Year 2, Day 79: 1 Corinthians 11

Struggle

I always struggle with the opening section of 1 Corinthians 11.  Today I’m going to talk at length about why I struggle with it so much.  I struggle with 1 Corinthians 11 for the same reason that I struggle with much of Leviticus.  Both parts of the Bible are sections of ordinances – and when I read the Bible I’m not looking for human ordinances but rather spiritual truths.

Traditional Instruction

I need to unpack that last sentence, so let me do so.  The Greek word that Paul uses in verse 2 is paradosis (παράδοσις).  It is often translated as “tradition” or “teaching.”  It is a word that literally means “the content of traditional instruction.”  Believe it or not, it is a derivative of the word paradidomi (παραδίδωμι)that we use in the Lord’s Supper when we say “He was handed over.”  {And if you are part of a tradition that says “betrayed” instead of “handed over” it is really messing up the Greek!}  Jesus was handed over much like teaching is handed over or passed from one person to another.  As Paul opens this chapter he is speaking about an academic transaction.  He is talking about a scope and sequence of traditional teaching.  All of this goes back to the fact that Paul is talking about “traditional instruction” more than “spiritual directives.”

Now don’t get me wrong.  I love traditions.  Christmas morning is a wonderful tradition.  It’s nice to have that feeling of nostalgia.  But spiritually, I am a person who is quick to balk when a tradition interferes with spirituality.  No tradition should ever get in the way of spirituality.  I’ve spoken often about the fact that the nature of God is almost always “doing something new” – and He has to because our culture is always changing away from Him.  So long as a tradition genuinely reinforces faith, keep it!  But when a tradition becomes a hindrance, get rid of it!

Okay, so I’ve gotten a bit distracted today.  Let me try and put it all together.  I struggle with this passage in 1 Corinthians because on its surface it is a passage about human tradition rather than spiritual directive.  I don’t spiritually believe women were made for men.  I read Genesis 1 especially as a story that focuses on their togetherness rather than a predetermined hierarchy.  {Go back and read my blog for that day if you don’t believe me!}

However, Paul finds himself in a position of needing to pass along a human tradition that made sense for the Corinthian community to hear.  Let’s look at this fact for a second.  We’ve already talked about how much sexual immorality was predominant in the Corinthian Church.  In that context, it really makes sense for Paul to emphasis things that will help people keep their hormones in control. 

However, by looking at the concluding verse for that section we know Paul’s greater point is about order and not how people dress.  1 Corinthians 11:16 is about contention, not how people dress.  This chapter is ultimately Paul’s attempt to help restore order in the Corinthian Church.  Paul is using a human tradition to teach a greater lesson about order in worship and community.  In these verses, Paul isn’t passing along some sort of absolute spiritual truth regarding a hierarchy of the sexes as much as he is passing along an assertion to help people get along and live together in Christian community.

We can actually step back and learn the spiritual truth here in Paul’s words without being bound to the human tradition that may or may not be appropriate for our culture.  Paul is giving us a spiritual directive that it is good to have order in the church.  Paul is telling us that spiritually we need to be approaching worship with the idea of dressing and acting in ways that make it easier for others to be in a relationship with God.  The spiritual directive behind what Paul is saying is that when it comes to worship the focus should be on God and being in a relationship with God rather than me the individual and the control I can wield over what happens.  Regardless of whether or not I think women need to have long hair and cover their heads in my particular ministry context, the spiritual directive of having an orderly worship that allows people to focus on their relationship with God is applicable.

The Other Half of the Chapter

The same thing is true for the second half of 1 Corinthians 11.  This section of the Bible that most of us lift up to unify us around the Lord’s Supper actually comes from a portion of the Bible where Paul is chastising people for having the absolute wrong idea about worship.

In the Corinthian church, some people were coming to the Lord’s Supper and consuming more than their share.  This meant that others would not be able to partake.  Some people were using it as a time to come and get drunk.  This meant that other people would have a hard time partaking in genuine spirituality.  Their communal spirituality was in trouble, and Paul chastises them for it.

This section points us to a really strong truth.  Our actions should follow our spirituality, but in most human beings our spirituality follows our actions.  In an ideal world, our spirituality would be so strong within us that our spirituality would convict us when we do something wrong.  But in most people, we do what our hearts tell us and we justify it with our spirituality after the fact.

In most human beings, the way we behave dictates how spiritual we are.  This is tragic and completely backwards from how it should be.  But because of this fact, it means that in most churches if there is conflict there will be poor spirituality.  It should be that strong spirituality would help resolve and heal the conflict.  But tragically this is not the case.  In most churches, our conflict fragments and destroys the spiritual bond that should be between us.  Isn’t this really why there are over 33,000 Christian denominations in the world?  {Actually, I think the number is up to about 41,000 as of this post.}

1 Corinthians 11 is really a sad chapter to read in spite of it containing one of the most popular Bible passages ever written.  Here we see the depth of the destruction that follows a community with poor spiritual practices and poor spiritual perspective.

Being Someone You’re Not

If I can loop back around to where I began, I think that’s why I am placed in turmoil by sections of scripture like 1 Corinthians 11.  In 1 Corinthians 11 I hear a Paul who is being forced to be a person that he really would rather not be.  Remember the story in Acts 16 (especially verses 11-15) when Paul went to Philippi and God used him to create a wonderful church there?  Paul started that church largely through Lydia.  Paul doesn’t have an issue with women unless the lack of spirituality around him forces him to do so.  Remember the genuine faith that Paul asserts in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  When Paul is able to be himself, we see a man who views Christianity as being free to mold and shape to match the needs of the mission field around us. 

But here in Corinth – largely because of the poor spirituality among the people – the “Paul of spiritual freedom” becomes a “Paul of establishing order and managing people’s behavior.”  Just read that description.  Doesn’t that sound sad?

I don’t think that God sets up an absolute pattern for behavior for every circumstance.  Sure, we are to avoid sin – God certainly sets up that expectation!  But I don’t know that God wants to be in the business or mandating whether I listen to an organ, a piano, or a guitar at worship.  I don’t think God wants to be in the position of mandating how long my hair should be.  I think God has bigger priorities that He would rather have us focus upon.  But when we refuse to be spiritually minded, we have to spend time focusing on the management instead of the spirituality.  I think for me that this is the saddest part of 1 Corinthians 11.  How often do we spend time managing the behavior of others when we could be spent focusing on genuine spirituality?

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Year 2, Day 78: 1 Corinthians 10

Danger, Will Robinson!

Okay, I’ll confess.  Knowing what I know about the letter to the Corinthians – that it was a letter Paul wrote because he was displeased with what was happening there – the opening verses read like a huge warning.  Paul reminds the Corinthians that all the people that Moses led out of the Exodus passed through the “water.”  That water would be the Red Sea. They all followed the pillar of cloud/fire.  They all got to see the Mount Sinai experience.  So where is it that Paul ends up with that?  God was displeased with them.  In other words, even after all this experience with God they still rebelled!  Proximity to God’s work does not make one godly!

I feel that is a huge warning to any church that seemingly takes their faith for granted and tries to focus elsewhere than faith-related matters.  Ever have an experience with a church that only knows how to argue?  Ever have experience with a church that seems to manage to do anything and everything under the sun except make disciples?  Ever have experience with a church that has sin in their midst – as we all do – but has difficulty identifying that sin, repenting from it, talking about it, and moving beyond it?  These are all things that characterized the Corinthian church and it is to them that Paul gives this warning in the opening verses of 1 Corinthians 10.  It is the churches that are like the Corinthian church that should hear this warning loud and clear.  It is the people of the world who are most like the members of the Corinthian Church who need to hear this warning.  From time to time, it is me who needs to hear this warning.

Learn

In fact, that very point is the thrust of Paul’s middle section in this chapter.  We need to learn from their example.  We need to see the mistakes of other people and pay attention so that we don’t fall into the same pitfalls.  Or – should we fall into those same pitfalls – we need to pay attention to the mistakes of others so that we understand the importance of repenting of those pitfalls.  It was one thing for the ancient Hebrew people to sin against the Lord.  It was entirely another thing for them to harden their hearts and not repent of the error of their ways.

None of us can endure every temptation successfully.  All of us have sin in our life.  We should not think we are powerful enough to endure everything.  But we should think that with God’s help we can overcome.  We should think that with God’s help we can escape the clutches of sin.  We should think that so long as we repent of our sins that we can avoid the rebellion that emboldened the wicked generation of Hebrew people as they came out of Egypt.

Glorifying God

Paul concludes this chapter with a lesson on focus.  This is a great lesson to learn.  Whatever I do, give glory to the Lord.  The lesson here is simple: if my actions are centered on bringing glory to God’s name, then I will be setting myself up for a good result.  This makes sense.  If I do something and God is clearly glorified, then who can stand when they bring an argument against what I have done?  What Christian would for any reason desire to draw into question that which genuinely glorifies God’s name?

Yet, there is a danger here, too. I should not think that just because I think something glorifies God’s name that it actually does.  I can convince myself of a great many things.  The proof is not in how I think about the pudding – to speak metaphorically – the proof is actually in the pudding.  I can think the pudding to be tremendous.  But unless the pudding is actually tremendous, I have not actually made tremendous pudding.  The same thing is true with glorifying God.  I can think something to be so great that God is glorified.  But unless it actually results in people giving glory to God, then it is just something that I think glorifies God.  We must not allow ourselves to be convinced that something will happen just because we think it will happen.

Christian Community

I also like the way that Paul seems to bring hospitality and relationships into the picture.  If something might cause a Christian brother or sister to stumble, I might not choose to do it because I think of them.  If I am invited to a person’s house and they serve me something that is legitimately from the earth but not something that I am accustomed to eating, I will choose to eat it anyway out of respect for them and the Lord.  Christians are always concerned with following God first and thinking of the other person second.  This is why the two greatest commandments are to love God and love your neighbor.  Hospitality and our relationships with the people around us are very closely tied to our relationship with God.

However, we should note the balance.  Choosing to do something or not do it is not always where the issue of right or wrong rests.  I can choose to do something holy or choose to not do something holy because of the people around me.  Just because I choose not to do something does not make it unholy.  It just means in that circumstance it wasn’t the right time because it might offend someone.  I think this is important.  I can choose not to do right things because of how it might impact other people.

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Year 2, Day 77: 1 Corinthians 8 & 9

Love Builds Up

1 Corinthians 8 begins with a great quote, and I need to focus on it.  “Knowledge puffs up, love builds up.  If any of us imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.”  I love this quote and wish that this quote would be used more often and tattooed across every blog post I write and every sermon that I give.

I remember thinking about my dad when he would give a Bible Study or give a sermon.  I would think, “Man, this guy really knows His stuff.”  I would also think, “I can’t wait for the day when I know my stuff that well, too.”  The truth is, I’m still waiting for that day to come.

I write blogs, I lead Bible Studies, I preach sermons, and I have one-on-one discipleship conversations.  I often feel like I am in a position of being “the guy who appears to have it all figured out.”  Ha!  I wish that were true.  But the reality is that I have just as much to learn as the next guy.  I don’t have faith all figured out, and I certainly don’t have all the answers as to how to apply faith in every situation.  I’ve only begun to break the tip of the iceberg on that one!

Yet, we are still called to proclaim.  We are called to make disciples.  So even though I know I don’t have it all together and all figured out, I must proclaim what God has taught me.  I must do it confidently.  This is true for all of us who genuinely possess the Holy Spirit.  None of us know as we ought to know, but we do know what God has taught us.  We must learn to proclaim what we do know while realizing just how much we don’t know.  It’s a weird balance of looking like we know everything from the outside perspective but internally feeling like we know so very little.  I think that’s a good place for the Christian to dwell.

Do Not Make Unclean …

Then Paul turns to talk about eating food sacrificed to idols.  His general point in this is actually quite simple: everything that is not inherently sinful should never be made to be sinful.  However, neither should I go around doing things that are not sinful if there are people around me who are not spiritually mature enough to see it as not being sinful.

Here’s an example.  I was watching a documentary one day about illegal prostitution in Las Vegas.  A major portion of the show was dedicated to a particular ministry that has been organized to reach out to these prostitutes, meet with them, talk with them, explain to them the emotional and spiritual damage being done by their involvement in that profession, and help them get out of that life and into a Christian frame of mind.  They would help them find a supportive Christian community, find money to go back to school, find an education, or even find a job that isn’t prostitution.  I began to think that it was an absolutely phenomenal ministry to a people who desperately need to hear God’s love.  But then I also began to think about how most churches in America would respond to intentionally going out and targeting prostitutes and meeting with them in order to develop relationships with them.  I’m willing to bet that many American Christians would look skeptically at such a ministry – and look especially skeptically at any male pastors who would be active in such a ministry!  So Paul’s advice here is great.  Do things where people are ready to understand, embrace, and support God’s calling.  But realize that not every location is ready and willing to support every possible act that a Christian can have in this world.  This idea brings us back to where we started.  This idea reveals knowledge being balanced by love.

Right To Receive Reward

1 Corinthians 9 is a long chapter about whether or not a worker in the kingdom of God has the right to receive support.  Paul does a great job explaining the topic from both a standpoint of logic and Scripture.   Paul also talks about his right to refuse support, too.

The underlying point of this chapter is that rights need to likewise be balanced by love.  A worker has a right to be paid.  Someone who does labor for the benefit of another person has a right to receive compensation for the act.  However, the worker does not have the right to fleece the person who is receiving the benefit.  The worker does not have the right to demand an exorbitant price.  Additionally, the worker also has a right to do the action out of love for the other person if that is at all possible.  All of these concepts must be understood and employed.

So what do we as Christians learn from this?  Work the work that God has called for you to do.  Receive a reasonable reward for this work.  But do not receive more than is reasonable.  And if possible, work out of love so that we can be an example of God’s generosity in our own life.

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Year 2, Day 76: 1 Corinthians 7

More Sex

Sex, sex, sex.  You would think that by reading Paul’s letters to the Corinthians that Paul was actually writing to a modern church in the western world.  This point has already been brought out in the great conversations in the comment sections over the last few days – but it is worth bringing out again.  Sometimes reading 1 & 2 Corinthians is good because it speaks so much to the issues in the western church (and culture).  But sometimes reading these books is difficult because the message of these books hit so very close to home.

Clearly the Corinthian church is having some internal struggles about the issue of sex.  Of course, we as Americans in our modern culture have the same issue!  Let’s look deeply into Paul’s advice to the Corinthians.

• In an ideal world, people would abstain from sexual relations.  Paul says it, it is true, and it must be acknowledged.  In a perfect world, it is good for sex to never enter into the picture.  If the Christian is genuinely focused on doing God’s will, sex would not even make the priority list.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m in no way saying all sex is sin.  It’s not.  Consensual sex within marriage is in no way a sinful act.  It is just that when one becomes married one is innately split away from a unilateral focus.  Even when the spouse is genuinely faithful to God there is still a divided set of priorities.
• However, we do not live in an ideal world.  Sex does enter into our mind.  Sex is a part of the picture.  If we are a person who cannot control our physical urges, we should get married simply to avoid the threat of sexual temptation.  For the record, notice that Paul speaks to both sides.  Paul knows that both women and men have urges.  Thus, each woman in this case should have a husband and each man in this case should have a wife.
• Furthermore, sex is not a weapon within the marriage.  In fact, consensual sex should actually be seen as relief.  If a person is struggling to keep his or her physical urges under control, allowing relief of those urges to happen should be part of the agenda for the spouse {assuming the request is reasonable, of course}.  At the very least, spouses should be concerned for each other’s physical needs – or ability to keep their physical urges under control.

I hate to speak about sex in such a clinical manner.  There are great books in the Bible that speak much more relationally and much more lovingly about sex and marriage.  But this is not one of them.  I think we should pay attention to the possible reason that Paul speaks no plainly and so clinically about sex to the Corinthians: they struggle in this area.  When we are in a time of temptation, that is the right time to talk about things clinically and matter-of-factly.

Think about it.  If a person has struggles with an eating disorder, do I talk about how great food tastes?  If a person has an alcoholism disorder, do I talk about the medicinal benefits of consuming small doses of wine?  If a person has issues within stealing, do I talk about all the great material things that I have in my life?  No.  When people struggle, we talk clinically about the issue so as to address the problem in such a way that does not inspire further offense or compulsion.

In America, I’m not sure the problem of “sex addiction” is solved by talking about the sweetness of the marriage union as found in a book like Song of Solomon.  No, I believe the answer to the problem rests in understanding the clinical purpose of sex and understanding the potential problems that sex can introduce into our ability to fulfill our calling from God.  I wish I could talk flowingly about the love that I have for my wife {and I do!} … but I’m not sure that doing so will actually constructively help to address the sex problem that America has.  In the same light, I’m not convinced it is wrong either.  I’m just saying that I think talking about the love in my marriage is best saved for after the problem has been resolved and the offending persons can genuinely appreciate the sentiment without being drawn into temptation.

Faithfulness

Paul then talks about a great piece of advice: remain faithful in the position that you are in.  It is possible for a married person to read these verses and realize that their loyalties are actually divided between God and their spouse.  So should they pursue divorce so as to be solely devoted to the Lord?  No!  One does not draw closer to God by doing that which God does not desire.  It is also possible that a person who was divorced and remarried before becoming a Christian reads God’s Word and wonders if they should divorce their second spouse in order to refrain from committing adultery.  Again, I think Paul would tell us that the answer is no.  We cannot always correct our sinful errors before we become the Lord’s.  The only thing that we can genuinely control is what we do once we become the Lord’s.  In this case, stay faithful to the new spouse and demonstrate the love of God to the person.

The key in most of what Paul says in this chapter is the pursuit of God’s will.  If you are single and can refrain from sexual temptation, pursue God with all your heart and you will be satisfied.  If you cannot refrain from sexual sin, then become married – but do not let your marriage inhibit you from pursuing God with all of your heart.  If you sinned in the past, repent of it and pursue God to the best of your circumstance now that you are His.    If we pursue God’s will and God’s ways rather than pursuing the desires of our heart, we will never go wrong.

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Year 2, Day 75: 1 Corinthians 6

Trust and Relationship

1 Corinthians 6 is typically divided up into two sections.  The first section is all about trust and relationships.  I know, a ton of people want to make 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 about legal issues.  It is, but if that’s all the deeper we go with it, we miss the point.

Paul does make a good point, though.  Why do those of us who supposedly believe that God is the highest authority in the land allow a legal system that does not get its authority from God to make decisions for us?  Yes, I do realize I’m sounding rather un-American for a moment.  Give me a second to explain myself.

Don’t get me wrong.  I do believe that the government has the right to govern in secular matters.  They have the right to set speed limits.  They have the right to establish tax rates.  They have the right to organize militias and armies.  The secular government can do all of that and should do all of that.

However…

• What makes any of us think that the secular government has the right to absolve a marriage that God made?  In the case of a secular marriage performed by the Justice of the Peace, I have no issue with a judge absolving so long as God is not ever called as a witness to the marriage. 
• What makes any of us think that a secular judge can do a better job of sorting out a land dispute between self-professing Christians? 
• Why do any of us honestly think that a secular judge can do a better job of handling a financial dispute between self-professing Christians? 

Is a judge going to be able to appeal to the Bible and the so-called faith that lives in the people who cannot seem to get along?  Is a secular judge going to be interested in actually resolving the problem or is the secular judge simply interested in rendering a fair judgment regardless of whether the root of the problem ever gets resolved?  I don’t mean this as an indictment against secular judges.  Actually, I feel bad for them.  Most are asked to make verdicts on cases that are honestly much better off being settled outside of the court system.  If both offending parties genuinely believe that God is the higher power, then why do we grant that power to someone outside of the faith?

Of course, there is reality, too.  Sometimes we fall into sin and because of our lack of humbleness we are not content with God’s judgment.  Often we don’t believe that a Christian “judge” will be able to bring both parties to a “fair” resolution.  Sometimes in our bitterness we want a temporal judge who can not only give us an edict but also have the police force or legal system back up the judgment if necessary.  Sometimes we trust that temporal, that real-world, that can-see-and-hear-the-gavel ruling instead of trusting God.

Honestly, I actually think that real reason behind all of this is because our spiritual relationships are weak.  As human beings, we place our trust only in those people with whom we have great relationships or in those that we are legislated to do so.  If two offending parties don’t have any spiritual people that they mutually trust to help make a spiritual decision, then they must turn to the government.  It’s really as simple as that.

Think about it.  What is easier: going to a spiritual brother or sister who won’t charge a dime or taking something before a secular court where there are court fees and possibly attorney fees?  Certainly the Christian brother or sister is easier and more cost effective.  We should want to go there first!  But because our spiritual relationships have grown weak – or even non-existent – and our hearts are so hard that we demand enforcement, we don’t utilize the Christian option all that often.  We go to a secular authority and live by the edict of the secular authority.  And as Paul indicates in this chapter – it is to our shame.  We should be spiritually growing and able to relate to one another spiritually.  But instead we’d rather relate to one another through the Law.

More Sex in Corinth

The next topic brings us back to sex.  Do you get the idea that sex is a problem in Corinth?  Paul’s analogy about the food and the stomach is a bit obscure, so let me try and help it make a bit more sense.  The stomach has one purpose in the body: to aid in the process of digestion.  Paul literally means that the stomach is made to be involved with food.  Likewise, food is meant to be eaten.

On the other hand, while our bodies are equipped for the enjoyment of sex, the body is not made for sex.  The body is made for a great many things – and the Christian should have no difficulty saying that all of those things should be able to be summarized under one heading: accomplishing God’s will.  If I am doing something with my body that does not accomplish God’s will, am I really a Christian?

This then is the analogy.  Use the tool for the purpose that the tool has been designed.  The stomach is designed to process food.  So eat.  The body is designed to accomplish God’s will.  So do that.

This passage then defeats the argument that people say, “Well, sex is good and the body was clearly made to enjoy sex.”  Sure, sex in the right context is good.  And sex, when done in a manner that fulfills God’s will, is very pleasing.  But sex that does not accomplish God’s will – that is, sex that is done outside of a marriage or sex that is “forced” or “guilted” upon a spouse – is not good and therefore the body is not designed by God for that purpose.

Here’s the short of it all.  Have sex with your spouse and only your spouse.  If you are not married to a person, do not have sex with them.  The Bible is pretty universally clear on this point.

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Year 2, Day 74: 1 Corinthians 5

Self-Ignorance

When I read the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 5, I heard Jesus’ words from Luke 6:41 – or Matthew 7:3 if you prefer.  Why do we as human beings see the speck in our brother’s eye so clearly but we are so inherently blind to the log in our own eye?  Forget the part about judging other people – which I know is actually the thrust of Jesus’ words.  Why are we so quick to be ignorant of our own sinfulness?

I think there is an inherent trap to humanity.  Because we live and breathe every second of our life, we experience the small changes.  Thus, the small things add up in our mind to explain – or should I say rationalize – away the parts of us that God finds objectionable.  Because we are there for the infinitesimally small steps in the wrong direction we don’t see how far we actually go down the wrong path without even noticing it!

In my mind, stepping into sin is kind of like watching grass grow.  If I were to lie down out in my lawn and watch a single blade of grass for an entire week, I don’t actually think I would ever once have a moment where I could say for certain that I saw the blade of grass actually get any bigger.  However, a week from now I will be starting up the lawn mower to cut the grass – so it must have grown!  I just can’t see it because it happens in such small increments.

In truth, I actually see the growth of the grass when I don’t look at the grass for a few days and then return to it.  The same thing is happening here in 1 Corinthians.  The Corinthians have slowly slid deeper into sin every day and they don’t recognize it.  They are even boasting about their greatness.  But Paul – who has stepped away from the Corinthians for a while – can see their life from a more pure perspective.  Thank God that Paul was there to put some perspective on life. 

I can learn that lesson.  I need to step back and place some value on the perspective of people who are outside my immediate life and can see the fruit for good or bad of my daily steps in life.

Expel It

So how are we to deal with this sin once it is revealed?  Get rid of it!  Expel it from our life!  Toss it aside!  Do not hold onto it any longer.  As Paul indicates in the next series of verses, a little leaven will eventually leaven the whole dough.  A little sin in our own life will eventually taint every aspect of our life.  A little unchecked sin in the community will eventually infect the whole community.  Again I am reminded of a difficult passage from Jesus when He gives the harsh advice that if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off!  (See Mark 9:43, Matthew 5:30, or Matthew 18:8)  I’m not advocating self-mutilation, but I am advocating taking a strong position against dealing with sin in our presence.

But then Paul says something really neat in the last paragraph of this chapter.  It is a lesson that I have completely missed until this day.  So take what I am about to say with a bit of a grain of salt because I’m literally fleshing this thought out as I’m having it for the first time.  It’s a teaching that has been clearly always present, but I’ve just missed it for all these years.

Differences From Within and Without

In 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 Paul makes a genuine distinction between dealing with people outside the faith and dealing with people inside the faith.  Paul clearly tells us that we are to avoid the sexually immoral, but then he comes back and tells us that he’s not talking about the sexually immoral outside the church.  If we step back and speak very plainly about this, Paul is saying that we should not be afraid of having dealings with the sexually immoral outside the church and we should avoid at all costs dealing with the sexually immoral who are inside the church!

At first, you might be thinking that this doesn’t make any sense at all.  After all, isn’t dealing with sin, confessing sin, repenting of sin, and receiving forgiveness from sin what our relationship with God is all about?  This is absolutely correct.  But those aren’t the people within the church about whom Paul is talking.  Paul is talking about the sinner within the church who is not interested in dealing with their sin.  This is a very dangerous person.  Anyone who thinks that they can abide in God’s presence and not deal with their sin is setting a horrible precedent and is actually teaching rebellion among us!

We expect sin from the person outside of the faith.  Of course that sin can influence us and corrupt it if we are not careful.  But we expect it.  We can anticipate it and know going into the encounter that we are going to need to fight against it.  But we don’t expect to have rebellion against God within our midst.  We should not be about allowing rebellion within our body – literally or figuratively as the body of Christ.  This is why Paul can say that we can have dealings with the sinners who are outside of the church but we should have no dealings with anyone who thinks that sin is acceptable while one is also professing to be a Christian.

Again, let me be clear.  I’m not talking about the Christian who confesses their sinful behavior, struggles against it, and resists it.  We should be supportive of those people and embrace their struggle with them.  We should join them in that pattern, for that I the pattern of the believer!  I’m talking about the rebellious ones in our midst who have the gall to look at what God calls sinful behavior and deem it as acceptable instead.  Those are the ones against whom Paul says we should have no dealings.

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Year 2, Day 73: 1 Corinthians 4

3 Portraits of Ministry

In this chapter, Paul gives us three pictures of the minister in Christ.  Now, I don’t mean “pastor” or “minister” here in terms of the guy or girl who gets paid to lead the church.  I mean minister in the sense that we are all ministers.  We are all called to bear God to the world and serve Him.  So what Paul speaks here in this chapter does not apply only to the spiritual leaders but to the whole congregation.

The Steward

The first image that we have is that of the servant and steward of God’s kingdom.  Of course, the servant is the one who willingly does the will of the master.  The steward is the servant in whom the master entrusts a portion – or the entirety, I suppose – of his estate.  So the first thing we have is a reminder that we are to be about God’s work and we have been given part of God’s kingdom in which we are called to work.

This is quite an important topic.  The steward is the servant who manages the affairs of the master but who himself doesn’t own anything that he is managing.  This idea of non-ownership is significant.  After all, how many divisions within the church are started because “I must have my way?”  The thing that people have forgotten in this case is that getting my own way shouldn’t even be on the radar screen.  As Christians we are called to manage God’s kingdom, but we are to manage them in a way that God sees fit.

In fact, the main concern of the steward is to be faithful to the master.  If the master gives an order and the steward messed up the execution of the order, the steward was held responsible.  However, if the master gave an order and the steward fulfilled the order properly and it still brought about a poor result, then it is the master who is at fault.  For the steward, guilt only enters the picture when unfaithfulness also enters the picture. 

Doesn’t that last sentence speak volumes to the idea of sin and unfaithfulness to God?  Thus, we can see quite clearly that the idea of stewardship implies that we should be most concerned with faithfulness to God and doing something God’s ways rather than faithfulness to doing something the way that we think they ought to be done.  When we are faithful, we know the judgment that God will see that we receive.

The Unusual

Paul then presents a mocking image to the Corinthians.  The Corinthians think that they have become great.  The Corinthians have apparently amassed a good sized “communal pot of money” and are rich.  They have apparently begun to think of themselves as wise in spiritual terms.  They have found a way to seek honor and reputation.  The Corinthians seem to have found a way to have their cake and eat it, too.

Yet, look at the chastisement that Paul gives them.  The true servant of God is mocked by the world rather than considered wise.  The true servant of God is working his fingers to the bone for the kingdom rather than waiting around for something to fall into his lap.  The true servant is despised by the world rather than honored.  The true servant embraces his weakness rather than boasting about his own strength.

The true follower of God really is a “spectacle.”  (1 Corinthians 4:9)  The Greek word that is used there is often is theatron (θέατρον) and is clearly the root word for our English word theater.  It is often translated to mean “an unusual object or an unusual event.”  The key part of this definition is unusual.  The true follower of God is unusual.  There is something different about the true follower of God – different from the people of the world. 

This should ring a bell with those who know what the word holy means.  Holy means different or separate.  There is this thing called the Holy Spirit within the true follower!  The Holy Spirit makes us different!  The second picture of ministry, then, is a picture of a person who sets an unusual agenda for life.  This is the person who doesn’t follow their own agenda or the world’s agenda but God’s agenda.  It’s neat how both the steward and the spectacle lead us away from following our own agenda.

The Mentor

The third image that Paul gives us for the minster of God is “father.”  Now, we need to be really careful here.  Paul is walking a fine line and I need to be just as delicate.  Christians have only one spiritual father: God.  Although the Greek is clear in that Paul uses the word “father,” in a modern context I would be much more comfortable with something like “mentor” or “advisor.”

What Paul is talking about here is really the development of a spiritual relationship.  When a person has the opportunity to help another person grow spiritually, there is a bond that is formed.  I can speak to this point quite meaningfully.  There are a few people in my life to whom I feel spiritually bonded.  It doesn’t matter how far away they may live or how often I talk to them.  If they need me, I am there for them.  I may not be able to be physically present, but I am there spiritually and emotionally.  This is the third example that Paul gives us for ministry in this chapter.  The true minister of God is not just interested in the end product or the “quantity of disciples made.”  The true minister is also interested in the relationship that grows through our mutual connection to God.

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Year 2, Day 72: 1 Corinthians 3

Without a Leg to Stand On

After all the talk in the last few days about spiritual people understanding spiritual concepts, we have a pretty serious boom being leveled on the Corinthians in the opening verses of 1 Corinthians 3.  What does Paul say to them?  I had to give you milk, not solid food.  I had to treat you as spiritual infants, as people of the flesh.  The divisions in their congregation demonstrated that they were not on board at all with this spirituality thing.  They were still more interested in getting their way and getting their agenda accomplished rather than humbling themselves before God’s agenda.

Now, I need to be very clear for a second.  There is one very good reason for being immature in one’s faith – or spiritual infancy as we tend to call it.  That reason is this: you have just recently come to know Jesus Christ and the salvation that He offers.  After all, it takes some pretty serious time to grow up in Christ.  You have to learn the popular stories and learn what those stories really teach us.  You have to learn how to be strong enough to give up the carnal desires.  You have to take time to make spiritual connections and seek out spiritual mentors.  All of those things take months – and that’s after you finally bring yourself to legitimately commit to Jesus Christ.  A person in that position has every right to be a spiritual infant, because that is what they are.

There is no shame in being a spiritual infant if you have just come to know Jesus Christ in a deep and meaningful way.

However, you’ll notice that I said months, not years.  Yes, we should be growing all the time.  There is maturity, and then there is perpetually becoming more and more mature.  We will never reach the climax of our spiritual maturity – Lord willing!  But we should reach a point where we are “mature.”  And I have to believe that this is measured in months, not years.  It is especially not measured in decades.

An Example from Jesus’ Life

Think about the disciples.  Jesus was teaching for a time and then He began to call disciples.  About three years after He started teaching He was crucified, resurrected, and handing over the keys to Peter and the rest of the disciples.  Three years – in most cases probably less than that – after the disciples decided to follow Christ they were in a position of sharing leadership within a congregation.  They were the teachers and preachers within less than three years time! 

I know.  Three years is a measurement in years.  But to me, considering how long most of the Christians I am around have been Christians, three years is a drastically short amount of time.  Three years is a small measurement compared to how long most Christians I know claim to have been in a relationship with Christ.

I am sure that this is true of the Christians in Corinth as well.  Most of them were Jewish well before Paul ever came along and told them about Jesus Christ.  So they had a running start into the faith.  It shouldn’t take them too long to actually get up to speed if they were genuinely devoting themselves to Jesus Christ.  In these opening verses, Paul is laying a huge chastisement on all those in Corinth who have not matured out of their spiritual infancy.  He is laying a huge chastisement upon all of us who have known Christ for longer than average and who are still in our spiritual infancy as well.

Paul, Apollos, and Peter

This point is vital to understanding the rest of the chapter, which is why I spent so much time upon it today.  Paul then moves on to talk about Paul, Apollos, and Cephas (The Greek name for Peter).  But his overarching point is that God is the one in charge.  It doesn’t matter who does the work.  For that matter, it doesn’t even matter what the work looks like as long as it is genuinely God’s hand at work!

Think about that point for a second.  If I see God’s hand at work and it is not being done the way I think it should be being done, am I really going to want to raise myself up and say, “That’s not right?”  Do I really want to put myself in a place of criticizing God’s work just because it doesn’t look quite like I want it to appear?  The shape and the form are nothing compared to whether or not the work that is being done is God’s work.

Understanding this point takes spiritual maturity.  It takes a spiritually mature person to put aside my own ways and embrace God’s work in my midst regardless of what it looks like.  It takes a spiritually mature person to genuinely pursue God’s leading rather than my own thoughts on what is correct.  It takes a spiritually mature person to admit that the thoughts and ways of human organization are nothing compared to the thoughts and ways of God’s agenda.

That’s why I love where Paul ends this passage.  My ways are foolishness before God.  There is no other way of saying it.  My ways are foolishness before God.  Why would I ever spend my time pursuing what I think is right unless I have also verified that it actually is God’s ways, too? 

Find God, join Him in doing whatever you are doing. 

It doesn’t matter what shape it takes.  Where God is, that’s where I want to be.  Anything else is foolishness and spiritual immaturity.

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Year 2, Day 71: 1 Corinthians 2

Ungreat

I love where Paul begins his words here in 1 Corinthians 2.  He essentially says to them that when he came he didn’t proclaim any great speech to them.  People didn’t come and hear him because of his charisma.  They didn’t come and hear him because of his wealth.  They came and heard him because of his words.

The focus of our Christian life should be about our words.  The focus of our Christian life should be about our proclamation.  The shape and size of the building doesn’t matter.  The programs we offer don’t matter.  What matters is whether or not people are being drawn into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  The deepening of people’s faith matters.

Maturity

Then Paul starts talking about his dealings with the “mature.”  This is a word that has to do more with behavior than with anything else.  One’s maturity is not found in one’s age.  Nor is it found in one’s gender, height, or weight.  One’s maturity is not found in one’s denomination or one’s occupation.  One’s maturity is found in one’s behavior.

Notice that as we move through verses 6-13 we talk a lot about the faith that the “mature” received.  Paul is saying something here that might just not be popular today.  We can’t teach just anyone to have a deep faith life with God.  One must be spiritually mature in order to learn how to have a deep faith life.  This may anger us, because it immediately means that we must “evaluate” one another’s spirituality.  We might have to judge one another.  But Paul did that kind of thing all the time.

If you think about it, it makes sense.  We don’t give a baby solid food until they have started to develop their teeth.  They just can’t handle it.  We don’t teach 6 year-olds how to drive.  They just can’t handle the responsibility – and I’m not sure how many 20 year olds can handle it!  We don’t teach Geometry to 4^th graders – although we might teach “shapes.”  We don’t teach the theory of Political Science to people who aren’t in college.  We are always judging when people are ready to understand something deeper – why should faith be any different?

Interestingly enough, I was watching the “Andy Griffith Show” today – yes, believe it or not I do really enjoy the old-old reruns.  One of the plot points in the show I watch was when Opie found an abandoned baby and thought he needed to find a suitable parent for it.  Of course, he goes around during the day asking all the housewives that he knows if they would like to have a baby.  The women think Opie is talking about something completely different, naturally.  Andy and Aunt Bea have a discussion about whether or not Opie is ready for the “sex talk.”  This demonstrates that we make these kinds of decisions about other people all the time.

Thus, one does not simply walk into church and assume that you can know everything just by being present.  Sometimes we have to work for maturity.  Sometimes we need to spend time in God’s Word – lots of time in God’s Word.  Sometimes we need to come together with one another in prayer.  Sometimes we need to serve one another.  But we must practice our faith to become mature – to demonstrate maturity to others and God, even!  So Paul gives us a great lesson here, one that often gets overlooked.

Spiritual Nature

Then Paul ends this chapter with a conversation about spiritual nature.  Notice that Paul says that the spiritual things are imparted upon the spiritual.  The natural person is incapable of understanding the spiritual things.  The natural person who through an outward appearance seems to be spiritual is not capable of understanding spiritual things.  The only people who are capable of understanding spiritual things are spiritual people.

Again, this point just makes sense.  Yesterday we read that the message of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God.  If the cross is folly to the perishing, then all things spiritual are folly to the perishing.  Paul says as much at the end of this chapter.  Who can fathom the mind of God?  No, in order to understand spiritual things one must in fact be spiritual.  One must be born of the Holy Spirit and have the Holy Spirit within you to be able to understand spiritual matters.

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Year 2, Day 70: 1 Corinthians 1

Background

Today we begin another work of Paul.  Yes!  But before I begin, let me give a bit of background into the letters of 1 and 2 Corinthians.  First, let’s talk about Corinth: the city to which this letter is written.

Corinth was a seaport into Greece.  It was one of the cities that were at the heart of trade and commerce in the Grecian Peninsula.  Like most ancient cities that had big business dealings, this meant that Corinth had a substantial problem with sexual immorality.  Much of this problem was due to the plethora of gods that were worshipped in plenty of temples.  Just about every temple had male and/or female “temple priests” who were more like prostitutes that you could pay money to the god in order to have sex.  It was a system where the “priest” was thought to become the god’s agent during the act so if you had sex with a temple “priest” you would be especially blessed by the god.  That’s a bit of a generalization, but you get the general idea.

Additionally, as places of business tend to be, Corinthians struggled from a lack of social morality and ethic in general.  Of course, much of this was brought on by its great diversity in population.  After all, if it is a center of trade and people want to make money, you can’t offend any potential customer, right?

That was the city and the context in which Paul follows God – we already read about his story in Corinth in Acts.  But we should know that if any church that God used him to plant faltered, it was the church in Corinth.  Their incredible diversity led them to have issues with unity.  Their incredible diversity also set them up to have factions within their midst and they were eager to fight.  The huge amount of worship to foreign gods caused tension as the fledgling Christians figured out right ways to interact with people who didn’t worship God.  As we read through Corinthians, we must read through these letters through the perspective of Paul who is writing to a church that is almost perpetually troubled.

Finally, there is some debate about the books themselves.  There are places within 1 & 2 Corinthians where Paul seems to hint about writing other letters to them.  Of course it is possible that Paul wrote many letters that did not survive down through the ages.  It is also possible that in order to save space Paul’s letters became combined as scribes copied them.  There are some scholars out there that would actually break 1 & 2 Corinthians up into as many as 5 individual letters based on scope, theme, and drastic mood changes within a letter.  I don’t know if I would go the whole way of thinking that 1 & 2 Corinthians might be an amalgamation of 5 different letters, but I do think it is important to at least consider the possibility that over time Paul’s smaller letters were combined into two large books.  This doesn’t change the spirituality one bit.

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Opening

Look at Paul’s opening.  Paul identifies himself as an apostle: one who is sent.  Also notice that in his opening he focuses on a theme of unity.  The Corinthians are sanctified by God and called to be united with each other and all the followers of Jesus Christ.  We can see from the very beginning that unity is significant to Paul and his understanding of what is going wrong in Corinth.  It says quite a bit about the letter when Paul’s opening words are words encouraging a perspective of unity.  Either unity is one of their strengths (which would be the case if Paul were writing a letter of commendation!) or unity is one of their biggest issues (if Paul is writing a letter of advice, which he clearly is writing).

Thanksgiving

As we move into the section for thanksgiving, notice what it is for which Paul gives thanks.  Paul seems like he is giving thanks for the Corinthians, but he is not.  Paul is giving thanks to God, who is in the midst of the Corinthians.  {If you don’t see it, read the Thanksgiving section in the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Philippians.  There he genuinely gives thanks to God as well as for the Philippians.}  Here in Corinthians …

• Paul gives thanks for the grace of God within them.  
• Paul gives thanks that God sees fit to enrich them and fill them spiritually. 
• Paul gives thanks that it is God who sustains them.  

Paul is writing with a very deft hand.  Paul has found a way to give thanks and praise to God in the midst of the Corinthian church that is in turmoil.  In doing so, Paul has sent a very clear message.  There is always reason to give thanks to God; even when the people in the church don’t deserve for us to thank God for having them as a part of our life.  In this sense, even this section of thanksgiving can be seen as a chastisement of Corinth – especially when compared to the amount of thanksgiving Paul gives to the churches that are following Jesus Christ in truth – Philippi being the big example here.

Division In The Church

Now we get to the first piece of “meat” in the letter: Paul’s words on division in the church.  Note that when Paul says we must be united Paul is not saying we have to be carbon copies of one another.  Paul is not saying that we should be copying each other precisely.  As Paul confesses a bit later in the first chapter, we are all gifted in different areas and we should use those gifts accordingly.  We need not be carbon copies of one another, but we must be united in purpose.

What is the thing behind which we should be united?   What else would it be other than the message of the cross?  We should be united behind that which professes Jesus Christ to the world.  We should be united behind that which tells other people about Jesus Christ.

I think this is where so many churches get it wrong.  Yeah, I’m getting up on my soapbox again.  I’ve said this before, but it is important enough to talk about whenever it comes up in God’s Word.  So many Christians think that the question “Do I like this?” has a place in the church.  It’s taken me many years of Bible Study and living a life of getting knocked around, but I’ve come to the place where I don’t believe the question “Do I like this?” even has any place in the church.  God does not call me to things that I inherently enjoy.  He does not call me only to things that are pleasant.  Rather, God calls me to proclaim His Word to the world around me.

Sometimes that is an absolute joy.  There is no greater joy for me than sitting down one-on-one with someone and unpacking scripture and watching them gain a new understanding about God from God.  On the other hand, sometimes I have to do things I don’t particularly enjoy in order to reach people that God also wants me to reach.  The question “Do I enjoy this?” is nowhere near as important as “Are people being reached for Christ through this?”

That is the gist of Paul’s point at the end of this letter.  The world – in its foolishness – wants us to focus on ourselves.  The world wants us to promote our life.  God – in what the world thinks is foolishness – wants us to promote His Son’s death.  He wants us to promote sacrificial love and sacrificial giving.  He wants us to promote thinking of God’s ways first and then thinking of other people even before we think of ourselves.  God wants us to put the needs of others before the needs of ourselves because we trust that God can take care of our needs anyway.

When I am focused on reaching the world for Christ, the questions “Do I enjoy this?” or “Is this for me?” don’t even enter into the discussion.  The only question that is important is “Can Christ use this to reach people who need Him?”  If Christ is genuinely using something to reach people for Him and transform their lives into godly examples of His ways, why wouldn’t we want to be a part of it?  When the church learns to focus on the message of the cross and it’s proclamation to the world, then we will be united.  When we focus on worshipping in ways that we enjoy, preaching the things we want to hear, and living the way we want to live then we will remain in our disunity.

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Year 2, Day 69: Esther 9 & 10

Today we get to finish the book of Esther.  There are a few points of interest that I would like to bring out.  The first is on moral purity.  The second is on Purim.  The third is on the validity of the book of Esther.

Moral Purity

Starting with the moral purity angle, let’s look at what the Jews did to those people who rose against them.  It is important to note that the Jews were given permission to defend themselves against men, women, and children.  Yet, the Bible records only the number of men who were killed.  This could very well be an indication of the moral purity of the Jews.  They had permission to do one thing, but they held themselves to a higher standard than what would have been allowed.

I should also remind people here, though, that in ancient cultures it is not uncommon for only the number of men to be recorded.  For example, when the Hebrew people are being counted in the wilderness during the Exodus, it often records only the number of men.  Whenever there was a census of population in the Promised Land it usually only records the men.  Certainly there were women involved in those situations.  They just aren’t recorded.  So while it is possible that the Jews did not kill any women or children, it is also possible that any women or children killed were simply not counted.

In either case, the Bible is clear that the Jews did not plunder the people that attacked them even though they had the right to do so.  This does tell me that regardless of the women/children issue that the Jews did hold themselves to a higher moral standard than was necessary according to the Persian culture.  The Jews did not act according to “what was permissible” but rather according to “what was right.”

I think this is a great lesson to stop and learn today.  What is permissible is not always right.  What is allowed is not always good for me.  What is accepted will not always lead me into a good place.  We cannot get our moral compass from the world around us and its expectations or values.  We must hold ourselves to God’s standard at all times.

Purim

My second point in this blog is about Purim, and it will be quick.  Purim is a festival celebrating God’s aid to the Jews.  Therefore, Purim is a festival remembering those who are unable to help themselves.  It was a holiday of giving gifts of food to one another – especially to the poor.  This is ministry in action.  This is remembering the poor and downtrodden in life.  This is true religion right there.

Validity of Esther

Finally, let me move onto my third point for this blog.  I started the blog on Esther many days ago by being upfront about the historicity of Esther and how many have questioned whether or not the book of Esther is true based on the lack of evidence outside of the Bible that Esther ever lived.  However, I completely ignored the historicity of the book based on the validity of Mordecai.  I did that because I wanted to save it for when we discussed Esther 10.

Here we hear about the fact that Mordecai is elevated up to the second in command (directly underneath the king) within Persia.  This fact may well be substantiated with extra-Biblical sources.  A Cuneiform tablet found in Borsippa (about 10 miles south of ancient Babylon) speaks of a person called “Marduka” as being an official in the court of Xerxes (or Ahasuerus in Hebrew).  While Marduka may not look like the name Mordecai, remember that both names are transliterated from their original languages into English.  Thus, we should not judge them so much on appearance but rather on how they sound.  If you sound them out slowly, you will find that both names sound quite similar (in spite of not looking much like one another).  I find it highly conceivable that the person known as Mordecai to the Jews could be known as Marduka to people who spoke a different language and who lived in an ancient Babylonia city.  For me, this adds some credibility to the historicity of the book of Esther.

I don’t say this third point above to make a spiritual point.  Believing the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament as being the sole authority on my life is an act of faith, not an act of science or history.  So regardless of the credibility or historicity of Esther, I believe its message to be true and an authority over my life.  That being said, I still find it neat to hear about historical sources that match up with what the Bible portrays.

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