Mankind is so concerned with their own remembrance that it is sometimes, oftentimes, always, silly. People want their names to go down in history they want their loved ones to be remembered. If we stop and look at this, we can see the lust of the flesh.
Let me give you a recent example.
The Martian helicopter ingenuity sent its final message to Earth the other day. It was a message that mentioned the names of the people who worked on the NASA project. This would inscribe their names in history. The silly part of this is that they sent the message to ingenuity to have it sent back. They sent their names to the helicopter so its last message would contain their names how prideful and fleshly is that? We do the same things with others. An example is sports. We follow our team and we brag about our star player. He is better than your star. Kids say my dad can beat up your dad and my mom is prettier than your mom. Lust of the flesh! Pride of life. We use tombstones to mark a grave as a place of remembrance but in 100 years who goes and visits to remember? Lust of the flesh and the pride of life are sins and Paul dealt with them even in the church. Notice that things are still the same today. 1 Corinthians 3:3-4 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men?
God is the only one we should take pride in, for He is the only one worthy of praise and worship. He alone is righteous and He alone should be honored and remembered. When we give man the importance of God we are lusting after the flesh. This is even so when it is a family member. In our text people were debating over which person who led them to Christ was best and therefore which one of them was best. Paul answered the question of who is best by saying, we and you are mere men! If you want to brag on someone brag on the only one capable of saving mere men. Jesus is God in the flesh. He is the only sinless flesh and the only flesh worthy of Praise. But He is not worthy because of the flesh alone. No, He is worthy because of who the flesh covers which is God Almighty. Jesus is God in the flesh. We must stop focusing on who in the flesh is worthy of praise because no one apart from Christ is. Instead, let's focus on the one who can save the ones who are not worthy.
Remember the ones you lust after for their talent. It was given to them by God. If someone wins the lottery we don't say they are self-made. We don't give them the honor of someone like Sam Walton who started with nothing and ended through a lot of work with the Walmart empire. Yet Sam is not worthy of honor because it is God who gave him the ability to build that empire. We need to realize the words God gave Paul are absolutely true we are all mere men. So let's stop focusing on remembering and glorifying mere men and let's focus on remembering and glorifying God alone. Love Bro. Scott, a mere man!