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1st Corinthians 2
Glad and Woeful Words We Carry
melody
Glad and woeful words we carry,
Burdens of our risen Lord,
Salted by our humble bearings:
"Peace with God through Christ alone".
This our faith we are retelling;
Words of life from heav'n rained down
O'er our desert ground; upwelling
By God's resurrection pow'r.
Woe to frames of pride and passions
Where hell's fading courses surge,
Raising vain imaginations,
Blinding man with lifeless words.
Once when God's full plan was hidden,
Life emerged 'neath Calv'rys hill.
Now cries wisdom, in us written:
"Life for whosoever will".
Ways of God on Moses' tablets,
For the hearts of sinful man,
Ne'er could change our stony habits
Nor could make the righteous stand.
Only by the breath of Jesus
Will the garden of our soul
Be revived by bread he feeds us;
Words to make the body whole.
Word and Spirit form our vision,
As the mind of Christ conveyed,
Showing us profound division
'Tween eternal night and day.
As this rising light rays deeply
Through His sheep upon the earth,
May it like a star lead people
Through our witness of rebirth.
Words: 2015 by Stephen Popovich
Music: Hyfrydol 1830 by Rowland Prichard
1st Corinthians 2
Summary:
God's reclamation plan for fallen man is to, once again, speak light and breathe life into a new creation.
Humble and simple
(1)And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom,
proclaiming to you the testimony of God. (2)For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Attentive
(3)I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,
Glad and woeful words we carry,
Burdens of our risen Lord,
Salted by our humble bearings:
"Peace with God through Christ alone".
"Fear and trembling" is an expression used three other times in the New Testament (2Cor.7:15, Eph.6:5, Phil.2:12). Each time its usage describes the attitude of someone who exercises acute care and attention as to the matter at hand.
A living demonstrations of God's resurrection truth and power
(4)and my message and my preaching were not
in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, (5)so that your
faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
This our faith we are retelling,
Words of life from heav'n rained down
O'er our desert ground; upwelling
By God's resurrection pow'r.
(Jn.4:14, 7:38-39, Rom.10:10)
Hidden and mysterious things...some perishing and some forever glorious
(6)Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; (7)but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden {wisdom} which God predestined before the ages to our glory; (8)the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (9)but just as it is written, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND {which} HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM."
Woe to frames of pride and passions
Where hell's fading courses surge,
Raising vain imaginations,
Blinding man with lifeless words.
(Ecc.1:13, Jn.7:45, 8:37, Eph.2:1-3)
God's wisdom is not understood by the world's 'best and brightest''. A good example are the Pharisees of Jerusalem who, one might think, were optimally positioned to understand God's wisdom whenever it was spoken. Well, that's what they thought too (Jn.7:45).
Once when God's full plan was hidden,
Life emerged 'neath Calv'rys hill
Now cries wisdom, in us written:
"Life for whosoever will"
Heart-to-heart spiritual resuscitation
(10)For to us God revealed {them} through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. (11)For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts
of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. (12)Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, (13)which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual with spiritual.
Ways of God on Moses' tablets
For the hearts of sinful man
Ne’er could change our stony habits
Nor could make the righteous stand.
God used angels to deliver his Old Testament commandments to his people. Subsequently, his prophets spoke God's word to the same people. But those words could not bear fruit in hearts of stone. Jesus then was sent with a heavier dose of God's truth. But if stony hearts could not handle the simpler truths, how would things change with a deeper truth?
Only by the breath of Jesus
Will the garden of our soul
Be revived by bread he feeds us;
Words to make the body whole
(Jn.20:22, 6:63, Acts 2:2, 2:33, Is.55:1)
The answer is, in the new covenant God offers fallen man heart-to-heart resuscitation; whereby the life that is in God's Spirit is combined with the life that is in God's word---"spiritual with spiritual"---becoming, in effect, the skeletal, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, nervous, et al systems of the new man, enabling us to see, stand and walk in the way of God.
Light meets darkness
(14)But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.(15)But he who is spiritual appraises all things yet he
himself is appraised by no one. (16)For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.
Believers have spiritual night vision goggles. Light can discern darkness but darkness cannot discern light.
Word and Spirit form our vision,
As the mind of Christ conveyed,
Showing us profound division
'Tween eternal night and day.
As this rising light rays deeply
Through His sheep upon the earth,
May it like a star lead people
Through our witness of rebirth.
(1Thess.5:5, Jn.15:18-20, 2Pet.2:19)
email comments to steve@biblepopcorn.com
© 2015 by Steve Popovich