I Corinthians 7:20-40

The married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife… [and] …the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. (vv. 33, 34b) I am constantly amazed (and pleased) as to how Carol works to make life better for me – to see to it that I have the “things” that I enjoy. And, from very early in our relationship I sought the same for her, wanting to do things for her that made her happy – things beyond occasionally buying her flowers! For us it’s just been the natural order of things. But there are disagreements, clashes that arise when each of us has his/her own opinion about one thing or another. But two things have kept us blessedly happy for these 38+ years. First we have agreed not to continue a conversation if either of us is really troubled, frustrated, angry. We’ve agreed to allow each other to walk away for a time and to continue the conversation later when cooler heads might prevail. Second, and most importantly we have both known that each of us must answer to the Lord. In virtually every disagreement we’ve had each of us has brought some negative contribution to the issue and we need to confess that to the Lord and to each other. That part is really hard, but it’s really necessary: …confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (James 5:16)

See also: April 27 / I Cor. 7:17-24; April 28 / I Cor. 7:25-40

To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion. (vv. 8-9) I have often wondered why priests in the Catholic Church are not married (a whole other discussion!) and I wonder if it’s these verses from Paul whereby the Catholic Church determined that they would ordain only single men and that priests should never marry. Peter and Paul were the two acknowledged leaders of the early church – Peter was married, Paul was not. So why the bias toward Paul’s condition? Strange. This topic would be a worthy discussion, better handled together verbally than my commenting further here! However, I’ve always loved this one comment of Paul’s: “…better to marry than to burn…”!

See also: April 26 / I Cor. 7:1-16; April 27 / I Cor. 7:17-24

I Corinthians 6:1-20

Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? (v. 7b) Paul spoke of greed and cheating (swindling) in yesterday’s reading. In today’s Chapter 6, one begins to wonder if Paul was clearly pointing a finger at particular people in the Corinthian congregation when he mentions suffering wrong and being defrauded (v. 7b). These two items are part and parcel of greed and cheating. I’m guessing that someone, say Corinthian believer “A” was, in fact, the greedy swindler who was cheating Corinthian believer “B”, and now “B” was taking “A” to court. Paul’s advice is to suffer the wrong and move on – or have the issue decided within the church. His unspoken word is that God will deal with believer “A”; it’s “A’s” problem, not “B’s”. Please note that Paul is speaking about a situation of believer vs. believer.

Being defrauded by someone outside the church is a different issue. Then the civil courts are in session. However, I also imagine that Paul’s advice to Why not rather be defrauded? is still relevant. If in confronting the wrong-doer the wrong done is not righted, we just have to trust that the Holy Spirit will convict the wrong-doer of his/her cheating and that the Christian’s example might bear fruit in that person’s life. Still, for a major amount or a major wrong, the civil courts are in session. For 15 years we were landlords in Richmond. Different tenants did us wrong and we let it slide. But there was one case where we felt compelled to take a young man to court. We won the case easily and the young man paid his debt in full over the course of two years. He knew he was wrong, he paid up. And, a happy ending – he later, through a common friend, sought our friendship and we have since reconciled. “Sweet justice”, but not in the sense that we typically think of “sweet justice”…! This situation was truly both justice and sweet!

See also: April 24 / I Cor. 6:1-11; April 25 / I Cor. 6:12-20

I Corinthians 5:1-13

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival… (vv. 7b-8a) As many times as I’ve read this epistle, I never saw this connection, from our Sunday service: “Alleluia! Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed, once for all upon the cross. Therefore let us keep the feast. Alleluia!” Right after the Our Father and just before The Prayer of Humble Access our celebrant says these words along with our response. And these words come from one of the strangest chapters in all of Paul’s letters! Our predecessors, making something really good out of a really bad situation…!

…the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters… (v. 10b) Paul mentions this group of “sinners” twice, then adds sexual immorality, revilers, and drunkards in his second mention (v. 11b). I tend to take notice any time I see something said twice in Scripture. So Paul is particularly troubled by these money issues: greed, cheating, and idolatry. Which takes me to the world in which we live today… Greed is rampant – have you seen a list of what corporate CEOs make? Cheating is common – do whatever you can in business so long as you can get away with it. And idolatry – our “worship” of money…! Paul is particularly troubled by these money issues! What would he say about our world today?

See also: April 23 / I Cor. 5:1-13

I Corinthians 4:1-21

It’s amazing to me how different it is in reading these epistles in short spurts instead of reading long passages. Our RTB group has read through the entire Bible in one year probably six or seven times. When we do that our schedule has us reading multiple chapters in one day. The Chronological Study Bible that I am using to set our reading plans each month has us reading the first four chapters of I Corinthians in one day. This year we’re doing one chapter each day for these first four chapters; last year it took us seven days! It’s amazing to me how much more I/we pick up when we read in short spurts. My last year comments for each day in the links below remind me how much I picked up last year and have retained this year when I read it anew. Glory!

Verse 7 can be a bit confusing: …What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? The first half is straightforward. They received their faith in Jesus through Paul’s preaching or Apollos’ teaching. Essentially they received faith as a gift. It’s the second half that’s confusing, “If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”. Let me completely paraphrase it: “If you have found faith in Jesus, why are you acting the way you are, boasting about this or that instead of being humble and thankful for what you have?” Clearly their boasting is unspiritual!!

If I may, let me boast a bit. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. (v. 15) Carol and I arrived in SC two days ago after spending three days with Mark and Tammy at their lake home in Virginia. I had already mentioned two days ago that Mark and Tammy came to the Lord through our “ministry” to them, so they were fresh in my mind as I read today’s reading. But what is absolutely touching to me is how they treated us while we were with them. You’d have thought that they were entertaining Carol and me as a royal couple. You could see the love in their eyes, in their actions, in their words. It was absolutely humbling to be in their presence – it made us wholly thankful to our Lord for having put us in their lives nearly 30 years ago! Although I often speak in these comments about us being called to share our faith, there are not many people that I can count as having come to faith directly through my sharing my faith. But when it happens, it’s glorious!! And still, years down the road… What joy…!!!

See also: April 21 / I Cor. 4:1-13; April 22 / I Cor. 4:14-21

I Corinthians 3:1-23

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. (v. 10) I like Scriptural verses that relate to building. Carol and I even had “building” in mind when we chose readings for our wedding – Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus’ parable of building on foundations of rock or sand. In a prior life I was a concrete contractor, building basements using poured concrete instead of concrete blocks. I learned the trade from my younger brother, who was very exacting in his work. If one of his (and later my) foundations was more than a half-inch “out of square”, he would shift the building forms to get it right before he poured the concrete. Building contractors loved to build on his foundations – they could count on having right angles at each corner – the frame walls would go up nicely and the roof would fit perfectly. Now that’s assuming that the building contractor is using good material, lumber that is solid and straight, not warped and twisted.

So I’m thinking about Paul’s “foundations”. Yesterday I quoted 2:2, For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Jesus is our foundation. It is Jesus that needs to be preached. Most of us are not “master builders” like Paul. As I note in my comment in that first link below, we hire rectors like David who regularly said, “You bring the people and I’ll preach the Gospel.” We can count on preachers like David speaking to us every Sunday at St. Andrew’s. We know Jesus will be preached.

But let me back up a minute. Before my brother ever sets the building forms there is a lot of work to be done – digging the hole, laying down rock, planning for plumbing and electrical fixtures, and finally setting and pouring the footings. The wall forms go on those footings only after all this other work has been done. Making sure the forms are “square” is the last step in the process prior to pouring the concrete walls. Likewise there needs to be preparations made before David or another speaker can “preach the Gospel”. We are the ones who invite people to our church. We share about our pastor or our sermons or our worship or our youth programs, but in the end it’s Jesus and His gospel that will be preached from the pulpit. We have work to do to bring people to that point where they can hear that Gospel being preached.

See also: April 19 / I Cor. 3:1-15; April 20 / I Cor. 3:16-23

I Corinthians 2:1-16

For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (v. 2) Carol and I were on the road in North Carolina when I wrote this, but I am just now able to post it. Sorry for that megadelay! We just left some very dear friends, deeply committed Christians. We had been important in their coming to the Lord so they continue to look to us for guidance. The wife, Tammy comes from a Catholic background, and the rest of the members of her extended family remain very Catholic. They constantly want to talk to her about details of their Catholic faith, items which she no longer embraces. It easily becomes argumentative. She was asking for my advice as to how to respond to those issues. My advice to her was the verse I copied above. Focus on what’s important, what we believe in common. That other stuff, really, just doesn’t matter!!

See also: April 18 / I Cor. 2:1-16

I Corinthians 1:1-31

I love Paul’s section on wisdom and foolishness beginning with verse 20. I spent my working life among the wise – college professors who were all experts in one thing or another. But their worldly wisdom doesn’t get them anywhere with God: For since … the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. (v. 21) The Gospel is a simple message – we have forgiveness of our sins and eternal life through Jesus’ death and resurrection. But something that simple can’t be enough for those who are “uber-intelligent” – it’s got to be harder than that; it’s got to be something we need to work for, to study longer, something more challenging! But God turns it upside-down on those who want to make the Gospel more difficult: For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (v. 25) It’s a simple message that God wants us to take to simple people. Go!

See also: April 16 / I Corinthians 1:1-17; April 17 / I Cor. 1:18-31

Acts 19:1-22

We got away from our chronology a bit when we read all of chapter 18 in one reading. Actually it was while Paul was in Corinth that he wrote both Thessalonian letters. His time in Corinth (his first visit there) is recorded in the first 18 verses of Acts 18. The remaining 10+ verses record his first visit to Ephesus; sailing and landing in Caesarea; going up to meet the church in Jerusalem; returning to his home base, Antioch; departing for his third missionary journey – traveling and revisiting the churches he had established on his first missionary journey; then his arrival in Ephesus that we pick up in today’s first verse.

Paul ministering to the Ephesian Christians: On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. (vv. 5-6) I have mentioned that our Men’s Group has been studying references to the Holy Spirit in Acts. One item of interest to us has been the gift of tongues being poured out on the disciples. We saw this first in Acts 2 at Pentecost, then in Acts 10 when Peter was preaching/teaching at Cornelius’ house, now here a third time in Ephesus. And each of these occasions had a different context. At Pentecost the disciples were simply “all together in one place” (Acts 2:1) when the Holy Spirit appeared and the disciples began speaking in tongues. At Cornelius’ house Peter was simply preaching/teaching and the Holy Spirit fell on his listeners (Acts 10:44). Now here in Acts 19 Paul lays his hands on the Christian believers and they receive the Holy Spirit (v. 6). Our Holy Spirit study has been fascinating. The Holy Spirit, Himself is a worthy study!!

See also: April 14 / Acts 19:1-10; April 15 / Acts 19:11-22

II Thessalonians 3:1-18

But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. (v. 3) A footnote in my Study Bible says that “evil one” could also be translated “evil”. Either translation works well, since the “evil one” is the source of all evil. But the front end of that statement is what’s really important – the Lord’s faithfulness! In this same verse, another translation item – the NASB translates “establish you and guard you” with “strengthen and protect you”. All of those verbs work well together and actually fit nicely in sequence: establish, strengthen, guard, protect. We are first established in Jesus, then strengthened for the work ahead of us. Then while we are working the Lord is also watching over us, guarding us, and when necessary, protecting us from evil. We are always being protected, even when we are not seeking the Lord’s help – and the more we seek Him, the more strengthened we are and the more protection He affords us. The Lord is faithful!!

See also: April 13 / II Thess. 3:1-18