Scripture Passage
You think you already have everything you need. You think you are already rich. You have begun to reign in God’s kingdom without us! I wish you really were reigning already, for then we would be reigning with you. Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike. (1 Corinthians 4:8-9 NLT)
Observation
As 1 Corinthians opens, the Apostle Paul initiates a huge call for less arrogance and greater unity among the believers at Corinth. They’ve been (apparently) fighting amongst themselves, picking and choosing their favorite teachers in a way that diminished the value of all the others. Paul rebukes them for this and reminds that Jesus’ work on the cross is the common foundation they all share.
A sense of the Corinthians’ arrogance is revealed in chapter 4, where it’s apparent from what Paul says that these guys thought they really had the reign of God figured out and were functioning in that reign with great effectiveness. I’m narrowing in on these couple of verses because the reign of God has become so important to me in recent months. I see God’s inbreaking reign on the earth as the central theme of Christ’s ministry. I see that reign continuing to advance through a Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered church. I argue that God’s reign continues to advance today—and will through us if we’re submitted to and aware of the ongoing work of His Spirit.
But Paul’s words remind me that participating in the advancing reign of God is not the sort of “dance around the Maypole” we sometimes envision. For all their self-perceived spiritual acumen, these Corinthians—in some ways, certainly, participants in God’s advancing reign—were “missing it” on at least two counts. First, they’d lost sight of the essential connection between all believers—one body in Christ. And second, they failed to appreciate the hard labor and difficult challenges often faced by those doing genuinely Kingdom-advancing work. Paul’s list is eye opening: “Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment” (1 Corinthians 4:11-13 NLT).
I’m thinking, today, that kingdom advance and arrogance don't mix, that genuine kingdom advance involves an awareness of an organic connection to the body of Christ as a whole, and that authentic kingdom advance doesn't come easy—that sacrificial diligence will be the norm more than the exception.
“God, open my eyes to my own arrogance and to the reality of my interconnectedness with all believers, and strengthen my hand for the challenges of being a part of what You’re doing in my world today.”
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