Tried With Fire

Yesterday Pastor Ryan preached on 1 Corinthians 13 . Yes, it's the obligatory passage read at many weddings, but it is much more than that. I probably heard this text preached in the context of the book for the first time . Paul didn't just have "a slew of weddings to perform." He was getting to the root of the problems the Corinthian church were struggling with. They were lacking love, and it showed. Just read the first 12 chapters. "Gifts to the nth degree and service to the nth degree are nothing without love." As I was sitting in the pew yesterday, I was wishing that this sermon would be mandatory listening for Christians on social media. Reformed Twitter, I am specifically thinking of you because there's been a lot more heat than light, a lot more snark than love, and more unwillingness than willingness to listening and respectively disagree. And I'm not just pointing a finger out there. I need to hear this word too. I love the doctrines o...

My pastor preached on Sunday from 1 Cor. 10 and the lessons in the passage for us today. The 2nd point in the sermon gave me a lot to ponder. Paul refers to Numbers 25, which tells of the Israelites' idolatry, God's righteous response, and Phinehas staying that judgment. While the exact nature of Phinehas' intervention would not translate to the present, Pastor Ryan remarked that his zeal for the Lord may not be that well-received today. Maybe he would have been told to back down, chill, and show a little grace. But this is a warning for us to not use the grace of God as a license to sin or an excuse to stop fighting sin .  We may not be tempted to worship Baal this week, but where is "grace" used to excuse sin today? As an excuse to: 1 - Disparage and mock people who disagree with us because we are obviously "right?" Thus our "rightness" takes precedence over loving our neighbor? Not only is pride at stake but the fear of los...

It is always encouraging to hear how God saved someone. Sometimes it is dramatic, and other times it is not. But for each believer, the hand of providence was at work placing him or her in exactly the right place at the right time to hear the gospel and be saved, not to mention the events that were orchestrated to lead up to that moment. No two stories are the same because God's providence is not a cookie cutter. Then why do we forget this when it comes to the varied circumstances God has placed us post salvation? If someone is single - Why aren't you married? Don't you want to be married? If you are married - Why doesn't your marriage look like x ? If you are married without children - Why don't you have any children? If you have children - Why do you only have n number? Why don't you have more? Why do you so many? Why aren't you educating them like this ? I'd rather listen to my pastor on 1 Corinthians 7. Paul's thesis can be summed up...

My pastor has started preaching through 1 Corinthians. They were certainly a messy group of believers, but lest I point the finger, they don't sound that different from the  21st century American church. But even with their warts (and there are some big, ugly ones), Paul makes the point of calling them saints. He is choosing to take the long view, knowing full well that this church has a lot of struggles ahead of it. But they will make it in the end, not because they figured it out and pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, but because God has the power to change and keep them. This Sunday, Pastor Ryan preached on 1 Cor. 1:10-17. The Corinthian church was dealing with division in their midst. They were aligning themselves to this teacher or that teacher. Some even thought they were taking the high ground saying they followed "Christ," but this wasn't about defending the faith. There is appropriate separation over doctrinal issues and sin, but this was about feeli...