In Christianity, for a person to grow in godliness, he doesn’t need an instruction manual. What He needs to do is to behold and embrace Christ’s love for himself daily, and that inevitably starts maturing him. It is to grow in his understanding of God’s love for himself that begins to change the heart and causes him to have basic Christian virtues.
Christians in the Bible and in general have often been convicted of the foolishness and evilness in being quick to practice what is prohibited by God. How can Christians be wise and understanding people? How can they prevent from making the same mistakes again and again? In other words, how can they be obedient to God? Listen to the sermon to find out.
Our culture is obsessed with the concept of productivity and fruitfulness, so much so that we now have apps on our phones to suggest us of what’s best next, and it is most often focused on the use of time that results in monetary benefit or up-skilling ourselves. It is a kind of “precious” commodity that is meant to satisfy us and bring a sense of joy and fulfillment. But the Bible has a very different approach to the use of time, one that produces spiritual growth, maturity, and see the need to ultimately glorify God and find our true joy in Him. In this passage, we learn what it means to live wisely for God during these times, and see what kind of fruitfulness He calls us to live.
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.