Dogs or cats?
That debate may never be settled, but someone observed, “When you feed, shelter, and care for a dog, the dog thinks, ‘Wow, this guy must be a god!’ But when you feed, shelter, and care for a cat, the cat thinks, ‘Wow, I must be a god.’”
Sometimes Christians think like cats. After we experience God’s salvation, see his providence, feel his protection, and bask in his blessings, and we think we deserve it. We lead communities, build portfolios, accumulate knowledge, assist the marginalized, then we think, “God must feel lucky to have us on his side.”
The Trappings of Self-importance
The Corinthian church fell into the trappings of self-importance. They divided the church over miracles, status, power, and even who baptized whom. There were divisions over how the church should deal with sins (1 Cor 5), what meat Christians should eat (1 Cor 8), and if Christians should marry (1 Cor 7).
Prompted by this divisive spirit, Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to unite the church. Addressing their inflated self-worth, Paul wrote, “Consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth” (1 Cor 1:26). It was time for a spiritual reality check.
Consider Your Calling
Often, one’s calling is their duty or vocation. Paul used it in this sense in Ephesians 4:1, saying Christians were called to certain duties of Christian living. However, in 1 Corinthians 1:26, Paul uses the word to mean the circumstance out of which they were called. Who were they before God called them, and who did they become after they answered?
As Paul challenged those in Corinth, he challenges Christians today. Let us consider three things about our calling. First, Paul reminds us we were called out of nothing (1 Cor 1:26). God did not look at someone and say, “She comes from good blood, I think I’ll call her,” or “He has a lot of money and influence, I think I’ll call him.” God does not show respect to a person’s wealth, education, bloodline, or status, but to the heart (Rom 2:11). Most Christians come from poor backgrounds and carry no influence, but God transforms these lowly unnotables into children of the King (Col 1:13).
Second, we are called to glory in God (1 Cor 1:27-29). By calling the despised, God shows his power not ours. God reveals his power in our weakness. When Paul wanted deliverance from his “thorn in the flesh,” God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). God shows his power to the cultural elite by choosing the foolish, weak, lowly, despised, and inconsequential to be saved. Thus, God brought to “nothing things that are”—power, pedigree, wealth, and education—showing they were worthless. Paul counted these same things as loss for Christ (Phil 3:4-8). Since God saves us by his power, we have nothing to glory in except God himself.
Third, we are called to salvation in Christ (1 Cor 1:30-31). Despite our undesirable backstory, God desired us. Paul gives four attributes of Christ. He is our wisdom, the knowledge leading to salvation (Col 2:3; 2 Tim 3:15). He is our righteousness or justification, taking upon him the guilt of our sins (1 Pet 2:24). He is our sanctification, separating us from the world by how we live (2 Cor 6:17). He is our redemption, paying the price for our salvation (1 Cor 6:19-20; Acts 20:28). Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption are spiritual blessings reserved for us in Christ Jesus (Eph 1:3).
The Challenge
Paul concludes with a challenge from Jeremiah 9:23-24, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Cor 1:31). There is nothing in us worth boasting about. Our boasting is despite our past. Our boasting is in God, not us.
When God loves us, feeds us, cares for us, and blesses us, and we ought to think less like the cat and more like the dog, and say, “Wow, He must be God.”
Preaching Minister
