Readings for today: Psalms 113-115, 1 Corinthians 2
This weekend we are having our elder retreat. It’s an annual affair where the leaders of our church family go away for a few days to seek the mind of Christ. This year feels different however. The pressures of the past 18 months have taken their toll on all of us personally as well as our church family corporately. While we’ve navigated the crisis quite well thanks to the grace of God, it is still a crisis. People are still struggling to find a new normal. There is a growing realization that things will never return to the way they once were. Life from this point forward will be a blend of in-person and virtual activity. And yet the call remains to live out the Great Commandment and fulfill the Great Commission. So we are going away for a few days to seek the mind of Christ. To ask God for His wisdom in helping us meet and overcome the challenges we face in our world today. Thankfully, we know God is building His church. We know the gates of hell cannot stand against it. So we approach our time together with confidence that God is more than able to show us the way.
Seeking the mind of Christ is not just something pastors and elders do. It’s the primary responsibility of every Christian as we seek to navigate the challenges of this world. It is a higher priority that our own happiness. A higher priority than our own comfort. A higher priority than our own success. It is more important than our pride. More important than our public reputation. More important than our political allegiances. We know we have discerned the mind of Christ when there is spiritual unity and godly humility and mutual submission. We see the mind of Christ in action when there is forgiveness and grace and reconciliation. We recognize it in those who are willing to be last so that others might be first. Those who are willing to decrease so that others may increase. Those who are self-effacing and who practice the art of self-forgetfulness.
Seeking the mind of Christ has never been easy. The early Christians in Corinth struggled mightily with the concept and to embrace the practice. They were divided. They followed charismatic human leaders rather than Christ Jesus Himself. They sought the wisdom of this world. They wanted to be esteemed by the top philosophical thinkers of their day. They boasted in their own ability. The depth of their spiritual maturity. They stood in judgment over those who seemed “less spiritual.” They wanted all the credit for the ministry they were building. They refused to share the glory with another. They wanted to be known. They wanted to be influencers. They wanted to be taken seriously and treated with respect by the culturally elite of their day. But the gospel calls us to a different way.
How do we seek and find the mind of Christ? There is only one way path. The path of humility. Relinquishment. Surrender. Listen to how Paul describes it for his Corinthians friends…
“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)
“For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles...For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:21-23, 25)
“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29)
“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:2-5)
These are some of the most powerful passages in the New Testament. They resonate deep within us for we recognize the Spirit who inspired them. God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. God is not bound by human wisdom. God cannot be reduced to human categories. He is completely and utterly free from any constraints in this world. He makes foolish the wise. He makes weak the strong. So if we are to seek the mind of Christ, we must lay aside our natural inclinations. We must lay aside our pride and ego and desire to be in control. We must lay aside our anxieties and fears. Instead, we must trust Him to reveal Himself in His time and in His way. We must seek to know nothing except Christ. We must seek to follow Christ in His footsteps. We must align our hearts with Christ. As we do, we will find ourselves being built up together as God’s Temple. He will come to dwell in our midst. He will come to fill us and sanctify us.
Friends, resist the temptation to believe your own hype. Resist the temptation to believe you are “something” in this world. Resist any notions of power and privilege. Let go and let God have all the glory! The reality is we are simply servants of Christ. We are simply stewards of the mysteries of the gospel. We do not own the gospel. It is not ours to command or control. We do not own Christ. He is not ours to direct nor is He under our authority. God is God and we are not. Christ is Christ and we are not. We serve at His pleasure. We bow before His throne. We live and move and have our being under His sovereign authority. And this sets us free from all the strivings and struggles of this world. Seek the mind of Christ! Let your heart be filled with the love of Christ! Let all you do be motivated by a desire to honor Christ! This is His will for our lives.
Readings for tomorrow: Psalms 116-119:48, 1 Corinthians 3