Studies in 1 Corinthians Series 6 1 Corinthians 215 June 8 2014 Pastor Paul K Kim PAULS THREEFOLD CHALLENGE FOR CORINTHIAN CHURCH A root cause of the Corinthian divisions ID: 488897
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Slide1Slide2
Demonstration of the Spirit’s Power
Studies in 1 Corinthians Series [6]
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
June 8, 2014
Pastor Paul K. KimSlide3
PAUL’S THREEFOLD CHALLENGE
FOR
CORINTHIAN CHURCH
*
A root
cause of the Corinthian
divisions:
their spirituality was
influenced
by worldly wisdom,
eloquent speech,
and power.
Consider
the word of the cross
:
“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” (1:18).
Consider
your calling
:
“God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;” (1:27b).
Consider
when/how
I came to you
:
“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.” (2:1).Slide4
HOW WAS GOD’S POWER REVEALED
THROUGH
PAUL’S WEAKNESSES?
1) God’s
power was revealed through
WEAK
MESSAGE
of Paul’s preaching.
1
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come
proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech
or wisdom.
2
For I decided to know nothing among you
except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (vs. 1-
2)
5
Indeed, I consider that I am not
in the least inferior to these super-apostles.
6
Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so
in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have
made this plain to you in all things.
2 Corinthians 11:5-6 Slide5
HOW WAS GOD’S POWER REVEALED
THROUGH
PAUL’S WEAKNESSES?
1) God’s
power was revealed through
WEAK
MESSAGE
of Paul’s preaching.
1
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come
proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech
or wisdom.
2
For I decided to know nothing among you
except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (vs. 1-2
)
Paul sought God’s power not through man’s wisdom and rhetoric but through the weak message of the cross.
It means
that Paul’s
mode
of operation
was an intentional focus
on
Christ crucified (
NOT
‘anti
-
intellectualism’)
.
We ought to be also deeply convinced by that God’s power is shown through the weak message of the cross.Slide6
HOW WAS GOD’S POWER REVEALED
THROUGH
PAUL’S WEAKNESSES?
2) God’s
power was revealed
through
WEAK
WAY of Paul’s preaching.
3
And
I was with you in weakness
and in fear and much trembling,
4
and my
speech and my message were not in
plausible words of wisdom... (vs. 3-4a
)Slide7
For they say,
“His letters are weighty and strong
,
but his bodily presence is weak,
and
his
speech of no account.”
2
Corinthians 10:
10
Paul is said to be
“a man small of stature,
with
a bald head
and
crooked legs, in a good
state
of body, with eyebrows
m
eeting
and
nose somewhat hooked.
”
Edgar
Hennecke, NT
ApocryphaSlide8
HOW WAS GOD’S POWER REVEALED
THROUGH
PAUL’S WEAKNESSES?
2) God’s
power was revealed
through
WEAK
WAY of Paul’s preaching.
3
And
I was with you in weakness
and in fear and much trembling,
4
and my
speech and my message were not in
plausible words of wisdom... (vs. 3-4a)
Paul’s confession that he was not shamed of the gospel doesn’t mean there was no pressure and temptation.
The reality was
this: facing
the wealthy, intellectual Corinthian culture, Paul was weak, fearful, and trembling.
Nevertheless, Paul chose
humble confidence
in God’s
‘foolish’ wisdom
and intentionally avoided using
lofty
speech and worldly wisdom in his preaching.Slide9
HOW WAS GOD’S POWER REVEALED
THROUGH
PAUL’S WEAKNESSES?
3
) God’s
power was revealed through
Paul’s UTTER DEPENDENCE on the Spirit’s power.
4
and
my speech and my message were not in
plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of
the Spirit and of power,
5
so that your faith might not rest
in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (vs. 4-5)
Paul’s humble confidence led him to be utterly dependent on demonstration of the Holy
Spirit’s power in ministry.
Why? It wasn’t that the other
ways were
ineffective but that it was
to
give them the firm foundation of their
faith.
We must also embrace this steadfast commitment to be utterly dependent on the Spirit’s
power
in today’s world!Slide10
God’s Power through Weakness
The central theme of Paul’s Corinthian correspondence, and especially of 1 Corinthians 1:17-2:5, is ‘power through weakness’. We have a weak message (Christ crucified), proclaimed by weak preachers (full of fear and trembling), received by weak hearers (the socially despised). For God chose a weak instrument (Paul), to bring a weak message (the cross) to weak people (the Corinthian working class). But through this triple weakness the power of God was—and still is—displaced. We see this principle supremely in Jesus Christ and his cross. For when in the Judean desert the devil offered him power, he declined the offer. Instead, he gave himself voluntarily to the ultimate weakness and humiliation of the cross. Therefore God has exalted him to the supreme place of power and authority in the universe . . . The Christian leaders needed in the world and the church today are those who . . . know that God’s power will be exhibited not in displays of power but in their weakness.
— John R. W. StottSlide11
THREE PRACTICAL QUESTIONS
FOR OUR EVERYDAY LIFE
In what ways do you need to change the way you perceive your own weaknesses for experiencing God’s power?
In what ways do you need to change the way you hear God’s Word from preachers and teachers in today’s world?
If God’s power is indeed revealed through
the weak message of the cross,
how does this
truth free
you in sharing the gospel?Slide12