1 Corinthians
1 – 2
Verse 1:10 opens with a warning to Christians not to get
caught up in personalities:
My brothers and
sisters, I urge you by the name of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed, to come
together in agreement. Do not allow anything or anyone to create
division among you. Instead, be restored, completely fastened together with one
mind and shared judgment.
This is a hard line since there are many
great teachers and often we get into almost a cult following them. We need to
know that it’s about Jesus and not Billy Graham, Pat Robinson, Joel Osteen or
Creflo Dollar. In our own community here in Atlanta we have many huge churches
with awesome teachers. I know my church, 12 Stone, get accused of being a cult
since every campaign gets seen throughout the community. Another I recently
attended was Mars Hill in Portland. In both cases the teaching is awesome and
on point, but often I wonder do many get wrapped up in the “cult of
personality”?
Preachers have a tough job with this as their
church grows to make sure the people are following Jesus and not them. It’s
hard not to get wrapped up in the fame when you can fill an arena as I have
seen with Joyce Meyers. Suddenly people are wrapped up in your fame and less on
the teaching. For you personally, find good Bible teaching teachers and follow
Jesus first.
Verse 1:18 give you some understanding on
why people think we are nuts sometimes:
For people who are
stumbling toward ruin, the message of the cross is nothing but a tall tale for
fools by a fool. But for those of us who are already experiencing the reality
of being rescued and made right, it is nothing short of God’s power.
Honestly, the story is unbelievable when
you think about it. This thing we call God made everything, then focused on a
family that grew but was rebellious. It had murder, adultery, parting of large
bodies of water, healing of sick, raising of the dead and a homeless guy who
gets executed only to come back and save the world. If you don’t know God this
is a “tale for fools.” One thing that people have a hard time with is why not
today! Why is this kind of stuff not happening today? Maybe it is and like when
the people walked across dry ground in the Red Sea only to rebel shortly
thereafter.
If God didn’t realize that personal change
and experience is the way to man’s heart, not a grand spectacle, we would have
more people walking on water and parting the seas to prove to themselves over
and over that God is real. No this story becomes real when you realize it is and
can see past the science and live in the glory.
Verses 2:15 & 16 are ones I marked and
circled:
15 A
person who walks by the Spirit examines everything, sizing it up and seeking
out truth. But no one is able to examine or size up that kind of
spiritual person, 16 for the Scripture asks, “Does
anyone know the mind of the Lord well enough to become His advisor?” But we do
possess the mind of the Anointed One.
First thing is we need to have childlike
faith, so what does that mean? Think about what we are taught, that childlike
faith is not questioning anything concerning a story and just accepting it like
a child. But for those who have children we know what it looks like. Sure they
may accept something for a short time, but the litany of questions that follow
solidifies this verse. So ask, pray and keep asking. Don’t look at the pastor
as an orator, but rather a teacher who can answer questions. If something
stumps you keep asking.
Personally it took almost thirty years of
being a Christian to understand and accept the “trinity”. Up to that point I
assumed it was more to reconcile the fact we were not to worship any other God,
while we worshiped Jesus. So therefore Jesus had to be God or we would be in
violation of one of the 10 Commandments. I took the Bible as literal, where God
was Jesus’s father and they were two different beings. Well you’ll have to get
my book to understand how I reconciled it, but now I understand through Quantum
Mechanics that they are one in the same.
The other thing I note is verse 16 where we
don’t have the mind of God, but we do possess the one of Jesus. This again is
hard to reconcile with the trinity, but again we have the image of God or his
energy. The mind of Jesus is the soft quiet voice that leads us through each
day.
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