daily bible readings

The church at Corinth appeared to be a cauldron of sinfulness, boiling over with problems and issues. There were factions and divisions in the church. There was rivalry and competition around spiritual gifts. There was sexual immorality and incestuous relationships. They were taking each other to court to sue one another. They were rejecting Paul as their founding Apostle and possibly accusing him of stealing the funds he was transporting. They were bragging about their spiritual gifts and were putting each other down.

The church in Galatia, at the other extreme, really only had one issue. They had a theological difference with Paul. And what do we notice about Paul’s approach to the two churches?

Paul is able to praise God for the work in the Corinthian church. But, no such praises are given regarding the Galatian church. In fact, Paul uses the strongest possible language to tell them that they are an abomination to the Lord. They are anathema to Him because of their beliefs.

The church today has missed the mark. In our bid for unity and oneness, we have accepted all theological beliefs and we stand happily with others that Paul would not stand with. Yet, we excommunicate individuals and entire churches for their conduct and actions. Where Paul accepts and gives thanks, we reject and despise. Where Paul excommunicates we accept and befriend.

The difference for Paul lies in his understanding that the false teaching in the Galatian churches was denying and destroying the gospel of faith. The Galatians began to believe that true Christians had to follow the laws of Moses and, in particular, had to be circumcised as per Torah regulations. Paul cut to the heart of the matter and called such teaching anathema, an abomination to God.

But Paul does not simply accept bad behaviour that denies Christ Jesus. Paul uses strong language towards the Christians at Corinth and even calls for a casting out of the immoral brother if repentance is not forth coming. But, Paul’s strongest language - throughout all his letters– is reserved for those who seek to pervert the gospel of grace.

The Gospel of Grace offends human pride, wisdom and knowledge. As Paul will go on to say to the Corinthians, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing ....(1 Corinthians 1:18). Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,” (1Corinthians 1:22–23). There will always be people seeking to pervert the true gospel of grace (Galatians 1:7) because they are offended by it.

As we build our knowledge, pride and wisdom on Christ Jesus, the church will grow stronger in Christ. We need to grow in knowledge and understanding of the cross. As we do, divisions among us will dissipate. We need to learn to boast and take pride in the cross rather than in our own achievements. Our wisdom needs to become God’s wisdom in Christ Jesus so that we can do the works prepared in advance for us to be doing and so that the world can see Christ in us.

Only as we ground ourselves in the true gospel of grace will we be able to “correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” (2 Timothy 4:2). Only then will be be able to “teach and admonish one another with all wisdom,” (Colossians 3:16).

PRAYER

Adoration:

· Adore God that He is a God of grace and mercy.

· Adore God for His provision of grace in Jesus Christ to all who put their faith in Him.

Confession:

· Take time to confess your sins to the Lord and to ask for forgiveness

Thanks

· Thank God for every blessing that you have been given in Christ Jesus.

· Thank God for the believers in your church.

Supplication:

· Pray that our wisdom, knowledge and pride would be centred on Christ and growing in Him.

· Pray that the Lord  Almighty would work powerfully in us to build us in unity, in oneness and to move us in one direction.

Discuss

1. How can we work out which theological differences are worthy fighting against and which ones are not?

2. If you were called into the Corinthian church, how would you go about helping them to fix their problems?

SMALL GROUPS

Scripture

Read 1 Corinthians 1:1-9.

Sing songs of adoration and praise.

Discuss the following:

Define the following words:

Sanctified:

Holy:

Grace:

Peace:

Regarding verses 4-9,

How is grace given?

What does it mean to be enriched?

What does it mean to have Christ confirmed in someone?

What is a spiritual gift?

When will Christ be revealed?

What does it mean to have fellowship with the son?

Observation

Discuss the following:

According to vv4-9, what has God done for us as believers?

What is our role in all of this?

How can we find our spiritual gifts?

In what ways is God faithful?

Going Deeper

Paul touches on many different theological topics in vv4-9. List as many as you can and summarise what the Bible says about each one.

Application

Share with your group how God’s grace was given to you at your conversion.

How has the gospel been confirmed in you?

What is your spiritual gift from the Lord?

How are you using that gift?

This article is a  helpful one to read.

https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/how-to-identify-and-effectively-use-your-spiritual-gifts.html

You can do a spiritual gifts test at 

https://www.freeshapetest.com/   or

https://gifts.churchgrowth.org/spiritual-gifts-survey/ 

PRAYER

Spend time as a Small Group in

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

Pastor’s Comment

Some people are naturally joyous and can praise God no matter what situation they are in. They seem to take the sunshine with them wherever they go. Others take a little rain cloud with them and find it rather difficult to praise God, even on the brightest days. Still others are just inherently negative and find the bad or the negative in everything.

God has created each of us uniquely individual and has given each of us a particular personality.

To complicate matters, God has put us all together in a hodge-podge mix called the church and He demands that we get on well together. He demands that we love each other, support each other and work together as a team on the mission that He’s given us. OUCH!

Developing an attitude of gratitude is a great way forward in a mix of different personalities. An attitude of gratitude is basically an attitude of the heart that looks to praise God for what He has done and is doing in others, even  those others who are different to us.

An attitude of gratitude looks for ways to praise God in others and looks for the good rather than the bad or the negative. An attitude of gratitude is God focused and filled with grace rather than with negativity or hurt.

Paul models this attitude of gratitude for us in almost every letter he writes. He praises God for the Christian’s he’s met and worked with. He praises God for what He’s done and doing in them. He praises God and spends much of his prayer time in such praise. He even finds it in his heart to praise God for the recalcitrant Corinthians who were doing just about everything wrong and sinning quite heinously in several areas.

Developing an attitude of gratitude begins by focusing on what God has done for us personally in Christ Jesus. It begins with an honest, yet not morbid, assessment of who we were before Christ and what Christ did for us. As we focus on Christ’s work in us, we are filled with grace and look outwards through grace filled eyes. Gratitude quickly follows.

An attitude of gratitude grows and strengthens in us as we lose ourselves in God’s grace and fill ourselves with His love, His Word and His presence.

Take the challenge for the rest of this week to spend a little time each morning praising God for what He’s done in your life and in the lives of 5 other Christians or churches that you know of. Don’t allow yourself to repeat names or churches on any day of the week. Look continually outwards and keep praising God. Go on, take the challenge. Tell God now that you are going to do this.