1Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2to the assembly of God which is at Corinth—those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours: 3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4I always thank my God concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, 5that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge— 6even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you— 7so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those who are from Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. 12Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” and, “I follow Christ.” 13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul? 14I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15so that no one should say that I had baptized you into my own name. 16(I also baptized the household of Stephanas; besides them, I don’t know whether I baptized any other.) 17For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ wouldn’t be made void. 18For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”
20Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe. 22For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God; 25because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble; 27but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong. 28God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that don’t exist, that he might bring to nothing the things that exist, 29that no flesh should boast before God. 30Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31that, as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”
The Making of Cults
THE MAKING OF CULTS
11 For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those who are from Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now I mean this, that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," "I follow Apollos," "I follow Cephas," and, "I follow Christ."
We, humans, have built within us the need for worship. We want to find something smarter, wiser, and stronger than ourselves upon which we can depend. People find this when they come to Jesus and receive Him as their Savior. All that we need can be found in Him. We then depend on good, solid teachers to rightly divide the word for us and to help make the Bible relevant in our lives. We can appreciate sound teachers that we might love to hear, but be careful about becoming a "follower" of any of them. If one is not careful, it is easy to displace Jesus and the guidance of the Holy Spirit with a friend, a pastor, or a teacher. As Paul shared the gospel, the people who had converted to Christianity began to brag about the teacher who had brought them to Christ. It is essential that we don't place too much importance on any one Bible teacher.
When I was a child, I attended a church with a dynamic Bible-teaching pastor. People came to church with tape recorders to record every teaching that this man gave. In time, as people would move to another city or state, they would take their recordings with them. I spoke with some of them, and when I asked them where they were going to church, they would answer, "We've just not been able to find anyone who teaches the Word like _____________________ (name purposely deleted)." They never found a group with whom they could break bread, enjoy fellowship, sing songs, or enjoy fresh looks at the 'Apostles' teachings'" (See Acts 2:42). Unintentionally, they had become a 'cult' fixated on one man and his teaching. Years later I heard a well-known theologian refer to my old church as "the most orthodox cult in the United States." Cults are dangerous for many reasons. But most of all, they are dangerous because they are not biblical.
In 1978, during my second year of graduate school, the news reported that a young, charismatic preacher named Jim Jones, pastor of the Peoples Temple in Indianapolis, Indiana, had taken approximately 900 of his followers and established a commune in Guyana, South America. He filled their minds with fear and inculcated an "us against them" mentality in the commune. His gospel message became filled with Marxist and socialist ideology. He replaced scripture teaching with doctrines of social reform and racial equality. The atmosphere became so fearful and anxiety-filled that he arranged one day for the entire group to get together for a special meeting. He convinced them that the only “way out” was for them to all drink Flavor-aid mixed with cyanide poison. When the "service" was over, 900 people had taken their lives in one of the largest mass suicides in human history. Thus, the term "drinking the Kool-Aid" became used in the English language to refer to a person being duped by a charlatan leader to do something against their own interest. Remember that thing that Jesus said, "The enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but I come so that you will have life and life abundant. (John 10:10) THERE ARE MANY WONDERFUL BIBLE TEACHERS. DON'T FIXATE ON ONE. DON'T FOLLOW A PERSON. FOLLOW JESUS. DON'T DRINK THE KOOL-AID. Don't "follow Paul, Apollos, or Cephas". Follow Jesus and Him alone.