Faith in Jesus

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

FAITH IN JESUS

1 Cor 15:12-19

12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.  

NIV

There it is, we could not and will never be able to say it any better than Paul just did. There is absolutely no hope whatsoever if Christ was not resurrected. This life is meaningless unless there is eternal life to follow. What purpose does this life have if it was all there is? Why even bother to live at all, if when we die, we are lost forever? It is interesting the Greek word that is translated as lost here is the same word used for perishing, which means to be fully destroyed. If there is no resurrection then God has lied, and Paul has given false witness and we should throw all else that he has written out, cut it right out of the canon, and forget it completely. But that is not the case, for we have other eyewitnesses to the fact the God raised Jesus from the dead, He was resurrected and appeared to his disciples more than once, even cooked breakfast on the shore for them. Dead men cannot do that. Therefore, our faith is not useless. Our faith is real and founded on the truth of the gospel, that God sent His Son to earth, that Jesus was born of a virgin and lived and died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, as he paid the price we should have, death. He took our place and became the once and for all sacrifice for sin. He was buried and on the third day, he rose from the dead and appeared to many. Our faith is true and we can live with hope, which again, is not hoping as in wishing it is true, but hope as in having the confident expectation of what will happen to us when this body of ours finally fails us and it succumbs to death. That is not the end, we will not be lost, we will not perish or be fully destroyed, as we will be resurrected as Jesus was. He will come for us and take us to be where He is so that we may be there in that place He has prepared for us. What a grand place that will be, and what a wonderful time that will be when our Jesus we will see. When we see Him face to face, in all His glory and grace, what a wonderful day that will be. There is no faith worth anything unless it is faith in Christ Jesus However, faith in Jesus is everything.

Grace of God

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

GRACE OF GOD

1 Cor 15:9-11

9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them — yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

NIV

Whoever we are is by the grace of God. Paul makes that clear in this letter. He was a nasty man, as far as the new church was concerned. He was a Pharisee, a zealot who traveled in order to try to arrest any of the Jews who believed in Jesus. Therefore, let us consider just how a nasty person we were once and how we even refused to hear anything about God or did not want God in our life, so that we could do that which we pleased to do, without any restraints or standards set by some unknown, invisible, maybe even a figment of men’s making, god. But then He intervened and sent a messenger to tell us of His grace. Oh, the grace of God was pouring all over us and we became born again by His grace. It was His grace that brought us through so many times and has been transforming us over the years to who we are today and still, His grace continues the transformation until we reach heaven. It is the grace of God that is within us, that does the work. How thankful we are for what He has done for us and what He is doing in us and how he works through us to accomplish His plan for our lives. However, there is still this need for us to work as well. That is just as Paul said that he worked harder than all of them, which might well mean the other apostles, as he refers to himself as the least of the apostles. This could give us a clue as well as to how we should work for the kingdom of God. Yes, the grace of God works in us, the Spirit dwells within and He manifests His gifts as He sees fit, but we still need to get up in the morning and head out to do that which we have been called to do. We are not supposed to be lazy believers, just lounging around waiting for the grace of God to do something through us, as if it was some kind of magic trick or supernatural happening. Paul worked as being an apostle, a messenger of the Lord, bringing the grace of God to as many as he could. This is God’s grace effect, yet it is not us, but the grace of God that is in us. It sounds a little confusing. We are to work, yet it is not us, but the grace of God in us. What we do is the effect, or is caused by the grace of God in us. If we worked without the grace of God then all we do would be like any man, working in the flesh, meaningless, unfruitful work, that does not benefit the kingdom of God, but rather the kingdom of this world. So, we must hear the voice of the Spirit within and labor on for the kingdom of God under the influence of the grace of God.

Of First Importance

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

OF FIRST IMPORTANCE

1 Cor 15:3-8

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

NIV

There is some discussion surrounding the use of the phrase, “of first importance”. Some want to interpret this Greek as if it meant that Paul passed on what he received regarding Christ before anything else he said to them. But that is not the truest meaning of the Greek word, prootos, as it is best seen as the order of importance. This translation does fit that meaning as this project’s the truth of the most important aspect of Christianity is Jesus Christ crucified, buried, and resurrected. Everything else is secondary, and some things are even tertiary to that fact. It seems strange at times that so many spend so much time debating the secondary and tertiary points of Christianity and rarely mention that which is of first importance. Where would we be if we were never able to quote and believe John 3:16, yet it seems some would say that is overused and that we have to move on to the finer points of theology. But, just to think that God loves us all so much that He sent His Son to die on the cross for us, to be that sacrifice for sin, once and for all, so that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. Is there anything more important than that? It seems we what to spent so much time on how we have to live this perfect life, that we cannot ever make a mistake, or at least admit that we sin because that would make us look like we were not a “Good Christian”. It seems many people place more importance on how we live, rather than the reason we live. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, as our substitute for the penalty of sin, then we will not perish, but we will live and we should be living with thankfulness, gratitude, and glorifying Him with all our being. That is of the first importance. There is some discussion regarding what it means, “to perish”. We know that the general concept is that if we are not saved, and have eternal life, then we go to hell and are tormented for all eternity. But if we are tormented for all eternity then we still have eternal life, just not such a nice one. But the trouble is the Greek word translated perish means to be fully destroyed, and if we go back and look at the Hebrew word translated as perish, such as when the psalmist says the wicked will perish, it means the same thing, to be destroyed. It seems most take that metaphorically to mean, go to hell, rather than be destroyed. That is the denominational position and if we are members of such denominations that take that position, it would seem we should be in agreement with that position. However, we still have a problem with the word perish as well as the fact that hell is not an eternal place. We know, because of the revelation given to John that hell is thrown into the lake of burning sulfur and thus fully destroyed, no longer in existence. We know that devil, the beast, and the false prophet will be thrown into the lake of burner sulfur and will be tormented day and night for ever and ever, but they are eternal beings, we are not. Although it is also true that early in this revelation it says that anyone who worships the beast and his image will suffer in the lake of fire and the smoke of their torment with rises for ever and ever. But that may well be only those in those last days who worship the beast and take his mark. The rest of mankind may well be spoken of as experiencing the second death.

Rev 21:6-8

6 He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars — their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

NIV

So, it can appear that there is life in Christ, and death outside of Christ. That is eternal life, or eternal death, perish, to cease to exist, of course after many years of suffering and torment in hell, but nevertheless, to die first in the body, then second in the spirit. At least that is one way to see it, which may not agree with most denominational positions. However, we are confident of that which is of first importance, Jesus Christ died for us so that we can live forever and ever in the presence of God. Praise Him forever and ever. It does not depend on how good we are, or how perfect we can be. It does not depend on how obedient we think we can be, but rather we are saved through faith and faith alone in Jesus Christ, and not by ours works, so we cannot boast. No, we will live because of Jesus. That is of the first importance.

Stand and Hold Firmly

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

STAND AND HOLD FIRMLY

1 Cor 15:1-2

15:1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

NIV

It is imperative that we take our stand on the truth of the gospel, otherwise whatever we believe is in vain. We must hold firmly to the gospel, not letting go of it, not allowing it to be either diluted or polluted. It is possible it can be diluted by false teaching and preaching. When Jesus crucified, buried, resurrected, and ascended is not part of the story, then it has become diluted. When being saved is related to being a good person, the gospel has been diluted. When it is not mentioned that to even see the kingdom, much less enter it, and we have to be born again, when that is left out, the gospel has been diluted. There is so much truth regarding the gospel and we have to hold firmly to this truth. If we want the Lord to forgive us our sins, and to be declared holy and blameless in his sight, we must forgive all who have ever sinned against us, in any way whatsoever. If we do not then perhaps, we are believing in vain. There is so much that is contained in the truth because of the gospel, we would have to quote almost the entire New Testament. If we fail to love everyone as Christ loves us, then just maybe we are believing in vain. Then there is the pollution of the traditions of men. Oh how good we are at making up our own set of rules and regulations or denominational requirements, that are either a gross misunderstanding of scripture or a flat out misrepresentation of scripture. Jesus talked about how the Pharisees and teachers of the Law had abandoned the truth for their traditions. We cannot allow this to happen, yet it seems we may be guilty of allowing some traditions to creep into the truth of the gospel. It is clear to see traditions versus the truth because the truth never changes, the gospel is always the same, but traditions change with time, or change according to the changing culture or social climate. What was prohibited fifty years ago by either a dilution or pollution of the gospel is acceptable today thus those things taught or preached were not the truth but rather simply traditions of men. If we have done that over the past fifty or hundred years then what is to say we have not or are still not looking at traditions rather than truth and thus are believing in vain. Certainly, this was the case in Corinth, and they had only been believers for a short time. The church was still young, and it had already been subject to being diluted and polluted. Our post-modern Church has been at it for over two thousand years and we have gone through many changes because of either dilution or pollution of the gospel. So, we must shed off the traditions of men, and turn our backs on the false teachings and hold on to the truth no matter what. We must take our stand for the gospel and only the gospel, so our believing is not in vain.

Unresolved

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

UNRESOLVED

1 Cor 14:33-40

As in all the congregations of the saints, 34 women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. 36 Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? 37 If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. 38 If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored.  39 Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

NIV

This is a most difficult passage to come to grips with. Paul quotes or refers to the law as it relates to the Jewish Law, but these are not Jews, and this is a New Testament Church under the headship of Christ. This idea about women being silent in the church has wavered so far as if it has been completely ignored and never brought up, or at least brought up in the sense it was only meant for those women in Corinth. We even have women pastors today as well as very visible women tele-evangelists or speakers who have created great followers. Women in the church have been an equal force as men. They also serve on boards, become deaconesses, and participate in the leadership of the church. So how do we reconcile today’s church with these instructions for a New Testament church? The Prophet Joel does say the Lord says that after certain things, He will pour His Spirit out on all people, that both the sons and daughters will prophecy. This does fit into the day of Pentecost when the one hundred and twenty, which included women but does not explicitly say, were filled with the Spirit. God poured His Spirit on all people, men and, women and they went out in the streets of Jerusalem proclaiming the greatest of God in many languages, they had not known or learned. Still, we also have Paul giving Timothy instructions regarding not permitting a woman to teach or have authority over a man, and they are to learn in quietness and full submission. Again, we come to a quandary as to how should we interpret this truth. It is certain, the church, in general, has completely set this passage aside. Perhaps we should take into account the culture of that day compared to our current culture. It was not uncommon and even accepted that men would argue in the synagogue, debating the scriptures. However, this was Corinth, a major city of Greek culture and the church was not a synagogue nor were the people of Jewish background. This was a pagan city, a church of converted pagans and so really should not be under the Law of Moses or Jewish law whatsoever. Nevertheless, even in that culture, it was not permitted for women to debate in public, it was still considered a patriarchal society. We have most definitely moved well past that, and have, for the most part, equality. So then why would this be in the canon? Why would we consider this as scripture, the word of God, because it seems we have dismissed it alltogether, with, of course, the idea of everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way. Although some very learned men might see how to deal with this, it would appear we are not going to come to a resolution as to how this women issue might apply to our lives today, so we are simply going to have to leave it unresolved.

A Case For Worship

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

A CASE FOR WORSHIP

1 Cor 14:26-33

26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, two — or at the most three — should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God. 29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30 And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31 For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32 The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

NIV

This is the New Testament Church working in concert with the Spirit. Paul is giving them the basis for this listening to the Spirit who is not coming from a place of disorder but of peace. It is fair to say that this Corinthian Church had gotten out of control and it might well be described as mass confusion. However, what also may be fair to say is that the New Testament church of today has gone entirely in the other direction leaving the Spirit wandering around outside somewhere. Of course, this may be due to the idea that the Spirit has stopped manifesting His gifts as they were only needed for those early New Testament churches. It seems today we are putting all the burden on the pastor to do all the speaking and being the only one who gets any revelation. True even back then, an order would have been preferred, giving way to the leading of the Spirit and people within the congregation would participate in worship by praying in tongues, lifting God up, with an interpretation so that all can join in rejoicing in worship and be encouraged. This too would be the reason for prophecy, as we have already seen, to strengthen, encourage and comfort those who hear such words. Again, all these verbal gifts are under the control or should be under the control of the Spirit, so the purpose is to edify the church, to build it up, strengthen it, encourage it, and comfort it. If this is not happening, it would also seem right to think the church is asleep, weak, unencouraged, and without comfort, thus in some form of turmoil or pain, sick, crippled, and wandering aimlessly about without direction. Why does the church today not want to Spirit to have His way? Why must we refuse Him access to His church? It seems we simply come to sort of worship, but most likely just put in our time sitting in our designated spot long enough to hear the pastor’s sermon. Are all these instructions ignored, or have we simply reasoned them away as instructions only for that early church in Corinth? If that is the case, then why is this letter even part of the Canon? What purpose does it serve, other than the only short segment about love that is quoted at many weddings? If we quote then part, why not the rest? If we believe that short part of this letter about love, then why do we not believe all this major part about the gifts? Because God is a God of order, and of peace, it would seem right that we, being His creation, should be subject to His order and peace. This is not a judgment of any church, but just thoughts as to why the way we are today versus the way they were back in the early days of the church. Maybe we might need to reconsider how we worship. Do we worship under our control or under the control of the Spirit? This instruction may well simply be a case for worship.

God is Really Among us

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

GOD IS REALLY AMONG US

1 Cor 14:18-25

18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue. 20 Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. 21 In the Law it is written:

"Through men of strange tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me," says the Lord.

22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. 23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, 25 and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"

NIV

We have to take all of this in order to not get bogged down without the context. Paul is certainly not wanting them to stop allowing the Spirit to manifest His gift of tongues, as he does say that he speaks in tongues more than any of them in Corinth. The Spirit moves freely within Paul and he does not prohibit or quench the Spirit. However, from all the other references we understand that these Corinthians were out of control and may well been operating more in the flesh than in the Spirit, for we also know that Sprit is orderly and is not rude. These instructions are more to remind them to stay in step with the Spirit and that one of the missions of the church is spreading the good news about Jesus Christ. So then if a new person, who has yet to gain knowledge about God hears nothing but gibberish going on, he will not hear anything understandable about Jesus. This should give us a clue as to how we should conduct ourselves within a worship service. True, we sing in English and we rely on the pastor to bring some message pertaining to the scriptures, but does a new unbeliever fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”? How would an unbeliever think if he came into our church? Would he see and hear us prophesying? Doubtful, unless we actually believed in the gifts of the Spirit and did not quench Him, but rather gave Him free rein in our lives. Still, it seems that it falls in the church, not just the pastor to worship in a manner that an unbeliever would see God working among us. This would mean we cannot sit like bumps on a log but must actually worship our Lord in a manner it is visible or tangible enough to be seen or felt by an unbeliever. This is the whole point Paul is making here. We need to be seen and heard proclaiming the truth of God so that the heart of an unbeliever is laid bare and they will proclaim that God is really among us.