Tag: christianity

Questions About Sex (1 Corinthians 7:1-9)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

Now regarding the questions you asked in your letter. Yes, it is good to abstain from sexual relations. But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband.

The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife.

Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. But I wish everyone were single, just as I am. Yet each person has a special gift from God, of one kind or another.

So I say to those who aren’t married and to widows—it’s better to stay unmarried, just as I am. But if they can’t control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It’s better to marry than to burn with lust. (New Living Translation)

After getting into several issues of interpersonal relations within the church, the Apostle Paul turned his attention to matters the Corinthian congregation had questions about. Primary among them were issues of sex and marriage.

Within an ancient port city that was rife with all sorts of sexual practices and immorality, it was inevitable that the Corinthian Christians would wonder about the nature of sex and the marital relationship. Is it okay to have sex? Is sex good? What’s sex supposed to be like in marriage? How am I to treat my spouse when it comes to sex?

It seems every culture in every era has plenty of questions about sex and marriage.

The Apostle’s answer to the Corinthian believers is that sex is a good thing, that is, within a proper context. Sex is similar to fire. They’re both good, but they both have an incredible potential for destruction if there are not some solid boundaries and limits to them.

And that’s where marriage comes in and has a significant role for us as sexual beings. Marriage is also a good thing; it’s good to have a marital partner to share life with and to consummate a loving relationship with the intimacy of sex.

Our sexual drives are strong. After all, we were created with both the desire and the bodily equipment for sex. And marriage is a sacred institution which is strong enough to provide those boundaries and limits that we need to enjoy sex without harming others and ourselves.

In a world full of all manner of sexual deviancy and disorder that destroys many people, the marriage relationship is, ideally, a safe place for sexual expression and enjoyment.

For that good to happen, it is most necessary for the marriage bed to be a place of mutual love, of equal acceptance and sharing. Sex always turns bad when it is forced or coerced. It must be an agreed upon activity, or it moves into the place of covetousness, greed, and selfishness.

Again, ideally, marital relations are an opportunity for the marriage partners to think about and satisfy one another. In other words, the best sex happens when each partner considers what is best for the other.

The marriage bed is not the place to insist on your way. Rather, marriage, at its heart, is a deliberate and volitional decision to serve the other person – whether in bed, or out of bed.

It’s not uncommon for individuals who come to Christ out of a culture awash in unhealthy sexual practices to question if sex is good, or not; and whether one ought to abstain from sex, even if already married.

The Apostle Paul’s counsel is that abstinence from sex between two married partners is good – but only for an agreed upon period of time, and only for the purpose of prayer and fasting. In other words, if and when a couple agrees to forego sex for a time, spiritual practices must replace sexual practice. Without a clear plan, married couples can cause one another more harm than good.

Always know when to come back together again. That’s because our old adversary, Satan, is far too crafty in arranging temptations to derail us from the good gift of sex, and the good institution of marriage.

Paul made it clear that he was not pronouncing some ex cathedra instruction concerning abstinence for couples; he was only answering a question and providing some helpful counsel in order to maintain legitimate relations with each other. Nobody is under obligation to abstain, let alone be celibate.

However, the Apostle, an unmarried and celibate person himself, wanted to point out that there are advantages to the celibate life. I must say, I cannot disagree with Paul’s observation that life is whole lot simpler being single than married!

Yet, Paul also understood that the celibate single life is not for everyone. He gave the sage teaching that both marriage and celibacy are gifts from God. One is not necessarily better than the other.

Unmarried persons are not in a lesser class of people simply because they are single. And if they have the ability to manage their desires and emotions when it comes to sex and relationships, then Paul would say, more power to them. There is no need to be married, just to be married.

Conversely, however, there is certainly no need to be single and celibate, as if this were some superior spiritual situation. Believing that singleness is necessary for spiritual commitment, or mandating that an entire group of people must be single and celibate in order to serve Christ, is completely foreign to the Apostle Paul’s line of thinking.

Any single person who discovers they are swimming in sea of sexual desire ought to marry, rather than be frustrated and struggle with self-control. Imposing unnecessary suffering on oneself is not at all spiritual or preferable – it’s masochistic, and helps no one.

The reality of married and non-married relationships is that they both have their advantages and their disadvantages. Both marriage and singleness are good. Both sex and celibacy are gifts to receive with gladness and joy.

So, make sure to unpack your gift well.

Holy God, in the midst of our sexualized world of insanity and disordered loves, I ask for your mercy and grace to be pure and holy, just as You are holy. Enable us all to live into healthy forms of sexual relations, without succumbing to the sexual immorality all around us.

Almighty God, I thank you for the gift of sex and marriage, as well as the gift of singleness and celibacy. May Your healing love meet us in our sexual brokenness, and Your compassion overflow to the sexually oppressed.

Blessed God, I am grateful for Your blessing upon us, for never shaming nor humiliating us, but making us pure and holy in Jesus Christ our Lord, through the enablement of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

You Live For Whatever You Love (Luke 16:14-18)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year B1 Comment

The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.

“The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. (New International Version)

No one can serve two masters. Everyone is committed to something, based upon who or what they are truly serving. Everybody has a master which informs them of ultimate values in life.

In other words, we live for what or whom we love.

Money

The Gospel writer Luke flatly and unequivocally mentioned the Pharisees as loving money. They lived for it. Money was their ultimate value.

With money as master, God is not.

If one’s thoughts, desires, and motives are fueled by Master Money, then that person can say they love and serve God, but they would be lying through their teeth.

If one’s activities are dominated by investments, buying and selling, and conversations with financial planners, then it isn’t God to whom they are praying; Mammon is their God.

The servants of Master Money may attempt to justify themselves, and rationalize their service to Mammon. They might talk about how much they give to charitable organizations, support their local church with monetary gifts, and underwrite a community building project. Yet, the real muster of benevolence is to whom all the money is truly being directed.

Money itself is not the problem; it’s the love of money that’s the issue (1 Timothy 6:10). Such a love of money had taken root into the Pharisee’s heart. They were offended by the words of Jesus, who exposed their true master.

Kingdom

The religious leaders claimed to be all about the Mosaic Law – which is why Jesus addressed this. In Christ’s view, the law and the prophets were until John the Baptist. John’s ministry caused a kerfuffle, because he was the forerunner of Messiah. He pointed to Jesus as the hoped for Savior.

The kingdom of God was at hand. But the religious establishment was too rooted in money as their ultimate deliverer.

Jesus is the Son over God’s house, and the Ruler of God’s empire. Christ is the kingdom. Since the time of John, the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is pressing into it.

Multitudes of people flocked and followed Jesus in his earthly ministry. They listened to him talk of God’s kingdom being near. They seized hold of it, striving and pressing to get in.

There were folks who dropped everything, gave up everything, and forsook everything, just to pursue the kingdom of God. Their press toward the kingdom was a reflection of their values. And money had nothing to do with it.

Those who are Christians, in name only, may know something of Jesus and might talk a good line of theology, but they are far from the kingdom of God. They talk, but they don’t press. Someone who presses cries out with the psalmist:

How lovely is your dwelling place,
    Lord Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints,
    for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
    for the living God. (Psalm 84:1-2, NIV)

Someone who presses is ready and willing to do some heavy spiritual lifting. They’ll put in the time and the effort toward the kingdom of God. It’s Jesus they think about, not money.

Law

Believers and followers of Jesus are concerned for what God cares about. And Jesus was concerned about Holy Scripture. He intended on keeping every jot and tittle of the Torah, the Law.

Although we have many differing interpretations of varying passages in the Bible, Jesus is still concerned for the fulfillment of all God’s good promises. Our own angst about upholding the Bible isn’t shared by Christ. Our arguments and divisions don’t sway Jesus into our anxiety.

Christ knows that every word of God shall not fail. It would be easier for the world to spontaneously blow up than for any one word of God to fall away unfulfilled. Money and stuff will pass away, but not God’s Word.

The basic moral and ethical will and law of God hasn’t gone anywhere. Just because the Ten Commandments are not posted publicly anywhere, doesn’t mean they have disappeared.

God’s holy law is like a mirror in front of us, showing us how we are to judge ourselves. The Apostle Paul likened the law to a schoolmaster that drives us to Christ (Galatians 3:24-27).

Furthermore, the law acts as a restraint to evil in the world. It has the value of revealing to us what is not pleasing to God. And if I am pressing into the kingdom of God, I want to know what God loves and hates.

The Pharisees were supposedly the experts in God’s law. Some folks are quite hard on the Pharisees. Yet, rather than bashing on them as a group of people, we need to let the law be our own mirror; we must be concerned with our own righteousness, or lack thereof.

It’s easy for us, along with the old Pharisees, to be legalists – adding principles and traditions to the law that are not the law itself. Holding to these traditions can become as important, or more, as the actual law. They can end up becoming the standard we judge everything by, instead of the actual law, as it is.

Divorce

The morass of traditions surrounding the law is what Jesus was referring to in speaking about divorce. Christ had no use for a husband who could divorce his wife for various incidents, including not being pretty anymore, breaking a dish, or burning the toast.

All of that rigmarole was why Jesus came back to affirming the sanctity of marriage. He pointed out that divorce under conditions of tradition, not law, were tantamount to adultery. Christ was thinking of women’s rights.

In a society in which women were dependent upon men for having their needs met, Jesus did not want women to experience injustice from men. In God’s economy, men are neither free to do whatever they want with women, nor with marriage. Their money needs to be used for wife and family, and not in cleverly contrived ways to get around the law.

We live for what we love. If someone loves money, it will not end well for them. If someone loves God and doing God’s will, then there is life and peace.

Let’s just make sure that we are truly doing God’s will, and not our own secret or unconscious intentions. Because no one can serve two masters.

Blessed God, help me to do Your revealed will fully, gladly, and immediately; and to love You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Enable us all to love our neighbors as ourselves; and to seek the good of people from everywhere. Save us from being unhappy Christians. Deliver us from the sinful habit of complaint. May we rejoice in You, be constant in prayer, and give thanks in all circumstances; through Jesus Christ our Lord, in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

True Greatness (Mark 9:30-37)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

Then they came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 

He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them, and taking it in his arms he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” (New Revised Standard Version)

In the Gospel of Mark, especially, there is an inexorable movement toward the Cross. It’s as if Jesus gets right down to it, and has a clarity of purpose and thought toward the future which shaped his words and actions in the present.

Today’s Gospel lesson has Jesus being forthright about what’s really important. Christ predicted his resurrection; chastised his disciples for their petty arguing; and lifted up a child as the model for what Christian discipleship truly looks like.

Even though Jesus was talking to his disciples about things that matter, things which they needed to wrap their heads and hearts around, they were afraid to ask him about it. Just so you know, that’s not healthy.

Sometimes Christ’s disciples were tight-lipped about things they ought to be asking about and openly discussing; and flapping their tongues about things they should have kept to themselves.

The motley crew of disciples were afraid to ask Jesus about his own words on his own death; and yet, they had no problem freely voicing and asking about who’s the greatest disciple amongst them. *Sigh*

The text doesn’t tell us why the disciples were afraid to ask and talk. But if they were anything like us today, it’s likely they were concerned about looking stupid or not in the know.

The disciples didn’t understand Christ’s words, but wanted to look like they understood just fine. After all, they may have reasoned, why risk getting ribbed or made fun of? Why risk the disappointment of Jesus concerning my cluelessness?

Typically, our internal fears about how we look to others is often greater than our desire to understand and know the truth.

We choose the shame of ignorance and hide-out deep within the soul’s secret lounge, where it’s dark, musty, and smells of inexpensive wine and cheap cigars. The longer we dwell in that poorly lit basement lounge, the harder it is to walk out and up the stairs to the light of grace, freedom, and understanding.

Jesus isn’t like whatever relative who hurt you with their calloused words and flippant attitude about your feelings, hopes, or desires.

Christ isn’t the teacher who ridiculed you in front of the whole class. That’s because Jesus Christ has the class to be gracious when we come out and admit what’s really going on within us.

I suspect Jesus was hard on his disciples because they should have known better than to be afraid in his presence. It demonstrated a profound lack of faith and trust.

Inevitably, whenever we opt to remain in the shame lounge of our soul, we then begin considering how to take the offensive in order to demonstrate our greatness and worthiness. And usually, there’s no better way than to do that than have a competition, and size up one another.

If Jesus could just affirm this competitive game and judge me as the best, we reason within the emptiness of our inner shame lounge, then I’ll forever be able to hide under that ratty old blanket of shame, and feel safe in this smelly place.

Prayer is really nothing more than addressing God and talking to the Lord. Oftentimes, the lack of consistent daily prayer is a telltale sign of being afraid to ask for help, clarification, or anything of substance, at all.

When we don’t pray, foolishness and bad decisions are close behind. Spiritual growth is then absent. Spiritual maturity is non-existent. And worldly tactics fill the spiritual vacuum.

Rather than being open about their questions concerning Christ’s words, the disciples’ fear led them to wonder how they stood with Jesus. In order to feel secure through one’s own efforts, we easily harbor resentment toward each other, and compete with one another to gain Christ’s approval.

Worry and anxiety, when coddled for too long, brings out an inordinate focus on one’s reputation with others; and a concern to look better in front of other people than one actually feels on the inside.

But Jesus is not one to play favorites, or to play childish games of posturing for attention. That’s because the way to greatness is not through impressing Jesus, or by being the Rabbi’s pet, but through focusing outward on something other than oneself.

It turns out that true greatness lies in humbly welcoming all – especially the ones who are the least, lost, and lonely, on the fringes of society.

We are to welcome the children, who are on the bottom rung, who need the help and assistance of others, as Christ did. We are to value them as fellow humans who are worthy of our time, attention, and effort.

Jesus did it for us. He showed us that the true measure of greatness is through humility and willingly loving others to incredibly great degrees. His disciples can and must do no less.

O God, our teacher and guide, you draw us to yourself and welcome us as beloved children. Help us to lay aside our envy and selfish ambition, so that we may walk in your ways of wisdom and understanding as servants of your peace. Amen.

Spiritual Wisdom and Power (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
By Bible Art

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the testimony of God to you with superior speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were made not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God. (New Revised Standard Version)

When it comes to proclaiming the gospel – the good news of Christ’s person and work – both the message and the messenger are important.

The Apostle Paul was dialed in and focused on the Cross of Jesus Christ. Although he could have used various methods of persuasion, he was determined to set aside all other means of proclamation, and declare Christ’s Cross as the message and method itself.

This means that Paul also deliberately faded himself into the background, in order to have the Cross of Christ in the foreground. He emphasized his own weakness, his fear and trembling, in order to highlight the strength and majesty of God.

Paul wanted the messenger to point to the message – which meant that all of his speaking allowed God’s Spirit and power to show itself through him, rather than in spite of him.

The Corinthians came to believe the message not because of a big showy demonstration of Paul’s strength, intellect, and wisdom. Instead, they embraced Christian belief because of spiritual power and effort.

If it is spiritual wisdom and power centered in the message of Christ’s Cross which saves us, then it is also more than good enough to sanctify us, as well, and be the core from which all of the Christian life emanates from.

The Apostle understood that he is God’s agent, God’s ambassador, but that God alone is the One who saves humanity and delivers them from sin, death, and hell.

Christ Carrying the Cross, by Martin Schongauer, c. 1480 C.E.

Paul’s argument doesn’t have anything to do with making sure that the word “cross” is said in every sermon and conversation, or that Christians have only one thing to talk about.

Instead, the Apostle wanted the Corinthian Church to distance themselves from their typical of use of worldly philosophical wisdom, in favor of a distinctly spiritual wisdom which demands a certain kind of ministry:

The cross of Jesus Christ is to be the central event in which all of Christian life and ministry revolves around. In other words, the shape of Christianity is cruciform.

And since the cruciform nature of Christianity is our reality, our wisdom is to be received and flow from the Cross of Christ. To do less is to rely upon a different power other than the distinctive spiritual power of Christ’s death.

It isn’t any one of us which breaks through to another’s spirit; the power of God compels a person to listen, receive the message, and be given faith to believe, grow, and spiritually mature.

When the good news of Christ’s person and work takes root and develops within us, then what comes out of us is spiritual power, and not our own homespun worldly human wisdom.

“Wisdom” is the ability to take a body of knowledge and apply it to concrete situations in life.

So, when it comes to spiritual wisdom, Christians mature in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus; then, they learn to take this important body of knowledge and apply it to all of the various circumstances and situations they are faced with every day.

This isn’t to say that worldly wisdom has no merit or significance, or that it is misguided. Rather, it means that this sort of wisdom doesn’t have the ability, the strength, or the power to move and change us, or others, toward deliverance and new life. We need the wisdom of the Spirit for that. And Paul insisted that this wisdom comes from the Cross of Christ.

The crucifixion of Christ is the wise guide for all of the Apostle Paul’s theology, message, and ministry. That singular event was like a massive meteor hitting the ocean of humanity, with a powerful tsunami of spiritual power and grace still making waves up to this very day.

Indeed, the Cross of Christ impacts all of creation, the entire universe. The person and work of Jesus Christ has cosmic implications for the salvation and deliverance of everything from the grip of evil.

On the practical daily level of things, none of this is about trying to do or be better, to somehow work harder at being a Christian or doing Christian mission and ministry. The fact of the matter is that we can only give to others what we have received from God. This means that:

  • The Holy Scriptures are to be received with reverence and fear, as a message given for us to learn and know so well that it becomes as familiar to you as the backdoor of your house.
  • The Christian life is about dying to self, taking up one’s cross and following Christ. If we desire the power of the resurrection, then this will first require embracing and allowing the powerful suffering of the cross to do its work.
  • Faithfulness is at the heart of living. Our task is to show up, pay attention, and speak the truth in love, and let God use this to accomplish the Divine holy will. Being married to outcomes and consequences will likely lead to reliance upon worldly wisdom, and eventually disappointment.
  • The Cross of Christ is what everything and everyone hinges upon. The world does not revolve around you nor me. So, let’s get in sync with the Spirit of God and rely upon the cruciform power provided for us by means of Christ’s death.

O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; who lives and reigns now and forever. Amen.