Wildfire

I lived in Northwestern Ontario for over 40 years where wildfires were common. Sometimes for no apparent reason the forests would catch on fire and burn out of control. I also grew up on the prairies where at one time wild grass fires were common.
Fire is an amazing thing. When it is controlled it can bring warm and comfort or it can be used to cook our food but a wildfire is dangerous.
The Holy Spirit is like a fire but He is really more like a wildfire than a controlled fire. We would like to have the Holy Spirit warm us, feed us and comfort us but then it is all about us and He is not ours to control. He is a fire but remember He is a wildfire.

Sophia

A friend of mine and a member of our class wrote this on facebook after yesterday's class:

Sophia - meaning wisdom from the Greek. Where human wisdom ends, God's wisdom begins. Some men spend their life on earth trying to figure out everything on earth. God, the creator of this world, designed and built it along with the entire universe. Who are we to understand God? We are so finite, so small in comparison. In light of 'wisdom', where is your focus? Here and now or eternity? Is there anything you'll regret when you meet Jesus? That can change right now!

Yesterday we had Bob Beasley from the Bible League of Canada join us to talk about wisdom. It is always a pleasure to do a question and answer with Bob.

My friend then posted this:

This was discussed in the adult Sunday school today at church. Preach the cross man!!!

Where is the Cross?

I have a friend who didn't like the fact that when the screen was down at the front of our church you couldn't see the cross. He felt that the cross should always be visible in the church.
Is it necessary that the cross be always visible? I am not sure that it needs to be but it must be behind everything we do as a church. Without the cross there is no need of a church. However, that is not the cross as a symbol but the cross upon which our Saviour died.

Flannery O'Connor

“The boy didn’t need to hear it. There was already a deep black wordless conviction in him that the way to avoid Jesus was to avoid sin.” Flannery O'Connor

Why is it that when we think that we are above sinning we think that we don't need Jesus? Christians must learn how to avoid sin while staying close to Jesus.

A Church without Problems

How would you like to belong to a church that didn't have problems? If you do then you wouldn't be part of the Corinthian church. However, when you think about a church that doesn't have any problems then you are probably thinking about a church that does nothing, a dead church. The Corinthian church had problems because it was alive. The majority of the congregation were new Christians that came with a lot of baggage. However, it was these problems that brought life and vitality.
If Satan wanted to defeat a church he would probably convince them that they have no problems and the best way of having no problems would be to maintain the status quo. We are not ignorant of his schemes. We are prepared to face the problems because new life always comes with problems.

How to build unity in the church

Tim Challies posted this today and I thought it was appropriate to our study in 1 Corinthians.

First, Christ gives gifts. Not in a random way but thoughtfully and deliberately as He sees fit.

Second, these gifts are diverse.

Third, Christ's gifts bring unity through service.

Therefore, you need to be part of a local church.

You can read it here http://www.challies.com/christian-living/how-to-build-unity-in-your-church

Reading 2011

I read 68 books last year and here is a list of the best of the books. I begin with a work of fiction. I read a number of fiction books but this was the best. The others are books that I read for study, devotion, or for education.

The Cross Centred Life

How does one become Cross centred? It is not by applying the cross to every situation but rather begin with the cross. What do I mean? Let me give you an example.
Suppose I was teaching on finances. As I prepare my lesson if I stop and say how does the cross apply to this lesson then that is NOT cross centred but rather finance centred. However if I begin with an understanding of the cross and the Gospel and how that applies to all areas of life then allow my teaching grow out of that understanding then it is cross centred. I may know that God as Creator is the owner of all things including myself and my finances then I will know that it begins with the Gospel and not with my ownership.

Priority

We live in a busy world and because of the demands that are placed upon us it is important that we set priorities. For a Christian the priorities should include times of Bible reading and prayer, time with the family, time for the church and time to serve others.
What should be the priorities for the church? Should it be worship (of course), preaching (naturally), fellowship, evangelism or something else? In all of these things we must remember that the Gospel is the priority.
In our striving for excellence in worship, preaching, teaching or in our families we may forget that it is the Gospel that is important behind all of these. The Gospel isn't just for evangelism but it is for our day to day living. As Jerry Bridges said he needs the Gospel preached to him everyday.

The Principle

Paul gives us the principle in 1 Corinthians 1. The principle is unity but we must remember that it is not unity at any cost. The unity that we must have is in Christ. If the doctrines of Christ divide us then we will be divided as we see later in this chapter when Paul talks about the cross. Jesus is the source of our unity.
I volunteer at a Bibles for Missions thrift store. We come together from many different denominations but the one thing that unites us in our relationship to Christ and the Gospel. When we have disunity we are being immaturity, we take our eyes off of Christ and look to other leaders.
There are over 22000 different denominations and though that is a blight on Christianity we also know that we do need different denominations so that we can have a freedom of choice. If we divide over things like ordinances, worship styles, music then that will be okay but if we divide over the Gospel then we need to examine ourselves.

Power Language

Christians can be guilty of power language. They can use it to shut down an argument or to get their own way. Often it takes the form of "God told me..." It gives the impression of spiritual superiority and it can be so harmful to the one who is the victim of the comment.
The Corinthians were guilty of power language. They dropped names like Paul, Apollos and Peter but those who really wanted the "one-up-manship" said that they belonged to none of the above but to Christ only. Their comments did nothing to help edify the church but only to put down others.
We should be careful how we talk. Do we use power language. This kind of talk is using God's name in vain.

The Pattern

What happens if you cut out 100 items using the previous one as a pattern? By the time you get to the last one it doesn't resemble the first at all. There can only be one pattern. Paul gives us the pattern for unity in the church. The pattern is that we speak with one mind, or as the NIV says we agree with one another. Now that doesn't mean that we all agree to sing only hymns or that we wear the same type of clothes to church but it means that we are in agreement about the fundamental doctrines, the Gospel. If we cannot agree on the gospel then we will have divisions within the church.

Paul and the Church at Corinth

Paul's relationship with the church at Corinth was one of a mixture of love and of concern. They challenged his authority as an Apostle but it should be noted that Paul was an Apostle in the restricted sense of being chosen and sent as a delegate of Christ Jesus. There is a sense that there are apostles who are sent to represent churches but they are not the same as the original Apostles.
So how does Paul see the church at Corinth?
First, he sees the church as an open letter to be read by all (2 Corinthians 3:2). What is the message that the world reads in this open letter?
Second, he sees the church as an aroma (2 Corinthians 2:15). The question is whether this is an aroma that attracts or repels?
Third, he sees the church as the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12). As a body there can be no division.
Finally, he sees the church as an embassy (2 Corinthians 5:20). How well does the church represent Jesus Christ?

Let all your thinks be thanks.

Paul begins his letter to this very difficult and problematic church by thanking God for them. He always is thankful for the work of the Spirit in their lives. Even when they had such serious problems that required much anxiety on his part he was so thankful that they were in Christ Jesus.
How different that is from some of the religious right winged talk show hosts we hear today. Someone said that if they didn't wake up angry they wouldn't know what to do with themselves. Let us always begin by thanking God for the work of His grace in the lives of people, even those we disagree with. It may be hard but we will be with them for eternity.

The Church at Corinth

When Paul addresses the church at Corinth he addresses it as the Church of God in Corinth. We must remember that there is only one church but there are many congregations. I belong to the Church of God that meets on Gregory Drive in Chatham, Ontario which is part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. At sometime we changed the meaning of "church". To correct the error some have referred to the local church as the church building but it should be referred to as the church of God that meets at ...

Corinth

Paul loved cities. It was in the major cities of his day that he did his evangelism and church planting. He knew that if he planted a church in a city then the surrounding area would also hear the Gospel. Corinth was a major city but it was also a wicked city. I think that we would wonder about someone wanting to go to a city like Corinth (or Las Vegas) to plant a church. People often went to those cities for other activities but not Paul. He knew that if he could establish a church in Corinth then it would open up all of southern Greece for the Gospel.

By the will of God

Paul was an apostle, not by his own desire, but by the will of God. We have a free will but does that mean that we can be anything we want? All too often people desire to do something for God by their own will but if you were to stop and analyse their reasons you would find that it was more to fulfill their desires than to do the will of God. Remember, God doesn't need us to do things for Him but rather it is a privilege when He calls us to work for Him. We can make the will of God about us rather than about God.

Called to be

Today many people see the calling of God to do something but that is not how we should first see the call of God. Paul was called to be an apostle not just to do the work of an apostle.

We are first called to a person, Jesus Christ. Our calling always begins here.

Second we are called to be. We always want to do something but Jesus asks us to be something. We want to work for Him but He wants us to live in such away as to bring glory to His name.

It is always easier to do something than to be something. We seek God's calling as to what we should do, where we should live, who we should marry etc. but that is always secondary to the calling to be. Paul was called to be an apostle. He was first an apostle before he could do the work of an apostle.

Apostles

This Sunday we will begin a new series on 1 Corinthians. Paul begins this letter by saying that he was called to be an apostle. An apostle was one that was commissioned by the Lord to bring the message to the world. The question of whether there are apostles today? Some would say that the leader who holds the highest ecclesiastical office would fulfill that role while others would say that they had to be directly commissioned by the Lord Himself.
We know that the original disciples were commissioned but was Paul? He talks about his commissioning by the Lord Jesus Christ. He had a special meeting that he claimed that we was unable to tell about.
So are there apostles today? My sense is that the answer is no. There are those who claim a special commissioning but when you examine them it appears to be more man given than God given. There is a pride in the office as well as a dominating spirit which was not the spirit of the original apostles. Paul tells us that he was the least of all apostles and doesn't deserve the title (1 Corinthians 15:9). Paul was reluctant to take upon himself that role but he does remind us that he had that calling from the Lord Himself.
The other reason why I think that there are no apostles today is that the apostles were were the foundation upon which the church was built, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20). The church was established by the apostles and today we are to build upon their foundation, not lay a new foundation.