We can become proud of our ministry or spirituality. We point to it as a badge of honour.
Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough?
1 Corinthians 5v6
This church elevated their loving acceptance of someone many thought should be excluded. Paul challenged them. Their unbridled acceptance would corrupt the community.
Those elevating holiness might think the answer would be holiness, others counselling, others discipleship, … but, Paul is criticising the boasting. When we lift up a form of ministry – ‘loving acceptance’ then our focus is on us and our ministry.
Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth.
1 Corinthians 5v7-8
The answer is not to change emphasis, but to focus on Christ, indeed to boast of Christ. We lift up Jesus, the bread of life, we speak his words with sincerity and truth. Only Jesus can lead us into love and holiness.
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Photo by Austin Edwards on Unsplash