The Everyday Prayer

I have a question for you.  Please ask yourself as you leave church in a few hours. 
“Did I love anyone?”  It is a higher question than the one we often ask, “Did I learn anything?”  (Itself, higher than the most common question of all, “Did I enjoy myself?”) Christians all over the world tend to substitute knowledge for love.  We have Bible studies.  When do we study love?  “Knowledge puffs up, love builds up” says Paul in intentional contrast of these two values. (1 Corinthians 8: 1)  Church success is never self-authenticating.  Sometimes the most successful churches (and the most prominent Christians) never practise the most valuable virtue of all.  So, did you?  Today, did you love the teenagers (or internationals or visitors from the street) or did you avoid contact?  Did you reach out to those who worship in a different style or did you wish they would “go somewhere else”?  It is an important question.  Important to the Lord.  I will see you in a few. — Pastor Don

There is a movement these days toward Simple Church.  There is even a book.  While I admit the need, I wonder if it is possible.  I am all for adjusting schedule or order of worship.  What I don’t expect is that relationships will ever be simple.  There are whiners and grumps and “high maintenance saints” in every church.   There are always people I don’t naturally like whom I am called to love.  My sons were, in a funny way, the same sort of trouble.  As babies they kept me up at night.  As teenagers they tested my patience and wisdom.  As college students, they drained my bank account.  But I wouldn’t trade the privilege of being a Dad for anything in the world!  Sort of like church.  When Paul (1 Corinthians 8) tells us to make decisions based on what is good for others it complicates life.  In a good way.  Church only works when we learn to love.

“But if anyone should say, ‘This is meat sacrificed to idols’ do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience sake” (the other man’s)– 1 Corinthians 10:28.  Paul has clearly declared the freedom that comes from knowledge. (cf chapter 8)  Now he declares the limitations that come from love.  Love is always measured by loss.  A mother loses sleep because her child is sick.  A believer loses the freedom to act or think certain things because others are watching and may be harmed by the example.  Love motivates both.  The clearest picture of love is the life/death of Christ.  “He emptied himself. . .and became obedient to death, even death on the cross.” (Philippians 2:7-8)  If He was willing to serve us in this way, it is impossible for us to call ourselves His followers and “refuse to lose” in service to others.  Friend, what are you prepared to lose for the sake of love?

Paul is very wise in dealing with the Corinthians.  He knows that people are not the same–not by creation or experience.  He knows that “one size fits all” is a lie.  So, he teaches them the principle of love ( vs 1)  and then simply declares his own decision.  “Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again!” (1 Corinthians 8:13)  He is speaking for himself, not telling them what to do.  One person can be a great influence for good.  Trying to convince or control others is sometimes less productive than just deciding for yourself and having the courage to speak up.  “As for me and my house. . .” said Joshua.  I wonder what our church would be like if we had more of Paul’s wisdom– prayerful enough to decide. . . humble enough to decide for ourselves. . . connected enough( and courageous enough) to declare it.  We have a congregational meeting on Sunday night.  Please pray for me to have Paul’s wisdom.  Don

In 1 Corinthians 8:1 the Bible marks a contrast between knowledge and love.  Knowledge puffs up. It makes a person seem bigger than they really are, gives an apperance of spiritual life without the reality.  “Where’s the BEEF?” said the Wendy’s commercial in the 70’s.  Love, on the other hand, builds up.  It edifys. (notice the word “edifice”, the face of a building)  All of us should be concerned with the present condition of our church (and other churches).  Learning scripture is NOT enough.  Knowing truth is NOT enough.  “If I have not love, I am NOTHING” (1 Corinthians 13)  The best thing that knowledge can do for me is to teach me how little I actually know (vs 2) and to send me back to the first principle of the Christian life.  “The man who LOVES God is known by GOD” (vs 3)  Love is the highest connection  between God and man.  It is what we really need to learn.

I appreciated Bryan Richardson’s message this past Sunday.  His point that the Corinthians, for all their problems, were “seeking the good” (by asking Paul questions) made an impression on me.  Are we seeking the good?  Are we asking questions?  It will be an important consideration as we begin this week’s reflection on 1 Corinthians 8 and 10.  In these passages Paul teaches us how to make godly choices on contemporary moral issues.  But, how can Christians absorb and apply the whispered wisdom of the Spirit without time to think and pray?  Nothing that Paul has to say will make a difference in the person who races from one day to the next.  “Be still and know” says the Scripture.  All of us who desire the way of Christ will take time daily to consider the principles which govern our new life.  As we “think on these things”, the Spirit will guide us to make gradual and powerful changes(repentance).  Bless you, dear friend, as you begin this day in quietness before the Lord.

Our first weeks in 1 Corinthians may have been confusing to some.  So many issues!  So many unanswered questions!  Unity (week 1), church discipline  (week 2), marriage, singleness, sex and divorce (week 3).  Yikes! This week will only add to the confusion unless we begin to see the logic and strategy of Paul.  He draws every moral question back to the the will and character of God and the good of man.  For Paul, every Christian choice is shaped by worship to God and love for others.  “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31)  “Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others” )1 Corinthians 10:24)  Even the liberty that we have found in Christ will have limits that we will gladly accept for these two magnificent guiding purposes.  When Jesus said “Take my yoke upon you”, He was speaking of a two-sided restraint–the glory of God and the good of others.  Pressing on it will lead us forward!

“I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy.”  (1 Corinthians 7:25)  The contrast in this passage is not between the inspired teaching of Christ and the less inspired teaching of the Apostle.  It is rather between teaching for which Paul can appeal to the words of Christ and teaching  to which he appeals to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  Both are binding on our conscience.  “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for doctrine, reproof and instruction in righteousness”.  We regard all Scripture as authoritative, even those parts which come from Paul’s mind, guided by the Spirit.  In a few hours, it will be our privilege to gather around God’s word.  I wonder how many of us will have appropriate reverence for the book we hold in our hands.  It is the word of God!  May the Spirit who wrote it guide us to understand and obey. My love to you all.

“SEEK Ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.”  (Matthew 6:33)  One of Paul’s recommendations in 1 Corinthians 7 is that we not SEEK a change in our marital status.  “If you are bound to a wife, do not seek to be released, if you are released do not seek a wife.” (vs 27)  It is not a hard and fast rule.  “If your marry you have not sinned” (vs 28)  It is a statement of relative priority, a reminder that the deepest needs of the human heart, the largest questions of service and success are not met by adjusting external circumstances (marital, financial, physical)  The true secret of life is the same whether I am single or married.  I can learn it now or learn it later.  Serve Christ!  Find the Lord!  Walk with the Spirit!  These are the things that we should seek.  When we change what we are seeking, everything else begins to fall into place.

In her book When He Doesn’t Believe, Nancy Kennedy describes the challenge of serving Christ without the support of her spouse.  It is book of both honesty and hope.  Christians are not naive about the difficulties ahead for those who “become one” with someone who does not share our love for Christ.  “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 6:14)  It is not, however, a circumstance that warrants surrender or self-pity.  Christ is sufficient!  In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul describes the contagious influence of a holy life–on a spouse and on a family.  “The unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife.” (vs 14)  Not another plan of salvation, but certainly an argument for faithfulness to Christ and the influence of such an example.  With or without the encouragement of a partner, may the song on our lips be “though none go with me, I still will follow.”   Let us never forget to pray for those in our fellowship who serve Christ faithfully in this way.