Divisions Galore

This is the second lesson in a series on 1 Corinthians. Please read all about it in the Introduction. I’ve broken the post into 5 sections with journal prompts at the end of each part. These would be great daily stopping points. I’ve also linked the Scripture references to biblegateway.com; click the blue font references. I’d love to hear what you’re learning!

Week 2: Divisions Galore (1 Corinthians 1:10-2:16)

I’ve been a pastor’s wife for almost 20 years. In Big Church I always sit at the front, except for one big exception. Business meetings. After sitting through some fairly interesting business meetings I like to be able to see what’s happening. I now sit kinda back and side-ish. I remember watching warily from the side-back once as my nervous husband was presenting a first look at a building renovation. As he warmed up to the subject he got to a part that he knew would be popular, the design for a newly enlarged women’s restroom. With much gusto he proclaimed the arrival of the “LARGER ladies restroom” {emphasis totally his}. He didn’t realize his mistake until nervous laughter began to trickle through the room. As he tried to correct himself that the bathroom would be larger not the ladies, the laughter turned into guffaws. It actually released some of the tension because everyone there knew that church business meetings can get ugly and fast.

In Ephesus, Paul is hearing reports of some ugly business meetings back in Corinth.

He is about to get all up in our mess.

This week we will look at one of the major problems facing the Corinthian church (which just happens to be familiar to us)….and see God’s strange remedy.

The Problem

Read 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

So, what’s the problem? Why are these sweet folks we read about in Acts 18 having such a hard time getting along? They are God’s people and had a great start. What’s up with the fighting? In verse 10 we see that they are divided. In verse 11 they are quarrelling.  Division in verse 10 means “to split, tear, a schism, division in mind, sentiment, and so into factions.” (Zodhiates, 959).”  What had been created whole and beautiful has become torn and fractured. As was the pattern of their culture they have split into different groups based on loyalty to their leaders along imagined party lines. They aren’t having problems with false teaching or heresy so much, they are playing preacher favorites. In verses 12-13 we read that some follow Paul, some follow Apollos (a young persuasive believer), some follow Cephas (our Peter), and some just stick their noses right up in the air and claim to follow Christ. Now it isn’t a bad thing to claim we follow Christ. In fact in the next few chapters that is EXACTLY what we will be taught to do. In this instance the Christ Camp is likely over-spiritualizing and seeking to stay above it all while in reality maintaining the brokenness in their body. Ouch.

Read verse 10 again. “I appeal to you, BROTHERS.” My footnote says, “or brothers and sisters. The plural Greek word adelphoi translated “brothers” refers to siblings in a family. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, adelphoi may refer to men or to both men and women who are siblings (brothers and sisters) in God’s family, the church.” (ESV Study Bible, 2192).

I learned that “29% of the uses of adelphoi (brothers and sisters) in the Pauline corpus occur in 1 Corinthians…39 times.” (Garland, 41). If ever a group of believers needed this reminder it was the Corinthians. If ever a group of believers needed this reminder it is us. We are family. It’s not ok to tear each other up.

This just struck a nerve because so many believers are content to be critical and grudge-holders at church while fighting hard to hold their flesh and blood families together at home. We are going to learn some great balancers in 1 Corinthians, but we have to do everything we can to make peace at church, in church, with other believers. Jesus lovers aren’t content to settle for broken spiritual families.

Journal Prompt: Write the definitions for division and adelphoi in your own words. Ask God where you need to be a better spiritual sibling and write it out. Read Romans 12:17-19. How does this passage speak to what God has shown you today?

The Fix

Once we were on a road trip when my two oldest were little littles. They were fussing and fighting and being a pain. After many patient instructions for them to stop and straighten up, my husband had enough. Finally he said, “OK! Who wants a spanking!?!?” It got very quiet and then our daughter pipes up sweetly and says, “Zachary does!” Of course we started laughing (except not Zachary) and they both were saved from a spanking by her hilarity. In real life church it’s not so funny though. We point fingers and let grudges grow and cast blame and build alliances and hurt one another.

Back to 1:10, we are told not to be broken up by divisions, but to be united in mind (ability to think) and judgment (discernment, active will). I typically just think of unity as a lack of tension and fighting. It is so much more than that. One commentator described it as being “refurbished” (Garland, 43). To be united means “fit, complete. The fundamental meaning is to put a thing in its appropriate position, to establish, set up, equip, arrange…to reunite in mind and sentiment, to reconcile, as opposed to having schisms, ruptures…rejoin a disjointed limb.” (Zodhiates, 926).

Considering the original meanings of division and unity convinces us that we can’t be restored into the proper position of unity if we are self-seeking, self-serving, and self-led.

Young sisters, listen and learn this now. Church can be so disappointing, I know. You’re growing into your very own beautiful transforming faith and cannot seem to reconcile it with the problems you see in church. But in the great vision of your lifetime and God’s heart and affection you must love church. Choose to submit to godly yet imperfect human authority, to serve with great humility where you are, to see even those individuals who bring you the most disillusionment as siblings, to always be about healing and reconciliation and rejoining brokenness. You WILL get to see heavenly glimpses of God’s great attachment to the Church.

Here’s an example of how we serve and love at church even while being called to different areas of service (oh how much we will learn about this in the future weeks in 1 Corinthians). When I first moved to the church where I currently serve I got busy in women’s ministry. My very best most encouraging friend who had helped me settle into a new town, church, and home came on board with me. I assumed we would both love women’s ministry. She really tried, for my sake. Finally in tears she came to me and affirmed that I was exactly where I needed to be serving, but that she wasn’t. Her gifts and calling were to serve the children in our church, not the women. Trying for my sake was wearing her out and taking her away from the places where she needed to be. Her uncritical and encouraging attitude built the church even though she was stepping away from a position.

Journal Prompt: How does the definition for unity surprise you? How does unity connect to (how is it the solution to) the definition for division? How does the story I told about my friend illustrate the unity Paul describes in 1:10?

Upside-Down Calling

Read 1 Corinthians 1:20-31

Now we are going to transition into some verses about wisdom and foolishness. They don’t seem to fit with the “We are family, so everyone get along” theme that we’ve been seeing. God’s answer is different than we might expect. It’s not a To-Do List for conflict resolution. He tells us to consider our calling and to recognize the difference in the world’s wisdom and God’s wisdom. We have been instructed to be united and whole in our church family. For us the question is How? When you’ve been hurt or misunderstood or passed over, or marginalized in your church family, how do you contribute to healing? For God the question is not How, but Who? Who will we follow through the struggle?

The concept of calling can be confusing. I get questions about this all the time. In verse 26 Paul says to consider your calling. It just does not make sense. Back up a bit and read 1 Corinthians 1:17-18 to see that the foundation of our calling is to the cross. The cross was shameful and backward. Read 1 Corinthians 1:22-23.

“Paul did not sweep the crucifixion under the carpet as an unfortunate episode remedied by the glories of the resurrection.” (Garland, 61)

In modern Christianity we have romanticized the cross, making it a comforting line in hymns and a charm we wear around our necks or use to decorate our homes. To a first century Corinthian a cross hanging on our living room wall might’ve been as appropriate as a crime scene photograph would be to us. When I try to make a modern connection all I can think of is abduction, rape, human trafficking, the things that we consider our worst nightmares. That was crucifixion in the first century. The fear would’ve kept mothers of rebellious sons awake at night.

Shocking? Yes. Upside Down? Absolutely. The cross was a stumbling block to both Jews and Greeks (22). “…a crucified Messiah was offensive to an unbelieving Jew and nonsensical to an unbelieving Greek.” ESV Study Bible, 2193). “A well-known graffito in Rome depicts a worshipper standing before a crucified figure with the body of a man and the head of an ass and the inscription ‘Alexamenos worships his god’. That was the way the world-wise regarded the message of the cross.” (Morris, 43)

It was humiliating and completely backward for anyone to believe that good, or especially salvation could come from such a painful, torturous, humiliating experience. Upside Down.

And yet.

The cross is the foundation of our calling. Stay hopeful, it is no more the END of our experience than it was the end of Jesus’, but it is the start. These verses come from other parts of Paul’s teaching about suffering like Jesus; Philippians 3:10, Romans 6:3-5, 2 Corinthians 1:5.

This picture was taken on my phone in February when we were in Jerusalem.
This is one of the tiles from the floor where Jesus was likely beaten and tried before He was led away to the cross.

Could it be that we never find our true calling or the power to forgive and be restoration in our church body because we aren’t willing to take the first step into an Upside Down Calling? We aren’t willing to share in Jesus’ suffering and swallow some pride, serve with humility and sometimes humiliation, accept some pain as useful? Could it be we need to just get over ourselves at church? Could it be we can’t reach to grasp Jesus’ hand in the midst of such struggles even though He is there and He is walking with us in such foolishness to finally and fervently find God’s Wisdom?

Journal Prompt: What does it mean to you to be called to the cross? How does this connect to the contrast in wisdom taught in these verses?

Upside Down Wisdom

Before we move on I’d like to take a quick journey to visit someone who perfectly illustrates Upside Down Wisdom. On Wednesday mornings my Bible Study ladies are doing Priscilla Shirer’s Gideon Study {it’s amazing, do it}. Gideon’s life shows us the why behind God’s Wisdom. Read Judges 7:1-7. God calls an unlikely man to lead a very unlikely group of men to defeat a very strong army. They start with 32,000 against 135,000. They are already underdogs (world’s wisdom). In Judges 7:2 God says, “the people with you are too many” and reduces the amount of Israel’s army to 10,000 (God’s wisdom). Then in verse 4 God says, “the people are still too many” and reduces the army again to 300 (God’s wisdom). None of this makes a lick of sense. Who on earth would agree that 300 soldiers are better than 32,000, especially when you are fighting against 135,000? Upside down. God’s wisdom. Why such foolishness? Read Judges 7:2, “lest Israel boast over me, saying ‘My own hand has saved me.’” Now, back to 1 Corinthians, read 1:29 and 31. See it? Independence. Boasting. Foolish.

Priscilla Shirer says, “He doesn’t call us to do the hard stuff – He calls us to do the impossible.” He chooses this so that there is not even one single shred of self-boasting in our miraculous lives.

Journal Prompt: Review Gideon’s story carefully. Why do you think that God reduced the numbers in Israel’s army. Read Judges 7:7 and write out God’s promise. How does this apply to your life today?

Mind of Christ

Read 1 Corinthians 2

Paul’s spends the first five verses describing his version of the upside down life. And then describes the only way we can do the Impossible Foolish that becomes the Beautiful Accomplished in God’s Upside Down version of wisdom.

Through His Spirit (10)

These verses in chapter 2 are treasures. Please go back and see them, read them over and over in different translations, meditate and let them soak in. Give the Holy Spirit the attention He deserves.

In verse 11 when Paul says, “who knows a person’s thoughts except that person?” and then “No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God,” he is giving us a hidden treasure. Have you ever been in a “fake it ‘til you make it” situation and were just so very thankful that no one could see the crazy going on in your head? On the other hand have you ever tried to communicate with someone you care about and wished they could just see the compassionate intention that was in your mind and heart? Both happen to me. The point is, only I know what I’m really thinking. My mind gets it; my mouth just can’t translate sometimes! {By the way, this is how I feel about every single word I write!}. You want to know what God is thinking? It’s possible. Every single second you spend listening to and obeying His Words and leaning under the Holy Spirit are helping you know what God’s thinking. We have the Mind of Christ.

I love how this commentary says it, “Many believers were insecure without the physical presence of Jesus among them; they need assurance that the Holy Spirit would be their helper. He was the key to unlocking God’s wisdom.  Only God can know and reveal God. The Holy Spirit knows the wisdom of God because He is God.” (Patterson, Kelley, 420)

Remember the calling that we studied in 1:26? The call is “the divine invitation to participate in the blessing of redemption. It can be a vocation or a destination.” (Zodhiates, 925). How do we escape division and appeal to unity? How do we live by God’s wisdom instead of our own? Follow our calling. And our calling is to live out redemption; which is slavery, brokenness, uselessness, vanity…all restored. The cost was the cross and so we always start there where God convinces the slaves, the broken, the useless, and the vain that there is more to real life but it means becoming a fool in the eyes of others who don’t understand Him. When those others look at our upside down lives some see foolishness, but some see a curious opening where the Spirit can move in with transforming persuasion that turns their lives Upside Down. Until then our lifestyle and choices make zero sense, so why get defensive when we are misunderstood? We can walk and live all around them with kindness and Spirit–led wholeness.

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18

“It’s a poor thing to come to him as a last resort, to offer up our own when it is no longer worth keeping. If God were proud, he would hardly have us on such terms. But he is not proud. He stoops to conquer. He would have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to him, and come to him because there is nothing better now to be had.” – CS Lewis (Prior, 44)

Perhaps our life’s ambition should be to illustrate that God stoops to conquer. He is the treasure; may it be seen in our love for the church, our attachment to the cross, and our whole abandonment to God’s wisdom above all others’.

Journal Prompt: What does it mean to you personally when you read “we have the mind of Christ?” -1 Corinthians 2:16 Where are some places where you’ve relied on human wisdom instead God’s wisdom?

Week 2 Things We Can Learn:

• We must learn to love and bring healing to church; we are family. (1:10)
• Our calling to redemption makes zero sense to others, so why get defensive when we are misunderstood? (1:18)
• We can walk with great confidence into the impossible as we follow the Holy Spirit’s foolish wisdom. (2:16)

Welcome to Corinth

This is the first lesson in a series on 1 Corinthians. Please read all about it in the Introduction. I’ve broken the post into sections with journal prompts at the end of each part. These would be great daily stopping points. I’ve also linked the Scripture references to biblegateway.com; click the blue font references. These links will help you build a fascinating background for 1 Corinthians this week. 

So grab a spiral notebook to do some journaling and join me……

Week 1: Welcome to Corinth and Meet Paul (1 Corinthians 1:1-9)

Back in the old days we got paper letters that came in the mailbox. Sometimes the paper letters were addressed by hand. If my name was written on the envelope, the first thing I would do is check the return address to see who had sent it. 

And THAT is what we are going to do in our study. Before we even sneak a peek at the letter of 1 Corinthians we are going to examine the envelope. First the return address, the Apostle Paul. 

Who was he?

Paul, the preacher formerly known as Saul.

You can read all about Paul’s salvation experience in Acts 9 (33-34 AD). God’s calling on his life is made clear in Acts 9:15. One of my favorite places to read Paul’s story is in his own words in Acts 22:3-21. In a nutshell, Paul was born a Benjamite Jew (5-10 AD), trained as a Pharisee by Gamaliel (15-20 AD). He was also a Roman citizen. As a devout first century Jew he held the coats of the executioners at the first Christian martyr’s death (31-34 AD, Acts 7:58). He then persecuted Christians in Jerusalem and beyond. During one of these trips from Jerusalem to Damascus he met Jesus (33-34 AD) and from there began a radical lifestyle of church planting, ministry, and writing for the next 30 years (36-67 AD). Finally he gave his life for the gospel as a martyr in Rome (64-67 AD). He never married or had a family apart from other believers. He summarizes his life in Philippians 3:4-10 stating his desire to know Christ and be found in Him, everything else is trash in comparison.

Journal Prompt: As you studied Saul/Paul, what did you learn brand new that surprised you? What did you learn that applies to your life today?

A few years ago I studied the life of Paul and learned something that God used to challenge and change me profoundly. You’ve heard the statements about failure….it’s the only way we learn, better to try and fail than never try…..you know - those statements. But the truth is that I’m not a fan of failure. My life and parenting had become firmly cinched in the “make good choices” philosophy, which really is just a positive spin of “don’t fail.” Paul’s life, before I even started chapter 1, brought my firmly held conviction into stark contrast to the gospel. Did you read Paul’s story? Don’t miss the fact that he was successful in his pre-Jesus life. Since we are big fans of Christians and Christianity we vilify Paul when he was Saul dragging Christians out of their homes and holding coats at their executions. We appreciate his dramatic bright conversion, but we see it as a bad guy turned good. In his culture he was a successful guy turned crazy. Paul was ambitious and successful and moving up the religious ladder quickly. He had the best pedigree, the best education, the best ambition for success. He gave up everything to follow Jesus and never looked back. In Acts 9:21 Paul is preaching in Damascus mere days after his weirdly radical salvation experience. Those hearing him are confused saying, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name {Jesus}?” In the Amplified version made havoc is translated as harassed, overthrew, destroyed. Yeah, we don’t like that guy. Once Paul became a believer of Jesus the truth of his successful choices in his former life must’ve nearly crushed him. He had destroyed those who called on Jesus’ name. The first words Paul ever hears Jesus say are, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Acts 9:4. Jesus takes the persecution of His people personally. He doesn’t always rescue the way we hoped, but He rescues the way He knows He must and says that when a believer is persecuted, so is He. Imagine the grief as that realization washes over Paul. He failed, blindly and wildly failed. Have you ever tried your very, VERY best, convinced of the rightness of your efforts only to look back and see that you were wrong? Big time wrong, and there’s nothing you can do about it? Me either.

This gap has the potential to crush us.

This gap is also the place of hope where we are finally rescued from success and failure.

And that’s the thing about Jesus’ way, about God’s Kingdom. It’s never success and failure. It’s recognizing that at the end of ALL our efforts there is only Him. He steps into that gap where by faith alone we walk away from our failure and our success. He reaches out and brings us into something miraculous that builds His Kingdom. Have you taken that step? Saul did it as a blind man in Damascus.

My journal, Spring 2010

Saul = he who destroyed those who called on Jesus’ name (Acts 9:21)

BECAME

Paul = the chosen instrument to carry Jesus’ name to Gentiles, kings, Jews (Acts 9:15)

This is what I wrote in my journal as I learned this new framework for viewing success and failure….

“He makes all things new. He redeems the ways I’ve destroyed His name with my bad choices so that I can become a chosen instrument to carry His name.”

Journal Prompt: How have you been more focused on success and failure than stepping out by faith to meet Jesus? How would you write the “Saul became Paul” formula above with your own name describing your own life?

Welcome to Corinth

Now back to that envelope. This letter was written to the church in Corinth. Located in a perfect location; first century Corinth was a large port city connecting the Southern Greek peninsula to the mainland of Greece. It was a wealthy city steeped in pagan idolatry and philosophy, a melting pot where many cultures and religions mingled. Originally it had been a Greek city. It was destroyed in 146 BC by Romans and then rebuilt 100 years later as a Roman colony.

photo messiah-study.net

photo cwr.org

Apollo's Temple (#12 in photo above)
photo pbworks.com

In Acts 18:1-17 you can read about the birth of the Corinthian church. For those of us that love church it’s a precious story. It’s here in Corinth that Paul met Aquila and Priscilla, also Jewish tent-makers. What a comfort their friendship must’ve been to Paul. They spent 18 months together sharing Jesus and building the church (49-51 AD). After that Paul moved on to a 3-year ministry in Ephesus. While there he started getting reports about problems in the church in Corinth. It was a large church having a hard time with arrogant division, sexual immorality, social snobbery, and plenty of confusion about worship, marriage, and resurrection. They were losing focus, trying to be successful in the Kingdom and in the culture.

Journal Prompt: What similarities (from their start to their trouble) between the Corinthian church in Paul’s day and your church can you identify? Write a prayer asking God for a renewed love for your church and humility to be a part of renewed vision, encouragement, and God-led change in your personal place of service.

And so Paul writes…..

Hi there Corinthians.

Read 1 Corinthians 1:1-3

It’s no accident that the first image God uses to describe His people in Corinth is “sanctified in Christ Jesus.” He then says they are “called to be saints together….” Sanctified and saints both come from the same word meaning to be holy, set apart; to “withdraw from fellowship with the world by first gaining fellowship with God.” (Zodhiates, 878). Does it seem strange to you that this book would open with a reminder about holiness? Why not a good encouraging pep talk from their fearless leader? Why such a weighty theological concept? Paul obviously has not read any blogs stating that the word sanctified is too churchy to be user-friendly. “Cleaned up by Jesus and set apart for a God-filled life” is the way The Message defines sanctification. Inside-Out Holiness is what I call it. Please don’t miss an important part of the definition of sanctified, go back up and read it again. It’s not enough to withdraw from fellowship with the world (that’s second). What must we do first? Do you see it? Gain fellowship with God (that’s first). Inside-Out Holiness keeps these in order, settled under and surrounded by the grace of God.

I just clicked on msn.com and saw these headlines; popular sofas are falling apart, Ariel Castro commits suicide, pics of Jessica Biel’s wedding dress, woman in apartment has 130 cats, Russell Brand is kicked out of a party for telling Hitler jokes, tension in Syria. Did you feel the jarring nature going from discussion about sanctification to a mix of horrible and vain news? It’s easily our reaction to withdraw, click exit and quick. Withdrawing from the world is pointless without first gaining fellowship with God. How often do we forfeit our sanctified influence in a God-less culture because we withdraw without God-full direction? Our 1^st century Corinthian brothers and sisters were missing this point. If we make the following chapters and verses of instruction in 1 Corinthians a To-Do list then we are missing the point too. Read every single word of 1 Corinthians with Inside-Out holiness in mind.

Several years ago some close friends were facing a scary surgery. When I walked into the hospital room my friend nearly ran to me, embraced me, and whispered in my ear, “I had really hoped you would come.” We need each other. We need family and friendship to help us face real life scary stuff. God encourages these believers that they are in this life together, “with all those who in every place call upon the name of…Jesus.” So the first thing the Corinthians would hear is not “Do your best to BE holy” but “YOU ARE holy together.” Those two statements are very different, aren't they? Listen, we gotta get this sanctification together concept to understand the book of 1 Corinthians. That’s all I have to say about it, but stick with it for a little while until it soaks in really, really, really good.

Then the rest of the greeting: Paul wishes them Grace and Peace. One commentary described it as “a wish-prayer expressing Paul’s deep theological conviction about what God had accomplished in Christ; grace is the source of Christian life and peace is its consummation.” (Garland, 30)

Take a few minutes to read what these two words mean from a former blog post. These are two of my favs. Grace. Peace. They are the perfect blending of who we are and who He is.

Journal Prompt: Write the definition of sanctified in your own words. Then answer the question “How often do we forfeit our sanctified influence in a God-less culture because we withdraw without God-full direction?” using your definition.

So Thankful

Read 1 Corinthians 1:4-9

God knows the licks are coming. He knows that a big chunk of this letter is going to be corrective. He starts first with the issue of identity (1:2-3-sanctification together) that we've already discussed. These believers already belong to God and need the reminder of who they are and where they belong. After that is addressed, he makes a Thankful List in these verses. It includes grace given, the gifts of speech and knowledge the Corinthian believers have been given, guiltlessness sustained through Jesus, and God’s faithfulness.

The study notes in my ESV Study Bible say this:

“There is no condemnation on the final day for those who like the Corinthians, are in Christ Jesus. They already have been justified and, in a sense, even sanctified, so no one will be able to bring a charge against them at the judgment. The Corinthians have a long way to go before their behavior matches their status before God. But Paul is confident that God, who is faithful will make them what they should be.” – ESV Notes, 1:8-9

Journal Prompt: How far is the gap between your behavior and your status before God? Make a “Thankful List” using Paul’s in verses 1:4-9 as an example. Close with a prayer asking God for renewed confidence to trust His faithfulness to "make you what you should be."

And so we open the letter and we read “Dear Corinthians…..”

Although we don’t get much further, we can still learn some beautiful things.

Things We Can Learn:

• God redeems what we destroy.
• Redemption is ONLY possible through Inside-Out Holiness, which is our true identity.
• We can follow God through the refining process that matches our behavior with our God-given status.