No Class (1 Corinthians 11:17-22)

In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.

In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.

So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk.

Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter! (New International Version)

The memory of the Last Supper with Jesus and his disciples is one that has significantly shaped church history. In the earliest church, we see from the Apostle Paul how impactful table fellowship was for the believers.

Paul received the words of faith, and passed them on to the churches he established, including the church at Corinth. The Apostle faithfully engaged in handing down a tradition which Christians practice all over the world, even today.

The Corinthian Church had devolved into a bunch of divided special interest groups. They were in great need of unity in order to reflect being the one Body of Christ. The divisions fractured their worship, especially their communion with one another.

The Christians in Corinth were gathering for a shared meal, but not really for communion with each other and their Lord. There was no true interaction and fellowship that was happening.

The church’s divisions were such that the groups had no intention of meaningfully interacting with one another. In other words, the church culture was so fragmented and polarized that the Apostle Paul had enough of their disunity, and addressed it head on in his letter.

One of the significant situations was the class differences amongst the believers. The wealthy members of the congregation were given to a lot of leisure time with a good deal of discretionary money. They would often come together, well before the working class and the day laborers could show up to eat.

The richer parishioners feasted amongst themselves. By the time others arrived, many of them either had very little, or went without altogether. For Paul, this was a travesty of the communion meal, which was supposed to signify the unity of believers and the sacrifice of Christ for all.

The Apostle clearly understood that the poor were being humiliated and treated as second class citizens in the church. So, Paul condemned this situation of division, and the inequitable treatment of the less privileged.

The rich people were therefore instructed to eat and drink privately in their own homes, so that the wealthy would not come and scarf all the food, making a mockery of the sacrament.

The shared meal was to remind them of Christ, and was not a time for petty and ostentatious selfishness. Jesus gave his life for all. All believers – whether rich or poor – are to remember both the corporeal body of Jesus, and the corporate body of believers, so that every Christian may overcome ungodly divisions and live into the unity provided through the cross of Christ.

What the Corinthians were doing was not the Lord’s Supper. The believers’ conduct and character eviscerated it’s true purpose and meaning, and made it something else altogether.

*Celebration, by John August Swanson (1938-2021)*

If the church was to celebrate at the Table, then they needed to listen to what the Lord told Paul about it. Christians coming together for fellowship, eating, and remembering the Lord is not a collection of individual believers doing their own thing. It is a collective meal, meant to emphasize their unity with Christ and one another.

Unlike a contemporary church potluck, the Corinthians brought their own food to eat without sharing. Thus, the rich were eating caviar and crème brûlée, whereas the poor chewed on a peanut butter sandwich with no jelly, and stale potato chips.

On one side of the room there was a group of well-to-do people gorging themselves on a feast, while on the other side of the room the less fortunate folks just tried to eat their meager rations.

The have’s and the have-not’s were splitting the church in ways that made it no different from the wider pagan culture. And Paul would have none of it. The Apostle’s train of thought and Christian convictions on this were clearly spelled out just a few verses earlier in his letter:

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God—even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. (1 Corinthians 10:31-33, NIV)

We are all to ensure that our meetings together are helpful, life-giving, and promote the common good of everyone. Anything less than this is simply unchristian.

Almighty God our heavenly Father, you declare your glory and show forth your handiwork in the heavens and in the earth: Deliver us in our various occupations from the service of self alone, that we may do the work you give us to do in truth and beauty and for the common good; for the sake of him who came among us as one who serves, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Keep On Praying For What’s Important (Romans 15:22-33)

On July 30, 2024July 1, 2024 By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.

But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.

Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there. For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.

So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.

I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there, so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed. The God of peace be with you all. Amen. (New International Version)

Paul’s Intentions

It always had been the Apostle Paul’s intention to preach Christ in places where the name of Jesus was not known. He wanted all people everywhere to hear the good news of grace, forgiveness, and new life in Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of all God’s good promises.

Paul wrote a rather complicated historical and theological letter to the Roman Church. He specifically addressed their situation of both Jew and Gentile Christians worshiping together in one church. They were often divided and critical of one another.

Throughout his letter, the Apostle provided a solid apologetic for staying together on clear biblical and theological grounds. Paul also wanted them to work side-by-side in practical matters of ministry, which would help them learn to appreciate each other.

So, Paul intended on visiting them – hopefully sooner than later – to encourage them in the faith, and as a stop on the way to Spain. He longed to get to the farthest geographic point of the continent and make Christ known.

To that end, Paul made a concluding personal statement and emotional appeal to the entire Roman Church – Jew and Gentile alike – for their abiding prayerful support of his ministry and intentions.

Paul’s Prayer

For Paul, and from a New Testament perspective, prayer is the most necessary activity a believer can do. Prayer connects the divine and the human in meaningful dialogue, as well as connecting people to each other in a common purpose of seeking the Lord and knowing Christ.

The Apostle practiced what he preached. Paul continually prayed for the Roman Church and wrestled in prayer for all the believers. (Romans 1:9-12)

He specifically asked the believers to pray that he be rescued from unbelievers; and that his ministry in Jerusalem might be good and acceptable to the believers in that place. Paul took great pains to gather a collection throughout many of the churches he established, so that he could bless the needy persons in Judea.

Paul’s Longing

The Apostle Paul constantly sought and worked toward solidarity between the Christian Jews and converted Christian Gentiles. They were ancient enemies, and at the time of Paul’s writing the Roman Empire and their occupation created even more animosity between the two groups of people.

Paul longed for the world to see an alternative to such enmity. The Church is to be the one place on earth where there are no walls, no separations, no divisions. The Body of Christ is to be a place of unity, mutual encouragement, and sincere love for one another, without prejudice or favoritism.

Unity and the ability to work together in a shared purpose of gospel proclamation was a high value to the Apostle Paul. That’s because it was important to Jesus.

Christ’s Prayer of Unity

My hope is that Christians will never lose sight of their Lord’s high priestly prayer, as recorded by the Apostle John:

“Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one…My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:11, 20-23, NIV)

If this is the heartbeat of Jesus, then I submit that Christians everywhere ought to also pray this prayer, and work toward that which is important to Christ himself.

I am also keeping in mind that there is nothing automatic about prayer. Paul did not get all of his prayers answered the way he wanted. In fact, so far, neither has Jesus. Two-thousand years later, we are living in a fragmented and polarized world more than ever, even in Christianity between all sorts of different Christian traditions.

On the one hand, we can and ought to bemoan the situation of disunity and even outright animosity between people who confess the name of Christ. This needs to impel us forward by embracing the values of both Jesus and Paul.

On the other hand, there is reason to hope, knowing that the good news can and is making a difference throughout the world. We can be encouraged to keep on praying and to continue persevering in prayer.

The Apostle Paul envisioned a new society in which old enemies would become friends and co-workers around building a community of persons who are redeemed by Jesus and seek to live into his words and ways.

May it be so, to the glory of God. Amen.

Developing the Skill of Wisdom (Colossians 1:9-14)

On July 25, 2024June 27, 2024 By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (New International Version)

When I was younger, I played a lot of ping-pong. And I got good at it. In fact, during a several months stretch, back-in-the-day, I had a record of 156-2. Not bad.

That kind of record was only possible because of the two reasons that make any skill an accomplishment:

Knowledge. I learned the game of ping-pong and eventually knew it inside and out.
Experience. I practiced for hundreds, if not thousands, of hours in developing my technique.

The sort of knowledge that Paul was talking about was more than information and intellectual understanding; he used a specific word (in the Greek language – ἐπιγινώσκω, pronounced “EPee-gi-NOS-ko) which refers to knowledge gained by experience.

In English, we need to put two words together in order to communicate Paul’s concept: experiential knowledge – an understanding which is gained by continual repetition and practice until there is proficiency.

There are just some things that can only be learned and integrated into life through constant use and development over time. And this is precisely how a person becomes mature in life:

Growth + Time = Maturity.

And with maturity comes the wisdom to live life as it meant to be lived. This means that wisdom doesn’t come overnight or quickly; to be wise requires a great deal of learning, effort, experience, and time.

The wisdom and understanding Paul refers to is not some sort of secret information which has to be accessed through careful initiation into a group of people who have the inside knowledge. No, this is wisdom which can be gained by anyone who embraces a life of faith and spiritual discipline.

The highest form of knowledge for the Apostle Paul is knowing God in Christ.

This sort of knowledge is an understanding of salvation, and experiencing deliverance from guilt, shame, and the false self. Such knowledge is evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit in living a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

From the outside of Christianity looking in, it may appear that this is all a grand achievement of the human will. But it isn’t. On the inside, the Christian life is thoroughly a work of God’s glorious power, bringing new life, and effecting spiritual growth and maturity into a wise and good way of life.

We did not deliver ourselves. God did. The Lord transferred our membership from the realm of darkness to the empire of light. Christians are simply people who have been redeemed by God in Christ. Our liberation is because of God’s gracious forgiveness of sins.

Forgiveness, however, is not the end game. Forgiveness frees us to pursue the spiritual life without guilt and shame hindering us and weighing us down all the time. Forgiveness opens us to the possibilities of positive and life-giving relational connections with God and other people.

In our relationship with God, prayer becomes the conduit of divine/human conversation. That connection, in the past, had blockage because of our unhealthy lifestyles. But it is now unobstructed because of God’s gracious intervention by Jesus, in the Spirit.

So, when it comes to our interactions in prayer, there’s no need to invent a new game; we just need to learn the one we’ve got, and put in the hours of work necessary to become accomplished at it.

Today’s New Testament lesson is a prayer from the Apostle Paul to the Colossian Church. His prayer for them was singular: To have wise minds and spirits, that is, to have knowledge of God – an understanding of who God is and how God operates.

To learn divine ways is to acquire the skill of wisdom.

Paul prayed for a reason: so that we might live our lives in a way which pleases God and enables us to sustain a lifetime of spiritual growth.

As people created in God’s image and likeness, we are hard-wired with a spirit which needs strengthening and exercise. That happens as we put in the constant repetitions of connecting with the divine and putting in the time on our knees – praying daily for ourselves and others to mature in faith so that we might all together act wisely and justly in this world, for the life of the world.

A good place to start is to use Paul’s prayer as our own. Never has there been such a need than now for us to know how to apply wisdom in the places and in the circumstances we’ve never been in before.

For wisdom to happen, we must grow in our knowledge by putting in the hours of prayer.

The skill of wisdom doesn’t magically happen. Wisdom is the culmination of acquired understanding; a lot of practice exercising love in the places where love is not; and engaging in a lifetime project of becoming knowledgeable through constant learning, struggling, and growing.

Direct me, O Lord, in all my doings with your most gracious will and wisdom. Further in me your continual help – that in all my work and in all I do and say, I may glorify your holy name; and, by your mercy, obtain the life that is truly life; through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.

Effective Communication (Acts 17:16-31)

On July 19, 2024June 19, 2024 By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

*St. Paul preaching at the Areopagus in Athens, by Kennedy A. Paizs*

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. He went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there.

He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said, “What’s this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he’s picked up?” Others said, “He seems to be preaching about some foreign gods.”

Then they took him to the high council of the city. “Come and tell us about this new teaching,” they said. “You are saying some rather strange things, and we want to know what it’s all about.” (It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.)

So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.

“He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.

“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.

“God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.” (New Living Translation)

The city of Athens was a major intellectual center in the ancient world. Ideas, philosophy, reason, rhetoric, and debate were standard fare amongst the citizens. At the time of the Apostle Paul’s arrival in the city, Greece knew next to nothing about Christianity.

Paul’s response to what he saw and felt in the city dictated what he did and said. And those words were wise and impactful for the people of Athens. The Apostle’s interaction with the philosophers was like a seminar in how to communicate with folks who believe and live very differently than ourselves.

Observation

Paul entered the city and made a simple observation: Athens is full of idols. Out of all the observations Paul could have made, this one would not likely be made by most people visiting the city. Athens was a glorious place with its unparalleled architecture. The Acropolis and the Agora were resplendent with the arts and democracy.

For all its physical beauty and brilliance, the one thing Paul homed-in on was the idols. This would have struck many folks as odd – something like focusing on the dog collar instead of the dog. Yet, Paul was using more than his physical eyes – his spiritual sight was making a big observation – that Athens was very much a religious place.

Feeling

The Apostle felt troubled and distressed. Paul was disturbed down deep in his gut with the spiritual state of this renowned city-state. The sheer volume of idols and the practice of idolatry did not sit well with him. He experienced feelings of pity mixed with anger.

Paul handled his emotions well. By freely acknowledging them, he was then able to choose his response. Had he not done so, it’s likely Paul might have gone on some frustrating tirade, thereby never truly connecting relationally with the people. There’s nothing wrong with being irritated or exasperated; it’s what we do with those feelings that’s important.

Need

Emotions, not thoughts, move us to act. Paul knew why he was feeling disturbed, and decided not to stuff those feelings. Instead, he stepped out and addressed the great need he was observing.

Paul decided to meet the Athenians on their turf and on their level by reasoning with them every day in the great buildings and open spaces of the city.

While in Athens, it seems that Paul, understandably, utilized the Socratic method of dialogue – involving questions and answers. It’s impressive that throughout the Acts of the Apostles, Paul demonstrated a deft ability to communicate and connect with a broad range of people.

Appeal

Paul wasn’t interacting and dialoging just for the fun of it; he wanted to make an appeal, a request for people to seriously consider the Christian good news of Jesus Christ’s resurrection as a viable philosophy of life. He made a widespread appeal to Jews, Greeks, and passers-by, as well as philosophers.

Since the massive intellect of Paul could handle any reasoned debate, he was invited to the Areopagus, which was the place where the best-of-the-best carried-on their discussions.

Paul’s address to them was incredibly cogent and well-reasoned – finding common ground from which to debate. While doing so, he maintained outward grace amidst his inward disturbance.

Conclusion

The late British exegete, John R.W. Stott, reflected on today’s New Testament lesson and gave us words which are still relevant for us in these contemporary times:

“Why is it that, in spite of the great needs and opportunities of our day, the church slumbers peacefully on, and that so many Christians are deaf to Christ’s commission, and dumb with tongues-tied in testimony? The major reason is this: We do not speak as Paul spoke because we do not feel as Paul felt. We have never had his indignation. Divine jealousy has not stirred within us. We constantly pray, ‘Hallowed be Thy Name,’ yet we do not seem to mean it… Paul saw people created in the image and likeness of God giving to idols the homage which was due to God alone… and he was deeply pained by it.”

May the good news of Jesus Christ be so pressed into our minds, hearts, and guts that what comes out of us is deep compassion, wise dialogue, and an effective ministry of communication with others. Amen.

Rev. Tim Ehrhardt

Tag: apostle paul