1 Corinthians

It has been a long time since I last blogged! So as I sit on the train back to London from Aberdeen I thought it would be good to get a few thoughts down on 'paper'.

Over the past week i've been going through First Corinthians using the ESV study bible (very good resource!).

Here are just a few things i've learnt:

1. Unity

Paul seemed to plead for the church at Corinth to stay unified and humble through a love for Chirst and each other. In Chapter 1 verse 15 Paul asks the question "Is Christ divided?" and so requests his followers not to be.

In chapter 3 we find that there are problems with certain people saying that they followed Apollos, and others saying they followed Paul. In response to this Paul says "what after all is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe - as the LORD has assigned each to his task".

To me this speaks of unity in diversity: that we're not all called to do the same thing, clearly Paul and Apollos had different tasks (see 3:6-9), but instead we are called to be unified above all in giving Christ glory.

2. To some The Cross is foolishness

In chapter 1:18 Paul says that "the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God"

I was reminded of that this week after bumping into a friend who has no religious background at all. He came to a free lunch and talk that our University's Christian Union was hosting last week, and straight away he brought up the lunch and told me that all us Christians are mental with all this Jesus stuff! But amazingly he said it was great and wants to find out more.

3. Love. Judgement. Mercy

Love is everywhere in 1 Corinthians. Whether Paul is talking about worship in the church, food laws, marriage, Spiritual gifts, unity, idols; it all leads back to the question 'does this show our love for Christ and for others?'

Love. Love. Love.

But where does God's judgement come into love? Often I find it difficult to see how discipline or judgement can go hand in hand with love and mercy. In chapter 11 I think we find a verse that can really help us in our understanding of this:

11:32: "But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world"

WOW! For me this is huge a verse! Right here loud and clear we find that the reason why, as Christians, we are disciplined by the Lord is because of his great love for us so that we will not be condemned! We receive judegment but it is in essence a great sign of mercy.

The ESV study bible's footnote to this verse says that "When suffering alerts a Christian to the presence of sin and leads to repentance, it functions as an act of both disciplinary judgment and mercy".

To me this drastically changes a lot, for if I realise that everything that God does is out of love then it demands a trusting of him in all things.

So those are just a few messy thoughts, which are definitely not 100% water tight...please weigh all this up for yourself!

And now I get to enjoy three weeks off uni for easter! :-D

The purpose of the Lord will stand!

So it's my 20th birthday today!!! Yes! I'm no longer a teenager and have entered the 20s-30s age bracket! Haha what a joke!

As I look ahead I am incredibly excited as to what God will be doing as we faithfully seek him.

I am reminded of Proverbs 19:21
"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand"

I wholeheartedly believe that his Kingdom is being extended in wonderful ways and will continue to do so in ways which will blow our minds! But I don't want to forget that we can make all the plans we like, however unless they are made in Christ and for Christ they are completely worthless.

But isn't this that idiot?!

In Luke 4 we find that Jesus is back in Nazareth, where he had grown up, but now teaching and receiving praise from people (v.15). One Sabbath he was in the synagogue and he read publicly from Isaiah then boldly stated "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (v.21)

This passage from Isaiah that Jesus read out is ACTUALLY AMAZING! It speaks of great hope with freedom for prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind and the oppressed being released! Wow! And Jesus is central to this because it is fulfilled in him!!!

The people of Nazareth knew Jesus' seemingly insignificant background and they compared those memories they had to what he was doing now...and they were confused. Luke 4:22-"..."isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked". I think it can be a great comfort to us. Because the same thing can happen to us.

As we go about living Christ-centred lives people may start saying things like "wait a minute, isn't this that guy who used to be so selfish?", "isn't this that girl who went off the rails?", "isn't that the guy who was depressed?", "isn't this the woman who neglected her family?"...because they now see something new.

I guess the main difference behind Luke 4:22 and people asking that question about us is that our past is full of sin, but Jesus' wasn't, so we can't claim any glory for ourselves as we're "saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone" (Martin Luther)

As we are transformed more into the likeness of Christ we may find that people start saying "isn't this 'x' who... but now he/she is..." but with joy we can respond "yes, that's what happens in the Kingdom of God!"

Faith, Love and Christ

So I was reading Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians about a month ago and have found that a couple of verses have really stuck with me...

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3-"We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ"

I took three things from this that the Thessalonians were doing well:

They were

1. Working by faith
2. Labouring in love
3. Enduring because of Christ

What a great way to live!

Aberdeen

Hi all!

I'm now living and studying in Scotland doing a Bachelor of Divinity (theology) at Aberdeen university.

The course itself has been amazing so far. I have 12 hours of lectures and 2 hours of tutorials each week so it's quite a lot of work! Here's a breakdown of what i'll be studying up till Christmas:

1. Level One New Testament Greek- This has been great, quite a steep learning curve though!
2. Introducing the Hebrew Bible- This is basically an introduction to the Old Testament. Very eye opening!
3. Jesus of Nazareth Life, Teaching, context- Some good critical scholarly study on Jesus and writings about him.
4. Basics of World Religions- I'm really enjoying this module as it's blowing away some previous assumptions i've had.
5. The Rise of Christianity- We're looking at the first 4 centuries of Christianity and it's impact. Again, really interesting stuff!

And uni life in general is a lot of fun.

AND IT REALLY IS MASSIVELY WET UP HERE!

The Good Shepherd

Last night I was reading John 10:14 and was encouraged by its incredibly deep message.

V.14- "I and the good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me"

I see Jesus making three statements here.

(1) "I am the good shepherd"- Jesus shepherds us. And he is good! Shepherds will protect, look after and guide their sheep and I love how Jesus uses a term here which everyone in his day would have understood.

(2) "...I know my sheep"- A shepherd would spend so much time around his sheep that he'd know each one well. Jesus is saying that we're his sheep and he knows us completely! And I don't think this is a passive knowing. What I mean is that because Jesus knows us, we each have a unique relationship with him and not a one-size-fits-all relationship. If Jesus shepherds us as a whole body (the church) and individually as well it means that he calls us knowing what we can and can't handle. 1 Corinthians 10:13 "And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear".

(3) "...and my sheep know me"- When we say "I know Jesus" it doesn't mean "I know everything there is to know about Jesus", but instead it means that we're on a journey with Jesus. That means there's no room for religious arrogance! Earlier on Jesus says "But they (my sheep) will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice" (verse 5). To know Jesus is to know his voice. I think this is done through the Holy Spirit by reading the bible, praying and being part of the body of Christ doing life together.

So those are just a few thoughts on John 14. I moved to Aberdeen in Scotland this week for university so now I'm off to find a church I can start going to!

Strength in weakness

Just a few minutes ago I saw a friend of mine's status on facebook...

"I thank God for my lack of perfection, room for improvement = increase in humility"

Recently I've been struggling with the knowledge that I have so far to go in my life. There's always more of the bible to read, let alone other books! More to pray about. More sermons to listen to. More love to give. And I get so much wrong. It's really easy to beat myself up about it all!

I need to breath in and think about what my friend put so well, "room for improvement = increase in humility"

It's interesting how the devil distorts that and changes it from a positive thing to a negative and destructive thing..."room for improvement = you're a failure, a screw up, and you'll never get anything right"

Maybe I need to stop beating myself up about my failures and instead remember what God said to Paul, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness'.

Anyone else need a bit of that?!