[:en]Divisions in the Church (vs. 1-23)
Paul considered the Corinthiian Christians worldly because they were mere infants in Christ. There were jealousy and quarreling among them. The believers split in factions pledging loyalty to diffrent teachers.
God’s work involves many diffrent individuals to build up the church. It is a teamwork each performing his own special roles. We must set aside our desire to receive personal honor or glory from praise of men. The foundation of the church must be Jesus Christ. The builders of the church must build it with high qualty materials (right doctrines and right living). “If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is on the Judgment day. It will being to light and revealed with fire. The fire will test the quality of each man’s work and those survived will receive his reward. (vs. 12-14)
Our foundation must be built in Christ and not on any other person or principle. Christ will evaluate each minister’s contribution to the church. Judgment day will reveal the sincerity of each person’s work. Good work will be rewarded but inferior work will be cast aside.
Our bodies are the “temple of the Holy Spirit”. The church is God’s temple, which is sacred. It should not be destroyed by division. The Corinthians were boasting about the wisdom of their leaders and teachers. They were putting more importance to the messenger than the message We are not to think ourselves as wise because the thoughts of men were futile. We are not to trust anyone but God alone.
Death is a sure thing in life. Believers are not afraid to face death because Christ had conquered all fears. But the non-believers are afraid to die.
Things to Ponder:
- Do not stay as infants in Christ. Grow to become mature Christians.
- We should never place preachers as barrier between fellow believers. Our loyalty must not be to the preacher but to Christ alone.
- Do not seek the praise from people. Seek approval from God.
- The foundation of our life must be Jesus Christ. It must be built with sound doctrines and right living.
- The sinceridfty and quality of our work will be subject to test. Good work will be rewarded and inferior work will be discounted.
- The church must not be ruined by jealousy, division, dissension and other sins.
- We are not to glory in the wisdom of this age. We are not to boast about men because God’s way of thinking is far above ours.
- Death holds no terror for Christians because Christ had conquered death and death is the beginning of eternal life in Christ.
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