WELCOME to our brand new series MESSY SAINTS.

The series is titled MESSY SAINTS because it’s based on 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinth church where he mentioned dark secrets about them.

NOTE: The Corinth church is not like a parish or an organization. It’s a home church like our Feast Lights!

Each home church would have between 10 to 30 members, and altogether, a total of 150 members in Corinth.

Talk 1 is titled Confused Army because the members fight each other in church– it’s like the church has an autoimmune disease.

Autoimmune disease happens when the body’s natural defense system can’t tell the difference between your own cells and foreign cells, causing the body to mistakenly attack normal cells.

What happened in the Corinth church is very much like the story of Christianity. We have a 2000-history of division.

Paul’s advice on how to resolve the Corinthians’ conflicts is also the key message of Talk 1: Go back to the Cross.

WELCOME to Talk 2 of our brand-new series MESSY SAINTS.

The series is titled MESSY SAINTS because it’s based on 1 Corinthians,

the apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinth church where he mentioned dark secrets about them.

Last week, we said that 1 Corinthians tackles the five troubles in the Corinth church—problems that we still face today, 2000 years later.

In Talk 1, titled Confused Army, we unpacked the first problem—Division—which usually is about pride.

In Talk 2, we unpack the second trouble in the Corinthians’ church: Sexual Sin. Talk 2 is titled Proud about Sin because we brainwash ourselves to make sin acceptable, and later on, admirable, to the point that we’re proud of it.

Just like the Corinthians did. But Paul told them if one sins sexually, one sins against one’s own body.

He said, “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God. You are not your own;

you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20 NIV)

You don’t own your body. You are God’s House. You’re a long-term guest, living in His Holy Temple, through His gracious hospitality.

The key message of Talk 2 is The Owner is in the House.

WELCOME to Talk 3 of our Feast Talk series MESSY SAINTS.

In this series, we talk about the five troubles of the little church in Corinth. So far, we’ve tackled the first two: In Talk 1, Division, and in Talk 2, Sexual Sin.

Talk 3 delves into the third one: Food offered to idols.

In Corinth, people worshipped gods. And they would offer animal sacrifices to them regularly.  The people were divided on the issue of whether to eat meat sacrificed to idols.

The apostle Paul advised that instead of being divided over the issue of who’s right, the people should work on how to strengthen their relationships.

Talk 3, titled Correct But Still Self-Centered, focuses on the key message, “Others First.”

WELCOME to the 4th installment of our series, Messy Saints, where we investigate the five troubles in the Corinth church.

The first was how they were forming cliques. Second was bragging about sexual sin. Third was fighting about food offered to idols. And their fourth problem—our talk for today—is they had gifted but divisive members.

So, Talk 4 is titled Gifted but Divisive. In 1 Corinthians 12: 8-10, Paul says the people of Corinth are gifted. These guys were speakers, healers, prophets, discerners, tongue-interpreters, miracle workers.

But behind all their problems is one big problem: Pride was dividing their community.

So, Paul tells them what the Corinthians need is Love for one another–defining Love in his letter to them in 1 Corinthians 13:1-8-13 and 14:1 NLT—one of the most popular passages in the entire Bible and perhaps the most beautiful literature on love. The passage is usually quoted during weddings. But Paul is not simply talking about romantic love.

The key message of Talk 4 is Love is your highest goal.

OUR Easter Talk has three parts:
Part 1: The Story of Two Disciples;
Part 2: New Jerusalem Is Coming Down;
Part 3: The 5th Problem in the Corinth Church.

Backgrounder: Before His crucifixion, Jesus was in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover (a traditional feast commemorating the Jews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt). Jesus’ followers welcomed Him waving palms (now celebrated as Palm Sunday).

Two followers of Jesus, Cleopas, and a friend, left their home in Emmaus and went to Jerusalem also to celebrate the Passover. Even before the day of the Passover feast, Jesus, accused of rebellion against the Roman Empire that colonized Israel, was arrested by Roman soldiers and eventually crucified Him. Because their Master was crucified, the two followers of Jesus were so devastated that they decided to walk back to their home in Emmaus.

Along the way, Jesus, then already Resurrected from death, appeared and walked with the two followers–who did not recognize Jesus.

Talk 1 of our Lenten Feast Talk points out that The Walk to Emmaus is a symbol of someone walking away from God and the person’s spiritual family.

Messy Saint

Talk 1: Confused Army
Talk 2: Proud About Sin
Talk 3:Correct But Still Self-Centered
Talk 4:Gifted But Divisive
Talk 5:Walk Back to Jerusalem

Messy Saints

Love Thy Neighbor (Even if They Drive You Nuts) Solving the problems in 1 Corinthians

Talk 5: Walk Back to Jerusalem

Notes:
To recognize Jesus, the followers–and we, to-day–need to go back to Jerusalem.

When Jesus walked with the two followers, this means that though we are walking back to Jerusalem, Jerusalem is also coming back to us.

In Tagalog, sinasalubong natin. We’re walking to welcome it back.