2017-11-24
Good Morning Dear Ones,
I am charged with the responsibility to write about take-home truths found in 1 COR 1: 7-2: 16. 1 COR 1: 6-9 The message about Christ has been firmly established, and believers have not missed a single blessing, as you wait for our Lord to be revealed. Christ promised to keep the faith He gave us firm in us until the Day of Christ comes, and He can present us as faultless to the Father. It has been God’s will from the beginning that we should have fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ. Giving us faith in Jesus Christ is designed to make God’s will come true. Certainly, it is in our best eternal interests.
1 COR 1: 10, “By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, I appeal to all of you, my friends, to agree in what you say, so that there will be no divisions among you. He completely united with only one through and one purpose.” I was once told, when two or more people are involved in something, there will be disagreements. This is human nature. As the beginning and spread of Christianity happened, our sinful and disagreeing nature made themselves known. That is why there are so many Jewish and Christian denominations in existence. These divisions and squabbles don’t please God at all. He meant for us all to agree with the teaching God gave us in the Scriptures. Paul made it clear, in 1 COR 1: 17, that his task was not baptizing people, but to share the Good News with them accurately and with the love of Christ. This meant that Paul was to not use complicated words based on human wisdom, to make sure that Christ’s death on the cross should not be robbed of its power.
Paul wanted us to understand that people who don’t believe in Christ or have the Holy Spirit in their lives won’t understand the power of the cross or any other spiritual teaching of the Scriptures. For those of us who do believe, the cross is God’s power. The prophecy of IS 29: 14, which tells us the wisdom of wise will be destroyed, comes true (18, 20b). Human wisdom (philosophies) won’t bring salvation; nor will witnesses or miracles demanded by traditional Jews, or philosophies devised by Greeks. Only proclamation of faith in Jesus Christ and genuine confession of one’s sins will bring salvation (23).
Negating the wise and what the world considers weak is used by Christ to shame the powerful (27). One example is 2 COR 12: 7-9, in which Paul complains of pain the Lord allowed in his life and expresses his seeing this as, “His grace is sufficient; when I am weak, He is strong.” Paul is thus proud of his weaknesses. This passage is particularly a treasure to me, as it gives me God’s perspective on my own constant nerve pain. We have become God’s people, holy and put right with God by our union with Jesus Christ (30). We don’t have to strive too hard to understand our need to boast about what the Lord has done and not our own accomplishments (31). That understanding is yet another gift to us of the Holy Spirit.
1 COR 2: 5 makes it crystal clear that our faith rests on God’s power and not on human wisdom. We learn God’s long-kept secrets from the moment we come to genuine faith in Jesus Christ, we gain God’s power through the Holy Spirit, something that God planned for us to have since before the world was created. This access to God’s wisdom through Christ in us enables us to share in His glory for eternity [(7-8, 10); COL 3: 3-4]. Just as we know all about our own spirits, The Holy Spirit knows all about God (11). The Spirit in us is the Holy Spirit, and He is stronger than the spirit of the world [(12); 1 JN 4: 4]. Whoever has the Holy Spirit can judge the value of all things, but no one is able to judge him. We have the mind of Christ [(15-16); IS 40: 13].
PRAYER: O Lord, what a great gift our faith in Jesus Christ is! No one has the power to have given that to us, but You. In addition, we have Christ in us and complete access to Your wisdom through the Holy Spirit. We are recipients of such powerful gifts because of Your unmatched and unparalleled, unconditional love for us. We never need to feel alone and abandoned again in our earthly lives, although many of us had these feelings before we came to faith in Christ [PS 9: 9-10]. Long ago, Moses was inspired by You to write about the time when Abraham was commanded to offer his son, Isaac, on an altar in GN 22: 1-19. Abraham was so obedient, that he went through the preparation to do this. But You interrupted him and told him to stop before the act was completed. Instead, You supplied him with a substitute offering of a ram that was stuck in a nearby tree. Not only did you do that for them, but You never held back Your only Son as a sin-sacrifice for us! You are our Jehovah Jireh, Our God Who Provides and our Jehovah Nissi, our God Who Carries our Banner. You are our Defender and our Jehovah Raphah, our God Who Heals Us. There are many names for You, names which reflect Your attributes and Your deeds. Always be our Immanuel, God Who is With Us as our constant Companion and Guide. You are El HaKodesh, the Holy One we love and praise; in Christ’s holy/mighty name we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m commanded to write some take-home truths from AC 17: 16-34. The Hebrew name for God is My Protector is Eloheim Shomri. This is important to anyone like me, who believes in Jesus Christ. What it means is that Christ’s Atonement on the cross has protected all believers in His Son, Jesus, from spiritual death. Yes, this is huge for us, because it means that our sins are forgiven eternally [1 JN 1: 9], we are saved [JN 3: 16], and we are justified [RO 4: 3]. Such blessings were never available until our Lord’s sacrifice. Spiritual death is torment and constant pain from which there is no escape. Spiritual life means we will be raised to heaven, and we will live there in sweet, eternal fellowship with God. What great blessing eternal life in heaven is! When I think of the impact and blessing that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is to both my earthly and heavenly lives, it is beyond my limited understanding. As a human being, I am imperfect and limited in my perspective. But our God loves me and all who believe in Jesus. That kind of love blows my mind and lets me know how graceful our wonderful God really is. Praise and thanks be to Him forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2017. All Rights Reserved.
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