The Law or Faith

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

THE LAW OR FAITH

2 Cor 3:7-11

7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

NIV

This is nuts, Paul is saying that the letters engraved on stone condemned men, even though they came from glory. He is talking about the Ten Commandments and that they are from the old covenant which its glory fades away. They are not permanent like that with surpassing glory, the new covenant, that lasts. But we use the Ten Commandments. We keep them, print them, make them part of our statement of faith, or at least use them as commands from God as to what we are supposed to do and what we are forbidden to do. They are the law that we follow. Wait, the law? That cannot be, for Jesus fulfilled the law so that in Christ we have fulfilled it. Paul says that the law condemned men because it is impossible to keep the whole of the law and if we break one little bit of the law, then we are guilty of the whole of the law and therefore we are condemned to death. However, Jesus paid that price for us and freed us from condemnation and gave us life. This is why Paul says this is the surpassing glory that never fades, its glory lasts forever. So then, why do we want to pay attention to the glory that fades? Why do we insist on wanting to memorize and quote the Ten Commandments as if we want to live by them when they condemn us? Paul says those letters engraved on stone have no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. Yes, they are history, those letters engraved on stone, those Ten Commandments are part of the history of Israel, but they should remain as history for we now live in the lasting glory of Jesus Christ who gave us a new covenant, a new agreement, that if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior if we have faith if we put our faith in Jesus, then we have eternal life. Therefore, we cannot put our faith in those letters engraved on stone that has no more glory, in fact, those stones may well have become dust if anyone could even find them. They are hidden for a reason so that we might be saved through faith in Jesus. We are not to believe in that which its glory fades, or that which was once the word of God for the people but is not more, for it brought death. We are to believe in Jesus whose glory is an everlasting glory that never fades and that brings us life. It always comes down to not living by the law, even our own that we create, but living by faith. 

Living to Die or to live

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

LIVING TO DIE OR TO LIVE

2 Cor 3:4-6

4 Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant- — not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

NIV

Once again, there are two truths we find in such a short statement. The first is regarding being competent. Sometimes we feel so incompetent we wonder how we got through this life. This feeling is more so when we must teach or preach because this feeling of being inadequate for the task creeps in. But we must remember that it is not our abilities, our skills, or our education or knowledge that has any benefit, for it is all God and not us that gets the task complete. We have no confidence in our own abilities, but we do have complete confidence in God. If we are successful in any area of ministry it is due to the Lord alone. Yes, we do as much as we can, with our limited resources. We study as much as we are able, we put forth as much effort as possible to make ourselves ready for the task we have been called to do, but our labor is so feeble. God is the one who has made us competent as a minister of the new covenant. God is the one who has started the good work within us, and it is He who will bring it to completion. We must rely totally on Him for every aspect of our life but especially for the tasks he has called us to. The second truth we need to deal with here is the concept that the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Because Paul uses the term, new covenant, he is referring to the letter of the law which was given to the Israelites. But most of the church in Corinth is made up of Gentiles who were not given the law. Maybe there were some Jews there who wanted to bring the law into the new covenant, or there were those who were called the Judaizers who taught that in order for a Gentile to become a Christian, they first had to become a Jew, being circumcised, then they could accept Jesus as the Messiah. Either way, the law always kills. It is a wonder how our post-modern church has evolved into making up its own set of laws rather than functioning by the Spirit. We have been instructed that once we have been freed from bondage, not to put ourselves back in bondage, yet that seems exactly what we have done. It seems the church today spends much effort in making rules and regulations and thinks that adherence to them is what makes us a “Good Christian”. Instead, all these rules, all these laws simply kill us, rather than giving us life. Yes, because we love the Lord, we want to live in a manner that pleases Him. Yes, because we love the Lord, we want to fulfill His will. Of course, we want to make every effort to keep ourselves pure and free from willful sin. But the fact remains, as the Jews could not fulfill the law, we cannot fulfill and rules and regulations we set before ourselves. Even when we use the word of God as a basis for our set of rules, they are still our set of rules, and not God’s for the one and only work, or rule that He sets before us is to believe in the one He sent. Living by the Spirit will result in a transformed life, there is no question about that. As we walk in step with the Spirit our lives will change, and we will live to please God. The focus of our lives will be centered in Jesus, not in this world, nor in the rules of denominationalism. Why would we want to live according to that which would bring us death when we can live by the Spirit who gives us life? It comes down to living to die or to live. 

His Way, Not Ours

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

HIS WAY NOT OURS

2 Cor 3:1-3

3:1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

NIV

This has some personal aspects regarding Paul and how he tells the church in Corinth, they are his letter of recommendation. The fact that in a city of such corruption, his labor along with his fellow servants firmly established a church that has gained a reputation in the whole region, as well as back in Jerusalem. In essence, it is not what we write the matters as much as how we may influence the hearts of others, encouraging them to live for God. It is not unusual in our times, to write resumes enumerating all our achievements and past endeavors, including names of individuals that would recommend us. Paul says he has no need for such a device as a resume, for his is written on the hearts of those people in Corinth. What about us? Do we really have need of the recommendations of men? Would it not be better to have the approval of God? But then again, are we seeking recognition of man, or of God? Boasting about our successes, or our achievements whether they are of the secular or spiritual nature may well be viewed as wanting the slap on the back or a “Great job” from people, while we may or may not be doing that which pleases the Lord. In fact, boasting certainly does not please Him. If we are to boast, we need to boast about Christ. Any skills, any abilities, any achievements we may have accomplished are completely due to His work in our lives. We merely have to look at the transformation that occurred in the life of Paul and see how God is the one who transforms us. He has done it, transforming us from what we were and made us into who we are so that He can use us to have an impact for His kingdom. Once again, our lives are not about how well we can elevate ourselves, but how well we can represent Christ, and that is entirely due to the working of the Spirit within us. It is difficult to receive praise from people, although it seems that should be a natural response for doing a “Good job”. Yet, it is not us that does that great job, but the Spirit working through us, or at least it should be. It is possible that with the proper training, a great educational background, and experience, we could simply act out our part by our human effort and do a “Good job”. But then who gets the credit and who are we seeking credit for, ourselves or God. All we are, all have, all we do, all we say is due to the Lord. Without Him, we are nothing but a sounding symbol, a clanking bell, a noise with no voice. If we need any resume, it should be what is in the hearts of those people we encounter. Have we impacted their lives any? Have we improved their lives in some way? Have we encouraged them, helped strengthen their walk with God? Has the Spirit had his way in us, with us, and through us? It is all about His way, not ours. 

Speaking Before God

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

SPEAKING BEFORE GOD 

2 Cor 2:14-17

14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.

NIV

We are not done with these words. Although we dis deal with the idea of God leading us in a triumphal procession in Christ and being a fragrance of Christ everywhere. We left out the idea of peddling the word of God for profit versus speaking before God with sincerity, like men sent from God. There must have been men in those days, just as there are in our days, who peddle the word of God for profit. It never ceases to amaze us there are people, believers who are willing to follow such charlatans, who do nothing more than fleece the flock, so to speak, so they can live an extraordinarily abundant life. How can these men speak with sincerity, or for that matter, speak before God? Whenever the Word of God is spoken before men, we need to remember foremost, that we are speaking before God. We also need to remember that being in Christ, and when we speak that we do so with all sincerity, or with purity, as the Greek word means. How can we speak any corrupt words to retail the word of God, especially before Him? It is interesting the Greek word translated as peddle does carry the meaning of retailing as a huckster would. “Hurry, hurry, come and hear words that tickle your fancy” “Step right up ladies and Gentlemen, buy your tickets now, and hear words that can make you rich” the hucksters are a bit more subtle, nevertheless, they are selling God’s word for profit. No, we have to speak with all purity of intent, because we are held to a higher standard. Whenever we speak the Word of God, we speak as being sent from God. If then, we are sent from God to speak before men, we better make sure that which we speak is truth, and that we speak in humility, knowing that God has given us the words to speak. Yes, it is right to honor those called to pastor the flock and particularly those called to full-time ministry and their labor deserves a wage. But that is far different than peddling the word for profit. Perhaps anyone who speaks before God and men with sincerity should not be muzzled but compensated for their labor. Yet even Paul did not ask for a payment, but rather labored with friends to make an income from selling tents they made, so he would not be a burden on the local churches. However, the point is still the same, speaking the word of God has to be with sincerity because we speak it before God, and people like men being sent from God. 

Smelling Good

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

SMELLING GOOD

2 Cor 2:12-17

12 Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, 13 I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia. 14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.

NIV

Paul is going to meet up with Titus eventually, as we look ahead into chapter seven of this letter. But that is not the main topic of what he is getting to, or rather the truth we can learn. First, we should consider if God also leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and, second, if we spread everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. Then we need to consider if we are the aroma of Christ among those we are being saved and those who are perishing. It is interesting the Greek words translated as triumphal procession carry the idea of the fact we have victory in Christ, such as in our mission to spread the aroma of Christ everywhere. It is possible we could think that to mean we have victory in Jesus, as the song words might suggest, we can live in victory because we repented of our sins, and he plunged us to victory beneath his cleansing blood. But this is not what Paul is talking about. He is making the point that God leads us in a way to be victorious in being a sweet aroma everywhere of the knowledge of Him. We should be this sweet aroma of Christ among all our fellow believers, as well as among all those who do not believe. Granted the aroma for those who are perishing is the aroma of death. But that does not mean we smell like death to them, but that if we are the sweet aroma of Jesus, then they will understand death is not the place for them and they will find Jesus. However, the main point is that we should have this fragrance of Christ emitting from us. It is much like a very strong signature perfume a lady might have on so that when she walks into a room, everyone knows she is there, even before they see her. Do people know we are there? What fragrance do they smell? Is it our signature fragrance of Christ? We do know that we must follow his leading and that when we do, He will lead us in a triumphal procession in Christ. We know that as we follow Him, He will lead us to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. In essence, we need to smell good. 

forgive and Rejoice

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

FORGIVE AND REJOICE

2 Cor 2:1-11

2:1 So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? 3 I wrote as I did so that when I came I should not be distressed by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. 4 For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you. 5 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent — not to put it too severely. 6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9 The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven — if there was anything to forgive — I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

NIV

Two things going on here. First, the idea that Paul tells them the truth. If the truth is painful to hear, then there is a problem. If the truth grieves them then they are not rejoicing in the Lord and thus making Paul glad. Hearing the truth can be a difficult thing at times and it is easy to put up our defense mechanism and either refuse to hear and admit our fault or bite back in an accusatory attack, a sort of tic-for-tat tactic. If we can defuse the truth about our fault by exposing the fault of the one bringing this truth to us, then we do not have to feel so bad about our fault, for who is without sin. But the point of exposing or telling someone of their fault is not to be accusative or should be done out of a self-righteous attitude, but out of love, wanting that person to be able to see the error of their ways to improve, to become a better person. The second thing that is going on here is there must have been someone on Corinth that did some grievous act that harmed much of the community of faith. His specific behavior is not mentioned, and it is on purpose. There is supposition among the scholars of old, but that is all it is, and their opinions may be driven by the cultural standards of their times. The truth is, we are not privy to the offense of this brother who has grieved both the church in Corinth and Paul. However, there is also enough information to understand this brother must have been punished in some way. He may have been treated in accordance with instructions to confront him and if he fails to repent remove him from fellowship in order that he would see his erroneous behavior. But there is also the instruction to forgive him. Unforgiveness is a foothold for Satan, as well as it can be destructive to our health, both spiritual and physical. Unforgiveness is contrary to love and because we have been instructed to love both our neighbor and our enemy, which could be understood to mean the person who has grievously offended us, we must forgive them. Love and forgiveness go hand in hand. Love leads to rejoicing, unforgiveness leads to distress. Let us forgive and rejoice. 

By Faith

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

BY FAITH

2 Cor 1:18-24

18 But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No." 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not "Yes" and "No," but in him it has always been "Yes." 20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 23 I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. 24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.

NIV

God’s promises are always yes! That is extremely encouraging in a world that has so many mixed messages of “Yes” and “No”. There is no question in our minds and hearts that His message regarding Christ is an absolute “Yes”. Jesus is the only provision for our salvation, and it is only by faith that we can accept Jesus, and conversely, God accepts us. Until we accepted Jesus by faith, we were objects of wrath, unaccepted by God, an enemy of God, so to speak. But through faith in Jesus Christ God reconciled himself to us and us to him and now we have the right to be called children of God. We are in the family of God in Christ Jesus. He has said “Yes” to us and has promised us eternal life. However, we cannot be confused about the fact that we have anything to do with it other than through faith in Jesus. According to what Paul says here, we cannot even stand firm on our own. It is through his anointing that he makes us stand firm. It reminds us of how many times and ways He tells us to stand our ground, to take our stand as He clothes us in His armor. It is His armor that causes us to stand firm, and here Paul says that we can only stand firm because of His seal of ownership on us and that He put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Of course, we have a response to God, and many would say our response is doing “good works”. But again, we are reminded of the question asked of Jesus, as to what are the works that God requires us to do and Jesus said that the work of God is to believe in the one he sent. So often we can get confused about this doing “good deeds” and thinking that is what makes us a “Good Christian”. But the fact remains, we have nothing to do with our ability to stand firm or to do anything good. It is all God, all the work of the Spirit within us, for it is His gifts, His fruit, His seal upon our heart that is the reason we can stand firm, He makes us stand firm, not us, and it is that simple. So let us not boast about ourselves in any way but let us boast in Christ. For it is by faith we stand firm. 

Following His Plan

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

FOLLOWING HIS PLAN

2 Cor 1:15-17

15 Because I was confident of this, I planned to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. 16 I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 When I planned this, did I do it lightly? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say, "Yes, yes" and "No, no"?

NIV

The is just the beginning of the point that Paul is making. Still, there is one thing that we notice that seems we should spend some time thinking about. He says that he planned to visit them on his way to Macedonia and the come back to them again from Macedonia. What is interesting is that the reason is so he can benefit them twice. Should not that be our goal to benefit others? The answer is yes, and it should not be yes and no as Paul is also making that point as well and will continue explaining it further, but for now let us just touch on it. We should not be conflicted about what we are to do, as far as being a benefit to others. What that means is that it is so easy to be concerned about our own plans, our own desires, and even being acknowledged for how what we do. Some might even boast about how much they do, as it might appear Paul is doing about being confident that he would be a benefit to them. It does not seem that Paul is very humble about his ministry among them. But he will tell them later in this section of this letter that he is guided by the Spirit, and that the “Amen” spoke through him. It is not him, but the Spirit who is being the benefit to them through him. This again, should be our position in our ministry among others, that is it not through our worldly planning and abilities that we are a benefit to others, but it is the Spirit working through us. We also should note that we are not the only one who the Spirit works through, but that he is in all believers and desires to do the same work through them, that is to be a benefit to others. We have been told to build each other up until we reach the unity in the Spirit. This certainly requires humility, rather then boasting. This humility demands listening to the Spirit and not planning as people of the world do. Many make their plans to be a benefit to themselves, to secure their life, their future. We, on the other hand, should not plan in that manner, but to live in step with the Spirit so that He leads us to places so that he can benefit others through us. Our plan is to stay in step with the Spirit and so that His plans become our plans. Then our plans will not be yes and no but always yes. It comes down to whose plans do we follow? 

World's Wisdom or Grace

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

 WORLD’S WISDOM OR GRACE

2 Cor 1:12-14

12 Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God's grace. 13 For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, 14 as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.

NIV

 

It appears there are two distinct methods of conduct. The first is through the standards or the wisdom of this world and the second is by the grace of God. To conduct ourselves as the world does imply a method of cunning and perhaps even a certain amount of ruthlessness, to gain as many advancements this world has to offer. This method of conduct includes plotting and planning, perhaps even in secrecy, in order to achieve success. Paul says that he has not conducted himself according to worldly wisdom but by the grace of God. This is the way in which we should be conducting ourselves in our relationship with others, but our fellow believers as well as those of the world that we have contact with. What does it mean to conduct our lives by the grace of God? Again, we fall back on this definition of grace that means the divine influence upon our heart and how that is reflected in our life. We have to conduct ourselves according to the influence of God upon our hearts. There is nothing secret about that, and we can boast about that one thing, that which is in our heart, the influence of God if our conscience testifies to that truth. That means we must be truthful within ourselves regarding exactly how we conduct our lives. In other, words, we can live as the world does, but say that we believe in God. We can live according to the wisdom of the world and simply incorporate a form of Christianity into our lives. This may look like that idea of living in this world as though everything depends on us but saying we trust in God to gain eternal life. But if we live by the divine influence of God then we would have to say that we trust in his influence in the way we live in this world. That is we trust in his influence in areas of our life, like where we live, where we work, where we church, how we serve others, how we conduct our financial affairs, and in our relationship with people. It might even appear that our lives would be an open book, as in all we write and say, people, can understand us fully. Our lives are not a secret, nor do we conduct ourselves in secret. We should be able to boast about each other rather than about ourselves. That is the difference between the wisdom of the world and the grace of God. 

Set Our Hope

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

SET OUR HOPE

2 Cor 1:8-11

8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

NIV

Paul makes a reference to some part of his history that may or may not be recorded. Our scholars are at odds over which time, if any, of the recorded times that Paul had an opposition that was so violent that he thought he would die or feared death because of the greatness of the opposition. Some think it might have been when he was stoned in Lystra, others believe it could have been the uprising started by Demetrius the silversmith in Ephesus. History is fun to explore and contemplate just what Paul was going through and what happened, but the point of all scripture, including this passage, is to correct us, rebuke us, teach us and train us in the path of righteousness. What then can we learn in our lives today and our relationship with God? It certainly appears there is a distinct difference between relying on our own strength or abilities and trusting in our Lord. We think this is to mean in every aspect of our lives. We might get confused about that sometimes and think that God does not micro-manage our lives and allows us to make our own choices regarding our career path, where we live, where we attend church, our future plans, as well as a host of other activities of life. However, we also have seen that Paul waited to go to a certain area, but the Spirit forbit him to go there. No, we think it best to rely on God for every part of our life, in all that we do. When we are in a difficult situation, we think we need to figure a way out, overcome, so to speak. But God is able to deliver us from every situation and His result will always be for our best. Sometimes we make the wrong decision regarding how to fix a problem we are facing and as a result, it might even become worse. We just go from the frying pan into the fire, in that case. But, when we rely on God, when we allow him to do that which he did for us in the past as he delivered us from death, he will deliver us from any trouble that comes our way. Of course, we might be the cause of our trouble and then we need to be corrected, rebuked, taught, and trained. Even then it is God who is doing all that so to deliver us from every trouble. One thing we have learned, we cannot set our hope on ourselves, but we can set our hope in Christ Jesus. We can have a confident expectation in God delivering us, but we must take our eyes off of us and look to God. 

Compassion and Comfort

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

COMPASSION AND COMFORT

2 Cor 1:3-7

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

NIV

The fact that God is a Father of compassion, and all comfort reminds us of the most recent sermon from Psalm 103 when we were told not to forget all his benefits and how that Hebrew word means treatment. We are not to forget how God treats us and here Paul reminds us that God treats us with compassion and comfort. God comforts us in all our troubles. This makes us think of how when we were a small child and hurt ourselves in some way, our mother would take us in her arms and comfort us. We have done the same for our children when they were hurting, comforting them in an effort to soothe their pain. This is our God at work in our lives, bringing us comfort because of his great compassion for us. However, we are not to simply sit and be comforted by God in self-indulgence, but rather we are to use His comfort as an example of how we should be comforting others when they are in trouble. This Greek word that is translated as comforts, as in the action of comfort is a form of the word used to define the comforter, the Holy Spirit. Still, it would not seem that we suffer anywhere close to the suffering that Paul endured. The early church was in many cases persecuted, but the messenger of the gospel, such as Paul was run out of town on a rail many times. He was beaten and battered and all while having that thorn in the flesh, whatever that was. We live, for the most part, in safety in our country. There are some situations where Christianity has been attacked, churches burned down, people gunned down in church, and certain movements trying to silence the church. But so far, we have not been suffering, however, in some sense, we share in the suffering of Christ because it was his suffering that gained our salvation. We still know that God will always comfort us no matter what our situation is, for that is who He is, that is what He does. We are His children, and He is our parent, picking us up and wrapping his arms around us soothing whatever pain we might have. But to know that we live in Christ, that we have eternal life, that death has no hold on us is really all the comfort we need. Whatever this life has to offer, it is only temporary and one day we will walk into eternity. In all reality when Jesus said his last words on the cross, “It is Finished” that was the greatest comfort of all time. Nothing more needed to be done for our salvation. However, it still behooves us to show that kind of comfort to others who are suffering from the pain of death. The greatest comfort we have to offer is Jesus. If we truly have compassion for people we would give them the comfort of knowing Jesus.

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                         

Grace and Peace

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

GRACE AND PEACE

2 Cor 1:1-7

1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:

2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

NIV

Knowing that we are where we should be and doing that we should be done by the will of God, maybe we should review this general greeting that seems to be a part of many of these letters to the churches. Grace and peace to us from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. As we have been made aware through our investigation of the Greek, this word translated as grace can be seen or used in several ways. The most direct use is, that which affords joy, pleasure delight, and can be used as charm as in being graceful in speech. We could say that God is graceful in speech toward us or that He affords us joy and pleasure. This word can also be used to mean good-will, loving-kindness, or even favor, as in when Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. But we wonder about this use of favor because some have used this to mean that grace means unmerited favor. Was the favor of God and men unmerited toward Jesus? We think not. But there is something which is due to grace, that is something within us that is in response to God. This is our spiritual condition as we are influenced or governed by God or could say that grace is the divine influence upon our heart and its reflection in our life, including gratitude. In other words, being a believer, our attitudes, and behaviors, including our speech, should be influenced by God, and not by our flesh. We could also say that grace would be how we reflect God and our Lord Jesus Christ in our lives. When we include that or add peace to all that we might get a better understanding. The Greek word translated as peace, and we have to remember this is the peace of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, and so we should not see peace as in world peace, the freedom of the rage and havoc of war. Of course, in some sense, we were once objects of wrath, as we were at war with God, but now we have come to terms or have a peace treaty with God through Jesus. This word peace can also be used to have peace between individuals, as to be in harmony with them. Again, that could mean we are in harmony with God, and He is in harmony with us. But according to a conceptional distinction peculiar to Christianity this word carries the meaning of the tranquil state of our soul assured of its salvation through Jesus, and so fearing nothing from God and content with our earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is. Therefore, grace and peace are all wrapped up together, and would be difficult to see them as separate entities. Because we are being influenced by God, we are content. 

By The Will of God

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

BY THE WILL OF GOD

2 Cor 1:1-7

1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:

2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

NIV

Once again, we will forego the introduction regarding his making sure they know he is an apostle by the will of God, for anything we are, is, or should be not by our will, but by the will of God. Maybe we should deal with this for a little. We know that God has given us the ability to make our own choices in life. Some would call it “free will”. This is usually connected to the choice to accept reject Jesus as our Savior. But what if this being who we are and what we are, is by the will of God? Have we decided at some point in our life to become an engineer, doctor, fireman, salesman, pastor, or whatever, and then at some time in our life as we are living out our choice, we accept Jesus and include being a Christian as part of our choice of life? Paul’s chosen path in life was abruptly halted and he was given a whole new course to follow when he met Jesus. Therefore, he says that he is an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. It was Paul’s will to be a persecutor of the church, but God’s will prevailed. Is that our story? Are we living, doing what we are doing because of our will, or has our will been superseded by the will of God? We can say, on a personal note, that we would have never ever suspected we would be living where we do. Again, personally, we have never had a once time career, although we were on a path toward one when God finally broke through and we heard the message and responded. Of course, we had to have him prove himself, which he did. From that time forward we have done many other areas of work, to provide for our family, but our life has been directed by our Lord. We have no one career, we have no retirement, we only have life by the will of God. He has changed the course of our life several times, but each time it has been for his purpose, and not ours. We know what it is to be who we are and what do by the will of God. Some have recently said in jest, that we love change, which means to say, we do not love change. That is true unless God is doing the changing in our life. We will stay the present course until God turns us another way. We are by the will of God. 

Reliable Witnesses

 DEVOTION

THE PROPHET ISAIAH

RELIABLE WITNESSES

Isa 8:1-2

8:1 The LORD said to me, "Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.   2 And I will call in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me."

NIV

We started Isaiah some years back and for whatever reason, we only got through chapter 7 and then stopped. So we think we should see if we can pick up and look further. First, we need to explore this long-phrase the Isaiah was instructed to write. The most direct translation is “swift to booty, speedy to prey”. Some scholars are of the opinion this is the symbolic name given by Isaiah, at the Lord’s direction, to the son of Isaiah. It is also interesting the Hebrew word translated as a scroll is also used more generally as a mirror. Scholars have debated whether the scroll was a wooden, papyrus, or polished stone or metal, like a mirror. It is just interesting that perhaps it was meant to be like a mirror, revealing a truth to the people. Although this may show us how the word of God reveals truth into our lives, there is a truth here that we might what to take in. The Lord called two reliable witnesses for him. We cannot be sure as to why the Lord needed these two reliable witnesses. It is supposed they were to stand as witnesses to the marriage of Isaiah, or perhaps to the words on the scroll. Again, suppositions are debated by scholars, but nothing know to be facts. But what is interesting the Lord called two men to be reliable witnesses. Would we be up to the challenge or the standard for the Lord to call upon us as a reliable witness? We certainly are pretty good at looking or behaving like an upright Christian in church. It might be more like that old saying, “We look good, smell good, but we are broke”. There is value in being a good example within the community of faith. It may be to encourage others, to exhort others to live to please God. Although that might be a reliable example, it may not qualify as a witness. Are we a witness for God? Can God rely on us to be a witness to, tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help us, God. Are we reliable enough to tell all that we have seen, heard, and experienced from the hand of God? It would seem to us that would mean more than just acting as a good honest person, hoping someone would notice and ask us why we are so nice, or good, or honest. This is not to say our life cannot be an example for others, but unless we open our mouths and tell what we have witnessed, we may not be as reliable as God needs. Maybe he does not call everyone to be a witness, although we do take those words of Jesus when he said to go out into the world and be my witnesses. Jesus said this would happen when they and we receive the power from the Holy Spirit. We are supposed to be reliable witnesses. 

The Greeting

 DEVOTION

THE1ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

THE GREETING

1 Cor 16:19-24

19 The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house. 20 All the brothers here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. 21 I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. 22 If anyone does not love the Lord — a curse be on him. Come, O Lord! 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24 My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.

NIV

It does seem sort of strange that this personal message of closing the letter is included. There has to be some value to us today for we know that all scripture is profitable in teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training us in righteousness. What can we learn from these final words? It appears everyone is weighing in on sending their greetings. It would seem this is one united church, but we know there were problems otherwise Paul would not have written this letter as it contains a whole lot of correcting of what was going on in the Corinth church. Still, we should always greet one another, even greet one another with a holy kiss. If we did that it would seem there would never be any problems in the church today. But the truth is there are problems in every church. Perhaps, we let our personalities get in the way. Maybe this self-centered culture of the world has infiltrated the church. Why do churches split? Why do portions of a congregation just leave when a new Pastor arrives? Why do people leave one local church and find another? There seem to be there are some issues that do not get resolved and yet how then do we greet one another with a holy kiss? Even in a local church that seems to stay the course and remain somewhat together, there may be underlying issues that prevent this holy kiss greeting. If we are to love each other, then it should never be a problem to greet one another but is our greeting a mere surface greeting. It is interesting the Greek word translated as greet has a direct meaning of enfolding one in our arms or to draw to oneself. It is used as a salute, welcome, and greet, but if we take that truer meaning, then it becomes far more personal than just saying hello, or good morning another believer. It is sort of like the difference between saying, “love ya” and “I love you”. The first is impersonal, even flippant in a way, none involved, but the second makes it personal, “I love you”. This is the holy kiss, it has to be up close and personal, drawing that other person to us, enfolding them in our arms, so to speak. It seems in the last year, this covid situation sure made it easier to simply keep our distance, and maybe we have been retrained or forgotten how to greet really greet each other. It would seem we need to get on with greeting. 

Deserve Recognition

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

DESERVING RECOGNITION

1 Cor 16:15-18

15 You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. I urge you, brothers, 16 to submit to such as these and to everyone who joins in the work, and labors at it. 17 I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. 18 For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition.

NIV

Paul makes his remarks about certain men who came to see him. They were some of the first who accepted the gospel message in Corinth and devoted themselves to the service of the saints. What exactly does that mean? This Greek word used here for service is where we get the English word deacon from. The other Greek word used here for devoted is translated in other versions as they addicted themselves. It carries the meaning of assigned or even ordained or appointed. We do not know if they appointed themselves or ordained themselves, but it does appear that Paul indicates this was the three men’s choice to determine to serve the others. This gives us the concept that we should only appoint people to a position of ministry who are already acting in the manner of that ministry. In other words, in the case of these three men, they were already acting in a manner of service to others and Paul says they deserve the recognition. A title should only be assigned to someone who is already being what that title infers. When we look at how the Apostles felt it was needed to have some men to take on the duties serving in the distribution of food. Again, the Greek word used means deacon. So, Stephen and six others were elected. But looking at the qualifications they were to be men full of the Spirit and wisdom. In other words, men who were already acting in a manner of a leader servant. It may seem in our post-modern churches, we simply look for people to fill roles, and pay little attention to if they are either qualified or meet the qualifications. This is true especially considering Paul’s instructions as to the qualifications for elders and deacons in his letter to Timothy. Nevertheless, the fact is that those who have determined to serve others, to join in the work and labors in that work, deserve recognition. However, there is one point that seems to be left out in many cases in our post-modern churches. Do those who are overseers, such as pastors and those who are deacons, refresh our spirits? We certainly think that pastors should and would, but what about our deacons, and again in our churches of today, we include deaconesses? Do they refresh our spirits? Maybe that is one of the primary roles of deacons, along with joining in the work. It also seems the church in general is supposed to submit to such individuals who join in the work and labor at it, refreshing our spirits. If they are being such individuals then we should recognize them as such, acknowledge them as who they are and what they do. 

Do Everything In Love

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

DO EVERYTHING IN LOVE

1 Cor 16:13-14

13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. 14 Do everything in love.

NIV

Now do everything in love. This is not the brotherly love, nor rather the Agape love demonstrated as a love feast or benevolent love. This Greek word is the one used to describe the love of God toward us. This is the same Greek word that Paul uses to describe what love is early in this letter. Having a benevolent type of love toward others is something entirely different than just saying, “I love you”. Jesus said that greater love has no man than to lay his life down for his friends. But then he was talking about himself and that is how much God loves us, to send Him to lay down His life for us. Still, it is the same Greek word that Paul uses, that Jesus used. But how can we lay our life down for our friends? If we lay our life down for our friends, what benefit is it for them? Certainly, the act of love Jesus demonstrated by laying down His life for us was of the greatest significance to us. Could this type of love Paul talks about here be metaphorical? That is by loving, we would put their needs ahead of our own. In that sense, we may not actually be laying our life down, but rather aside, at least momentarily. It would seem rather odd to never pursue our own path, always giving every moment of our time to helping others pursue their paths because we love them. However, this doing everything in love could very well go back to Paul’s definition in that love chapter. In essence, we would do no harm to our friends, our fellow believers, in fact, even nonbelievers, as in our neighbors, when we are told to love them as ourselves, or as Jesus loves us. Living life loving others is a Christ-like life. If we say we want to be like Jesus, what does that mean? Is it that we want the power of Jesus? Is it that we want the immortality of Jesus? Is it that we want to be perfect like Jesus? Perhaps the reason we want to be like Jesus, is so that we can love others as He does. So that we can do everything in love like Jesus did while He was on earth and continues to do in heaven. Loving others, doing everything in love, takes self-control, which is one of the fruits of the Spirit. We cannot do everything in love if we are not in control of our selves. Losing control leads to all sorts of problems that have nothing to do with love. So let us make every effort to do everything in love. Living to be beneficial 

Men of Courage

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

MEN OF COURAGE

1 Cor 16:13-14

13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. 14 Do everything in love.

NIV

Having warned to be on guard and stand firm, we now need to be men of courage and be strong. The more direct interpretation of the Greek would be to act like a man and have or increase in vigor. The idea is that God created men to have courage, to be strong and attack the world, stand up and fight like a man. God did not create a man to be weak and to be pushed around or to be a manse pansy type of person. It is certain Paul is not speaking to women here, or to all believers, but to the men. What has happened to the men? Have we forgotten to have courage, to take on the world, to be overcomers? Once again, the whole idea here is about the enemy of our soul. It is the responsibility of the men to guard their families against those attacks. At least this is what seems to be in the middle of this truth about acting like a man and being strong. We suppose this could apply to all believers, but the Greek language does not allow it to be so. This is only for the men of the church. Stand up and act like a man. Because that is the direct translation, we must understand how a man is to act or be like. We can be sure, because of other scriptures, there are certain behaviors and actions that men are empowered by God to have. They are to love their wives.  They must be the head of the household. They must be willing to lay down their lives for their family, as Jesus laid his life down for us all. Having courage or acting like a man also implies that men should be men. We know in this world there is a great movement to feminize men and take away or strip them of their manliness. The scripture does not oppose but rather instructs that all people are equal in the eyes of the Lord. From the beginning God took a rib from the man to make a woman, thus intending them to walk side by side through life. Still, today equality has been replaced with women wanting to dominate and even taking on the role of men in the world. Therefore, more women die of heart attacks than men do today. Too often men have abdicated their role designated by God and have become weakened with no courage, not acting manly or acting like a man. So let us first stand up and act like a man and be strong. Then we will be the men of God we were intended to be. 

Stand Firm

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

STAND FIRM

1 Cor 16:13-14

13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. 14 Do everything in love.

NIV

We have already focused on being on guard, or keeping watch as Paul gives these final remarks of instruction. He also tells them, and us, to stand firm in our faith. This sounds a lot like what he told the people in Ephesus when he informed them about God’s armor and kept saying they should take their stand, or stand their ground, or stand firm. The standing firm has to mean that we cannot ever retreat, or get pushed back, or get influenced or infiltrated by the ranks of the enemy.  We have, as they must have, many voices seeking our attention. We would never give up our faith in Jesus Christ for our salvation, that is a fact. But there are so many other issues within Christianity as we have seen within this letter. It is true the first and foremost truth is the gospel message of faith in Jesus Christ. Everything stems from that faith. There are a lot of things that can distract us from that truth, such as Paul said, especially those traditions of men. We can get so involved in the rules and regulations of men, thinking they give us a certain sense of righteousness, that it is possible we make them more important than faith in Jesus Christ. That is not to say everyone is like that, but we have to keep watch that we do not fall into the trapping of men, but rather stay focused on our faith. We have no other way to heaven, there is none who can attain righteousness through good works or righteous living. This does not mean we should go about sinning just because God will forgive us, but the fact remains we are not ever going to be good enough, righteous enough, sinless enough, to gain a right standing before God. How can we be pure enough in this fleshly form we now have? Oh, we look holy enough in church, or at least, we want to think we do. We would rarely if ever, admit we have sin in our life, although we all know each other is not perfect and still struggle in certain areas of our lives.  The fact is we cannot be moved from our faith in Jesus. He is not just a part of our lives, our faith is not just a part of our lives, Jesus is our life. Without Jesus, we have no life, only death. What good is life if all it leads to is death? What good is doing everything right if that is what we look to for life? What good are all our traditions, all our rules, and regulations if we look to them for life? Maybe we use Jesus as an excuse for all our traditions and rules, saying that because we believe in Jesus, we have to live according to these traditions and rules because we are commanded to live in a certain manner. That is how the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law lived. They believed in God, but Jesus told them they were just whitewashed tombs, looking good on the outside, but dead men on the inside. Standing firm means standing firm in our faith in Jesus and Jesus alone. It is never Jesus plus, this or that. It is Jesus and only Jesus who gives us life. No one is going to move us from that view, that faith. 

Keep Watch

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

KEEP WATCH

1 Cor 16:10-14

10 If Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am. 11 No one, then, should refuse to accept him. Send him on his way in peace so that he may return to me. I am expecting him along with the brothers. 12 Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity. 13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. 14 Do everything in love.

NIV

Once again, we have more of Paul’s concluding remarks, and some of them are regarding both Timothy and Apollos. It is interesting how humble Paul is considering what an enormous ministry he has among the gentiles. He wants both Timothy and Apollos to have the opportunity to serve, to work among the Corinthian church, and have an impact on them. He wants the church there to open their hearts to those two, showing them hospitality and love. However, Paul cannot help but also give them one last bit of instruction. First, he tells them to be on their guard. The Greek word here has the meaning of keeping watch, much in a military sense when the sentries would be standing guard over the army’s encampment. Guarding against the attacks from the enemy. This is exactly what Paul is admonishing them to do. To keep watch they do not fall prey to the enemy, even that enemy that lurks within, but more toward those warnings, he spent portions of this letter in detail on. To keep watch regarding evils like dissension, erroneous doctrines, false teachers, etc. To keep watch their souls were not ruined and their salvation endangered. This is a fair warning to all believers, which includes us. We too must keep watch. We should not get lazy in our guarding against attacks from the enemy of our soul. He is likened to a roaring lion roaming about to see who he can devour. He cares not about those who are not saved. He cares not about those who refuse to accept Jesus and live for their own pleasures, freely sinning against God. He is no enemy to them, but only to us, who believe. His attacks are aimed directed at us, and therefore God has clothed us in His armor. But even though we are fully clothed and ready for battle, it is incumbent upon us to keep watch, not to turn our backs, or fall asleep and be unaware of the danger that surrounds us or that is lurking in the dark waiting for the opportunity to shoot off a volley of flaming arrows. This would be one of those all-time good lessons to learn, keep watch, be on our guard. 

With Energy

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

WITH ENERGY

1 Cor 16:5-9

5 After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you — for I will be going through Macedonia. 6 Perhaps I will stay with you awhile, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go. 7 I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.

NIV

We are coming to Paul’s closing comments in this letter and much of these comments are of a personal nature. However, there are a few truths that we could glean here. The first is that he makes this comment about continuing to stay where he is, for the time being, because a great door for effective work has opened to him. The second is that there are many who oppose him. What we can learn here, is that we need to know that we are where we are supposed to be and one clue to that is we will have an open door before us for effective work. It is interesting, the Greek word translated here as effective is energes, which is easy to see how we get the English word energy. There was an opportunity for Paul to exhibit energy in his ministry there. So, it can or should be with us.  We can tell we are supposed to be where we are because we have a great deal of energy in our service among the people. This also seems to us, that if we are to have this energy, then we should not be just sitting and soaking. This is not to say we should not pay attention to the message of the pastor, but that each of us should have some form of ministry and we should be doing it with energy. If we have no ministry, no open door for effective work, then perhaps we need to move on to a new location where there is this open door. We know that sounds a little anti-productive within the church that has its interest in numbers, and the amount of giving or tithing that is done. It seems like some churches need more than effective workers, but rather effective giving members. But then maybe that is their open door and their calling is to give, to support all the ministry of others and they do it with energy. The other point is about those who oppose. There are always going to be people who oppose another’s open door. This is usually spawned by a downright difference of opinion or jealousy, envy, and even hatred of our open door and that we are so energetic about our work. But opposition is always going to be a part of life, even in the church. However, that should never be the reason to stop running full steam ahead through the open door the Lord has provided for us, working tirelessly with all the energy God has provided us with until the day we leave this earth. 

An Amount

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

AN AMOUNT

1 Cor 16:1-4

16:1 Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. 3 Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.

NIV

Certainly, we have maintained the principle of the tithe, which was an Old Testament command from God. The last mention of the tithe is in Malachi that command to bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so there will be meat in the Lord’s house, also contains a promise. God promised that he would open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that we would not have room enough for it. In addition, God promised that he would prevent pests from devouring our crops. It seems the church has made a lot more out of bringing the whole tithe into the church, then anything at all about God pouring our blessings so much that we would not have room enough to contain. However, in this letter to the Corinthians, there seems to be a slight difference between the tithe and his collection. It appears the tithe was for God, and this collection is for God’s people. Of course, the tithe was not about money but about a tenth of their harvest and their herds. Still, it was for the people as well. There are commands about giving the tithe to the Levites, widows, and orphans so they may eat. Today, we do not set aside a sum of money in keeping with our income, except that we have determined the amount should be a tenth. It does not appear Paul was limiting the people as to the amount to set aside to a tenth, but simply an amount in keeping with their income. Additionally, he was not setting a tenth as the minimum. This giving from our income should be a personal issue between us and the Lord. What the amount is used for still seems to be about the people. It is established the Levites should be cared for from the tithe, however, they were to tithe from their portion of the people’s tithe. It has been established that Pastors should receive and income from our giving in accordance with our income. Those serving the Lord in the church should be paid for their labor, they should not have to go outside the church for their income. There has been much made of using voluntary labor in the church, and surely that has to be, for we have established so many programs, it would be impossible to paid people to run them all. This was not the case in the early church. Yes, they cared for the widows in the distribution of food, as Stephen and others were chosen to do, but that is the only mentioned program. We have taken programs beyond anything mentioned in scripture. However, living a life of love may encompass many types of service not specifically mentioned. Nevertheless, it still remains incumbent upon us to bring an amount in keeping with our income into the storehouse. But it may not be up to us as to how it is dispensed. That might just be up to God.

We Love Change

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

WE LOVE CHANGE

1 Cor 15:50-58

50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 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. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 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."  

55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"  

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

NIV

It is absolutely impossible to get to heaven in the form or state of the human condition we currently are in. Our bodies are flesh and blood and are going to evidentially die. That is a fact and there is nothing we can do to change that. However, we have been born again, our spirit has been reborn into the family of God. Once our spirit was dead because of our sin, both the sin of Adam and our own personal sin. Now because our spirit is alive in Christ, we live in this temporary tent, this body which is mortal. This is not our home, nor is this world our home, we are just passing through, our treasures are laid up beyond the blue. We will lay this tent aside one day and leave it behind to be in that place Jesus has prepared for us. However, from these verses, we also get that truth which gives us how the resurrected of our bodies will be. There is the idea that when we die, we simply fall asleep, and we are not yet in the presence of the Lord. We are simply dead or sleeping until the sound of the last trumpet. Then we will be raised, in a new bodily form, a glorified body as Jesus was in when he was raised. Whether we are dead for a day or a thousand years, we will not know, as it will be when we sleep at night, we are not aware of sleeping until we wake. So what does it matter how we will enter the kingdom? On the other hand, it is said that if we are absent from the body, we are present with the Lord, so as we die, we step into eternity, in a flash, we are changed from being flesh and blood, which we leave, and become our spirit in some other form, and enter the presence of our Lord. Either way, death loses, and we give up mortality for immortality. We give up being perishable and become imperishable. We give up being corruptible and become incorruptible. Death has no hold on us, and we will not stay dead although we die, for we will live. This body will give out on us, but it is not who we are, for we are spirit. We also know that is the only way we can truly worship God, in spirit and in truth. How can flesh and blood, that is corruptible, perishable, and mortal worship God who is none of those things?

John 4:23-24

23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth ." 

NIV

These are the very words of God, and so let us understand that we are a spirit who can indeed worship God. This is fact and we will not be moved from the truth of God, nor will be moved from God or His presence. We will stand firm in our faith, never wavering from this truth, that even though we die, we will live. We love this change that has happened and will happen.

Changing Our Likeness

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

CHANGING OUR LIKENESS

 

1 Cor 15:44-49

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

NIV

It cannot be any plainer than this. We are born in the flesh as a descendant of Adam. We are a natural being with flesh as Adam became. We use this term, became, because we have to believe that God created Adam as a spiritual being with a body, but when Adam sinned, he became mortal, simple flesh as his spirit was dead in sin, or died in some sense because of sin. The immorality gave way to mortality. This is how we are born in the flesh, with the original sin of Adam, and we are mortal.  This is the reason for the need to be born again, our spirit must be reborn into the family of God. We are no longer like the first Adam, but we have been transformed into the likeness of the second Adam, Jesus. Although we have been transformed, we are also in a continual state of transformation into the likeness of Jesus. There is work to be done within us and God, who started that work, is faithful to complete it. We think that is one, if not the key to everything. It is God who works in us, and not us doing the work. We cannot bring about this transformation within ourselves. No matter how hard we try to be godly, or righteous, we are going to fail. This is not to say that we should continue to sin so God’s grace could increase, God, forbit! But the point is we also cannot live as a perfect human, free of all sin, for then there would have been no need for Jesus to die for us. We could have done perfection without him. We could have given up our inheritance from Adam and taken up our inheritance from Christ, doing all the work. But we cannot, it is the work of God. Without Jesus we would only be a living being, however, when we became born again, we were given life, eternal life. What a joy that will be, when our Jesus we will see. We are going to be in the full likeness of Him, which means we will be like a being from heaven, eternal. That is what God has done and is doing. He changed and is changing our likeness from Adam to Jesus.

 

Appearances

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

APPEARANCES

1 Cor 15:35-44

35 But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 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. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. 42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

NIV

There is more to be said about the difference between our natural body and our spiritual body, or our outer man and our inner man, but for now, let us just ponder on the idea of how that all plays out. It seems the general idea many believers have is that this body will be raised from the grave looking just like we look now, except perhaps in a younger, stronger, better-shaped version of who we are when we die. We wonder what age we will be, and how well in shape we will be. But Paul says that is foolishness. Although we are the form which God handcrafted us into and breathed His breath into us, giving us life, He created us with a form, but it is His breath that gave us life. We have this life, this inner man, our spirit, is what has life, which causes this form to have animation. In some sense what we are now is merely the seed of who we will be in heaven. As Paul says this seed, our body must die, and God will bring about the body he determines from the seed. We are now perishable and corruptible but when we die, we will be raised imperishable and incorruptible and, in a form, determined by God. We are going to have a spiritual body, not like this natural one. In all reality, we have no idea how we are going to look. But the fact remains, we will be raised in glory, with power and imperishable. We will be eternal beings, again of the design and crafting of God. We know that when Jesus was resurrected, he did not appear exactly as he did in the natural, for Mary did not recognize him until he called her name. He appeared within a locked room to his disciples, simple appeared. He did not walk in, or knock on the door, he just appeared, which a natural body cannot do. The two men on the road did not know it was Jesus, until he broke the bread at dinner with them, although that talked for miles on the road together with him. Maybe we get some wrong ideas from movies, such as “ghost”, When Patrick Swayze stays after death, to take revenge on his friend who killed him. He appears just like he was except with a glow or sorts. But the fact remains, from these verses, that we may not know how we will appear, but we will appear before God, and receive our reward, What we look like is not the issue, but the fact that we will be alive for all eternity in the everlasting presence of our Lord.

Do Not be Misled

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

DO NOT BE MISLED

1 Cor 15:29-34

29 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? 30 And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31 I die every day — I mean that, brothers — just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

"Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." 

33 Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 34 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.

NIV

Many of the scholars of old are in agreement that there is no agreement among scholars as to the interpretation of this passage, except to say it is one, if not the most, difficult passage to deal with. We are not about to spent pages and pages, which is what it would take to enumerate all the views that have been taken over the years. We will say there is not any empirical evidence found anywhere in the scripture that this practice of someone standing in proxy and get baptized for someone who had died without being baptized. Although, we do have knowledge the Mormon belief does practice this very thing, then again, they are not a Christian faith. This argument Paul is making continues on, and this is just a portion of his point. Nevertheless, what appears to have been going on in the church in Corinth was mayhem. They were out of control. Perhaps they were taking actions that were far from the truth of the gospel and being influenced by false beliefs and it appears by those who had no knowledge of God. We might take that warner, as to not be misled. We know that bad company corrupts good character. As parents, we try to guard our children against being involved with bad company because we know they will be misled down the wrong path. Yet, the question that we have to ask ourselves is whether we allow ourselves to be influenced by bad company, and in our case, that would be the influence of this world. Once again we could spend many pages in a dissertation of the many ways the world could influence us, but the best example is clearly defined for us in the first psalm. Blessed is the man who does not take counsel from the ungodly would be the first thing. Then we are warned not to walk in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers, or as we have determined that means, not to give God lip service. We would be blessed if we did not do any of those three. We cannot afford to allow the world’s way of thinking to infiltrate our thinking, our thought process. Although we should abide by the law of the land, that does not mean we abide by the ideologies of the land. They had strayed from the truth. We cannot do that. Being a believer in Christ is not incorporating Christianity into our life, but rather making our life about being in Christ, that is Christ is our life, not a part of it. This is not a balance beam, we cannot ride the fence on this one, keeping one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom of God. This is not adding Jesus to how we live. This is changing how we live in Christ. Again, this is not about the do’s and don’ts, but it is about not thinking about how we gain whatever by the methods the world uses. We cannot be misled.

We Live

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

WE LIVE

1 Cor 15:20-28

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 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. 28 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.

NIV

There is a resurrection because Jesus was resurrected and that is that, no question about it. It is interesting how some people think that because they are a good person that they will go to heaven when they die. But that is not the case. All of us were born in this life as a descendent of Adam and through his disobedience, he was cast out of the garden, or the paradise of God, and became a mortal man who would experience death. That means unless people are born again into the family of God through Jesus Christ, they are not going to heaven, but they will simply die, experience what it means to perish. Adam gives us death, but Jesus gives us life. It is also interesting that God, Theos, as the Greek word used here, gave all authority to Jesus. Paul means, by the word Theos, God the Father, who sent His Son, Jesus to destroy all dominion, authority, and power, which means of this world. This includes the devil and all his power over this world. Jesus will not only conquer the Devil but death itself. Because we are in Christ and He is in us, we do not have to fear death as we will live. Death as we know it, death of our body, is just a transition to life with Jesus in the place He has prepared for us. The other interesting point Paul makes here is that once Jesus accomplishes everything, which would include the battle at Armageddon and defeats the devil once and for all, throwing him into the lake of burning sulfur, and completing the destruction of this heaven and this earth and establishing the new heaven and new earth, Jesus will then yield all authority to the one who gave Him that authority. Although we will be with Jesus and although Jesus is God, it is the Father who is supreme over all things. It is still somewhat of a mystery as to God being three in one. God is the Father and God is the Son and God is the Spirit, but each of them is not each other but is all God. Nevertheless, even if we cannot fully grasp that in our finite minds, we believe it. The point is still the same. We are saved from death through Jesus and we will be resurrected from the dead because of Jesus. Death has no sting for us, it is just a path we travel. No problem with that, because Jesus lives so do we.