1 Corinthians 15: 33-58 Come from the Four Winds!

1 Corinthians 15: 33-58  But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised?  With what kind of body will they come?”  How foolish!  What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.  When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.  But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.  Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another.  There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.  The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.  So will it be with the resurrection of the dead.  The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.  If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.   So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.  The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.  As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.  And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.  I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.  Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.  For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.  When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”  “Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?”  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you.  Always give yourselves fully to the of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Paul in the above focus is explaining to the Corinthian Christians that the passage to eternal life comes through the planting of the perishable seed. The perishable seed is the death of the body.  Christians lie in death with the hope of Christ to change them from the perishableness of Adam to the imperishableness of Jesus Christ.  The life-spirit of Adam will cease, but the LIFE-GIVING Spirit of Jesus Christ will exist forever.  No more death for those who are found IN Jesus.  Death has been swallowed up in victory.  Death is a necessary step in this transformation from the physical life to the spiritual life.  The Spirit of God raised Jesus from the grave and we too will rise from the grave, following Jesus, the first-born from death to life.  Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?  When God created, all things were created after their own kind.  “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.  And God saw that it was good.  (Genesis 1:11-12)  Everything came from the breath of God.  Humans were created in a uniqueness of their own.  When the breath of life entered Adam, he became exalted to the point that he could converse with the Lord directly.  His life existed uncontaminated by sin.  But in the fall of man, Adam lost his innocence and purity.  Sin became a part of Adam’s existence.  Cain, his seed, murdered Abel in a fit of jealousy.  This contamination by sin seeped down through Adam’s descendants.  Therefore a new and different life would be needed to restore mankind to God.  A new creation to start a new Salvation would be created by faith in the works of Jesus (the new son of man).  Jesus’s life reveals that faith in him and the work of the cross will restore humans to a righteous God.  The darkness of sin would be done away with through the cross of Jesus.  This darkness of sin in mankind causes death.  However, Jesus paid the ransom price to deliver men and women from its darkness of death.  Jesus paid the ransom price demanded by God to free people from death to everlasting life.  On the cross Jesus paid the purification price for sin; then he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.  (Hebrews 1:3)  Jesus cried out on the cross, it is finished, the will of God has been satisfied.  When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.  (John 19:30)  The will of God because of his great love for humans had Jesus face death under the most humbling and torturous way.  Jesus paid a heavy price to ransom mankind from death, but he said in the Garden of Gethsemane, Not my will but yours be done Father.  The enduring love of God for men and women never left the heart of God.  Even when his precious Children of Israel chose other gods in the wilderness, He loved them.  Yes, He disciplined them, but out of his great love for them.  A parent disciplines their children out of love, so did God.

Paul points out to the Corinthians, God gives all things a living body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. Mankind came from the seed of Adam, different from all others that God made.  No other flesh was the same as Adam’s.  Adam’s creation was considered very good by God.  Even though Adam sinned, God wanted what He created to live in peace and under his authority.  God sent  many messengers to Adam’s descendants to lead men and women away from sin.  Jeremiah, a prophet, hears God’s involvement in his own creation.  The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart;  I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”  (Jeremiah 1:4-5)  As we see in Jeremiah’s beginning, God is involved with the creation of humans, even before they are in the womb.  For Jeremiah and other men of God, He sends them on a rescue message to his beloved, the Jews.  In the New Testament, we see Paul beseeching both Gentiles and Jews to come back to God by accepting the Good News of Jesus paying for their sins.  The prophets in the Old Testament were crying out incessantly, come back to God.  Paul is preaching the same in the New Testament.  But the rebellion of men and women to the authority of God in their lives is very strong. As the blessed Israelites, people choose not to love God or obey him.  But this rebellious nature to God’s love and his authority led to eternal death.  God reveals to Ezekiel a valley of dead bones, piled high everywhere in this valley.  God takes him around the valley to look at this horrible scene of dead men and women, now their bones are so dry that they are without flesh.  In our world, every landscape is full of dead bones.  People walk over these dead bones in every country without realizing they are underneath them.  But God knows where they are, not one of them has passed from the living without God knowing.  Just as Jeremiah was known before he was formed, also the dead are known by God when they pass from the scene of the living.  God asked Ezekiel to speak over these bones of forgotten people.  Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!  This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.  (Ezekiel 37:4-5)  God will someday speak over these dead bones with a trumpet call and they will arise to life.  And a nation will be born in one day.  Some to eternal life with God and others to eternal destruction.  But in every land and at all times there were good people as Cornelius who tried to do good to all people.  At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment.  He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.  (Acts 10:1-2)  Cornelius lived up to the light given him, but Peter showed him eternal life that comes through faith in Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit verified their acceptance of this Good News, and all in Cornelius’ house were baptized in the Holy Spirit.  God is just and He will do what is necessary for those who live a good life like Cornelius’.  However, the gate to eternal life is Jesus, let God be God; He saves to the uttermost.  The bones Ezekiel saw reveal so clearly that man is made of dust.  The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.  As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.  And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.  All men everywhere must put off the man of dust and put on the spiritual man which comes only through the body and image of Jesus Christ on the cross.

The Holy Spirit is illustrated in the scriptures through the image of the wind.  On Pentecost Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent WIND came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  This Holy Spirit revives men from the dead, raises them to new life from the grave.   Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’”  So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.  (Ezekiel 37:9-10)  Paul tells his beloved Corinthians that this same hope that is found in Ezekiel will be their experience after death. Their dead bones will rise again to new life.    Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.  For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.   We all will be changed in a twinkling of an eye.  We will rise new-beings and the angels of the Lord will gather the elect to the side of the Lord.  And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.  (Matthew 24:31)  Our breakfast companions who gather around this breakfast table in anticipation of that great day, be joyful for your names are written down in the book of life.  God knows each of you, not one of you escapes his attention.  He formed you in the wombs of your mothers.  He knows your intentions and He knows your love for him.  He is a just and a loving God; He will come to your aid when you call him for He knows your beginning from the end.  There are vicissitudes in life, hardships and struggles; He understands your frustrations for He was in the flesh as you are in the flesh.  However, we need not stand and gawk in heaven for his return for He WILL RETURN!  The angel said at Jesus’ ascension, “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky?  This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”  (Acts 1:11)  HE WILL RETURN!  In the meantime, exercise the power of God in your life.  Testify of your redemption, let all the captives of sin know that their release from their burdens of sin will come through power of God by believing in the redeemer, Jesus Christ.  Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you!  As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”  And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  (John 20:21)  Children of the Lord, having received the Spirit, go forth through the power of God in your life.  Testify with all the saints of God that Jesus is your Redeemer!  

1 Corinthians 15:12-33 Don't Sneer at Miracles!

1 Corinthians 15:12-33  But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead.  But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.  If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.  But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.  But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.  Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.  For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.  For he “has put everything under his feet.”  Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ.  When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.  Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead?  If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord.  If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained?  If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. ”Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.  ”Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

 

In the above focus, Paul addresses that some people in the church of Corinth hold the idea that there is no resurrection of the dead.  He asserts that if Christ is not raised from the dead, their faith in Jesus Christ and his salvation work on the cross is dead. If there is no resurrection of believers from the grave, their faith in Christ is useless.  For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.  In Paul’s view, this mistaken idea of no resurrection propagated by some in the Greek church of Corinth destroys the Good News.  If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.  The Good News' essential tenant is that Christ's work on the cross and his subsequent resurrection is THE WAY to eternal life with God.  Jesus Christ's resurrection reveals clearly that there is a new and eternal life awaiting those whose faith rests in Jesus’ work on the cross. If what these Greek Christians believed was actually true, then Christians are of all people most to be pitied.  Of course only a small contingent of the Greek church held this proposition that there is no resurrection.  This idea of no resurrection emanated from the Greek culture.  A prevalent view of many Greeks at that time is that death brings the dead’s spirits under the control of a Greek God, Hades. Hades is a place where the shades of the dead live, a place not very well defined in the Greek culture.  The living are to keep the memory of these shades alive by placing food and gifts on their graves.  In some ways, the memory of them keeps them in existence.  This Greek idea of the afterlife seeped into the Corinth church.  Of course, probably only a few of the Gentile members in the Corinth church held this aberration to the Good News.  Paul asserts such an idea attacks the basic foundation of Christianity.  Some maybe thought a resurrection of these wandering shades might come to fruition if the living created a baptism for them.  Maybe then they would escape the control of Hades, rescuing them by this substitutionary baptism.  If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?   But Paul is very clear about who is in control of all things, the living and the dead.  Christ has put everything under God's feet.   Not under any Greek God or any other spirit.  Eternal life is accessible to all people, even the worst of sinners or the most wayward soul who has ever lived.  Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.  But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.  (1 Timothy 1:15-16)  Because of God’s great patience, the dead who are found in Jesus will be raised to new life.  They are the born-again people who have been prepared by God through the work of the cross to receive eternal life with him.  THE DEAD WILL BE RAISED FOR SURE!

Paul’s life was  literally sacrificed, placed on the altar to do God’s will: to spread the Good News to the whole world.  If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained?  If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.  Why should he face the hardships of a Christian missionary if the dead are not raised.  Why should he face stoning, beatings with rods and whips, and the dangers of persecution by the hands of the Gentiles and the Jews if there is no hope of eternal life.  Why should he not live as others: eat, drink, and be merry.   If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.  However, Paul’s hope in the resurrection and in the new life God had given him was so strong that he would not stop spreading the Good News in every community he visited.  He believed life itself rested in Jesus.  Jesus alone was the mystery of God and in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  Paul’s transformational experience on the road to Damascus had changed his view of Jesus Christ.  Jesus was no longer just a man to him; he was God and all power rested in him.  So Paul went from Gentile city to Gentile city in Asia and Europe, preaching the Good News.  He discovers in Corinth that some were preaching that there is no resurrection, holding ideas about death that spawned from their culture.  Paul knew this leaven would destroy the church of the living God.  This idea of no resurrection clearly reveals their rebellious nature to God’s control over their lives.  Rather than God’s plan for righteousness and perfection, they were promoting an alternate path to God and to the kingdom of heaven.  Such an idea was so wrong, so destructive to the church that Paul was weeding out this tare.  Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.  The carnal flesh will never know God; Paul is telling these people who hold onto this carnal view of the afterlife to come to their senses.  This is not what Christ taught.  He told his disciples that He would die and be raised to life after three days.  When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.  (Matthew 17:22-23)  If Jesus Christ believed in the resurrection, then why are these supposed Christians preaching an alternate way to God?  Jesus knew the born-again life would never die.  When the new life begins in Jesus Christ through faith in his works, it does not linger in death, but has the life of Christ through the works of the Holy Spirit embedded in their new life.  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.  The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.  Do you believe this?”  (John 11:25-26)  The resurrection is Christ himself; a perpetuation of life comes through the resurrection.  In death, time stops, but God never stops; his life is evident in death, for He is always present with people, in death or life.  What Jesus said is true, even though they die, whoever believes in me will never die.  The Greeks sneered at this idea that there will be a physical resurrection; they could not believe such a thing was possible, but Jesus spent some time with those who loved him after his resurrection.  He wanted them to touch him, to look at his scars on his hands and feet, to place their hands in his pierced side.  He asked them to feed him fish, just as He ate before his death.  Jesus wanted his beloved to understand that the resurrection was real and that He was the first fruit of this resurrection and that they too will follow this journey, from death to eternal life.  The Greeks who were embedded in serving mystical gods and spirits could not conceive of such a thing as resurrection.  Paul in Athens talked to them about their shrine to the unknown god, telling them that this unknown god is the real God, not made by precious metals or jewels to worship.  God was the God of eternal life, the God of the resurrection, and the God who will eventually judge all people’s lives.  “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.  In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.  He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”  When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered.  (Acts 17:29-32)  In their philosophical pride, they sneered at such talk as the resurrection.

What they could not accept or believe is that there is but one God, the Creator of everything that is, in heaven and on the earth.  For them there were many gods who controlled the existence of mankind.  The nature of these gods were closely alined to the flesh; they had the attributes of mankind: anger, bitterness, envy, biases, affections, hatred, carelessness, and other, good and bad traits.  But Paul was preaching the one God who controls all of life and to know this God, one must be born-again in the name of Jesus CHRIST.  The God he introduced to the Greeks was holy, righteous, full of love, mercy, and grace for all people everywhere.  His God was kind and patient toward all people.  He wanted to be their everlasting Father in his eternal family.  Paul’s  God would even forgive the sneering Greeks and the rebellious Jews.  God came to the world through the person of Jesus Christ.  He came to a sick and dying world through Jesus Christ.  He came to humans.  All of them needed restoration to their Creator; they needed a doctor who could heal their souls.  Jesus ministers to the outcast, the lonely, the poor, the rebellious, the tax collectors and in essence for a sick humanity.  God wants ALL people to be saved and to COME to a knowledge of the truth.  For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.  (1 Timothy 2:3-6)  Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane before his crucifixion prayed, “Your will be done Father, not my will.  I will pay the ransom price for the sins of ALL MANKIND.  Whosever believes IN ME AND MY WORKS WILL BE SAVED."  Paul preached this message of Christ with unmatched fervor.  He was willing to give his life to God, whether in death or life. So from his lips, the Jews and Gentiles alike heard the Good News.  For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.  Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  (1 Corinthians 1:21-24)  The Greeks felt they were too sophisticated to believe Paul’s ministry about the resurrection.  What did Paul know compared to their many gods, for them Paul was a mere man propagating something absurd.  But Jesus' resurrection was real;  Paul found that to be true on the road to Damascus when Jesus stopped him in his tracks, causing him to go blind.  He had seen the light of the RESURRECTED ONE.  No one could convince him after that experience that Jesus was not resurrected.  Friends around this breakfast table, we know that most of you believe strongly in the resurrected life.  You wear the garments of the new-born, and you will never die, for Jesus the One you trust is the resurrection.  Hold fast to that hope, let the light of Christ shine through your life.  Let the love of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God be your testimony in everything you say or do, for HE IS RISEN, INDEED.  HE IS RISEN IN YOU!  Love, Dad and Mom   

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Believe with Your Heart!

1 Corinthians 15:1-11  Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.  By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.  Otherwise, you have believed in vain.  For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.  After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.  For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.  No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.  Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.  

In the above focus we see Paul's purpose in life: to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to all people everywhere. He lived to announce the Good News that Christ died for people's sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.  All who hear and act on this Good News will be saved.  If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.   For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.  (Romans 10:9-10)  No longer would people have to discover God and his ways through religious practice or human effort.  Paul claims, the Good News is in your mouth and in your heart; by faith you will know God.  Faith is a heartfelt understanding that Jesus is THE WAY to God and that there is no other way to please God or be right with him.  Salvation through Jesus is a very simple and easy passage.  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. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.  For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.  And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.  (John 5:24-27)  Since the fall of mankind through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, men and women have been dead to God, buried in sin.  The journey of men without the presence of God in their lives quickly degenerated into death.  Cain KILLED Abel because of  jealousy, for God was pleased with Abel’s gift to Him and not Cain’s gift.  Abel offered the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions to God.  Cain offered to God as a gift to him part of his crop.  Abel offered what he considered the best of his flock to God, the strongest and best DNA of his flock.  Because of offering his best, he is telling God that he is dependent on God to improve his livelihood, not in the natural way to upgrade by breeding the best to the best.  Abel is functioning on faith; God must do the work to bless him.  Cain offered part of his crop, not a bad offering, but not one based on God furthering his existence in abundance.  He gave God part of his crop; he could exist well without God’s blessings.  As we see in the story of Cain and Abel, quickly, violence and death shrouded man’s existence.   Later, we see God repenting of making humans.  God’s covenant with Adam was shattered: his covenants, not only have blessings but curses too.  God completed his word to Adam by bringing destruction on mankind because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience.  Rebellion always brings destruction.  He sweeps the earth clean of humans by a great flood, but as usual God saves a remnant of his creation: Noah AND his family.  Are they good, exceptional?  No, sin is abundant even in Noah’s family.  The cohesiveness of Noah’s family breaks down because of sin.  Corruption and death are the products of rebellion to God’s way of peace and life.  Nevertheless, God’s eternal grace and love always supersede man’s disobedience to him.  While the world is engulfed by sin, Jesus died on the cross for people.  We see this same kind of grace when Moses is receiving the law from God’s hands.  While God is instructing Moses about the law on Mt Sinai, the Israelites are in full-blown rebellion, worshipping other gods and  their sinful practices.  But God possesses enduring love for his people, his creation.  Paul is preaching this eternal love of God.  The Good News is that the Lord Jesus will rescue men and women from their sinfulness, finiteness, and that eternal life in the kingdom of God will be their inheritance through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Paul is claiming his right to instruct the Corinthians in the ways of God, for he holds the position of an apostle in the church of the living God.  The Temple of God is Jesus Christ and within the body of Jesus there are believers who hold special positions in his body and one is apostleship. Along with special positions are spiritual gifts that are activated by the Holy Spirit.   Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.  And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.  (1 Corinthians 12:27-28)  These positions and gifts are to strengthen and edify the church.  Paul knows he is an apostle because God called him on the road to Damascus directly to be the father of many churches.  By the grace of God, Paul realized,  I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.  No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.  We see in the depiction of Paul’s life an example of God’s eternal love for mankind.  Paul, a chief enemy of God’s redemption plan through Jesus Christ, was rescued from eternal punishment.  Paul’s primary intention in life was to destroy the church of the living God by persecuting the Christian believers and by supporting the killing of God’s redeemed.  Even while in full-blown rebellion to God’s purpose on earth, God called him; God’s grace superseded his rebellious nature, bringing salvation to a person who did not deserve God’s love and care for him.  Of course, all through history, God’s love has been manifested to the world.  Only three days afterThere the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test.  He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”  (Exodus 15:25-26)  The God of their rescue from Egypt told them, I am the Lord who heals you.  If you trust in me and rely on my works and directions for your existence, I will always be by your side.  But men and women have a tendency to grumble, to be discontented with their lives.  Paul is reminding the Corinthians that if they continue in the faith He has taught them, their salvation will be firm, but, if not, you have believed in vain.  Marah times will happen in our lives, but we must be consistent in our lives and fall back on the knowledge that I am the Lord, who heals you.  We do not heal ourselves, God heals us.

The salvation message comes through the Seed that God planted in the human race a long time ago when Abraham chose to believe God’s words other than his circumstances.  At that time we saw God protecting his seed through the generations of time.  We see the Seed settle only in Isaac’s loins and not in the other children of Abraham.  This Seed, this promise to mankind of eternal life, was carried by the chosen people of God: the Israelites.  Even though they experienced times of judgment and even pogroms, God always protected his Seed through a remnant of the Israelites. The promise of eternal life that Abraham believed in would be passed down from generation to generation.  Prophets would arise to remind the Israelites of God’s promise to them and to the world.  Abraham’s faith would bless all the people of the world.  What did Abraham believe?  He believed that God could make something out of nothing and that God can raise the dead.  This faith was personified in Jesus Christ.  Jesus became the way to God, the way to be right with God.  Faith in him and his works would make men and women right with God with an inheritance of eternal life.  Paul is instrumental in teaching this Good News to the Gentiles.  They would know THE WAY to God by his ministry.  Paul would tell the story of how Jesus came into existence.  He would tell how God chose Joseph and Mary to protect Mary’s baby son.  He would tell of Joseph, a good man, who would faithfully believe the dreams God gave him to insure the baby's survival.  Paul would tell them of the death of Jesus on the cross and his subsequent resurrection.  He would let them know that Jesus, the Christ, is the final and complete atonement for man’s sins.  He would capsulate their faith in the statement of Jesus to Nicodemus: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  (John 3:16-18)  The new-born in the city of Cornith must hold to this truth by faith until the end of their lives.  They must be full of the Spirit of God and consider their duty to carry the Good News to others.  In today’s focus, we see Paul reminding the Corinthians of the Good News that they have received.  Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you.  We around this breakfast table must remind ourselves of what we have received from the word of God.  We have received eternal life through believing the Good News of salvation that has been written by the Holy Spirit in the scriptures.  Paul merely recounted this Good News.  As a rabbi well versed in the Old Testament, he could put together the whole counsel of God to the Corinthians.  Salvation does not come through work or effort, it is a gift of God.  The Corinthians and we are the recipients of this Good News.  We around this breakfast table are the born-again believers who have an inheritance of eternal life with God.  Paul wanted to remind the Corinthians of that truth, and we, too, who sometimes struggle with the vicissitudes of life, need to remind ourselves that Jesus is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE.  There is no other way, truth, or life for us. Walk in him, believe in him and live in him today.   

1 Corinthians 14:33-40 Do Everything in an Orderly Way!

1 Corinthians 14:33-40  God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people. Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached?If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored. 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.

In the above focus we see Paul once again advocating order and peace within the church of the living God. He wanted the Corinthian church to be an evangelistic church, winning the people of Corinth to the Lord. In the Greek community women were to be quiet in general assemblies. In the Jewish societies the same behavior was required of women. From the very beginning, women were considered more or less as adjuncts to the welfare of men. Eve was added to Adam for his benefit, not for Eve’s. However, God mirrors himself through the image of both men and women as one. We see in the above focus the concern of Paul about the image of the church to the secular world. Women in the Greek society and within many societies in the ancient world, were viewed as merely an adjunct to man’s existence. In many of the cultures, men could marry a number of women so that their lives would be happier and more fulfilled, so Paul is saying to the Corinthian church, Women should remain silent in the churches. For women it is acceptable and expected for them to talk in other surroundings, such as the marketplace, or in the home, or in the neighborhood, but not in the church. For them to talk in the church would be considered inappropriate or unacceptable. Of course, that is exactly what inquirers from the local community would believe if they saw women functioning on an equal basis with men in the church. They would be shocked by such an aberration of their social mores. For the Corinthian Greeks the church would be a very unattractive gathering of people. For them, women speaking openly in the church would be the same as if everyone in the church was simultaneously talking in tongues without interpretation of any kind. The inquirers from the community would consider this church gathering as a group of crazy people, functioning outside of a sane world. Also, the normal understanding of the weaker sex was their limited understanding of deeper things, such as religious or philosophical matters. Consequently, they should ask their own husbands at homeabout any clarification they needed on what was spoken in the church. But just as today, clarification about a speaker's presentation should not be discussed openly while the speaker is talking. Such a thing would be too disruptive in the service. Assumptions about the abilities and roles of the sexes has been evident throughout history. Men in general are stronger and usually take leadership roles. They are necessary in defending the community. Women are in general considered nurturers of society. They carry the young in their wombs. Their bodies provide for the survival of the fetuses; they breast feed the infants once they are outside the womb. The women are more sensitive to the needs of the young as they grow up. Their physical stature is a benefit for them in some areas but detrimental in some other areas that require more masculinity. The sexes have had natural roles and prescribed roles from the beginning of time. Today we see these roles somewhat blurred because of the technology of our present existence. Even the protection of a community, a nation, a people can be carried out with equal aplomb by women as well as men through the use of technology.

Women’s role in the church of the living God has always been a disruptive topic. Different groups have distinguished themselves from others based partly by the role of women in their congregation. We do not wish to disrupt that perception of the role of women in their communities. Paul’s words are very direct and precise about the role of women in the church. But, we will also explore the role of women in the age of Joel’s prophecy. 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) This part of Joel's

18 prophetic word cannot be carried out by secular people, or the roles of the unredeemed man or woman. These old roles existed from the beginning in the likeness of Adam, a living spirit. All of society historically functioned in the raiment of Adam and Eve. All roles of the sexes were programmed within them so they became one in unity. But now in the New Testament we see a different group of people emerging. Jesus called them the born-again people. These people inherit a new kingdom, a forever world. Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8) God is doing a new work in the people who accept his call of salvation. They are the people who will prophesy and do marvelous works for the living God. Their focus will be on Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. These born-again people will reflect the image of God to the world. When Jesus’ time on earth was short, He calls out to a crowd of people, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:37-39) Jesus does not designate who should accept his call. No, anyone who hears his voice, both men and women, should come to him and drink of the living water. They are all treated equally in the call. Anyone who has ears, let him or her hear this clarion call for living water. As with Joel’s prophecy, both sexes are open to the infilling of the Holy Spirit, both men and women are being beseeched to be immersed into the Spirit of the living God. Both sexes can receive the promise of eternal life, and both can be in a familial relationship with God. Jesus called the woman with an issue of blood, daughter, God’s daughter, not a daughter coming in the likeness of man, but a daughter in God’s family with her unique characteristics and attributes, coming fully in the veil of a woman. Jesus calls the paralyticman, son. He comes to God as a man, but inherits the name son, a full-fledged member of God’s family. Jesus reveals clearly this autonomy of men and women in heaven in his answer about whose wife would be a woman who has had seven husbands. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you,‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” (Matthew 22:30-32)In the condition of everlasting life, women and men will be separate entities known as sons and daughters of the Most High. They will be equal in status.

Paul's mission given to him by Jesus is to redeem the Greeks through faith in Jesus. He did not want the dictates of the flesh or the role of women in a society to hamper the message of JESUS SAVES. Disorder such as tongues being spoken without interpretation or a myriad of tongues given simultaneously interfere with the Good News. He did not want women to step out of their fleshly roles assigned to them by their society. If such things happen, the message of the Good News would be hampered. But the message of Jesus saved turned the world upside down. What was, was no more. A new beginning for men and women had begun. Women were no longer considered just as an adjunct to men’s well being. They were no longer just collateral in the spoils of war. They were considered daughters in the eyes of the Lord. In Paul’s travel home to Jerusalem, he stays in the house of Philip the evangelist. Philip has seven daughters who had been given by God the gift of prophecy. They did not do this in their closets; they prophesied openly so people would know the words of God. Paul knew it; he knew this gift of prophecy was active in the home of Phillip and in the surrounding areas. Men and women heard this inspired speech given by the Holy Spirit through the lips of Phillip’s daughters. Why did they prophesy? God wanted people to hear words from his throne room through the unction of the Holy Spirit. We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven.He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. (Acts 21:7-9)Roles are important and necessary at times. Old traditions and mores might should be followed if necessary. Scripture should never be changed for the benefit of mankind. But we must also consider Jesus' words at the well of the Samaritans. He is talking to this woman about living water, a depiction of the Holy Spirit in people. This living water is eternal and satisfying. All people have access to this water through the blood of Jesus. Because of the Spirit inside of people, all things become new, old ways are done away with if not necessary. Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)Jesus was attacked viciously for working on the Sabbath. Keeping the Sabbath holy distinguishes Jews from the secular world. Even though he said that David and his men had violated the Sabbath in ancient times, they still castigated him for working on the Sabbath. They wanted to kill him; his healing on the Sabbath was an excuse for them to murder him. Jesus worked on the Sabbath because the Father is always working. In the church of the living God, the Father is always working through his Holy Spirit. Yes, let things be done appropriately and in order in the church, but be careful of frustrating the work of God in his community. Today, hear and obey the voice of the Spirit and be led by him.