1 Corinthians 1:10-31 - Humble Pie

Humble pie.  That’s the message of this chapter.  That’s what God makes with the intelligence of the intelligent and the wisdom of the wise.  God makes a good pie.

Be thankful for Jesus and for what He did on the cross.  We must heed Paul and his humble attitude.  We must not aim to be the boss man, to be clever, to be the star performer.  God’s power is in the cross of Christ.  For our benefit God made Jesus to be wisdom itself (1:30).

We must admit that we, as those that claim the name of Christ, have failed miserably.  Are there divisions in the church?  Are we of one mind, united in thought and purpose?  Do we live in harmony with each other?

There is no need to respond, please don’t.  Our fat pastors wax on, but there is severe dysfunction in their homes and in our churches.  God sees it all as he has done from the time of the whistleblowers in Chloe’s household (1:11), explaining to Paul the burdensome and embarrassing factions in the early church.

Lord God, we’ve failed you.  We have not obeyed your command of harmony and unity in thought and purpose.  We should be mature, healthy, fit, and unified.  But we’re not.  We are like infants.  At best, dysfunctional and insolent adolescents.  We desperately need the Spirit of Christ to lead and guide us.  To make us of like mind and to purify us from the greed and boasting and hypocrisy so prevalent in our churches.  We need God’s wisdom, His power.  We need God to show us the gifts and strengths of great variety and how they work in Jesus-ordained harmony.  

We are easily impressed.  I don’t think God is.  God’s not impressed by the wisdom of this world.  Nor should we be.  The world cannot hold a candle to the Creator.

Be convinced this hour, convicted as though your life depended on it, of the wisdom of God and the power of the Cross.  There is a tremendous promise in verse eight.  God promises to keep you strong to the end.  God is faithful.  Yet he commands us to obey.  He expects us to do our part.

God’s message of forgiveness, reconciliation, wholeness, righteousness, peace, joy, and grace is the good news message that God truly loves us and that He died for our sins on the cross.

Lord God, please give us strength to preach and teach, not with clever speech, but with humility like Paul, nay, like You, Lord Jesus.

Through faith in Jesus Christ God unites us with wisdom itself, Jesus Christ.  That is all we need today: in Christ alone.  He alone makes us righteous, pure and holy and freed from sin.

May we be united as we share the wisdom of our Creator and Rescuer with others today.  Amen.