How Should We Live?

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

HOW SHOULD WE LIVE

1 Cor 9:3-6

3 This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. 4 Don't we have the right to food and drink? 5 Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas? 6 Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living?

NIV

Why would Paul feel that others are sitting in judgment of him? Those in Corinth must be expecting Paul and Barnabas to live to a different standard then all the other leaders of the church. And although it seems this is about Paul, Barnabas, James, Peter and the others, it is also about us.  Do we have the right to sit in judgment of how others are living? Do we have the right to expect certain people to live in any different manner then we do? Do we expect those who are leaders in the church to have less in their lives then us? Do we expect anyone to have less sin in their life than us? Do we expect or think that we have less sin in our lives than others. Do we feel like others expect that of us? It would seem this is all about equality. We are all sinners saved by the grace of God. We are all the same in the eyes of God as He does not show favoritism. Yet in our humanism we set up rules and regulations for the correct behavior and life style of certain people without regard for that same expectation of ourselves.  How is that possible? Who made any of us superior to another? Who gave us the right to put any restrictions on others that we are not willing to abide by? We must all live under the same grace and thus all of us should be equal. There is another truth here in the sense that those who lead the church should be taken care of by the church. Now of course in our modern culture it done in quite a different manner then in those days. I am sure men like Peter, James, John and the others were not on staff pulling down a weekly income commensurate with their respective positions of authority. Paul certainly wasn’t as he worked to support himself, which he is questioning why he must when the others aren’t. Yet it does seem that it is appropriate that those who serve the Lord in full time ministry or for that matter in part time ministry should be taken care of by those who have incomes from the normal course of working for a living in other fields of endeavor and are paid according to their skills and labor. God does say that a laborer is deserving of his wages. Those who labor for the Lord should be paid accordingly, but of course the question is always about paid staff and then all those who labor for God, but hold no official position. How do we care for those who do so much for God and others yet must also work for their own living? Would that be like the question which Paul is asking here? Lots of questions, and not sure we have lots of answers. Yet we do live in a different era, a different cultural, and certainly a different church. But should we settle for that as the answer to our inequality and judgmental attitudes? How do we deal with this? Once again, how should we live? 

What Are We Doing?

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

WHAT ARE WE DOING?

1 Cor 9:1-2

9:1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? 2 Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

NIV

Alright who of us is or has known an apostle? Have any of us every seen Jesus our Lord? Are any of us the result of his work in the Lord? Do we serve as a seal to his apostleship? So then what can we learn from this for our life today? This section surely serves as a defense made by Paul that he has the authority of God in what he says, but again how does this all apply to us? It is true Paul did not travel around the land with Jesus while he was here, as the others did, but Jesus appeared to him after. Perhaps Jesus has appeared to some of us in various ways, but surely that does not make us an apostle. But we could ask ourselves are there any people who are believers as a result of our work in the Lord. If there are any who are believers because of our work in the Lord, are we then apostles to them? The word Apostle simply means a delegate, especially, an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ which includes having miraculous powers, of course. We could fit into that category to some people if we shared the Gospel with them and they turned from their life of sin and are now following Jesus. The question is are we doing that or are we just being a believer, going to church on Sunday, and living our own little lives without every doing any work in the Lord ? Are we going out where it is messy and making a difference in anyone’s life? Or do we have the attitude it is us four and no more? Even if we are not out in the messy parts of the world sharing the Gospel message, are we even making a difference in anyone’s life inside the church, or once again, are we just going about our own lives, doing our own thing? If we learn anything at all from this passage we should be out there, somewhere making a difference in somebodies life, other than our own.  If we are too timid to speak up, maybe we could write a letters, create a blog, write a book, or reach out some other way. If we are too timid to speak up, maybe we should ask God, in the name of Jesus, to give us the miraculous power to say the words we need to say in order to make a difference in someone’s life. We really need to ask ourselves, “What are we doing”?

What Should We Do?

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

1 Cor 8:9-13

9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.

NIV

So there is it, the burden of responsibility falls on the shoulders of the stronger believer. Now this brings up a point we never actually deal with much in the church, the difference between those who have a strong faith and those who are weak in their faith. Does it mean some have more faith then others? Or is it rather we all have the same amount of faith but that some simply exercise their faith more than others. Just as we all have the exact same number of muscles in our body, but some are a lot stronger than others because their exercise and grow their muscles. Why would someone not what to grow their faith? Why do we have weak brothers and sister in Christ? Is there no one to help them exercise? In some sense it does seem a bit selfish in their part to remain so weak that those of us who have the freedom in Christ must restrict that freedom on account of their weakness. But that is the case and thus we should do what we should do. Although this passage is about that food which was offered to idols, that same principle could apply to all sorts of activities. Yet we are seeing here we of stronger faith should be aware of those who just can’t seem to get past certain customs of the life before Christ. Does that mean we should only refrain from eating that food, or living in our freedom, while in their presence? Would that then be sort of living a lie? Does that mean the Body of Christ is only as strong as the weakest member? What if the one with a weak conscience does not think it is right for him to give money to Satan?  Are those who invest in secular companies to line their pockets with gold, causing the weak brother to stumble? What if the one with the weak conscience does not think it right to continue to go to the movies, or drink wine, or smoke, or for men to have long hair, or for woman to wear makeup, or whatever else they think is of the world? What are we to do then? Are those who subscribe to a set of antiquated denominational rules and regulations the strong ones or the weak ones? Are those rules and regulations actually outdated? For the most part many of them are based on the Word of God, yet some are not. What should those is us who feel that freedom in Christ do? What should we do?

No Worse No Better

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

NO WORSE NO BETTER

1 Cor 8:7-8

7 But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

NIV

Whenever we come to Christ from a past life of living accustom to certain ideas which we thought were the truth, we have to make some changes in our though process. There were people in Corinth although they had accepted the Gospel and supposedly turned from their former life, still could not get over it. Paul was speaking specifically about food that had been sacrificed to idols, but there are a lot of things in the world as sinners we become rather accustomed to. We might even be in the same sort of circumstances as some of those people in Corinth. When we come to Christ, a whole new set of rules and regulations are set forth for us, some based on the Word of God, others based on what men think should be the appropriate manner we should behave, forgoing certain activities, and certain foods. It would appear that once saved, at last according to some, we should no longer smoke, drink alcoholic beverages, go to movies or dances and at one time, no mixed bathing, which is being on the beach with the opposite sex. But let is stick to the food stuff, like drinking for example. It would appear whether we drink wine or not drink wine it does not bring us any closer to God. We will learn from the next passage tomorrow we do have some responsibility to each other, but for now let us simply deal with our relationship with God. However we approach these ideas, that we think are not acceptable behavior, or activities we need to know how God feels about them. It may be true for some drinking wine simply goes against everything they believe, and for sure they should not every drink wine. But for others it carries not such stigma and feel no such compulsion from God. That kind of thing just does not matter in our relationship with God. Now surely the sin which is laid out in the scripture does, such as bitterness, unforgiveness, gossip, greed, as well as a host of other attitudes which some people seem to overlook, but certainly frown upon drinking and consider it a sin. When it comes to food and drink it simply is a personal conviction, but not one from God. It simply does not influence our relationship with Him, we are not better off if we refrain, or whether we don’t. But don’t forget about what is coming next. Some may have more freedom in their faith then others, but do we have any responsibilities in that? Yet we are no worse or nor better.   

Living For God

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

LIVING FOR GOD

1 Cor 8:4-6

4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

NIV

Is there any question about the fact there is but one God? Surely in Corinth there must have been the practice of worshipping the sun, moon, stars, rivers, trees, as well as other of their man made images of what they supposed some deity of their imagination looked like. Surely we do not place any value on anything in our world or give it a place of honor or worship it. We are surely aware of the scripture that we should not put any gods before our God. But the thing is He is not our God, He is God. We did not manufacture God, indeed He made us. He is the one and the only real God. We have no problem agreeing that all things made were though Him. We do not accept that foolish notion of the earth just happening all by itself, and that we eventually slithered from some pit of slime. We know God made the earth and the entire universe and we know He formed us as we are, in His image. We understand there is but one God for whom we live. Well there might be the rub. Do we truly live for Him? What does it mean to live for God? How does that look? It seems we sure do a lot for ourselves in this life. It seems we spend a far gather amount of time focused on our ambitions and desires than we do on living for Him, even though we are not sure what living for Him looks like. Could it be the difference between seeing how God benefits us or how we can benefit God? That may sound odd, us being a benefit to God. With God being the most all powerful being ever, how can we His creation be of any benefit to Him? In a world that may not know Him, at least as we do, we could be His ambassadors and introduce them to Him. That would benefit Him. In a world that may know of Him, we could bring glory and honor to Him for all we are, all we have and all we do. Do we tell people what we have done, or what we have, or what we just bought, or how we did this or did that, or do we give God all the credit? Do we tell others of what God has done in us, what He has given us, what He is empowering us to do? If we live for God and through Jesus Christ then perhaps we should look, talk and act as if we do. We should be living for God. 

Puff or Love

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

PUFF OR LOVE

1 Cor 8:1-3

8:1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But the man who loves God is known by God.

NIV

Although this is the beginning of a complete thought about not causing a brother to stumble by doing something, it has its own stand-alone truth as well. We certainly have more than enough institutions of higher learning among all the various denominations within our country to gain far more knowledge about the scriptures than we may ever have in the past. But to what gain is that? It would appear if a person has not attained certain degrees from those certain institutions, that person is not qualified to be a professional minister. We also have a number of people who believe the more you know the better a Christian you will be. Being able to quote scripture, naming chapter and verse is surely a sign of a mature believer. But here we see that all that does is puff us up. All this knowledge simply makes us feel better than those who do not have the knowledge. Do we look down at them as being inferior or simply not interested enough in God to learn about Him? Does all that knowledge enhance us or does it bring glory to God? Have we placed knowledge on the throne of our lives? Let us remember that knowledge puffs us up. Sure, knowledge is not a bad thing in and of itself, but it is what we allow it to do to us which can be bad. We are far better off, with or without that knowledge to simply love. We need not know anything about the scriptures in order to love. If we understand the love of God, if we have experienced His love toward us, then we possess all we need in order to love God and love others. Does a great amount of knowledge increase God’s love toward us, or ours toward Him? Does knowledge cause us to be known by God? It is for certain that is all we do is love God we will for certain be known by God. And if we love others, we will neither offend them in word, thought or deed. That is the basis of all knowledge. God did not establish institutions, he established love. Should we puff or love?

Pure Hearts

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

PURE HEARTS

1 Cor 7:39-40

39 A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. 40 In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is — and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

NIV

It would seem a personal opinion yet also as coming from the Spirit of God. This is the last of the dissertation about marriage and singleness and it would appear the whole of the idea is that divorce is not on the table. Remarriage in the case of death is acceptable, but surely not in any other case. Why a woman would be happier if she remains a widow is certainly a strange concept to understand. We might think that people are happier in general if they do not have a spouse to love and to be loved by if we read between these lines. Yet we also see that if a women should lose her husband through the nature course of death, she may remarry, but only to another believing man. Once again, it would seem strange that a woman who has lived her life loving the Lord alone side a man who loves the Lord would even consider yoking herself to an unbeliever in marriage. Marriage requires work to be a relationship which is acceptable in the eyes of God even with both partners being believers. How much severe the relational condition if only one is a believer. We also know there is other scripture which instructs widows to remarry if they are of child bearing age, but if well beyond that age to stay a widow and serve the Lord more fully. Of course even being a widow we can see that if she excepts any assistance from the church that she would have to have met the qualifications enumerated in that same passage. But staying a widow if older she is still admonished to serve the Lord with all her heart. That is a widow should not become a busybody, a gossip but get involved wholehearted in some area of service. She should not be content to simply be all about herself. That is why we see here that Paul believes she should stay a widow so she can be of greater service to God. Yet once again we are brought to this issue that if married she is to stay married as most vows include, until death do us part. This would also imply that is we cross reference that other scripture the married woman should already be one who is faithful to her husband, well known for her good deeds such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds. We surely would think that any woman with those qualities who becomes a widow would not have to wait long for another man to desire to marry her. So we are left here with the same idea, marriage is good, singleness is good, each should make up their own minds as to want is best for them in order to serve the Lord with a pure heart.