The Glory Of The Shame

1 Corinthians 1:26-27 

"For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, 

not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the 

foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath 

chosen the weak things of the world to confound 

the things which are mighty;" 

   Paul glories in the fact that, for the most part, the Church was composed of the simplest and the humblest people. We must never think that the early Church was entirely composed of slaves. Even in the New Testament we see that people from the highest ranks of society were becoming Christians.

   Somewhere about the year A.D. 178 Celsus wrote one of the bitterest attacks upon Christianity that was ever written. It was precisely this appeal of Christianity to the common people that he ridiculed. He declared that the Christian point of view was, "Let no cultured person draw near, none wise, none sensible; for all that kind of thing we count evil; but if any man is ignorant, if any is wanting in sense and culture, if any is a fool let him come boldly." Of the Christians he wrote, "We see them in their own houses, wool dressers, cobblers and fullers, the most uneducated and vulgar persons." He said that the Christians were "like a swarm of bats--or ants creeping out of their nests--or frogs holding a symposium round a swamp--or worms in conventicle in a corner of mud." (Ref: DSB). 

   It was precisely this that was the glory of Christianity. In the Empire there were sixty million slaves. In the eyes of the law a slave was a "living tool," a thing, not a person at all. A master could fling out an old slave as he could fling out and old spade shovel or hoe. He could amuse himself by torturing his slaves; he could even kill them. For them there was no such thing as marriage; even their children belonged to the master, as the lambs of the fold belonged not to the sheep but to the shepherd. Christianity made people who were nothing into real men and women, more, into son and daughters of God. It gave those who had no respect, their self-respect. It gave those who had no life, life eternal. It told men who, in the eyes of the world were worthless, that, in the eyes of God they were worth the death of His only Son. My Friends, Christianity was, and still is, the most uplifting thing in the whole universe!  

Amen!

Reading: 1 Cor. 1:26-31

Ref: HG SB:

       Barclay Study Bible

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry