1 Corinthians 11

1 Corinthians 11

• God has authority over Christ, Christ has authority over man, and man has authority over woman.
• Covering women's head while worship is just a sign of authority of women. It is not necessarily be conducted in modern time, but only to show the authority under woman's husband.
• Follow the order and wait for one another when having the Lord's supper. Do not disturb the order of church and do not divide the church when having the Lord's supper.

Why do we pray before eating meals?

From http://www.gotquestions.org/prayer-before-meals.html

Question: "Why do we pray before eating meals?"

Answer: Christians frequently pray before meals, giving thanks to God for the food we are about to eat. Pre-meal prayers can be a simple “thank-you” to God for the meal or lengthier prayers of thanksgiving for all of His provisions in our lives. In praying before meals, we are following the example of the Lord Jesus, whose prayers on several occasions are our model.

In the two instances where Jesus miraculously fed multitudes of people with a few loaves and fish, He “gave thanks” (Matthew 14:19-21; 15:34-36). In the first instance, He fed 5000 men, plus women and children, with five loaves of bread and two fish. In the second, He fed over 4000 with seven loaves and a few fish. At the Last Supper, Jesus again set the example of thanksgiving. When He passed the cup and the bread to His disciples, telling them to eat and drink these elements which were symbols of His body and blood, He gave thanks. When He appeared to the two men on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection, He stopped briefly to eat with them, and “took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them” (Luke 24:30).

The apostle Paul continued this example of praying before eating, as recorded in Acts 27. In this instance, Paul was on a ship with 276 other people when a hurricane battered the ship. After fourteen days of not eating, Paul exhorted the sailors and other passengers to eat something in order to survive. He “took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all” (Acts 27:35). Even in spite of the danger and terrible circumstances, Paul paused to give thanks to God before the meal.

When we thank God for providing our daily bread, we are acknowledging that all things come from Him (Ephesians 5:20; Romans 11:36). He is the source of everything we have, and praying before meals as a habit helps to remind us of that truth. Praying before we eat with a thankful heart brings glory to God and centers our minds on His great love for His children and the blessings He bestows on those who belong to Him.

Rejoice in suffering

Sometime I think that it is such a pain to be a Christian. If someone say that he does not feel any suffering or pain for being a Christian, he is not a real Christian. Because a person believing in Christ is deemed to fight sin for the rest of his life. And fighting with sin is not easy at all. Every day I fight with my sinful nature and I always succumb to it... I can't even be perfect for one day...Some times I even think it is easier to be a non-Christian, I would not have to suffer everyday if I do not believe in God. I wouldn't even aware of my sins at all actually. How great is that! But God is so obvious that I cannot ignore him. So I still have to fight my sins everyday... Even Paul says he cannot do what is right and cannot help but do what is wrong. Paul woes "Wretched man that I am!", and that's exactly what I say everyday!

And that is not all of it... Paul says not only we have to suffer everyday fighting with sins, we have to rejoice in it! Wow he must have been joking! How do we rejoice in suffering! Paul says:

³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

So I think the point is that we know that our suffering worth it. Because when we suffer we endure and when we endure we develop characters - characters that were never in us. When we see the changes happened to us, we see the Holy Spirit has worked on us. We know that we cannot do any of these if the Holy Spirit have not worked on us first. Then we have got the assurance that we indeed have the Holy Spirit. Then we know that we are saved, that we are going to rejoice with our Lord, and our Father one day. Because Jesus has told us, he will not let anything take us from him. So once we know we are saved, we know we will not fall out of his grace. We have the hope which will not fail us. How great is that! As long as we have the hope, we can absolutely rejoice in our suffering. Because we know it worth it.

The rights of an apostle

1 Corinthians 9

• The one who serve the church has the right to be supported by the church, materially and spiritually.
• But believers should be ready to surrender their rights because of love for others.
• We should only enjoy the freedom from Christ in the circumstances that we do not harm other people's faith. We should give up our personal privileges and social and religious rights in order to bring others to the Christ.

Lawsuits against believers & Sexual Immorality

1 Corinthians 6

• Christians should not sue other Christian brothers! Should let qualified Christian brother in the church to judge instead of going to court room.
• Our bodies are precious and sacred. Christians should not disgrace their bodies by uniting with prostitutes. Because we are bought at a price which is Jesus' blood.
  

Immoral brothers

Corinthians 5

1. Immoral brothers should be excommunicated for their own sake and for the glory of Jesus Christ.
2. By excommunicating the immoral brother, abandoning him in Satan's Territory, the brother will such anguish that he will repent and be saved spiritually.
3. We should only judge the brothers inside the church but not alienate unbelievers.

Temple of God & Ministry of Apostles

Corinthians 3

1. We are following Jesus not ministers. Ministers are worker of God to nurture us, but we are essentially following Jesus. So that we do not argue that we are following different ministers.
2. We are God's Temple or building. We should build the temple with enduring things that will last in the test of fire. For if our work survives we receive rewards, if out work do not survive we will suffer, but still can be saved. For those who destroy the temple of God, he will be destroyed too. So that we should build God's building with the wisdom of God, which is concrete, not with human's wisdom, which is perishable.
3. We have got all the things because we are Christ's and Christ are God's, So we have absolutely no reason to be jealous.

Corinthians 4

1. Do not judge people because only God has the power to judge.
2. We should be humble in Christ, and we should respect our ministers
3. Paul says being a apostle is like a captive in Rome, that will be condemned to death in the arena in mortal with gladiators or beasts. So it is common that we will suffer after we start following Jesus.

Holy Spirit first, man's word second

Corinthians 2

• Unless the Holy Spirit works in a listener's heart, the wisdom and eloquence of a preacher are ineffective.
• God's wisdom is hidden from the men who does not have the Holy Spirit. That's why preaching would not work on a listener if the Holy Spirit has not worked on him first, because they think the God's wisdom is foolishness.

Christ the wisdom and power of God

Corinthians 1

• We should preach by the power of the cross of Christ, but not by the power of human wisdom.
• The gospel is offensive to Jews and foolish to gentiles who do not believe, but is the power of God and wisdom of God to those who are called.
• The grace of God is a free gift from God, no man gets the grace from his good work, so that no human being should boast in the presence of God.

Do not pass judgement to one another

Romans 14

1. Do not pass judgement to one another on different opinions of living (eating, drinking, etc...), as long as each one live for the honor of the Lord.
2. One should just one's life style to others in order not to destroy other's faith. On the matters that mentioned above.
3. This only applies to matters that are morally indifferent.

Submission to the authorities

Romans 13

• All authorities, including church leaders and civil authorities, are ordained my God.
• God ordained authorities to keep society peaceful, and also providing a way to bring judgement before the final judgement.
• Christians should submit to authorities as long as they do not contradict with God's word.
• Love is the fulfilling of the law.
• Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Practical advices from Paul

Romans 12

Very practical teachings from Paul in this chapters.

1. Offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God.
2. Do not be conformed by this world
3. We are members of the body of Christ. We are given different gifts from God. We should use our gift to the greatest extend
4. Love each other in Christ. Be zeal in Christ and constant in prayer. Consider other saints' need and show out hospitality.
5. Do not take revenge but let God do his job. We should be peacemakers as long as we do not give up our principles. Be nice to our enemy.