1 Corinthians 3:1–4 (ESV) —
1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?
NOTE: There is a real danger in exalting teachers and not Jesus. Our teachers today are godly men, but are also sinners. They struggle with sins, even secret sins. They are not perfect. Their teaching is probably wrong at some point. They have biases, unconscious biases at least. They do not deserve heaven. They, like every one of us, are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And yet Paul could say 1 Cor 4:16 — I urge you, then, be imitators of me. How could he say that? It wasn't that he was perfect, but he was seeking God. That is the part we are to imitate. Yes, we will fail, but we pick ourselves up, we repent, we ask for help and strength, and we go back to seeking God -- every time.
I think the problem in the Corinthian church is they were trying to establish a pecking order. "If I was trained by so-and-so, then I must be a better trained Christian than you." No, no, absolutely no. It is God who causes the growth, not men. Our job is to seek him, and my job is to get you to seek him. I'm not trying to get you to have my point of view, I'm trying to get you to seek God daily.
PONDER:
- What is most important to us in our Christian walk? Is it making disciples or making people who think like me?
- What is more important, a theological point of view, or someone who daily searches God's word for answers (a Berean)?
PRAYER: Father, help me to major on the majors and minor on the minors. What do people need to do to be a Christian man of God? That is what I desire to be my focus.
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