One day the disciples came up to Jesus, probably a little proud of what they had just done. "He's going to think this is great," they probably thought. "Hey Jesus," one of the disciples started, "we saw this guy over there driving out demons in your name. You'll be happy to know that we stopped him because he doesn't follow us."
Fast forward a few decades and a church was picking sides. Everyone had the guy they followed and no one else mattered. Some chose Paul. Some a guy named Apollos. Some Peter. Some proved how spiritual they were by sticking their nose up in the air and saying, "We just follow Jesus." (Yes that is bad when you use it to make yourself look more spiritual than another person.) They were like the disciples. No body else could minister or have authority except their posse.
Paul calls this "being inflated with pride" when we "favor one person over another." When we think that we can only learn from one person or one particular theology, we are prideful. When we think our church or our group is the only one that has ministry figured out, we are prideful. This tears down what God is trying to do. What is he trying to do? Build his church on one foundation: Christ.
It is easy to fall into this trap. We love our pastor; so if someone is different, it is hard to follow them. We like to make categories, and if someone falls outside our category, we quickly dismiss them. We want to make sure that we are listening to the right voices, but Paul tells us how to know we are listening to the right voices.
Paul gives us a very basic litmus test for a legit teacher/leader in the Kingdom. He wanted the Corinthians to "learn from them [Paul, Timothy, Silas] the saying: 'Nothing beyond what is written.'" His point is that as long as a teacher teaches what is written, then learn from them. Whether that is Paul, Apollos, Peter or another guy that they don't know about, they can learn from them. When we listen to anyone who teaches what is written, then God is using that to build into us.
Jesus quickly, but gently burst the disciples bubble by telling them to "not stop them because whoever is not against you is for you." The call is to put others before self by putting aside our personal styles, philosophies, theologies and boundaries and learning from anyone who simply teaches "what is written" because they are not against us…they are with us.
You can find this story in 1 Corinthians 1-4. The goal of this to get your appetite for reading more of God's Word. Go see how Paul addressed this issue for yourself.
Advertisement
