“The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife.” (1 Cor. 7:4 NIV84)

So far, in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he has made it clear that what we have is not ours, but rather blessings given by a gracious heavenly Father.  We are stewards of what He has given to us.  He has also made it clear that we aren’t even ours.  We are not autonomous individuals, but rather are accountable in word and deed to our God and Creator.  Today, Paul reaches into the marriage relationship and declares once again that individualism and autonomy don’t fit into the Biblical view of marriage.  Paul, speaking directly to the physical aspect of the marriage relationship, reminds us all that we belong to the one we are united to.  Having become one with that person, his/her body becomes ours.  It becomes ours not in ownership, but responsibility.  We are accountable for the care of the other person–no different than the care for ourselves.

I don’t think Paul would mind if I extrapolate and say that this principle goes beyond just the physical body.  As God makes two into one, all aspects of their beings become shared responsibilities.  A marriage becomes most beautiful when the clear distinction between the two individuals become blurred a bit because of God uniting them together.  Anyone who has witnessed the  marriage of 40, 50 or more years has witnessed what I’m talking about.  It’s as though they have become so much like one that they anticipate each others’ needs.  They can even finish the other’s sentence.  In this relationship we become responsible for the spiritual, psychological, emotional and physical needs of the one we love and have become one with.  To care for them is to care for ourselves.

May we honor this most sacred, divine, created relationship.

Peace!

Tom

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” (1 Cor. 6:19-20 NIV84)

A few days ago I did a devotion where I stated that, “It’s not yours!”   The point I was trying to make is that everything we have has been given to us.  All of our gifts and talents have been gifted to us from the Father of all good gifts.  In today’s verses Paul goes even further.  He states that, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.”  This verse strikes right at the heart of our western individualism and self-proclaimed autonomy.  At the end of the day, God owns us.  We are His.  He lovingly created us, gifted us, and saved us through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  We were purchased by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Because of this fact, we are not free to do, think and be as we want.  We are accountable to the one who bought us out of slavery and redeemed our souls.  It is proper that we view the accountability not as a curse or a re-enslavement, but as a reciprocation of love.  We ought to be indebted, grateful and in love with the One who has shown us His love.  We are the prodigal son who has returned to his Father grateful for the opportunity to be in His presence and experience His love and grace.  You are not your own!  You are a precious member of the kingdom of God.

Peace!

Tom

“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?” (1 Cor. 6:15 NIV84)

In this part of his letter, Paul is telling the Corinthian Christians to be on their guard when it comes to sexual sins because their bodies are not their own. Paul is telling them that they are united with Jesus Christ by faith. They are now part of Jesus’ body. They (we) are spiritually united to Christ Himself through our faith in Him. Boy, if this doesn’t fly in the face of modern thinking that my body is my own and I have the right to do with it anything I want. This is just not the case! We have been born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are new creatures in Christ who live out our lives as part of the body of Christ. We are intimately connected to Jesus and His kingdom. Paul is reminding us all that we are not autonomous creatures, even as Christians, but we are joined with Christ.

Christianity isn’t just a body of knowledge assented to by the brain. It is a committed relationship with Jesus Christ. Just as we have intimate committed relationships with family members and friends, we are likewise connected to Jesus. Our minds and our hearts have as their life source Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said: “I am the Vine and you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. But apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).  Every day, every moment of our lives, we take Jesus with us. We are never alone. We don’t just take propositional truths about Jesus, but we take Jesus Himself. In all that you do and say today, may you do it knowing that Jesus is with you because you are a member of His body.

Peace!

Tom

“I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?” (1Cor. 6:5 NIV84)

Before we discuss what to do, let’s clearly establish what not to do. Paul is scolding the Corinthian church for taking its disputes before the worldly court system. He states that it is an embarrassment to the church to air its dirty laundry before the very world it is trying to witness to. Paul is pleading with the members of the Corinthian church to deal with their conflicts and disputes properly. He tells them, and us, that our disputes should be handled from within. We need to show the world three things. First, we are sinful human beings who get caught up in disputes and conflicts that we ought not have gotten involved in but that our sinful nature drags us into. Second, God’s word has the power to bring truth to our conflict and reveal where the right and the wrong are in the conflict. Third, God’s word, in the hands of God’s people, can bring reconciliation to any Christians facing conflict and dispute.

We Christians of the 21st century can learn much from what Paul is telling us today. We tend to deal with conflict in two ways, and both are detrimental to the Christians involved and the church at large. First, like the Corinthians, we tend to get very litigious and are too ready to seek justice and retribution within the courts of this world. We leap off the pages of Scripture and take matters into our own hands. Second, we tend to be like ostriches, sticking our heads in the sand and pretending there is no conflict among us. Ignoring of the obvious creates hurts within the body that is very hard to heal. It ultimately creates more and more division. It is vital that we, as the church, bring the truth of God’s word to the disputes and conflicts within our church so that the church can forever be a beacon of the reconciliation by the power of the Gospel.

May we be bold witnesses to the power of God’s word to bring peace and reconciliation to our moments of conflict and dispute.

Peace!

Tom

“I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people – not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.” (1 Cor. 5:9&10 NIV84)

Never does Scripture imply that Christians should join convents and monasteries to avoid spiritual corruption from the sinful world they live in. Paul is right in saying that if that were the goal then we would have to leave the world entirely. That doesn’t make sense if it is our purpose to assist the kingdom of God to save the lost. We must live in the world if we intend to be a witness to those who live in it. We are called to be lights in a dark world. We are called to be salt in a decaying world. The point is God wants us in the world, not trying to avoid it.

At the same time, we are called to live transformed lives in the world. We are to live as born again believers in a world that is dying (literally) to have what we have. It is vitally important that we not become like the world around us as we live in it. People need to see the difference in us. They need to see that although we are sinful, we are repentant, grace-filled, loving and caring individuals. Our lives need to attract them, not to us but to the truths we live by and the Lord we serve.

May we boldly let our light shine in the darkness of the world we live in so that some may see and move into the light themselves.

Peace!

Tom

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” (1 Cor. 4:20 NIV84)

I know that this thought has been creeping up on me because I have mentioned it in a sermon and a couple Bible studies lately. The thought is this: Christianity is not merely a philosophical set of presuppositions that one adopts as true, and that’s it. I am not saying that it’s not partially a philosophical worldview but rather that the Christian faith is more. I know a lot of propositional truths that for the most part I ignore. The truths of the Christian faith cannot be ignored. They must be understood with the head and believed with the heart and trusted with all that we are. The theologians of the reformation said that faith was the Spirit-empowered connection of knowledge, assent and trust. Without all three the faith falters.

In that last sentence I mention the key component to all of this: the Holy Spirit. He alone can bring power and conviction to the truths we believe, understand and live by. The Holy Spirit works constantly in our lives to keep our focus on the kingdom of God and not the kingdom of this world. Through the power of the Gospel He transforms our lives. He makes us born again. We Christians don’t just adopt a new thought process, we are converted to an entirely new way of living and being. We are not the same people we were before we met Jesus. This is the power of the kingdom of God. It isn’t just a philosophy that can be assented to outwardly. It is the very power of God that raises us to new life in Jesus Christ.

May we rely daily on the kingdom’s power to change us, transform us and sustain us.

Peace!

Tom

“For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” (1 Cor. 4:7 NIV84)

Here we have a verse with all questions. For me, the second question is the most striking. “What do you have that you did not receive?” Job says the same thing in a slightly different way: “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!” The language of the committal service of the dead states, “We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can take nothing out.” The message is clear. What we have, we have received, not created for ourselves.

None of us created ourself, but we were created. None of us chose our parents, and our parents did not choose us. But nonetheless, we were united. You did not give yourself the looks, intelligence, talents and abilities you have, but you have them all the same. We have been blessed to use what we have been given, but we can give ourselves nothing. We are recipients. We freely receive blessings from our heavenly Father. All that we have has been given to us from outside ourselves. And for this reason our Creator and Redeemer receives all the glory and praise.

Peace!

Tom

“Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, ‘Do not go beyond what is written.’ Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.” (1 Cor. 4:6 NIV84)

“Here I stand!” A statement made by the great scholar and theologian Martin Luther when on trial for heresy, as he was leading the Church of his day in a reformation. So, what did he mean? Did he mean, “This is what I believe and no one is going to change my mind. This is my opinion, you can have yours”? No! (Although those might be popular statements used today to defend one’s point of view.) For Luther, this was an emphatic declaration of his stance of truth. He was stating to all who would listen, “I stand on the truths of God’s word alone!” He refused to let human reason or opinion sway his position. He openly told his critics to prove him wrong by the word of God and he would recant his teaching and correct his error. But if the criticism came from human reason then, “Here I stand!”

Paul is saying the same thing to the Corinthians in our verse for today. Paul says, “Do not go beyond what is written.” This is where we all get into trouble. For one reason or another it is deemed flawed to accept the Bible as the sole authority for spiritual and moral truths, and we turn to our own reason. As soon as we turn inward for the answers we make ourselves the authority over the word of God. That is how divisions and false teaching arise within the church. Like Paul and Martin Luther, it would be good for us to submit ourselves to the authority of God’s word. Then we might lessen the division within the church and get back to the mission of the church.

When it comes to the truths of God’s word, may we all be heard to say, “Here I stand!”

Peace!

Tom

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16 NIV84)

Have you ever wondered why there is a question mark at the end of this verse instead of an exclamation point? Honestly, Paul could have said to the Corinthians, “You are God’s temple, and the Spirit of God lives in you!” But he doesn’t. Rather he says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” So, why the question mark?

Paul wants the Corinthians, and us, to know that we too often live our lives confused and defeated because we are disconnected from God’s power and glory. Recall please, that the children of Israel couldn’t face the presence of God on and around Mt. Sinai. The presence of God was so awesome and fearsome, that they asked Moses to face it on his own. When Solomon built the temple, the glory and power of God filled the temple and even the priests had to leave. For the entire time period of the kings, God’s presence was veiled from the people as it resided behind the curtain in the Holy of Holies. God’s people throughout history have known and feared the power of God, a power that moves the hearts of men and entire nations at will.

Paul is telling us that because of our faith in Jesus Christ, who removed the barrier between us and God’s glory and power through His death and resurrection, we now have that same glory and power living in us. We need to not doubt but believe that God’s Holy Spirit lives within us. We have all the power we need to live out our days on this earth residing inside our hearts and souls. We need to live our lives as though the verse for today has an exclamation point at the end of it. We need to live bold and courageous lives that are rooted in God’s power and in the guidance of His Holy Spirit.

You are God’s temple, and God’s Holy Spirit lives in you!!!!!!!!

Peace!

Tom

“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 3:11 NIV84)

Paul’s fundamental presupposition about the division within the Corinthian church is simply stated in our verse for today. He is telling the Corinthians that as long as we (Paul, Apollos, etc.) build upon the same foundation (Jesus), then we should be at peace and unified with one another. Paul reminds us all that too often we place our focus and attention on the wrong thing. The Corinthians were guilty of placing too much attention and authority upon individual leaders of the church, like Paul and Apollos, instead of THE leader of the Church, which is Jesus Christ.

There are two dangers a church faces when focusing on the man rather than the message of the man. First, as mentioned earlier, we tend to depend too much on the human being before us rather than the God who gives the human being His message. The second danger is that we stray away from the original foundation, because by focusing too much on the individual we fail to realize he has moved away from the foundation of Jesus Christ.  This is how false teaching and heresy develop within the church. Only by staying focused on the foundational truths of Jesus Christ can we avoid the errors so many churches have experienced. Jesus is the foundation, the base upon which all out doctrines and practices must be based, and He is the head, the leader and directer of His church.  We pastors, teachers, leaders and believers are simply servants who obediently live within those two layers.

Peace!

Tom