Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other. For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

--Parallel verses:
I Chronicles‬ ‭16‬:‭28‬-‭31‬
Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”

In our parallel verses today, we read a portion of the prescribed worship given by King David to the Levites who were to care for the Ark of the Lord being brought back into Jerusalem. King David’s predecessor, King Saul, had done evil in the sight of the Lord and left the Ark of the Covenant (which back then represented the dwelling place of God) with Balah of Judah in Kiriath Jearim.

So David assembled the nation of Israel to go transport the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem. It was tough to transport, because if you touched it, you would die. This is because the Ark was the dwelling Place of a Holy God. And in fact, one man did die, when he tried to keep the Ark from falling.

But when they finally brought the Ark to Jerusalem, David told the Levites to praise God. This section of that song talks about giving to God the glory due his name. To praise him for all the ways he has blessed us. And to be humble, as servants, in his presence.

We are to tremble before him, as one who is mighty and deserving of all of our praise and glory. This flies in the face of how the Corinthians took pride in the branch of Christianity that they followed, whether Paul or Apollos. The self-righteous pride is not godly, but it is a human fabrication of the gospel of Jesus.

Jesus came to tell us that there was nothing we could do to earn our salvation or become worthy in God‘s sight. We are sinners in need of a savior. And so we have no reason to be proud of our own status without God. Instead, we ought to be humble and recognize that he has been gracious to us and given us a great gift in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins. And our natural response to this should be to worship him and serve him with all of our heart and all of our mind and all of our soul.

So let us go forth today with an attitude of humility and service to the great God we serve. He has given us so much! And he is worthy, oh so worthy!

Lord, thank you for this reminder that we cannot take pride in our branch of Christianity that we follow. We can only give glory to the one that we follow — Jesus Christ! Take my heart and make it pliable in your hands, humble to hear your voice, and flexible to set aside my own schedule to serve you.