1 Corinthians 1-4
Carnal Christians
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Psalm 134:1-3 Praise and Blessing
Praise the Lord, All You Servants
1Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD,
who stand by night in the house of the LORD! 2 Lift up your hands to the holy place
and bless the LORD!
3 May the LORD bless you from Zion,
he who made heaven and earth!
Application
God blesses those who praise Him with pure hands.
Prayer
Maker of heaven and earth, may my praise of You be both day and night, and pleasing in Your sight; may You be pleased to bestow Your blessings on me and Your people. Thanks. Amen.
TMS John 14:21 Obey For Intimacy
Observations
14:21 We cannot have an intimate relationship with God, apart from abiding obedience. Jesus said it directly, a few verses earlier: John 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Love is not primarily a feeling (although feeling is usually an accompaniment). Love is a decision, an act of the will to do what is in another's best interest (usually at the expense of ourselves). Love is a decision to be loyal, and look out for the other's interests, (almost always at the cost of our own interests and ambitions). A parent who abandons a baby to go party with friends, could not be called loving nor loyal. If we love God, we will be loyal to Him, regardless of the cost. Talk is cheap. Love is costly. Jesus wants our obedience, since, believe it or not, that's in our best interest. It's not in our best interest to do what is harmful to ourselves, nor to waste our lives on accumulating kindling (see 1Cor 3:15 below).
The one who loves and obeys Jesus' commandments will love others (Jn 13:34), and be loved by the Father and Jesus. Is that conditional love/agape? You tell me; it's got conditions. However, the benefits of an intimate relationship with the God of Creation and the King of Kings, who has demonstrated His love for you is totally worth it. Reciprocal, mutual love is the best! See Barriers to Intimacy on Truthbase.net.
Application
If you don't know and do what Jesus requires, you don't know Him very well, but that can change when you do.
Prayer
God, I want to know You. Amen.
1 Corinthians 1-4 Carnal Christians
Unlike Romans, Paul had been to Corinth, and they heard him teach, reason and persuade for a year and a half (Acts 18). However, given their background, they didn't immediately become like Christ when they believed, but needed to put a lot more effort into learning and maturing. Paul writes in response to reports of their problems (1:11) and specific questions they had asked him via a letter (7:1; 8:1; 12:1; 16:1). The book also has the fullest discussion in the NT of spiritual gifts, the Lord's supper, and the resurrection (which serves as the motivation for obeying).
1 Corinthians 1 God Glorifying Unity
Greetings from Paul and Sosthenes
1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.Thanksgiving
4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.Unity in the Church
10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.The Message of the Cross
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Wisdom from God
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”Application
The kind of unity God desires members of Christ's Body to have is only achieved by all the parts being correctly united to the Head, and each other.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, may my worth and value come from my relationship with You, and living in obedience to Your will; may my relationships with other believers glorify You by exhibiting the unity You desire. Amen.
1 Corinthians 2 The Mature Understand, The Carnal Don't
Paul’s Message by the Spirit’s Power
1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.Spiritual Wisdom
6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”
— 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Application
Go beyond the cross to maturity, as you understand and accept the message of glory.
Heb 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 10 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Prayer
God, I trust that whatever You have planned for me as I follow You is far, far better than anything I could dream up on my own. Please give me diligence to understand Your word so I can share it with others. Thanks. Amen.
1 Corinthians 3 Carnal Christians Get Burned
God’s Fellow Workers
1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.Christ Our Foundation
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.God’s Temple and God’s Wisdom
16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. 18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” 21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.Application
God never stops being just. What about suffer loss, and God destroying, do you not understand? To avoid that fate, build, and do so with what will endure. What have you built that will last for eternity?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me be a wise builder on the foundation of Christ, doing the things that will endure; show me where I might be deceiving myself about what You've revealed. Thanks. Amen.
1 Corinthians 4 Carnal Pride
Servants of Christ
1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. 6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. 7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? 8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! 9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.Paul’s Fatherly Warning
14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me. 17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. 18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. 20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. 21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?Application
Since we'll be judged by Christ for our faithfulness to His commands, we should focus on being pleasing in His sight, not puffed up in the sight of others.
Prayer
God, thanks that a focus on faithfulness frees me from the temptation to think improperly about myself, and enables me to serve the needs of others, to receive praise from You. Amen.
Digging Deeper
God in a nutshell: God is the giver of all grace which should be used to build His church. He is glorified by the unity among believers, and will judge those who destroy the church.
Build-a-Jesus: Christ Jesus was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, a complete package of present and future salvation, which we experience as we are in union with Him (faithful daily dependent obedience).
Us in a nutshell: We need to humble ourselves in submission to the Lord Jesus, to live in unity with others, being faithful stewards of all He's entrusted to us, for we will have to give an account.
Where to go for more
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