Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Trying to Influence Change? | New Testament | 1 Corinthians 2

Episode Date: June 8, 2023

Maybe you want to see change in the world, in your coworker or in your spouse. How is that going? What is the path to true change? In today's episode, Patrick shares wisdom from 1 Corinthians 2 and discuss how true change comes about. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Corinthians 2

Welcome to 10 minute Bible talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. How do we produce change in the world? I'm not just talking about broad political change in our social order. I'm talking about the small-scale changes we all desire to see in our immediate realities. Maybe you're married to someone who's grown cold. They don't want to engage emotionally. They seem disinterested. They're not interested in you or the marriage, and you're wondering, how do I change them? Maybe you've got a child at home who's making destructive decisions, and you see the cost and you see the harm that he's doing to his life and others, but you don't know how to

change him. Maybe you're in an office or a school and you've been alarmed by the way your peers or your coworkers are talking about each other. There's gossip. There's unkind words. Everybody's assuming the worst. And you're wondering, how do I change my workplace? The reality is that we're all in situations that we want to change, but often we feel powerless to produce that change. The tragedy is that when we feel powerless to change what's wrong in the world into what's right, we often end up doing wrong things to produce the right change. Think about a friend of mine. It was really sincerely trying to correct some bad ideas and bad practices that have harmed people in churches. And for years, she's been trying to show the harm and to correct the thinking because she really does want to

stop the harm that's happening. She wants to change what's broken. But over the years, she couldn't really affect any change. And her inability to affect change has made her incredible. increasingly angry over the years. Today, she's not slow to critique those she disagrees with. She often shames people who critique her. She sometimes presents people's ideas in the worst way possible to highlight the potential harm that might come from their views. And as I was talking with her, I asked her, why are you doing this? And she said, well, I used to be nice. So I used to do things in the nice way, probably the way that you would think is right. But no one listened, no one cared, no change was made. And so I finally got angry. And now people are listening. Now I can change

things. The irony is that she's right. Her anger has certainly convinced some people, but it's actually done very little to change the actual systems she wants to change. In fact, her anger sometimes has the opposite effect. It entrenches people in their wrong perspectives. Maybe you've found yourself feeling the same way in your life with the problems that you're facing at church, at work, with your spouse, with your kids, with your friends, whatever it is. I know that I found myself there. When I want my kids to change and they won't listen, I often find myself getting angry. perhaps a little bit of shouting, we'll get them to listen. Or maybe when you want your spouse to change and they won't listen, you start thinking, well, maybe a little bit of shaming, we'll get them in line.

The same thing can happen with our coworkers and our employees. We want a good change, and it seems like the only thing that works is power, force, and even if we're being honest, a little bit of manipulation. This is exactly how the kingdoms of the world work. They only know one path to change, power. whether it's the power of anger or mocking or shaming or politicking or personal attacks it doesn't matter what matters is i need the power because power is how i get the change i want but the fundamental question is this the change that you want to see in your life do you want it to change in the ways of the world what if that never really works in the end or do you want those things to change in your life by the ways of god how does god produce change how does the bible invite us to pursue change i'm

thinking about what James wrote in James 119. He said, my dear brothers and sisters, take note of this. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. He's saying there's this counterintuitive reality that we all live in. We think that having the power, having the anger, having the malice, having the shame. We think that that's going to be the thing that changes people. But in the end, it never produces the thing that we want, which is the righteousness that God desires. And James wasn't alone in this. This is an idea that came fundamentally from the teachings of Jesus, who taught that the kingdom comes in upside down ways, the power of God coming through weakness,

the wisdom of God coming through foolishness, the transformation God wants through self-sacrifice, not human power. And as it turns out, that's been a message that Christians have always had a hard time understanding and believing. And that was certainly the case for the church in Corinth. The only power that they were familiar with was the power of anger, wrath, malice, shame. They knew that that could change things because they'd seen it change things in the past, even if it never quite produced the results that they wanted. And Paul, writing to them, wanted them to see the truth that in the kingdom of God, change happens in a far better way, and a far more counterintuitive way.

Let's just pick up in 1st Corinthians chapter 2, verse 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. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Christ and Him crucified. So notice what he said. You think that change is going to come through eloquence and wisdom. He said, I didn't come to you like that. I just told you about a crucified Jew in Judea and said that was going to change things. That's upside down. He continues. He says, I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. How does a great leader come to change things?

well, he should come with power and strength and courage and tenacity, not weakness and fear and trembling. He continues in verse four, my message and my preaching, we're not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the spirit's power so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power. And now we're beginning to get to the key of what Paul is saying. He's saying to you, you aren't actually the one who can change things. Do you know who can change things? The spirit of God. The spirit can change things. And, and how he changes things is upside down. It's not through power. It's through weakness.

It's not through eloquence. It's through foolishness. Everything that the spirit does is upside down. But he's the one who's actually able to transform people and transform cultures and transform families and transform workplaces. He continues, we do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God's wisdom, a mystery that has been, hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood

it. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, it is written. When no eye is seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived, the things that God has prepared for those who love him. These are the things that God has revealed to us by his spirit. I hope you're beginning to get Paul's message. The kingdom of God is hidden. It's not hidden in just the sense that I can't see it and I can't touch it. He's saying it's hidden. It's and the way in which it comes about. The kingdom of God comes about by the power of the spirit

through weakness, through self-sacrifice, through self-giving, through radical generosity. The world can't see it. The world can't conceive of it. Your coworkers, your spouse, the people are trying to change the world with their anger and wrath and shame and malice.

They can't see it, and that's why they try to use those methods. But we who have seen the glory that God has promised us, we know a better way. We know that the spirit transforms in an upside down fashion. I remember when I got married, a very wise friend said to me, you can't be your wife's Holy Spirit.

And what he was warning me about was exactly this, that when you're married to someone, you're going to see their faults, you're going to see their foibles, you're going to want to critique how they do things, how they live, how they act. And he's saying, just be really wary of being someone

who's constantly shaming or attacking or angry because those words aren't ultimately the thing that's going to change your wife. There's only one person who can. That's the Holy Spirit. And do you know how he works through you? Well, he works through you by replicating the love of Jesus, sacrificing for her, laying down your life for her, loving her before yourself.

That's how the Spirit changes. You can't be your co-worker's Holy Spirit. Don't try. You can't be your child's Holy Spirit. Don't try. You can't be your spouse's Holy Spirit. Don't try. Instead, pray to him and ask that he would transform their hearts and trust that.

that the way he's told you to participate in that change through weakness, through self-sacrifice, that that is wisdom. And that's exactly how he's going to work. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that's going to help you beat that midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.