Fri, 9 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Corinthians 14:1-19

¹ Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. ² For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. ³ On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. ⁴ The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. ⁵ Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.

⁶ Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? ⁷ If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? ⁸ And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? ⁹ So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. ¹⁰ There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, ¹¹ but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. ¹² So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

¹³ Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. ¹⁴ For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. ¹⁵ What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. ¹⁶ Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? ¹⁷ For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. ¹⁸ I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

Apparently the Corinthian church had a serious problem where there was chaos in their worship service. As we read through Paul’s letters to the church at Corinth, we find him dealing with many problems associated with their worship. In today’s passage, Paul deals with the issue of people speaking in tongues during the worship service. (We won’t deal with the issue of whether or not tongues is still a valid gift of the Holy Spirit. We will simply acknowledge that speaking in tongues was going on in the worship service in Corinth and Paul had to give them guidelines for how it should be done.)

Paul’s concern about speaking in tongues was that people would understand what was being said. If there was no one who could understand and interpret for the others, then there should not be anyone speaking in tongues publicly. Notice that this means that speaking in tongues is speaking in an intelligible language that someone, somewhere can understand. It is not just meaningless babble. It has content that is useful, although not intelligible to everyone.

Also, Paul limits the amount of tongues speaking that can be done in worship. He says in verse 27: If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. This shouldn’t be the majority of the service, but should only be a small part.

Why is Paul concerned about with speaking in tongues? His concern is that people hear and understand what is said. Paul’s concern is that people be built up in their faith. Paul wants people to hear the word of God expounded, because that is how people are built up. Paul doesn’t want people to be impressed with the spiritual experiences others are having. He wants them to hear God’s word and grow in their faith. Paul is teaching us that the preaching of the word is what is most important and should not be in any way diminished.

What do we learn from this?

It is possible for us in our worship services to distract from the preaching of the word, and so miss what is really important. We are so impressed by experiences, excitement and emotion that we push aside that which is far more significant. We have a natural desire to add things to our worship services that will draw more people and make the service more enjoyable, but there is a cost in that it diminishes the preaching of the word. It diminishes the focus from Christ.

The scriptures are God’s word, and in the preaching of God’s word, He builds His people up in their faith. It isn’t as glamorous or exciting as some other things we can do on a Sunday morning, but it is God’s commanded way of bringing people to faith and of building them up in their faith.

Where is Christ in this passage?

What is the content of Paul’s preaching? We know from his writings that Paul preached Jesus Christ and him crucified. Jesus Christ is the content of his message. Paul preached the Gospel, the good news of salvation from our sins through the person and work of Jesus Christ. And Paul says he would rather preach a five word sermon that people understand than ten-thousand words of unintelligible tongues. Five clear words pointing others to Christ are worth far more than thousands of words that are not understood.

This message of the Gospel is a life and death issue. Paul tells us that it is vitally important that people hear it expounded clearly, plainly, simply, and often. Every time we gather together on Sunday, we should have nothing but that which is orderly, understandable, and edifying. Therefore it should all point us to Jesus Christ and His atoning work on our behalf. That is why Paul severely limited and restricted speaking in tongues. It was too easy for tongues to not point others to Christ.

We should consider our own Sunday worship. Is the clear expounding of the preached word central? Does everything point Christ? Paul tells us that it should.

Mon, 5 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Corinthians 10:1-5

¹ I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, ² and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³ and all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. ⁵ Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Paul ended chapter 9 warning that we need to be concerned about our conduct in our Christian lives, as our commitment to obeying Christ is indicative of true saving faith in Him. Paul says:

1 Corinthians 9:27

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Paul’s warning isn’t to say that you can lose your salvation, since there are other clear passages where Paul tells us that can’t happen (Romans 8:28-39; Philippians 1:6), but this is to warn us against indifference to our conduct.

In his warning to us, Paul makes the curious comparison of baptism and the Lord’s supper to what Israel did in coming out of the bondage of Egypt. His intent is for us to consider how greatly they were blessed by God. And we have been likewise blessed. They all experienced a common salvation from the bondage of Egypt and they saw God’s miracles. They had all the advantages possible given to them as a people. But although they had participated in the blessings of the church, they were not all saved, and many died in the wilderness.

What do we learn from this?

Once again we find that our conduct is important. It is not that we are saved by our conduct. But our conduct validates the reality of our faith in God.

The Old Testament church experienced God in a very real and personal way. They passed through the parting of the Red Sea. They ate the food and drank the water that God miraculously provided for them. And afterwards they rebelled against God and died without reaching the promised land. We also have been blessed with a common experience of God. We have been baptized, and regularly share the Lord’s supper. But if we, like Israel before us, are counting on those religious experiences to save us, we are lost.

Our salvation is not in our baptism or in partaking of the Lord supper. As important as those things are, they do not save us. God saves us. Our salvation is by God’s grace administered to us through the instrument of faith. We are commanded to trust in Him, and not in our shared experience with God’s people.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Paul says that when the Israelites drank the water from the rock, the Rock was Christ. This symbolism explains the significance of Moses striking the rock at God’s command and of the seriousness his error when Moses later strikes the rock when he was only supposed to speak to it.

Once again we see the scriptural claim that the events of the Old Testament are about Christ. The temporal salvation the Old Testament church experienced in the miraculous flow of water from the rock was from Christ. The water they needed to live was provided by God when Moses struck the rock. And the eternal salvation we need was provided by God when the Romans crucified Jesus Christ.

Thu, 1 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

⁹ Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Sometimes in scripture we run across sin lists. Paul gives us one in today’s passage. It is important to understand that these lists are representative but not exhaustive. We can’t say, “Paul didn’t mention embezzlers, so as a Christian I can embezzle all I want.” No. The point isn’t that we are to avoid the sins listed and ONLY the sins listed. Rather, the list serves the purpose by giving us examples of representative sins. We are to avoid all sins, and here are just a few samples.

Another thing to be careful of with these sin lists is that we tend to concentrate too much on what we consider the “big” sins in the list while ignoring the “smaller” sins. For example, Paul mentions homosexuality in this sin list. To often in some Evangelical Christian circles, we act like homosexuality is the unpardonable sin. But for some reason we ignore that Paul lists the greedy and the revilers right beside the homosexual. Why don’t we treat the sins of greed and abusive language with the same level of disdain we sometimes reserve for homosexuality? Could it be because within the church (and in our own lives) we see greed and abusive language regularly, but homosexuality rarely. Could it be because we think of homosexuality as a sin of THOSE people outside the church, and so we heap our scorn upon that sin and consequently upon THOSE people. Meanwhile, these other sins are staring us in the face when we look in the mirror every morning, and so we ignore them.

But notice how important this sin list is. Paul says that if these sins are characteristic of your life, you are not saved. You will not inherit the kingdom of God. This is serious stuff.

What do we learn from this?

Sin is serious. It is deadly serious. Sin is nothing to indulge in our own life. It is nothing to wink at or ignore. It is nothing to excuse or overlook. Sin is deadly serious and we must confront it or suffer the terrible consequences.

We often are very good at seeing the sin in other people, but somehow we don’t notice the sin in our own lives. We can listen to the sermon and think, “So-and-so really needs to hear this.” And so when we read this list of sins, we think of all the people we know who are guilty of these sins rather than think of our own lives and our own need for repentance.

Jesus warns us against this attitude:

Matthew 7:3-5

³ Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

We need to take these sin lists seriously and repent of our own sins.

Where is Christ in this passage?

As we are convicted of our sin and are driven to come to God in repentance, we are given a great word of comfort by the apostle Paul. After giving the sin list, Paul tells us: And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Notice the past tense. That sin list used to characterize us. But for those who have come to God and are savingly trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation, that list no longer defines you. Through faith in Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit in your life, you have been cleansed from those sins. You are declared to be righteous in the Father’s sight because your sins have been punished on Jesus on the cross and you are now dressed in the perfect righteousness of Christ that has been imputed to you (you are justified). And the Holy Spirit is working in your life to change your conduct so you are more and more obedient to the word of God as you progress in your Christian walk (you are sanctified).

We need to be careful of our conduct. We need to work to obey God. We need to avoid the sins of this sin list. But if we are in Christ, we are no longer guilty of these sins before God, nor will these sins be the overriding character of our lives.

Sun, 28 August, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

¹ And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. ² For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, ⁴ and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Paul was aware of what would impress the Corinthians. He knew they loved to hear people who spoke eloquently and who presented brilliant arguments. They loved to listen to wonderful speakers. And Paul, with all the formal education that he had, was able to give them what they wanted, if he so desired.

Yet, Paul purposefully did not attempt to impress them with his formidable rhetorical skills. Instead he attempted to speak as simply as possible, avoiding any attempts to sway people by his speaking ability. Why? Because Paul wanted the message of Jesus Christ to be what the people focuses upon, not his own presentation. Paul didn’t want people walking away from his preaching saying, “What a great speaker Paul is.” Rather, Paul wanted them to walk away saying, “What a great God Paul preaches of.”

What do we learn from this?

It is possible for us to use the talents that God has given us in a way that calls attention to the talents themselves rather than pointing others to Christ. We need to beware of our own tendency to magnify ourselves, even as we are presenting the gospel to others.

But of course the main danger here is for the preacher. There is an inborn desire within us to be liked by others, and to impress others. A pastor can fall into this trap in his sermon, and find that he is preaching to impress the people rather than to bring them the full counsel of God’s word.

But as lay people, we too can fall into this trap as well. For example, our public prayers can often be formed so as to impress the people around us rather than to reach God. If we are thinking about how the people around us are going to react to our prayer, we are focusing upon the wrong thing, and we are falling into this trap that Paul warns us about.

We need to purposefully attempt to always serve God, rather than building up ourselves in the eyes of others.

Where is Christ in this passage?

For Paul, the focus of all preaching is Jesus Christ. All preaching should point people to Christ and the crucifixion. This should be no surprise, since the preaching should be based upon scripture, and the scriptures themselves are focused upon Jesus Christ.