foundations

1 corinthians 3

My foundations should be Jesus, but I need to be careful that I'm not building on that foundation with worthless stuff - cultural, traditional, style based stuff that is really irrelevant to the gospel. Why is it tempting to want to make hard and fast rules about things that aren't in the Bible. This also applies to teaching others. It's interesting that Paul says that the person will still be saved (because their foundations are in Jesus) but in spite of, rather than because of, the other "building" that's gone.

salesmen?

1 corinthians 2

Paul did not persuade the Corinthians to accept Jesus with clever talk or wisdom, the demonstrations of the Spirit's power was the thing that transformed their lives. Unfortunately the church seems to do this the other way round, packaging the gospel or changing it for mass market appeal (how to get blessed, now!), rather than just explaining the story of Jesus (recognising that some people will think it is foolish) and expecting the Holy Spirit to act.

That doesn't mean we set up supernatural "shows" trying to "prove" to people that God is real with miracles. but it does mean we should tell our story, pray for people and expect God to heal people, set them free of addictions, transform their lives, because that's what He's done for me! We are not salesmen of the gospel, we are witnesses, God saves people, not us.

lets settle this like adults...

1 corinthians 6

Paul was encouraging the church to perform mediation for each other when disputes between Christians arose. While lawsuits may not seem common between Christians in this country at the moment, I think it would still be fairly unlikely for two Christians in a dispute to go to a church leader or just another christian and ask them for advice in sorting it out. Why? Because mediation like that will probably mean you'll have to compromise in your dispute whereas a solicitor that you employ will go all out to get you as much as possible. Unfortunately we tend to want our own way above trying to find a peaceful resolution. How many people have left churches in a mood about something? Following Paul's advice here, why not rather be wronged than damage the church? "everything is permissible for me...." sums up what a lot of people including many who would call themselves Christians, don't understand about the gospel. There is no law, there is no list of do's and don'ts. I am free to do anything. Nothing I do or don't do affects my relationship with God. the reason why I do or don't do something is because I'm worshipping Jesus and recognise that somethings help/hinder that, not because His love depends on it.

judgement

1 corinthians 5 there were people in the corinthian church who were arrogant in their sin. My gut reaction is that I am not arrogant about sin but there are many times when I might try to justify my sin based on cricumstances or whatever, where I might conveniantly ignore my sin while focusing on someone else's. That's not a humble attitude towards sin and so it probably is arrogant. At then end of the chapter Paul says that we are not to judge people outside the church but we need to judge people inside the church. This reflects Jesus' attitude who hard harsh words for religious people but was happy to associate with all sorts of dodgy sinners. Unfortunately, the church seems to get it the wrong way round - shouting at the world, pointing out what it is doing wrong and trying to control non-christian's behaviour while often ignoring unrepentant sin among christians. That needs to change.

unity

In chapter one of 1 corinthians, Paul talks about unity in the church. We should be able to unite behind a common vision and goal - Jesus. Unfortunately it doesn't always work out so nicely! Pursuing unity and Jesus should both be the same thing most of the time but on the occasions where you come to a choice - follow what Jesus wants or compromise to preserve unity - then Jesus should be our only answer. Unity is good, it's what God wants. But unity isn't God, it's not the ultimate goal of all we do.

failure

When Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem after a few years away (chapter 13), there's a lot of dodgy stuff going on. As well as the fact that his enemy Tobiah is now living in the temple, the people have gone back on the 3 main things they publicly promised to do in chapter 10. They had stopped giving money to support the priests, the had started trading on the Sabbath and had married foreign women. Their intentions had been good when they signed the document, but they failed and it needed Nehemiah to come and knock a few heads together (literally).

No matter how good my intentions are and how hard I try, I will always fail in some area. And having Nehemiah come and beat me up and pull my hair out still wouldn't make me able to live up to God's standards or even the standards that I set myself. Thankfully, Jesus has already dealt with that and my relationship with God is not dependant on what I do.