My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." 1 Cor. 2:4.
Let us keep Paul's statement in our hearts whenever we think of methods. Method is a thing that should properly suit the individual who uses it. My method will never be suited to you, and very often your method will not at all suit me. I have to use the method that God can make the most helpful in my service. And you must use that most helpful in yours.
When I see our great cities with their vast multitudes of humanity yet to be reached with the message for this time, I know that the methods we use must, of necessity, be varied. God uses a great many men and a great many different methods in service. But we must always bear a message that is in harmony with the objectives and character of our work, and employ no method of preaching or labor that misrepresents the gospel we preach. If I find a man using a method different from that of his fellows, however impossible it might be for me to use his method, if he is being blessed of God and is truly winning men to Christ by his method,—if he is bringing sinners from darkness to light,—then I am going to pray for success in the use of that method in that man's service. Instead of criticizing him, I shall pray for him and rejoice with him over the fruit of his earnest labor.
The apostle Paul had a definite objective before him in his work. Observe his statement in 1 Corinthians 2:5: "That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Paul recognized that the gospel may be preached in such a way that men's faith shall stand in the wisdom of men. He recognized also that there is a way to preach the gospel so that their faith shall stand in the power of God. The difference between these two results is revealed in the preacher's life, in his method of labor, in the message that he gives, in the spirit in which he gives that message, in the purpose for which he gives it. In order that the faith of our converts shall stand in the power of God, what did Paul feel it necessary to do in his work?—To declare the testimony of God, centering that message in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that their "faith shall not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." The secret of keeping our church membership lies just there. If they do not come to know the power of God in accepting Him, they have nothing in their experience to which their faith may cling in the hour of test.
To bring souls from the ways of the world into the power of God, is to introduce them to a new set of trials in their lives. It is a shameful thing for a gospel minister to bring human beings to such an experience, and not prepare them in the power of God to meet those trials victoriously.
Church experience is not all rejoicing. Of course there is victory, but before victory there is conflict. When souls are brought into fellowship with others in the church, they experience a great change in their lives. That is to be expected. In that new experience they can rely on nothing which nature has given them. Faith in God and His Son Jesus must supply all the strength they need and establish them in the truth. It is necessary, therefore, that their faith shall stand in the power of God. Whether it shall or shall not is decided in large measure by the kind of ministry that we offer to God in bringing them to Him.
There is no possibility of their reaching victory in that new experience if their faith stands only in the wisdom of men. Church rules are all right in their way and their proper place, but they are poor, feeble things to put in the place of God's power. It is necessary that church rules be obeyed, but obedience to church rules -comes without -any difficulty whatsoever from those whose faith stands in the power of God. On the other hand, if we have members in a church whose faith stands in the wisdom of men, there are in that church potentialities of division and strife, and all that is needed to destroy the peace and blessedness of harmonious and helpful church relationships.
The apostle next reminds us that the work of the gospel minister is a spiritual work. The natural man, working in the wisdom of men, cannot perform it acceptably. Undertaking God's work with natural forces is a perilous thing. Laboring in the wisdom of this world instead of in the wisdom of God, is tragic. It led to fearful results in the efforts of the religious leaders in Christ's day. In the eighth verse, Paul informs us that it was because those men knew not the wisdom of God that they crucified the Lord of glory. He then makes clear the fact that men labor for others in the wisdom of God only through the Holy Spirit.
It is the Holy Spirit that brings to our minds an understanding of the things of God's wisdom. It is therefore necessary that we have the Spirit of God in order that we may have knowledge of these things. This cannot be brought to us by natural means. Naturally, we understand by what we see or hear or sense by the feelings of the heart. But "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." These God has revealed unto us by His Spirit, "for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."
There are limitations and possibilities brought to our thought in this teaching of the apostle Paul, that we would do well indeed to study. What a range of knowledge is accessible to us through the Spirit of God, seeing that "the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God"! And what an impoverishment of service there is connected with a ministry that is neither instructed nor empowered by the Spirit of the Lord! Surely, since "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard," nor the heart felt, it is impossible for man to gather spiritual power from natural sources or by natural means.
The Spirit of God must be in our hearts, controlling our thoughts, instructing our minds, and ordering our speech, as we endeavor to lead souls from sin to righteousness and from this world into the kingdom of God. Because in coming to the church they are coming to a life that is ordered by the wisdom of God, they must have that wisdom through the Holy Spirit. They cannot receive it by natural means if their hearts have not been changed, for the natural heart cannot discern it. They must therefore have a change of heart. They must be born again.
In order that they shall have understanding of all this, the man who acts as minister, bringing God's eternal truth to their souls, must himself be born again, and have faith that stands in the power of God. Otherwise his service will be unsatisfactory. The wisdom of man is worthless, and does not belong in the life of God's people. The spiritual man is spiritually instructed. Therefore, if our faith and the faith of our people is to stand in the power of God, we must have the wisdom of God.
(To be continued)
