Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

Reflection:   In today’s reading, Paul makes a fine case for ministers to be paid by the flock they shepherd.   He gives examples from the world of workers receiving what is due to them via their labor. He then argues that the spiritual blessing the Corinthian’s have received leading to eternal life through his ministry to them, should far outweigh material compensation he would need for the basics of ordinary life.   (i.e. food, drink, spouse) Even though Paul makes a fine argument of why he should get paid, he ends the passage by saying, “We did not use this right so as to not put anything in the way as a hindrance to the gospel.”   This is why Paul had the side job of “tentmaking”, so he wouldn’t have to rely on the church for his daily needs.   He wanted to make sure no one could say he was preaching the gospel to earn a paycheck.   In his words he wanted to preach “free of charge”.     Yesterday, Paul talked about the benefits of bei...

Reflection: Today in 1 Corinthians, Paul addresses the issue of eating meat that has been offered to idols in the marketplace.   For a good recap of what this meant for the community and some principles that can guide us in these matters check out this link: http://www.gotquestions.org/food-sacrificed-idols.html For Paul the bottom line is that even though we have freedom in Christ, and we should not return to the legalism of the Old Testament regarding what is clean and unclean, we should never use our freedom if it would mean causing a brother or sister in Christ to stumble.   Meat is “amoral”, but to the new community, which was a mixture of Gentile and Jews, this caused issues.   Jews would never eat such meat if had been tainted in the marketplace, but for the Gentiles since they had not offered the sacrifice they were free to eat it.   You can see how this situation is ripe for misunderstanding and division in the early church, and so Paul gives the yo...

Reflection: Paul says the ominous words in 1 Corinthians 7, “Those who marry will face many troubles in this life.”   For Paul is it not if, but when these troubles will come!   And we see in statistics that around 50% of marriages end in divorce, both in the secular world and in the Church.   What gives?      I read this article recently entitled, “The honeymoon is over…or is it?”   And, after citing the above statistics, it said: “Marriage is a union of two imperfect people coming together in a fallen and sinful world, both with good and bad traits, habits, sins, selfish desires…….both like sheep…gone astray and wanting to be happy. Paul says it's a formula for trouble. Jesus says even though you will have trouble, take heart because there is a solution.” (marriage.infomedia.com) The article goes on to list 15 basic principles that will help one to get married and stay married!   15, Wow that is a big number!   It must be h...