1 Corinthians, Grace, Mercy and Love

In order to help me grow more spiritually and to better prepare me as I work and disciple with the people we work with here in Namibia, I started taking a few seminary classes on-line.  This semester I am taking three classes, they are; Study of 1 Corinthians, Biblical World Views, and The Historical Books. 

These classes are really challenging my understanding of God's word, society and how the two should work together.  My Corinthians class has really been a good study as well and is helping me to understand the concepts behind Paul's letter to the church in Corinth.

The one thing that has really stood out to me this week as I have read and studied is the first letter to the Corinthians, and a book I had to read for my Biblical World Views class.  I was astonished to read that only 9% of professing Christians in today's church have what is considered a Biblical World View.  A World View is defined as how a person sees the world and responds to situations in it.  Therefore a Biblical World View is defined as seeing the world through a Biblical lens.  In other words Christians should view the world and react in it through the Biblical principles that God has laid out before us.  Through seeing the world as Jesus saw it when he was in the world.  Also through acting in the world by following the commands and morals given to us from God.

So then you go back to the Barna research done on professing Christians, and that means only 9% of Christians today are seeing the world and acting in it from a Biblical stand point.  This is the scary part.  This means that many churches today are making decisions inside the church and treating the church and people in it based on worldly principles and not principles of the Bible and from God.  So then I was also studying and working my way through 1 Corinthians and then that letter to Corinth made a lot of since to me.  The Christians in the church of Corinth were guilty of the same thing.  They were seeing the church, and acting out in the church based on worldly views and not Biblical views.

This is why we see in 1 Corinthians that Paul is writing to the church based on letters and news that has been sent to him about what was happening in the church. 

1 Corinthians 1:10-13

"10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?"

Then Paul states in chapter 7:1A

"Now for the matters you wrote about:"

Then in chapter 7 and through out the rest of the letter Paul dives into the problems reported.

As you read through Chapters 1-6 you will see that Paul talks about some of the problems in the church. There are problems of people being arrogant, some seem to think themselves wiser than others in the church.  The church seems to be completely divided about a lot of what is going on. And Chapter 3:1 is where you will see my point:

1 Corinthians 3:1-3

"Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?"

Why are churches today still acting like 1 Corinthian churches?  The answer is in verse 3 above and based on the 91%from the Barna research, the church body is worldly.  Churches fight and argue over staff, budgets, appearances of the church, disagreements over materials to be used, procedures and so on and so forth.  The body needs to be united as Paul pleads in this letter.  Disagreements will always come, but how the disagreements are handled is the more important issue. Are the disagreements handled with grace, mercy and love, or with hatred and slander?  And this is what I think led Paul in writing chapter 13.  Are we loving our brothers and sisters with the love of God, or are we cutting one anothers throats, stabbing them in the back, stirring up gossip and deceit and lies to get others on your side and ultimately causing division. Do we talk problems out peacefully and with love, or do we treat people with disrespect and condescending? It is not only in America, but I have noticed it here as well, and it is not pretty to be seen in the House of God.  I even heard the other week, some people in a church saying that they did not like a pastor that was on staff, why, because he was to strict and was overly evangelistic.  Pastors here in our area and in America are sometimes like revolving doors.  As soon as they say or do one thing that a person does not like gossip starts, sides are made and pastors are right back out the door without even trying to understand the issues or work together.

Brothers and sisters, read 1 Corinthians this week, and digest it.  Be convicted of Paul's message to the congregation in the church of Corinth.  Repent and make right relationships that have gone wrong because you were looking at the world from a Worldly View rather than a Biblical View.  I am certain we all have a lot to learn from this.

God Bless,

SIM Conference 2010

Well the kids are on another short two week holiday break from school, so our missions agency schedules its yearly Spiritual Life Conference during that break each year. So we had the opportunity to finally see the coast of Namibia for the first time, as our conference was held at Swakupmund which is a popular coastal venue here.

The conference was really great and much needed. Our special speaker gave great material and new perperspectives on the book of Judges. It was really great to just listen, absorb and be spiritually nourished. Being in the mission field, you are almost always giving spiritual nourishment and have few opportunities to be fed outside of a personal quite time.

We did have some free time here and there to take in some new scenery and bask in God's amazing works of art in His creation. There are pictures below to show you.

After we got back we were invited up to a farm an hour north to relax a bit before the kids come back next week. That was also good as well. There is not much to do where we live, especially when all the kids are gone. So most people go to the farms and relax. So we did just that. We had a nice cabin in the middle of the farm to relax in, with lots of cows, goats, sheep, dogs and just about any other farm animal you can think of. It was nice to just sit around and do nothing for two days.

The kids get back next week and so the ministry work will then kick back in to high gear until December. The kids get out of school for a month and a half in December. So in December I will be in charge of shepherding the church here in our town for that time. I am looking forward to having more opportunities to preach God's word on Sunday mornings during this time.

Enough for now, we just wanted to update you all on how things are going.

Thanks to everyone for your prayer and financial support!

God Bless!