Christ, so that we may be compensated for the deeds done in our body"!  And, as we can see more clearly now, this should motivate us to live a life pleasing to the Lord, as it also motivated Paul!
 
This then set the tone for our lesson last night (on I Corinthians 3:16-23), where Paul continues with this same line of thought, and particularly about the importance of being united together as believers in Christ!
 
"Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"  Do you not know?  Ten times in the book of I Corinthians Paul uses these words as the starting point to introduce something important and indisputable he wants to get across!  (For example, in 5:6, where he asks, "Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?"  Or, in 9:24, where he asks, "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize?")  
 
But here (in 3:16), referring to individual believers? Or is he referring to the Corinthian church in which God's Spirit indwelt? "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" Constable writes that "Paul was not speaking here of individual believers being temples of God, though they are (as stated in 6:19), or of the church universal, though it is (as stated in Ephesians 2:19-22 and I Peter 2:5).  He meant instead the composite of believers who made up the local church of Corinth, as is clear from his use of the plural 'you' in the Greek text, and the singular 'temple'!  And so, not just any building but a temple that God inhabited!  God's sanctuary in Corinth where the Spirit of God dwelt"!
 
And, like each individual Christian, it is holy, and God jealously guards that which is holy!  And so, the passage is accompanied (in verse 17) with a warning!  "If any man destroys (or defiles) the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are!"  In the Old Testament God dwelt in the "Holy of Holies," of the tabernacle (later the temple), where once a year, on the "Day of Atonement," the high priest would enter to offer a blood sacrifice for the people.  Anyone else who dared to enter was immediately struck dead!  And there are other examples, in the New Testament, of how God jealously guarded that which is holy!  In Acts 5:1-11, in the case of the Ananias and Sapphira, "lying to the Holy Spirit"!  In I Corinthians 11:28-30, in the case of one "drinking of the cup unworthily," when partaking of the Lord's Supper!  All of which should give new meaning to the warning in I Corinthians 6:18-20, where it says: "Flee fornication!  Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body!  Or do you not know (there it is again!) that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body!"
 
In verse 18, the apostle Paul returns to the issue of the wisdom of God in contrast with the wisdom of the world, with yet another warning!  "Let no man deceive himself...by thinking that he is wise in the wisdom of this age"!  And so starts with a warning about self-deception, and being enthralled with the wisdom of the world!  In II Corinthians 11:3, Paul would write, "But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ!"  If any man thinks he is wise in this age, he must become foolish (in the eyes of the world!) so that he may become wise"!  
 
MacArthur writes that in order to gain and maintain unity in the church we must not be deceived--by deceiving ourselves--but have "a proper view of ourselves, of others, of our possessions, and of our Possessor"!  It all comes down to how we "think" about these things!  (Proverbs 23:7 says, "For as a man thinks within himself, so he is!")  
 
And, according to Paul, it's wrong to line in cliques behind one or another of God's servants and to "boast in people"!  By doing so, Constable points out, the Corinthians were "limiting God's blessings on them--by, in effect, rejecting God's good gifts by not appreciating all the people that God had sent to help them"!  "All" God's servants (Paul, Apollos, and Cephas) were gifts to the Corinthians!  In fact, Paul declares that the "the world and all that life holds" (including "things present and things to come") belong to the Corinthians (and, by application, to all Christians!) and contain blessings for them, in the sense that "Christians will inherit it and reign over it with Christ one day"!
 
Paul concludes I Corinthians 3 with this: "All things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God!"  Wow!  What a great conclusion for this lesson!  Knowing that believers belong to Christ and therefore to each other should be the greatest incentive for unity in the church!  And it fulfills Jesus' high priestly prayer, in John 17:20-21, where Jesus prayed that not only His disciples, but that "all those who also would also believe in Him through their word, might be one, even as He and His Father were one, so that the world might believe that You sent Me"!  What a great ending to this passage!  Realizing God's great desire that we, as believers, be one!  But there's so much more to come!
 
MacArthur notes that, "in Christ, all good and holy things are for the believers' blessing and God's glory"!  II Peter 1:3 says, "seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and excellence"!  And Ephesians 1:3-4 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him..."!
 
"Bless be the tie that binds, our hearts in Christian love...!"
 
May God be with you all!
 
Lowell

"For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ!" (I Corinthians 3:11)
 
In last week's lesson (on I Corinthians 2:1-16), the apostle Paul claimed that in ministering to the Corinthians he "determined to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and Him crucified"!  He had come to Corinth after having been beaten and imprisoned in Philippi, run out of Thessalonica and Berea, and scoffed at in Athens, and must have wondered what was next for him in Corinth!  But, as we noted, he was never one to complain about his mistreatment, or to allow his "weakness in the flesh" to affect his ministry for Christ!  In II Corinthians 12:7-10 he wrote about the "thorn in the flesh" he had been given, that he said God used to "keep him from exalting himself," and how that even though he had "implored the Lord three times for it to be removed, it was not removed," but the Lord had allowed it to remain, assuring him that "His grace was sufficient for him and that His strength was made perfect in Paul's weakness"!  And so he resolved to "most gladly glory in his weakness that the power of Christ might rest upon him"!  And so, we can better understand why he would write, in I Corinthians 2:4, that "his message and preaching were "not with persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that their faith (the faith of the Corinthian believers) would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God"!  And he makes repeated references to the working of the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer, making known to them "the wisdom of God," through revelation, inspiration, and illumination!
 
Remember how Jesus, in John 14:16-17--in preparing His disciples for His soon departure--said that He would "ask the Father, and that He would give them another Helper who would be with them forever...even the Spirit of truth, whom the world could not receive"!  Then, in verses 26-27, how the Holy Spirit would "teach them all things, and bring to their remembrance all that He had said to them" (thus equipping them to write the gospels!)  Acts 2 records the coming of the Holy Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, and verses 41-47 tell how "those who received the word...were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer...and how day by day they continued with one mind in the temple praising God and having favor with all the people, as the Lord added to their number those who were being saved"!  And so, the "church age" got its start!
 
II Peter 1:20-21 tells us how "men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God," giving us the sacred Scripture!  And II Timothy 3:16-17 (in the Phillips translation) says that "all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the faith and correcting error, for resetting the direction of a man's life and training him in  good living...the comprehensive equipment of the man of God, and fit him fully for all branches of his life"!
 
But, as we learned last week, Paul says (in I Corinthians 2:14) that "the 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 discerned"!  We, on the other hand (as believers), because we have the indwelling Holy Spirit, along with the inspired Word of God, are able to "know, and have, the mind of God"--and the wisdom of God!  And so we pray, with the Psalmist (in Psalm 119:18), Lord, "open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law"!  And that's why we gather--as MOBsters--to study God's Word, and seek the "wisdom of God"!  We even sang about it last week--and it set the tone for our lesson last night on I Corinthians 3, which highlights "factions" in the church of Corinth, and the importance of pursuing spiritual maturity and the unity of believers in Christ!
 
The apostle Paul begins chapter 3 by addressing the Corinthian believers as "brothers," even though he says he "couldn't speak of them as spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ"!  Wow!  And what's the evidence that this was the case?  In verse 3 he says, "since there's jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and walking like mere men"!  Then, picking up on what he says he learned from "Chloe's people' (in 1:11) that there were quarrels and divisions among them, with some saying they were "of Paul," others "of Apollos," others "of Cephas," and others "of Christ"!  "Has Christ been divided?" Paul asks!  And who are Paul and Apollos that they should be elevated?  Yes, Paul says he "planted"!  And Apollos "watered," but "neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth"!  (Macarthur calls it "a humble but accurate assessment of the roles of pastors and teachers"!)
 
MacArthur also notes that "factionalism was the divisive product of carnality"--which is defined as "having the nature of the flesh...governed by mere human nature, not by the Spirit of God!  Prone to sin!" And so, the Corinthians, after a year and a half of Paul's preaching, and five years later, were "still on milk" and, as a result, Paul says he wasn't able to teach them "the deeper things of God's revelation, and they weren't able to understand and apply Christian principles for their lives!  So their growth as believers was stymied!  
 
Constable notes that "this section of verses makes it clear that it's possible for genuine Christians to behave like, and to appear to be, unbelievers; that the Corinthians' conduct indicated both their immaturity and their carnality, but that not their lack of eternal life; and that prolonged immarturity as a result of carnality is a condition that is all too common in modern Christianity; and yet that we should not pass judgment of a person's salvation...because we don't really understand the heart of another person, and his (or her) relationship with Christ!"
 
In I Peter 2:1-2, Peter challenges believers scattered throughout churches in Asia Minor and elsewhere to "put aside all malice and deceit and hyposcrisy and envy and all slander like newborn babies, longing for the pure milk of the word, that they might grow in respect to salvation..."!  And Paul writes, in Hebrews 5:11-14, "Concerning him (speaking of Melchizedek, as a type of Christ) we have much to say, and it's hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.  For though, by this time ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and have come to need milk and not solid food.  For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil"!
 
In verses 10-11, Paul says that "according to the grace of God which was given to him, like a wise master builder," he laid the foundation, and another is building on it; but each man must be careful how he builds on it," and that "no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ"!  And he adds (in verses 12-13) that "if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, (or) precious stones (all good materials), or wood, hay, straw (the bad materials), each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it because it is to be revealed by fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work"!  The materials represent the believer's response to how well they serve the Lord with what He has given them!  In other words, they represent his "works"!  We cannot be saved by good works but Ephesians 2:10 says that every Christian has been "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."  MacArthur notes that "works are not the source of the Christian life but the marks of it"!  Every Christian is a builder, and every Christian builds with some sort of materials, and God wants us to use only the best materials, which will last!  MacArthur writes that:

• When a pastor preaches sound, solid doctrine he is building constructively!
• When a teacher teaches the Word consistently, he is building with good materials
• When a person with the "gift of helps" spends himself serving others in God's name, he is building with materials that will endure testing and bring great reward!
• When a believer's life is holy, submissive, and worshipful, he is living a life built with precious materials!

Verse 14-15 say, "If any man's work which he has built on it (the foundation!) remains, he will receive a reward. (But!) If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet as through fire"!
 
The "day"?  II Corinthians 5:10 says, "...we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad"!  Every believer is ultimately accountable to God!  The "judgment seat" metaphorically refers to the place where the Lord shall sit (following the Rapture!) to evaluate believers' lives for the purpose of giving them eternal rewards. Translated from the Greek word "bema" which was an elevated platform where victorious athletes during the Olympic games went to receive crowns!  Corinth had such a platform where both athletes awards nad legal justice was dispensed!  Paul was referring to a place for a believer's eternal rewards, not a place for judgment for sin, since that judgment took place for the believer on the cross of Christ!  Romans 8:1 say "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"!  
 
So, is it wrong for a believer to be motivated to serve the Lord in order to receive an eternal reward?  MacArthur notes that the apostle Paul's greatest motivation was the Lord's coming to reward his own, and that his supreme objective was to stand before the Lord and hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"  In Philippians 3:13-14, he wrote, "This one thing I do; forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus"!   And he spoke of his life (in I Corinthians 9:24-27) as "running a race to win the imperishable wealth of the Lord's reward"!  So, is it wrong for us to be motivated to serve the Lord to receive an award?  Not according to Paul, apparently!  But our greatest motivation should be out of love and gratitude for the Lord's grace and mercy showered upon us, which allows us to be part of the family of God!
 
This lesson should also motivate us to want to "pursue maturity" as believers, as Jim Clingenpeel challenged us last night!
 
II Peter 3:17-18 says, "But grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity! Amen!"
 
May the Holy Spirit guide you into all truth!  Shalom!
 
Lowell

"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!" (I Corinthians 2:12)
 
In last week's lesson, on I Corinthians 1:18-31, the apostle Paul contrasted the wisdom of God with the wisdom of this world--noting that the "word of the cross (or the preaching of the message of the gospel) is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (and the wisdom of God)!  And because the wisdom of the world can never result in anyone knowing Christ, he wrote that "God was well-pleased, through the so-called "foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe"!
 
MacArthur notes that the theme of that message preached by Paul was "the revelation of the gospel message which centers on the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and is God's divine plan and provision, predestined from all eternity, for the redemption of sinners"!  And so, by His doing, and His doing alone, we are "in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God"!  And Paul adds, drawing from the prophet Jeremiah, that if there's anything to boast about, it must be about "boasting in the Lord"!  (Jeremiah 9:23-24 says: "Thus says the Lord, 'Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might; let not the rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things, declares the Lord!"  
 
And we ended our lesson time together by making reference to the words of that great old hymn (some of us even sang!): "When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of Glory died; my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride... Forbid it Lord that I should boast (there it is!), save in the death of Christ my God..."  And more!  Sing it!
 
Well, that set the tone for our lesson last night on chapter 2 of I Corinthians, where the apostle Paul continues to contrast the wisdom of God with the wisdom of the world, and speaks of "all that God has prepared for those who love Him!  (Interestingly, Tom Joyce preached from this text some years ago and titled it: "The Advantage of the Disadvantaged"!  The advantage of those who have the wisdom of God over those who looke to, and rely on, the wisdom of the world!)
 
Paul begins I Corinthians 2 by disclaiming any eloquence or intellectual superiority of speech (the thing the Corinthians prided themselves for!) in proclaiming the revelation he had received from God, but "determined to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and Him crucified!  He wasn't trying to impress anyone with his own wisdom or "cleverness" in speaking!  It had nothing to do with him as the messenger!  It was the "message" which counted!  And he didn't want to leave them gloating about what a wonderful preacher he was!  Only about a wonderful Savior!  Christ the Lord!
 
And he admitted to coming "in weakness and in fear and in much trembling"!  MacArthur notes that Paul "had come to Corinth after being beaten and imprisoned in Philippi, run out of Thessalonica and Berea, and scoffed at in Athen"!  So he had reason to feel rundown and threatened!  But Paul was never one to complain, or to allow weakness in the flesh to affect his ministry for Christ!  In II Corinthians 12:7-10 he spoke of a "thorn in the flesh" that was "given to him--to keep him from exalting himself"!  And after "imploring the Lord three times to remove it," he received these memorable words from the Lord: "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.  Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me!" (KJV)
 
Verse 4 says his message and preaching were "a demonstration of the Spirit and of power," so that the faith of those to whom he was speaking "wouldn't rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God"!  The wisdom he spoke, he said, was "not a wisdom of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away, but God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages... a wisdom which none of the rulers of this age understood; for if they had understood they would not have crucified the Lord of glory"!  (Paul would later explain, in more depth--in Ephesians 3:1-11--the mystery of "how the Gentiles would become fellow heirs and fellow members of the body of Christ and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel"!)
 
Quoting from Isaiah 64-65, Paul then notes how, "Eye has not seen and ear has not heard, the things that God has prepared for those who love Him..."  Things revealed to us through the Holy Spirit, whom we, as believers, have received from God!  And he proceeds to make reference to how the Holy Spirit works in our lives and makes known to us the wisdom of God--through revelation, inspiration, and illumination!  Comparing Scripture with Scripture, we know the following:

• Jesus, speaking to His disciples (in John 14:16-17) said that "He would ask the Father, and He will give you (us) another Helper, that He might be with us forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He abides in you and will be in you"!
• Then, in John 14:25-26, how the Holy Spirit "will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you..."!
• Romans 8:26-27 says, "...the Spirit also helps our weaknesses; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God!"
• And we have the "inspired" Word of God which II Peter 1:20-21 says, "men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God"! And which II Timothy 3:15-16 says "...are profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work"!

But the "natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God," Paul writes in I Corinthians 2:14, "for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised"!  But we, as believers, "have the mind of Christ"!  (The Phillips translation puts it this way: "Incredible as it may sound we who are spiritual have the very thoughts of Christ!"
 
Want the wisdom of God?  Psalm 111:10 says that, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom...!"  And James 1:5-8 says: "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But he must ask in faith without any doubting..."!
 
Lord, we pray (with the Psalmist, in Psalms 119:18): "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderfull things from Your law!"
 
I want to leave you with the words from the school song of my alma mater (BJU), which fits so well with this lesson!  Sing along!
 
"Wisdom of God, we would by Thee be taught;
Control our minds, direct our ev'ry thought!
Knowledge alone life's problems cannot meet;
We learn to live while sitting at Thy feet!
 
Light of the world, illumine us we pray;
Our souls are dark, without Thy kindling ray;
Torches unlighted, of all radiance bare.
Touch them to flame, and burn in glory there!
 
Incarnate Truth, help us Thy truth to learn,
Prone to embrace the falsehood we would spurn;
Groping in error's maze for verity,
Thou art the truth we need to make us free!
 
Unfailing love, we are so cold in heart,
To us Thy passion for the lost impart;
Give us Thy vision of the need of men,
All learning will be used in service then!
 
Great King of Kings this campus all is Thine, 
Make by Thy presence of this place a shrine;
Thee may we meet within the classroom walls,
Go forth to serve Thee from these hallowed halls!
 
Hallelujah!  AMEN!
 
Lowell