1 Corinthians 16:5-24 Sermon Reflections

"Parting Words, Final Charge"

Discovery: In Paul's parting words to the Corinthian church, we see a number of personal remarks as well as one final charge. This final charge can be found in verses 13-14:

"13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men or courage; be strong. 14 Do everything in love."

These two verses are tucked away in the midst of a number of personal statements that Paul makes to the church. This final charge stands out because it is a summary of the whole book of 1st Corinthians. Here is short list of some of the the challenges and problems that the Corinthian church faced:

Disunity (chapter 3)

Sexual immorality (chapter 5-6)

Cultural conflict (food sacrificed to idols) (chapter 7)

Problems related to public worship (chapters 11-12)

Injustice and discrimination (chapter 11)

Controversy over spiritual gifts (chapter 14)

Questions about the resurrection (chapter 15)

The need for the preeminence of love (chapter 13)

In light of all these issues, Paul's final charge is this: "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men or courage; be strong. Do everything in love."

Application: Sometimes things are a lot more simple than we make them out to be. Even in our spiritual lives, we make things more complicated then they need to me. Even in our church participation, we make things much more political and dramatic then we need to. I am challenged by Paul's final charge because he seems to boil things down to a few things.

First off, we need to work on our defense. "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith" is a reminder to always be on our guard. I am really encouraged to hear folks in our church talk about how helpful our monthly Joint Soul Care meetings have been. People have affirmed the need for theological study and thoughtful application. I know that these meetings have been incredibly helpful for me as I have prepped and gone through the issues myself. I feel as though my theological muscles are being exercised and that I am genuinely being stretched in my understanding of God as well as in my articulation of the things that I believe.

Secondly, we need to be moving forward in faith. "Be men of courage; be strong" is a reminder that being a Christian is more than just defending the faith against the "world" but that is ultimately about going out and being "salt and light." The specific phrase "be men" is particularly poignant in the context of 1 Corinthians because Paul has already pointed out all the ways that they have acted in immaturity in regards to sin, community life, and misplaced theological rigidity. Paul is reminding the church to "Grow Up!" and get past all the immaturity that got them into trouble in the first place and to move forward as a community of disciples.

Finally, Paul returns to the heart of his Corinthian correspondence when he says, "Do everything in love." In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul told the church that love is "the most excellent way." In fact as we read his words in chapter 13, we see that love is really the only way that Christians should act. I must confess that church life is not always easy. More often than not, I see and experience the absence of love rather than the proliferation of it. But I am reminded that we are all in the process of being sanctified. To grow up requires putting aside childish immaturity and to pick up this call to mature in love. This call to love is preeminent because it is a only option given to us as Christians.

Prayer: Help me Lord get back to the basics this week and practice being on guard, standing firm in my faith, moving forward in courage, being strong, and filtering everything I do in love.

1 Corinthians 16:1-4 Sermon Reflections

"Offering, Giving, and Worship"

Discovery: Here in 1 Corinthians 16, Paul transitions from talking about the resurrection to talking about taking a collection for the church in Jerusalem. There is an immediate need in the mother church back in Jerusalem. As he often did in his epistles, Paul makes a specific appeal to care for the poor back in Jerusalem. Paul exhorts the Corinthian church to follow the model of the Galatian churches. The Galatian model is three-fold:

1. They were disciplined in setting aside money for collections on the Lord's Day.

2. Everyone contributed and participated in giving.

3. People gave proportional to their means.

Paul appeals to the church to see the needs of those who are suffering in Jerusalem and to practice the Galatian model of giving.

Application: Similar to the poor in Jerusalem, we can look at the situation in Japan as an opportunity to grow in our heart of offering, giving, and ultimately worship to God. Our senior pastor this past Sunday spent the first part of his sermon addressing an underlying issue for many Asian ethnic churches. Because of the history between Japan and many Asian countries, there is a sad and disappointing reluctance towards supporting the relief work there. The situation with Japan is not that much different than the one that Paul dealt with in 1 Corinthians.

Paul did not have a harmonious relationship with the Jerusalem church. There were a level of distrust and animosity that the Jerusalem church had against Paul. Paul had been a persecutor of the early church and his conversion was initially met with a high degree of skepticism. His ministry to the Gentiles was also initially questioned by the leaders in the Jerusalem church and this only added to the tension between the two parties.

And yet, we see that Paul looked upon the situation in the Jerusalem church through the redeemed eyes of God rather than through his own prejudice. The "proof is in the puddling" because we see his loyalty and support for the mother church in Jerusalem despite the underlying tensions. In Paul's epistles, any call for special offering was almost exclusively for the sake and benefit of the church in Jerusalem. Paul does not allow his own history or experience to negate the call of God to love and support the Body of Christ. Paul points to the dire situation in Jerusalem to call the people to rethink and recommit to living a life of obedience through their giving and offering.

This past week, there have been two unfortunate situations in which this underlying prejudice and bias has come up in conversations with fellow believers. Not only are these comments totally ignorant but also flat out wrong. It leaves me at a loss of words to hear such things coming out of fellow believer's mouth. It reminds me how much more we need to hear and apply the principles that Paul lays out here in 1 Corinthians 16.

Brothers and sisters, let us look at those who are in need around you through redeemed eyes of God and not your own. Let us also live out your theology with specific and practical steps of faith, obedience and love.

Prayer: God give me to boldness and conviction to stand up for what is true and not shy away from doing what is right. Continue to lead me personally give and pray for the people in Japan.

Exodus 16:1-15 Sermon Reflection

"Lessons from the Wilderness: Provision and Contentment"

Discovery: I had the opportunity to guest speak at Tri-Valley Chinese Bible Church this past weekend in Pleasanton. I spoke from a sermon series that I gave last year at MVCCC from the book of Exodus. It was helpful for me to review some of the concepts that we studied this past year.

In our passage today, we see the two problems that Israel struggled with throughout their wilderness experience: spiritual amnesia and a spirit of entitlement. In Exodus 15 we see the Israelites complaining about the lack of water and we see God's miraculous provision of water at Marah and Elim. Yet they begin to complain again in our chapter about the lack of food. Worse then their spiritual amnesia is the attitude they have towards God. They expect Him to provide for them. Rather than eat their own livestock that they had taken from Egypt, they wanted/expected God to spoon feed them. This spirit of entitlement is not only unbecoming but later will have terrible consequences. Israel's spiritual amnesia and spirit of entitlement comes to a zenith when they utter these words in verse 3: "...If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."

Application: I can appreciate a little bit of melodrama in my life but this is over the top! In their mind's eye, the Israelites "recall" sitting around pots of meat and eating to their hearts content while they were slaves in Egypt. Talk about revisionist history! And yet, I totally understand how this perspective comes about. I have the same heart attitude as the Israelites here in our passage. Too often I make my current problems too big and God's previous faithfulness too distant. In my mind's eye, my life used to be so much better/easier in my previous ministry context or earlier life stage compared to the challenges that I face today. One of two things is true: either my current assessment is correct or something is clouding my judgment. More often than not, it is the later.

It is really hard and frustrating to find contentment in life. There always seems to be this tug of war in my heart between the "here and now" and the "the hope to be." The more I wrestle with this tension, I find myself thinking and feeling incredible silly things such as the statement of the Israelites in verse 3. Exodus 16 is powerful because God responds to the complaining heart of Israel with tangible expressions of His grace. Rather than punishing them for their discontent and bad attitude, God provides for them manna from heaven. He give them what they truly need: daily bread. What is also amazing is that God provides quail for them in the evening as well. This is truly a wonderful picture of grace. He gives them blessings beyond what they need or deserve.

As I was driving home yesterday from guest speaking, I paused and thanked God for blessing me with my life. I love those moments of perspective when you realize how truly blessed you are.

Prayer: Thank you Jesus for my life, family, friends, and ministry. Help me keep a proper perspective on all these things.

1 Corinthians 15:22-34 Sermon Reflections

"Belief in the Triumphant Resurrection"

Discovery: v. 20 says, "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." The promise that Jesus has gone ahead of us to prepare a place in God's great house (John 14:3) is not a reality that I live with everyday. In fact, it is something that I often forget about when it comes to spiritual promises. The truth of the matter is that the promise of eternal life is a bit of a mystery to me. I believe in faith that it is going to be a part of my reality when I die but it isn't not some very tangible in the everyday here and now. But death and sickness combine with the timing of my preaching through 1 Corinthians 15 has brought this issue to light. It has been very refreshing to my always restless, troubled, and wounded heart to know that the resurrection of Jesus is the triumphant exclamation point to God's greatest moment of victory. There is a renewed sense of perspective and boldness that I sense wanting to grow out from within me as I stop and reflect on this truth.

Application: I wish I could come up with a better illustration to point this out but I simply can't... My son loves Angry Birds. In fact, he tells us that he dreams of Angry Birds. This is both a testament (or judgement) to our parenting skills and the power of Angry Birds (or AB as he affectionately calls it). One reason why he loves it is because I already went ahead and beaten all the levels and thus he can skip any that is particularly difficult. Recently Ellie has taken a liking to the Ipad as well and during this past week in which we were all sick with the flu, she pretty much hogged it from the two boys. We installed another version of AB on another device so that Elijah could still get his AB fix. Unfortunately, it required that he start from the beginning and thus he had to beat each level himself before being allowed to move on to the next level. It was very interesting to see how quickly his interest in Angry Birds declined.

The reason why this illustration speaks to me is because I find myself getting really frustrated and disappointed when things in life and ministry don't work out. I tend to be a bit overdramatic to begin with but adversity and difficult simply adds fuel to the inner Korean drama in my life. The triumphant resurrection speaks to me because it tells me that Jesus has already gone ahead and "beaten" all the levels for me. Rather than being deflated by every ministry, personal, or relational setback, what need to simply remember that He has already gone ahead of me and that He continues to go ahead of me. Moreover, Jesus has gone ahead to prepare a place for me so that I can remain in His grace for eternity. Maybe it was the weakness and fragility of the flu that I was battling this week but the promise of life eternal with Him felt like a welcomed invitation. I am reminded of the words of Hebrews 4:15-16, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Prayer: Let you triumphant resurrection Lord allow me to live with an extra measure of boldness and graciousness in all my dealings this week.