All by grace . . .

 

 

READ 1 Corinthians 1-4

We attended the church under the teaching of a widely respected pastor. We took a course in evangelism and I learned how to present the gospel logically and lovingly, even to strangers. After that training, I had opportunity to do so — and thoroughly messed it up. Illogical, all over the map, and the listener did not make the expected responses or answer my questions.

However, she called me later and told me that she had said yes to Christ! I was stunned but learned a valuable truth, one expressed in today’s reading. The Christians at Corinth were gifted and knew how to talk, but they were fighting among themselves. Paul wrote to address this problem, but first said:

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:4–9)

They were saved and gifted but not spirit-filled. Paul explained the contrast between human wisdom and the wisdom of God:

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:20–31)

I’ve always loved this passage for it puts my smarty pants reputation where it belongs — on the useless shelf. While worldly wisdom might do amazing worldly feats, it is useless in the spiritual realm and can even be a distraction because those who have it tend to rely on their brains and experience instead of God!

God’s teaching is not understood by being smart. All of it is by the illumination of the Holy Spirit. I was a grade A student yet read the Bible for seventeen years without understanding a word of it until Jesus came into my life and the Spirit of God opened my eyes. I can relate to these Corinthians . . .  

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:13–14)

Just as I dare not call an unbeliever a stupid or uneducated person, I dare not think I am superior in wisdom for I also found it hard to drop my pride in my own ‘wisdom’ after I became a Christian.

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. (1 Corinthians 3:18–23)

This means that what I do know is revealed to me from Christ, not from teachers, preachers, or my own brain. I can answer Paul’s questions: “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7) Any boasting is sinful human pride. Not only that, even every breath I take is because of the grace of God.