The God-Factor

The God-Factor!

1 Corinthians 3:7 AMP

[7] So neither is the one who plants nor the one who waters anything, but [only] God who causes the growth.

Paul introduced himself to the church in Corinth as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. He was writing jointly with Sosthenes to the church in Corinth, a church described as those sanctified in thd same Christ that he, the writer, had come to know and serve. The church is the body of Christ, and are selected and called as God’s people. It is this special relationship that defines the church and Christ. It has no regard to height, weight, culture, language, or gender; what is important is faith in Christ, and that is what makes me one and the same with someone who does not even look, speak or interact like me. 

This is the church that Christ had come to lay down His life for. At the time He died, none of us alive now were there, so we could not say that He died for only those who looked a certain way. He died at a time when the world did not even recognise or acknowledge Him. His gift paved the way for anyone at all, no matter the weight or depth of sin, to make an approach to the throne of grace, and receive mercy, forgiveness of sin, and full restoration of access to God. The one who has now been forgiven and restored now has a duty to live out the demands of this new faith on a daily basis. There is now new ownership, and the demand on my time and resources have now changed.

Then comes the message in the verse above. If my racial or cultural differences with another person did not matter at the time Jesus died for all of us, why should it become important now when we am saved? If where we are from was not considered at the time Jesus paid the price for us, it means that it is now not important after we have secured the  eternal life that was promised to all who believe. The letter of Paul referred to the church in Corinth as still being worldly, with jealousy, strife and discord among the church. It was a church that was still holding allegiance to the men who preached to them; not to the One who saved them from eternal damnation. 

That is a practice or attitude which needs to be addressed. All men, no matter how smart or influential, are tools in the hands of the Saviour to lead men to the personal knowledge of, and encounter with the Saviour. It is this personal encounter that preaches the loudest message. Men will come and go, and make different impressions upon your life as you grow, but all of them must be treated as vessels in the hand of God to draw the hearts of men to God. Jesus Christ is the most important factor in this discussion: He is the One who is the gift as well as the Redeemer. He saves and preserves; and He can use anyone and anything to achieve His purpose. Am I available? Am I yielded? God's time of favour is here.