Reading With the People of God - #6 LOVEНамуна

Memorization Challenge: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Reading Primer:

A Morning Prayer (Psalm 5)

This Psalm is a beautiful prayer that reveals much about David’s understanding of God. We can see immediately that David’s relationship with God is close, acknowledging His personal union with God yet maintaining a reverence for his Lord. In this prayer, we see David declaring trust in many of the Lord’s attributes: God hears (relying on His mercy), He cares (relying on His grace), He loves good, is just, and is righteous, and He is sovereign.

David’s life as a shepherd was quiet and peaceful for the most part. Now, since Saul learned David had been anointed as Israel’s future king by the prophet and king-maker Samuel, life had become one of turmoil and uncertainty. Hunted like an animal, living away from family and friends, and relying on the kindness of others, David cries out to his only help and hope, His Lord.

Though David is a king in God’s sight he does not yet have a kingdom, it is being held by another, an evildoer. David appeals to the sovereign God, the just judge, for protection and a righteous ruling. The wrongs are too great, and the enemy too strong for a man or a human court to overcome and correct.

Like David, who sojourned in the wilderness for many years and was persecuted by his enemies, we live in a hostile world. God wrote this through David for us, for the church. Jesus told us He brought the kingdom; He is the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant, the king of kings. Yes, our world is hostile to Jesus and His followers, yet we trust in God’s purpose and His sovereign ability to make all things work together for our good and His glory. Jesus is king, even if His motley crew is experiencing the wilderness. Like David, we hold, and we trust.

Freewill Offering (Deuteronomy 16:9-12)

This passage is rich in what it doesn’t say. Rich in types and rich in meaning, it tells us what our response to our salvation must be to please God. Let’s break down the types to harvest the meaning behind the message. Verses 1-8 of this chapter focus on the Passover, and we know Jesus is our Passover Lamb, establishing the credibility of types. Seven is accepted as the number of God, so we know this message is from God and about God.

The message's foundation is that the starting point is the Passover (Jesus) followed by the week of unleavened (sinless) bread (Jesus is the bread of life). From that foundational point, God’s people must wait seven weeks before they may celebrate the harvest, the Day of Pentecost.

John 12:24 tells us a seed must die to produce life. Jesus is the seed that produced the harvest on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit bringing in the sheaves.

Our passage focuses on our response to Passover and Pentecost. The words, “freewill offering in proportion to the blessing,” are the key. How does one appropriately respond to the greatest gift ever given? Happily, God tells us in Romans 12:1-2. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”He wants you wholly and freely given.

Verse 11 helps us see the attitude of our heart and mind as we give this offering to our Lord. “Rejoice before the Lord, your God….”

The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.

The Unity of Community (I Corinthians 16)

What a change of topic and pace! In chapter 15, we may read the highest thoughts of the resurrection of the dead in Christ, which are inspiring and encouraging. In chapter 16, we turn to some housekeeping, practical things to do with everyday life, before the door of the chapter closes. It shows us that as heavenly-minded as Paul is, he still plans to do earthly good.

Though an apostle to the Gentiles, Paul’s heart also embraced the Jews in Jerusalem as they endured persecution and famine. Through the practical means of collecting money from gentile-based churches for those early Jewish Christians suffering in a distant land, Paul shows us the church's unity and the fellowship of believers.

Through his actions, Paul is demonstrating that we are not just individual members of a congregation with barriers and distinctions but members of a body, a unit, the whole of which is Christ. He is teaching that each member has an obligation to the whole body; we may not be autonomous or self-serving.

Of course, the gift and the spirit in which it is given are essential, but the quiet picture drawn by Paul is the important one. When we give to the body, we are giving to Christ. The ideal of the church as the body of Christ was a very real dynamic to Paul, and the concept of Christ being represented by the church was very important.

To show unity, love, and a generous heart to the church is a demonstration of the heart's response to the magnificent and wonderful gift so generously and freely given to us in Christ, uniting His body to Him forever.

- Jinet Troost, Because He lives.