During February, 2020, our message series is Wisdom for Today. We will study portions of Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth. Paul visited Corinth on both his second and third missionary journeys. The first visit was about eighteen months. From 1 Corinthians 16:5ff we can infer the letter was written during his third journey, before his arrival.
How can what Paul wrote around 55 AD have relevance for us today? The reality is, we’re not that different from the people Paul is addressing in his letter. We live in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural environment, surrounded and even influenced by worldly desires and temptations. The church needs to stand against culture while engaging with our community to share what we know – the love of God in Christ.
Paul writes in the first three chapters about the wisdom of God. This wisdom remains the same nearly two thousand years later. Because in His wisdom God chose to do things that are counter-intuitive, His motives, actions, and plans are difficult at best. Paul even says they are “foolishness” in the eyes of the world. The world still believes faith is foolish.
We receive wisdom from God through faith in Christ. We discern spiritual truths by the Spirit of God. We exercise our wisdom in how we apply the skills God has given us. We build wisely on the foundation of Christ. May God grant us wisdom to understand what He has to say so that we can exercise that wisdom in our context. By the Spirit of God, through ancient words of the Apostle Paul, we’ll study Wisdom for Today.
Everyone is invited; let’s grow in wisdom together,
Pastor John