1/25/17
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
Our Epistle reading for this week, from 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, points up the counter-intuitive nature of the Gospel. Hmm, that sentence sounded like something from academia. I try to teach my junior high students not to write that way. Let’s try again. 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 shows that the Gospel simply doesn’t work the way we think it would.
When we look for some sort of deep wisdom, the Gospel has a wisdom that is right there on the surface of the pages of the Bible. Want a profound life philosophy? The Bible says to live your life in such a way as to trust God. How are you going to work that out? You’ll do it while you love and serve your neighbor. God’s providence will keep you while you do that.
We look for a relationship based on power. It’s a theme that’s come up again and again in recent political events in my country. Somehow we think that it’s all about power. The Bible points us a different direction. God the Son, creator and sustainer of the universe, shows his power by becoming a child, being born, living without sin, and dying as a substitute for you. He kills even sin and death by dying himself.
God’s wisdom shows up in ways that we often think foolish. The apostle would tell us not to despise that foolishness. It is not frivolity. It is not ineffective. It is the power of God. And it is for you. Especially if you are in a position that looks weak. For those who are not wise, who are not wealthy, who are not good looking, who are not intelligent; God in Christ has cared for you. That’s great news for me! It’s easy to find someone who is wiser, richer, better looking, and smarter than I am. But the Lord has loved even me.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
Our Epistle reading for this week, from 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, points up the counter-intuitive nature of the Gospel. Hmm, that sentence sounded like something from academia. I try to teach my junior high students not to write that way. Let’s try again. 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 shows that the Gospel simply doesn’t work the way we think it would.
When we look for some sort of deep wisdom, the Gospel has a wisdom that is right there on the surface of the pages of the Bible. Want a profound life philosophy? The Bible says to live your life in such a way as to trust God. How are you going to work that out? You’ll do it while you love and serve your neighbor. God’s providence will keep you while you do that.
We look for a relationship based on power. It’s a theme that’s come up again and again in recent political events in my country. Somehow we think that it’s all about power. The Bible points us a different direction. God the Son, creator and sustainer of the universe, shows his power by becoming a child, being born, living without sin, and dying as a substitute for you. He kills even sin and death by dying himself.
God’s wisdom shows up in ways that we often think foolish. The apostle would tell us not to despise that foolishness. It is not frivolity. It is not ineffective. It is the power of God. And it is for you. Especially if you are in a position that looks weak. For those who are not wise, who are not wealthy, who are not good looking, who are not intelligent; God in Christ has cared for you. That’s great news for me! It’s easy to find someone who is wiser, richer, better looking, and smarter than I am. But the Lord has loved even me.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
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