What Are You Called?

Daily Reading: 1 Corinthians 1

Scripture Focus:  To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – their Lord and ours. (1 Corinthians 1.2, NIV)

Devotional Thought: Nana... Mom... Lan... These are names for my wife.  What she is called depends on her relationship to the "caller."  For instance, our daughters call her Mom - unless they are talking about her to our grandchildren.  Then she is Nana.  My sons-in-law call her Nana almost exclusively.  Even my son-in-law's employees call her Nana!  I use both, and occasionally I'll use the name I picked up from her big brother: Lan.

What we call somebody reveals how we view them.  How did Paul view the Corinthians?

·       The church of God in Corinth:    Paul did not refer to them as “a church of God in Corinth” but rather as “thechurch of God in Corinth.”  Jesus has only one Church, made up of congregations around the world and across the centuries.  It is found among the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak.

·       Those sanctified in Christ Jesus: Each local church is made up of those “sanctified in Christ Jesus.”  The Church is to be holy.  The Corinthians, however, were in many cases far from holy, and Paul gets pretty rough with them at times.  But the fact of the matter is, Paul said these Corinthians were sanctified in Jesus and called to be holy.

·       Together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – their Lord and ours:  To those people who say they love Jesus but can’t stand the church, I would say, that’s impossible.  How can you love Christ and hate the very thing that Christ loves the most?  And, experience teaches us that if we try to live apart from the body, we will soon discover that we are weak and ineffective and inconsequential.

What do you call the Church?  What do you call your church?

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, that you have made me a part of the Church - the body and bride of Christ.  Help me to love the Church as you love her.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 109.6-15

6 Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand at his right hand.

7 When he is tried, let him come forth guilty; let his prayer be counted as sin!

8 May his days be few; may another take his office!

9 May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow!

10 May his children wander about and beg, seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit!

11 May the creditor seize all that he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil!

12 Let there be none to extend kindness to him, nor any to pity his fatherless children!

13 May his posterity be cut off; may his name be blotted out in the second generation!

14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!

15 Let them be before the Lord continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth!