1 Corinthians 3 Review: Day 2
Stand firm in the faith- στήκω (stékó) stand fast, stand firm, persevere; πίστις (pistis) faith, belief, trust, confidence; fidelity, faithfulness
Where do you stand? Does your faith rest upon the solid and level ground of God’s Word, and how does your current stance reveal itself in your thoughts, words, and behaviors?
Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14
1 Corinthians 3 serves as a crucial reminder that a genuine profession of faith is not a guarantee of future obedience or adherence to God’s commands. As Jesus said in Luke 9:23, personal discipleship is a lifelong journey of self-denial that must be lived out each day he gives us:
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Paul opens this third chapter by referring, yet again to his readers as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and regrettably stating that he cannot address them as spiritually mature people because of their selfish behavior. (3:1-3)
In essence, their feet had drifted from the firm foundation of their identity in Christ, and instead toward the unstable and pitted terrain of pride and self-righteousness.
Later, in this same letter, Paul offers the Corinthians a solemn warning about the importance of maintaining proper footing as he wrote about the pitfalls of idolatry:
Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
1 Corinthians 10:12
Followers of Jesus have important choices to make in their daily walk with the Savior:
Will we bless or will we curse those God places in our path?
Will we trust the Lord or ourselves?
Will we obey or reject his written commands?
Though a Christian’s path is indeed narrow (Matthew 7:13-14) and we are easily tempted (2 Corinthians 4:8) and prone to wander from it, we have not, by God’s grace, been left alone (Hebrews 13:5-6) to our strength and wisdom.
Before his ascension to heaven, Jesus assured his disciples and all who would place their trust in him, that he would soon return after leaving to prepare a place for them. He also promised to send the One who would lead and guide his people as they waited:
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you.
John 14:26
If you are a follower of Jesus, are you standing firm in the faith God gave you, or have you wandered into a wilderness of sin and selfish pride and ambition? Have you drifted away from the simple truth of God’s word into worldly wisdom? Cry out to him in repentance and take hope by allowing the Spirit of the living God to lead you back to the solid ground and safe harbor of his supreme will.
Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.
Hosea 10:12
Perhaps though, you are reading this as one who has never turned from your sinful self-sufficiency and trusted in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. You may have tried to live a good and moral life and have maybe even expressed a certain reverence for God, or even faithfully participated in certain sacraments or religious observances.
As good and noble as your efforts might be, the Bible clearly says that no one is righteous and that all fall short of God’s standard of holiness and perfection. (Psalm 14:3, Romans 3:10, 23) In other words, if you are trusting in your wisdom, works, and religious behavior to save you, you have become one who the late Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer would say has “planted their feet firmly in mid-air”[i].
Nothing apart from faith and trust in Jesus alone for your soul’s salvation will ever place your feet on the solid ground they so desperately seek. If you hear the Holy Spirit’s call, do not ignore it. Today is the day to call upon the Lord for your salvation.
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.
Hebrews 4:7b
For he says,
“In a favorable time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
2 Corinthians 6:2
Questions for Consideration
Read Romans 12:2 and Proverbs 3:5-6. God’s word commands those who love God to shun the pattern of this world which seeks to squeeze us into its mold of pleasing and feeding the desires of the flesh. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds by being conformed to Christ.
What does this have to do with standing firm in the faith? Pray and ask God to reveal those areas of your life where you are leaning on your wisdom and understanding instead of his.
Read James 1:8 and Matthew 6:24. Are you single-minded in your devotion towards God and his kingdom’s priorities, or is your heart divided? How stable is your footing? What do you truly love in your life, and what has become the object of your scorn?