Will you please turn to 1 Corinthians? First Corinthians, Chapter 2. We will read the whole chapter.
And I, when I came to you, brethren, came not with excellency of word or of wisdom, announcing to you the testimony of God.
For I judged not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
And my word and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not stand in man’s wisdom, but in God’s power.
Yet we speak wisdom among the perfect; but wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who come to nought.
But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, that hidden wisdom which God predetermined before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But according as it is written, Things which eye hath not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart, which God hath prepared for them that love Him.
But God hath revealed them to us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, even the depths of God.
For who of men hath known the things of a man, except the spirit of the man which is in him? Thus also the things of God knoweth no one except the Spirit of God.
But we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things which have been freely given to us of God; which also we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, communicating spiritual things by spiritual means.
But the natural man doth not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
But he that is spiritual discerneth all things, and he himself is discerned of no one.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, how we praise and thank Thee for Thy amazing love toward us—Thy love unto the uttermost. Lord, we are always amazed at Thy love.
We do praise and thank Thee that, because of Thy love, Thou hast drawn us together unto Thyself. O Lord, open our understanding. Lead us into Thy very presence. Reveal Thyself to us, and draw us, that we may run after Thee.
We ask Thy blessing upon Thy Word. Send Thy Word into our hearts, and transform and conform us to Thy beloved image. We ask all for the glory of God and in Thy name. Amen.
A few weeks ago, I shared on the first chapter of the first letter to the Corinthians. As I mentioned at that time, we often think of 1 Corinthians as a very negative letter. There are many things that we do not like even to mention.
But thank God, when you really look into this letter, you find that it really begins with the most positive note.
Because in 1 Corinthians 1:9, it is said:
God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Man may be unfaithful, but God is always faithful. He is always faithful to Himself, always faithful to His own Word, always faithful to His own promise, and always faithful to His calling.
And here we are told that God has called us—even people like us, like the Corinthians. He has called us into something which is tremendously glorious. I do not have the words to describe it, but if you really meditate on it, you will be amazed. What a calling God has called us into.
He has called us into the fellowship, into sharing in common, into participation: the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now, brothers and sisters, there is a fellowship which is called the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. And with whom does our Lord Jesus, the Son of God, fellowship? The Father, of course.
So you find in 1 John that it is said, “Our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son.” And now this fellowship between the Father and the Son—the sharing together, the participation together of the Father and of the Son in the Spirit—is being extended to us.
He has called us into His own fellowship. Brothers and sisters, remember this: this is a tremendous statement. This is a calling on high, a holy calling, a heavenly calling, and we are all called into that.
And because we are called into that fellowship, that fellowship measures everything in our lives, personally and corporately.
The Apostle Paul actually spends the first four chapters of 1 Corinthians on this matter. So we would like to continue this morning with Chapter 2, because Chapter 2 actually explains to us how we come into this fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and how we all join in that fellowship.
Now, how are we going to fellowship in a way that will really be in tune with the calling that we are in?
In 1 Corinthians 2, the Apostle Paul said, “When I came to you, brethren, I came not in excellency of words or wisdom, announcing to you the testimony of God.”
He came to Corinth to announce the testimony of God. But before he came to Corinth, he made a judgment. He made a decision. It was not something careless or casual, but he actually deliberated it and determined it before the Lord.
He made a judgment, and the judgment was that when he came to Corinth, he would know nothing among them but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Now, why is it so? Because we know the Corinthians. They were noted for their intelligence and their eloquence. The proverb says, “You speak like a Corinthian.” It means that you are very eloquent.
And at the same time, there is another proverbial saying: “You live like a Corinthian.” That is to say, you live a morally corrupt life. So, in other words, the Corinthians could talk beautifully, and yet they lived ugly. That is the Corinthians.
So before Paul came into their midst, he determined. He made a decision. He knew what he was doing. He said, “When I came to you, I would know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified,” because that is the one and only thing that could deliver them.
This is the testimony of God. If you want to know what the testimony of God is, what does God testify to us? He testifies to us: Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
This is the gospel. This is the testimony of God. Jesus—His name shall be called Jesus, because He shall deliver His people from their sins.
He is Christ because He is the Anointed One, the One sent by the Father on a mission to save the lost and to redeem sinners. And He is Lord.
The Son of God came into this world to deliver the Corinthians from their corrupt lives and turn them unto God. And the same thing He does to us.
Jesus Christ and Him crucified—why? If our Lord Jesus should come into this world representing fully, beautifully, and totally what God is, that alone would not save us.
Because His life is so perfect, His life on earth would actually condemn us instead of justify us. And how is it that He came into this world, lived such a perfect life, and yet was able to save us sinners? How did He do it? Him crucified.
It is through His crucifixion. But brothers and sisters, we all know that the cross is a symbol of shame, of curse, and of death. We do not worship the cross itself. We worship Him who was crucified on the cross.
It is because our Lord Jesus, He who knew no sin, was made sin for us, that we might become God’s righteousness in Him. So this is salvation. This is the testimony of God.
To put it another way, God has called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ. Now, how are we going to join that fellowship?
We mentioned before that the fellowship between the Father and the Son is a fellowship in life, in divine life. It is a fellowship in the Spirit. It is a perfect, harmonious, beautiful, heavenly, spiritual fellowship.
So the only condition by which anyone can join that fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, is through life—not our natural life, created life, Adamic life, fallen life. No. It is by His divine life.
It is a fellowship of life; it is a fellowship in life. Now, how are we going to receive divine life, God’s life, so that we may be able to join in that heavenly fellowship?
Well, the only way that we may have life is because, on the cross, He released His life to us.
And out of the finished work of Christ on the cross, not only are our sins forgiven, but that life which was released through death, in resurrection, has been given to all who believe. So that is the way that we come into life.
Now, what is eternal life? In John 17:3, we are told:
And this is eternal life, that they should know Thee the only true God, and Him whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.
This is eternal life. Eternal life is a living, experiential knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, because in Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
So, dear brothers and sisters, how do we answer God’s calling? What is the way that we can join in that fellowship? God has provided it. It is not a man-made way.
No matter how men try, men will never be able to be in that divine fellowship of the Father and the Son in the Spirit. It is because God has provided the way for us to enter into the fellowship.
And by the grace of God, brothers and sisters, all of us here are in that fellowship, not because of what we are, but because of what He has done for us: Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
That is why we are all in that one fellowship, that divine fellowship—holy, spiritual, heavenly fellowship. That is where we are.
Remember one thing: our fellowship can never rise above our life. The kind of life you have determines the kind of sharing you have.
If the life that one has is a sinful, selfish, corrupt, natural life, then your sharing with one another will also be earthly, worldly, sinful, and corrupt.
But if the life that you receive is the divine life, then that delivers you out of that which is earthly and puts you into that which is heavenly.
So, in other words, it is this life that not only brings us into that fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, but it is the same life that enables us to fellowship on a higher ground. That is how important life is.
The Apostle Paul made the right decision, because he said, “I know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
And if the Corinthian believers had really accepted all that is involved in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, if they had really been in that fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, then their spiritual condition would really have been different from what you read in the letter that Paul wrote to them.
But unfortunately, we find that their receiving of Jesus Christ and Him crucified was rather incomplete.
In other words, they received the finished work of our Lord Jesus on the cross for their sins. They came to the Lord. They accepted Him as their Savior. And because of that, they were saved.
But they received the Lord Jesus as their Savior, not the Lord Jesus as their life. Even though they received that life, they did not allow the life of the Lord Jesus to rule over them. They still lived in their own natural life.
The world, self, and even Satan had such power over them that you find they still lived on the lower plane. And because they lived on the lower plane, their fellowship with one another was on a lower plane.
That is the way they treated one another. That is the way they shared with one another. They could not rise above that which is heavenly and spiritual.
Or, to put it another way, they received Jesus Christ and Him crucified in an objective way. In other words, they received what Christ had done for them on the cross, for their sins to be forgiven.
But they were still self-centered. They still lived for themselves. They had not received Jesus Christ and Him crucified into their very being, allowing the cross to work subjectively in their lives.
And because of this, you find that even though they had eternal life, they still lived by their natural life. That is why, in the church in Corinth, they could not rise above the life that they lived by.
But with the Apostle Paul, it was different. Now let us see how he illustrates it.
He said in verse 2, “For I judged not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Then in verse 3, “And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.”
Now, when you read these two verses, I wonder if you feel there is a contradiction.
He came into the midst of the Corinthians announcing to them the testimony of God, and the testimony of God was Jesus Christ and Him crucified. There is nothing more wonderful, more powerful, or more glorious than Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It is such a glorious gospel.
Now, it is true. In 2 Corinthians 13, we are told that Jesus was crucified in weakness, but He lives by the power of God. When our Lord Jesus was crucified, it appeared to be weakness; and yet, before He passed away, He shouted, “It is finished.” It is a shout of victory.
So, in other words, Jesus Christ and Him crucified—the testimony of God—is a strong, glorious, powerful announcement. And yet, look at the messenger: weak, fearful, trembling. That seems to be a contradiction.
Now, some people think that when the Apostle Paul came to Corinth, he had traveled through places such as Galatia and other places full of malaria. They say Paul caught malaria, and you know what malaria will do for you. When an attack comes, you tremble, right?
So he said, “I am in much trembling and fear, weak.” Malaria makes you very weak, and if malaria really does its work, it affects your eyesight. Some people say that is the reason Paul wrote in large letters—because his eyesight was poor.
They say that when he arrived at Corinth, he was physically down, and that is the reason why. But brothers and sisters, I believe there is more than that.
Why? Because you remember Acts 18. When he came to Corinth, he preached the gospel and announced the testimony of God, and many turned to the Lord.
But the Bible says Paul was afraid, and God had to appear to him in a vision in the night and say:
Fear not, but speak and hold not thy peace; for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm thee: for I have much people in this city.
So here you find that the fear, the trembling, and the weakness that the Apostle Paul felt at that time were more than physical. There was a spiritual context in it. He was really afraid for his life. He was trembling, and he was really weak.
And you read on, and he said, “And my word and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”
Now, you remember Paul. He was eloquent naturally. He was a Pharisee, and a Pharisee was trained to speak and to argue. Paul was very eloquent.
If you turn to Acts 17, when he was in Athens and was speaking, you see how eloquent he was. He could match the Corinthians in eloquence and intelligence.
But he made a determination. He made a judgment, and the judgment was that he would not speak in persuasive words of wisdom. He would not speak beautifully, trying to match intelligence with the intelligence of the Corinthians, or eloquence with the eloquence of the Corinthians.
He would rather let the cross work in his life, delivering him from what he would like to say beautifully, logically, and powerfully. He would give up himself and just trust the Lord, trust His Holy Spirit, to demonstrate God’s power.
So, in other words, you find that he not only preached Jesus Christ and Him crucified; he allowed Jesus Christ and Him crucified to so work in his life that he was a crucified messenger of the crucified message.
Paul, as a person himself, was crucified, and Christ became his life. Here you find that even in announcing the testimony of God, it was not in man’s wisdom but in God’s power. It was all of God and none of Paul.
So, in other words, Jesus Christ and Him crucified is not only an objective truth, but a subjective experience. It is not only that Jesus Christ was crucified at Calvary, but that the cross entered into the very life of Paul, put him into death, and allowed the life of Christ to take charge.
So everything that came through Paul was Christ, not Paul himself. And that is fellowship. And that kind of fellowship is powerful, because it brings life to people.
So, dear brothers and sisters, here we find what the Corinthians lacked. They received Jesus Christ and Him crucified in an objective way, and they all benefited because they were saved. They did receive life, but that life was not able to take charge over them. They were still living by their own life, and that is why their fellowship was in a low state.
So, brothers and sisters, what do we have here? Jesus Christ and Him crucified is not only the way that leads us into the fellowship, but it is also the way for our fellowship.
If we want to enjoy that fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, we cannot enjoy it if we still live our own self-life. We have to allow the cross to work deeply in each one of us. Then, out of His life, there will be that heavenly, spiritual, glorious fellowship.
Again, I would like to emphasize: our fellowship can never rise above what our life really is. That determines the kind of fellowship we are having.
And if we really live by the life of Christ daily, and allow Christ to be our life, then what will happen? You will find that our joy may be full.
That is in 1 John 1. The Apostle John says that we are having fellowship with you; we are sharing Christ, sharing God the Father with you, because that is our fellowship with the Father and with His Son.
And if you too share the Father and the Son, what will be the result? Our joy may be full. There is nothing that gives you joy among God’s people more than when you are really having that fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
The reason why we are not filled with joy is because we fellowship with ourselves. But if we can fellowship with Christ, with His life, with what He means to us, with what He has revealed to us, and with what He has done in our lives—and that is what we fellowship with one another—then we will all grow in grace.
We will grow in the life of Christ, and there will be much joy. That is what it is.
But more than that, in Chapter 2, verse 6, Paul says, “Yet we speak wisdom among the perfect.”
When Paul came into their midst, he said, “I made a judgment to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Is that all? He said, “Yet we speak wisdom among the perfect.”
Now here you find two things: number one, wisdom. You know, in Chapter 1, Paul already says that the Greeks seek for wisdom, and the Jews seek for signs and power. But Paul said, “We preach Christ crucified.”
To the Jews, it is weakness; to the Greeks, it is foolishness. But Jesus Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
So you find there are two kinds of wisdom. There is one wisdom which is the wisdom of this world, and the wisdom of this world crucified the Lord. It is a wisdom from beneath. It is carnal, worldly, even devilish.
But there is a wisdom which is from above. And here Paul says, “Now we will talk about that wisdom.” There is a wisdom, but it is a different kind of wisdom. It is God’s wisdom in a mystery.
Now we will leave that for a while, and then you have another word: “perfect.” He said, “Yet among the perfect, we speak wisdom.”
Now, who are the perfect? The word perfect in Scripture does not mean sinlessly perfect, because there is only one man in the whole world who is sinlessly perfect: our Lord Jesus.
But the word perfect in Scripture is used in such a way that it means the grown-up, the matured, those who are no longer babes.
With babes, all you can talk about is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is the foundation. But in that foundation there is a wisdom. Yet you do not talk about the wisdom until you are among the perfect—that is, when God’s people are growing up.
And how do they grow up? They grow up by fellowship. You grow up spiritually by your fellowshipping with Christ, by your fellowshipping with God. And we grow up together by our fellowship together in Christ and with Christ. That is the way that we grow up.
And if we are growing up, then God will open our eyes to see His wisdom. Now let us see what that wisdom is.
The Apostle Paul here describes this as God’s wisdom in a mystery, and he says that it is a hidden wisdom. This is the wisdom of God. It is hidden, even before the ages, even before God created anything—in eternity past.
There is a wisdom of God. And what is that wisdom? He says in verse 7:
But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that hath been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory.
Now think of that. This hidden wisdom of God in a mystery is something that God predetermined before the ages. Before He created anything, God had already determined one thing, and that thing is for our glory.
Brothers and sisters, oftentimes we think that if only we can be saved out of hell and into heaven, that will be glorious. But God says, “That is nothing. What I have prepared for you for glory is something that is really glorious, as glorious as God.” Can you think of that? That is God’s wisdom.
Number two: not only did God predetermine it, but it is something described in verse 9:
Things which eye hath not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man, whatsoever things God prepared for them that love Him.
It is something that eye has never seen, ear has never heard, and that has never even come into man’s heart. Nobody has ever thought of that. Confucius did not think of that. Socrates did not think of that. No man has ever thought about it.
Why? Because it is beyond man’s imagination. It is something God not only predetermined, but prepared. Now think of that. To predetermine is to decide to do something, but it is more than that: He also prepared it for those who love Him.
He already had in His mind those who are constrained by His love and who love Him. Yes, He loved them.
Number three: this is something in the heart of God, in the mind of God, and nobody knows it. It is a mystery.
Now, how can this secret be opened up? By searching? No. It is beyond our intelligence. It is revealed by the Spirit of God.
Now think of that: predetermined, prepared, and now being revealed. God makes it known to us by His Spirit.
You remember the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3. He said, “I know the mystery of the Christ.” Why? Because this mystery had been hidden through the ages, but now has been revealed to the prophets and the apostles. It has been opened up. It is an open secret now. Now, do you know it? It has been revealed.
And number four: that we may know the things which have been freely given to us of God. Not only revealed, but freely given to us. You do not need to pay anything. Freely given to you.
Now, who has the mind of God? But we have the mind of Christ.
In other words, what God has predetermined before the ages, and what He has prepared for those who love Him, has now been revealed. And we have the mind of Christ. We know it.
Now, do you know what it is? Of course, the church. That is what it is.
You know, Paul was not able to come out openly and say, “I am going to share with you the mystery of the Christ, which is the church,” as he did in Ephesians. He could not say that, because they were still babes. They would not understand, and they might even misunderstand.
“What is the church about? Why is it so important? Is it not that our personal life is more important than the church? Our family life is more important than the church. Our social life is more important than the church. What is the church?”
Ah, brothers and sisters, if you really grow in the Lord, you grow into this mystery.
How do you grow into it? By fellowship. When you are really fellowshipping in Christ Jesus, sharing with one another the Christ you know and the Father you know, not only will you be filled with joy, but your understanding will be opened.
You will see that God’s purpose is more than personal. It is the Body. It is the church. That is what fellowship is.
Unfortunately today, we come to know what we call the church by hearing the truth about the church. Now, there is nothing wrong with the truth. So, in our minds, we all know what the church is—hopefully we all know.
Hopefully, we will not say that the church is a building like this, a physical building. “I go to church.” “Where do you go to church?” “Where is the church?” “A building like this. This is the church.” No. This is where the church meets. This is not the church.
I hope we all know the truth about the church: that the church is the Body of Christ, the called-out ones gathered together under the name of the Lord Jesus, with His presence among them.
Strictly speaking, fellowship is just another word for the church. It is the active word of the church. Because when you talk about the church, you think more of the truth. When you talk about fellowship, you think more of experience. But it is one and the same thing.
If you love the church, you love fellowship.
If you live a life just by yourself and think that this is all you need, you do not know what you miss.
So, brothers and sisters, here you find in this second chapter that the Apostle Paul is trying to show the Corinthian believers how glorious it is if we really enter into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, instead of fellowshipping with one another in ourselves.
That would be disastrous—fellowshipping with one another according to the world, or fellowshipping with one another according to what we have heard and not according to first-hand experience.
But no, dear brothers and sisters, if we really realize that we are called into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and are willing to accept the cross working in our lives to take away ourselves and allow Christ to be the fellowship, then we fellowship with nothing but Christ.
What joy it will be. What enlightenment it will be. Our eyes will be opened, and we will begin to realize, “That is the church.”
Yes, we will be brought into the reality of the eternal purpose of God.
So sometimes I think, in a way, the way we come to the church is probably from the truth side instead of the experience side. And if you come to the church through the truth side, probably joy will not fill your heart. Sometimes there is sadness.
But if you come to the church from the experiential side, from the fellowship side, you will be filled with joy. So may the Lord help us.
Dear Lord, how we praise and thank Thee for being so kind, so gracious to us, extending Thy own fellowship with the Father to us.
And Lord, do forgive us for not knowing how glorious is that fellowship. We pray that Thou wilt deliver us from still fellowshipping on the lower ground.
But Lord, we pray that Thou wilt do such a work in our lives that Christ may be shared one with another, that we may really grow up spiritually and see the beauty and the glory of the church, the Body of Christ, the Bride of the Lamb.
And we give Thee glory. In Thy precious name, we pray. Amen.