Sermon Video: Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love? 1 Corinthians 4:14-21

Nobody enjoys being corrected, but it is an absolutely necessary part of life, spiritual life being no exception.  Paul had ample reason to bring corrective discipline to bear on the people of the church of Corinth, and yet he chose to do so with a fatherly warning instead of public shaming.  Paul recognized the ineffective nature of using shame against a rebellious heart, focusing instead upon warning them in love.  That Paul eschewed using shame is not an indication that he wasn't serious about the discipline that was needed, in fact, Paul told the people of Corinth that his approach to them would be determined by how they responded to his letter of warning.  If the people accept the warning, he will be able to come to them in gentle love when he visits, but if they refuse to cede their pride to the authority of God's Word, Paul will instead be forced to visit them with the "whip" of tough love.  In the end, what matters is keeping the people of God on the path of holiness, if gentle persuasion works, all the better, if not, love will have to get tough.

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Christians must not advocate falsehoods

This really shouldn't need to be said, but given the current political climate in America, it has become clear that many people who call themselves Christians, from both sides of the political spectrum, have decided that the truth must be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency.  In other words, the truth is getting in the way of winning in politics, therefore the truth has become a luxury that can no longer be indulged in.  The goal of winning against political foes has been valued more highly than the character trait of being a disciple of Jesus Christ who honors honesty and the truth.  The resulting common use of half-truths and outright falsehoods, knowingly, is not only weakening our democratic republic, but the ministry of the Church itself and the effectiveness of the Gospel, for it demonstrates that those who have placed the pursuit of power above the pursuit of the truth, have also placed their allegiance to Jesus in a secondary role, at best.
If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, a true and committed follower who has been washed clean in the blood of the Lamb and given the gift of the Holy Spirit, you cannot serve another master.  The contrast between the kingdom of God, its priorities and methods, and the world in which we live, is very stark.  To "win" by the standards of this world, is to fail in the kingdom of God.  The world values power, fame, and wealth, the kingdom of God values humility, submission to God's will, and service to others.

Psalm 34:12 "Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies."
Proverbs 12:22 "The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful."
Proverbs 30:8a "Keep falsehood and lies far from me"
John 8:32 "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
John 8:44 "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire.  He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

Don't lie to yourself, if you've embraced falsehoods, if you are willingly believing and spreading lies, you're not serving the kingdom of God.  Whatever your goal is, no matter how worthy it may be, pursuing it this way is sinful.  It isn't worth it, to tarnish your character for the sake of power in this world is a fool's bargain.  The people of God must be speakers of the Truth, and we must have no patience for those who have chosen instead to embrace lies, nor any part in spreading them.

A world without extra food: The not very distant past.

While reading Tom Holland's The Forge of Christendom: The End of Days and the Epic Rise of the West, I was struck once more with the realization that most of modern humanity has no real notion as to what life was really like only a few short generations ago before the food surpluses we enjoy came to be following the Industrial/Agricultural Revolution.  Our ancestors lived season to season.  Every spring was a time of want, last year's harvest having been exhausted and this year's produce not yet available.  A single bad harvest could throw a family, a village, even an entire region into famine and starvation.  Is it any wonder that a people living such a precarious existence, while having faith in God, were still superstitious as they looked to the heavens and prayed that nothing would destroy their crop before the harvest?
Famine still exists in the modern world, much of it the result of human malfeasance, but weather related disasters still occur that threaten once more to plunge people into hunger.  There is a profound difference, however, between modern hunger and its past manifestations.  When hail, locusts, or a band of marauders ruined the harvest in 10th century Francia, 12th century Bavaria, or 14th century Ireland, there was no outside help to come to the rescue.  The U.N. did not exist to send relief, nor did international charities, or friendly foreign governments.  We still have humanitarian crisis in our world, and they still do spiral out of control at times, but a possible solution to them always exists.  There is enough food in the world to feed everybody, our ancestors couldn't imagine such abundance.
If you know history, you learn perspective, if you have a reality based perspective on the world, finding wisdom is far easier.  Is life difficult now?  Yes.  Do people suffer in the Third World and in even rich nations?  Of course.  Understanding that things were worse, significantly worse, in the past doesn't minimize the suffering of the present, but it does remind us that gratitude ought to be near to our lips far more often than grumbling.  There are a lot of people who don't know what they will eat tomorrow, but gone are the days when nobody could prevent starvation following a bad harvest.  Shouldn't we therefore be a people who don't have to be reminded to offer up thanksgiving to God?

Sermon Video: What do you have that you did not receive? - 1 Corinthians 4:6-13

What is the source of human pride if not ignorance?  All pride is built upon a false premise, that we have earned what we have.  In reality, what we have, we have received from God.  This is a truth that ought to be apparent in the way that the people of God live, for would know the kindness of God better than those saved by grace?

In an effort to bring the people of the church of Corinth to their senses, Paul utilizes biting sarcasm to compare their feeling of self-assurance to his own experience of the harsh reality of being persecuted for the sake of the Gospel.

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The Intolerance of the Gospel

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is intolerant, as a matter of fact, the whole Bible is intolerant, on purpose.  When God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai, the first commandment was straightforward in its exclusive claim, "You shall have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3).  In a similar vein, the prophet Isaiah wrote, "O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth." (Isaiah 37:16)  The fundamental understanding of who God is, clearly stated throughout the Hebrew scriptures, is that there is only one God, that no other gods exist.
The New Testament takes up this refrain and amplifies it even further with the exclusive "I Am" statements of Jesus, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)  There is absolutely no way to honor the words of Jesus other than admitting that this is an exclusive claim, one that is by its very nature, intolerant of other attempts to bridge the gap between the human and the divine.  Jesus exclusively claimed that he was the path to God, the only true God, and that all other paths must fail.  This is intolerant, it does not embrace the notion that people can believe whatever they want, for in that same sentence Jesus also declared himself to be "the truth".
Racism, hatred, cruelty, and unkindness have nothing to do with the Gospel, the people of God must always oppose them, vigorously, the exclusivity of the Gospel and such immoral behaviors have nothing in common.  The Gospel is indeed intolerant of false hope and false promises, it must be, for there is only one truth, to pretend otherwise would only harm those who do not yet believe.