1 Corinthians 4:6-13 Grace is Sufficient for You!

1 Corinthians 4:6-13  Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.”  Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other.  For who makes you different from anyone else?  What do you have that you did not receive?  And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?  Already you have all you want!  Already you have become rich!  You have begun to reign—and that without us!  How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you!  For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena.  We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings.  We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ!  We are weak, but you are strong!  You are honored, we are dishonored!  To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.  We work hard with our own hands.  When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly.  We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.

In the church of Corinth, Paul is battling a very intrinsic, sinful aspect of all people: the tendency to separate themselves from others for their own purposes.  The Christian Corinthians are separating themselves based on what spiritual leader they desire to follow.  They are arguing and fighting over leadership, causing them to divide into factions, each group going its own way.  This divisive spirit reveals that the Corinthian Christians are still carnal and worldly, epitomizing Isaiah 53:6, We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way.  This chaotic environment of self-will is dangerous and festers a nature rebellious to God’s authority.  The Corinthians were justifying their divisiveness by relying on their understanding of spiritual affairs.  Paul knows that IN CHRIST they have all that they need to be right with God.  IN CHRIST, they are not different from anyone else; their inheritance of a new life in the kingdom of God is their possession.  All who trust in Jesus are new creatures, born by the will of God, and not of man’s efforts.  So why should they seek special leaders and special revelations based on the knowledge of finite men or women?  For the scriptures say there is only one shepherd,  The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.  He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.  (Psalm 23:1-3)  Jesus said of himself, I am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE.  God has designated him as the only shepherd of the redeemed.  He is the true shepherd who will not leave or abandon his flock.  In Paul’s introduction in this letter to the Corinthians, he emphasizes the flock’s togetherness throughout Christianity.  All Christians make up one body, one temple where God dwells.  To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, TOGETHER with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours: GRACE and PEACE to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  (1 Corinthians 1:1-3)  Grace and peace will come to those who are united as one under the authority of God through his Son, Jesus Christ.  Paul emphasizes to the Corinthians that Christ is not divided.  Unity comes through the cross, trusting in Jesus’ work of salvation and in his subsequent resurrection.   As the spiritual father of the Corinth church, he implores them to unify themselves under the leadership of Christ alone, the Great Shepherd of all those who are born again.  I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.  (1 Corinthians 1:10)   His question to them, Is Christ divided? stands continually before them.  If Christ is not divided, then they should stop championing the expertise and knowledge of different men.  These men that they lift up are but servants of God.  They are serving in the vineyard of the Lord to bring forth a large harvest.  The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, to harvest men and women for the kingdom of God.  (1 Corinthians 3:8)

Paul's initial ministry to the Corinthians was focused like a laser beam on the works of Christ and not on anything else.  Paul on the road to Damascus discovered the way to be right with a holy God comes only through the works of Jesus Christ.  And so it was with me, brothers and sisters.  When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.  For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  (1 Corinthians 2:1-2)  Now, however, he is discovering that the Corinthians are adding other things on top of Jesus Christ and him crucified, ministry based on people and on words beyond what is written in scripture.  And these different factions seem to be very happy about this additional information added to the works of Christ.  Sarcastically Paul says, What do you have that you did not receive?  And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?  The Corinthians are supposedly believing that they received the new birth not only from what Paul taught, but also of what they added to his salvation message.  They are claiming Paul’s message was good, but what they have added makes it even better.  And to support their conclusion about a better message than just the cross and him crucified, they chose varied leaders to follow.  In a smug way in Paul’s estimation they claim a better existence in this world under what they have discovered from the teachings of others than just the simple doctrine that Paul presented them. You have begun to reign—and that without us!  How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you!  He sarcastically says to them, how I wish to reign with you in your contentment of what you have discovered under following people.  Because this contentment of additional teaching about God’s salvation plan has not found me yet.  For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena.  For me and for other true apostles to the truth of the gospel, we are like prisoners in chains dragged along behind a victorious army marching through their cities.  We are being dragged to an arena where we will be put to death in a violent way.  We are not reigning in peace as you seem to desire.  Instead, We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings.  We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ!  We are weak, but you are strong!  You are honored, we are dishonored!  To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.  We work hard with our own hands.  When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly.  We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.  Paul knows his leader, Jesus Christ, was considered by the Sanhedrin as scum.  They chose to get rid of Christ as just some garbage, but Jesus was the light of the world, the only avenue of mankind to be made right with God.  Now we see Paul talking about the simplicity of the gospel to the Corinthian church, but being Greeks, they were adding to this simple ministry.  They were adding to this simple gospel with rational thought and wisdom.  By doing so they sought people who would better express the way they thought, but Paul knew this was a scheme of the devil to pull them away from the efficacious cross.

Paul had come to the Corinthians as not some great man of charisma and strength.  In fact as with Jesus, he did not stand out in a crowd.  He carried the bruises of persecution on his body.  Also, he had a thorn in the flesh that was evident to the people around him.   I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.   (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)  We can surmise that people were not drawn to him by his physical appearance.  Isaiah tells us the same thing about Jesus, the Messiah.  Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?  He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.  HE HAD NO BEAUTY OR MAJESTY TO ATTRACT US TO HIM, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.  He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.  Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.  (Isaiah 53:1-3)  Paul also was despised and rejected by mankind.  He always had a target on his back, as with Christ, people tried to kill him many times.  Paul’s miraculous works helped him to be received in these Greek cities.  Jesus said to the people, you might not believe in me as a person from God but believe in the works that I do before your eyes.  Miracles and wonders validated Christ’s teaching.  Also, for Paul, the healing and the driving out of demons, validated his message.  Moses was considered in like manner.  His miracles and wonders validated his position of leadership.  When Moses' leadership was questioned by Miriam and Aaron, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this.  (Numbers 12:12)  God struck Miriam with leprosy as judgment on their arrogance.  When a small group of Israelites led a rebellion against Moses’ leadership, they were swallowed up in an opening of the earth.  God brought horrible judgment upon them and their families.  After Jesus was crucified, God’s judgment on the recalcitrant Jews came at the hands of the Romans, totally destroying the Jewish nation.  Now we see the Corinthians content in altering the simple message of Jesus crucified for the sins of the world.  Paul is disgusted with their rationalization, their arguments, their division.  He knows God will not tolerate very long this kind of discord.  For the temple of God is holy, his body is holy, his church is holy.  Judgment will follow such division.  Christ alone is the Shepard of his flock.  People are to boast only in Jesus and his work of salvation.  No other avenue to eternal life is available to men and women, other than the works of Christ.  Friends around this breakfast table, your contentment should come only through knowing Christ as Lord and Savior.  No other view of life will bring salvation to your door.  The Israelites  placed the blood of a lamb over their entryway door.  By doing this, they escaped death.  Paul wanted the Corinthians to unite in the Lamb of God’s work, not in their own rational thoughts or wisdom.  Only Christ’s blood over their lives would give them right standing with the Eternal God.  This is true of us today: our way to eternal life comes only through the blood of the Lamb of God over the entryways of our hearts.  Seek the Lord today.    

           

1 Corinthians 3:18-23—4:1-5 Live in peace, mercy, and grace!

1 Corinthians 3:18-23—4:1-5  Do not deceive yourselves.  If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age,  you should become “fools” so that you may become wise.  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.  As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness” and again,  “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”  So then, no more boasting about human leaders!  All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.  This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed.  Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.  I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.  My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent.  It is the Lord who judges me.  Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes.  He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.  At that time each will receive their praise from God.

In this breakfast we see Paul enlarging the theme that Christians should boast in Christ alone and not in the wisdom or knowledge of men.  To know God they need nothing more than to trust in Jesus Christ and his works.  Christ alone has the power and authority to bring people into God’s eternal kingdom.  However the Corinthians were squabbling over who they should follow to enrich their personal lives and the church’s life.  They were arguing over who they should follow in their spiritual development: Paul or Apollos or Cephas or maybe someone else.  This argument had caused a great deal of damage in the church’s unity.  Paul tells them that these men are but servants of the Lord.  They serve God to help the church, but Jesus is the Lord of the ship.  Because of Christ all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.  Because they are IN CHRIST, everything that is God’s is theirs.  Jesus told the people that He does only what the Father God tells him to do.  The wonders and miracles that Jesus does in the mantle of his flesh are done through the power of God.  All power of the Father God is in Jesus because the Father loves his Son.  “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.  For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.  (John 5:19-20)  Paul is telling the Corinthians that they are alive in Christ.  He wants them to know they are inheritors of the works and power of God through their faith in Jesus Christ.  Jesus in the flesh had power because God gave him that power to do marvelous wonders and works.  Deeds that no man could do from the beginning of time testified that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Redeemer of all mankind.  I have testimony weightier than that of John.  For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me.  (John 5:36)  The Good News is that those who trust in Jesus also receive the power of God.  Those who are born anew in Jesus Christ receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.  (John 14:12-14)  Jesus did only what the Father showed him, because his will is not separate from the Father’s will.  Jesus is in unity with the Father.  Sadly, Paul sees the Corinthians, who possess great power because of believing in Christ, squabbling over the things of this world.  If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age,  you should become “fools” so that you may become wise.  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.  As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness” and again,  “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.  The Corinthians who through Christ possess the very mind of God are now trusting in the wisdom and knowledge of finite men and women to discover the truth of how to live. 

The Corinthians are functioning way below their pay grade.  They are functioning as if they do not even know who they really are IN CHRIST.  They ought to be living under the new covenant of grace and mercy; instead, they are dwelling in the land of judgment and pain.  Only Jesus has the right to judge, not people based on the knowledge and wisdom of men.  Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes.  Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world but to save the world.  IN CHRIST they are children of God, servants of the Most High, citizens of a heavenly kingdom.  As members of this new kingdom, they are no longer part of this human condition on earth, a condition of wickedness, manifested by violence, disagreements, and wars.  As brethren in this new kingdom, in the household of the Lord, they need not instruct others to know the Lord or direct them to different shepherds other than Jesus the Lord.  No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, Know the Lord, because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.  For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”  (Jeremiah 31:34)  This new kingdom is one of peace, mercy, and grace, not one of anger, discord, and violence.  God has forgiven the innate wickedness of people, replacing this inherited condition of mankind by God’s Spirit of peace and love.  The Corinthians divisiveness over leadership has a wicked component in it.  The Corinthians wanted their will above other people’s will and sadly God’s will.  This divisiveness was first evident in the Garden.  Eve succumbed to the devil’s temptation.  Consequently,  Adam and Eve were dismissed from the Garden.  No longer would they live in a land of peace and unity.  This wickedness within their family was first manifested by the sin of murder: Cain kills Abel.  Sin is the product of inherited wickedness, which is rebellion against God’s authority.  In Romans 7, Paul struggles with intrinsic wickedness within him.  This condition of evil causes him to sin, seeking to fulfill his wicked desires, not the righteousness of the law.  So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.  What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?  Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.  (Romans 7:21-25)  Sin is the product of the condition of the heart.  Thoughts and activity that are against God’s goodness and love come from evil.  But this reality of the nature of men and women cannot resist the efficacious blood of Jesus Christ.  The new covenant that is promised to ALL PEOPLE in and through Christ is centered in God’s grace, mercy, and love towards all He created.   For I will forgive their WICKEDNESS (intrinsic in all people) and will remember their SINS (thoughts and activities) no more.  The blood of Jesus cleanses the rebellious nature of men and women to God’s control over their lives.  As long as they are in the garment of the flesh, flesh has its temptation to sin.  Regardless of our struggles on earth with our self-willed nature, violating God’s holiness is revealed through the law.  God will forgive, and He will remember our sins no more because of the cross.  

This message of Christ the Redeemer has been taught to the Corinthians by Paul.  He reminds them to boast only in the Lord’s work, not in the knowledge and wisdom of men.  They should know the voice of God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in them.  If they follow their own voice of their basic nature, they will struggle with sin.  He knows when men and women lean on the knowledge and wisdom of others, they are messing with the absolute authority of God in their lives.   Valid teaching, inspiration, knowledge always point to the works of Christ, especially the cross.  Any other teaching than the cross should be rejected even if an angel claims there is another way to God.  We see Jesus in his commission to his disciples before He leaves them for good, stating what they should teach to all people.  And of course it hinges on CHRIST ALONE AND HIS WORKS.  Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.  He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.  I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”  (Luke 24:45-49)  The cross and the resurrection should be taught, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be the center of this new covenant between God and men.  No other than this should be taught to men and women.  Over the years since this commission to the disciples, all kinds of cults and variant religions have come into being, all of them based on the beliefs of men and women.  Their followers look back to these men and women with admiration and love.  Sadly, these alternate ways to God will lead to hell, eternal judgment.  Paul is struggling with the Corinthians, for they are deciding to follow people, to place their trust in the wisdom and knowledge of finite men and women.  He knows this kind of division away from Jesus Christ will only lead people away from the new covenant that God has made through Jesus.  Men and women caught in this diversion will go around the world, lifting up men and women as the way to God, all of it leading to hell.  Only the cross has the power to save men and women from their intrinsic wickedness; only the cross will make people holy.  No other work will make God forgive the wicked nature of mankind; only the cross will cause God not to remember the sins of the people.  Jesus told the disciples to stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.  Do not go anywhere until the Spirit of God indwells you.  Then you will be capable to battle the wickedness in the world.  Then you will lift up the name of Christ even under the threat of death.  Peter and the apostles faced the threat of the Sanhedrin, who desired to kill them with these words, “We must obey God rather than human beings!  The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross.  God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins.  We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”  (Acts 5:29-32)  Our friends around this breakfast table: We must obey God.  We serve not men or women and their knowledge of life: we must serve and honor God only in our lives.  

  

  

  

1 Corinthians 3:10-17 Walk in the Light

1 Corinthians 3:10-17   By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it.  But each one should build with care.  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,  their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.  It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.  If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.  If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.  Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?  If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

Paul is upset with the Corinthian Christians for they are disputing about who they should follow in their new life IN CHRIST.  As we look into this scene, this disputation between them seems rather trivial and innocuous.  Why worry about their ideas about whom they should follow in their spiritual lives?  However, Paul believes this disunity has deeper roots: sin.  Arguing and fighting over whom they should follow in their religious walk is destructive to brotherly love.  John writes that the lack of truly loving your brother or sister in Christ is an indicator of the condition of your soul.  Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.  Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.  But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness.  They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.  (1 John 2:9-11)  Disunity within the Corinthian church makes Paul believe their souls are not as pure as they should be, for quarreling and fighting with their brothers and sisters is an indication of sin abiding within their lives.  Later on in his second letter to the Corinthian church, he expresses his fear about their spiritual well-being.  I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.  I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.  (2 Corinthians 12:20-21)  The Corinthians' immaturity in knowing Christ and following him in their new lives has caused them not to understand the true nature of the church of God.  Peter writes that the church is a nation within the nations of the world.  The Christian Corinthians should know that in this world they are to act differently: they should express a born-again life that consists of unity, love, mercy, and caring for those who are still in darkness.  As the children of Israel, they were a nation within a nation, Egypt.  They were held in bondage but the Egyptians could not change their nature of being Jews.  Their freedom from the physical bondage of the Egyptians came after the shedding of blood.  They crossed over from this dark world to freedom when the passover lamb was slain.  The angel of death could not touch their lives anymore, for they had the blood of the passover lamb to protect them.  In the Christian sense, death is no longer a threat to us because of the blood of Jesus.  To be free IN CHRIST means that you do not act like the world anymore.  Peter expresses this as our condition IN CHRIST.  We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that we may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God; once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy.  (1 Peter 2:9-10)  Through and in Christ, we have been led out of darkness, out of bondage to this world.  Therefore, how should we live our lives?  What is the material in our lives that lifts up Christ?  The Corinthians were living their lives very carnally, still fighting and quarreling about nonessential things, putting aside brotherly love, becoming enemies of Christ by their self-interest and selfish pursuits, wanting their own way and beliefs.  

Paul is telling the Corinthians to be careful how they build their lives.  Disputation is not a sound way to build your lives for Christ.  Disunity is not part of the life IN CHRIST, for Jesus prayed that we would be one as He and his Father are one.  For the Corinthians to be in unity, their lives must be fixed on a sound foundation; of course, that foundation is Christ alone. This is what Paul taught them from the beginning and wishes passionately that they continue upon this foundation of Christ alone.  They are not to divert from this foundation, seeking others to follow.  I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it.  But each one should build with care.  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  The freedom of God’s chosen in Egypt came through the Passover Lamb’s sacrifice.  The church of Corinth's freedom from the world and its hold on them came through Jesus’s death on the cross.  Consequently, why are they disputing over following someone else in constructing their new life.  Why not depend on the Spirit of God to lead them, not man’s insight or knowledge.  As soon as the children of Egypt experienced their freedom from the bondage of Egypt, the Spirit of God came to them.  He was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night.  They made no move until the Spirit moved.  He led them from one destination to another, day-by-day, week-by-week, year-by-year.  When they were disobedient to the Spirit’s direction, they were disciplined.  Now Paul is afraid that the Corinthians are choosing another way rather than following Christ in their lives.  They are building with wood, hay or straw, none of which will endure God’s wrath on the judgment day.  Jesus is worthy of the best in our lives: grace, mercy and love or the gold, silver, costly stones that are embedded in our new-creature lives.  Even when Jesus was but a toddler, we see him receiving the best in the magi's lives. The magi bowed down and worshiped the Child, presenting Him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Each of these gifts was extremely valuable.  Only on the name of Jesus should we build out lives, and we should give him the best in our lives.  Toss away the wood, hay and straw that will not withstand the inscrutable nature of God.  Instead, build with the brotherly love of all people who are known as Christ’s own.  And for the world, be loving and kind towards them; show your love of God by your grace and mercy to them, for that is what Jesus did when he died for even his enemies, to rescue them from the prince of the world, the devil.  As with Christ, our lives should be a gift of love to the world.  We might be rejected by the world as foolish, naive, and ignorant, but we are not any of those descriptions, for we are children of the living God.  We know that we are God’s creation and that God’s Spirit dwells in us.  We are a sacred people, for God himself dwells with us and in us. Together we are his temple. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  (1 Peter 2:4-5) 

Today as the living body of Christ present on earth, how should we live?  How do we   reflect God to the world? Jesus said that He is the light of the world, and that He has come not to condemn the world, but to deliver the world out of darkness.  He also said that all have sinned, all are strangers to God and worse than that, enemies of God.  Jesus has told us to love his enemies, to care for them, to present the mercy of God to them by feeding them, clothing them, housing them, delivering them out of their bondage to sin.  Jesus was the great healer; we too should be in the business of healing.  This is what Paul is talking about when he says for us to be careful how we build on Christ.  We should be using the best in us, gold, silver, costly stones.  The magi gave the toddler Jesus the best they had.  We too are to give Jesus the best in our lives: our time, our thoughts, our activity, our prayers.  We, as the apostles, must lift up the name of Jesus.  The apostles were constantly attacked by the Sanhedrin, the leaders of the Jewish society.  The Sanhedrin not only were the administers of the Jewish society, they were also the spiritual leaders of the Israelites, so there was every reason for the apostles to bend to the Sanhedrin’s authority.  But they said no, we are a nation within a nation; we are the chosen people of God through the blood of Jesus Christ.  We will obey only the leader of this supernatural nation, headed by Jesus Christ.  We will be respectful of your earthly leadership, but we will not obey your authority in the spiritual realm, only Jesus is our Lord and Savior.  We are no longer under the bondage of Egypt, for we have been set free to obey the Spirit of God.  Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!  The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross.  God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins.  We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.  (Acts 5:29-32)  We have a new authority and it is Christ the Lord.  We have the Spirit of God as our daily leader, directing us to express the love of God to all people.  We will lift the name of Jesus up in every community.  We will express the Love of God to all people for He loves his creation.  We no longer live by spiritual laws, but by the grace and mercy of God.  God has set us free to do his will on earth.  Paul was worried that the Corinthians were not truly free from their old nature, for they were quarreling and fighting over whom they should follow.  He knew the old nature would corrupt their souls, so he reminds them to know Christ and him alone.  The apostles gave their lives to that purpose; Jesus and him alone brings salvation to all people.  Friends around this breakfast table, how are you building your lives?  Is it on eat, drink and be merry or is it on the precious blood of Jesus shed for your sins?  Today, renew your vows of love to the Lord and walk in his redeeming light.   

1 Corinthian 2:10-16; 3:1-9 Live in Grace!

1 Corinthian 2:10-16; 3:1-9  The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.  For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them?  In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.  This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.  The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.  The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for,“Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”  But we have the mind of Christ. --- Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ.   I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.  Indeed, you are still not ready.  You are still worldly.  For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?  Are you not acting like mere humans?  For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?  What, after all, is Apollos?  And what is Paul?  Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.  I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.  So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.  The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor.  For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

In the above focus we see Paul is much troubled by a lack of spiritual growth in the Corinthians.  He knows the people are still closer to the unredeemed than they are to the new life God has given them.  His measurement of maturity is the scale of unity that they are residing in now as new creatures.  Rather than be at peace with each other because they are now brothers and sisters IN CHRIST, they are disputing about what man they should follow in their walk with Christ. This disputation is not a little thing to Paul, for the following of men and their wisdom, their perspective on the gospel, will lead to a falling away from Christ and the Spirit of God.  Rather than listening to the Spirit of God resident inside of them, they are tuned into the voices of people, some of them follow Peter as their guidance, others Paul, Apollo, and even some claim to follow only Jesus.  This is shocking to Paul because he knows that following the wisdom and knowledge of people will lead to division within the body of Christ and may even lead some people away from believing the truth.  I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all.  Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!  (Galatians 1:6-8)  The question that Paul will address in his letter to the Corinthians is that salvation comes only through faith IN CHRIST and not through any other means.  This message Paul preached to them at the beginning; their conversion to new creatures came through their trust in Christ’s work and not their own.  Now Paul sees the wisdom of the world infiltrating the church.  As in the secular world, the Corinthians are considering a different avenue to be right with God, based on the wisdom and knowledge of mere humans.   How does Paul know this?  Because they are selecting different people to be their spiritual leaders in their lives and more than that, they are fighting with others about who the church should follow: Paul, Peter, Apollo, or Christ in the flesh.  Selecting spiritual leaders and fighting over who is the best leader is a dangerous route for the church of Christ.  This kind of disputation in the secular world is very common, who the people should follow and what man or woman should be exalted as their leader.  Jesus in addressing the disciples about this characteristic of men women to squabble over leadership warns his disciples.  “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.  And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.  Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah.  The greatest among you will be your servant.  For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.  (Matthew 23:8-12)  Paul now sees in the Corinthians a desire to exalt mere humans to a place of leadership.  Paul knows this is a sign of carnality and has nothing to do with spirituality.  And as we look back into church history, we find the church of Christ being split into factions hundreds of times, and sadly people losing out in knowing Christ as their Savior.

Later on Paul tells the Corinthians that it is dangerous to judge people on their qualifications, charisma, knowledge and wisdom.  These are characteristics of the flesh, standards that are used in the world to determine who should lead men and women.  However, as new creatures in Christ, Christians' eyes should be fixed on heavenly characteristics: humility, servanthood, holiness, grace, mercy, and goodness.  So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  (2 Corinthians 5:15-17)  The new creation seeks the man or woman who is willing to wash the feet of all the parishioners, the man or woman who is a servant to all.  In the secular world, exalted leaders lord it over everyone, all people are less than they are in their perspective.  They rule in arrogance and shameful boldness.  However the nature of God is the opposite of the secular rulers.  He loves his creation and is willing to do anything for them, even die on a cross.  The prophet Jonah knew the nature of God: merciful, compassionate, slow to anger with unfailing love.  Instead of the destruction of Nineveh as Jonah broadcast for three days in the city of Nineveh, God relents and does not destroy this wicked city and its people.  This causes Jonah to pout: he is mad at God for his goodness to this wicked people.  Jonah would have toasted God’s destruction of Nineveh, but now he sees these wicked people being blessed by God.  Instead of the fiery judgment that this city deserved, God revealed his true nature of love, mercy and goodness towards those he has created.  This angered Jonah; he wished for death.  But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry.  He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home?  That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish.  I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.  Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”  (Jonah 4:1-3)  Paul understands that God is a good God and that He alone should be followed as the Holy Spirit leads, not as humans lead in their own understanding of life, using their fleshly perspective, garnered through they own wisdom and knowledge.  Paul was fearful the Corinthians were willing to follow men, and their revelation of God not what he had given them that was learned directly from God through the Spirit’s gifting in him.  Paul explained this to the church at Galatia.  I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin.  I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.  (Galatians 1:11-12)  The mystery of God hidden throughout the ages was given to Paul by direct revelation.  He had to be blinded by Jesus on the road to Damascus so that he would receive this mystery of God willingly.  What was this mystery: that all people everywhere could be made right with God through their faith and trust in Jesus of Nazareth and that Jesus on the cross paid the price for all men and women’s sins.  He alone satisfied God’s wrath on sin which is death, by dying on the cross to ransom men and women from the penalty of eternal death.  Paul wanted this message of God’s grace and mercy  to prosper in the Corinthian church.  As Paul said to the Galatians, the unity of Christ should abound in the lives of all Christians.  We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.  So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.  (Galatians 2:15-16)  

Sadly the knowledge and the wisdom of the flesh about spiritual redemption almost always fall in the category of doing right or wrong.  The law to control the human nature is very prominent in people’s ideas about finding God or being right with God, but his kind of attitude produces hard soil.  The law relies on people doing right, not wrong, on people being good, not bad.  The law demands that people work to be like God, to be acceptable to god. But salvation comes through Jesus’ work on the cross.  When people cannot put aside the idea of working for their salvation, the devil swoops down and takes the idea of God’s grace and mercy from them.  He snatches away what was sown in their heart.  The law does not flower into praising God; it keeps the self-willed plant, wilted and dying.  The law cannot defeat the weeds in life.  It contains no strength to defeat the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth.  The nature of life and its activities will choke the word of life, making people who depend on obedience to the law unfruitful.  Therefore, what is the life that will produce an abundant crop?   The seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it.  This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.  (Matthew 23:23)  What is good soil?  Good soil Is always Christ.  He produces in us his will.  And his will is the salt of earth, the light of the world.  The good soil provides for the growth of roots, causing the plant to survive no matter how much trouble or persecution the plant experiences.  The new life will prosper no matter how strong the wind is against its survival.  Paul is concerned about the Corinthian church because they were losing good solid ground by their arguing.  He knew that if they depended on anyone’s view about the new life they were experiencing they would not survive.  Therefore, he warned them of following men.  What, after all, is Apollos?  And what is Paul?  Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.  I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.  So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.  The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor.  For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.  They are God’s field.  Because of being God’s field they should be spiritually minded, not depending on the say of men or women or the ideas of the flesh.  He tells them they need to grow up, accept completely the grace and mercy of God in their lives.  We know good soil produces a bountiful harvest.  Good soil produces those who are willing to endure no matter what the cost is in this world.  In our lives we should catch the wind of the Holy Spirit that comes from the heart of God.  Let us hear his voice, for those who hear his voice are God’s own children.  People around this breakfast table, do not follow men or women; instead, follow the mystery of God which comes through Jesus Christ the Word.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  (John 1:1-5)  Let that life live in you and that light shine in you, and death and darkness will have to flee. 

  

    

 

1 Corinthians 2:1-10 Love the Light and Not the Darkness!

1 Corinthians 2:1-10  And so it was with me, brothers and sisters.  When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.  For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.  My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.  We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.  No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.  None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him, these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

Paul is now following up on his words in the first chapter,  “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”   In ministering the Truth, the Way and Life, he could not boast in the results of his work, for it was Christ’s work and not his own.  As a fervent follower of Judaism, he was proud that the Jews were God’s chosen people.  The Jews had the law; God had enlightened them with knowledge about himself through the law given to them through Moses.  Before Jesus' interdiction into Paul's life, he was concerned about destroying the apostasy of the Jews who were following this man Jesus.  However, God on the road to Damascus expanded Paul’s understanding of God’s desire to redeem all men to himself.  The Gentiles that he once considered unworthy even to address them or to be in their houses were now to receive the Good News of Christ and the redemptive cross through him.  Paul was talking to the Greeks who placed their understanding of life on logic and rational thought, and on the philosophies and ideas of men, so Paul did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.  He knew what he was telling them was beyond the rationality and thoughts of men and women.  Paul also knew that the Good News without the power of God to substantiate what he was telling them would not be received well in the Gentile world.  His words of a new life in Christ would be like throwing pearls before swine.  Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs.  If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.  (Matthew 7:6)   Paul always had a target on his back; he always had strong opposition from both the Gentiles and the Jews.  Often they wished to tear Paul into pieces.  However, miracles followed Paul wherever he went; these supernatural deeds validated his words.  God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.  (Acts 19:11-12)   In Lystra there sat a man who was lame.  He had been that way from birth and had never walked.  He listened to Paul as he was speaking.  Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!”  At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.  (Acts 14:9-10)  As Paul ventured into a very dark and dangerous world of the Gentiles, he needed the demonstration of God’s power in his ministry.  Without God’s accompanying power, his words would not be accepted well by the Greek communities; he would be just another person preaching weird ideas.  Paul stepped into their world with not only words but with power.  My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.  Because of seeing the power of God in Paul’s life, many Greeks and Jews came to know Jesus as their personal Savior.  The Good News spread rapidly in these Greek cities.  Paul who once was a dedicated, zealous Judaic believer would now call these redeemed men and women, brothers and sisters.

The focus of Paul’s ministry always revolved around Jesus Christ and him crucified.  The Good News he preached also settled on the cross.  Of course, in Corinth and in the other Greek cities, Jesus was just a Jewish man, unknown by most of them.  Paul had to convince them that Jesus not only died for their sins, but that He also was resurrected from the grave.  For the Greeks this was nonsense, for the resurrection of the flesh was beyond reasoning.  Maybe the dead might have a spirit that floats away after death, but resurrection of the flesh is utter foolishness.  Of course, Jesus wanted the disciples to touch him, to feed him, so that they would know the truth that Jesus came back in the flesh to them.  This revelation of resurrection in the flesh caused the disciples to believe in eternal life with Jesus.  To convince the Greek Corinthians of this miracle, power had to be evident in Paul’s life.  In fact, all the apostles were given this power by the Holy Spirit.  They cast out demons, healed people, raised the dead.  Peter’s shadow healed people as he walked through the streets of Jerusalem.  He also raised the dead.  Peter got down on his knees and prayed.  Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.”  She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.  He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet.  Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive.  (Acts 9:40-41)  The apostle’s miraculous deeds were even expanded beyond what Christ did in his flesh.  Paul’s handkerchiefs and aprons healed the sick who touched them; demons fled from the presence of his handkerchiefs and aprons.  Peter’s shadow freed people from their sicknesses and demons.  People brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by.  Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.  (Acts 5:15-16)   Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead because they lied to the Holy Spirit.  All of these events prove what Jesus said about his followers, Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do EVEN GREATER THINGS than these, because I am going to the Father.  (John 14:10-12)  As the words of Paul were accepted by the Corinthians, he could talk to them about the mystery of God that was hidden in the mind of God from the beginning. We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.  We declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.   For the spiritually mature Corinthians, he gives them insight into the ideas of God about human beings; about God’s everlasting love for what he has created.  All of this goes far beyond the ordinary Greeks' understanding of life, far beyond thoughts of their deep thinkers and philosophers.  He tells them what God has destined for them because of his great love for all humans.  What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him, these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.  The spiritual man can receive the things of the Spirit.

Our friends around this breakfast table can you view the world with spiritual eyes?  Can you receive what the Spirit is saying or are you caught up in the thoughts and ideas of men and women?  Paul initially only could use simple words in explaining the Good News of eternal life to the Corinthians.  He knew their minds were embedded in spiritual darkness and sin.  Their minds were clouded by selfish pursuits and the reality of life.  Paul was introducing to them a better world than they were experiencing.  Paul  tells the Corinthians that there is another life, centered on love, even towards your enemies.   He is demonstrating this love by ministering to them even without remuneration.  In his ministry, his life was always in danger, for evil despises CHRIST JESUS and the Good News.  Jesus said, Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  (John 3:20)  Paul followed Jesus’ example of revealing truth to a dark world.  Jesus ministered with power and authority.  Jesus told two of John’s disciples who were sent to him by John the Baptist to see if Jesus was really the Messiah, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.  (Luke 7:22-23)  These signs followed Paul’s ministry.  The power of God spread Christianity throughout the region and around the world.  The Christian church became a reality in Corinth.  They accepted the new life in Christ, not always without trouble, but the church thrived.  Let us around this breakfast table also thrive, putting aside our old lives, repenting of sin and selfish pursuits.  Let us dip deeply into God’s purity and move on to deeper things in knowing God.  Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!  Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!  (Psalm 32:1)   Paul's words for the mature brought a new walk to them.  They not only knew they had a new life; they realized they had a responsibility to God as they lived.  We speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age.  The writer of Hebrews says to us, let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.   (Hebrew 6:1-2)  Otherwise as new creatures in God through the first works, let us move on to how to live in a changing society as members of the body of Christ.  Let us reflect God in everything we do and say.  Let us repent when the reflection of God is distorted and move forward in his mighty power. 

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 Don't Look for Sweet in Bitter!

1 Corinthians 1:26-31  Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called.  Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.  It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

In the above verses we see Paul stating the truth of salvation.  It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  God determined for them to hear the Good News of Jesus being the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE —  our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  They need not thank or honor anyone but God for their salvation, their redeemed status.  However, the believers in Corinth were arguing about who they should follow in their Christian lives, who they should credit for being born again.  Their disputation over who they should follow was a detrimental spirit, splintering the church into factions.  Paul considered this disunity as immaturity or even secularism.  In a secular society, disunity and factions are common characteristics of men and women.  Quarreling, disputing and strife exist constantly in the unredeemed world; wars and rumors of wars are always present.  In Christ, unity should be paramount in the church.  The Corinthians were fractioning over who they should follow in the Christian walk: Apollo, Peter, Paul are even Christ in the flesh.  Who should get the credit for their new life in God?  Paul feared for them because their arguing was splitting the body of Christ in Corinth.  This immaturity in following Christ, who is the Truth, the Way and the Life would destroy the Christian testimony in Corinth.  As with all humans in their unredeemed spirits, they are taking the tack that they are smarter and more knowledgeable than others.  Now Paul douses their arrogance with the reality of born again people.  Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called.  Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.  Paul is telling them that you might believe you are more learned, insightful and wiser than others; however, most of those people who are esteemed, rich and knowledgeable in this world are not in the body of Christ.  The Good News does not offer them anything reasonable they can believe in for it contradicts their rational approach to their daily lives.  The Good News tells them that they are sinners and that they need Christ to have eternal life.  The majority of them will not accept what God is offering them: eternal life.  Therefore, God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.  The Corinthian church consisted mostly of average, common people.  They were not the leaders or the elite in Corinth.  For the leaders, the elite of Corinth, considered the Christians foolish for their attachment to Christ.  For the Corinthian church to argue over who they should honor in their new lIfe was total foolishness for the prominent in Corinth.  They could care less.  Paul is telling them, aline yourself with Christ's work and his love for you.  You should boast in being followers of Jesus of Nazareth.  Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

Jesus did not choose men of great honor and prestige in Israel.  He chose the average, the common man as his disciples.  Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John were fishermen who worked with their hands.  They bent their backs in labor, not their minds in ideas about God.  He called other men who held no special position in the community of the Jews: Philip, Nathanael, Thomas, James, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas.  He also called Matthew a tax collector whose friends were considered the scum of the earth by the priests.  As a group, we might consider them to be the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  After Jesus performed wonders and miracles, many wanted to be in Jesus’ retinue, but these common people were his closest allies and friends.  They were his bodyguards, his students.  They heard every word Jesus spoke and and saw every miracle, just unlearned men who Jesus chose to honor with his presence.  When Jesus sent them out on an assignment to preach the Good News, He gave them special power and authority over demons, but alone without this assignment directed by Jesus, they were just common, average people with no power from God.  When they could not deliver a boy from demon possession, Jesus was disturbed by their lack of faith.  He addressed the people, but mostly his disciples by saying, “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you?  How long shall I put up with you?  Bring the boy to me.”So they brought him.  When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion.  He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.  Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”  “From childhood,” he answered.  “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him.  But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”  Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”  When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”  The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out.  The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.”  But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.  (Mark 9:19-27)  The disciples had seen Jesus many times cast out demons, but when they tried, they were totally defeated by the demon.  The demon in the boy did not respond to ordinary people who possess no faith in God’s power when they speak for God.  Later, the disciples questioned Jesus about their powerlessness.  After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?  ”He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”  (Mark 9:28-29)  This kind of power comes only with connection with God through an intimate fellowship with him through prayer.  Jesus said that He always hears his Father’s words, and we know Jesus always prayed incessantly.  The power to cast out demons does not come from man’s words; his incantations, but from the well of Power that rests in the Father God.  Later we see the Spirit of God fill the disciples: the power of God through the Spirit rests in human flesh after Pentecost.  When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.  (Acts 2:1-4)

This power to tame the adverse spirits to God’s will came to Christians.  No one will be left out who falls under God’s authority through believing in Jesus as his or her Redeemer.  I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.  (1 Corinthians 2:17-18)  Men and women will receive this power; young and old will inherit this power through Jesus Christ the Lord.  Paul tells the Corinthians, boast only in the Lord.  In Luke 2, we see the boy Jesus in the Temple.  He was from the Father with the power of God IN HIM.  His parents after celebrating the Passover were on their way back to Nazareth when they discovered Jesus was not with them.  They hurried back to Jerusalem and looked for three days to find him.  They found him in the Temple sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  The people were amazed  at his understanding of the scriptures, demonstrating the power of God within him.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy.  This power of God has come even to the children who trust Jesus as their Savior.  God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong, or maybe the unprepared to astonish the world.  In a world that honors, preparedness, degrees and certificates of learning, God chose twelve disciples who had no such preparedness.  He placed his hand on the weak, the meek, the lowly; He elevated them to his kingdom.  Often in this world of disheveled spirits, we see the most learned, honored people of any community take a course opposite of God’s holiness and goodness.  In Isaiah 5 we see the elite of society, who feel they are so clever, knowledgeable, boasting in themselves before God as they elevate sin and darkness.  Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.  (Isaiah 5:20-21)  To be prepared, to be learned is good, but you do not find God through that route.  You find him through faith and prayer.  The elite of Jesus’ time rejected Jesus as the Messiah.  They wanted Jesus to verify that he was from God.  They asked Jesus to perform a miracle for them, a sign to prove he was from God.  Jesus would not satisfy their demand.  Instead he said, A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign!  But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  (Matthew 12:39-40)  This statement blows the mind of the learned, the knowledgeable, the rational.  No way could they accept such a statement.  For them, Jesus the impossible Savior from God’s kingdom was verifying an impossible event.  They could not and would not believe in Jesus as the Messiah; He was not appeasing the rational mind of people, especially the elite.  Our friends around this breakfast table, Jesus is the Savior.  Trust in him, trust in his work and not your own.  He has given you a Spirit of truth and power.  Rest IN HIM, boast IN HIM, your eternal life is secure IN HIM.  

           

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