Humility

1 Corinthians 12:4-11

“4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.”

God gives all believers gifts of the Spirit.  There are a variety of gifts and Paul listed a few, such as knowledge, wisdom, healing, prophecy, discernment, and speaking in tongues.  Some members of the Corinthian church believed that the more visible spiritual gifts (like tongues and teaching) were greater gifts than gifts that were not so visible and public (like discernment and wisdom).

The Corinthians were so prideful that instead of being thankful, they assigned a rank to the gifts of God.

Paul informed the Corinthians that all gifts were given and activated by the same Spirit for the glory of God and good of the community and the world.  No gift was to be frowned upon or looked down upon.  

All gifts of God are holy and sacred, given to us not as we deserve them… but as the sovereign God chooses.

“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself or herself more highly than he or she ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” (Romans 12:3-8)

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Living Our Faith

1 Corinthians 12:1-3

“1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.”

Jews who were cursing Jesus and calling him a criminal also claimed to be speaking by the spirit of God.  This worried the Christian Jews of Corinth.  How could the same spirit that indwells Christians curse Jesus Christ?

Paul’s reply was that no one who is truly speaking by the spirit of God will ever curse Christ, the Son of God.  Likewise, only those indwelled by the Holy Spirit can truthfully and sincerely say that Jesus is their Lord.  Others may lie and say that Jesus is their Lord, but only those who, because of their faith were given God’s Holy Spirit, can honestly say this.

Simply put, a person of faith will live their faith…

and their lives and words will tell us all we need to know.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Reverence

1 Corinthians 11: 21-22

“20 When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. 21 For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk. 22 What! Do you not have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you!”

In the early Church, Christians would come together for a meal called a “Love Feast” as well as the Lord’s supper.  Apparently, in the Corinthian church, the Love feast had become corrupted and changed in such a way that it was taking precedence over the and in some cases taking the place of the Lord’s supper.

The wealthy members of the church would bring elaborate meals and wine, while the poor members came with less or nothing to eat.  Instead of sharing their meal as a proper Love Feast dictated, the wealthy would sit among themselves and eat their meal and drink their wine while the poorer members went hungry.  In some cases, some people over indulged in wine and became drunk.

The Love Feast, in which there should have been sharing and unselfishness, which should have been a preparatory ritual leading into the Lord’s supper, had become a selfish, drunken meal of overindulgence.  

How do we approach our rituals and sacraments today?  Do we remember their purpose and significance?

Do we participate with humility and reverence? 

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Glorify God in All That We Do

1 Corinthians 10:31-33

“31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, so that they may be saved.”

There was a great and complicated discussion among the Corinthians about what they, as new Christians, should eat or drink, and how they should live.  Paul revealed to them that Christians had great freedom in their lives, compared to the Jews, because of Christ, but this freedom should not be abused.  They should live so that God is glorified in every aspect of their lives.  

We think we are living lives that are godly.  We do not hurt people, we do not drink to excess or harm our bodies with drugs or cigarettes.  We do not say bad words.   And we often wonder if this pleases God.

But the real question we should be asking is are we living in such a way that our actions and words give glory to God?  Do our lives reflect God’s love, mercy, kindness and forgiveness?  Does the light of  our lives shine forth in the darkness for others to find their way?  Is our fellowship welcoming to all?  Do we see other people, especially the least, the last and the lost as children of God and worthy of  God’s love?  Do we seek opportunities to serve others?  Do we find ways and words to encourage and build others up?

In our lives we are constantly seeking pleasure, material gain, or status. But Paul says we should shift the focus from ourselves, and glorify God….in all that we do.

“I glorified you on the earth, by finishing the work which you gave me to do.” (John 17:4)

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

The Foundation

1 Corinthians 3:10-15

“10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. 14 If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.”

In Corinth, Paul had laid the foundation of the Corinthian church by giving them Christ.  The life and teachings of Christ were the solid rock on which the people who came after him were to build upon this foundation.

The builders, Paul warned, must be careful how they build.  If they built with eternal materials, it would survive whatever the world threw at it.  If they built with flimsy, temporary materials, then the world would destroy it.

The life and teachings of Christ are the foundation of our church.  Christ taught love of God over love of worldly and material things, love of neighbor over hate, mercy and kindness over retribution, forgiveness over revenge, humility over pride, compassion over apathy, sacrifice over worldly gain, and servant leadership over authoritarianism. 

This is our foundation.  It is eternal and will not be destroyed.

What have we built upon it?    Have we used eternal materials?

Will it withstand the fire?

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

The Solid Food of the Spirit

1 Corinthians 3:1-3

“1 And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?”

Paul wrote that the Christians of the Corinthian Church were like babies.  Despite having been Christians for some time, they had not matured in their faith.  

They have had the opportunity, offered by the Holy Spirit, to grow, but because of their pettiness and unwillingness to let go of their grudges and jealousies they had quenched the power of the Spirit in their lives.  They behaved as if they did not have the Spirit of God at all.

When they were saved, Paul had taught them the basics of the Christian faith.  This “milk” as Paul called it, was meant to inspire them to grow and mature; to hunger and thirst for God; to pursue righteousness.  Instead, they chose to remain as children, pursuing old quarrels and jealousies.

God’s Holy Spirit is given to us so that we may grow in our faith; so that we can become a new creation in God; so that our lives may reflect the fruits of the spirit.

When we get bogged down in worldly things such as divisiveness and quarrels, we quench the Holy Spirit’s work in us.

Do we need more “milk” or are we hungering for the solid food of the Spirit?

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

The Gifts of the Spirit

1 Corinthians 2:14-15

“14 Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.”

The fruits of the spirit are reserved for those who are indwelled by the Spirit.  A person who is not a believer may say they have love, joy, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, but they do not know these things in the way that Christians know them because they are not given to them in the way the Holy Spirit gives them to Christians.

When, for example, love and joy are accompanied by the presence and knowledge of God, they are very different from the love and joy that the world gives a person.

The love and forgiveness of God are reflected in every aspect of a believer's life and transforms the believer into a new creation.  Only the love of God can lift us and transform us into people who live their lives based on the teachings of Christ. 

It is as a transformed people that we know the fruits of the spirit.  

Our love is the love of God.  

Our joy is the joy of God.

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:18)

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)