Links for today’s readings:
Sep 1 Read: Jeremiah 26 Listen: (4:04) Read: 1 Corinthians 3 Listen: (3:05)
Scripture Focus: 1 Corinthians 3.4-9, 21
4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
21 So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.
From John: When I originally wrote this piece in 2017, one thought that did not make it into the final draft was this: “Sin takes good desires and twists them until they break.” It is good to want to honor leaders. This re-edited version reminds us that it is a short step from honoring leaders to idolizing them. Take care.
Reflection: Idolatry of Identity
By John Tillman
In the Old Testament, people reverenced household gods for prosperity, wealth, and identity. Today we reverence household brands. It’s unclear which group is more deceived.
In any market, some brands appeal to desires for exclusivity and luxury. These brands broadcast signals of success and dominance. Other brands go the opposite direction. They mock luxury and exclusivity and appeal to simplicity and common goodness. Still other brands combine mocking luxury with exclusivity—hipster brands. These brands strive to help their customers feel like taste leaders who are the smartest people around for discovering (before anyone else) this carefully marketed product.
Virtue signaling through conspicuous consumption of the right brands is an established norm. We have a strong desire to be perceived as people with good taste—even if we define good taste by our distastes. We define our identity by what we support and what we disdain. This is true even about churches and Christian teaching.
In the Corinthian church, individuals identified with the “brand” of Christianity they associated with different Christian teachers. Paul found their selfish pride in following a particular teacher to be a shocking mark of immaturity.
We aren’t that different. We often treat churches and Christian leaders just like any other brand. We follow them. We compare them. We promote their successes or complain about their failures. We even experience a bit of schadenfreude when those we disapprove of suffer or fall.
Christian leaders show this same weakness when they rely heavily on branding to appeal to followers. However, when one of our culture’s primary languages is brand marketing, what choice do churches and Christian leaders have?
Paul places the burden to refrain from forming identity around a leader and not the gospel firmly on church members. Paul doesn’t condemn himself, or Apollos, or Peter of wrongdoing or theological error. (Apollos was corrected in his theological errors by Priscilla and her husband, Aquila.) The burden for leaders is to build the church with lasting and sustainable teaching—the gospel.
We desire marketable idols to identify ourselves as theological tastemakers. May we make no more “household gods” of Christian teachers. We are God’s field (1 Cor 3.9). May we give thanks for growth to the work of the Holy Spirit while still giving proper honor and support to the workers who help God’s field to thrive and be fruitful (1 Cor 3.7-8).
Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for me. — Psalm 66.14
– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.
Readers’ Choice is Coming!
Readers’ Choice is when we ask you to share your favorite Park Forum posts from this year. What posts helped you explain the gospel?
What posts challenged you?
https://forms.gle/Kj12Ziy4C9gQg8Xm7
Read more: The Losers Who Write History
Not one glowingly positive, king-praising prophet…in our Bible. Instead we have the writings of the losers. The cries of the oppressed.
