Called
to Glorify God
(1
Cor. 1:26-31)
June
2010
The Corinthians had a tendency to be “puffed up” with
pride (1 Cor. 4:6; 18-19; 5:2). But the Gospel of God’s grace leaves NO room
for personal boasting. God is NOT
impressed with our looks, our social position, our achievements, our natural
heritage, or our financial status. Note
also that Paul wrote many, not any. In the NT, we do meet some believers with
“high social standing”, but there are NOT many of them. The description Paul gave of the converts was
certainly NOT a flattering one (1 Cor.
6:9-11).
First,
Paul reminded them of what there were (v. 26).
I love the way Paul puts it. They were not wise, mighty, or noble. God called them, not because
of what they were, but
in spite of what they were.
The Corinthian church, like most churches today, was composed primarily
of ordinary people who were terrible sinners.
Before his conversion, Paul had been very self-righteous; he had to give
up his religion in order to go to heaven.
The Corinthian were at the other end of the spectrum, and yet they were
not to sinful for God to reach and to save.
Second,
Paul reminded them of why God called them (vv.
27-29).
We all need to thank God everyday that He chose the
foolish, the weak, the lowly, and the despised to show the proud world their
need and His grace. The lost world
admires birth, social status, financial success, power, and recognition. But NONE of those things can guarantee
eternal life, not a single one.
The message and miracle of God’s grace in Jesus utterly
confounds (“puts to shame”) the high and mighty people of this world. The wise of this world cannot understand how
God changes sinners into saints, and the mighty of this world are helpless to
duplicate the miracle. God’s
“foolishness” confounds the wise; God’s “weakness” confounds the
mighty!
The archives of church history are filled with the
accounts of great sinners whose lives were transformed by the power of the
Gospel. In my own ministry, as in the
ministry of most pastors and preachers, I have seen amazing things take place
that the lawyers and psychologists could NOT understand. They have never seen God fix a car or provide
food when there was none or heal a marriage that was on the rocks, or answer the
pray of a child.
And why does God reveal the foolishness and the weakness
of this present world system, even with its philosophy and religion? “That no flesh should glory
in His presence” (1 Cor. 1:29). Salvation must be wholly of grace; otherwise,
God cannot get the glory.
It is this truth that Paul wanted to get across to the
Corinthians, because they were guilty of glorying men (1 Cor. 3:21). If we
glory in men – even godly men like Peter and Paul and Apollos – we are robbing God of the glory that He alone
deserves. It was this attitude of pride
that was helping to cause division in the church.
Finally,
Paul reminded them of all they had in Jesus (vv. 30-31).
I’ve got a good question for you: Since every believer
is “in Christ” and has all that he needs, why compete with each other or compare
yourselves with each other? It is the
Lord who has done it all! “He that
glories, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Cor.
1:31). This is a quotation from Jer. 9:24, quoted again in 2
Cor 10:17.
Every spiritual blessing we need is found in a person,
Jesus Christ. He is our wisdom (Col.
2:3), our righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21), our
sanctification (John 17:19), and our redemption (Rom. 3:24).
Let’s do a little word study. We, as believers, need to
know the language of Christianity. Doctors have their language and lawyers have
their language and so do we as Christians.
All of these theological words carries a special
meaning for us as believers. For
example: righteousness
has to do with our standing before God.
We are justified:
God declares us righteous in Jesus Christ.
But we are also sanctified,
set apart to belong to God and to serve Him.
Redemption
emphasizes the fact that we are set free because Jesus paid the price for us on
the cross. This will lead to complete
redemption when Christ returns. Are you
confused yet?
So, in one sense, we have the three tenses of salvation
given here: we
have been saved from the penalty of sin (righteousness); we
are being saved from the power of sin (sanctification); and
we shall be saved from the presence of sin (redemption). And every believer has all of these blessings
in Jesus Christ. Are you confused
yet? Hold on.
Therefore, why glory (credit, praise) in men? What does Paul have that you do not
have? Does Peter have more of Jesus than
you do? We should glory in the Lord and
not in ourselves or our spiritual leaders.
It is all of God through Jesus Christ!
Review: As we close this chapter, we can see the
mistakes that the Corinthians were making, mistakes
that helped to create problems in their church.
They were not living up to the holy calling, but were instead following
the standards of the world. They ignored
the fact that they were called into a wonderful spiritual fellowship with the
Lord and with each other. Instead, they
were identifying with human leaders and creating divisions in the church. Instead of glorifying God and His grace, they
were pleasing themselves and boasting about men.
They were a defiled church, a divided church, and a
disgraced church!
But, before we pass judgment on them, we should examine
our own church and our own lives. We
have been called to be holy, called into fellowship, and called to glorify
God. Are we living up to our
calling?