Compelled By Love - 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

"For Christ’s love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If One died for all, then all died. And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised.

There are two ways to live a holy life, two versions of sanctification.These verses describe the right way our sanctification should be manifested or lived out in our lives.

In one version, we try to find favor with God by being good. In the other version, we are good because we have received God's favor, His mercy, His love!

Yet, there is an important yet subtle distinction between these two versions of sanctification.

Evil Intentions - 2 Corinthians 2:11

"I have done this so that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan. For we are not ignorant of his schemes."
 
Prior to this verse the Apostle Paul had just admonished the Corinthians to forgive the person among them who had sinned and caused them pain (vs. 5).

Paul may have been referring to the man who was in a relationship with his father's wife in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 or an incident involving the the false apostles in 2 Corinthians 11:1-5.

In either case Paul explains that the discipline administered to the offender by the Corinthian church was punishment for his sin, but was also meant for restoration. They should "forgive and comfort" (vs. 7) and "reaffirm your love" (vs. 8) to the offender.

What Are You Doing With Your Immortality? - I Corinthians 15

"What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow--you are not sowing the future body, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain. But God gives it a body as He wants, and to each of the seeds its own body...For this corruptible must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal must be clothed with immortality...Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord's work, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain" (vs. 37,53-54,58).

Some in the Corinthian church were apparently denying the resurrection from the dead. The Apostle Paul argued that all they believe is in vain if there is no resurrection from the dead: "If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone" (vs. 19).

The Love Test, 2nd Edition - 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

(The following meditation is a re-posting of one of the more popular posts on this website, The Love Test. As I read I Corinthians 13 again this year, I think the original meditation warrants publishing again. However, I have posted it with some revisions based on the language used in the HCSB and as it specifically relates to the discussion of spiritual gifts presented in Chapters 12 and 14.)

I Corinthians 13 is known as the "Love Chapter" in which the Apostle Paul describes how love should be the primary influence or motivating factor for serving in the Church. It is embedded between Chapters 12 and 14 where Paul explained the different spiritual gifts God has given to the Church in order to unify and strengthen it.

Paul says that spiritual gifts are good for building and strengthening the Church, but love is a better way. Spiritual gifts will end some day but love and what one does from love are eternal, lasting forever (vs. 9).

What if Paul's description of love were made into an eligibility test for ministry to determine if our faith and our desire to serve God, the Church, and one another is motivated by love? Would you be qualified? Should you get the job?

It's a Wonderful Life - Judges 13:18-19

"'Why do you ask My name,' the Angel of the Lord asked him, 'since it is wonderful' ... and he did a wonderful thing while Manoah and his wife were watching."

Manoah and his wife were unable to conceive and had no children. But Manoah and his wife (we're never told her name) eventually became the parents of Samson through God's intervention into their lives.

One day the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said she would give birth to a son who would save Israel from the Philistines.

The woman told Manoah and he prayed for God to send His angel again to instruct them in what they should do for the boy who would be born to them.

A second time the angel appeared to Manoah's wife but this time she ran and got Manoah and they both had an encounter with this messenger from God.

Fallen - Judges 7:2

"The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many people for Me to hand the Midianites over to you, or else Israel might brag: ‘I did it myself.’"

Having proven to Gideon that He was present with him, God next demonstrated that His presence was all Gideon really needed to defeat the Midianites.

But, if an Israelite army of 32,000 won against the innumerable hordes of the Midianites, Israel might take credit for the victory.

To show that the victory was entirely His doing, God had Gideon reduce the size of his army dramatically to only 300 men!

God's Rule = God's Rules - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

"Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body."

In Chapters 5 and 6 of 1 Corinthians the Apostle Paul discusses specific immoralities that had been reported to him. The misconduct of the Corinthian church that Paul addresses in these chapters are sexual immorality and lawsuits against one another.

Paul concludes his verbal assault on the moral failures of the Corinthian church by emphasizing that not only should they have the mind of Christ (vs. 2:16), but they also must glorify God in their bodies because it is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit.

The Reluctant Warrior - Judges 6:11-12

"The Angel of the Lord came, and He sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the wine vat in order to hide it from the Midianites. Then the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: 'The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.'"

God sent His personal representative, the Angel of the Lord, to Gideon at Ophrah. Because He was the Angel of the Lord, He spoke with God's full authority.

Things were pretty bleak in Israel at this time. Whenever the Israelites planted crops, large bands of nomadic raiders would attack and plunder them leaving nothing for Israel to eat.

Because of the threat from the Midianites, Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine vat, a shallow depression in the rock. This was a safer location than the more exposed threshing floor.

The title given to Gideon by the angel--mighty warrior--is in sharp contrast to Gideon's reticence and overly cautious nature. Time and again Gideon required reassurance from God that he was the one called to accomplish God's will or that he was doing what God had called him to do.

The Faith Fight - Judges 3:1-2

"These are the nations the Lord left in order to test Israel, since the Israelites had fought none of these in any of the wars with Canaan. This was to teach the future generations of the Israelites how to fight in battle, especially those who had not fought before."

All the various nations that remained in the land of Canaan after the Israelite conquest were intended to serve as a test for God's people.

Verse 3 provides a list of these nations that seems to cover the whole promised land: the Philistines in the southwest, the Sidonians in the northwest, the Hivites in the northeast, and the Canaanites in the southeast. There was nowhere in the promised land that Israel's enemies weren't lurking!

God allowed these nations to remain in the land as a test to teach the Israelites two important matters: faithfulness (or obedience) and warfare.

You may think that seems like an odd combination, but the ancient Israelites (and today's Christians) couldn't learn one without learning the other.

The Good News and The Bad News - 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10

"This will take place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with His powerful angels, taking vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from His glorious strength in that day when He comes to be glorified by His saints and to be admired by all those who have believed, because our testimony among you was believed.

Today I have some good news and some bad news to tell you.

You probably already know the good news that we have salvation from God's wrath and reconciliation with God through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of God's Son, Jesus Christ.

Yes, that's the good news. So what's the bad news?

Unfortunately, the good news about Jesus includes some bad news, as the Apostle Paul shockingly describes in these verses.