Colorful Contrast: A Study in I Corinthians
August 29: It All Hinges on the ResurrectionPastor John Martz • I Corinthians 15-16 • 29:06
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Want to know the heart of the Christian faith? It is the resurrection. Take away that reality, & the Christian faith turns out to be a house of cards. Even as some believers in the church in Corinth were suggesting that there is no resurrection, some people today have tried to suggest that you have Christianity without the reality of Easter. Paul goes to great lengths to correct such fallacious thinking, & highlights the truth of the implications of this central core of our faith.
August 22: Tongues and Prophecy
Pastor John Martz • I Corinthians 14 • 28:07
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A great gift to the church in the 20th century was a rediscovery of the gifts of the Spirit, especially the more supernatural ones. But as often happens, humans wound up succumbing to the same mistakes that beset the early church. Therefore, even as we celebrate the various gifts, we need to exercise them within the boundaries and guidelines that Paul sets forth with such wonderful clarity in this chapter.
August 15: The Real Thing
Pastor John Martz • I Corinthians 13 • 24:55
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For a guy who is supposedly a misogynistic, judgmental, cold hearted theology, Paul sure spends a great deal of time talking about the centrality of love. This chapter is the culmination of everything he has been dealing with up to this point: divisions within the church, tough love, lawsuits, servant hood, & the proper exercise of the gifts. Love is the oil that lubricates everything within the life of the church, & without church life comes to a grinding halt. This is Agape love, & it is love that always seeks the best of the other person, with no expectations in return.
August 8: Hitting on All Cylinders
Pastor John Martz • I Corinthians 12 • 23:16
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This very familiar chapter deals with the gifts of the Spirit, & our focus will be on the fact that within the Body of Christ, there are no vestigial organs. Everyone has something to contribute. At the same time, we in the Covenant believe that all of the gifts Paul highlights are still available today, but they must be stewarded with great wisdom & sensitivity lest people's faith becomes damaged or destroyed through their misuse.
August 1: Clued In
Pastor John Martz • I Corinthians 11 • 29:22
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While the first & second halves of this chapter seems to be dealing with two different issues, both parts are concerned with propriety in public worship. The first half deals with appropriate attire & respectful conduct, while the second half focuses on the Lord's Supper & our willingness to approach the table in the proper spirit. The unity of the two sections is found not only in the common theme of worship, but also in the shared concern for sensitivity to the larger body of Christ.
July 25: Christian Freedom
Pastor Nathan Powell • I Corinthians 8 through 10 • 34:23
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This whole section of 1 Corinthians deals with the issue of Christian freedom, & the simultaneous call to Christian servant hood. Our freedom in Christ is a wonderful thing, but it must always be understood as a responsible freedom - a freedom "to" more than a freedom "from". So in these 3 chapters Paul deals with the nature of freedom, the call to give up some of our rights, & the sensitivity of the strong to those whose faith is weaker.
July 18: Single Life in a Married World
Pastor Nathan Powell • I Corinthians 7 • 29:08
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Most of the church's historic affirmation of singleness comes from this chapter, where Paul says I wish all of you could be as I am. But since most people don't have the gift of singleness, he goes on to give some very important principles for marriage & life within the context of that union.
July 11: The Church That Lost It's Testimony
Pastor Wes Swanson • I Corinthians 6 • 40:08
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A litigious society like ours takes lawsuits for granted. But Paul is floored that the believers in Corinth were suing each other & taking each other to court - a practice he believed was destroying the integrity of their witness for the Gospel. That witness was supposed to build on unity, not public division. Paul calls mediation & conciliation within the family God, with lawsuits only as a measure of last resort.
July 4: Inside, Outside
Pastor John Martz • I Corinthians 6 • 29:37
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With the Temple of Aphrodite located right in town, sexual promiscuity was a constant problem for both the city of Corinth, & for the church that was planted there. Paul has to address a particularly seedy situation not only by calling for sexual purity, but by calling the church to the responsibility of church discipline. Along the way, Paul also gives us a very important distinction between our expectations for those within the church vs. those who live in the world around us.
June 27: The Scum of the Earth
Pastor Pastor Nathan Powell • I Corinthians 6 • 25:13
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Humans not only love competition, they seem hard wired to pick sides, even when such divisions are artificial & counterproductive. The Corinthian believers were trying to build their faith through identification with either Paul or Appollos, both whom ironically were on the same team representing the same faith. Paul's concern is that their faith be built on a solid foundation, made only of the best building materials. Otherwise none of it would stand the final test, but would burn up like wood, hay & stubble.
June 20: Godly Wisdom
Pastor John Martz • I Corinthians 6 • 33:27
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Paul begins this first letter to the believers in Corinth with a positive affirmation of the traits he hopes to see in them, but which too often are absent. Right out of the shoot one gets a window into some of the issues facing the church-jealousy, envy, spiritual immaturity & quarreling. In a nutshell, one might say that they are suffering from 'arrested development.'
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