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First of all, let me apologize for my dumb scheduling skills that had two posts come out on the same day. At the other hand, as I told myself then, obviously God had someone in mind who needed to see both posts.
Next, we are on to the end of 1 Corinthians- chapter 16. Much like Colossians, this is a 'be sure to greet' ending, but two points screamed at me to look at- and I have spent all week trying to ingrain the bigger one into my head. The other, like last week, is a contrast between two of Paul's fellow workers. Last time, it was Mark and Demas; this time it is Timothy and Apollos.
1Co 16:10 When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am.
1Co 16:11 So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.
1Co 16:12 Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.
Backdrop on Timothy: He's a good preacher, full of the Spirit, but young and a bit timid and not of a real robust constitution...
1Ti 5:23 No longer drink water, but use a little wine on account of your stomach and your frequent infirmities.
Let's not get into the drinking ramifications here, only the idea that he got sick a lot.
2Ti 1:6 For which cause I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
2Ti 1:7 For God did not give a spirit of cowardice to us, but of power and of love and of self-control.
2Ti 1:8 Then do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, His prisoner. But suffer hardship with the gospel, according to the power of God...
I should put in a bit on the timeline here, and since I recently re-discovered my favorite source (as wiki likes to play "Bible deniers"), this is how it's publishers feel the evidence shows it playing out. They put our target letter at about 56 AD. So this would be Timothy's first exposure to the wider world of personal ministry. 1 Timothy came, some believe, at the beginning of his service in Ephesus in 62 or 63; 2 Timothy came about 3 years later, after he was established there. So the reminder in 2 Timothy 1 is a reminder to a young-ish pastor to stand his own ground in the faith, and I would guess Paul wouldn't have said it without reason.
And then, why would Paul have to warn the world-wise, back-bickering Corinthians to 'lay off the kid'? Well, the commentators believe that has to do with the next part- why Apollos had no plan to go to Corinth at the present time. Earlier on in the letter, Paul describes the Corinthians as given to listening to only one pastor or another...
1Co 1:11 For concerning you, my brothers, it was shown to me by those of Chloe that there are strifes among you.
1Co 1:12 But I say this, that each of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.
1Co 1:13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?
1Co 3:4 For when one may say, Truly I am of Paul, and another, I of Apollos; are you not fleshly?
1Co 3:5 What then is Paul? And what Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, and to each as the Lord gave?
1Co 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God made to grow.
1Co 3:7 So as neither he planting is anything, nor he watering, but God making to grow.
1Co 3:8 So he planting and he watering are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
Evidently, as Apollos tried to 'water', the Corinthians gave him backsass about, "That's not what Paul said,", or, "That's not what Peter said", and he was well done with it. But Paul, in addressing these things together shows us much of value.
First, about the power of forgiveness. I think the fight over Mark in Acts really changed Paul; he had to learn that there was a time to push off, and a time to repair. I think he understood that Apollos had been hurt by the Church in Corinth, and would need some time to heal. And I think he also understood that these people, if they could do so to the strong personality of Apollos, they would really tear up the milder spirit of Timothy. So a warning, both to this church and ours- be careful how you treat your shepherds. They may be your servants in the Lord, but a servant does not equal a dishrag, as apparently it did to the so-recently entitled Corinthians.
Now, the part that really hit ME is the very next verse in the chapter.
1Co 16:13 Watch! Stand fast in the faith! Be men! Be strong!
Watch: Being awake in prayer is what this means. There is not a day left to blow off prayers 'because I don't feel like it'. Not then, not now.
Stand fast: Pretty self explanatory, other than this means weighing EVERYTHING that happens EVERT DAY in that same scale.
Be Men: Don't think of this gender-wise; translate it, "Don't act like a baby!" An especially appropriate message to this lot, who were a lot like those addressed in Hebrews 5:
Heb 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,
Heb 5:13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
Heb 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
That two very different groups have need of that same message shows that this is a problem for ALL of us.
Be strong: This is the one that turned me around on this post. For, the translation...
From G2900; to empower, that is, (passively) increase in vigor: - be strengthened, be (wax) strong.
"BE strengthened..." a reminder that the strength to DO these things doesn't come from us.
Thus, the words
Awake
Stand fast
Be a man
Be strengthened
are now pasted up in my work area, right next to the items I learned from the study on Jericho we did a while back, because they tie together. They are all part of the daily doing of God's will.
I come, I read, I learn, I thank you
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