July 7

1 CORINTHIANS 7

¹⁷ Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. ¹⁸ Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. ¹⁹ For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. ²⁰ Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. ²¹ Were you a bondservantwhen called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) ²² For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. ²³ You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. ²⁴ So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God. – 1 Corinthians 7:17-24

1 CORINTHIANS 7 LEAD THE LIFE YOU ARE ASSIGNED

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

When God calls you to be part of his kingdom

Remain in that condition whatever you are doing

Lead the life that you are assigned, that is your vocation

Don’t change anything, let God make the transformation

You were bought with a price, remember his steadfast love

Respond to God’s calling with all your heart, soul and mind.

In this letter, Paul emphasizes the grace and gift that God gives to those whom he calls into his kingdom. It didn’t matter whether they were slaves or free, married or single. In verse 20 he advised them to remain in the condition in which they were called to serve. He gave the examples of being a servant or a free man, single or married.

Why do you think Paul stresses to them the importance of staying put when they are invited to God’s kingdom? Paul wanted them to focus on God’s power and grace, not on their limited human capacities. Paul wants them to see the power of God himself. He can transform however mundane your condition was and use you as a vessel to make himself known to mankind and his will fulfilled.

REFLECTION

• What was the condition of your life when you were called to serve God?

July 5

1 CORINTHIANS 7

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” ² But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. ³ The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. ⁴ For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. ⁵ Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ⁶ Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. ⁷ I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. – 1 Corinthians 7:1-7

1 CORINTHIANS 7 CONJUGAL RIGHTS

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

When you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will honor your body

If you are unable to control your lust and your passion,

It is good for you to marry someone and be faithful to that person

You will now be united in your bodies and have marital benefits

The man has authority over his wife’s body

The woman also has authority over her husband’s body

Each of the spouse will not deprive each other of sex

They will honor their vows of being united and one flesh.

In this letter, Paul further explains to the Corinthian church how marriage in the eyes of the Lord works. He gives a proposal of how to deal with the temptation for sexual immorality. If you are a man, you must get a wife so that you will be within the boundaries that God allows for sexual union. The same is true with a woman. He is to get a husband who will be the only one she is to be united with.

Sadly, in our society, marriage has been a novelty. People just get into having sexual relations with whoever they please. They are defiling their own bodies and also disrespecting God’s design for our bodies.

REFLECTION

• How can the conjugal rights between a husband and wife be violated?

July 4

1 CORINTHIANS 6

¹² “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. ¹³ “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. ¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Or do you not know that he who is joinedto a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. ¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. – 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

1 CORINTHIANS 6 YOUR BODY ISN’T YOUR OWN

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

When you professed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ

God’s Spirit lives inside you, your body is his temple now

It no longer is yours anymore but it belongs to your Maker

Honor your body because he now dwells in this temple

Do not engage in sexual immorality because it defiles God

Honor your body and keep it pure so you will give him laud.

In this letter, Paul emphasizes the importance of keeping the body pure and undefiled from sexual immorality. He reminds them of God’s purpose in creating humans. He made all humans patterned after his own image. He created us that way so we can be one with him. Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, that purpose was thwarted by the devil. Mankind wants to please the self instead of God. There is a tendency towards satisfying the cravings of the flesh for its own pleasures rather than pleasing God and giving him the glory. This inclination to give the flesh what it wants is what leads all humans to engage in sexual immorality. This is what makes us think that we own our bodies when we don’t.

REFLECTION

• What is the boundary that God sanctioned for indulging in sex?

July 3

1 CORINTHIANS 6

⁷ To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸ But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers! ⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. – 1 Corinthians 6:7-11

1 CORINTHIANS 6 THE FATE OF THE UNRIGHTEOUS

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

To all those who are sexually immoral, idolaters and adulterers

Watch out for your actions are displeasing to the heavenly Father

God hates wickedness in the hearts of men, avoid it as much as you can

The fate of the unrighteous is deprivation of God’s kingdom

Those who believe in Christ are washed, sanctified and justified

A place for servants of Jesus is reserved for them in eternity.

Paul continued to challenge the Christians in Corinth.  This is a continuation of his challenge to them regarding filing lawsuits against each other. He warns them of the consequence of doing unrighteous things. It also refers to one of their brothers in that church who they tolerated and didn’t confront when he slept with his father’s wife.

Paul enumerates some of the many sins that displeases God: sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, drunks, the greedy, abusers or cheaters. Reflect on these sins and you will come down to people who indulge in their flesh and go against the laws of love that God has put in each person’s heart. Paul warns them of these sins.

David Guzik comments “At the very time Paul wrote, Nero was emperor. Nero castrated a boy named Sporus and then married him (with a full ceremony), brought him to the palace with a great procession, and made the boy his “wife.” Later, the emperor lived with another man, and Nero was declared to be the other man’s “wife.”

REFLECTION

• Why do you think the following sins enumerated here are sins that God hates?

June 30

1 CORINTHIANS 5

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. ² And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.³ For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. ⁴ When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.– 1 Corinthians 5:1-5

1 CORINTHIANS 5 DISCIPLINE AMONG THE CHURCH

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

As members of the body of Christ, we have unity

Each part of the church is required to stay pure and holy

When a member continually sins, they need to be confronted

Without rebuking the sinner among us, the body will be affected

Like cancer cells, they need to be removed to preserve the rest

We need to address the compromised act so they can be saved.

In this letter, Paul confronts the sexual sin of someone in the Corinthian church that is so blatantly minimized by the rest of the church. The person who is talked about here had sexual affairs with his father’s wife. I am assuming it is not his own mother, but probably a stepmother. In 2 Samuel 16:22, Absalom (David’s son) actually did the same thing with his father’s wife (who is one of David’s concubines) to spite his father.

Why didn’t Paul minimize this situation? He is disciplining the believer because it defies the law of God not to covet another man’s wife. Paul explains in the next chapter that sexual sin is a sin against the person’s own body. So, when a person acts on their own fleshly desire to satisfy their sexual cravings, they are defiling their whole physical well-being. It was important to cut off this man from the church because it will create a demoralizing effect on the rest of the body. When we have cancer cells, we deal with it so it doesn’t spread and contaminate the whole body. This is the same concept.

REFLECTION

• Do you think Paul was punitive or loving when he said verse 5? Why or why not?

June 29

1 CORINTHIANS 4

¹⁴ I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For though you have countlessguides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ¹⁶ I urge you, then, be imitators of me. ¹⁷ That is why I sentyou Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹ But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. ²⁰ For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. ²¹ What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

                                                                 – 1 Corinthians 4:14-21

1 CORINTHIANS 4 TOUGH LOVE

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

When we are part of the communion of saints

We who are spiritually mature must build up the church

Tough love is needed for those who are still infants in Christ

The gospel is spread by those who bring truth, correction and life

We are all responsible to grow our faith and admonish one another

Let us all manifest brotherly affection and compassion for each other.

In this letter, Paul reminds the Corinthian church of the necessity to correct their wrong mindsets about the leaders of God’s church. According to David Guzik’s commentary “Some Corinthian Christians were so arrogant they thought Paul was afraid to visit them. When they thought Paul was afraid of them, it made them all the more proud in their hearts. Those among the Corinthian Christians who loved high-sounding words and their successful image had their own word, but Paul had the true power of the gospel. The final test of wisdom is power; the word of the cross not only has the power to mentally illumine, but also to morally save.”

In our society today, we are so concerned to be politically correct and so conscious of crossing boundaries that we fail to show tough love when it is needed in the church.

REFLECTION

• Share some insights as to the novelty of tough love in God’s churches these days.

June 27

1 CORINTHIANS 4

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. ² Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. ³ But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. ⁴ For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵ Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.⁶ I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. ⁷ For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? – 1 Corinthians 4:1-7

1 CORINTHIANS 4 WHY BOAST ABOUT ANYTHING

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

Do you not know that every good gift comes from God?

There is nothing that we received that originates from us

Anything we do and work for is a blessing from the Lord

So, why boast about anything when it didn’t come from you?

Do not be puffed up and think highly of yourself

Be thankful and give credit only to your loving Father

In this letter, Paul stressed to the Corinthian church the importance of remembering that they are serving the Lord Jesus Christ and that they are responsible to care for the truths that God has given them. They do not need to focus on their differences because it is God’s preference to give different gifts to anyone he desires to give. He cautions them of pride that they easily resort to.

Humans automatically focus on their own achievements or efforts and this is the result of our sin nature. Paul cautions them that they need to guard their hearts from comparisons, jealousy and judgments when they are serving the Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing to boast about anyway since all things emanate from God.

REFLECTION

• What do humans automatically boast about? How can we prevent boasting?

June 26

1 CORINTHIANS 3

¹⁶ Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.¹⁸ Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” ²⁰ and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” ²¹ So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, ²² whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, ²³ and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. – 1 Corinthians 3:16-23

1 CORINTHIANS 3 KEEP GOD’S TEMPLE HOLY

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

When you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ

You are indwelled by God’s Holy Spirit

After Jesus died on the cross, He gave you his Helper

You are now the temple of God so keep it unblemished

Do not defile it with human understanding and folly

It is God’s dwelling, so keep it pure and holy.

Many people do not understand the idea of keeping our bodies pure and holy. Even some Christians fail to apply the concept that we are God’s temple and that we are expected to keep it pure. In the Old Testament, God was very specific about how to build his temple, what materials to use and the restrictions of who are the only ones who can enter the Holy of Holies. The layers of curtains that a priest had to go through to ensure that the temple is not defiled clearly foreshadows how we need to respect our own bodies as well.

How are we to connect the concept of God’s temple in the Old Testament and being the temple of God after Jesus died for us? Our limitations as humans pose as a challenge to uncover this concept of keeping our bodies pure and holy. With the culture and traditions of the world around us, it can be a challenge to discern how to keep our bodies holy and undefiled. In the book of James, pure religion includes making sure that the believer is unstained by the systems of the world.

REFLECTION

• What ways can Christians defile God’s temple in their own bodies?