I Corinthians 5: 1-13
Paul is in this chapter dealing with another issue this congregation has a problem with.
It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife.
This is probably not his mother, but more of a step-mother, or a woman his father married after he was grown up.
You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.
They had not recognized the evil of this kind of immorality, but were congratulating themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.
For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present.
Paul considered himself an elder in this church, and as such, had already evaluated the situation and come to a determination.
In the Name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord Jesus.
As the leaders convene this church council, they are to disassociate with this person and treat him as an outsider, not welcome in the intimate life of the church. Kicking him out like this could have resulted in his physical death with the removal of the support the church provided. But if he was saved, then he would still be redeemed in the Day of the Lord.
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?
Here Paul is using the figure of leaven representing sin. When you are making bread, you put a little yeast into a whole batch of dough, usually enough to make several loaves of bread. Then you let it rise, and that little bit of yeast leavens the whole batch. That's how sin can infect a whole congregation.
Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.
They are to consider themselves to be what they are, the unleavened lump of dough that will not rise at all. Paul brings in the Feast of the Passover, that required all leavening agents to be put out of their houses completely during the whole week of the celebration. Now we have Jesus, the Lamb of God, who was sacrificed for us, as our Passover Lamb. He died once for all, so we don't ever again need to offer an animal as a blood sacrifice on an altar. That means we are still in the time of the Passover Feast.
Therefore let us celebrate the Feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
So we need to live our lives without the sinfulness of worldly attitudes; instead embracing openness and transparency with one another, according to what is actual about each of us according to the Truth.
I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people;
Paul had written a first letter to these Corinthians that has been lost. But we do have it's contents and meaning here in this letter.
I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the World.
If we cut ourselves off from associating with our neighbors and co-workers who aren't Christians, then how can we witness to them, or show them God's love? This is not making them our best friends.
But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to eat with such a one.
If someone claims to be a Christian and live an immoral life, then he is probably either trying to deceive you or is lying to himself. Because God's children cannot persist in an immoral life-style because God will either bring them back to His righteousness or take them home, out of our picture.
They were not to treat this immoral person as a respected member of their church.
For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?
But those who are outside, God judges.
Remove the wicked man from among yourselves. (Deuteronomy 13:5; 17:7, 12; 21:21; 22:21--The same verse repeated 5 times.)
Paul quotes a verse that was repeated five times in the Second Giving of the Law. God loves His people so much that He will go to extreme measures to insure that they follow Him in His ways, not the damaging and unhealthy ways of the World or the pagans that surrounded them.
When
I was in Bible College and taking an Old Testament Survey class, I read
through the whole Old Testament for the first time. I remember reading
through Deuteronomy and being struck so hard by how much God Loved His
people!
They were to use Capital Punishment against individuals who refused to accept God's ways, so that they would not influence others to also go astray.
God wants us to know Him, to understand His ways, and to live our lives according to how He designed this Earth to work. When we build our World on it within the parameters of His ways, then things work for us.
Even when people who don't know or acknowledge God have discovered some of His ways, and done according to them in this World, they have reaped a bountiful amount of prosperity. Because that's how He designed it to work.
How much better for us to actually know the God who made our Earthly home, and live according to His ways that He designed it! We can also enjoy it's bounty, and share it with others, to also gain eternal rewards!
But we cannot tolerate as one of ourselves someone who does not honor God or live according to His Love, and let that evil one influence others to turn away from God. Even if it means removing support that sustains his life.
This person could have died. But we find out in Paul's II Corinthians that he had repented and turned his life around, so they were to take him back. So he didn't die, we have a "happy ending." Their obedience to Paul's injunction actually saved this man's life.
God works like that. When it looks really bleak, that's when God's Light shines. And we are His lights in the World. Light shines brightest in the darkest night.
O my Father, You are so great! You are so good! Your Love for us is so unimaginable to our puny brains, but the evidence of it is undeniable.
O Father, please teach us, teach me, how to love others as You have Loved each one of us! Show us how we can have compassion and mercy on others, even as we take stringent methods to preserve our spiritual health.
Father, strengthen us to trust Your strength in our weakness, to do all the things You have determined we are to do, each moment of each day. Both the things we enjoy doing, and the things we do in obedience to Your ways, knowing that every task, every job, every doing that we do, according to Your will, will bring us eternal rewards.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 4: 10-21
We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ;
Paul is trying to encourage these believers, letting them know their standing in Christ. Even if Paul would seem to be a fool for Christ, yet they are still prudent and wise in Christ.
we are weak, but you are strong;
Though we appear to be weak, remember that you are strong in Christ.
you are distinguished, but we are despised.
You are honored and respected, while we are experiencing disrespect, without honor.
To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless;
Paul is still traveling from place to place, on his missionary travels, so he is experiencing deprivation; he sometimes misses a meal or two, his clothes are wearing out, so strangers on the road treat them with no respect. All part and parcel of the kind of traveling people did then.
and we toil, working with our own hands;
He worked with Aquila and Priscilla, as tent-makers, and they supported themselves when they could. He met this couple in Corinth, and they went with him to Ephesus, from where He wrote this letter.
when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure;
when we are slandered, we try to conciliate;
However people treat him, he tries to respond in a godly way, not react.
we have become the scum of the World, the dregs of all things, even until now.
He just "don't get no respect" lately, as he travels and preaches and lives from day to day. Which is fine with him, as long as he still gets to promote God's Kingdom by preaching the Gospel!
I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
Don't feel sorry for me, just notice how much God has blessed you.
For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the Gospel.
Paul is claiming a special place in their hearts, hoping they will take what he says in the spirit in which it is written.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.
He's saying, follow me as I follow Christ. This is how to be.
For this reason I have sent to you Timothy who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.
Paul is writing his intent to send Timothy to Corinth, and mentions this again later in the letter. Timothy was saved under Paul, so he considers him his spiritual son, and trusts him to portray him faithfully.
Now some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.
But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant, but their power.
Some people there blew off Paul, as though he wouldn't check up on them; but he cares too much to leave them alone, and he wants to come to see if they have any of God's power to do God's work, instead of just talking about it.
For the Kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.
God's Word is powerful, but only because it is active and sharp as a double-edged sword. If our words do not have God's power, then they are ineffective in doing His work.
What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?
Paul is encouraging them to shape up before he shows up. He doesn't want to have to be hard on them, he's all about encouraging them.
O my Father, thank You so much for all You have done already for all of us! And You are still at work in each one of us, and in the World, pushing along Your plan, letting it unfold moment by moment, day by day, administration by administration.
And helping each one of Your children to do the things You have set before us to do each day, each one a thread in Your grand Tapestry of Time.
Father, thank You for Paul's letters that we can read today and trust that they are Your words for us today, too.
Please be with us, day by day, and teach us to love one one another as You have Loved us.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 4: 1-9
Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Paul is still going on about how these people have put Apollos and himself on pedestals, as though they were great men. He says, just consider them as slaves, serving Christ, and hired managers over God's secrets that He is now sharing with us.
In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.
So, as God's employee, he wants to be honest and fair with his Employer's goods.
But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself.
It isn't at all important what people think of him, it's not for him to even evaluate his own service.
For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord.
Paul's conscience is clear, but that doesn't mean he's innocent. He is leaving that evaluation to the Lord.
Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the Time, but wait until the Lord comes
The Time is the Day of the Lord, when Jesus returns and we face His "Bema Seat" to receive whatever rewards He will give us. So don't jump the gun and judge one another now.
who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts;
Only God knows each of us intimately. He alone can assess each one of us according to the whole picture of who we are, how we think, and what we hide from one another.
and then each man's praise will come to him from God.
The "Bema Seat" is not for punishments--God put the wrath that is due us on Jesus on the Cross--but He will reward us for what we have done that will promote His program, and His Kingdom.
Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written,
We need to be careful that we never add anything to what God had written in His Word. This is very important. Never approach the Word looking for what you want it to say, only to find out what it really does say. Don't leave anything out, but don't add anything to it, either. It is sufficient.
so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other.
Paul says that he and Apollos are just teachers, they work for God, and they should not be compared to each other, as though one would be "better" than the other.
For who regards you as superior?
Who put you in charge?
What do you have that you did not receive?
Isn't what you have a grace-gift from God?
And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
So why are you acting like you're so much better than someone else who also received different grace-gifts from God?
You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you.
You Corinthians have already been given such rich gifts from God that you are like kings in God's Kingdom. And Paul is glad of this, and looks forward to reigning alongside them in the Kingdom of God.
For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to Angels and to men.
He thinks that because the Apostles are on display so much, that it's like they're in cages, or in a window, where they are being shown off as a "coming attraction," an exhibition to entertain people and even God's Angels.
We all live in "glass houses" as Christians in the World. People are watching us to see if there really is any difference in trusting God rather than the World.
And Angels are also watching to see how we are using God's power to overcome temptations and sorrows and troubles. They are cheering us on, and moaning when we stumble, as athletic fans do in the stands. Sometimes God may even send one in to referee.
And saints who have gone on before are also in the bleachers, watching us who are still in the "game." They can't do anything else on the field, but we can know that they are there, to encourage us to do our best.
Paul doesn't want these Corinthian saints to lift him up higher than any other saint, because he's just doing what his Boss (Lord) "hired" him to do, just doing his job.
O my Father, please help us all to not think any more of ourselves than we ought, or to compare someone with someone else, to determine who is "better." Help us all to work together, to help one another, and to respect one anothers' differences, realizing that no one person can do everything.
Thank You, Father, for sending us leaders and teachers and pastors and evangelists to help us learn what we can do to help one another to get everything done in fulfilling all Your plans, Father, to usher in Your righteousness in each of our circles of influence, spreading the seed of the Gospel, and finding all of Your lost sheep who are still searching for You.
And when all the lost lambs have been found, and there is One Fold with One Shepherd, then:
Every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord God Almighty, to the glory of Almighty God the Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 3: 16-23
Do you not know that you are a Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If you have let Jesus take your place on the Cross, so His Blood has cleansed you completely white as snow.
If any man destroys the Temple of God, God will destroy him, for the Temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
Where God dwells is His Temple.
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.
Our own hearts deceive us, so we must know the Truth and lead our hearts into the Truth. But one who is wise in Worldly things, is foolish.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.
Because God's wisdom is very far above any Worldly wisdom.
For it is written,
He is the one who catches the wise in their own craftiness;
Because He knows all of us, from our atoms out to the ends of the Universe.
and again,
The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.
God made our brains to express what our souls think, and He knows what we are thinking before we even think it.
So then let no one boast in men.
All Mankind are infants in this World, in school, no matter how old they are.
For all things belong to you,
whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the World or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you,
As God's children, we are heirs with Christ of all Creation.
And you belong to Christ,
Because He bought us and redeemed us with His precious Blood.
and Christ belongs to God.
God the Father has authority over God the Son, and God the Son has authority over God the Holy Spirit. And all three Persons are our One God.
And if we could understand that, then we would be God also, which we are not.
O my Father, please help us understand to the best our feeble brains can understand, Your ways You designed this Earth to operate.
Father, help us take care of this Earth, it's the only one we have.
And teach us how You want us to love You back, after You have Loved us first.
And how to love one another, as You have loved us.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord God Almighty, our King, to the glory of God the Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 3: 1-10
(1) And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.
(2) I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it, indeed, even now you are not yet able,
(3) for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?
(4) For when one says, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not mere men?
(5) What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.
(6) I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
(7) So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
(8) Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
(9) For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
(10) According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.
Paul is dismayed that he cannot talk to these Corinthians as mature believers, because they are still acting like babies. So he is spooning out spiritual pablum to them, hoping they will take the nourishment and grow up.
And he goes back to the factionalism again that he dealt with in Chapter 1, explaining how he and Apollos are both working for the same "company," the Kingdom of God. They are both just workers, God is the one running the "business." And the workers will each receive a paycheck for his work.
3: 11-15
(11) For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
(12) Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
(13) each man's work will become evident; for the Day will show it because it is to be revealed by fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.
(14) If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
(15) If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
Paul said that he laid the foundation, which is Jesus Christ. Knowing Christ, recognizing who His is, and what He accomplished for us, is the foundation on which we need to found our lives upon. He is the rock that we stand on securely.
Everything else builds on this base. All our teachers must base their teachings on the fact of Jesus being the Lamb of God who washed away our sins with His Blood, died in our place individually, and rose from the dead with a new, Resurrection Life. Everything else flows from these realities.
Teachers and church leaders all need to take care that what they are teaching is according to the righteousness Jesus purchased for us, and not focused on just the benefits of trusting Christ. He is our prize, and all the things He provides are only peripheral to the central reality of His Person and Presence with us.
These verses describe what has been called "The Bema Seat of Christ," in reference to the judges who award the Olympic Games prizes. There will be no punishments at this Judgment, only rewards.
Those whose work burns up will suffer loss of rewards, but this does not affect their Salvation.
Some workers will receive abundant rewards, many will receive some rewards, and a few may not have hardly any rewards at all.
But we all will receive the real Prize--Christ Jesus Himself! We are His bride, He is our newlywed Husband, and He loves each one of us individually, as passionately as a newlywed husband is enamored with his new bride--and the honeymoon will last forever!
O my Father, thank You! Thank You for all You are, all You have planned, all You are doing today in this World and in Your church, and thank You that You have already determined the conclusion of this whole Earth Project.
O Father, Your Love and Your wisdom has made everything that has been created, and Your purposes for each part of it will be fulfilled to complete all You have planned for all of us.
I am just one tiny thread in Your grand Tapestry of Time; just one note in Your Great Symphony; just one worker in Your multi-national Company of Your Kingdom.
Help me, Father, to be faithful to You and to Your program, Your ways. Strengthen me to carry on, lead me into Your path of righteousness, grant me the victory over the enemy and my own flesh.
Give me the privilege of broadcasting Your precious seed of the Gospel far and wide, into all the fertile fields ready to be planted, and cause the growth and increase of Your crops, Father.
Keep me aware of using the time You have given me wisely, not wasting even a moment; so I will accomplish all that You have placed before me to do.
May all Your lost sheep be found, and all the little lambs be carried home into the fold, that there be One Fold and One Shepherd.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Christ and Lord God Almighty, King over all kings, to the glory of Almighty God the Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 2: 1-16
When I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,
and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
Paul came to Corinth to plant Christ's church there, so people would be saved. He didn't want to make followers of himself, or present himself as anything except a servant of God for their benefit.
He wanted their faith to rest on God's Truth, supported by God's power, not anything worldly. So that their faith would be genuine.
Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;
but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;
the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory;
The wisdom Paul used in preaching the Gospel to these believers was not from the world at all, but God's wisdom in having planned out His whole program for this Earth before He created it. Those who are mature in their faith are the ones who would be able to accept this wisdom, because they have God's Holy Spirit in them to give them understanding of God's things.
The rulers of this age Paul is talking about were the religious leaders, who demanded Jesus' death, because they didn't understand spiritual things like they thought they did.
But just as it is written:
Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of Man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him (Isaiah 64:4).
But God revealed them to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the World, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,
which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
I am the only one who knows what I'm thinking. You are the only one who knows what you're thinking. The only way we can share what we're thinking with each other is if we can put our thoughts into words.
God's Spirit knows God's thoughts. Because He lives in each of God's children, He is able to make known to us God's thoughts. He is Spirit, so He uses spiritual words.
It's like God wrote His written Word in a code that needs His Spirit to be the key to understanding it.
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.
For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? (Isaiah 40:13; Jeremiah 23:18).
But we have the mind of Christ.
People who don't have the key cannot unlock the understanding of God's Word, so they dismiss it as gobbledygook, foolishness, they can't make sense of it.
But we who have the key, God's Holy Spirit, can understand how it all fits together, so we can be wise in our choices and decisions to live our lives God's way. We can look back to see how people succeeded or failed, and learn the lessons God had them go through for our benefit. We don't have to re-invent the wheel, we can stand on the shoulders of the giants of the faith who went before us, and continue walking with God on the path on which He has placed our feet.
O my Father, You are so wise! Thank You for giving us the unimaginable gift of Your own Holy Spirit to live in our spirits. Thank you that He teaches us Your things: Your ideas, how You planned it all out ahead of Time, how You designed it all to work together. You have even told us what to expect to happen before it comes to pass, so we can be prepared to face it and respond appropriately.
Thank you for Paul, and for Moses, and for David, and for Abraham. Thank You for Adam and Eve, and for Noah, and for Jonah, too. All these histories were recorded so that we would be able to discern how doing well will turn out well, and making mistakes can cause problems that will multiply over generations of time.
Help us, Father, to learn all the lessons of those who have gone before us to show us the right way to go, and teach us how to use Your wisdom to maneuver all the twists and turns that the World throws at us, so we can take each step confidently on that straight and narrow.
My Father, teach me how to enlarge my narrow boundaries in my neighborhood, to get to know my neighbors and be Your blessing to them in their lives.
Teach me how to do what is needed of me in all the areas of my living; at home, in my neighborhood, in my family, in my church family, in the society You have placed me, in all the realms of my existence.
Let me plant Your good seed everywhere I go, that my presence would be a positive force in others' lives so that they would seek You, Father.
And let all the lost sheep be found, and all the wandering lambs be brought back, that there will be One Fold and One Shepherd.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 1: 18-31
For the word of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Those who have no use for God in their lives don't even think they need a Savior, so they consider it foolish that Jesus even came to die.
But we who have been called of God in faith realize that it is His power and strength that defeated Satan at the Cross.
For it is written:
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside (Isaiah 29:14).
People who think that they're so smart that they can accumulate much material goods, and are so sly to outwit others in the game of getting ahead will discover that all their stuff is worth nothing in the long run.
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the World?
All these "successful" people never take the time to consider their emotional or spiritual condition, because they don't want to admit that all these material things have not filled the "God-sized hole" He put into our souls, so that we would seek Him. Instead they write and argue the fine points of their smart ideas, and puff up themselves.
For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;
Look at your own congregation of believers: there aren't very many intelligentsia or successful military or political higher-ups in your number, are there? Most of these have kept themselves too busy to consider their need for God.
but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise
It's considered foolish for a wealthy person to not take advantage of his wealth to live a lavish lifestyle, but to give away most of it and live a modest lifestyle, instead.
and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,
How many stories have you heard about some extremely old person or chronically ill person who has shown up other, younger and healthy people in their sterling character?
and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen,
Ordinary simplicity of life, and what the World disdains, God uses to bless and benefit His children.
the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,
Things that don't exist in physical form; like love, honor, compassion, faith and trust, generosity, patience, ideas, intrinsic beauty--God uses these kind of things to overpower the wicked and their things.
so that no man may boast before God,
No one will be able to vaunt himself over God's wisdom and ways.
But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus,
It was God the Father who drew us into relationship with Himself through the sacrificial death of His Son, the Lamb of God, whose Blood has washed us white as snow.
who became to us wisdom from God,
Jesus is the Word, the Wisdom of God for us.
and righteousness
And the value of His perfect life was put on our account, when our sinfulness was put onto His account, so that God's books balance.
and sanctification,
God makes us holy, who were unholy, by His cleansing and placing His Holy Spirit into our human spirits, making them Alive.
and redemption,
We have been purchased by Jesus out of the slave-market of sin and given freedom by the Son, to have the ability to do what is right.
so that, just as it is written,
Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. (Psalm 44:8.)
Everything we can say that would be positive or congratulatory or complimentary should acknowledge that it is God who made it possible. He planned it out, and He is using us and all of our choices, to carry out His program for this World we have built on His Earth.
He is the Creator, and He made nothing without purpose. So His purposes are being carried out in every part of what He has made. His wisdom and cleverness and power and strength are doing everything He wants to do with His things.
We are all His imagination, and if He weren't thinking about us, we wouldn't exist!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
