This is God's word. I've applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you have received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Already, you have all you want. Already, you have become rich. Without us, you have become kings. And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you. We read that far in God's word. Reading this passage is like listening to someone near us, maybe a line in a store, talking on the phone. All you can hear is one side of the conversation, one half of the conversation that's going on. Not sure to whom they're talking, not sure what's going on in the mind of the other person, not sure what topic is being discussed other than what we hear one half. But the person on the other end of the phone knows. both sides of that conversation. Here we read what Paul is saying, but we don't know the exact situation in the church in Corinth to which he's addressing. But the church in Corinth knew, so the original recipients of this letter knew, and when they read this, when they originally read this, they knew exactly what was being referred to and about whom. And the kicker is that there's two audiences. the original audience in Corinth, and then everybody else in the 2,000 years since then who've read the book of 1 Corinthians. So when we read this, the Holy Spirit knows that we don't have all the details that the original readers in Corinth had, but we don't need them. It's a beautiful thing how the Holy Spirit of God records through each of the authors of Scripture the parts of Scripture we need exactly as they appear. We're given this letter as part of our perfect Scriptures. There's not something missing. It's not rendered useless because we don't have the background or the other side of the story from the church in Corinth. The perfect scriptures have revealed to us God's help for us of what to believe and how to live perfectly as it is. I forgot to give the Bible this way, and the point is clear from this passage, which I've recorded in the Bulletin handout. The damage from being puffed up with pride is the sins that flow from it. First, we'll see in verse six, do not go beyond what is written, for no person is better. Verse seven, do not boast for everything we have was received from God. And third, verse eight, do not settle in here. for the best is yet to come. Let me read verse six as we study this. The first phrase he uses there, all these things. At the start of verse six, Paul had applied to himself and Apollos that all these things refers back to verses one to five. The things that we had studied last time here, where Paul wrote about church leadership. All these things that he was writing about church leadership, he now applies to himself and to Apollos. Why had Paul applied that to himself and Apollos? for the benefit of the believers getting the letter. The ones that Paul was most focused on were the someone or someone's or anyone's that he referenced all the way back in chapter 3, verse 10. Let me read chapter 3, verse 10. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation on someone else. is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. That's the someone or the someones or the anyones. Those who are working as church leaders in Corinth after Paul left are the ones that he has most in mind. And for their benefit, he's applying it to himself. He's taking what he had written in verses one to five about church leadership and he's applying it to himself and to Apollos in order to benefit the someones who were in Corinth currently building upon what Paul had built. So since Paul could take the teaching that he wrote in verses one to five and apply it to Paul and to Apollos, then those current leaders in Corinth could take what Paul wrote in verses one to five and apply that teaching to themselves as current church leaders in Corinth. That's why he's doing all this. Paul's encouraging them to use the required tasks that he had given in that passage from verses one to five. Any current leader, in fact, even any future leader in the church in Corinth, according to verse two, should be found faithful. According to verse one, should be a servant of Christ. and a steward of the mysteries of Christ, verse one. So what better way to find out if those criteria, those lists of how church leaders should be are being conducted currently in the church in Corinth than to pose the question he asks here in verse six, basically this. Have the Corinthian church leaders learned and are they continuing to apply currently one fundamental thing? And what is that? He says it here in verse six. Have they learned to not go beyond what is written in Scripture? Have the current leaders in Corinth learned not to go beyond what is written in Scripture? In other words, have the Corinthians insisted of all of their leaders post-Paul, after Paul, following Paul's departure, after the foundation had been built, have they insisted of all those upcoming leaders and current leaders that every new leader now building on the foundation must not go beyond what is written in scripture? And to say it another way, with the language he used in chapter three, verse 17, I'll read verse 17. If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him, for God's temple is holy and you are that temple. ask the question in the negative way, the opposite way to ask the same question, were there any leaders in Corinth in danger of saying or doing destructive things to God's temple? And so here in verse six, Paul expected the church to learn, to be refreshed or be reminded or to learn from the example of the apostles, not to exceed the scriptural standard for church leadership. Church leaders were expected to be faithful, but not perfect. Believers were not to think of their leaders more highly than the Bible-authorized way to think of their leaders. What does God say about leaders? Old Testament and New Testament speaks a lot about leaders. For example, Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24, thus says the Lord, let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast in his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this. that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord. Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24. So church leaders, according to that passage, are expected to know the Lord God, to know God as their Lord, their master, their boss, their supervisor. Servants of Christ work for Christ, and so to follow all the Lord's instructions in his word for them, and not to add to and not to subtract from those instructions of the Lord. This is clear, this is review. The believers in Corinth had become proud of their connection to one person, either Paul or Apollos or Peter, and these various connections had formed many groups. The Peter group and the Paul group and the Apollos group, these various groups, to use the language of verse six, were being in favor of one against another. And that was precisely what had led to the strife or the divisions they were facing in the church in Corinth. But here Paul is revealing that it all started with treating church leaders too highly in the first place. Remember what Paul wrote in the previous paragraph. Apostles were servants, servants of Christ. The followers of Paul lifted themselves up over the followers of Apollos. And the followers of Apollos thought of themselves as better than the followers of Peter and so on. To be above others is to be against others. That's a truth that we know inherently. The Packers are better than the Bears. So therefore, the Packer fans are against the Bears. We understand these things inherently, that to be above others is to be against others. That is, the Corinthian followers of Paul thought Paul above Peter. And so they developed a hostile attitude toward the Corinthian followers of Peter. Some zeal for Christian teachers is certainly normal. I mean, you probably have five doctors in the group of doctors you go to. You would see any of them, but you have a favorite, right? Some of that is normal, but as soon as it goes too far, we develop hostility against one or another. We develop a favorite over another. As he writes here in verse six, puffed up in favor of one against another, against another, to actually believe wrong things about one or another. And how do we correct this? Paul writes to the church in Corinth how to correct it. We return to a scriptural standard. What is written about these matters by God? What is written is the gospel of Christ crucified and risen again, as he had labored to point out in chapter 2. We don't go beyond that. We never graduate from that. We focus on that, stay focused on that permanently. That's what the church is all about. Christ and him crucified and risen again. We don't go beyond that. We stay focused. In other words, to say it another way, we don't invent a new equation. And the new equation could be Christ plus X, Christ plus Y, Christ plus Apollos, let's say. Adding to the cross is the group who said, we follow Christ but we really need Apollos, he's our guy. And adding to the cross and expecting something else in addition creates problems, these exact problems. So the work of Christ is complete. He died and rose again and it's Christ and Christ alone. Christ crucified and risen, that's what every Christian needs. We don't go beyond that. We don't supplement with some second stage wisdom-based spirituality so that now we have two stages. First stage is the cross and the second stage is either some extra wisdom or some extra person. That we really need that person plus Christ. No. He says no, you don't go beyond what is written. Not going beyond what is written is believing that there is not some special category that we're in, in which we can follow a different set of instructions than what God gives. For example, this whole idea of puffed up. He's exposing our hearts in our pride, our struggle with sinful pride. We all have a stock package, ever since Adam, of all the sinful tendencies, and one of them is pride. We wrestle with pride. So three more times in this letter, Paul uses the same word for puffed up. So a total of four times. Once here in verse six, and I'll quickly mention the other three times. 1 Corinthians 5 verse two. The people to whom Paul was writing were arrogant or puffed up. They were inflated with complacency about their sins of immorality. Next, 1 Corinthians 8 verse one. It's knowledge which puffs up in contrast to love which builds up. And the last one, 1 Corinthians 13, 4, love is not arrogant and love is not puffed up. So four times he talks about this issue of puffed up and the image of puffed up belongs with a pair of bellows. A bellows was an iron worker's tool, they still use a form of it today, to make a fire hotter. So when toolmakers in Corinth needed to make the fire hot enough to work on iron for their tools, they used a device to make the fire hotter called a bellows. We call it a pair of scissors, even though it's one device, because it has two moving parts. Same for a bellows. You call it a pair of bellows because it has two handles and a hinge, both holding two sides of an airbag, and when squeezed, it gives a blast of air out towards the fire to make the fire flare up and be hotter. That's the idea of puffed up. That's the image that we're supposed to think of, that the original audience would think of. To be puffed up is to be the person who, when there's a disagreement in the church in Corinth, would blow on it to make it hotter. And Paul wrote here in verse six, this is exactly what he wrote about it, that you may learn. Every single thing can't be divisive. When my children were in elementary school, we would often, at Christmas time, buy one of those bags of peanut M&Ms that has only two colors, red and green, the Christmas bag of peanut M&Ms. We would dole them out equally, of course, to the four children sitting at the kitchen table, and I still remember, as if it was yesterday, exactly where my unnamed child was sitting when this happened. We separated the green candies from the red candies, and I looked at this, and I said, what I probably should have never asked, what are you doing? I will really never forget what the child looked up to me and said one word. War. I say this illustration to say that even if a young child's candy can apparently be found to take sides in a war, we human beings can find almost any reason to take sides in a conflict if we're puffed up with ourselves. The green candy team says green candy is better than red candy. And the red candy team disagrees and says red candy is much better than green candy. One Christian says these church leaders who side with author XYZ are better than those church leaders who side with author ABC. And they take the disagreement and they blow on it with a puffed up bellows. And it becomes hotter and hotter. And Paul's solution is, do not go beyond what is written. The Bible is our guide through this. No person is better than another. Again, the end of verse six, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. We move on to verse seven. where my point is, do not boast for everything we have was received from God. Verse seven, let me read it. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? We have been given so much. And everything that we've been given is of course itself a gift. There is no boasting for things that we receive. And who goes around comparing Who makes one different from another? It was God who created each with their set of skills and gifts. And maybe Apollos or Paul were viewed as better presenters or one had better content. And maybe Peter was seen as better because of his life story. You remember, Peter was the one who had the Lord Jesus Christ himself say in person to Peter, feed my sheep. Don't you think that that would be something that would attract people to want to follow Peter, for he was the one who was actually authorized by the Lord Jesus to feed us? All sorts of things. Whatever you can imagine that people were imagining in the church in Corinth to be harmful and to be divisive and to make groups. And here Paul's expounding on the truth of chapter three, verse 23, that we're all Christ's. And Christ is God's. That we're one. That the church in Corinth was on the same team. And you can appreciate all three. Apollos and Paul and Peter. Look at the riches that God gave you in Corinth. What are you doing separating and focused on one or the other? We don't have to compete, is Paul's message. By asking these questions, he's saying don't boast. Look at my guy. For everything we have was received from God. I'll try to illustrate, I hope it isn't too silly. It's heavy stuff, so I'll try to provide a little bit of breather time in their minds. A young frog set out on his first adventure away from home. And as he came out of the pond, he saw a very large ox grazing in the field. Having never seen such a creature before, he hopped excitedly back to his father, the bullfrog, and he said, I've just seen the biggest bullfrog in the world. It was an ox, but he thought of it as a bullfrog, right? Huh, Daddy Bullfrog says. Was the other bullfrog as big as me? Daddy Bullfrog puffed himself up. Oh, much bigger than that, said the little frog. Was he this big, said Daddy Frog, and he puffed himself up even bigger. Much bigger than you, said the little frog. Ridiculous, said Daddy Bullfrog. He fancied himself much more important than he was. He couldn't be bigger than me. I'm the oldest and the biggest bullfrog in the pond. I was here first. Who's bigger than this? And he puffed and he puffed and he puffed until he burst. I had hoped it wasn't too silly of a story, but you get it, right? Do not boast, says Paul, because everything we have, we have received, There is no room for boasting. It was God who made the frog and the ox. He made both the policeman and the motorist. He made both the teacher and the student. He made both the doctor and the patient. Why did God give the gifts across the farm? Why did God give the gifts across the workforce? Why did God give the gifts across the sports teams? More to the point, why did God give the gifts across the church? Was it for the various recipients, each to find random reasons to select one, find a favorite and gloat in him? No. It was to bring joy to all. It was to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, build up his church and reach the lost. When we have received gifts, why do we boast? Paul knows exactly why. It's actually a gospel issue, it's a spiritual issue. And Paul's asking us the question so that we realize the answer. Why do you boast? Why do we boast? It's because our hearts are prideful. Now, I won't ask you to raise your hand. I don't do that. We don't really do that. I won't ask you to repeat after me. We don't usually do that. It makes you uncomfortable. You maybe don't focus as much. But you pretend you're raising your hand. And you pretend you're repeating after me, okay? Repeat after me, but don't really do it, okay? I sometimes boast because my heart is prideful. I sometimes compare because my heart is prideful. The church in Corinth, Paul was saying, needed to stop comparing, stop complaining, stop gloating, stop bragging, stop feeling intimidated, stop feeling left out. How? By ceasing to get joy from the gifts and go all the way back to the giver. Our joy comes from Christ the giver, Paul says to the church in Corinth. Everything you have. you have received from Christ. It wasn't gifts from Paul. It wasn't gifts from Apollos. It wasn't gifts from Peter. It wasn't gifts from anyone else. It was gifts from Christ. Let's focus on the giver himself. Do not boast for everything we have was received from God. Third point, verse eight, do not settle in here for the best is yet to come. Let me read verse eight. Already you have all you want. Already you have become rich. Without us, notice that phrase without us, You have become kings and would that you did reign so that we might share the rule with you. Here, Paul writes an irony. He uses a written convention, a written irony. Two things stand out in the ancient mindset that Paul's pointing out here. Number one, that God's heavenly kingdom had arrived. I want you to understand that he's writing to people, the original audience who read the book of 1 Corinthians, the ancient people actually believed that the kingdom of heaven had already arrived. It was one of the errors that was floating around in the church. There was nothing else coming later. Heaven had already arrived. This was it. They're living in heaven. That's why Paul wrote, verse eight, already you have all you want. He's confronting their Misconception, their beliefs, okay? That's the first. The second error in the ancient mindset that they actually believed is that they were kings. They believed that the moment they had become converted, that they had become kings in the kingdom of God. New Christians in those days believed that they had been filled with power, that they were free, that they were royalty, that they entered a higher realm of existence or life in some way, that they could do almost anything. were in the Spirit, after all, and consequently, they were taking their newfound Christianity as a reason to feel superior to the other people in the church in Corinth. That's why Paul wrote here in verse 8, So Paul's addressing these two errors in their thinking. That's kind of foreign to us, kind of distant to us, which is why I bring it out here as we study these phrases. How's Paul supposed to correct this thinking in the mindset of ancient Corinth? There's two key words. I try to point it out to you. You might have missed. Paul wrote, without us. You see those two words? Without us. In writing that phrase, Paul's exposing their thinking. that the kingdom of heaven has come, but Paul and others were not included. Without us, he says. The kingdom of heaven is here, but Paul is left out. And furthermore, that Paul was showing that they're now a ruling class of people on earth, the kings of God, as it were, but that Paul's not involved in that. He's not also one of the kings on earth. Paul's bursting their bubble. He's bursting the bubble of both of those beliefs at the same time by confronting them with one glaring problem. You forgot Paul. He's exposing to them kind of a big oops. The triumphalism of the Christians in Corinth was surely premature. We're not yet in heaven. They were too early. They thought that they were in heaven already, but they were not yet home. What did Paul say next? His last phrase in our passage this morning is this, would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you. In other words, if you have it, we have it. So let's enjoy the arrival of the kingdom together. If this really is heaven, then why is there such division in the church in Corinth? He's saying you're leaving me out of it so it can't, it necessarily can't be what you're saying it is. We could all agree, come quickly, Lord Jesus. when they came to Moses saying, others are prophesying. Isn't that your job, Moses? What was Moses' reply? Yeah, tell him to be quiet, because that's my job. I'm the prophet guy. No, what did Moses say? Very similar to what Paul wrote here. Would that all of God's people would be prophets. That's his wish. That's the heart cry of the true prophet. Would that you did have the arrival of the full kingdom of heaven, writes Paul here. Let's all go home. Let's all receive the glory of Christ being with us and us reigning together with him. Because if the full kingdom of heaven has arrived for you, the full kingdom of heaven has arrived for me and for each of us. What is Paul saying? One word. Unity. We're all going to be in heaven together. So if you believe you're already in heaven, Inherently, I'm here with you, but you're cutting me out of your little heaven. You see, he's exposing their unbelief, their errors of thinking. The truth was written in order to combat the divisiveness of their errors. Truth is unifying. Falsehood divides. Truth always unifies. So inherently, in the issues in Corinth, there were some mistakes and errors in thinking, and he's starting to get at those. The whole letter is getting at those and replacing false beliefs with true beliefs, replacing errors with correction. Truth unifies. And so what he's saying to those who had all these sorts of beliefs is my third point. Do not settle in here, here on earth. for the best is yet to come. Think forward, think ahead, that where the Lord Jesus Christ is seated, and where he's gonna come from there to us to take us home to be with him, and that unifies, all that thinking unifies, because we're only here for a short time, we're in this together, we're brothers and sisters, and he's gonna take us home. So what have we seen? The damage from being puffed up with pride is the sins that flow from it. Do not go beyond what is written. No person's better. Do not boast for everything we have was received from Christ, and don't settle in here on earth. The best is yet to come. That's my conclusion. The opposite of being puffed up is being brought down to size. The opposite of being kings is to see ourselves as servants. The opposite of pride, which brings division and divisiveness, is to think modestly of oneself and to unify and bond with, to be reconciled with others and to have a proper level of respect for God and for all the leaders that God has put into place. cross of Christ and his resurrection unify us. Hebrews 2, 8, 9. But we see Christ who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God, he, Jesus, might taste death for everyone. We're back to Christ and him crucified, Christ and him risen. And because we're unified through this, we don't compare, we don't compete. We don't puff ourselves up and blow on the disagreements to make them hotter. We come back to scripture. We stick with scripture. We come back to Christ and him crucified and risen. We stick with Christ and him crucified and risen. We look for ways to encourage one another in these basic truths. We look forward to the future and see ourselves united in the same heaven. and ask for God to download some of his precious unity to us on earth. He writes elsewhere, and I'll end with this, 1 Thessalonians 5.11, encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing. Let's pray. Father, we thank you chiefly