Title: All Things Are Yours
Scripture: I Corinthians 3: 21-23
Date: September 30, 2009
Place: Telford, PA
I Corinthians 3: 21: Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; 22: Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; 23: And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.
This is God’s glorious promise to believers—all things are yours. If God gives us the grace to enter into the fullness of that statement, we will find it utterly absurd for any of us to strive with our brethren. What reason is there for brethren to strive against brethren when the Holy Spirit declares plainly--all things are yours?
Many speak of wanting to model themselves after the early churches. “Our church most resembles the early church,” men say. Well, here is one of the early churches. We find in Paul’s letters to the church at Corinth that they were: carnal, some judged God’s servant, the apostle Paul, a false prophet; there was incest among them; they were going to law with one another; they were judging one another according to the flesh; they had a frugal, miserly spirit in providing for the needy; they were abusing the Lord’s Table; they were rguing with one another about spiritual gifts; some even questioned the resurrection
Still, the Apostle Paul addresses them as the elect, redeemed, regenerate vessels of God’s mercy, love and grace. Paul does not approve of their ungodly behavior, but as he endeavors to correct them, he does so by directing their affection from things below to the throne of God. He begins his letter by reminding them that by the free grace of God, they have been made the righteousness of God in Christ and gifted by Christ Jesus.
I Corinthians 1: 4: I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; 5: That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; 6: Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 7: So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: 8: Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9: God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
He reminds them that it is God who put them in Christ and made Christ All to them:
I Corinthians 1: 30: But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 31: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
He reminds them that the is by the Spirit of God that know what God has done for them in Christ:
I Corinthians 2: 12: Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Then he says in our text:
I Corinthians 3: 21: Therefore let no man glory in men.
All envying, all strife, all division is the result of the flesh. When we exalt ourselves over one another, or exalt one brother over another, we are glorying in the flesh. It is that worldly wisdom of the old nature which desires only gain for self.
The only thing that will subdue the carnal nature, make us turn from the evil of fleshly craftiness, is for the Holy Spirit of God to bring the believer into the realization that ALL THINGS ARE YOURS.
Proposition: God’s children, his servants, his preachers, all brethren alike, have no reason to strive with one another—by the grace of God freely given to every believer in Christ Jesus--all things are yours.
I. GOSPEL PREACHERS ARE YOURS
I Corinthians 3: 22: Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, --ALL ARE YOURS.
True God-sent pastors are the gift of Christ Jesus to us.
Ephesians 4:8-12: Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9; (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10: He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11: And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12: For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:"
The Corinthian’s had become divided into various clicks by exalting one preacher over another.
They were following men. Looking to the pastor instead of the one the pastor preached.
False prophets love for it to be so. Men who have not been sent by Christ Jesus love to exalt themselves and to be exalted. They not only feed on the kind of division these Corinthian’s were in, but they promote it. They do so in order to create a following for themselves.
But God’s servants exalt Christ and promote the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
I Corinthians 3: 5: Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6: I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7: So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8: Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. 9: For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
I Corinthians 4: 6: And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. 7: For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?
It is my prayer for you that the Lord will be pleased to give you a pastor and knit your hearts together with him. But be sure you get this: the Lord will give his man, for his people, in the place the Lord will have that man to be. You will not have to exalt one pastor over another before your brethren to get the pastor you prefer. To do so will only divide and prove that you are walking after the flesh, not after the Spirit.
But rather, as you begin hearing various pastors. Wait on the Lord. Trust the Lord to give as he has promised to give. If the Lord is please to give you his pastor then he will give you a heart for his pastor, the Lord will give your brethren a heart for his pastor, and he will give that pastor a heart for you. Pastors are a gift from the Lord Jesus Christ, as are all our other spiritual gifts wrought by him and given freely by God. Therefore, wait on the Lord.
I Corinthians 3: 22: Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world,
II. THE WORLD IS YOURS.
Every believer has been separated from the world. The Spirit of God teaches us to:
1 John 2:15: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
But when God gives a believer the peace of knowing that everything he works in this world is for you—you can stop fighting with your flesh and rest in the Lord!
Everything our soverign King does in this world is woe to the wicked, but well for the righteous.The sun, and moon, and stars, the times and seasons, are all ordered, by our Father for the care of his precious children. Every king and kingdom, every persecution and trial, every wicked man and his rage, is all under the power of the Sovereign of heaven and earth for the good of his saints.
When God’s elect remnant in Judah found themselves in the midst of a self-righteous, self-exalting, people, the Lord used entire nations to keep his elect trusting him alone. The king of Assyria was a rod in God’s hand by which he separated the wicked and lovingly corrected his elect remnant in Judah. All for this one purpose: To bring his elect remnant to—
Isaiah 10: 20:…stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
We see it most in the crucifixion of our Savior:
Acts 4: 26: The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. 27: For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 28: For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
What was the result? God was glorified, Christ was exalted, and helpless sinners like you and I were made the righteousness of God in him.
Romans 8:28: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
I Corinthians 1: 9: God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
His Gospel preachers are yours, the world is yours,
III. LIFE AND DEATH ARE YOURS.
All that pertains to life in this world is for those who have been brought to trust Christ alone. Just as he clothes the lilies of the field, God clothes you, feeds you, shelters you, provides for you.
Why do we fight one another? Why do we strive to get, strive to keep, strive to have? Oh, that we could just understand that life is ours. Then we could spend less time worrying about our life, and more seeking the kingdom of God and Christ Jesus his righteousness.
But Paul speaks of even more than this physical life. Our life is Christ. We have life eternal. Eternal Life was promised to each elect child before the world began. Eternal life was purchased by Immanuel’s Blood! Eternal Life has been given to us by the irresistible power and grace of God the Holy Spirit.
So then also, Death is yours. Every elect child of God, before regeneration, was all our lifetime subject to bondage. Satan and his ministers and our sinful flesh used the fear of death to bind us. They used the law to uncover our sin then constantly whipped us to do something to cover it. Doing so, they kept us constant bondage.
I Corinthians 15: 56: The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
The Lord Jesus Christ put away the sin of all whom he represented. In doing so he put away death’s only power. Our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled the law, died in our place answering the laws demands for our death. For you who are washed in his blood, our Lord Jesus Christ has "abolished death and brought life and immortality to light by the gospel" (2 Tim. 1:10). Christ’s death is your death. Now, eternal life is yours.
I Corinthians 15: 57: But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
IV. THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN MADE PARTAKERS OF CHRIST JESUS—THINGS PRESENT AND THINGS TO COME ARE YOURS.
Here you sit, without a pastor, thinking of things in the past and wondering about things to come. But if we be the children of God, it is by God’s grace that we are here—PRESENTLY.
You may have tried to prevent the current state of things. But you sit here realizing it was beyond your power. Yet, presently, if we be the children of God, he is lifting our eyes to behold that nothing is beyond his power. If things present be pleasant, it is because he has made Christ altogether lovely to us. If they be sorrowful, it is to turn us from all else that our joy might be Christ alone. If things present strengthen us it is because Christ is our Strength. If presently we have been made to behold our utter foolishness, it is to make Christ our Wisdom. If things present are health or sickness, it is to bring us to rejoice that Christ is our Life.
As we are PRESENTLY reminded that all things are ours in Christ, we are assured that all things TO COME our ours: our entrance into heavens glory, awaking in the likeness of Christ, beholding his face, embracing him and he us, singing praises to him for all eternity, all things to come are yours.
2 Corinthians 1:20: For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
Psalm 37:25: I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
I Corinthians 3: 21: Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; 22: Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
V. ALL THINGS ARE YOURS BECAUSE OF WHAT PAUL SAYS NEXT
I Corinthians 1: 23: And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.
YE ARE CHRISTS. The believer was the gift from the Father to Christ before time began. Ye are Christ’s bride; ye are Christ’s children; ye are Christ’s sheep; ye are Christ’s portion; ye are Christ’s jewels Ye are Christ’s because he purchased you with his own blood. We are not our own, we are bought with the price of his precious blood. We are his purchased possession.
Christ is our glory, but even more assuring, we are his glory—
Isaiah 43: 7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
Isaiah 46: 13: I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.
He is our inheritance, but most assuring—we are his.
Deuteronomy 32: 9: For the LORD’S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
Romans 8: 35: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36: As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37: Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
AND CHRIST IS GOD’S. This final word is one we need to meditate upon constantly. Paul has been exhorting the brethren not to look upon the temporal, not to see with the carnal eye, not to deal with one another according to the flesh. But rather, if we would truly deal graciously in kindness and love for our brethren, we must be brought by grace to see God’s love for his only begotten Son. Then we see things as they really are: Christ is God’s. What does that mean?
I John 4: 17: Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
Is Christ God’s Son? You see that brother or sister who is temporarily puffed up in the flesh, so is he, so is she. Is Christ justified in the flesh? You see that brother who has offended you by his fleshly conversation, so is he justified by Christ. Is Christ raised to newness of life? When you behold one of his children overtaken in a fault, remember so has he been raised to newness of life. Is Christ accepted? Is Christ eternally secure? So are all those who he has brought into inseparable union with him.
1 Cor. 6:19: Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
I Corinthians 3: 21: Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; 22: Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; 23: And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.