Pastor Darryl

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Continuing on from the last couple of weeks, where Paul was addressing a church that had become very divisive, he now informs the Corinth congregation of their lack of love. The Corinthians had forgotten the greatest commandments: “Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Without love it does not matter what budgets, buildings or mission strategies we have. Such things do not give the church the shape that God desires. We may pursue various forms of spirituality or proper doctrine. However, in our pursuit of these things, we must not forget that the church is called to be a community that practices love. Paul spells out that if love is missing, then we are nothing and what we do is nothing, just full of hot air and self importance. Love is the fruit of everything the church is. There is no Gospel without love. But if love is manifested and regulated in Godʼs Law there cannot be a Gospel without law. If the Law of love, love to God and love of God are the same, you cannot love without God. “God demonstrated his own love for us thus – Christ died for us while we were still sinners.” (Rom. 5:8) To love is the highest command in the Law of the Old Testament. No commandment can be understood apart from love. And love cannot be understood apart from the Law. The love of Jesus is not proven by emotions, nice words or programmes, but by what He did for us. “This is how we know the love (of God) Jesus Christ laid down his love for us. (1 John 3:16)

Pastor Darryl

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

What a wonderful creation of God is the human body, made up of countless parts, from the invisible to the visible! Yet God has placed and given each of the parts a role to play in being the body and in the working of the body. Regardless of how insignificant we believe them to be, God exalts even the weakest part. They are all unique, all given their special gifts and abilities, yet all part of the unit. Paul tells us that as the one body has many parts, so it is with Christ. The church is not an organisation of many bodies or denominations, but is a single living organism. All the many members of the body fulfil their proper function with no single part existing or functioning by itself. The church is not like a body, but is the body of Christ. This is an amazing statement here, that we are part of Christ. That is what Paul is saying. We constitute the means by which Christ functions within the world, that is how the church works. As with the human body, what affects one part, will affect the whole body. We donʼt come to church as individual people and then leave, but we are always unified in Christ. When Jesus quoted Isaiah “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing,” he didnʼt so much preach good news as be or become the good news that day. Jesus acts out that same prophesy of Isaiahʼs, being the good news In our world, only now he does it using our flesh and blood, joined as we are now in the waters of baptism, with us now raised as his body, the body of Christ, which is the church.

Pastor Darryl

20-1-19

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

I wonder how many people ever consider how it is that they have many and varied gifts and abilities. Paul was addressing the Christian community in Corinth who seemed to enjoy valuing one gift above another. Because I can do this and that and you canʼt, and what I do is important, therefore the ability I have must be above anything you have. I think that there exists some of that type of thinking in both todayʼs society and for that matter, the church. Paul brings us back to earth when he says that every ability you have – and that is each one of us, believer or not – has been gifted with abilities, special abilities. However, these abilities are never yours. They belong to the one who has placed them in you.

I may not know all the spiritual gifts God has blessed you personally with, but I do know that He has given them to you. He doesnʼt want us to use them for selfish profit or glory. God wants us to use these spiritual gifts to benefit our fellow believers. And when we do that, we also bring Him glory. We should never think that we have nothing to offer, because we have, regardless of who we are.

He has given us gifts and manifestations of the Spirit, according to His plan and will, not our wisdom or wishes, for the common good. Let Him energise you with His Word and Sacraments. Find power in His gracious Word that he has called you out of the darkness of unbelief and made you his child.

Pastor Darryl

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Do you remember anything about your baptism? If youʼre like me, and were baptised as a baby, the answer is probably “no.” Perhaps someone has told you what occurred at your baptism and you recall it that way. We confess that baptism is a most significant event in the life of a Christian. Yet, most of us have no memory of our baptism. We may even have no clear idea of its real meaning or importance, let alone how it may impact our daily lives. It is likely that most of us almost never think about baptism with the exception, of when we see or are involved in a baptism, or perhaps when a pastor preaches about it. Baptism is a gift from God. It is Godʼs unconditional promise to accept us as we are, adopt us into Godʼs family and forgive us all of our sin. We are utterly passive in the face of Godʼs grace. So, does that mean that baptism “makes” us part of Godʼs family or does it “announce” to us that God includes us in Godʼs family? If baptism makes us part of Godʼs family – then baptism becomes a requirement of life with God now and in the life to come. Does that mean it is a “ticket to heaven” where parents want their children “done” just to be on the safe side? However, baptism doesnʼt “make” but “announces” Godʼs inclusion of us into Godʼs family. Perhaps we ought to keep reminding ourselves and each other of that tremendous gift that God has granted us. Baptism is a public declaration, a visible sign, to the baptised and the community of who and whose we are, beloved, children of God. We must not lose sight that baptism is Godʼs work, not ours, his command for his reasons, for our good.

Pastor Darryl

Ephesians 3:1-12

Paulʼs letter to the Ephesians is written into a community where many believe systems existed. It was a place where mystery religions were trying to come to terms with life, where it was thought necessary to cultivate oneʼs moral virtues in order to become a good person, where it was believed that one needed to control or transform emotions in order to achieve inner calm, where it was thought that fate controlled oneʼs life and a place where it was all about the self. If you add one more thought – that the world is like a time-bomb, whose clock is fast running down heading us into a collision course with oblivion – I suppose then, that the world hasnʼt changed much at all. Yet, the letter to the Ephesians addresses these and may other issues relative to life. That God has a plan and a purpose for you, for all humankind, and for the universe. The place where God implements this plan for the individual as well as the universe is the church, his church, not the one we so often want to create. Not the building, but the unit of believers regardless of culture, ethnic group or social stratum. In all the twists and turns in life it can be hard to understand this plan. The Apostles didnʼt at first, even as Jesus explained the reasons for his birth, life, death and resurrection. At a time when fewer and fewer people seem to know what the church is and why it exists, perhaps it is time to revisit Paulʼs letter to the Ephesians and listen to God speaking to each one of us and have a mystery revealed. After all, it is only six short chapters long. Go on, have a go!

Pastor Darryl