Let's Roll!

I love studying the Corinthian church.  The city of Corinth was like Las Vegas on speed with the worst kind of immorality and debauchery you can imagine.  It was a major trade city whose most visible landmark was a temple to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love.  There were also a thousand prostitutes who worked the temple during the day and the streets at night. And yet, there was a growing church with congregants who were "not lacking in any spiritual gift." (1 Cor 1:7) What a contrast!

As you could imagine, there was a good deal of cleaning-up and reprogramming that to be done with the Corinthians.  These folks were coming out of all sorts of immoral lifestyles and had all kinds of habits that needed to be broken.  Their faith was sincere, but their attitudes and actions needed some adjusting so Paul got right down to business after a brief nine verse greeting.

Underlying many of their issues was their immaturity. They had "played favorites" among the apostles and had divided into the "Paul" clique and the "Apollos" clique and the "Cephas" clique.  They were also impressed with the limited knowledge the Lord had revealed to them, and had even let some of their members go hungry when they came together to observe the Lord's Supper!  So Paul set them straight IN A HURRY.

As I studied this first letter, I tried to imagine what this group of believers would have been like.  Interestingly enough, the mental image I got of them was one of middle schoolers!  I remember my early teen years, and it hasn't been long since my OWN kids were that age.  Remember those years... everybody wants to impress everybody else...  everybody wants to be popular...  they KNOW everything... and everybody wants to have the coolest stuff.

Funny side story: my kids' assistant principal once told me that watching middle schoolers interact was like watching horses come out of the gate at a race.  They are all clamoring and jockeying for position, everybody trying to establish rank.

This seems to describe the Corinthians!!  They were impressed by who baptized them, they wanted to follow a popular disciple, thought they were smart, and when we get to chapters 12-14 they seemed to have a preoccupation with the stuff of spiritual gifts, and in particular speaking in tongues.

Paul set them straight AGAIN and corrected their thinking by explaining that EVERYBODY has gifts, God decides who gets what gifts, and that it's the Holy Spirit Who is working the will of the Father IN THEM.  He used the analogy of the body to make his point - everybody can't be an eye or an ear, every part is necessary, and the parts that are often in the background are often some of the most important.

The application of this passage is simple: Discover your gifts, Develop them, and DO THEM!  But at the end of chapter 12, he essentially told them, "hold that thought - I want to tell you something that's even better than gifts -- LOVE." He picked back up in chapter 14 and continued his instruction explaining that EVERY GIFT should have one goal -- edifying the church.

When I define "edify" I use words like, build up, strengthen, encourage.  But I love the Strong's definition for edify: "the act of one who promotes another's growth in Christian wisdom, piety, happiness, holiness."  BUT you can't promote the growth of ANOTHER if your focus is on promoting YOURSELF.

Unfortunately this problem wasn't limited to the church in Corinth.  We see this way too often in churches today as people strive to be in areas of public service.  Unfortunately those in public ministries are often recognized over those who quietly serve in the background.  How this must grieve the Holy Spirit and disappoint our Lord.

He died because EVERY ONE of us is important to Him, and He designed and gifted us because EVERY ONE of us has a job to do in the Kingdom, and EVERY ONE of those jobs is important!!  It doesn't matter if we are singing solos on the platform or changing diapers in the nursery -- if it's what He's called and gifted us to do, it's important to Him AND to us!

And we shouldn't consider any job to be beneath us.  If there is anything we can do to "promote another's growth in Christian wisdom, piety, happiness, holiness" then let's get busy with it!!  If there is a need in OR out of the church, we should be willing to roll up our sleeves and get to work. After all, it wasn't beneath Jesus to grab a towel and wash His disciples sweaty, dusty feet.  (A prayerful read of John 13:1-17 will cure any haughty notions we may have about getting our hands dirty.)

There is work to be done in the kingdom.  The fields are ripe for harvest (John 4:35), the workers are few (Luke 10:2)... these are scary times but we've been equipped to do God's work (2 Tim 3).  LET'S ROLL!

Mark 1

All four Gospel accounts are unique.   John’s is set apart for many reasons, including the fact that he recorded no parables, only seven miracles, and from chapter seven on his focus was on Jesus' ministry in Judea.  Matthew, Mark and Luke are referred to as “synoptic” Gospels: “syn” meaning “same” and “optic” meaning “sight.”  So we see many of the same events recorded in those three accounts, much of it focusing on Jesus ministry in the beautiful region of Galilee.

But even the synoptic Gospels are unique.    Matthew was writing primarily to a Jewish audience, Luke was writing to a Greek audience, and Mark was writing to a Roman audience.  In Matthew’s Gospel we see the things that would be important to the Jews, such as the lineage of Jesus.  In Luke’s Gospel we see a lot of detail because in addition to being a physician, Luke himself was a Greek and also was a historian.  The Greeks would have wanted plenty of explanations, particularly about Jewish customs, so Luke provided a lot of detail and background information that Matthew’s Gospel lacked.  Mark’s audience, however, was a “bottom line” kinda group.  Like Sgt Joe Friday of Dragnet fame, the Romans were interested in “Just the facts, ma’am.”  So Mark’s Gospel is a fast-paced, 'hit-it-and-git-it' narrative.

Mark wrote at a time when Christians were feeling the squeeze from the Roman government.  It’s believed that he was living in Italy and wrote his Gospel when Nero was near the height of his power.  In addition to being thought to be a slave to public opinion, Nero was also power-hungry and is believed to have ordered the execution of his rivals, including his stepbrother , his ex-wife,  and his own MOTHER!  According to Roman historian Suetonius, Nero "showed neither discrimination nor moderation in putting to death whomsoever he pleased."1

Hmmm… power-hungry, image-conscious, egotistical …with the exception of the murderous tendencies, I’m guessing you can think of a person or two who might fit this description!  So Mark’s audience was very much like us and felt the same kinds of pressures we do, and his Gospel message is one that blesses the 21st century Christians as much as it blessed the first century ones.


Mark opens his account with one of the many prophecies from Isaiah, this particular one that introduces us to John the Baptist in all his camel-hair-wearing, locusts-and-wild-honey-eating glory.  We also see the baptism of Jesus that was followed by the audible blessing of His Father.  Jesus was then called into the wilderness for a 40-day fast and to prepare for His earthly ministry.  Upon returning to Galilee He chose 12 disciples and traveled through the region preaching and teaching in the synagogues, casting out demons and healing the sick.

I find it interesting that when Jesus called the disciples to join Him that they immediately followed Him.  They didn’t ask questions, talk it over with each other or their families, they dropped what they were doing and WENT.  What was it about Jesus that caused them to do that?  Isaiah 53:2 tells us “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.”  He had no money, no position, no power, not even a place to stay, but these men left everything to follow Him.

No doubt there was something that drew them to Jesus, something in them that recognized Jesus' authority and sensed they could trust Him.  They may have heard some gossip about Jesus:  Anna the prophetess recognizing Who He was as a baby being presented for circumcision, teenage Jesus debating scripture with the priests in the Temple courts, and more recently His turning water into wine in Cana.  Galilee is a pretty small area, and I imagine that human nature is the same throughout the centuries -- something exciting or unusual happens and people want to TALK about it!

We know from John chapter 1 that Andrew had followed John the Baptist, and heard John’s testimony of Jesus’ baptism and his declaration that He was the Lamb of God.  Andrew told his brother, Simon Peter, and since several of the disciples were fisherman on the Sea of Galilee (which is SMALL), you might draw the conclusion that these guys were friends or at least knew OF each other.  So when they saw their friends following Jesus it may have influenced them to follow Jesus themselves.

Think about that – somebody we know, even the most casual acquaintance, may be influenced to follow Jesus because of US.  They may see our witness, spoken and UNSPOKEN, as the Holy Spirit reveals their need for a Savior.  And what they see in US might influence their decision to follow Him.  WHOA – that’s some serious responsibility!!

The curriculum outline for this chapter showed that Jesus offers us four things:  salvation, guidance, freedom and strength.  Salvation – saved from our sins to spend eternity with Him; Guidance – His leadership to live in a way that makes us mature and brings Him honor; Freedom – from sin and the things that tangle and bind us; and Strength – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual strength to face the troubles of the world.  But they are GIFTS we must receive and actually USE.

With Christmas less than three weeks away, we will no doubt scurry around looking for the perfect gift for someone we love.  Imagine your disappointment and heartbreak if you gave your special someone a gift that cost you a pretty penny, and they didn’t even TAKE it.  They just ignored it, unwrapped, left on the floor.  Or worse yet, kicked it across the room!  Now imagine how our Heavenly Father must feel when His Gift is ignored and despised.  Or when those of us who have accepted His gift of salvation don’t understand the way the Holy Spirit longs to help us?

Jesus sacrificed His life and died so that we could LIVE -- live WITH Him in Heaven after we die and live FOR Him on earth as long as we’re here.  His Spirit will lead us, free us and empower us; but we have to CHOOSE -- to discipline ourselves to follow and obey Him, let Him reveal what binds us, and strengthen us to overcome it.  And then let the world see our changed life and tell them that HE is the reason!


1   Lives of the Twelve Caesars. C. Suetonius Tranquillus.
University of Chicago, 21 July 2009. Web. 4 Dec 2009.
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Nero*.html