The gospel has already given believers an identity more fundamental than any status the world can offer. That is where this passage presses into our lives. We can easily imagine that faithful discipleship will begin after something changes. When I'm married. When my family situation improves. When I have a different job. When life becomes less complicated. When people finally understand me... the list goes on, and no matter what we insert here, grace asks: Why not now?   Read More

The gospel doesn’t save a religious corner of our lives while leaving the rest untouched. Christ claims all of us. And that means Paul’s teaching about sexual holiness cannot faithfully become ammunition for Christians to aim primarily at other people. Before these words are ever useful for judging the culture around us, they must be allowed to examine the Church—and each of us within it.   Read More

There's a significant difference between welcoming sinners and celebrating sin. The Church must always be a place where broken people can encounter the grace of Jesus Christ. If sinners aren't welcome, none of us belongs there. But grace doesn't leave us where it found us. The Jesus who forgives us also calls us to follow him, and the Holy Spirit works within us to make us holy.   Read More

What should Christian leadership—and Christian maturity—actually look like? “Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries,” Paul writes (1 Corinthians 4:1). A steward was entrusted with something that belonged to someone else. The responsibility was not to build a personal following or increase personal status. The responsibility was faithfulness.   Read More

Maturity isn’t measured by how much Christian information we’ve accumulated or how confidently we can defend our preferences. The Holy Spirit forms a people whose lives increasingly resemble Jesus—humble, holy, loving, and committed to one another.   Read More

The world looked at the cross and saw defeat. God revealed victory. The world saw weakness. God revealed self-giving love powerful enough to redeem creation. The world measured wisdom by status, rhetoric, influence, and power. God revealed wisdom through a crucified Messiah. And the same Spirit who revealed Christ to the Corinthians continues forming the Church today. This is one reason discipleship can't simply be the accumulation of Christian information.   Read More