Whether Therefore Ye Eat or Drink... Part 3 of 4
Whether Therefore Ye Eat or Drink… - Part three of four
During Paul’s second missionary journey, he spent 18 months in Corinth establishing a church. (You can read about that in Acts 18.) Then during his third missionary journey, while he is in Ephesus, he is visited by a delegation from Corinth informing him of the strife and struggle that is taking place in that church. And thus the letter that we call 1st Corinthians is written.
The book is actually like 13 different letters as it deals with 13 distinct topics. Chapters 1-6 deals with 7 types of corruptions that are taking place within the church. Chapters 7-16 then answers 6 questions that the church has posed to Paul. One of those questions is “What about spiritual gifts?” Chapters 12-14 answer this question.
Within this section is the famous “love” chapter - 1st Corinthians 13, but what we know as the “love” chapter is essentially an admonition to the Corinthian Church for their erroneous use of their Spiritual gifts.
The scripture that we read this morning (1Corinthians 6:12-13; 1 Corinthians 10:23-24; 31-33) came within the part of the report that they were fragmenting or causing strife within the body of Christ, and in Paul’s answer to the question of “What about Christian Liberty?” And he culminates it all with verse 31 in chapter 10 which says, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the Glory of God.” And that’s our “key.” That’s how we are to use our spiritual gifts.
We all have jobs - whether they’re public jobs, or private jobs, self-employed, unemployed, student or retired - we still have jobs or things that we do on a daily basis, but in A.W. Tozer’s book, “The Pursuit of God” he says “One of the greatest hindrances to internal peace which the Christian encounters is the common habit of dividing our lives into two areas, the sacred and the secular.”
Have you ever felt like you had “church” over here, and “life” or “work” over here? Have you ever felt like the “sacred acts” such as praying, reading your Bible, or going to church were over here, and “life acts” like doing laundry, washing dishes, or mowing the yard, were over here? Have you ever felt like it was a battle between what you’d like to do, and what is required of you?
I think we all have. We all have times when we feel like what we “have” to do is taking up so much of our time that we can’t “serve God” like we’d like to. And then, we feel like what we have to offer isn’t that important anyway. After all, I’m not the piano player, or the teacher, or the preacher…
To be continued tomorrow…
During Paul’s second missionary journey, he spent 18 months in Corinth establishing a church. (You can read about that in Acts 18.) Then during his third missionary journey, while he is in Ephesus, he is visited by a delegation from Corinth informing him of the strife and struggle that is taking place in that church. And thus the letter that we call 1st Corinthians is written.
The book is actually like 13 different letters as it deals with 13 distinct topics. Chapters 1-6 deals with 7 types of corruptions that are taking place within the church. Chapters 7-16 then answers 6 questions that the church has posed to Paul. One of those questions is “What about spiritual gifts?” Chapters 12-14 answer this question.
Within this section is the famous “love” chapter - 1st Corinthians 13, but what we know as the “love” chapter is essentially an admonition to the Corinthian Church for their erroneous use of their Spiritual gifts.
The scripture that we read this morning (1Corinthians 6:12-13; 1 Corinthians 10:23-24; 31-33) came within the part of the report that they were fragmenting or causing strife within the body of Christ, and in Paul’s answer to the question of “What about Christian Liberty?” And he culminates it all with verse 31 in chapter 10 which says, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the Glory of God.” And that’s our “key.” That’s how we are to use our spiritual gifts.
We all have jobs - whether they’re public jobs, or private jobs, self-employed, unemployed, student or retired - we still have jobs or things that we do on a daily basis, but in A.W. Tozer’s book, “The Pursuit of God” he says “One of the greatest hindrances to internal peace which the Christian encounters is the common habit of dividing our lives into two areas, the sacred and the secular.”
Have you ever felt like you had “church” over here, and “life” or “work” over here? Have you ever felt like the “sacred acts” such as praying, reading your Bible, or going to church were over here, and “life acts” like doing laundry, washing dishes, or mowing the yard, were over here? Have you ever felt like it was a battle between what you’d like to do, and what is required of you?
I think we all have. We all have times when we feel like what we “have” to do is taking up so much of our time that we can’t “serve God” like we’d like to. And then, we feel like what we have to offer isn’t that important anyway. After all, I’m not the piano player, or the teacher, or the preacher…
To be continued tomorrow…
posted by Betty Newman at 9:20 PM
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