Unfortunately, there are are times when we allow our unity as God’s children to be fractured. This daily devotional looks at how we need to keep our focus on Jesus and what He taught.
Nuggets
- We are not to boast of ourselves or others, but rather serve in Jesus’ name.
- All Jesus has to give us is ours because of our relationships with Jesus.
- Regardless of who are leaders are and how long we live, we are to serve God as He calls.
- We are nothing without Christ as we remain in sin without Him.
Devotions in the In Jesus’ Name series
Unfortunately, there are are times when we allow our unity as God’s children to be fractured. We need to keep our focus on Jesus and what He taught.
We are looking at Wilkinson’s sermon entitled Doing All in the Name of Christ. Let’s see what he says next.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
All Because of Christ
“So let no one boast in men. 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” (I Cor. 3: 21-23 ESV)
We are not to boast of ourselves or others, but rather serve in Jesus’ name.
It is easy to elevate our pastor to someone who is more godly, more knowledgeable than we are. We have to watch, though.
They aren’t Jesus. We are to serve Jesus as our Master.
The problem with those who boast is they many times turn out modern-day Pharisees. They think God should give them a pass because they have been designated a leader.
Pharisees are really good at resting on their laurels.
Person of Interest
Unfortunately, they are serving without serving Christ. They are serving themselves.
God doesn’t want us to do a worldly serve. He wants us to serve to expand His kingdom.
We aren’t out to please mankind. Our focus should be to please God.
So, we should only boast in our inheritance as being children of God.
Glossary
Belonging to Christ
“… For all things are yours” (I Cor. 3: 21 ESV)
All Jesus has to give us is ours because of our relationships with Jesus.
When we ask Jesus to be our Savior and Redeemer, He shares Himself with us. We gain salvation, His righteousness, God’s character, and eternal life.
Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sin is not believing that Jesus is our Savior to save us from our actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
- Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
- Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
Pope noted that the all doesn’t mean all things we think we should have. Jesus does have the right to limit our all to what all He thinks we should have.
Resource
Let’s look at it through that lens. All are ours that Jesus gives us.
Jesus doesn’t have anything sinful or worldly. So, He isn’t going to give us that.
This is going to be more along the lines of Romans 8: 28. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8: 28 ESV).
God will provide what we need for us to grow in Him.
What did we just say that He gave us? Salvation, His righteousness, God’s character, and eternal life.
Our comfort in this world is not Jesus’ priority. Our spiritual condition is.
There, Jesus gives more than we ask.
Let’s try a different take. What Jesus gives us is freedom. “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’” (Jn. 8: 31-32 ESV)
Regardless of Outside Pressures
“whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — …” (I Cor. 3: 22 ESV)
Regardless of who our leaders are and how long we live, we are to serve God as He calls.
Beyond anything else, God calls us to be sanctified after salvation. Sanctification is the transformation of mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration; gradually changes our nature and morals through the promptings of the Holy Spirit; and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal new birth and requickening that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new character.
Glossary
We are to focus on the condition of our souls before all else. That alone is going to determine our address for eternity.
The way I read this is our experiences help make us who we are. Well, isn’t that sanctification?
God doesn’t “waste” experiences. He uses everything to draw us closer to Him.
Oh, yes. Some days it may feel like we are treading water.
But those are the days we are putting into practice what we preach. They are when we are in the laboratory after the lecture.
Look what Maclaren wrote about life. He wrote, “The true ownership of life depends upon self-control, and self-control depends upon letting Jesus Christ govern us wholly.”
Resource
Self-control is the ability to withstand temptations by managing ourselves — our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors.
So, think of it. True ownership of life depends on the ability to withstand temptations by managing our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors.
It is all about having Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer.
We Are Christ’s
“… all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (I Cor. 3: 22-23 CSB)
We are nothing without Christ as we remain in sin without Him.
If we can boast, we can only boast through our relationships with Jesus. We have a place in His heart.
Let’s hook this with the last section.
Whatever comes — now or in the future — death or life — we are Christ’s when we ask Him to be our Savior and Lord.
Let’s hook this to the first section.
We shouldn’t boast, because it isn’t about us. We should be humble. Christian humility is our yielding our dependence to Christ to serve Him and others.
Humility is a big part of being submissive. Submitting to God is actions by humans that obey God and keep His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, follow His purpose for us, and do not follow Satan’s promptings.
We totally surrender past, present, and future to Jesus’ command.
Yeah, we do have to surrender. Read verse 23 again. “and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (I Cor. 3: 23 CSB).
No, it doesn’t say Christ is ours. He isn’t. He is our King and Judge.
We are His.
Making the Connections
God wants us to be unified. He doesn’t want us to be split into factions. He doesn’t want believing what Apollos believes, others following what Paul believes, and still others following what Peter believes.
But isn’t that — roughly — where denominations came from? This group believes this, while another group believes that.
We are to follow what Christ and the Holy Spirit teaches.
How Do We Apply This?
We need to put our faith and trust in God rather than mankind. Only then do we gain salvation and eternal life.
Resource
Father God. We believe what Jesus taught. We believe what the Holy Spirit continues to teach us. We put our faith and trust in You. Amen.
What do you think?
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