1 Corinthians 11:17-26 Raise the Banner of Love!

1 Corinthians 11:17-26  In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.  In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it.  No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.  So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers.  As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk.  Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in?  Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing?  What shall I say to you?  Shall I praise you?  Certainly not in this matter!  

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

In the above focus, Paul is concerned about the spiritual health of the Corinthian church.  He cannot commend them for the way they act and their attitude when they gather together as one body.  These meetings do more harm than good.  He criticizes them for their divisions; their willingness to damage the unity of the body of Christ on the basis of whom they follow in their religious lives.  He knows some of this division originates out of spiritual pride, believing one leader understands better THE WAY than other apostles or leaders.  Sarcastically, he says, No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.  Choosing different leaders to follow has affected their love for others outside of their religious clique.  They are squabbling over what person they should follow in their spiritual lives, probably over who has the right theological positions in living as a Christian.  They are proud about how they came to Christ, who baptized them, who first taught them the way to Christ.  We see that some of them claim they follow Christ, but what Christ?  Are they following the Christ of works, his lifestyle or the redemptive Christ?  We do not know that, but we do know that Paul states that he desires not to know Christ in his fleshly walk but as the Redeemer:  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.  (2 Corinthians 5:16-17)  The worldly or fleshly man or woman will always land on division, exalting themselves and their opinions.  This division from the beginning of time have spawned arguments, battles, and even wars.  Disagreements bring bitterness and hatred to the souls of people, finally cropping out in actual combat or separation.  Therefore, Paul appeals to the Corinthian church to put their lack of unity aside, instead, coming together in the binding power of love for their brother and sister IN CHRIST.   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.  My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.  What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”  (1 Corinthians 1:10-12)  This pernicious lack of love for others in the church was not part of the church from the beginning.  After Peter finished his first sermon to the Jerusalem people, three thousand people stepped forward to follow the Messiah, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  What is recorded of those new converts is amazing, All the believers were together and had everything in common.  They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people, the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.  (Acts 2:44-47)  The best way to destroy the gathering together of believers and their testimony to the world is division, disgruntledness hidden in the hearts of those who claim salvation, a new life.  But the joy of gathering together and the happiness of unity of the congregants is attractive to the worldly, for this is not the scene of their own lives or the ones around them.  Seeing people lifting their hands in praises to God and the joy on their faces is attractive to the world, for they have a desperate hunger for that kind of unity with the God of Creation.  So, the early church exploded in size and fervency in serving the Lord.  We also see in the early church God manifesting himself through signs and wonders.  Where joy is, the power of God is manifested in full measure.  The joy of the Lord is our strength.

Paul is concerned about the lack of love for others of some in the Corinthian congregation.  When they come together supposedly to commemorate the death and resurrection of the Lord for their salvation, they do not share their food and drink with the less fortunate believers among them.  When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers.  These people gather together in a selfish and self-willed way, maybe even showing off how prosperous they are.  In doing so they bring shame on the less fortunate.  Do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing?  This depiction by Paul of a greedy and self-willed people within the Corinthian church exposes the worldly nature of some people.  He instructs them that their gathering together should be done in order, discerning the body of Christ and the unity of the church.  Taking the elements of communion should be done in order and in thoughtful reflection of what Jesus has done as the Redeemer of their souls.  

The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.  This is a reenactment of the salvation experience, for no one can become a new creature without participating in eating and drinking of the body of Christ.  

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.  For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.  Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.  This is the bread that came down from heaven.  Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”  (John 6:53-59)  Jesus told the rabbi Nicodemus, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”  (John 3:3)  To be born again comes from eating the bread of life and drinking of Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Therefore, communion is a very solemn activity, a time of deep gratitude to Christ for bringing new life; it is not a time to fill your stomach with food and drink.  It is not a time of not discerning the full body of Christ.  All who are participating in communion with deep gratitude are part of the Living Body of Christ.  All have been commissioned to serve Christ within his body.  Therefore no one is more or less important in the kingdom of God.  The name of Christ is imprinted on the new-born lives of Christians.  Christians are followers of Christ, He in them and they in Him.  Consequently, Christians are to emulate God’s love for all people.  Their unity under the banner of love should be seen by all people in the world and in the church.  

Christians are recognized by the world as followers of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is loved by many, but also hated by many in the world.  His name is used often as an expletive, a word used to curse someone or something.  Peter and John were arrested by the Sanhedrin after the crippled man at the Temple gate was healed.  The authorities were upset with Peter and John because they did this miracle in the name of Jesus.  They had killed Jesus, so they wanted Jesus’ name to be forgotten in Jerusalem, but now because of this healing, Jesus’ name and notoriety was being spread once again throughout Jerusalem.  So, the Sanhedrin brought Peter and John before them and told them not to speak of the name of Jesus anywhere in Israel.  Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.  But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him?  You be the judges!   As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”  (Acts 4:18-20)  Because of the threat of the authorities in Israel, the church of the living God was now being pressed to keep the name of Jesus hidden, away from the ears of the people.  Peter and John revealed this threat of the authorities to the church, knowing that the church was in great danger of a violent action against them if they testified about Jesus’ power and redeeming work.  But the believers, instead of gathering in fear and anxiety, gathered in prayer, lifting their voices to heaven in thanksgiving to Jesus’ wonderful intervention in their lives.  While they were doing this, quoting the scriptures and in prayer, a mighty power hit their building, the place they were meeting was shaken.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.  (Acts 4:31)  Rather than back off in speaking the name of Jesus, they came forward within their communities, speaking about the salvation of God through the name of Jesus.  Peter in his first sermon, capitalizes this boldness when he tells a large crowd about the name of Jesus.  “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.  This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.  But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.  (Acts 2:22-24).  In the forefront of the believers ministry about Jesus was the fact of the resurrection in and through Jesus.  They were bold in teaching that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, that new life, forever life, was accessible to all people who put their trust in Jesus and his work on the cross.  They were expressing communion to the world; in and through Jesus you can be born again.  Paul is reminding the church in Corinth that their ideas of whom they should follow in their faith are a waste of time, for they are embedded in the body of Christ which is one of unity and peace.  He tells them that they should take seriously the elements of communion, for life comes from eating and drinking of Jesus, not in whom they are following.  He is telling them that self-indulgence and separatism are not of God but of the world.  We who now live two thousand years from that time should also take seriously the elements of communion.  We should speak boldly the name of Jesus and his redeeming work.  The name of Jesus ought not to be hidden from view.  We often attempt to demonstrate God through love and kindness to others in and out of the church.  That is good but it is no substitute for the name of Jesus.  Do people know we are Jesus-people, or do they know only that we are kind and somewhat different from others.  Let us pray as the early church did, “Lord, stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through your holy servant Jesus.”  (Acts 4:30)  If that is to happen, we must be bold in proclaiming the name of Jesus.  May each of us walk in that boldness today.   

1 Corinthians 11:1-16 Walk in Love, Joy and Peace!

1 Corinthians 11:1-16  Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you.  But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.  Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.  But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved.  For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head.  A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.  For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.  It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels.  Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.  For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman.  But everything comes from God.  Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?  Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory?  For long hair is given to her as a covering.  If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.

Today’s focus has been a very contentious one for the body of Christ, many divisions in the church of the living God originate with these verses.  People and authorities will decide what they want to believe when addressing Paul’s understanding of spiritual matters and the appropriate structure within the body of believers.  As we read these words, we cannot reject Paul’s authority as an apostle and the father of many churches.  But we also must understand God’s authority and his understanding of what He created.  God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent.  Jesus said I am the truth, the way and life itself.  So everything that is and ever will be comes from the mouth of the Lord.  As with all things that have come from the mouth of the Lord, we must bow to his words.  Therefore, how do we place Paul’s words in this focus within the purview of the counsel of God.  We will not attempt to explicate what these scriptures mean in our present time, for we know God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  He is not the oops God, or I made a mistake God.  If a doctor says oops while performing surgery, you know you are in trouble.  But God is not the oops God.  He knew before Adam was born that Adam would need a helpmate; He knew before Adam was created that He made the earth for the habitation of many people made in his image.  God knows the end as well as the beginning, for HE IS THE BEGINNING AND ENDING simultaneously.  The oneness of Adam and Eve was already a consideration before either one came into being.  So we see Eve made out of the same likeness of Adam; the same mechanics, the same structure, and the cooperativeness needed in oneness.  God made Adam and Eve for his purpose, not man’s purpose or a woman’s purpose.  Yes, they are the same, but they function differently, carry different roles in their oneness.  We see women nurturing and supporting the structure of the family; we see the man in his biological strength carry on the duties that require additional strength, such as protection of the family.  Now, we see Paul explaining how that difference should be reflected in the church.  Who should take a leading role and why they should take that role.  Paul acknowledges that Adam was created first, and he is held responsible for things that happen within the body of Christ.  Even though Eve initiated the fall, Adam was held responsible.  God knew the fall would happen, for the fall is part of God’s plan of salvation—making men and women eternal because of the life-giving blood of Jesus Christ.  This was not an oops moment.  From the very beginning, God was in the process of making his creation eternal.  Even creation groans under the consequence of sin, which is death.  For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.  (Romans 8:19-21)  This decay came about by the will of the one who subjected it, God’s will.  God’s will was to make sons and daughters in his household for eternity, and only Jesus’ blood could deliver to God children made in the image of his only begotten son.  Only the redemptive nature of Christ could make men and women eternal.  Jesus states to the critical Pharisees and teachers of the law, there is no need for marriage in heaven, women and men are free from their finite roles on earth, for they will be as the angels.

On earth there are roles that men and women carry in the secular society and in the church.  These are either roles learned or basic to the DNA of the gender.  Different societies, cultures, and ethnic groupings have expectations for each gender.  They are different for reasons that sometimes go beyond their biological uniqueness.  They are learned and sometimes altered because of the environment of their birth.  A more violent and aggressive environment might need stronger roles for each gender.  Maybe from the earliest years boys are given the responsibility of being warriors for the protection of the family or tribe.  Women might have to take on more physical tasks such as gardening or building structures.  Paul is reminding the Corinthians, regardless of roles outside of the church, God has his own structure within his church, subservience to others and to God.  To God first: You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not worship any god other than me.  (Psalm 81:9)  Within the church, Paul iterates the connection that men and women have with each other.  He tells them that regardless of their gender roles, everything comes from God.  He created life and everything that is continuous forever is based on oneness, unity, cooperation, and love.  Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.  For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman.  But everything comes from God.  We see in scriptures, leadership within the family and the culture is assigned to men.  They are accountable for faithfulness to God.  If the society errs in serving God, men are responsible; the kings, governors, presidents are responsible.  The prophets basically met with the authorities of their time and told them what it means to be in unity with God.  In the family, in the church, men are primarily responsible for the spiritual direction of the people.  This responsibility has little to do with cultural norms, the way the people dress, look or act in their subservience to God.  We know God judges the heart.  The scriptures are full of references with equality before God.  We know Deborah led the Israelites for a while as a judge.  We know Esther was the primary figure in rescuing the Jews from being slaughtered In Persia during her time.  A wicked counselor of the Persian king, Haman, had tricked the king in signing an edict to slay the Jews in his kingdom.  God used Esther to foil that evil plan.  He used Rahab, a prostitute to help usher in the Israelites into the Promised Land.  Rahab the prostitute was the great-great-grandmother of King David.  We see Hannah, the mother of Samuel, prophesying in her prayer about the goodness of God.  We see Ruth, the Moabite, who faithfully followed Naomi and became King David’s great-grandmother.  Mary and Elizabeth prophesied about the goodness of God and his intervention into their lives.  Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.  From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.  His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.  (Luke 1:46-47)  After the Holy Spirit was poured out on people, we see women prophesying, fulfilling the prophesy of Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, 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.  (Acts 2:17-18)  Women as well as men have been honored throughout the scriptures.  God does not play favorites, but roles and subservience are necessary for cohesiveness in the church.

Paul is concerned about order within the Corinthians' gatherings in worship.  Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.  But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.  (1 Corinthians 14:39-40)  Chaos within the church is a dangerous and confusing environment.  Paul is subservient to Christ in every part of his life.  He knows an outward show of spirituality has little to do with the heart's condition.  For he is a former Pharisee who showed the people around him his servanthood to God by the way he looked.  He wore phylacteries on his arm and forehead; he dressed in the robe of a Pharisee.  Jesus had a different view of the Pharisees’ righteousness.  “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.  (Matthew 23:27-28)  Paul did not pass on the traditions of the Pharisees.  He passed on the traditions based on God’s nature: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  (Galatians 5:22-23)  There is no law in or out of the church that surpasses the nature of God.  Yes, Paul says, Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.  I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you.  James delineates very clearly how we should treat others in our worship services.  If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,”have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?  (James 2:3-4)  Everyone has different roles in a service, but all are to be treated equally, for all who name the Lord Jesus as their Savior are children of God.  Women also stand in this equality.  God is their master and judge, not men, but they should accept a role of subservience when God requires it of them as well as men.  I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.  Paul is delineating a structure of service.  Christ to God, man to Christ, and woman to man.  But in all of this, equality stands out: Christ is God, man is in the nature of Christ, woman in the nature of the first man.  Together they make up a whole.  The garb they wear, the hair length and their posture or dress is part of societal norms.  Whatever people  do should not distract from the presence of God in their midst.  When Pentecost hit the church, they were ALL filled, not just the males or the appropriate dressed females.  God’s spirit fell upon all of them.  When Cornelius’ Gentile house was hit by the Holy Spirit, they were ALL filled, males and females, servants and household guests.  They were all filled.  God judges the heart, not the outward appearance.  In the Massachusett's community of Deerfield in the 1690’s a young woman became pregnant by a man who was not her husband.  Her husband was a captive of the Indians at that time.  Because of this pregnancy and the condemnation of the Puritans, she murdered her baby.  To get rid of such a sinful stain on their community, the Puritans had her hanged.  The minister in the Puritan church gave a seemingly acceptable sermon of 4 hours, castigating this woman and calling her a whore.  The Puritans in this community all dressed appropriately and acted correctly in church as their customs dictated.   As we juxtapose this scene with Jesus dealing with a woman caught in adultery, her sentence of promiscuity should be death by stoning.  Instead, Jesus, God in the flesh, told her accusers that the person without sin should cast the first stone.  Her accusers slip away one at a time without casting a stone.  As we look at our focus today, which one of us has a stone to cast at the man with long hair or the woman without hair or the appropriate length hair?  Who will cast the first stone?  Sadly churches have been divided over such things, forsaking the admonitions of Jesus to love others as we love ourselves and to serve others as we wish they would serve us.  Each of us should give thought to the way we walk and the way we look at others. 

 

1 Corinthians 10:14-33 Freedom Is Good!

1 Corinthians 10:14-33  Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.  I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.  Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ?  And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?  Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.  Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?  Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?  No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.  You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.  Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy?  Are we stronger than he?  “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial.  “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive.  No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.  Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”  If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience.  But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience.  I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience?  If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?  So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— even as I try to please everyone in every way.  

Paul is telling the Corinthians, who are participants in the body of Christ, that they should do all for the glory of God with a focus of bringing the Good News to others.  He is asking them not to seek their own good in life but the good of many, so the people around them might be saved.  Paul’s life demonstrated that he was a faithful disciple.  He dedicated his life completely to God’s will.  As Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.  (Matthew 16:24-25)  As did Moses, he had crossed the Red Sea, escaping from slavery to the world.  Now he was leading many people through the desert of life to the Promised Land.  As a dedicated servant of the living God, he reached out to the Gentile world, preaching the Good News of salvation to them.  In doing so, he experienced many hardships and constant threats of death.  However, he ignored his own well-being and became a slave to all people so that they might be restored to their Creator.  Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.  (1 Corinthians 9:19)  Now we see him advising the stronger Christians in Corinth to govern their behavior of freedom IN CHRIST for the benefit of the weaker brethren.  Even though free from sin and the expectations of others, they should consider other people in the way they live.  Weaker Christians in the faith might stumble by their freedom, such as eating food given to idols.  These weaker Christians might be having a difficult time disentangling their lives from their old ways of idol worshipping.  The freedom of the more mature Christians might cause others to once again believe in these no-gods as gods and that they should be worshipped.  Also the people outside of the church might consider those in the church who eat food given to idols as hypocrites and their story of only one God to serve as a lie.  Paul understands that true salvation sets people free from the bondage of sin, but he is also exhorting them to use the freedom God has given them wisely and with constraints.   I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial.  “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive.  The Corinthian Christians should live their lives for the benefit of others.  If eating food given to idols hurts the conscience of someone else, they should forgo eating anything that is given to idols.  The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”  If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience.  But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience.  I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours.  Paul encourages the Corinthians to consider others before they think of what they can do or not do.  Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— even as I try to please everyone in every way.

Freedom is a necessary awareness in a Christian’s life.  This step of knowing who we are IN CHRIST separates us from a cultish life.  Cults demand people to follow prescribed rules, and any step outside of these rigid rules is condemned.  But Jesus did not come to us to establish rules in our lives and to condemn us.  He came to us to restore us to the grace and mercy of God.  The Corinthians were free from the bondage of sin.  Now they had to figure out how to live circumspectly for the benefit of others who examine their new-born lives.  If they use this freedom unwisely, they can interfere with other people’s dedication to God.  The Pharisees had problems with Jesus because He sat down with the sinners of the world.  They condemned Jesus for such inappropriate activity.  Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.  But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”  Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.   I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  (Luke 5: 29-32)  Jesus had freedom.  He was despised by the cultish Pharisees.  Cultish?  Yes, because their hearts were not right with God.  They were living a life to please their fellow man, maybe other cultish people, but not a life for God, one of mercy and grace.  In the Corinthian church, Paul wants the Christians to consider others before themselves, for others might need a doctor.  If they are weak in faith, they should strengthen their faith by following God’s love for others, to daily sacrifice their lives for the sake of Christ.  However, if a Christian or so-called Christian is living in open sin within the community of believers, boasting about his or her own freedom IN CHRIST, but under the control of a sinful lifestyle, he or she ought to be ostracized.  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.  (1 Corinthians 5:9-11)  A Christian who claims to be a brother or sister IN CHRIST but continues to eat and drink at the table of the demons openly has to be excluded for he or she brings disgrace on the body of Christ.  When Jesus became serious about how to serve God by eating and drinking of him, many of his disciples left him for they were following him for selfish reasons.  Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.   For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.   (John 6:53-56)  These fleshly disruptive people in the Corinthian church are not weaker brethren, but they are those who do not desire to eat and drink of only Christ in their lives.  They want the benefits of the church without a total commitment to Christ in their lifestyle.  They are not free IN THE LORD but bound by Satan in sin.

When in the world among secular people, we may associate with them freely, eat and drink with them freely.  If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience.  However, if our freedom to eat or drink anything when we bless it with prayer offends a weaker brethren, we should put a stop to our activity.  We should live circumspectly not about our conscience but about the conscience of others.  We are to be considerate of them in our activity.  Our lives are not our own, for we have been bought by a high price, the blood of Jesus Christ.  For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)  When we live for Christ, we will seek to do his will.  Our lives will be as a laser beam, straight and powerful.  When we live for Christ totally, we become a light to the world and an enhancement in their lives as salt is to food.  But if we live unto ourselves, we bring darkness to people and not light.  Paul is encouraging the Christian church to bring light to the world and to help everyone live in the freedom of a new born life.  But if they struggle with their former idol worshipping tendencies, then the stronger Christian brethren in the Corinthian church should adjust their lives so the weaker brethren can live successful lives for Christ.  Paul is not saying the weaker brethren’s vision of life should be the same as ours who are strong in the freedom Christ.  No, he is telling the mature Christians to be kind and considerate of those who struggle in this wilderness of life.  The weaker brethren are still functioning under the cultish belief of works as a way to salvation.  So, almost anything can be a stumbling block to them.  Sadly, not relying completely on the fact that salvation is Christ’s work, not their work; it is Christ's righteousness they live within, not their own righteousness.  But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.  (Titus 3:4-7)  Our eternal life rests in God, not in our efforts.  Yes, freedom is good, but we must not use it in such a way that it abuses others, hampering their faith in the salvation message.  We eat of Christ; He is the bread of life; his blood bought our redemption.  The work is finished.  Let us know Christ as the two gentlemen discovered on the road to Emmaus.  When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.  They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”  (Luke 24:30-32)  When Christ broke the bread, their eyes were opened.  Paul reminds the Christians of Corinth of their lives IN CHRIST.  Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ?  And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?  Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.  He tells the Christians in Corinth, live in freedom but also in peace for they are one IN CHRIST, THE BREAD OF LIFE.  May we all consider the body of Christ today.  

   

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Do not Grumble!

1 Corinthians 10:1-13  For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.  They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.  They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.  Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.  Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.  Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”  We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.  We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes.  And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.  These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.  So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!  No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Under God’s command and direction Moses was called to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt, the kingdom of evil.  The children of Israel had been living in Egypt a long time.   Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years.  At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt.  Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.  (Exodus 32:40-42)  After so long, they were acclimated to the Egyptians' way of living.  They even honored the gods of Egypt.  As they left Egypt under the command of Pharaoh because the Egyptians’ firstborn had been murdered by the angel in the night, they carried in their hearts Egypt, depicted by the idols they carried in their satchels.  The Israelites left Egypt, but Egypt was with them all the way through the wilderness.  After three days in the wilderness, they grumbled, justifiably so because of the lack of water, but after a month and a half, they were very dissatisfied with being in the wilderness.  They wished they had stayed in Egypt and died there, adding more years to their captivity.  The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.  In the desert 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)  Sometimes because of their dissaistfaction with their lives in the wilderness, they even threatened Moses and Aron with death by stoning.  For most of them, their deliverance was Moses’ vision, not theirs.  Egypt had been their lives for centuries and even though they were under the cruel yoke of slavery, it was better to be Egyptians than dead in the wilderness.  They had experienced the deliverance of their physical bodies from slavery by the hand of God through his emissary Moses, but the God of the heart was far from them.  They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.  They were baptized in Moses’ vision for them.  They had seen the glory of God in the plagues that the Egyptians’ experienced.  They saw the Red Sea open up for them, so they could cross through it on dry ground.  They saw the cloud of God’s glory protect them from Pharaoh’s army by settling between them and Pharaoh’s pursuing army.  They experienced this same cloud of God’s glory leading them through the wilderness, yet their hearts were full of unbelief, turning to their idols, even claiming that these no-gods delivered them from Pharaoh’s hands.  The hearts of the Israelites, God’s chosen, had not been changed, only delivered.  Paul says, I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.  They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.  They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.  Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.  Even though they had experienced God’s mighty hand in their lives, they disappointed God by serving idols and living like the Egyptians.  As Paul describes in Romans 1:29 about the world and its nature: filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.  We see an example of this kind of nature in Egypt, Moses saw two Hebrews fighting.  He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”  (Exodus 2:13)  This fierceness toward a fellow Hebrew emulated the Egyptians fierceness over the Israelites, receiving beatings from their masters.  Moses knew the Israelites were a contaminated people, but God told him to take them out of Egypt, regardless of their hearts’ condition.  They had experienced God’s mighty presence, but their hearts remained impatient and rebellious to the God of creation.

We see in the above focus Paul telling the Corinthians, do not let your hearts stay in Egypt after you are delivered from the captivity of sin.  Let the Holy Spirit transform your hearts to a new beginning in God.  Yes, you are in this wilderness of life; the hot breath of the wilderness is felt everyday in your lives.  But you are a new creature; do not go back into thinking and acting as the world.  Instead, enjoy your freedom in God.  God has provided a new covenant with his people.  As Jeremiah prophesied, This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.  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.”  (Hebrews 8:10-12)  The Israelites were delivered from Egypt without changed hearts.  Because of that they lived in rebellion all of their existence, both in the wilderness and in the Promised Land.  Sometimes they were obedient to the commands, laws, and decrees that God set before them, but most of the time, we see them living in idol worshipping, rivalry, and disobedience.  The ten tribes who broke off from Judah after Solomon died were carried off first by the Assyrians because of their many sins.  Later, the kingdom of Judah felt the hand of God’s judgment, placing them in the hands of the Babylonian king as slaves in a foreign country.  God removed the Hebrews from their Promised Land because of their incessant wickedness and rebellion to God’s laws.  The Israelites would not stop worshipping Idols; they were rabid in their serving of these no-gods of the pagans around them.  We see this In the days of King Josiah who rules at the end of the Jews' habitation in the Promised Land.  In his day after many centuries of the Israelites living in the land given by God to them, we see the Israelites' unwillingness to obey God's rules, commandments, and decrees that He gave Moses on Mount Sinai.  In Josiah’s time, there is ample evidence of the Israelites’ rebellion to Jehovah who delivered them out of Egypt.  King Josiah was a good king who ruled to honor Jehovah, the God of the Israelites.  In his rule he attempted to cleanse the land of devil worship, idol worship, and cultish behavior.  He removed from the Temple of God articles that the Israelites used to worship Baal, Asherah, the sun and the moon.  He tore down the living quarters of the shrine prostitutes in the Temple.  Throughout Judah he defiled the many pagan shrines where the Hebrews worshipped these no-gods.  He destroyed the shrines that the governor had set up in his courtyard.  He destroyed the altars where the Israelites sacrificed their babies.  He removed from the entrance of the Temple horse statues to honor the sun god.  He also burned the chariots that accompanied these statues.  He tore down the idols that were on the roof of the palace.  He destroyed the altars to these no-gods that were in the two courtyards of the Temple.  He destroyed King Solomon’s shrines that he built for the gods of Ashtoreth, Chemosh and Molech.  He destroyed the golden calf in Bethel.  Josiah tore down the shrines in Bethel and Samaria; he executed the priests of these no-gods.  He got rid of the mediums, psychics, and household gods.  By all these actions, King Josiah tried to cleanse the land of the Jews, but because their hearts had not been transformed, they would return to worshipping these gods of the devils.  A few years after Josiah died, the last of the Hebrews except for the very poor would be carried off by the Babylonians, God’s judgment to a rebellious people.

In today’s focus, we see Paul warning the Corinthians about straying back to their old living standard.  He is telling them that the Israelites who experienced God’s great presence and interaction with them, did not come under God’s authority in their hearts.  They lived the lives of the Egyptians most of their existence.  With stony hearts they rejected the God who chose them amongst all the people on earth.  They would not listen to their God who treated them tenderly.  Hear me, my people, and I will warn you—if you would only listen to me, Israel!  You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not worship any god other than me.  I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt.  Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.  “But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me.  So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.  (Psalm 81:8-12)  The old covenant could not change the hearts of the Israelites.  They were so unwilling to follow God that they would not even listen to him.  Paul ran into this situation in Italy as he was telling the Jews of the Good News of God’s redemption plan for them, many of the Jews rejected what Paul was telling them about God’s salvation.  “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet: “‘Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.  ”For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’  “Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!”  (Acts 28:25-28)  Now we see in our focus for today, Paul talking to the Corinthians, a Gentile people.  People with open ears.  Paul is warning them that God’s chosen would not keep their ears open to the ways of the Lord, their God.  And because of that, they fell away living in idol worship and in the decay of the world.  But we know, God has presented these Corinthians with a new work, done under a new covenant, a covenant that changes hearts, not just the way people live or present themselves.  No longer are people to worship the way they live, how they look or their customs.  Cultish people live by looks and presentation so people can readily identify them as belonging to a group.  Jesus castigated the  Pharisees because this was their intention before the people.  You knew a Pharisee by how they looked and presented themselves.  “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee!  First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.  (Matthew 23:25-26)  We who are alive IN CHRIST have a new cup, one that has been cleansed.  Jesus said it is a born again life.  We are not under the old cloud that covered the Israelites; we have the presence of the Spirit inside of us.  He only occupies a clean cup.  Paul is telling the carnal Christian be careful how you walk: present the new cup, not the old crusty cup of the old fleshly man or woman.  Live a life dependent on God’s strength and not your own.  For if you do, you will not fall into the ways of the old man or woman; that man or woman is dead because of Christ’s redeeming work.  Consider the old flesh as dead.  Under God’s transforming life, when you are tempted, know he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.  Not your way, but God’s way.  His eternal work is already IN YOU, the cross has paid for every temptation that you will run across.  It is not your work, but it is his work that is efficacious.  So trust in the cross; it has already paid your way to eternal life.  Blessed be the name of the Lord! 

            

  

      

 

O

 

1 Corinthians 9:19-27 Get a Crown that Lasts!

1 Corinthians 9:19-27  Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.  To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews.  To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.  To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.  To the weak I became weak, to win the weak.  I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.  I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.  Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.  No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.        

In the above focus, Paul expresses how he runs the race of his new life IN CHRIST.  Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  What prize is Paul seeking?  He is seeking eternal peace with God, to hear God say to him, “Enter into my rest my good and faithful servant."  Paul is not running the course of his one and only life to hear the praises of men, to receive their accolades, their honor, their gifts.  He is competing hard for the praises of God.  I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.  No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.  He understands that his faith IN CHRIST and in the works of Christ transformed him into a new creature, a born-again life.  He is no longer in the old man’s skin; he is now covered with the skin of new life.  Even though he is in the fleshly body of a man, Paul desires all people to know that he is living a life that emanates from God, a God of love.  He no longer follows the dictates of the law, attempting to be pleasing to God through works of his own.  No, HE IS FREE; his freedom originates in Christ Jesus and his work on the cross.  His good works could never win favor with a righteous and holy God.  Everlasting life with God demands complete holiness; not a residue of sin anywhere can be found in eternity.  Yes, free in Christ, at home with God himself is Paul’s inheritance.  The law that once bound him to the treadmill of good works has been abandoned in Paul’s life.  His futile attempt to please a righteous and holy God through his works has been put aside by him.  He now with great confidence can say, there is now no condemnation for those who are IN CHRIST JESUS, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.  And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  (Romans 8:1-4)  If Paul does not live by the engine of the law, then what power propels his life to be at peace with God?  What power source does he activate to please the Creator?  What is the template of his life?  The love of God for his creation is his source of power, love that has no restraints.  We see the Pharisees bound by good works criticizing Jesus for celebrating with a mixed crowd of sinners at Matthew’s house.  While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’  For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  (Matthew 9:10-13)  For the righteous Pharisees, Jesus was interacting with the scum of the world, the losers within the society of men.  They possessed no love for this kind of people.  Why hang with them, why laugh and smile in their company?  Why enjoy a glass of wine with them?  Jesus, don’t you realize who they are?  James designated this kind of lack of love as sin.  No matter how well you keep the law and its regulations, yet contain favoritism for some over others, you are the worst kind of sinner.  As far as God's evaluation of you, you might as well have broken every law that God has ever commanded.  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)  These supposedly righteous observers and critics of Jesus were under God’s heavy hand of judgment.  

In the above focus for today, we see Paul determined to care for all kinds of people.  He wishes for them to find Christ, to discover God by faith in Jesus Christ.  I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.  Paul, the former law-bound Pharisee, was now a man possessed by the love of God for all people.  To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews.  To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.  To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak.  I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.  In some sense, he was a chameleon, willing to alter his beliefs and behaviors to please others so that he might be successful in winning others to Christ.   I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.  We also see this kind of behavior in Christ.  He ministers to many kinds of people.  Because of this, the Pharisees were critical of his lifestyle. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’  But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”  (Matthew 11:19)  But the results prove the wisdom of his choice of lifestyle: Jesus met with all kinds of people.  He healed many, fed many, taught many; large crowds followed him everywhere.  If He would have been selective in his associations, He would not have had such a huge impact on the Jewish society and today in the world.  Jesus and Paul were motivated by God’s love for people and they were fulfilling the law of Moses completely.  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  (Matthew 22:37-40)  Paul went to the weak in faith and in body.  He brought them strength, encouragement, and healing.  The works of his new life IN CHRIST followed him everywhere, even in jail.  In Philippi, after an earthquake, the prisoners’ chains fell off of them, setting them free to escape, but Paul encouraged them not to run away, but to stay where they were.  The jailer feared that his prisoners had escaped.  The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.  He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”  (Acts 16:29-31)  We see the jailer and his household saved because Paul and Silas were in the jail, identified with the weak, the no-accounts of society.  God had placed him in that jail so that he could save some, the jailer and his household for sure, but maybe some of the prisoners were saved who experienced the whole scene.  These prisoners heard the simple message of redemption.  As Jesus said,  Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.  (John 5:24)  We might even assume that some of those prisoners who were eventually freed from jail because of their sentences being up, walked out of that jail possessing a new life IN CHRIST.  Paul understood the power of God; he knew the work of the Holy Spirit in restoring people to be right with God, so his message to all people was Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.

On the day of judgment, Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats.  The sheep are the redeemed who lived a life as Paul lived, one of service to God.  The sheep lived a life under the banner of God’s love for ALL PEOPLE.  Jesus Christ, the eternal shepherd, will separate the sheep from the goats.  He knows his sheep, they are part of his fold.  He places the goats in one place and his own sheep in another place.  Because Jesus is blessed by God, so are his followers, come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.   For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’  (Matthew 25:34-36)  Because Jesus is blessed by God, his fold is blessed by God, for God loves his Son.  The sheep follow their shepherd; they know his voice.  He has them lie down in green pastures, in his security, and He refreshes them with the water of eternal life.  The sheep do not always have an easy life as Paul discovered.  Sometimes we would not define our lives as lying in green pastures or by cool waters.  But God defines our lives, not us.  Paul did everything to benefit others in his life; he became a slave to all people for their benefit and for God’s glory.  Jesus revealed clearly the kind of life he desired for his followers.  He wrapped a towel around his waist and proceeded to wash his disciples' feet.  He was illustrating that He was the servant to all people.  Peter protested and said he would not allow his master to wash his feet.   Then Jesus said to him, if I do not serve you by washing your feet, you have no part in me and subsequently no part in my my commission for you to go into the world serving others.  Friends around this breakfast table, the message of serving is for you as it was for Paul, Peter, and the disciples.  You must serve all, not determining who is worth serving and who is not worth serving.  In the Old Testament we see three women who probably would not have been worth serving when considering their background, their ethnicity; two were even under God’s judgement such as Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute.  God had told the Israelites to kill all Canaanites.  However because of her faith in the God of creation, as with the Greek Philippi jailer, Rahab's whole family was delivered from destruction.  She became an ancestor of Jesus.  Then there is Bathsheba a Hittite woman.  God ordered the destruction of the Hittites, for they were residents of Canaan, but Bathsheba, the Hittite, who David took illegally for himself, stealing her from her husband became the mother of King Solomon.  Finally, a Moabite woman, not part of God’s chosen people is selected by God to be the great-grandmother of David, whose kingdom will reign forever through Jesus Christ.  These three women are not God’s chosen Israelites, but they are part of God’s kingdom as the redeemed.  As Paul ran hard to get a crown that will last forever, friends let us run as Paul ran.  Let us be with the weak, the hurting, the tired, the weary of life.  They need us to be where they are, for we have the bread of life and the refreshing water from the eternal well of life: Christ Jesus!  Share what God has given you today and He will increase your supply.