Truth Encounter: 1 Corinthians

When the weather turns cold and snowy in March, do you ever dream of the day when you can retire and buy a condo in Florida? The next few minutes could keep you from making the tragic mistake of living your life with totally wrong dreams!

Suppose one hundred years from now one of your great, great grandchildren is rummaging around in the attic and found a box of letters that you had written. As they read these letters what would they conclude about what was important in your life? We have been studying a personal letter written by the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians and are coming to the conclusion of the book. You can almost hear the Apostle Paul scribbling quickly to get some last minute details to the Corinthians…

We all know that death and taxes are inevitable, and when it comes to paying taxes out of a dry bank account, it sometimes feels like death. Unlike many countries in Europe, the USA has no state church and giving to the church is your choice. What does God’s word actually teach us about the way the Lord wants us to give to support His work?

Our American culture places tremendous stress upon appearance, but all the Maybelline, Clinic, and weight machines can’t overcome the invasion of time against our vitality. This is not a call to throw away cosmetics or the exercise routines but it is time to face the fact that we need a hope in the future that our life existence will not end in the skeletal dust of the grave.

Description:“If this life is all there is, then why do it?” I’ve got some great news. Life is not meaningless. Your work can add up to something, but it is all contingent on getting a perspective that moves beyond trying to get everything to add up from just the ten, forty, or eighty years we spend here on earth.

One fact of human existence that we all try and ignore is that none of us can drink from the Fountain of Youth. Phil Simms and Troy Aikman might comment on the Super Bowl, but they do not play in it. This kind of talk can get real depressing except for one fact. I know someone who has beaten and can help us to outdistance time.

The waters of Lake Michigan were frigid and the cold sucked the swimmer's strength. As they began their frantic CPR it seemed futile. Then the miracle. The swimmer coughed and opened his eyes. As we talk about the miracle of Easter morning, are we talking about the resuscitation of a Savior, or did something infinitely more miraculous take place in that Palestinian tomb?

Mormons have built an entire baptismal rite on the passage. Many orthodox believers have hardly even heard of the phrase from First Corinthians 15, but as we turn to verse twenty nine we read these strange words “if the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?” What is this talk about “baptism for the dead?”

Whenever we approach a religious holiday, the major magazines offer cover stories highlighting some of the latest controversies or discoveries in the land of the Bible. Suppose you logged into your news access and it had this headline, ”The Skeleton of Jesus Found.” What effect would a discovery like this have on your faith?

Imagine someone who was told that they had AIDS, only to discover when further tests were done that the virus had disappeared. Or imagine a convicted felon in a capital murder case on their way to the chamber where they will receive a lethal injection having their final walk interrupted with a pardon from the governor. Excited isn’t a strong enough word for this kind of joy and this joy should be yours.

Ethnic, religious, national, and international differences--they divide us humans and many men and women are willing to live and die for their group and cause. Did you know that God divides the entire human race into just two groups and it has nothing to do with race, citizenship, or social standing?

The most beautiful event that ever took place in history becoming common place? Ignored? That would be a tragedy and yet this is exactly what many do with the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ is not raised from the dead then our faith is useless

How can we be sure that this almost two thousand years of talk about the Savior who left death behind is not simply the wishful dreams of his original followers which mushroomed into the biggest delusion this world has ever seen?

Do you ever feel that God is speaking to you in a language you don’t understand, that He is turning away from you and won’t have anything to do with you? There is a good chance that you are not listening to the voice of the true God. He speaks in the language of your heart and He wants you to listen to His love.

Maybe it is time for us to take a careful look at how someone who comes to our churches, seeking to figure out what this Christianity is all about might react. Can they even understand our inside jargon? Are they faced with a truth and a love that exposes what is really going on deep in their own heart?

The music is loud. The words are unintelligible. The participants have sent their minds on vacation while their emotions sore into ecstasy. Unbelievers experience this in the frenzy of a disco, but some groups of believers are experiencing this in what is called the exhilaration of worship. What does the New Testament teach us about “out of our mind” experiences?

Have you ever gone to church and found yourself sitting back and going through this kind of evaluation? “I don’t know this song and I don’t particularly care for the praise band. The people sitting next to me didn’t even try to make me feel welcome. The pastor’s message was ok but his delivery was terrible." This might work for an evaluation of a restaurant, but when we gather with other believers, the issue is not your taste and satisfaction, it is your vertical connection with God and your horizontal giving to others.

No great social reformer could tear down the barriers that existed between God and mankind. In the Old Testament God especially chose one group of people who were to become an example that would wet the appetite of all men and women to come to Him. But after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God tore down all the walls of separation and invited anyone who would believe in his son to come to celebrate at his table as part of the family.

A drug addict will risk their life for the moment. A long distance runner will endure severe pain and oxygen deprivation for the experience. A musician will live for the union with the music that yields the euphoria. What is this experience called the “high” that so many live for? We all know that the drug high can be deadly and we warn our young people about the deleterious effects of drugs, but what about beginning to live for even legitimate highs?

Diapers, diet coke cans, paper plates, plastic silverware, razors, and plastic trash bags. It is possible that when historians grasp for a label to pigeon hole our time they might just choose the disposable age. It is a crime that our culture has made unwanted infants and worn out old folks disposable, and it is tragic when marriages and families are as easily discarded as used paper napkins. Is there anything “nondisposable?”

Wouldn’t you like to stand in DL Moody’s shoes before the throne of God or in this modern age, in Billy Graham’s? Well, both men knew that being a gifted mouth in the body of Christ is not enough. What is more important than all the sermons they ever preached?

Love is what makes the world go round. Socrates, Shakespeare, Jane Austin -these genius all wrote about it, but where can we find the most succinct and sublime revelation of what love is and how it acts?

Your child is in the hospital dying. You desperately pray for the Lord to heal them. Why does God apparently say “yes” to some parents and “no” to others? When Jesus was here on earth there were times when the sick in an entire town were brought to Jesus and he healed them all. Today there are recorded cases of miraculous healings, but many are left still languishing in their illness. Does this mean their faith is not strong enough? Is God simply not powerful enough to meet all of these desperate needs?

Should the contemporary church exhibit the same spiritual gifts as the Corinthian church of the first century? The issue has divided churches and friends. Can we get by all the emotion and take another careful look at exactly what was going on in the Corinthian church?

Too old, too old, too old. Some of you have heard this refrain and it has sucked away your meaning in life. Well I’ve got encouraging news for you. There is a group where no one becomes too old to play a vital role.

If a movie producer wants to make a horror film he fills the screen with all kinds of weird visuals: bodies covered with eyes, creatures with gigantic ears, or noses, or skeletons without skin or internal organs. Why do our churches at times look more like horror films than beautiful love stories?

The military creates unity by dressing everyone in the same uniform and making sure everyone has the same haircut. For most of us unity equals sameness, but is this the way that God looks at unity?

Some Bible teachers label the modern manifestation of gifts like tongues or prophecy as the deception of the devil, while others herald them as signs that the Lord is about to return to initiate his kingdom on earth. What does the Apostle Paul have to say about this divisive issue?

It is called holy. Often only a select priesthood is able to serve it; and entire denominations have been formed over disagreement about it. It is called Communion and the breaking of the bread, and sometimes this table which is supposed to remind believers of Christ’s death, resurrection and return initiates great fear or unworthiness. Who has the right to partake of the communion? What does it mean?

I’m sure you have heard the talk about removing the so-called chauvinistic language from our culture. In new translations of the Bible, it means that we replace “our Father in heaven” with “our almighty divine being in heaven.” How do you feel about these trendy changes or better yet, how does God feel?

Think back over this week and consider some of the opportunities you have had to rub shoulders with someone who doesn’t even consider that Jesus might want to be part of their daily routine? What steps are you taking to make contact with these individuals, begin to develop friendships, and to pray for meaningful opportunities to share Christ?

From those on the outside, "born againers" are a bunch of uptight people who can’t have a good time and live enslaved to a bunch of outdated biblical rules. The truth is that there is a no more liberated, free people on planet earth than those who have invited Jesus Christ into their lives. What is true freedom anyway?

If it’s time to plant a garden, we need a good book on gardening. If it’s time to build a building, we would be wise to find ourselves a good architect. Gardens and buildings demand wise planning, skillful implementation and careful nurturing. Weeds wage war against the legitimate plants in the garden, and sloppy workmanship or wrong design can lead to deadly results in the construction business. What in the world do gardens and buildings have in common with our churches?

Moral decay, brutal violence, cynicism, political infighting -things have gotten so bad that many are tempted to give up all hope. Less than 6 % of households fit into the Ozzie and Harriet style traditional family. Old fashioned biblical standards are mocked as at best culturally irrelevant and at worst puritanically bigoted. How does a follower of Christ stand against this tide of moral relativism with its “Let’s take a vote about what is right and what is wrong for us?”

Does the breaking of bread and the drinking of the cup mean anything to you as a follower of Christ? In the first century the way they disciplined a believer who had fallen into unrepentant sin was to deny them access to the Lord’s Table. For many in the church today this would hardly be much of a punishment.

Ritual abuse, occult paraphernalia, a fascination with the dark side, 666 and Satan has once again come out of the closet. If Satan is real and if his demons can harm humans, what steps should we take to protect ourselves from this destructive attack?

It’s a Thursday and you almost have another week under your belt. What are your big plans for the weekend? Do your expectations run more like the “life is good" beer ads? Where does your heart point for a good time

Five o’clock alarms, ten and twenty mile runs, weight training, regimented diet, video analysis--the Olympian who hopes to win must dedicate everything to this objective. How does your discipline in seeking to win a heavenly medal- the commendation of your Savior- compare to the Olympian running for the gold?

Chuck Swindoll’s book sounded a trumpet call for a grace awakening, but many of God’s children continue to confuse culture and content and truth and tradition. Take a careful look at First Corinthians chapter nine. How could the Paul act like a Jew one minute and a Gentile the next?

No one can deliver freedom like Jesus Christ! If this is true, then why are so many of us some of the most uptight people you could ever meet? Worried about what we eat and drink. Worried about what we listen to. Worried about who we associate with and what we do!

A preacher who steals money from his church or hypocritically sells religious teaching for a quick buck robs far more than the congregation he serves.The Apostle Paul faced the con artists and the disillusioned congregations back in the first century, but he didn’t quit the ministry because of the lack of funds.

Just imagine inviting Jesus to spend the day with you, but as the you start to get involved in daily activities it is very apparent that there is a lot of stuff in the routine that you wouldn’t be comfortable having Jesus join you in. For example, who wants Jesus looking over your shoulder as you laugh at Jimmy Kimmel Live or salivate over a racy novel? Finally some friends invite you to come out that night and really party. As you get ready for the big night on the town and proceed out the door, Jesus follows even though you uninvited him. Finally in exasperation, you nail the Savior to the cross again to keep him out of your life. Powerful truth--but we need to be sure that we know what the biblical Christ is actual like, what he likes to do and what he doesn’'t like to do.