What’s the point of the resurrection of Jesus Christ? What’s the purpose of it, the sense of it? What does it mean? Why did it happen? Why did Jesus Christ rise from the dead – and why should we care whether He did or not anyway? These are the questions we will explore in the message today.
Financial giving has been a part of what the church has done since the very beginning, part of a tradition that goes back to Judaism. What does the Bible really say about generosity, giving or charity? This chapter and the next give us some of the basic principles that make up a right attitude toward this essential, yet much abused, part of the Christian faith.
At the beginning of this letter, Paul told us about God’s comforting us so that we would be in the place to comfort others. So how do we receive that comfort? Paul explains how he received it in this chapter.
We come to Christ from a variety of backgrounds. When Jesus enters the picture, He needs to be allowed to take over so completely that our primary identity is formed by Christ, our relationship with Him and the others who form His body here on earth. Paul warns us in this chapter not to be “unequally yoked” or tied to the non-Christian world so tightly that our loyalties become divided.
Central Reflections 