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Tag: crucified

  • NO Divisions in our Church ?

    NO Divisions in our Church ?

    I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other.

    Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.

    1 Corinthians 1:10 New Living Translation

    ‘IMPOSSIBLE !’ you say. Impossible in Corinth.. and certainly impossible in our local Common Era Church.

    This is the challenge of the Apostle in his exhortation for the Corinthians who Paul has addressed so graciously in his introduction.

    1 Corinthians 1 – 4

    The Apostle’s approach, translated variously in 1 Corinthians 1:10 sets both the tone and outline of his epistle:

    • Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.. – KJV
    • Now I plead with you.. – NKJV
    • I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ.. – NLT
    • Now I urge you, brothers and sisters.. – CSB
    • Now I exhort you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you.. – 1 Cor 10a LSB

    παρακαλέω – parakaleō – Lexicon :: Strong’s G3870 – parakaleō

    to call near, i.e. invite, invoke (by imploration, hortation or consolation):—beseech, call for, (be of good) comfort, desire, (give) exhort(-ation), intreat, pray.

    How to sustain a CHURCH in the Gospel

    Paul loves these people of the Corinthian church to whom the apostle writes from Ephesus.

    He is beholden to this church he started across the Aegean in a city embracing every imaginable sin – Corinth, where many Greeks and some Jews received the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit through his witness.

    SO HOW IS PAUL TO APPROACH THESE CORINTHIANS SIMPLY BY SENDING A LETTER TO THEIR CHURCH?

    Corinth is a large administrative capital where important policies of ROME must be managed wisely every day.

    Even well-educated Roman Centurions and well-to-do families recognized the benefits of applying a Greek-style wisdom and logic to the goals of their everyday lives.

    The Jews and their religious traditions have an acceptable presence in Corinth as well.

    ANSWER:
    "The Wisdom of the Cross Purifies and Unites Believers, the Wisdom of the World Pollutes and Divides." 
    - Kress Biblical Resources Overview Outline of 
    1 Corinthians

    The Wisdom of the Cross

    TODAY we will examine Paul's initial approach ONLY from the beginning of 1 Corinthians.

    The Apostle will address more relationships of Christians and the CROSS later in his epistle, but Paul begins with the ROLES of certain people (ministers).

    The wisdom of the cross and Christian ministers

    Problem #1

    For I have been informed concerning you, my brothers, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.

    1 Corinthians 1:11 LSB

    Rumor?

    Hearsay?

    YOU heard THAT about OUR church?

    A.D. 55 – the Corinthian Church

    What is evident here is that the Apostle has been and is in communication with this church he started back in Corinth. His sources are both reliable and concerned for the right outcomes of their church ministry.

    Kress Biblical Resources provides a helpful outline of Paul's approach to this problem of CHURCH QUARRELS.

    The Apostles first states
    • the report of divisions over Christian ministers, THEN
    • rebukes their divisions over Christian ministers, and finally
    • Paul provides the remedy for divisions over Christian ministers 
    ἔρις quarrels

    BEWARE, Christian leader (minister), these divisions could divide and conquer a church once faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.

    ἔρις éris, er'-is; of uncertain affinity; a quarrel, i.e. (by implication) wrangling:—contention, debate, strife, variance.
    Note the gravity of some headings from 1 Corinthians:
    • Sectarianism Is Sin – NKJV
    • Divisions in the Church – ESV
    • Taking Sides – Contemporary English Version
    • A Church Divided Over Leaders – NIV
    A.D. 49 – Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians

    Paul, in writing to the Galatians six years ago back in A.D. 49 included the same Greek word, translated as ‘strife,’ in a list of what NOT to do.

    Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

    Paul’s Letter to the Galatians 5:19-21 LSB

    Whether is was the ‘foolish‘ Galatians, these Corinthians or YOUR CHURCH, quarreling and strife are serious challenges of the flesh which work against ministers of the Gospel.

    Paul contrasts OUR expected behavior to such foolish quarrels.

    Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

    Galatians 5:24 LSB

    1 Corinthians 1:10-

    Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 1:12 NKJV

    https://talkofjesus.com/apollos-and-paul-apostles-crossing-paths

    Note Paul’s list from divisions include Christ in addition to Peter and Apollos, the powerful preacher who had followed Paul in Corinth.

    The Apostle then asks:

    • Has Christ been divided?
    • Was Paul crucified for you?
    • Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

    ALL with the same implication for Peter or Apollos or whatever PREACHER they might follow in the place of CHRIST.

    Paul disavows any loyalty to any other than Christ, taking no side of any Corinthian (or any other) claimant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Paul’s summary of the Corinthian Report

    I thank God that I baptized none of you…

    Paul mentions a recalled exception [v.14] of Crispus, Gaius, and [v.16] also the household of Stephanas which mentions later in his epistle.

    For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom or words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

    gar christos apostellō me ou baptizō alla euangelizō ou en sophia logo ina mē ho stauros christos kenoō

    1 Corinthians 1:17  οὐ γὰρ ἀπέστειλέν με Χριστὸς βαπτίζειν ἀλλ᾽ εὐαγγελίζεσθαι οὐκ ἐν σοφίᾳ λόγου ἵνα μὴ κενωθῇ ὁ σταυρὸς τοῦ Χριστοῦ

    Again, the context of Corinth is Greek as an international language and philosophy of an authoritarian ROMAN EMPIRE which created the culture of the Corinthians and Judeans and everybody else.

    NEXT, God-willing, the Apostle’s rebuke of ministers

    Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel

  • What’s the DIFFERENCE between Christians & non-Christians?

    What’s the DIFFERENCE between Christians & non-Christians?

    So as not to reinvent the wheel or simply understate what others have taught previously, I share with you the Christian witness of a wonderful background history of context, culture, and some geography of Paul’s Letters to the Thessalonians as HOMEWORK for a Bible Study I will be teaching, God willing, next Sunday, 9:15 a.m. at Bender’s Mennonite Church.  Please pray also for me.

    The following is for benefit of ALL believers. Please SHARE YOUR COMMENTS.

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    What’s the DIFFERENCE between Christians & non-Christians?

    This is essentially the question by residents of every city and every town to first century Christians as they preached the Gospel.

    “What makes YOU different from US?

    How do you answer this question in your town for your 21st century non-Christian neighbors and unsaved relatives?

    Do you get it right?  Do you TELL them how DIFFERENT you are from them?  Do you suppose that this DIFFERENCE sounds like “Good News” to unbelievers?

    Many Letters of the New Testament make much mention of ‘Jews and Gentiles,’ from the language and cultures of the first century.  What we fail to realize of this distinction is an important one of Holiness that requires separation to God from the evil and sin of the world.

    • The Jew was separated to the Holiness of God.
    • The Gentile was not yet adopted for separation to the Holiness of God. Gentile is a term meaning Nations or Ethic Peoples other than Jews.
    • The Gospel, consistent throughout ALL Letters to the first century church, is Good News:

    “The Perfect Sacrifice of Christ Jesus on the Cross is for ALL Peoples – Jew and Gentile.

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    So in a nutshell, what was the first century Christian answer?  Essentially:

    There is NO difference between me (a follower of Christ Jesus) and you (an unbeliever).

    You may read of it in great detail in Paul’s Letter to the Romans; or you may read succinct summary in Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians; OR you may study your Old Testament and the History of the first century Church as detailed by Luke in The Acts of the Apostles.

    With some homework and study of the background leading up to the Letters to the Churches, God will reveal much more than the former and current relevance of all Scripture, including the Good News of these New Testament Letters.

    The familiar New Testament story of witness is that a Jew from Judea, with Jerusalem as home of their God, travels to a town.

    Take for example, Thessaloniki, Macedonia on the Aegean Sea, with local gentiles (Greeks) of their own traditions and culture.  Thessalonians (as they are called) are ruled by the same empire (country) Rome, on the Tyrrhenian Sea, on the Italia peninsula across the Adriatic Sea from Macedonia, with power over all the lands of the Mediterranean.

    (The embedded PowerPoint Slideshow by Cooper Church of Christ in Cooper, Texas, US is our homework.)

    Thessalonica of Macedonia

    For 21st century readers of Thessalonians: Consider the hostile environment of the Roman Empire as compared to our current environment in all the world, hostile to Jesus Christ.

    • Jews who had dispersed into the Nations (Gentiles) tended to act as if they were morally better than their native hosts.
    • ALL Gentiles had in common a civil authority and local culture inclined toward godlessness, unless some rule of god could help maintain the political power of local, state, national, and international rule.

    (Of course, 21st century governments are so much different in their attitudes toward religion and God.  Right?)

    These first century Christians acted different from other “religious” people.

    HOW ARE CHRISTIANS DIFFERENT?

    WHY would a non-believer WANT to accept our GOOD NEWS?

    Learn a lesson from the first century evangelists.

    We are ALL the same WITHOUT Christ.  Yet ALL believers of every NATION are equal in CHRIST OUR LORD.