Feb 8, 2021
Crown Him the Lord of peace,
whose power a scepter sways, From pole to pole, that wars may
cease, and all be prayer and praise…
—Matthew Bridges
Amid a long season of intense social, cultural, and political
division, it isn’t uncommon to hear repeated calls to put
differences aside for the sake of unity. I’ll confess that this
sometimes strikes me as disingenuous. In today’s climate, it often
seems that calls for “unity” or laments over “fractiousness” are
merely weapons deployed to silence one’s opponents—it’s hard to be
united with someone who doesn’t even accept your right to have an
opinion. From a worldly perspective, there’s no basis for it. But
we in the church do have grounds for unity in the death and
resurrection of Christ. He is the “solid rock,” where all other
ground is “sinking sand.” He is the “cornerstone” who binds “all
the church in one.” He is the “church’s one foundation,” and He
builds her up to be His bride and His temple (1 Corinthians 3:16).
Because His blood is “all our hope and peace” we can pray with the
psalmist that “peace within her walls abounds” (Psalm 122:6-7). In
Him, and through the work of the Spirit, we can have “peace and
unity on earth.”
—Henry C. Haffner
Key Words: God, Spiritual, Flesh, Plant, Water,
Building, Foundation, Temple
Keystone Verse: For no one can lay a foundation
other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1
Corinthians 3:11)
1 Corinthians 3:1-23
But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as
people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you
with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even
now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the
flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you
not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?4 For
when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,”
are you not being merely human? 5 What then is Apollos?
What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord
assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God
gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who
waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8
He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his
wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God's fellow
workers. You are God's field, God's building.
10According to the grace of God given to me, like a
skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is
building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.
11For no one can lay a foundation other than that which
is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12Now if anyone builds
on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,
straw— 13 each one's work will become manifest, for the
Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the
fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14
If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he
will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned up,
he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as
through fire. 16Do you not know that you are God's
temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone
destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is
holy, and you are that temple. 18Let no one deceive
himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age,
let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19For the
wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He
catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20 and again,
“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,
22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life
or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23
and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.