![]() Living the gospel and doing all in love means that we look outward with our resources. Maturity in Christ connects the gospel truth of Jesus’ sacrifice to our finances and that we now have this tool that we can use to partner with God’s work and to bless others. This meant that those who were able to give more were to give more and those who could not afford to sacrifice should give as they are able. They are to store up their gift week by week on the first day, presumably when they’d gather for worship and they are to give generously as each one prospered. The instructions he gives the Corinthian church is to be consistent and generous. Paul follows up on this offering in 2 Corinthians explicitly connecting it to the gospel saying, that Jesus though he was rich, became poor for our sakes (2 Corinthians 8:8-9). ![]() They get an opportunity to fight personal pride by giving in secret to people across the world to them. Paul directs the Corinthians to participate in the gospel by giving to their brothers and sisters in Christ, whom they would likely never meet in person or know by name. Many of those Jerusalem Christians came to faith in Jesus as Messiah and were kicked out of their synagogues, families and jobs because of their faith. The Christians in Rome, Corinth and Galatia were asked for their financial support to help the struggling Jerusalem church which was suffering under a famine and persecution from the Jewish community there. Paul follows up his long discourse on the resurrection and the defeat of death with, “now concerning the collection for the saints…” Why does he turn to giving financially? This is called the Macedonian offering and was a passion for Paul. To help us fight pride, division and selfishness, Paul highlights three things in this final letter: sharing generously, living like a family and being devoted to serving one another. Paul desires that we’d no longer be people who live for ourselves and act with graceless indifference but that we’d do everything that we do in love. However, it goes beyond just knowing the gospel, maturity is also living out the gospel. Paul appeals to the gospel all throughout the letter but also makes it explicit in 1 Corinthians 15:1-10 as he recounted Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and marked it as of “first importance.” Standing firm in the faith means knowing and believing the gospel and areas of theology that are of first importance, stuff that we’d detail out in a statement of faith document. God the son, took on flesh, and loved us to the end taking our place on a Roman cross to take your sin and because he died, Jesus also rose from the dead to break the power of death and to give us a real hope. God’s love is displayed in sending his son. The gospel is the story of God’s love for broken sinners people who are unworthy, who have real sin and cause real harm, who without God intervening will fall short of God’s glory and God’s standard. Paul is telling us that there is a pathway towards maturity in Christ and that is grounded in knowing the gospel and living the gospel or as he says it, standing firm in the faith and doing all you do in love. It is possible for people to be followers of Jesus and yet spiritual children making childish mistakes like creating arbitrary division, walking in pride and not being concerned about how your actions impact others all of which are issues that Paul addressed throughout this letter. Rather, Paul is telling them to be mature, which is similar to what he told us 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 and 13:11 where he contrasted being a child and being an adult in the Lord. Our culture can shout “be a man!” so we can easily misread this verse. We get that from Paul’s statement “act like men.” This is not a mens ministry coffee mug verse, though it would be a beautiful thing if every Christian man was marked by 1 Corinthians 16:13-14. ![]() However that is far from Paul’s intention, surely he is closing out the letter, but he touches on a variety of topics as examples and actions that go back to helping them fight their core sins of pride, division and selfishness.Īll of these actions and examples relate to being a mature follower of Jesus. Often we can approach the final chapter of a letter in the New Testament and default to thinking of it is a random collection of “good byes” and plans. To illustrate this, Paul gives us a series of actions and examples of Christian maturity to close out the letter. ![]() Let all that you do be done in love (1 Corinthians 16:13-14).” God matures us in Christ so that we are rooted in the gospel and motivated by love in all we do. The central verse is “be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Paul closes out his letter to the Corinthians by giving them a picture of what maturity in Christ looks like. Community Group Study Guide - Growing up in Christ ![]()
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