NT Journey--1 Corinthians 15

What Separates Jesus     

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul addresses an internal debate about resurrection.  If you remember back to the book of Matthew and the book of Acts, there were different schools of thought in the ancient world and even within Judaism itself as to whether there is such a thing as life after death-- or resurrection.  The Sadduccees didn't believe in resurrection, the Pharisees did and, of course Jesus would side with the Pharisees on that point (and proved it later).  Paul, of course, also sides with the Pharisees who believed in the resurrection.

In the middle of the debate, Paul says something very bold and risky.  In verse 14, Paul writes, "If Christ has not been raised our preaching is useless and so is your faith."  What Paul says to them and to us is that everything in Christianity hinges on the Resurrection.  If the resurrection is not a true, historical event, then we should just abandon faith in Christ and do something more productive with our lives.  This, of course, puts Jesus in a unique place among religious leaders.

For Paul, it all goes back to the resurrection.  The thing we have to believe in order to accurately be called a Christian is that Christ has been raised.  Someone who likes the teachings of Jesus but doesn't believe in the resurrection, according to Paul should just stop wasting his time.  Belief in Jesus is not just a philosophy that was made up by a good person.  Belief in Jesus is belief that God proved His power and message through the resurrection of Jesus.

And because Jesus was resurrected, we also have the hope of resurrection.

Resurrection makes a difference.  First, if living on earth is all there is, we should just seek as much pleasure as possible.  Why try to live a moral life if when it's all said and done, we just go back to the earth.  Resurrection is the great equalizer.  Resurrection is the only thing that can insure justice.

We all have a sense that there is something not right with the world.  We all know intuitively that evil is bad.  When children die of cancer, something tells us this is not the way things are supposed to be.  Well, if there is no resurrection then our sense that something is wrong makes no sense.  Suffering is pointless and unredeemed.  But because of resurrection, we can know that everything will be made right some day.  That evil will be punished and suffering will be accounted for.  All of this because of the resurrection of Jesus.

No other founder of a religion makes that claim.  All others teach about the nature of God and the way they think we should live.  But only one makes such bold claims about Himself and only one asks us to believe in an actual historic event that we can study and discount or affirm.  It makes Jesus very easy to check out--if He was raised, then He is who He says He is and is worthy of our praise and emulation.  But if He wasn't, we should figure out something better to do with the limited time we have here on earth.

NT Journey--1 Corinthians 14

The Value of Community     

One of the most difficult aspects of church is life is how to maintain unity.  Even when the whole church has a heart for the mission of Jesus--to seek and to save that which is lost--there can still be disagreement about how to accomplish that mission.  What is most difficult is that we all have the temptation to trust our own judgment.  I've heard many people who believed they heard God tell them to do this or that.  Sometimes it's obviously the case that God didn't tell them what they thought they heard and sometimes you just don't know.

Sometimes people will say that God told them something, just to give their own opinion more weight.  There are times when they are intentionally deceptive, but sometimes people genuinely do think that God spoke to them.  I do believe God still speaks to people today.  Of course, the most common way He speaks to us is through the Bible (common, that is if it's common for you to read it). 

But 1 Corinthians 14 also deals with another way God speaks--through prophecy.  Now, first I  must say that the prophecy that Paul is talking about here is not necessarily the kind where people tell the future.  Basically, the prophecy just means a word from the Lord.  It seems from the context that Paul is specifically talking about a word of prophecy that it directed at another person in the church, but I don't think Paul's advice here is limited to just that situation.

Here's where I think we often go wrong in the church.  Notice in verse 29 that even when people speak prophetically, others in the church should "weigh carefully what is said."  In other words, just because someone claims to speak for God doesn't mean everyone else should automatically accept it as a word from God.  Claiming to speak for God is a serious thing we ought not to take lightly.  In fact, we should take it so seriously that we cannot just automatically accept that someone is speaking the words of God. 

If you think God has told you something, before you go around telling people as if it's actually the case, first test the message with trusted, mature believers.  It's not as though God is a bad communicator, it's just that we're often very bad at listening.  We have many hidden motives, both conscious and subconscious that skew our ability to hear.  But when we seek the counsel of others in the church who don't have our biases and distractions, we will better be able to know if it's God speaking or our own mind.

That also means that if someone comes to you claiming to speak for God, don't just automatically accept it as that, but judge whether it might be true.  If it is, take it very seriously.  Speak the truth.

Paul's main concern in this chapter is to have orderly worship.  Order comes when people humbly submit themselves to each  other for the sake of the Church.

NT Journey--1 Corinthians 13

The Bullseye     

I think 1 Corinthians 13 is one of the least respected chapters in the entire Bible.  It's not that people don't like it, people love it!  They just always relegate it to a certain context--weddings.  And when we do that, I think we miss just how profound and ultimately important this chapter is to our faith.  I would argue that 1 Corinthians 13 should be central to our understanding of spiritual growth.

People have different ideas of what it means to be a mature Christian.  For some people, it's the ability to master complicated theological concepts.  Some believe that because they can perfectly explain the doctrine of the Trinity or the substitutional theory of the atonement they are mature.

For others, they feel they're mature when they can easily and boldly preach the gospel and get many people "saved."

Others believe their knowledge of the Bible makes them a mature Christian.  They can quote scripture forward and backward and if you ask them where a particular verse is found, they can tell you instantly.

For others it's the exercise of spiritual gifts--maybe they speak in tongues or they prophesy.  And because of this they are a greater class of Christian.

But in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul blows all of these ideas out of the water.  In it, He lists all the different ways the Corinthians found to feel superior to each other.  In earlier chapters, we saw many examples of this--all of them which had the effect of separating and bringing disunity in the church.  But Paul says that all of those external markers mean nothing if a person doesn't have love.

Love is the bullseye of spiritual growth.  If all your spiritual disciplines, church attendance and Bible reading don't result in more love for people, it's futile.  If you are one who knows the Bible forward and backward, just so you can use it as a weapon in a debate or argument, you're missing the mark.  If you speak in tongues and use it as a source of pride in your life, you've missed it.  If you can understand the theology of Jesus and explain it in a way that amazes people, but you're selfish and mistreat others, all your knowledge is worthless.

Paul goes on to explain to them what love is.  It's patient because it gives people the grace to not have to get things right the first time.  It's kind because when we love people, we always wish them the best.  It doesn't envy because love doesn't allow us to be in competition with each other.  It doesn't boast because when I love it's my desire to build YOU up, not me.  It's not rude because we're only rude when we see people as obstacles.

Love is the thing that will last.  God is love.  And the point of 1 Corinthians 13 is that when we love, we are most like God.

NT Journey--1 Corinthians 12

The Best Church Advice     

1 Corinthians 12 might be the best advice for existing in the church.  If you remember from previous chapters in 1 Corinthians there were many factions in the church.  They seemed to always find reasons to feel superior to the other Christians in the church.  Whether it was their intellectual exploits, their restraint in becoming celibate, or exploiting their freedom in eating meat sacrificed to idols, the competition was fierce.

We find out that in 1 Corinthians 12, there were some in the church who felt they were superior because of the particular spiritual gift they had.  A spiritual gift is a gift every believer has that is expressly given to build up the church and build the Kingdom.  Here, Paul mentions a few gifts--wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, speaking in tongues, etc.  There are other passages where other gifts are listed, but I don't believe that the spiritual gifts are limited to the gifts mentioned in the various passages of scripture.  As culture changes, the church needs different changing gifts.

The problem in Corinth was that some people were elevating certain gifts above other gifts.  Gifts like speaking in tongues tends to be a more "spectacular" gift and one that a lot of people would like to have.  But Paul doesn't buy in to this kind of thinking.  Here is where we see Paul's greatest explanation of the church as the body of Christ.

Each member of the church is a part of the body and Paul's answer to the Corinthians was that every part of the body is important.  He says, "the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don't need you.'"  While the eye and the hand have different functions, each are important in their own right.  So it is in the church.  Even though some gifts may be more "flashy," like preaching or other "up front" gifts, they are no more important than "behind the scenes" gifts like service and generous giving.

Paul ends chapter 12 by encouraging the Corinthians to "eagerly desire the greater gifts," the perfect lead in to 1 Corinthians 13.

NT Journey--1 Corinthians 11

Women: A Lesser Class of Christian?     

1 Corinthians 11 brings up many questions for us.  In many ways, this chapter is one of the most difficult we will read in our walk through the New Testament.  It raises questions about how we take the Lord's Supper.  For instance, apparently when the Corinthian church took it, they didn't just have little wafers and teeny little communion cups, but they served enough that the people were getting drunk!  Also, later in the chapter Paul mentions people "falling asleep" because they ate and drank judgment on themselves.  I don't know what they were doing in Corinth, but I have never heard of a tragic communion death today.

But what I'd like to focus on today is more likely a hot-button issue for the church--women in the church.  Many groups use this passage and others like to forbid women in positions of ministry and maintain old cultural expressions of male-female relationships.  I think 1 Corinthians, chapter 11 is one of those passages that look like one thing on the surface, but when you dive in, you find something completely different.  To explain the chapter I've enlisted the help of N.T. Wright, the Archbishop of Durham and one of the leading New Testament scholars of our day.

First, a lesson in Biblical doctrine.  There are really two principles that we need to remember as we read this chapter.  First, we always read from clear to unclear.  A lot of times, groups will take an obscure and confusing passage of scripture and come up with a doctrine.  That group will often form a new denomination or sometimes even a cult because of their belief that other Christians don't have the depth of understanding they do.  But when we're interpreting scripture and determining doctrine and practice, on any particular topic, we must give most weight to the passages that are clear and read the unclear passages in light of the clear ones.

Second, we should give weight to the whole of scripture rather than any particular verse, even if it seems at face value to contradict scripture as a whole.  In the case of 1 Corinthians 11, we should take note of the fact that Jesus was completely counter-cultural when it came to the role of women in society.  Though all His 12 disciples were men (which we can easily explain through cultural eyes), many of Jesus' main followers were women.  Not only this, but women play a huge role in the resurrection accounts despite the fact that their testimony would have been invalid in those times.  The early church clearly had women in leadership positions.  The weight of the New Testament suggests women were not seen, even by Paul as second-class citizens.

Finally, the cardinal rule in Biblical interpretation is "context is everything."  Going back to the original language is often useful in helping us determine the meaning of a particular passage, but the first thing we have to do is to understand both the cultural context and the context of the particular passage in the book.  In the case of 1 Corinthians 11, this is most instructive for us.  So let's take a look at the context, then see what we can determine about what Paul is saying.

Book Context:  First, we have to remember that Corinth was the San Francisco or maybe Vegas of the Roman Empire (and that's saying a lot).  It was known, most of all for its rampant sexual promiscuity and deviance.  Pagan religions were more or less ambivalent to ethical concerns and in the case of religious rites, even provided temple prostitutes for worship.  Paul was very concerned that when the Corinthians became Christians, they would continue the same lifestyle the pagans would.  But Christians are called to be different.

At the same time, Paul preached the freedom that Christ brings.  So he agreed that Christians could eat meat sacrificed to idols as long as it didn't offend the conscience of a "weaker believer."  In chapter 7, remember that Paul addresses the issue of marital roles.  Like our society today, there were certain expectations for the behavior of each spouse.  Despite the fact that Christ brings freedom, believers should always have others in mind when it comes of expressing that freedom.  So for instance, even if we know it's OK in our society to drink alcohol, it may not be the most loving action to have a beer in front of a young believer who has a drinking problem. 

So as a whole, Paul spends a great amount of time addressing the delicate balance between living in freedom and a Christian's concern for the Gospel.  Keep this in mind as we approach this passage.  Now on to cultural context.

Cultural Context:  Roman society was very much a male-dominated society.  In marriage, men had all the rights.  While there was some progress in terms of women's rights at the time, women were still seen as inferior and in some cases, even property.  Women were to remain silent in mixed assemblies.  While both women and men were discouraged from having affairs, women were generally instructed to look the other way from her husband's affairs.  Women of different standings also dressed differently from each other.  In general, married women wore head coverings, while unmarried women didn't.  All women were to dress modestly so as not to draw attention to themselves when in public.  Of course, the exception to this was prostitutes, who would of course, dress more provocatively.

So how does the context affect our understanding of 1 Corinthians 11?  First, we have to understand the tension between the new order of equality provided women in Christ and the need to be sensitive to cultural expressions.  Our freedom can often be a barrier to people responding to the Gospel.  Just like the weaker believer in 1 Corinthians 8, but Christian women broke all the cultural customs of Roman society, it could never be taken seriously.  For instance, if married Christian women started going without head coverings because they were free in Christ, society might think they were involved in some kind of prostitution or that Christianity was a religion of sexually loose women.  In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul says things like, "to those under the Law, I became as one under the Law to win those under the Law."  In other words, I conformed to their cultural expressions to gain a hearing of the Gospel.  The same principle applies here in regard to women.

Second, though the Gospel afforded men and women equal standing before God (which was not the case in pagan religions), Christian women should still conform to cultural expressions of male headship in society.  N.T. Wright believes that Paul's point in this passage is that men and women should continue to be men and women in worship.  Men and women look at the world in different ways.  We express faith in different ways.  God does not intent that men and women express their faith the same, but according to their own gender differences.  He says,

The underlying point then seems to be that in worship it is important for both men and women to be their truly created selves, to honour God by being what they are and not blurring the lines by pretending to be something else.  One of the unspoken clues to this passage may be Paul's assumption that in worship the creation is being restored, or perhaps that in worship we are anticipating its eventual restoration.  God made humans male and female, and gave the 'authority' over the wor.d, as Ben-Sirach 17.3 puts it, summarizing Genesis 1.26-28 and echoing Psalm 8.4-8 (Ben-Sirach was written around 200 BC).  And if humans are to reclaim this authority over the world, this will come about as they worship the true God, as they pray and prophesy in his name, and are renewed in his image, in being what they were made to be, in celebration the genders God has given them.

If this is Paul's meaning, the critical move he makes is to argue that a man dishonours his head by covernig it in worship and that a woman dishonours hers by not covering it.  He argues this mainly from the basis that creation itself tends to give men shorter hair and women longer (verses 5-6, 13-15); the fact that some cultures, and some people, offer apparent exceptions would probably not have worried him.  His main point is that in worship men should follow the dress and hair codes which proclaim them to be male, and women the codes which proclaim them to be female.

All in all, in worship, we don't set aside proper cultural norms.  In fact, when worshiping in a given culture, we should follow their cultural customs in order to not be a barrier to their worship.  Now, it's impossible to go into all the issues brought up in this passage and others like it in a blog post, but I will end with this passage from The Message paraphrase that I think will give you a good sense of how to read it in context.

^{1 -2}It pleases me that you continue to remember and honor me by keeping up the traditions of the faith I taught you. All actual authority stems from Christ. ^{3 -9}In a marriage relationship, there is authority from Christ to husband, and from husband to wife. The authority of Christ is the authority of God. Any man who speaks with God or about God in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of Christ, dishonors Christ. In the same way, a wife who speaks with God in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of her husband, dishonors her husband. Worse, she dishonors herself—an ugly sight, like a woman with her head shaved. This is basically the origin of these customs we have of women wearing head coverings in worship, while men take their hats off. By these symbolic acts, men and women, who far too often butt heads with each other, submit their "heads" to the Head: God.
   ^{10 -12}Don't, by the way, read too much into the differences here between men and women. Neither man nor woman can go it alone or claim priority. Man was created first, as a beautiful shining reflection of God—that is true. But the head on a woman's body clearly outshines in beauty the head of her "head," her husband. The first woman came from man, true—but ever since then, every man comes from a woman! And since virtually everything comes from God anyway, let's quit going through these "who's first" routines.
   ^{13 -16}Don't you agree there is something naturally powerful in the symbolism—a woman, her beautiful hair reminiscent of angels, praying in adoration; a man, his head bared in reverence, praying in submission? I hope you're not going to be argumentative about this. All God's churches see it this way; I don't want you standing out as an exception.

 When we look at this passage in light of the overall Biblical picture and the context of the day, we see that Paul's message is something very different than what we would see if we took it out of both contexts.  Instead of treating women as second-class Christians, it values the distinct role women play in the church and keeps us aware of the sensitivities of those outside the church.  Both worthy goals.

NT Journey--1 Corinthians 10

I'm the Exception     

"I am the exception.  Everyone else needs to heed good advice, but for some reason I've got it all figured out.  I can text while driving.  I can run with scissors.  I have the emotional fortitude to be able to handle anything that comes my way.  There is no one else like me."

If we were honest with ourselves, we might all this way feel deep-down.  I think that the only reason people failed in the past was because they weren't as smart, keen, talented, or strong as I am.  I can hardly stand to see someone else struggle to open a jar of pickles, because I just know I can get it open.  I can put myself in compromising positions without it having a negative impact on my life.   Have you ever felt this way?

This is the warning Paul gives the Corinthians in chapter 10.  In it, he looks back to the history of Israel, which if you know anything about that history is the classic example of learning the hard way.  We've been spending our time in the New Testament, but the Old Testament has much to offer us as well and in this chapter Paul tells us why. 

I have to admit that I haven't spent as much time in the Old Testament as I have in the New.  I do feel I know it pretty well, but my focus has always been on the New--and rightly so.  In many ways, the Old Testament is the opening acts of the Bible.  It tells us where we come from.  It gives us insight into the human condition.  It spells out in law-form what we all have written on our hearts.  It foretells God's plan to save the world through Jesus.  In that respect it's essential.

But the New Testament goes beyond the Old Testament.  What the Old Testament hinted at, the New Testament says outright.  What the Law could not do, grace completes.  You see this in the book of Hebrews as well as other places in the writings of the Apostle Paul.  We're not called to live by the Old Testament, but to learn from it.  While we're not in the same situation as the Israelites, we are of the same human nature.

In our chapter today, Paul mentions a number of sins of Israel.  First idolatry.  One of the great sins of Israel was worshiping other gods.  God knew this was likely for the Israelites, so He gave strict warnings against mingling with other ethnic groups.  At their stage of development, the Israelites as a whole were not strong enough to resist the pressure to worship other gods.  Like the Romans who came thousands of years later, "just in case" was a strong pull.  But God always called them to trust Him alone. 

Our situation is different today.  Our "gods" are no longer images made out of stone, but famous people, possessions, money and the desire to make ourselves gods.  God doesn't call us to isolate from people who are different from us, but to build bridges.  That's the power of grace--it gives us the freedom to be "all grown up."

Paul also mentions sins like sexual immorality and "grumbling."  How often to we lump these two together.  Many pastors and leaders have lost their ministry to sexual sin, but how many have been disciplined for complaining?  Not many, for sure.

The point Paul makes in this chapter is to remind the Corinthians that even though they are in a different situation, they are not the exception.  Even though they are free ("everything is permissible") not everything will move them in the right direction.  Even though God  may not punish them, the natural consequences of their sin will be separation from God and keep them from becoming who God created them to be.

With this in mind, what Paul is getting at is that the real question to ask is not, "Am I alright doing this?" but "How will my action and decision effect the people around me?"  Learn from history that you are not your own.  Your choices effect the people who are watching you or come after you.  Don't be that history lesson of what NOT to do.

NT Journey--1 Corinthians 9

Free to Grow     

In today's blog (which is actually should have been 2 days ago), I want to focus on verse 19-27.  If you've been reading through the New Testament Journey from the beginning and following my blog, you've learned that I believe one of Jesus' main focuses in His teaching was to free people from the bounds of rules and religion.  Some people may take this to mean that I am anti-church (I'm not), or anti-Bible (I'm not), or that I'm all for some vague spirituality (I'm definitely not).  I just want my faith to be based on Jesus and free from so much baggage Christianity has picked up along the way--the forms of religion rather than the heart of life in God.

Now we are all products of our society and I recognize that there is a movement in today's world, probably due to the tendency of postmodern thought to "deconstruct" everything.  I admit that am a party to that, though my goal is not to deconstruct religion and leave it laying there in pieces so I can create my own individualized faith.  My goal is much different than that.

I don't believe we should follow a system of belief.  When God wanted to perfectly reveal Himself to us, He did so not in a "system of though" or philosophy, but in a person--Jesus.  This person happened to be the perfect representation of the image of God we were created in as well as the representation of God on earth.  So when Jesus says things like, "I am the truth," He's not say that his philosophy or individual interpretation of the world is truth.  He's not saying He reflects the truth closer than anyone up to that point has reflected it.  He is saying that He knows exactly how God created the world and ordered the universe, so if we want to know that truth, we only need to look to Him.  When we believe that Jesus is truth, we will be set free from human interpretations of truth.  So in my own personal quest for faith, I've come to the point where I try to deconstruct everything but Jesus.  I know I can't do this perfectly, but if I want to be like Christ, I want to be a perfect representation of Him--an original source kind of guy.

Well that was Paul's goal as well.  Paul talks a lot about freedom.  In his context, it was mostly about two freedoms--freedom from sin and freedom from the Law.  Paul wasn't governed by either piece, but as we learn in 1 Corinthians 9, he could converse in both worlds.  He says essentially, "I'll operate in the world of the Law, but I'm not a slave to the Law."  He also says, "I'm not a slave to sin, but I'm not afraid of those who are.  I will associate with them, too."  But the reason Paul says He does this is because he wants those people to be free like he is.  He wants people to know the truth of the Gospel.

This is a very freeing thing for churches as well.   Churches need to hear the Gospel, too.  We often think that in order to be the church God wants us to be, we have to have all the elements churches have "always had."  If we don't have Sunday School, we won't be a good church.  If we don't have small groups, we're doing something wrong.  "What if we don't have (insert your favorite ministry here)?  How can call ourselves a church?"  Paul says his strategy is that he's not going to be a slave to all the forms--he's going to take the form of whatever it takes to be effective and I think churches need to have that attitude as well.

The idea of using our freedom for the Gospel is an important one, but it's just as important for spiritual growth.  People might think that because I think Jesus was anti-religion that I would advocate a sort of laissez faire spirituality, but this is also not true.  In verses 24-27, Paul highlights the need for discipline in our spiritual growth.  I don't believe that any of us currently is what God intended us to be--we're all on a journey.  True faith is a faith of movement where, if we cooperate, God never leaves us where we were.

Just like getting into physical shape or preparing for an athletic competition means stripping off the fat and building the muscle, the spiritual life does the same thing.  But it doesn't happen automatically.  We have to work at it.  I'm a big believer in spiritual disciplines like prayer, fasting, solitude, corporate worship, giving generously, service, Bible study, etc.  These are all ways we can "work out" our faith.  They are all part of the process of getting rid of "self" and allowing Christ to take control of our lives.

So how purposeful are you about your growth?  Do you think it's just going to happen?  If so, you're probably frustrated that you're not where you want to be in your faith.  Though I don't have time to talk about it here, what I would suggest is getting a book like Richard Foster's "A Celebration of Discipline" and learning to practice the spiritual disciplines.  Practicing spiritual disciplines doesn't mean you're a better Christian, but practicing them can be the means to become a better one.  Whether we're talking about a church or an individual, growth is intentional, not accidental.

NT Journey--1 Corinthians 8

Knowledge, Love and Alcohol    

As we're learning, the theme of spiritual superiority is probably the central focus of the book of 1 Corinthians.  People are in the church are finding many different ways to be proud of their spiritual state.  First, one group thought the ability to wax eloquent about complex theological concepts made them spiritually superior to the more simple minds.  In chapter 7, we read about the group who believed they were spiritually superior because they were celibate and pushed others to leave their marriages so they could "devote more time to Jesus."

In chapter 8 it comes down to food.  It's not secret in those day that there was a great many idols around.  The centerpiece of Roman society was the pantheon of gods.  There wasn't a god the Romans didn't worship or make idols or temples for.  It was pervasive in the society.  So when a person would go to the market, the food sold in the market was most likely sacrificed to one of the gods. 

Now remember that Christianity comes out of Judaism, a religion where the prohibition against "other gods" and idols is a central tenet.  Jews did not take that issue lightly and neither did Christians.  But since idols were everyone, it was difficult to avoid.  No doubt there were places where you could buy food that was not sacrificed to idols.  Judaism was prominent enough in the Roman Empire that there would be "kosher" markets around, especially in a city the size of Corinth.  But if a person wanted to eat at the house of a Gentile, it would be difficult to avoid eating the sacrificed meat.

Such an environment provided lots of opportunity for the Corinthian Christians to feel superior.  On one side is the people who would try to avoid that meat at all costs.  They would take pride in the fact that they don't eat that meat because they are so devoted God.  On the other side are the Christians who are so confident that there is only one God that the meat sacrificed to gods are really sacrificed to nothing and so there is nothing wrong with it.

For the record, Paul agrees with the group who believe that since the meat is sacrificed to nothing, it's OK to eat it.  But Paul also knows that this is not the most important issue.  The more important issue is that of the love and unity of the Corinthian church.

In an earlier post, I talked about how you can be technically right, but actually wrong.  That was the case with the Corinthians.  While their position was correct, their disposition was not Christlike.  (now I'm sounding like an old-time preacher).  One catchy phrase in verse one sums up the whole chapter, and really the entire book of 1 Corinthians, "knowledge puffs up while love builds up."

Knowledge tends to make us arrogant.  A simple fact of life is that some people just don't have the mental capacity others do.  So when a person achieves a certain level of knowledge, insight, brilliance, genius-- whatever you want to call it--it puts them in an exclusive club.   But if you remember back to the first couple of chapters, Paul says that God intentionally made the Gospel "simple."  It may look like foolishness to the wise, but God wanted to make it simple because He wanted to make it accessible to everyone, not just the intellectual elite.

So all the issues associated with food sacrificed to idols are fine as long as they are secondary to the desire to love.  Love is when we think about others before ourselves.  So in this chapter, while the people who feel free to eat the meat are actually right, when the "weaker" Christians are around, the loving thing would be to abstain.  The hope is that eventually the weaker members could come to the same understanding and live in the freedom Christ provides, but love dictates patience.  Freedom does no good if love is not at the core of who we are.  All of this is leading up to 1 Corinthians 13--the love chapter.

At the beginning of the New Testament journey, we talked about how we can get the most out of our Bible reading.  The Bible was written for us, but it wasn't written to us.  So our job is not just to take what we read and apply it directly to our lives.  In our day, we don't think too much about food sacrificed to idols--it's not an issue for us.  Since that's the case, 1 Corinthians 8 would be pointless for us.  But what we do is we work to find the transcendent truth represented in that particular situation and apply that truth to our situation.

In this case, I think there is a modern-day issue relevant to those of us in the Wesleyan church--the issue of alcohol.  This is a big issue for us because it was Wesleyans (or at least our foremothers) who spearheaded much of the prohibition movement in America.  Abstinence from alcohol is still a part of the Wesleyan church's membership covenant.

Now I'm not a drinker and never have been, but this is one area of the discipline I do not agree with.  Although I understand the reasoning behind it--alcohol is the center of many of our societal ills like drunk driving, alcoholism, broken homes, promiscuity, etc.--I think this prohibition is legalistic.  It's one of those things we make a big deal out of that we can't point to scripture and say, "thus saith the Lord."  I have known a great many saints who were known to have a drink from time to time.  I believe those people are right to feel free to do that.  In fact, I would take it a step further to say that our complete prohibition against alcohol has actually been a stumbling block to people coming to joining our church and ultimately coming to Christ.  We've seen this a number of times in our church over the years.

I believe Paul would say that to drink or not to drink is really not the issue.  The real issue is love.  For people who don't know Jesus and for whom drinking is not a problem, is it loving to place a barrier to faith in front of them?  At the same time what about the Christian who believes they are free to consume an adult beverage?   Are there any warnings for them?  Sure.  Some "weaker" believers don't feel so free and would have their faith tested if they drank a beer in front of them.  In that case, the loving thing to do would be to not flaunt their freedom.  There may be times when the loving thing to do would be to confront a person about their drinking, but to make a blanket statement, I believe does little good.

The issue is not freedom or alcohol, but love.  It's the center of everything as we'll see in a few chapters.

NT Journey--1 Corinthians 7

This Post is Rated "R"    

When I was growing up, sex was a topic we just didn't talk about much and when we did, it was pretty much, "don't do it."  Of course, this is good advice for a teenager, but when you grow up and get married, that just won't do anymore.  As I've gotten older, I've seen the value in talking about sex in a healthy way.

In fact, when I was youth pastor that was one thing I was determined to do--not just to talk about sex two or three times a year when the youth group lesson dictated, but also to model a healthy sexual attitude.  It's a fine line to walk being open about sex, yet not making women out to be only sex objects.  What often annoys me is when Christians are prudes.  God gave sex as a gift and we ought not to avoid.

In fact, that's actually the message of 1 Corinthians 7.  The chapter is a little cryptic if you don't understand the situation.  Remember that the church in Corinth is trying to figure out what it means to follow Jesus in one of the most sexually deviant societies we've known.  There are different ways Christians can respond to such a situation. 

First, you can just "go with it" and allow your own sexual ethics to be shaped by the society at large.  We saw and example of this in 1 Corinthians 5 in which there was a man in the church who even went further than society having sex with his step-mom.  Obviously, this is not an acceptable solution.  As Paul says in chapter 6, not everything is beneficial.  The price of the lack of sexual restraint in our society is very high--unwanted pregnancy, abortion, divorce, STIs (or whatever they're calling them these days), pain, loneliness, crimes against women, etc.  There's a reason God prescribes sexual restraint.

The second option is to view sex as evil.  This was the option for a party in the Corinthian church and the very topic Paul was addressing in 1 Corinthians 7.  If you remember, there were great divisions within the Corinthian church, one group thinking they were spiritually superior to the others because of their great knowledge.  Well, we don't know if it was the same group, but there was a faction within the Corinthian church that took pride in the fact that the way they dealt with the problem of sexual ethics by preaching that sex was evil altogether and ought not be practiced.  Again, they used their celibacy as proof of their spiritual superiority.

So the first verse of 1 Corinthians 7 Paul quotes the celibacy group--"It is good for a man not to have sex with a woman."  Though the NIV says "It is good for a man not to marry" that's not a good translation (maybe the translators of the original NIV were prudes).  The celibacy group was encouraging everyone in the church to dispense with their familial relations in order to "devote more time to Jesus."  Paul agrees that when you're married, you do have a certain distraction from following Jesus.

Paul acknowledges that he's in an enviable situation since he's single.  Could you imagine Paul doing the things he did if he were married?  Would his wife come with him and endure the opposition and beatings he did on a regular basis?  If she didn't come with him, could she handle him being away for months and years at time and then when he does come home, show the bruises and scars from his persecution.  Clearly it was an advantage for Paul to be single.

On the other hand, not everyone was single.  The celibacy group was teaching that if a person wasn't single, they should leave their marriage so they can be free to devote their time to Jesus.  But Paul says no way for two reasons.

First, people who are married have taken vow to remain married until death and God expects us to keep that vow.  Not only that, but when we take that vow, we vow to actively car for our spouse.  In other words, we're not called to lifeless marriages of co-existence.  We are called to fulfill our marital duties to our spouse (both sexually and otherwise).  Those who are married should not divorce so they can devote more time to Jesus, they should determine how they can best serve Jesus in the place they are.

Second, some people just can't handle being single.  If they were single, their lack of sex would be more of a distraction than being married.  I know people like this.  They are overcome by their sex drive and feel guilty because of sexual sin and lack of restraint, giving in to their desires.  The sex drive is strong, but since sex is not evil in itself, marriage is much preferred to immorality. 

In the end, this chapter is not just about sex.  The idea of Paul in this chapter is that we can be spiritually mature whatever situation we're in.  If we're married we should be Christlike in our marriage.  If we're not, we should be a Christlike single.  We should always seek to live out our situation in a Christlike fashion rather than lament our place in life.  We can spend our entire life wishing we were someone or somewhere else, but Paul's message is that we can follow Jesus whatever our lot in life--that and sex is good (whew!)

NT Journey--1 Corinthians 6

More Signs of Immaturity    

Now I don't believe that Paul ever regretted going to Corinth to start the church there, but it must have been very frustrating for him to hear the reports coming back to him about the church.  Now we don't know if all the problems came from the same people.  My guess is that there was enough blame to go around.

The first problem Paul deals with is the Apollos group who thought that because of their intellectual exploits they were somehow superior to the other believers in the Corinthian church.  Spiritual superiority was an attitude that didn't sit well with Paul.  On top of that, there was blatant immorality.  It seems as though the Corinthians were very much a product of their society.

Then we find out in chapter six that people in the church are even going to court against each other--another sign of their immaturity.  It seems as though another sign of an immature church is that they don't handle conflict well.  Let me make this very clear--there is always great potential for conflict in a church.  The church is made up of people who have certain desires, preferences and feelings.  Wherever you have those things, you have great potential for conflict. 

Disagreements in the church is not a sign of spiritual immaturity.  Not being able to resolve those conflicts in a Christlike manner is.  In the case of the Corinthians, they were taking their disputes to the secular courts rather than calling in another church member to mediate.  Paul says that because of the wisdom given to believers and because they should understand the values of the Kingdom, they should be the best place to resolve issues.  But apparently the Corinthians--despite their high opinion of themselves--weren't in a position to make those judgments.  Immature.

The second issue of immaturity had to do with their attitude toward sin.  One of the themes you'll find in Paul's writing is the mess that grace causes and it's a real problem.  Because of grace given to us in the death and resurrection of Jesus, we don't have to worry about the penalty for sin any more--we are forgiven and sin is of no account to us anymore.  That's a radical idea and one that's subject to a great deal of misunderstanding and abuse.

Now you might think, "Well, that's overstating it.  It's not true that sin is of no account in our lives."  But Paul recognizes that this is the case and tried to head off the arguments people make.  For instance in Romans 6, Paul deals with those who would say that the more we sin, the more grace we get.  He says, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?"  Obviously, grace is prone to abuse.  This is essentially the same argument the Corinthians are making.  Since we are forgiven and grace has given us victory over the metaphysical effects of sin, let's just do whatever we want.

But this is abuse and it is a misunderstanding of the nature of sin.  Let me make an analogy.  We've begun giving our kids a weekly allowance (in true Dave Ramsey fashion, we call it "commission" because they have to earn it).  But we give it to them and it's theirs to spend.  They are free to use their money in that they know they won't be punished if they use it unwisely.  On the other hand, if they use their money unwisely it's gone and they have nothing to show for it--they've squandered it.

In the same way--sin squanders your life.  You might think living any way you'd like and having no sexual boundaries is living in freedom, but the reality is you will quickly become a slave of sin.  The reason sin is sin is because it operates contrary to the way God set up the world.  It's not that God will punish us believers for their sin, it's that when we continue in sin we become less of what God created us to be.  We actually become less free.  On the surface it seems counter-intuitive, but that's the way it works.  When we do things God's way, we reap the benefits and the satisfaction of operating the way we were created.

Once the kids' money is gone, so is their freedom. For the momentary thrill of buying ten pounds of candy, they get a stomach ache and don't have the money to buy something that is longer-lasting.  In chapter 6, Paul essentially poses the question, "Do you think it's better to be one with a prostitute or with God?"  When we look at sin this way, it's not nearly as attractive.

NT Journey--1 Corinthians 5

Judging the Brothers (and Sisters)

Chapter 5 I find to be very interesting and a great test for the church's attitude toward discipline.  Church discipline is an area that churches can fall on very extreme sides of the pendulum.  On the one hand, we have fundamentalist churches whose pastor keeps everyone under his thumb so much that they will be disciplined for reading the wrong book in their spare time.  On the other side is churches that won't discipline anyone fearing it will upset unity in the church (and cause their attendance numbers to fall (which is the ultimate sin).

But in between those extremes we find 1 Corinthians 5.  The first issue we should address here is that Paul is speaking specifically of sexual sin--the immoral brother was sleeping with "his father's wife."  The way Paul phrases this, it probably refers to his step-mom, rather than his biological mom, otherwise, why would Paul state it this way.  In any case, the guy is messed up.  Roman society and especially Corinthian society had a reputation for their sexual laxity and deviation, but this guy, who claimed to be a believer even topped that!

I think the first question we have to ask is if Paul's instruction to expel immoral people is limited to sexual sin. I think it's clear from other passages this isn't the case.  Matthew 18, for instance only talks about someone who "sins against you."  After the process of gentle correction, Jesus tells us to "treat him as a pagan or tax collector."  Jesus doesn't limit it to sexual sin.

However, in the context of Corinth, where sexual deviation is the norm, it might be (this is speculation on my part) that the issue of sexual sin is heightened and has to be dealt with more clearly in the church.  I think Paul's comments about yeast working through the dough indicate this.  If the church accepts such behavior, people will think it's normal even for Christians and the church loses its distinctiveness.  So it's important that the church has high expectations of its members.

The second issue here is the difference between how we treat believers and unbelievers as it relates to sin.  In this case, I think the church often responds opposite to what Paul prescribes here.  We are quick to make excuses or give grace to those inside the church who sin, but are very quick to judge or make pronouncements toward those outside the church.  Paul's attitude toward unbelievers is, "Why should we expect them to act any different than they do?"  We don't judge those outside the church, but when someone claims to be a follower of Jesus, yet doesn't live the way Jesus does, they are subject to church discipline.  We have higher expectations for people who know better.

This is what Paul is trying to get across to the Corinthians.  I think this principle is directly applicable to the church today.  It's not that we should be overly harsh with our own, but we should hold each other to high standards.  Our goal is Christ-likeness and it does us no good to sweep sin under the table because when we do this we lose our witness.  However, we should do so with grace.  When a brother (or sister) is willfully and continually sinning, we should treat them as a pagan or tax collector.

How was the church to treat a pagan or tax collector?  To love them, of course.  To seek to redeem them.  Certainly not to have them be leaders in the church.  In fact, Paul's instruction is to expel this particular man from the church.  I'm not sure if that's a blanket statement or not--it might be.  We certainly still love him, but as a believer, the church has the right and responsibility to expect Christ-like behavior from him.

NT Journey--1 Corinthians 4

The Downside of Certainty (or The Effective Use of Sarcasm)

If you don't get sarcasm, you'll never understand 1 Corinthians 4.  Generally, I counsel people to keep sarcasm at a minimum because it's very easy to get the wrong idea, especially if you don't really know the person who is using it.  I know this from experience.  I think I can still be prone to too much sarcasm and it often leaves me feeling bad.

But Paul makes very effective use of it in chapter 4.  Remember earlier in 1 Corinthians we talked about the "Apollos party" who seemed to think that because of their intellectual prowess, they were superior Christians to the "followers of Paul."  In addition, they judged Apollos to be superior to Paul because he was a better teachers, better educated, better looking or for whatever reason.  But Paul isn't that concerned with the comparisons.  His only concern is that he is faithful to the Gospel.

The great iron here is that it seems that even the new believers at Corinth believed themselves to be superior even to Paul because they were wrestling through the complicated theological constructs.  But back in chapter 2, Paul said, "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. ²For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified."  It's not that Paul couldn't operate on that level, but because of the nature of the Gospel, He chose to preach "the foolishness of the cross."  Then comes the sarcasm.

At the beginning of the chapter, Paul says he want's only to be know as a servant of Christ, demonstrating that the Kingdom of God is an upside-down kingdom.  In verse 8, Paul starts a little diatribe against the Apollos people.  "Oh, wow!  You guys are so smart!  You're sooo strong and intelligent.  How can we even be in the same room with you?  You're like KINGS, but we can barely feed ourselves and we get beaten regularly.  I wish I could be like YOU."  This is a very strong way to say that what the Corinthians think is strength and spiritual maturity is actually the ultimate in spiritual immaturity.

Just like the Pharisees, the Corinthians were absolutely sure of what they believed.  They worked out their complicated theologies and were positive they understood the way the world spins and how God operates.  "but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise." (1 Cor 1:27)  So what's the greater accomplishment; that we have all our theological "i's" dotted and "t's" crossed or that we're willing to give up everything for the sake of the Gospel?

Now I have to say that I do find theology to be pretty interesting, but I would not describe myself as a systematic theologian (systematic theology tries to extrapolate systems out of Biblical ideas about God), but I would consider myself to be a Biblical theologian.  I prefer to stay away from arguments about things like omniscience, the Augustinian view of God's foreknowledge, transubstantiation, etc. and instead want to stay focused on Jesus' teachings and as Paul says "Christ crucified."  I think there is probably a place for systematic theology somewhere, but the young couple struggling to keep their marriage alive is not too interested in superlapsarianism, they just want to know how Jesus can help them keep their marriage together.

And that is essentially what Paul is saying in this chapter.  It's not our knowledge that makes a difference, it's simply the power of God.  It's not our understanding of every detail of theology that gives Christianity its power.  It's Christ, living the Gospel in us. As we'll ready Paul saying later in 1 Corinthians, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up."

NT Journey--1 Corinthians 3

A Few Thoughts on 1 Corinthians 3

Lot's of interesting things to point out in chapter 3:

• Paul addresses spiritual maturity very directly here.  What is it that he identifies as the obvious sign of the Corinthians spiritual immaturity?  Divisions.  This makes sense if what we've said before is true, all spiritual growth is relational.  The ultimate barometer of our relationship with God is our relationship with people.  If we refuse to get along with people, our relationship with God is deficient.  When our relationship with God grows, so does our ability to overlook faults and hurts, to forgive, and to love others.  The Corinthians were having a hard time with this and to Paul, it was a sign of their immaturity.
• The divisions in the church are caused by allegiance to the leaders.  Remember in chapter one the quarrels were, "One says, 'I follow Paul,' another, 'I follow Apollos,' another, 'I follow Cephas,' etc.  We can do that today, whether it's following different denominations, a historical figure like John Wesley, or Calvin, or Luther, or even leaders within a local church as was the case with the Corinthians.
• Paul addresses our very human tendency to put more stock in leaders than what we really should.  It's not that leaders aren't important, but none of us are irreplaceable.  Ultimately it's God who grows us.
• That being said, in verse 16, Paul talks about the great responsibility we leaders have.  It is so important for us to be faithful to the message of the Gospel that if leaders lead anyone astray, we are subject to severe judgment.  If you are in church leadership, do your very best to accurately represent God to people who are God's temple.  Jesus says the same thing when he says, "And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck." (Mt 18:6)
• Finally, Paul gives one more warning (presumably to the Apollos group) that they shouldn't think they are "all that" because of their great wisdom.  Their ability to parse words and haggle over meanings is ultimately foolishness to God.  The simplicity of the Gospel and the state of their relationships is what really matters to God.

NT Journey--1 Corinthians 2

Downward Mobility

What I like about 1 Corinthians 2 is that Paul clearly points out that the Gospel is available to everyone.  Remember in the introduction to 1 Corinthians 2, we talked about Apollos, who was very eloquent and used complex teachings and arguments.  Although Paul is no stranger to eloquent or complex arguments, He understands that the Gospel is simple.  In chapter one he said "we preach Christ crucified," and he repeats it again in chapter 2.

The secret knowledge that humans searched for for years is now accessible even to children.  Because of that, anyone can be saved.  People don't have to understand all the fine points of theology, in fact Paul says the simplicity of the Gospel is even a stumbling block to the learned--it can't be that simple.  I don't think Paul is saying that you have to be stupid to be saved, what he's saying is that the good news of the Gospel is simple at its core.  That God so loved the world, He so much wants for people to be saved, He was willing to bring salvation to a child's level to make that happen.

Baseball can be a hard sport for little kids.  Soccer is a great game for them because they can just run around and kick a pretty big ball all around the field.  But baseball requires a great deal of hand-eye coordination.  I think one of the hardest things to do in sports is to hit a little ball with a little round bat.  That's why when kids are learning to play baseball, they actually just play tee ball.  It's much easier to hit the ball when it's sitting still.

Could God have made salvation complicated?  Of course--so complicated we could never understand it or achieve it.  But because of His love for us he "teed it up" for us.  Although understanding God and the universe can be very complicated, salvation is not.  God became flesh and sacrificed Himself for us.  Because of that we don't have anything to earn and we have nothing to brag about.

This puts everyone at a common level.  People can understand the Gospel whether they're children or adults, educated or uneducated, western world or third-world.  None of it matters.  We're all playing the same game--tee ball.

NT Journey--1 Corinthians 1

The Importance of Being Foolish    

I love 1 Corinthians 1.  I think this chapter, especially verses 18-31, is a great synopsis of the Gospel.  In it, Paul reminds us that the Gospel is very simple.

We love people who are eloquent.  Many people love to get into great theological debates about the exact nature of the work of Jesus on the cross or explaining how Jesus was fully God and fully human at the same time.  We'll nit-pick every little Scripture that seems to hint at one side or another.  Some will view spiritual growth as simply having a deeper understanding of all the find points of theology.  But 1 Corinthians 1 is a sledge-hammer to knock down those misunderstandings of faith.

It's not that studying theology isn't fun and even interesting (for some people anyway).  But the Gospel itself flies in the face of all the complicated arguments and debate we sometimes hold.  Apollos was a fairly young Christian compared to Paul.  When Apollos became a believer, he was mentored in the faith by Priscilla and Aquilla, friends of Paul who were expelled from Rome with the rest of the Jews. 

Apollos was apparently educated in the institutions of Alexandria (Egypt) and was a sharp guy.  After he was saved, he took to teaching.  We can glean from the situation that Apollos taught with well thought out and complicated arguments, much to the delight of many of the Corinthian believers.  But this kind of teaching began to create divisions in the church.  Maybe some of the believers that loved to study all the intricacies of theology looked down upon those who didn't or couldn't.  Some became followers of Apollos, some claimed to be followers of Paul and some smarty-pants just said, "I'm not a Baptist or a Wesleyan, I'm a Christian."

Paul was not happy with those divisions, saying Christ is not divided, then brings it down to its lowest (best) common denominator.  The Gospel is intended to be for everyone, so if people were required to be able to expound on the fine points of theology to know Jesus, only a limited number of people could be saved.   Think of it this way, if there was a concert that you wanted everyone in the world to attend, you wouldn't and couldn't charge a high price for it.  If you only want the elite, then you would charge thousands or millions of dollars to attend.  That cost would effectively weed out the lower class of society.

That's the Gospel.  In order for it to be accessible to everyone, the price must be affordable to everyone.  Of course it's second nature for us to want to earn things.  If we don't work for it, we treat it as less valuable.  But the Gospel is contrary to earning.  In order for the Gospel to be accessible to all, God chose the "foolishness of the cross."  If the Gospel were attained by perfect understanding of some philosophical truth, much of humanity would be ineligible.  But God intentionally made the Gospel simple to allow for the maximum number of people.

The Kingdom of God is the upside-down Kingdom.  God chose a "weak" act or an act of powerlessness to be the greatest power in the universe--the power of salvation.  Paul says that this is actually a demonstration of God's power.  It's like God lifted our heaviest possible weight with His little finger.  The cross shows the power of God.  His strength is found in our weakness and inability to achieve salvation.  What we couldn't do, God did through the cross.

Apollos' teachings helped to create division in the church, it was the simplicity of the Gospel that solved it and brought everyone back together.

NT Journey--Intro to 1 Corinthians

No Rest for the Weary     

Well, we just finished with the Gospel of John and without rest, we now move on to Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth.   Actually, 1 Corinthians is not the first letter Paul wrote to the church in Corinth.  Paul refers to "an earlier letter" in the book of 1 Corinthians.

If you remember when we studies Acts, Paul left Corinth after a pretty good stay there--"good"meaning length off time.  He did experience a great deal of persecution during his stay in Corinth.  However, in the middle of it, God told him to stay and assured him he would be safe.  Eventually, he left for Ephesus and eventually back to Antioch--his "home base."  After a short stay in Antioch, Paul traveled back to Ephesus and stayed there for around three years.  He wrote both 1 & 2nd Corinthians during his stay in Ephesus, probably around 54-55 AD.

If you had to compare the city of Corinth to any modern-day American city, you might choose LasVegas.  Historically, Corinth was know for its diversity and it immorality.  Corinth housed the temple of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty and sex.  At one time, there was said to be 1000 temple prostitutes ready to help the ancients "worship."  While the wildest days of Corinth were long behind it in Paul's day, there's no doubt that Corinth was still a city filled with debauchery and this culture was reflected in the church there.

The purpose of the writing of 1 Corinthians was in response to rumors Paul heard as well as some direct reports about how the church was getting along in his absence.  One such situation was the influence of Apollos.  Apollos was a well-educated Jew from Alexandria (perhaps the greatest center of learning at the time) who became a believer.  There's no indication that Apollos was a bad guy, but his captivating personality and skilled teaching led many in the church to favor him over Paul, creating divisions in the church that we'll see in chapter 1. 

Early church tradition (Jerome) suggests that Apollos was so distraught over the divisions in the church that he left for a time until the divisions were healed, then came back and served as the Bishop of Corinth.  Some scholars even think it may be Apollos who wrote the book of Hebrews.

Paul's letter addressing the division in the church became a great occasion to deal with a number of other problems reported in the church.  In fact, most of the letters of Paul to churches are to address certain issues that came up in the various churches.  It helps to try to get a handle on what the problems were to help us know how to interpret the letters.

The highlight of the book of 1 Corinthians is the famous chapter 13--the one that's read at the majority of weddings today.  Ultimately chapter 13 is Paul's ultimate answer to the divisions in the church--love each other.  Love is the most important thing and when we love each other, it solves our relationship problems.

NT Journey--John 21

The Power of Failure...and Grace   

The story of Peter's denial of Jesus is one of the most powerful examples of failure and disappointment in the Bible.  Peter was always quick to speak up, always quick to answer questions even before he really thought about the answer.  He also had an overblown confidence in himself, at least when Jesus was around.  If you remember back to John 13, Peter assured Jesus he would die for him.  That's when Jesus predicted that Peter would deny Him three times.

For all of his life and certainly up to the point of his denial of Jesus, Peter was a people-pleaser.  He was always the first to speak up in the same way a teacher's pet will be the first to raise her hand when asked a question. 

Peter always had the right answer.  When Jesus asked the disciples if they knew who he was, it was Peter who responded with "the Christ (Messiah)."  Peter knew the right answer in his mind, but as we've seen before in the New Testament, faith for Jesus is not just in the mind, it's in the soul, it's in the gut, it's in our actions.  While Peter had it in his mind, he didn't yet have it in his gut and he was exposed in the courtyard when he denied Jesus.

Imagine what Peter must have been feeling when Jesus went to the cross.  While Peter spent his whole life showing people how much he "loved" and "believed in" Jesus, his last action before Jesus went to the cross was a complete failure and denial.

In John 21, it's so like Jesus to spend some time with Peter--to restore him.  Peter denied Jesus three times and Jesus gave Peter the chance to redeem himself three times, asking him, "Do you really love me?"  But that wasn't the whole question Jesus asked. The question He asked was, "Do you love me more than these?"  We can assume Jesus was pointing or gesturing at the time, but we don't know exactly what he was point to.

I think, while not conclusive, it's a pretty safe bet to think Jesus was motioning toward the other disciples.  Now I don't think Jesus was comparing Peter's love for Jesus to the love of the other disciples for Jesus, but what's happening is that Jesus knows Peter's tendency to do things for the show.  Peter was a chameleon.  In one circumstance he would say one thing, but in another circumstance he would say what that crowd wanted to hear. 

Jesus knew that in order for the disciples to be effective in continuing His ministry (to feed His sheep), they couldn't be wishy-washy.  Peter's failure in denying Jesus and Jesus' time in the grave gave Peter a lot of time to think, to reflect and to change.  I would guess that Peter was much slower to speak in John 21, but as we'll see in the book of Acts, his boldness is unparalleled by all but maybe the Apostle Paul.  That's what failure and grace will do.

Jesus never showed or even hinted that He would leave Peter because of His denial.  Was He disappointed?  I'm sure He was.  But ultimately, the grace Jesus gave to Peter turned his failure into a learning moment.  His failure was the way Peter's intellectual belief became believe in his gut--the fortitude to go out and die for Jesus, which tradition says he did.

What do you do with failure?  Do you allow it to fester inside and incapacitate you?  That's our natural reaction when we don't understand grace.  Without grace, failure leads to shame and despair.  With grace, failure becomes a turning point in our lives that strengthens our resolve and our gratitude toward God.  So, what DO you do with failure?

Well, that's the book of John.  I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the book as a whole.

NT Journey--John 20

The Power of the Church      

It's been in vogue lately to discount the church.  So many people talk about being "spiritual," and might even claim to be a follower of Jesus in the process.  They think the church is just an institution that humans concocted to get control over people.  In some ways, we can see why people think this. 

Over the years, the combination of religion (which is a powerful force) and power itself has done great evil in the world.  From killing heretics, to the Crusades, to the inquisition, to the Salem witch trials, the church has been digging its own grave for years.  It's easy to see why people are disillusioned with the church.  I am not.

I talk a great deal about how Jesus was against religion, but that doesn't mean Jesus was against the church.  In fact, Jesus instituted the church (Matthew 18) and in John 20 infuses it with power, but not the kind of power the Pope used for centuries.  Like the Kingdom itself, the power of the church is the power of grace and self-sacrifice.  The church today is to be the representation of Jesus in the world and we are given the Holy Spirit to guide us in that task.

There's an interesting section of John 20 I would like to focus on.  It's verses 21-23, where Jesus says,

²¹Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." ²²And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

 The first thing we see here is that the task of Jesus' followers is the same task that Jesus had, "As the Father sent me, I am sending you."  We are called to the same task as Jesus Himself.  While we could delve a little more into this, it's pretty straight-forward. 

The second part is a little more confusing.  He says to the disciples, "If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven, if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."  What do we do with this?

Well there are some different options.

1. Jesus is speaking literally to all of his followers.  So what he means is that the church has the same authority as Jesus to actually and metaphysically grant forgiveness of sins.
2. Jesus is speaking literally, but only to the disciples.  Jesus' authority to forgive sins was only given to the disciples.  (The Catholic church would also extend this out to those in "apostolic succession" like the pope, priests, etc.)
3. Jesus is speaking figuratively for all the church.

Now, let me preface this discussion by telling you first off I really don't know for sure.  I can give my best educated guess. 

Option 1--I'm certainly open to this one, although it's humbling that we would have so much power.  This option could be bolstered by Jesus' comments in Matthew 16 when He talks about the keys of the Kingdom.  He says, "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven..."  This would seem to indicate some kind of actual authority for salvation.  The argument against this is that you don't really see the Apostles or the general church doing this in Acts.  They heal.  They, they preach the Gospel, but I can't think of an instance where they just say, "Your sins are forgiven."

Option 2--I could also be open to this one, but not draw it out the way the Catholic church does.  The Apostles certainly had some status the rest of us do not have.  I believe the Apostles had a special power of healing, for instance.  There are still people with the gift of healing today, but not necessarily in the same way as the Apostles.  In the same way, they could have had that ability to actually forgive sins.  But again, you really don't see the Apostles use this kind of authority in the book of Acts.

This view would be very similar to the Catholic view.  The Apostles (especially Peter) had a special status and thus it was Peter who had the "keys to the Kingdom."  Today, it is the hierarchy of the church that has the keys and the keys are passed down through Apostolic succession to future popes and conferred to priests.  This is why Catholics say confession to priests, because priests then confer forgiveness on them.  But as we've seen earlier, Jesus is our mediator.  We don't need priests as a go-between God and us.

Option 3--I would be most inclined to go with this one.  I think God alone has the power to forgive sins, but we can speak forgiveness into people's lives.  Often when people ask God for forgiveness, they don't necessarily feel forgiven.  They need to hear those words audibly spoken to them to truly sense that they are really forgiven.  They are some of the most precious words we can hear.  When we speak those words to each other, the Holy Spirit testifies with their spirit that the words are true and they can gain freedom from the past in ways they often can't when they simply pray for forgiveness.

In any case, it shows us how important it is to be attached to the church.  We can help people know the grace and forgiveness of Jesus.  This is a far cry from religion which requires something to make up for sins.  God is a God who wants to forgive and because of Jesus, all we need to do is ask and it will be given.

NT Journey--John 19

Carrying His Own Cross     

It seems to me that John 19 is the crisis point in the book of John.  Everything Jesus was doing up to this point was to prepare for this moment.  I'm sure Jesus wasn't looking forward to it, but He was willing.  You can tell this by the fact that in every situation, He was completely in charge.

In His conversations with Pilate, you can see that Pilate, even though he was the one with all the earthly power, he was completely powerless in this situation.  As we talked about in the book of Acts, the Emperor wasn't all that concerned about how each governor ruled his province as long as they paid taxes and kept order.  So Pilate in this case was very concerned about the riot about to break out if they didn't get what they wanted.  Jerusalem was a powder-keg and the fact that there were so many Jews there because of the Passover only made the situation more intense. 

So Pilate was at a loss for what to do.  On the one hand, he had some sense of justice--that you don't crucify an innocent man.  On the other hand, he feared for his position.  The Jews knew it and played on his fears.  In the end, his fear won out.

From the Jews perspective, they completely sold out to kill Jesus and Jesus places the greater blame on them (vs. 11).  I think their low point comes in verse 15 when the chief priests said, "We have no king but Caesar."  If you know anything about the political situation during this time, you'll catch the irony here.  The Jews never claimed Caesar to be their king.  In fact, they were completely resentful of being ruled by the Romans and sought every way imaginable to get from under that power.  But now it's incredibly ironic and disingenuous to claim Caesar as their king.  It reminds me of the many times in Judges where it says, "at that time, Israel had no king, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes."  It's very clear in John 19 that Israel had no king and they were out of control.

But Jesus was in complete control.  The only thing that happened was what He allowed to happen. In fact, it's easy to miss, but in verses 16 and 17, it says this, "So the soldiers took charge of Jesus..."  Well, they didn't really take charge.  Then John says, "...carrying His own cross..."  That really typifies the life of Jesus right there.  No one crucified Jesus without His permission.

One of the great things about Jesus is that not only did He teach about love and self-sacrifice, He demonstrated it.  If self-sacrifice is the power of the Kingdom, we believers should be following His lead.  We grow when we give up on ourselves and our idea of what it means to have value.  True followers of Jesus willingly give up their lives for the sake of others.  People don't take it from us, we give it willingly.

In verse 30, Jesus utters His final words, "It is finished."  So it's fair to ask the question of what was finished.  It wasn't just Jesus' life.  It wasn't just the process, but Jesus had finished what He had set out to do--to break down the whole system of sacrifice and the idea that people could be saved by religion.  Religion became of no significance.  Adam and Eve didn't have religion in the garden, they didn't need it, because they had perfect relationship with God.  What Jesus finished was the restoration of the ability for people to have that relationship with God with no mediator in between--no priest, no sacrifice, just relationship.

NT Journey--John 18

The Beginning of the...Beginning     

Lot's of stuff here in John 18.  The narrative switches scenes often, but essentially the whole chapter covers the events of Jesus' arrest and trial before both the high priest (Jews) and Pilate (Romans).

The first section (vss. 1-11) is the account of Jesus' arrest in the garden.  What we see here is Jesus putting his money where his mouth is.  All through his ministry, Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek and love our enemies.  For Jesus, violence is not the answer.  The power of the Kingdom of the power of the cross and self-sacrifice.

Peter didn't get this.  When the Romans came to arrest Jesus, he immediately resorted to violence and cut off the ear of one of the soldiers.  But to Jesus, the soldiers were not the enemy.  He had work to do, Scripture to fulfill and the soldiers were only playing their part.  As Jesus said on the cross, "they don't know what they're doing."  Instead of violence, Jesus actually brings healing to what the world would consider to be His enemy.  That's the way of the Kingdom.

Throughout this chapter, Jesus is really the one in charge and you can see that in the way He conducts Himself.  What happens, happens only because He allows it.  Peter, on the other hand, is out of control and a slave to his fear.  Even when he's questioned by a slave girl, he cowers under the pressure.  Despite Peter's bravado and determination to die for Jesus when he's around Him, when he's separated from Jesus he's not so tough anymore.   

But you can see complete control and peace with Jesus.  Even when He's being question by people who have His fate in their hands, He is secure in what He was called to accomplish.  He knew His life was not His own--that He came for the sake of the world and willingly gave Himself up for that.

I think it's interesting in chapter 18 how Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom comes full-circle.  Pilate asks Him if He's a king.  At first, He just doesn't deny it, but later states it explicitly, but tells him His kingdom is "not of this world."  The funny thing is that Pilate seems to get the "spiritual" talk better than the Jews (remember Nicodemas?)  If Pilate would have understood Jesus to be a threat to the Emperor, he would have had Him executed immediately.  But instead, he said he didn't find anything wrong with Jesus.

What's funny to me in this passage is when the Jews bring Jesus to Pilate.  Ceremonial law said that they weren't allowed to enter the Roman palace (vs 28).  They were very concerned about being ceremonially clean, but at the same time, they were about to kill an innocent man.  Ironic, isn't it. 

We actually talked about this chapter in Sunday school this week and when we read it, it reminded me of a funniest home video.  The mom is holding the video at the front door and taping her 8 year-old boy who is running away from home.  The only problem is that he's not allowed to cross the street by himself.  So he's standing there with his backpack on his shoulder demanding his mom come help him cross the street so he can run away.  It seems he's worried about the wrong thing.

As always in Jesus' story, the religious people are worried about the wrong thing.  In the end, they were unwittingly helping to fulfill God's plan in the first place, but you can't deny their willingness to accuse an innocent man.  And Pilate was complicit in it only because he was also not in control.  He couldn't stand up to the Jews, so he ended up placating them by crucifying Jesus.  Amazing that the only one really in control was the guy who was crucified.  It wasn't power, it was self-sacrifice.  That's the power of the Kingdom.

NT Journey--John 17

The Purpose of Unity    

If you've been in the church for any length of time, you've heard about the importance of unity within the body.  Unfortunately, unity is not always a reality in the church.  I'm not really talking about all the denominations because, for the most part, 99% of Christian denominations would recognize the other denominations as believers as well.  Each denomination has its distinctives and the parts of Scripture it focuses on.  As long as those "lesser parts" of doctrine are kept in their place, I don't really have a problem with denominations.  I've seen enough people of different denominations work together for the cause of Christ that I don't have a big problem with them.

That being said, unity within the church is a problem.  I've been through two major church splits and probably several smaller church splits.  Very seldom do these church splits have anything to do with methods of reaching people for Jesus.  In just about every case, the splits have to do with the preferences we individuals have in the church or have some selfish motive behind them.  In other words, disunity in the church happens when we spend too much time staring at ourselves and focusing on what makes us happy.

So to fight this, some churches just try to play nice all the time.  Under the guise of unity, they don't really do anything, they don't change, they don't take risks and the don't make any kind of difference in the world.  Their "unity" might be peaceful, but it's not really useful.

In John 17, Jesus talks about the purpose of unity.  Unity is not just an end, but it's also a means to an end.  He prays for unity for everyone who believes in Jesus (the church) and He says what the purpose of their unity is.  "May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."  Our unity is a witness to the world that we belong to Jesus.


Now just because we're unified doesn't mean they will automatically know Jesus.  There are lots of groups that are unified that have nothing to do with Jesus.  But our goal is to be unified in the movement.  We are to be unified and rally together around the cause of proclaiming Jesus to people.

And the great things about this kind of unity is that when we are looking outward rather than inward, it makes it much easier for us to remain unified.  When we spend too much time staring at each other, that's when we see each other's faults and we start to get annoyed with them.  But when we stand side-by-side unified for the cause of Christ, our unity grows.

This is why a mission trip will always be more effective at creating camaraderie than small groups.  In fact, when we do small groups in our church, we require that they get out and serve because we know that when they spend too much time staring at each other, they'll soon get tired of each other.  But serving together for the cause of Christ, will create bonds that can't be formed just sitting around in a circle.  Unity is important, but unity is for a cause.

In Jesus monologue and prayer in the last few chapters, we can see that this is the end for Him.  He is preparing Himself and the disciples for what's to come.

NT Journey--John 16

The Work of Jesus    

When theologians talk about Jesus, they tend to talk about two different things; the teachings of Jesus and the work of Jesus.  To a great degree evangelicals talk more about the work of Jesus than they do about His teachings, but both are essential aspects of Jesus' life.  Up to this point, we have talked a lot about the teachings of Jesus.  Of course, we've learned that the center of Jesus' teachings was the Kingdom of God.  That the Kingdom is an upside-down kingdom where the first is last and the last is first and whoever wants to be the greatest must become the least.

We've also learned about Jesus' resistance to empty religion.  Even though Jesus himself worshiped at the Temple (although I can't think of any record of Jesus offering sacrifices) and celebrated the Jewish festivals, his primary opposition to the Pharisees was that they made the rules and rituals more important than relationships.  So we've focused a lot on the teachings of Jesus.

But evangelicals typically focus more on the "work" of Jesus and that's what we're doing today as we look at John 16.

First, as it pertains to John 16, the work of Jesus ushered in the Holy Spirit.  Up to this point, the Holy Spirit was and external influence on people.  The spirit of God would "come over" people in the Old Testament, but it doesn't speak of the Spirit taking residence inside people.  In verse 7, Jesus says, "Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you."  I don't know if it's a Clark Kent/Superman thing, but somehow, the absence or more specifically, the death and resurrection of Jesus opened the door for the Holy Spirit to reside in people and guide them from the inside.  We see more evidence of this in the book of Acts in places like 2:38, ""Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Paul also asks the Galatians in chapter 2, "I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?"  So faith in Jesus allows us to receive the Holy Spirit in a way the Law didn't.  That's part of the work of Jesus.  When He died, He paved the way for the Holy Spirit to live in us. 

But the question is; what does the Spirit do?  In chapter 16, we can see the Spirit will do two things--convict and teach.  When we have the Spirit in us, we should be more sensitive to sin.  In fact, Jesus even says that the Spirit will convict "the world" of sin, which shows me that the Spirit is even at work in unbelievers.  Though He may not live in them, He can still influence them and give them a sense of right and wrong.  This may be why even people who have never heard of Jesus will often have a sense of right and wrong that is very similar to what is spelled out specifically in the Old Testament law.  It should be no surprise that the ethical systems of the world's religions today are fairly similar even the overall belief systems are very different.

In verses 25-28 we see another thing the work of Jesus did for us--He opened the door for us to have a direct relationship with God.  Up to the point of Jesus' death, religion and sacrifice were the way to connect with God.  Because of sin, only people with a special status had direct access to God and even their access was limited.  But because of the forgiveness we receive from Jesus, we can go directly to the Father.  We don't need an earthly mediator, so we don't need to pray to the saints or to Mary because Jesus was the mediator.

Jesus does say to ask in His name, but he also says that when we pray, we should pray directly to God (vs 26).  That's the work of Jesus for us.  His death and resurrection did something "metaphysically" to change our status in the universe.  What we did in "the Fall" in Genesis 3, Jesus undid and restored the perfect relationship we have with God.  What Jesus spent His entire ministry talking about (the inadequacy of religion), He fulfilled in dying on the cross.  The purpose of religion was to bridge the gap between God and us, but because of Jesus' work of reconciliation our relationship with God is restored and we are returned to His image.