1 Corinthians 4:6 - Learnin' More

 

Photo Credit:  Judy Deist

 

1 Corinthians 4:6

NKJV

Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other.

 

NLT

Dear brothers and sisters, I have used Apollos and myself to illustrate what I’ve been saying. If you pay attention to what I have quoted from the Scriptures, you won’t be proud of one of your leaders at the expense of another.

 

Paul is telling the Corinthians that they should not put one leader over another, that their focus should be on God and the written Scriptures.  The Corinthians were caught up in the celebrity of their leaders and not what the word of God said.  Aren’t we as people, guilty of that at times?  We judge our pastors on humor, his appearance and how marketable he is (to name a few).  We walk away from sermons and leave churches because we “weren’t getting fed” by that pastor (something I’ve actually said).

 

Sola Scriptura, or Scriptures alone are what we should base our opinions of everything being spoken from the platform.  I wonder how often I have heard something that I disagreed with, from the pulpit, and I never verified its truth in the Scriptures?  I remember listening to a guest pastor once and he said a bunch of stuff that I disagreed with.  There were so many folks that felt the way I did, that what he said was wrong.  So, what did we do?  We complained to our pastor about this guy.  How jacked up is that?!?!

 

If we are waiting to be “fed” by the pastor, then we are going to starve to death!  We have access in multiple forms to God’s Word.  We should spend time in them daily, we need to get beyond milk and start eating meat.  Test what your pastor says by holding it to the light of God’s Word.  Does it stand up?  If it does, then maybe…just maybe, you should encourage your pastor.  If it doesn’t stand up, then maybe a conversation with your pastor for clarification of what he said.  The point here is, don’t just talk the talk.  Study God’s word.  Sola Scriptura.

 

Wouldn’t it be really cool if we all were biblical scholars?

 

Learnin’ more,

cej