This week, we have been looking at the reality that for over 2,000 years, the wisdom of God is often misunderstood. People have looked at the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel and have responded by saying “this makes no sense to me”. Yesterday we saw that the wisdom of God is often misunderstood because of an absence of the Holy Spirit. The impact that the absence of the Holy Spirit has on understanding the wisdom of God then leads the Apostle Paul in this letter to reveal a third reason why the wisdom of God is misunderstood. We see this reason revealed for us in 1 Corinthians 2:14-16:
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.
In these verses, the Apostle Paul makes a sharp contrast between a person who has not been impacted by the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence and the person who has experienced the Holy Spirit’s enabling work in their lives. Paul explains that the natural man, who is a person who has not been impacted by the Holy Spirit, does not approve or accept the wisdom of God as contained in the message of the gospel. Instead, they view the message of the gospel as foolishness and respond by rejecting the message.
In addition, Paul states that this natural man, having not been impacted by the Holy Spirit, does not possess the capability to grasp the significance of the wisdom of God or the message of the gospel, because only the Holy Spirit is able to examine and unpack the wisdom and message of God in a way that leads to understanding. Without the Holy Spirit’s transforming work in their lives, a person will view the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel as a fable or foolishness, because our selfish and sinful nature apart from Christ drives us to reject the truth about the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. Only the Holy Spirit can break through our flawed and broken nature apart from Christ so that we understand and embrace Jesus for who He is and what He has done for us.
Paul the contrasts the natural man who has not been impacted by the Holy Spirit’s enabling work with he who is spiritual. This is a person who has been impacted by the Holy Spirit’s enabling work in their lives. Paul explains that the person who has been impacted by the Holy Spirit embraces the wisdom of God as contained in the message of the gospel. Paul’s point is that the person who has been impacted by the Holy Spirit is enabled by the Holy Spirit to examine and unpack the wisdom and message of God in a way that leads to understanding and acceptance.
Paul then states that followers of Jesus who have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit have received the mind of Christ, which means that they have the ability to understand Christ and the wisdom and message of God. As followers of Jesus, it is not incumbent on us to save anyone; as a matter of fact you cannot save anyone.
As followers of Jesus, we are simply responsible for being faithful in the opportunities that we are given to invest in the lives of those around us who are skeptical and seeking and invite them to experience the forgiveness of sin and the relationship with God that they were created for by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader. And when we are faithful to do what we are supposed to do, we can step back and trust God to do what only He can do by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, which is to open hearts and minds to understand and accept the wisdom of God as seen in the message of the gospel.
So are you faithful in the opportunities that you are given to invest in the lives of the those who are far from God and invite them into the relationship with God that they were created for? Are you partnering with what God wants to do in the world?
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