Stott on 1 Corinthians

Mr Pye has blogged a useful summary of John Stott's "Calling Christian Leaders" which covers 1 Cor 1-4 here.

1 Corinthians 4:1-21: A Gospel of Power (5)

Sermon notes: Sunday Evening 31 August 2003 (posted 20 September 2008 as I trawl my sermon notes box for 1 Corinthians notes in advance of the new term starting).

Dominant issue is power in the church. Problems in Corinth - failure to live with the cross at the centre.

A) Genuine Christian ministry is apostolic in its authority, vv1-7, 14-21
The underlying issue is that the Corinthian church is in danger of parting ways with the Apostle Paul - v3 - judging Paul, v6 gone beyond what he has written to them, v7 they think that they are v. special, boasting of selves v18 arrogant.
v1 apostles - servants of Christ and stewards of mysteries of God.
cf. ch. £ the Apostles inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Responsibility of Christian ministers is to follow in line of apostles' teaching - not adding, not taking away.

B) Genuine Christian ministry is apostolic in its nature, vv8-13
The ministry that looks weak and foolish = God's ministry.
We live in the overlap of ages (between the First and Second Coming).
v8 - mocking - if they had this, they would be in heaven and he would be there with them.


Isaiah 53:3 - v3 he was despised and rejected by men ... Apostles treated like Christ.
Philippians 2:6-8 - did not count equality with God something to be grasped ... humbled to the point of death.

Church in Corinth wanted to leave the Cross out of the message and out of lifestyle.

W.K.O.F.W.J.B

Just a note to remind me of a (an?) hilarious sketch to illustrate group dynamics at CF. What kind of fish would Jesus be? Indeed.

Flapjacks

Thanks to The Sister for passing this recipe on. Perhaps, once my broken cooker is fixed, I will be able to try this one out myself.

1. 2 x 250g blocks of butter
2. 1 x small (454g) tin of golden syrup
3. 1 x sugar bowl/cup of sugar
4. 300g plain flour
5. 600g oats

6. large baking tray with at least 1" deep sides
7. Oven pre-heated to 200 degrees centigrade.

place 1, 2 and 3 into a large saucepan and boil until all melted,
combined and caramelised. remove from heat. pout in 4 & 5 to the
liquid mix and stir. pour into lined and prepared 6 and level.
place in 7 for 9-10 mins until light golden brown. remove from oven.
score into slices. allow to cool in tin for approx 10 mins. cut down
along scored lines. invert onto cooling rack, use second cooling rack
to then make flapjack right way up again and separate out the pieces
and allow to cool, checking the quality control slice(s).

1 Corinthians - old Central Focus notes

I've just found some old notes on 1 Corinthians on the Central Focus resources page here.

1 Corinthians 4

Sermon notes from a friend's son's baptism at the barge in November 2007

Introduction
How should we cope within a world which regards us as the scum of the earth?

Contrasting judgements - God or man (vv1-5)
v4a - not aware of anything against myself
BUT
v4b - the Lord who judges me.

Paul comits himself to the judgement of God, not the Corinthians. Corinthians were judging by worldly values.
Look to the right judgement.

Contrasting expectations - kings or scum? (vv6-13)
Root of the Corinthian problem - pride
Paul's experience was very difference.
Corinthians had an overrealised eschatology - thinking that we have them now.
v8 - repetition - alerady.


Contrasting examples - Paul or someone else? (vv14-21)
- imitating Paul's leadership
n.b. he doesn't say imitate Christ. Imitate in his leadership - warm, tender, intimate, tender words of love
- imitating Paul's life
Genuine Christian ministry - not glamorous - instead, blood, sweat, toil and tears. May not be liked, but will be saved.

Conclusion
Are we imitating Paul?
- the power of the cross

Hunter's Chicken

What I cooked for Saturday dinner (shortly before the brand-new cooker died - grr!) for The Husband, Sister-In-Law The Younger and me.

Serves 4

Recipe is taken from Nigella Express and tweaked here and there.

Ingredients:
Olive oil
Garlic to taste
Pancetta (c. 75g - or a whole packet, if more)
Red onions
Bunch of rosemary
3 chicken breasts
1/2 tsp celery salt
125ml white wine
400g (tin) of chopped tomatoes
2 bay leaves
400g (tin) of cannellini beans.
2/3 peppers - red/yellow will work best

Method:
1. Fry off the chopped garlic, onions, rosemary and pancetta for a couple of minutes (adding one at a time - probably in the order stated above)
2. Add the chicken, stir well, sprinkle with celery salt
3. Pour in the wine, and let it come to a bubble.
4. Add the tomatoes and bay leaves.
5. Replace lid, simmer for 20 minutes.
6. c. 5-10 mins before serving, add the sliced peppers.
7. Drain the beans and add to the pan just at the end of the 20 minutes (in 5.) - when they have warmed through - Serve!

This was accompanied by some rather lovely focaccia (with a garlic and pesto centre) made by Sister-In-Law-The-Younger.

Yum!

Chilli Con Carne

My chilli recipe - adapted from Mary Berry's 'Complete Cook Book'.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
250g (or a tin) of red kidney beans in water
2 tbsp olive oil
450g (or a pack) of beef mince (steak mince is best)
2 onions, chopped
2 fresh red chillies
Garlic to taste (recipe says one clove crushed, I would probably use c. 1/4 - 1/2 bulb as The Husband's family are *very* keen on garlic)
1 tbsp plain flour (or, at a push, any flour)
500ml of beef stock (made from Oxo) + another beef Oxo cube to crumble in
2 tbsp of tomato puree

Method:
1. Put olive oil in pan, throw in chopped garlic, and chopped chillies. Cook off for a few minutes to let the garlic/chilli infuse into the oil.
2. Add the meat. Brown off. Add the onions.
3. Add the flour, stir in and cook for a minute.
4. Add the stock, and then the tomato puree. Stir.
5. Crumble in the additional stock cube. Stir.
6. Add the beans. Stir.
7. Bring to the boil.
8. Turn the hob down to c. 3 or 4 (assuming it goes up to 6) and leave, covered with a lid, for c. 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
9. Eat.

This works very well (The Husband thinks that it is better, even) if it is cooked, put in the fridge overnight, and then reheated through (e.g. in the slow cooker when at church, as we did this morning - even if parking restrictions meant that we didn't actually make it to the service).