Bethel Baptist Church Dr. Robert Cosand

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
We live in a day of imitations.  We have plastic flowers, artificial grass, wax fruit … false joy, false humility.  But perhaps the saddest imitation offered by our culture is that of love.  Our society has shown us an idea of love that looks something like real love, but is not. 
Love, at its foundation, is much more than a romantic emotion.  It is not something that someone simply 'falls into' or 'falls out of'.  In fact, love is not basically something we feel.  It is something that we do. 
In the middle of his exhortations about spiritual gifts, which had been misused in the Corinthian church, Paul writes about love.  1 Corinthians 13 is a description of love, showing us what love looks like, how it behaves.  This passage is not so much a description of what love is, but what love does.  Love is patient and kind.  It is not proud and does not keep accounts of wrong.  It bears all things … does not seek its own … is not easily provoked. 
Of course, the way we learn to love more deeply is to be satisfied with and saturated with the love that God has for us.  When we consider the love of God and we learn of the glory of it and the depth of it, and God begins to occupy our deepest affections, one of the great things that happens is that we truly begin loving each other better. 
Let us pray that God will help us to love the way we ought to love.  We need His help because we do not have this love within us and cannot manufacture it by the strength of our will.

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
To illustrate the function of a local congregation, Paul uses the analogy of the human body.  He wants to highlight both the unity of a church and the diversity of a church.  "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ" (1 Cor 12:12).
In terms of unity, believers are all indwelt by the same Spirit of God (1 Cor 12:13) and are in the same group … here called "the body of Christ" (1 Cor 12:13,27).  Common social, ethnic differences dissolve in an essential equality (1 Cor 12:13).  There is a mutual dependence on one another (1 Cor 12:21).  There is a mutual commitment to and care for one another (1 Cor 12:25,26).  All believers hold to the same fundamental truths about God and the gospel (Eph 4:5; Jude 3).  The reflection of the one, true God is seen in the unity and harmony of a local church (Eph 4:1-6).
But unity is not uniformity.  Within Christ's church, however, there is a wonderful, God-designed diversity of giftedness.  Each spiritual gift fulfills a function within the body of Christ and no gift is indispensable.  "If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing?  If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?  But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose" (1 Cor 12:17,18). 
Every ministry within a church is important and necessary … both the obvious, visible activities, and the behind-the-scenes, little known activities.  Let us be encouraged that God sees all and that a cup of cold water, given in the name of Christ will not go unrewarded (Mt 10:42).

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
There are four main passages in the New Testament in which spiritual gifts are mentioned:  Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 28-31; Ephesians 4:7-16; 1 Peter 4:10,11.  The lists are somewhat different … they are different in number and different in the gifts listed.  That probably means that the lists are not meant to be exhaustive.  They are general categories into which specific abilities can be placed.  They are general enough that we can find ourselves in one or more of the categories.
We could define a spiritual gift as a God-given ability or capacity, granted for service to Him in the church.  A spiritual gift is not a natural ability, like being strong or being smart. These abilities are also God-given, but spiritual gifts are given specifically with a view for ministry to others in the church of God. 
The emphasis in our passage is on the diversity of these gifts, on one hand, and the unity of the body of Christ, on the other hand.  Paul's metaphor here (1 Cor 12:12), which is one of his favorite images of the church, is to say that the church is like a body.  It functions as one unit, but with all kinds of differing parts. And the different functions result not from the differences we have of personality and background and education, but from the different capacities that the Holy Spirit, Himself, has worked in us. 
"To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good" (1 Cor 12:7).  Christ has given each of us a very specific gift and if we are all not using our gifts, then someone in the church is missing the blessing Jesus has intended for us to bring.   And if we are not using our gifts, we are missing the wonder and joy and meaning of fulfilling the very task for which we are on this earth … to honor Christ by serving in His kingdom. 

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34
The next issue in the church in Corinth that Paul addresses is the Lord's Supper.  The Corinthians had made a mockery of this sacred ritual by allowing factions in the church to exist.  There was even some drunkenness which resulted from this meal.  Paul's instruction about this wonderful ordinance is very helpful to us.
The Lord's Supper is designed to be a proclamation (1 Cor 11:26).  The declaration of the gospel, based on the death and resurrection is one purpose for eating the bread and drinking the cup.  It is a declaration of the New Covenant (cf. Jer 31:31-34).  
The Lord's Supper is designed to be a commemoration (1 Cor 11:23-25).  We remember what Jesus actually did and what it means, both to us, personally, and to us, corporately.
The Lord's Supper is designed to be a demonstration of Christian love (1 Cor 11:18-22,33,34).  This ritual is to be done in the context of love for one another and harmony with each other.
The Lord's Supper is designed to be a moment of examination (1 Cor 11:28-32).  We must not come to the table with unexamined hearts.  Contrition, repentance, and humility are necessary … as well as joy, thanksgiving, and hope.

Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 1:1-9
In 1 Peter 1, Peter makes reference to the resurrection of Jesus two times (1 Pet 1:3; 21).  What we see in this chapter is a glorious description of the salvation Christ has purchased for us through His perfect life, His sacrificial death, and His triumphant rise from the grave. 
Our inheritance in Christ is according to God's graciously choosing us (1 Pet 1:2).  This everlasting life is "imperishable, undefiled, and unfading [and] kept in heaven [for us] (1 Pet 1:4). We are guarded by God's power (1 Pet 1:5).  There is no gift imaginable that matches our having the righteousness of Christ credited to our account and the hope of living in the very presence of God forever.
There are many responses we have to receiving such a gift.  First, we realize that we are exiles on the earth (1 Pet 1:1) and that our ultimate home is with God and not here.  Second, we long to be obedient to the commands of God (1 Pet 1:2).  Third, we have the experience of a deep joy in our souls, even in the middle of difficulties (1 Pet 1:6,8).  Fourth, we grow in our love for God (1 Pet 1:8). 
As we contemplate our grand salvation in Christ, we are filled with fervent love for Him, unflagging obedience to His dictates, inexpressible joy.  Such is the effect which the magnificence of the gift of eternal life has on the human heart.  And finally, it causes us to see ourselves as strangers on the earth … ever and always longing to go home.

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:2-16
An issue had arisen in the church in Corinth which caused Paul to address the God-designed differences between men and women.  The evidence of some confusion about male and female roles was that Corinthian women in the church had flaunted the custom of wearing some sort of veil or head-covering when coming to worship. 
In the culture of the first century the wearing of some head covering seemed to be a symbol of submission and modesty.  Perhaps because of their freedom in Christ … and essential equality with men … Christian women were leaving off any covering on their heads when attending worship services.
In this passage, Paul addresses some fundamental differences between men and women which the Creator has designed.  Though, in essence, men and women equally bear the image of God (1 Cor 11:11,12, Gen 1:27,28; 5:2) and possess salvation in the same way (Gal 3:28) ,,, in terms of function there are differences of responsibility. 
Paul appeals to the creation account to buttress his point (1 Cor 11:8,9).  The fact that Eve was created from Adam and as a helper to him, highlights the fact that there are differences of responsibilities that men and women bear.
To blur these differences, as our culture does, is to tamper with God-designed roles that men and women have … especially in the family and in the church.  May God give us such understanding of His wise designs that men and women rejoice in how God has made them.  To make a massive understatement, the Almighty knows, exactly, what He is doing.