Transcript
Episode One: The Cross Against the Boast of Flesh. First Corinthians speaks about the body or the flesh through almost every chapter, making the body a continuous pathway into its message.
One. Chapter one begins with Christ crucified in the flesh
and with God expressing what appears to the world as weakness and foolishness.
Yet God’s weakness is stronger than men, and God’s foolishness is wiser than men.
Two. God deliberately chose what appears weak in the flesh
to confound the strength of the flesh.
The Cross removes every ground for human boasting,
so that no flesh may boast in God’s presence and every person may glory in Jesus Christ the Lord.
Three. Chapter two reveals that the wisdom operating through the Cross
and through the crucifixion of the Lord of Glory in the flesh
was hidden from the world and from the natural man.
Four. Carnality looks at the Cross
and sees bodily weakness,
defeat, and foolishness.
It cannot recognise the wisdom concealed inside what it despises.
Five. Spiritual people receive this hidden wisdom by the Holy Spirit.
The difference is not the outward sight of a crucified body,
but the Spirit-given capacity to recognise God’s power and counsel within it.
Six. Bring the body beneath the wisdom of the Cross. Refuse the pride of flesh,
reject the world’s measure of strength, and let all glory return to Jesus Christ.