“March 19, 2024 - All Things Are Yours”

Monday, March 18, 2024

All Things Are Yours

Reading:  1 Corinthians 3:16-23
    
    Paul wants the Corinthians to see the magnitude of the problem their divisions create.  “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?  If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him.  For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple”(1 Cor 3:16-17).  The “you”s here are plural; Paul is looking at the church as a whole as the temple in which God’s Spirit lives.  In the days of the Levitical priesthood, it was a grave offense to defile the temple and contaminate the place of God’s presence.  Yet the Corinthians’ allegiance to men is destroying God’s temple, incurring the wrath of God.

    So Paul gives three exhortations.  “Let no one deceive himself”(1 Cor 3:18) that his following men is an innocent practice.  “If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise”(1 Cor 3:18).  The Corinthians seem to have a problem overestimating their own wisdom and importance (1 Cor 8:1-2, 12:21) and Paul stresses that true wisdom comes in humility rather than pride.  “So let no one boast in men”(1 Cor 3:21).  All of this focus on which teachers are worthy of our allegiance is misplaced.  Why?  “For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s”(1 Cor 3:21-23).  Rather than being “of Apollos” or “of Paul,” the truth is that Paul and Apollos belong to them!  They are servants of God’s people (1 Cor 3:5), not leaders and not to be glorified.

    “All things are yours” is a sweeping, mind-bending statement.  God has made his people the object of his love and favor.  He has cleansed us from sin and revealed his mind to us, giving us teachers to guide and build us.  But other things are ours too:  “the world or life or death or the present or the future.”  God will make all these things “work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”(Rom 8:28).  We don’t need special status or special connection to people; we already have all we could ever need in Christ.

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One Thing to Think About:   Am I confident that “all things are mine” in Christ?

One Thing to Pray For:  Respect for God’s people and their unity
 

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