1 Corinthians 2:6 - 3:23

Is there something mysterious to you about following Jesus
Do you have a question you've got that you've said out loud
"When I get t heaven I'm going to stand in Paul's line
to ask him …this?"

or when I stand before Jesus I want him to answer this problem

have you ever noticed when things are running smoothly or things are starting to go well that we brace ourselves expecting something bad to come

like we feel slammed
or tempted with things we didn't think were still a problem
unexpected, unexplained troubling stuff going on

where do you reach out to
what are your first impulses to see that stuff as

Paul here wants to engage us in seeing the reality of life as followers of Jesus in the midst of real spiritual warfare we are surrounded by

where hard things go on in the life of those who follow Jesus

As we consider this passage this morning think about where it is you are seeing the Spirit of God on the move in your life.

what God is most challenging you with ,
what part of your life you are most thankful
so that you overflow with joy in Jesus

In Corinth Paul brings us back to look at a church where
their time together had become chaotic

when Paul first preached the gospel
Many became followers of Christ
Three years pass since Paul lived there

Now the infant church he left behind
Seems to have developed some unloving
worldly ways about how they were coming to church

so in his letter Paul anchors this letter from the start in the truth, of who these Corinthian Christians are

The question they were asked
What is it you have let take captive of your heart and soul
Other than Jesus Christ

As we read in 1 Corinthians 2:6-7

6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

There is no hope to be found in living for here and now
this mystery Paul comes to is to how we as people
now come alive in Jesus

God in his divine planning
Had already decided to reveal himself in the flesh through Jesus

if King Herod or the Jewish Sanhedrin
or Pontius Pilate or Satan had understood what they were about to do when they crucified Jesus they would not have done it

Paul reminds these Corinthian Christian
Of this lesson from the past and God's plans
he turns their gaze on their present situation

The instinct of our foolish wisdom is to trust ourselves and control our situation, that only makes matters worse

The mark of sin in our heart is to insist that life is about me
To make me the centre of everything

Paul says open up your eyes, see God

God who is with us and for us in Jesus
makes new life possible through his agent of change
Through His Holy Spirit, the Counsellor
Who writes the promise of life on the human heart

Verses 11-14
11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are discerned.

We're only ever guessing if we think we can totally read people
We only ever say what we want others to hear
Often times there are things we are thinking
that would be highly inappropriate to say out loud

with God notice how deeply he dives into our lives
when he redeems us as his own

Paul brings us to see in the midst of our weakness
We come face to face with God's encouragement and comfort

The Holy Spirit is the one who comes alongside us with immediate need for the moment

In the midst of our uncertainty God has provided witness to his grace and glory to bring us comfort in the midst of trouble

God brings mercy and actual truth to us when we are feeling foolish

See here how Paul addresses the Corinthian trouble

Two problems are raised
The first is about wisdom
In a church that claimed it was wise
The reality was their church life was chaotic
Relationships were messy

Paul makes them face who's glory are they in it for
God's or their own

Our goal is to know the joy in God
Where God starts curiously with the mess in us

God brings that through his redemption in Christ
In the midst of the mess, he is patient

1 Corinthians 3: 16-17

16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for God's temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.