Slices
Prepare
As you settle, consider what offering of ‘work well done’ you want to be able to present to God.
Bible passage
Paul and the false apostles
11 I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! 2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the snake’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
5 I do not think I am in the least inferior to those ‘super-apostles’. 6 I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. 7 Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. 9 And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. 10 As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. 11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
12 And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
Explore
In working with school students, I sometimes hear stories from frustrated pupils who have had to submit a group‑work assignment they weren’t happy with because other members had cut corners. Like them, Paul is anxious that the work he presents to God – the Corinthian church – isn’t tainted by input from others who say they’re on the same page but whose methods and message belie them. Is there anywhere you see corners being cut that dismay you in the church’s ministry? Paul’s desire to present the Corinthian church to God with pride is what motivates the ‘foolishness’ (v 1) of his own ‘boasting’ (v 10) in how he has worked amongst them.
Crucially, Paul’s work distinguishes him from his opponents and undermines their claims to be on an equal footing with him. Unlike Paul (vs 7–9), they might have conformed to the acceptable norm of itinerant speakers receiving payment, but they didn’t share Paul’s gospel motivation (1 Corinthians 9:3–18). Lifting their impressive, status-seeking mask, Paul exposes these ‘apostles’ as false. In doing so he undercuts their teaching, which had been leading the Corinthians astray and eroding his own work there. His denunciation of them as servants of Satan is a stark and serious challenge to us that our ministry must reflect truly the one it tells of.
Respond
Talk to God about any way in which your service for him feels unimpressive. Ask him to fill that with the integrity of Jesus.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Proverbs 27,28; 1 Thessalonians 5
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray that God will guide and strengthen Director of Mission Resources Mark Griffiths as he speaks with churches, equips Mission Enablers and Faith Guides and leads the team creating resources to help children and young people meet God. Pray that the tools created will be used by the Holy Spirit to open hearts and awaken faith.
Because a strong start begins with smart preparation
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