\u201cWill you let go?\u201d is a question we all have to answer as Christians. Will we hold on to our comfort, security, and safety? Or will we risk it all by putting Jesus\u2014and everyone else\u2014first?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week we\u2019re going to look at why <\/em>we should let go. We talk a lot about why following Jesus is worth it. But sometimes we only talk about the things that will someday come\u2014eternity with him, resurrection, innocence on judgment day. But what kind of difference does it make in our lives today? <\/p>\n\n\n\n So far in 1 Corinthians, Paul has been setting up two ways of going about the Christian life. The Corinthians were trying to be just like the world while also trying to be Christians. Their eyes turned inward. Their immaturity caused division in the church. Paul proposes a different way\u2014a risk-filled life of choosing to look foolish, of putting other people before yourself, of letting go of cultural comforts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This week, we\u2019re going to look at the difference between the worldly way of approaching the Christian life and the way Paul describes it. Choosing the \u201crisky\u201d life led by the Spirit might look crazy to the world, but it\u2019s worth it because we\u2019re never alone and we\u2019re free from judgment from other people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you ever looked like a complete fool? Maybe you\u2019ve spilled coffee on your lap before a meeting or you\u2019ve had a laughing fit in the middle of a serious movie. We\u2019ve all been there. We\u2019ve all done something embarrassing\u2014something against the societal norm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve already talked about the risk of the selfless life Paul advocates in 1 Corinthians. Here Paul continued to explain the difference between living for yourself\u2014 the way the world lives\u2014and living for Christ and His church. He said the living-for-others life looks absolutely foolish to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps you should get a journal and take a few minutes to write about what could make choosing the risky, Jesus-and-others- centered life feel foolish. Maybe it could mean stopping a complete stranger to pray for them or giving away your paycheck to a family in need.<\/strong> Why do you think those things might feel foolish?<\/strong> How might other people react?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The life we\u2019ve been called into\u2014and the life Paul\u2019s talking about in this section of 1 Corinthians\u2014 looks backward to outsiders. But we\u2019re going to see through this section of Paul\u2019s letter that it\u2019s worth choosing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read through 1 Corinthians 2 and 3. As you read, look for evidence that the Corinthians had chosen the familiar path paved by the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Corinthians 2\u20133 (NLT)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn\u2019t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God\u2019s secret plan. 2<\/sup>For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. 3<\/sup>I came to you in weakness\u2014timid and trembling. 4<\/sup>And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. 5<\/sup>I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God. 6<\/sup>Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten. 7<\/sup>No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God\u2014his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. 8<\/sup>But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. 9<\/sup>That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, \u201cNo eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.\u201d 10<\/sup>But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God\u2019s deep secrets. 11<\/sup>No one can know a person\u2019s thoughts except that person\u2019s own spirit, and no one can know God\u2019s thoughts except God\u2019s own Spirit. 12<\/sup>And we have received God\u2019s Spirit (not the world\u2019s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. 13<\/sup>When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit\u2019s words to explain spiritual truths. 14<\/sup>But people who aren\u2019t spiritual can\u2019t receive these truths from God\u2019s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can\u2019t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. 15<\/sup>Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. 16<\/sup>For, \u201cWho can know the Lord\u2019s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?\u201d But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ. 1<\/sup>Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn\u2019t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. 2<\/sup>I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren\u2019t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren\u2019t ready, 3<\/sup>for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn\u2019t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren\u2019t you living like people of the world? 4<\/sup>When one of you says, \u201cI am a follower of Paul,\u201d and another says, \u201cI follow Apollos,\u201d aren\u2019t you acting just like people of the world? 5<\/sup>After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God\u2019s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6<\/sup>I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7<\/sup>It\u2019s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What\u2019s important is that God makes the seed grow. 8<\/sup>The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. 9<\/sup>For we are both God\u2019s workers. And you are God\u2019s field. You are God\u2019s building. 10<\/sup>Because of God\u2019s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. 11<\/sup>For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have\u2014Jesus Christ. 12<\/sup>Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials\u2014gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13<\/sup>But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person\u2019s work has any value. 14<\/sup>If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 15<\/sup>But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames. 16<\/sup>Don\u2019t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 17<\/sup>God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God\u2019s temple is holy, and you are that temple. 18<\/sup>Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world\u2019s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. 19<\/sup>For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, \u201cHe traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.\u201d 20<\/sup>And again, \u201cThe Lord knows the thoughts of the wise; he knows they are worthless.\u201d 21<\/sup>So don\u2019t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you\u201422<\/sup>whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, 23<\/sup>and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The Corinthians had chosen Christ but they were trying to live the Christian life on their own terms. Instead of operating in the power of the Spirit, they held on to the way they lived before Paul showed up in Corinth with the gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Corinthian version of Christianity was safe. Their lives looked like everyone else\u2019s, with a little bit of Jesus sprinkled here and there. Paul pits their way of life against his own to show how choosing the foolish way instead of the easy way is worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before we go any further, pause and reflect on your life as a Christian. When have you been more like the Corinthians who believed in Jesus but lived like everyone else? Or when have you lived the upside-down life Paul talks about? Where do you see yourself now? Spend a few minutes praying through your answers to these questions. Thank God for the journey he\u2019s taken you on so far and pray for continued growth with him moving forward. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether you feel more like Paul or the Corinthians, we\u2019re going to keep asking the same question we posed in session one: Will you let go? Will you let go of the safe, familiar life? Will you choose a risky life?\u00a0Have you ever made any decision following God’s way and appeared to be foolish according to human wisdom?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Text your response to the above prompting questions to your group and\/or share it as a comment below<\/em><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column]\n\t\t\t[\/et_pb_row]\n\t\t[\/et_pb_section]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWill you let go?\u201d is a question we all have to answer as Christians. Will we hold on to our comfort, security, and safety? Or will we risk it all by putting Jesus\u2014and everyone else\u2014first?\u00a0 This week we\u2019re going to look at why we should let go. We talk a lot about why following Jesus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"\n \u201cWill you let go?\u201d is a question we all have to answer as Christians. Will we hold on to our comfort, security, and safety? Or will we risk it all by putting Jesus\u2014and everyone else\u2014first?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n This week we\u2019re going to look at why <\/em>we should let go. We talk a lot about why following Jesus is worth it. But sometimes we only talk about the things that will someday come\u2014eternity with him, resurrection, innocence on judgment day. But what kind of difference does it make in our lives today? <\/p>\n\n\n\n So far in 1 Corinthians, Paul has been setting up two ways of going about the Christian life. The Corinthians were trying to be just like the world while also trying to be Christians. Their eyes turned inward. Their immaturity caused division in the church. Paul proposes a different way\u2014a risk-filled life of choosing to look foolish, of putting other people before yourself, of letting go of cultural comforts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This week, we\u2019re going to look at the difference between the worldly way of approaching the Christian life and the way Paul describes it. Choosing the \u201crisky\u201d life led by the Spirit might look crazy to the world, but it\u2019s worth it because we\u2019re never alone and we\u2019re free from judgment from other people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you ever looked like a complete fool? Maybe you\u2019ve spilled coffee on your lap before a meeting or you\u2019ve had a laughing fit in the middle of a serious movie. We\u2019ve all been there. We\u2019ve all done something embarrassing\u2014something against the societal norm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve already talked about the risk of the selfless life Paul advocates in 1 Corinthians. Here Paul continued to explain the difference between living for yourself\u2014 the way the world lives\u2014and living for Christ and His church. He said the living-for-others life looks absolutely foolish to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps you should get a journal and take a few minutes to write about what could make choosing the risky, Jesus-and-others- centered life feel foolish. Maybe it could mean stopping a complete stranger to pray for them or giving away your paycheck to a family in need.<\/strong> Why do you think those things might feel foolish?<\/strong> How might other people react?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The life we\u2019ve been called into\u2014and the life Paul\u2019s talking about in this section of 1 Corinthians\u2014 looks backward to outsiders. But we\u2019re going to see through this section of Paul\u2019s letter that it\u2019s worth choosing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read through 1 Corinthians 2 and 3. As you read, look for evidence that the Corinthians had chosen the familiar path paved by the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Corinthians 2\u20133 (NLT)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn\u2019t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God\u2019s secret plan. 2<\/sup>For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. 3<\/sup>I came to you in weakness\u2014timid and trembling. 4<\/sup>And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. 5<\/sup>I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God. 6<\/sup>Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten. 7<\/sup>No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God\u2014his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. 8<\/sup>But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. 9<\/sup>That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, \u201cNo eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.\u201d 10<\/sup>But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God\u2019s deep secrets. 11<\/sup>No one can know a person\u2019s thoughts except that person\u2019s own spirit, and no one can know God\u2019s thoughts except God\u2019s own Spirit. 12<\/sup>And we have received God\u2019s Spirit (not the world\u2019s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. 13<\/sup>When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit\u2019s words to explain spiritual truths. 14<\/sup>But people who aren\u2019t spiritual can\u2019t receive these truths from God\u2019s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can\u2019t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. 15<\/sup>Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. 16<\/sup>For, \u201cWho can know the Lord\u2019s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?\u201d But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ. 1<\/sup>Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn\u2019t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. 2<\/sup>I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren\u2019t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren\u2019t ready, 3<\/sup>for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn\u2019t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren\u2019t you living like people of the world? 4<\/sup>When one of you says, \u201cI am a follower of Paul,\u201d and another says, \u201cI follow Apollos,\u201d aren\u2019t you acting just like people of the world? 5<\/sup>After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God\u2019s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6<\/sup>I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7<\/sup>It\u2019s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What\u2019s important is that God makes the seed grow. 8<\/sup>The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. 9<\/sup>For we are both God\u2019s workers. And you are God\u2019s field. You are God\u2019s building. 10<\/sup>Because of God\u2019s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. 11<\/sup>For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have\u2014Jesus Christ. 12<\/sup>Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials\u2014gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13<\/sup>But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person\u2019s work has any value. 14<\/sup>If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 15<\/sup>But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames. 16<\/sup>Don\u2019t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 17<\/sup>God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God\u2019s temple is holy, and you are that temple. 18<\/sup>Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world\u2019s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. 19<\/sup>For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, \u201cHe traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.\u201d 20<\/sup>And again, \u201cThe Lord knows the thoughts of the wise; he knows they are worthless.\u201d 21<\/sup>So don\u2019t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you\u201422<\/sup>whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, 23<\/sup>and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The Corinthians had chosen Christ but they were trying to live the Christian life on their own terms. Instead of operating in the power of the Spirit, they held on to the way they lived before Paul showed up in Corinth with the gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Corinthian version of Christianity was safe. Their lives looked like everyone else\u2019s, with a little bit of Jesus sprinkled here and there. Paul pits their way of life against his own to show how choosing the foolish way instead of the easy way is worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before we go any further, pause and reflect on your life as a Christian. When have you been more like the Corinthians who believed in Jesus but lived like everyone else? Or when have you lived the upside-down life Paul talks about? Where do you see yourself now? Spend a few minutes praying through your answers to these questions. Thank God for the journey he\u2019s taken you on so far and pray for continued growth with him moving forward. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether you feel more like Paul or the Corinthians, we\u2019re going to keep asking the same question we posed in session one: Will you let go? Will you let go of the safe, familiar life? Will you choose a risky life?\u00a0Have you ever made any decision following God's way and appeared to be foolish according to human wisdom?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Text your response to the above prompting questions to your group and\/or share it as a comment below<\/em><\/p>\n","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1corinthians"],"yoast_head":"\n