Daily Liturgy and Scripture

Paul lays the sacrifice he has made on behalf of the church out in public. It seems a bit like bragging, but he's making a point from earlier: boasting in his struggles. He is demonstrating the very submission that he encourages new followers of Christ to show one another.

The rules about eating almost seem to be Old Testament purity laws. Then Paul gives us a different reason for doing it: the unity of the body. This is the body of Christ, and encouraging one another is part of the life of that body. No longer are we responsible only for ourselves, we are part of something much more important.

Perhaps the part of this passage that we should pay the most attention to is, "Now for the matters you wrote about." Obviously, there is some struggle in the Corinthian church about what to do with marriage in this new Kingdom of Jesus, and Paul answers their questions. It's really unfortunate that we only have one side of this conversation, but the apostle keeps his focus on the lov...

The Kingdom of Jesus is not concerned only with the unseen, but also with the seen, Jesus was resurrected with his body, and so will we be also, following that pattern. So our bodies do matter, and what we do with them is important to God.

Judge one another within the church? That sounds a little harsh, doesn't it? But Paul has a valid point. The Kingdom of Jesus is supposed to be different, a place where we value one another differently than those outside the body of believers. Keeping one another mindful of what it looks like to follow Jesus can mean discipline, though it should still be administered in a spirt of love.

Paul works pretty fervently to remind the churches he has helped start that their real reward is Christ, not the distractions around them. They have a place in a Kingdom, and the person who brought them into the Kingdom isn't the place where their focus should be.

If the passage before was reorienting everything under the Lordship of Christ, this next part orients people all on even footing under that Lordship. Even popular leaders and preachers find themselves at the same place, the level ground at the foot of the cross, as the believer who has just come to faith.

If knowledge of God's ways come only though the Spirit, then truly nobody can brag about coming across some special inside track on knowing God. The Spirit moves among us as God wills it, we we don't own any part of God's mind as our own. It all remains God's, and we are participants in it.

Paul talks about unity in this passage, but that doesn’t mean you must always agree with everybody else whether you think they are crazy or not. What he is talking about is more connected to the identity of the church, where leadership comes from, especially in regards to Christ. On this point, there should be unity. We are all equal at the foot of the cross, and that includes Apollos and Paul.

While love should be shown to all in the body of Christ, that does not mean it's a free ride. A practical and necessary part of life in the body is making our own contributions. Not because we're buying God's love, but because we're passing that love along in practical ways.

The second coming of Christ has been the subject of a lot of speculation by many people. Even Paul himself thought that the second coming might be soon. The meat of this passage, though, is comfort. In the grand scheme, Christ is King. The savior we serve is more than just a nice guy, he is our strength.

Finding meaning in suffering is not always our first response. We might become depressed or despondent. Many believed that suffering was a sign of sin in the first century. Paul flips that idea on its head: God is with you in suffering, and this is going somewhere. God can use even this.

What distinguishes life in the church is what Paul encourages them to keep doing: showing love, caring for the less fortunate, and following the Spirit. The teachings of Jesus are central, but this is the way that life plays out.

There are a lot of perspectives on this verse about the afterlife, but this is the important kernel: the Kingdom inaugurated by Jesus on earth does not end here, it continues. Those who follow him aren't just building something here, they are part of a plan for eternity. This would have been a great comfort to those facing persecution in the first century, and should today as well.

There seems to be an order at work in this passage from Paul: God in the Holy Spirit moves in his people, the people, share what comes from God, and lives worth of God are the result. Not that we create our own salvation, but that our love for the one who has shown love to us is so great, it changes our normal responses.

The bond between believers in the early church must have been one of the primary reasons their numbers grew. Paul's warmth for the Thessalonians and the love they seem to show in return would have been magnetic. That's the fellowship that's possible when the Kingdom of Jesus is really being practiced.

Paul continues talking about the relationship he shares with the Thessalonians, and he doesn't claim all-star status. This is an apostle who models church life by paying his own way and serving the young church as one of them.

Paul seems pretty proud of the example of the Thessalonians. Their reputation has spread throughout the area, which was important in this early formation of the Church. The fledgeling movement needed good examples to look to, and this seems to be the people who filled that bill. The Thessalonians have corrected their theology (by turning away from false gods) and also achieved a high standard for...

The passage from Jeremiah is a good setup today for the passage from Galatians: in the old covenant, Israel was responsible for bearing the image of God to the world, so disciplining them was a necessary part of preserving God's image. When Jesus came, the image of God came directly. The sacrifice that was once Israel's responsibility became God's own with Jesus.

The realization that Jesus was more than just a man is the beginning of the understanding of who Jesus fully is. With Epiphany, we see that Jesus brings something never before seen, and the meaning this has for the whole world is great.

Paul again talks about slavery to the Law, this time literally discussing circumcision. It's no minor thing, but it's also a clear indication that the letter of the Law is what guides its followers, not the freedom of Christ.

Paul, attempting to show the difference between the old and new testament covenants, now pulls the story of Abraham out to serve his purpose. The Jewish people took pride in being the children of the woman who wasn't the slave, but Paul says they are still slave-born if they are binding themselves to the old system of law.

Having established the tension that exists between the old and new way of doing things, Paul now talks about what that difference is: the ability of the Law to establish our separation from God, versus God's mending of that separation by way of Jesus. To live under the old rule is to remember how far we have fallen, but to follow Jesus is to come back.

For anyone who might think that the early church was all smiles and high fives, this passage certainly shows the tension of trying to create this new outpost of the Kingdom of Jesus on earth. Paul calls Peter out for his hypocrisy, pointing out the unequal treatment he has given to Jews and Gentiles. Trying to bring a new expression of faith out of Judaism without making it a copy of the original...

In Jewish tradition, a baby boy was named and circumcised eight days after his birth. This is one more reminder that Jesus was part of the same human rituals and traditions as other Jewish children, and that he was set on a human path. He did not exist outside our world, but he came to live and breath inside of it. This is the God we serve, who knows us so well.