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!!

See also:

• April 30 (2020) / I Cor. 9:1-18
• May 1 (2020) / I Cor. 9:19-27

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…!

See also: April 29 (2020) / I Cor. 8:1-13

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 (2020) / I Cor. 7:17-24
• April 28 (2020) / 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 (2020) / I Cor. 7:1-16
• April 27 (2020) / 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 (2020) / I Cor. 6:1-11
• April 25 (2020) / 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 (2020) / 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 (2020) / I Cor. 4:1-13
• April 22 (2020) / 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 (2020) / I Cor. 3:1-15
• April 20 (2020) / 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 (2020) / 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 (2020) / I Corinthians 1:1-17
• April 17 (2020) / I Cor. 1:18-31