1 Corinthians 5:9-13 Find Peace!

1 Corinthians 5:9-13  I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters.  In that case you would have to leave this world.  But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler.  Do not even eat with such people.  What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?  Are you not to judge those inside?  God will judge those outside.  “Expel the wicked person from among you.”

Paul is upset with the Corinthian church for allowing immoral behavior: incest, to exist openly in their congregation.  Paul expresses to them something these Greek believers knew was true: this kind of sin is not even acceptable within the secular world.  The sin of incest within their fellowship is not hidden, but openly known by the believers.  The law of Moses’ states that  A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not dishonor his father’s bed.  (Deuteronomy 22:30)  This kind of behavior interferes with the harmony of existence, how God designed the world and the cosmos.  We see life on earth, existing in an environment that is precise and integrated.  Our bodies function cell by cell in harmony, in unity.  We have everything needed within our bodies to sustain life.  Life on earth functions in a designed environment for the benefit of biological existence.  When people practice incest in their society, they open themselves to some damaging consequences for their offspring: lower intelligence or intellectual disability, heart dysfunctions,  auto-immune problems, physical deformities, and so on.  Paul is saying that incest is outside of God’s desire for men and women.  Such sin will bring dire consequences.  When people do not serve the living God, they fall into adverse, troubling and destructive behaviors that destroy the well-being and harmony of existence.  Paul enumerates many of them in Romans 1: every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.  People's deviant behavior outside of God’s design for them causes them to be gossipers, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful.  They invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.  (Romans 1:29-31)  As with incest, all of this kind of behavior and action are categorized as sin.  None of them contain the nature of God: harmony, peace, love and mercy.  All of this iniquity separates man from God permanently.  All disruption to God’s design for mankind and his existence will be judged harshly.  Paul is telling the Greek Christians that disharmony with God's will brings death.  Therefore, they should not associate with the deeds of death, but with God’s life-giving Spirit.  The Way, the Truth and the Life which is found only in the fellowship of Christ.  Paul tells them not to allow darkness to abide in their community without judgement on sinners' wayward behavior, not to associate with sexually immoral people.  If the person’s  sin is outward and brazen, Expel the wicked person from among you.

Of course in the world we will be involved with people who do not know God or do not want to know God.  Atheists, agnostics and sinners will work with us, associate with us, maybe even be our friends.  Some people will carry the tag on them that God has assigned to them.  The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”  They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is not one of them that does good.  (Psalm 14:1)  God includes all people in this category who are without the willingness to know God.  The Bible says all people have gone astray from God; all people are lost sheep without the Shepard in their lives.  Paul tells the Corinthian believers they are sheep in God’s fold: they are living under God’s protection and guidance; therefore, they should not entertain yeast that comes into the fold.  Yes, they should love the people, but not fellowship in their sinful lifestyle, for yeast has a property that is very viral.  It will infect anything and everything that comes into contact with it.  Outside of the fold, Christians live most of their lives, but Christians also have the Holy Spirit, the power of God protecting their existence.  We see this in Jesus’s time; in the wilderness, He was tempted by Satan.  Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness after He was baptized in water.  The Holy Spirit had descended on him at that time.  He now possessed the power and leading of God in his life.  He will be exposed to Satan’s direct intervention.  Satan’s voice will be real and compelling to the flesh.  But Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, will combat the words of Satan with the Holy Scriptures.  The devil is helpless when the scriptures are used against him, for they express the voice of God. so he goes away for a season.  We too, who journey every day into the wilderness of life have the Spirit of God powerfully in us.  We have the power to not be influenced by the sins and activities of men and women.  We carry the tag on us placed by God as the children of God.  We are eternal beings and we know it as a reality in our lives.  I keep my eyes always on the Lord.  With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.  Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.  You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.  (Psalm 16:8-11)  We are IN GOD AND HE IS IN US, whether we are in the work place or at home.  He will never leave us even in death.  We will always be in the presence of the Lord, but we should not bring within the Tabernacle of our hearts or the church community the influence of sin.  Paul is telling the Corinthians that in the church of the living GOD, they should not be fellowshipping with people who are openly INVOLVED in sin: sexually immoral, greedy, idolaters, slanderers, drunkards, swindlers.  Do not bring the yeast of the world into the community of believers.

The God of the cosmos is holy, orderly and precise.  All that is made comes from his hand, from his existence.  Nothing exists outside of him and no aberration of his nature of love and mercy will exist without judgment.  Sin is adverse to God’s authority, his nature of holiness, goodness and love.  Mankind was made in God’s image so we have been given freedom to choose our lifestyle.  Eve chose self over God’s authority; Adam chose his own self-will over God’s existence.  Because of the uniqueness of MANKIND MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD, not as the angels, we were cast out of the Garden, where before sin we possessed eternal life. The glory of God was given to us from the beginning and that glory is wrapped up in the word, eternal.  We were initially given the privilege to be like God, to have his glory of eternal life.  But that was terminated because of sin; the crown of eternal life was taken off our heads.  So since that time, we are dust that will return to dust at our demise.  Paul is now telling the Corinthians, remember who you are IN CHRIST. You are eternal, so do not associate with the deeds of death--judge this man who is embedded in incest.  In and through Jesus, we know of God’s great love towards all people, even those who are his enemies.  We see Jesus approaching Jerusalem to be crucified by the Romans.  The people who greet him as He is moving towards Jerusalem are Jews who are crying Hosanna in the Highest, expecting Jesus to deliver them from the bondage of Rome.  But Jesus fails their expectations.  He is presented to them by Pilate as just a weak, frail man, no power to overcome the authority of Rome.  We find them in Jesus’ last hours, yelling to Pilate, Crucify Him.  Jesus knew this would happen to him, for Jesus did not trust the words and the honor of people.  Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.  But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.  He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.  (John 2:23-25)  As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, He weeps.  “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.   The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.  They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls.  They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”  (Luke 19:41-44)  Jesus knew the people who are greeting him now, and those in Jerusalem will scream, Crucify him!  But He loves them and knows they will be crushed by the Roman legions.  Their temple will be torn down, and they will be slain by the thousands.  He weeps for them out of his great love for them.  Paul’s love for the man who is contaminating the Corinthian church with his sin is strong.  He beseeches the believers to pray for the man's death so that his soul will be saved.  Pray that he will find peace with God.  This is the Good News that the disciples were to preach in every land: peace with God.  Peter realizes what this commission means when God offers the Good News to Cornelius, a Roman officer in Caesarea.  “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.  You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of PEACE through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.  (Acts 10:34-36)  When the Roman officer and his household were offered the Good News, the peace with God, the whole household was filled with the Holy Spirit.  When they accepted the Good News of faith in Jesus Christ, peace came to them through the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  Now Paul is telling the Corinthian church, establish peace once again in your midst.  Do not let a disruptive spirit interfere with your peace IN GOD.  This man caught in the sin of incest repented, and his soul was saved.  The Corinthian church was not perfect, as we all are not perfect, but the harmony of God, the design of God for each of us is that we have peace with God, so there is no division between us and God.  Let that peace dwell richly in you today.  Love, Dad and Mom

1 Corinthians 5:1-8 Serve in Love!

1 Corinthians 5:1-8  It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife.  And you are proud!  Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?  For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit.  As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this.  So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good.  Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?  Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are.  For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.  Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

In the above focus we see Paul warning about allowing sin to invade the church by accepting sinful practices within the church.  Paul has discovered that a man in the Corinthian church was living openly in sin.  He reminds the Corinthians that this kind of sinful behavior is looked upon as wrong even in a dark world full with sexual perversion: immorality of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife.  Ifincestuous relationships are not welcomed in a sinful and dark world, they should not be accepted in the church of the living God.  Of course many sins are still resident in the body of Christ for the Passover does not necessarily get the spirit of Egypt out of God’s chosen.  We see that condition in the Old Testament.  The Passover frees the Israelites from slavery, a state indicating subservience to Satan or this world.  The Israelites, after passing through the Red Sea, still possessed the Egyptian lifestyle and desires.  In fact after three days from escaping Egypt, the Israelites are grumbling, wishing they were back in Egypt where at least there was good water to drink.  Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur.  For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.  When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter.  (That is why the place is called Marah.)   So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”  (Exodus 15:22-24)  A couple weeks later, we see the Israelites in total rebellion against Moses and Aaron because of the lack of food.  On the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt, the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.  The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt!  There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”  (Exodus 16:1-3)  They were now idealizing their 400 years of slavery in Egypt, forgetting that their baby boys were thrown into the Nile, either to be eaten by crocodiles or to decompose in the river.  They were forgetting their desperate conditions in Egypt, working hard to make Egypt beautiful while they lived in poverty.  Even though freed by the passover, Egypt was ingrained within them.  At Mount Sinai, they had Aaron make them an idol to worship when Moses was away from them for forty days on Sinai, talking to God.  When Moses came down from the mountain, he saw the Israelites in revelry, celebrating boisterously their gods, acting unrestrainedly, even sexually.  The Egyptian lifestyle surfaces completely at the base of Sinai 50 days after leaving Egypt, after their escape from the grip of the devil in their lives.  In the above focus we see this same syndrome in the Christians.  Paul is clearly upset about incest being accepted within the church of Corinth.  But the Corinthians are involved with many other things that also emulate the secular world.  They are enmeshed in envy, gossip, arrogance, boastfulness, discord and strife.  (Romans 1:29-32)  Their quarreling and fighting over who is the best leader to follow was destroying the church.

Even though Paul is disgusted about the incest within the Corinthian church, he approaches this abomination to the righteousness of God with the grace and mercy of God.  Paul knows about the mysterious plan of God that was present in the heart of God when He made men and women.  God desires that all of his creation be redeemed from the dustbin of death.  Jesus Christ, his Son, was sacrificed on the Cross for the salvation of all people from slavery to Satan.  Jesus IS THE PASSOVER LAMB.  He frees permanently those who accept his blood sacrifice for their sinful lives.  Now we see Paul saying to the church, this man who is practicing incest in his life should be handed over to Satan, allowing his sinful life to die quickly so that his soul will be saved: hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.  The sinful man is mired in deep darkness; Egypt is still possessing his soul, but he also has experienced the Passover.  His escape from darkness has already happened, but for him to not be lost in his rebellious darkness, pray that he die in the body so that his soul will be saved. The Israelites on the day they should have entered the Promised Land, they were still in rebellion to God’s authority in their lives.  They wanted to choose other leaders for their congregation, leaders who would take them back to Egypt.  God harshly judged their decision to go back into sin.  He forced them back to the wilderness where all the men and women over twenty-years-old would die.  They had rejected the Passover that delivered them from slavery.  Paul is telling the church of Corinth, pray for the death of this man so the Passover he has experienced will still be evident on the day of judgment.  And we know this man repented of his sinful lifestyle and preserved his soul while he was still living.  God was faithful to him in the end

Jesus told his disciples that their belief in him has given them eternal life at that moment.  Eternity was in them through their belief in Jesus, the Lamb of God.  How are we to restore a Christian who has fallen into sin.  Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently.  But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.  Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.  (Galatians 6:1-2)  We should deal with our fallen brothers and sisters with grace and mercy.  We should confess our own faults and sins so our brothers or sisters know that flesh is in all of us, letting them know that God is gracious and good to all of us.  If we repent of our misdeeds, He quickly forgives us of our sins.  This is a process of restoring a wayward Christian to Christ.  We should be careful to deal with the sinful lives of others without indulging in their way of living or thinking, watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.  As Christians in the household of God, we should bring life to the wayward Christians.  We should bring good to them, light to them, not anger and grief to them.  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  (Romans 12:21)  Our Christian brethren are not our enemies; they are just lost in the thinking of Egypt.  Therefore, let the light of the new creature be seen in your reaction to them--serve them in love.  In your interaction with someone who is dabbling in sin, let the Spirit’s attributes be seen abundantly in you: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5)   Jesus who was without sin, no waywardness in his life, associated with sinners, maybe the scum of society as the Pharisees depicted these people.  He ate with tax collectors and sinners.  Why?  They needed a doctor in their lives, a redeemer in their lives, someone who truly loved them as they were.  The man who was living in incest needed a doctor in his life.  He needed someone who would tell him the truth about his destructive life in a merciful and kind manner.  He did not need a righteous, holier-than-thou person in his life.  He needed someone without malice towards him.  He needed someone who would speak life into his life, one who would explain again the efficacious Passover in sincerity and truth.  As with the Corinthians themselves in their own waywardness of disruption and arguing with each other over leadership, they needed to regain their understanding of Jesus and the Passover.  They are no longer caught in the slavery of Egypt.  They are absolutely and forever free under the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Not dustpan people, but jewels in God’s domain of redemption.  Our breakfast friends around this table, celebrating the food of the Passover, drink and eat freely of the provisions of Jesus Christ the Lord.  Confess your sins before each other and treat each other as you want to be treated, AS HIS JEWELS.   Jesus has come to deliver you from Egypt and to establish you in the Promised Land.   

   

    

 

1 Corinthian 4:14-21 Come with a Gentle Spirit!

1 Corinthian 4:14-21  I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children.  Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me.  For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord.  He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.  Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you.  But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have.  For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.  What do you prefer?  Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit.

As the the founder of the church of Corinth, Paul’s concern over the spiritual health of the Corinthian church was constantly on his mind for almost a decade.  His first visit to Corinth was somewhere around 50-52 A.D and his last visit around 57-61 A.D.  During that time, some believe he wrote four letters, the first and third letters are lost to history; the second and fourth letters are known as 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.  In these two letters, Paul is struggling with the Corinthians' acceptance to continue their worldly lifestyle.  He keeps reminding them that they are new creatures IN CHRIST and that new life demands a change in the way they journey through life.  For him, too many of them are hanging onto their old lifestyle, justifying their unregenerate lifestyles by selecting different spiritual leaders to follow.  This disruption within the church and their lack of authenticity as born-again believers was becoming well-known throughout Corinth.  The Christian brethren in the church were bringing their disagreements with other Christians over secular matters to the courts of the Greeks.  This kind of behavior was dismantling the work of Christ in Corinth.  Paul tells them not to expose these disagreements between them to the secular community.  They should settle these disputes with each other within the church, not before the outside world. If they cannot come to a satisfactory agreement within the environment of the Christian community, then for the sake of unity they should lay aside their grievances with other brethren and just accept the wrongs they are experiencing.  Why not rather be wronged?  Why not rather be cheated?  Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters.  Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And that is what some of you were.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.  (1 Corinthians 6:7-11)  By holding onto to these wrongs, wishing to be justified, they destroy the witness of Christ in the community.  They must continue to understand that Jesus paid the price for their redemption from previous lives of darkness.  Paul reminds them that they once were cheaters, slanderers, swindlers, drunkards, thieves, greedy, abusers, sexually immoral, adulterers, and even idolaters.  Their lives were dead to God, going nowhere but to destruction.  However, Christ brought a new life to them, an eternal life with God by his work on the cross. You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.  Their desires to be right in disputations indicate they held a secular view while living an unregenerate life supposedly hidden IN CHRIST.

Paul was constantly defending his position of being an apostle in the body of Christ.  For the Corinthians, if they could discount Paul’s special position in the living church of Christ, they could lay aside some of his criticism of their spiritual lives.  Paul was sold out for Christ.  In Philippians 3:7-9,  Paul writes, whatever in my previous life was a gain for me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.  Paul recognizes in the Corinthians a desire to hang onto their old lives.  Rather than considering everything they knew and lived for in their previous lives as garbage, they were assimilating some of their old lives into the new born-again life.  By doing so they were engulfed in disputation and arguments with their fellow believers.  This kind of behavior reveals not new garments of light covering them, but the old dusty clothing of their past.  He is asking the Corinthians to imitate me.  He is sending Timothy to remind them of Paul’s life IN CHRIST JESUS.  Paul teaches a regenerated life IN CHRIST everywhere in every church.  Paul is becoming very much aware that the Corinthians are not seeking out the purity that should come from lives dedicated to Christ.  Instead, they are falling into sinful behavior, even allowing sinful activity such as incest in the midst of their church.  It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife.  And you are proud!  (1 Corinthians 5:1-2)  Paul is amazed that they would allow such sin to be openly displayed within their church.  You are proud!!!!  For Paul, their disputation of who they should follow was the canary in the mine, a detection that something was wrong with the air they were breathing.  But this seemingly innocuous behavior led to something more serious, open sin in the church of the Corinthians.  Rather than holiness, they were accepting sins that even the secular community would not tolerate.  They misunderstood that their freedom IN CHRIST meant that they could be free to live as they desire, without any restrictions on how they lived in the flesh.  Paul says, that is not true: a life IN CHRIST should reflect the purity of God, not the darkness of sin.  Paul did not present the restrictions of the law, but the freedom of living IN CHRIST; he did not want the servitude to sin to guide a born-again life.  That life of unrighteousness leads to death, not to eternal life with God.

Paul is very upset about the arrogance of the Christian believers in Corinth, allowing their supposed freedom in Christ to accept sin within their community.   Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you.  But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have.  Paul’s words presuppose that there are leaders among the Corinth church who are championing the liberty of the sin of the flesh in the new believer.  He knows that kind of talk is powerless to change people into staunch followers of Christ.  Sinful behavior is powerless to change people into a right position with God.  Sin brings death.  Paul threatens them that if he comes to the Corinthian church and finds these people in charge, he will come with a rod of discipline.  But if they are repentant, he will come in love and with a gentle spirit.  Paul tells the Galatians,  Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently.  But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.  Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.  (Galatians 6:1-2)  People who are caught in the snares of the devil should be restored gently to the church through the law of Christ: love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.  James said,  If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.  But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.  For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.  (James 2:8-10)  Be careful how you love, do not show favoritism to some but not others.  For if you do, you too become a law breaker, violating God’s love towards all people.  Paul knows the Corinthians are high on God’s power to change people.  They are steeped into the fruit of the Spirit and exercise the Spirit’s power and gifts in the church, and as the seventy-two disciples returned from their evangelistic journey into Israel, they said to Jesus, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”  But this power is no substitute for righteous living.  Paul is now concerned that the Corinthians are not bringing the light of Christ into the Corinth community because of the way they are living: arguing, disputing, and bringing their disagreements before the courts of the Greeks.  Their lives should be exemplary of Christ.  Christ is God and God is love.  Towards the end of Jesus’ life, He was going back to Jerusalem where He will be murdered.  As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.  And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem.  When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want US to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”  But Jesus turned and rebuked them.  Then he and his disciples went to another village.  (Luke 9:51-56)  We see two of his disciples who had previously experienced God’s power in them as they evangelized Israel, ready to call judgment on a Samaritan village because they did not welcome Jesus.  They were ready to use Jesus’ name to destroy, but Jesus looked at them and rebuked them.  The Corinthians displayed much power because of the Holy Spirit’s work in their community, but this power was not to destroy, but to restore people to God.  The Corinthians rejoiced in their powerful worship services and the works of God, but their lives were still much like James and John, displaying the attitude of the flesh, destroy and not restore.  Their fleshly lives were not restoring the world, but living in such a destructive manner, that their lives would never enlighten the world around them.  May we be in tune with the Holy Spirit to do the perfect will of God and restore his people.    

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.