Be Still And Know

1 Corinthians 12:31 In this chapter, Paul spent a long time carefully describing the spiritual gifts that God has given to his Church. The church in Corinth had become very excited about the gifts but they needed clear guidance as to how they should be used. At this point, Paul pointed out that, exciting and important as gifts are, life at its best is quite simply a life of love. Paul was convinced of the supreme importance of love. So much so that even the most gifted person in the world cannot manage without it. At the beginning of chapter 13 he described a person who speaks like an angel but said that without love their words would be totally empty. They would sound like a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. He then built up a picture of the sort of gifted person who seemed to have it all. They had the gift of prophecy and were so good at it that they understood all of God’s secrets, and possessed all knowledge. Just imagine! But more, this person had such enormous faith that shunting mountains aroun

1 Corinthians 12:18-21 Yesterday we saw how Paul drew attention to the problem of inferiority complexes in the Church. In today’s verses, he centres on the problem of superiority complexes. He points out how absurd it would be for one part of the body to look down on another part and suggest that it wasn’t needed. Paul laughs at that kind of thinking, pointing out how ridiculous it would be if a body only had one part. The only way that a body can work is by it having very different parts, and the Church is just the same. We may find it difficult to be in a church in which people are so different from us, but we absolutely rely on other people’s differences in order to be the Church. Diversity is, in fact, the only way to achieve unity. We must never be tempted to look down on other people’s gifts, even if they seem strange to us. It is vital that we find ways of affirming one another and I think we have a special responsibility to spot those gifts that have a low profile. When did you last thank the

1 Corinthians 12:14-15 Many people struggle in life because of an inferiority complex. They are inclined to spend their lives comparing their attributes and abilities with others and convincing themselves that they are no good. This is incredibly sad in any situation and deeply damaging within the Church. Paul insists that every member of the Church is absolutely vital, and so there is never any good reason for one part of the Church to look down on another. He makes the point by laughing at the complete absurdity of a foot looking down on itself because it isn’t a hand, or an ear looking down on itself because it isn’t an eye. It’s completely ridiculous. It is wrong to look down on our gifts, whatever they are, because God has deliberately given us particular gifts. Paul writes: “It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have” (1 Corinthians 12:11). What God wants is for us to enjoy the gift that he has given to us, recognising t

1 Corinthians 12:7 I want to continue focusing on the verse that we looked at yesterday because it is so crucial. I have been a church leader for many years and people have told me regularly that they don’t know what their gift is. Nothing could be more important than to know what your gift is, so let me spend a few moments trying to help you if you are unsure. And if you are absolutely sure what your spiritual gift is, it will be good for you to take a fresh look at it. Firstly, if you don’t know what your gift is then thank God for it. Be positive. We have God’s assurance that he has given you a gift so even though you haven’t got a clue what it is, thank him for this mystery gift. Secondly, ask God what your gift is. I don’t believe that God wants to play games with us. He has given us a gift and we can be sure that he would like us to know what it is. Only then will it be useful in the building the Church, in the way that he intends. Thirdly, open your eyes. Look at your life and reflect o

1 Corinthians 12:7 This short verse contains three incredibly important messages. First of all, the spiritual abilities that we have are a gift from God. They are an expression of his love and generosity and so when we identify a gift, whether in ourselves or someone else, our first response should be to give thanks to God. This is an important point because so often we focus attention on the receiver of the gift rather than the giver. That clearly happened in Corinth where people were strutting around with great pride because of the spiritual gifts that they had received. This was causing great confusion and division in the church and would have been totally avoided if they had kept their focus on God, the giver of their gifts. The second point is that every one of us is gifted. The way in which we often use the term ‘gifted’ might suggest that only a few people have a gift. We are told about gifted guitarists, singers or artists and are left feeling that we missed out somewhere! Paul, however, makes

1 Corinthians 11:23-24 These words are incredibly important. Remember, Paul’s letter to the Corinthians was written some years before the earliest Gospel. This is, therefore, the first recorded account of any of the words of Jesus. Paul never met Jesus in the flesh but he was convinced that this command had come from the Lord himself. These words are nearly 2,000 years old but they continue to be a fundamental command to the Christian Church today. The key word in Jesus’ command is “remembrance”. When we share in the communion service we are deliberately recalling what Jesus did when he died on the cross. We are recognising that this was an important moment in history but also an event that continues to transform our lives today. In a miraculous way Jesus meets with us as we gather with our Christian brothers and sisters, and he renews our understanding of our own lives and the life that we share together. There is a beautiful variety of titles for the communion meal including the Eucharist (whi

1 Corinthians 11:17-18 Paul loved the church in Corinth with a passion. He had founded the church and so it is not surprising that he longed for the community to thrive. It must have been particularly painful to him that they managed to get so much wrong when they came together to worship. The time when they should have been at their most united seems to have been the time when their divisions were most in evidence. We cannot be entirely clear what the problems were. We do know that their gathering focused on a celebration of the Lord’s Supper, however, the way in which they did so was clearly chaotic. Some people were so eager to eat their food that they didn’t share with others. This was probably exacerbated by the fact that there were both rich and poor people within the church, and the poor were getting left out. Another focus of division may well have been that those from a Jewish background were insisting on kosher food. The fact that there were tensions and divisions in the church is tr

1 Corinthians 10:31,33 Life is forever throwing up questions. Just because we have decided to follow Christ, it doesn’t mean that everything is straightforward. We often have very difficult decisions to make, and the answer isn’t immediately obvious. That was clearly the case for Paul who, in both this chapter and chapter 8, was struggling with the very awkward issue of food that had been offered to idols. In one way it wasn’t an issue at all because idols are false gods. But for some people their conscience made them uneasy about eating something that had been offered to an idol. Different Christians may act in different ways, but what matters is that they act out of a desire to please the Lord, and to be helpful to other people. Paul was so determined to help other people to find Jesus as their Lord, that he didn’t want anything to get in the way. The issues we face today are completely different from Paul’s time, but the same principles hold good. When we decide how to use our money, leisure ti

1 Corinthians 9:25-27 Athletics were taken very seriously by the Greeks. The Olympic Games were established in 776 BC and were held in Olympia every four years. Corinth itself had its own games known as the Isthmian Games, which were second only to the Olympics. It isn’t surprising, therefore, that the apostle Paul often made references to athletics. In preparation for the games, athletes were put through a punishing regime. They were required to prepare for ten months and the entire focus was upon winning. Unlike today, there were no prizes for coming second or third. The winner in Paul’s day would be given a pine wreath to wear but, great as that honour was, it would soon fade. Paul knew that he was working for an eternal prize and so he was determined to be fit to ensure that he could keep going. Of course, the Christian life doesn’t only have one winner. All of us need to ensure that we keep fit for the work that God has called us to do. A contemporary described Paul as “a man small of stature

1 Corinthians 9:19-20, 22-23 Paul had an incredibly clear focus for his life. His longing was that everyone should have the opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. He wanted them to know that Jesus loved them so much that he died for their sins so that they could have eternal life. Nothing in the world was more important to him than this. Paul spoke of his willingness to be completely flexible in the way that he got alongside other people. He was brought up as a Jew, and so he was easily able to identify with them and to understand the questions that they might have about Christian faith. But he was just as willing to draw alongside people with no faith background and to understand where they were coming from. He was willing to become all things to all people in order to help them to meet Jesus for themselves. We can probably all identify the people with whom we most easily get on. They probably share a similar background to us and may be of a similar age and share common interests. Tha

1 Corinthians 8:1-2 In writing this letter to the Corinthians, Paul didn’t dodge any of the difficult issues. I suspect that most of us are tempted to avoid grasping nettles, but Paul took on one nettle after another with remarkable confidence. The issue that he grappled with here is totally unfamiliar to us, but we have much to learn from the way in which he handled it. Corinth was a big port and had a very mixed population. The people worshipped a wide variety of deities, and it was quite usual for food to have been taken to the temple gods to be blessed. This posed a major issue for the Christian community. Where should the line be drawn? There were two possible approaches. One was to say that idols aren’t real, so it really doesn’t matter whether the food has been offered to them or not. The other approach was adopted by those who came from a background in which they had been taught to believe that the idols had real power. Now that they had become Christians they found it deeply offensive to eat

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Everything seemed to be going wrong in the Corinthian church. The Christians had become arrogant and were making up their own rules. There was, for example, a case of incest in the church and no action had been taken. There were also reports of Christians taking one another to court. It was all a horrible mess and Paul was eager to put things right. He was particularly concerned that the church should be clear in the matter of sexual ethics. This is not surprising in view of the reputation that Corinth had long possessed of being a hotbed for sexual promiscuity. Our own society, just like Corinth, is characterised by the belief that anything goes sexually. What matters is the freedom of each individual to do what they think is best. Paul countered this kind of thinking by reminding his readers that their bodies were not their own, but gifts from God. They were, therefore, under an obligation to use their bodies in a way that pleased God. They couldn’t simply do whatever they chos

1 Corinthians 4:16-17 When I was learning to play the cello, my teacher always told me to look carefully at other cellists. He told me that this was really important because I would learn something from all of them. It’s just the same with the Christian life. We can read the Bible and Christian books and listen to sermons but watching other Christians is crucial. From their example, we turn the theory into practice. That was exactly Paul’s point in these verses. He was the last person to suggest that he was a perfect example of Christian faith, but he knew that the church in Corinth needed to learn from his example. They had become arrogant and were making bad decisions and so he sent his young friend Timothy to remind them of their need to imitate him. I would be fascinated to know whose Christian example has been important for you. I think of so many people who have been a blessing to me. I think, for example, of the irrepressible joy of my Indian granny. When I lived in India I was generously welco

1 Corinthians 4:7 Try to take a few minutes to write a description of your life. You will need to include things like your health, family, friendships, job, house, car, bicycle and other possessions. Then look over the list and remind yourself that absolutely every item is a gift from God. I know you might have put some hard work into making some of them happen, but none of them would be part of your life without God. So, how dare we become arrogant and boast as if they were our own achievements? Paul’s questions are of enormous importance for all of us. The way we answer them will shape the way in which we live our daily lives. When we recognise that God’s hand has given us everything, we will see the need to have a constant attitude of gratitude to God. The person who brags about their achievements and their possessions needs to be pitied. They have totally misunderstood what is going on. Paul often encouraged his readers to be continually thankful to God. In writing to the Thessalonians he said:

1 Corinthians 3:18-19 Every day we are bombarded with powerful images of what it means to be successful. The advertising and entertainment industries feed us with a continual stream of pictures of wealthy, powerful, glamorous and successful people and urge us to be like them. Life was different in Paul’s day in so many ways, but the same worldly pressures were present. Here Paul encourages the Corinthian believers to turn their thinking upside down. True wisdom would never be found in following the world’s standards and fashions, but only by following their humble, crucified Lord. Paul’s particular concern was the way in which the Corinthian Christians had lined themselves up behind different leaders. This was such a waste of time and energy, and was a perfect illustration of acting according to this world’s standards. Paul would have none of it. He was simply a servant and the last thing he wanted was to be followed by a group of adoring disciples. Jesus showed the full extent of his love not by be

1 Corinthians 3:10-11 Every building needs firm foundations. I’ve just been reading up about the process of preparing good foundations for a self-build. As you can imagine, it’s a major task involving a careful examination of the land with the help of a structural engineer. Then it’s necessary to excavate the ground and prepare it with flood damage-resistant and decay-resistant materials before laying sufficient foundations to take the full load of the construction. It’s a highly involved process but none of that is necessary when we are building the Church of Jesus Christ. He’s already laid the foundations; all we need to do is build. There are two things that you need if you are going to get involved in building up the Church. Firstly, you need to know your role. Paul was clear that he was an expert builder. This might sound like bragging, but it really wasn’t. It was simply the vital task that God had given him to perform. You and I have our own roles to fulfil. Perhaps you are an expert builder, a

1 Corinthians 3:5-6 The divisions that had opened up in the church in Corinth were clearly causing great problems. Divisions always waste time and energy and Paul was eager to put a stop to them. We cannot be sure why people had grouped behind Paul and Apollos in this way. However, we can easily speculate that because Paul had founded the church in Corinth there were those who felt personally committed to him. Apollos, meanwhile, came from a devout Jewish family in Alexandria, Egypt and would have had a very different upbringing from Paul. It is likely that he would have come under the influence of Philo, the great philosopher, and it may well have been that his preaching was more intellectually impressive than Paul’s. We cannot be sure, and it doesn’t really matter. What is clear is that they, like any other church leaders, were different from one another and difference offers the opportunity for division. I wonder what Christian leaders have shaped your Christian life. I can think of a number of p

1 Corinthians 2:1-2 For the apostle Paul, the cross of Christ lay right at the heart of his message. Take away the cross and he had no good news to share. But he also recognised that it was a really difficult message to pass on. As a Jew he was eager to preach the cross to his own people, but they found the whole idea deeply offensive. Their scriptures told them that anyone who hung from a tree was cursed by God (see Deuteronomy 21:23). When he shared the message with non-Jews their reaction was that it was all nonsense. How could someone being killed be a sign of power and victory? They just didn’t get it. But none of this put Paul off. He was absolutely convinced that the message of the cross was both wise and powerful. Paul was so eager that the cross should be the focus of his message that he was happy that his preaching was unimpressive. He described himself as having been timid and trembling when he first got to Corinth, and said that his message and preaching were very plain (vv3-4). He was gla

1 Corinthians 1:10 In this letter, Paul does a lot of straight talking to the Corinthian church. It is significant that the first issue he addresses is unity, because everything depends on it. A disunited church cannot possibly be effective and 2,000 years of Church history have proved that to be the case. Disunity wastes time and energy and prevents any organisation from making headway. In Corinth they had started getting behind different leaders. Some supported Paul, but others preferred Apollos or Peter, while others were only prepared to follow Jesus. It was all getting very messy, and Paul appealed to them to drop this divisiveness. Unity is just as vital today, and we all have a part to play in contributing to it. Absolutely key to unity is humility. Mother Teresa wrote: “Only humility will lead us to unity and unity will lead to peace.” The humble person is willing to listen and to learn. They may have strong views, but they are willing to admit that they might be wrong. They are constantly loo

1 Corinthians 1:4-5 These are incredibly generous words aren’t they? But they are also rather surprising when you know what follows. This letter to the church in Corinth is full of very serious criticisms of their life together. Indeed, at times it feels as if they got nothing right. But Paul was determined to start his letter on a positive note, and he did so by pointing to all the ways in which God had blessed them. First of all, Paul gave thanks for the gifts that God had given them. This letter has a great deal to say about the gifts that God gives to his Church. Paul was convinced that God had given the Corinthians everything they needed to be an effective church. He would spend much time in this letter pointing out the way in which they had mishandled those gifts, but there was no question about the generosity of God. Secondly, he rejoiced that they belonged to Jesus. Amidst all the challenges of life in a hostile city, they had the security of a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that