1 Corinthians 5

I am shocked and sad to hear that there are cases of incest amongst your church members and you are not confronting them about it, but rather accepting of it.  Jesus Christ does not tolerate this kind of act. 

Even people who are unbelievers do not accept such behavior, let alone, Jesus-following Christians.

Sadly, your church is also full of boasting and pride.  Even a little of this is dangerous.  Just like yeast in bread, this spirit of pride will spread through your whole church congration.

When people claim to be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, yet are sexually immoral or who get drunk or speak badly about other people or worship idols, don’t spend time with these people, lest their attitude and actions tempts you to do the same.

1 Corinthians 4

God has chosen some of us to bring His special message to the world. 

This message is about Jesus and how we are saved from our sins by believing in Him. 

Until now, God did not reveal this message to people.  He only hinted at it.  But now He wants to clearly show this message to the whole world.

Don’t judge us or each other.  God is the only true judge.  My conscience is clear, but even that does not mean that I am innocent. 

Only God knows the truth hidden in each person’s heart. 
God searches our hearts to see if our motives are right.

Don’t think of yourself as being more important than others.

Our life of sharing Jesus with others is not easy.  We go through many hard times.  We are beaten and put in prison.  We often don’t have enough food or clothes.  But when these hard times come, we endure them.  When people speak rudely to us, we respond with kindness.

But we are happy to do this work.  We have become like your spiritual Fathers.  Learn to live life the same way we do.

I hope to be able to come and see you soon and then I can see the people that say bad things about me, to their face.  Remember that the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what people say, but seeing God working in power.

In the meantime, I am sending my fellow worker, Timothy to you.  He has been a great support to me and I ask you to treat him kindly.

1 Corinthians 3

I am really disappointed that since I brought God’s Good News about Jesus to you and you accepted Him as your Savior, you act just the same as you did before you accepted Christ. 

You argue with each other. You are jealous of each other. This is not how God wants His children to live.

You need to come to know God deeper and more intimately;
growing in Him every moment, every day.

I was looking forward to teaching you more about God and His Son Jesus, but you are not ready for it.  You just want someone to teach you how to be saved over and over again. 

It’s time to grow up, so that you can grow in God.

You are making a big deal about the particular person who you learned about Jesus from, but it is not the messenger who is important, it is Jesus who is important.

Each one of us that bring the Good News about Jesus to you have a different role to play.  It is like planting a garden.  One of us digs a hole. Another person plants the seed.  Someone else waters the plant.  We all have the same goal, which is to make a plant blossom and grow.

We are all working on the same team.  Each player on the team has their specific role to play.

The goal of our team is to bring you to Jesus to have your sins forgiven and to learn how to live a life pleasing to Him.

You could also liken our work to workmen who are building a building.  Each person has a different role to play, but Jesus Himself is the foundation.

It doesn’t matter what kind of fancy building we put on top, the foundation of Jesus Christ is all that matters.

Each person’s work will be tested, to see if it is genuine or not.

But what we are really building is not an earthly building, but a spiritual one.  The real building is your life. 

You are God’s temple.  When you accept Jesus as your Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside you.  This makes you Holy and sacred to God.

People who think they are so ‘wise’ in the ways of the world are actually fools.  The world does not understand God’s ways. 

A person who is seeking after God with all their heart is actually far wiser than someone who is living according to the world’s standards.

So it does not matter who brought you the Good News about Jesus. 
Jesus, Himself is all that matters.

1 Corinthians 2

When I preached the Good News about Jesus to you, I did not use fancy words or long speeches to try to impress you. I brought the simple message about Jesus dying on the Cross to save us from our sins.  This is all any of us need to know.

I was actually quite nervous when I came to speak to you, knowing that it is a simple message, but God convinced you of the truth of this message by showing you the power of the Holy Spirit.

God’s plan to save the world was set up before the world was even created. 

The rulers of this world had no idea about this plan.  Even the prophets of God from long ago did not understand it fully.  But now God has shown us clearly His wonderful plan to save us.

For those of you who have given your life to Jesus, God has prepared amazing blessings, more than you could even imagine.

God reveals His love and His great plan of salvation to us through the Holy Spirit. 

Only people who have accepted Jesus and been filled with the Holy Spirit are able to understand God’s plan.  To worldly people, it sounds like nonsense, but you understand the truth.

Just as the Spirit of each person knows that person intimately, so the Holy Spirit knows God intimately and completely.

When we give our hearts and lives to Jesus, He gives us a new, renewed mind – the mind of Jesus Christ.