Bible Verse of the Day Wednesday August 30st, 2023

1 Corinthians 1:12 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

The Christian Church is supposed to be one Body of believers united under One Head, Christ Jesus, our Lord, and Savior. He is our Apostle, the High Priest of our profession, and the foremost shepherd of our flock. Jesus is the unique leader of the church and commander of our salvation, who was perfect through His sufferings on our account. Regrettably, however, there are humans, entire ministries, and even complete denominations that allow a division to enter their church and seek to build up their following of gratifying believers to dominate their thinking with customs, rituals, restrictions, rules, and regulations.

Too often, this type of leader begins to read into God’s Word what they want it to say so that they can yoke their dedicated and faithful followers with legalistic practices for financial gain or to exercise power over their weaker brothers and sisters. This false doctrine ultimately leads to unbiblical cults and religious movements that teach their brand of Christianity. This division should not be, and Paul categorized this emerging attitude in his first letter to the Corinthian Church and strongly criticized their ungodly behavior. The Christians at Corinth were quarreling amongst themselves and demonstrating their disgusting carnality by splitting into independent little splinter groups and boosting support for their favorite teacher, creating a severe division among the congregation!

Paul strongly reproved the Corinthian Christians for these foolish quarrels and disputes, causing grave discord and conflict within the Body of Christ. If Paul had not hastily remedied this attitude, or if any of these church leaders had allowed such foolish hero worship to continue, the church could have fragmented into many different sects.

But how resonant of the days that we live today when Christians are engrossed in some irrelevant and petty arguments that exhibit this fleshly and worldly attitude. Much too often, we bask in the idolization of specific preachers or the development of a greedy, self-seeking attitude in confident leaders of our Church. This form of secular hero worship will open the door for apostate teachers to creep into our churches. This work of Satan too often encourages false teachers to sneak into the Church and begin to spread lies and hypocrisy, triggering many good Christians to slip away from the faith. How sad when this situation is allowed to take root in our churches, and devastating disunity erupts within the Body.

The only way to ensure this does not occur in our specific churches is to keep our focus on Jesus and center our lives, our ministry, and the Body of Christ around His ways and not our weak human desires. May we be attentive to stand firm on the truth of the magnificent gospel of grace for His greater praise.