1 Corinthians
Resurrection
August 19, 2018 • Rev. David Juelfs
Is it really that important? "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain… If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins… If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied" (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17 and 19). All of Christianity hinges on the resurrection of Jesus. This event is the very fulcrum of history. If Jesus stays in the grave he joins the ranks of the many failed would be messiahs of his day. Instead Jesus rises in victory and the world is never the same. We are never the same. The resurrection of Jesus guarantees our rescue from sin and death, and the renewal of God’s good creation. All of 1 Corinthinans has been building to this powerful articulation of the centrality of the resurrection. This Sunday we will focus on the reasons why we can have confidence in the historical reality of Jesus rising from the dead and begin to explore how it really does change everything. I look forward to worshiping together this Sunday. Pastor David
Learn and Be Encouraged
August 12, 2018 • Rev. David Juelfs
Read two things: All of 1 Corinthians 14 and the below excerpt from Annie Dillard. "On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return. " Now read, meditate on and pray through 1 Corinthians 14. In what ways could we all come to worship this Sunday with greater expectations and deeper preparation for God to speak? I can't wait to worship together. Pastor David
Then Face to Face
August 5, 2018 • Rev. David Juelfs
How do you know that? The Corinthians prided themselves on their knowledge about spiritual things, and it made them miserable people. As they grew more knowledgeable, sophisticated, and experienced as followers of Jesus, they grew less loving, more divisive, and toxic to the people around them. This is terrifying to me. How can we avoid hurting ourselves and those we love in our pursuit of knowing God? Read, meditate on, and pray through 1Corinthinans 13:8-13. May we learn together how to love each other well, even as we too grow in our knowledge, sophistication, and experience. I can't wait to worship together. Pastor David
Love
July 29, 2018 • Rev. David Juelfs
Is this supposed to make me feel good... or bad? 1 Corinthians 13 is one of the most well known passages in the Bible and for good reason. The lyrical and beautiful pronouncement of the priority of love can send the hopeful and aspirational heart soaring. Thus we hear it often at weddings. However for those struggling to love or challenged by the seemly lack of love in their lives, this passage can feel like a lead weight around the neck. How will we carry the weight of living this way? We all want to experience love as described in this passage. We all want the strength and courage to love this way. Oh but it is hard. 1 Corinthians 13 offers no invitation to skip through the wild flowers with your love. This is a call to hack through the jungle on a wild adventure, wiping sweat from our eyes, legs aching on the way to a breathtaking vista, on a mission to rescue those in danger, well worth it, but no small feat. Read 1 Corinthians 13 this weekend. Meditate on it. Pray through it. Feel good and uplifted. Feel bad, challenged and disappointed. Feel both and let Jesus speak into both. Let’s see what he says to us together this Sunday. I can’t want to worship together. Pastor David
One Body
July 22, 2018 • Rev. David Juelfs
Trick question (and the answer is not “nothing”): What do we need more than Jesus? We are back in 1Corinthians this Sunday and I am back as well. I had some great time off with the family, but we are all looking forward to being back at Redeemer. Take a few minutes this weekend and read through all of 1 Corinthians 12. Meditate on the passage. Pray through it. What do we need more than Jesus? Well, phrased differently, where do we find Jesus? Where is he manifested to us and experienced by us? 1 Corinthians 12 shows us and we are all more involved in that than we may realize. I can’t wait to worship together. Pastor David
Bread and Wine (Part 2)
June 17, 2018 • Rev. David Juelfs
You look hungry. Have you ever been surprised by your hunger? Maybe you were so busy with or focused on your work that you arrived with a crash at the end of the day and suddenly realized you didn't eat. This week we continue our study of 1Corinthians 11:23-34, likely the earliest teaching in the New Testament on the Lord's Supper. It often happens that we get so focused, so busy, with our day-to-day that we don't notice how famished we are for what the Lord's Supper offers. With the Old Testament background to this practice as our foundation from the sermon last week, we now focus on the New Testament reality. It is better, more powerful, than we could have ever imagined. Take a few minutes this weekend and meditate on 1Corinthians 11:23-34. Reflect on how hungry you are and ask God to provide for you what you need. I can't wait to worship together. Pastor David
Bread and Wine (Part 1)
June 10, 2018 • Rev. David Juelfs
Before I eat that I really need to see the ingredients. We celebrate the Lord's Supper every week at Redeemer, but have you ever paused to reflect on what it is and why we do it? In 1Corinthians 11:23-26 we find that the Lord’s Supper, also called Communion or the Eucharist, was given to the church by Jesus himself (see also Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22), but why? They may be familiar words to some of us, but it is quite odd to talk of eating someone’s body and drinking their blood. What is a covenant in blood? What is the significance that Jesus instituted this practice at the important Passover celebration of the Jews? What we will see from 1Corinthians 11 is that Jesus, like a master chef, is taking many ingredients, images, promises, and expectations from the Old Testament, and combining them into one magnificent meal. The meal both highlights the essence and significance of those original ingredients and makes something surprisingly new. Jesus then sets the table, lays out the feast, and invites all who trust him to join him at this banquet. As you prepare for worship this Sunday, read Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, and 1Corinthians 11. Pray through these passages with your family and friends, and come to worship hungry. Pastor David
Covenant Worship
June 3, 2018 • Rev. Adam Feichtmann
As Christians, if we could only do one thing, what would we do? If we lived in a society where Christianity was illegal, but we wanted to figure out how to do one thing, what would it be? If you are curious how the Apostle Paul would answer that question, spend a few minutes reading 1Corinthians 11:17-26. Read, meditate, and pray through it and see what one thing the Apostle Paul is passionate about. Beginning this Sunday we are starting a three week mini-series on Communion from 1Corinthians 11:17-34. We partake of the Sacrament of Communion every week at Redeemer, so we are excited to look at the riches of the longest passage in the Bible on this practice. I look forward to worshiping with you in the pews and around the table! Pastor Adam
A Consistent Life
May 27, 2018 • Rev. Adam Feichtmann
No one wants to be a hypocrite. We want to have a consistent life. A life where our beliefs and actions are in concert with one another. A life where our message and behaviors align. The Apostle Paul wants the same thing for himself and the church in Corinth. This Sunday we are returning to our preaching series in Paul’s letter of 1 Corinthians, specifically chapter 9 verses 24-27. Spend a few minutes prior to Sunday morning to read, pray, and meditate on these verses. Reflect on Paul’s writing of consistency and your own life. I look forward to worshiping with you this Sunday! Pastor Adam
Taste and See
May 13, 2018 • Rev. David Juelfs
What is in that bag on your back? We all have it… that pack slung across our shoulders. What's in it? Does it weigh us down making every step harder and the journey longer? Or is it full of what we need? And not just what we need for the journey, but so much more? Always something that supports and empowers us. Think for a moment about what sits on your shoulders. Does it push you down or pull you up? Take a moment and read 1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1. Ignore for a second the specific first century Corinthian issues pastor Paul is addressing and look at the basic worldview principles he is explaining. Do you live in a world of scarcity or abundance? How you answer that question will shape every part of your life. Scarcity or abundance? In your marriage? In your health? In your finances? In your parenting? In your vocation? Scarcity or abundance? What do you think Jesus wants you to know about the nature of his world that we live in? Meditate on 1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1, pray through it, struggle with it, and listen for the Spirit. What is he saying to us? I can't wait to worship together. Pastor David
Freedom
May 6, 2018 • Rev. David Juelfs
It is totally your right to do it. You deserve it. The good news is that Jesus has something even better in store for us. He is offering to help us give up our rights for the good of another who doesn't deserve it. Wait what? That sounds stupid. No thanks. Did I just say that out loud? Take five minutes this weekend and read 1Corinthians chapters 8, 9 and 10. Yes, three whole chapters. It really won't take that long. Notice how these passages turn upside down the notion of freedom from constraints as essential to happiness. Let's be honest with ourselves. How would we define freedom? How important is freedom to our happiness? How is that working for us? These passages provide another way. A better way. I can't wait to worship together. Pastor David
Singleness
April 15, 2018 • Rev. David Juelfs
He can't really mean that can he? One of our highest aspirations as a culture (the highest?) is to find a romantic partner. Yet in 1Corinthinas 7 we read singleness presented as better, happier, for some. Singleness is not presented here as a problem to be solved, but a platform for a happy and thriving life. Sit with this passage over the weekend. Read it, meditate on it, pray through it. Let it mess with our categories and challenge us to imagine what the church community would need to look like in order for singleness to not equate to loneliness. Loneliness is a crushing curse. Singleness can be a powerful gift. How can Redeemer cultivate the one and protect us from the other? This passage is not a passage for the single, but for all of us. Pastor David
Marriage Questions
April 8, 2018 • Rev. David Juelfs
Questions, questions, questions. We are now in the section of Paul's letter to the Corinthian church in which he turns to their specific questions. Just like us, they had questions about sex within marriage, divorce and remarriage. As we saw a few weeks ago ultimately what they were asking was, "What changes should I make in order to experience the life I was made for?" Should we change our sex lives? Should we change our marital status? They had questions about marriage and so do we. Take a few minutes this weekend and read, meditate on, and pray through 1 Corinthians 7. It has much to say about marriage and singleness. However, the power of this chapter is not only in the specific advice it provides, but in the foundation for all of life, regardless of our relational status, that it reveals. Pastor David
He Has You Where He Wants You
March 11, 2018 • Rev. David Juelfs
Stop! Really, stop right now. Don’t move. Don’t think. Don’t plan. Don’t look forward. Just stop. Who are you right now? Where are you right now? Pause all the aspirations: relationally, personally, vocationally, financially. All of it. Let it sink in, the reality of who you are now. How do you feel? Now what? This is what 1Corinthians 7 is all about. Yes, that passage has much to say about marriage, divorce, singleness, and sex, but at the very core it is about this: if you remain exactly where you are today without change, Jesus is abundantly, extravagantly, unthinkably more than enough for a life of explosive significance and joy. Actually, we couldn’t even hope to handle, let alone make use of, all that Jesus is to us at this moment. We don’t need more in the future than what Jesus is to us today. I kinda believe this… ish, but I want to believe it more and in deeper ways. Let’s worship together this Sunday and trust that Jesus will help us know and experience this reality. I can’t wait to worship together. Pastor David
Not Our Own
February 11, 2018 • Rev. David Juelfs
Wait… gimme that back. That’s mine! Read 1Corinthians 6:12-20 closely and we may feel like Jesus is taking something from us; something more intrinsically and intuitively ours than anything else. God says that we are not our own. That we have been bought with a price – the life and death of Jesus. In our passage Paul applies this reality to our sexual lives, but this truth of course touches everything. In preparation for our worship together and for God to speak to us through his preached word, wrestle with this statement from 1Corinthians 6:19-20 , “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” Let’s be honest with ourselves. Why do we hate this? In what ways is this deeply offensive? Why do we also love and long for this? Why do we ignore this reality and live as if it were not true? I can’t wait to worship together. Pastor David