1 Corinthians 1:1-31
Paul's love for the church in Corinth is obvious, but his tone is clearly different than it was in the book of Romans. He is clearly concerned for this church and way that they are allowing sinful attitudes and actions to rob them of the vitality of their Christian walk. This leg of our journey promises to be both sobering and stimulating as we evaluate our own sinful tendencies in light of those of this church.
THE DIVISIVENESS OF PRIDE IN BELIEVERS: It is easy for us to allow pride to creep into our hearts for what may seem to be noble reasons. Pride comes naturally to us, so our tendency is to "Christianize" our pride and call it by names such as loyalty. It is easy for us to identify ourselves by the names of certain denominations or declare our loyalty to a prominent Christian leader from the past or present. The Corinthian believers we doing precisely that. Some were loyal to Paul, other to Apollos while I am sure still others to Peter. Paul basically tells them to stop with this human favoritism and recognize that we are all members of the body of Christ and therefore, we are called to unity and like mindedness. We must muster every fiber of our being to avoid this practice in our relationships with one another. Too often Christians are seen by the world as isolated groups who spend far more time fighting one another than spreading the fame of Christ.
THE FOOLISHNESS OF PREACHING FOR UNBELIEVERS: Paul's ministry was one of preaching the Gospel. This caused many Jews to turn their backs on the truth of the Gospel. The Greeks also rejected the Gospel because it did not challenge their intellectual philosophies. The Greeks wanted human wisdom while the Jews wanted human works. The Gospel offers divine forgiveness based on the atoning work of Christ on the cross. The simplicity of the Gospel makes it offensive to many, but it is the source of life and eternal hope for all who believe. We must never abandon the simple and true message that Christ has died to pay the price for our sin and that we can can find forgiveness through faith in His sacrifice. The intellectuals of our day continue to doubt the truth of God's Word and accuse us of believing in fairy tales. The religious of our day continue to doubt the power of the Gospel and claim that there are rituals and behaviors that we must perform if we are to be accepted by God. We must not be influenced by these believes and cling to the cross of Christ as our only hope no matter how foolish the world may think we look.
THE DIVISIVENESS OF PRIDE IN BELIEVERS: It is easy for us to allow pride to creep into our hearts for what may seem to be noble reasons. Pride comes naturally to us, so our tendency is to "Christianize" our pride and call it by names such as loyalty. It is easy for us to identify ourselves by the names of certain denominations or declare our loyalty to a prominent Christian leader from the past or present. The Corinthian believers we doing precisely that. Some were loyal to Paul, other to Apollos while I am sure still others to Peter. Paul basically tells them to stop with this human favoritism and recognize that we are all members of the body of Christ and therefore, we are called to unity and like mindedness. We must muster every fiber of our being to avoid this practice in our relationships with one another. Too often Christians are seen by the world as isolated groups who spend far more time fighting one another than spreading the fame of Christ.
THE FOOLISHNESS OF PREACHING FOR UNBELIEVERS: Paul's ministry was one of preaching the Gospel. This caused many Jews to turn their backs on the truth of the Gospel. The Greeks also rejected the Gospel because it did not challenge their intellectual philosophies. The Greeks wanted human wisdom while the Jews wanted human works. The Gospel offers divine forgiveness based on the atoning work of Christ on the cross. The simplicity of the Gospel makes it offensive to many, but it is the source of life and eternal hope for all who believe. We must never abandon the simple and true message that Christ has died to pay the price for our sin and that we can can find forgiveness through faith in His sacrifice. The intellectuals of our day continue to doubt the truth of God's Word and accuse us of believing in fairy tales. The religious of our day continue to doubt the power of the Gospel and claim that there are rituals and behaviors that we must perform if we are to be accepted by God. We must not be influenced by these believes and cling to the cross of Christ as our only hope no matter how foolish the world may think we look.
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