1 Corinthians 11

A lot of people shy away from this chapter because we have a very difficult time relating to its teachings. The chapter talks about submission, head coverings, the Lord’s Supper, etc. But the main point and principle should be our focus. Paul is addressing humility in the midst of freedom.

There are a lot of things in life that we do not like, and we are very used to just avoiding those things because we are free to do so instead of living with and through them. My kids often say, “I’m bored. What can I do?” My response is always, “It’s good to be bored.” I don’t like being bored either, but it’s very good for me to learn how to live through it rather than just avoid it. Boredom often brings about a well needed refocus on what is important in life. It puts us in a position to think for ourselves, visit with the Lord, and spend time without constant pleasure and entertainment, which in fact brings about a much greater pleasure and contentment in the end.

Think of the difficult-to-understand issues in this chapter in same light. Our culture does not look at submission favorably unless it benefits us. For example, submitting to our employer is good thing in order to receive a paycheck each month and therefore pay the bills, etc. But if we are called to submit to something that we have the freedom to avoid without consequence, we will usually decline to submit. We are free to do so, right? This is especially correct in our culture, but not always the best. Just like we need to learn to live in boredom when we have the freedom to not be bored, we need to learn to submit even if we have the clear and open freedom to say no.

God has established multiple principles in His Word for us to understand, learn, and follow, because He is our creator and He knows what we need. What is best for us is all about our needs and not always about our wants. We want to be completely free, but it’s not best for us to be completely free – physically that is. Even though our culture (very selfish culture) does not like God’s order of submission, we are still called to live in it. Because in the end, when His other principles are also followed, we truly thrive! It’s not about men being above women or even more important. It is about what is best for us as the body of Christ. In the end, we learn humility, which then results in true love and true unity.

In Paul’s day, a woman without hair, or even with short hair, was usually a prostitute or wanted to be a man. A woman without a head covering (or a veil) was viewed as not being submissive to her husband. Likewise, a man with a veil or even long hair (really long) was not even seen as a man. In both cases, the lack of submission to these traditions was a substantial distraction in the church and created disunity. They were free to do it, but there were consequences.

The same was true with the Lord’s Supper. The people found a freedom to indulge with the food and wine, but in the end, it was a nasty distraction that ruined any possible worship. And what was the reason for coming together to teach and eat the Lord’s Supper? It was to worship – which can only be done in humility.

-David Jones, CEO

1 Corinthians 10

14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

When we think of idols and idolatry today, it’s easy to tuck them away as something “they” did in the past. The view of idols that immediately comes to my mind is something out of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. There, people worshiped hot glowing rocks. Other examples that come to my mind are the stories in the Old Testament. Moses would step away for a minute, and the people would break out that golden calf. So idolatry seems removed from us, found only in movies and history. Yet, I think idols are more prevalent today than we think. Something as simple as a social game on Facebook can take over your life as an idol. Idols steal you away from God, in a sense replacing Him, often without you even noticing. Some of you know that I had a video game addiction in my past. This became a huge idol for me, as I devoted more and more time to it. Sin has a way of sneaking in to things, ever so quietly. Before I knew it, work was suffering, school was suffering, and I hadn’t been to church in months. Eventually, God got my attention, or maybe I finally started paying attention to Him.  I realized that I had given my life over to a contemporary idol.  Have you?

23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.

Today’s society is accepting of the occult. But, we don’t call it the occult. We call it Twilight. We call it Vampire Diaries. We call it Zombie Survival Guide. It sounds bad when we call it what it is, but by overlooking it, we accept it into popular culture. Paul reminds us that while it’s not “unlawful,” it might not be beneficial. It looks good when we focus on the love story, the hope, the caring, and hide the dark truth behind us. It’s fun to stand in line all day with our friends, waiting for that midnight premiere showing to start. But, the bottom line is that sin is sin, no matter how we wrap it up. Where are we leading our unbelieving friends, who are standing along with us in that movie line?  We need to flee from this occult darkness, and stay focused on Christ. Verse 13 reminds us of that:” You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.” You can’t stand on the fence; play in the sin of the world, and the Holiness of the Lord.

Paul closes by reminding us of one basic idea to guide all of our decisions: 

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

-Dave Bennett, Media Manager/Lights of Tejas

1 Corinthians 9

Ill be the first to admit it . . . I struggle greatly with anyone coming into my personal space. My area is my area. Some of you may know what I'm talking about and may even deal with the same thing: I'm talking about both the “bubble” of personal space when people get close to me, but more so, I'm talking about how I struggle with allowing people to come into my home and touch my stuff and dirty up my house. I enjoy being hospitable once I have guests over, but it’s hard for me to even invite people over . . . into my space. But I'm learning and trying to get over this.

So why do I bring this up at all?

In the first part of this chapter, Paul talks about people in the ministry earning a wage from their ministry. I hope I'm not too far off, but I have heard that many of the apostles back in the day would get their food and lodging by invitation into other believers homes. They were provided for in every way because they were not from that area and had no means of providing for themselves. This is where the first paragraph ties in: do you seek to meet the needs of those ministering around you? Are you hospitable to them?

In this day and age it is easy for us to say, “pastors and ministers earn money through their job so what’s the big deal?”.  Well there are two main things I would like for us to keep in mind: first is that just like you at your job, we all get weary or burnt out from our jobs, and second is that we need to remember where the pastors get their wages.

When was the last time you got tired of your job and thought about how nice it would be to find a different one, or better yet thought about how nice it would be to be able to retire now? Pastors are no different. Day after day they devote themselves to pouring into others, serving others, meeting the needs of others. Can you imagine? That would get hard after a while. That is why we need to do what we can to serve them back. There are numerous ways to do this, so I'm not going to list examples, but take a minute or two and think about who takes their time to serve you? How can you be a blessing to them and give a little of your time and love back to them?

Loving on a person that loves on you is very important. But it is also important to remember where pastors earn their salary – from you. If you are not tithing to the church you are not only forgetting your call to give to the needy, but you are also denying a pastor their wage. Tithing is a huge struggle for many people, but we need to remember that every dollar we earn is a gift from God. We need to always be ready and willing to give it back to Him through those in need.

There are a lot of great things I'm not writing about in this chapter, but I bring this topic up because I struggle with it. I hope that you will join with me in realizing that we need to honor those who choose to serve us spiritually.

-Seth Gordon, Summer Camp Director

1 Corinthians 8

So, chapter 8 is really short – only 13 verses! The message of this chapter basically boils down to one thing: don’t put yourself first. Our culture is constantly reminding us of just the opposite. It tells us to look out for yourself because no one is going to while the message of God’s word, and this chapter in particular, instructs us to think of others first.

When Paul wrote this to the believers in Corinth, they were surrounded with people who were sacrificing food to all kinds of false gods or “idols.” Meat bought in the marketplace was likely to have been offered to an idol in one of the many pagan temples. Believers were wondering if eating this meat would somehow make them participants.

While Paul tells them that eating the meat is not wrong in itself, he shares with them that not all believers think that this practice is permissible. They should refrain from eating this sacrificed food if it might possibly make another brother in Christ stumble. Their love for one another is more important than their own knowledge or freedom in Christ. They must think of these other believers before themselves.

The same goes for us. We might not have pagan temples on every corner with meat ready to be consumed, but there are things we face daily that could have dire consequences in the life of the other believers around us. Just to name a few to think about… drinking in moderation, seeing rated R movies, wearing clothes that are immodest, etc. None of these things may cause you to stray from your walk with the Lord. But think of others first, as Paul tells us in this chapter, and you might get a different answer.

-Kim Newton

1 Corinthians 7

The Proverbs make short assertions out of two sentences. Paul does it with chapters, and if you skip parts of this one, you might go away feeling guilty for being married. But one part of this chapter that stood out to me was verses 17-24. Christians frequently grumble about their position as it compares to their unbelieving counterparts –“why was I passed over for that promotion? Why have I gone so long without a pay raise?” While these are legitimate concerns, we must come to a place of contentment, having learned that none of our condition is a surprise to the Master. v ¹⁷ Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. Sometimes I think I have insulted Him in the past by not being content. My ability to minister to others is crippled by self-centeredness. Our ministry is where we are –at the office or in the dungeon. No one better exemplified this than Paul. I remember being promoted from manufacturing to engineering in my previous job. It was very exciting to be doing what I wanted to do for a large oilfield service company. Then one day they laid off 85 workers in manufacturing and some office workers. The company kept me and one other recently promoted employee and made a place for us on night shift….back in manufacturing. I thought –and said- that it was such a blessing to still have a job, but deep in the recesses of my heart, I settled into a stronghold of discontentment. I was very angry, off and on, for about 18 months. I put out more than one hundred résumés to no avail. I felt trapped and questioned God about it continually. v²¹ Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that. ²² For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave. ²³ You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. ²⁴ Brethren, each one is to remain with God in that condition in which he was called. I think it is safe to say that these verses transcend the context within the chapter and reach into many facets of our existence. The words “…do not become slaves of men” is simply saying what he has already said in the previous chapters –6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? ²⁰ For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

After spending a lot of time with God in that place, I found His willingness and patience to work that out of me to be settling. I took hold of where God had placed me with peace and genuine contentment. Only then, was I able to effectively minister and witness Christ to those around me. Several months after arriving at that contentment, they offered me another position in engineering. I remained there until I came to the camp.

--Mike Newton, Facilities Director