You might have noticed that we covered chapters 12 and 14, but we skipped over chapter 13. We did that on purpose. That\u2019s because we often take chapter 13 out of the context of its surrounding chapters. We read it at weddings or during a marriage series, which can make us think chapter 13 is all about romantic love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that\u2019s not really what it\u2019s about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we\u2019ve explored these three chapters this week, we\u2019ve seen that the love described in 1 Corinthians 13 is actually about how we treat other Christians in the context of the local church. It\u2019s the sacrificial, selfless love of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve already put some spiritual disciplines into practice during this study. This week, we\u2019re going to try one called Lectio Divina<\/em>, which is just a fancy Latin way of saying \u201cprayerful reading.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re going to take you through the four steps of Lectio Divina<\/em>, which will help you pray and think deeply about 1 Corinthians 13. While you go through this exercise, remember the message of chapters 12 and 14. How does this description of love help us better understand those two chapters?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Step 1: Lectio (Read): <\/strong>Remove all distractions and quiet your mind before God. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now read 1 Corinthians 13 three times slowly. If you can, read it out loud to yourself. Let the message hit you. After reading it three times, find one verse or phrase that stands out to you the most. Re-read it a couple more times and place emphasis on different words as you read.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn\u2019t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2<\/sup>If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God\u2019s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn\u2019t love others, I would be nothing. 3<\/sup>If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn\u2019t love others, I would have gained nothing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 4<\/sup>Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5<\/sup>or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6<\/sup>It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7<\/sup>Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 8<\/sup>Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9<\/sup>Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10<\/sup>But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 11<\/sup>When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12<\/sup>Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. 13<\/sup>Three things will last forever\u2014faith, hope, and love\u2014and the greatest of these is love.<\/p>\n1 Corinthians 13 (NLT)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Step 2: Meditatio (Meditate): <\/strong>Think about the phrase or verse that stood out to you. What does it mean? What does it say about God? Humans? How does it contribute to the big idea we\u2019ve talked about in 1 Corinthians?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Step 3: Oratio (Pray): <\/strong>Pray through your verse or phrase. Ask God to show you what he\u2019s saying through this verse. Take your verse and turn it into a prayer. For example, if you chose the verse in 1 Cor. 13:4, you could pray, \u201cTeach me to be patient and kind,\u201d or, \u201cThank you for being patient and kind with me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Step 4: Contemplatio (Contemplate): <\/strong>Now that you\u2019ve read, thought, and prayed through the text, finish off your time in silence. Ask God to speak to you. Pray He\u2019d show you one practical thing you could apply to your life from this passage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Write down what He says and then do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You have the whole weekend to do this Lectio Divina exercise. Please share your experience before Sunday night.<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You might have noticed that we covered chapters 12 and 14, but we skipped over chapter 13. We did that on purpose. That\u2019s because we often take chapter 13 out of the context of its surrounding chapters. We read it at weddings or during a marriage series, which can make us think chapter 13 is […]<\/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":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"\n Welcome!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Welcome to the book of 1 Corinthians. As we study this letter, we\u2019ll step into ancient Corinth while reading the words Paul wrote to the fledgling church. We\u2019re going to see that, like all churches, the Corinthian church wasn\u2019t perfect. They had a problem. A big problem. And it grew to such an epic proportion that it poisoned the church in various ways. Paul wrote to provide the antidote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In this study, we\u2019re going to explore Paul\u2019s solution to both the problems in Corinth and in us. Through his words, we\u2019ll learn more about Jesus\u2019s plan for a people who live radically different lives than the world around them. But we\u2019ll also take a hard look in the mirror and ask the Spirit to point out our own self-centered attitudes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Reading the Bible isn\u2019t just something we do to impress people or to check off on a to-do list. It\u2019s about getting to know God. It\u2019s about shaping every minute of our lives to reflect Jesus. It\u2019s about thinking differently in the power of the Spirit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So as we approach each week, we\u2019ll focus on one main idea. That main idea will point us to change how we think, feel, and act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This week, we\u2019ll see that resolving relational disunity begins in our hearts because division is a symptom of self-focus. From this main idea, we have three goals: <\/p>\n\n\n\n First Corinthians will take us on a journey. We\u2019ll look at the struggles of one of the first local churches in all of history. We\u2019ll see that the Corinthians weren\u2019t much different from us. And we\u2019ll realize that Paul\u2019s words to them still ring true today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But before we jump into 1 Corinthians, spend a few minutes writing out a short prayer to God. Ask him to use this study to change you. <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Open up your Bible to 1 Corinthians. Go ahead and read the entire first chapter. As you read, ask yourself this question: What was the problem in the Corinthian church?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Corinthians 1:1\u201331 (ESV): <\/p> 1\u00a0Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, \u201cI will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.\u201d<\/p> 20\u00a0Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21\u00a0For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22\u00a0For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23\u00a0but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24\u00a0but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25\u00a0For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.<\/p> 26\u00a0For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27\u00a0But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28\u00a0God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29\u00a0so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30\u00a0And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31\u00a0so that, as it is written, \u201cLet the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The Corinthian church suffered from division. We\u2019ll see it all throughout the book. The struggling church fought over leadership, spiritual gifts, food, marriage, and theology. Since the theme of disunity runs throughout the letter, it\u2019s tempting to think that was the church\u2019s problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it wasn\u2019t. Disunity was only a symptom of a far more insidious\u2014and common\u2014 disease. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Did you catch the real issue that was going on in Corinth? It was selfishness. They were so consumed with themselves that they tried to solve their problems their own way, held on to their culture, and, as a result, blasted chasms between them and other Christians.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n No one likes to admit to selfishness\u2014 especially people who claim to follow Jesus. But it often sneaks into our lives in ways we don\u2019t readily see. And then it spills over in ways we never expect. For the Corinthians, their selfishness led to severe divisions in the church. What is it for us? We\u2019ll spend the rest of the study unpacking that very question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that we know the main problem Paul\u2019s tackling in 1 Corinthians, take a moment to be honest with God. Write down any fears or concerns you have about confronting the problem of selfishness. Ask God to use this study to turn your gaze to him.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1corinthians"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
2\u00a0To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
3\u00a0Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4\u00a0I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5\u00a0that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge\u2014 6\u00a0even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you\u2014 7\u00a0so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8\u00a0who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9\u00a0God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10\u00a0I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11\u00a0For it has been reported to me by Chloe\u2019s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12\u00a0What I mean is that each one of you says, \u201cI follow Paul,\u201d or \u201cI follow Apollos,\u201d or \u201cI follow Cephas,\u201d or \u201cI follow Christ.\u201d 13\u00a0Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14\u00a0I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15\u00a0so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16\u00a0(I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17\u00a0For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
18\u00a0For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19\u00a0For it is written, <\/p>