Author: Good Life

Scripture:

2 Corinthians 10:17-18 “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”  For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

Observation:

Paul is defending his ministry against false teachers who are self-promoting.  Paul concludes by telling the Corinthians that all the credit belongs to Jesus and our speech should glorify the Lord.  The approval we should seek is that of the Lord, not our own or someone else of the world.

Application:

Where is my mindset when I am serving as an individual, representing the Church or a mission organization?  My mind need to be focused on Jesus, acting as a humble servant.  My speech needs to direct people to Jesus and the saving power of the gospel.  If I live where I put myself out in front of Christ or have to create a persona that lifts me up, I am missing the gospel message.  My identity is to be found in Christ, to love serve and honor Him.  When I love, serve and give the glory to God not self, I will be in Christ.

Prayer:

Father,

Thank you for your love, grace and mercy.  Let me live a life to love and serve you seeking your approval.  May my actions and speech lift you up and point others to you.

Scripture:

2 Corinthians 9: 7 & 15

7 – Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
15 – Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Observations:

– Paul is more concerned on HOW the church at Corinth gives than WHAT the church gives.
– This was important to Paul because it is important to God, how so? God loves people who give with a cheerful heart.
– How do we become a cheerful giver? We look to the cross. Why? Because “For God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life”

Application:
– the cross is the greatest example of what true giving looks like. We need to be reminded that God looks at the motive of why we’re giving. Are we giving so that we can check it off our religious list? Are we giving so that we can make sure we’re right with God? Or are we giving from a heart that screams for joy knowing we have been given the greatest gift, Jesus. If you are struggling to give, whether it’s your time or resources, look to the cross, remind your heart to rejoice in the gift of Jesus, and through that we become cheerful givers.

Prayer:

Thank you Father for giving us your son. Thank you for showing us what true giving looks like. That you gave Him to us with joy. Help us to give with a cheerful heart as we continue looking to the cross.

Scripture: 

“…and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.”  (2 Cor 8:5)

Observation:

Again, perspective.  This perspective is describing Vision.  What is my Vision concerning the Kingdom of God?

Application:  

I wonder what Paul was really expecting?

I think what I read is that he expected the Corinth church to respond—he just didn’t expect the breadth and depth of the response.

What were the differences between an “expected” response and an “unexpected but celebrated” response?  The difference is found right here: “…but they gave themselves first to the Lord…”

I have found that “giving myself first to the Lord” isn’t a perspective I can call up on demand.  Back in my youth there was a Saturday morning cartoon called “Super Friends” or something like that.  On it was depicted a Brother/Sister twin act and when they wanted their super powers to manifest, they bumped fists and declared “Wonder Twin Powers, Activate.”

There have been times where I have assumed the same sort of mantle—I could shift into “BELIEVER-MAN” mode and do all sorts of things in Jesus’ Name.

It doesn’t work that way.

Being a Believer is cultivating the character of a disciple.  That takes focus and work; it takes cultivating Vision; it takes intentional surrender every day.  It takes giving myself first to the Lord every moment of the day.

Surprise!  A one-time decision isn’t adequate.  Why?  Because when I want to do good, evil lies close at hand.  (See Romans 6 and 7)  While the penalty of sin has been answered by the Blood of Christ, sin in my members has to be fought (in cooperation and with the power of the Holy Spirit)—and especially the sin that lies in the thoughts of my noggin.  Among other things, it is my Noggin that needs renewal.  A renewed Noggin gets me what?  A renewed Perspective and Vision of the Kingdom.

I don’t respond in every situation by giving myself first to the Lord.  But, examining myself daily, the Holy Spirit is faithful to point out those flaws, those rust spots, those places where I make myself the Idol of the Day and allows me to confess my sin and repent. 

Prayer:  

Father: Bold words.  Please make them active in my life, nudge me (kick me) more to do them and pay attention to Your whisper.  I want to be found in You at the End of Days…AMEN.

Scripture:

Vs 2 … Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Vs 4 … by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; … ; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
Vs 16 … For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them …”

Observation:

Paul emphasizes to the Corinthians that because they are living in the time of Christ, it is a blessing and privileged time.
Paul says, “now is the favorable time”.
It is favorable because now is the time of “salvation”.
Paul then goes on to list a steady flow of descriptions that sound very unfavorable … in fact, miserable!
“afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger”!
How can all of these things be a “favorable time”?
Because He has something that is much greater and beyond his circumstances …
He has “the Holy Spirit” and “the power of God”!
This gives Paul “great endurance”.
These allow him to experience unfavorable circumstances with “purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, and genuine love”.
Paul has all these traits because God “dwells” with him and “walks” with him.
For Paul there is nothing more favorable than the presence of God!

Application:

What do I genuinely and routinely care more about? My circumstantial experience or my spiritual experience?
Do I consider a day “favorable” or “unfavorable” based on the same standards of the world?
What do I consider a “favorable” day at work? A day where I got a lot of new clients? Or a day when I experienced the “genuine love” of the One True God?
I happen to live in the greatest region of the greatest country in the greatest era in history.
And I do consider this a grace and blessing of God.
But what makes my days “favorable” is that it is the “day of salvation” and I have the presence of God regardless of my situation or circumstances!
I am “true” because I know the Truth.
I am “well known” because God dwells in me.
I “live” because He is the Life.
I can “always rejoice” because He restores the joy of salvation.
I can “have nothing, yet possess everything” because I have Christ!
The world looks for the tangible to determine what is favorable.
I must look to the “power of God”. He dwells with me! I am part of His temple!
The world, even many Christians, look for things “from God”, rather than God, Himself.
I must desire His presence more than His presents!

Prayer:

Thank you, God for your presence,
Thank you for your salvation
Thank you that I can have great endurance
Because of your great power
Help me Holy Spirit to have genuine love
In Jesus name,
Amen

Scripture:

[5] He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

Observation:

God prepares and shapes us through the weight of this world.  He prepares us for leaving this earthly body (tent) behind for our heavenly dwelling.  He prepares us by allowing us to go through trials and affliction so that we might become stronger.  He prepares us by guiding us to be strong in Christ.  He prepares us so that we will fit in well in heaven.

God sent the Holy Spirit to live within us as a guarantee.  A guarantee that our time in our earthly body is limited and our real destiny is living with Him in heaven.

Application:

We are called to rejoice always and give thanks in all things – (1 Thes 5) “[16] Rejoice always, [17] pray without ceasing, [18] give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  While it is sometimes difficult to rejoice through worldly trials, knowing that God is preparing us for our final destination in heaven, and that he has given the Holy Spirit to guide us and as a down payment for our eternal destiny, makes it much easier.

Prayer:

Lord thank you for the grace you give us daily.  Thank you for your promise of spending eternity with you.  Thank you for the trials you allow us to go through in order to shape us and prepare us for that final destination.  Help us to persevere when we want to give up and to always remember your promise.  Amen.

Scripture:  

“…we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us…

… (Afflicted) in every way (but not crushed), perplexed (but not driven to despair), persecuted (but not forsaken), struck down (but not destroyed)—always carrying out in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies…So we do not lose heart.

For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal.”  (2 Cor 4:7-10; 16-18) 

Observation:  

Earthly verses Eternal: the battle of the “E’s”.  Just like real estate, renewing our minds is a function of Perspective, Perspective, Perspective: Am I cultivating an Eternal perspective?

Application:  

I use the word “cultivating” a lot.  It is because the soil of my heart gets so dry and rocky in no time flat. 

I have come to realize that the instance of my “conversion” doesn’t guarantee me a heart full of fertile soil; I have to continually cultivate, turn over, plow, seed, water, pull weeds, have weeds pulled, and all of that farm kind of symbolic effort all the time.

The Holy Spirit was making sure we have this record so I too “do not lose heart.” 

Why would I lose heart?  Simply: It is because I lose sight of the Gospel. 

One of the major aspects of the Gospel is the continuation of searching out of the Gospel.  Every promise, every doctrine, every teaching is rooted in the multitude facets of the Gospel.  Affliction of believers is rooted in the Gospel.  Being perplexed, persecuted, even being struck down is rooted in the Gospel.  As was written in 2 Cor 1 “…that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God…” 

My response to the Gospel is a response of continual surrender.  My fight, although described in other parts of the Scripture as fight against rulers, authorities of the cosmic powers of this present age (see Eph 6:12) is also a fight against the war of the power of sin within me (see Ro 6 and 7). 

Even if the fight may be huge, the fight may be intense, the fight may be crushing, the fight IS light, transient, and momentary on the eternal scale.  I need to try and focus down the road, over the horizon, to take a long view, to understand that God is the foundation of all the Promises given and is the Rock of my hope.

Prayer:  

O God, one of the primary functions of the local church is the ability to lean on one another for encouragement in time of need so folks do not lose heart and fall victim to the deceitfulness of Sin.  Not only the church but individual relationships formed in the church.  What a gift of the Gospel!!  I neglect and take for granted this marvelous product of Your Grace towards me.  Help me, my Lord, for I feel needy and forgotten.  Help me cultivate an eternal perspective and fiercely hope in You.  AMEN.

Scripture:

2 Corinthians 3:3 – And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Observation:

Paul is telling the Corinthians that a letter of recommendation or outward change is not required to preach/teach the gospel.  Lives changed by the Spirit of the living God from the inside out is a reflection of Christ. When the power of the Spirit comes in and changes a believers heart, that is what God cares about rather than credentials.

Application:

Let me remember that the internal condition of my heart toward others is more important than any outward manifestation of my religion.  There is not a set of teachings nor things I can do to earn the grace of God. Grace is a gift from God through faith in Jesus. When we surrender and place our faith and trust in Jesus, the Spirit changes our life and heart.  We have the power to be a living letter for Christ when we walk in the Spirit.

Prayer:

Father,

Thank you for your love and the power of the Spirit to change hearts and lives.  Let my life be marked by a heart changed by the Spirit to love you and others.

Scripture:

Vs 1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received … hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
Vs 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
Vs 14 … if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
Vs 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead …
Vs 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Observation:

This is an incredibly thorough discussion of the Resurrection of Jesus and our Resurrection with Him.

This is “the gospel I preached to you”, as Paul says.
Jesus died, was buried, and rose. And it was all according to Scripture.
People, however, are doubting the resurrection.
Paul has a strong rebuke, “Wake up from your drunken stupor!”

If Jesus hasn’t resurrected, then we haven’t resurrected, and we are still dead in our sins.
He says if Jesus hasn’t risen from the dead, then everything is in “vain”.
Preaching … belief … faith … even our work … all is in “vain” if Jesus isn’t raised.
Paul repeats “vain” over and over from beginning to end of this chapter.
But Jesus IS raised, “therefore”, we can be “abounding in the work of the Lord”. “knowing” our labor is NOT in “vain”.

Application:

“Is it worth it?”… “Does anything I’m doing even matter?”
I have a fair amount of these kind of conversations.
I will even occasionally have these kinds of thoughts, myself.
“Is it worth it?” … Should I even bother?

It’s easy to begin thinking any of the good things I/we do don’t really make any difference.
“It’s all in vain!”
But this thinking is using a value, or worth, not based on the “gospel”.
When I ask the question, “Is it worth it?” … or “Is what I’m doing in vain?”,
I’m really making the point that I am expecting something in return.

“Is it worth it?” is really another way of asking, “What’s in it for me?”
This is upside down thinking from the gospel.
The world says, “I will labor now for what I will get in return.”
The gospel says, “Because of what Christ has already done, I will labor now!”
My preaching, my belief, my faith, and, yes, even my labor, is NOT in vain!
Nothing done for the sake of Christ is in vain because Christ has been raised from the dead.
Jesus is alive, and because of that I am, too!
So, “therefore”, I will “abound in the work of the Lord”!

Prayer:

Thank you , God, for your Truth

Thank you that you dies an rose that I can have life everlasting
Thank you for giving eternal worth to any labor done today
Encourage and remind and empower Holy Spirit
In Jesus name
Amen

Scripture:  

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.

(Love) does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong-doing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.”  (1 Cor 13:4-7)

Observation:  

If love isn’t behind all that I say or do; what I think and what I feel; then what am I?  Am I a true disciple of Jesus Christ?

Application:  

I can’t turn my motives on and off at will.

I appreciate that God, in His Wisdom, arranged it so I would write about Love.  Not really; I think He did it on purpose to show me my shortcomings.  By saying I appreciate this, I am practicing being thankful in all things (see 1 Thes 5).  Transparently I am at war with being appreciative.

Chapter 13 smacks me in the face because I can’t always reconcile my actions with this set of verses.  Oh, I get it theoretically.  I know how to think and write about Love.  It is that I also come to grips with how much I really fail.

Love isn’t the ooey-gooey thing that first comes to mind.  Love has a major implication of surrender; to count others greater than yourself; to not stand up for myself (which may be indicative of a defiant attitude—maybe not, I will have to think about that some more).

What, then, is Love?  I look at the list of things that describes Love and I have to think that Love is hard work.  It takes effort and determination.  Love is intentional—at least intentional in putting the attributes that the Holy Spirit is saying here into practice.

It is without question that Love is not practiced in seclusion.  Love is practiced in community, in the interactions between people and particularly between believers and anybody else.  I can’t determine if I am kind or acting patiently if I am not around other people.

In the previous chapter Paul wrote describing the Corinth Church with all the wah hoo’s and sizzle of “spiritual” things all in evidence—and rightly counts that as nothing if Love is not in place (and it wasn’t—see  everything written up to this point).

I can be just like them: I can point out all the things that I do and act so spiritual—but if I don’t have Love it is nothing.

Prayer:  

Father, You showed me this from Chuck Spurgeon:  “Remember that the man who truly repents is never satisfied with his own repentance.”   My goodness, does that describe me.  Help me on God to embrace Love as You meant it to be.  I understand that my responsibility is to press my nose to the grindstone and pursue these things all the while trusting Your promise and desire to bring them out in me.  Let me be absorbed in You all my days for the rest of my days.  AMEN.

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 27 – Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same  Spirit; and there are varieties of service but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them in everyone.  Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Observation:

Paul is explaining to the church at Corinth that there are different spiritual gifts, however they all come from the same Holy Spirit.  We can and should serve where we are gifted but is all to serve our Lord, Jesus Christ. The same God, the Father of Jesus Christ, gives us the power through the Spirit to accomplish activities for the Kingdom.  We are all different members together whole as the body of Christ.

Application:

God has created unity in diversity among the body of Christ.  We all have been given a unique character and gifts from God. I must use my spiritual gifts to serve the Lord and remember that brothers and sisters with different spiritual gifts are from the same Spirit serving the same Lord.  This is for the good of the Church and how it can function as one body. I can’t think that my gift or how I am lead to serve is any more important than someone else’s gift and service. Everything I have received is by the grace of God and his love.

Prayer:

Father,

Thank you for creating me and giving me gifts through the Spirit.  Let me use my gifts to serve you and recognize different gifts that make the body function as a whole rather than a part. Help me to love and honor you in all I do.

Scripture: 

 “So whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God.  Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God (just as I try to please everyone in everything I do) not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

Observation:

Perspective, not a ledger of do’s and don’ts.  What a chore it is to keep my head on straight and not to seek my own advantage concerning things of God.

Application:  

I have found it difficult at times to talk about “liberty in Christ” and what Paul says about “watching out for my brother.”  Why should someone else’s weakness affect my strength? 

Besides the obvious declaration of sacrificing myself for the good of others (which I would probably do with an attitude of grumbling superiority) why would I look to not give offence like Paul dictates above?

Earlier in this chapter it says that all things were written for our instruction.  In Romans 8 Paul refers to renewing my mind so that can prove what God’s will is.  What I think from these is that I should take my o’ so logical thinking, put it to the side, and replace it with Godly thinking from His instruction so that I can prove His will.  

What would that do?  It will without a doubt change my perspective, how I look at life.  It should keep me from seeking my own advantage; that is, focusing on me. 

What advantage would I be seeking?  Why, the advantage that says look at me and how good, knowledgeable, and mature I am.  Aren’t I just godly?”  Just like Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men, the enemy says “You want me on that Throne; you need me on that throne.”  I would be no different, just religious.  But I don’t want to be “religious”; I want to be a follower of Christ.

I am pretty sure this is going to be talked about further in 1 Cor 13—because that is the issue:  Whether or not my motivations and actions are bracketed by love.

Prayer:  

Lord God, I walk by faith and not by sight, that is, that is what I want to do.  The cares of this world, my own innate selfishness gets in the way so many times.  Please help me to work through laying all my cares at the foot of the Cross and change my perspective to one of only serving and pleasing You.  AMEN.

Scripture:

Vs 1 … we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.
Vs 4 … We know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.”
Vs 7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
Vs 8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.
Vs 9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
Vs 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

Observation:

Paul is expressing great concern for his fellow Christians who are both mature and immature.
As much as Paul wants the immature, “weak”, Christians to grow, he especially wants the mature, “strong”, Christians to love them well.
He recognizes that the mature Christians have something not everyone has, “knowledge”.
And this knowledge can be abused to make themselves seem better than others, “puffed up”
But the goal is to “build up” the church. And it is love that builds up.
The best way in this situation to love was to not exercise their rights for themselves.

Application:

How do I use my knowledge of God? And how do I exercise my rights as a Christian?
These are the questions Paul is wanting me to consider.
Sometimes I act as if my goal is simply to accumulate knowledge.
We have more resources now than ever to accumulate knowledge of and about God.
(Countless translations of the Bible, endless commentaries, podcasts, blogs, video studies, etc, etc, etc,)
And I enjoy a whole bunch of them! … But to what end?

How do I apply this knowledge? Just to sit on it with pride? Do I judge others for lack of knowledge?

Jesus had the harshest of words to the Pharisees for just such a thing.
Yes, knowledge can “puff up”. But I must love.
And what may be the best way to love others is to not do something just because I can do something.
I can see a normal activity like eating or drinking as meaningless as it relates to my relationship with God.
Someone else who may be “weaker” in their knowledge or relationship with God may see certain activities as very significant.
If I can see that engaging in some action will confuse the conscience of someone else I simply should not do it!
It’s not about whether I have the right to do it or not, even as a Christian.
It’s about whether it is the loving thing to do.
We live an era when the fight for “rights” is making headlines all the time.
And rights are certainly important, but the fights now are always about what someone can do themselves.
Paul is saying the loving thing to do may well be to lay down that right for the sake of another.
Paul goes so far as to say that causing another to stumble, even if I have the right to do something, is sin!

Prayer:

God, thank you for your Word
Help me to know it and know You
But help me to use that knowledge in the right way
The loving way
Help me see the others you put around me
Help me not act as stumbling block to them

In Jesus name

Amen

Scripture:  

“When one of you has a grievance against another does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?

Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?  And if the world is to be judged by you are you incompetent to try trivial cases?  Do you not know that we are to judge angels?  How much more then matters pertaining to this life!!

So—if you have such cases why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the (local) church?  I say this to your shame.

Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers—but brother goes to law against brother and that before unbelievers?  To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you.  Why not suffer wrong?  Why not rather be defrauded?  But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers.”  1 Cor 6:1-8

Observation:  

In this section of scripture Paul is not exactly giving direction on WHAT to do/WHAT NOT to do but to lament concerning the Believer’s lack of Biblical/Disciple perspectives—not am I “competent” but am I “wise and mature in Christ?”

Application:  

The above is pertinent for Conflict Resolution.  But even this statement is not the focus of what Paul is saying concerning root cause.  The root cause may be (most times) the Man in the Mirror.

How many times have I jumped into a discussion of any kind and exerted my “opinion, comments, experience, etc.” with an air of competency and authority only to exercise un-wise behavior and influence?  I can say candidly quite a bit over my life so far.

My worse situation is success in the face of incompetent wisdom.

A thought that just bubbled up is that I have forgotten the Fear of God.  David writes: “The Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”  (Ps 111) Why have I forgotten to fear God?

I can get all bound up in celebrating Grace and the Love of God that I forget He is still GOD.  I cannot approach God on my own; I must have the representation of the Blood of the Lamb to approach the Throne—and even then scripture indicates I will fall on my face, throw the symbols of my so-called success (my crowns) at the foot of the Throne.

The Scriptures do not separate the Fear of God from Celebrating/Praise of God as a conflict.  I make it a conflict in favor of God’s Love because I cannot imagine fearing someone that says He loves me.  Fear is bad, Love is good.  But in doing this I am selfishly defining God in a picture I can deal with—that is, making an idol.

James says: “Not many of you should become teachers…for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”  (James 3:1)  Can this principle be applied to what Paul writes about in 1 Cor 6?  Could be—it is not that great a stretch—but it isn’t the avoidance of wise responsibility that is the issue, it is the conscientious pursuit of becoming wise in the Fear of God that I am called to.

That’s what a disciple does—pursues God.

Prayer:  

Lord God, why do I revert to my own wisdom so easily; that wisdom that is earthy, bound up in my own desires and ideas?  Why doesn’t my mind pop up with Your Word more often, including doctrine, principles, precepts, and etc.?  In my case the answer is easy: I am lazy.  This laziness shows how much I revere You O God and revere your Word—which isn’t much.  Like the other day in 1 Cor 3 I am too satisfied with milk.  Wean me off milk, O Holy Spirit, and help my love for Your Word grow.  AMEN.

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 5:7 – 8 – Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened.  For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, bit with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Observation:

Paul is rebuking sexual immorality that is occurring within the Corinthian Church.  In verses 7-8, Paul refers to the festival of unleavened bread which was celebrated to remember Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt.  Just as the leaven was purged from the home, believers are to purge sin form the lives. Christ was sacrificed to carry the burden of sin for everyone who believes and we are new creations through Christ. We are to live in the truth of the gospel no longer chained in bondage to sin.

Application:

This chapter has a direct twofold application of the gospel to the Church and believers today.  I can’t be a follower of Christ and engage in unrepentant sin of any kind. Further, I shouldn’t associate with any believer who is engaging in sin and I should call them out.  Secondly, the power to change from death to life, dark to light is only available through the saving power of the gospel received by grace and living inside of me.

Prayer:

Father,

Thank you for the truth in your word and the live changing love in the power of the gospel.  Let the power of the Spirit guide me to no longer be bound to sin but to live in the hope of your salvation for me.