Day 234: 1 Corinthians 14:18-40

'For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,' - 1 Corinthians 14:33 ESV

How is it that a worship service should be ordered? The church in Corinth was a hot mess of chaos each and every time they met. So, Paul lays out the purpose of these times of worship in verse 27: "Everything must be done so that the church may be built up." It is clear that chaotic Christian worship will not end in the encouragement of the believers, nor will it bring about the salvation of those who have yet to believe.

Even Paul's comment about women being silent in verse 34 is wrapped into this context. For the first time in this Greco-Roman world, women were treated as equals without any education. Of course, they had a plethora of questions to ask on Sundays, but these could be asked at a later time.

Some of us don't enjoy structure. It feels too tight and rigid. We need to remember that everything God has ever done was brought about with intention and not with haphazardness. He expects our times of worship to reflect His character.

This also assumes the incredible amount of importance Jesus lays on Christians assembling together regularly for organized worship. Corporate worship isn't optional for the follower of Jesus, and it needs to be fine-tuned, even if it takes some hard work.

"God, we ask that all people would be convicted of sin as we worship intentionally together. We pray that we all would fall down and worship you, exclaiming that You are in our midst. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Day 233: 1 Corinthians 14:1-17

'What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.' - 1 Corinthians 14:15 ESV

Everything we do in a worship service needs to engage the mind. At no point does Paul encourage us to turn off our mental faculties and "let the Spirit lead" as we enter into spontaneous confusion.

For centuries, Hinduism has been preaching the importance of emptying our minds of all things to achieve nirvana, the highest spiritual state. Mind-zero isn't the goal of the Christian.

Sure, we engage our spirits (our deep breath) with excitement and passion, but if our minds remain untapped, our experiences lack portability or substance. We will have nothing to translate into our actual lives as we try to shine bright in this world.

All of this teaching on tongues and prophecy may be confusing. Still, we have to remember how crucial it was to the early church, where the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) wouldn't be written for another ten years after Paul writes this first letter to the Corinthians in around 53 AD.

What a blessing to be able to read the completed New Testament, to fill our spirits and minds to the brim as we burst forth in thoughtful and soul-refreshing praise.

Day 232: 1 Corinthians 12:27-31, 13:1-13

"Love will last forever." - 1 Corinthians 13:8 NLT

One of the most cherished passages in the entire Bible is this one in 1 Corinthians 13. Yet you won't find a more challenging section in all of Scripture. All the facets of love do not come to us a la carte. We cannot commit to being patient without also keeping no record of wrongs.

So there are two questions that arise from this:

1) How are we ever going to live up to the standard love sets?

2) Isn't it risky to treat another flawed human being this way?

The answer to the first question is that we won't live up to the standard, at least on our own strength. God not only sets the standard for love (1 John 4:7-21), he also empowers us to start loving the way He does (Galatians 2:20).

In answering the second question, we need to know that to love someone else is to take all of the risks of them not reciprocating. Jesus saw this as a risk worth taking for us when He went to the cross.

So much in our world is failing. Not love. It persists.

Love is permanent; it never fails, where the verb commonly means ‘to fall’. It comes to be used with the meaning ‘collapse’, ‘suffer ruin’. Love will never suffer such a fate. ‘Many waters cannot quench love’ (Ct. 8:7). - Leon Morris

Day 231: 1 Corinthians 12:1-26

“Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.” - 1 Corinthians‬ ‭12:13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Our culture is obsessed with rankings and comparisons. LeBron or Jordan? IU or Purdue? Chocolate or vanilla? Country or rock? So this naturally leads us to ask, “Who is the most important member of Fall Creek Christian Church?” Don’t answer that question.

Paul lays waste to this kind of thinking. There is, in fact, no ranking system in the body of Christ. This was as revolutionary in the first century as it is today. For the first time in human history, a slave could be counted as equal in standing among the elite.

Today, our culture may say that all are created equal, but most don’t live and work that way.

The Church is a body. If you are a Christian, you are a member of that body, and you matter as much as anyone else. Actually, Paul says that if you think yourself insignificant (the weakest), you may be the most necessary.

The truth is that God doesn’t need us to be a part of His church — He wants us. Yet, we do need each other. We need everyone to exercise their gifts.

Day 230: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

“That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.” - 1 Corinthians‬ ‭11:28‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We are prone, as humans, to do things our own way. We rush here and there to satisfy the various desires and whims that come upon us. We claim that these feelings and urges are beyond our control. Slowing down doesn’t seem like much of an option for people as driven as we are.

Yet here we see that Paul encourages the Christians in Corinth to slow down, to show some self restraint, when it came to how they were weekly remembering Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

The preventative he offers is found in the word: examine. It is the Greek word dokimazō. It can also mean to test or to try to determine the genuineness of.

How much more of a focused time would we have eating the bread and drinking the cup if we took this time to test ourselves. This inventory also is a good idea to take every day.

This may also remind us of Psalm 139:23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”

Day 229: 1 Corinthians 11:1-16

“Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.” - 1 Corinthians‬ ‭11:11-12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Our reading for today will most likely cause us to cringe and stare blankly at the words, wondering if we really did just read that in the Bible. Feminists everywhere recoil at the repressive language!

Yet, as we dig deeper, we see that Paul is, once again, working on moving the Corinthian church into a place of otherness and mutual equality in a city that was confused in every way.

Through archaeological findings, it has been discovered that it was common for ancient Romans to cover their heads when performing a sacrifice.

In short, Paul is looking to communicate two main themes in this section:

1) Having distinction between maleness and femaleness is good and purposeful. We celebrate and declare our differences.

2) Men and women are equal in value, even when it comes to our times of worship on Sundays. We need everyone in the room to play their part, and we don’t need the world’s advice on how to proceed.

We would do well to end our time together with this insightful comment on our passage by Ben Witherington:

“I would suggest that Paul places little stock in social or cultural conventions or social status and a great deal of stock in the way God has made human beings and is remaking them in Christ.”

Day 228: 1 Corinthians 10:14-33

“Whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, you must do all for the glory of God.” - 1 Corinthians 10:31

It is our fallen nature that makes us want to know our limits when it comes to living. What am I allowed to do as a Christian? What is definitively a sin? Why does my behavior have to affect someone else?

Yesterday’s reading had to do a lot with evangelism, what Paul was willing to do to reach those who had yet to say “yes” to Jesus. Today we see how we’re supposed to interact with fellow believers.

The fact of the matter is that none of us become Christians in isolation. When we confess Christ, we join one body. This “one body” is from every part of the globe, speaking various languages. Our worldwide family includes the socially elite and the outcasts.

So how are we to interact with each other? How will we know when we’ve become self-focused? What is the filter? Verses 24 and 31 are the key. The following question flows out of them: Is what I am about to do “for the glory of God” and “what is best” for the body of Christ?

For Paul, this was a simple decision. He was going to do whatever it took to gain influence for the sake of the many, "that they may be saved." What sacrifices is God asking you to make today in order to reach more for Jesus' kingdom?

Day 227: 1 Corinthians 9:19-27, 10:1-13

“Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” - 1 Corinthians‬ ‭10:12-13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The 40 years that the Israelites wandered in the wilderness were not pretty. Because of their fear of the Canaanites (GIANTS!), they made an 11-day journey into a four-decade one (see Deuteronomy 1:2).

Paul points out four significant mistakes they additionally made during these nomadic years, before the promised land entrance.

1. Idolatry

2. Sexual immorality

3. Testing Christ

4. Complaining

We don’t have to work very hard to see that these four are still very much in play in our world today, working to drag us down.

Paul wanted the church in Corinth to know they weren’t beyond these same temptations. We are all capable of the most destructive behavior, but at the same time, we are not inevitably bound for these four lifestyles.

Not beyond, but also not necessarily bound.

How can we overcome? Let’s follow the Apostle’s advice (which is Jesus’):

1. Take heed/watch out. Don’t let pride lull you into the idea of invincibility.

2. What you are going through, temptation-wise, has been faced by millions of other Christians before you. Yours is not an isolated instance.

3. God is faithful and will not exceed your limits to be able to resist.

4. BONUS: God will provide a way of escape. Look for it. Take it.

Day 226: 1 Corinthians 9:1-18

“What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.” - 1 Corinthians‬ ‭9:18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

As I made my way through our reading for today, many questions came to the surface. One of the main ones was this: “Why did Paul not claim his rights to take any financial support from the Corinthians?” It seems as though this was his same practice earlier in Thessalonica as well (see 1 Thessalonians 2:5-10).

The most influential leader (outside of Jesus) in Christian history was not “on staff.” Instead, he made a living as a leatherworker (making tents). This was a profession looked at with disdain among the Greco-Roman elite, but among the common people, this gained an incredible amount of influence.

The traveling Cynics and Sophists of Paul’s time were notorious for begging for money in return for their teachings. This would have made him stand out from acts like these.

What makes things even more interesting is that verse 12 of our reading seems to indicate that the Corinthians did cover the living expenses of their local ministers. Perhaps Apollos?

Paul was not a located minister. He traveled, taught, and encouraged. He wasn’t doing the baptizing or the pastoring. He had an important role to play. We all do.

This is yet another thing that makes Christianity unique. The paid staff whose profession is to serve the local church or ministries should not have all the influence or authority. We need everyone to contribute and lead as God has equipped us.

We should all be “compelled to preach.” This is the only way we will reach our potential as the body of Christ.

Day 225: 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

“But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we exist for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.” - 1 Corinthians 8:6

Writing about this verse, Leon Morris says, “We came from him and we live for him; he is our origin and goal.”

Paul is using this incredible language to describe the unimportance associated with other gods. Idols, though they can be very distracting to our worship of the true God, aren’t real. They carry no weight. Jesus Christ, active in creation and alive today; He’s the One who has given us life.

So we are free! Free to eat or drink whatever we’d like.

Yet in verse 9, Paul lays out his own conviction. Our freedom is not a license. Our freedom from Jesus is a gift, and it is to be handled with care and respect for others.

Would you be so stubborn as to exercise your freedom at the expense of someone else?

Paul chose “no” as his response. We should consider it as well.