The WOFOYO Podcast

Puffed Up Part Two: Ego Vs. Love In Corinth

• C-Dub and Bones • Season 6 • Episode 265

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Pride wears church clothes well. We dig into 1 Corinthians to expose how labels, worship wars, and “I’m right” theology fracture a body meant to move as one. Instead of doubling down on preferences, Paul points us back to a rugged center: Christ and Him crucified. That is where power displaces performance, unity replaces ego, and gifts finally serve the whole house instead of a single voice.

Across the conversation, we name the symptoms—denominational boasting, courtroom battles between believers, moral compromise, and the quiet impatience that even ruins communion. Then we map Paul’s remedies. Love orders the gifts. Knowledge yields to conscience for the sake of the weak. Rights are laid down to widen reach. The Old Testament becomes our cautionary field guide against idolatry and grumbling. And in gathered worship, clarity and order make space for genuine edification rather than spiritual showmanship.

We weave in gritty lessons from the army and corrections training to make it tangible: the goal is not to finish first but to finish together. That team-first mindset mirrors the church’s calling—square yourself away, then lift the person to your left and right. You may not overhaul your entire congregation in a week, but you can change your sphere of influence today. Start with honest self-examination: where does the “I, me, my” creep into your worship, your speech, or your service? Recenter on Jesus, practice patience at the table, and choose love when being right would be easier. 

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Setting The Scene In Corinth

SPEAKER_00

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the Woe Fo Yo podcast. In our last episode, we were talking about Paul's letter to the Corinthians, the first letter, the parenting, if you will, spiritual parenting, where he's setting things straight. And we we've referenced all these problems in the first Corinthian church, and how it's a parallel of what you see a lot going on in the modern Western church, which, to be fair, I believe the Lord is bringing that back into alignment. So we we talked about how what it all flowed out of was they had become prosperous, they had become comfortable, and that led to an inflated ego. Uh the new King James used the term puffed up. Bone, you said the NIV was using the term arrogant, arrogant, which was also in the footnotes of the new king that I was reading out of. But let's talk about some of the symptoms of that problem and how they exhibit themselves. And again, the reason we're doing that is because if you are out there, man, you you're faithfully attending church and but but something's not right, but maybe these are some things to pray about if you're exhibiting these symptoms. Maybe it's something you need to pray about concerning you first and foremost. Right. Okay, because you can treat the symptoms or you can treat the cause. It's always better to treat the cause. So over in First Corinthians chapter one, what what he references is uh under the highlight here of the of that little portion, it says sectarianism is sin. And he's saying, Well, y'all are saying I'm this, I'm that. Uh, you know, uh I I belong to Paul. I'm I'm of Apollo. So I'm seeing and you want to be special, you want to be different. But what that looks like, well, I'm a good Baptist, I'm a good Methodist, I'm well, I'm a Pentecostal, well, I'm a Catholic brother with the original church, and then the Greek Orthodox are going, oh, really?

SPEAKER_01

Uh a little point of division, but it's only funny if you know your history.

SPEAKER_00

So this divisions that are out there. We mentioned all the different denominations before several times, and it's just well, it's atrocious. It means people can't get along. And what it really is is I have to be different, and here's how I'm different. Yeah, that's what it is. It's a puff-up ego and it's a lack of love.

SPEAKER_03

It's really no different than the root cause of it, is no different than the reason someone wants you to uh use the pronoun and call them they and theirs.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03

Because look at me, I'm different.

SPEAKER_00

I'm living in my fantasy, and you have to play in my fantasy too. Exactly, exactly. Or else you're mean.

SPEAKER_03

So so that's what's going on here is that um I'm different than you, and I want you to acknowledge it. And so here's here's my label. And my label is is Baptist, Southern Baptist. So my label is United Methodist, my so on and so forth.

SPEAKER_00

We're non-denominational, brother. We're above all that.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, which is a denomination unto itself.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Talk about ego. Yeah, you you can see that a lot of us would be tempted. And if your pastor was soul, she would go, Well, I appreciate the compliment, but Paul doesn't Paul says, I wasn't crucified for you.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. Don't throw my name around. Yeah, it's Christ and Christ alone. Right. That's love.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Everything else is your ego. Well, I like this style of worship and I like that style of worship, and I just did this, and I did that. Well, I you know, I just it's the old hymns, brother. It's the old hymns. And I don't see how you do that. It it's uh you know, you know, it has to be contemporary. If it if something about that that beat is just so anointed, yeah and all the all the stupid stuff you hear, and and and do I have my preferences with praise and worship? I actually do. And most of y'all wouldn't get down with it because it's certainly usually it my my preference in praise and worship, play some Bach.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

For for me.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But that don't mean nothing. No. I mean it means something to me, but it it definitely ain't gotta mean the same thing to you.

SPEAKER_03

But we don't have to fight over it. Doggone right. And that's how you know it's the enemy.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Uh when when the enemy gets you to fighting over uh, you know, music genre, then you've done taking your mind and your focus and your eyes off Jesus. Uh, you know, Paul says, you know, keep your keep your eyes on Christ. Um and when we start focused on things like genre and worship style and experience and all that stuff, we're no, we don't, we're no longer focused on him. Uh we've done because now we're now all we're focused on is getting that uh that uh that that soulish uh hit, if you would. We're trying to wear out that uh that uh that particular gland in our brain that uh dumps that uh uh that particular uh hormone that makes us feel good and everything.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, a little dopamine hit.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that dopamine hit. We'll wear that thing out. Oh man. Uh in search of that what that dopamine hit. But now you gotta you gotta keep your eyes, keep your eyes on Christ, keep your eyes on Christ.

SPEAKER_00

Well, let's talk about it just as the same thing that happens with praise and worship. Preaching styles, exact same thing. It ain't no different, man. No different at all. And what I like is by the time you get to chapter two, but one of the other things that that Paul gets in is as far as the divisions and stuff, he's saying, You're you're you're boasting about your own wisdom. He said, I don't want to know nothing but Christ crucified that I might know his power. He said, So we're not we're not trying to do like the Greeks. We're not trying to do logic and reasoning and all this stuff. He said, I determined to know not anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He said, I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling. My speech and preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but to demonstrate of the spirit and of power that your fa should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

SPEAKER_03

He tries to entice us a little bit here, too, I think. Uh he talks about none of the rulers of this age understood it, but if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written, no eye has seen, nor ear heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed it to us by his spirit. He's trying to tell us that all these things that have never been revealed to us before are all available to us now in the spirit. Not in the soul, not in the soulish thing, only in the spirit.

SPEAKER_00

Yep. Now let me tell you another thing. When you get into three, he's doubling down on the divisions, chapter three. And here's another theme that really well, I ain't gonna lie. Given what our message is, get in the word for yourself. Yeah, it it challenges me because I want to make sure that I'm not wrong and I'm not egotistical. I know I have an ego. I'm just C dub Christopher Warenberg has an ego in certain things, and I gotta keep that in check. At the same time, you got to be able to have a little bit of confidence in your ability to perform in certain areas to do things properly. But where the power of the Holy Spirit really comes in is to be able to do that without gloating and to be able to function but not brag on yourself.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. The line between arrogance and confidence is very, very thin.

Confidence, Ego, And The Wilderness

SPEAKER_00

So what happens though, you know, we talk about the wilderness a lot, and that's you getting alone with God. It's not exclusively for you to get along with God, it's for you to be empowered to do what he has called you to do. Right. So as I'm reading this this week, you know, that this is a bunch of self-examination right here. But one of the things that Paul continually does in this letter is you see that there's an improper focus on individualism here in the Corinthian church. Uh, it's it's that pride and that ego that that we're well, every member's kind of going, well, I'm doing that. This is my gifting. This is this is about me and my and I remember there was a uh lady that went to our church, and then she's also friends with several of the same people that you know that that I still help out with ministry wherever I can and and just maintain good relationship with. And whenever there's a testimony, I won't say their, I won't say their name, but they'll go. And Jesus just talked to me and he said, Well, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's and and Jesus that he was telling me, and he was telling me, blah, blah, blah, it was all about their conversation. You know what I mean? It was there, there's a lot of me in that testimony. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And uh it almost makes a person sound uber spiritual. Oh, very much so. Oh, yeah. And maybe a person don't even mean to be.

SPEAKER_00

And I think I I really don't think they are. Yeah. Actually, so I'm so another reason I'm not mentioning mentioning a name. I don't want to embarrass anybody. But you go, tell me you were raised to be a little self-centered without telling me you were raised to be a little bit self-centered.

SPEAKER_01

Man, that stuff's hard to know. Oh man. Mommy and daddy told me I was special.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. By the way, I think every able-bodied person, every able-minded person right out of high school, should have to go in the military for two years. Uh also for that reason to find out that you're not that special. And find out that you have to work with people that are not like you. And you find out that there's things that you have in common. Oh, yeah. And well, one of the things Paul mentions here, like in uh the third chapter, he's like, Look, uh, I preached here, Apollos preached there. It's God giving the increase on all these things. He said, Don't think it's you. Don't think it's I get the glory because of this, and I get the glory. He said, and later on, he said, I'm I'm applying these things figuratively to me and Apollos. But he said, it's it's God doing the work. Be thankful He's doing the work through you, but realize who's actually doing the work and who's actually giving the increase. But you will see this self-centeredness, this ego, you're going to see it creep in all throughout this letter.

SPEAKER_03

There's no greater equalizer than the community latrine.

SPEAKER_00

Oh man.

SPEAKER_03

In the army. There's when you when you take showers with people and and use the bathroom with people, yeah. You you become you well, you equalize very, very quickly. Um all your aspirations and everything are cast to the side because yeah, you you see everyone in the same light. Um but yeah, Paul's just trying to simply say that man, I really ain't no different than you folks.

Team Before Self: Lessons From Service

SPEAKER_00

I I remember one of the uh things that I learned. And you go, oh because in the army, as General Patton said, the army is a team. All the people that wrote that stuff about individualism for the Saturday Evening Post don't know any more about real war than they do about fornicating. But I remember hey, we're going we are going to the the keyword was we are going to finish this. And it was a little little obstacle course, not much of one, but it was to teach the lesson. And said Platoon, we're going to finish this. Uh we had some studs, and man, they finished. And I was in the top third. Might have been a little bit more than that by the time this kicked off.

SPEAKER_01

And um Platoon, we did not finish.

SPEAKER_00

Some people finished early. We did not finish, we did not help each other out. We left our fellow soldier behind. And we don't do that. So get down, little smoke session. Now, and it's it took more than once because some people are so ingrained that I'm special.

SPEAKER_03

Most people didn't get the fact that the obstacle course had nothing to do with how fast you got through it. It had everything to do with um how you were going to help the person beside you get through it. That was that was the big thing. It was it was a team. Yeah. And we we had the same experiences um going through the obstacle course, because you had you had the stud muffins that sprint through it and because they were just naturally gifted, they were really good at what they did. Uh, and they would get through it and they would be kicked back waiting for everyone else to get through, and then of course we all got smoked uh at the end because we didn't finish as a team. But you know, that's really the the church really is no different uh in that we're all gifted differently. Uh we all have our our different positions in the body, whether you're the hand or the foot or the eye or the whatever you are, as the apostle Paul starts, you know, as he references and everything. Um but we all work for for the same common good. We're all trying to accomplish the same mission. And if we don't help each other or complement each other, uh complete each other, then we're all just we're all acting on our own, and we will never accomplish the mission if we try to do it by ourselves.

Surrendered Authority And Lawsuits

SPEAKER_00

We did a similar drill in corrections training, which I know you experienced it too, because we were there what three weeks apart. And man, you're going out for one of them early morning runs, and then somebody got the bright idea to sprint to the gym. And well, now it's a race. And we got there, and there was a lesson behind this, and I've been, I just reached 25 years of doing this, and I have not forgot the lesson. And then they smoked you for an extra 30 minutes once you got there. Because if you have an emergency go off in a penal institution, that can be bad. That can be real bad. I've seen it be real bad. But the prop the thing is, you you don't want the the goal isn't for you to get there as fast as you can, the goal is to get there and help whoever's in trouble and get control of the situation. And if especially if it's one of ours that that's having to fight for their lives, the goal is to be there in enough numbers to help them. You're not the first guy, and next thing you know, you're another casualty because it was all a setup. And they smoked us for 30 minutes after doing that. And you know what? There's some times it's been easier than others, but whenever we got to go somewhere and respond to something, I remember that lesson. There's always enough in the tank to handle whatever we need to handle once we get there. You ain't trying to show that, hey, I I got there faster and everything. No, no, no, no, no. We need to get there quickly, don't get me wrong. But we get there as a group with numbers.

SPEAKER_03

But the cool thing about those lessons, though, is those are the lessons that stick.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Like I said, 25 years and it ain't left.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Those are the lessons that stick. And and I gotta think that as we're reading this stuff here in you know, 1 Corinthians, um, it's stuck. Well, the evidence that it's stuck is 2 Corinthians. Amen. Uh so yeah, even as as we make our mistakes, we do our stupid stuff, our arrogance gets in the way, and all these things, and God has to correct us and and and all these things, and we suffer our embarrassments, uh, and everyone gets to see our hypocrisies and everything. Um there's a reason for it. There's a reason why God allows it. God already knew that we were going gonna go through it before it even happened. Um, there is uh there's a purpose for it on the other side. That that purpose on the other side is for us to be better than what we went through in the first place. Yeah. So yeah, these these lessons of experience, they're they're great because, well, they stick.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Chapter four. Paul talks about one of the other reasons and knows everybody's puffed up, is because they're bringing each other to court. They're suing each other. Uh they're claiming they love each other, but now they're suing each other in a court. They can't work it out, they can't put their egos aside to work it out themselves and find out what's best for all parties involved. Nobody in the church is willing to touch it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, they're going to the government. Yep. Ego.

SPEAKER_03

And he tells them, you're going to the very people that you're supposed to be judging.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. To let judge you. Can't can't anybody in the body judge? Yeah. Yeah. So you you have you have that. So if there's a bunch of legalism, a bunch of uh disputing, if if you have people that are going to the same church that are suing each other outside, what what what's that saying?

SPEAKER_03

This was chapter six. I I had labeled this one surrender of authority. We're surrendering authority. Not just, and it's not just in the courts. The the courts happen to be, you know, happen to be the example, uh, the asymptom. Um, but they're the the greater problem was the surrender of authority.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Uh is what we're doing.

SPEAKER_00

When he concludes chapter four, he's talking about the prosperity. You think you're rich, you think you've got all this, you think you have God's seal of approval because of all these comforts and blessings. Yeah. Be careful that those don't become your snares.

unknown

Yeah.

Sanctification And Sexual Morality

SPEAKER_00

And then he goes into, so what is this? What does this do? Chapter five goes into discussing the sexual immorality issue that was going on there. And he's saying, look, if you keep tolerating this, it's going to affect everything. And I like what he has to say here in verse nine, because he's making that distinction between the church and the world. Uh, I wrote you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people, yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous or extortioners or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world because you're going to have to deal with all this stuff out there. But now I've written you to not keep company with anyone named a brother who is sexually immoral or covetous or an idolater or reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not to even eat with such a person. For for what do I have to do with judging those who are outside? Do not you judge those who are inside, but those who are outside, God judges. Therefore, put away from yourself the evil person.

SPEAKER_03

So he's talking about sanctification. Yeah. Let's talk about sanctification. So uh he's talking about sanctification, uh, the surrender of authority. And if you surrendered your authority in the in the in the in the natural world, then you've probably surrendered your authority in the spiritual realm as well.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's exactly what he's talking about in chapter six. Exactly. He was talking about you're boasting about what you're eating or what you're not eating. And he said, look, if your conscience ain't bothering you, that's fine. But you need to be considerate, especially in a group gathering where you're gathering together as a body, that you're being mindful of how what you do affects everybody.

unknown

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_03

I see teaching here on you know having self-control. Because that's really what the the sexual immorality was about, is lacking self-control, uh, which is exactly what that is, and and how that plays out. Um so yeah, if if we lack self-control, we're gonna surrender our authority. And if we don't have the authority here on earth, we're not gonna have the authority here in here in the heavens either. Yeah. Um so one plays out in the other.

Contentment, Marriage, And Calling

SPEAKER_00

He talks about some things that they're going to encounter with the law, and he's saying that make your marriages work. I I know this is and speaking as somebody who's been divorced, you know, I'm not I'm not the expert on this. I know what I tried to do right, I know what worked, I know what didn't work, and so I can't speak as some super authority on this in all transparency. Uh but he's saying, don't get divorced. Well, don't do the one thing that also that Jesus said that you could get divorced by two. Right. You know, there's that. Uh, but he he gives advice. That there's some of this, Paul's just giving advice. He said, and a lot of it was was simply this. If you want to sum up uh uh chapter seven, was you have to learn to be content in God. If if if it's all about you, then you end up becoming discontent and you end up trying to do things, and that ends up basically sabotaging your present. It's like the old Star Wars thing with oh Yodis. Uh, this the I watched this a long time. Have I watched this one? Eyes always on the future, never mindful of where he was.

unknown

Yep.

SPEAKER_00

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

And chapter seven is talking about um you know your relation to others and relationship with others. It begins with God. Yeah. Uh and you'll you'll see the breakdown in those relationships uh are a pretty good indicator of the breakdown in relationship with God. Yeah. So if you're if and of course Paul starts going through, you know, and talking about uh, you know, you know, how your relationship should be. If you know, if you're if you're married, stay married. If you're if you're a believer married to an unbeliever, then stay married unless you know the unbeliever walks away. Uh all these things. And all that stuff is I hate to say it's white noise, but it it's it's symptom. It's symptom. Uh because really what what the what the big picture is here is that um your relationships here in the physical world will be a good indicator of your relationship with God. If your relationships with others, not just your wife, but with friends and family too, if they're poor or they're lacking, it may be a good indicator of how your relationship with God is. Amen. But then he but then he focuses on, he talks about, but I think when he says um the believer yoked with the unbeliever, you know, that's okay, unless the unbeliever walks away, then let him go. I think in that part he's talking about, but sometimes you can have a good relationship with God, and your relationships with others are going to fail too.

Knowledge That Loves Or Wounds

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, because their relationship isn't there.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. You know, in chapter eight, he talks about uh eating of things, you know, dedicated to idols and all. He said, Some of you all know that a lot of what's going on is a bunch of mumbo jumbo, whatever, what other people, you know, believe. And and he said, but you gotta realize not everybody's there. Right. So stop using your theological prowess to justify what you're eating. He said, if you're going to eat something and somebody, oh, this was a sacrifice. He said, if you know it ain't that that it don't mean nothing, that that idol had no power or anything like that. He said, keep it to yourself, eat it to yourself, but don't be bragging about it, don't be making others stumble because they're not there yet. Yeah, it really is about boasting of how theologically sound I am, and I'm able to do this and I'm able to do that. He said, but you're causing your brother to stumble. Now, once you get into chapter nine, Paul talks about this. He said, I could have done all that, but I didn't. He said, I I got a right to do it, don't get me wrong. He said, but it's not beneficial in serving as many people as I can for Christ. He said, Me boasting in that is going to limit me being able to reach people for Jesus Christ and build that kingdom.

Old Testament As Our Examples

SPEAKER_03

And this is where this is where the idea of being right and being kind uh comes in. Um sometimes, yeah, you you're you're right. You have the right to do stuff, but out of kindness, you you you back away from it because in doing so others are gonna you know are gonna be caused to stumble. And and that's wisdom. It takes wisdom to to see that. Um because what is it uh what's it to you if uh you abstain from something so that uh another person uh isn't caused to stumble. That's that's no big that's no big feat. That's no big deal.

SPEAKER_00

It's easy. Well one of the things I like about chapter 10, he starts referencing old testament. Imagine that. Man, these are Corinthians, these are people from Corinth, and he's referencing the Old Testament, he's referencing the Torah. And what is he saying? These things became our examples. How about that? So that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. That was 10.6. Don't become idolaters, as some of them were written, nor let us tempt Christ, verse 9, nor complain, verse 10. And all these folks get destroyed, verse 11. All these things happen to them as examples were written for our own admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. So he's saying, Take heed. You think you're better than what happened there? So we have all these Old Testament examples for what we're to do now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

History has shown it it it don't work.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and and he's saying, Whatever you do, if you're doing it for God's glory, you're gonna come out all right. Right. But you gotta be of the same mindset that it's not just about what you're doing for God, it's about what we are doing for God. So in what you're doing for God, don't make your brother stumble. Realize that they're doing, whether they are abstaining or whether they're eating, or whether no matter what they're doing, they're doing it for the glory of God. Then he comes into the controversial head covering things in verse 11 or chapter 11. And then he sums it up like, well, we don't really have a custom, but since you're getting there, that's a whole Book of Enoch conversation right there. We're gonna we're gonna bypass it.

Head Coverings, Order, And Heart

SPEAKER_03

Well, once again, this is this is symptom. He's he's addressing some specific examples, um, but it's symptomatic of a larger problem in that uh you have folks who are simply uh bragging about their worship and how my worship is better because you know I do it this way and and you do it that way. And but he's just trying to show that uh look, um you know, we we worship the Lord, and and as long as you're worshiping the Lord, then we you know we should be good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, here here's another thing that goes with that is that he references just simply men be men, yeah, women be women. Yeah, oh imagine that. Yeah. So then he goes into chapter 11, one of the other things that just jumped out, like pure selfishness. He was talking about whenever that they're getting together to eat, you have people just jumping in and grabbing, they're not waiting for everybody to show up. So they can do it together. Again, that that's selfishness. And and a lot of people that you know that they will make doctrine out of, you know, because he gets into the he starts talking about communion, he starts talking about the Lord's Supper. But it says, Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. And he talks about people that are eating and drinking condemnation unto themselves. And so we make this say, make sure you examine yourself before you take of this holy rite of the body and the blood of Jesus Christ, that you have no sin in your heart. And and don't get me wrong, not that that's a bad thing. But what he's saying is, be looking out for each other, make sure you're operating in love. Right. He's talking about, he said, so there's a there's a spiritual benefit, but if you're just so greedy to eat, gluttony, and you're so impatient that you just got to get into it for yourself, and you can't wait for your fellow believers to join you. Yeah, he said, you're you're eating and drinking unworthily unworthily because it's all about you, and you can't consider others. And rather than get the revelation of all the power that is present in partaking of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, there's a fellowship here. You're missing out on it. It is called communion, that's which is fellowship. Fellowship is together, um, is communing with each other, and in doing so, you're communing with the Lord.

Communion, Fellowship, And Patience

SPEAKER_03

Tell you what I think is a pretty awesome example of this. When I was a kid, Paul, my stepdad, put a stop to some things that was going on at the dinner table. Um, because we ate dinner pretty much about six o'clock every night. Um Paul wanted dinner at six o'clock, that way he knew uh when to start shutting things down, you know, in the field or whatnot. But anyway, um he noticed that as kids, we were in there sitting down at six o'clock. Mom was setting food on the table, we were eating as she was setting food on the table, and by the time she set the food on the table and she sat down to eat, we were done and getting up. And at some point in time, uh Paul had finally had enough of it, and so he he made he he made a rule. Which he didn't have a whole lot of rules, but he did. He made a rule on this one. Said um no one came to the kitchen table until mom said, until mom called us to the table, which she usually didn't do until she got the table set. So that was a new thing for us. She would call us to the table, then we could all sit down. Um, we passed everything around the table. Everything, everybody got to get whatever it was, if it was cheeseburgers, french fries, whatever it was, everything went around the table and you got to fill your plate. And then, of course, we said grace, and then no one ate until mom said begin. Um but that is really kind of a picture of what's going on here. Absolutely. Is that there were folks who were just so anxious that they couldn't wait for anybody, and they were done and gone before everyone else had a chance to eat. And uh when I first read this and was going over this, I said, Man, this sounds familiar. You know, this is exactly what we were doing in our own house. And it really has nothing to do with uh, you know, communion as we are taught it in in church and stuff like that. Because really what we see, the communion that we see in church is really not communion, uh, but it is the Passover, uh the the Cedar, yes, uh, and so on. However, um But I like what what Paul's doing. He's saying, hey, you all need to enjoy each other because once once my stepdad did once Paul did that, um then supper became more enjoyable. We started learning more about what was going on in each other's day, and so on and so forth, and and and whatnot. And I appreciate that a lot now as a as a grown adult and having my own kids and and things of that sort. So I I I get it, I see what Paul's doing here.

Gifts, Order, And The Way Of Love

SPEAKER_00

Over in chapter 12, he talks about the diversities of the gifts, which like again, I've seen more doctrinal fighting about that. But but what happens is one of the me, me, me, is everybody gets so wrapped up in their own gift that they fail to acknowledge the dependence of others' gifts and how it's all supposed to be working together. And that man, that's easy to do. And he's also saying, you don't say that we don't need this other person's gift. Oh, yeah. And he really gets in with this uh later on in chapter um chapter 13. Man, he starts breaking down tongues and prophecy, 13 and 14. But he especially in 13, he said it don't matter what you do if you ain't operating out of love, it's bogus anyway. He said that's the best thing. You're not gonna fail if you're operating out of love. But he talks about he he kind of sets in a hierarchy of of what's important, however, as far as giftings, but the underlying factor is what is benefit. He said, There's some giftings that are going to benefit you. And that's what they're he said, those are great. He said, but what is greater is what's benefiting everybody. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, what's what's building up the house?

SPEAKER_00

And later on, when you get to the bottom of chapter 14, you know, uh, verse 26, he's saying, you mean everybody has a word? Everybody has to speak in the service, everybody has something to say. He said, No, there have there's an order to things.

SPEAKER_03

We're gonna burn the beans if we wait for everybody to talk.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So he he's saying, everybody, if it if it's of the Lord, then let it be of the Lord, but it not not for our own egos, which is what was going on. Right. He finishes this out with, you know, says, Hey, I'm gonna be joining you and stuff, but he just focuses it out. He said, make sure your focus is on Christ. And he just establishes some basic Christian doctrine right here of here's what Christ did, here's what he did for us. I've seen him in person. He's revealed this, and the fact that I'm even being used in this manner is miraculous because I'm the least of them all. I might have labored more abundantly. He said, but I'm uh last of all, he said, I'm most unworthy because I persecuted the church of God. Yeah. But but he's saying, keep your focus on Christ, keep your focus on the love of Christ, and you're not have to worry about all these things. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

That's really what it comes down to, yeah. Is keeping your focus on him. Um if you don't, you're gonna focus on yourself, and yeah, it'll become evident in the I, me's and my's in your conversation.

Focus On Christ And Personal Revival

SPEAKER_00

So uh just to sum up on all this, you know, I know we went kind of down an exhaustive list of things, uh, even though we really skimmed over, we could we could be in 1 Corinthians for a long time. A month. Yeah. Uh, but just ask yourself this as you go over and maybe write some notes down, or you listen to this over again, just ask yourself, am I seeing these symptoms in me? Am I seeing these symptoms in my family? Am I seeing these symptoms in the body that I attend? You know, am I seeing these things? And Lord, what where am I falling short? Right. Uh where where where am I not trusting you? Where am I failing in my love for you and in showing your love toward my fellow believers? And if you're able to get the answer to those things, you will be surprised how quickly everything works out.

SPEAKER_03

Oh yeah. You you may not be able to change the way your congregation or your body, uh, your body at church does things. Um, but you do have your own sphere of influence. And if you can if you can have an impact or if you can have an effect on your own sphere of influence, um, it will impact someone else's sphere of influence. Um, and that's that's really what it comes down to. In the military, um we always focused on squaring ourselves away first. And then once you were squared away, you turn to your left and right and help somebody else out, and so on and so forth. There's kind of this great pyramid kind of thing. Um, and that's kind of the way I feel sometimes in the body. Um, we'll get that thing upside down sometimes, and that we feel like we want to change the body of Christ first and forget about our own sphere of influence. Um, but if we'll just focus on ourselves and our family uh and and our own sphere of influence, uh we'll impact the person to our left and right. We will. We just got to have the faith that uh the that the spirit will work through us and do that for us.

Practical Next Steps And Farewell

SPEAKER_00

Oh yeah. Yeah, it reminds me, you know, I remember uh my pastor over in Colorado used to quote Smith Smith Wigglesworth, and very unique, very unique believer, very unique leader. British guy had all these miracles that were attested, you know, uh that the Lord did through him. But he said, whenever it all becomes too much, I'm paraphrasing a little bit, he said, and the weight of the world is on my shoulders. He says, I go into my prayer closet and I pray for an hour, and then I come out and said, the world might not be different, but I'm different. Amen. Hey everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you and causes you to grow. You can always check us out at wofolio downdoor, find out how to contact us there, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Audible, or even check us out on YouTube. Remember, folks, if you're going to grow, you got a beaufolio. Get in the word for yourself.