But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem . . . Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (v. 8)

People who want pulse-pounding, edge-of-the-seat storylines flock to action movies. The book of Acts is action-packed. Supernatural tongues of fire materialize out of thin air. Sorcerers, jailbreaks, insurrections, resurrections, and miraculous healings leap off the pages. Best of all, every word is true.

Acts is the sequel to Luke’s Gospel account. While Luke’s Gospel focused on Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, Acts focuses on life after Jesus’ ascension. Acts is an action story “filmed” on location, spanning thousands of miles. It tells the ongoing story of Jesus Christ and his church empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The story moves from Jerusalem to Judea and beyond. God’s people travel down dusty roads and across raging seas to share Christ. There is no wall thick enough, no religious persecution strong enough, no gossip vicious enough to stop the spread of God’s word.

Hang on to your seats! Over the next 15 days, we will witness God’s incredible, often surprising acts of power. These works are not confined to the book of Acts. Whether we feel it or not, the Holy Spirit is active. He calls us to share the good news to the ends of the earth: “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (2:21).

Prayer:
Lord, forgive us. Break into our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit and turn our hearts toward Jesus Christ the Lord.

I read an interview once with a minister who did not believe Jesus was actually raised from the dead. He believed the resurrection stories in the New Testament were fables and that we were supposed to think of the resurrection symbolically, not literally. To him, the resurrection represented the promise of second chances and renewal, like spring coming after a long winter. “My gosh,” he said, “if I actually believed a person had been raised from the dead I’d shout about it to everyone.”

Isn’t that exactly the point?

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the singular moment in human history. It is the lens through which Christians view reality. Everything we believe, not just about death but also about life, is affected by the resurrection. If there is no resurrection, Paul says, why do any of the things we do? Why preach? Why have faith? Why fight wild beasts in Ephesus (v. 32)? (Call Paul what you will, but don’t you dare call him boring.)

We have seen that the central theme of this letter to the Corinthians is unity. The climax of Paul’s teaching and the foundation of any hope for unity among diverse and disparate people is found in the resurrection, the pivotal point of history. In Christ, Paul tells us in verse 22, all shall be made alive. That promise indeed unites us.

Prayer:
Thank you, Father, for this gospel, this good news of your Son’s resurrection.

If we try to imagine the worship of the early church through the filter of our own experience we may have trouble. There was no building to go to, no beautiful sanctuary to sit in, no hymnals, no pew Bibles (or pews to put them in), no order of worship, no organ, no worship band, and no professionally-trained minister guiding the service.

Instead, the picture we get from reading 1 Corinthians 14 is that worship services in the early church tended to be more chaotic than orderly and could resemble free-for-alls. The Corinthians were desirous of spiritual gifts and seem to have fixed on tongues as the gift of choice. Paul counsels otherwise. Their exercise of tongues resembled children playing side-by- side in a sandbox without actually playing with each other. Paul wants unity over individual expression.

Prophecy, the gift of speaking God’s word understandably, is to be preferred. Prophecy builds up the body while tongues build up individuals. As he has done throughout this letter, Paul is asking the Corinthians (and us) to think about what is best for all instead of just best for me. This is a principle that transcends cultures and circumstances and should mean as much today—whatever the style of worship in which we participate—as it did to those early believers in Corinth.

Prayer:
Lord, help us focus not on ourselves but on what builds up the body in all things.

I had a professor for hermeneutics—the art of biblical interpretation—who captured my attention by saying that the Bible is more like a mountain range than a prairie. He meant that the Bible has peaks. “All Scripture is inspired and useful,” he taught us, “but some parts tower over other parts.” Surely 1 Corinthians 13 is one of those peaks.

Let’s be honest here: Paul’s letters can be difficult to interpret sometimes. His arguments can be dense. It takes skill to unwind them. Even Peter admitted his frustration, saying about Paul’s letters: “There are some things in them that are hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:15-16). Anyone who has read the New Testament knows what Peter means.

But that frustration does not apply to 1 Corinthians 13. Want to be really unified? Paul’s message is crystal clear—make love the center of your life. As verses 4 through 7 make plain, love isn’t a mushy feeling but an act of the will. Sometimes we get confused and think love is something we have to feel. It is a feeling, but more than that, love is also an action. Patience and kindness, for example, aren’t feelings but actions. All the things love is “not”—not boastful, not rude, not irritable—are also actions. We decide daily, in every situation and with every person we encounter, whether or not we will choose love. When we do act in love we happily discover that our feelings follow in the same way.

Prayer:
Let us choose love in all our actions.

Since unity has been such a theme of this letter, it’s fair to wonder how unity really can be achieved. It’s easy to imagine a Corinthian or two wondering how they were supposed to be united when they were so different. It’s not hard to look across the vast landscape of different Christian denominations today and wonder the same thing.

Paul seems to be saying, “That’s exactly my point!” Unity is not to be found in everyone acting like clones of each other. Unity is achieved when we recognize we are a body with many parts, and that no part is greater than another.

For an example of what this can look like, read verses 4 through 6 again carefully. Notice what Paul says. There are varieties of gifts, services, and activities, but only one . . . one what? Here Paul may surprise us. He does not say “one God” over and over. Instead he uses the three persons of the Trinity: one Spirit, one Lord (always a reference to Jesus) and one God. Is God unified? Absolutely. Does God also have three distinct persons? No doubt about it. Unity is not found in being the same but in being diverse without being divided. Be the best “you” you can be, because that’s what the body needs. And then don’t expect other parts of the body to be exactly like you.

Prayer:
We praise you, Lord, for the variety of your family.

What is your ancestry? The Internet has made genealogical research easier than ever. There are volumes of material available online, and with a few clicks of my computer mouse one day I found a picture of my Civil War-veteran great-grandfather’s grave. Then with a few more clicks I learned my Norwegian ancestors were actually born in Sweden.

Does it seem unusual to you that Paul would write the Corinthians—a church made up largely of Gentiles—and mention their ancestors who traveled under a cloud and passed through the sea? He is referring to the exodus, the pivotal event in Jewish history, but not a part of the family history of most of the Christians in Corinth. Paul doesn’t explain, he simply takes it for granted that all will understand that the church in Corinth is part of the family God rescued from Egypt. To be part of the family of God is bigger than any particular ethnicity.

So what’s your ancestry? What family do you belong to? As Paul writes in Romans 8:16-17: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” Being a child of God is a lot more important than having ancestors who came from Holland, or England, or Mexico—or even Sweden!

Prayer:
Dear Lord, thanks that we have the privilege to call you Father.

What is your ancestry? The Internet has made genealogical research easier than ever. There are volumes of material available online, and with a few clicks of my computer mouse one day I found a picture of my Civil War-veteran great-grandfather’s grave. Then with a few more clicks I learned my Norwegian ancestors were actually born in Sweden.

Does it seem unusual to you that Paul would write the Corinthians—a church made up largely of Gentiles—and mention their ancestors who traveled under a cloud and passed through the sea? He is referring to the exodus, the pivotal event in Jewish history, but not a part of the family history of most of the Christians in Corinth. Paul doesn’t explain, he simply takes it for granted that all will understand that the church in Corinth is part of the family God rescued from Egypt. To be part of the family of God is bigger than any particular ethnicity.

So what’s your ancestry? What family do you belong to? As Paul writes in Romans 8:16-17: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” Being a child of God is a lot more important than having ancestors who came from Holland, or England, or Mexico—or even Sweden!

Prayer:
Dear Lord, thanks that we have the privilege to call you Father.

What do you have a right to that you have not claimed? For Paul, he had a right to demand that those he ministered to pay his way, but he did not claim that right. He didn’t ask for money; instead, he supported himself by other means. In my opinion, Paul’s actions are like walking onto thin ice, but Paul stepped forth boldly.

Why do I call this thin ice? Because there is a great temptation for those who follow Paul’s example to slip into self-righteousness, false humility, resentment, overwork, or a martyr syndrome. The church has decided that, when possible, it’s better for all concerned that ministers be paid for their work directly by the congregations they serve. Ministers are entitled to fair wages and benefits, vacations and pensions. As Paul argues in verses 7 through 14, it’s not selfish for ministers to expect that. But Paul himself doesn’t do it.

I find myself meditating often on Paul’s example. His decision to support himself through tent making was motivated by a desire for unity in the church. Once again, Paul gives up something he could do—like eating meat sacrificed to idols—for the sake of others. “I do it all for the sake of the gospel” (v. 23), he writes, and one wonders what the church today might look like if all of us, clergy and laity alike, kept that principle.

Prayer:
The example of your servant Paul moves and motivates us, dear Lord.

A couple of generations ago, card playing was a vice to be avoided by Christians. These days you are as likely to hear sermons warning about the danger of playing cards as you are to hear sermons warning about eating meat that’s been sacrificed to idols. Issues come and go as times change, but behind the issues principles for dealing with life’s dilemmas remain.

We’ve moved in 1 Corinthians from issues like incest and lawsuits that Paul sees as nonnegotiable to issues that are negotiable. Paul makes it clear he doesn’t believe eating meat that had been sacrificed to an idol is a problem. In those days in Corinth it was nearly impossible to find meat that hadn’t been part of a sacrifice. Paul says idols don’t have any actual power, so believers can go ahead and fill up. But then, interestingly, he advises against doing so. Why? Because love is more important than knowledge or freedom.

Here we get a principle that transcends cultures and history: loving concern for others should be of paramount importance in our decision making. If something doesn’t hurt me but hurts someone else, I should not do it. The old saying, “Sometimes it is more important to be nice than to be right” rings true here, because too often being “right” leads to divisiveness, while acting in love brings unity.

Prayer:
Guide us, Lord, as we make decisions today. Help us always to be mindful of you and of the impact of our actions on others.

I sometimes ride my bike to the grocery store and often park next to a bike with a sticker on it that says, “One less automobile.” I don’t know whose bike that is, but I like the sticker. Every time that person rides that bike somewhere, there’s one less car using gas and producing pollution. It’s the work of someone being intentionally countercultural.

In 1 Corinthians 6 Paul addresses the issue of lawsuits between believers. Perhaps surprisingly, he views them with the same disdain as he viewed incest and other sexual sins in the last chapter. Lawsuits between followers of Christ are simply not tolerated. At this point, it is tempting to regard Paul as a sort of angry New Testament version of Moses, handing down law after law for Christians to obey. But that’s not his intention. Rather, Paul is saying that as people participating in the new life found in Christ we must not live the way the rest of the world lives. Christians should be intentionally countercultural. The world settles disagreements in court. It should not be so with us.

I have four friends who are judges, and although I’m not sure they would fully agree with Paul’s characterization of judges as “unrighteous” (v. 1), I am positive each would say that Christians fighting each other in court is heartbreaking. Throughout this chapter Paul is saying, “You can do better than that.” He’s right. We can.

Prayer:
Again and again, Lord, we hear your servant Paul extolling unity. Help us be united.

“Tolerance” is a virtue in modern society. But 1 Corinthians shows that the modern idea of tolerance is, in the words of N. T. Wright, both “too wide and too shallow.”

It is too wide because not every practice should be tolerated. As Paul mentions in this chapter, incest is a practice about which there are not two equally valid Christian opinions. Paul minces no words in telling the Corinthians how to deal with this problem.

But tolerance is also too shallow. As we’ve seen elsewhere in this letter, there are times when legitimate differences of opinion arise in the church. At those times, Paul does not want the differing parties to simply “agree to disagree” and tolerate each other. He wants them to work through their differences to unity. That is a tall order.

It is easy to lock onto one side of a debate and turn it into a “non-negotiable” that can only be resolved by a decisive split. Few issues deserve this treatment. How can we know when to stand fast and when to compromise? One clue is found in this chapter. There have been times, even in recent history, when the church has not dealt decisively with behavior that shocks even the non-believing world. At other times, believers argue over things the rest of the world finds trivial. Sometimes, seeing things from another point of view helps us see ourselves clearly.

Prayer:
Give us wisdom to know the limits of tolerance.

Did you see that coming?

Here is Paul, bringing up the divisive split in the Corinthian church again and talking about who really has the right to judge anyone. This leads him to talk about a coming Judgment Day when things hidden will be brought to light and the purposes of the heart will be disclosed. Scary stuff, right?

Wrong! There is nothing to be afraid of. Believers should look forward to judgment, not be afraid of it, because, as Paul says, “Then each one will receive commendation from God.” That’s right; it says “commendation,” not “condemnation.” Other translations use the word “praise” here. In The Message, Eugene Peterson says then we will “get to hear the ‘Well done!’ of God.” Can you imagine that? The movie of your life is going to be shown and God is going to say “Good job” to you. He’s going to be happy, not disappointed. There is nothing to be afraid of.

What a joy to live on this side of the cross. As Paul says in verse 8, we’ve become rich. It’s like we’ve won the lottery. But don’t get a big head about any of this. You didn’t do it. It wasn’t you that bought your lottery ticket. As he reminds the Corinthians, this is all grace, an unearned and unearnable gift. Thanks be to God!

Prayer:
Thank you, Lord, that we needn’t live in fear, because of the grace of your Son.

Our daughter was a thumb sucker. We thought that sooner or later she would outgrow this bad habit, but it never happened. As she got to be school-aged, we tried bribes, mittens at bedtime, and hot pepper sauce on her thumbs. Nothing worked. Instead, she developed a taste for exotic, spicy foods! We were exasperated and frustrated parents.

Paul is an exasperated and frustrated spiritual parent. According to him, it didn’t take the residue of a milk moustache to identify the babes in Christ in the Corinthian church. Their jealousy and strife were bad habits they weren’t outgrowing, and their spiritual immaturity had become embarrassing. The word “strife” (v. 3) is also translated as “quarreling” or “contentiousness,” and Paul has no stomach for it. He values unity above all in the church. There was to be no church of Paul or church of Apollos, but only the church of Jesus Christ. “Yes,” some will say, “but in our case we happen to be right, so we are forced to separate.” As a result of that attitude, there are now estimated to be more than 23,000 Christian denominations worldwide.

We finally had to get our dentist to install an appliance in our daughter’s mouth that made thumb sucking impossible. Too bad there isn’t something similar—to stop those who divide the body of Christ. Unity is Paul’s greatest value.

Prayer:
Inspire us, O Lord, to grow out of our tendency to divide your body.

On the morning I sat down to write this, I learned of the unexpected death of a friend who was only 58 years old. Paul’s familiar words in verse 2 of this chapter suddenly sounded odd to me. “Gosh,” I said to myself, “I hope he talked about more than just the crucifixion. I hope he talked about the resurrection too.”

We know that he did. Chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians teaches about the resurrection in more depth and detail than perhaps any other part of the Bible. And we also know Paul addressed all sorts of other issues and topics with the Corinthians. But he never lost sight of the Big Story. He never lost the gospel in his preaching and settled for making sermons on rules to live by or sharing words of encouragement on how to have a better life. He kept telling the story of a crucified Savior—a gospel he had already called “foolishness” and a “stumbling block.”

Whenever we lose sight of the Big Story, whenever we lose the sense of being part of God’s unfolding drama for all of creation, we are in danger of reducing the gospel to small categories we can manage. The Big Story, Paul tells us, is beyond anything we have ever seen, heard, or imagined (v. 9). By limiting himself to the Big Story of Christ crucified, Paul shares a limitless message.

Prayer:
Keep our eyes and hearts fixed on the Big Story, dear Lord.

Because the message of the cross is so familiar to us, we lose sight of how unusual the story Paul shared was. The death of Christ had happened only a few years earlier, and the way Paul and other believers were interpreting it was radical. It was difficult for people to accept, because a crucified Messiah made no sense. To the Jewish world crucifixion was a sign of God’s curse, not blessing. They expected a Messiah who would liberate them from Rome, not one whom Rome had already killed. To the Gentile world crucifixion was something that happened to rebellious slaves and murderous barbarians. Their gods certainly did not suffer, and to sophisticated ears Paul’s words sounded ridiculous.

Paul understood exactly how both groups thought. He was a product of both worlds and had thought as they did at one time—but not anymore. He was compelled to tell both the Jewish and Gentile worlds about this crucified Savior. This is the gospel—the good news that Paul wanted to share. In the cross of Christ, God had turned the values of the world upside down. What some saw as foolishness was wisdom. What some called weakness was strength.

May we keep our eyes firmly fixed on the crucified Christ, so that we don’t let our preconceived notions make us rigid, or our intellects make us condescending!

Prayer:
Lord and Savior, help us keep the cross at the center of our faith.