Taught by the Spirit

Exeter Temple Message notes: Sunday 2^nd August 2015

Bible Reading:  1 Corinthians 2:6-16  

The God, Paul speaks of is not shallow or superficial but deep, even mysterious, a God whom we have never reached the bottom of.

 “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” v 9

Some things in the world remain a mystery and personally there are things that we may never know e.g. How our life would have turned out if we had met different people, or made different choices. 

Can the deep things of God be discovered or are they forever beyond us, forever mysteries?  It is true that we will never get to the point when we will know all there is to know about God.  If we could completely categorise, label and analyse him God would not be God.  However God has chosen to reveal himself to us, he wants us to know him, and he wants to teach us.

It might not be prominent in our consciousness and we might try to satisfy it with other things but there is a deep longing in us that reaches to something deep outside of ourselves. In Psalm 42 the writer described that experience as “deep calling to deep”.   The two need to be connected.

“Deep within your interior spaces is a meeting place God built to commune with you. From it he calls to you with tender urgency and from the furthest reaches of your inner space an ache of yearning echoes back the call.”       Dr John White

How do we reach the place of connection?

“This is what we speak, not in words taught to us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.”  (v13)

1. The inability of human reason to know God.                                                    

We cannot even know the innermost thoughts of another human being, never mind the God of the universe.                                                                        

“For who among men knows the thought of a man except the man’s spirit within him.”  V11                                                                                                        

Whilst a mother can often distinguish what her baby needs from crying that seems just a noise to everyone else and married people can sometimes know each other well enough to finish one another’s sentences our knowledge even of those we have an intimate relationship with is not complete.

If that is true of each other it is even more so when we try to enter the thoughts of God. “O, the depth and the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgements and his paths beyond tracing out who has known the mind of the Lord?” Romans 11:33

Using the mind alone will never lead us to discovering the deep things of God.  God is not found by only the mind but also the heart. 

2 The indwelling Spirit 

Discovering God can never be just an intellectual exercise any more than finding a marriage partner can be or being a good parent.  This is because essentially God is not just a vague force but also a person with whom to have a relationship.  But even then we dare not just trust our hearts.  The Bible tells us that our hearts can be deceitful and led astray.  The deep things of God, the things that are eternal and divine cannot be known by our own investigation.  Do we really think we could find God if he didn’t want to be found?  

 “No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” v 11

So then, if we could have access to the Holy Spirit then maybe we could have a chance of getting somewhere.

God had decided that the way he can be found is through the divine revelation of the Spirit.  The way to access to the knowledge of God’s character in depth only comes to those who have committed themselves to Christ who have the authority that is theirs because their sin is forgiven through Christ’s work on the cross. They can then receive the Spirit of God within that leads us to know the Father.

 “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God that we may understand what God has freely given us.” V 12

Before returning to heaven, Jesus promised to send His Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and comfort us. And by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we also accept this vital gift of the Holy Spirit. 

If we are Christians we have the Spirit and if our ultimate goal is to know God then it makes sense to open us ourselves to more and more of him.

3. The difference between the spiritual and the natural                                         

All of this leaves us with two different kinds of people.                                                     “This is what we speak, not in words taught to us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. v 13

 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

A diver cannot discover the wonders of coral reef by simply jumping out of a boat. He is not a fish and he cannot function underwater without breathing apparatus. The unspiritual self just as it is by nature can’t receive the gifts of God’s spirit. There is no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness.  Spirit can only be known by Spirit God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion.

Spiritually alive we have access to everything God’s spirit is doing.”  (v14 The Message)

4. The Spirit will always take you back to the Cross

What is it that God will reveal to us about his heart for the world, his solution for the mess the world is in? 

It will be the cross of Christ.  This is God’s wisdom on the matter.  We can never move on from the cross of Christ, only into a deeper understanding of it.  The Spirit of God will always lead us towards a cross-centred life.

“The Bible tells us that, while there are many different callings and many possible areas of service in the kingdom of God, one transcendent truth should define our lives. One simple truth should motivate our work and affect every part of who we are.
Christ died for our sins.
If there's anything in life that we should be passionate about, it's the gospel. And I don't mean passionate only about sharing it with others. I mean passionate in thinking about it, dwelling on it, rejoicing in it, allowing it to colour the way we look at the world. Only one thing can be of first importance to each of us. And only the gospel ought to be.” 

C.J. Mahaney, 

God bless

Carol