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For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.Eph 2:9 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for collecting daily manna), make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Tuesday, January 9, 2018
Today's Passage : Today's Passage: SubjectaThe:The Lord’s Supper Bible Verse:1 Corinthians 11:17-22 (ESV) "But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. " Message:
We often forget how difficult it is to bring a group of people into reasonable harmony in any undertaking. One can draw a mental picture of a meeting of the church in Corinth. A hodgepodge of uninstructed Greeks, Jews, and others, with different backgrounds, rich, poor, workers and owners, all coming together to celebrate the Lord’s Supper — and no Bible, remember, to guide them.
These were people who would not normally have spoken when passing in the street. Eating a meal in the same room would have been uncharted territory for many of them. For Jews, sitting down to eat with the unclean was forbidden. A rich Gentile, although not forbidden from sitting at table with slaves, would hardly be accustomed to it.
So they would all bring their supper after their custom and following their own mind, forming into little self-interested cliques, believing different things. Paul tells us some would get drunk and others would go hungry. In a word, chaos. Nobody really knew what to do or how to act, even if they might be genuinely touched by the Spirit.
Thus, Christ gave Paul both the duty and the authority to do some of the detail work, the scut work as it were, to explain to new Christians how to live and worship in a Godly fashion, both in private and in society.
Some of 1 Corinthians (and other Epistles) seems odd in dealing with comparative minutiae; we have just had a prime example, for why would somebody as busy with important work as Paul be dealing with how people should cut their hair or whether women should wear a veil in church. Clearly, such matters were not a primary concern to him, for he had spent eighteen months in Corinth (Acts 18:1-18) and left without mentioning the subject.
He had underestimated how petty, headstrong, and contentious people can be. Thus, much of the Epistles are concerned with rectifying divisions over what seems to us rather small details of Christian life. But Christianity is a religion of submission and obedience, for its most basic precepts run contrary to our instincts and appetites; and so, people became mostly willing to listen, for they had discovered that by listening they might find both wisdom and salvation.
Meditation : Prayer : God of love, Father of all, the darkness that covered the earth has given way to the bright dawn of your Word made flesh. Make me and all who confess your holy name people of this light. Make me faithful to your Word that I may bring your life to the waiting world. Grant this through Christ our Lord!...Amen. |
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