1Co5

When the church celebrates sin, it has lost its gospel witness! The church is a place to be set free from sin, not a place to celebrate it! if our church is not a place that convicts us of our sin, we need to find a different church.

Having a church that tolerates and even promotes sin would be like having a hospital that gave out sickness and death! We go the hospital because we are sick and don't want to die! The purpose of the hospital is to help us recovery from our sickness so we can live!

God help our churches to be hospitals for sinners. We welcome sinners and offer the healing message of the gospel. Paul is clear in this chapter. We are to "judge" each other and remove any "so-call believer" who is not willing to deal radically with their sin.

We need these words for our churches today.

1Co4

Anyone who believes that God owes them worldly comforts because they follow Jesus, has not read their bibles! Jesus Himself was denied many of the comforts of this world. The apostles rarely saw worldly comforts. Look closely at Paul's testimony.

"Up to the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty;we are poorly clothed, rough treated, homeless;" - The Apostle Paul

The beauty is Paul and the apostles were NOT living for this world! They knew this world was only temporary and living for this world would cause them to waste their life. Their life was the one opportunity they were given to live for the world that is to come.

The joy they experienced in this life was rooted in the promises of the life that was to come. We should be challenged by this reality. We are called to a deeper life. It's a scary thought.

1Co3

"If anyone's work is burned up it will be lost, be he will be saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire." 

In this chapter Paul is not diminishing "working" for the Lord, he is teaching that works without proper motives are useless. There will be two judgements for all of us when we see Jesus. The first is purely a judgement of faith! The second is a judgement of works.

Paul never confused faith, works and salvation! He taught about them all. He said, "each one's work will be revealed; …the fire will test the quality of each one's work." This is not a test of salvation! The test is the quality and quantity of our works! Why we did what we did and what we did!

Don't believe our work doesn't matter. Jesus Himself promised a reward beyond heaven for all of us who choose to "live not for this world, but for the kingdom."

1Co2

The apostle Paul must have loved the prophet Isaiah! He quotes him twice in this chapter and more often than any other prophet in the rest of his writings. Paul was a diligent student of the scriptures.

From Isaiah 52 he writes: "What eye did not see and ear did not hear, and what never entered the human mind- God prepared this for those who love Him." Then again from Isaiah 40, "who has know the Lord's mind, that he may instruct Him?" Earlier in 1Corinthians 1 Paul quotes from Isaiah 29.

Paul was always referencing and quoting the scripture he knew. He serves as a example for us to follow. How often do we reference scripture in our conversations? How often do we use scripture in our writings? If we were to write a book, what biblical author would we quote the most?

It is good to know scripture. Knowing scripture is knowing the mind of Christ. Paul wrote, "We have the mind of Christ."

1Co1

"The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God's power to us who are being saved." Are we united around this gospel message? This is the heart of Christianity.

Many "christians" talk way more about what they disagree with among themselves than about the gospel. Most christians I know are more apt to talk about differences in doctrine than they are to share Christ with someone who has yet to believe.

The Corinthian church was a mess and needed to get "fixed" in the worst way, but notice how Paul begins this letter. First he expressed gratitude for them. Secondly, he reminded them that Jesus, not their earthly leaders, should be the focus of their conversation. And finally, he said that the gospel is the foundation for unity among believers.

We should be clear on this basic truth in every christian church! "Christ died for our sins." Therefore, we should live for Him.

Rm16

Do we work to bring unity to the church or are we more likely to create conflict and division? Paul was a relational guy. He was constantly praying for and encouraging others. It was a high value for him to maintain relationships in the churches he started.

At the same time, Paul never compromised truth! His relationships were not rooted in his desire for unity among all people, they were rooted in truth. In the midst of his encouragement and gratitude, he also gave a strict warning. "Avoid them (people who reject doctrine and cause division), for such people do not serve our Lord Christ!"

We become like who we hang out with! I tell my children, "you are your friends." If we want to be among those who are pursuing hard after Jesus, we need to be found in the midst of people pursuing hard after Jesus.

Rm15

Paul's passion was to share Christ with those who had never heard of the Messiah. He lived his life, not for himself, but for those he desired to reach.

The gospel compels us to live for others not ourselves! The gospel demands that we give up our selfish pursuits and choose to love and live for others. Many of us have this idea totally messed up. We are somehow convinced that the gospel was given to us to make our lives better.

WE are not the "end game" for the gospel. The good news has come to us so that we would have life and forgiveness, SO THAT we would share that life and forgiveness with others. WE are to be vessels. WE are to be conduits of God's grace for others.

Who knows Jesus because of us? Don't be the end. Be the beginning. Be a conduit for others.