김삼의 연구묵상/English Articles

No more boasting about men (TLT Worship Help)

김삼 2008. 4. 27. 21:50


Lord, Father God, the Most High,
All glory is yours.
Not to us, but to your name be the glory.
All honor and praises also belong to you, Father.

Let You alone be true, glorious, holy, righteous, faithful and almighty.
We worship, praise and trust You, Lord.

Christ Jesus, the King and Savior who is righteous,
We look upon You.
Let us glory in You. 
Let us lift your name up, magnifying it: your name that is above every other name.

Holy Spirit, lead us into the truth of Jesus.
Rule over us.
Be the Witness of Him to us and let our spirits speak mysteries to the Father.
Intercede for us in Your holy groaning.

Father God, we ask You to cleanse all our sins of omitting or commiting.
Through the blood of the Lamb let us be holy unto You.
Let us be whole under the cover of the Blood. 

Let us not boast of ourselves.
Let us follow after You, putting on each one's yoke of humbleness and meekness,   
bearing each one's cross.

Help us, lead us, and sustain us, today.
We are nothing out of You.
We can't do anything without You.

Lord Jesus,
You are my glory we boast in You.
You are my Crown!

[My heart gets appealed to this hymn while pondering on the scriptures today.]

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

MESSAGE TODAY

So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future--all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.  (1Cor. 3:21-23 NIV)

While looking back the Church history, I notice the growing tendency of so many so-called Christian "celebrities" being adored and cherished by believers. To name a few, let's say, there was Augustine in ancient time, Thomas Aquinas in the medieval age, Calvin during the Reformation,...but now, there are so many Christian celebrities. Especially in America; they are all over the U.S.
Is it due to the population explosion?      

A celebrity rather fits in this world. Celebrities are fed with all secular provisions like fame, beauty, power, money and sex...all that stuff.  Once Jesus was tempted by and offered from the devil, to be a celebrity and have these all.
Celebrities can't live without that stuff! At least, a celebrity is not celebrity without fame and name. They boast in themselves.
What about their end?

Well, are these Christian thingies? If not, why do they pursue it to be a celebrity in the first place? Why all these fusses? Why this phenemenon?

The scriptures today indicate that Paul, the Apostle, hated this tendency. There were these celebrity-adorers in the ancient Corinthian church, too. They were so puffed of these famous apostles like Paul, Apollos, and Cephas (Peter), even to the extent to have strifes and quarrels among themselves. They thought this was real church: to celebrate the names of the contemporary "celebrities".

But Paul didn't like this idea at all. He clarified that the ministers are nothing but planters and waterers but God is the one who grows. A minister just means a serving person: a slave, servant, or a worker. This term minister is also used for those who have authority in the cabinet of the government. Maybe that's why even the Christian ministers boast of being ministers.

But a minister originally is nothing more than a humble servant! Jesus himself came as a servant to minister to his own people. So why all these Christian celebrities are there? They are deadly wrong in the sense that they are going to loose their faces and fames altogether before the Lord on the last day!

The more you get from this world, the less you get in heaven.

No matter how famous, you, as a Christian, are no more than a servant. You can't be a celebrity in the church. If you are a celebrity in it, then it's not a church. It's a club. But the strange thing is that there are so many celebrities in the church now: so-and-so and so-and-so..., and so on. So many of them!
That's wrong. This tendency is not supposed to be in a true church.

Of course there were these famous leaders even in the early church: the twelve (original apostles), the seven (deacons), and other leaders. But you know what?   
Paul didn't care about it that they were famous. Paul said he had no interest in that they were famous.

"But from those who were of high reputation (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)--well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me." (Galatians 2:6 NASB) 

One thing you should really mind is that if you get all the prizes from this world, you don't get anything in that world. The more you get here, the less you get there.
This is the law of spiritual prize. So be very careful not to get all those prizes in this world.
And don't try to be a celebrity. The reason why so is that all thing are ours. In other words, we all "co-own" everything in the Lord. God is no respecter of persons.   

We can only confess that the Lord do not give glory to us. 

God bless you all.