Serving God by Doing What We Enjoy

Readings:
Job 13
I Corinthians 9:1-18

Focus:
I Corinthians 9:16: "Even if I preach the gospel, I can claim no credit for it; I cannot help myself; it would be agony for me not to preach."

Sometimes we think of service for God as something we have to do, but that we won't like it much. We think we have to put in some time doing things for others, maybe working at a homeless shelter or volunteering in some way at church, but probably doing something that we don't actually enjoy that much.

But in actuality God gives us gifts to use in his service, and when we are using those gifts, we are happy. We like what we're doing. As Paul, who was gifted with preaching ability, said, it would be agony to us not to do it. We just need to figure out how what we love to do anyway fits into serving God.

I like to sing. I'm miserable when I'm not singing. So one way I serve God is by helping lead the singing at church. It's a great combination of doing what I like and serving God at the same time. There are many other such combinations for other people, doing other things (for some people maybe it IS working at a homeless shelter). It works well.

Not Causing Anyone's Downfall

Readings:
Job 12
I Corinthians 8:4-13

Focus:
I Corinthians 8:2: "Therefore, if food is the downfall of a brother or sister, I will never eat meat again, for I will not be the cause of a brother or sister's downfall."

Paul is talking here about how people in his day were aware that meat that they bought in the market had first been sacrificed to idols. Many Christians didn't care about that, but for others, it bothered their consciences. So Paul said that for those who weren't troubled by it, rather than to say to themselves, "That's their problem," about the others, they should actually go out of their way not to set what would amount to a bad example by eating meat in front of those people.

In other words, Paul's advice is to live by the scruples of the people with the more tender consciences. This is in order to avoid causing the people with the more tender consciences to imitate the people with the more robust consciences and thus do what for the weaker-conscience people would be sin.

This is how far we are to go in living with love. We are to limit ourselves so that others may live.

Knowledge

Readings:
Job 11
I Corinthians 8:1-3

Focus:
I Corinthians 8:2: "If anyone fancies that he has some kind of knowledge, he does not yet know in the true sense of knowing."

In this passage, Paul is writing a warning against being too sure of our own knowledge and wisdom. As he says, knowledge inflates us, whereas love builds us up. This is interesting. Both make us bigger, but love makes us bigger and stronger, whereas knowledge makes us bigger, but on a very shaky foundation.

Our knowledge is really very limited. No matter how much knowledge we think we have, we nonetheless do not yet know in the true sense of knowing. It is God who truly knows. We may get glimpses of understanding, but our knowledge is nothing compared to God's knowledge. We can't rely on it to tell us all truth about important questions. Our knowledge is limited, and it is also fallible.

We must get our knowledge from God, and base it all on love. Then we will have a secure foundation.

What Matters

Readings:
Job 10
I Corinthians 7

Focus:
I Corinthians 7:19: "Circumcision or uncircumcision is neither here nor there; what matters is to keep God's commands."

Paul is in the midst of a discussion of whether or not it is important to change one's external marks or condition in life when one becomes a Christian. Circumcision had been one of the most important indications of belonging to the religious community. What Paul says is that circumcision, or any other external mark or condition in life, has nothing to do with whether or not you belong to God.

Instead, Paul says, the important thing is to keep God's commands. And the greatest command of them all, Jesus said, is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. The second commandment, he said, was to love our neighbor as ourselves.

This is what matters.

I Will Not Let Anything Make Free with Me

Readings:
Job 9
I Corinthians 6:12-20

Focus:
I Corinthians 6:12b: "No doubt I am free to do anything, but I for one will not let anything make free with me."

When Paul says, "No doubt I am free to do anything," he is referring to the fact that the Corinthian Christians were relying on their freedom from many older religious laws. They had been set free from these by their new covenant in Christ.

However, Paul reminds them that not everything is good, and moreover, behaviors and habits can have a way of taking control of a person. As Paul says, "I for one will not let anything make free with me."

And Christ died for us, to make us look to God as if we were good. A response of gratitude would be for us to do our best to act good. In verses 19 and 20, Paul says, "You do not belong to yourselves; you were bought at a price." What a costly price it was, too. We owe it to Christ to give him our best efforts at goodness.

Washed Clean

Readings:
Job 8
I Corinthians 6:1-11

Focus:
I Corinthians 6:9b:11a: "Make no mistake: no fornicator or idolater, no adulterer or sexual pervert, no thief, extortioner, drunkard, slanderer, or swindler will possess the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you have been washed clean."

First Paul gives a list of examples of the types of wrongdoings that disqualify people from eternal life with God. It sounds pretty bad. But then he says something hopeful, because he's speaking to Christians, people who have been saved and who expect to have that eternal life with God: "Such were some of you."

If they had been like that, then it's maybe it's not hopeless for other people like that!

And in fact, it's not, because Paul finishes his sentence: "Such were some of you; but you have been washed clean, you have been dedicated to God, you have been justified through the name of the Lord Jesus and through the Spirit of our God."

"Justified" means "made to look to God as if you were just or righteous." So in spite of being a pervert or a thief or a slanderer or any other such dire wrongdoer, or a liar or an angry person or a selfish person, when we give ourselves to God and are sorry for what we have done, we are washed clean; we look to God as if we were righteous, as if we had not done those things.

That's a good deal worth taking.

A Serious Situation

Readings:
Job 7
I Corinthians 5

Focus:
I Corinthians 5:2a: "And you are proud of yourselves! You ought to have gone into mourning."

Paul has been writing to the Christians at Corinth, who have been having some behavior problems, and who have been exhibiting some attitude problems as well. He points out a flagrant misbehavior that has been going on among them by two of their members and which they have been tolerating.

What Paul says about this is striking. He says that they ought to have gone into mourning.

We often forget the serious nature of sin. When we sin--and it does not have to be sexual sin only, as it was in this case--we have offended against God himself. We have rebelled against God, and have in essence slapped God in the face, saying that we want to do what we want to do, and we don't care what God wants.

When we behave like that, or when those in our close community behave like that, it is so serious that we ought to go into mourning until we are sorry. Our attitude needs to be different. This is not just to shame us, but it is for our own good. When we, or our brothers and sisters, have thumbed our noses at the God of the universe, we, or they, are in a perilous situation. It takes mourning to bring us back!

That's how serious it is.

All Good Things Are Gifts

Readings:
Job 6
I Corinthians 4

Focus:
I Corinthians 4:7b: "What do you possess that was not given you? And if you received it as a gift, why take the credit to yourself?"

Not only do we have all of our material possessions, as well as our physical attributes, such as health or strength, because they are God's gifts to us, but also we have our personality traits and character qualities for this reason. In addition, our ability to achieve good things comes as a gift from God as well.

It is always tempting to be proud of ourselves whenever we do good things. But in reality we are able to do these things because of God working through us. On our own we are full of failings and would not be able to succeed. It is only in reliance on God, and through his strength, that we are able to achieve good things.

Sometimes we're not aware that we've been relying on him, or that he has worked through us. But that's part of what makes him even more fantastic--he doesn't always wait for our acknowledgement in order to help us.

Our response should always be thanks to the God who gives us so many gifts.

It Is God Who Counts

Readings:
Job 5
I Corinthians 3

Focus:
I Corinthians 3:7: "It is not the gardeners with their planting and watering who count, but God who makes it grow."

Paul has become aware that the Christians at Corinth have divided into factions, some championing him, others championing Apollos, another Christian leader of the time. Their partisanship is so strong that it is dividing their church. It is not a division over essential doctrine, such as whether or not Jesus is the Son of God, but merely over who is more important.

Paul wants the Corinthians to know that this sort of discord keeps them from growing spiritually. As he says, when they are distracted this way, they are still on the human level only. There is so much more they could be open to, if only they would realize that what matters is not which human leader they follow, but God himself. He is the one to whom they owe allegiance, and to whom they should pay attention. The human leaders are only there to point to God.

That is how it should be with all true church leaders. It is not they who count, but God.

All That God Lavishes on Us

Readings:
Job 4
I Corinthians 2

Focus:
I Corinthians 2:12: "And we have received this Spirit from God, not the spirit of the world, so that we may know all that God has lavished on us."

God has given us his Spirit for many reasons, but one of them is kind of amazing: so that we may know all that he has lavished on us. His Spirit is utterly different from the spirit of the world, and the wisdom of his Spirit will seem very different from worldly wisdom.

But besides this, his Spirit will let us know everything that God has lavished on us. Not just provided for us. Not just given us. But lavished on us! When we give our lives to him, and open ourselves to his direction, he lavishes blessings on us.

We may still have hardships, and troubles of various kinds. Our lives may not suddenly become rosy and perfect. But we will have blessings lavished on us; that is certain. I know this; I have experienced it in the midst of illness!

God lavishes good things on us. We can be sure of that.

God's Wisdom Vs. the World's Wisdom

Readings:
Job 3
I Corinthians 1

Focus:
I Corinthians 1:20b: "God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish!"

Sometimes when we think about the ways that the Bible says that we ought to live, it doesn't sound "smart" or practical. It doesn't seem to be what makes sense with what current thinking is about the best way to conduct our lives.

But that's because God's ways are different from human ways. And God's ways are better. They are wiser. God is rightside up. It is the world that is upside down.

If we follow God's ways, we will be guaranteed to be more deeply happy, satisfied, and content than if we lived any other way. It may not be what we expect, but it will be what we need, and what makes for our true happiness.

Expert in Goodness

Readings:
Job 2
Romans 16:17-27

Focus:
Romans 16:19b: "I want you to be expert in goodness, but innocent of evil."

We are to be expert in goodness. In order to be this way, though, we need to know what goodness is. We can't just be naively nice, thinking we sort of instinctively know what it means to be good. No, Paul says we should be expert in goodness. That means that we need to understand it completely. We must read and study the Bible, so that we will know what goodness is.

As Paul says earlier in verse 17, we must avoid those who lead people astray, contrary to the teachings we have received. In order to recognize this, we must know the teachings we have received. We must be expert in them. That is the only way to be truly good.

Blessed Be the Name of the Lord

Readings:
Job 1
Romans 16:1-16

Focus:
Job 1:21: "Naked I came from the womb, naked I shall return whence I came. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

The ancient Hebrew, Job, had amassed many riches, but he lost them all in one day. Yet he knew that things that we love, such as material wealth, family members, or good health, are uncertain. We are not assured of their permanence with us.

Moreover, God alone knows whether or not the presence of these loved people and things in our lives is good for us. He may have some purpose that we are not aware of, and we may lose the things we love, without knowing that we are heading toward some greater good without those things.

Or, because, through the free will of humankind, we have allowed sin into the world, and creation has become broken, some evil takes some good things away from us. But God will work to turn the result of the evil to our good, even though we have lost what we loved. I know that I have found this to be true as I have experienced both cancer and serious heart problems.

In all of these circumstances, God remains good. Job was wise enough to know this. When we are beset with loss and hardship, may we have the trust nonetheless to say with Job, "Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Allies in the Fight

Readings:
Esther 10
Romans 15:14-33

Focus:
Romans 15:30a: "I implore you by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love that the Spirit inspires, be my allies in the fight."

Paul tells the Roman Christians that it has been his task to tell the Gospel to the Gentiles (the non-Jews), and that he has been particularly careful to go to places where no Christian has gone before to tell the message. He thus contrasts Jews with Gentiles, and Gentiles who have never heard the Gospel at all with Gentiles who have already heard it.

Yet Paul also binds all these groups together into one family of God. Before he can visit the Romans, he is going to take money to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, who are experiencing economic distress. This money has been raised by Gentile Christians. As Paul says, the Jewish Christians have shared their spiritual treasures with the Gentiles, and in return the Gentiles are sharing their material treasures.

Paul knows that there will be foes in Jerusalem who will seek to arrest him, and he asks the Roman Christians to pray for him as he goes there--to be his allies in the fight. Once again he binds the groups together into one family of God.

This is a model for us. We cannot always be together with our brothers and sisters, but we can support them through financial aid, through prayer, and through contacting them to tell them of our support. We can be their allies in the fight.

Accept One Another

Readings:
Esther 9
Romans 15:7-13

Focus:
Romans 15:7: "In a word, accept one another as Christ accepted us, to the glory of God."

In this passage, Paul speaks of both Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews), and talks of how Christ came for the benefit of both. Because God cares about both Jews and Gentiles (which means that he cares about all people), we also should care about all people.

Although Paul is speaking here of Christians accepting each other, this passage can also apply more widely. It is God's glory that we must be thinking of, and not our own purposes. And God's desire is to reach out to all people. For that reason, then, we accept all people and reach out to them with God's message, to the glory of God.

Consider Others

Readings:
Esther 8
Romans 15:1-6

Focus:
Romans 15:2: "Each of us must consider his neighbor and think what is for his good and will build up the common life."

We think it would be nice if we could just think of ourselves and do whatever we want. But Paul tells us that we must think of others first, and do what is for their good.

And practically speaking, we can't just please ourselves, anyway. We can't just say, "It's my life; I'll do what I want." Our actions have consequences that affect other people, whether we like it or not. If we choose to eat unhealthy food, for example, we shorten our lives, which causes grief to others, and we end up with illnesses that cause others to have to spend time caring for us.

So, on the negative side of things, it just makes sense not to think of ourselves alone. But in addition, God has asked us to think of others first. And when we do it God's way, not only thinking of others, but focusing on trying to love them, too, we end up with rewards that we might not expect. Building up the common life includes us, too, and not just others. We find that our own life is enhanced when we think of others. There are rewards that we might not want to trade for what we could have had if we had only thought of ourselves. God works that way.

Not Causing Others to Stumble

Readings:
Esther 7
Romans 14:13-23

Focus:
Romans 14:20b: "Everything is pure in itself, but it is wrong to eat if by eating you cause another to stumble."

Paul continues his discussion of what some people believe is okay to eat and others don't. The discussion is applicable to other areas, such as whether or not a person should drink wine, or see certain movies, etc. Paul declares that anything is pure in itself to eat.

But, Paul says, if there are other Christians whose conscience tells them that such things should not be eaten, etc., and they see another Christian eating them, they may be led astray into eating such things too. Yet they will be doing wrong, because they will be violating their consciences. So, Paul says, if we know that other people, with weaker consciences, will see us doing things that they feel are wrong, we should abstain from doing them! Why? Out of love for our brothers and sisters.

Again, this does not apply to things such as cruelty, theft, sexual sin, unkindness, etc. Those things are always wrong. But where there can be true disagreement, we can behave according to our varying beliefs, and we also must show deference to the beliefs of our brothers and sisters by not offending their consciences when they are watching. We do this out of love for them and out of love for God.

Passing Judgment

Readings:
Esther 6
Romans 14:1-12

Focus:
Romans 14:10a: "You, then, why do you pass judgment on your fellow Christian?"

In this part of Romans, Paul is talking about how some people feel it's wrong to eat meat, which in that particular part of the world, at that time, was usually sacrificed to idols before it was sold, and others have no problem with it because they don't believe in the idols anyway. Paul is saying that for those who believe it's wrong, it's wrong, because they violate their consciences if they go ahead and eat it; and for those who don't believe it's wrong, it's not wrong. And neither one should judge the other.

This is different from moral issues such as murder, rape, theft, selfishness, unkindness, etc. These things are unequivocally wrong. But when it comes down to issues like this, people can be sincerely divided, and it's not a matter of life or death; not a matter of who is a true Christian and who is not.

It is important for us to remember these things when we are talking with other people, or when we hear about other people, who disagree with us on some issues such as how to solve problems of poverty in the world or how to best manage national health care. We can sincerely believe in different ways and yet all have in mind the same love of God and concern for his oppressed and poverty-stricken people. We must not judge each other on the basis of different opinions.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

Readings:
Esther 5
Romans 13:7-14

Focus:
Romans 13:9: "The commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,' and any other commandment there may be, are all summed up in the one rule, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

It's easy to say, as the Beatles sang, that "all we need is love." But when we really think about this commandment, "love your neighbor as yourself", it's rather harder than it sounds at first. It's not just about benevolent feelings and toleration.

When we love our neighbors as ourselves, then we help others with our time and our money. We act kind as well as feel kind. We stand up for those who need advocacy.

We also refrain from indulging in not only large crimes like theft and murder, but also little things like irritability, sarcasm, me-firstness, laziness, and all sorts of other petty behaviors that hurt our neighbors.

We apologize when we've done wrong.

There are many ways in which we change our lives.

We do this because we love our neighbors as ourselves.

For a Time Like This

Readings:
Esther 4
Romans 13:1-6

Focus:
Esther 14:b: "And who knows whether it is not for a time like this that you have become queen?"

In ancient days, the Jewish people had been conquered and taken into exile by the Babylonians. The Babylonians had in turn been conquered by the Persians. Then, in this Persian kingdom, through a complicated chain of circumstances, Esther, one of the exiled Jewish people, had chanced to become queen, though the king does not know that she is Jewish.

Now because of some devious machinations, a plot has been laid and all Jewish people are scheduled to be slaughtered. Esther's uncle Mordecai asks her to intercede with the king, but she replies that no one has the right to go unbidden into the king's presence; anyone who does so risks death.

But Mordecai tells her that she has a duty to help save her people, and then he tells her that it is perhaps for this very reason--for such a time as this--that she has become queen. And Esther agrees to speak to the king.

This is a significant way to look at occasional circumstances in our own lives. We may find ourselves, at intervals, at crossroads where we may be able to take some action that will make a difference. We should think carefully at such times. Could it be that it is for this very reason, for such a time as this, that we find ourselves at a particular time and place? Could God have brought us to this time and place because he has something that he wants us to do? We must always look for God's purpose for us; this always comes first before our own purposes.