At the start of each day I’ve been summarising the content of 1 Corinthians so far, so we can keep the flow of argument before us. Thankfully, Paul has already done this for us as we come to chapter 4: 3:18-23 Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of… Continue reading The last word on worldly judgements (1 Cor 3:18-4:5)

Yesterday, we saw how we have a choice of materials with which to build God’s church: perishable materials (relying on human effort) or imperishable materials (relying on the power of G0d). Today, Paul ends with a warning for those who seek to build God’s church.He says our work will be tested when Jesus returns. Like fire… Continue reading Building God’s church – part 2 (1 Cor 3:14-17)

Over the last two days we’ve seen how it’s foolish to divide over leaders: they are simply God’s servants who are on the same team, with different roles that work toward the same goal. That goal is the building of God’s church, described by Paul as both a “field” being farmed and a building being… Continue reading Building God’s church – part 1 (1 Cor 3:10-13)

Yesterday we saw how foolish it is to divide over leaders. To begin with, leaders are merely God’s servants. Paul reminds us not to see them as anything more (or, conversely, anything less). In today’s passage we see a second reason it’s foolish to divide over and compare leaders: they have different roles, with complementary functions… Continue reading Leaders are on the same team (1 Cor 3:6-9)

So far in our series through 1 Cor 1-4 we’ve seen how the Corinthians were divided over leaders. Over the next few days, we’ll see how Paul shows this behaviour to be utterly foolish. In fact, it’s immature. They think they’re being spiritual, but the fact that they’re divided shows how worldly they still are.… Continue reading Leaders are God’s servants (1 Cor 3:1-5)