How do you view your relationship with Christ? Do you relate yourself to Him as a sinner or as a saint? If you relate to Him as a sinner then you’re unlikely to experience the joy of forgiveness: justification, adoption (into God’s family), and the certainty of eternal life. However, relating to Christ now as a new creation (saint) also does not negate the fact that you’re a sinner. In this passage, we learn what kind of identity we are given in Christ and the implications of that in our daily lives.
In our culture, Christianity is often presented as a religion of supernatural healing (from diseases, chronic illnesses) and miracles (prosperity, prevention of death, dreams and visions, tongues). It is also seen as religion of prophecy about the end times. All of these gifts are seen as the necessary manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. In this passage, we learn how the ministry of the Holy Spirit is not mainly about tongues, prophecy and supernatural healings, but of Spiritual transformation in our lives through the ordinary means which God appointed.
Just as it is necessary for us to exercise regularly to remain fit and healthy, so it is with our spiritual lives. We need to exercise our faith in Christ through many spiritual disciplines that would help us grow from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity. This also means that with spiritual growth comes greater spiritual responsibilities in our lives. In this Passage, Paul teaches us how to cultivate spiritual maturity.
One of the problems in Corinthian church was division, because everybody wanted to follow a public figure in order to enhance their social status and therefore people started boasting about their allegiance to different “celebrities” and causing great disunity in the church. This is when the Apostle Paul puts people in their place by reminding them of how their redemption, sanctification, wisdom and many other spiritual blessings were only found in Christ and that’s because of God’s grace alone. In this sermon, we’re reminded of how to boast (and be humble) only in Christ.
