Guidance

Guidance

(1 Corinthians 2:1-16)

Yearly Theme:  “Goodness is… Glorious”

Series Title:  “Beyond the Noise”

November 10^th, 2024

Something to think about:

As we learn the spiritual disciplines of spending time alone in solitude and silence, we begin to learn and discern the presence of GOD.  We don’t necessarily learn this through feelings and emotions, but by discerning the reality of GOD’s presence as we quiet ourselves before Him and bring all that we are and all that He is into complete focus.  Jon Bloom, in his book, Desiring God, writes,  “God designed your emotions to be gauges, not guides.  They’re meant to report to you, not dictate to you.  The pattern of your emotions (not every caffeine-induced or sleep-deprived one!) will give you a reading on where your hope is because they are wired into what you believe and value – and how much.”

Once we learn to reorient our lives to the reality of GOD’s presence, we are then able to receive GOD’s guidance.  Ruth Haley Barton – regarding being in GOD’s presence – explains that,

“[It’s] only when we know the love of God in a deep, experiential way that we can truly be open and receptive to his will.  Without this knowing it is hard to listen openly for the still, small voice of God, because we are afraid of what we may hear.  We’re afraid we may hear the voice of a killjoy God who is just looking for a chance to force us into doing what we most dread.  When it comes right down to it, many of us do not believe that God’s intentions toward us are deeply good; instead we live in fear that if we trusted him, he might withhold something good from us. …

“When we are settled in God’s love at the core of our being, the waters of the sold become much clearer.  We glimpse a more authentic self with truer and more essential gifts to bring to the world than those wrestled out of the unconscious striving of the false self.  These gifts come from our created essence, the self that God knew and saw and formed for a purpose that existed before the foundation of the world (Ps 139).  We learn to recognize the gifts and dynamics of the authentic self because they are qualitatively different from those that come primarily from human striving; they come forth in peace and humility and strength to meet the deep needs of our world.  When we grow quiet enough to notice the differences between these two aspects of ourselves, true spiritual guidance can begin to unfold in our life.”[1]

Let’s explore a passage from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians in the New Testament to explore what it means to seek and to have the guidance of GOD:

Turn in your Bible to:  1 Corinthians 2:1-16

Key Point:  “Unless we come to the point in life where GOD is our primary desire, we will never be open enough to receive His guidance and direction.”

So let’s unpack what GOD’s guidance looks like:

• Guidance not  .

1 Corinthians 2:1-5  (NLT),  When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan.  ² For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified.  ³ I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling.  ⁴ And my message and my preaching were very plain.  Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.  ⁵ I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.

• Guidance with  .

1 Corinthians 2:6-9 (NLT),  ⁶ Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten.  ⁷ No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began.  ⁸ But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord.  ⁹ That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,

and no mind has imagined

what God has prepared

for those who love him.”

• Guidance by the    .

1 Corinthians 2:10-16 (NLT),  ¹⁰ But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit.  For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.  ¹¹ No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.  ¹² And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

¹³ When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom.  Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.  ¹⁴ But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit.  It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.  ¹⁵ Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others.  ¹⁶ For,

“Who can know the Lord’s thoughts?

Who knows enough to teach him?”

But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

Something to take home:

Paul’s instructions to the Corinthian Church came directly through the guidance of the Holy Spirit in his life through His faith in Christ Jesus as LORD and Savior of his life.  Paul had learned that spending time in the presence of GOD was more than just a discipline, it was everything.  GOD is the Source of all wisdom, all power, and all knowledge.  In Him we truly live and move and exist.[2] 

For those longing for GOD’s guidance in their lives, spending time in the presence of GOD, fully submitted to communing with Him, is of utmost importance.  One of the biggest reasons for not understanding GOD’s will is an unwillingness to discipline ourselves to be still and learn to tune our ear to the still small voice of GOD and learning to discern His voice from all the noise in our lives and in the world around us.

Ruth Haley Barton, writes,

“ I have discovered that there is a place in any true discernment process where some aspect of the path laid out for us defies human wisdom.  God’s wisdom is so far beyond us that it feels like foolishness (1 Cor 1:18-2:16).  Sometimes great faith is required to follow God’s wisdom.  Once again we are faced with the limitations of the human mind and our need to trust, yet again, that which is beyond ourselves.”[3]

Key Point:  “Unless we come to the point in life where GOD is our primary desire, we will never be open enough to receive His guidance and direction.”

[1] Ruth Haley Barton, Invitation to Solitude and Silence, (InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, Illinois; 2010), 116-117.

[2] Acts 17:28.

[3] Invitation to Solitude and Silence, 121-122.