March 16th, Monday: 1 Corinthians 10-11

1 Cor 10

if you insist on using your rights, you may cause a weaker believer to stumble.

And you may also bring trouble on yourself.

When you face difficult decisions, take some of these factors into consideration – factors like God's blessing.

The parallel to God's people today is obvious.

We've been redeemed from the world, identified with Jesus Christ and nourished by spiritual food and drink, but these blessings are no guarantee that we would be successful.

Another factor is God's judgment.

When Israel sinned, God disciplined them and He would do the same to His people today.

Do you practise and tolerate in your life any of the sins that are named here?

You know, God gave His children freedom, but the freedom to sin is definitely not included.

Another factor is God's promise.

God knows how much we can take and provides the way of escape.

Sometimes the smartest thing we can do is just to flee.

Always look for the open door and the blessing on the other side.

And the final factor is God's glory.

Two extremes must be avoided – practicing license in the name of Christian freedom, and being so fussy that we cannot live in a real world and make rational decisions.

When you seek to edify others and glorify the Lord, you will know what to do.

Hey, when you flee from temptation, be sure you do not leave a forwarding address behind

1 Cor 11

Some matters discussed in this chapter may have only local significance, but the spiritual principles apply to us today.

When it comes to sharing and public worship, we must ask ourselves some serious questions.

One of those questions is 'Do I dishonour authority?'

We got to be careful not to dishonour the Lord no matter what the cultural standards may be.

God has established headship in creation and in the church.

And He intends for us to respect it.

Do I despise the church?

We're one in Christ and in love must honour one another.

That's one of the lessons we will learn in this chapter.

By the way they ate their love feast, the rich embarrassed the poor and brought shame to the church.

Do I discern the bodies?

When we need to celebrate the communion service, we must examine ourselves and not one another.

And we must be honest with the Lord as we confess our sins.

We discern His body in the bread but we also discern it in the members of the church who eat with us.

The Lord's Supper is a family feast.

While it must be personal, it must not become so individual that it becomes selfish.

It should be a means of promoting the unity of the church.