More like Jesus

1 Corinthians 4:6-13

⁶ Dear brothers and sisters, I have used Apollos and myself to illustrate what I’ve been saying. If you pay attention to what I have quoted from the Scriptures, you won’t be proud of one of your leaders at the expense of another. ⁷ For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?

⁸ You think you already have everything you need. You think you are already rich. You have begun to reign in God’s kingdom without us! I wish you really were reigning already, for then we would be reigning with you. ⁹ Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike.

¹⁰ Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed. ¹¹ Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. ¹² We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. ¹³ We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment.

Paul’s instructions to the Corinthian church were a wakeup call!   It must have been a sobering experience to receive such a message.  The Apostle Paul wanted the Corinthian believers to be more like Jesus which sounds familiar in light of “Vision” month at C3 Carlingford and Wentworthville.  Paul calls them out on at least a couple of things:

1. Judging one minister against another causing division when in fact it’s God’s word not tradition or opinion that has the ultimate authority for those living by faith
2. Having an attitude of pride and self-reliance instead of humility and dependence upon God.  Paul uses sarcasm to point out their arrogance and how the cultural desire for status has slipped in.  Paul points out how his life of poverty and persecution is different to theirs and not well regarded by those that lived at that time.  Indeed the apostles were considered the scum of the earth.  It would seem the Corinthians regarded their wealth and reputations a little too highly and that needed addressing.

Dear Lord, thank you for your word to the Corinthians and the things we can draw from it today to be more like Jesus.  Help us to look to your word as the ultimate guide to our Christian faith.  Help us to not go after status, the recognition of man but to serve you humbly.

Written by Ps. Ainslie Woods