Tag: Corinthians

Standing Firm with Abe and Paul

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Abe & Paul

Weaving together quotes from a famous one and The Famous One

Abraham Lincoln said, “Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”

The Apostle Paul said it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Paul and Abe have something pretty cool to say here. Follow this two-step plan:

Find the right place. Stay there.

Seems pretty simple, yet I’d dare say many of us may find it hard to do. One of the reasons for this might be that we tend to presume that where we are now is the right place. Once we open our hearts to the possibility that we might not be at the right place, we can actually get started with step one…

Finding The Right Place 

How do we find where the right place is? How do we evaluate the place we are to determine whether we should keep on walking or dig our heels in? Wouldn’t it be great if a large “Right City Exit Ahead” sign appeared along the highway or a “Right Blvd.” sign was posted at the correct intersection?  Well if we search Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians for this signage, lo and behold, I think we find it! Here’s the kicker. Paul’s road sign tells us that the right place is not a place at all, but an attitude. The right place is devotion to the work of the Lord and faith that His glorious purposes will be done through it. Giving ourselves fully to the Lord’s work puts our feet in the right place—on the solid Rock of Jesus Christ. Once there, it’s on to step two…

Standing Firm

The Rock upon which we are stand, is not a fixed location but an ever-deepening relationship with Jesus as our Savior and Lord. This Jesus, is not a passive, stay-put Lord, but one that is always at work in the world, always directing us to those He intends for us to reach in His name. So we must set our feet on the Rock of Jesus and be ready to rock ‘n’ roll with Jesus! Standing firm is not standing still. It is resolving to keep close to Him and the work He has for us, no matter where it takes us.

Lincoln did it. While battle plans changed, political coalitions changed, world affairs changed, He stood firm on the work He felt the Lord calling him to do—unite our nation.

Paul did it. When the Spirit said, “Don’t go there,” he didn’t. When the Spirit said, “Help us over here,”  he went. When he was with Jews, he remembered their customs. When he was with Gentiles, he tailored his witness to their culture. But he stood firm on the truth he preached and the fervency with which he preached it.

We must do it too – We must never refuse to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit. We must be willing to follow Jesus where He leads us, to love those He loves (that’s everybody), and to proclaim Him always. We must never stand firm in the place of our choosing if it is not the place of His choosing. We must never stand in firm inaction when loving action is called for.

You and The Way Out: Temptation and Our Faithful God

1 Cor 10-13 imageThe YouTruth in 1 Corinthians 10:13

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

Temptation is a powerful enemy. In our broken world, we will face temptations. No one, no matter how strong in their faith, will be exempt from this condition. In this passage, the nature of temptation and the nature of God are put on display. Understanding both natures is the key to “the way out.”

The Nature of Temptation—Common
Temptation is common to mankind. A card-carrying members of mankind, we face common temptations that every other card-carrying member faces. No one gets to claim that their temptations are more severe than anyone else’s. Our response to temptations we face is what creates seeming severity. It is not the temptation that is more severe, it is the mess that is made in response to temptation that makes it more severe.

The Nature of God—Faithful
No temptation can bring you down without your permission. God always puts His governing hand on the temptations you face to ensure that they, by themselves, cannot overtake you. If you, wittingly or unwittingly, install additional weaponry to temptations, then it can overtake you. God always provides a way out. All you have to do is to take it. This can be hard to do, particularly if a pattern of being overcome has established strong resistance to his way out. Remember, it is not our lack of resistance to the temptation that is the problem. It is a strength of resistance to God’s way out that is the problem.

Keep a keen eye out for The Way out today. When temptation comes, and it will come, you will be able to endure it and emerge victorious over it.

God Is Able to Bless You Abundantly

2 Cor 9-8 imageThe YouTruth in 2 Corinthians 9:8

“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

In this passage Paul teaches about two attributes of God, one that is fairly obvious and one that can be a bit hidden.

First, you hear about God’s ability. God is able to bless you abundantly. This is good news, indeed! God’s ability to bless you is unequaled! Those who have chosen a personal relationship with God draw themselves into direct contact with all of God’s abilities. That might cause you to infer that, as a Christian, you can sit back and gorge yourself on His non-stop blessings. It doesn’t take long to figure out that it doesn’t work this way. So, what does this say about God’s ability? Is He not as able as we are led to believe? No, that’s not it at all. The rest of this passage reveals the other attribute at work here—God’s will.

God’s will is that you “will abound in every good work.” Therefore God’s abundant blessings are designed to be an abundant means to that end. When blessing are not forthcoming, it is never evidence of God’s inability to bless you, but His unwillingness to bless you. The function and purpose of God’s blessings is to equip you to be the loving hands and feet of Jesus in this world. If you are engaged in this work, in accordance with His will, then He will purposefully bless you. In the abundance of these blessings, you will never be without what you need to do incredible, otherworldly good works.

Abound in good works today and experience God’s unequaled ability to abundantly bless you.

You Have Been Called Into Fellowship

1 Cor 1-9 imageThe YouTruth in 1 Corinthians 1:9

“God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

When you became a believer in Jesus, you also became a “fellow.” That sounds kind of weird, doesn’t it? But understanding your relationship with Jesus in this context, reveals the depth and closeness God longs to have with you. So let’s follow this through for a while!

It is easy to understand Jesus’ superiority. He is God after all! It is also easy to understand your inferiority to Him. You are not God after all. While these assessments are true, they can often create a sense of distance between you and Him. God does not, in any way, wish for this. Thus your status as “fellow.”
A fellow, is generally defined as a member of a group having common characteristics, like-mindedness, and a common mission or purpose. While God wants you to fully lean on Jesus’ superiority for leadership and wisdom, He also has called you into partnership with Him as He goes about bringing His Kingdom’s presence into the world. That makes you one called into fellowship with Him.

An earthly superior, let’s take a king for example, may exert his authority over his subjects from the distant confines of an unapproachable castle, demanding obedience with impunity. But Jesus is a King of a completely different order. Jesus is a faithful King that calls you into a deep, personal fellowship with Him! And His demands are intended to bless you richly, draw you ever closer to Him, and to give you amazing Kingdom work to do!

So enter today knowing that you are not a mere subject. You are a blessed fellow, in a blessed fellowship with God’s one and only Son, with a blessed common purpose. Carry it out today!

If You Have Not Love

Did you ever think that you could do a kind thing and not be doing the will of God? Me either. But Paul taught in his first letter to the church in Corinth that God’s will is not found in the act, but in the love behind it. With God’s love behind it, our kindness is God’s kindness. Without it, we’re just banging and clanging.

“If I speak in tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”

1 Corinthians 13:1

If you’ve been to a Christian wedding ceremony, you’ve probably heard a reading of some or all of 1 Corinthians 13. Understanding Paul’s focus in this chapter requires the context provided by chapter 12. When reading the two chapters together, we discover that chapter 13 is not a discussion about love in the marriage relationship as is often thought. It’s really a discussion about putting spiritual gifts to their proper use and the depravity of intentionally, or unintentionally, using those gifts improperly.

(Be sure, citing Paul’s description of true love from chapter 13 in a wedding ceremony is not improper at all. It speaks into the narrow focus of the relationship between God, husband, and wife—one of the many relationships the passage can be applied to.)

Paul’s list of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians includes working of miracles, prophecy, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, and the power to heal. Other spiritual include hospitality, administration, giving, and mercy. Most of us would immediately associate such things with God. If we experienced someone using these gifts we would assume that God was behind it. But that is not always so!

Understanding that spiritual gifts can be misused (or worse, hijacked by Satan for his misuse) is very important. Consider a chain saw. In the hands of a skilled lumberman it can be used to quickly create a stack of perfectly formed logs. In the hand of an untrained, inexperienced user, it can maim or kill operator and bystanders alike. The same is true with the spiritual gifts God gives to people of faith. They are tools designed for a purpose and they are to be used in accordance with that purpose. Whatever gifts God has entrusted to us, we can’t take these gifts or the responsibility for using them lightly. We do great damage when we do, many times without even knowing it.

Thankfully, God’s Word gives us the simple, direct way to measure the use of a spiritual gift. Start with asking the question, “Which came first?” Now we’ve heard the similar, paradoxical question, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” This is not a question like that. This is a question with a clear answer. Let’s use two basic truths to examine the use of spiritual gifts:

Truth One: The two imperatives

When asked, Jesus boiled all of the Jewish Law down to two commandments:

Love God.

Love others.

Therefore, any use of spiritual gifts that does not accomplish one of these two objectives falls outside of God’s will, tumbling into the category of misuse. So our evaluating question must always be, “Did love come first?” We can’t assume that the act of using a spiritual gift is automatically righteous. We must ask the question, “Was there sincere love for the other person first, and was the act that followed performed in response to that love?” An affirmative answer to this question is required. If not, we don’t do the will of God, we bang gongs and clang cymbals instead.

Truth Two: God is love, Satan isn’t

Satan longs to convince as many people as possible to reject God’s offer of an eternal, love relationship with Him by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Satan uses loveless application of spiritual gifts as a method of deception to this end. Using the gift in our passage as an example, if we speak in ‘tongues of angels’ without love, we confuse. No one can understand what we’re saying. Those confused by our actions will turn away from our witness. If we speak and interpret tongues in love, we edify and inform. Those informed by our actions will experience God’s love and be drawn to it. Satan loves loveless miracles, loveless healing, loveless prophecy because he knows God is not in them! They contribute to the confusion he thrives on. The more phony, loveless, God-less acts there are, the easier it is to convince non-believers that God is really not necessary, not real, not important. . .

There are two paths a believer can take in the use of spiritual gifts, and as much as we would like, there is no neutral territory for their use—they are either used as a means of expressing God’s love to others or they are used in a way incompatible with God’s purpose for them. That’s the truth.

If you speak in tongues of men and of angels but you have not love, you are only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If you have not love as the central motivation for using any of your spiritual gifts, you do not use them in accordance with God’s will. If you have not love, Satan is surely nearby, ready to use your gift for his purposes.

That’s the YouTruth – If You Have Not Love.