Read the Bible in a Year (29NOV19)

DAILY REMINDER – Today, November 29’s Bible reading is 1 Corinthians 1-4.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, November 30’s Bible reading is 1 Corinthians 5-8. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.

1 CORINTHIANS Introduction 

The city of Corinth was a prosperous trading hub during the Apostle Paul’s day, but it was also known for its wickedness and vast immorality. He wrote his letter to the church because it was having some major problems due to it being new and centered in an ungodly society. Paul’s letter dealt with issues of Christian conduct and valuing their freedom in Christ, while not taking advantage of the Lord’s grace given as a license to sin. The apostle encouraged the Corinthian church to live sanctified and holy lives unto God.

Paul wanted to help the young church understand the unity they were to have in the body of Christ and that their disagreements should be settled amongst them in a fair and Godly manner without having to resort to secular court systems. Paul spoke against their divisions, drunkenness at the Lord Supper celebration, matters of marriage, and other issues that affected the Church and its worship to God. He sought for them to look at the Law as a mirror of their sins but not as a form of enslavement by their indulgence or disregard. Paul’s letter is believed to have been written towards the end of his stay in Ephesus around 55 A.D. where both in his own words and biblical scholars have credited him as being the author.  

1 CORINTHIANS MOMENT – (29NOV19) “ ‘The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.’ So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God” (1 Corinthians 3:20-23). There were issues of pride and arrogance that the Apostle Paul had to address with the young church in Corinth. In Paul’s beginning address to the Corinthians, he reminds them that they were called to be sanctified in Christ and holy. Paul gave thanks to God for them because they were a church full of spiritual gifts, but there were some problems within the church that the apostle had to address. There were disputes amongst the believers which caused great division. Some of them felt as if they were better than others dependent upon which leader they followed. Paul was grateful that he had not baptized most of them, so they would not have him as one of the chosen leaders for which they were prideful all, although, at some level, even he was not excluded from their debates.

The Apostle Paul was mindful to let the church know that he along with the other apostles and leaders were just mere servants. They were only there to give the Gospel through the leading of the Holy Spirit and not from human origin. The Apostle Paul wrote: “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power” (1 Corinthians 1:17). Paul did not want to church to elevate them in the place of Christ on whom their foundation was built. Every apostle had their individual task given to them from the Lord as to the work that He wanted them to do in ministry. They did not speak from their own wisdom and eloquence to woo the crowd, but they spoke as the Holy Spirit gave utterance.

Paul did not desire fame, honor, and glory given to him by man’s standards, but he sought to have the approval from the One who called him into service. The apostle described the hardships that they had to encounter for the sake of the gospel which was by no means an easy task. They were sometimes, hungry, thirsty, homeless, dressed in rags, and persecuted through beatings, imprisonment, ridicule, and even death. Therefore, Paul did not want the church to be conceited when it came to the apostles who were only tools used by God to usher them to Christ.

Those who operate in the 5-fold ministry (apostles, pastors, teachers, prophets, and evangelists) along with the rest of the body of Christ are to operate in humility. It is not our jobs to lift ourselves up, nor are we to take the glory and praise the belongs to God. Without the Lord, none of us would be able to function. Unfortunately, in today’s church at large, there are those who seek position to perform instead of to minister. The members suffer at the hands of such narcissistic personalities because they have not truly learned how to take on the mantle of Christ. The Bible says: “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:5-7). Even Jesus became a servant to do the will of the Father. Therefore, how much more should we be in the body of Christ? We should never allow the giftings that God has given us to go to our heads, nor place leaders above God. We are to respect those who are in authority over us, but those of us who are leaders, are to be humble servants to God’s people as He will be the One to elevate us in the end. Something to ponder….