A lot of Christians have allegiance to their denomination, or parish or worst still their sect or house of gods. What they are doing essentially is following a charismatic leader(s). some of these “Christians” are the ones Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 3 v 2-4 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?
1 Corinthians chapter 3
Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor is the one who waters anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labour. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care.11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”[a]; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”[b] 21 So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours,22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas[c] or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.
Jesus Christ has sent us all out to make disciples of the nations, we all have our ministries, church leaders and congregation. According to Paul in this chapter, “what is Paul, Apollos, Pope, Arch-bishop, Right-reverend, Pastor, Apostle, Superior evangelist or Primate, only servants through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task”. One servant can plant the seed, while another water it, neither of the 2 servants is indispensable or essential, but it is God that makes it grow. Whatever your task, we are all co-workers in God’s service, in the garden or the wilderness or the building of God, God reward each according to their labour. Our workmanship will be tested, the foundation is Jesus Christ, He is the cornerstone, without Him, anything built on anything be it “house of gods, your parish, the latest healer in town, a holy site, an angel, or any other thing than Christ” will collapse, disintegrate and be destroyed, when tested.
Love your enemies, pray for them that hates you. Whenever you or your leaders pray for the destruction of your enemies, while the scriptures tell us that we are the temple of God and that God dwells in us, we are together, God’s temple, not your physical place of worship, and you are praying for the destruction of God’s dwelling, then God will destroy that person.
Psalm 15
Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
Who may live on your holy mountain?
2 The one whose walk is blameless,
who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from their heart;
3 whose tongue utters no slander,
who does no wrong to a neighbour,
and casts no slur on others;
4 who despises a vile person
but honours those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
and does not change their mind;
5 who lends money to the poor without interest;
who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
Whoever does these things
will never be shaken.
Who can live with God and walk with Him, talk with Him, reason with Him, know His mind and understand His heart?
The answer to this near impossible question is in Psalm 15. Blameless, righteous, honest from the heart, not malicious or accusatory, whose actions and motives are not negative to others, and who is not derogatory or condescending towards others.
This person should have nothing to do with those that are despicable, morally bad and wicked, and should regard with great respect those who fear the Lord. This person should be true to their word even when it hurts, that is real integrity. This person should be consistent. This person should lend without interest and should not accept bribe against the innocent. Some of the key qualities of such a person are; Integrity, which is manifested by honesty, and sincerity, followed by Righteousness, meaning living right, being right with God, obeying God, being Holy, which means being separate which is different from being perfect.
1 John 3 v 4-10
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7 Dear children do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
