The Glory Of Man(Of The Flesh) In The Church Of Christ.


 

The Glory Of Man(Of The Flesh) In The Church Of Christ.

The church in Corinth was walking in manifestation of spiritual gifts like gifts of healing, working of miracles, word of wisdom, prophecy, different kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues, etc; It was such that they came short of no spiritual gift as acknowledged by scripture (1st Corinthians 1:4-7).

This is a church we would readily judge today as spiritually sound, mature/grown but scripture goes on to show us that functioning in spiritual gifts is not a mark of spiritual maturity, as the apostle in the 3rd chapter of 1st Corinthians says to this same church that was walking in manifestation of spiritual gifts: "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk according to men?" (1st Corinthians 3:1-3)

They were glorying in men/ministers used of God, walking after men, and that was a mark of carnality. The apostle thus says to them👇🏼

"You are still carnal. For whereas there is among you emulation and strife, are ye not carnal, and walk according to men? For when one says, I am of Paul, and another, I of Apollos, are you not carnal?

Let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's. (1st Corinthians 3:3-4, 21-23).

It was the glory of man/men taking center stage in the church of Christ; the people of God glorying in men/vessels used of God instead of glorying in the Lord. The glory of man is the glory of the flesh.

Much of the glory the present day church wears & basks in, is the glory of the flesh; the glory of material acquisition, possession, attainment in this life; the glory of men, of great personalities, ministries & ministers seen as heads, whose images the people of God are beholding & conforming to.

When the true glory is revealed, the glory of man, of the way of man & of the flesh in the church will be so exposed as wretched & futile in contrast to the true/eternal glory.

In the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3-8, we see that it is when the true glory of Jehovah is revealed that the glory of man & of the flesh is exposed in contrast as wretched & futile 👇🏼

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for our God! Every valley shall be raised up, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken. A voice saith, Cry. And he saith, What shall I cry? --All flesh is grass, and all the comeliness thereof as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, for the breath of Jehovah bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God abideth for ever.

The apostle Peter quoted a portion of this prophetic scripture when he spoke of the glory of the risen and exalted Christ. 👇🏼

"Who by him do believe in God, who has raised him from among the dead and given him glory, that your faith and hope should be in God. All flesh is as grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass. The grass has withered and its flower has fallen; but the word of the Lord abides for eternity. But this is the word which in the gospel is preached to you." 1st Peter 1:21, 24-25.

If the word/gospel being preached to us is not that which exposes the futility of the glory of the flesh, then it's not the true gospel and word of God.

The gospel that projects & promotes the glory of men, of material acquisitions & attainments, is a false gospel espousing the church to a false glory.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

False Assertions About Sin. Part 6.

False Assertions Addressed By John.  (3.) "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."  1 John 1:10. This is the third false assertion about sin, which John the apostle dealt with. I know you must have heard some preachers/christians today teaching that the new creation man does not have a past; that the new creation man is not the man that Christ died for, that the new creation is not the redeemed for he never existed prior to his birth in Christ. I was once in a service in 2001 when a renown preacher/televangelist, in a bid to demonstrate and pass across this teaching, brought out two men, and put one of them infront and said that is the sinner, that is the man that Christ died for, the man that was redeemed; he can sing: 'Amazing grace...that saved a wretch like me'; he can sing the songs of redemption.  He then led the second man out and said that is the new creation man, the man who has no past; that is ...
Read more

Who Is A Man Of God? Part 1.

The Man Of God Or The Man Of Himself.  A very thin line exists between a man of God and a man of himself. Many today are called men of God but they are men of themselves or men of the people. They speak of themselves, represent their own interests and concerns, even in the things of God. It's high time we defined who a man of God is. The general tendency we have is to refer to people as men of God, simply because they carry the bible and preach or because they set up a religious organisation, and have a building where they use a microphone to speak to a congregation. There's also the tendency to think that those called into the word ministry like apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists and pastors, are automatically constituted men of God. The appellation or designation 'man of God' was not carelessly used in scriptures, and should not be carelessly used by any bible believer. Scriptures scarcely referred to men as 'men of God', thus we should be c...
Read more

GREATEST ENCOUNTERS FROM THE PAGES OF THE BIBLE.

GREATEST ENCOUNTERS FROM THE PAGES OF THE BIBLE.  By Dipo Ecclesia When I gave my heart to Jesus as a teenager and later staggered in faith, I became agnostic and showed complete apathy to the things of the spirit and I stopped going to church. I began to doubt everything about  Christianity and the bible and will try hard to argue the bible logically with anybody I see. After some years (Five years precisely), there was this strong and serious desire for me to seek God again (I actually embraced Islam at a point but just didn't practice). The desire to seek God was so strong and compelling that it became a struggle with me and the Lord before I finally yielded and bent to the will of the Lord and was restored. Back then I made up my mind that if there is really a Living God and since I HAVE JUST ONE LIFE, then I want to know Him myself before I die and not just what preachers have being telling me, in fact I asked God to show Himself to me and He did by some enco...
Read more