Today is the last week in our study of 1st Corinthians. We began it together in January! We've considered philosophical issues such as the source of true wisdom and the role of God's spirit in our lives. We've discussed sexual purity, marriage and divorce, the exercise of rights and liberties, leadership in the church, the roles of men and women, church discipline, spiritual gifts, the Lord's Supper, the resurrection, and the importance of order when we gather to celebrate in worship. Some of the issues are controversial and tend to stand out in our minds but above every issue, regardless of controversy, hangs the priority of love. 16 times in 16 chapters the Apostle brings his readers back to the priority of love.
In this final chapter Paul drives that point home once more. Most of the chapter has very little to do with us really. Verses 1-9 talk about a collection for the persecuted followers of Jesus in Jerusalem. Verses 10-12 introduce Paul's young disciple Timothy. Verses 15-24 are all personal and contain greetings, expressions of thanks, and finally a blessing. But tucked right in the middle of these 24 verses is one of the most pointed descriptions of love's power in the entire Bible. I hope it challenges you today and that you leave here more enthralled with God's love for you and the privilege you have to live a life of love.
- Dan Jarrell
Identity - Week 28
July 24, 2011 • Dan Jarrell
RESURRECTION! What if it didn't happen? How would our lives be different if the resurrection were just a myth or a religious fable and not an historical reality? Every promise of faith would be empty. Hope would vaporize. We would still be in our sin, guilty before God and destined for judgment. Fear would be energized were it not for the resurrection and the grief of losing a loved one, of knowing the end of life on this earth was really the end of life, would be overwhelming. Everything substantive about the Christian faith fully depends upon the promise of resurrection.
Today we consider this spectacular promise and its implications for how we live. It's a paradigm shifting truth. It can rearrange every value in your life and change the way you look at every challenge, opportunity, and experience. At the core, followers of Jesus are people of hope and that hope depends upon the resurrection. I pray you are encouraged by this passage today and challenged to rethink how your life reflects confidence in the fact and the promise of resurrection.
- Dan Jarrell
Identity - Week 27
July 17, 2011 • Jim Capaldo
Throughout the world, the gathering of the saints of God, for public worship, reveals unbelievable uniformity. This is one reason why a Christian from the United States can find herself in authentic fellowship with other worshipers of Christ, even in the farthest reaches of the earth. It is not that public worship looks the same, sounds the same or even smells the same, but rather that the underlying principles for orderly public worship are upheld and celebrated wherever growing believers are found. Today, in 1 Corinthians 14:26-40, we will examine these principles deeper and find that when Christians publicly gather for worship, they strengthen each other, they instruct each other, they encourage each other, they reflect God's created order together and they mutually submit to the authority of the scriptures. These principles have distinguished the public gathering of the saints from the time of the Apostles until now. They are timeless and they glorify God. Today, I look forward to celebrating them with you!
- Jim Capaldo
Identity - Week 26
July 10, 2011 • Dan Jarrell
Today, the topic is tongues; that New Testament phenomenon where a person speaks in a language that is unknown to him or her. This language is either the language of angels or other earthly languages. It occurred at Pentecost, in the first century church, and since then in churches all around the world. The New Testament describes tongues as a gift, given by the Holy Spirit to the church for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ and glorifying the Lord. Over the centuries however, confusion surrounding this gift may well have caused more harm than good and what was meant to build up the Body of Christ has often played a role in tearing it down.
Most Christians hold one of four views regarding the use of tongues in the church. Many consider them to be a private prayer language that is very personal and cannot be interpreted. Others view tongues as a public gift, a language through which God communicates to the church and it must be interpreted. Still others assign tongues strictly to the mission of evangelism and cross cultural outreach. Some believe that tongues no longer have any usefulness at all in the life of a Christian or the church and that their relevance ceased by the end of the first century.
Christians may be confused on this issue but the Bible is pretty clear. It doesn't answer all our questions but it gives some fairly strong instruction regarding when, where, and how the gift of tongues is meant to be enjoyed. I pray that God will use his word today to correct our thinking and to change our lives.
Identity - Week 25
July 3, 2011 • Dan Jarrell
There are sections of the Bible that everyone appreciates even if they don't appreciate the Bible. 1 Corinthians 13 is one of those sections. Its poetic and pointed description of love has been translated and printed on plaques and posters in most cultures of the world. It resonates with people from every religious perspective as a "sacred text" because something in the human heart intuitively affirms that its truth is divine. It's often read as a matter of routine in wedding ceremonies even when the bride and groom have no commitment to Jesus and no real intention of following him. How different might the world be today if all who admired 1 Corinthians 13 would honestly purpose to apply it?
Today's passage surfaces the central issue of Christianity. Though our study of 1 Corinthians has raised many important issues like wisdom, personal ambition, sexual purity, respect for others, discipline, and spiritual gifts, none of these are the central issue. The central issue of Christianity is a life filled with and driven by the love of Jesus Christ! May God use his word today to renew your passion for love.
- Dan
Identity - Week 24
June 26, 2011 • Lee Hudson
Family,
There are plenty of anecdotes and sayings that make one point: What I have is not good enough and what I wish I had belongs to the next guy. Today, we are exploring the second half of 1 Corinthians 12. I have been moved this week by Paul's superlative language, that there are no "in-betweens" in the Kingdom. You and I have spiritual gifts. The gifts we have are the ones we are supposed to have. The employment of our gifts determine whether or not the Church operates the way it is supposed to (if at all).
I hope you take encouragement from the message today. You belong, you have gifts that are needed here, and you are invited to share your gifts and watch powerful things happen.
- Lee
Identity - Week 23
June 19, 2011 • Dan Jarrell
I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. (Jesus of Nazareth, Jo. 14:12)
"Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant." (The Apostle Paul, 1 Cor. 12:1)
While on the earth, Jesus walked in full obedience to the Father. He spoke truth that liberated the lost and lonely. He did miracles that verified the promises of God for his people. Jesus defied what people came to trust as "the way things worked in the world" and as he prepared to return to the Father, he promised that we would do even greater things than he.
I doubt that any one of us will ever feed five thousand with two loaves and a few fishes but when the Holy Spirit invades a community of people and sets up residence in the church as he did in the literal "body of Jesus," we can indeed do greater things. There are billions of followers of Jesus throughout the world and if all of us embrace the privilege and responsibility of serving others as the according to the way the Spirit has gifted us and is leading us, the miraculous will happen. Count on it!
Today we begin to unravel the issue of Spiritual gifts in the church. It is a complicated and controversial issue but nothing is more important for us to understand if we want to enjoy our identity as followers of Jesus Christ.
- Dan
Identity - Week 22
June 12, 2011 • Dan Jarrell
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:26-27
Gender distinction! It may be the greatest expression of God's brilliance in creation and it is certainly among the greatest gifts ever given to mankind. Men and women, different from one another and yet perfectly suited to work together and to need each other, accomplishing the will of God in the world he loves. If gender distinction is a reflection of God's glory it should not surprise us that gender confusion is key to the devil's strategy as he seeks to pervert the image of God in mankind and to rob people of joy. That strategy began in Eden and it has continued uninterrupted throughout human history. As a result, what was created to work together in companionship constantly works against each other in competition. It has become the way of the world; it should not be that way in the church.
First Corinthians 11:2-16 is all about relationships between men and women in the church and in the presence of God. It is a gnarly passage about a controversial issue and many of you won't immediately appreciate what it says but hang in there and stay with me today. If we can get this right, we will enjoy a dynamic in our marriages and in our church that we all are hungry for and a liberty to be fully what God created us to be. If we can get this right, we will offer hope to a world suffering from gender confusion.
Identity - Week 21
June 5, 2011 • Greg McCormick
Most adults of working age are familiar with the terms Profit and Loss (P&L) and Return on Investment (ROI). In our dog-eat-dog society, profit always seems to be the bottom line. Success today is measured by profit. In many cases this profit obtained by any means necessary and often at the expense of others. Culturally, if we're not careful we can easily be driven by what we have left at the end of the day. At the end of the day what's the return on my investment? Is there a profit?
Followers of Christ have come to appreciate the personal investment that Jesus Christ has made in each of our lives. But the Bible is clear that He also expects a return on His investment. A profit! God expects us to live profitable lives. What does that look like? How will God measure a profitable life? We'll explore these questions today. We'll also take a look at key biblical truths that will hopefully make God's standard of measurement crystal clear to you and simple to follow.
What's left at the end of our lives will be presented to the Father and will be Christ's return on investment in us. Will there be a profit?
- Greg
Identity: Week 20
May 29, 2011 • Dan Jarrell
"Would you like to have dinner together?" That may be the most significant invitation in human history. It's the question we first ask the woman who eventually becomes our wife. It's an opening for deeper conversation about a challenge or an opportunity. It's a first step toward intimacy and friendship. Contracts are signed, alliances formed, friendships develop, weddings are planned, laws are written, and wars are ended all around the table.
It should not surprise us that Jesus would make the table central in his relationship with his bride (the Church). The Bible says, "The Son of Man came eating and drinking." Jesus' entire ministry revolved around going to a meal, eating a meal, or coming from a meal. His final word to his disciples before his crucifixion came in the context of a meal and his promise to us is that someday we will dine with him in glory. It is called the "wedding feast of the Lamb." The table was a focal concern for Jesus. He intended that it be as central to the worship of his church as Scripture.
Today we enjoy a meal that followers of Jesus have been eating together for over two thousand years. It is a foretaste of the feast to come. So, welcome to the table all who are followers of King Jesus. We remember his sacrifice and celebrate his promise as we eat.
Identity: Week 19
May 22, 2011 • Dan Jarrell
Choices! For several weeks we've been talking about our choices and the impact those choices can have on people around us. We highlighted the great personal liberty we have in Christ. We talked about how a maturing understanding of the gospel impacts the way we exercise that liberty. Last week, Jim helped us think about the power of mission in defining the choices we make, yet another reminder that God invites us to value the spiritual needs of others above our legitimate personal liberties. It is an invitation to a life defined and guided by love.
Today we talk about liberties or privileges that we should never give up and how to make choices that protect those God granted privileges. 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 provides 3 guiding principles that, should we choose to live by them, will help learn to trust the grace and the promise of Jesus and identify us more fully as "people who are called by his name."
- Dan
Identity: Week 18
May 15, 2011 • Jim Capaldo
The Gospel of Jesus Christ. What is it? What is its power? What are its blessings? From what and for what does it save a person? Why is it good news?
The Gospel of Jesus Christ, as discussed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:17-23, is much more than Jesus' death, burial and resurrection precisely laid out in bullet points. The Gospel that Paul discusses is a worldview that provides us with an ever present and relevant grid through which to view and process all of life's relationships and events. As we will see in today's passage, Paul clearly lived according to a Gospel worldview which determined how he related to others, his motive for serving Christ as well as the manner in which he served Christ.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ was relevant to the Apostle Paul well beyond the moment of his conversion. It was not merely the ABC's of salvation, it was the A - Z of his entire life. How is the Gospel of Jesus Christ visibly relevant in your life, today?
- Jim Capaldo
Identity - Week 17
May 8, 2011 • Dan Jarrell
If you were with us last week you know that 1 Corinthians 8 speaks to the priority we place on personal liberty. It exalts liberty as a uniquely "Christian" concept. We have been given liberty in Jesus Christ to live by the values of God's kingdom and not the religious rules of men. On the other hand, the Scripture, the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and the example of Jesus all challenge us to submit our liberty to the greater priority of love. Love always trumps liberty for the follower of Jesus Christ. When we fight for our "rights" at the expense of others, we prove that we do not really understand the gospel.
Today we get a glimpse at the heart of a man whose liberty was fully submitted to the priority of love. He was willing to do even the unreasonable for the sake of the gospel; good news about Jesus that had radically rearranged every passion and priority in his life. I am challenged by this passage because I have yet so far to travel. I hope it challenges you as well as we continue together learning to live out our identity as "the people of Jesus Christ."
- Dan
Identity - Week 16
May 1, 2011 • Dan Jarrell
"How do your choices influence the people God has called you to love?" That's the question of 1 Corinthians 8. At its core, a relationship with Jesus Christ is about freedom; freedom from condemnation, freedom from religious law, freedom to live by the principles of God's kingdom and not the decrees or expectations of men. But with that freedom comes responsibility. Our lives are not our own once we surrender to Jesus. We are his ambassadors; missionaries to a world full of people whose hearts and lives are broken by the effects of sin. Sometimes, the choices we are free in Christ to make may harm other people even though there is really nothing "wrong" with our choices. Other times, people who are easily offended if our choices are contrary to their value system may use that offense to impose limitations on our liberty. Where is the balance? What is consistent with our responsibility to love?
Today we tackle that question as we discuss 1 Corinthians 8:1-13. I hope we each walk away with a greater appreciation for liberty and a stronger commitment to love.
Identity - Week 14
April 17, 2011 • Lee Hudson
Dear family,
From the moment we are born, we begin the process of life followed by death. Depressing, I know, but true. Throughout life we are hammered with the question of what we are made for, what we are supposed to do, what we are supposed to accomplish ... it seems never to end. No matter who it may be, and regardless of that person's station in life, we are all faced with these questions, not least of which is, "Why am I here, and what am I supposed to do before I die?"
Because it is Palm Sunday, we are departing from the chronology of our series in 1 Corinthians, jumping to chapter 15 of the same book. There are powerful words of encouragement here-words of power and encouragement to all those in Jesus. At the same time, however, they are scary and disquieting, because they teach us that life does not come before death. We do not really live for a while and then die. No, Jesus says that in order to really live, death must occur. That's right. The Gospel of Jesus calls us not to live before we die, but to experience death ... so that we might truly live.
- Lee
