Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. Let’s go!

1 Corinthians 12:1-3 (NIV)
1  Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.
2  You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.
3  Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

On verses 1-3:  Have you ever seen people engaging in some spiritual activity and wondered if that activity is really from God or not?  In 1 Corinthians 12:1-3, Paul gives one good guideline in helping you discern whether a spiritual activity is from God or is demonic.  The question to ask is: as the people are engaging in this activity, what are they saying about Jesus Christ?  Are they exalting Jesus as Lord?  Or, are they cursing Jesus and/or outright dishonouring Him?  If they are exalting Jesus as Lord as they do this activity, if the fruit is that Jesus is glorified through this activity, this should suggest to you that God’s Spirit is involved in some way.  But if they are cursing Jesus or dishonouring Him as they do this activity, it suggests that this activity is not from the Holy Spirit.  As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:3: “Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.”

In deciding what to think of any controversial matter, always bring it back to Jesus.  It’s all about Him in the end.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Corinthians 11:1-16.  Let’s go!

1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV)
1  Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

On verse 1:  Paul tells his church in Corinth to follow his example as he follows the example of Christ.  That’s the direction we should all aim to walk in, that as we do our best to follow Christ’s example, may we give those in our care a good example for them to follow also.  For we all need people in our lives who can model for us what it looks like practically to follow Jesus Christ. Of course, no one gets it perfectly right, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn something from others.  Take the good things you see from the lives of the leaders God has placed in your life and apply them to your own life.  Incarnation (Christ living in us) is often sparked by imitation, that is, we can become more like Jesus by seeing how others follow Jesus and by following their example.

1 Corinthians 11:2 (NIV)
2  I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings, just as I passed them on to you.

On verse 2:  Here Paul is likely responding to a letter from the church in Corinth in which the church has mentioned that they are trying to keep to Paul’s teachings.  Paul commends them for this, despite the fact that Paul sees a number of serious problems in the way the church had been behaving.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Corinthians 10:1-13.  Let’s go!

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 (NIV)
1  For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.
2  They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
3  They all ate the same spiritual food
4  and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
5  Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert…….

On verses 1-11:  Here Paul recalls the time when the Israelites, under Moses’ leadership, were escaping Egypt and wandering in the desert on their way to the promised land.  Back then, the Israelites considered themselves to be God’s people and experienced incredible miracles from God.  They “were all under the cloud” (v1), meaning that God led those Israelites by a pillar of cloud (Exodus 13:21).  They “all passed through the sea” (v1), referring to how God amazingly led those Israelites through the Red Sea in Exodus 14:21-31.  Paul compares these experiences that the Israelites had with the pillar of cloud and the Red Sea to a baptism (v3).  They received special spiritual food (v3-4), which Paul attributes to Jesus Christ Himself, extrapolating that Jesus Christ Himself was with these Israelites during this time and was the source of the spiritual food and drank they consumed.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Corinthians 7:32-40.  Let’s go!

1 Corinthians 7:32-40 (NIV)
32  I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs–how he can please the Lord.
33  But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world–how he can please his wife–
34  and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world–how she can please her husband.
35  I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.
36  If anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if she is getting along in years and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married…….

On verses 32-40:  Here Paul gets realistic about the cost of getting married.  Every married person can attest to this: once you are married, you are no longer looking out for just yourself.  Now you have a spouse and possibly kids to be concerned about.

It’s for this reason that Paul seems to prefer singleness for Christians in 1 Corinthians 7.  Paul here even seems to encourage those who are engaged but who are not settled on their decision to marry to strongly consider singleness (v36-38). It’s not because marriage is sinful, but because practically speaking a single person has a lot more time and a lot less complicated life that he or she can devote to serving God.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Corinthians 7:17-24.  Let’s go!

1 Corinthians 7:17-24 (NIV)
17  Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.
18  Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised.
19  Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts.
20  Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him.
21  Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you–although if you can gain your freedom, do so.
22  For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave.
23  You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
24  Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to.

On verses 17-24:  I suspect that there may have been a tendency in the church in Corinth to chase after certain experiences, whether it was the experience of getting circumcised (v18-19), which some Christians falsely believed was necessary in order to be truly saved,