QT 2/25/2025 1 Cor 3:1-6, Rather than boasting, we need to focus on the fact we are loved

1 Corinthians 3:1–6 (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?

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

 

NOTE: This continues the discussion of God's wisdom and man's wisdom. In the latter, competition through comparison and boasting are signs of human wisdom which is almost always characterized by pride. Men feel they need to prove themselves better than others. They boast about the school they attended or their number of degrees or their position or their title or their knowledge. Men are always boasting, either directly or subtly through a type of virtue signaling. Why is it so hard for us to just shut up and not boast of ourselves when questioned about our background or accomplishments? Why can't we be comfortable in who we are and what God thinks of us?

 

1 John 3:1a (ESV) — See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

Galatians 2:20 (ESV) — I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

 

In the message Sunday, the pastor reminded us of how much we (believers in Christ) are loved by God. We are not just called children of God (as 1 John 3:1a affirms -- we really are children of God -- which is in contrast to the world whom Jesus calls children of Satan, the Father of lies.

 

The other verse is a favorite of mine. Paul writes that Jesus loved him and died for him. All believers can say the same thing. Jesus loves me (say it out loud and emphasize the me) and Jesus gave himself (died) for me. That is so amazing and I am so unworthy.

 

PONDER:

1. As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, do you realize the tremendous love God has for you?
2. If you are not a believer in Jesus, while you are created by God and his creation, the bible does not say you are a child of God. Do you realize that the Jesus calls someone who does not believe in Christ, a child of Satan?

 

PRAYER: Father, I am undeserving of the great kindness you have shown to me. We are all your creation, but only a few are your children. It was nothing I did. You offered the gift of salvation, the only thing I did was to accept your gift. I pray others would realize you simple salvation is.