Thoughts on Ministry, The Bible, & Christian Living
9 Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints,
Paul uses a bit of honey here to convince the believers in Corinth to complete their original intention of participating in the Jerusalem Offering. (See. 8:6)
“the ministry for the saints” – more specifically the Jerusalem Offering. As Paul would go from town to town on his missionary journey, he collected an offering to present to the believers in Jerusalem.
You Been Farming Long?
We’ve all seen the picture of the two boys in overalls captioned by the words, “You been farming long?”
I remember a phrase from my childhood which was usually only uttered by tough guys. Tough guys or my mother. I don’t remember exactly where I first heard the phrase, but when it was said, you can bet that the speaker meant business. I think the phrase may have come from the blockbuster movie, Top Gun. Before you don your acid washed jeans and run to play “Danger Zone” on your cassette player, hear me out. In this movie, Maverick, played by the very homely Tom Cruise, has just risked his life and his airplane to help a fellow pilot safely land on an aircraft carrier. In the midst of giving Maverick a verbal reprimand, Captain Jordan tells the daring pilot, “Son, you’re ego is writing checks your body can’t cash.” We modified the phrase slightly to, “Son, you’re writing a check your body can’t cash” to mean that the running of one’s mouth was soon to end in a physical altercation.
But what if you could cash a check with your body. Would you? What would it look like? Let me explain a bit further.
Read Malachi 1.6-14
Yes Sir, Yes Mam
In God’s accusation against Israel, He begins his argument with the natural principle that some positions, by their very nature, are worthy of honor – namely that of a father and that of a master here in verse six and that of a political ruler in verse eight. We live in the south and have a clear understanding of this type of expectation. Here we were taught, and we teach our little ones to say Yes Mam’ (or Yes’ Mmm, as my friend Ryan would say) and Yes Sir. Nothing less than that will do. We call our parents Daddy and Mama as a term of endearing respect, I’d never dream of calling up my Dad and saying, “Hey George. How’s it going?”…and you wouldn’t do the same for your parents either! The rod would never be spared for such and offense. Not in the south.
Read Genesis 4:1-7.
As we dig deeper into the discussion we began on Sunday morning, let’s consider the two following thoughts.