1 Timothy 1:12-14

"I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."

Paul's letters to Timothy and Titus are well known for what they have to say about qualifications for spiritual office. There are entire lists detailing the type of person who might serve as an elder or a deacon. But here Paul sums up his qualifications with one word—faithful. God judged Paul to be faithful. But the basis of that judgment cannot be Paul's unblemished life of exemplary Christian service. Before the grace of God overflowed in faith in Paul's life, Paul was a passionate and deadly opponent of the gospel.

Perhaps God simply knew the type of man He would make Paul into. Regardless, God wants all His children to faithfully walk with Him. And it is in His strength that we can do this.

My prayer: Father, I need your strength. I know that in my own strength, I would know only failure and disappointment. I have known it before, and too often, returning to myself, I learn again that I need You. My God, I plead with you to strengthen me for faithful service—for a faithful life.

1 Corinthians 16:15-18

"Now I urge you, brothers—you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints— be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such men."

Biblical leadership looks very different from the corporate model. The top down structure of the business world elevates the leader to a position of superiority. And if he lords it over his underlings, that's just his right. But in the church, the business pyramid is flipped on its head. The leader is the servant of all. He is to lift those he leads up before the Lord.

Paul tells the Corinthians to subject themselves to their leaders. And yet, there seems to be no condemnation of Apollos for not doing what Paul wanted him to do. Believers are supposed to subject themselves to their leaders. But their leaders are not to demand submission.

What does the servant / servant-leader relationship look like then?

• There is no superiority or inferiority. No person's position, wealth, or influence make him better than any other person.
  
• Spiritual leaders are to lead by serving. And their service is very valuable both to other leaders and to the church at large.
• Believers are to voluntarily put themselves under the direction of their spiritual leadership. But they are not to blindly follow their leaders. Those under leadership are still responsible to think and make decisions for themselves, before God.

1 Corinthians 16:12-14

"Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity. Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love."

Paul had a strong opinion about what Apollos should be doing. He believed Apollos should go minister to the Corinthians. But Apollos wanted to continue ministering where he was. Knowing that the Corinthian believers were going to be without the benefit of Apollos' help, Paul urged them to stand firm in the faith and in love.

God gifts the church with preachers and teachers to lead His people toward a closer walk with Him. When a church is struggling, no man no matter how gifted, is the answer. But God can use a man to direct His people toward Himself. The pastor is to be directing God's people to follow him in watchfulness, to be firm in the faith, to be strong, and to act in love.

1 Corinthians 16:10-11

"When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers."

Timothy was to be put at ease by the Corinthians. The NASB translates the phrase "without cause to be afraid." I doubt that this was a fear for his life or safety. This is more like the apprehension you feel when visiting someone for the first time when you really want them to like you. Timothy, no doubt, wanted to start relationships that would be used to minister to the Corinthian believers. So Paul tells the Corinthians to recognize Timothy's desire to serve the Lord and to accept him and help him in that. Timothy was to be honored, not held in contempt.

As one often on the receiving end of this type of situation, I certainly find it easier to serve the Lord when people warmly welcome us. The cold barriers that people put up to protect themselves more often damage than protect.

1 Corinthians 16:5-9

"I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries."

I need to be content to say the same type of thing. Being a missionary, raising support, I have been asked from the beginning, "when do you plan to be there?" I've always hated that question. It's frustratingly difficult to give a difinitive answer. The question is asked in almost every church we visit and is a constant reminder of the uncertainty of our schedule. Usually I say we want to be in Romania by . . . or it will depend on . . .

I don't have to know when God will have us where in Romania. I will make plans and have intensions. But I must always remember that God has something for me everywhere He puts me, and He is to be trusted even if He doesn't follow my plan.

1 Corinthians 15:10-11

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed."

All the credit goes to God. If there is anything good that is done by the Christian, it is because of God’s work in his life. Even if you have done a lot, God is the one empowering you to do it.

Paul saw and did much. And yet Paul pointed the attention away from himself and toward God. God was the one who put the desire to minister in his heart, and God was the one that empowered him to act.

How then shall I live? I shall live like it all depends on God, for it does. I must depend on Him, and after He acts, I must praise Him.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,"

To the one who has not embraced the truth of the gospel, it must seem a very strange thing that someone’s death and the events following his death would be the object of so many people’s delight thousands of years later. Even more confusing must be the fact that the one who died is dearly loved by those who celebrate the events following His death.

How can I celebrate the fact that Jesus died when I love him? How can I celebrate his vicious torture, his cruel pitiless death, his being forsaken by the Father, his lifeless body being placed in a tomb to rot and turn to dust? I celebrate these things because they were not what they seemed to be at the time.

I celebrate his torture not because I delight in his suffering but because he suffered in my place. I celebrate His death because of what it accomplished—victory over death. I celebrate his being forsaken because it keeps me from ever being forsaken. And I celebrate His being place in a tomb to rot because He didn’t rot. He conquered death before His physical body saw any corruption.

The gospel—Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection—were taught by Paul to the Corinthians. And he taught in a way that reflected its importance. All of these other things that Paul addresses in this book are important, but they pale before the importance of the gospel itself.

This priority must be reflected in our own work and ministry too.

1 Corinthians 14:39-40

"So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order."

God has set up certain restrictions we must abide by when we exercise the gifts that He gives us. Prophecy (the proclamation of truth—not necessarily telling future events) more naturally lends itself building people up as long as it is done one by one. Therefore, we should “desire to prophesy.”

Tongues speaking, on the other hand, requires the presence of an interpreter for the church to benefit. Additionally, only two or three people can do it in a service. Scripture puts these guidelines on the gift, but they are ignored by most modern day, so-called tongues speakers. I can scripturally forbid that kind of tongues speaking.

But while I believe that the gift of tongues is not for today and while I don’t believe the modern use of tongues is ever genuine nor would I allow it in my own church, I cannot unilaterally forbid it. This passage specifically commands me “not [to] forbid speaking in tongues.”

However God has gifted you to serve Him, when you use your gift publicly your service should clearly glorify God. In order for this to happen, there needs to be a decency and an orderliness about your ministry. You should communicate clearly and carefully. Your ministry should never be showy nor distract from the message. And the message must be true—in agreement with the Bible. God gifts people in different ways, but it is all for His glory.

1 Corinthians 14:36-38

"Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized."

The man who communicates God’s truth is not the author of that truth, he is a vessel through which that truth flows. God did not use me or you to write the Bible and even those whom He used to write the Bible didn’t write their own ideas. They communicated what God directed them to write. Therefore, the one who communicates truth is subject to truth, that is the Bible. What I say must agree with the Bible.

Only arrogance could motivate me to assume that I get to decide what I say or that I am the only one who can communicate God’s truth. Just as it was arrogance that motivated some Corinthian believers to assume their prophecies were correct even when they contradicted previously revealed truth.

My words must be ruled by the word of God. If I reject God’s word, I must be rejected.

1 Corinthians 14:33b-35

"As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church."

What does it mean that “women . . . are not permitted to speak in church”? If we take these two and a half verses in isolation, they seem to indicate that women are not permitted to say anything at all in church services. But that cannot be true because chapter eleven, when dealing with head coverings, puts guidelines on how women are to pray and prophecy in church. So in what sense should women “keep silent in the churches”?

I believe that the key to understanding the prohibition lies in the immediately preceding verses. The previous verses addressed how to keep prophets accountable. If there was a prophecy that contradicted revealed truth, the others were to call the contradictory prophecy and prophet into question. I submit that the restriction forbidding women to speak applies specifically to this necessary challenging of contradictory prophecy.

If a woman believed that what was being asserted as truth was really false, she was not to publicly call it into question. Instead she was to ask her husband at home. Notice how the prohibition is linked with the need to be in submission: "they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission." It is possible to converse, pray, or explain submissively. But challenging an assertion is not usually an act of submission.

This fits perfectly with the likelihood that the prohibition was a prohibition from publicly challenging men. Perhaps this was due to the cultural realization that it would have shamed a man to be corrected by a woman. Whatever the motivation, it frees women to participate in church while clarifying that everything should be done in a way that recognizes and respects authority.

1 Corinthians 14:16-19

"Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue."

The blessings that God gives us should not stop with us. We should allow His blessings to flow through us to others thereby maximizing the glory that He receives for His gracious acts in our lives. If you were to tell me an exiting story of God’s goodness in your life, you would need to speak to me in English, if you want me to thank God with you. Otherwise, your words are completely lost on me, and I am not encouraged by your testimony at all.

This is not to say that the gift of tongues was worthless. Paul spoke in tongues and was glad for the gift. But he recognized its place—that it needed to be interpreted. If the unknown spoken language was not interpretable, Paul spoke in a language that could be understood by the hearers.

Five understandable words spoken to you, such as “God’s Son died for you,” are better than a thousand words that seem to be nonsense to you. For example: Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλ' ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Unless you know Koine Greek, the previous sentence is meaningless. But translate it, and you will know it to be John 3:16. The problem is not with the words but with the need for understanding.

1 Corinthians 14:6-12

"Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church."

In what wonderful condition our churches would be if everyone in them was “eager for manifestations of the Spirit.” Too often other less important pursuits occupy our affections. How different our churches would be if every member would daily seek the mind of God through prayer and daily would allow the Holy Spirit to teach and discipline him as He manifests Himself to us through God's Word. We would do well to copy the Corinthian’s desire for evidences of the Spirit’s work and power in our lives.

And we would do well to use what the Holy Spirit teaches us to actively strive to build up the church! These verse emphasize the need for whatever spiritual ministry we are given to be for the “building up [of] the church.” If something does not build up the church it cannot be called ministry and quite often it should be abandoned. Unintelligible, untranslated speech doesn’t communicate anything to others; it’s like “speaking into the air.” That kind of so-called ministry does not build up the church and is not really ministry at all.

1 Corinthians 14:3-5

"On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their up-building and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up."

God attributes greater value to selfless ministry than to self-absorbed indulgence. We do need to take time for personal refreshment and enrichment, but personal development should lead to the ability to glorify God better through ministry in His church. For this reason, the gift of tongues, if not interpreted, was inferior to the ministry of prophesy --the proclamation of truth.

When sharing God's truth with someone you can see God mature them, help them remain faithful, or comfort them when they are hurting. But if you talk to someone in a language they don't understand, the words are worthless. You are no help to them at all. How then shall we love? How then shall we minister? We must minister through words people can understand.

This is not to say that tongues were worthless. They had a purpose, but the gift had to be used the right way for it to fulfill its purpose.

1 Corinthians 14:1-2

"Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit."

Remembering that the desire for and the use of spiritual gifts should be motivated by selfless love, Paul draws the attention of the Corinthian believers to consider the use of the most coveted gift and most abused gift in that congregation.

Everyone wanted to speak in tongues. Admittedly, it's a pretty cool gift. I'd like to just head over to Romania and start proclaiming God's love in Romanian right away without any study, and when I meet a Hungarian, immediately be able to give him the gospel in Hungarian (the language my wife believes sounds like alien—as in little green men from Mars --alien). That would be a wonderful gift. But verse two indicates that the gift of tongues wasn't always used in a way that God intended the gift to be used.

Verse two is where most cessationists (those who believe that the gift of tongues was a temporary gift for specific miraculous time) believe that Paul is talking about something other than the true gift of tongues. Here tongues seems to be not a human language but a mystical-heavenly language.

This differs from the way the gift of tongues seems to be defined in Acts. In that book, tongues was the ability to speak an unlearned language to communicate God's message to people of a language other than one's native tongue. Whether verse 2 is speaking of a different type of the gift of tongues or of a perversion of the true gift, at the very least, the gift was being misused.

Later in this chapter we will see that the presence of at least an interpreter is still required by scripture even if the gift of tongues is a heavenly language at times. Either way, the gift of tongues was not for a speaker's own benefit but for the benefit of the church. So if the Corinthian tongues speakers were speaking to God alone and no one understood them, they were not exercising the gift as it was intended.

1 Corinthians 13:1-2

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing."

Love is the more excellent way that the last chapter alluded to. Love is more important than any or all of the spiritual gifts that the Corinthian believers has clamored for. People in the church then and now foolishly want recognition, prominence, and influence, and they earnestly desire spiritual gifts that will give them these things. But if they wanted what God wants for them, they would desire love and not a more important position.

Any spiritual gift exercised without love is worthless. We give lip service to this truth but we fail to understand the depth of this reality. A pastor who preaches faithfully for thirty-five years, never committing a moral sin or violating any code of ethics, if he did not love his people, his ministry was nothing. A seminary professor who has unpacked weighty truths and prepared countless students to accurately handle God’s word, if his teaching was not motivated by love, it was a waste of his time. A Christian (perhaps a missionary like me) who sees God’s power and faithfulness in life and comes to understand God’s trustworthiness, trusting that he can do anything, if his faith is loveless, he is nothing.

While we know that these things are true, there is something in us that still objects: they helped so many people; they did many great things; they were faithful for so many years. Yes, but they left off the greatest thing. It is love that empowers ministry and gives it meaning. If I am going to do something of value, I must first learn what it means to love.

1 Corinthians 12:31

"But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way."

The higher gifts! How can there be higher gifts for us to desire when the whole point of the passage seems to be indicating that we are all important and that there are no higher gifts? I believe that today's reader naturally assumes something about this verse that is misleading. There is nothing wrong with the verse, but our understanding of it is flawed.

Here are two other translations/paraphrases that seem to fit the context better. The first says "And yet some of you keep competing for so-called 'important' parts. But now I want to lay out a far better way for you" (The Message). The second says "So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all" (New Living Translation).

Both of these translations reflect the fact that spiritual gifts are not to be desired for selfish reasons. The Message interprets the statement as a rebuke for those who were selfishly desiring the gift(s) that they had erroneously viewed as more important, presumably because the exercising of the gift was more public. The New Living Translation takes the position that "higher" means most helpful. Therefore, you should desire gifts that will allow you to be the most help to the church that you can be.

I think that The Message's interpretation fits the context most naturally. This is what you have been doing, but there is a better way. Then we enter chapter 13, showing us that better way.

1 Corinthians 12:24b-26

"But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together."

I don’t believe that the church today attains this level of unity. Do I suffer when another suffers? Do I rejoice at the advancement of others? Or have I so misunderstood my role in the church, that I (and others with the same mindset) am so fractured that I am not acting like part of a body at all. When I stub my toe, my whole body is unhappy, and when I am given a good massage, my whole body relaxes. But when one in the church is blessed, do I have to fight jealousy? When one is suffering, am I disinterested? If I'm not unified with the other members of the church, then this is not what God intended.

God wants us to be such a part of each other’s lives that we are looked at and seem as one. Our care and involvement goes to such levels, that we are actually a single body. This is accomplished by the more gifted/honored parts of the body reaching out to those who lack, in order to lift them up. This may involve financial assistance, but I believe that it goes far deeper than that. You don’t just want their physical needs to be met, you want to see them elevated to a place of spiritual maturity, and you are so involved in seeing that happen that when they succeed, you rejoice as if you have succeeded; when they are hurt, you weep as if you have been wounded; and when they fail, you lament as if you have failed.

1 Corinthians 12:23-24

"And on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it."

Our weaker or less honorable body parts are given greater care. Late last month, I strained my right knee. The pain is mostly gone, but I still favor the knee. The day it happened, I put almost no weight on the knee at all. My knee was hurt and temporarily unable to perform like the rest of my body, but I did not get rid of it. I gave it a special place of honor, allowing it time to recover from the stress of my accident.

Also, we honor parts of our body that work fine but are not to be displayed by carefully concealing them. Why go through the trouble? Why not get rid of these areas or at least throw off this sense of modesty and treat all of our body the same? Because there are certain parts that are indispensable (as the former post explored) and yet deserving of special care.

The solution is not dismemberment but special attention and greater honor for these less honorable parts. God made the church this way too. There are people in the church who lack honor. They deserve greater honor. They may take more time to help. They may need things that others can go without. But we should not push these less honorable individuals to the side, to help or work exclusively with those we believe have greater potential. Everyone in the church is important, and everyone needs to be cared for regardless of how much care they need.

1 Corinthians 12:4-7

"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."

All people naturally differ by virtue of the physical and mental gifts that God has given them. This diversity is then compounded among Christians by the variety of spiritual gifts that God has given. We do not all receive the same set of gifts, neither do we all do the same work. There is great diversity among us. And yet, there is also great unity among us.

The same Spirit works in all our lives, equipping us with the gifts designed for us. We all serve the same God with the gifts that we have given. And beyond this, we actually have the same God in us, empowering us for service. And though we have many different gifts and different tasks to accomplish, the purpose of all our gifts is the same—the common good of the whole body of believers.

If you are a Christian, we have a great deal in common, but we are not the same. God has something special in store for you and you alone. Likewise, God has something for me and me alone. However, what He is doing in each of our lives goes beyond the individual and is for the benefit of others.

1 Corinthians 11:1

"Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ."

I do not think that I would be comfortable ever making this statement myself. But the undeniable fact is that we are imitators by nature, and we will be imitated by others whether we ask for it or not. Therefore, we ought to endeavor to make our lives worth imitating. And the only that we can do that is by imitating Christ.

But to imitate Christ, we must first know what He is like. So learn of Christ. See Him foreshadowed in the Old Testament. Watch Him minister in flesh in the gospels. Listen to people testify of Him in the book of Acts. Understand more of what He did through the epistles. And learn what He will do in the future in the book of Revelation.

And as you learn more about Him, as you draw into a closer relationship with Him, be like Him. That doesn't mean that we gather twelve disciples and travel around the holy land performing miracles. It means that we pattern our manner of behavior after His character. We emulate His sacrificial love, His patient endurance, and His many other qualities (all of which are honorable).

If we do this, it will be a good thing when people pattern their lives after our own.