The Steward and The Church

This is the third lesson in a series on 1 Corinthians. Please read all about it in the Introduction. I’ve broken the post into 5 sections with journal prompts at the end of each part. These would be great daily stopping points. I’ve also linked the Scripture references to biblegateway.com; click the blue font references. I’d love to hear what you’re learning!

Week 3: The Steward and the Church (1 Corinthians 3-4)

Servant Leadership.

It’s a concept that I’ve heard tossed around for years in churchy things.

It’s a reality that I’ve seen modeled….well, rarely.

The Corinthian believers weren’t seeing a lot of it either.

After the first two chapters of 1 Corinthians we should be convinced of a few things. Inside Out Holiness (sanctification) is our starting point. From there we love church as family and seek to heal division each and every time we have the opportunity. We always acknowledge the cross and the Upside Down wisdom of God, trusting Him to make sense of the foolishness around us as we walk hand in hand with the Holy Spirit.

Sound about right so far?

On to Chapters 3 and 4.

I see lots of life in lists. I love lists and have been known to add something to my To-Do List after I’ve finished it, just so I can mark it off. As I began studying chapters 3 and 4 I saw a list emerging describing Servant Leadership. Both the leaders (Paul, Apollos, Cephas) and the followers (the church in Corinth) have a part to play. My list has 7 characteristics of the Steward (leader) and 3 characteristics of the church. I’d love to hear what you would add.

Before we even start I want you to get out your journal….

I’ll even switch to “journal font” to get you in the mood. Think and pray about this question before you start.

Who is your Paul?

We’ve studied his life and heard his encouragement and correction for the last two weeks. Who is your leader, your parent in the faith? Write their name in your journal at the very beginning of this week’s entries.

Read 1 Corinthians 3

The Steward SERVES (3:5,9, 4:1).

In 3:5 and 4:1 there are three different words used for servant. My ESV uses servant in 3:5 and 4:1, and steward in 4:1. I learned that servant in 3:5 is the same root as our word for deacon and emphasizes the service rendered. Servant in 4:1 literally means an “under rower” with the emphasis being on the labor done for a lord. Steward in 4:1 means an overseer of a home or estate (Zodhiates,902). Maybe it’s too much Downton Abbey for me, but I saw Mr. Carson the butler when I read the definition for steward.

I must admit that I got a little bit frustrated with so many words that weren’t very deep. Three words that all mean…..(wait for it)…..to serve. No hidden or fancy meanings. Deacons originally were the table waiters so that the apostles could have time to teach and counsel. I can’t imagine that a rower in the belly of a big ship would be a great job. And although Mr. Carson makes it look grand, being a butler really is all about managing someone else’s stuff.

Are you getting a picture yet?

Only servants (NIV)

Ministering servants (AMP)

Mere servants (NLT)

“We are servants of Christ, not his masters. We are guides into God’s most sublime secrets, not security guards posted to protect them.”  1 Corinthians 4:1, MSG

Here’s how Jesus described it; “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.”

Luke 22:24-27 NIV

The end of this passage in the Amplified says, “But I am in your midst as One Who serves.” Leadership as God defines it is life as a steward; a steward of His Truth and of His household. We will spend the rest of the week learning this.

Journal Prompt: Evaluate the places where you are in charge, have authority. How does this first characteristic of God’s Steward challenge you?

The Steward contributes, but knows the Growth comes from God (3:6,9).

The emphasis on being a servant is not meant to turn our service into lifeless menial drudgework. The emphasis is meant to keep our perspective on the One who has chosen to use our unique passions and personalities and redeemed identities in HIS OWN work. Do you think He has to? What kind of ministry plan is it to use faulty arrogant humans when you could speak everything perfectly finished with a word? God’s plans are not for easy perfection, they are for experienced redemption and so He uses us. People. There is no Plan B, it’s the Church {people} spreading the gospel. Period.

Do you see what we are called in 3:9? Go read it; you might’ve missed it the first time. God’s fellow workers. Read Mark 16:20 - “Working together with Him.” and 2 Corinthians 6:1 -  “While the Lord worked with them.”

Being a servant leader means working alongside Jesus. We are servants because HE was a servant.

“…without God we cannot. Without us He will not.” (Morris, 64)

So we contribute, we work and we SERVE without entitlement, realizing all along that the only growth comes from God. He chooses us to plant and to water, but only He can actually empower the growth. Let’s simply settle down and serve! This is not meant to marginalize any struggle or pain, but that big huge burden that keeps you up at night is not up to you to change. Why do we act as if the supernatural is our responsibility? Have you ever compared the energy and resources that it takes to water the flowers in your front yard to the energy and resources that it takes to make them grow?

No, because that’s crazy.

Yet we spend countless hours worrying over things we cannot do (cause the growth) while refusing to serve where we are (watering and planting).

The Steward leaves room for the work of other Stewards.

We have already talked much about division based on favorite preachers and petty issues so we will only touch this briefly. Paul gets very touchy about what other preachers are teaching sometimes. Why is it ok to “share the stage” with some preachers and not with others? There is one foundation (3:10-11), and it’s Jesus. Paul is very willing to share “foundation-laying” preaching time with others as long as they are laying down the same Truth about Jesus (Ephesians 2:20).

Once the foundation is established, the building starts going up. This is Christian life. Faith in Jesus for salvation is the foundation and then up comes the structure of Inside Out Holiness. In verse 12 the materials are listed in order of value. This list echoes one given in 1 Chronicles 29:2 where King David lists the items he has saved to be used to build God’s temple. In our context in 1 Corinthians God’s temple is the church (3:16). Do you see the only items that don’t make the list in 1 Chronicles 29:2? Hay and straw.

As a servant leader, when you are building up the spiritual framework of a fellow believer, do you use your most precious? {Get ready, this is gonna hurt.} How many times do we have the opportunity to invest in God’s stuff, in our spiritual family, and we just toss a handful of straw over our shoulder as we walk on to do our own thing? It’s easy, it’s cheap, it’s handy and familiar and it lets us off the hook, or so we think (3:15). Please hear that I am not saying you need to do every single thing you see to do. We are going to get into some very clarifying teaching later in 1 Corinthians that helps us on that point. The challenge here is that you do your part with actions following a heart and mind completely devoted to Inside Out Holiness, actions that are motivated by the Upside Down wisdom of God. Actions that are invested where He leads in a way that costs because it shows you trust Him both to provide the means and empower the growth. We spend a lot of time investing the gold, silver, and precious stones (resources we haven’t even earned) into homes, clothes, school, fun, and rest while our relationships, refining time in the Word, and opportunities for service get only a handful of hay and straw. With one glance from Jesus, the miracle of all He is and has done, our service will be tested. How will it stand?

I am not trustworthy with His precious gems on my own. The time and gifts He has given would be wasted without His Wisdom to show me where to carefully place them, where to build in a way that matters and won’t burn up someday.

{See why He didn’t start us at chapter 3? We woulda croaked.}

Journal Prompt: How do the last two characteristics work together? {1 - faithfully serving while trusting God to do the growth, 2 - serving with your very best.}

Read 1 Corinthians 4

The Steward is trustworthy (4:2).

This is simple and means exactly what it says. Servant leaders are trustworthy. They mean what they say because they follow the Spirit.

The Steward defers to God’s judgment (4:3-5).

I struggle with people pleasing. It is a part of my fleshy-flesh that hits hard on some occasions {sure wish I could say rare occasion, but…well…no}. I have to say; the first thing I saw in these verses is that Paul does not say their judgment of him is “nothing”, but that it’s a “very small thing.”

Compared to what God thinks about me, what people think should be a very small thing. But not nothing. We live in community by God’s design. How we get along, interact, and serve together as church family is partly how God has chosen to show Himself off to the lost people around us. So, for some who play the “it doesn’t matter what people think” card as an excuse to ignore some good old-fashioned accountability, those two words “very small” are actually quite big. Being pleasant, winsome, gentle and strong in community and conflict are all part of servant leadership. When you compare what people think about you to what God thinks about you it’s a small thing, but if you are hearing lots of the same things from lots of people who you KNOW love and serve God, listen. Listen, filter it through the gift and discipline of Inside Out Holiness you are continually holding close and let God change you as He sees fit. Amen.

For some, we are holding a person’s judgment of us as more important than God’s. Stop, break free from that chain today. “It is the Lord…” (4:4) How much energy do we waste defending ourselves and our ministry and our position and our theology? Building credibility is part of being a good steward, but a very small part. Trust God to judge you. How foolish would it be for Him to do all the work to redeem you and then leave you alone to do the rest? His opinion matters most. HE is the One who knows, He is the One who judges. We serve, He judges.

The Steward is willing to be a fool (4:9-13).

This next section is a comparison and contrast. The picture in verse 9 is of death row. The “spectacle last of all” would’ve been those sentenced to death, heading to whatever execution was the sport for the day. “Paul is probably thinking of the Roman triumphal procession in which captured enemies were paraded through the street before being publicly executed. Or he may be thinking of gladiators condemned to die in an arena." (ESV Study Bible). Unlike our Macy’s parade, where the most important guest is last, the important victorious dignitaries and soldiers would’ve been first in a Roman parade and the poor fools destined for death would’ve been last. According to Paul he and the other stewards are fools, weak, disreputable, hungry and thirsty, poorly dressed, buffeted, homeless, hard working, reviled, persecuted, slandered, scum of the world. The Corinthians by contrast are rich, like kings, strong, held in honor. Before we go forward begging God to give us big beautiful ministries, maybe we should read this list with new eyes.

Journal Prompt: Do you have man’s judgment and God’s judgment in their proper places? What is God saying to you about your willingness to appear foolish for Him?

The Steward is worthy of being mimicked (4:14-17).

After multiple discussions of the futility of choosing one preacher over another Paul throws us this Star Wars doozy. I’m your Father, follow me not the other guys. At least that’s how it comes across at first glance. If you’ve made it this far with me, surely you’ve not missed the message of the previous 67 verses. Paul is interested only in building on the foundation of Jesus. He cares very little if anyone is impressed with his words or actions or even if they make sense to everyone. He is uninterested in building his own ministry kingdom. He implores them to watch him and Timothy who knows him well because new believers need an example. They don’t have podcasts and 3 weekly services plus a plethora of websites, magazines, books, and church programs to teach them Jesus’ ways. They don’t even have the books of the New Testament yet. They have a few stewards, a few men and fewer women to watch. This isn’t about competing with each other it is about representing Jesus in all things real life. Paul only can offer up himself and only himself. He strives to represent Jesus with such clear steps that if you watch him you are watching Jesus. Here are some additional places where Paul says we can follow his example or that WE can be the example - (1 Corinthians 11:1, Philippians 3:17, 2 Thessalonians 3:7, Titus 2:7, 1 Peter 5:3).

“If we are to commend our gospel it must be because our lives reveal its power.” (Morris, 81).

  

So that’s the list for the Steward. Back to the name you wrote at the beginning of the week. Do you have a new appreciation for the burden they bear? The weight of leading people to follow Jesus is heavy. Pray that he or she would be a servant leader. For the ways they already are, write them a note of encouragement.

Now back to the beginning, this time let’s look at the people.

The Church Grows Up (3:1-4)

Stop being fleshy! “Although the Corinthians are Christians indwelt by the Spirit, their divisive behavior shows that they are acting like the unbelieving world around them.” (ESV Study Bible, 2195). Read again the last phrase from last week - 1 Corinthians 2:16; “we have the mind of Christ.”  Then 3:1, “But….” You aren’t living like it. This reminds me of when one of my kids has some kind of meltdown forgetting I can meet her needs and I’m sitting right next to her. To be fleshy means we are short-sighted, we have forgotten the precious cross-bought wisdom and freedom that are ours and have started thrashing around in our own efforts and wisdom. It never ends well. The church needs to be growing UP, not just OUT.

Journal Prompt: How does the last characteristic of the Steward and the first characteristic of the church match up? Do you see yourself as a Steward or as one of the People Following?

The Church Knows they are Precious (3:16, 21-23)

Read 1 Corinthians 3:16. You all {all of us together – the church} are the temple of God. The word for temple is “naos”. It comes from a word meaning “…to dwell. The temple itself is the heart and center of the whole sacred enclosure called hieron. The naos was the Holy of Holies” (Zodhiates, 938). This completely slays me. I can’t even figure out one word to accurately describe. You might’ve been taught that your body is the temple of God – usually as a way for someone to convince you not to put drugs in it, have sex with it, or put tattoos on it. But this verse means so much more. 

Replica of the Temple in Jerusalem

In the days of Jesus and then Paul, the temple stood tall and beautiful in Jerusalem. It was the pride and joy and center of Jewish life. Both men would’ve attended there often. Neither would ever have stepped foot into the Holy of Holies (naos), where only the High Priest was allowed. Jesus’ human fingers never pulled back the heavy curtain that covered the entrance to the Holy of Holies (naos) and His human feet never crossed the threshold. Yet His sacrifice on the cross tore that curtain from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). And now God Himself says I belong there. You belong there. We belong there together. Why would He choose this? Why would He dwell in us? Why would He put the perfection that He is in the middle of our messy church? Why does He say that church is the naos instead of the hieron when we can’t even speak to one another as we pass in the hallway? It’s absurd for the church to be full of division and fights when we realize how precious we are to Him. We are where He chooses to dwell; to live. 

I am in your midst as One Who serves. Luke 22:27

Journal Prompt: In what ways have you believed the truth that you are precious to God but neglected the truth that the entire body, your church family is precious to Him?

The Church Leaves Judging to God (4:5-6)

“Church people are too judgmental!” It’s something I hear often and am accused of sometimes, simply because of my close association with church. It’s a problem. We will be studying this in more depth later in 1 Corinthians (and since this lesson is getting lllloooonnnnggg, I am going to give you some verses for extra study if you’d like to follow up on your own).

To study on your own.

Look up these passages (Matthew 7:1-5, Galatians 6:1-5, Matthew 10:16), along with what you’ve learned from 1 Corinthians so far and journal your answer to this question: Is it ever ok to judge?

So we have made it through 4 chapters. What have you learned? How would you connect the chapters so far? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

Divisions Galore

This is the second lesson in a series on 1 Corinthians. Please read all about it in the Introduction. I’ve broken the post into 5 sections with journal prompts at the end of each part. These would be great daily stopping points. I’ve also linked the Scripture references to biblegateway.com; click the blue font references. I’d love to hear what you’re learning!

Week 2: Divisions Galore (1 Corinthians 1:10-2:16)

I’ve been a pastor’s wife for almost 20 years. In Big Church I always sit at the front, except for one big exception. Business meetings. After sitting through some fairly interesting business meetings I like to be able to see what’s happening. I now sit kinda back and side-ish. I remember watching warily from the side-back once as my nervous husband was presenting a first look at a building renovation. As he warmed up to the subject he got to a part that he knew would be popular, the design for a newly enlarged women’s restroom. With much gusto he proclaimed the arrival of the “LARGER ladies restroom” {emphasis totally his}. He didn’t realize his mistake until nervous laughter began to trickle through the room. As he tried to correct himself that the bathroom would be larger not the ladies, the laughter turned into guffaws. It actually released some of the tension because everyone there knew that church business meetings can get ugly and fast.

In Ephesus, Paul is hearing reports of some ugly business meetings back in Corinth.

He is about to get all up in our mess.

This week we will look at one of the major problems facing the Corinthian church (which just happens to be familiar to us)….and see God’s strange remedy.

The Problem

Read 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

So, what’s the problem? Why are these sweet folks we read about in Acts 18 having such a hard time getting along? They are God’s people and had a great start. What’s up with the fighting? In verse 10 we see that they are divided. In verse 11 they are quarrelling.  Division in verse 10 means “to split, tear, a schism, division in mind, sentiment, and so into factions.” (Zodhiates, 959).”  What had been created whole and beautiful has become torn and fractured. As was the pattern of their culture they have split into different groups based on loyalty to their leaders along imagined party lines. They aren’t having problems with false teaching or heresy so much, they are playing preacher favorites. In verses 12-13 we read that some follow Paul, some follow Apollos (a young persuasive believer), some follow Cephas (our Peter), and some just stick their noses right up in the air and claim to follow Christ. Now it isn’t a bad thing to claim we follow Christ. In fact in the next few chapters that is EXACTLY what we will be taught to do. In this instance the Christ Camp is likely over-spiritualizing and seeking to stay above it all while in reality maintaining the brokenness in their body. Ouch.

Read verse 10 again. “I appeal to you, BROTHERS.” My footnote says, “or brothers and sisters. The plural Greek word adelphoi translated “brothers” refers to siblings in a family. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, adelphoi may refer to men or to both men and women who are siblings (brothers and sisters) in God’s family, the church.” (ESV Study Bible, 2192).

I learned that “29% of the uses of adelphoi (brothers and sisters) in the Pauline corpus occur in 1 Corinthians…39 times.” (Garland, 41). If ever a group of believers needed this reminder it was the Corinthians. If ever a group of believers needed this reminder it is us. We are family. It’s not ok to tear each other up.

This just struck a nerve because so many believers are content to be critical and grudge-holders at church while fighting hard to hold their flesh and blood families together at home. We are going to learn some great balancers in 1 Corinthians, but we have to do everything we can to make peace at church, in church, with other believers. Jesus lovers aren’t content to settle for broken spiritual families.

Journal Prompt: Write the definitions for division and adelphoi in your own words. Ask God where you need to be a better spiritual sibling and write it out. Read Romans 12:17-19. How does this passage speak to what God has shown you today?

The Fix

Once we were on a road trip when my two oldest were little littles. They were fussing and fighting and being a pain. After many patient instructions for them to stop and straighten up, my husband had enough. Finally he said, “OK! Who wants a spanking!?!?” It got very quiet and then our daughter pipes up sweetly and says, “Zachary does!” Of course we started laughing (except not Zachary) and they both were saved from a spanking by her hilarity. In real life church it’s not so funny though. We point fingers and let grudges grow and cast blame and build alliances and hurt one another.

Back to 1:10, we are told not to be broken up by divisions, but to be united in mind (ability to think) and judgment (discernment, active will). I typically just think of unity as a lack of tension and fighting. It is so much more than that. One commentator described it as being “refurbished” (Garland, 43). To be united means “fit, complete. The fundamental meaning is to put a thing in its appropriate position, to establish, set up, equip, arrange…to reunite in mind and sentiment, to reconcile, as opposed to having schisms, ruptures…rejoin a disjointed limb.” (Zodhiates, 926).

Considering the original meanings of division and unity convinces us that we can’t be restored into the proper position of unity if we are self-seeking, self-serving, and self-led.

Young sisters, listen and learn this now. Church can be so disappointing, I know. You’re growing into your very own beautiful transforming faith and cannot seem to reconcile it with the problems you see in church. But in the great vision of your lifetime and God’s heart and affection you must love church. Choose to submit to godly yet imperfect human authority, to serve with great humility where you are, to see even those individuals who bring you the most disillusionment as siblings, to always be about healing and reconciliation and rejoining brokenness. You WILL get to see heavenly glimpses of God’s great attachment to the Church.

Here’s an example of how we serve and love at church even while being called to different areas of service (oh how much we will learn about this in the future weeks in 1 Corinthians). When I first moved to the church where I currently serve I got busy in women’s ministry. My very best most encouraging friend who had helped me settle into a new town, church, and home came on board with me. I assumed we would both love women’s ministry. She really tried, for my sake. Finally in tears she came to me and affirmed that I was exactly where I needed to be serving, but that she wasn’t. Her gifts and calling were to serve the children in our church, not the women. Trying for my sake was wearing her out and taking her away from the places where she needed to be. Her uncritical and encouraging attitude built the church even though she was stepping away from a position.

Journal Prompt: How does the definition for unity surprise you? How does unity connect to (how is it the solution to) the definition for division? How does the story I told about my friend illustrate the unity Paul describes in 1:10?

Upside-Down Calling

Read 1 Corinthians 1:20-31

Now we are going to transition into some verses about wisdom and foolishness. They don’t seem to fit with the “We are family, so everyone get along” theme that we’ve been seeing. God’s answer is different than we might expect. It’s not a To-Do List for conflict resolution. He tells us to consider our calling and to recognize the difference in the world’s wisdom and God’s wisdom. We have been instructed to be united and whole in our church family. For us the question is How? When you’ve been hurt or misunderstood or passed over, or marginalized in your church family, how do you contribute to healing? For God the question is not How, but Who? Who will we follow through the struggle?

The concept of calling can be confusing. I get questions about this all the time. In verse 26 Paul says to consider your calling. It just does not make sense. Back up a bit and read 1 Corinthians 1:17-18 to see that the foundation of our calling is to the cross. The cross was shameful and backward. Read 1 Corinthians 1:22-23.

“Paul did not sweep the crucifixion under the carpet as an unfortunate episode remedied by the glories of the resurrection.” (Garland, 61)

In modern Christianity we have romanticized the cross, making it a comforting line in hymns and a charm we wear around our necks or use to decorate our homes. To a first century Corinthian a cross hanging on our living room wall might’ve been as appropriate as a crime scene photograph would be to us. When I try to make a modern connection all I can think of is abduction, rape, human trafficking, the things that we consider our worst nightmares. That was crucifixion in the first century. The fear would’ve kept mothers of rebellious sons awake at night.

Shocking? Yes. Upside Down? Absolutely. The cross was a stumbling block to both Jews and Greeks (22). “…a crucified Messiah was offensive to an unbelieving Jew and nonsensical to an unbelieving Greek.” ESV Study Bible, 2193). “A well-known graffito in Rome depicts a worshipper standing before a crucified figure with the body of a man and the head of an ass and the inscription ‘Alexamenos worships his god’. That was the way the world-wise regarded the message of the cross.” (Morris, 43)

It was humiliating and completely backward for anyone to believe that good, or especially salvation could come from such a painful, torturous, humiliating experience. Upside Down.

And yet.

The cross is the foundation of our calling. Stay hopeful, it is no more the END of our experience than it was the end of Jesus’, but it is the start. These verses come from other parts of Paul’s teaching about suffering like Jesus; Philippians 3:10, Romans 6:3-5, 2 Corinthians 1:5.

This picture was taken on my phone in February when we were in Jerusalem.
This is one of the tiles from the floor where Jesus was likely beaten and tried before He was led away to the cross.

Could it be that we never find our true calling or the power to forgive and be restoration in our church body because we aren’t willing to take the first step into an Upside Down Calling? We aren’t willing to share in Jesus’ suffering and swallow some pride, serve with humility and sometimes humiliation, accept some pain as useful? Could it be we need to just get over ourselves at church? Could it be we can’t reach to grasp Jesus’ hand in the midst of such struggles even though He is there and He is walking with us in such foolishness to finally and fervently find God’s Wisdom?

Journal Prompt: What does it mean to you to be called to the cross? How does this connect to the contrast in wisdom taught in these verses?

Upside Down Wisdom

Before we move on I’d like to take a quick journey to visit someone who perfectly illustrates Upside Down Wisdom. On Wednesday mornings my Bible Study ladies are doing Priscilla Shirer’s Gideon Study {it’s amazing, do it}. Gideon’s life shows us the why behind God’s Wisdom. Read Judges 7:1-7. God calls an unlikely man to lead a very unlikely group of men to defeat a very strong army. They start with 32,000 against 135,000. They are already underdogs (world’s wisdom). In Judges 7:2 God says, “the people with you are too many” and reduces the amount of Israel’s army to 10,000 (God’s wisdom). Then in verse 4 God says, “the people are still too many” and reduces the army again to 300 (God’s wisdom). None of this makes a lick of sense. Who on earth would agree that 300 soldiers are better than 32,000, especially when you are fighting against 135,000? Upside down. God’s wisdom. Why such foolishness? Read Judges 7:2, “lest Israel boast over me, saying ‘My own hand has saved me.’” Now, back to 1 Corinthians, read 1:29 and 31. See it? Independence. Boasting. Foolish.

Priscilla Shirer says, “He doesn’t call us to do the hard stuff – He calls us to do the impossible.” He chooses this so that there is not even one single shred of self-boasting in our miraculous lives.

Journal Prompt: Review Gideon’s story carefully. Why do you think that God reduced the numbers in Israel’s army. Read Judges 7:7 and write out God’s promise. How does this apply to your life today?

Mind of Christ

Read 1 Corinthians 2

Paul’s spends the first five verses describing his version of the upside down life. And then describes the only way we can do the Impossible Foolish that becomes the Beautiful Accomplished in God’s Upside Down version of wisdom.

Through His Spirit (10)

These verses in chapter 2 are treasures. Please go back and see them, read them over and over in different translations, meditate and let them soak in. Give the Holy Spirit the attention He deserves.

In verse 11 when Paul says, “who knows a person’s thoughts except that person?” and then “No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God,” he is giving us a hidden treasure. Have you ever been in a “fake it ‘til you make it” situation and were just so very thankful that no one could see the crazy going on in your head? On the other hand have you ever tried to communicate with someone you care about and wished they could just see the compassionate intention that was in your mind and heart? Both happen to me. The point is, only I know what I’m really thinking. My mind gets it; my mouth just can’t translate sometimes! {By the way, this is how I feel about every single word I write!}. You want to know what God is thinking? It’s possible. Every single second you spend listening to and obeying His Words and leaning under the Holy Spirit are helping you know what God’s thinking. We have the Mind of Christ.

I love how this commentary says it, “Many believers were insecure without the physical presence of Jesus among them; they need assurance that the Holy Spirit would be their helper. He was the key to unlocking God’s wisdom.  Only God can know and reveal God. The Holy Spirit knows the wisdom of God because He is God.” (Patterson, Kelley, 420)

Remember the calling that we studied in 1:26? The call is “the divine invitation to participate in the blessing of redemption. It can be a vocation or a destination.” (Zodhiates, 925). How do we escape division and appeal to unity? How do we live by God’s wisdom instead of our own? Follow our calling. And our calling is to live out redemption; which is slavery, brokenness, uselessness, vanity…all restored. The cost was the cross and so we always start there where God convinces the slaves, the broken, the useless, and the vain that there is more to real life but it means becoming a fool in the eyes of others who don’t understand Him. When those others look at our upside down lives some see foolishness, but some see a curious opening where the Spirit can move in with transforming persuasion that turns their lives Upside Down. Until then our lifestyle and choices make zero sense, so why get defensive when we are misunderstood? We can walk and live all around them with kindness and Spirit–led wholeness.

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18

“It’s a poor thing to come to him as a last resort, to offer up our own when it is no longer worth keeping. If God were proud, he would hardly have us on such terms. But he is not proud. He stoops to conquer. He would have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to him, and come to him because there is nothing better now to be had.” – CS Lewis (Prior, 44)

Perhaps our life’s ambition should be to illustrate that God stoops to conquer. He is the treasure; may it be seen in our love for the church, our attachment to the cross, and our whole abandonment to God’s wisdom above all others’.

Journal Prompt: What does it mean to you personally when you read “we have the mind of Christ?” -1 Corinthians 2:16 Where are some places where you’ve relied on human wisdom instead God’s wisdom?

Week 2 Things We Can Learn:

• We must learn to love and bring healing to church; we are family. (1:10)
• Our calling to redemption makes zero sense to others, so why get defensive when we are misunderstood? (1:18)
• We can walk with great confidence into the impossible as we follow the Holy Spirit’s foolish wisdom. (2:16)