I am studying 1 Corinthians 1 for my Sunday messages and it is just kicking my tail!

J.R. Daniel Kirk has been working the text at workingpreacher.org and his thoughts on this passage are helpful to me. Well, helpful in a “tail kicking” kind of way…

The challenge is found in God using the foolish things to confound the wise. Yet, as the church, we often want to get our status raised in our culture so that we can be seen doing their methods better than they do it. For instance, a few weeks ago I read about some business magazine doing a big spread on a megachurch because of their business methods.

But when we, as the church, want to outdo the world in their own methods, there is a also a downside. An article published online discusses church foreclosures. I will not make the claim that every church over-extended itself to build a bigger place. I will guess, however, there are quite a few who got caught up in the push for just MORE… and now they are paying the price.

I know of churches who intentionally build huge buildings that are totally decked out with the mindset that “the world has the best, so why not the church?” It unfortunately led many of them to mortgage to the hilt because that’s exactly how the world was paying for their lavishness as well. If we want the world’s standards, playing the world’s game… we’re going to get burned just like the world. But guess what? Church CEO’s… excuse me… “pastors”… don’t get Wall Street bailouts. No golden government parachutes are coming their way.

The passage goes far beyond that illustration. My own life is riddled with temptation to do what the world is doing. The temptation to be entirely pragmatic in my ministry because that is what other “successful” ministries are doing is HUGE.

What does it come down to for me? My ego.

What’s the bottom line? Who gets the glory. That’s why God uses broken vessels. His power flows and only HE can get the glory. If HIS glory is not exalted, it is truly foolishness.