Category: 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians Part 7. Excommunication? 1 Cor 5:1-13

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Corinthians, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment


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One of the reasons I think it is good for us to learn about the letter of 1 Corinthians, is that it challenges us at times to look at things we might prefer to ignore. I find chapter 5 to be one of those places.

Imagine you are a doctor. You have a patient who comes regularly. One day you notice a growth under his arm. You run some tests, and find out that this growth is a cancerous tumor. You could remove it with surgery. You might also have to treat the patient with chemo or radiation afterward. Instead, you say, “No, let’s leave it alone. If we remove it with surgery, that will be a big hassle for the patient, not to mention all the mental trauma he will feel if we tell him he has cancer.” Of course, such a doctor would not deserve to practice medicine.

This is almost exactly what has happened in the Corinthian church. There is a cancer of sin growing in their church. Now, let’s be clear. It’s not just that someone has sinned. The New Testament makes it clear that no one is perfect, and we all fail at times. But in Corinth, a church member is living in sin. He is persisting in a sinful lifestyle openly with no attempt or intention to change.

The sin here is something that Paul calls (in the Greek) “porneia.” You may recognize that our English words“porn” and fornication are based upon this term. In the New Testament, “porneia” means any kind of sexual activity between people that takes place apart from couples who are married to each other. In this particular case, a man and a woman who aren’t married to each other are engaging in sexual activity. It is a man and his father’s wife – probably his step-mother.

This isn’t an isolated incident. It is a repeated pattern of behavior. Even worse, no one in the church seems to have anything to say about it. In fact, Paul says “and you are inflated with pride instead of filled with grief.” This could mean that the Corinthians are proud in general (which Paul has already chided them for), but in context, it appears that they are actually proud of the fact they have welcomed and accepted someone with an immoral, and even incestuous lifestyle.

Paul says instead of pride, they should have been filled with sorrow. This is important to pay attention to. Even when a judgment must be made and action must be taken, it should not be done with anger, or even righteous indignation. The presence of a fellow-Christian who persists in a pattern of sinful behavior, should be cause for mourning in the church. It should cause us grief to have to take an action that makes a person aware of their sinful lifestyle. It should cause us grief that this person may have to leave the church.

Paul says that if the Corinthians had appropriately responded and been filled with this grief, the one who was doing this would be “removed from among you.” The Greek word used for “removed from” is an unusual one, and it occurs only twice in the entire New Testament, both times in this passage. The transliteration is “exairo.” I suspect that our English word “excise” comes from this term. The idea is exactly like the removal of a tumor.

Without wasting any more words, Paul tells them what they must do. The next time they meet as a church, they are to “hand over that person to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord.” This is obviously a strange and difficult command. But it isn’t the only place in the New Testament where this idea is given. Paul writes to Timothy:

Hymenaeus and Alexander are among them, and I have delivered them to Satan , so that they may be taught not to blaspheme. ( Timothy 1:20)

It is difficult to know exactly what Paul means by these statements. He says to the Corinthians that this is for “the destruction of of the flesh.” It could mean the literal destruction of his body. Sexual promiscuity always carries with it a risk of disease, and in those days, before modern medicine, many people died of sexually transmitted diseases. So Paul could mean that. However, that was not exactly a sure proposition, and Paul often uses the term “flesh” to mean the impulses, habits and decisions associated with a sinful lifestyle. The idea then, would be that this man would indulge himself fully in a “flesh oriented” (sin-oriented) lifestyle until he is sick of it. However, this is also a tricky proposition.

I think there are two things that we can definitely know from this verse, however. The first is that the man is to be “handed over to Satan.” The idea in the Greek words is that this individual will no longer be entrusted to the care of the church, but instead, “entrusted to” or “committed to” the devil.

The New Testament clearly teaches that we are in a spiritual war. During the second world war, the Japanese soldiers continued to fight long after it was obvious that Japan could not possibly win. In fact, they typically fought to the death in individual battles, even after it was clear that the battle was lost. It is the same with the powers of evil. They have lost the war. But they will fight until Jesus returns and destroys them forever. So the picture here is this: the church is turning out this unrepentant man – sending him over to enemy lines. He will no longer have the protection or care of the kingdom of God, or of God’s people. He isn’t their responsibility any more. He will now be in the realm that is dominated by the Enemy. If you aren’t in God’s kingdom, you are the mercy of Satan’s realm.

Second, the purpose of all this is: “so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” In other words, they aren’t turning him over because they are angry, or because they hope the worst for him. Instead, they are hoping for a positive result, the best possible result.

Now, the obvious question is, “how will turning him over the the realm of the devil cause him to be saved?” I think the hope is that this man will see the contrast between his life before he started down this path, and what it is like after. The idea is kind of like a medical diagnosis. If a person comes in limping into the doctor’s office, and an ex-ray reveals a broken leg, the doctor has a responsibility to tell the patient that her leg is broken. Perhaps the patient doesn’t want to believe this, or feels it isn’t a serious problem. The doctor can’t force treatment on her. But he can warn her, and refuse to give her something for the pain until her bone is properly set. Maybe if the patient limps around in pain for a few more days, she’ll decide she’d be better get the cause of the problem taken care of.

It’s the same idea here. A repeated pattern of an unrepentant, sinful lifestyle is a serious problem for spiritual health. If a person refuses to even repent and try to address the issue, maybe they need to experience the consequences of their behavior, with the hope that they will come back and repent.

There is another aspect to all this. The first thing, as we have said, is that the unrepentant sinner is putting his own spiritual life in danger. But the second aspect is that tolerating this sort of behavior within the church is a danger to the others who are part of the church. Paul says, “Don’t you know that a little yeast permeates the whole batch of dough?” In other words, when the church begins to compromise, it is a serious problem that has far reaching effects. Compromise, false doctrine and sin have a way of spreading. Just as a little yeast can affect a large ball of dough, so a little compromise can affect a church. For the good of the individual, and for the good of the church, Paul tells them to remove the person who won’t repent.

This is not the only place in the New Testament that tells Christians to take these sorts of actions:

15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault when the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have regained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others with you, so that at the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, treat him like a Gentile or a tax collector. 18 “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven. 19 Again, I tell you the truth, if two of you on earth agree about whatever you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. 20 For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:15-20)

There is an aspect to this that churches often miss, and it is because these miss this point, many Christians are held in contempt. Paul makes it very clear in verses 9-13 that this teaching is for dealing with unrepentant, persistent, lifestyle sinners within the church. This is not an approach we take with those who are not Christians, those who are not a part of the church. Paul says: “For what is it to me to judge outsiders?”

Too many churches do this backwards. We preach sermons about all the sin and immorality in the world around us. We talk about the problems of others. But we don’t address the problems within our own group. That’s one reason Christians are called hypocrites all the time. We point out the sin of people who have nothing to do with us, and ignore the persistent, unrepentant sin of our own friends and fellow-christians. It’s like a mother who keeps telling everyone else to discipline their children, while all the while, her own children are running wild.

There is sin and immorality in the world – don’t be surprised about that, and don’t get sucked into it. But it is none of my business if a man who is an atheist wants to live an immoral lifestyle. Telling him he is living in sin won’t accomplish anything, since he doesn’t even believe in sin. However, it is my business if someone in our own church is persisting in sin and is not repenting from it. It is your business too, if you are part of the church.

Now, I want to reiterate something. I’m not talking about picking on everyone who fails in a moment of weakness. Paul is talking here about a Christian who is willfully continuing to do what he knows is sinful. He is persisting in it, and he is not repentant. It is not a moment of weakness, but rather, a continuing pattern of behavior. We need to use the same guidelines. If I see someone in our church drunk once, I might talk to him about it, or maybe I’ll just pray for him. But when I see that getting drunk is a regular part of his lifestyle, a pattern of behavior, we’ll talk for sure. And if he refuses to repent, and claims that it isn’t sinful and it isn’t a problem, then I will be filled grief, as Paul said the Corinthians should be, and, depending on his response, that grief might have to lead to separation.

Now, there is one thing nowadays that makes this all different from when Paul wrote this. When Paul wrote, there was only one church in Corinth. They probably met in several different homes, but they saw themselves as a single church. So the persistent, unrepentant sinner who was kicked out, had no other church to go to. He couldn’t feel good or spiritual about himself by just showing up at a different church where no one knew him.

Nowadays, that is exactly what some people do. They leave one place if they are confronted with their persistent, unrepented sins, and go somewhere else where no one knows them. I only want to say this: spiritually speaking, they are playing with fire. That is like going to a new doctor, because your old doctor wants to treat the disease that is killing you, instead of just giving you pain medicine to alleviate your symptoms. You might be able to cover up your symptoms somewhere else, but you’ll only end up dead.

So, what does this mean for us today? I think there are two major applications, just as Paul had two major concerns. The first is for us as individuals. Is there any way in which we might be persisting in a sinful lifestyle? By the way, I think that at any given time, the answer to that for the majority of disciples would be “no.” But it is possible that someone reading this might be caught in a persistent pattern of sinful behavior – sin that you are not repenting of. If so, now is the time to repent. All we need is in Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, your spirit is already perfect. Let the Spirit rule, not your flesh. Repent, seek help from other believers, and leave it behind.

The other application is how we view sinful behavior in others. The sins of those who do not claim to be Christians are not really our business. Of course we should pray for those people, and try to lead them to Jesus, but there is no purpose in telling them to stop sinning if they don’t even know the Lord.

If we notice a fellow-disciple fail, like we all fail from time to time, we should pray for her. Maybe we could also ask her if she needs help or encouragement. We could remind her that she is forgiven, and already made perfect in her spirit in Jesus.

If we notice a persistent pattern of sinful behavior in another believer, we need to prayerfully take the steps that Jesus and Paul give us.

1 Corinthians Part 6. Liberation Theology? 1 Cor 4:7-16

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Corinthians, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment


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I was preparing this week to move on to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. However, I think the Lord suggested that I take an opportunity presented by the text in chapter 4. Verses 7-16 address an issue that has become more and more important in churches in the United States.

About 10 years ago some very dear friends of ours felt that the Lord was calling them to take a step of faith. He had a good job in the software industry, which allowed her to stay at home and raise the kids, and home-school them – something which they both felt was important. He quit his good job to launch out into a new career as a Realtor. He was positive that the Lord was calling him to do this. A year later, they were $30,000 in debt and on the brink of losing their home. She had to go back to work. He found a job painting houses, where he worked long hours at something he liked less, for less money.

Another couple we know had a dream farm in the country. He built this house on his own land, the land he grew up on. He has incredible skills – he can build or fix just about anything. But they felt the Lord calling them to start a home-school publishing business. To make a long story short, they lost their home, and ended up living in a campground in a 5th wheel trailer with five kids.

Now, what do you think when you hear these types of stories? I know what I thought – they must not have heard correctly. I came to this conclusion for two reasons. First, I thought they had made a mistake because things did not go well with them financially. Second, I thought they had made a mistake because they had no outward success in doing what they felt God had called them to do.

You see, I didn’t want to believe that God might deliberately call his people into a situation that was difficult. I didn’t want to believe that you could hear God correctly and follow him with your whole heart, and end up looking like a failure.

And then it happened to Kari and me. I can’t describe how much prayer went into our decision to leave our congregation in Minnesota. Our decision to move to Tennessee was drenched in prayer and godly counsel. And for three years it looked like one of the most stupid things either of us had done in our entire lives.

We were victims to what I call the American version of Liberation Theology. I personally know dozens of people who are influenced by this false teaching today. Liberation theology in other countries, maintains that the primary reason Jesus came was to bring political liberation to people who are oppressed. They don’t really emphasize the business of sin and forgiveness that much, or the fact that all humans seem born with a spiritual hole in their hearts. Instead, they point to various passages, most of them in the Old Testament. If you take these passages out of context, and apart from the rest of the Bible, you could make a case that their message is one of liberation from political and social oppression.

In America, we laugh at the foolishness of this, since we aren’t very oppressed (yet). But even so, we have a version of this, and it based on the same basic error. That error is to believe that God is primarily interested in making this earthly life comfortable for us. And so in America we either imply, or teach explicitly, that God wants to “bless” you. And we usually assume that the “blessing” means financial stability and growth, physical health, success in our efforts and a generally pleasant life. In case you wonder if many people really think this, let me share some words from a very popular “bible” teacher:

  • “Your faith will cause you to overflow in possessions, health, etc.”

  • “Having no [financial] increase renders you useless to the kingdom of God”

  • “The Word of God is the highway to the world of wealth”

These are not just quotes taken out of context. They are representative of the teaching of this man who has an extensive “ministry.” I know people from our town who attend his conferences. In addition, there is a widespread acceptance of the basic premise that faith is about God helping us get more comfortable. There is a little book called The Prayer of Jabez. It sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and it was basically about how we should expect God to bless us with outward success. There was another movement that started with a biblical approach. They were called “The Word of Faith” movement, and their basic idea was, that if God promised something, we ought to claim it, and believe that through faith, we have what is promised. So far so good. But gradually, that movement has gotten more and more focused on shallow, limited-situation promises that have to do only with this life.

Kari and I have attended church meetings here in Lebanon where the preachers said clearly that disease and trouble was a result of sin in our lives. They said if we lived as true Christians, we wouldn’t experience disease or financial hardship. The bible has a lot to say about this. It calls people who teach such things:

“…men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think godliness is a means to financial gain” (1 Timothy 6:5)

Even so, these teachings and teachers are very popular. They are popular precisely because they say what we are so eager to hear: that life is all about me and my personal comfort. Paul writes this to Timothy about such things:

Proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:2-4)

Now, it is true that following Jesus will bring you blessing. You will be blessed in that you were created for a relationship with God, and so through faith in Jesus, you enter into the very reason you exist. You were also created to do certain things in this world – to work with God and God’s purposes here and now. As you submit to that purpose and do those things you were made to do, you will experience a sense of fulfillment and joy. The Holy Spirit brings healing and wholeness to our Spirits, and that healing is meant to flow down into our psyches – to restore us each one as the unique person she or he was intended be.

It is also true that sometimes God bring physical healing. Sometimes he does other miracles that improve our lives here and now. But the Bible is clear that God’s purposes for us will only be truly fulfilled after the end of the world, when we inhabit resurrection bodies in the New Heavens and New Earth. In other words this life is not about this life.

This is exactly part of the message of 1 Corinthians 4:7-16. Paul takes the Corinthians to task for thinking they are like Kings, for thinking that they have already, in this life, achieved all that God has for them. Their attitude has been like that of many American prosperity preachers, or Liberation Theologians. In contrast, Paul shares a little bit about what his life has been like, following the Lord faithfully. So one popular teacher in our time says “Your degree of Soul Prosperity determines how well you prosper in other areas of life.” The apostle Paul says:

Up to the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless; we labor, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we respond graciously. Even now, we are like the world’s garbage, like the dirt everyone scrapes off their sandals.

Either the apostle Paul, who wrote half of the New Testament, did not have a good relationship with Jesus, or these teachers are wrong. Paul also said this:

If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone. (1 Cor 15:19)

I understand that this life can get grindingly hard and crushingly depressing. I know there is grief here that cuts like broken glass. Sometimes, you can’t help caring deeply about the difficulties you face. The Lord does offer comfort here and now. Sometimes he brings objective relief into our circumstances. But we must never accept the idea that what we experience for 70 or 90 years here in this life matters more than the future of unbroken eternity that we face when life is over.

Paul suffered hardship, as he recorded here. His faith did not bring him riches. It did not even bring him physical healing (2 Corinthians 12:6-9). But it did bring him joy and comfort. And never forget this – Paul’s sufferings ended – completely – almost 2,000 years ago. Even if he lived for 100 years and suffered every day of it, he has been in the presence of God for twenty times that long already. And this is what life is like for Paul today:

Look! God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.

1 Corinthians Part 5: Judgment. 1 Corinthians chapter 4

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Corinthians, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Jesus, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment


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In these first few chapters of Corinthians, Paul has been taking the Corinthians to task for their underlying spiritual immaturity. One manifestation of that immaturity is that they were splitting up into little cult-like groups following one particular leader – even though the leaders were absent, and did not wish them to behave that way.

Last time we looked at how Paul said to them that there is only one foundation – Jesus Christ – and that Christians will receive (or not receive) rewards for how they build upon that foundation. The passage we will look at this time is a continuation of those thoughts, which all come in the broader context of the pride and immaturity of the Corinthians.

If you remember, at the very beginning of this letter, Paul opened with a reminder of all that the Corinthians had in Christ. In Christ, they were perfect. In Christ, they had all wisdom, all spiritual gifts. Once more, Paul pauses to remind them of this. In fact, he points out how foolish it is to exalt one apostle above another, because all them, their teachings and their “style” belong to the Corinthians through Jesus Christ. So he writes:

21 So then, no more boasting about mere mortals! For everything belongs to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. Everything belongs to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Once again, the answer is not for the Corinthians to reform themselves – it is to go back to the well – to find their strength, their joy, their very life, in Jesus Christ. If they do that, they will be building wisely upon the foundation of Christ, and there will be no purpose in splitting up to follow the various apostles as if those apostles somehow meant anything apart from Jesus. They already have everything in Jesus.

Paul closes out this entire first section of the letter with chapter 4:1-21. There are two things I want to look at in this section.

By the way, as we go through this book I want to point out that I am not covering every little thing that could be covered in every single verse. Mostly, I am trying to listen to the Holy Spirit, and see what he wants to say to us, at this time, through this part of the bible. I am consciously by-passing some things that we could examine at greater length. Hopefully, I am doing that as the Spirit leads.

The first (and main thing) I want to examine today are Paul’s words about being evaluated, (or as some translations say, judged). Paul says he and Apollos are examples for all believers in this respect. He says that we are servants of Christ and managers of God’s mysteries. He goes on:

In this regard, it is expected of managers that each one be found faithful. It is of little importance that I should be evaluated by you or by a human court. In fact, I don’t even evaluate myself. For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. The One who evaluates me is the Lord. Therefore don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.

Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the saying: “Nothing beyond what is written.” The purpose is that none of you will be inflated with pride in favor of one person over another.

In Western culture today, there is a great deal of confusion about judging. One of the most misused and misunderstood verses of the Bible is Matthew 7:7 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.” This does not mean we can’t call sin, “sin.” It doesn’t mean that we can’t say what the Bible says, which is that the only way to be saved is through faith in Jesus Christ. For example, when confronted with someone who says “All religions lead to the same God and the same heaven,” I don’t need to pass judgment. I can simply say what the Bible says: “Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, the Life. No one comes to the Father except by me.” Acts 4;12 says “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.” I am not judging anyone. I am simply repeating what the Holy Spirit has already said. I don’t have to do it in an attitude of condemnation. I can simply pass on the information that the Spirit has given me through the Bible.

If I say “adultery is wrong” I am not making the judgment – I am simply affirming what the Holy Spirit Himself said through the Bible. Actually, it is when I insist on saying something that the Bible does not say – like that all roads lead to heaven – that I am making that judgment myself.

So when Jesus said not to judge, and when Paul says human judgment doesn’t matter, they are not saying we should just ignore the Bible – in fact, they are saying the opposite – let God do the judging, not our own biased opinions. In fact, in the very next chapter, Paul is going to apply God’s Word to someone who is sinning. He will call a certain behavior sin. He will tell the church to have nothing to do with the sinner until he repents. This is not judging someone – it is simply saying what God has already said. The actual decision of that person’s eternal future is still up to God.

In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul is talking about a specific kind of judgment – we are not judge someone else’s Christian life and service when sin is not an issue. He said the same thing in Romans 14.

Who are you to pass judgment on someone else’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand (Romans 14:4)

What Paul is saying is this: “You Corinthians are picking sides, and saying ‘Apollos is better than Paul. Paul is better than Peter.’ But Apollos, Paul and Peter are not accountable to you. God will judge how well they have served him. Your judgment about that is irrelevant.”

There is a lot of freedom as we walk with Jesus. There are many things that the Bible neither commands, nor forbids. For instance, not to shock you, but the Bible does not forbid smoking. I think we all know that smoking is extremely bad for your health, so it’s definitely not a good idea to do it. But if you are already hooked, understand this: You may be killing yourself physically, but you aren’t sinning every time you light up. We are not supposed to judge each other on these matters.

There are other things which are important, but which bible believing Christians disagree upon, and have for centuries. We all agree that baptism is important. But there is some discussion about how to do it, and what it means. I think what the Holy Spirit is saying to us through passages like these, is “follow me to the best of your understanding, and don’t condemn others who have a different understanding than you.”

We make evaluations based upon outward appearances. We looked at this a few weeks ago when we studied 1 Cor 1;26 – 2:16. We see a person with an outwardly successful life, and say “she’s doing well.” Actually, that’s judgment we aren’t qualified to make.

I don’t think New Joy has a problem with this, but you’ve probably been in churches in the past where people were judged based upon the clothes they wore to church.

Sometimes, it’s a positive judgment. But this isn’t any more right than a negative one. We might judge a person who does a lot of outward good works to be Holy. People are always surprised when a Deacon at the church who volunteers at homeless shelters suddenly turns out to be a child-abuser, or runs off with his secretary. This surprises us because we are making judgments we have no right to make. We’ve judged the man “good” by what he does on the outside.

We often make judgments based upon our traditions, our culture or what we are used to.

Churches are usually fairly traditional. By that I mean, many churches place a great value on tradition. That’s often a very good thing. However, because of this value of tradition, we may tend to have a negative view of things and people that are different from those traditions. The Bible claims that it is the revelation of God. It is different from, and has authority over, human-made traditions. So just because something is traditional, does not necessarily mean it is biblical. And something that we view as not traditional (according to our traditions) may in fact be more biblical than our traditions.

Paul’s emotional discourse after he makes these statements shows us something about the effect of making judgments. Even though Paul does not regard their evaluation of him as valid, it is still painful to be wrongly judged by others. Paul says it is of little importance that he should be evaluated by the Corinthians (4:3). I believe he means it, and was inspired by the Holy Spirit to say it. At the same time, though the evaluation of the Corinthians was not important to him spiritually, I think it is safe to say that Paul was deeply hurt emotionally by their attitude toward him. He is saying, in a godly and righteous way, that he deserves better from them.

Our brothers and sisters deserve the same from us. We can – in fact we must – say what the bible says. There are times when we need to point to brothers and sisters that their behavior is against what the Holy Spirit teaches through the Bible – Paul himself does that many times in this very letter, following this section. But even so, the actual judgment of that person is God’s responsibility, not ours.

Even more, we have no business bringing our evaluation or judgment to another believer when neither sin nor biblical truth is an issue. My sister in Christ is not my servant. She doesn’t exist on earth to do my work. She is here for God’s work. I should encourage her and help her. But it is not my business to evaluate how well she is serving God.

My biggest problem, practically, with this passage, is Tom. Paul says he doesn’t even evaluate himself. My biggest temptation is not to evaluate you, but rather me. But Paul says this is equally wrong. I don’t even have the authority to judge myself, because I do not live to serve myself, but Jesus.

Once again, we are in the realm of grace. We are called hear to give grace to others, and also receive it for ourselves. What will you do?

1 Corinthians Part 4. Rewards. 3:1-15

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Corinthians, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Jesus, Sermon, Uncategorized2 Comments


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If you remember, in 1 Cor 1:1-9 Paul took great pains to remind the Corinthians that everything they had, and everything they needed, was in Jesus Christ alone. He reminded them that they lacked nothing in him, and in fact, were perfect in him. But in these first four verses of chapter 3, he is showing them that there is a contrast between all they have in Jesus, and the way they are living their daily lives.

In Christ they are complete and lacking nothing. But they are not living out of that. They are living and acting as if they were not in Christ. Paul says

Brothers, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. I fed you milk, not solid food, because you were not yet able to receive it. In fact, you are still not able, because you are still fleshly. (1 Cor 3:1-3)

Several different times during the past year or so, we have encountered Bible verses that teach us how Christ has given us new and perfected life in the spiritual realm. The Life of Jesus is in our spirits. It is supposed to flow through our spirits, into our souls and into our outward lives. The life of the Spirit is supposed to influence the life we live out in our bodies. But in the case of the Corinthians, that wasn’t happening very much. Instead, they were living their daily lives as if Jesus had not redeemed them in spirit. Their redemption was not affecting their regular lives the way it was supposed to. They were living “fleshly” – that is, it was their body-life, not their Spirit-life which dominated their thinking and acting.

There is a member of this church who drives a car with a vegetable-oil fuel system. Just to be on the safe side of government regulation and taxes, I won’t mention his name. His car has a dual system. He starts it up with diesel fuel. After the oil warms up, he flips a switch, and then burns vegetable oil for the rest of the trip, until the last few miles. When he is using vegetable oil, it costs him just pennies per gallon. When he is burning diesel, obviously, it costs him more. Now, the system is installed, and it works. But if this man doesn’t simply flip the switch to draw fuel from the vegetable-oil tank, that system does him no good. He’ll be paying a high price for diesel fuel.

Now, all that is required for this man to pay almost nothing for fuel, is faith. He simply needs to trust that the system is working, and trust that it is worthwhile to flip the switch

Our spiritual fuel-system is in place. We are meant to draw life from our relationship with Jesus. But if we choose not to do that, then our relationship with Jesus isn’t helping us very much in daily life. All we need to to, is to trust Jesus more – trust that he really has given us that new life, and he really will use it to effect our daily existence.

Let me offer one more analogy. Imagine you have poor vision but your vision could be corrected with glasses. You go to the optometrist and get the prescription that will give you 20/20 vision. You order your glasses, and then pick them. In your glasses, you have all you need to see perfectly. But if you choose not to wear them, you receive no benefit from them, and your vision remains unchanged. You need to believe that the glasses will actually give you a benefit, and take the step of faith to put them on.

In the same way, we need to trust that the life of Jesus really can make a difference in how we see the world, how we relate to others and deal with the various struggles and joys that life throws at us. We need to ask for His Life to flow through us, and then believe that he has heard us, and is answering that prayer.

Paul goes on to address some implications of the fleshly attitude the Corinthians have. Since they are inclined to follow human leaders, he points out two things about their human leaders: first, that they are merely vessels, workers for God. Second, he points out that he himself does not have the fleshly attitude that they have.

As a third point, Paul brings up the issue of rewards in heaven:

Now the one who plants and the one who waters are equal, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. (1 Cor 3:8-9)

Each one’s work will become obvious, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire. (1 Cor 3:13-15)

I want to look at this study in depth. It is central to the point Paul is making, and it is one of the least understood and taught doctrines in the New Testament. Paul says the foundation is Jesus Christ. Rewards in Heave are based upon what we build upon that – and no other – foundation. Let’s begin by making sure of it. The Bible teaches in numerous places, over and over again, that we are saved only through God’s grace, which comes to us through a faith-based relationship with Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:20-25; Galatians 2:16-17 & 3:11-13; Titus 3:4-5; Ephesians 2:8-9 and John 14:6 are just a very small portion of the many verses which explicitly teach that we are saved only through faith in Jesus Christ.

Yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified. (Gal 2:16-17)

So we know that our eternal destiny – whether we go to heaven or hell – is determined not by us being good enough, but by trusting Jesus. That is the foundation. Paul says, you can’t build on any other basis (3:11). If we have that foundation, we will spend eternity with Jesus and our loved ones in the New Heavens and New Earth. The whole Bible is crystal clear on that.

However, we do find that many places in the New Testament, including 1 Corinthians 3, also talk about rewards for doing good works. Now, we know that heaven itself is not a reward for doing good. So when the New Testament talks about some kind of reward in the afterlife based upon what we do here, it cannot mean salvation. So what kind of reward does Paul mean here?

This is actually very important for how we interpret the Bible. When we read any other book, we assume that the author will not deliberately contradict herself. It should be the same with the Bible. So if the Bible says clearly (as it does) that salvation is not a reward for good behavior, but only the result of faith in Jesus; and then it says there is a reward for good works, we have to assume that the reward for good works is something other than salvation. As it turns out, there are many Bible verses that talk about these rewards. Just a few of them are Revelation 22:12; Matthew 5:11-2, 6:1-6, 17-18, 10:41-42; Luke 6:35; and this one:

7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. (Ephesians 6:7-8)

James writes that not many should presume to be Bible teachers, because they will be judged more strictly (James 3:1). Well, as a Bible teacher I know that my salvation will be judged based on whether or not I trust Jesus. So in what way will I be judged more strictly? In the matter of my work, and any reward I might get for it.

Now, for many people, the idea of reward in heaven presents some problems. First, some people feel that it implies that there might be inequality in heaven. Second, some people feel it implies unhappiness there also.

Scripture is clear that in heaven, God wipes every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more grief or suffering or pain. So rest assured, reward or not, your joy will be complete.

What Paul says in this passage is that those who have no reward will still be saved, but it will be like an escape through a fire. If we really imagine that, we get a sense for what it is like. Ultimately we will be safe, and will find joy in that. But as we initially enter heaven, if we have built poorly on the foundation of Jesus, we will find the judgment day to be harrowing.

Now, I want to speculate a bit on what the rewards mean. I do have some scripture that suggests what I am speculating about, but I can’t nail this down for sure. In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells the parable of the Talents. In it, three servants were given different resources. They were rewarded according to how they made used of those resources. They were given additional resources, according the ability they had demonstrated.

So, I think of rewards in heaven in terms of capacity. Picture two buckets. One bucket can hold a gallon of fresh, clear water. The other bucket can hold five gallons of beautiful clean water. Now imagine both buckets, filled to the brim. Which bucket has more water? Obviously, the one that can hold more. But they are both full. The one gallon bucket has as much water as it can possibly hold. It doesn’t have as much as the five gallon bucket, but then, it can’t. It is still completely full. I think maybe heaven will be like that. We will all be as full as we can be. But some people will be able to contain more of God’s fullness and joy than others. The ones with smaller capacity will still be completely full and satisfied – but the ones with greater capacity will experience their joy to level that the others can’t.

Think of it this way. In my left eye, my vision is about 20/100. It cannot be corrected, and so I am considered legally blind in that eye. Now, my right eye is basically fine, and it does most of the seeing work for me. I can drive, and watch movies, appreciate visual art and generally enjoy life. Where my half-blindness affects me most is in depth perception. I have a horrible time shooting a basketball. Things that are far away look equally distant from me. If I see man standing 100 yards away, and another man 200 yards away, they look to me like they are standing next to each other. A few years ago, 3-D pictures were popular. I never could actually see the pictures in them. I get some experience of 3-D movies, but not the same as other people. Binoculars only work for me if I close my left eye. But I was born this way. I have never seen correctly out of my left eye. So I don’t actually know what that would be like. I don’t feel sorry myself. I don’t feel handicapped. I’m perfectly happy with my vision, and I don’t really know what I’m missing, except the basketball hoop. But if there was something I could do to get true binocular vision, I would be a fool not to do it. Though I enjoy the visual aspects of life as much as I can, it would be great to get the full range of vision.

I think in heaven, some people will be like I am with my eyes. They will be happy. They will get as much joy as they can handle. But if they had made different choices while they were living on this earth, they might have been able to experience much more in heaven.

I used to say that heaven itself was enough reward for me, and so it should be – it is, in fact, more than I deserve. Even so, what a fool I would be to waste any opportunity to enjoy heaven to the fullest possible capacity! Paul is basically saying to the Corinthians: Do you really want to make a deliberate choice to enter heaven by the skin of your teeth, with the minimum possible capacity to enjoy it?

That is an attitude that comes not from the Spirit, but from the flesh. And it is ridiculous, when you think about it. It’s like a teenager saying, “I don’t care about my future after High School. As long as I’m alive and can work a minimum wage job, I’ll be fine. So right now I’m not going to study or learn or prepare for the future. What is important is not life after graduation, but only life right now.” Some people have that attitude, but it is a very short-sighted one, and most people who do take that approach end up regretting it within a few years.

Paul is encouraging them (and us) to take a more spiritual approach to the future, and to the here and now. Jesus himself said:

“Don’t collect for yourselves treasures here on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt 6:19-21)

1 Corinthians #3. Upside Down World. 1 Cor 1:26 — 2:16

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Corinthians, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment


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C.S. Lewis writes about heaven in his little book, The Great Divorce (the book is not about marriage or divorce, it is about heaven and hell). The main character arrives in heaven and witnesses many different interesting, joyful and fearful things. At one point, he sees a procession coming toward him. Angels are dancing around a person who is approaching, throwing flowers on the ground as they go. A choir of boys and girls stride alongside, singing the most beautiful music ever heard. Dozens of bright and beautiful animals also attend this celebrity. The person is a woman, clothed in brilliant light, beautiful beyond imagination. The main character in the book immediately assumes this must by Mary, mother of Jesus.

“Is it?…is it?” I whispered to my guide.

“Not at all,” said he. “It’s someone ye’ll never have heard of. Her name on earth was Sarah Smith, and she lived at Golders Green.”

“She seems to be…well, a person of particular importance?”

“Aye, she is one of the great ones. Ye have heard that fame in this country and fame on Earth are two quite different things.”

This is one of the points that Paul is making as he writes to the Corinthians. Apparently the Corinthians were proud of themselves spiritually, and they were drawn toward things that looked good on the outside. That was one reason that had begun to follow human leaders – they liked the way it looked to be associated with people they felt were successful or of good reputation.

But Paul is reminding them that God doesn’t work the world does, and he doesn’t evaluate things the way the world does. As the Holy Spirit said to Samuel:

Do not look at his appearance or his stature, because I have rejected him. Man does not see what the Lord sees, for man sees what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart. (1 Sam 16:7)

This is a major theme throughout the entire Bible, and Paul is reminding the Corinthians of this. Throughout Biblical history, God chose differently than most people would have. He used Jacob, the second born (and in those days the first born was considered to be most important, while other siblings were mere accessories). He chose Judah, not Reuben the first born of Jacob. He also chose Joseph, the 11th of twelve brothers. He chose Moses, the youngest of three siblings, a man who was not much of a speaker, to lead the people of Israel. He used a prostitute, Rahab, to help the invading Israelites, and she became an ancestor of the greatest king of Israel, who was himself the eighth brother in an ordinary family. He chose a teenage girl to be the mother of messiah. He chose a bunch of under-educated, thick-headed fisherman to bring to the world the eternally significant news of salvation through Jesus Christ. As Paul writes, God has consistently chosen the foolish, the weak, the despised and the things of no account. Jesus himself painted the same sort of picture of God’s kingdom:

At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to infants. (Matt 11:25)

But many who are first will be last, and the last first. (Matt 19:30)

The greatest among you will be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matt 23:11-12)

In addition, the Corinthians themselves were not much account, when you got right down to it. Paul reminds them of this. He may be trying to poke a hole in their pride, but I think he was also encouraging them to put their confidence in God’s work, not in outward appearances, not in human leaders, and not in themselves.

Paul does not exclude himself from all this. In chapter 2, he says that he belongs in the category of foolish, weak and despised in the world’s eyes. If you remember from the first message on 1 Corinthians, Paul did in fact, arrive in Corinth shaken by his recent experiences in Macedonia. He isn’t just being polite – from all that we know, he would have been physically weak from travels and beatings, and emotionally fragile from the rejection and hatred that had been directed at him almost everywhere he went. Paul is reminding them that it was not his preaching or wisdom or impressive personality that led them to Jesus – it was the power of the Holy Spirit.

I think all this is very important to us in America in the 21st century. In America, we love winners. We love success. We often think that bigger must mean better. Let’s be honest here. Don’t you believe that the CEO of Wal-Mart is doing better than the owner-operator of a local appliance-repair store with two part-time employees? And by “doing better” don’t we really mean running a bigger operation, and making more money? But the small-time owner might be much happier than the CEO. He might have a better marriage, and have better relationships with his kids. He might have more significant positive impact on the lives of those around him, than the CEO. But we are inclined to judge only on external successes, and those are mostly judged on size and money.

Some of you have become aware that your pastor now drives a clean, nice-looking Mercedes-benz. People might observe that and say “He must be doing all right.” I hear people make those kinds of judgments about others all the time. But think about it – what kind of conclusion is that? Does the Mercedes say anything about my marriage? Does it say anything about my happiness, or how close I am to the Lord? Plus, most of you don’t know how much or little I paid for it. As it happens, the car is 16 years old with 142,000 miles. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with it, but as measure of how anyone is really doing in life, a car is flat-out ridiculous.

I’m tempted to do the same thing as a pastor. I can start to think big churches are doing well, just because they are big, and I wonder about small churches – just because they are small. The church that Jesus left behind him was small. Paul started a bunch of churches, but most of the evidence suggests that they were all quite small.

Sometimes we get ourselves a tiny bit of depth, and we go beyond what looks good and start glorifying what sounds good. I think this is why so many people are led astray into the prosperity gospel. It sounds good to say that following Jesus is a way to get health and wealth in this life. You can build a big following quickly that way. Others sit and listen to preachers or mentors who put on a great show, but when it’s all over, there was very little substance to it. People in Germany used to say that when they listened to Adolf Hitler, they were mesmerized, but if they were told in cold factual, unemotional terms what Hitler actually said, they were appalled and repelled.

I take two things from this. First, I should be encouraged if I feel sometimes like I am of no account and insignificant in this world. God uses people like that. The world’s evaluation is meaningless. If I am small, weak, foolish, no-account, then I just might be useful and important in God’s kingdom.

Second, I need to learn to evaluate things the way God does, not the way the world does. Paul talks about this in chapter 2, verses 6-16. Paul says we can’t understand God’s way of thinking through human wisdom and learning and logic. He says instead, that we need revelation. Revelation is simply God revealing his Truth to us. Paul says this happens through the Holy Spirit. We can’t get it for ourselves by logic or judging with the world’s standards and tools. We need to ask for it and receive it from the Holy Spirit. We need to ask God to show us his way of looking at things. And we get that perspective because the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, and reveals spiritual truth to us.

There are many things we can learn without God’s revelation. We can learn the laws of gravity, and calculus1 and how to make soup without special revelation from God. But if we want to see ourselves and others the way God sees us, we need revelation. If we want to know what God is up to in our lives, we need it. If we are to be effective in blessing others with God’s love and grace, we need His revelatin through the Spirit.

Now, I want to make some things clear. God’s ultimate, special-revelation is the Bible. He revealed his truth to the human writers of the Bible, and they wrote it down. All other revelation must be judged by the Bible. In other words, if you have a revelation that adultery is not sinful, it is not a revelation from God, because God’s ultimate revelation, the Bible, already tells us that adultery is wrong.

But we are supposed to live in a daily relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. We should expect the Spirit to speak to us and reveal truth to us. (John 14:25; 15:26; 16:13-15)

When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, because He will take from what is Mine and declare it to you. Everything the Father has is Mine. This is why I told you that He takes from what is Mine and will declare it to you. (John 16:13-15)

The bible and the daily interaction with the Spirit work together. According to Paul in this passage, without God’s spirit, we wouldn’t really even get what the Bible is saying. We need the Spirit in us, doing what Jesus said he would do, which is to explain and teach us all that Jesus said. Without the Spirit, and His revelation, the Bible won’t make much sense to us.

As we consider these things today, let the Spirit reveal his truth to you. Maybe he is calling you out for judging by outward appearances and getting caught up in the standards of the world around us. Maybe he is speaking to you about feeling small and insignificant. Maybe he is just encouraging you to get closer to Him, so that you will know him better.

1Actually, I’m not sure that I could learn calculus without God’s special revelation.

1 Corinthians #2. 1 Cor 1:10-25

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Corinthians, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Jesus, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Last week, Paul established the fact that in Jesus Christ, the Corinthians lacked nothing. In Jesus Christ, we have all we need; in Him our spirits have already been made perfect. But we still exist, not only in spirit, but in body in this sin-riddled world. Now, Paul appeals to them (and to us) to let the power of God flow through their spirits into the lives they are living here and now.

The first issue he approaches, is division in the church. As always, we need to understand the context of this passage. Paul is not talking about theological disputes. In fact, from what we learn later that perhaps the Corinthians should have been having some theological differences, and standing up for what is right, even if it caused strife. Thus, in chapter five he calls them out for tolerating open sin in the church. In several other places in the letter he corrects them where they have gone astray from pure doctrine. So they weren’t actually having theological disputes, though, as I say, maybe they should have.

Paul also is not talking about meeting in separate groups in different places at different times. They had to do that. As in all places for the first 300 years of Christianity, they Christians at Corinth did not all meet together in one place. They met in small groups in homes at different times.

He explains specifically what he means by divisions: the Christians in Corinth are splitting into factions because they are following human leaders. In fact, they same to be putting human leaders in the same category as Jesus Christ. The ironic thing is that the human leaders themselves are not even in Corinth any more, and none of them want to be followed in this way. Paul urges the Corinthians to be united with the “same understanding and the same conviction.” In other words, he is saying “you all need to be on the same page,” and that “page” is Jesus Christ.

This is another reason that Paul began the letter the way he did, reminding the Corinthians of all they had in Jesus. They don’t have those blessings through Paul, or Peter (Cephas is the Aramic name for Peter) or Apollos. The life, forgiveness, grace, joy, wisdom, spiritual gifts – all come through Jesus, and only through Jesus. Paul says something interesting here. He says he is glad he didn’t baptize too many people, so that they wouldn’t become confused. This is a hint at part of the meaning of baptism. Baptism (received with faith) is an initiation into a relationship. This was part of the common meaning of baptism for the Jews, and the New Testament also seems to view it this way:

3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. (Romans 6:3-7)

Baptism seems to be, in some sense, something that identifies and unites you with the person in whose name you were baptized. It is like an initiation ceremony. Several other places in the New Testament, it speaks of being baptized “into” Christ. The point Paul is making is that the Corinthians were not united with him, or Peter or Apollos. They were not initiated as followers of those three, or anyone else except Jesus Christ. They were not united with Paul or Apollos or Peter. They were united with Christ. The problem was, the Corinthians were losing their perspective and following the teachers, instead of the Person they were teaching about. To approach it from a different perspective, as a pastor and teacher, I believe firmly that if anyone follows me, I have failed. If anyone follows Jesus because of my words and actions, I have done my job.

There are two important truths here. The first truth is that all people who put their trust in Jesus Christ belong to Jesus Christ. Because of that, we are all brothers and sisters in Him. We are all on the same team, and we have the same Leader. The people who trust Jesus and go the Catholic Church are my brothers and sisters in Christ. Those who trust Jesus and go the Baptist church are my brothers and sisters too. Likewise for believers who attend Pentecostal churches, or Presbyterian congregations. People who do not put their trust in Jesus Christ are not my brothers and sisters in Christ, even if they attend the same worship service I do. This is not my opinion – it is the spiritual reality of faith in Jesus Christ. This is what Paul is trying to hammer home. It doesn’t matter which house you attend worship in. As long as you are not being led astray, it doesn’t matter which teacher/apostle/pastor you relate to the best. What matters is faith in Jesus Christ.

There is another reality also that is often forgotten. And that is, the people of God have never all belonged to the same earthly, human-led church. Even in the middle ages when virtually all Christians in Western Europe belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, there were millions of Christians elsewhere in the world who did not. Paul isn’t concerned about different churches in Corinth meeting in different places – in his time, they had to. He isn’t worried about the fact they had different bible teachers – in fact, it was a gift to the Christians in Corinth that were exposed to three such excellent teachers. True Christian unity doesn’t mean all Christians gathered together in one place, or belonging to one organization or having one human leader. But true Unity is found when we realize that all those who trust Jesus share the experience of knowing Him and walking with Him daily. It occurs when we truly live out the fact that all of us have the same savior and Lord.

I would like to see New Joy Fellowship grow. I would like to see us make disciples of more people. But I am not concerned in the least that we are just one of many, many churches in Lebanon, Tennessee. Pulling all the churches together into one organization would not achieve the spiritual unity Paul is talking about. We are already in spiritual unity with everyone who trusts Jesus, and we need to recognize it.

It is not about human beings and human teachers or human wisdom. This is why Paul launches into a discussion of wisdom in verse 18. He is reminding them of the message of Jesus, that it is not a message that comes out of human individuals or human wisdom. Paul’s discussion of this is longer than we can cover in one message, but I want to point out something he says here that is very important.

For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom. Because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than man’s strength (1 Corinthians 1:22-25)

Paul is pointing out that we naturally look for one (or both) of two things. He says that Jews look for a “sign.” He means specifically that they want to see a miracle in connection with faith. To put it another way, they want to know if their faith “works.” Does it bring positive results? I don’t think Paul intends to say that only Jews feel this way. Certainly, in Paul’s day, that was a typical approach not only of Jews, but of most middle-eastern cultures. Five hundred years later, Islam grew extremely rapidly in the middle-east precisely because Muslims were victorious in battle – Islam “worked.” This is one approach to faith, and it is actually fairly common even in America today. It is not unusual to hear a testimony like this: “My life was a mess, and then I started going to church and praying, and soon I was out of debt and had a happy marriage.” God does do that for people sometimes. And when we surrender to Jesus, we begin to live our lives more and more the way we were created to be. The result is that sometimes things go better for us – faith really does bring positive results. God really does miracles too. Paul knew all about that – he watched God heal people through him; he prophesied through God’s power; he even raised a dead boy through the power of the Holy Spirit. But we make a mistake if we think that the positive results in this life are the entire point of having faith in Jesus. And the message of the cross is very different from the message of the world. Mohammed, the founder of Islam ended up very wealthy. He had many wives and mistresses. He held a lot of political power. Jesus, in contrast, lived in poverty and celibacy his whole life, and ended up brutally executed in shame. His vindication was not through success in this life, but through resurrection. The fact that Jesus submitted to this kind of life and death is offensive to the “does this work?” mindset. The fact that Christianity is not an automatic path to an easy, outwardly successful life is also a roadblock to people who just want something to make their lives better, and to those who think that outward success is proof of God’s favor. Jesus call to his followers does not sound like the easy, successful life:

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?

Paul describes another mindset as well. He says that Greeks seek wisdom. Again, I don’t think Paul means only Greeks take this approach, but it was typical of Greek culture during that period, and it has become also typical in much of Western culture in the 21st century. This approach says, “I won’t believe it unless it can be proved intellectually. It has to make perfect sense.” I don’t believe you have to give up thinking to become a Christian. In fact, I think it is demonstrably the most intellectually cogent way of looking at the world. Even so, there are points at which we must take a leap of faith. We would be deceiving ourselves if we said that Christianity can be completely proved. It does require faith. At some point we must step beyond what we can know with our brains, and say “I believe. I trust you, Lord.” This is offensive to the intellectual mindset. Never mind that all worldviews require this, even atheism. Other world views (like atheism) allow their followers to at least pretend that faith is not required, and all is proved. But Christianity puts it right out there in the open: faith is necessary. Human intellect alone cannot arrive at the truth. This is not always well received by people with a primarily intellectual world-view. Actually, Paul puts it more directly: to people like that, it is foolishness.

So the central message of Christianity can appear foolish (it requires a leap of faith, a surrendering to something we cannot know with our minds alone) and weak (it does not always bring about success and prosperity in the world). Paul’s challenge here is to make that leap of faith, to put our trust in Jesus even when it doesn’t all make sense, even when it doesn’t all come out successfully in this life. This is not human wisdom. This is not a leap of faith to follow human leaders. In an initial, shallow way, it even seems counter-intuitive (though if you give it some reflection, you’ll see that it is not).

Is there some way in which the Holy Spirit is reminding you to leap today?