1 Corinthians

August 13, 2014

What “strengthens” the church? Love. This does not discount the importance of knowledge, nor of good doctrine in the church. But it does clarify their priority. Love is superior. Let love guide and motivate the use of knowledge. As Paul said in Eph. 4:15, “Speak the truth in love.” An old cliché suggests, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” Let others know that they are loved, then perhaps they’ll ask about the reason. Knowledge may win arguments, but love wins hearts.

August 12, 2014

Do not allow yourself to become “attached” to temporal, worldly things. Maintain a practice of use. Live the life of the open hand. One hand open to God to receive and one hand open to others to give. Learn to use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. Why let things own you? Live simply and generously. And experience the joy of setting your heart on eternal things.

August 10, 2014

When Paul wrote this to the Corinthians he was primarily addressing the problem of sexual sin that was so prevalent in their culture. Believers were to live differently than the culture around them. This was not a call to an outward asceticism, but a reminder of an identity change. They were no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to Christ. Their bodies were purchased by His blood and had become God’s holy temple where His Spirit dwelled. This word is as relevant today as it was then. We are no longer to be identified by our sexual orientation or sinful enslavement, for we have been bought out from under sin’s mastery. We have a new Master and a new identity in Christ.

August 8, 2014

Paul rebuked the Corinthians who claimed to be followers of Paul or Apollos. He was not interested in the approval of men. His desire was to be found faithful by the Lord Jesus. He saw no value nor credibility in the evaluation of others or even his own self-evaluation. He recommended that we all wait until the Lord’s return to see what secret motives would be revealed and what praise offered. In the meantime, stop comparing one brother or sister with another. After all, anything good comes from God. And in the end, Christ deserves all the praise.

August 7, 2014

The Church is the people, not the steeple. And the One who holds them together and makes them one is the Holy Spirit of God. Remembering this, we work to build up people rather than places or programs. God’s strategy for the Kingdom is making disciples.

August 7, 2014

Paul uses a farming analogy to compare witnessing with planting. The one who sows and waters is the witness and the seed is the gospel. Yet, the seed comes from God and only He can make it grow. This removes both the pressure of success and the temptation to take credit. As the late Bill Bright used to say, “Success in witnessing is simply taking the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God.”

August 5, 2014

It is God’s plan that the “message of the cross” should enliven human hearts, yet it is also that which certifies that others are already dead. We often try human wisdom to reason and persuade, but it is the gospel alone that saves. And it is the gospel that reveals others to be lost. Only the message of the cross has the power to show we are already dead in our sins before making us alive in Christ. This message is a stumbling block to some and foolishness to others, but to us who believe it is the very power of God.