Leaders Are Servants, Jesus Is Lord

Many Bible-loving Christians don’t know that the chapter and verse divisions we find in virtually all English Bibles were not part of the original documents. People added chapters in the 1300s, verses about 150-200 years later. * In a passage like today’s, it’s often worth remembering that the apostle Paul did not pause after saying “and Christ belongs to God,” get a cup of coffee, and then resume by saying “Chapter 4.” Often, as here, the writer’s thought continues unbroken right through what looks to us like a chapter break. The Corinthians Christians, mostly won to faith through Paul’s preaching, had divided into factions identified by their favorite preacher (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:10-13). In this passage, Paul summed up why that was a mistake. He and other leaders like Apollos or Cephas (better known to us as Peter) served the church members, and all of them together served Christ and God, the church’s true creators and rulers.

• Resurrection invites every member to find one or more ways to serve that fit their strengths and life situation. All of us together, including you, serve a God who calls us to work together to make our world more like God created it to be. That’s based on what Paul taught in today’s reading. Scholar William Barclay wrote, “The Corinthians are…. seeking to give themselves over into the hands of some man. Paul tells them that… it is not they who belong to him but he who belongs to them…. [Paul] thinks of himself and his fellow preachers as stewards of the secrets which God desires to reveal to his own people…. Whatever be a [person’s] position in the Church, with whatever power… or whatever prestige… [that person] still remains the servant of Christ.” ** If you already serve, how could you expand the reach or impact of your God-given gifts? If you don’t serve at Resurrection but would like to learn about options, you can start here.