Devotional

As we talked about yesterday, chapter 11 is all about orderliness in corporate worship. Another way to put it is, “How to live selflessly in the context of a worship service.” The key is to set aside selfishness for the sake of the other people in the congregation—and...

So far in our journey through 1 Corinthians, we’ve looked at a lot of the external issues in the church. They were dealing with division over leadership, sexual ethics, and food. For the first time studying this letter, we’ll peek into the Corinthians’ actual worship...

We’ve talked a lot about our rights in this session. It’s not normal to give them up. But we surrender them because we follow a savior who did it first. The reasons he chose selflessness are the same for us. And that’s what we’ll look at today. Open up your Bible and...

Sometimes we want to pick and choose the parts of Christianity we like. Take the subject we’ve been talking about this week. There are some rights that are easier to give up than others. It can be tempting to keep some things under our control while being selfless...

Self-centered living doesn’t feel all that bad, right? It might make us a little prideful, but at least our needs will be met and we won’t have to rely on everyone else. Paul anticipates that the Corinthians might think along those lines. So at the beginning of...

As we go through life everyday, we like to know what’s ahead. We structure our days around our needs— what we’ll eat, when we’ll sleep, what we’ll do at work. Without realizing it, our day can become all about us. In our discussion about giving up our rights, it’s...

Learning to live selflessly isn’t only about setting aside our pride as we talked about last week. It’s also about choosing to set aside certain rights for the good of others. Setting aside our rights paints a much broader stroke across our lives and affects more than...

In 1 Corinthians 8, we’ve seen another way the Corinthian church was missing the others-centered life that Jesus modeled for us. Their pride blinded them to how they were causing other Christians to sin against God. In the last verse of this chapter, Paul says he’d...

We talked yesterday about the internal consequences of pride. Pride has a wider effect than the corruption of our hearts, though. It can cause us to harm other Christians, which is exactly what happened in Corinth. Read 1 Corinthians 8:7-13.  7 However, not all...

It’s a great feeling when we know something someone else doesn’t. Whether it’s the best route to a burger joint, the proper way to change a tire, or the name of the president of Turkey, pride bubbles up in us when our knowledge surpasses everyone else’s. The same...

Yesterday we did not look into the culture of Corinth yet. So, before we jump into the text, let’s get a little background. As we’ve said before, Corinth had temples for many gods, and one of the common practices of the day was offering sacrifices to those gods. They...

We’re at the halfway point in 1 Corinthians. Since the beginning of this study, we’ve walked through Paul’s frustrations with the Corinthians’ actions. In chapter 5 we talked about sinful practices that even non-Christians deplore. In chapters 6 and 7, Paul spoke...

As we wrap up our study of chapter 7, let’s remind ourselves of what Paul is not saying. He’s not saying it’s bad to be married or even to get married. He’s also not saying all Christians should stay or become single. He’s simply pointing out what it means to be...

So far this week, we’ve been talking about staying where God has placed us—whether that’s as a spouse or a single person. Our romantic relationships and our life stage aren’t about us, but we often think they are. But today we hit a passage near the end of the chapter...

There’s an idea among Christians that says you’re only a really good Christian if you do certain things for God—like be a missionary in an impoverished country or sell your suburban house to live in the inner city. While living radically for Jesus can be a good,...

We talk a lot about personal rights in today’s world—especially in the United States. Culture says we’re owed sexual fulfillment. We’re entitled to romance. But what God says about sex and relationships is entirely different. If we follow Paul’s logic from the...

Reading 1 Corinthians feels like watching Paul take the Corinthians on a walk through their problems and we’re just along for the ride. It’s similar to taking a guided tour through an art museum. The guide plants you in front of painting after painting, pointing out...

We’ve come to the end of another difficult passage in 1 Corinthians. So, for this final day, we’re going to take a step back. Chapter 6 demands a lot from us. It asks us to act in a way that contradicts everything the world stands for. That’s what it means to be a...