1 Corinthians 1:28-31
This letter that Paul writes to the Corinthians is a great contrast to the letter that he wrote to the Philippians, of which we heard this morning.
It must have given him great joy to write the letter to the Philippians.
And it would have been a great joy to have received it.
But this letter was not an easy one to write, nor was it easy to read by those to whom it was written.
Not that it was lacking in kindness nor in the love of God—it was that which prompted this letter to be written.
Best of all, it produced the fruit of life.
The reaction to it was good.
I am sure that nearly all of us, during the course of the days we spend here, will be made conscious of the lack in our life.
We will be made mindful of our shortcomings and failures.
The Holy Spirit by the word of God spoken through many will be convicting us of our need and lack.
It is not that God is so anxious to find us here with wrongs, but with a proper reaction to the wrongs.
When we are confronted with the wrong, what is our reaction?
What is our frame of mind?
God is glad when there is the proper reaction.
He is glad to overlook our failures when the reaction is good, and when it is producing in us a desire to make the future better than the past.
David did wrong but his reaction was good; real good.
He said, “I have sinned.”
He acknowledged this before God when he was confronted with it.
The heart had become more or less hard unconsciously, but when the Lord confronted him with his wrong, his reaction was proper and the Lord said, “I have forgiven you.”
These Corinthian people had a great deal of bulk in and around them that was not going to auger well for the future.
If this was to continue, it would lead them into great waters of difficulties and could be the means of their destruction.
Not only what it was at the present, but if it was not corrected, it would destroy them.
Then the Lord sent them help.
As we are gathered here, God wants to make corrections in the matter that we have allowed to continue and increase.
Maybe we have been led into great waters and might ultimately be drowned if God would not correct us.
Because of certain things being allowed to remain in them, they were not right.
They tampered, trifled, and compromised and permitted things to remain in their heart.
There was jealousy, envy and hardness that if allowed to stay, would have led to their downfall, ultimately.
If it had not been corrected, they would eventually have been found outside of the fellowship of God and His people.
Therefore, it is kindness that the Lord these days would endeavour to deal with us and bring to light that which we are not conscious of, or that which He has reminded us of before and are in need of another reminder.
Our attitude will determine how much blessing we shall obtain in these meetings.
The Corinthians were of the Greek nation.
They were people who loved earthly wisdom, the wisdom of this world.
They were the greatest thinkers, in some respects, that the world has ever produced.
As far as this world and human thinking goes, they tried to find out the best way to spend their lives and the best way to find happiness.
That was their quest and a wonderful thought, but it was very, very far removed from what God would bring to His people.
The world by wisdom knew not God, and it does not know God by human reasoning and thinking.
The brightest intellect, the greatest wisdom of man in this world has never brought man to the understanding of the mind of God.
They were missing it by an eternity.
It was just as far distant as it could be because they were not seeking the wisdom of God from the right source.
Before they died, they saw their theories come crashing upon their heads.
Human reasoning has never been able to fathom the wisdom of God.
Human reasoning led them into two extremes, either one way or the other.
The people we read about in Acts 17 were of this type.
There were the Stoics, who never had any pleasure and no hope, and (they believed) you could not do anything about your fate, you could not better your lot no matter what happened.
This is a gloomy sacrifice.
A life is void of all pleasure.
Then the opposite extreme was seen in the Epicureans.
They tried to forget defeat in the arms of pleasure.
Pleasure was the best life for them.
There may be men and women today, who once were in touch with God, but who are outside today, and who go to the extreme in the world.
The spirit of God will lead people into what is about the middle of the road, where it is desirable, where there are pleasures, where there is a good-paying dividend both in this life and the life to come.
Not extreme either way.
There was much that God had to deal with in these Corinthian people because of their human inclinations.
They were reared among the Greeks and therefore they had natural tendencies and human inclinations that made it hard for them to humble themselves before God.
If these same tendencies are nurtured in us, they will lead us into difficulties and ensnare us today.
That which happened two thousand years ago could happen today.
What happened then could overtake God’s people today.
They certainly would not have been flattered when they got this letter, in finding out considerable about themselves.
Some of them were not conscious of just the condition they were in.
They were unconscious of their need and their condition.
They got a little photograph of themselves.
You heard about the person who was so indignant when she saw the photo the photographer had taken of her, and said, “This does not do me justice.”
“It is not justice you need, but mercy,” she was told.
When we come to meetings and get to know ourselves as we really are, we do not want justice, we need mercy.
If we are right we have the feeling that God has been just a bit more merciful to us than anyone else.
To a certain extent, that was the way John the Apostle felt.
He often mentions the disciple that Jesus loved.
He felt Jesus was more favorable to him, more merciful and showed him more kindness.
The others did not mention that.
Not in Matthew, Mark, Luke is it mentioned.
John was the only one who felt Jesus had a little more love for him.
Many of us in this meeting feel that God has been a little more partial.
We know our weakness better than anyone else.
I know my lack and shortcomings better than you know them, and you know yours better than I do, and because of the great need we have for mercy, we have a feeling that God has been just a little more merciful and more kind to us.
If God had dealt with us according to what we deserve, we would not be among the living today.
We are conscious of that today.
We are being made conscious of the need for mercy.
These people did not understand the pitfalls they were getting into because they were pursuing a handy knowledge of God that was not balanced up by a corresponding love of God.
One was fleshly knowledge about God and the other, the love of God.
The two are balanced up in this book.
God is trying to bring up a balanced people, building for eternity.
The work of the Holy Spirit will produce a balanced people of God in the world, not one-sided, extremists or overbalanced, but from every angle of our life there will be balance—it will be balanced with true wisdom and love of God.
These Corinthians had pursued after knowledge.
Therefore, after they heard the Gospel, they continued to pursue a knowledge of God, which is right in its place.
It would be a shame for a people not to try to get to know more about God, and to get to know God better, and the Book of God.
There is no excuse for laziness in God’s house and God has no pleasure in a lazy person, or in those people who are not diligent.
The increase of knowledge and wisdom should be God-given and not our injection of human reasoning and should be guided by the Spirit.
These people had knowledge of God’s way, of the servants and of the doctrine.
They reasoned in a human way.
Human reasoning would lead to snares and pitfalls.
What we are by nature will be that which we will be inclined to go after later on.
Some are optimists.
Some are gloomy.
Some by nature are always complaining.
Some never see any hope.
This is what we are by nature, but it does not mean that we are to remain so.
There is grace abundant to correct that which is a hindering influence to keep us back from enjoying the best in God and keeping us from becoming useful in His Kingdom.
There was a tendency in these people to follow the wisdom that made them good speakers.
They were very correct.
There was lots of knowledge of the doctrine.
Through these chapters we read what it had led them into and what they had become.
Chapter 3:18 “Let no man deceive himself.”
This was to say that, you are not conscious of what you are or where you are or as to what God is doing about you.
This heady wisdom and human reasoning that was not God-given had led them into pride in themselves.
They were a proud and conceited people, and were not conscious of what they were and where they were, and there was a manifestation of what they were naturally.
There was not one right thought that was of benefit to them or to others that was of their own production.
They had abandoned that which they had received when they were a humble people.
What is the greatest thing in the world?
To know yourself.
What is the easiest thing in the world?
To give advice.
It may not be altogether true of the first question.
When it was said that the greatest thing in the world was to know yourself, that person did not know God.
The greatest thing is to KNOW GOD.
And if we truly know God, we will know ourselves.
One of the best benefits we could gain in these meetings is to get to know God better and ourselves better, and who we are and what we are before God.
It is easy to be deceived in ourselves.
It leads to pride of heart and our thoughts would be conceited—and a conceited person is a nuisance.
You never saw a humble man or woman you did not like; they may not be brilliant, but they are alive, and because of their God-given humility, you appreciate them.
But you weary of the boastfulness of the conceited man or woman because their heady reasoning is not balanced with the deep abiding love of God.
Someone complained about a person in their church meeting that wearied the others because of his long prayers and long testimony.
They did not dislike the man, but it was a damper on the meeting and he made it unprofitable.
They appealed for help and someone went to speak to him about it, and others too.
We spoke to one of these people and said first of all that there had been some complaint about long speaking and long prayers that were not very profitable and were not helpful.
This man who was one of the chief offenders, said it was right, there are some in this meeting who speak and pray too long.
There was no one who took up as much time as he did.
He was not conscious that he was wearying the others.
There was nothing against, or any malice.
He did not see himself, and he thought he was just a little better equipped with phrases he had learned through years.
He had a feeling of superiority and therefore was out of line.
We had to tell him that he was one of those complained about.
He said, “You do not mean me?”
Surely, you are the man we have come to see.
We had not heard him when his testimony was not profitable.
To the man’s credit, he took it.
What I want to say is, that it is possible to be deceived in ourselves and not be sure of what we are and who we are.
It would be a good thing to sit down in a chair in front of ourselves and look ourselves over and see how we appear before the brethren and before God.
We ought to look ourselves over.
Let us take ourselves apart and criticize.
It would be sad to let ourselves go on in the state of mind that everything is well, if it is not.
I do not think the people who are anxious to be right before God and exercise themselves in keeping right and are humble in mind are so apt to err in this.
Such are sensitive to the touch of God.
The love of God burns and the Holy Spirit speaks.
They have a sensitiveness that enables God to keep them on the track.
They will not fall into the pitfalls of pride or superiority.
God has no pleasure in those who have pride.
Chapter 8:2 “If any man think that he knoweth anything he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.”
Again, we have this same thought, the thing that is deceitful.
The thought is that we know something and that we do not any longer need to be dependent upon the Lord.
Do we have the feeling in these meetings that we have a right to reject the things that are spoken that do not suit us so very well?
If so, we are no longer the teachable, childlike, humble people.
Do we have an open mind and allow the Lord to impress our hearts?
Or do we think we know something and have we lost the dependent spirit that we had when we started?
That humble attitude will move God to send to our help time and time again, and will enable Him to write some of the Truths of heaven on our hearts.
It is the thought in the heart that we are not conscious of that does the damage.
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
Someone said, “My friend thought he was a better man than I am, and he was a better man than I am until he got that thought.”
It is the thought of superiority that turns righteousness into self-righteousness.
God loves to see the attitude of a person who feels, I am nothing and I have nothing apart from what God gives me.
Chapter 1:29 “That no flesh should glory in His presence.”
If we would compare ourselves with the world, we would feel rather clean and good.
When we compare ourselves with our brethren, we may feel more or less satisfied, but when we compare ourselves with Jesus, we feel vile, we abhor ourselves.
We repent in dust and ashes.
The only goodness we have is what has been given us of God.
We never will be anything in ourselves.
No flesh shall glory in His presence.
Those people were looking for wisdom, but he said, Christ is made unto us wisdom and righteousness.
Wisdom and righteousness will be given to us in Christ and the roots of Christ will be deepened in our heart and more of the life and love shed abroad—THIS IS WISDOM.
Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption (Verse 30).
Christ is made all this to us.
It is in that course; in that manner we will be attaining the wisdom that is in Christ.
This wisdom will not be leading us into snares and pitfalls.
Chapter 8 talks about a certain liberty or a freedom.
They were free from the law.
But the Apostle showed them that if they disregarded their weak brother, they did not care about their influence.
We should be concerned about our influence, what we are doing and how it affects other people of God who may be weak.
Do you not know that LIBERTY DOES NOT MEAN LICENSE?
Freedom in Christ is subject to the law of Christ.
“Our liberty ends where the other man’s nose begins.”
Do we disregard that weak brother for whom Christ died?
The people who are moved by the love of God are exercised by what my behaviour is doing to my brother.
Is it a strength?
Gird up the loins of your mind with Truth so our influence in this house of God will be helpful in the future.
Those who were just plunging on, disregarding their brother, were only in it with a heady knowledge and were out of touch with God.
A person who is disregarding his influence is not ruled by the effect his life will have on his weak brother.
If they ever were in touch with God, they are not now.
Verse 11 “And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died.”
For whom Christ died.
It was a powerful leverage God was using.
There was another great difficulty they were in.
It was in their meetings when they were taking the bread and wine in the name of Jesus.
It was of no benefit.
Chapter 11:29
They were not discerning the Lord’s body.
They were doing it without the proper reverence.
These emblems ought to do something for God’s people.
It is a source of strength every time they are partaking.
It takes the mind back to Jesus and to what it means to have our minds surrendered to Him and we purpose to have our life wholly yielded to Him.
Otherwise never take it.
I think of Him who gave Himself for me.
I want to be truly submitted to Him.
If we just take it as a form of doctrine and not considering the Lord’s body in these emblems, then we are not discerning the body of Christ, and we will become sick and die like these Corinthians.
Some were sick and some were asleep and some had gone out entirely because of their careless attitude and their needs were not real to them.
They had the knowledge of the doctrine, but they were forgetful of the vital things.
If we break the communication line, we will be forgetful of the vital things.
Eight times in this Epistle, he starts with the words: “Know you not.”
Chapter 16:17 “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.”
Have you forgotten that ye are the temple of the living God?
That is a foundation truth, a basic truth.
God will destroy that temple if we defile it.
Chapter 5:5 “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?”
They tolerated leaven, the old leaven.
They had super head knowledge and without the corresponding anchor of the love of God.
There was lots of gloss.
Paul reminded them that a little leaven, a little rebellion and refusal would be folly.
What you have been many years in building for the Lord, you could destroy by an unwise act.
A little leaven will corrupt the whole life.
We could well afford to look for the little leaven or the wrong that is working and prevent corruption.
Purge out the leaven of malice and wickedness, and keep the feast with the new leaven that is purged.
In Chapter 6 he used the words, “Know ye not” five times.
Know ye not that ye shall judge the world?
That you shall judge angels?
Verse 2 “If the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?”
It was not right for these people to go to law.
Their pride and high-mindedness led them into quarrels and fighting with one another and none were willing to give in.
They were carnal, and there was no evidence of God’s spirit working.
He said, Why do ye not rather take wrong?
Christians do not fight for their rights, but suffer for them.
When Abraham got great victory and could have taken advantage, the love of God appeared to come out on top.
When the other man chose the best, God said to him, “Look to the north, south, east and west. Everything you see shall be yours.”
Every joy, pleasure and riches, because you are willing to trust in God.
He said to them (Verses 6 & 7) Why do you not suffer loss?
Why do you not suffer wrong?
Why do you not take this attitude next time?
But he said, you are defrauding your brethren even.
Verse 19.
They were all the temple of the Holy Ghost, and they were defrauding their brethren.
Five times he said to them, “Do you not know?”
Have you forgotten?
It would be easy for us to be unmindful of the basic and important truth of God.
It has not and never will be changed, never altered, never lessened in importance.
Chapter 9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race, run all, etc.?
You cannot run half-heartedly, haphazardly, in a slipshod manner and expect to win.
It is going to take the best that is in you every day.
They had forgotten the basic foundation truth of God which every one of us knew from the beginning when we heard the voice of God.
We understood the same truths.
It will require the best in us if we are going to hear at the end that same voice of God.
He said, I fight, not as one that is beating the air, but I keep under my body, etc.
He did not want to be a castaway at the last.
Are you mindful of this?
All this had come about because they were neglecting the balance of life, the important side.
The important side is that we get to know God, get a proper knowledge of God according to His will.
But this will be coming because of something else that is given us, that will be coming in the way God plans, something that will help us keep the basic truths of the Kingdom of God, as they should be.
Chapter 2
How about the love of God?
That which God prepares for those that love Him, not for those who are the most brilliant or the most educated, but the love of God will help us keep the basic truths of the Kingdom.
Our eyes see and our heart understands.
Understanding coming about because the love of God is shed abroad.
The love of God in a life is like a ballast to the ship.
If a boat were to go across the sea without a cargo, it would ride high and there would be danger of it capsizing.
Unless there is a cargo—a ballast, in our life, there would be danger.
A ballast keeps it evenly balanced.
The love of God is like a ballast to our life.
How does a person know how to choose wisely when confronted with a crisis?
The love of God will keep one in close relationship with God and enable them to choose wisely and well.
It can do more for one than all the human knowledge can do.
The love of God in your heart will cause the Lord to love you.
Love begets love.
Chapter 8:1
Love builds up while knowledge inflates.
It swells out the head.
Love builds up the life, the church, the Kingdom.
The love of God in your heart will do more to build up that meeting than all the wonderful words of knowledge you could speak.
It builds up the life in ourselves and others.
The love of God leads us to be concerned about others.
Chapter 10:24
Nothing but the love of God could enable one to do that.
Let no man seek his own.
Most are taken up with their own sphere or place; but, he says, seek another’s wealth, or help others.
Seek the interest and building up of others.
What is going to be the effect of our influence, of our present course?
If our present course continues, what is it going to be in five years?
Is it going to be wise?
We have to encourage the Lord to stay among us.
The love of God will lead us to be exercised about that.
Chapter 9
Paul, in telling about his ministry, says that he will have a reward if he does this willingly.
“Not preaching because of my own will to do so, but if I am doing this by the will of God, I have a stewardship of the Gospel committed to me, not my own, but the love of God prompted me to accept this stewardship in the Gospel.”
The love of God that moved him to make himself all things to all men for the Gospel’s sake, moved him to accept this stewardship.
The same love of God will lead people to serve Him today.
There is room in our hearts for more shedding abroad of the love of God.
We read of those noble characters and what it led them to do for the love of God, for the Elect’s sake.
They sacrificed gladly and faithfully.
It consumed their life.
There is indeed room for more of the love of God shed abroad in our heart that will make us a savour in this world.
It was the human wisdom that led them into difficulties.
Nice to know that these people profited by this letter.
They were sensitive and they received it.
It produced a vehement desire.
It produced sorrow.
The leaders were refreshed and addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.
They profited.
We may profit by the truth of God and the influence of God’s spirit that speaks to us here and elsewhere, and it will help us keep our balance in the matters of the Lord, and in the Pathway, and in doing that which is right.
It will keep us safe for the next year and we will have the comfort that the Lord shall remain among us and be doing for us that for which we look to Him.
I hope this will be our portion in the shedding abroad of His love.
Truth Archive 