Category: 1 Corinthians

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7).   

So, before we get into the whole spiritual gifts thing, there’s two items in this little verse we need to let sink deeply into our thick heads.

First, these gifts are, in fact, manifestations of the Holy Spirit. They are God working in you, and through you.

That is huge.

God is not Santa. He does not drop off a gift, grab some milk and cookies, and then zoom off into the night on his sleigh. He is here to stay. He chooses to express Himself through your unique personality, which of course He designed. God has come to work, and He brought His own tools.

The second thing to remember is that these gifts, these manifestations of the Holy Spirit, are not simply for your enjoyment.  Yes, it is satisfying to use your gifts, to do what you have been called to do. But that is a byproduct.  God has given you gifts that you might build up the Body of Christ. If your gifts bring you joy, or fulfillment, or even material success, spiffy. Praise God for the grace He has shown you. But do not forget the purpose.

Do not forget your purpose.

Happy Tuesday, Beloved

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men (1 Corinthians 12:4-6).

The Holy Spirit

The Lord Jesus

Almighty  God

Distinct persons, yet one God

Trinity

It’s a concept that is pretty impossible for my little brain to get a hold of, but there it is. In a similar way, the people of God are given different gifts:

Wisdom 

Service

Faith

Distinct persons, yet one Body.

His Church

We are different people, with different gifts. I don’t know what your gift is, but you can be sure of this: the Lord of Everything is working in and through you, even at this moment. Rejoice in that as you head into your day.

Happy Monday, Beloved

Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:3).

He is a real person, the Holy Spirit.

He is fully God, as fully as the Father, as fully as the Son.

If He is at work in a life, the evidence will be there.

If He is not, the evidence will be there.

It is He who reaches deep within to revive your dead heart and give you the desire for God…or even the desire to desire God.

Welcome Him in this morning, and let Him do His work.

Happy Friday, Beloved

You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray led astray to mute idols  (1 Corinthians 12:2).

Mute, as in unable to speak.

But God spoke.

God said, “Let there be…”

And it was so.

In the beginning was the Word, who was with God and who was God.

There is power when the Lord of Everything speaks.

But the idols we follow, they have no words.

No power

They are mute.

Beloved, it may seem that the idols we are drawn to–Money, Power, Pride, Self–have loud voices indeed. It may seem that they call to us with irresistibly persuasive power. But they are puppets. The voice you hear is that of another.

Whose?

Well, Beloved…it ain’t God’s.

Happy Thursday

Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant (1 Corinthians 12:1).

Thanks, Paul.

I don’t want me to be ignorant, either.

Beloved, don’t let that go by too quickly. If we trust that God is inspiring Paul–and I do–that means that God doesn’t want to leave you in the dark.

He wants you to understand.

Charlatans work in darkness and mystery, because their power is in your confusion. They need to keep you off balance and addled, so that you will blindly trust them.

God is not a charlatan.

God is…you know…God.

He has no need of hidden knowledge or hocus pocus, because his power is real and his truth is living. So he is, as Nebuchadnezzar called him, “The Revealer of Mysteries.”

Does that mean that we’re going to understand everything there is to know about God? Of course not–we are finite, while He is infinite. But He is willing to reveal as much as we can handle, and then teach us to handle more.

So seek Him, Beloved. He is waiting.

Happy Wednesday

So then, my brothers, when you  come together to eat, wait for each other. If anyone is hungry he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come, I will give further directions (1 Corinthians 11:33-34).

Yesterday I said that the problem with the way the Corinthians were celebrating the Lord’s Supper was that they were focusing too much on the Supper and not enough on the Lord.

And here it is.

Apparently some were coming to the table like pigs to the trough, and defiling the sanctity of the moment.

Beloved, have you picked up yet on Paul’s concern for keeping Christ at the center of worship? It runs all through these passages. So while it may be amusing to imagine the Corinthians chowing down in porcine passion, we can’t miss the point here: We need to examine the way we approach the worship of our Lord.

Let’s try something, Beloved. This Sunday, as you prepare for and engage in the church service, pay attention to what you are doing–and why. Are you focused on Jesus, or are you looking to your own wants and comforts? Where do you sit? How do you engage in the worship music? Are you checking your phone during prayer?

Be present, Beloved. Be mindful of whom you serve.

Happy Friday.

That is why many of you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world  (1 Corinthians 11:24).

“You have two choices. You can discipline yourselves, or I can discipline you.”

As a middle school teacher, I have used that line many times. And it’s true–if you can’t control yourself, you’re inviting someone else to do it for you. That is pretty much always worse.

It would seem that many of the Corinthians were sick, and some had died of this sickness. Paul argues that this is God’s discipline on those who were violating the Lord’s Supper. How were they doing this? Well, we’ll get into that more in the next verses, but suffice to say that they were focusing too much on the “Supper” part and not enough on the “Lord” bit.

Beloved, each of us has areas of our lives that are not fully submitted to God.  Maybe we consider them small transgressions, hardly worthy of notice.

God notices.

Your Father wants you to grow spiritually big and strong, and if that requires correction on his part, he will not hesitate to apply it.

Perhaps a little self-discipline could help us avoid other kinds of discipline, hmm?

Just a thought.

Happy Thursday, Beloved

Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body and blood of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. (1 Corinthians 11:27-29).

It’s strange.

The things that initially amaze us and knock us to our knees become commonplace and, if we’re not careful, even boring. We’re not alone–the Israelites got bored with manna, which was literally given by the hand of God each day! So it is not uncommon for the ritual of Communion to become rote, something we do without thinking.

Let this not be so, Beloved.

To participate in the Eucharist is a holy thing. To share the bread and wine, to proclaim His death, to remember the promise, to commune with the lover of your soul–

Not to be taken lightly.

So Paul reminds us to prepare our hearts before coming to the table. Come not with the attitude of ticking a box, but with reverence and awe and deep gratitude.

The One who waits for you is worth it.

Happy Wednesday, Beloved

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes (1 Corinthians 11:26).   

Are they mere symbols, the bread and the wine, 

or do they somehow, in the moment of Communion, become something more?

I don’t know, Beloved. I have never believed in transubstantiation, but I will say this–in the Eucharist, as in everything, there is so much more to God than we can fathom. 

Paul tells us that in Communion we proclaim the Lord’s death. 

The body broken

The blood poured out

But one day, Beloved–one glorious day–we will celebrate a different meal, in a different home. In Matthew 26:29, Jesus says of the cup, “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Imagine the feasting on that day. That beautiful, glorious Someday. Until then, proclaim the death that brought you life.

Happy Tuesday, Beloved

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.”(1 Corinthians 11:25).

A new covenant.

Because the old covenant, well, it was never going to work.

Don’t get me wrong–I’m not saying that God’s original plan failed.

No, the old covenant, the Mosaic Law, did exactly what God intended it to do: it pointed out Man’s utter helplessness in the face of his own sin.

Beloved, the blood of lambs and goats and doves and cattle would never do more than put a bandaid over a mortal wound

and buy us time

until the next sin,

which was always right around the corner.

We needed a new covenant

a perfect sacrifice

Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

Remember

Happy Monday, Beloved