Year 5, Day 90: 2 Corinthians 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Relational Capital, Spiritual Capital

• Relational Capital: Relational capital is that which we have between one another.  This capital is secondary only to spiritual capital.  It is a capital that binds people together and allows us to help one another out.  It is our relational capital that drives community.
• Spiritual Capital: Spiritual capital is capital that we have spiritually.  This is a capital that binds people together in Christ.  This is the capital that binds us to God.  This is the capital that allows us to delve into one another’s lives at a truly deep level: probing who we are and what God has called us to do.

As we talk about 2 Corinthians 7, I can’t help but see the relational and spiritual capital that Paul has built this conversation around.  Do you hear Paul’s words?  He worried after he sent the last letter to them.  He worried that it would drive them away from him.  He worried that it would push them away from God.  I don’t know a single person that when they are in a situation of giving advice or correction doesn’t worry about these kinds of things.

This is why it is so important to understand where our spiritual capital resides.  I cannot give solid but challenging spiritual advice where I do not have spiritual capital.  I cannot give personal advice where I do not have relational capital to give.  When I try to give spiritual or communal advice in places where I do not have relational and spiritual capital, I end up sounding like a noisy clanging gong.  I end up offending more than anything else.

However, Paul has built his relationship up with the Corinthians.  They see the spiritual capital at play in their lives.  Because of this, Paul can give them challenging words and they can respond positively.  They can be drawn closer to God through the challenge that Paul can give because of his relational and spiritual capital.  This is the place we all should strive to be in our lives.  We should all want people in our lives to whom we can speak and who can speak likewise speak into our life.

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Year 5, Day 89: 2 Corinthians 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Challenge, Invitation

• Invitation: God is always inviting us into relationship with Him. He desires that we know Him and that we know His desire for us.
• Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are.  He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.

In this chapter Paul continues to lift up the banners of invitation and challenge.  He gives us a pretty good list of what we can expect when we embrace Christ more than we embrace the world.  He should know.  Paul knew the extremes of the joy in Christ and the rejection of the world.

Yet, look at that list.  Paul is inviting us into some very good things.  Paul reminds us that to know Christ is to know the Holy Spirit.  It is to be filled with the wisdom of God.  It is to be affected by God’s purity while our own filth is discarded.  It is to know patience, to speak in love and to have honor, and to wield the power of God!  We are being invited into a very unique place for a human being to go.  We are invited into an existence that we cannot come into on our own.

But there is challenge, too.  Look at the majority of the list.  To know Christ is to know beatings.  It is to know hardships.  It is to know rejection.  It is to face death at the hands of the world.

But the challenge is more than that.  Look specifically at the end of the list.  To know Christ is to endure all these negative things and have it not affect your outlook.  It is to be treated as imposters but to live as true people.  It is to be treated as unknown, and yet live as thought we are well known.  It is to be treated as though we are dying, yet live!  It is to be treated as punished, and yet live in spite of the abuse.  It is to be treated with sorrowful, yet live in a state of rejoicing.  It is to be treated as having nothing to offer, yet live to making many rich in Christ.  It is to be treated as having nothing, yet live knowing that we are in relationship with the person who owns everything.

To follow Christ is the challenge of living dichotomy.  From a worldly perspective we will give up much.  But we are to live with a smile on our face and joy in our hearts because we have it all.  The challenge is to keep our eye on the prize: eternal dwelling with God the Father!

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Year 5, Day 88: 2 Corinthians 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness

• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

This is a very powerful chapter on at least two levels.  The foundational belief for this chapter is that Jesus lived and died for our sake.  He met the cross so we could find reconciliation with God.  Jesus died – sacrificed His life – so that we could know forgiveness.  Jesus did not consider His own safety.  Rather, the work of God was important enough for Him to die.

This brings me to the idea of our own reconciliation with one another.  Do I live as sacrificially as Christ lived?  Is the proclamation of God’s forgiveness to the world worth sacrificing my life to the cause?  Of course it is!  But do I live that way?  Do I live as though there is nothing more important than putting God’s forgiveness on display regardless of the cost to myself? 

That’s how Christ lived.  That’s how we came to now reconciliation to God.  We know God’s love because He died for us.  How well do I follow that example?

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Year 5, Day 87: 2 Corinthians 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Protection

• Protection: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might deliver us from evil – even the Evil One.  Sometimes we need God’s protection from the sin around us.  Sometimes we need protection from the sinful people around us.  Other times we need protection from the sin that lies within ourselves. In any case, Jesus’ point is clear.  We need protection from the Father to make it through each and every day.

Today I looked up the quote that Paul gives to us in 2 Corinthians 4:13.  He says, “I believe and so I spoke.”  I was unfamiliar with the quote, so I looked it up.  It comes from Psalm 116:10.  It is in this same Psalm that we find the verse, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”  Psalm 116 is all about the glory of the Lord and how even in our persecution the Lord is righteous.

In this quote, Paul gives us a simple message.  Persecution will come upon the people of the Lord.  It is a matter of course for us.  Following God will not give us an easy life in this world.

What is important is what we do in our moment of persecution.  Do we turn on the Lord and curse Him?  Do we lose faith and walk away?  Or do we call out to the Lord in the midst of our persecution knowing that God will hear us and answer us?  Do we call out to God in the midst of our persecution believing that God will bring us through it?  This is why Paul says, “I believe, and so I spoke.”  This is why Psalm 116:10 says, “I believed, even when I spoke: ‘I am greatly afflicted.’”  For Paul and for the Psalmist, persecution is only a prelude to greater belief.  We call to God out of our persecution because we believe.  We call out in faith and confidence because we believe God can protect us.

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Year 5, Day 86: 2 Corinthians 2 & 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness

• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Forgiveness is one of the powerful messages of the early part of 2 Corinthians.  You’ll remember that in 1 Corinthians Paul had some harsh words for dealing with sin and people who needed to be corrected.  But now that the correction has occurred, the people need to be forgiven and the community needs to go forward.

You see, sometimes correction brings hurt.  Sometimes hurt has to happen in order for harm to be avoided.  As an obvious example, a mother slaps her hand across a toddler’s hand that is reaching towards a burning stove.  Another example is a parent refuses to let their child go to see a movie that they are not mature enough to deal with the content.  Another example is a pastor that counsels a dating couple to not have premarital sex.  In each of those examples, a person is prevented from doing what they want to do.  They experience hurt.  But the hurt is intended to prevent them from actually experiencing harm.

However, the hurt really is only justified is there is also forgiveness.  A child who is disciplined because of bad behavior needs to feel forgiveness in order for the relationship to continue.  An employee who has been chastised needs to know that they are no longer in danger of losing their job once the employee has demonstrated that the lesson has been learned.  In the same manner, a sinner who is corrected out of their sin needs to feel forgiven so that they can experience union once more with the community at large.

After all, this is the pattern that we see with God.  We sin.  There is usually punishment and consequence to our sin.  But then we are forgiven.  Then we experience union with God once we have repented.  God does not hold onto our sin after He forgives us.  In His forgiveness, He removes our guilt from us.  In the same manner, we also should imitate God and forgive as He forgives.

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Year 5, Day 85: 2 Corinthians 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Father

• Father: This is the pinnacle of the Covenant Triangle.  God is the Father.  He is the creator.  He is love.  Our relationship with the Father is rooted in His love for us.  We get our identity through Him.  When the Father is in our life, obedience becomes clear.

As I read over my blog post from three years ago, I was struck by my focus on Paul’s disappointment.  As we read through 2 Corinthians 1, we can feel a sense of disappointment in the words.  Paul’s lived a hard life.  He’s encountered opposition in Asia Minor.  People are turning on him.  The Corinthians have not figured out their issues and require another letter.  The famine in Jerusalem continues and the need for his collection is growing.  Paul sounds like a disappointed man in this opening letter.

Yet, look where Paul begins.  Paul begins with the character of the God.  Paul begins with hope and mercy and grace.  Paul begins with consolation.  Paul reminds them that as they are consoled they are to console others.

To me, this is one of the most important characteristics of Father.  One of the things I loved about my dad when I was growing up was that he was always there for me.  When I fell down, he picked me up.  When I made a wrong choice, he helped me understand it, deal with the ramifications, and correct it.  When I need support he was there.  When I needed courage he helped me find it.

God is even greater than this.  God gives us eternal courage.  He gives us eternal hope.  He gives us eternal comfort.  When the world kicks us, God comes to us, reminds us of His promise to grant us life eternal, picks us up, and encourages us to try again.  That’s God.  That’s the Father.  That’s what comes out of God’s love.  Like Paul, no matter how much disappointment we face in life God is there to be Father to us and comfort us so that we can go and do likewise.

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Year 5, Day 84: 1 Corinthians 16

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Challenge, Invitation

• Invitation: God is always inviting us into relationship with Him. He desires that we know Him and that we know His desire for us.
• Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are.  He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.

This last chapter of this book ends on both a note of challenge and a note of invitation.  Paul reminds them about their invitation to be godly.  They have a hope of a future life to come!  He reminds them about the love of our Lord!  He reminds them of God’s grace.  He reminds them about the importance of acting in love.  He even invites them into the work that God desires to do among the orphans and widows in Jerusalem.  There are physical and emotional invitations at the close of this letter. 

As followers of God, we are always being invited into greater things.  We should always be mindful of the great things into which we have been invited.  Is there anything greater than the love of God?  Is there anything greater than the grace of God?  Is there anything better than being allowed to work side-by-side with God in how He is moving in the world?

However, Paul also reminds the Corinthians of the challenge.  If we are to work side-by-side with God, we will have to be strong.  We will have to be courageous.  We will need to be faithful.  We will need to plan ahead.  We will have to submit to the authority of the spiritually strong. These are not easy things to do.  Most of them are just not human nature.  These are challenges in our life, challenges to which we must rise.

The life of a follower of God is always remembering our invitation into relationship with God.  Then it is about living out that invitation in challenging ways that cause us to rise above our human nature.

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Year 5, Day 83: 1 Corinthians 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Challenge

• Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are.  He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.

I haven’t spoken about challenge lately, so I think that it is time to do so.  So often when we think about forgiveness, we think of it in terms of grace and invitation.  Don’t get me wrong.  It is an incredible display of grace and it is probably the greatest invitation we could ever hope to receive.  So it is all about grace and invitation.

However, the way Paul talks about it here I can’t also help but feel the challenge.  Paul talks about the grain going into the ground to die.  The grain goes into the ground and something completely unexpected and totally different emerges!  That’s pretty high challenge.

I realize that Paul is using this analogy to talk about our pre-death and our post-death existence.  But does it have to be so limited?  Do I for a moment think that God is happy with me waiting until I’m dead and gone before I start to make that metamorphosis?  Isn’t part of taking up my cross and following Him something that requires change not unlike the grain that goes into the ground and comes out a plant?  Isn’t that what being crucified with Christ is all about – so that it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me?

Whenever we talk about the crucifixion it is both a high invitation and high challenge conversation.  We are invited into God’s family through that act.  But we are also challenged to be more like Him.  Being a part of God’s family means being willing to be like that seed that dies so that something better and more useful can be brought forth.

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Year 5, Day 82: 1 Corinthians 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Prophet

• Prophet: A prophet is one of the fivefold ministry categories that is used throughout the Bible and especially lifted up in Ephesians 4:11.  The prophet is primarily concerned with whether or not the people are hearing the voice of God.  The prophet is also concerned about whether or not the people are responding to God’s voice.

This is clearly a passage about the prophet.  But let’s remember something.  Being a prophet isn’t about predicting the future.  Being a prophet isn’t about telling other people what is going to happen in their life.  Being a prophet is about bring God and God’s Word into the life of another person.  Being a prophet might be about showing a person how their actions aren’t lining up with God’s Word and how that might not give the best result in the future.  Or it might be encouraging a person that their actions are absolutely in line with God’s Word and reminding them to continue in their obedience!

In any case, Paul tells us again and again that prophets are needed in the church.  We should be about telling one another God’s Word and reminding one another about His ways.  This should be the primary function of our churches.  This should be something that leeches from the church into the homes of those who are following God.  Our time with one another in the church, in the home, or even in the community should revolve around how God is at work, where we can join with Him, and the areas that we might be able to improve in our obedience to the Lord.

In short, this is a communal thing.  Prophets should be raised up who can speak into the lives of the people around them.  In fact, all of us should have elements of the prophetic from time to time.  If we are all following God and God calls us to go out and make disciples, then shouldn’t we all speak God’s truth into the lives of other people from time to time?  Yes, the prophetic voice is needed in our communities today.

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Year 5, Day 81: 1 Corinthians 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Father

• Father: This is the pinnacle of the Covenant Triangle.  God is the Father.  He is the creator.  He is love.  Our relationship with the Father is rooted in His love for us.  We get our identity through Him.  When the Father is in our life, obedience becomes clear.

Agape.  What a wonderful word.  What a wonderfully misunderstood word.  Agape means love.  But agape means an unconditional love for some specified thing or person or collective.  In 1 Corinthians 13 we hear all about love and its many splendid applications.  But we need to understand agape love as it comes from the Father.

Think about an earthly father for a second.

• Does an earthly father love to possess his children?  No.  That would just be wrong.  That’s the kind of love that the Greek language calls “eros.” (ἔρως)  A father doesn’t love his children in order to possess as a person might love a cell phone or a car or even a house.
• Does a father love all children of the world universally?  This is what the Greek language calls “phila.” (φιλία) To some level, I’m sure a good father won’t want to see any harm come to anyone’s child.  But certainly a father loves his own children differently.  The same kind of love that a father might have for all children of the world is different than the love he has for the children in his own protection.
• This brings use to “agape.” (ἀγάπη) Agape love is an unconditional love directed at a specific person or thing or group.  This is how a father loves.  A father loves his own children unconditionally because they are his.  They are in his care.  They are his to raise.  They are his to protect.  They are his to watch grow.  These are the ones that a father loves unconditionally.

This is why in a chapter on agape love that we should spend so much time talking about the Father.  How is it that love is patient, kind, gentle, not arrogant, not rude, not resentful, not irritable, capable of enduring all things, hoping all things, bearing all things, and believing all things?  Love can do this because it is a reflection of the agape love that the Father shows those who are His.

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Year 5, Day 80: 1 Corinthians 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: In

• In: This is the word we use to express our relationships with our spiritual family.  These are often the people who hold us spiritually accountable.  They are the ones to whom we typically go for discussion and discernment.  These are the ones with whom we learn to share leadership.  They are the ones with whom we become family on mission.

Whenever I read 1 Corinthians 12, I am reminded of just how grateful I am for the few spiritual friends that I have in my life.  I’m not talking about the people with whom I talk about the Bible.  I’m talking about the people who take the time to genuinely talk to me about faith.  I’m talking about the people who genuinely take time to hear what God is doing in my life and how God is forming faith within me.  I’m talking about the people who share with me what God is doing in their life and how God is forming faith within them.

These are the people who mourn when I mourn.  They are troubled when I am troubled.  These are people that when their life is in turmoil I stay awake at night worried and praying about them.

But I think perhaps even the greater test is that these are the people who genuinely rejoice when God is on display in my life.  These are people that when God is on display in their life I am genuinely happy, too!  There is no jealousy in them or in me when God is at work. 

This is what it means to be In.  My In mourn with me.  They celebrate with me.  They allow me to mourn and celebrate with them, too.  They don’t evoke jealousy in me when God is in them.  They aren’t jealous when God is working through me.  The beautiful thing about In is that unity is fundamentally at the core because In is based on being connected to one another through God.

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Year 5, Day 79: 1 Corinthians 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.

1 Corinthians 11 has one of the most quoted passages of scripture: the Words of Institution.  But if we look at the greater context of this passage, we find that it is a part of a passage of correction.  Paul has to correct the worship habits of the Corinthians.

People are coming to worship and eating more than their share of communion so other people have to go hungry.  Other people are getting drunk at the opportunity!  The church in Corinth has turned into a time for people to come and act how they want without consideration of how their actions are affecting the people around them.

That is clearly an issue of appetite.  The Corinthian church was full of people who were focused on their own insatiable human desires.  They were focused internally.  It wasn’t about coming and connecting with community and connecting with Christ.  It wasn’t a time of submission.  The Corinthians were coming and asserting themselves instead of submitting to one another and God.

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Year 5, Day 78: 1 Corinthians 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

I think that 1 Corinthians 10:1-5, 12 are verses that I am going to mentally add to my “scariest verses of the Bible” list.  The other passages that I put on that list are Matthew 7:13-23 and Matthew 25 (Yes, the whole chapter).  But rest assured, these verses from 1 Corinthians 10 are challenging indeed.

You see, Paul reminds us that the evil wicked generation that were condemned to wander the wilderness saw incredible displays of God’s hand.  In fact, they may have seen more incredible displays of God’s power than any other generation.  They saw the whole of the plagues in Egypt.  They crossed over dry ground along the bottom of the Red Sea.  They ate manna in the wilderness.  They drank water from a rock twice!  They saw Aaron’s staff bud.  They walked under a pillar of fire and smoke.  They saw God give the 10 Commandments to Moses.  They saw God’s presence enter and leave the Tabernacle.  They saw people be healed from snake bites by looking upon a bronze serpent.  Their life was abundant with displays of God’s awesomeness.

But they remained an evil and wicked generation.  They remained doomed to die in the wilderness.  Why?  Because their identity was not in God.  They weren’t really interested in doing God’s will.  They were interested in what God could do for them.  They wanted God to buy into their identity rather than let their identity come from buying into God.

Then we hit verse 12.  Therefore let anyone who thinks they stand take heed, lest they fall.  Who among us is not susceptible to the error of the Hebrew people in the wilderness?  I know I am – especially when my identity is not coming from God.  Take heed.  Get your identity from God.  Buy into His ways, lest you or I fall.

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Year 5, Day 77: 1 Corinthians 8 & 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Chemistry

• Chemistry asks whether the person in question can work with the other people that God has called.

Chemistry might be a bit of a stretch for today’s reading, but hear me out on this one before you judge me too critically.  Much of 1 Corinthians 8 – and even portions of chapter 9 – deal with the fact that we should not make something sinful that is not sinful.  Yet, at the same time we shouldn’t flaunt the use of things that aren’t sinful in the face of those who think them to be sinful.  This is about give and take.

On one hand, this is about chemistry in that often in ministry we need to seek out those who see through similar eyes.  If I am doing ministry with a bunch of people and they see many of the things that I do as sinful behavior, then there will be a perpetual stumbling block between us and the ministry will constantly be interrupted.  Therefore, part of chemistry is having much in common with the way that we see things in the world.

However, a good piece of chemistry is also being able to be comfortable with differences as well.  Not of us will even be carbon copies of one another.  We will all have differences.  Therefore, part of being in ministry with one another is finding people who will not take offense at our differences as we likewise do not take offense at theirs.  This likewise takes and builds chemistry between people.

Chemistry brings people together around shared values.  Chemistry also allows us to have differences but still come together under the one Triune God.  If we want to be effective in ministry around us, we will have to have a chemistry that allows us to celebrate shared values and gives liberty to differences.  Once again I am reminded of the great saying by St. Augustine: “In essentials, unity.  In non-essentials, liberty.  In all things, love.”  There is a saying that summarizes 1 Corinthians 8 & 9 as well as the discipleship concept of chemistry.

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Year 5, Day 76: 1 Corinthians 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

One of my favorite parts of scripture is Paul’s writing in this section.  No, I’m not actually talking about his advice on sex and marriage.  I actually think those words are difficult to hear and even more difficult to apply in our world.  Especially in the western world, we live in a culture where human sexuality pervades so much our life and culture that it’s hard to even get away from its influence.

What I’m talking about is the closing section of this chapter.  Paul tells us that wherever we find ourselves in this world that we should focus on being faithful to God.  If we are a slave, be a godly slave to the best of our ability!  If we’re free, then be free to the best of our ability!  If married, then be the godliest spouse possible.  If single, then be the godliest single person possible.

In a sense, Paul is telling us to let our identity from God influence the rest of our life rather than the other way around.  My godliness should be the core of my identity.  My desire to embrace the characteristics of God should influence the rest of who I am.  My relationship with God should not be influenced by my life; my life should influence be influenced by my relationship with God!

In other words, my identity should come from God.  If my identity comes from God, then I can be faithful in every way.  If my identity comes from God, then where I am in life matters a whole lot less.  If my identity comes from God, then I can be godly in whatever circumstance I find myself. 

I know.  That’s easier said than done.

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Year 5, Day 75: 1 Corinthians 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: In

• In: This is the word we use to express our relationships with our spiritual family.  These are often the people who hold us spiritually accountable.  They are the ones to whom we typically go for discussion and discernment.  These are the ones with whom we learn to share leadership.  They are the ones with whom we become family on mission.

I think I’m going to take a fairly unusual tack to the opening section of 1 Corinthians 6.  In that section, Paul is telling the Corinthians that it is to their shame that they have to get the legal authorities involved.  It is to their shame that they cannot solve their problems among themselves.  It is to their shame that they cannot get along and realize that their temporal squabbles are nothing next to their spiritual calling.

I think their problem is actually a problem of In.  The Corinthians aren’t really in deep spiritual relationship with one another.  They may come to worship in the same place, but they aren’t caring for one another.  They aren’t listening to one another.  They aren’t investing in one another’s lives.  They are simply showing up, doing their obligation, and going about life as they want to live it.  They aren’t actually creating any meaningful relationship.  They aren’t creating spiritual depth that can sustain turmoil or conflict.

Thus, because they have no In with each other, they have no basis for resolving conflict!  In order to resolve conflict they have to turn to temporal authorities: judges.  This actually makes sense.  Why should we expect anyone who doesn’t have spiritual depth with another person to be able to resolve their differences in any way except in worldly courts?

If we want to be spiritual people, then we need to be in spiritual relationship.  We need to be spiritually deep with others.  We need to have that community of In to bring spiritual order to our life.

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Year 5, Day 74: 1 Corinthians 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

When I look at this chapter, I see character written all over it.  I’m going to talk about character in two dimensions today.  Both dimensions involve character and having an internal perspective.

Do you hear what Paul is chafing at in this passage?  Here the Corinthians are with sin running rampant in their midst and they are boasting about how good they are!  The Corinthians are either ignorant of what is going on among them or they are unwilling to do anything about it.  Both of these conditions are indications of bad character within.

The person of good character takes time to evaluate themselves.  The person of good character takes time to do an internal inventory once and a while and see what is going on within them.  The person of good character knows that they are not perfect and looks for things upon which they can work.

The person of good character is also not afraid to work on them, either.  The person of good character recognizes that pain and struggle are a part of life.  the person of character knows that life after the pain and struggle will be better because of the pain and struggle.

As Christians, we should not be afraid to look into the mirror.  We should not be afraid to look for the blemishes and be aware of them.  We should not be afraid of struggling with them.  That’s what a godly character looks like.

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Year 5, Day 73: 1 Corinthians 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

Let’s spend yet another day on imitation, just to make sure that we understand the importance of this topic.  We’ve already talked about how the Corinthians’ lack of desire to be humble has gotten in the way of being able to become mature.  Through their lack of humbleness they are unwilling to imitate!  They cannot imitate when they are thinking of themselves first!

However, today we hear Paul lift up a stellar example of how imitation brings about spiritual maturity.  Take a look at 1 Corinthians 4:16-17.  Paul tells the Corinthians to be imitators of him.  And then he tells them about Timothy.

Let’s remember Timothy’s story.  Timothy meets Paul when Paul comes to Lystra.  There Paul teaches.  There Paul gets arrested by a mob.  There Paul gets stoned by the people.  There Paul is left for dead.  There Paul gets up, comes back in Lystra, and recuperates.  Then Paul heads back home only to return.  Upon Paul’s return, Timothy is ready to join Paul.  You can read this story in more depth in Acts 14 and Acts 16.

Now let’s return to the list that Paul gives to us in the middle of this chapter.  Paul reminds the Corinthians that he and those who follow Christ are a spectacle to the world.  We are fools.  We are weak.  We are in disrepute.  We hunger.  We thirst.  We are poorly dressed.  We work hard.  We are persecuted.  We are slandered.  He goes on.  And that is what Timothy saw in Paul in Lystra.  That is what Timothy chose to imitate.  That is what Paul is telling the Corinthians to imitate.

We all want to imitate the successful.  We all want to imitate the glorified.  We all want to imitate that which will make us exalted. 

But that’s not truth.

Jesus came and was crucified.  Jesus’ own disciples were scorned by the world.  God has always called his people into sacrificial love for others – even those who would kill them.  That’s what we are called to imitate.  That’s what Jesus’ disciples saw in Jesus.  That’s what Timothy saw in Paul.  That’s what the Spirit calls forth in each of us.

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Year 5, Day 72: 1 Corinthians 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Information, Imitation, Innovation

• Information: This is the initial phase of become a disciple of Jesus.  Before we can do anything meaningful we must begin to understand what we are doing.  We may never gain full understanding of God and His ways, but God calls us to study Him, His Son, and His ways as the foundation of being His follower.
• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.
• Innovation: When we have studied God and learned to imitate Him, then we can begin to apply what we have learned and practiced into our life in new and innovative ways.  In this way we truly become the person of God that He sees us to be.

Paul opens this chapter with an incredibly harsh critique.  He tells the Corinthians that they are still only capable of spiritual milk.  He couldn’t give them spiritual food because they simply weren’t mature enough!  They weren’t developing.  They weren’t growing.

Let’s remember something.  Paul was likely with the Corinthians longer than he was with any other church that he planted.  We know that he stayed 18 months after he got frustrated with the Jews in Corinth.  So that means that Paul was there at least a year and a half – and probably longer than that.  (See Acts 18:1-11)  Paul was there a long time, long enough to see the people transition from spiritual infants to spiritually maturing.

What is preventing their maturation?  They are divided.  Rather than focusing on God and God’s work in their midst, they are focused on themselves and their own desires.  They are focused on their own ways, their own perspectives, and their own status.  They are focused on being right so everyone else is wrong.

What are they missing?  They are missing humbleness.  They are missing the crucified Lord who allowed Himself to die so God could be at work in it.  They are missing submission.

In truth, they are missing discipleship.  They are refusing to be humble and submit.  They are refusing to move beyond the information stage.  They may be learning the how’s and why’s, but they are missing the transformation that comes through imitation and innovation.  They are missing the transformation that comes by abandoning their own desires and embracing God’s ways and allowing that transformation to happen.

What I find sad about this chapter is that truly Paul was with the Corinthians for a long time.  They more than any of his churches had time to not just learn the information but imitate his behavior and then allow their transformation to be innovated into their own life.  They had an incredible amount of time in the presence of Paul and they seem to have wasted much of it.  We clearly see Paul imitating Christ and innovating in his own life.  But the Corinthians just don’t seem to be willing to do that.  Because they are focused on their own agendas and their own status, they are unable to submit, imitate, and innovate.  So the information stays simply that.  It stays as information and not life-altering transformation.

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Year 5, Day 71: 1 Corinthians 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

This is a great chapter of the Bible to get a true sense of Paul’s genuine humility.  Look at the claims that Paul says here.  He doesn’t come in haughty or lofty words.  He came only knowing Christ.  In fact, he came promoting Christ crucified.  He came to them humbly while proclaiming a message of a humble man.

Furthermore, Paul reminds us that we don’t receive a spirit of the world.  Life isn’t about how much I know or how much I can do.  Life is about God and His ways.  Life is about receiving a spirit of God and depending upon His wisdom and His ways.

I really think this is a great chapter about imitation.  When Christ came, He didn’t put the focus on Himself.  Jesus pointed us to the Father always.  It wasn’t about Him, His miracles, and His awesomeness.  It was about God’s work.  It was about God’s plan of salvation.  Jesus came saying, “Not my will but thine.”

That’s the Paul I see in this chapter.  He came to the Corinthians humbly so God’s ways might shine.  He taught humble so God’s wisdom might get the attention.  He imitated Christ.  So should we.  The world would be a better place if Christians were less interested in proclaiming themselves and more interested in getting out of the way so that God is seen as the focus.

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Year 5, Day 70: 1 Corinthians 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Ambition, Chemistry, Identity

• Ambition: We all need a goal to which we can strive.  When our ambition comes from God, we find fulfillment in our obedience into that for which we have been equipped because our Out is in proper focus.  But when our ambition comes from ourselves, we find ourselves chasing after our own dreams and trying to find fulfillment in accomplishments of our own making.
• Chemistry asks whether the person in question can work with the other people that God has called.
• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

Ambition, Chemistry, Identity.  Where do these three discipleship concepts converge?  Where the converge is really different for everyone.  But I can tell you where they should converge: the cross.  They should converge upon the abandonment of the self and the embracing of God’s ways.  They should converge in the place that Paul speaks about in Galatians 2:19-20.  “For through the Law I have died to the Law so that I might live to God.  Therefore I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.”

You see, we all have ambition.  We all look to our life and say, “I want to accomplish this or that or something else.”  We all look to life and want our own way.  As followers of God, we learn to put aside our own ambitions and embrace Christ.

Of course, much of our ambition will also affect the chemistry that we have with other people.  Do our goals mesh well?  Are we seeking the same purpose in life?  Are our pursuits running parallel to one another?  We typically get along with people who are pursuing the same goals, the same ideals, and the same values as we pursue.

But where do these goals, ideals, morals, and values come from?  Where is it that we get our identity?  It should come from the Father.  It should come from our abandonment of the self and the embracing of His character.  And here we see that it is in identity that chemistry and ambition find their rule.  When our identity is right, our ambition will be godly.  When our identity and ambition are right, we will have chemistry with the people in our life that God places before us.

So how does this all tie in with 1 Corinthians 1?  in this chapter, Paul speaks much about unity and divisions in the church.  Why are there divisions?  Divisions occur because we are often too busy pursuing our own ambition and not pursuing God’s ambition for us.  Division occurs because when our ambition is apart from God it is hard to have chemistry with the people around us.  Division occurs when our identity is not coming from God.

If we want the kind of unity about which Paul speaks in this chapter, we need to get our identity from God.  We need to be able to have chemistry with the godly people around us.  And we need to let go of our own ambition and pursue God’s ambition for us.

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Year 5, Day 69: Esther 9-10

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.

I think I’m going to take a fairly unusual angle on the topic of appetite.  Usually when we talk about appetite we talk about how much it gets out of control and leads us down the wrong path.  But today I’m going to talk about a group of people who were able to keep their appetite in check.  Today we’ll look at a people who don’t succumb to appetite.

The Jews get permission to defend themselves from the king.  Furthermore, they seem to get all kinds of governmental support from those who don’t want to get on Mordecai’s bad side.  They have every right to defend themselves and then take the spoils.  They have every right to assuage their appetite for revenge by claiming the goods of those who rose up against them.

But they don’t.  The Hebrew people don’t even look at the goods.  They don’t claim the spoils of war.  They don’t need to claim the spoils because it is God who sustains them.  They don’t need to sustain themselves with the things of the word.  They are sustained by God.  That’s what the whole story of Esther is all about.  The Hebrew people can keep their appetite in check because they are focused upon God.

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Year 5, Day 68: Esther 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Competency

• Competency: Being able to accomplish what one is called to do.

There is one thing that is true about Mordecai.  He may not have chosen wisely by not bowing down before Haman – even if he had his reasons.  But from that moment on – from the moment that he learned about the destruction of the Jews – he has made every step count.  He has been obedient to God’s will at every step.  He has been a competent follower of God, waiting upon God to lead his actions.

Even here in this chapter we see Mordecai’s competence.  Mordecai is promoted through Esther’s influence.  But look at what he does with that promotion.  For the record, note that Esther is a part of this as well, revealing her competence as a follower of God as well.

Mordecai and Esther don’t force the king to admit that he had made a mistake.  They don’t force the king to repeal his edict.  In fact, in many cultures kings were looked upon as infallible, so for a king to admit they had judged something incorrectly was an admission that they were unfit to rule!  No.  Mordecai and Esther go before the king and ask that something be done about the edict.  They are competent in that they achieve what needs to be done and allow the king to save face.

The Jewish people are allowed to defend themselves.  Anyone foolish enough to attack them would have to pay a heavy price.  King Ahasuerus does not need to repeal this edict, but he is allowed to make life miserable for anyone desiring to act upon his earlier edict.

All of this brings me to perhaps an even greater truth.  What is it that we see Mordecai and Esther being truly competent at doing here?  They are competent at being gracious.  Everyone knows that the king messed up and listened to bad advice.  But they are gracious in that they don’t humiliate the king.  They are gracious in that they allow the king to make a mistake without rubbing it in his face.  They are gracious in that they still allow the king to go on and move forward in spite of the mistake.  That’s a truly Christian calling right there.  People will always make mistakes around us.  The question is whether we will allow them to continue on and give them a second chance with our support or will we humiliate them and cause them to lose face?  Grace allows mistakes to be made while still being able to support the one who made the mistake.  

Mordecai and Esther are great models of competency in this chapter, especially when it pertains to grace.

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Year 5, Day 67: Esther 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness

• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

If you have read my theological commentary from three years ago, you hear about my struggle with this chapter.  Haman is rightly accused.  But then Haman begs for his life.  If this is a self-centered plea for life, then he deserves to hang.  But if this was a repentant recognition of his error, then where is grace?

In the end, Esther 7 always leads me to understand that I need to be grateful for God’s forgiveness.  I deserve to be condemned.  No amount of pleading for my life can make up for my sin.  No amount of begging should change God’s mind.  I am guilty of sin.

But the word that I hear from God is, “You are forgiven.”  God does forgive.  I deserve to hang by the same gallows that I’ve figuratively built for others in my own life as I pronounce them deserving of my hate, anger, irritation, whatever.  But although I deserve punishment, God spares me.  He can spare you, too.  He can spare anyone who is contrite, humble, and repentant!

What a great chapter of the Bible.  What a great chapter to gain perspective on true repentance.  What a great chapter in the Bible to evoke a conversation on the blessing of God’s true forgiveness!

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