5ive2wo

                             Spirit?s power                                    

                                                                                                      Lydia Shin

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Key Verse: 4 ?My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit?s power.?

All of us here from missionaries and shepherds to our growing students want to grow as powerful bible teachers and fruitful gospel workers. We share this common mission to bring wondering campus students back to Jesus. Recently, as we started the year 2009, we discussed a lot about how to serve this gospel ministry more effectively, suggesting student friendly ideas and methods such as Friday praise night, workshops and so on. Through today?s passage, we can learn how to be really powerful to serve God?s work. Actually, serving God is rather simple. It doesn?t demand us to have what is impressive. Let?s look at what it is through St. Paul?s letter to the Corinthians.

Look at verse 1. ?When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.? As we know, Paul was already well equipped with eloquent speech and superior wisdom which would make him impressive. His speech could be interesting enough to draw people?s attention. Nonetheless, he clearly says he proclaimed the testimony about God, but deliberately declining his human strength and ability. What, then, did he depend on? What was his strategy to help Corinthians? Verse 2 gives us a clue. ?For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.? He only depended on the gospel of Jesus, the message of salvation. He simply preached Jesus and his crucifixion to save sinners from sin and death. There were no glossy words added or extravagantly fascinating ideas and speech skill like philosophers at that time. But, St. Paul was determined to preach only the simple message of the cross while he was in Corinth. It was because he believed in the power of God in the gospel. In Romans 1:16, Paul says, ?I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.? Compared to contemporary theories and ideas, such as evolution, wellbeing strategies and so on, this simple gospel story looks rather shabby and raw. We feel like we should come up with some other interesting activities rather than just preaching this unpopular story to catch people?s attention. But, we have to never forget that there is the power of God in the gospel. Gospel is the story of Jesus Christ; his suffering, death and resurrection. It is the unbelievably amazing story of the son of God who came to save worthless undeserving sinners who even rejected him. Gospel is the way of salvation for everyone who believes. So, no matter how hard we try to invent methods to attract people, no matter how good speakers we are as bible teachers and messengers, there is no power when there is absence of Jesus and him crucified. Let?s not be ashamed of the gospel because the gospel works! Let?s actively bring this simple message of salvation to campus, believing in the power of God.

Experiencing failures from his prior visit to Athens, Paul became weak, fearful and trembling (3). However, this inspired him even more to depend on the power of the Spirit, rather than his own strength. Let?s read verse 4 together. ?My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit?s power,? He completely emptied himself. There was no more his own work and his power, but the work of the Spirit and the power of the Spirit in his preaching. He did not try to elaborate his message with wise and persuasive words, but absolutely depended on the Holy Spirit and demonstrated its power as he delivered the simple message of Jesus and him crucified. What is the Spirit?s power? It means God was with him and worked through his message and preaching of the gospel. When there was the work of the Spirit, there was amazing work of salvation. The gospel pierced the hearts of those who listened. When St. Paul humbly depended on the power of the Holy Spirit, he could experience the mighty work of God in the hearts of many Corinthians. They could have faith that rested on God?s power (5).

This tells us one clear point about how to be powerful in our gospel ministry. It is not when we ourselves are powerful and well-equipped. It is not when we are wise and persuasive. It is not when we have many programs, impressive and attractive enough for young people?s taste. No, it is when the Holy Spirit works through us. When we simply preach the gospel with humble and trembling hearts, the Spirit comes on us and works powerfully. We will see the great work of salvation among young people on campus.

Being in the transition period from a bystander to a real bible teacher, I these days thought a lot about how to serve Canadian students. The more I thought, the more I felt I was lacking in every aspect; language barrier, lack of bible knowledge (which is pretty shameful because I have been studying the bible all my life), lack of wisdom, etc. What if they ask me some random questions that I would not be able to answer wisely and smoothly? What if they do not understand my English? What if they do not like my bible study and reject to make any further appointment for the next bible study? I had this so many ?what if? questions because I thought it was me who would teach them the bible and I wasn?t ready at all. So, when a couple of students answered positive to my bible study invitation last week, I was actually scared, wishing they might not respond to my future e-mail. However, at the very right timing, God gave me this training to meditate on this passage day and night so that I may have faith to enter upon a new life as a real bible teacher. I learned that there is no need of power of men in gospel work because we are just God?s instrument but it is the Holy Spirit who works through us. The wisdom and power of God is not on speech and knowledge, but on the cross of Jesus Christ. I deeply realized that I should simply and humbly preach this gospel, and then the Spirit works through me powerfully. So, I decided to trust in the Spirit?s power despite my weaknesses. I decided to be a bible teacher who experiences this very truth of the work of the Spirit. Please pray for me to be St. Paul like gospel worker who is full of the Spirit and its power.

We Christians are the people of great privilege. Why? It is because we are entrusted with this precious gospel which is very powerful and heart piercing. Do we want to be powerful bible teachers? Then, let?s lay down all our human struggles and humbly depend on the work of the Holy Spirit as we simply preach the amazing gospel story to campus students with prayerful heart. I pray that we may demonstrate the power of the Spirit through our gospel preaching work in 2009.