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哥林多前书1：26-31: 26弟兄们哪，可见你们蒙召的，按着肉体有智慧的不多，有能力的不多，有尊贵的也不多。27神却拣选了世上愚拙的，叫有智慧的羞愧；又拣选了世上软弱的，叫那强壮的羞愧。28神也拣选了世上卑贱的，被人厌恶的，以及那无有的，为要废掉那有的，29使一切有血气的，在神面前一个也不能自夸。30但你们得在基督耶稣里是本乎神，神又使他成为我们的智慧、公义、圣洁、救赎。31如经上所记：“夸口的，当指着主夸口。”
在罗马帝国，基督信仰是在奴隶阶层传播的尤其迅速，也就是那些罗马社会中什么都不是的底层民众。但也不完全如此。腓立比的吕底亚是个富有的女性，她是当地教会的重要核心成员。但那些有钱有势有地位的人，他们对福音的回应似乎与那些软弱卑贱的人并不相同。为什么会这样？这是因为他们自以为是了不起的人物；他们为自己的社会地位感到骄傲；他们指着自己夸口。
如果你想成为上帝的孩子，你就该相信自己什么都不是，即使你的财富、地位和教育意味着世人会把你当作是了不起的人物。在上帝面前，我并不比睡在桥洞的流浪汉更好。我也并不比站在街上的妓女更好。如果我真的认为自己“充满了罪”，认为自己不是只被玷污了一点点，而是彻头彻尾地被败坏了，那么我就会单单仰望上帝来寻求救恩，我会指着他夸口。耶稣为我流出宝血，他成为我的公义、圣洁和救赎。
我在尼泊尔遇到一位牧师，他出生在婆罗门种姓和一个僧侣家庭。在印度文化中这已经是最高的社会地位了。他成为基督徒后，他牺牲了自己的地位和特权，成为了最底层的人，因为基督徒在印度人的心目中就是这样的。他是一名了不起的牧师，因为他可以向社会各个阶层的人传福音，使人们因信耶稣而从自己的身份中解脱出来，成为神的孩子。让我们也为此夸口，不是因为我们自己是什么人物，而是因为藉着恩典耶稣宣布我们是属他的人。
祷告：主耶稣，我不会让我在这个世界上的地位来定义我是谁。同样我也不会让我犯下的罪来决定我是谁。因为相信你，我是上帝的孩子。你成为了我的公义、我的圣洁和我的救赎。让我指着这个夸口吧！阿们。
1 Corinthians 1: 26 For example, consider your call, brothers. Not many of you were wise from a human point of view, not many were powerful, and not many were born with high status. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are strong, 28 and God chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things, and the things that are not, to do away with the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before God. 30 But because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us the wisdom from God, namely, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 31 God did this so that, just as it is written, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (EHV)
In the Roman world, Christianity spread quickly especially among the slave population – the “nobodies” in Roman society. But not exclusively. Lydia in Philippi was a wealthy woman, and she was a solid, founding member of the church there. But it seems that the rich and the powerful and the people who had high status did not respond to the gospel like the weak and lowly. Why would that be? Because they thought they were somebody. They were proud of their positions. They made their boast in themselves.
In order to be a child of God, you have to believe that you are nobody, even if your wealth or position or education means that the world would consider you somebody. Before God, I am no better than the homeless man sleeping under the bridge. I am no better than the prostitute on the street corner. If I really believe that I am “full of sin,” not just a little tainted, but stained through and through, then I will always look to God alone for my salvation. I will make my boast in him, that Jesus shed his blood for me, that he became my righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
I met a pastor in Nepal who was born into the Brahman caste and into a priestly family. That’s as high as you can get in that culture. When he became a Christian, he traded his rank and his privilege to become the lowest of the low, because that’s what Christians are to the Hindu people. He is a wonderful pastor, because he can reach out to people in every level of his society with the gospel that set him free from what he was to become a child of God by faith in Jesus. Let this be our boast, not that we are somebody because of who we are, but because Jesus has claimed us to be his own by grace.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I will not let my status in this world define who I am. And I will not let the sins that I have committed determine what I am. I am a child of God by faith in you. You have become my righteousness, my holiness, my redemption. Let this be my boast! Amen.