Wisdom for the Mature
October 6, 2024
Preached by Ron Smith
Scripture Reading
1 Corinthians 2:6-16
6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
14 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. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
How do we understand and function in this world we live in? That is the very heart of what wisdom is. It is the ability to understand the way things operate, to understand situations, and then react accordingly. To decide the best way to respond or behave in any given situation. There is a formation of our minds that is taking place that leads to action. Wisdom is not just understanding or knowledge, but the application of that knowledge.
The reality is that we all want to know how we should respond, or act in the situations that are happening in our life. We don’t want to be silly and foolish. This gets really practical really fast. Someone takes advantage of you in some way, how do you respond? You are offered a new job, you like your current job, but this new job would offer you the chance to grow and develop in ways your current job won’t allow. What do you do? You have aging parents that need extra care, what do you do? In all of these we want to make wise decisions.
What is the wise decision? That depends on where you get your wisdom from.
The fundamental question we need to ask ourselves is what is our wisdom built upon? What is the source of our wisdom? This makes all the difference.
If you have been with us through this series so far, you might be thinking that Paul is opposed to wisdom. In chapter 1 we see that God will destroy the wisdom of the wise, that he makes foolish the wisdom of this world. That the world can not know God through wisdom. Then in the first 5 verses of chapter 2 Paul proudly declares that he did not come to the Corinthians with lofty speech or wisdom; that his speech was not in plausible words of wisdom but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power.
Now, in verse 6, there is a shift that Paul makes. He wants to explicitly make clear that there is a kind of wisdom that is good. He says, Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom. I would like to use these words, wisdom and mature, from verse 6 as a way to frame our consideration of this passage this morning. To do that, we will answer two questions: What is this wisdom that Paul imparts? And, who are the mature?
What is this wisdom that Paul imparts?
Well, the first thing that Paul underlines is what it is not. He says, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. This is a wisdom that is built upon the foundation of what man thinks is right or wrong. It is a wisdom that is temporal, a wisdom that changes. It is a wisdom that denies God, that opposes God, that is hostile to God, that exalts itself over God. It is a wisdom with man at the center.
Notice that he mentions the ‘rulers of this age’. These are the people in key leadership positions that have undeniable influence over the people. It does not necessarily refer to the one who is in ultimate authority like a king or president, but to all who are leaders in society. Perhaps today, we could even extend that to ‘influencers’. They are leaders in the sense that they have an influence on the way people think about life. But at a minimum we can certainly say that our political leaders fit the bill. Tis the season of campaign ads. And in those ads we see a wisdom of this age being communicated with a use of words that is really crafty. For example, think about what is being said about abortion – reproductive rights, woman’s right to choose, women’s health, etc. If you are against abortion, you are against healthy independent women. And of course, there are many other examples on both sides of the aisle that exhibit worldly wisdom.
If we are not careful, we will be swept away in it. It is the air we breathe. Or as Noah mentioned two weeks ago, the water we are swimming in. We don’t even realize the influence that the wisdom of this age has on us. And sometimes, we begin to shift our views on issues because of it. For example, the age we live in places a high value on the truthfulness of all religions. “All religions lead to God” is the wisdom of our age. What do we think? If I said to you, “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam,” would you agree or disagree? There have been surveys done among evangelicals asking that very question. 56% of evangelicals, us here in this room, agree. (https://thestateoftheology.com/) We need to be alert. We need to examine the source of the wisdom that is being offered to us.
At the end of the day, Paul says that the rulers of this age don’t get it. They don’t understand true wisdom. They are doomed to pass away, to come to nothing. The wisdom of this age will not last. It might sound good, all your friends might be following it, but it won’t last. The tide will turn and it will be shown for what it truly is, empty hollow words.
Now that is what wisdom is not. Starting in verse 7, Paul turns his attention to what wisdom is. It is secret and hidden. Or another way we could translate it is ‘we impart a wisdom of God hidden in a mystery.’ Depending on your personality, this might be appealing to you. Secret to be discovered, something hidden that needs to be found, a mystery that needs to be solved. There is almost the idea that there is a cosmic puzzle that we need to figure out in order to discover what the wisdom of God is. Kind of like those puzzle you have probably seen where two nails are twisted together and you have to figure out how to get them a part. The problem is that is not what is intended here.
The point of saying that God’s wisdom is hidden in a mystery is that there is no way to figure out what it is. It is hidden by God. If God does not want it revealed, it will not be. It does not matter how much effort we put into it. How much time we spend analyzing it. We will never on our own efforts be able to discover the wisdom of God. God’s wisdom is hidden and has been hidden for a long time.
In fact, God’s wisdom has existed well before you came into being and will continue well after you check out. God’s wisdom is eternal. Paul says, which God decreed before the ages for our glory (7). God’s wisdom goes back before the foundation of the world. He created all things by his wisdom. His wisdom is woven into the very fabric of creation. That’s why God’s wisdom is not of this age or of the rulers of this age. It goes way beyond this age. It is ancient, it is life giving, it is real, and it is for our glory. He doesn’t give his wisdom to shame us, but to lift us out of our shame and give us a future that is sure and solid. We wait and long for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ who will make all things right, fully revealing his wisdom to all of creation. And we will live with him in glory.
Of course, this just begs the question, how then can we get his wisdom now?
Well, this brings us to verses 9 and 10.
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
Let’s stop here for a second. Notice that from the context, what no eye has seen, ear heard, our hearts have imagined, is the wisdom of God.
Now in verse 10 we see how it is revealed to us: these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. It is by the Spirit of God that we can know and have the wisdom of God. It is by the Spirit of God that the mystery is revealed. God’s wisdom to us is a gracious gift from the Spirit.
It is only the Spirit that can do this. Paul goes on to explain that it is the Spirit that searches the deep things of God. It is only the Spirit who can know such intimate knowledge and is capable of making it known to others. He says it is just like the spirit of a person. Only the spirit of a person really knows what is going on inside. We know ourselves better than anyone else. Sometimes I think I know what is going on inside my wife, what she is really thinking or what her motivations really are, but as soon as I voice this knowledge to her, I find out pretty quickly that I am wrong. It is not nice to have people assume what is going on inside of you. Have you ever had someone ask you why you are in a bad mood, when you aren’t? Now you are. What is going on inside of you can only be revealed by you. Well, in the same way God’s wisdom can only be revealed by the Spirit of God.
And as believers, Paul says, we have received the Spirit of God. We are in a position to understand the things given to us by God, namely his wisdom. What this leads to we see in verse 13, And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. God by his Spirit uses us as instruments to reveal his wisdom to those around us.
In another letter that Paul wrote to the Colossians (1:24-29), he describes his ministry to them. He says that the ministry that was given to him by God was to make the word of God fully known. And specifically, that meant making known the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. Then he goes on to explicitly state what that mystery was that had been hidden: Christ in you the hope of glory. The secret and hidden wisdom of God is Christ in you the hope of glory. The wisdom of God is Christ. So, Paul says, Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
You want wisdom? Get Christ. He makes sense of the world. Without him we run around in circles trying to figure things out but always coming up short. We will be left with wisdom that is fleeting, temporary and fickle. It’s like buying a precious gem that looks shiny and bright, but when you look closely it is cheap plastic. Yeah, we can know a lot of stuff even if we are not Christians. But until you have Christ, the full wisdom of God will elude you. The why questions will remain unanswered. Christ is the wisdom of God. True wisdom comes by embracing the wisdom of God, his son Jesus.
What wisdom are you embracing? Has your heart been captured by the shiny glamorous looking wisdom of this world? Or are you seeking Jesus, the wisdom of God?
We have seen that the wisdom of God is in contrast to the wisdom and rulers of this age, it is secret and hidden, it is eternal and for our glory, it is revealed by the Spirit, and it is Jesus.
Who are the mature?
This brings us to that second question. Who are the mature? Remember Paul says in verse 6, among the mature we do impart wisdom. Who are the mature?
First and foremost, in the immediate context the mature to whom Paul imparts wisdom is at a minimum those who have embraced the gospel; those who have responded to this message that Paul preached: Christ crucified; those who have embraced the foolishness of God according to the world; those who have embraced Christ who is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
There are a few indications from our verses that lead us in this direction:
Verse 9 we see that the wisdom of God has been prepared for those who love him.
Verse 12 we see that the mature received the Spirit who is from God.
Then in verses 14 and 15, we see that the mature are spiritual people as opposed to natural people. The natural person, Paul says, does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. They have to be spiritually understood.
Then finally we see in verse 16, the mature have the mind of Christ. By God’s grace, we have been given the mind of Christ. To understand the world around us and walk in true wisdom in it.
The mature at a minimum are those who have come to faith in Christ. They are Christians. The door is open to understanding the wisdom of God by embracing Christ. However, I think there is more that can be said about maturity. While the Corinthians are believers and Paul certainly treats them as such, they don’t seem to be availing themselves to the wisdom of God. We will see next week in chapter 3 that at least some of them don’t seem to be maturing spiritually. Paul describes them as spiritual infants when they should be much further along. They had access to the wisdom of God in Christ, but were not growing in it, not maturing in it. Their lives did not evidence the Spirit wrought transformation that comes with those who walk in the Spirit.
Let me wrap this up and bring it to a close.
Among the mature we do impart wisdom. The secret and hidden, eternal wisdom of God that is for our glory is revealed by the Spirit of God and is available to those who embrace Jesus.
Don’t get caught up in the wisdom of this age promoted by leaders who are following man centered ways of thinking. Be alert to what is really going on around you. Be aware of the subtleties of the deceit that worldly wisdom speaks. Maybe you can ask yourself if the wisdom you are holding to is from God or is it of this age? Are there ways you are blind to the effect of worldly wisdom in your life?
Just this week a group of 7 of us returned from a missions trip to a country in Asia. Suffice it to say, it was a totally different way of living life, of thinking, a different wisdom. We were confronted immediately with all of the idolatry that was present everywhere. People were actually practicing: they were bowing before these idols, putting tika, a red dye, on their forehead. There were places close to where we were staying that sacrifices were made. Our host joked that the gods don’t eat the sacrifices, but the monkeys do. Now we look at that and think, how strange. That is clearly not wisdom. It is doing nothing for them. But if you grew up in their environment, you may not even question it. You would probably just go along. You are after all, doing these things to secure a better future.
While we were there, we heard the testimony of one young lady that was extraordinary. She grew up in a Hindu family. Her father is a major Hindu priest who is very well known and respected. As she grew up, she proved to be a devout Hindu herself. Always worshiping their household idol, participating in all the rituals, and strongly admonishing her siblings to do the same. Sometime during Covid, she met some believers who began to challenge her beliefs. This caused her to begin to question why she did what she did. Naturally, she turned to her father to find out why they worshiped that way. His response was simply because that is what his father did and what his father before him did, and so on. There was no answer. As God revealed the hidden mystery of his wisdom to her, she embraced Christ. This did not make her family happy at all. For a period of time, they confined her to a matt in her room. She was not allowed to leave that matt and was given little food. During that time, people came to visit her to convince her to renounce Christ. Some even took to beating her, like her own brothers. But she did not waver. She was eventually kicked out of the house and disowned by her family (a common theme in the testimonies of believers we came in contact with). She tasted true wisdom, wisdom of God, and nothing was going to keep her from it. Not even her family. That’s a high price to pay. Perhaps it looks obvious to us. Why would you think serving idols and making sacrifices? But what about us? Are we following the wisdom of this age in more subtle ways? Are we blind to the silly things we do? Once we see clearly are we willing to let go of the wisdom of this world no matter the cost?
Sermon Discussion Questions:
How do you make wise decisions?
Describe a time when you went along with the wisdom of this age instead of the wisdom of God in a decision you made.
What is the wisdom of this age? How would you describe it? What are the messages you hear that promote it? Think of politics, music, art, books, news, etc.
Push a little further: How do you see the wisdom of this age in the groups you tend to agree with? For example, if you are a republican, how do you see the wisdom of this age in the party platform? This is where we begin to unmask the subtleties we might be blind to.
Look back through chapter 1 and chapter 2. How do we see Christ as the wisdom of God?
How might you engage unbelievers around you so that they might see the beauty of the wisdom of God?