PRAY: Grant, O Lord, that we may be faithful and active members of the body of Christ.
READ: 1 Corinthians 16
MEDITATE:
Paul urges the Christians at Corinth to provide generously for the needs of the suffering church in Judea. Paul’s purpose in taking up the collection was not only for the monetary relief of the Jewish Christians, but also for the purpose of drawing together two disparate parts of the church that didn’t always get along: the Messianic Jews and the ingrafted Gentiles. Paul’s entire letter to the Corinthians addresses the matter of divisions within the church. Here the letter ends on the same note, but in a different framework. Paul has made it clear that not everyone who claims membership in the family has a right to that fellowship: he has even prescribed separation from those who are unwilling to stop engaging in certain immoral conduct or in false worship (1 Cor 5:11). However, in this case the division is a legitimate difference of opinion within the body of Christ, and should not be allowed to stand in the way of unity of Spirit and mutual caring.
Questions and Application:
- In our forty d ays of discernment, we have been addressing the issue of differences within the established church and the godly way to deal with them. Are some differences deal-breakers while others are not? If so, how do we discern one from the other?
- How much difference of opinion is acceptable in such areas as liturgy, worship, religious orders, church teaching, and theology?
- What are the essentials? How are they determined?
- When are we to set aside our differences and work together for our common mission, as did the Jewish and Gentile churches? If the differences are so critical that they preclude ministering and worshipping together, how then are we to respond?
PRAY: Come Holy Spirit, illuminate and guide your church.