Called to dedicate our lives (1 Corinthians 5)

 

Your boasting is not good.

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

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, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

We are called to a different standard of living. We are not alone the Holy Spirit enables us to choose differently. Let us not conform and to the patterns of this world but choose to be renewed in His Word. Through His Spirit we can live lives dedicated to our Lord glory and kingdom.

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

Called to be good stewards (1 Corinthians 4)

 

Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

 

What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

 

We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honour, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labour, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

 

Remember this letter is written to people who are fighting and jealous of one another. Paul reminds them that He and Apollos are just stewards of the gospel and are no better than the other. We are reminded too that in the different gifts we have been blessed better we should in humility carry the gospel to all around us. We are called to be good stewards demonstrating our Lord in talk and behaviour.

 

Founded in Christ (1 Corinthians 3)

 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labour. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

 

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

 

you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

 

This chapter deals with division and jealousy. As children of God we know we are enriched by our Lord with gifts for His Kingdom; we know we are equipped by His Spirit for His Kingdom. We are called to unity in working with one another to fulfil our Lord command to carry His gospel to every to all we know and meet. No talent or gift is better but all together reveal our Lord.

Empowered and Equiped by His Spirit (1 Corinthians 2)

 Verses 1-5

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

 

We are reminded that human persuasion or wisdom brings no one to Christ only the Holy Spirit can bring us to salvation.

 

Verses 6  - 16

None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

 

The Spirit bridges the gap between us and our Father. Through Him only can we build a relationship with our Father.

 

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Enriched in our Lord (1 Corinthians 1)

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.(verses 4-9)

Our Lord enriches us and leaves lacking in nothing, This is a letter written to a church; a community of followers of our Lord, I once again encourage you fellow followers of Christ not to walk alone but be part of a community. Only then as promised above can you see and experience the fullness of our Lord.

Verses 10-17 encourages us to seek unity in our journey on this earth focusing on our Lord alone.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

 

Verses 18-31 teaches us about the power; and wisdom of our God.

Choosing to follow and serve our Lord will always be looked upon as foolish in the world we live in BUT our Lord is our wisdom. In Him we have knowledge and wisdom. Our Lord saves us and sustains us.

Commitment to growth

I gave up my life for you, I thought of you my friend, and gifted you my Spirit.

My body was bruised and in pain, my spirit broken. Oh sinner don’t you see I love  you.

I revealed the purpose of life; I invited you to partner alongside me, in bringing hope and change to this world.

I taught you to fight evil with love, won’t you do the same just as I have.

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28

The first stanza is part of a hymn (Ndakuncamela ubomi bam).

Happy new year fellow gospel carriers.

I have been struggling since last year with diligence and keeping myself in the Word in my personal life and the blog. This hymn has been preaching to my conscious.  In our family in Christ we have been  talking about growth being something we intentionally pursue.

Our challenge fellow sojourners is to commit this year and every other year to growth in our journey to being Christlike. I would encourage each and everyone of us to join a community of believers; study the Word beyond this blog and serving in the community we are part of.

We shall start our journey to letters to the Corinthians.

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.