Taught 3/29/2009
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Called to Glorify God!
Open your Bible to…
1Cor. 1:31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”
Pray
Intro
√ Called to glorify God!
The Christians at Corinth had a tendency to be “puffed” up with pride as they saw themselves as superior to others so they boasted in their…
Spiritual experience ~ who it was that baptized them
Spiritual gifts ~ the multitude and dramatic display
Open mindedness ~ ignoring sin in the church
So, Paul in this final section of chapter 1 reminds them that God isn’t impressed with any of those things nor with their…
Good looks
Social status
Personal achievements
Ethnic background
Financial position
Rather, Paul reminds them that the message of God’s grace leaves no room for personal boasting because all of us are completely incapable of saving ourselves…
…therefore the only One the Corinthians or we can boast in is God because He is the One who saved them!
Ap. Glorify God!
Our old nature desperately wants to draw attention to ourselves and to receive the glory that only God deserves.
Unfortunately when we give our lives to Jesus that old nature doesn’t lay down.
While it has been disarmed by the Cross of Jesus Christ it still wants to try an rule our lives and looks for opportunities to promote self.
The point is that as Christians we face a life-long battle with our flesh that doesn’t want to give the glory to God…
…it wants the glory for itself!
When we take the glory that God deserves to ourselves then we’ll find that God will set us on a shelf because we’re no longer useful to the work of the Kingdom…
…like Uzziah.
Or, we’ll find ourselves playing into Satan’s hands and disqualifying ourselves from ministry through sin…
…like Sampson.
So, this section of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians will be good for us to study and apply in our own lives so that we stay usable for God’s work.
Who They Were (vs. 26)
1Cor. 1:26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
√ Who they were
The quickest way to un-puff a Christian who is puffed up with pride is to remind them of who they were before Christ!
That’s what we find Paul doing here as he reminds his arrogant friends at Corinth that God didn’t call them to Himself because of who they were…
…He called them in spite of who they were!
You see the fact was that the church at Corinth was primarily made up of ordinary people who had been rank sinners before coming to Christ!
There weren’t many college professors, champion gladiators, or people of royalty in the congregation.
Most of them were slaves, probably a few merchants, some farmers, housewives and laborers.
Paul’s point here is that God didn’t call them to be His people because of who they were, or what they had to offer Him…
…He called them in spite of their low standing therefore they shouldn’t have boasted as if their salvation was some indication that they were special.
Ex. The Jewish people made the same mistake
Paul himself knew something about arrogance and pride because his life before Christ had been dominated by it!
Like many of the Jews in Paul’s day, and some today, he saw himself as superior to others because he was a Jew…
…one of God’s “chosen people.”
Their pride however was misplaced because God didn’t chose them because they were such a great people…
…He chose them because they weren’t great!
Deut. 7:6 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
Deut. 7:7 The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;
Deut. 7:8 but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
God chose the Jews, the least of all peoples to pour out His love upon so as to make them a signpost to draw the rest of the world to Him.
As the world looked on and saw the way that God blessed this small people group.
How they were able to defeat stronger and better equipped armies.
How their land overflowed with produce, how their flocks and herds multiplied, and the prosperity of the people.
All of that was to get the attention of the world and draw them to the true King…
Like the Queen of Sheba and Naaman the Syrian, who recognized God’s hand of blessing on the Jewish people…
…and sought to know Him.
But, unfortunately the majority of the Jewish people misinterpreted God’s choice of them as a sign that they were superior to other peoples and rather than draw the nations to God…
…they put obstacles in their way so they could not find God.
Ex. The money changers in the Court of the Gentiles and the Ethiopian Eunuch who left Jerusalem without finding God.
Fast forward to the Christians at Corinth and we find that they too misinterpreted God’s call on their lives as something of which to boast.
Their boasting led to a divided church and a poor witness to the lost in their city.
That’s why we find Paul reminding them of who they were before they came to faith in Christ…
…sinful nobodies that only God could love!
Ap. Beware of pride!
The example of the Jewish people and the Christians at Corinth, Jews and Gentiles, remind us that our old nature dies hard because it wants to find a reason to glorify itself.
None of us is exempt from the stealthy seduction of pride!
So be careful and stay close to the Lord so that you don’t get tripped up by your own pride and begin seeking your own glory rather than bringing glory to God.
√ The uniqueness of His call
On a more positive note there are two things we be excited about regarding God’s call…
First ~ because God is not a respecter of persons everyone, no matter how bad they are or how low on the social ladder, is called by God to enjoy a relationship with Him!
That’s unique to the Christian faith! Hindu’s have a caste system, Islam favors Arab’s (note the Sudan), the Identity Movement is prejudiced against dark skin, the Nation of Islam rants against people with light skin, Mormonism teaches that dark skinned people are cursed, etc.
Only Christianity invites all people, ordinary and extraordinary, rich and poor, any color of skin, male and female, to become a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ!
That’s great news for the outcasts of society that are rejected by the false religions of Man!
Second ~ note that Paul wrote in vs. 26…
“not many of you” ~ not “not any of you”
That is, while not many of the Christians in the 1st Century were people of great wisdom, or power, or social status, some certainly were!
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were prominent leaders, Cornelius the Centurion was a man of high esteem, as was Sergius Paulus the Roman proconsul on Cyprus.
So, it’s not that the wise, powerful and significant people of the world can’t be Christians…
…it’s just that not many respond to the Gospel because they are blinded by their worldly glory and don’t see their need for salvation.
Why He Chose Them (vs. 27-29)
1Cor. 1:27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
1Cor. 1:28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
1Cor. 1:29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
√ Why He chose them
Now that Paul has established who the Corinthians were before coming to faith in Christ he reveals why it is that God chose the nobodies of this world to experience salvation.
That is, to show the proud people of the world their need and His Grace!
How did God’s choice of the weak, foolish and ordinary people do that?
Well, like the old Beatles song rightly sang…
“You can’t buy me love”
That is, Paul is telling us that there are things in life that…
The rich can’t buy
The strong can’t achieve
The aristocratic can’t obtain
The intellectual can’t comprehend
…but are available to even the most despised person on earth through simple faith in Christ!
Ex. The rich young ruler
Matthew, Mark and Luke all record this fascinating exchange between Jesus and this young man who asked Jesus…
“Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ~ Luke 18:18
As we read the account we discover that this young man was wealthy, well respected, powerful, moral and religious, but he lacked one thing…
…eternal life!
He couldn’t buy it, demand it, take it, or earn it.
Yet he saw that the ragtag group of fishermen, tax collectors and radicals, the weak, the foolish, and the common people…
...that followed Jesus had something all his wealth and power couldn’t obtain and he wanted it!
Unfortunately for him his wealth kept him from following Jesus.
However, his life and question to Jesus serve as an example of what Paul is communicating in vs. 27-29!
That is, that God chooses the people that the world rejects so as to demonstrate His Grace and our need for Him.
Ex. The Biblical account
Just look at people that God has used throughout history…
Little David ~ despised by his brothers yet chosen by God to rule Israel.
Jacob ~ a cheat and manipulator chosen to be the father of the 12 tribes of Israel.
Gideon ~ the least important person in the smallest insignificant family in Israel but selected by God to defeat the Midianite hoards.
Mary ~ a peasant girl from a poor village who would have lived, died and been buried without a single line in the history books except that God picked her to bear His Son.
So it is today! God loves to work through the underdogs of the world so that when they accomplish great and mighty works…
…the whole world can see that’s it’s really God working through them and thereby glorify Him instead of the vessel through which He worked.
Ap. See with God’s eyes!
Unfortunately we humans have very unspiritual eyes!
We’re attracted to the good looking people, the strong, the brave, and the tall.
We pick our leaders, our favorite actors and even our spiritual leaders by outward appearance.
Even those who have a close walk with God can be fooled by a person’s appearance!
Such was the case when God sent Samuel to anoint a new king for Israel…
1Sam. 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
The point is that we often miss the people that God has chosen because we don’t even see them…
Like the stock clerk at the grocery store, or person taking your order at Taco Bell…
…they’re the nameless invisible people that we might talk to every day when we buy our coffee but never really pay attention to because they’re so ordinary.
So often we think…
“If only Chris Marin of Coldplay, or Keira Knightly got saved they would reach so many people for Christ”
But the reality is that God rarely picks those kind of people…
…rather He picks the guy who sold you shoes last week whose name you don’t know, or the woman who cleans the bank where you work to do His ministry.
Ex. Gladys Aylward
A tiny British maid (only 4’11”) who was rejected by the Mission Board in England because she lacked education and because she was single and they didn’t send single woman out on the mission field.
But, she was the one whom God had selected to carry the Gospel to China during the dangerous years between the Sino-Russian War and 2nd World War.
So, with her own money saved from cleaning the homes of the wealthy in England she set out across Europe and Russia to reach China where she hoped to serve God.
Her efforts led to the conversion of many in China and God used her to lead over a hundred children to safety through a mountain pass infested with Japanese soldiers.
So, the next time you see someone mopping the floor at Target don’t ignore them!
See them from God’s perspective because he or she might be God’s anointed servant that will bring revival to NW Arkansas or carry the Gospel to lands yet un-reached.
Remember, God often chooses the nobodies of this world to do His will so that we might glorify Him!
So don’t sell yourself short by thinking that God can’t use you in great ways because the world ignores you!
What They Have (vs. 30-31)
1Cor. 1:30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—
1Cor. 1:31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”
√ What they have
Paul’s final point is that in the midst of all their boasting that they missed their greatest blessings!
While they were busy trying to impress each other with their spiritual pedigree and boasting about their spiritual gifts and fawning over men…
…they forgot that the best thing going for them was that they were now “in Christ Jesus”!
That is, once they had given their lives to Jesus and placed their faith in His work on the Cross they were now seen by God as…
Righteous ~ saved from the penalty of sin
Sanctified ~ saved from the power of sin
Redeemed ~ saved from the presence of sin
Men and woman who had been notorious sinners were now seen by God the Father as perfect saints without any blemish of sin!
Transformed by the power of the Cross and the Resurrection into new people…
…God’s people!
Slaves, merchants, ex-prostitutes, and worshippers of pagan gods were now citizens of God’s Kingdom…
…a kingdom greater than Rome which ruled the world in which they lived!
So, if they were going to boast about anything it ought to be about God who beyond the wisdom and power of Man could do such a great miracle transforming sinners into saints.
Because the truth is that Paul, Peter and Apollos in whom they were boasting had nothing that they didn’t have in Christ.
Paul wasn’t loved by God anymore than they were.
Peter didn’t have a greater portion of the Holy Spirit than the newest believer in Corinth.
Apollos didn’t have any better access to God’s throne of Grace than any other saint.
God has granted to every person who trusts in His Son the full measure of all His spiritual blessings and that’s something to we can boast about, thus Paul writes…
“He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.” ~ vs. 31
You’re saved! A brand new person in Christ Jesus…
…that’s something to boast about!
Close
√ Called to glorify God
As you look back over this 1st chapter you can see the mistakes that the believers in Corinth made.
Mistakes and sin that led to a divided, defiled, and disgraced church.
Paul’s solution to fixing the spiritual foundation of their church was to bring them back to the Cross where…
Their pride and their boasting would be crucified.
They would be reminded that they have nothing to boast about because their salvation, sanctification, and redemption was all the work of God to which they added nothing.
They would once more fall on their knees in worship of God for all He is, and all He’s done and boast in Him rather than themselves.
Saints, when you’re tempted to see yourself as superior to others be quick to bring to your mind…
What you were ~ a sinner who couldn’t save himself!
Why He chose you ~ because He is love, not because you’re so loveable!
What you have in Christ ~ is all a gift of God and therefore He’s the One you ought to be bragging about!
May the Lord protect us from our pride so that we can be a unified church filled with His power to accomplish His will in our community.