Welcome to all who will be joining me in my time in 1 Corinthians. The whole idea is us reading the Word and sharing life together.
Chapter 1
Yes the Corinthian church was a mess. They failed to protect themselves from the culture of the city. The letter was written to respond to divisions in the church, their desire to sue each other, sexual immorality and people really just didn't trust each other any more. What blows my mind is how Paul addresses the church in verse 2.
...to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
Can't believe with all the goings on in the church we are still called saints. We can boast and get caught up in all that is destructive in our lives or in the church or we can choose to boast in who we are in Christ Jesus. Paul ends chapter one with this statement.
...He who glories (boast), let him glory (boast) in the Lord."
Based on what I read today how will I be changed?
Even though myself and the church is far from the goal of holiness, I position myself to be set apart and like Paul boast in the Lord who is at work in me and those around me.
Paul in v. 10 pleaded with the church to have the same unity and mind toward one another. A simple I'm in agreement post would be encouraging I believe to all of us that stand on this axiom.
The young adults are starting a verse by verse study in 1 Corinthians this Tuesday. Now that was a good cup of Joe. mmmm. Feel free to comment on anything in chapter 1.
9 comments:
Hey Bro., in a world full of emails and text message garbage, it was nice to get a friendly reminder that I need to get my butt back in the word! Keep them coming, I need it! So much going on in my life, I have a big struggle right now with my parents property, getting it sold, and I need some prayer. I have been really stressing out over it, losing sleep, being a grouch, letting it control my life, but I got a call from my Mom the other day, and she reminded me "it's in God's hands, what are you worried about?" She put it into perspective, what was I thinking?? In this crazy world of business and money, I sometimes tend to lose sight of what life is really about, and that is God! We all need prayer, we all need God, and whatever happens, happens for a reason! I am currently reading a book titled "The 4-hour Workweek" by Tim Ferris. Great book, want to use all the ideas in it to automate my business, free my time up for my family, and to serve God. I am working on it, trust me!
As far as what I learned from Ch.1, God doesnt choose favorites. Strong, weak, noble, poor, it's all the same to God, no one shall boast before him! We cant take our earthly riches to heaven, but we can take the love of God we have in our heart!
Thanks for the cup of Joe, keep them coming, this is a nice spiritual break!
Fight On,
Dave
Broseff! I'm stoked that the blog is off the "ground"(coffee pun...if you will.) Yessss. Anyhow, I'm gonna start out by saying..Paul is phenomenal. Such an amazing picture of humility in a time where it seems as though he'd attained "rockstar" status. The church in Corinth, as Joe pointed out, was in shambles, and I loved how Paul still referred to them as "saints"....or more aptly, reminded them of their calling. [v.2]
Going back to the stated humility of Paul. Verse 17 nails it:
....For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void."
Why is it so hard to forget ourselves and let Christ have everything? In learning humility, forgetting ourselves on a daily basis illuminates one of the main reasons WHY we preach: so we would not forget the importance of the sacrifice.
Here's what I learned from reading today...v.25:
...because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."
In doing my best to align with the great mentors of the word of God, I too want to separate and outwardly proclaim to identify with the righteous instead of the worldly. I can read all the books in the world about God and think I have some resemblance of a relationship with Him based on my perceived knowledge, but without seeking Him in His word everyday and letting go of the things that are simply of me, I have nothing.
Joe, this is awesome and I'm completely excited for the next 16 days. Also, if you can, email any sermon notes you have on the upcoming Corinthians study.
Cheers.
numba 1
Apparently I have too much to say about 1 Corinthians to fit in this comment box.
Heres a link to my response:
http://www.opendiary.com/entryview.asp?authorcode=D745912&entry=10001&mode=
God Bless,
Heather Edman
YES!
This is going to be an awesome study! I can't wait to get "wired" on this cup of joe.
Alright. So the first thing about this chapter that sticks out to me is Paul's incredible ability to encourage even in the midst of blatant sin in Corinth. I mean, these guys had some gnarly stuff going on and Paul starts by saying,
"I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in every thing by Him...(vs. 4)"
This must have made them feel pretty awesome, especially coming from Paul. In my experience, being encouraged like this motivates me to do better. We are called to come along side each other with encouraging and uplifting speech.
I LOVE vs. 23-25. It's so true that the message of Christ is nonsense to those who are not called according to His purpose. But to us, Christ is "the power and wisdom of God (vs. 24)" displayed to man (vs. 30). WOOT! I love Jesus!
I had some trouble understanding vs. 21. Would anyone like to shed some light for me?
Im stoked for this cup o joe and for the cups yet to be had!
Dio รจ buono.
nathan b
Well the thing that sticks out to me most is how we must stop the division that is plaguing the church. The division that I see is that we as a body of believers, not just Foursquare, quibble over insignificant things and because of that we miss out on celebrating our relationship with Christ. We have been divided by different "theologies". When in all actuality we should be preaching that Christ was crucified for our sins and by believing in that we are saved. Shouldn't that be our concern? Aren't our energies best spent reaching out to the poor, the widow, the broken hearted? I understand the need for knowledge and wisdom. I am all for it. I love apologetics. This text is an example to me of how our knowledge can be puffed up and cause dissension. Instead, how about if as we learned more, we would begin to apply even more what we are learning. If we do that then Christ is preached, then all glory is given to Him. Because it is not our own wisdom or our own things that we are able to do anything. But it is by God alone. If He is the one teaching us and is the basis of our knowledge and wisdom, then when we act on it the only one who can be glorified is God for it is He who has taught it.
I have rambled and I apologize. Since this is a devotional I took liberty to put my thoughts and emotions into it than come from a "Bible college student" way.
So yeah
Luis
Ok so is Paul rad or what! Ok so first off I love knowing that I too am sanctified in Christ. To be set apart for righteousness and to become more holy every day. Paul is so encouraging @ the beginning of every letter he writes. I really really love Verse 9 " GOD IS FAITHFUL, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
I think often @ times we can look at the church in Corinth and find many of the same squabbled they have there and find a few somewhere in our life. One problem was the rivalry between the followers of Paul and Apollos. I like how he put it in Verse 17 "For Christ did not send me to baptize, BUT TO PREACH THE GOSPEL, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect"
We should trust in what Christ a;ready did for us instead of trying to convince those in the world with fancy words. We spread the word and God works in the hearts.
I think it is great that God uses the weak, the foolish, and those which the world looks on with disgust to shame those of the world
That way if a skinny guy picked up a house to witness the strength of God. Then all those who would see would know that it was God and not the man. "All good gifts are from God" So all praise goes to God.
Lets be united and focus on bringing Glory to god every day.
If his tender mercies are new everyday. Then so should his glory from us. Amen.
God is awesome! Can we truly comprehend the depth of His grace and mercy? As humans in a fallen state we tend to divide ourselves up into camps. We do comparisons and contrasts trying to prove ours is better, but when compared and contrasted with God, WE ARE A MESS. Even so, God has called us into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.(v.9) This is what it's all about, being with Jesus, following Jesus, joining His family and being one in HIM. That's where we find our identity and unity. "Lord give me the wisdom to guard my heart and with all my brothers and sisters keep staying close to you."
Be Blessed!
“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel-not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”
1 Cor 1:17
This is such a great reminder of how important it is to be in the word of God. The less we are in the word, the more we begin to use memory and insight to spread the message, and this is a reminder of how ineffective that is. We have to be filled by the word in order to fill others, or our words will be empty and serve very little purpose. There are so many things that God is longing to say to us and sometimes it’s through others. We have to be loaded up with His words so we’re ready when God calls. The gospel isn’t about us telling people we are forgiven. That’s good news, but there is better news. It’s about telling them what life God had intended for them, and what he did to give them the opportunity to live that life despite the sin that tries to hold us captive. If we really on our words over God’s words, Jesus’ words, we remove all the authority of the perfect sacrifice. “There are none who are righteous, not even one.” Therefore nothing that comes from our sinful minds, that didn’t start from His mouth could possibly have the power to save. Not even Paul. It was the holy spirit overflowing out of Paul that wrote the book we are studying, not Paul the clever author. “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world”
As far as changing my life, this verse is another reminder of the how important it is to fill yourself with the word before anything else.
That's right - I'm actually getting around to commenting now - I have been faithfully reading everyone's post, but in the midst of the other two studies i am currently doing haven't had time to put any thoughts up here. So I'll go back to all the older posts and add in my 2 cents. For chapter one I have loved reading what other have written and agree so much with it, so i just want to add something specific God spoke to me. Verses 27-31 - He chooses the foolish, the weak, the lowly, the things that are not. Praise God! He does this so no one may boast but in HIM alone.
But isn't it interesting to see how quickly/easily things can become about us? How easily we can jump up on our own soap box, or how quickly we can show our favoritism for one particular pastor etc. Now don't get me wrong I like to state my opinion as much as the next person, and if I had the chance to hang out for the day with some of my personal spiritual heroes, I'd do it in a second.
It's ok to have opinions, thoughts and those we look up to, but when does it start to replace God? When does it start to become about what I think based off of the Bible and not just simply what the Bible says? The problem being addressed in these verses has happened all throughout history. It's why we have hundreds of demoninations, why people leave a church when someone else leaves will no real leading from the Lord. It causes all sorts of problems and the root of the issue is pride. YIKES! It's crazy how much pride I realize I have - the more you grow the more you see you've got a long way to go. :)
So anyway i just found those verses interesting, showing the connection between pride and all of the sin we create. And despite our boasting we get a good dose of remembering who we are - lowly, weak, foolish. Praise God that he uses us! So much for being short huh...... guess I am meant to be a teacher ;)
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