Bible League: Living His Word One of you says, "I follow Paul," and someone else says, "I follow Apollos." When you say things like that, you are acting like people of the world.There were many problems in the church at Corinth. The members were jealous of each other and they were always arguing with each other. There was also the serious problem of factionalism. As our verse for today makes clear, the church was divided into factions that identified themselves according to the particular ministry and perspective of the leader they favored. Some favored Paul, some favored Apollos, and there were probably others as well. Paul says that when they divide themselves into factions they are "acting like people of the world." That is, although they were Christians born of the Spirit, they were not acting like it. Instead of being led by the Spirit, they were being led by their own selfish desires. Paul said that they were mere "babies in Christ" and he could not address them as adults (I Corinthians 3:1). There is always a struggle within every Christian person between the old sinful spiritual state and the new life of the Spirit. In the case of the Corinthian Christians, although they participated in the new life of the Spirit, the old spiritual state still seemed to have the upper hand. They were what some call "carnal Christians." Christians who are mature in the faith and the new life of the Spirit are not like that. For them, the Spirit has the upper hand and the old spiritual state is kept under control for the most part. As a result, mature Christians do not easily fall into the sin of factionalism. They realize that true ministers of the gospel are mere servants of God who help us to believe (I Corinthians 3:5). None of them is anything in and of themselves. None of them is more important than the God who sent them. As Paul put it, "Only God is important," and the ministers sent by God are "not important" (I Corinthians 3:7). Indeed, God sends more than one minister because no one minister can fully give and express everything God has for His people. We should always be grateful for the ministers of the gospel who are sent to help us believe, but we should never elevate them to the status that belongs only to God. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingIsaiah 10, 11, 12 Isaiah 10 -- Judgment on Assyria; A Remnant to Return NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Isaiah 11 -- The Root of Jesse NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Isaiah 12 -- Joyful Thanksgiving NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Galatians 5 Galatians 5 -- Standing Firm; Walking by the Spirit NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you. This is my rule for all the churches.Insight Apparently the Corinthians were ready to make wholesale changes without thinking through the ramifications. Paul was writing to say that people should be Christians where they are. Challenge You can do God's work and demonstrate your faith anywhere. If you became a Christian after marriage, and your spouse is not a believer, remember that you don't have to be married to a Christian to live for Christ. Don't assume that you are in the wrong place, or stuck with the wrong person. You may be just where God wants you. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Deuteronomy 33:29 Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord!He who affirms that Christianity makes men miserable, is himself an utter stranger to it. It were strange indeed, if it made us wretched, for see to what a position it exalts us! It makes us sons of God. Suppose you that God will give all the happiness to his enemies, and reserve all the mourning for his own family? Shall his foes have mirth and joy, and shall his home-born children inherit sorrow and wretchedness? Shall the sinner, who has no part in Christ, call himself rich in happiness, and shall we go mourning as if we were penniless beggars? No, we will rejoice in the Lord always, and glory in our inheritance, for we "have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but we have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." The rod of chastisement must rest upon us in our measure, but it worketh for us the comfortable fruits of righteousness; and therefore by the aid of the divine Comforter, we, the "people saved of the Lord," will joy in the God of our salvation. We are married unto Christ; and shall our great Bridegroom permit his spouse to linger in constant grief? Our hearts are knit unto him: we are his members, and though for a while we may suffer as our Head once suffered, yet we are even now blessed with heavenly blessings in him. We have the earnest of our inheritance in the comforts of the Spirit, which are neither few nor small. Inheritors of joy forever, we have foretastes of our portion. There are streaks of the light of joy to herald our eternal sunrising. Our riches are beyond the sea; our city with firm foundations lies on the other side the river; gleams of glory from the spirit-world cheer our hearts, and urge us onward. Truly is it said of us, "Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord?" Daily Light on the Daily Path 1 Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,Proverbs 16:5 Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Assuredly, he will not be unpunished. Isaiah 64:8,9 But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand. • Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD, Nor remember iniquity forever; Behold, look now, all of us are Your people. Jeremiah 31:18,19 "I have surely heard Ephraim grieving, 'You have chastised me, and I was chastised, Like an untrained calf; Bring me back that I may be restored, For You are the LORD my God. • For after I turned back, I repented; And after I was instructed, I smote on my thigh; I was ashamed and also humiliated Because I bore the reproach of my youth.' Lamentations 3:27 It is good for a man that he should bear The yoke in his youth. Job 5:6,7, "For affliction does not come from the dust, Nor does trouble sprout from the ground, • For man is born for trouble, As sparks fly upward. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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