#jon mitchell

Paul’s discourse in 1 Corinthians about being “wise in this age” and “becom(ing) a fool that he may become wise” (3:18) harkens back to his earlier teaching about how God views the wisdom of the world (1:18-29).  He recaps it again now, citing Job 5:13 and Psalm 94:11 while doing so:  “For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.  For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness,’…

There are many religious people who go through life thinking that their relationship with Jesus is just fine while they have little or no relationship with the church.  The reasons they give for staying away from the assembly range from real or perceived hypocrisy to the idea that they can just as meaningfully worship God at the fishing hole, in the garden, or on the couch.  Their view of Jesus…

Having compared the church to a “building” (3:9), specifically “God’s temple” (3:16-17), Paul then spoke of the materials which are used to construct the spiritual temple which is Christ’s church (3:12).  He did this to basically illustrate the different responses to the preaching of the gospel, a concept also taught by Christ in his parable of the sower (Matt. 13:3-8, 18-23).  Christian, what…

666.  The most infamous number in the world. The number of the beast.  One time I said that I was going to preach about 666, and my mother-in-law said in response, “Scary number!”  To a lot of people, the number 666 is indeed a scary number.  In fact, 666 even has its own clinical phobia.  Hexakosiohexekontahexaphobia.  “Fear of the number 666.”  (What I’m more afraid of is trying to pronounce…

Since one of the causes of division within the church at Corinth was their misplaced adulation of the preachers who had taught and baptized them (1:10-17), one of the ways God inspired Paul to correct the problem was to instruct the Corinthians about the proper way to view preachers and teachers of the gospel. He starts with a rhetorical question:  “What then is Apollos?  What is Paul?” (3:5a) …

While urging Corinth to repent of elevating human wisdom over God’s wisdom (1 Cor. 1:18-2:5), Paul acknowledges, “Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away” (2:6).  The apostle wanted the Corinthians to understand that not all wisdom was bad.  He understood that he and his fellow apostles and…

We’ve seen in this series on 1 Corinthians that the church in Corinth gave too much honor to men of higher learning and homiletic ability.  This is why, while rebuking them for their cliquish devotion to those who had taught and baptized them (1:10-17a), Paul taught them that Christ had sent him “to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of…

From time to time, I’m asked about the practice of lifting one’s hands up high and closing their eyes while singing, praying, and listening to the preacher in a worship service.  People wonder if it’s right to do.  Others wonder why it is done. I’ve politely and sincerely asked some who lift their hands in worship services for the reasons they do so.  Generally, the answer they give is that…