Weak and Foolish for Christ

IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Weak and Foolish for Christ

Date: Mar. 23, 2021

Passage

1 Corinthians 4:6-13 (ESV)

6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. 7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! 9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

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Daily Bread

Key Verse: 4:10

We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.

Don't be puffed up (6,7)

Paul reminded the Corinthian Christians who it was that made them different. They bragged about their Bible teachers, and in fact, it was a cause of division in the church. It was like they thought their Bible teacher was what made them different. Paul reminded them of God. It was God who saved them from their lives of slavery to sin and death. In the gospel, God reveals his holiness, his grace, His mercy and his salvation. Through the gospel we are made to be his children. How could the Corinthians boast of their Bible teachers? If they were going to boast, boast in the Lord!

We are foolish and weak for Christ (8-13)

Paul used sarcasm to show the Corinthians that they were, in fact, poor, in comparison with the apostles. In their own minds, the Corinthians wanted to become wise, rich kings. They thought they could obtain these blessings through the gospel. The apostles were weak and foolish in comparison. They were the scum of the earth. But it was the apostles who were rich in the gospel.

Prayer: Father, open my eyes to the gospel. Help me to become weak and foolish for Christ.

One Word: Weak and foolish for Christ

Fallen Babylon

Revelation 18:1-24

Key Verse: 18:4

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,

  “Come out of her, my people,
    lest you take part in her sins,
  lest you share in her plagues;

Today's Question

What does the third commandment require?

See answer and references