Dave Dishman

The city of Corinth sat on a strategic location, a narrow strip of land joining the mainland to southern Greece. Goods flowed north and south, east and west. Owners would often drag their ships across the isthmus, or have their cargo transported to another ship, thus shortening the route between Italy and Asia. As a result of commerce the city prospered and attracted people from from all over the Mediterranean world.

Paul started a church in Corinth. Alongside his friends Priscilla and Aquila, Paul worked at tentmaking and spreading the good news of Jesus. The church took root and grew, finding converts among the many different people groups in this cosmopolitan city.

But in an area packed with idols, temples to various gods and all manner of religious practices, those who joined carried spiritual baggage. Paul spent a great deal of time instructing on how to get along with friends, employers, customers, venders, and family members who failed to understand leaving a perfectly good religion to follow Jesus.

Paul taught a specific strategy: Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Paul made himself unoffensive so that the message of grace through Jesus Christ might be the only thing his audience wrestled with. He worked hard, dealt honestly with his customers, built quality tents, engaged amicably with all who passed by—and preached the gospel without compromise. Plenty of people took issue with his message (he literally lost his head over it) but Paul took pains to ensure no one took issue with him.

No offense at the grocery store. No offense at the DMV. No offense with neighbors. No offense on social media or with a work colleague. No offense creates a solid platform to talk about Jesus. People may blame you for the message, but they’re really wrestling with Jesus. Like Paul, give no offense, let them struggle, and many will find their way to Jesus.

1 Corinthians 10:32 – 11:1

Photo by Belinda Fewings

We live in the most individualist society in human history. Catering to self surrounds us. More people live alone than ever before, and grocery stores sell half-loaves of bread for those of us who cannot get through a full loaf before it goes stale. A lot of good comes from developing our potential and encouraging others to do the same. But the needs of those around us fade in significance.

Paul wrote about a unique concern to the church at Corinth. Vendors sold meat from animals originally slaughtered as a sacrifice to an idol. Paul’s view was that an idol has no real existence, and that there is no God but one. He had no trouble eating that meat. But others in the congregation struggled. Many new followers of Jesus converted out of a powerful culture of idolatry. They loathed their former religious practices. That meat sitting in the butcher’s stall represented enslavement, and at the same time served as a subtle enticement to return. It was better to avoid the whole mess.

Paul strongly encouraged those in the congregation to pay attention to this issue and care for those who struggled. He wrote: Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

Paul chose to go meatless in order to nurture the faith of those new to Christ. For us that might mean evaluating how much we spend when we’re out to dinner, or watching certain movies, or taking our friend who struggles with drinking to a party where we know alcohol will be served. Better to miss the party than ruin the faith of a friend.

Cain famously retorted Am I my brother’s keeper? when the Lord asked him about Abel. The answer is yes. The emerging faith of new believers is delicate. Those of us with more experience and knowledge are to guide and encourage rather than skip off on our own. Seedlings of faith are precious in the eyes of the Lord. Many times swearing off a brief pleasure builds the kingdom of God, and no party matches the joy of bringing others along in their faith.

1 Corinthians 8

Photo by Kylo

During an intense scene from the legal drama A Few Good Men, an attorney hammers at a witness who happens to be a hardened Marine colonel. The attorney pushes and prods and delivers the line, I want the truth! The colonel thunders back, You can’t handle the truth!

I act the same way with God. I’m afraid to share what’s really driving my thoughts, my frustrations, my fears and my desires. I’m not the attorney asking for truth, I’m that bottled-up colonel refusing to answer. I’m afraid God cannot handle the truth.

How ludicrous, yet how human. Adam and Eve hid from God after eating forbidden fruit. They feared God couldn’t handle the truth. In the same spirit I cover up my wrong-doings and failings from the Lord.

King David wrote: For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him...Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.

David hid again and again, yet returned again and again. David poured out his heart, at one time lying in his face for days praying for his infant son with Bathsheba to live. Despite the boy’s death, David still made God his refuge. Surrounded by people always jockeying for position, his heart awakened to the steadiness of the Lord. David learned that he could tell God anything, and so he did.

You and I can tell God anything as well. Share your frustrations, angers, fears, mistakes and embarrassments. Seek forgiveness, even for those things you feel are unforgivable. Lay out your case. God can handle the truth.

Psalm 62:5-8

Photo by Rémy Penet

Does a thought ever strike that surprises you, as in where did that come from? I don’t mean an unkind, nasty type of thought, but one that sheds insight into a person that allows you to see them as God might? Or perhaps you perceive that a friend running after money might actually being running from the Lord? Or you get the inkling that our culture’s obsession with cutting and mutilating our bodies and the bodies of our children point to a deeper need to connect with the God of the universe?

If so, you’re seeing evidence of a renewed mind. Paul wrote to the church members in Corinth teaching that those who follow Jesus have received the Holy Spirit so that we might understand the things freely given us by God. He goes on to contrast the Spirit of God with the natural spirit of the world. Those without God’s Holy Spirit cannot understand spiritual matters. They don’t have the capacity, and refusal to bow to Christ locks these folks out of such discernment.

But those indwelt with the Holy Spirit possess a not-so-secret power—the mind of Christ. Over time, the Lord trickles wisdom into our soul. With a willingness to submit, hang with the Lord in his silences and listen to his whispers, new ways of thinking develops.

A fresh mind develops in fits and starts. We begin to discern what is important and what it not, what might matter to the kingdom of God and what is dross. We learn to avoid issues and blunders. We see God all around us, we understand more than ever the lostness of man and the glory of being found. We treat our neighbors as we would like to be treated. Best of all, we enjoy the Lord and walk in his good graces.

Lean into the Lord. Give the Holy Spirit your life to do with as he wishes, then watch your soul expand as the mind of Christ develops within you.

1 Corinthians 2:6-16

Photo by Daniel Dan