Psalms 119:1-8; I Corinthians 3:1-9   The psalmist in Psalms 119 talks about how happiness comes to those who live the law, as he puts it “who walks in the law of the Lord.” Those who did so were the true spiritual people of Old Testament times. Those who fell away from the law by worshipping other gods and living by the flesh versus God’s law became people of the flesh. Paul in I Corinthians writes to the church there declaring them to be people of the flesh – immature Christians who like infants need to be fed soft (basic) spiritual food. In their immaturity they are not ready for solid spiritual food. How do they show their immaturity? They do so by behaving according to human inclinations. These include jealousy and quarreling amongst themselves along with bragging about who led them to the Lord. “I’m in Paul’s group,” one would look down on those in Apollos group and the other way around. Their envy, rivalry, and divisiveness display their fallen humanity, out of li...

  Isaiah 58:1-12; Matthew 5:13-16   In Isaiah 58 God is upset and wants Isaiah to shout out, announce to the people their rebellion. The people are doing what they think God wants, they are seeking him and even fasting. But God is very sarcastic here saying “you seek me as if you practiced righteousness.” They may “seek to draw near to God” yet their fasting only serves their own interests while they oppress their workers. What does a true fast to the Lord look like? It involves loosing the bonds of injustice, letting the oppressed go free, sharing their bread with the hungry, and clothing the naked. Only then will their light break forth. Their light shall rise in the darkness if they do so and satisfy the needs of the afflicted. This is the light told about in Matthew 5 where we are told, “you are the light of the world.” We are not just to hide our light by just worshipping God and going through the motions with no good works that show the world the light of Christ. We ...

  Matthew 5: 1-12; I Corinthians 1:18-31 Have you ever tried to share your faith and have people look at you like you’re crazy. If you look at the salvation story from a human wisdom position it does sound foolish. Let’s just look at our passage in Matthew, known as the Beatitudes. Since when in our competitive society will the meek inherit the earth? Since when are those who are persecuted blessed? If we look through this in a worldly wisdom lens it can’t help but look foolish. Paul tells about God’s foolishness in I Corinthians for those who are perishing. The Greek word for perish means losing. So here we have those losing salvation and to them the message of the cross is foolishness yet for those who are saved it is the power of God. God’s wisdom cannot be comprehended through human wisdom, yet this foolish message brings salvation to those who believe. The world at the time Paul wrote Corinthians was either Jew or Gentile. The Jewish wisdom of the time demanded signs and...