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A Clear Conscience

Posted on by korgrocker

“As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.”
1 Corinthians 4:3-4 NLT

Did Paul really not care much for the opinions of others? Was he behaving with an inbuilt arrogance that clouded his judgment and the way he conducted himself in his life? Was he going to continue to teach the Corinthians in the way he thought best without any reference to what other people thought of either him or his teachings? If we try and step into Paul’s shoes, what would we think about ourselves? Paul stated quite clearly that those in the Corinthian church who chose to judge him were of little consequence to him. But that is a hard place to be in, because if we took that approach, it would tend to exclude people who otherwise would affirm us, something that all human beings need. It’s not easy to be the unpopular one in the office who is shunned by the other workers. Or the one who walks into a social gathering and finds that the conversations taking place go silent. And all because the opinions of others are against us. To Paul, such a reaction “matters very little” to him because he was focused on one thing and one thing only – the propagation of the Gospel. He then said he had a clear conscience, because to Paul, there was only one evaluation or judgment that mattered, and that was from the Lord Himself. Paul added a caveat that even though his conscience was clear, that didn’t mean that he was right. We know that humans have a tendency to view themselves incorrectly; Jeremiah wrote, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9). What was he getting at? It was because human beings can distort what they think about themselves, instead forming a subjective assessment ultimately driven by their sinful natures. 

Paul knew that it was Jesus who would ultimately provide an assessment, and to him, this was the only one that mattered. He had trusted his life to serving God one hundred per cent, a trust that extended into how he delivered the message that God had given him. His trust in God extended into his behaviour, his personal safety, every facet of his life, and he had a total disregard for anything, even his own life, that would get in the way of his mission. The next verse in Jeremiah drove his opinion of himself, “But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve” (Jeremiah 17:10). Paul was never going to be diverted from his mission field because that was all that mattered to him.

Paul said he had a “clear conscience”, but what was that? One definition of a conscience is “an inner feeling that acts as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one’s behaviour”. We know that we have done wrong because we have these nagging thoughts that won’t go away until we have put right the issue that caused them. A conscience is not just the domain of believers because unbelievers can also have a guilty conscience, perhaps caused when a misdemeanour violates one of our many laws, or their own inbuilt sense of human decency. Perhaps a parent is ashamed of an outburst against an unruly child, and then their conscience nags away at them. Perhaps a husband’s unfaithful behaviour towards his wife develops into a guilty conscience which won’t go away, and he tries all sorts of remedies to dull the pain, alcohol, drugs or even regular visits to a therapist. But it is only God who can take away the pain of a guilty conscience because ultimately, a violated conscience is caused by sin, rebellion against Him. In the Old Testament days, the sin which was the root behind a guilty conscience was redeemed by the shedding of blood through an animal sacrifice. But Jesus came to change all of that, because His blood sacrifice was once and for all, for all who put their trust and faith in Him. Hebrews 10:21-22, “And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water“. I love the verses in Psalm 103, “He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. …  He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west” (Psalms 103:3, 12). We believers have a tendency to go back to the memories of sins that we have committed in the past, and we bring them once again before the Cross, asking for forgiveness. But Jesus asks, “What sin is that?” because when we repented of it the first time, the record was deleted. The sin data no longer exists, and no app in the world can ever recover the record from the sin archives. It’s gone for good. 

It is a wonderful place to be, to have a “clear conscience”. Jesus said, “So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free” (John 8:36). Paul may have had to face many difficulties – we can read all about them in 2 Corinthians 11 – but he did so with a “clear conscience”. We pilgrims too, can experience a “clear conscience” because we are followers of Christ, blood-bought, and forgiven. Nothing will get in the way of our acceptance into Heaven, and we read the confirmation in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord“. So, if we are feeling a bit wobbly about our faith, we must read over and over again Romans 8, and drum into our very souls. When we feel ostracised and shunned by those around us read Romans 8:31, “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Psalm 118:6, “The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” In the end I would much rather have God’s endorsement than one from people around me. There is an old Gladys Knight song (Midnight Train to Georgia) where the chorus includes the line, “I’d rather live in his world than live without him in mine”. And that is my place today – “I’d rather live in His world than live without Him in mine”. And I’m sure Paul is humming that tune today, because after his Damascus Road conversion, the rest of his life was spent in God’s world. I know that I am now a citizen of Heaven, temporarily assigned to living out my days in the kingdom of the world, and so is each one of us pilgrims, but one day we will all be in God’s world. Forever and ever. Amen?

Dear Father God, we thank You for Your presence in our lives, because without You and Your Kingdom, we would be lost and without hope. Thankfully, because of Jesus, we are assured of a future with You. We worship You today. Amen.


Servants of Christ

Posted on by korgrocker

“So look at Apollos and me as mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God’s mysteries. Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful. As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point.”
1 Corinthians 4:1-3 NLT

Paul continued to write about the role of Apollos and himself in the next chapter. Consider us as managers (other Bible versions use the word “stewards”), he said, “mere servants of Christ”; Paul and Apollos were two men whose role was to teach the people about “God’s mysteries”. Typically for Paul, he was downplaying his role in the eyes of the Corinthian believers, telling them not to put either him or Apollos on a pedestal. They were just ordinary men with the ability of being able to teach and serve the people. Paul went on to explain that he wasn’t concerned with what the Corinthians thought of him, and then he said that he didn’t “even trust [his] own judgment on this point”. 

In the previous chapter, Paul explained the role of himself and Apollos, and by implication any other teacher who came to their church, as being the Lord’s workers. 1 Corinthians 3:5, “After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us“. In 1 Corinthians 2:1-2, Paul made very clear his role in coming to Corinth, “When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the crucified one“. So what was it about the Corinthians that made Paul respond in the way he did? News had obviously got back to him that worldliness had crept into the church there, and the people were in a state of division, spending their time arguing about the merits or otherwise of the men who were serving them from the pulpit. But Paul said quite simply that he and Apollos were just “servants of Christ”.

So what makes a person a “servant of Christ”? Of course, Jesus was the ultimate example. He said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). This was a message that Jesus laid down for His disciples, and we read in the previous chapter, “He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else”” (Mark 9:35). Paul wrote in Philippians 2:5-7, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness”. And as we read all about Jesus’s ministry years, we see the God-man going about Palestine serving all who came to Him. For example, look at Matthew 15:29, “Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them“. No mention by Jesus about taking a lunch break or clocking off at 5pm. He was there for the people, serving the “great crowds”. Jesus also said, “However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them” (John 6:37). That’s servanthood.

In his role as a “mere servant of Christ”, Paul also said he was a manager or steward of the work entrusted to him. A steward is a servant who manages his master’s property, and stewards must be found to be faithful people of high integrity, working with excellence and honesty. But all this applies to us pilgrims as well. We are not only “servants of Christ” but we are also stewards, entrusted with sharing the wonderful truth of the Message of the Cross, the Gospel. But we mustn’t forget that we take the attitude of servanthood into the workplace, as Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:7-8, “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free”. That can be a hard one, particularly if we are stuck in a boring and unfulfilling job.

Servanthood is at the very heart of our faith. Before we look to our own needs, we look to the needs of others. We put aside what we are doing, no matter how inconvenient it is, to meet someone else’s needs, serving them with love, kindness and compassion. And we look to Jesus as our Saviour and example. He said, “ … “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40). God first and everyone else second, with an emphasis that we treat and serve them as we would like others to treat and serve us. Who is our neighbour? Well, that’s for another day.

Heavenly Father, we worship You with grateful hearts, grateful for all You have done for us. Please help us as we look for opportunities to serve others, day by day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

We Have Everything

Posted on by korgrocker

“Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.” And again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise; he knows they are worthless.” So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you— whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”
1 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭18‬-‭23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Paul wraps up this chapter in 1 Corinthians with a resume of the problem of factionalism and disunity in the Corinthian church. Earlier in this chapter, he put his finger on an issue that can still affect people today. We read from verse 4, “When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world?” And Paul was right, because human beings have a tendency to follow and promote church leaders using criteria that are based on human wisdom rather than what God sees. Paul connected true wisdom with this issue, even introducing a clear distinction between worldly wisdom, which would be based on a person’s human qualities, and God’s wisdom, which sees right into a person’s heart. It was this latter wisdom that mattered, and Paul told the Corinthians that although this might look foolish to unbelievers, it was “truly wise” to Him. 

Even today, the same problem can be found in our churches. For example, I know of a church that can guarantee a good attendance when a certain leader is speaking, but when another is preaching, there is a marked reduction in numbers. And yet, it might be the person who is not so popular who God wants to deliver His message. The worldly view is that the not-so-popular preacher isn’t worth listening to, and to attend church that day is considered foolishness. But we know that God’s Kingdom is very different. Paul quoted two Scriptures about the worldly wise people, the first from Job 5:13a, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness”, and the second from Psalm 94:11, “The Lord knows people’s thoughts; he knows they are worthless!”. An unbeliever cannot discern spiritual truths, and as they try and get their minds around God’s thoughts, they eventually give up and deem it foolishness. A true believer will discern spiritual truth and follow it, running the risk of being called a fool in the process. Was Paul labouring his point? I think he might have had to, as he addressed the Corinthian problem with gentleness and truth.

Paul continued by saying, “Everything belongs to you …”. That needs a bit of thought to unpack, because from a worldly perspective, we know that it can’t be true. But if we look at it with our spiritual eyes, a new understanding will emerge. If we think about it for a moment, the Corinthians had access to three very able teachers – Paul, Apollos and Cephas (Peter). Why not be blessed by all three and not just by the one they preferred? Come to that, what or whom else did the Corinthians have access to? They obviously had the Hebrew Scriptures and Paul’s letter. And there were probably other resources available, though all with the caveat that spiritual discernment was required to separate the good from the bad, separating truth from error. Only three preachers were mentioned, but there may have been others. Paul finally winds up the chapter with “everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God”. Jesus was the ultimate resource, and Paul told his readers that it is to Him that they should ultimately look, because God made Him totally available to them. 

Today, the same thoughts apply to modern believers. There are far more resources available to Christians today, and the “everything belongs to you” is overwhelming in its potential. For a start, we have the canon of Scripture, the Bible as we know it, and then it comes in many different translations. I have some books, and as I look in my bookcase, I see books by authors such as Gordon Pettie, David Pawson, Max Lucado, Selwyn Hughes and many others. I find more on my Kindle reading device. We have on our electronic devices apps that contain not just the Bibles but also commentaries and other helps. We can explore videos on Social Media and video platforms such as YouTube. Television has the Christian channels available to us as well. And then there is the internet and all the resources contained there. A new resource has emerged in recent years, under the heading of Artificial Intelligence and with an app such as “ChatGPT”, I can type in a question such as “Who is God?” and receive a detailed essay of all the world’s religions. I can type in “What is the Bible?”, and an overview quickly appears on my screen. All these resources are available to us pilgrims, but with all this easily accessible knowledge, we need a matching quantity of wisdom, because otherwise we will quickly be diverted into error or drawn up a blind alley, into irrelevance.

I’m writing this on a Sunday morning, and soon I’ll be heading for church. The preacher will have been in God’s presence, finding out what God wants to say to the people gathered in the pews. And with a (hopefully) open heart, I will listen and hear what God has for me, with food for my soul. I’ll spend time in worship with the congregation and chat with the believers there, eventually leaving enriched spiritually by the experience. But on the other days of the week, my resource will be the Bible. Although I will dip into books by Godly men and women, I will always use the Bible as the final arbiter of God’s truth. Paul wrote to Timothy these words, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). 

And so we pilgrims look beyond the modern equivalents of Apollos, Paul and Peter. We instead look to the reality that we “belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God”. Through all the “noise” we find by living on 21st Century Planet Earth, with all the information such as the world news and issues and the worries and anxieties of living, we look for a haven of peace, not as the monks and nuns of old in their cloisters and closets, but in the presence of Jesus, the ultimate Source of all we need that matters.

Dear Lord Jesus. Only You have the words of eternal life, and in the end, that is all that matters. As we go about our daily lives, please always be there for us in times of chaos, providing peace for our souls. We remember that in the middle of a storm on the Sea of Galilee, You were resting asleep. That is the peace we desire, and know that it is a peace that only You can provide. In Your precious name. Amen. 

The Temple of God (2)

Posted on by korgrocker

“Don’t you realise that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 NLT

Paul said some other things about the “temple of God”. He wrote that “anyone who destroys this temple” would themselves be destroyed, and that “God’s temple” is holy. Just to recap, the temple Paul was referring to was the Corinthian church, and it was made up of the Spirit-filled believers there. It was not a physical “temple” made with stone, bricks, and mortar, but the people who met together as believers in Jesus.

It is an interesting coincidence that the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed just a few years after this letter from Paul was written. Was that because the traditional, Law-bound Jewish leaders had tried to eliminate those who believed in Jesus, those men and women who believed that he was the Saviour of the world? We remember how a man called Saul burst onto the pages in our Bibles with a reference to him holding the coats of those men stoning Stephen, the first Christian martyr. And then we read just over the page in Acts 9:1-2, “Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains“. But Paul’s pogrom was short-lived, because we know what happened to him on the Damascus Road. Perhaps what happened to the Temple in Jerusalem stands as a stark warning to those people today who would desire to destroy God’s people. 

In the UK, we have the Humanists who promote a society based on rational thinking and one without God. It is an obvious tactic of the devil because humanists do everything expected of Christians, but have created a clone that has shifted worship away from God to themselves. Are they, with their evangelistic zeal, trying to destroy the “temple of God”? As an aside, in my case, it backfired because I used to work with a member of the British Humanist Association who was always teasing me about my lack of any sort of belief. I was sitting on the fence when it came to any faith at all, but it was his vision of a self-based humanistic religion that so horrified me that it led to my becoming a Christian (with help from others at that time, of course). My work colleague was not happy when I attributed my faith in God to his humanistic efforts to convert me. Here in the UK, there is no overt persecution of the Christians who make up the “temple of God”, but the signs are ominous, with levels of persecution starting to increase through legislation and societal attitudes. Our schools here are promoting ideologies that are against God’s order and commands. And then we have the nations in other parts of the world that have made a belief in Christ a capital offence. Places such as Afghanistan and North Korea. These regimes will not last for long because God has promised to destroy those who destroy His temple. There are also Islamic militant groups that persecute and murder Christians when they find them. God’s people are under threat in many places in this world.

Paul’s final reference to the “temple of God” in this section was about holiness. This is a reminder that the people of God, through their repentance of sin and acceptance of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, are declared righteous and can come into God’s presence as His children. Peter wrote, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). We are a special people, shown God’s favour, and able to live in the light of His presence, as the Holy Spirit lives and works within each one of us. Paul reminded the Corinthians that because of their identity as God’s holy temple, they had responsibilities to live a life worthy of that identity. He was gently saying, no more factionalism, no more jealousy and quarrelling, no more living as worldly people do, with their sinful natures to the fore. 

We pilgrims are a 21st-century manifestation of the “temple of God”. We may meet in different places, in different denominations, with different skin colours and languages, but we all have one thing in common, and that is that we are God’s children, fellow believers in Jesus, who died for our sins. We are people born again in the spirit, and because of that, we are obliged to function as God’s holy people, with Paul’s warnings and instructions ever in our minds. Peter wrote, “As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4-5). Priests? An image of a man or woman decked out in strange clothes and wearing a funny hat comes to mind, but that is not what Peter, or Paul, was referring to. We are all part of God’s Kingdom and have a responsibility to offer sacrifices to God, just as the Levitical priests offered up animal sacrifices so many years before. But our offerings are spiritual and holy, and fitting for the One who died for our sins. “God’s temple is holy”, wrote Paul, and that is what we aspire to. After all that Jesus has done for us, what else can we be? Peter wrote, “So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:14-16). That doesn’t mean walking around with our hands clasped in an attitude of prayer, a halo delicately poised just above our heads. Being holy has the meaning of being set apart. So we don’t behave in an unGodly way. We avoid places and practices that are, or could be, sinful and likely to draw us back into the worldly society around us. We live differently, we think differently, always remembering that in Christ we are holy, totally and completely. We have a new identity as God’s children. We are now citizens of God’s Heavenly Kingdom, assigned for a time to Planet Earth to bring God’s Message of the Cross, the Gospel, the Good News about Jesus, to the people around us, all the time praying that we will not be drawn back into the ways of the world. We have help of course, and the Holy Spirit living within us will lead us into all truth.

Dear Heavenly Father. We understand that we are set apart from the world around us, but we also understand that we have to live in it for Your works of service. Please help us get the balance right so that we never let You down. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Temple of God (1)

Posted on by korgrocker

“Don’t you realise that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 NLT

In these two verses in 1 Corinthians, Paul describes a “temple” that consists of all the people in the Corinthian church and he used an analogy of a physical building to describe a spiritual equivalent Already Paul has described the believers in Corinth as a field and building (1 Corinthians 3:9, “For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building”) and now he is telling them that they are God’s temple, all corporate analogies for an ideal Christian church. Such a body of believers started with the “seed” of the Gospel, was then built up by the “washing of the word”, and was now functioning as a Holy-Spirit-indwelling group capable of doing much for God. Or they should have been. We know that the Corinthian church started life in the home of Titius Justus, a Gentile believer who lived next to the synagogue in Corinth (Acts 18), and the believers there then probably met in different home groups as the church grew in numbers. We remember the origins of the early church in Jerusalem from Acts 2:42, 46, “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. …  They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity”.  So probably the Corinthian believers did the same, hiring a hall when needed, much as new churches and fellowships do today. But Paul wasn’t bothered by buildings and was only concerned with the “building” that mattered – a group of Spirit-filled believers in whom the Holy Spirit could thrive.

Further on in his first Corinthian letter, Paul reminded the believers there that their bodies individually were “temples of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19), but we’ll get to that later. In the meantime, Paul could see the potential of the Holy Spirit working through a group of Spirit-filled believers in what could be achieved for God. But Paul mildly rebuked the believers in Corinth because he had a concern. What was this? Well, first of all, there was sin present. He wrote, “for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?” (1 Corinthians 3:3). One place the Holy Spirit cannot live is in an atmosphere of sin, and worldly people will not experience the indwelling of God’s Spirit. Another problem with these nascent believers was a lack of harmony between them. 1 Corinthians 1:10, “I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose”. A lack of unity caused by factionalism will severely limit or even destroy the Holy Spirit’s power.

But Paul was on their case and knew what was holding them back. Of course, we believers today, pilgrims heading for glory, will never behave in such ways, but are our churches and fellowships filled with the power of the Holy Spirit with signs and miracles commonplace? In Acts 4, we read about a prayer meeting so powerful that the building shook. The prayer ended, “Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus” (Acts 4:30). The next verse then described what followed. “After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness”. Where is this power in our churches today? When was the last time we had a prayer meeting so powerful that the building shook? But we can’t look around at the other believers who worship with us. We have to look at ourselves and our desires for our group of believers. As an aside, we note that it wasn’t just a few believers who turned up for the prayer meeting; it was all the believers. Built together, we make up a corporate setting for the Holy Spirit to move, and if He doesn’t, what are we doing, or not doing, that is stopping him? 

The gift of the Holy Spirit was present in the Corinthian church regardless of their problems. We read in 1 Corinthians 1:7, “Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Where did these gifts originate? With God Himself, He is not a stingy God who capriciously bestows gifts on a whim. We only have to ask Him for the gifts we need. Jesus said, “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:13). But there is a cost. If we want to be really Spirit-filled people of God, are we prepared for what follows? A power-filled people who attend prayer meetings and expect God to move? Like at the start of the Hebridean revival, where two old ladies, Peggie (who was blind) and Christine Smith, aged 84 and 82, decided to pray. They were greatly burdened because they’d been told no young person attended public worship at their church. They decided to pray twice a week. On Tuesdays and Fridays, they got on their knees at ten in the evening, and remained there until three or four in the morning; two old women in a very humble cottage. And that’s how revival in the Hebrides broke out, leaving a legacy that we can find today, half a century or more later. 

Does the Holy Spirit live within us, pilgrims? I’m sure He does, and He is always able and willing to touch those around us as we preach the Word of God with the same boldness as the Acts 4 Christians. I heard a preacher recently in his evangelist message say that he was a “space invader”. The use of this phrase probably gave away his age, but it is a telling description of someone, full of the Holy Spirit’s power, invading the space of people they meet. People around us are wandering around without hope and full of fear for the future. They need to hear Good News, but who is there to tell them except us? Of course, God could reveal Himself directly to anyone He chooses, but the reality is that He has chosen us pilgrims to do His work for him. So, full of the Holy Spirit’s power, that is what we must do. We may feel totally inadequate for the task, but with the Holy Spirit guiding us into all truth, how can we fail? We may get knockbacks. We may find a lack of fertile ground prepared for the seed we have ready and waiting to plant, but with perseverance, we will succeed because the One who is within us is greater than the one who is in the world.

Dear God. Please lead and guide us to the people You have prepared in advance and who are ready and waiting to hear Your Good News. Please empower us with all the right words to say, and help us speak Your message with boldness, so that the people will know that we have met Jesus. In His precious name. Amen.

Wall of Flames

Posted on by korgrocker

“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.”
1 Corinthians 3:11-15 NLT

Paul wrote that there is a judgment day coming. But the description seemed to indicate that it will be a different occasion from the one in Revelation 20:11-12, “And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books”. The judgment Paul wrote about in 1 Corinthians 3:13 and 1 Corinthians 1:8 seemed to be for believers. Another Scripture to support this can be found in Romans 14:10-12, “So why do you condemn another believer? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For the Scriptures say, “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will declare allegiance to God.’” Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God”. Paul also made reference to this judgment day in his second epistle, 2 Corinthians 5:10 – “For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body”. So the conclusion that the theologians have drawn is quite clear – every person will one day have to stand before God to give an account of their lives. The unbelievers will be called to account in the Great White Throne judgment of Revelation 20, and the believers will be called to give an account of their lives to Christ. In the case of the believers’ judgement, the “builders”, those responsible for teaching and building up the people of God, will experience a judgement more severe than the believers they were teaching – James 3:1, “Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly”. Believers will be called to give an account before Christ, and this is referred to as the “bema” seat judgment, “bema” coming from the Greek version of Romans 14:12.

So what do we pilgrims think of all this? Of course, we will be very relieved that we will not be called to stand before the Great White Throne to explain, as unbelievers will, about why they never believed in Jesus. Much will be said in mitigation, and we can be assured that the judgment and punishment will be fair, but there is only one verdict for those whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life – “guilty”. And the punishment will be severe and eternal. There are only two places where mankind can end up after death, and that is either in Heaven or hell. There is nowhere else. People who have rejected Heaven as their final home will by default have to spend eternity in the other place, along with the devil and his demons. In Philippians 2:9-11, we read that regardless of what they believe in this life, everyone who has ever lived, believer and unbeliever, will have to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ, “Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honour and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father“.

Believers, however, will still be required to give an account of their lives before Christ. What will this look like? First of all, it will not be a place where sin will be discussed, because Jesus came and died for the forgiveness of sins. John 3:16, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life“. About Jesus, John wrote in 1 John 2:2, “He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world”. So all our sins are forgiven, and we will not have to give an account for any of them. What a relief! What a Saviour! All glory to the One who gave Himself for us! The confirming verse comes from the lips of Jesus Himself, “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life” (John 5:24). No condemnation, as it says in Romans 8:1.

In Luke 19, Jesus told a parable about ten servants. They were each given a sum of money and were told to invest it. Other translations refer to “talents”, but either interpretation gives the picture of the King, God Himself, requesting His servants to use wisely the money, the gifts that He has given them. The picture also emerges that although different people had different amounts of gifts, they were nevertheless asked to account for how they used them, and importantly, the King did not ask for unrealistic returns. None of them were held to account for something that they did not have. But here’s the thing. The servant who had a gift, one talent, never used it, and suffered the consequences of having what he was given taken away from him. Note as well that the servants who did well with their gifts were given rewards. And that is the purpose of the believers’ judgment. It’s all about Jesus giving out rewards for faithful works of service. And will we hear Him say, “Well done …”? I hope so.

Near the end of his life, Paul wrote to Timothy and included the words, “And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing” (1 Timothy 4:8). One day, faithful servants of Jesus will be given a crown. There’s another crown in James 1:12, “God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him“. And I’m sure there will be more, each one appropriate to the believer standing before Him and in accordance with what they have done for Jesus in this life here on earth.

Back in 1 Corinthians 3, we see a picture of those teachers (this might include us pilgrims, of course) being held to account for the quality of their teaching. Was it of poor quality, and unable to survive proper examination, the result being that it would disappear in fire? Or was it of a top-quality Gold standard, worthy of a reward from Jesus? Only time will tell, but in the meantime, we do our best for Jesus, not slacking from the works of service He has requested us to do. 

Dear Heavenly Father. We are so grateful for Jesus. Because of our faith in His atoning sacrifice, we are assured a future in Your presence. And it was all part of Your plan for our salvation. What can we do, other than bow before You in the deepest worship? Thank You. Amen.

Jesus Christ the Foundation (2)

Posted on by korgrocker

“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.”
1 Corinthians 3:11-15 NLT

Paul wasn’t a builder by profession, although his job as a tent maker was close. In his life, he had probably seen buildings erected, and he knew the importance of foundations that would stand the test of time. And he also knew that, then, as now, society had a building industry that sometimes used cheaper and inferior materials, cutting corners and generating more profit for the builders. In the analogy that Paul was using, he was the one who laid the foundations for the Corinthian church. He came to Corinth in about 51AD and started to tell the Jews there about Jesus when he attended their synagogue. “Each Sabbath found Paul at the synagogue, trying to convince the Jews and Greeks alike” (Acts 18:4). But in the end, he gave up because of their hard hearts and left to start the church in a home next door to the synagogue. “Then he left and went to the home of Titius Justus, a Gentile who worshiped God and lived next door to the synagogue” (Acts 18:7). It was here that Paul laid the foundation for the Corinthian church, “So Paul stayed there for the next year and a half, teaching the word of God” (Acts 18:11). What did he teach? 1 Corinthians 2:2, “For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified“. This is important in terms of foundation laying, because building on anything other than “Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified” would have been like building on the sand we considered yesterday in the parable of the wise and foolish builders. 

But over the years, there have been many churches, fellowships, groups, sects, and ideologies that all claim to have been founded on Jesus, but many have introduced a subtle change or interpretation that ignores the central facets of the Foundation and have built on something else. It started in the early church days with, for example, movements like Gnosticism. This centred on the idea of gnosis, or secret knowledge, that could liberate individuals from the material world and connect them with a higher spiritual realm. Key to Gnostic thought was the belief that the material world was inherently flawed or evil, created by a lesser deity, while a higher, transcendent God existed beyond it. This movement clashed with Jewish and Christian believers, who considered it for what it was – heresy. Then we have Marcionism, which believed that the God of the Old Testament was different from the God of the New Testament, and its followers rejected the Old Testament. And then we have the Montanists, which was a movement emphasising prophecy and the direct experience of the Holy Spirit, believing their revelations superseded existing Christian teachings. Many others flourished in those early days, and they all were marked out by their false foundations. 

In modern days, some sects that call themselves Christian have attracted followings and have established their own denominations and churches. For example, we have the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who believe that Jesus was not God, and the Mormons, who claim to be Christian but aren’t. Both of these have one thing in common, in that they claimed to have divine knowledge imparted to them by their own founders.  And there are other sects that have emerged over the years. Such groups and sects have confused and misguided people into believing something untrue. 

In yesterday’s blog, we considered Jesus, the only true Foundation. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). A bold and unequivocal statement that has been the true foundation of the Christian church ever since, and is something central to our faith. After Paul had established the Corinthian church, other men of God built up the believers there, men such as Apollos. What building materials did they use – “gold, silver, jewels?” or  “wood, hay, or straw”? The precious metals and gems were an analogy of the truth about Jesus and what He taught. In those days, there was no availability of the New Testament as we know it today, so the quality building materials used would have been through Godly men and women who knew the Truth. Paul gave a clue as to how when he wrote, “And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:4). The quality builders like Paul and Apollos had one thing in common, and that was the revelation of Jesus through the Holy Spirit within them. We know this from John 16:13, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future“. Truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Truth in building the foundations and truth in building the Church. 

What would the “wood, hay or straw” have been? Teaching that distorts the message of Christ or waters down the truth. Such a definition fits very well with the JW and Mormon sects we have with us today. As another example, I was once in a church that decided to preach a series of sermons based on a popular Christian book. I can’t remember which one, but the issue for me was that the preachers were being a bit lazy in taking ready-made sermon material from a book rather than seeking the Holy Spirit for “gold, silver and jewels” to include in their messages. Another danger is with AI-based applications, such as using ChatGPT, which will provide a sermon outline very easily and plausibly. Did I use this when writing this blog or any other? No, I prefer to set down thoughts inspired by the Holy Spirit and God’s Word, the Bible. But back to our Corinthian builders. Did they end up building wood, hay or straw in the lives of their audience? As a warning, Paul went on to write what will happen on Judgement Day. On this terrible day, fire will destroy what is of no value, but more on this tomorrow.

In the meantime, are we pilgrims in a place where we are being built up by the washing of the Word? Ephesians 5:25-27, “For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault“. We need to be in a place where we can read, believe and apply God’s Word in our lives. Through personal study of the Bible and through listening attentively to the preaching of a Godly “builder” from the pulpit. There is no other way to be built up in our faith. We are built on the foundation of Jesus Christ, and our lives since have been built by following His truth, and none other.

Dear Lord Jesus, only You have the truth that leads to eternal life. Only You are the One who is the correct foundation for Your brothers and sisters in the faith. And we pray for our leaders, that You will lead and guide them in Your ways and in Your truth. In Your precious name. Amen.

Jesus Christ the Foundation (1)

Posted on by korgrocker

“For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building. Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.”
1 Corinthians 3:9-11 NLT

I watched a man recently digging a series of trenches that were to become the foundation of his new house. He had a mini digger which removed all the otherwise hard and back-breaking shovel work, but it still took him quite a while to penetrate the heavy West-Fife clay and prepare the ground. The following week, a ready-mixed concrete lorry delivered what was to become the foundations to his new dwelling. A process that was labour-intensive, ultimately unseen, but necessary. But houses built nearby in the Victorian era had no such care taken with their foundations, because there was a practice of building directly onto the ground without any consideration of the effects of the load of the house above. And in another place near where I live, several houses started to sink because an unknown mine shaft was directly below them. Sometimes, even adequate foundations can be insufficient.

Paul wrote that the Corinthians were “God’s building”, and Paul laid their foundation, “like an expert builder”, and he went on to say that “now others are building on it”. He used an analogy which aptly connected with the process of growing a new Christian because the foundation on which he built was Jesus Christ Himself. There is no better start to a believer’s life than a sound doctrinal and Biblical foundation. But sadly, some have been converted by a “Gospel” that lacks the proper credentials and content, and results in disappointment and dismay. Jesus taught about foundations in a parable that we find in Matthew 7. He started with this verse, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock”. That’s a good place to pause because there was nothing easy about Jesus’ teaching. For example, here are a couple of verses from a previous chapter that are especially hard for men to follow, “You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28). And here’s another one further down in the same chapter, “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbour’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” (Matthew 5:43-44). But Jesus was clear that unless a new believer could follow and apply such teaching, his or her foundation would otherwise be somewhat fragile and would lead to the result the other builder in Jesus’ parable experienced. Matthew 7:26, “But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand”. In both cases, the storms of life would buffet and bluster against the “buildings” built by the good and not-so-good builders, with one house standing strong and the other collapsing into a pile of bricks. The Corinthian Christians who were in Paul’s mind were very blessed because he laid a proper foundation of Scripture and the teaching of Jesus as revealed to him, with his messages supported and endorsed by the Holy Spirit working through miracles and signs. A solid foundation for sure, and one that became his legacy with the writings and teachings contained in his epistles. Paul knew that a new believer with a proper foundation was always going to be resilient and resistant to the attacks that were to come in his or her life. The one that had perhaps been converted with a Gospel based purely on the single thought that God loves them, was always going to be vulnerable to the devil’s attacks. The devil destroyed Eve with his question, “Did God really say …” (Genesis 3:1), and he will do the same with them, introducing doubts into their minds about God’s love when a problem or challenge emerges. At such a time, the devil’s question will be “Does God really love you …” or “surely a loving God wouldn’t have allowed that to happen to you”? The foundation that Jesus taught about started with John 3:16, ” … whosoever believes in Him …”, and that was the basis of Paul’s foundation, the foundation that was Jesus Christ Himself.

In Ephesians 2:20, Paul succinctly referred once again to believers being a building, “Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself“. A drone view of a housing estate will portray many little boxes all isolated from each other, separate buildings where the occupants need to have no contact with other residents. But not so in the Christian life. We are all being built into a single building, God’s house, with everything being built on Christ, the Cornerstone, the only Foundation required. John 14:1-2 records the words of Jesus about the life to come, a “house” that He is preparing for us. He said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” There has been much conjecture and even a few jokes about this place, a “building” of which we have no idea. But the picture emerges that what Jesus is building for us is going to be wonderfully amazing, because it will be God’s house. We pilgrims, however, have to be founded and built here on this earth in a way that will fit into God’s house. The wrong foundation on earth will produce a lop-sided structure that might not fit very well, if at all, when we come to knock on the door with the address 1 Heaven, expecting to be shown our room. 

Are we pilgrims sure of our foundation? If we have any doubts then we must ask the Holy Spirit for guidance and He will lead us into all truth (John 15:26). It is amazing how His gentle whispers and nudges will steer us back onto the right path, and He will fill the gaps and blemishes in our foundation, allowing the building of our lives to continue.

O Lord. We love You and worship You today. You are the foundation on which we build our lives, and we ask for guidance to lead us in the right way. We know that You will never disappoint us, and we thank You that You bless us with Your presence day by day. Amen.  

God’s Workers

Posted on by korgrocker

“I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.”
1 Corinthians 3:6-9 NLT

There is a tendency amongst Christians to believe that to do God’s work, you have to go to a mission field in deepest darkest Africa, or become a minister of religion. Add to these expectations those who work for a Christian charity, or those who are youth pastors or evangelists, and the picture emerges of a “them and us” culture, separating those who “work” for God and those who don’t. This point of view is bolstered a little by Paul writing about himself and Apollos being “God’s workers” and the ordinary people being “God’s field” and “God’s building”. Is this an accurate distinction or is Paul still thinking of an earlier verse which reads, “Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:1). What was the problem with these Corinthians? Paul had no doubt that they were saved, as we read in chapter 1, but they seemed to be in a passive “feed me” state, unwilling to move on and become workers themselves.

God wants all believers to be “workers”, as we read from Ephesians 2:10. “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago“. This verse, and others, imply that God has a job for each one of us. We get the same picture, but from a different perspective, from Colossians 3:23-24, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ“. In Philippians 2:12b-13 we read, “ … Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him”. And of course we remember two other verses in Ephesians 2, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast“.

There is a whole range of opinions about “doing God’s work” across the denominations. Some Christians believe that they will indeed ensure their salvation by “good works”, so they devote some of their spare time to charity work, such as one person I know who works for a food bank. I have met some people who are not even believers in an overt sense, but who believe that God, if such a Being exists, will be kind to them when they die because they are “good” people. Other Christians at the other end of the spectrum don’t believe they should do anything for God at all, instead believing that God’s grace is sufficient. Some people who have retired from their secular jobs and who are now “senior citizens” believe that their final years are free from any sort of “work”, whether it is for God or anyone else. But the reality is that we are all “God’s workers” even if we do not have a “religious” job. No matter what age we are, from the youngest to the oldest, there is still “work” to do. Was it Billy Graham’s wife who had a sign above the kitchen sink, “God is worshipped here three times a day”?

So what “work” must we pilgrims do in our everyday Christian lives? The opportunities are wide and far-reaching, but we must start with ourselves. We cannot just “rest on our laurels” waiting for that day when we are translated into Heaven. I don’t know about you, dear readers, but I want to hear Jesus say to me “well done …”. Will that happen if I fail to do “do the good things he planned for [me] long ago”(Ephesians 2:10)? So here are a few ideas:

  • Study and follow the teachings of the Bible, striving to live according to its principles. When was the last time any of us picked up a copy of the Bible and started to read it, perhaps following a reading or study plan? And if we did, how did we apply what we learnt?
  • Worship God, both privately and in the presence of other Christians. I’m writing this today on a Monday morning. Did I go to church yesterday? I know it is not always possible, but was yesterday a day when we turned over in bed and had just a few more hours? The devil doesn’t want us to go to church because he knows we might be strengthened spiritually by the experience, confounding his desires and causing him hassles.
  • What do I do for my neighbour? Jesus said, ” … ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39). So if we’re able, perhaps we can find things we can do for a person living close by, who perhaps can’t do things for themselves. Like organising some shopping, or putting out their garbage bin. Or even just devoting some time to be with a lonely person, desperate for human company. In my regular prayer walks I meet some miserable people desperate for a kind and cheery word. To speak with them is doing “God’s work”. And just in case, I carry a couple of tracts in my pocket that might provide hope for the hopeless and lost.
  • In the same way, Christians are called to serve others, demonstrating love through practical actions, including helping those in need. This is a follow-up on the previous point, and some pilgrims will have the opportunity to devote more time and energy to a wider part of society.
  • How about sharing the Gospel? That is mostly what Paul did on his missionary journeys. There is nothing difficult about sharing our faith, and we must all be ready to do so. 1 Peter 3:15, “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it“. Jesus Himself gave a command to all of His disciples, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). This command from our Lord is not just for the missionaries and ministers in our churches. All believers are included. But note that last few words from Jesus,  “I am with you always, even to the end of the age”. He won’t abandon us when we do His work.
  • Whatever we do for a living, do it to the Lord. That’s a hard one, I know, with some jobs and the bosses that go with them leaving a lot to be desired.

These are a few thoughts about being “God’s workers”. Not conclusive, I know, but we pray for God’s guidance through His Spirit in our daily lives. And we remember what Jeremiah wrote, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). Whatever God has for us, we can be assured that it is tailor-made just for us, a bespoke plan of service fully in line with our own particular character, personality and gifting. And in that security, we can relax. We don’t have to strive and fret about what we should be doing. We don’t need to look at other people and wish that we had their gifts. God knows all about us, and His loving, gentle request is just waiting for us to respond with, “Yes, Lord”. That’s all He asks.

Dear Lord Jesus. We know that You are the ultimate “boss”, always ready to encourage and bless us. As we go about our daily business, we know that You are there with us, guiding us in Your ways. Amen.

Planting and Watering

Posted on by korgrocker

“For when one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not mere human beings? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.”
1 Corinthians 3:4-6 NIVUK

Paul planted the seed of the Gospel, the Message about Christ, in the hearts of the Corinthians believers. But not just in Corinth. Paul journeyed around the Middle East planting seeds in places like Ephesus, Galatia, Malta, Pamphylia, Antioch, and others, and in the process, Christianity spread eventually around the whole world, propagated by missionaries and ordinary people telling others about Jesus, many sent out by churches established by Paul. The heart of the Gospel is in the first two letters – “Go” – just as Jesus commanded in His last words on this earth in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”. We pilgrims, too, tell people about Jesus, people in our generation who are heading for a lost eternity. The Gospel is unstoppable, just as God’s love and grace are unstoppable. And of course, we remember that although the “seed” that we plant in people’s hearts is precious, it is not in short supply. The Gospel will never be rationed, but one day it will produce its final harvest when Jesus returns.

Jesus told a well-known parable about seed, and Bible translators call it the Parable of the Sower, but perhaps it should really be called the Parable of the Soils. This was a parable where Jesus helpfully explained what it meant to His disciples. The gist of the story is that the Farmer broadcast his seeds at random, leading to different results according to the ground where the seeds fell. The seed fell on the footpath, rocky soil, amongst weeds, and finally good soil. The seed that fell on the footpath failed to germinate, indicating that those who heard the message failed to understand what it meant, and the seed soon disappeared, snatched away by the devil. The seed that found itself amongst poor quality soil soon sprang up, but the soil was unable to sustain it because the roots could not grow. The problems of being a believer soon ensured that no fruit resulted because, although the person accepted and even believed the Message, their roots in the faith were insufficient to see them through. They started the journey on the narrow way, but soon decided that this wasn’t for them. The seed that found itself amongst the weeds and thorns found that although they were growing roots, the worldliness around them became a greater lure, and they too abandoned the narrow way that leads to Glory, and instead returned to their old ways. The Covid lockdown exposed many believers who found other things to do on a Sunday, and they ended up abandoning their faith, the golf course proving to be a better lure for a Sunday than a pew in their local church. The final type of soil was called good soil, and Jesus said, “The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” (Matthew 19:23).  

So Paul planted the seed of the Gospel in the hearts of the Corinthian believers, but before it could produce any fruit, it had to grow. How does that happen? In a natural environment, a seed grows using nutrients coming from the soil and the environment around it, always assisted by water, and it grows to produce fruit, such as wheat or barley. The analogy continues into the spiritual world, because the seed must grow to produce fruit in the lives of believers. Although it is possible for a believer to find their own source of sustenance, reading the Word and praying, it is always helpful to receive the nutrition of the preaching of the Word and the fellowship with other Christians. And that is what Apollos did. We know that he was an eloquent preacher from Acts 18:24-25a, “Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the Scriptures well, had arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt. He had been taught the way of the Lord, and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. … “. In other words, Apollos was good at spiritual husbandry, and “watered” the church in Corinth with his preaching of the Word “to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word”, (Ephesians 5:26). 

But we note that neither Paul nor Apollos were able to produce growth in the Corinthian Christians. Only God could do that. Galatians 5:22-23, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”. Of course, if the seed remained a seed, then there would be no fruit. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives” ( John 12:24). I once knew a man who accepted the Gospel and prayed the sinner’s prayer. But he thought that now he was a Christian, he needed to do no more, and he continued his life as it always had been. That is not God’s way, because He wants us to become more like Jesus. 

So we pilgrims are like seeds planted in good soil. The growth process may be slow. We may get discouraged and despondent sometimes, because the going can be tough. But nevertheless, we allow the Holy Spirit to grow us, step by step. We remember what Jesus said, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). James wrote, “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (James 1:2-4). And like Paul, each of us says, “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us”  (Philippians 3:12-14). Three Scriptures that remind us that life for a believer will be hard sometimes, but we look ahead, allowing God to “water” us day by day, with deep thanks that we were a “seed” once but now growing up and producing the fruit of our salvation.

Dear Father God. You and You alone are the One we worship, and we thank You for caring so much about us as we walk on towards the goal of receiving the Heavenly prize to which we have been called. Amen.