LEARNING FROM OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
I send greetings in the name of Jesus:
Just this last week I was in a Bible study that brought up the subject of the way today's Christian treats the study of God's word. I have found the fact being that we tend to not look to the past relationships we have had with God, and his reactions to our disobedience as men and women.
I happen to be looking at 1 Corinthians 9: & 10: this morning and my meditations and found that Paul was dealing with some of these issues. Paul started by dealing with himself, and the ways that he viewed his role as a follower of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27 Paul says: "do you know that in a race all runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize". Paul knew as does everyone else, that in order to prepare for any kind of competition one must train. The kind of training that Paul was speaking about is very different from the competition that we normally would have with other people. The basic goal that we always have in preparation for a race is to be first across the finish line, but in the case of this kind of competition, or race it' becomes more of an endurance preparation been a normal competition against someone else. That competition of endurance since our will to be in Christ against our natural human instinct which is corrupted by deceit, self-centeredness, and a basic drive to always be in control.
In John 15:7 Jesus said"if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you. This is to my father's glory that you bear much fruit showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my father's commands and remain in his. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master's business instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I have learned from my father I have made known to you." In 1 Corinthians 10: Paul begins to speak about this history that Israel has had with God. After he speaks to the Corinthians about an individual duty to prepare oneself for this race of endurance he then begins to remind them of what happened with Israel and their deliverance from slavery through Moses. Paul reminds them that they were led by God by a cloud that brought them safely through the Red Sea. They were given the spiritual food and drink through miraculous provisions God gave as they traveled through the desert, but most important is the fact that they forgot about God or any loyalty to God as soon as they felt safe. Today's pressures make it easy to ignore forget the lessons of the past. But Paul cautioned them to remember the lessons of the Israelites as they learned about God so that we today can avoid repeating their errors. The key to remembering is to study the Bible regularly so that these lessons remind us of how God wants us to live we do not need to repeat their mistakes.
Today's culture is filled with moral depravity and sin inducing pleasures. Paul gave the Corinthians some very strong encouragement about the subject temptation. There were three things in particular that he said that should be pointed out.; 1. Wrong desires and temptations happen to everyone, so don't feel like you've been singled out when gun corrects you. 2. Other people have resisted temptation, and so can you, but you have to have the right mindset. 3. Any temptation can be resisted because God will help you resisted; God helps you resist temptation by helping you to recognize those people and situations that give you trouble, by allowing you to run from anything you know is wrong, and by helping you to choose to do only what is right. We need to pray for God's help, and we need to seek friends who love God and can offer help when we are tempted. Believe me running from a temptation and attempting situation is your first step on the way to victory ( 2 Timothy 2:22).
We need to recognize some of what we are doing today that separates us in our relationship with God even when he remains faithful to us. Idol worship was the major expression of religion in Corinth. There were several pagan temples in the city, they were very popular. The statues of wood or stone were not evil in themselves, but people gave them credit for what only God could do, such as provide good weather, crops, and children. Today we still have a major problem with idolatry but it takes a different form. We don't put our trust in statues of wood or stone but in paper money plastic cards. Trusting anything for what God alone provides is idolatry are modern idols are those symbols of power, or pleasure, or prestige that we so highly regarded. When we understand contemporary parallels to idolatry we can also begin to see what it's going to take for us to personally train for a race of endurance like the one that Paul was dealing with. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
Just this last week I was in a Bible study that brought up the subject of the way today's Christian treats the study of God's word. I have found the fact being that we tend to not look to the past relationships we have had with God, and his reactions to our disobedience as men and women.
I happen to be looking at 1 Corinthians 9: & 10: this morning and my meditations and found that Paul was dealing with some of these issues. Paul started by dealing with himself, and the ways that he viewed his role as a follower of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27 Paul says: "do you know that in a race all runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize". Paul knew as does everyone else, that in order to prepare for any kind of competition one must train. The kind of training that Paul was speaking about is very different from the competition that we normally would have with other people. The basic goal that we always have in preparation for a race is to be first across the finish line, but in the case of this kind of competition, or race it' becomes more of an endurance preparation been a normal competition against someone else. That competition of endurance since our will to be in Christ against our natural human instinct which is corrupted by deceit, self-centeredness, and a basic drive to always be in control.
In John 15:7 Jesus said"if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you. This is to my father's glory that you bear much fruit showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my father's commands and remain in his. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master's business instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I have learned from my father I have made known to you." In 1 Corinthians 10: Paul begins to speak about this history that Israel has had with God. After he speaks to the Corinthians about an individual duty to prepare oneself for this race of endurance he then begins to remind them of what happened with Israel and their deliverance from slavery through Moses. Paul reminds them that they were led by God by a cloud that brought them safely through the Red Sea. They were given the spiritual food and drink through miraculous provisions God gave as they traveled through the desert, but most important is the fact that they forgot about God or any loyalty to God as soon as they felt safe. Today's pressures make it easy to ignore forget the lessons of the past. But Paul cautioned them to remember the lessons of the Israelites as they learned about God so that we today can avoid repeating their errors. The key to remembering is to study the Bible regularly so that these lessons remind us of how God wants us to live we do not need to repeat their mistakes.
Today's culture is filled with moral depravity and sin inducing pleasures. Paul gave the Corinthians some very strong encouragement about the subject temptation. There were three things in particular that he said that should be pointed out.; 1. Wrong desires and temptations happen to everyone, so don't feel like you've been singled out when gun corrects you. 2. Other people have resisted temptation, and so can you, but you have to have the right mindset. 3. Any temptation can be resisted because God will help you resisted; God helps you resist temptation by helping you to recognize those people and situations that give you trouble, by allowing you to run from anything you know is wrong, and by helping you to choose to do only what is right. We need to pray for God's help, and we need to seek friends who love God and can offer help when we are tempted. Believe me running from a temptation and attempting situation is your first step on the way to victory ( 2 Timothy 2:22).
We need to recognize some of what we are doing today that separates us in our relationship with God even when he remains faithful to us. Idol worship was the major expression of religion in Corinth. There were several pagan temples in the city, they were very popular. The statues of wood or stone were not evil in themselves, but people gave them credit for what only God could do, such as provide good weather, crops, and children. Today we still have a major problem with idolatry but it takes a different form. We don't put our trust in statues of wood or stone but in paper money plastic cards. Trusting anything for what God alone provides is idolatry are modern idols are those symbols of power, or pleasure, or prestige that we so highly regarded. When we understand contemporary parallels to idolatry we can also begin to see what it's going to take for us to personally train for a race of endurance like the one that Paul was dealing with. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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