July 15, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the next 16 days we will be reading through the book of 1 Corinthians together. The church in Corinth was an absolute mess! They were plagued by serious issues of arrogance, division, sexual immorality, and confusion concerning doctrine as well as the particulars of their moral living under the gospel. This church needed a wake-up call, a call to repentance and purity, to renewed devotion to Christ, to love and unity, and to zeal for the gospel. The church has changed little over the last 2,000 years, but praise God that there is abundant grace for the mess! Each of us needs this same call to humility faithfulness, unity, and fervor today as much as they needed it then. Let\u2019s heed this call which God gave the church at Corinth through the apostle Paul and let it shape the way we live as Christ\u2019s body!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this chapter Paul continues to challenge the worldly perspective of the Corinthians and their proclivity to trust in earthly wisdom. He reminds them of how he had first preached the gospel among them, not using persuasive language or wise speech but demonstrating the power of the Spirit, in order that those who came to faith would put their trust in the power of God rather than in the wisdom of men. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He goes on to explain to them that the wisdom from God is not like the worldly wisdom because it is a spiritual understood only by means of the Holy Spirit. He goes so far as to tell us that, because who believe have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we have the mind of Christ available to us! We can think the way that Jesus thought through the power of the Spirit, and thinking the way that Jesus thought necessarily leads to us living the way that Jesus lived. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe natural person\u201d, Paul says, \u201cdoes not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to comprehend them, because they are spiritually discerned\u201d (1 Cor 2:14). Apart from the gift of the Holy Spirit and His work and ministry in our lives, we would be just like the rest of the world, totally unable to comprehend the truths of the gospel and considering Christianity to be the stuff of fools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit, that He has made a way for us, who were dead in our sins and spiritually blind, to be made alive and to have the eyes of our hearts enlightened to the truth! Celebrate the wisdom that comes from God today, and that He has given you the means, by His Spirit, to comprehend it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n