Taproot Church Twin Falls

Who do we understand ourselves to be in Christ. Who do we understand other people to be in Christ? It’s easy to see and emphasize a negative identity–the things we used to be. In Corinthians, Paul reminds the church, then and now, over and over again that we are, through faith in Jesus, new people who are washed, sanctified, and justified. This is incredibly good news!

The Corinthian community was one filled with interpersonal relationship issues. Among them, the rich were suing the poor, using the corrupt and unjust judicial system outside of the church to do so. In our passage, Paul once again steps into his rebuke toward this church. He invites them to remember who they are–a new family; siblings in Christ–and they need to learn to treat one another as such.

As we continue through 1 Corinthians, we are exposed to a level of expectations within the church community that are mostly foreign to our own church context. One of the questions posed through this passage is what is the church for, and can it function today as it did then? This Sunday we are going to be looking at some of these specific expectations. As we prepare, let’s ask the Spirit to help us see where we can intentionally cultivate community life that resembles the kingdom of God.

This week, we begin to delve into one of the most difficult chapters of 1 Corinthians. Paul commands the church to remove someone from among them. Why does he do this? What is the desired outcome? Is the church today supposed to continue practicing such things? These are some of the questions we address this week and will continue to address for the next several weeks. In them, our prayer is to see the goodness of Jesus and the value of the local church community for our maturity in Christ.

We are jumping back into Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church. This week we’re working to lay the foundation for Paul’s forthcoming corrections regarding the behavior of this church. The key question is how would we live if we believed that our bodies are not our own, but belong to God?