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"Who makes you differ from another?"

Text: 1 Corinthians 4:7

THE DANGER AT HAND

The danger of pride and arrogance is very real. The sin of pride can result in spiritual blindness so that the believer cannot see the danger at hand.

“For who makes you differ from another?
And what do you have that you did not receive?
Now if you did indeed receive it,
why do you boast as if you had not received it?”
1 Corinthians 4:7

1. “For who makes you differ from another”

a) Some people were already thinking that they were better than others.

b) Thus, they felt that they were more distinguished than others.

c) This problem arose from the deadly sin of arrogance.

2. “And what do you have that you did not receive”

a) Before Paul and his fellow-workers came to Corinth, the people did not have faith in the Lord.

b) Through the ministry of Paul and friends, the Lord gave His blessings (1 Corinthians 1:7).

c) But these grace-gifts did not originate from the Corinthians.

d) They merely received them.

e) But the sin of arrogance had caused them to forget that they were but recipients of blessings and gifts from God.

3. “Now if you did indeed receive it”

a) This was an undeniable fact.

b) Had it not been for the ministry of Paul and others, the Corinthian church would not have been so blessed!

4. “Why do you boast as if you had not received it”

a) The Corinthians had not gone into the realm of being boastful.

i) They had not acknowledged that they were but recipients of the grace-gifts.

ii) They behaved as if they had achieved great things all on their own.

b) A boastful spirit

i) This was a wrong spirit.

ii) It came from a spirit of pride and arrogance.

iii) Spiritual blindness had become a great danger to the Church.

iv) This wrong and sinful spirit had to be rebuked and dealt with effectively!