Blog – Page 135 – Read Through the Bible

August 28 / I Cor. 12:1-31

I Corinthians 12:1-31

Yesterday my comments had to do with the Sacramental Stream in our Three Streams theology. Today it is the Spirit Stream – specifically the gifts of the Spirit. There were some real hesitations in our Men’s Group’s initial discussions of the Spirit Stream. Changing the wording to “Spirit-filled Stream” helped a bit. But it is my observation that people who are troubled over this Spirit Stream are looking at the manifestations of the Spirit (the Pentecostal/Charismatic speaking in tongues, hand-waving, healing ministries, etc.), not the gifts of the Spirit or the fruits of the Spirit. Paul’s lesson in today’s reading focuses on the gifts of the Spirit. In verse 28 hand-waving is nothing, healing is listed fourth, and tongues comes last of all: And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. I think this is the only place where Paul places a ranking on these spiritual gifts. He has a similar listing in Ephesians 4:11: And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers… , but no ranking anywhere else of which I am aware. (See also Romans 12:6-8.) So let’s embrace this Spirit Stream and the gifts that He gives. We’ll deal with the fruits later.

August 27 / I Cor. 11:23-34

I Corinthians 11:23-34

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (v. 26) As I read today’s reading I picture myself at St. Andrew’s during our Eucharistic celebration. I see the host being lifted and Jay speaking Jesus’ words, then the same for the chalice. Then I picture myself going forward for communion. All this is the epitome of the sacramental aspect of our “Three Streams” theology, what we often refer to as the “Catholic Stream”, which was so important to me in my early Christian formation. And picturing all that I call to mind Mark Royster’s Lenten Three Streams teaching on the Sacramental Stream. It was powerful. I would encourage you all to watch his video presentation on the Sacramental stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T51XNmSz43U. (After introductory prayer and comments, Mark’s teaching begins almost 11 minutes into the video.) Worthy…!

Nothing more to say…

August 26 / I Cor. 11:1-22

I Corinthians 11:1-22

When Paul wrote today’s section, I get the sense that the whole issue of headcovering was associated with the worship service, not day-to-day public affairs. Today’s church is different – headcovering seems not to be an issue. It was, however, when I was growing up – women covered their heads at church. If they were not wearing a hat they put on a small piece of fancy fabric and fastened it with a bobby pin. Not so today. And the men wore hats back in the day, but they took them off the second they stepped inside the church.

So for back then and today I move away from church issues and look at everyday life – men remove their hats out of respect. With movies that are set in the old west or in the first half of the 20^th century, whenever a man was introduced to a woman he removed his hat. We don’t see this removing-the-hat-when-introduced today, but we do see other signs of respect, like on the street when a funeral procession passes by and at sporting events when the national anthem is being played or whenever there is a call to prayer. Yes, we see it today, but there is also a younger generation where many of today’s young men do not know or abide by these old customs. I’ve seen older men poke younger men to take off their hats when the national anthem is being played.

So we see Biblical traditions that were established back then being carried out today. And we carry it forward in our philosophies and theologies. I no longer refer to myself as a conservative or evangelical Christian – politics has used these labels to affirm or distort particular peoples or cultures. The phrase that I do like is that we believers affirm “traditional, historic Christian beliefs”. I/we don’t buy into “liberal” denominations abiding by a new set of beliefs or society’s affirmation of alternative lifestyles. Our safe ground is that set of “traditional, historic Christian beliefs”. And if we are Neanderthals to the rest of society, so be it.

August 25 / I Cor. 10:1-33

I Corinthians 10:1-33

But if someone says to you, “This [meat] has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you… (v. 28) My Study Bible had the following comment on this verse: “If the meat has been identified as meat sacrificed to idols and you eat it, the man – whether a believer or an unbeliever – might think you condone … the worship of the idols the meat has been offered to.” Some of you already know this story – a few years ago a couple from Maryland with whom we were quite close invited us to the wedding of their daughter and her female partner. We declined the invitation in that we disagreed with same-sex marriage and we could not rejoice at that upcoming union. Those friends then wrote us off – for good! We had the sense that our attendance had been very important to them in that we would be affirming their daughter’s lifestyle and they knew that we had been leaders in the Episcopal church where we met. We were even foundational in their Christian growth. Carol and I had labored and prayed over our decision and shared our situation with a number of Christian friends before we declined the invitation. We were shocked and hurt by their very harsh reply. But we move on – without their friendship. Sad…

One final note to the story above… It has been my observation that the gay community does not simply want acceptance of their lifestyle – they want affirmation! I can be friends with a gay couple, but I cannot affirm that relationship. Sad…

August 24 / I Cor. 9:1-27

I Corinthians 9:1-27

When I spoke of giving in my comments last year (in the first link below), I left out the most demanding standard – the “rich, young ruler”: Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. (Luke 18:22b) The contrast is striking between the widow who had nothing and the ruler who had everything. Is it true that the more we have, the less willing we are to part with it? Just asking…

St. Andrew’s, through its Mission Committee, supports a number of overseas missionaries. We are part of a network of prayer and support teams for these folks. Every few years they return to the USA for a bit of relaxation, but also to report back to those people who are on their prayer and support team – and to continue to raise support. And as hard as these people are working “in the field”, it’s doubly frustrating when they are not able to raise the level of support that is required/requested of them by their sending organization. I have two in mind, in particular – Timo/Laura Harkonen and Mark/Tommie Bruner. We receive their prayer letters and read of the awesome work that they are doing in Finland and Czechia. And we know them personally – each of these missionaries (and family and friends) have stayed with us here in Kentucky. And we hear the sad news of their lack of funding, of churches who change pastors and cancel their support, of pastors who tell them that they can no longer afford to support them. Timo and Laura have a sending organization, AIM (Africa Inland Mission) that provides a backstop for them when support is down, but Mark and Tommie are on their own. They’ve been in Slovakia and Czechia for some 25 years – the churches that originally sent them to the mission field no longer know them and have dropped their support. And their retirement nest-egg that most of us have – it’s their home in CZ, that’s it! When we are asked each Sunday to pray for our missionaries, please do so. Lift them up mightily – and think about paying them a visit overseas. There is nothing that lifts their spirits so much as a visitor from home!!

August 23 / I Cor. 8:1-13

I Corinthians 8:1-13

Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. (v. 8) Substitute “beer” for food and “drink” for eat and we have a current issue among some very conservative Christians. I have sometimes wondered if my drinking beer (or brewing beer) offends others, especially if I am drinking at a local bar. But I’ve gotten beyond that – our 12-Step group, Freedom Road even meets at Versailles Brewing Company! But that’s another discussion.

Today’s reading brings to mind Mark Bruner, a dear brother and a Christian missionary serving with his wife in the Czech Republic. More than a decade ago Mark and Tommie bought a run-down pub/bed-and-breakfast business in eastern Czechia. After much work fixing it up they opened as a restaurant/pub serving food and beer. Mark used it as an outreach tool to the locals (events and activities too numerous to mention), but it also served as a youth-group gathering place. It’s where Carol and I regularly went on mission trips to serve with him at “English Camp”. So, two items related to today’s reading… First, Mark often commented to me to how nice it was for him to have a beer with a Christian brother. Many people in his Pentecostal denomination were totally against alcohol of any kind. But secondly, Mark had to be careful in sending photos in his prayer and support letters not to show beer or any references to alcohol in that some of his supporters back home might withdraw their support. So Mark was hiding the reality of his Czech situation in his belief that the outreach aspect of his running a pub in this very beer-oriented society served the greater good. Mark was not following Paul’s example (v. 13, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble), but his was a totally different context. Again, a longer discussion…!

August 22 / I Cor. 7:20-40

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)

August 21 / I Cor. 7:1-19

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…”!

August 20 / I Cor. 6:1-20

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!

August 19 / I Cor. 5:1-13

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?