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Revealing Christ: The Power of Simple Testimony
1 Corinthians 2:1-13
1 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.[a] 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”[b]—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—
10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.[c]
This is the time in the year during which the Church traditionally celebrated ‘Epiphany’. Epiphany celebrates and thinks about the ways in which God is revealed to us.
This week we are focusing on the way that Jesus is revealed to people down the ages by the use of our speech and our testimony.
Monday
1 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.
Sometimes we just don’t know what to say. Sometimes we have nothing to say. Occasionally we make simple things complicated and maybe we oversimplify complicated things. I do this, a lot!
When we have the courage to speak with sincerity and simplicity it is always more powerful. Even when, or especially when we are scared to do so.
Reflection: How often have you left a service and the thing that really lands in your memory was the children’s address? That is what I find a lot of the time! Think a little about why that might be?
Takeaway: Speak sincerely and simply and it rarely misses.
Tuesday
4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
There is a risk attached to being good with words, or of feeling like you have to make a presentation in a verbally persuasive way. Salesperson’s have to allow a cooling off period, for good reason. Some people have perfected the art of sales to the point where you might well sign up to something you don’t actually want. Then, after leaving them think ‘what happened there?’, ‘I don’t think I really want or need that…(you fill in the gap)!’
We are not to be salespeople when we speak of faith. Our job is to keep what we say authentic and most often simple, which provides plenty of room for the Holy Spirit to do its work.
Question: Have you ever felt pressured to believe something or buy something? Or have you ever been sold something that you later wondered why you did? How did that feel? Can you think of a positive time too?
Wednesday
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
If you have ever been frustrated and unable to express your position as clearly or as cleverly as you’d like? You are not alone! When that happens, stick to the basics and stick to the facts, like – ‘God is real, Jesus saves, I am different today than I was yesterday, and have Jesus in my heart and have confidence that He will never leave me’.
There is a time and a place for being a clever-clogs. But even when we do find ourselves in clever company it is still important that we speak clearly about matters of faith. People often will not understand why we believe what we do, or why our lives have changed so much and ask us to explain ourselves. It is important we do not try and explain these things in ways that take away from what God has done in our lives.
Reflect: Have you been in a situation when something you have said has clearly just hit the spot and made a person understand something differently? Can you recall if this has ever happened to you?
Thursday
9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him – 10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit is at work! The Spirit acts as the active agent that works with a speaker, works with their words and also in the mind and heart of the hearer. These moments are amazing, they are a mystery and defy logic and understanding. These are mystical events, meaning something happens that is beyond our regular understanding or experience. Christianity is a mystical faith!
Other faiths have laws to follow and how well you keep with those laws is how well you are doing with God. Pretty straight forward. Christianity does not have a long set of laws (yes, we pay close attention to the 10 commandments). We are to be guided by the Spirit of God that lives within us plus we have the example of Jesus and we have one another to keep us on track. How well we are doing in our journey does not depend on keeping to strict laws but on how in tune with His Spirit we are.
Question: Would you prefer to paint by numbers or to paint on a blank sheet of paper?
Or; would you prefer to be told what to do, or to follow the example and teaching of other people?
Are there pluses and minuses to each??
Friday
12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.
Do you know right from wrong? Do you know telling truth from telling a lie? Sure you do. How do you know these things? You were taught some of it, you have experienced some of it, but really you know it deep down in your soul. If you practiced listening for God, allowing yourself to examine what it is you want to do and why you will likely find that the right things become clear to you.
Reflection: Is it possible that God’s Holy Spirit is always trying to guide you to the right things? If you think so, how might this be (can you give an example)? If you think that this is not so, how no?
Saturday
Psalm 139 (excerpts)
O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.
For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you.
Sunday
John 1:43-51
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49 Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
Charles Maasz
CEO
Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash
