Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

Click Here to Listen to or Read 2 Corinthians 2 In the first four verses Paul refers back to the conflict that he had addressed with the Corinthians during his first visit. Though it was painful, Paul had hoped that the appropriate people would repent and he would not have to address it again if he visited a second time. We see Paul's love for the Corinthians, as he was at times in tears for this situation. The Corinthians had already given him some challenge by their criticism of him, and Paul wanted to come to them in joy not sorrow.  Forgiveness for the Offender Paul then refers to the specific incident and person involved. The Corinthians had confronted the person who was in sin, and Paul reminded them not to be too excessive in their discipline of him. The goal was to restore this brother to the church fellowship. He urged them to forgive him, which would assume he was repentant over his behavior. Paul makes sure to remind them he had forgiven the man, just as they had.  Paul

Click Here to Read or Listen to 1 Corinthians Although this letter is listed as 2 Corinthians, it is really the 4th letter Paul has written to the Corinthians. He addresses many of the same issues as in 1 Corinthians like unity, repentance from sexual immorality, and the issue of his apostleship. 2 Corinthians reveals some of Paul's personal issues. Paul humbly talks about his "thorn in the flesh", which he can't get rid of.  This letter is extremely applicable for us today, as we live authentic lives with each other, avoid quarrels and divisions, and reconcile with each other out of love for Christ.  Praise to the God of All Comfort As we know Paul suffered quite a bit, so Paul begins his letter talking about the comfort we receive from Christ as we go through suffering. Importantly Paul reminds them that as Christ comforts them in their suffering, they can be a comfort to others who are going through painful trials. Paul says that this comfort helps us to patiently

Click Here to Read or Listen to 1 Corinthians 16 The Collection for the Lord’s People Because of their location, Corinth was most likely an affluent city, which likely meant the church had ample resources. Paul outlines stewardship principles that still apply to us today. First, he teaches them to set aside money on the first day of the week, which would have been Sunday. Note that giving to one's church should be intentional and regular, in this case weekly. Second, he says to set aside a sum of money in keeping their the income. This would mean that the Corinthians would set aside a certain percentage of their income depending on their affluence. The purpose of the gift was to bring back to Jerusalem, where the church was started. Jerusalem had bigger financial needs did then churches in Corinth, Galatia, and Philippi.  Personal Requests Paul was going to visit the Corinthians after picking up the gift the Philippians had saved up for him. But for now he was going to stay in Ephe

Click Here to Read or Listen to 1 Corinthians 15 The Resurrection of Christ Someone has said, " The resurrection of Jesus is the linchpin of Christianity upon which it either stands or falls! " This is essentially what the apostle Paul is saying when he states in verses 13-14, "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." Why is the resurrection so important? 1. Jesus said he would would be raised from the dead, 3 days after he was crucified. If Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, he would be a liar. If he lied about this, how would we trust anything else he said.  2. If Jesus was raised from the dead, it confirms He truly was the Son of God, and everything he taught is true as well.  3. If Christ has not been raised from the dead, we are still in our sin. Their is no victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil. If Jesus did not rise from t

Click Here to Re ad of Listen to 1 Corinthians 14 Intelligibility in Worship In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul starts out by clarifying the difference between prophesying and speaking in tongues. These are both supernatural gifts in which God speaks through believers. The main difference is that the one speaking in tongues is speaking to God in a language that humans cannot understand. Whereas one who prophesies speaks in a native tongue so that the words might build up the person who listens. The person who speaks in tongues "edifies" or "build themselves up" because they are communicating with God.  The only way tongues can edify the body is if someone interprets the tongue in English. Paul is not against speaking in tongues but sees more value to the overall good of the church in prophesying. Note by acknowledging the gift of tongues, Paul is teaching that these extraordinary gifts did not cease after the apostolic age.  Paul shares that he also speaks in tongues, and in

  Click Here to Read or Listen to 1 Corinthians 13 The is Paul's famous "love" chapter. All or part of this chapter is read at most of the weddings I preside at. While it is not specifically written for a wedding, the principles Paul gives in this chapter, if applied in a marriage, will make for a great marriage. Paul uses chapter 13 to transition from chapter 12, where Paul was teaching on spiritual gifts.  Paul points out two of the more extraordinary gifts "speaking in tongues" and "prophesying", but warns that if they are not exercised in love, they are only a noisy gong or clanging symbol.  Paul also applies this to mountain moving faith, and someone who gives all they have to the poor.  While there is certainly nothing wrong with these things, if they are not done out of a motivation of love, they not of much use. Why? For God our motivation is of utmost importance. If our motivation is to bring attention to ourselves, or if we think we are a sup

Click Here to Read or Listen to 1 Corinthians 12 Concerning Spiritual Gifts In the next three chapters, Paul will teaching the Corinthians on role and use of the spiritual gifts. Paul tells them that he does not want them to be " uniformed " about the gifts of the Spirit. Another version says he does not want them to be " ignorant ". The most important gift of the Holy Spirit, is the gift the of faith. It is the Holy Spirit who leads to say, " Jesus is Lord! ".  Martin Luther wrote in the Small Catechism of the Holy Spirit's role in our salvation,  " I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. "  Then, Paul goes on

Click Here To Read or Listen to 1 Corinthians 11 to 1 Corinthians Paul starts with this short verse in 1 Corinthians 11:1,  Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. It is a short verse, but it says so much. First of all, I don't think Paul is being prideful when he says, "Follow me". I think he is saying follow me, as I follow Christ meaning there is no reason to follow him if he isn't following Christ. The word for "example" is the word "mimeo", where we get the term "mimeograph". Mimeograph preceded the photocopier. It made copies by forcing ink through a stencil. Depending on how good the stencil and the ink were it was successful. Our stencil is Jesus. He is the One we copy. He is the one we follow not just in name only, but as we try to live our lives like he would if he were us. We realize that if we are not following Christ then we don't have much to offer. It is like the blind leading the blind. But if we are foll

Click Here to Read or Listen to 1 Corinthians 10 Warnings From Israel’s History Paul is specifically talking to his Jewish brothers and sisters now. He reminds them that when God provided for them in the desert through the clouds and the sea, it was a spiritual transaction. The food they ate and drank came from supernatural source, and it was Christ. Notice though Jesus came in the New Testament, he existed since Creation and was working with God throughout God's relationship with His chosen people, Israel.  Yet, despite this supernatural provision, the Israelites rejected God. They made idols out of food, drink, and sex. God judged them. 23,000 of them died. How did this relate to the Corinthians,  “It seems as if the Corinthians had supposed that their being made partakers of the ordinances of the Gospel, such as baptism and the Lord’s Supper, would secure their salvation, notwithstanding, they might be found partaking of idolatrous feasts; as long, at least, as they considered a

Click Here To Read or Listen to 1 Corinthians 9 Paul’s Rights as an Apostle One of the "knocks" against Paul was that he was not an original apostle, like for instance Peter, James, and John. But Paul says, " Have I not seen the Lord?" He is referring to his encounter with Jesus on the " Road to Damascus. " He also points to the fruits of his ministry, which were the Corinthians themselves.  Apparently he didn't get paid very well and did not have the same rights as the other apostles to take a wife. But despite all of these injustices, Paul did not make use of his rights so as not to tarnish the gospel in any way. Perhaps people might have accused him of being in it for the money if he did demand a wage. He points to the Old Testament, which states the principle that a worker is worth their wages. Even an oxen was allowed to partake of the grain. So why wouldn't someone working as a minister partake of their work.   Paul concludes that the Lord h

Click Here to Read or Listen to 1 Corinthians 8 Concerning Food Sacrificed to Idols Paul continues to teach the Corinthians why they needed to keep the main thing, the main thing! One of the things he address with the Corinthians was their pride. In this case he was referring to their "intellectual pride", as they claimed to have special knowledge. I love what Paul says, " Knowledge puffs up but love builds up! "  We all know the oft used phrase, " No one cares about how much you know until they know how much you care !" Unfortunately Christians over the years have not heeded this phrase. Often we care about how much we know rather showing the care of Christ! The presenting issue was food, which was being sacrificed to idols in the marketplace. When meat sold in the marketplace some believers felt that this meat should not be eaten because the blood of the animal had been sacrificed to an idol.  The issue raised many questions for the Corinthian Christians

Click Here to Read or Listen to 1 Corinthians 7 Concerning Married Life Paul now turns to the practical matters of sexuality and it's role in the different seasons of singleness, engagement, marriage, and widowhood. Since sexual immorality was so rampant in the Corinthian culture, believers were wondering what healthy sexuality looked like. If Jesus was going to come back soon should they even get married? Paul saw that a healthy sex life was important ingredient in a healthy marriage. We don't hear many sermons on this, which is probably why most people struggle with this issue.  Paul teaches with the context of marriage, a man and a wife should offer their bodies to each other. This is done out of love not obligation or coercion. Some men have abused this passage demanding sex from their wife because it is their wife's duty to please them. But Paul teaches it is both the man and woman who should offer themselves to each other physically to maintain sexual intimacy in the

Click Here to Listen to or Read 1 Corinthians 6 Lawsuits Among Believers Paul continues to call out the worldly behaviors being exhibited by the Corinthian believers. In chapter 6, he asks them why they would turn to earthly judges for trivial cases? They have the Holy Spirit of truth to guide them to make the right decision in their community. On top of it this type of behavior is a horrible witness to unbelievers.  The very notion of suing a brother or sister in Christ is very telling. Could they not work it out in a spirit of Christian charity? Are they not living according to the model and teaching of Jesus, who told his followers to forgive those who have wronged them and pray for those who persecute them. Jesus would have never imagined a community of his followers needing to go to a worldly court to resolve their differences. For the Lord taught us to pray, "Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us!"  Paul then addresses the type of sin that prompted

Click Here to Read or Listen to 1 Corinthians 5   Dealing With a Case of Incest As we said yesterday carnality and immorality had crept into the church from the culture. In today's passage, a case of incest happened between a man and his father's wife. One would assume this was the man's stepmother. Somehow the Corinthian church was not at all fazed by this and somehow even proud of it. Paul had thought this man would have been separated from the community immediately.  Though Paul is not there physically, his spiritual presence is part of their fellowship. He commands them to immediately remove this man from the church. The purpose of this is for the man's ultimate salvation. This gives credence to the doctrine of "once saved always saved". The goal of church discipline, which includes separation from the community is for the person to repent and restored to the church.  Again, he brings up their pride and boasting about how they were handling this man's

Click Here to Read or Listen to 1 Corinthians 4 The Nature of True Apostleship Since Paul is talking about leadership, he reviews his own qualifications as an apostle. Remember Paul wasn't an original apostle, or part of the 11 apostles who followed Jesus for three years. He became an apostle on the Road to Damascus, when Jesus appeared to him and appointed him to be an apostle to the Gentiles.  Paul was getting criticism for this reason, as if he were not a true apostle. Basically Paul says that nothing he does should be evaluated apart from God's eye. Paul says ultimately the final judgment will happen when Jesus returns.  Even our estimation of ourself is usually wrong. We are almost always too hard or too easy on ourselves. Paul recognizes this, and so will suspend judgment even upon himself. In the end, he who judges me is the Lord. - Guzik Paul uses this idea to again admonish them not to play favorites. Neither he or Apollos have spoken beyond the bounds of God's Wor

Click Here to Read or Listen to 1 Corinthians 3 The Church and Its Leaders Paul starts chapter with mild rebuke toward the believers in Corinth. He describes their spiritual maturity as more worldly than being led by the Holy Spirit. As a result he could not teach them the deeper things connected to the Spirit and the Word. The main evidence of their worldly behavior was there jealousy and infighting, which led to for instance one camp saying "I follow Paul" and another saying "I follow Apollos".  Paul clarifies that Apollos and himself have complementary gifts. There was no reason to compare one to the other. Paul plants the seed, Apollos waters it but God makes it grow. This is why we should never have any competition in the body of Christ. For instance in Fallbrook we have several different denominations of different stripes and different practices, but the main thing that we preach Christ and him crucified as Paul did. One church may have an Apollos and another

Click Here to Read or Listen to 1 Corinthians 2 In contrast to the personality preachers in Corinth, Paul said he came in great weakness and trembling, as he shared the Good News of Christ with church there. His only goal was to preach the gospel of Christ clearly. He preached only "Christ, and Christ crucified". I wasn't necessarily a "feel good" message.  He wasn't trying to be "showy" or "cute". He knew that if their faith rested on his showmanship that it would not be in the right place. Like John the Baptist, Paul wanted to decrease so Jesus could increase. In his own personal weakness, the strength of Jesus and the Good News shone more clearly and distinctively.  With some highly charismatic preachers, the only problem can come when people are focused more on their charisma or charm, than the gospel itself. There is nothing wrong with charisma itself, as true charisma comes from the Holy Spirit, but all preachers need to be aware th

  Click Here to Read or Listen to 1 Corinthians Paul begins his first letter to the Corinthians. Corinth was a wealthy and cosmopolitan city based on its location on between the Aegean and Ionian seas. It was a seaport with lots of commerce and activity, which made it a hotbed of sexual immorality and vice. This produced the saying, "to Corinthianize", which meant to corrupt good company with bad morals.  Click on Here for Commentary on the City of Corinth by Bible Odyssey Paul mentions in the first verse he was called by, " God and our brother Sosthenes ".  This man Sosthenes is perhaps mentioned in Acts 18:17, as the head of a Corinthian synagogue who was beaten because he protected Paul. - Guzik As Paul's introduction to the Corinthians in this first letter (he probably wrote 4 letters to the Corinthians), he uses the phrase,   "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." I think this is a really nice to greet brothers and

Click Here to Read or Listen to Romans 16 Personal Greetings In this last chapter of Romans, Paul catalogues all of the various relationships he has from many his missionary journeys. He starts with Phoebe, who is a deacon in the church.  The word "deacon" can either be a formal title or role in the church, or someone who serves in various ways. Today many churches govern with an elder/deacon model of leadership. The relevance of this question is for a woman to have a title, or formal function in the church would she be overseeing any men. She was a woman of means, which allowed her to travel to Rome.  Priscilla and Aquila were a couple who hosted a house church, and also helped Apollos in his ministry. Apollos was a major evangelist and in Acts 18:26, it says this couple explained the "Way of Christ" more adequately to them. They were one of the first missionary couples.  There are greetings to several other people, many of whom we know little to nothing of their l

Click Here to Read or Listen to Romans 15 Paul continues to teach on how members in the body of Christ should support each other. In the last chapter, he urged the more mature believers to use their freedom to build up the less mature believers. This might making personal choices that might make a weaker brother or sister stumble. The question each believer should ask as we live out our calling in the church is, "How can I build up others rather than just looking to meet my own needs?"  We do this to imitate the way of life of Jesus, who always looked to the best interests of others instead of himself. Importantly this meant having the " same mindset " as Christ did. Doing the right thing is not always easy. Many times we may have to deny ourselves and our own rights to serve each other in love. This means having an attitude of gratitude and living out your life in thanksgiving for what Christ has done for you. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5

Click Here to Read or Listen to Romans 14 The Weak and the Strong Paul turns to practical matters in the church in Rome that happen as we do life together. One of the issues that surfaced in the church was whether or not the new believers should eat meet or not. In the pagan temples, the blood of the meat was offered up to pagan deities and idols. Therefore, some Christians thought they were participating in these blood sacrifices if they ate the meat sold in the marketplace.  Paul basically tells them to respect each other's consciences and not treat each other poorly over this matter. Some of the believers also chose a day of the week as special to the Lord and fasted on that day. In the Jewish faith, Saturday was a Sabbath, but some of the believers chose Sunday because that was the day Jesus rose from the dead. Paul again says that whether one considers every day as special, or just one day the bottom line is what is done is offered to the Lord.  Most importantly the Roman beli

Click Here to Read or Listen to Romans 13 We often hear some say, “ He or she has a problem with authority ”. One issue facing the Christians in Rome was should they submit to the Roman government, who was oppressing them. This has a topic which has been debated in the church for years. Should a Christian always and unequivocally obey the earthly governing authorities? Paul answers this in chapter 13 by saying all authorities have been established by God and therefore the answer is “yes”. Paul goes as far as to say that if someone resists authority they are resisting God and will face consequences. Just because you may not agree with everything an authority does, it is no an option to submit to their directives. It’s sort of like you may not have agreed with everything your parents said or did, but it didn’t give you the right to do whatever you wanted. Paul says if you do the right thing you don’t have to live in fear of the authorities. Importantly he adds that authorities are agents