And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
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Lately, I've been thinking a lot about what real Christianity looks like. What does it look like to follow Christ? What does obedience look like? What does His love look like? What does it mean that His house will be a house of prayer for all nations?
Church has been discouraging lately.
Very discouraging.
I go to church and I'm told what I need to *do* and how I need to do it. I'm told that the Church is not doing what it is supposed to do, and that we need to get our act together, because it is the Church alone that is holding our world back from destruction.
All of that delves into some delightful eschatological stuff that I really don't want to get into here, so I'm going to leave that alone.
I'm told that we should not live by the wisdom of this world, so my standards of living should be different from the world's standards in dress, actions, and decisions. I'm told that loving is wrong if it's the wrong person. I'm told that waiting on God is not feasible--I must do something to reach Him. I'm even told that the Gospel is the point, the Gospel is the reason the Church must serve.
But when it all boils down, I know nothing like Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Where Paul determined to know nothing but His crucified Lord, I find myself daily pulled into, "you have to pray more, be more, do more for Him." Where Paul spoke among the Corinthians in fear (it doesn't appear that it was fear of God here) and weakness, I try to be confident in what I say, persuasive, so that people will understand and believe me. Where Paul spoke in the power of the Holy Spirit so that men might have faith in the power of God, I try too often to persuade them to have faith in what I say is right.
God gave me this passage this morning when I was mulling over the idea that I "have to have the mind of Christ." The more I read, the more clear it became that the mind of Christ is not something I can place into myself. It is the Spirit of God in me, teaching me, transforming me, renewing my mind. I haven't received from God the spirit of the world to tell me how to change and be and do to make myself a good Christian. I have received the Spirit of God, who knows the mind of God, and He is the seal of promise God has placed on my heart (Ephesians 1).
It would seem from a reading of this passage that it is the Holy Spirit who knows the mind of Christ, and He is the one that we have.
It would also seem that my faith is not supposed to be in what others say, but in the power of God through His Holy Spirit.
When God teaches me something about Himself through His Word and through the Holy Spirit, I know that I receive it. There are times I don't want to, usually times that I just want to do things my way and not acknowledge God at all. I choose to follow a set course, accept or reject standards, follow what appears to be wisdom. Of course, I do it for God. Really.
But ultimately, it's not about my wisdom. Or about looking good. Or about persuading others. Or even about doing what is "right." It's about knowing Jesus Christ and Him crucified, for in Him are hidden all the mysteries of the knowledge of God, and it is only through Him that I can truly see the heart of God. I have everything available to me in the complete work of Christ. I have the Holy Spirit as a seal upon my heart that I have salvation. He teaches me through God's Word of this Jesus who died for me.
Is Jesus really all I need to know?
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