He Includes Me

Good Morning!

1 Corinthians 3 (English Standard Version)
Divisions in the Church
1But I, brothers,[a] 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, 3for 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? 4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human?
5What 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. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
16 Do you not know that you[b] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness," 20and again, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile." 21So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Footnotes:
a. 1 Corinthians 3:1 Or brothers and sisters
b. 1 Corinthians 3:16 The Greek for you is plural in verses 16 and 17

Yesterday I shared with you my thoughts on who is responsible for adding to the Church. Note that I capitalize Church – I do so on purpose because I am not talking about the local church whether it be Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, or any of the other denominations that claim the Good News of Jesus Christ. No – I am talking about the Church universal - all of us joined together by Blood – the precious blood of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Yes, you are my brother. Yes, you are my sister. We are one family. But like any family, we sometimes find ourselves at odds with one another. This is what was happening in the church at Corinth. People had come to know Jesus under the tutelage of several people – Paul mentions himself, Apollos and Cephas (Peter). And there were some differences in the teachings of each – just as one might expect whenever one person is giving his witness of his own personal relationship. But some were making mountains out of mole hills – at least that is what Paul is saying.

Paul understood that each of us have differences. We know that in today’s church. Some of us are called to the “visible” ministries – the ones you see out there (preaching, teaching, evangelizing, being a pastor). Others are called to the less visible – and in my mind, very important, ministries – the ones that work in the background, like administration, helps, mercy, word of wisdom; word of knowledge, giving, to name a few. But each one of us is a laborer in the kingdom of God. And each one of our tasks is important in the proclamation of God’s Word of Reconciliation. No slackers allowed.

God doesn’t have to do this! He who spoke the world into existence can certainly do all things without my help. But He has given me – and you – the privilege of being a part of the process. I have a neat picture of my oldest son Jim when he is about three years old. He is pictured with his arm outreached, eyes concentrated, attempting to help me turn a lug wrench on the old 1959 Rambler that was our first car. He wasn’t going to be much help – but he was allowed to be a part – and it made him feel important. I treasure that picture and the memories that it brings to mind.

Here’s the point – God is responsible for building the Church – and He is permitting us to join with Him in the process. And that makes me feel good on this Tuesday morning..

Agape’

Mr. Jim