Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet each other with Christian love. – 2 Corinthians 13:11b-12

This is how Paul ends his second letter to the Church in Corinth. It is a pretty soft ending for what was a very strong letter. Paul spent much of this letter defending his ministry and scolding the church. In humility, Paul highlighted what could be seen as weaknesses to his ministry. But in strength, Paul came down hard on the church for continuing to live a life of sin instead of holiness.

Paul compares weakness with strength over and over again in the letter. Christ may have seemed weak by submitting to the cross but His resurrection showed just how powerful He was! We, too, experience difficult situations at time that show our human weakness, but in that weakness the strength of God can be evident and God can be glorified.

Christ in not weak when he deals with you; he is powerful among you. Although he was crucified in weakness, he now lives by the power of God. We, too, are weak, just as Christ was, but when we deal with you we will be alive with him and will have God’s power…We are glad to seem weak if it helps show that you are actually strong. We pray that you will become mature…For I want to use the authority the Lord has given me to strengthen you, not to tear you down (13:3b-4,9,10b).

Even when Paul is showing the strength of his ministry in this letter, he is showing how that strength came from God and His weapons. His strength is in spiritual warfare and not human weapons.

We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ (10:3-5).

If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am (11:30).

Paul went on to boast of the many things that have made him appear weak in the eyes of the church. He was imprisoned and whipped, facing death again and again. He received 39 lashed at 5 different times from the Jewish leaders, 3 times he was beaten with rods and once he was stoned. 3 times he was shipwrecked. Once he spent a whole night and day adrift at sea. He has faced danger from rivers and from robbers, as well as from both the Jews and the Gentiles. He has faced danger in cities, deserts, and on the sea. He has faced danger, worked hard and long, endured sleepless nights, been hungry, thirsty and cold.

If I want to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong (12:6-10).

Paul was faithfully serving God yet he experienced more hard times than any of us will ever know. Had God abandoned Paul? Did these hardships lessen his ability to serve God or weaken his testimony? No, for it showed the strength of the God who rescued him over and over again. The power of God was demonstrated each time Paul got up again and continued to do what God had called him to do instead of giving up or avoiding the possibility of another persecution down the road.

Paul stated that everything he had gone through was to show the strength of God so that the believers could be strengthened, so they could choose righteousness instead of sin. Paul showed them they serve a strong God who is able to help believers overcome temptations and the urgings of the sinful nature, yet he continued to hear of the Church’s “quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorderly behavior” (12:20).

Now his ending makes so much more sense. Now we understand why he was telling them to grow to maturity – to live in harmony and peace with each other, encouraging each other and loving each other. We serve an awesome God who is able to take our weaknesses and demonstrate strength! When we submit to God and let Him do a work in our hearts, His power is displayed.

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” Grace is not an excuse to keep on sinning but rather the only way we can overcome our sinful nature and demonstrate the power of God to help us not to sin.

Paul had one last thing to say to the Church – a reminder that people should look at our lives and look into the Church and see the evidence of the Trinity at work in our lives instead of arrogance and sin.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God, and
the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (13:14).

Lord, that is my prayer today. May others look at us and see your power at work in our lives. May they see maturity instead of sinful attitudes, harmony instead of quarreling, grace instead of gossip. May they see the evidence of the grace of Jesus, the love of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Amen.

In the next few chapters of Paul’s second letter to the Church at Corinth, he talks about three different ways believers encourage believers.

When we arrived in Macedonia, there was no rest for us. We faced conflict from every direction, with battles on the outside and fear on the inside. But God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus. His presence was a joy, but so was the news he brought of the encouragement he received from you. – 2 Corinthians 7:5-7a

I love how God uses our brothers and sisters in Christ to encourage us when we are going through difficult times! Our God is the God of encouragement. He knows when we are discouraged and he sends people into our lives to bring us joy, good news and encouragement. Sometimes the encouragement is more in the form of someone encouraging us to do something. In his letter, Titus has gone to the Church to encourage them to be as generous with others as they were when they first believed. This next passage was an encouragement to me this morning.

For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem. They even did more than we had hoped for, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do.

You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich. – 2 Corinthians 8:3-9

I am one of a team of people working hard to start a new pregnancy center in Tazewell County. I have been asking God what He wants me to do to support this new start financially. I can give of my time and pray for the ministry, but I know God is calling me to make some financial sacrifices in order to make a difference in the lives of women considering abortion here in the community I live in. This Scripture encourages me and challenges me this morning.

Now you should finish what you started. Let the eagerness you showed in the beginning be matched now by your giving. Give in proportion to what you have. Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have (8:11).

The third form of encouragement Paul gives is to remind the Church of God’s provision for our needs and for enough to share with others. God is the One who supplies what we need and He will supply what He is asking us to give. The result of God’s provision and my response is that God will be glorified! God’s gifts are indescribable!

Remember this – a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But he one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say,

As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words! – 2 Corinthians 9:6-14

Yesterday I read my dear friend’s blog and it spoke right to the same verse God placed in my morning coffee yesterday: Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! – 2 Corinthians 5:17

Amy Dillman is 22 and on an incredible journey with God. She is currently on an eleven month missions trip around the world, ministering in a different country each month and across four different continents. I would like to share with you what Amy wrote in her blog. She titled this post “Worth His Love”:

Walking the streets of India with my best friend Ashli she shared with me that she had learned from watching me that I am able to love others well because I love myself. She went on to explain that because I know my identity in Christ, it allows for me to love others. She is currently coming into her identity as lovely and learning to love herself and I am blessed to be a part of what God is doing in her.

I didn’t realize such a gift it was that God had secured my identity as Victorious and taught me to love myself. It is only because I allowed His grace and love to enter my life in such vast measures that I am able to love myself, it wasn’t always that way. I can love me because I have come to the understanding that HE loves me like crazy!

This all came together at debrief when my team heard from Rozy about how if you don’t have a secure identity or positive self-worth then you don’t have a very big inlet for the Lord’s love. She cupped her hands together only allowing a little circle of a space to represent the flow of God that would be poured out into someone with such a negative self-worth. She said to us, “but God loves you and the more you know you are loved then the more agape overwhelms you. With this overwhelming agape you are free to love others with agape. It comes straight from God to you and flows out on to others. The more you know you are loved, the more you can give without expecting to receive. Be secure in your identity, know you’re loved, receive agape, and let it pour out on others.”

I was blown away by her wisdom and the truth that was being shared with us. It is simple really. Love God and love others. Love others as yourself that is. But how do you love others if you don’t know how to love yourself. She didn’t leave us hanging; she gave us a place to start, renewing our mind. Get to know who God says you are. She recommended the book The Search for Significance, but if you can’t get a hold of that book then look up scripture about who God says you are! You are beloved, a royal priest hood, a holy nation, His workmanship, free, branch of the vine, a new creation, beautiful, strong, and most importantly a child of the king. You are royalty and highly loved. He claims you as His own. Get to know His character too. Love only comes from God and flows to the other and it doesn’t have to be reciprocated because it is not about you.

Rozy shared a really good example with us about how we need to know our identity and walk freely in it before we can love others. One time, she tied up her bible study girls around the wrists and feet and knees and put them on opposite ends of the room. Then she said okay love each other, come on give hugs, embrace one another. Well they stumbled out of their chairs and were falling over and they were a mess, there was no way they could embrace one another. When you are bound you can’t love; when you are free you are able to love. So get free! Find out who Jesus is and how much He adores you and what He calls you.

I want to focus on the love of God. When you focus on the love of God you don’t force others to love you back, you just love because you are free. As I love many, I want to be full of the love of God and then they don’t even have to say thank you because they are not the ones who fill me. His love fills me and overflows. I am only to carry the love of Jesus because I know who I am. None of this is because of me, I can’t take credit for grace, but there are some steps you can take to start the process of finding out who you are and how loved you are. In my journey to find out what God said about me I found so much freedom. My sophomore year at ONU I named off all the names I was no longer: dirty, unloved, inadequate, incapable, dumb, stained, and several others. In that moment, as I confessed before the Lord the names I had held on to for so long, He helped me let those go and He gave me a new name. (Rev 2:17). He said I call you Victorious. So that is the name I carry now! I am Victorious, daughter of the King.

Last night I dreamt the phrase Beloved I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. God affirmed His love for me over and over again. Today my team made me rest because we just completed four days of travel and 5 days of debrief which as logistics, Ben and I help to coordinate and make sure the whole shindig runs smoothly. I am resting in His love today and it feels so good. To know He delights in me, longs to spend time with me, and calls me Victorious makes my heart full. It is out of this fullness of His love that I am able to give to my team, to my family, to my boyfriend, to my friends, to my squad, and to all those I encounter. The last words from the wise Rozy that I want to share, “We act out what we believe. We reflect love if we feel loved. If we feel loved then we show love and perceive love from others.” I am so thankful for the reminder in the dream that I am loved. You are also loved, so deeply loved, bathe in that today. The Lord wants us to be secure in our identity so that we can all soak in the light of His love and reflect back out the same love to those in our presence.

(You can subscribe to Amy’s blog at http://amydillman.theworldrace.org/)

…anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! – 2 Corinthians 5:17

When we come to believe in Christ, when we repent of our sins, God does a work in our lives changing us from who we used to be into a new person. He does this not just for our sake but because He has a plan for our lives and He wants to make us into exactly who He needs us to be for His purposes.

And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him…So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ (5:18b, 20-21).

As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it (6:1).

This statement hit me really hard this morning. Take a second to read it again. Paul is begging those who have accepted God’s gift of salvation to not be guilty of being the recipient of God’s kindness without being willing to extend God’s gift of salvation to others. We have been saved to serve!

Paul goes on to speak of how our lives can be an example of God’s ability to take away the old life and make us a new person. Others can witness the change in our lives and our devotion for God and be drawn to God through our lives.

We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry. In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense. We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us imposters. We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything. – 2 Corinthians 6:3-10

Wow, Paul’s testimony is written here to encourage the Church in Corinth but it is very much encouraging me today. I want to be all of these things! Today this is my prayer. If it is yours, please pray along with me.

Heavenly Father, my desire is to live in such a way that others will be drawn to you and that no one will stumble because of me. I want to live above reproach, a life of excellence that no one can find fault in. In everything I do, I want to be a TRUE minister of Yours. When troubles, hardship and calamities of every kind come my way, please give me the strength to patiently endure them. When I face accusations, when I am persecuted, when my heart is so burdened that I have difficulty sleeping at night, may others still find in me purity, understanding, patience, kindness and sincere love – not by my own human effort but as a result of the Holy Spirit living in me.

Lord, may my life be more than just an example for others to see but may I also be bold with my words, faithfully preaching the truth. I accept your task of reconciling others to you. I long to be Your ambassador so that You can make Your appeal to the lost through me. Fill me with Your Spirit and give me the boldness to speak for You – “Come back to God!”

Oh, awesome and mighty God, work Your power in me. Place weapons of righteousness in my right hand to proactively go to battle for You and for Your lost children. Place weapons of righteousness in my left hand so that I may defend the truth and defend those who cannot speak for themselves (Proverbs 31:8). Whether people honor me or despise me, whether they slander me or praise me, even if they falsely accuse or ignore me, I want to live boldly for you today.

Lord, I own nothing. It’s all yours. I trade all that I have for all that You have to give me. You are my everything and I love you. Amen.

Let’s give the next portion of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians some context by looking at Jeremiah 31:31-33 – “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord.

“But this is a new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

Paul described himself as being a minister of this new covenant – a covenant not of written laws as was etched in stone long ago, but a covenant of the Holy Spirit living within us. The old way brought death by defining two choices – obey these laws and live or disobey and die. The new way brings life as the Spirit lives within us and changes us, making us right with God (2 Corinthians 3:6-9).

When Moses saw the glory of God, his face shone so bright that the people were unable to look at him. But this brightness soon faded away. With the new covenant, God places a light in our heart that shines for all to see the glory of God.

For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. – 2 Corinthians 4:6-7

We are not like Moses who had to put a veil over his face so the people would not see God’s glory. When we believe in Christ, when we turn to the Lord, the veil is lifted and we can boldly show the light of God for all to see (3:12, 14). When things get difficult, we do not focus on the darkness around us but on the light burning bright within us. His Spirit reminds us of God’s presence and gives us the strength to overcome our troubles – a power not from ourselves but of God (4:7).

Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never give up (4:1).

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.
We are perplexed, but not drive to despair.
We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God.
We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed (4:8-9).

And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. This is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produced for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever (4:15-18).

Our present circumstances are temporary. Paul describes even our physical bodies as earthly tents that will be taken down and replaced by a house in heaven – an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands (5:1). When we grow weary of our present situation, God’s Spirit within us reminds us that He is preparing us for our home with Him. He has made a new covenant with us, we are not alone. When we believe in Him, we walk away from our old self and allow a new light to live within us, bringing glory to the Creator Himself. I now live for him so everything I do and everything I say today is for Him, so that I can reflect His glory for the world to see.

Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others…Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them (5:11, 14b-15).

Therefore, we never give up!

We can say with confidence and a clear conscience that we have lived with a God-given holiness and sincerity in all our dealings. We have depended on God’s grace, not on our how human wisdom. That is how we have conducted ourselves before the world and especially towards you. Our letters have been straightforward, and there is nothing written between the lines and nothing you can’t understand – 2 Corinthians 1:12-13

Oh the peace that comes with confidence and a clear conscience. At the end of the day if my concern is whether or not I lived a good life or if I represented Christ well, I will fall asleep worrying. BUT, if I lookly closely at this verse and focus on the word “God-given” then I know that I do not have to produced holiness and sincerity on my own. I can depend on God and HIS holiness, on HIS grace to lead me rather than any human wisdom I could possibly come up with on my own.

It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us – 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

Because of God, I can stand firm in Christ. He has called me and He will equip me. I am HIS child and it is HIS Spirit living within me that leads me and fills me.

Thank you, Lord, for whatever lies ahead. Fill me with Your Spirit and remind me over and over again of Your presence in my life today. Amen.

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you also share in the comfort God gives us. – 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Yesterday morning in Sunday School, the lesson by Jesse Middendorf started out with an illustration from World War II. Hitler had forced many 12 and 13-year-old boys into military service during the war. These boys were treated harshly and made to do some extremely inhumane jobs for their country. When the war was over, these young boys were left homeless and without food.

An aid program came to their rescue by setting up tent cities to house the boys. Doctors and psychologists cared enough about these young men to work hard to restore them physically and mentally. They found that many of the boys would wake up in the middle of the night screaming out in terror. So they tried something unusual. Each night they would feed the boys a large meal and then send them to bed with a piece of bread to hold in their hands, instructing them to save it until morning. The boys began to sleep peacefully through the night. Why? Because after years of hunger, these boys held in their hands the assurance that there would be food for them the next day.

When I have a big decision to make and I go to bed knowing that God has provided an answer for me, I sleep more peacefully. When I know how the bills at work are going to be paid and how we are going to make payroll this week, I sleep more peacefully. But what about those times when tomorrow is uncertain, when I do NOT hold in my hand the bread for tomorrow? Paul has a great answer to this question as we read on in his second letter to the Church of Corinth.

We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And HE DID rescue us from mortal danger, and HE WILL rescue us AGAIN. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety. – 2 Corinthians 1:8-11

It is in those moments when I do not have tomorrow’s bread to hold on to, that my hands are free to hold on to the God of my tomorrows. I stop listening to my fears, I learn how to trust God which strengthens my faith. I stop relying on my own wisdom, I stop relying on what I have in the bank, and I start relying on God to provide.

This must be a lesson God really wants me to hear this week because it fits with the passage of Scripture Dr. Jim Diehl preached on yesterday morning in our first service of Revival.

Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again – rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember the Lord is coming soon. – Philippians 4:4-5

I cannot be full of joy if I am worrying about tomorrow. The NIV version says “let your gentleness be evident to all.” If I am worried, grumbling, complaining or pretty much freaking out over what is ahead of me, I am not full of the joy of the Lord for others to see.

Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus – Philippians 4:6-7

May each one of us rely on YOU for our answer today and for tomorrow’s provisions. May we rest in knowing that you are all we need. Take away from us the worrying and grumbling and fill our hearts with the peace of knowing we can rely on you. Oh God of all comfort, shower us with your joy today. Amen.

I am reminded as I finish up Paul’s first letter of Corinthians that he was writing to the Church. He gave them lots of great advice on how to have a healthy church and how to be the body of Christ. Here are some of the points that stood out to me.

The Church should take care of the financial needs of those called into full-time ministry but those called should not serve for any kind of earthly reward or favor, but should do it for God and for the eternal prize.

The Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it…Yet preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the Good News! If I were doing this on my own initiative, I would deserve payment. But I have no choice, for God has given me this sacred trust. When then is my pay? It is the opportunity to preach the Good News without charging anyone. – 1 Corinthians 9:14-18a

Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So RUN TO WIN! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I RUN WITH PURPOSE in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. – 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

How easy it would be for us to take our eyes off the One who has called us and focus on ourselves or the Church or those around us who disappoint. What a great reminder this morning – I do what God has called me to do because I am compelled by God to do it. If God has called me, He will equip me. God, forgive me when I start simply going through the motions and ministry becomes routine. Lord, I want to run to win, run with purpose, run with my eyes focused on You.

I want to drink from the spiritual rock who is Christ. Paul used the example of the people of Israel to encourage the Church to not be tempted by sexual immorality or be tempted to grumble. No matter what comes our way, we can stand strong – not of our own strength but on the solid rock of Jesus.

If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. – 1 Corinthians 10:12-13

So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work ENTHUSIASTICALLY for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless (15:58).

Paul takes times in Chapter 14 to address the difference between speaking in tongues and prophesying. All of his explanation is based on the idea of making love our highest goal (14:1) – that everything done in the Church be done to strengthen everyone (14:26).

A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophesy strengthens the entire church. I wish you could all speak in tongues, but even more I wish you could all prophesy. For prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues, unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church will be strengthened (14:4-5).

If you speak to people in words they don’t understand, how will they know what you are saying?…
For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don’t understand what I am saying…
But in a church meeting I would rather speak five understandable words to help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language (14:9,14,19).

Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you (14:26).

Here is some more advice from Paul as he closes his first letter to the Church in Corinth:

On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned (16:2a).

Greet each other with Christian love (16:20b).

“…it is LOVE that strengthens the church” – 1 Corinthians 8:1. What a powerful statement!!! The context of this statement was Paul’s answer to the question of whether or not Christians should eat meat that has been offered to idols.

It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t lose anything if we don’t eat it and we don’t gain anything if we do. But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble…And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat as long as I live – for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble (8:8-9,12-13).

Paul spent a lot of time on this topic so it must have been a big concern for the Church in their letter to him. Paul’s answer is summed up in the concept of LOVE – loving someone else enough to abstain from something we have no personal conviction about.

You say, “I am allowed to do anything” – but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything” – but not everything is beneficial. Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others (10:23-24).

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Don’t give offense to Jews or Gentiles or the church of God. I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved. And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ (10:31-33).

Paul continues on the topic of relationships within the Church in chapter 11. He speaks of the roles of men and women within the Church – how the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God (11:3). But he clarifies that we all are dependent on each other and should recognize our need for one another.

But among the Lord’s people, women are not independent of men, and men are not independent of women. For although the first woman came from man, every other man was born from a woman, and everything comes from God (11:11-12).

So, if love and concern for others is what strengthens the church, and if we all need each other, then Paul goes on to ask – why are there divisions among you when you meet as a church? Why is there more harm than good coming out of your time together? (11:17-18) The Holy Spirit gives each one of us special abilities or spiritual gifts. These spiritual gifts are given so that we can help each other, not to divide us or for one of us to think we are more or less important than someone else in the body of Christ.

A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to speak to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have (12:7-11).

The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ…Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?

You should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life (LOVE) that is best of all (1 Corinthians 12:12,14-22,25-26,31).

Lord, forgive us for the divisions that creep into the church and the quarreling that distracts us from what you have called us to do. Lord fill our hearts with Your love so that we may love each other unselfishly. Help us to see that we need each other and that You are glorified when we all function together as the body of Christ. Show us the way of life that is best of all – to love each other with the kind of love that will last forever (13:8). May love be our highest goal today! Amen.

Run from sexual sin! (1 Corinthians 6:18a). Paul continues this theme in chapter 7, only he brings his warning into the context of the marriage relationship. God created sex for the marriage relationship but Paul makes it clear that we can also sin within that relationship if we do not love each other the way God intended.

The Church in Corinth had written Paul a letter with their questions and he attempts to answer those question first based on what He knows God has commanded and second based on the wisdom the Lord has given him. First, let’s look at Paul’s advice based on direct commands from the Lord:

Yes, it is good to abstain from sexual relations. But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife.

So I say to those who aren’t married and to widows – it’s better to say unmarried, just as I am. But if they can’t control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It’s better to marry than to burn with lust. But for those who are married, I have a command that comes not from me, but from the Lord. A wife must not leave her husband. But if she does leave him, let her remain single or else be reconciled to him. And the husband must not leave his wife. – 1 Corinthians 7:1b-11

Paul goes on to speak from the wisdom God has given him. He instructs those who are believers but whose spouse is an unbeliever to remain in the marriage relationship. If the unbeliever insists on leaving, let them go, but perhaps it is through your love for your spouse they will find salvation in Christ (7:12-16).

Paul speaks to those who are married and to those who are single and says – God has given you a special gift (7:7). To those who are married, God has given you the gift of your spouse. To those who are single, God has given you the gift of freedom from many of the earthly responsibilities that come in a marriage. His advice for everyone is to live in such a way that we are able to serve the Lord with our best, with as few distractions as possible. So if you are single, God has given you the ability to give yourself wholly to Him. If you are married, live in that relationship the way God intended (sexual relationship included) so that you do not create distractions for each other but that you enhance your spouse’s ability to serve God and they do the same for you (7:32-35).

I believe Paul’s best advice for all of our relationship is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. If we define love for each other the way God defines it, we will build each other up and make each other better servants of Christ. If we let selfishness and quarreling into our relationships with each other, we become a distraction from God’s purpose for our life and for the lives of those around us, spouses included.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no records of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance…

Three things will last forever – faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love. – 1 Corinthians 13:4-7,13