Today, we turn to the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth. Corinth was Paul’s “problem child.” The city of Corinth was as pagan as any city could be. Idol worship and sexual immorality ran rampant in Corinth. As we will see through both 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Paul often responded to questions and problems among the people, and with the people of the church challenging his authority. How difficult it must have been for Paul when someone from Corinth came with a letter filled with questions and challenges to which he had to respond. That’s what each of these letters are: responses to questions from a church Paul had planted but had then left to move on to plant other churches. Remember, in Paul’s day information had to be transmitted from person to person. While both the Corinthian Church and Paul could write letters to each other, they couldn’t “drop them in the mail,” and expect them to be received in a few days. Someone had to hand deliver the letters. With Paul traveling all over the known world, and without any means of updating where he was, the process of sending letters back and forth was difficult at best. In fact, most biblical scholars believe Paul probably received and wrote an additional letter between his writing of 1st Corinthians and 2ndCorinthians, but it didn’t survive to be included in the Bible. As we turn to 1st Corinthians, let’s thank God for the amazing process that was undertaken to ensure it was included for us!
1 Corinthians 1 includes a brief greeting, which includes Paul’s gratitude for the church, but the greeting is shorter than in many of his letters. He gets to the point fairly quickly: He has heard about divisions in the church. Some are claiming to follow Paul, others Apollos, others Christ. Paul points out he didn’t save them. It was Jesus Christ. No one can be part of any “party” in the church except the Jesus party! Paul goes on to remind them his message was that of Jesus and Him crucified. He reminds them they weren’t all that impressive as a group of people, when Jesus called them to Himself. Paul exhorted them to follow Jesus and Him alone.
In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul reminds the believers there when he came among them, he didn’t teach or preach with convincing words, but with the Spirit’s power. In other words, Paul’s message about Jesus was backed up with signs and wonders. This has often been the case when new ground was (or is) being broken for the Lord. Signs and wonders accompany the message, because Jesus is the power of God, and in His name mighty signs and wonders can be done. Paul wanted the Corinthian believers to understand the mysteries of God had been revealed in Jesus Christ through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. This is the heart of our lives as Jesus’ followers: We must live in obedience to Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. Anything less than that is merely religion.
In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul addresses the matter of divisions in the church once again. He reminds his readers that when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another “I follow Apollos,” they are already severely off track. After all Paul and Apollos were simply instruments used by Jesus. Paul, “planted,” and Apollos “watered,” but it was God who gave the growth. We must always remember that. We may be in the debt of the person who first told us about Jesus. We may have been influenced greatly by a pastor or teacher along the way, but it is Jesus Himself who gives us growth.
In verses 10-15, Paul offers us an important reminder about the purpose of our lives after we are saved. He tells us Jesus is the “foundation,” of our lives. Using the image of our lives as a “house,” he tells us once the foundation is laid, we build on it using gold, silver, and precious stones, or we use wood, hay, and straw. The former are solid building blocks that will survive the test of time and fire, but the latter are not. The gold, silver, and precious stones are faithful, righteous works done in the name of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit. The wood, hay, and straw are sins, actions that won’t stand the tests of time and fire. When we face Jesus, the judgment will come, the fire will be applied. The good news is even if we built our houses with nothing but wood, hay, and straw, which will be burned away, we will be saved–as ones escaping through the fire, but our “house” will be gone. On the other hand, if we live according to Jesus’ plan and purpose, if we live faithfully and righteously in the power of the Holy Spirit, then we will not only survive the flame, but we will receive a reward. This passage helps us to see it isn’t about our efforts when it comes to salvation, but our efforts do matter, because they bring us a reward or reduce our reward. My thought has always been, “When I stand in front of Jesus, I don’t want to have to apologize, or blush, or be ashamed. I want to show Him love, honor and praise through what I have done.”
Paul closes the chapter by reminding us we don’t belong to Paul, or Apollos, but to Christ and to God. That reminder helps us to keep our focus clear and lives headed in the right direction.
As we return to Matthew 16, the religious leaders demand a sign. How strange given Jesus has just fed 4,000 men along with women and children with a few loaves of bread and fish and healed multiple people. In any case, Jesus tells them they won’t be given a sign. As Jesus and His disciples travel, Jesus tells them to beware of the “leaven,” of the Pharisees. This was a metaphor, but the disciples missed it. They thought Jesus was reprimanding them for forgetting to bring bread. Jesus reminded them how small a challenge that would be, given He had already fed thousands of people with a few loaves of bread and fish. They finally realized Jesus was talking about the Pharisees’ teaching.
After this, Jesus asked the disciples who the crowds said He was, and who they said He was. Jesus was wanting them to consider His identity, because He was moving toward His crucifixion and they needed to understand what was ahead. God gave Peter the correct answer: Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God. Jesus affirmed Peter and told Him it would be upon this truth that Jesus would build His Church. Shortly after that, Jesus told the disciples He was going to be crucified. Peter rebuked Jesus for saying this. Then Jesus rebuked Peter in the strongest possible terms calling him “Satan,” for having a worldly attitude instead of a godly one.
Jesus then turned to the crowds and reminded them if anyone wanted to follow Him, they would need to deny themselves “take up their crosses” and follow Him. Jesus reminded them, and us, if we lose our lives for His sake and the sake of the Kingdom, we will find them, but if we keep them, we will lose them. This is 180º the opposite of the world’s way of thinking, and that’s precisely the point: Following Jesus will bring us in opposition with the world but will gain us eternal life.