Lesson 7: Does My Brother Come First? (1st Corinthians 8:1 – 9:23)
Many thanks to Steve Wilson for standing in during my absence last week. I’m back in the saddle and pushing forward with Paul as he instructs us through his letter to the Corinthian Church.
This week, Paul again challenges us to live in the true freedom that Christ died to impart to us. Throw off the shackles of the ceremonial laws, live as truly free men and women. BUT, what does that look like? Won’t life without rules result in a form of lawlessness, a self centered, indulgent lifestyle?
The answer to that question is found in the answer to this question: What motivates us?
And that question takes us right back to 1 Corinthians 13 and this week’s memory verse:
1st Corinthians 13:6-7
(Love) Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
When we come to grips with what it truly means to love by God’s definition, when love for Him is our primary motivation, love of others will follow as a natural by-product. When love reigns, freedom flourishes. Behaviors are not compelled by a list of do’s and don’ts. Rather, they are driven by pursuit of what is most profitable (in the ultimate sense of the word).
In 1520, Martin Luther wrote a treatise on The Freedom of A Christian. Here are a few excerpts to ponder:
A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none, a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one.
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Here is the truly Christian life, here is faith really working by love, when a man applies himself with joy and love to the works of that freest servitude in which he serves others voluntarily and for nought, himself abundantly satisfied in the fulness and riches of his own faith. . . .