Outer Banks Community Church

Saints GO Marching On Series – 1 Corinthians 2:6-13

Intro: One of the greatest goals we can ever accomplish is acquiring MATURITY! April of 2015 I started a series of messages from the Book of James entitled “Life is a Test” and the whole series focused on growing up. James didn’t sugar coat the need to grow up. When are you going to grow up? The Book of James covered it well. The noun for maturity is a state of being mature; ripeness. When we see the maturity of a crop in the field its fruit is the reward. This might be understood as being just ripe fully developed in its perfect condition.

In finance maturity can make or break someone. It could be the maturity of judgment, or to bring a plan to maturity. It can also be the state of being due, a time when a note or bill of exchange becomes due. For an application that can relate to the text today and the point Paul is presenting to these Saints in Corinth, Maturity is a state or quality of being fully grown or developed, being mature.

Perseverance:

Two frogs fell into a can of cream,
Or so I’ve heard it told.
The sides of the can were shiny and steep,
The cream was deep and cold.
“Oh, what’s the use?” croaked number one.
“Tis fate, no help’s around.
Good-bye, my friend!
Good-bye, sad world!”
And weeping still, he drowned.

But number two, of sterner stuff,
Dog-paddled in surprise.
The while he wiped his creamy face,
And dried his creamy eyes.
“I’ll swim awhile at least,” he said,
Or so I’ve heard he said;
“It really wouldn’t help the world,
If one more frog were dead.”
An hour or two he kicked and swam,
Not once he stopped to mutter,
But kicked and kicked and swam and kicked,
Then hopped out, via butter!

Text: 1 Corinthians 2:6-13 (NKJV)

“However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him." 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things 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 know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”

“Therefore, leaving the elementary message about the Messiah, let us go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God.” Hebrews 6:1 (HCSB)

A person has a great need to get past the ABC's of God's Word. Scripture is direct and forceful: "Leave the elementary teachings, the ABC teachings of Christ and go on to perfection [maturity]." This does not mean that we are to forget the basic teachings about Christ. We are never to forget how we are saved by Christ nor how we grow in Christ. What this means is that we are to take the basic teachings about Christ and store and lay them up in our hearts. They are to be part of our lives, in fact, the very foundation of our lives. But once the foundation is laid, we are to build upon it. The basic teachings of salvation in Christ are to be built upon. We are to go on to perfection, learning all the truth about Christ and the Word of God. No believer is to stay in the ABC's of Christ; no believer is to lay the foundation of salvation over and over again.

Maturity requires God’s Wisdom:

1. What wisdom is: Vs. 6-7 “However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory.”

The King James translation uses the word “perfect” instead of mature; God's wisdom is only for those who seek to be perfect before God. The word "perfect" means finished complete. It means fully developed, grown, and mature. This is the person who is interested in God and His wisdom.

What wisdom is not, not the wisdom of the world and its leaders. The wisdom of the world says there is no God; He does not exist. The wisdom of the world says God may exist, but He may not exist. We cannot know for sure. If He does exist, He is so distant and far away that men are left on their own. God has no concern about the world. Our task is to conquer the evil and negative forces of life through science, technology, education, and the religion of human effort. We are to use everything at our disposal and do the very best we can to conquer nature, disease, suffering, corruption, and death. We are to live a life that is as lawful and full as possible. If there happens to be a God, He would expect us to do this. Man's ideas about God and truth fade and pass away almost as quickly as man himself does.

“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness. 20 And again, “The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise; he knows they are worthless.” 1 Corinthians 3:19-20 (NLT)

God's wisdom has to be revealed; it is a mystery in that it can never be known unless God reveals it. No man can penetrate heaven to discover God and truth. If this material world is to know the spiritual world, then God, who is Spirit, has to reveal Himself and His spiritual world.

Maturity requires God’s Wisdom:

2. Who Knows Wisdom: Vs. 8-9 “Which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."

The gospel tells how God went about reconciling the world to Himself and how man is to be reconciled to God. The gospel shows how wise God has been in dealing with man and his world. The gospel—Christ and Him crucified—is the wisdom and mystery of God. Know Him and Know wisdom! The world and its leaders are at a loss to understand where we have come from, why we are here, and where we are going. If the leaders had known the wisdom of God they would not have crucified "THE LORD OF GLORY." Jesus Christ is the Lord of Glory, God Himself. He came to earth to save men, and to save them eternally. Yet the leaders rejected and crucified Him. This they would not have done if they had known the wisdom of God. The leaders in the day of Christ rejected Him. Their rejection symbolizes exactly what most leaders have done and always will do: reject Him. The world stands guilty before God—guilty of rejecting His wisdom.

You can’t know this wisdom or understand the truth of His love without a relationship with Him. Man and his world had been created in perfection, but man has corrupted himself and his world through sin, deception, lies, immorality and selfishness. Because of this a person must repent and turn back to god if you wish to live with God. Without a turning from sin and self and toward God you can’t see the spiritual. The world rejects the crucified Christ: Their eyes could not see the spiritual world. Their ears could not hear the spiritual truth. Their hearts could not conceive the spiritual truth, the glory of the things God has prepared for them that love Him. “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.” John 1:10

Maturity requires God’s Wisdom:

3. How One Receives Wisdom: Vs. 10-13 “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things 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 know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”

So how does one receive wisdom? We are taught wisdom by the Revelation of God, by receiving the Spirit of God and by the taught or preached Word. No man really knows God and the things of God except the Spirit of God. The world does not know God nor the things of God for they must be revealed. No person has ever seen God, no matter what some people may claim. If we are to ever know the spiritual world and dimension of being, God has to reveal Himself. This He did once-for-all in Christ Jesus, His only beloved Son.

God has given His Spirit to believers the saints that they might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Only the Holy Spirit knows the things of God, only the person who receives Christ, who is born again by the Spirit of God, is quickened to understand spiritual things. “Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3

Only the believer who minds spiritual things can understand the mature, deep things of God. The natural man (any man not reborn by the Spirit of God) cannot know the things of God. “Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” Ephesians 4:18 God's wisdom is the message taught by the Holy Spirit. The message, God's glorious wisdom and gospel, is not a message of man's wisdom.

God's wisdom and gospel is the message of God's Spirit Himself. The Holy Spirit teaches the wisdom and gospel of God. The Holy Spirit guides and directs us, teaching us to compare and combine spiritual things with spiritual things. We use the Word of God to interpret the Word of God. When we seek and read the instructions of God and do not understand something, we use other Scripture references and passages in the Word to interpret what is not clear. The Holy Spirit keeps us from all error as we follow His leadership.

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" John 14:26 (KJV)

Conclusion: Which frog are you? Are you the one that says; Oh, what’s the use croaked number one. Or are you the frog that is of sterner stuff and decides to Dog-paddle awhile and for an hour or two you kicked and swim, and kicks and kicks some more not once to stop to mutter, then you hop out, via butter!