November 18 - Acts 18:24-19:20, 1 Corinthians 1:1-3:23

Good morning everyone, 

Today we are told about an educated Jew named Apollos who knew the Scriptures well  and was teaching about Jesus. The thing is, his message was not complete. Apollos was teaching repentance of sin but he knew nothing of the crucifixion of Christ nor did he know of the Holy Spirit. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him teaching they lovingly said to Apollos, “Come to lunch friend, let’s have a chat,” and they explained to him that the Truth is more than just repenting. Salvation is turning to Jesus to be forgiven of one's sins, not turning from one's sins in order to be forgiven by Jesus. Romans 10;13 says,  "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Imagine the freedom Apollos then knew.

Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians while he was in Ephesus. Now, Corinth was on an isthmus, you remember that word from school, right? It’s a narrow strip of land with sea on either side, forming a link between two larger areas of land. Everyone going anywhere went through Corinth, as a matter of fact, some sailers would pull their ships up out of the water, put them on rollers and drag them across the four mile strip of and rather than go the two hundred plus miles of sea around the cape. Corinth was one of the largest import cities in Greece and with that came a whole lot of shady diverse life styles. It was a wicked city, a very difficult place for a Christian to live. 

Paul had received reports of problems including, jealousy, hostility, disagreements amongst the family of Christ, sexual immorality, and a failure to discipline church members. So Paul writes to them addressing their problems and answering their questions. He confronted them with their sin and their need to “get it together”. Reminding them them they must live Christ-centered lives.

I would suggest to you that Corinth is not all that different from the world we live in today. We face the very same confusion, temptations and frustrations and we too are called to live Christ-centered lives. Being Christlike is a lifelong process and comes verse by verse, precept by precept. In 2Peter he describes the process of building a Christ-centered life as one of accepting the great and precious promises of the Lord in order to become partakers of the divine nature.

That all sounds well and good, but how do we get there? Answer: It starts with understanding and acknowledging everything belongs to the Lord. Psalm 21 says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” That includes our bodies, our minds, the money we have, the house we live in, even our very next breath. Everything belongs to the Lord. It is His to do with as He pleases. With that understanding, wouldn’t it then make sense to ask Him to not only be a part of what belongs to Him, but more importantly, what He would like us to do with all that His treasure He has allowed us? When we humble ourselves in this way, we begin to live the Christ-centered life. Make sense?

In Matthew we were told to pray, “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” And we are encouraged to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. When we, like the Corinthians, loose that focus, when our lives are less than Christ centered, we would be wise to look and take heed to the words Paul wrote in his letter to them. Amen?

Have a good day and to God be the glory.

God bless you all …..