We Have the Mind of Christ

In one paragraph

This sermon continued a series in 1 Corinthians, picking up at chapter 2 verses 6 through 16. The week before had covered the message of the cross as either foolishness or the power of God depending on where a person stands. This week Pastor Nathan added to that foundation by showing that all Christians, not just some elite group, share common ground in the wisdom God has revealed through His...

Read together

1. 1 Corinthians 2:6-8 opening text for the sermon, wisdom of God in a mystery, rulers of this age coming to nothing
2. 1 Corinthians 2:9 eye has not seen nor ear heard the things God has prepared for those who love Him
3. 1 Corinthians 2:10-13 God revealed them through His Spirit, Spirit searches all things, comparing spiritual things with spiritual
4. 1 Corinthians 2:14 natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit, they are foolishness to him
5. 1 Corinthians 2:15-16 he who is spiritual judges all things, who has known the mind of the Lord, we have the mind of Christ
6. 1 Corinthians 13:2 even if one understood all mysteries and had all knowledge but had not love, it amounts to nothing
7. Matthew 13:11 Jesus tells disciples it has been given to them to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven
8. Mark 4:11 to you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, to those outside all things come in parables
9. Romans 11:25 Paul does not want believers ignorant of the mystery of blindness in part happening to Israel
10. Romans 16:25 mystery kept secret since the world began now revealed through the preaching of Jesus Christ
11. Matthew 16:15-17 Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ and Jesus says flesh and blood did not reveal this but God
12. 2 Timothy 3:16 cited as support that the Bible is divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit
13. Isaiah 40:13 who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him, quoted in 1 Corinthians 2:16
14. Philippians 2:1-5 same mind as Christ Jesus, ground for unity, Christ humbling Himself
15. Proverbs 14:12 there is a way that seems right to man but in the end is destruction
16. Romans 16:25-27 spoken as benediction closing the service, mystery now made manifest to all nations

Talk about it

1. Pastor Mark described the message of the cross as foolishness to those who are perishing, but the power of God to those who are being saved. When did the message of the cross first stop sounding like foolishness to you, and what changed?
2. Pastor Mark said the word 'mystery' in Scripture refers to something that can be known but has not yet been fully shown, and that God has been revealing it progressively through the ages. How does thinking of the Bible that way change how you read the Old Testament?
3. Pastor Mark pushed back on the idea that some Christians have access to hidden spiritual knowledge that others do not, and said this passage is about all Christians having access to what the Spirit reveals. Have you ever encountered teaching that made you feel like a junior-varsity Christian? How did you respond to it?
4. Pastor Mark said the Holy Spirit knows what God is thinking in the same way a person's own spirit knows what that person is thinking, and that this is how God reveals His things to us. What does that picture mean for how you approach reading the Bible or praying?
5. Pastor Mark closed by saying the mind of Christ is the ground for unity, and that when Christians disagree it usually has something to do with fleshly pursuits or pride getting in the way. Where have you seen that play out, and what would it look like practically to come back to the central message of the cross in that situation?