Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 202 True Wisdom - Part 12 (a series in 1 Corinthians chapters 1-4) NOT IN WORD BUT IN POWER 1 Corinthians 4:14-21 MKJV (14) I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. (15) For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for I have begotten you in Christ Jesus through the gospel. (16) Therefore I beseech you, be imitators of me. (17) For this cause I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord, who shall remind you of my ways which are in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church. (18) As to my not coming to you now, some are puffed up. (19) But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills. And I will not know the speech of those who are puffed up, but the power. (20) For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. (21) What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and the spirit of meekness? The Kingdom of God is not a mere concept or an ideal that can be adequately described in words but is a tangible realm of power that can be felt, experienced, and known in reality. Christianity is much more than a noble notion. The Kingdom of God comes in power, it transforms like leaven, it grows like mustard seeds, it moves mountains, heals the sick, cleanses the lepers, raises the dead, and causes the lame to jump with joy until Jesus finally arrives with great glory. The Corinthians had "ten thousand instructors" (Gk: murioi, i.e. myriads) and many who were good with words and Greek rhetoric. Thousands of instructors and millions of words but little to show for it in their lives! Words were not changing them! They needed the power of God! Some Christians have libraries full of Christian books and yet seem to grow inch by inch in Christ while an Indian village evangelist with just a Bible glows with the Spirit and raises the dead! If words were power we Western Christians should all be saints! Now reading and education are good things, and do not think for a moment that I discourage them. But they are insufficient, they can never replace the Holy Spirit and the power of God, they are not our power in ministry - the resurrected and ascended Christ is! Paul does not want the Corinthians to imitate the slick but powerless rhetoricians but rather to move in the power of God, which is why he wrote: "yet you do not have many fathers; for I have begotten you in Christ Jesus through the gospel. (16) Therefore I beseech you, be imitators of me. (17) For this cause I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord, who shall remind you of my ways which are in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church." It was Paul who planted the Corinthian church and brought them to faith and was their spiritual father. Paul wanted them to imitate him, not the world, and not the false apostles. So he sent Timothy to them on an advance visit to remind them of "my ways which are in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church." Paul had standards, fair standards that he taught "everywhere in every church". There was no playing of favorites! The rules for Ephesus and Corinth and Rome were the same. Paul wanted them to straighten themselves out under Timothy, before he had to come 'with a rod". Paul was prepared to be tough with the rebellious and resistant. Sin would be accounted for! But they have this chance to set things right - and the rest of the epistle goes on to outline what Paul wanted from hats to communion to spiritual gifts and sexual ethics. (For an article on church discipline in the first-century see http://www.aibi.ph/articles/managsin.htm) Returning to our main point - the Kingdom of God is not in word but in power. How do we know when the Kingdom of God is in our midst? Luke 10:9 MKJV And heal the sick that are in it, and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near you! On one occasion Jesus healed ten lepers - then the Pharisees, who were as blind as bats, asked "When is the Kingdom of God going to arrive! Look at Jesus' answer: Luke 17:12-21 MKJV And as He entered into a certain village, ten leprous men met Him, who stood afar off. (13) And they lifted voice and said, Jesus, Master, pity us! (14) And seeing them, He said to them, Go show yourselves to the priests. And it happened, as they went, that they were cleansed. (15) And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and glorified God with a loud voice. (16) And he fell down on his face at His feet, thanking Him. And he was a Samaritan. (17) And answering, Jesus said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? (18) Were none found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? (19) And He said to him, Rise and go; your faith has cured you. (20) And being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered and said, The kingdom of God does not come with observation. (21) Nor shall they say, Lo here! or, behold, there! For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst. The kingdom of God was right there in their midst in the form of a healed leper. (A mistranslation of this verse led to the phrase "the kingdom of God is within you.") The Kingdom turns up when God's transforming power turns up - in the Corinthians believing Paul's gospel message or a leper being healed and giving glory to God. If ALL we have to offer to people are fine words and philosophy, if like the Theosophists and Deists and the cults all we can offer is a pretty picture, a fine well-embellished tale - then we are the most miserable among men. We should be offering a resurrected Christ, a hope, a healing God, power over evil spirits, repentance from sin, a new beginning, a transformed life, a cleansed conscience, true peace and joy and life abundant in Christ Jesus. We need to demonstrate the practical, real-life power of our God and our gospel. Addicts delivered from their cravings, homosexuals with new sexual orientations, alcoholics now sober, criminals reformed, demoniacs set free, curses broken, tempers transformed. The difference between the gospel and Chicken Soup for The Soul is that the chicken is dead, cooked and boiled! Jesus is alive! The stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul are encouraging but they will not redeem you from sin, give you new life or raise you on the last day when the trumpet sounds. The gospel will! True wisdom is not found in encouraging words, fine rhetoric or the clever philosophies of men but in the practical, life-transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Know Jesus and you know all that you need to know to have eternal life - and even Plato can't give you that! John 17:3 MKJV And this is life eternal, that they might know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. Blessings, John Edmiston Were you blessed by Eternity Daily Bible Study? To subscribe just send a blank email to: eternity-dbs-subscribe@strategicnetwork.org Read and interesting article on Technology & Spirituality http://www.aibi.ph/missions/sociotech.htm Visit the Eternity Daily Bible Study Archives - http://www.aibi.ph/eternity/ Study at the Asian Internet Bible Institute- Free online non-formal, in-service, bible and ministry training: http://www.aibi.ph