Over the years of studying people, I have
learned an important truth: No matter how hard you try, you can't tell
what is going on inside someone's mind. We can try to second guess by
looking at someone's body language. But the bottom line is, none of
us are mind-readers.
Right now I'd like to think that most of your are sitting there, eagerly
awaiting to hear what I'm going to say. But more than likely, some of
you right now are thinking about what you're going to do this afternoon,
or you're thinking about what lies ahead of you this week at work/school.
I even know that some of you will sit here this morning and never hear
one word that I say. I also know that some of you look like you never
listen to a word I say. But if I were to give a test at the end of the
sermon, you'd make a 100.
As impossible as it is to know what's going on inside someone else's
mind, can you imagine trying to figure out what is going on inside the
mind of God? So how are we to ever know what God is thinking? In this
passage, Paul tells us how we can know the mind of God. He uses an analogy
of communication to show us how the Holy Spirit communicates to us God's
will-v. 10(a).
Last week we learned that God's wisdom is not discovered by studying
objective, empirical evidence. His wisdom is something that has to be
shown to you. Or has Paul says, it has to be revealed. The major way
that God's wisdom, which includes how to be saved, has been revealed
to us is through those the Spirit used to write the Bible.
This church doesn't believe that the Bible merely contains the Word
of God. We believe that "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful
for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so
that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
(2
Tim. 3:16-17) We believe that "No prophecy of Scripture is a matter
of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act
of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." (2
Peter 1:20-21) That is the doctrine of inspiration.
But then we have to figure out how to comprehend what the Spirit inspired
men to write about God. In order for us to grasp the spiritual truths
contained in the Bible, there has to occur what theologians call illumination.
Illumination is like shining a spot light into a dark area so we can
clearly see what's there. In order for us to understand the Bible, the
Holy Spirit shines his light on what he has revealed to us in his word
so we might understand the truth about God and know his ways.
As I studied this passage, I started to think about how much I would
know about God if it weren't for his Spirit. I came to the humbling
conclusion that it would be nothing. If it weren't for the Spirit opening
our eyes, God's word would still be a mystery to us.
We see an example of this in the book of Acts. In ch. 8, there is a
story about a eunuch who was sitting in a chariot reading Isaiah
53. The Spirit told Philip to run along side the chariot. As Philip
did, he asked the eunuch, "Do you understand what you are reading? And
he said 'Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?'" (Acts
8:30-31)
The reason the eunuch couldn't understand what was written in Isaiah
53 is because he didn't have the right equipment to interpret what God's
Spirit had written. Although he could see the words on the paper with
his eyes, he was spiritually blind to what they meant. Although he could
hear Philip talk, he was spiritually deaf to hear what the Spirit was
speaking through the passage. And although he had a mind that could
grasp all kinds of human wisdom, he was just too stupid to understand
the divine wisdom of God sending a suffering savior. In order for him
to see, hear, and understand the truth of Is. 53, he needed the illumination
of the Spirit to enlighten him to what the Spirit was saying. Which
the Spirit did through Philip.
What is so amazing about all of this is that we can know everything
there is to know about God, by the Spirit of God! There is not one thing
about God that the Holy Spirit doesn't know. And since the Holy Spirit
is the author of the Bible, there is not one thing written in the Bible
that he doesn't understand, nor that he can't reveal to us.
Of the 3 persons of the Trinity, we know less about God the Holy Spirit
than we do about God the Father, or God the Son. Unfortunately, many
churches are afraid to teach about the workings of the Spirit. That's
too bad because the Holy Spirit is the part of the godhead that God
the Father has placed inside everyone of his children. When you invited
Jesus to come into your life as lord, he did so through the person of
the Holy Spirit. And he indwells us for specific purposes. One of those
purposes for the indwelling of the Spirit is so He can search what is
going on inside of us, take our needs to the Father, and then bring
back to us the answer to what our Father's will is about this specific
situation-v. 10(b).
Have you ever gone through a difficult time you and opened the Bible
to find comfort & answers? How many of those times did what you read
give you the encouragement & hope you needed to endure the trial? That
was the Spirit using the word to reveal to you God's mind. Or have you
ever had a preacher preach a sermon that made you wonder if he was reading
your mail, or hiding somewhere in your house? That happens because the
Spirit knows what is going on inside of us. The Holy Spirit is the only
one who has the ability to see into all the dark places of our lives!
And since he also is the only one who knows what our heavenly Father's
will is in all situations, he can help us make sense out of life by
communicating to us what God wants us to do. Whether he does it through
a passage in his word or through one of his messengers.
To support this claim, Paul uses an illustration of our own spirit-v.
11. How many times have you had people, in times of crisis, come up
to you and say some of the stupidest things hoping to comfort & cheer
you up. People will actually tell women who have had miscarriages or
who have had their baby die, "Don't be sad, God just needed another
angel in heaven, so he took your baby." People who say stuff like this
have no idea of the pain of losing a baby or coming home from a hospital
without that little bundle of joy. Not only is the mother sad over her
baby dying, but at that moment she may very well be mad at God.
I can remember when my dad got killed, of people telling me, "I lost
my father a couple of years ago, so I know exactly how you're feeling."
I thought to myself, "No you don't! You have no idea of how I'm feeling!"
And that is the truth. No one knows what you're feeling. No one knows
if some of you right now are terrified because you are waiting for a
doctor's report to come back. No one knows if some of you are worried
sick because your kids are going through a tough time and there is nothing
you can do to fix it. No one even knows if some of you are about to
have a nervous breakdown because the rumor mill at work is there is
going to be a layoff. And unless you share your concerns there is no
way any one will ever know what going on inside of you right now.
Except as Paul says, the Spirit of God. He is the only one knows your
thoughts and your feelings. And he is also the only one who knows what
God plans to do to help you make it through those situations. So during
the times when we need to hear from God the most, the Spirit comes and
brings us comfort as he reveals God's plans of how He is going to turn
what man meant for evil for our good and his glory.
Look now at verse 12 and underline the words "received," and "freely
given." God's wisdom cannot be discovered by digging in some spot with
an "X" on it. You can't acquire it by going to school for many years.
Neither can you go out and buy it. It can only be received as a gift.
God's wisdom is a gift that the Spirit freely gives us the moment we
receive God's gift of salvation purchased through the death & resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
Remember before you got saved, of how hard it was to make sense of the
Bible? Or how boring it was to go to church to just sing a couple of
songs and have to sit there and listen to a preacher yell at you for
not living right? I can remember one Sunday dreading to come to church.
I told Carol I didn't want to go because I wasn't getting anything out
of the sermons. She told me I had to go because I was the preacher.
Do you also remember that after you came to Christ of how all of a sudden
you looked forward to going to church so you could sing your heart out
to God? Or how you actually started to listen to what the preacher said
during the sermon? Or how the Bible started to come alive? The reason
we couldn't figure out the Bible, and why we hated going to church was
because all we had was the spirit of the world. And the reason for the
change of attitude is the Holy Spirit has renewed our minds so we can
now understand and enjoy the truths found in God's Word.
There is another aspect of the Holy Spirit revealing the truths found
in God's Word that keeps us coming back to the book for more. It is
something that happens every time you read from the Bible. I don't care
how many times you've read the Bible, every time you read it, the Spirit
is going to show you something you've never seen before. The reason
for that is because "Wisdom has two sides." (Job
11:6)
The Hebrew meaning of these words shows us that there is a surface wisdom,
and there is a deep wisdom. The writer of Hebrews picks up on this when
he talks about the milk and the solid food of the word. Those who are
on milk, merely view God's word as a bunch of stories, or rules & regulations.
Through the surface wisdom of the Word, we realize that we need to be
saved, attend worship services, pray, and read the Bible. But there
is more to the Word than just those things.
The solid food of the Word, the deep wisdom of God, is to look to the
Bible to discover God's purpose for our lives. Jesus said, "My meat
is to do the will of Him who sent Me." (John
4:34) God wants us to move into the realm of deep wisdom where we
use the truths of his word and reach out and minister to those around
us.
I am fully convince that the only reason the Spirit reveals to us the
deep truths of God's Word, is because he wants us to share those truths
with others. And we see this in v. 13. The "we" that Paul uses here
shows us that he is not just talking about himself, nor is he just talking
about the Corinthians, but he is talking about us as well. The truth
that we receive from the Scriptures, is a truth that one day the Spirit
will use to share with someone to help them deal with some issue of
life. That's the point of the last phrase in v. 13.
The word "combining" literally means to fit the pieces of a puzzle together.
Paul is telling us that the Holy Spirit conveys God's thoughts to others
by giving us the words to say that will help people make sense out of
what they are going through. It's amazing to me how the Spirit does
this.
I've had people come and tell me they were really impacted by something
I said during the sermon. And many times what they heard me say was
not even something I said. It blows me away that the Spirit is such
a powerful teacher, that he can take the words of a sermon and make
them fit what is going on in someone's life.
In verses 14-16 Paul explains why it is that not everyone can understand
the wisdom of God. Paul once again divides the human race into 2 categories:
The natural man and the spiritual man-vv. 14-15.
The natural person is someone who cannot perceive the thoughts of God,
because they have come to the conclusion that the surface wisdom of
God's Word is foolish. The Greek words translated "natural man" refers
to someone who lives life as if there was nothing beyond the physical
world. They are controlled by feelings, moods, urges, and desires. They
are driven by the need for success, wealth, power, and pleasure.
Verse 14 tells us that the natural man doesn't welcome spiritual things.
The word "accept/receive" literally means to take to oneself what is
presented by another person. It's not that the natural person is unable
to understand the surface wisdom of God. It's just that they refuse
to take things like salvation, repentance, faith, confession, prayer,
reading the Bible, and worship, and make them a part of their life.
The reason they reject spiritual things is because without the presence
of the Holy Spirit, the things of God are foolish. Notice the words
"spiritually discerned/appraised" in v. 14. These words mean to analyze
all the evidence, and put it together into a meaningful conclusion.
What Paul is saying is that without the Spirit, the natural person cannot
see the logic in Christianity. An unsaved person just doesn't have the
necessary equipment that is needed to discern the real motives behind
God's principles.
To an unsaved person the 10 Commandments are nothing more than a bunch
of rules that God wants to impose upon us to keep us from having any
fun. But to those who are spiritual, they see God's Word as a love letter.
And because he loves us they see that motives behind his laws, principles,
& commandments are to protect us and give us the parameters we need
to live a joyful life. William Barclay gave this description of the
natural man or woman: "A man who thinks that nothing is more important
than the satisfaction of the sex urge cannot understand the meaning
of chastity. A woman who ranks the amassing of material things as the
supreme end of life cannot understand generosity."
In v. 15, Paul uses the term spiritual in its broadest meaning. He is
not talking about someone who has it all together. Nor is he talking
about a person who knows everything there is to know about God. The
spiritual kind of person that Paul is talking about is someone who is
letting the Holy Spirit control them.
Notice that Paul again uses the word discern/appraises. The way Paul
uses the word shows that a spiritual person is one who studies the Scriptures
to seek God's will. This is a person who will pray about difficult issues,
examine them from every side, and then put them through the grid of
Biblical absolutes. This is a person who after careful study of God's
Word & after spending hours of prayer, sees things from God's perspective.
And from the viewpoint, he/she is able to see clearly those things that
the world is blind to. For instance, any spiritual person can easily
see from God's Word that abortion & homosexuality are sins. And if our
nation doesn't turn from these sins, they will lead, not only to the
destruction of the family system, but also to the destruction of our
nation!
Notice the last part of v. 15. Paul is saying that we shouldn't worry
just because we hold to opinions that are unpopular by the majority
of the world. Our lifestyle will always appear strange to people who
are still of this world. A person who has rejected the surface wisdom
of Christianity will never understand why a person who is walking closely
with the Lord has different convictions then they do. They just can't
see that we live by a different set of standards.
I can remember when Carol & I decided to home school our son. At that
particular time, home schooling wasn't popular, or even legal. The church
had to designate our home as the church's middle school. It didn't make
any difference that our son was the only student. When we made this
choice, we received a lot of flack from family & friends. I think they
thought we joined some religious cult. Many of them told us that it
would do more harm than good for Matthew not to have the socialization
he needed. Some said that we weren't allowing him to be salt & light.
The truth of the matter is that at that particular time in Matthew's
life, Carol & I thought it was best to teach him at home. We reached
that decision because we had been given insight into the mind of God
concerning his will for Matthew at that time in his life.
Finally, look at verse 16. When Jesus Christ was on the earth, he faced
the same tests of life that you and I go through. The difference was
he was victorious 100% of the time. That is because he had the ability
to look upon life from God's perspective. And where did he get that
ability? From the presence of the Holy Spirit. You always need to remember
that Jesus didn't come to earth to show us how to live as gods. He came
to earth to show us how to live as Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered,
and Spirit-led human beings.
After Jesus told his disciples that he was going to leave them, he said
that he was going to send to them "The Spirit of truth, and He will
guide us into all kinds of truths." (John
16:13) The truths that the Spirit will guide us by, are the same
truths that gave Jesus the ability to remain victorious over the flesh,
the devil, and the world. The Holy Spirit is able to give each of us
the same abilities that Jesus had to evaluate the changing standards
of our world and come to the right answer of how to deal godly with
each issue of life.
I know that there are very few of us who can consistently act like Jesus
did when he was confronted with temptations. At times we give in to
them and sin. And there are times when we don't respond to people in
a Christ-like manner. Despite the popularity of the WWJD campaign, and
even though some people are still wearing the bracelets, in stressful
situations most of us don't ask, "What Would Jesus Do." Instead of responding
like Jesus would, we react from the flesh.
But I don't want you to go home today thinking that it's okay not to
act like Jesus. Instead I want you to go home desiring to want to be
more like Jesus. I want you to go home today realizing that since we
have the mind of Christ, we can respond more and more like Jesus did
when we are tempted by sin, or confronted by people.
But in order for this to happen, you can no longer be satisfied living
on the surface level of Christianity. You have to want to enter into
the realm of the depth of God's wisdom that is hidden from those who
are lost. Are you willing to go where not many people have gone before?
Let me close by telling you about the time I lived on the island of
Okinawa. During the daytime all you could watch was Japanese TV. And
the top 2 shows were Bonanza & Combat. They dubbed over the English
lines in Japanese, so even though they were fun to watch, you had no
clue as to what they were saying.
The same maybe true with some of you this morning. You have an idea
of what church is about. You know that it is about God, the Bible, singing,
and praying. You may even know that Jesus died and rose again. But none
of what I've been saying this morning makes any sense to you. So to
you church is boring, and the Bible is irrelevant to what is going on
in your life.
The reason for all this is because you don't have the right equipment
to interpret what the Spirit of God is saying to the people of his church.
The only way you can have the right equipment is to have the Spirit
of God living inside of you. To make that happen, all you have to do
is to open up your life and invite Jesus Christ to come in as the lord
of your life. And that is the greatest decision you can ever make. Do
you realize that the answer to all of lives problems is Jesus Christ?
The forgiveness for the mistakes you made in the past is found in the
cross of Jesus Christ. The power to live the kind of life you were designed
to live is found in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the promise
that one day your life will get better is found in the promise that
Jesus has gone to heaven to prepare a mansion for you to live in.
With all these great promises, how can giving your live over to the
lordship of Jesus be the wrong thing to do? If you think about it, making
Jesus the lord of your life is really the only win-win proposition in
the world. You only have hell to lose, and heaven to gain. So why not
invite the author of life to come and live inside of you?
Let's pray!!
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