Today Our Daily Bread (from Rock Church's Daily reading schedule)- Rom 16:19-20, Acts 17:6 & 1 Cor 1

Romans 16:19-20 19 For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil. 20 And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Acts 17:6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.
Isn’t the declaration here funny? "These have turned the world upside down and have come here too!" I guess to them "world" was not where they were at, it must have been outside of that. It’s time to center in and have YOUR specific world "turned upside down!"
1 Cor 1:1-31
Greeting
Divisions in the Church Condemned
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 2To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: 3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Spiritual Gifts at Corinth4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 5that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, 6even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Sectarianism Is Sin10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you. 12Now I say this, that each of you says, "I am of Paul," or "I am of Apollos," or "I am of Cephas," or "I am of Christ." 13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. 16Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. 17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
Christ the Power and Wisdom of God
R13 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." F92 20Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks F93 foolishness, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Glory Only in the Lord26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are , 29that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God--and righteousness and sanctification and redemption-- 31that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the LORD." F94
Footnotes
F92: 1:19 Isaiah 29:14
F93: 1:23 NU-Text reads Gentiles.
F94: 1:31 Jeremiah 9:24
Show cross-references
R13: cf. Is. 29:14
Lena’s Journalin’~
Can we be in one big group, yet divided by contention? Or Can we be in many smaller "groups", yet be united? Yes to both. I was noticing the words inside of "contention", contend- meaning to fight against, yet there is another word in the same root which is completely the opposite and opposing force- "content" as in "being content". Division is bred with contest and unity comes with content-ion (as in being content). So, if I’m not content, I’m divided, and in order to be "unified" I must contend with division and oppose it with actions of contentment. Paul was actually speaking to humans here, but they’d been born again of God’s (unifying) spirit. He was telling them to be of one mind, one judgement, perfectly (or completely or wholly) joined together. Is that possible?
Let’s skip down to vs.’ 27-28. God chose foolish ways to do this work, on purpose, because we are combating the natural mindedness of natural man. Notice he says,, "and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are". The things that are not, (or don’t seem to be- to the natural mind), like health, unity, peace, happiness…to bring to nothing the things, that "are" or at least to the natural mind seem to be, like dis-contention, division, war, etc.. Doesn’t it seem foolish to the natural mind that peace and the deliberate decision to have and keep it, would combat war? Doesn’t war combat war? Doesn’t it seem foolish in thought that being content in any situation would combat division? Doesn’t separation combat that? (That only brings temporary relief.) In a win & lose society, in a prideful over-ruling society, yes, but in God’s kingdom, no. LOVE conquers all, not by being the winner or the one who is right, but by giving up one’s rights for ONE. What is not is in the "impossible" to the natural mind realm and the things that are, is in the possible to the natural mind realm. The impossible can be brought to possibility through faith in action.
How does the spirit of ONE come to rule? At and through the cross.
I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live- yet it is not I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. I live by the faith of the Son of God who died and gave His life for me. I do not die a natural death on a cross daily, but I put my old flesh natured man and all its desires that war against the progress of God’s life in me, away. I actually let it die in exchange for what He did for me to live out my life now on earth for His will to be accomplished. I stay here in the physical body I have been given by God and I live as Him here. I don’t live out the rest of my days just doing what I’d like to do, or what I think I "right" to do or "good" to do. I study His word to find out His will and do that instead. If He says Love those you’ve felt are your enemies, I do it, because it is not about me, it is about showing more of His ways in the earth through a deliberate physical manifestation. Christ in made. God putting flesh on again.