Bible Commentary & Daily Devotional

 1 Corinthians 7 - Yes - Get Married! I love the dialogue in this chapter.  It’s not really dialogue.  But you can almost hear Paul talking, explaining the answer to the Corinthian’s question about marriage.  His answer is kinda like, "Yes, for the love of God, get married, stay married, and do things God’s way." I wish we heard preaching on this chapter more often.  Frankly, I wish we’d have discussed it more with our kids when they were young.  My parents got married young.  They started dating in their teens and were married early 20s.  Kari and I did the same.  I’m happy we did as I don’t think we’d have had the same energy for five kids had we started later.  But this passage isn’t about the “right” age to get married.  It’s not about that.  There is no set age.  We know people who waited until their later years to get married and they have wonderful marriages.  However, the principles in this section lead to the conclusion that it is better to get married young to d

 1 Corinthians 6 - If You Need Wisdom Inside this sixth chapter of First Corinthians God reveals part of his mysterious plan.  Not all of it.  We trust His good promise of eternity with Him.  But we have a foretaste here on earth of the magnitude of God’s creativity, justice, and goodness. A few things I’d like you to notice and a few comments. First, we are told that someday we believers will judge the world (6:2).  Now, that will be a responsibility!  We know Jesus Christ is the Judge; God is the ultimate Judge of all things.  He never slumbers or sleeps.  God sees all we do and the Lord himself watches over us (Psalms 121:5).  And here Paul provides us with the insight that God will use his prized possession, mankind, believers in Jesus Christ, to assess certain matters and to judge.  What matters?  When?  Who or what in particular will we judge?  I don’t know.  We get only a glimpse.  That’s more than we deserve as Paul’s point is not for us to speculate about such things, bu

 1 Corinthians 6 - Freedom in Christ We have freedom when we trust and obey Christ.  The Bible tells us that we can honestly walk in freedom if we have devoted ourselves to God’s commandments (Psalm 119:45).  It is good for us to ponder the direction of our lives.  Every day is a day of decisions and actions.  Is today a day to turn and follow God?  We hear throughout Scripture to take care to trust only in God for a person with divided loyalties is unstable in everything (James 1:8).  Let us be a stable and steadfast people. Trust God.  He will come through for you.  His promises are sound and trustworthy.  His timing is not ours, but He is perfect - as is His timing (Psalm 119:126). We say we believe the Bible, but we do not follow the Bible’s standard of conduct for believers in Jesus Christ. We do not remove the wicked and evil people from the church as Paul says we must. Then in this chapter, we see what we know oh so well.  We see yet again how worldly we are.  We trust

 1 Corinthians 5 - Living by God’s Power I’m saddened and humbled this morning.  I’m starkly aware that life is precious.  Our daughter lost her child this week.  She was just over four months pregnant with her fourth child, a son.  It came as a shock and heavy punch of the sting and tragedy of death.  I’m thankful for that little boy, that little life that shared these last precious months with his mom and was surrounded by family and brothers that could not wait to play with him.  His brother (Meghan’s five-year-old) Jack told us this week that he was confident the doctors could heal the baby.  He was so excited to have another boy in the family.  Oh Lord God, you are good and merciful to us.  I lift up the cup of salvation to You today and praise the LORD’s name for saving me (Ps. 116).   I know life is short.  And I trust our Good loving God, in all things. And what a reminder this week of the love of our friends and church family.  I'm thankful for the prayers and words of

 1 Corinthians 4 - Managers Must be Faithful I don’t say this lightly.  But here it is.  The message of First Corinthians four and five is precisely what the Church needs to hear today.  It’s the same message of leadership responsibility and a warning of the dangers of the love of money we see in Deuteronomy 17, and Proverbs 25, and consistent throughout Scripture.  In chapter four Paul sets the tone.  That is, he explains that you have to have a really sober assessment of yourself grounded in Christ and then we have to do the hard work of removing the wicked from the church.  I’ll start with the punch line and then we can back up a bit.  Here it is: “it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning” (1 Cor. 5:12).           Ok, now let’s think about Paul’s dialogue before that critical conclusion.  We are all servants of Christ.  He gives us our roles and responsibilities, not to lord power over others and not to make wealthy an elite group, but r

 1 Corinthians 3:11-23 - Monuments and Museums Apparently, Churchill hated the idea of someone creating a statue of him in remembrance.  Knowing about his appetite for attention, I’m not sure that’s true.  But if true, it wasn’t just the pigeons he was worried about. We are reminded in this chapter never to create a monument to ourselves for the greatness of our ministry work.  It is ok to honor brothers and sisters in Christ.  But be very careful how you do it.  In my past life as a securities lawyer, I collected in my office little trophies to celebrate successful financings and mergers.  I enjoyed those little plaques and deal gifts from investment bankers.  But what's their real value?  Very little.           God says in this passage, “It is not important who does the planting or who does the watering” (1 Corinthians 3:7).  As a history buff, I love museums.  I’ve toured Gettysburg twice in the last two years and can’t wait to return.  I'm off to Yorktown this weekend a

  1 Corinthians 3:1-10 - Builders This chapter gives us more insight into what it is like to be in partnership with God.  I think of A.W. Tozer and C.S. Lewis when I read this chapter.  I believe they understood 3:18, “Stop deceiving yourselves.  If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise.”  A Christian paradox.           We are God’s workers.  We plant and water, but only God makes the seed grow (3:7).  As God’s workmen we build on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ.  If we build well He will reward us on Judgment Day (3:8).  The good news is we do not create alone.  We are building with God, the Master Builder.  The Builder of a People. The truth is God wants us to grow up.  He wants us to progress past infancy.  God wants us to be spiritual people ready for compelling discussions and heavy responsibilities. But are we ready?  Are we controlled by the Holy Spirit, free from sin, and with ears to hear from God? Or are we,