Today’s reading is II Corinthians 10:1-11:33.

In II Corinthians 10:8, Paul said, “For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed.”

I haven’t been given much authority. However, I need to remember that whatever authority God has given me is to be used to build others up, not dominate and destroy them. I have been given authority in my home. When I preach, there is a certain authority I have. When I write, there is a certain amount of authority. (Don’t misunderstand, I’m not suggesting I have some kind of intrinsic authority or that the preacher is the role of authority in the congregation, just that anyone who takes a mantle of teaching has a certain amount of authority through that process.) 

I must not use any amount of authority granted me in order to put others in their place, lift myself above others, or in any other way dominate and tear down others. If God has granted me some authority, I should use that in service, not selfishness. He hasn’t granted anyone authority in order to set them over others as more important. He has granted authority to serve others. Whatever blessing God has given us should be used this way.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

For a long time, John 13:1-20 has had a special place in my heart. I even preached a sermon about it.

However, there is one point in this story that always blows me away. This text doesn’t say that Jesus washed the good disciples’ feet. He washed all their feet. When he got to Judas, He didn’t skip those feet. He knelt before Judas and washed the dirt and grime off his feet and then wiped them dry with his towel. 

Then in John 13:18, Jesus said, “But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heal against me.’” Jesus knew what Judas was going to do. However, He washed the heel that would be lifted against Him. I am blown away and humbled. 

I have a hard time serving my wife and kids whom I have verbally stated I will serve, especially when I feel like they haven’t been treating me the way they should. Jesus, however, served with love even the one who was about to betray Him into torment and agonizing death. I have a lot of growing to do. How about you?

What did you get out of today’s reading?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

I clearly recognize that following a different gospel leaves someone accursed (Galatians 1:9-10). I also recognize that not abiding in the doctrine of Christ means we will have neither the Father or the Son (II John 9). Thus, getting the gospel and doctrine of Christ right is important and necessary to our salvation. 

However, I can’t help but notice when Jesus very specifically talked about the sheep and the goats and who will be allowed into heaven and who will be cast into hell in Matthew 25:31-46, He didn’t talk about those who got the gospel and doctrine of Christ right. He talked about those who did good deeds for others. He talked about those who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, visited those sick and in prison. Now, I recognize this is not talking about just general welfare. This is talking about love among brethren. 

We need to recognize however that it is not enough to know and teach the right gospel and doctrine. The gospel and doctrine of Christ must impact our lives such that we humbly submit to others around us and do good for them. If we close our benevolent hand to others around us, we are closing it to Jesus. In that case, we may be the soundest teachers in the whole world. We may debate with excellence and shut the mouths of all false teachers and yet we will still be cast into hell. 

If you want to go to heaven, take some time to get out of your study and off the debate podium and do some good works for those around you.

I Corinthians 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (ESV). 

I have heard others and I have often just come to this verse and said, “See, everything we do has to glorify God.” While that is the final logical point of the verse, just making the statement actually misses Paul’s point in context. 

From I Corinthians 8 to this point, Paul has been discussing issues of conscience and liberty. He had been trying to wade through the issues of eating meats and especially meats offered to idols. Through those chapters we learned that knowledge puffs up and love edifies. We learned that we should take care not to offend the conscience of our brethren. Further, we even learned we should take care with our actions because of the conscience of unbelievers (cf. I Corinthians 10:28). 

Within this context, Paul is not just making the statement that everything we do should glorify God. Rather, he is saying that as we consider how to pursue our liberties and how to preserve our conscience and the conscience of others, the determining factor is which choice will glorify God. It will glorify God if I eat and give thanks to Him. However, it will not glorify God even if I give thanks, if it causes a brother or sister to stumble. It will not glorify God if it causes an outsider to believe I pay homage to an idol. I may have the liberty to eat whatever I want in the strictest sense, but I must not simply consider my hunger and my culinary tastes. I must consider whether God will be glorified by pursuing this liberty.

Finally, as Paul continued, he pointed out that glorifying God meant not giving offense to either the Jews or the Greeks. In other words, don’t pursue your Christian liberties in a way that causes Jews or Greeks to judge you as immoral or ungodly. Don’t invite a Jew into your home and set pork chops before him (especially if you are a Jewish Christian, they will view you as a traitor to God and will not listen to a thing you have to say about Jesus). Don’t eat something a Gentile gives you if he makes a point to let you know it was sacrificed to some idol. He may think you honor that idol and will not learn the idol is no god at all. Don’t give offense to the church of God. In other words, don’t cause your brothers and sisters who are not as knowledgeable to stumble. 

Then he concludes, that instead of seeking his own advantage, he is seeking the salvation of others. This actually gets us back to yesterday’s theme. What glorifies God the most? The salvation of the lost. 

Thus, the point about glorifying God whether we eat or drink or whatever we do is that we must not seek our own advantage, but serve others so they can be saved and God glorified. Yes, once we recognize that point, we get to the usual statement that this means everything we do must glorify God, but it is important to actually notice the logic that gets us there. Because only then do we actually learn what Paul wants us to do to glorify God. He wants us to be all things to all people that by all means we might save some.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel. That I may share with them in its blessings.”

I Corinthians 9:19-23 (ESV)

 

This passage affected me so much, I had to preach on it this week. I need to do better at getting the word out to the loss. I learned five keys from this passage to help.

1. We have to see the gospel as good news.

The word “gospel” has essentially become a specialized word for us. We see that and hear “whatever the Bible says.” However, when our first century counterparts read this letter, they didn’t see a specialized religious word. They saw the word “euaggelion” which literally meant “good message” or “good news.” What do you do with good news? You share it. If we see the gospel as merely a list of requirements and rules that limit us, we’re not likely to share it, because we don’t see it as good news. Only when we recognize the gospel is the good news to set us free from our sins, will we get the message out (cf. Romans 6:16-23).

2. We have to see lost people as lost.

Repeatedly, Paul says he was doing his work in order to “win” and “save” souls. The reason is, he saw lost people as lost. He was like a man walking in a ship of safety, casting out a life preserver because he saw the souls drowning all around him. What would happen if he was walking on the ship looking at the clouds, just chit-chatting with other boat riders and never looking over the edge at the waters? No one would be saved. When we come in contact with people, we shouldn’t just see bank tellers, check-out clerks, co-workers, family, friends, neighbors, we should see lost people drowning in the bad news of their sins. We have the good news that will save them.

3. We have to see ourselves as servants to the lost. 

In I Corinthians 9:19, Paul said he was free from all, but made himself a servant so that he might save some. Being a servant means sacrifice. It means sacrificing our desires, wants and goals in order to accomplish what the lost need. We may have to sacrifice time. We may have to sacrifice money. We may have to sacrifice recreations. We may have to sacrifice our liberties. This is what servants do.

4. We have to get out of our comfort zone.

Think about the first day that Paul went to teach Gentiles in their home and they dropped a greasy piece of pork on his plate. Do you think that was comfortable for him? What about just teaching a Gentile to begin with? Was that comfortable for a Jew raised as a separatist Pharisee? He got out of his comfort zone. We need to have a sign that says–”Comfort Zone: No Parking.”

5. We have to use all means to save others.

“All means,” that was what Paul used to try to save some. That means proclaiming the gospel to the lost is not something we do in addition to everything else we do. That means we are thinking about teaching the lost in everything we do. Little League provides contact with 10 to 15 families who may need the gospel. A trip to Wal-Mart provides countless contacts. Work is not just a place of employment. It is a place in which we can display the fruit of the spirit and pursue spiritual conversations. We need to be thinking evangelism through every part of our life. I’ll give you a practical way to get the spiritual into conversations which someone shared with me and I am starting to use it. While at a restaurant, let your waiter or waitress know you are about to pray and then ask if he/she has something for which you could pray. I tried it for the first time last week and the waiter’s girlfriend’s brother had just died. He wanted us to pray for her. Do you think that made an impact on him? I think it did.

In Acts 7-8, Stephen, a deacon (I believe) and evangelist, was stoned. The disciples mourned and buried him. In Acts 12, James, a leader among the apostles, was executed by Herod. The disciples mourned and buried him. However, in Acts 9:36-43, Tabitha (Dorcas), simply a sister in Christ, died and the disciples called Peter in and said, “You have to do something about this.” She held no office. She doesn’t appear to have been a leader. Evangelists, Deacons, Apostles died and they just got put in the ground. But when Tabitha died they had Peter bring her back.

Granted, I don’t really want to be brought back from the dead once I have stepped into paradise and the comfort of Abraham’s bosom. But I do want people to at least wish I was back. So, I learn a great deal from Tabitha about how I want to live to deepen my relationships with others and how to deepen my relationship with God.

1. Tabitha was full of good works and charity: She didn’t perform the occasional good work. She was full of them. One translation says she abounded in them. It was her way of life. We need to make good works and acts of charity, especially among our brethren, a way of life.
2. Tabitha sacrificed for others: Who do you think paid for the materials in those garments she made? Whose time do you think she took to make those garments? We need to remember two things. First, she was probably a lot poorer than most of us, but she still sacrificed her goods for others. Second, she had the same 24 hours in every day that we do. She used some of her 24 hours to serve. Do we?
3. Tabitha didn’t do everything, but she did what she could: There is no indication that Tabitha taught a ladies’ Bible class. There is no indication that she held any Bible studies. In fact, the only indication is that she made garments for people and did other works of charity. She didn’t do everything, but she did what she could. We don’t have to be paralyzed thinking we must do some little bit of everything. Rather, let’s just figure out what we can do well and do it to serve others.
4. Tabitha didn’t serve everyone, but she served who she could: Tabitha apparently worked for the widows. It doesn’t say any teenagers were in the room. It doesn’t say the preacher was in the room. It doesn’t say the young marrieds were in the room. The widows were there to show Peter all the good works she had performed for them. Too often we get the deer in the headlights look wondering how we will be able to do something for everyone. We need to stop that. At that point, we usually don’t do anything for anyone. We don’t have to serve everyone. We just need to serve someone. Serve the people you can today.
5. Tabitha didn’t wait for a church program, she just served: Back in Acts 6, the Jerusalem church established a congregational plan to help the widows. There is no indication that Tabitha was merely following some congregationally given assignment to help the widows. She just helped them. We must quit looking around and bad mouthing our leaders because our congregation isn’t doing something for someone. We just need to start serving.

Tabitha served who she could, when she could, doing what she could without being told. If we want to serve God. We need to do the same.

Keep the faith and keep reading

ELC