“I don’t want to hear any of you bragging about yourself or anyone else. Everything is already yours as a gift – Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world, life, death, the present, the future — all of it yours, and you are priviledged to be in union with Christ, who is in union with God.Don’t imagine us leaders to be something we aren’t. We are servants of Christ, not His masters. We are guides into God’s most sublime secrets, not security guards posted to protect them. The requirements for a good guide are reliability and accurate knowledge, It matters very little to me what you think of me, even less where I rank in popular opinion. I don’t even rank myself.” 1 Corinthians 3 & 4 -Message Bible.
What this is all about is Christ!
Who He is and what He did. Leaders and believers alike are to be stewards of that awesome revelation. “Christ in us the hope of glory”.
We should not relegate our relationship to and in this excellent Saviour, to only “our” church, and “our” pator etc.
We testify to Him, we are witnesses to what He is as has done for us. Jesus is the “hero” we want to see lifted up.
Let’s not “worship” the vessel and miss the excellency of the treasure within the vessel. God gave gifts to men for equipping of the saints , not so that we can boast in them and exalt ourselves or others because they have them.
Oh that Christ Jesus may be lifted up. That we may hear the True Shepherds voice.
“All I’m doing right now, friends,is showing how these things pertain to Apollos and me so that you will learn restraint and rush into making judgements without knowing all the facts. It’s important to look at things from God’s point of view. I would rather not see you inflating or deflating reputations based on mere hearsay.”
I always would, as pastor promote ‘our’ church and ‘my’ ministry. Like I was the one with the only good one around. How much I had to repent when I really saw who Christ is. How easily we inflatre and deflate leaders based upon our own opinions, not really knowing what the hidden motives and agendas of the heart are. Best friends have promoted me and defamed me , not knowing what was in my heart.
The HERO the world needs is the Christ.
Let’s promote Him at every opportunity.
Let’s testify to His work and ministry and goodness to our lives.
