Who's Boasting

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

WHO’S BOASTING

1 Cor 4:6-7

6 Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, "Do not go beyond what is written." Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. 7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

NIV

It is certainly true that some men might think that God has spoken directly to them rather than sticking to what has already been recorded of what He said. There must have been a few of these men in Corinth who were puffed up all over themselves regarding what they thought was there great knowledge of the Gospel. They surely must have thought themselves better than the rest and were even boastful about it. Paul was telling them that any knowledge they had of the Gospel came from him because as an Apostle, he heard directly from God and told them, but they were boasting as though they had not received that knowledge from him, but rather directly from God. It would seem not much has changed in the church. Some men have gone beyond what is written and created their own form of the Gospel message adding all sorts of rules and regulations which are imposed on others. It is true, that not all think of themselves as better than those they impose those added features of the Gospel on, but there surely is a significant number of them. It would do us all good to recognize that we all have the Spirit of God to lead us all into all truth, which is course what already has been written. “There is nothing but the truth, so help us God”. We have but one mediator between us and God and that is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We should not make any man greater the Jesus, nor should we ever think that we are greater than any man, or that any man is greater than us. We have all received the same truth from the mouth of God, recorded and saved through the ages for our benefit to be able to know the way of salvation. No other man has any additional truth to be added to the Gospel. If men preach, teach or write about any supposed truth which is not expressly declared in the Word of God, they surely are among those who think more of themselves then they should, boasting in self rather than God. We need to always be aware the truth is the truth and we all have the knowledge of the truth because we all have the Spirit and thus we all are the same as everyone else. We all are saved by grace and not of any works, skill, talent, knowledge, education, or wisdom, lest anyone of us boast about anything other than Christ. 

For Men or God

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

FOR MEN OR GOD

1 Cor 4:1-5

4:1 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

NIV

Are there two classes of people? Those entrusted with the secrets of God and those who are not? Who is the ‘us’ that Paul in talking about, just him and Apollos or all of us that men should consider as servants of Christ? Does the Spirit of God divulge more secrets to just a few men then what he does to all followers of Christ? It would appear this might be the case, but then it may not be the case also. Do not we all have to be proved faithful? Are we not all required to have a faithful heart? True, just as Paul, we may not be innocent, totally free from all sin, but if it is our desire to follow Christ, if we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior and thus have had our sins covered by His blood, we can have a clear conscience. If we sit around all day trying to judge other peoples motives or actions, it is purely a waste of time for of what value is the judgment of the human court, the human mind? We are told here that even Paul does not judge himself, but leaves that up to God. We should be careful then about wondering what is to be judged and what is not. It should be clear that it is the motives of our hearts which is what is hidden in the darkness. As Paul might have been speaking about those men who preach, teach and write words giving instructions to others as to how to live might be doing it with motives of personal gain, recognition, and for the praise of men, it also applies to all of us. Why do we do anything for the Kingdom of God? Why do we serve in any capacity within the Body of Christ? Why are we Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, ushers, choir members, instrumentalists, greeters, audio-visual workers, board members, or any other place of service? Why do we serve? Is it for the praise of men or for the praise from God? Maybe we should not even judge that for ourselves, but leave that up to God to judge. Yet it does raise the question as to the motives of our hearts. We do have to make sure we do not mistake this for God judging every single behavior of our lives, for that would be Him judging our sin, which has been forgiven and covered by the blood of Christ. But He is judging the motives of our heart as to why we serve Him. If our conscience is clear, and our motives for serving Him are out of our love for Him them surely we will receive praise from God. We well here those words, “Enter in, my good and faithful servant”. But if what we do is for the praise of men, well then “Here comes the Judge”. 

Just Give Me Jesus

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

JUST GIVE ME JESUS

1 Cor 3:18-23

18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness"; 20 and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."   21 So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

NIV

Once again, let us not base our faith on the personality of some pastor or preacher or for that matter on any denominational set of rules for that would a futile thing. Whatever the mind of man, no matter how intelligent it might sound, determines as a wise and noble thing, is but foolish to God. It appears that man will always get catch in his own trap of wisdom. Whenever we make who we think is some great pastor, teacher, evangelist, author out to be our favorite source of truth because of his particular style, we have fallen into that same trap. Whenever one of those people, the pastors, teachers, evangelists and authors think they are some great source of truth, they are for sure but a fool for thinking they have any wisdom at all. Not one of them or us can ever have the wisdom we think we have. In speaking about the wisdom of the world, there is none. After all science is nothing more than man discovering what God has established in His creation of all things. If man thinks for one minute that all this is, including all of us, has nothing to do with God, then the all the wisdom of those thinkers, is just a bunch of foolish thoughts, children trying to deny they have a parent. It is like so many movies Hollywood made with the children being the leading roles, making all their own life choices, and some distant obscure parent playing in the background. No, we are to live not by that kind of wisdom. We are not to live following the wisdom of those who think they know the truth, both the world’s truth and the truth of God. We are not to make any man our mediator between us and the truth of God, for we are of Christ. Now, of course, some man might say or write something which causes us to think in a certain way, or see some truth about God, but we should not make that man anything more than what he is, a man. All truth is ours because we all have the Spirit of God dwelling within us. We are all members of Christ’s body with Him being the head. Each of us has the Spirit to guide us into all truths. We do not need any of the wisdom of this age, we only need Jesus. Just give me Jesus.

His Temple

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

HIS TEMPLE

1 Cor 3:16-17

16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

NIV

We are the temple of God. No longer is there any need for a temple of stone and gold for God does not need that type of temple to signify the place that He dwells for He has us now. It is difficult to understand the reason some still feel the need to have such an elaborate edifice for a place of worship? Do they think the greater the building the more it represents the presence of God? Instead of joining in this kind of temple building, we should be very aware of the building of our spirits, as a fitting place for the Spirit to live in. Surely those temples, or churches of stone and gold can be destroyed by a variety of nature elements, tornados, hurricanes, fire, floods or even a great wrecking ball made with the hands of man. But how can we destroy our temple which is made of flesh and blood, which houses our spirit which the Spirit resides in? It would seem the way to destroy the temple, us, would be to corrupt it with so much sin, it would be unfit for the Spirit to dwell in. Can both sin and the Spirit of God dwell in the same temple? Surely we know that those who have refused to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior have also refused to allow God’s Spirit to dwell in them, and they are living in the state of sin and therefore have already destroyed any temple they might have, and we know that someday they will be destroyed. But what about us, we who have accepted Jesus, can we destroy our temple? We know that we cannot be perfectly free of all personal sin, yet we are free of that original sin, Adam left of us with, due to the fact we have been washed in the blood of Christ. So if we remain in Christ, then we, God’s temple, are fit for the Spirit to dwell in. It would seem the only way to destroy this temple would be to walk away completely, turning our back on God, denouncing any faith in Him at all. That would surely bring about complete destruction. Yet, if we allow this personal kind of sin to grow within us and do nothing the put a stop to it, then could we be in danger of not being  fit as His temple? If we recognize this sin, and refuse to repent, accepting it as part of being human, would that put us in danger? And we are not talking about grievous sins like murder, stealing, or adultery, but the little well hidden sins of jealously, envy, bitterness, unforgiveness, gossip, greed, self-centeredness, pride and the like. Could these gone unchecked make us unfit for the Spirit of God to dwell within? Could these cause destruction of the temple? We must remember we are sacred, God has set us apart for His purpose and He has given us His Spirit to teach us and guide us in all truth. We cannot afford to be anything less than His Temple.

Master Builders

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

MASTER BUILDERS

1 Cor 3:10-15

10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

NIV

If this is not a warning about those fancy tongued preachers who use God to build an empire of fancy homes, cars, churches, and other forms of wealth, living in extravagance and excess, what is? Surely us common folks are not among the people spoken about here. Paul was speaking about the others who had visited Corinth and were out evangelizing as he was, but it seems some of them were out for their own benefit rather than for the benefit of the Kingdom of God.  Here is where we come in and can find some truth for our lives. Maybe we are not out preaching the Gospel for personal gain, adding to or changing the message of Jesus Christ, but are we living as a believer for the purpose to benefit the Kingdom of God or living to see how the Kingdom of God is benefiting us? What this means is simply from what perceptive do we approve our daily life? When we pray, do we pray for our own needs, or for the will of God to be done in our life? Sure God told us to bring all our requests to Him. Yes, Jesus said to ask anything in His name and the Father would give it to us. We can find all sorts of scriptures which tell us God will provide all sorts of things for us, but still that seems sort of a self-orientated way to live, doesn't it? Should we not be concerned about building the Kingdom of God, being a benefit to God, giving back all we are to Him? Sure, God does not need anything, He is God, but what is this reward for the quality of our work building on the foundation of Jesus Christ?  We are to be master builders, building on nothing but the foundation of Jesus Christ Crucified. Maybe all these denominational doctrines, rules and regulations, are what is spoken about here. Maybe some have indeed added to Jesus, as such building with gold, silver, stone, wood, and hay, which are all those rules and regulations. Maybe we simply need to see the truth of the Gospel message, Jesus saves. Once we were lost but now we are found. Is there anything else which needs to be said? So let us live as believers, being builders of the Kingdom of God, not using the Kingdom to build our little empires of self-centered desires. Let us be master builders.  

See What God Has Done

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

SEE WHAT GOD HAS DONE

1 Cor 3:5-9

5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe — as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

NIV

These people were quarreling over who had brought them the best message, or in a sense who had the best personality or style of delivering the message. It would appear that both Paul and Apollos were working for the same result but some people seems to think Apollos was the one, and other thought Paul was the right one. Maybe it was coming down to the 1^st church of Paul and the Apollos Church of Corinth, the beginning of denominationalism. Or maybe it was just people gathering around that personality who they thought was more charismatic, somewhat like so many people do today. Who is the most favorite preacher? Even today it would seem we have people who would prefer to listen to one preacher over another, or read one author over another, because of their styles, or personality. But in all reality what matters is that Jesus Christ crucified is preached. Does it really matter under what preacher we were saved? Does it really matter mentored us so we could grow and become mature believers? Who do we worship God or the preacher? Yet it would appear so many people put so much emphasis on the preacher, his personality, his style of preaching, on the type of church building, the color and style of the sanctuary, the type of music, and worship that God almost takes a second place to all that. We simply have to get past all of that and focus on the fact that it was God who saved us, it is God who directs our path, and sees to it that we grow up in Him. It the same time we cannot simply sit back and say well it is all up to the pastor or even it is all up to God. No, we must take an active part in our growth, as well as being servants of God most high. Some of us might well be used as Paul or Apollos, sharing the Good News about Jesus Christ with others, but in doing so, making sure the receiving knows it is all about God and not us. We all need to open our hearts and see what God has done.

Who Are We?

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

WHO ARE WE?

1 Cor 3:1-4

3:1 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly — mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?

NIV

Well at least we all agree we are following Christ, therefore we are not mere men, who can only handle milk, but actually digest the real meat of the Gospel, right? We are ready for it, we what it, we are not satisfied with milk because there is not one ounce of jealousy or quarreling among us for we all belong to one way of thinking. We are all the same in thought and agreement no matter what denomination we align ourselves with. We all have the same exact outlook on life, on God, on Christ as everyone of our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ no matter our educational level, our financial situation, our knowledge of scriptures or our ethic background. So we are not mere men, but spiritual beings seeking the deep truths of God, right? Or maybe we have some growing to do yet. Maybe we are not ready for the deep truths of God. Maybe we should still be feeding on milk, for it would seem there is still some jealousy and quarreling among us. How do we get past it? Is the fact that we do all agree that Jesus is the one and only way to get to heaven enough? Is the fact that Jesus Christ is the truth, the light and the way and we all agree unless we are born again we cannot see the Kingdom of God enough? Wait, some denominations do not teach that we must be born again in order to see the Kingdom of God. Some believe good works is the way to God. Some believe we still are subject to the law, the old covenant, some believe Jesus fulfilled that and in doing so established a new covenant.  Isn’t all that like some following Christ, some following Apollos? Who are we, mere men or spiritual?