The start of a new year is an opportunity to make plans for the coming months. But few people — perhaps even Christians — stop to think: “What does God want my plans to be this year?” In this first sermon on 1 Corinthians, we think about what God wants from us and what that means for how we should live as we face the new year.
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We human beings find it difficult to look below the surface. It’s easy to see someone who is attractive, rich, powerful or influential, and think they are successful in God’s eyes. But the truth is that God is able to look below the surface, to our hearts. What does God look for in us, and why is this one of the most important things we need to hear today?
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When it comes to obeying God, we can’t pick and choose what we want to obey and what we don’t. Obeying God needs to be all or nothing. In this passage, we see what happened when Saul decided not to obey God fully, and what the consequences were.
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Maybe you’ve asked questions recently about power and authority. In a world where everything seems to be going wrong, who is in charge? Who holds the power? And what does that look like? In this passage we see that true power and authority doesn’t look like what the world thinks it does. In God’s world, true power and authority looks very different — which is something we should embody as Christians.
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How much difference is it possible for one person to make? We tend to think that only a few, exceptional, people can really make a difference. But this passage teaches us that anyone can make a difference, even to the point of changing the course of a war. What does it mean for us today?
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‘Actions have consequences’ — words which are often said to children. But it applies to adults as well: things we do wrong will affect us — both in terms of natural consequences, and possible punishment. When it comes to God, both of these things are true. We need to learn to repent and to live by faith in God rather than fear.
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When we are in times of trouble or difficulty, who do we turn to for help? Maybe we trust in friends and family, or money, or the government to save us. This passage helps us to understand that, when it comes to God, we need to get our priorities right. At the end of the day, only he can save us. What does that mean for how we live?
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Do the ends justify the means? If something good as achieved, does it matter how it is accomplished? In this passage, we see once again a nuanced and complex picture of Saul: he may have been what the people asked for, and he may have even given the people victory — but was it really a victory?
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Have you ever wanted something so badly, then got it, and found out that you didn’t want it after all? We need to be careful with what we want — because sometimes it will turn out that it will be bad for us in the end. In this passage we see God giving the Israelites what they want — but perhaps it won’t be a good thing…
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One of the constant temptations we face is to do things according to the world’s ways, human power and wisdom. In this passage we see why it is so important to do the Lord’s work in the Lord’s way: ultimately, authority comes from the Lord and real change will only happen when we know and serve him. Godly leaders are totally different to worldly leaders.
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