From Tribalism to Unity: Paul's Message to the 21st Century Church | Ep 778

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Hello, good people. Welcome to daily bible

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refresh with doctor Brad Miller. We come to you from

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voice of god daily dot com.

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This is a daily reading of the bible. We take the

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bible selected verse for this year for the revised

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comma lectionary, wherein year c, the epiphany season,

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we offer you a bible study reading that we believe is

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refreshed because it is understandable, relatable,

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and applicable to your life.

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We make it understandable by reading from the from the revised

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standard from the revised common lectionary, then we also

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read the message translation of the bible, the new testament

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reading only. We make it relatable by offering you a

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couple of points to ponder, things to think about regarding the scripture.

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And applicable, I give you an action step. We have a prayer. We do

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all that in less than 10 minutes. Our reading for the day

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is from 1st Corinthians 1 3 through

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17, reading from the message. May all the

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gifts and benefits that come from God, our father, and the master,

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Jesus Christ, be yours. Every time I think of you, and

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I think of you often, I thank God for your lives of

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free and open access to God given by Jesus.

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There's no end to what has happened in you. It's

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beyond speech, beyond knowledge. The evidence of

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Christ has been clearly verified in your lives.

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Just think, you don't need a thing. You've got it all. All

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God's gifts are right in front of you as you wait

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expectantly for our master, Jesus, to arrive on the scene for

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the finale. And not only that, but God himself

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is right alongside to keep you steady and on

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track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus.

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God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us

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the life of his son and our master, Jesus.

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He will never give up on you. Never forget that.

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The cross, the irony of God's wisdom.

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I have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends, using the authority

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of Jesus, our master, I'll put it, as urgently as I can. You must

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get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate

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of one another, cultivating a life which is

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uncommon. I break this up because some

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of Chloe's family brought a most disturbing report to my

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attention that you're fighting among yourselves.

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I'll tell you exactly what I was told. You're all picking sides

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going around saying I'm on Paul's side or I'm on Apollo's

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or I'm or Peter's my man or I'm in the messiah group.

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And I ask you, has the messiah been chopped up in

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little pieces so we can each have a relic all our

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own? Was Paul crucified for you? Was a

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single one of you baptized in Paul's name? I

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was not involved with any of your baptisms except for Christmas

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and Gaius. And on getting this report, I'm sure glad I

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wasn't. At least no one could go around saying he was baptized in my

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name. Come to think of it, I also baptized Stephane's

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family. But as far as I can recall, that's it.

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God didn't send me out to collect a following for myself,

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but to preach the message of what he has done,

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collecting a following for him. And he didn't send me to do it

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with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful

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action at the center, Christ on the cross, be trivialized

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into mere words. What we're talking

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about here, my good friends, is about tribalism.

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And Paul is speaking to that here in this passage

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of scripture. And I want to speak to you about it for a minute because

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this passage goes beyond tribalism into

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seeking unity in God's love. And

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Paul is directly addressing this division

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and calling for unity. And this happened in the early church

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just as as much as it happens in the church in the

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21st century. There's a few points to ponder.

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One of them has to be with dismantling

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tribalism. Paul's criticism

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of factions within the church of different leaders speaks powerfully

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to our modern religious divisions.

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Progressive Christianity recognizes that denomination, own theological, and

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political tribalism often mask power

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struggles that detract from a work of justice and

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healing. And true unity doesn't require

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uniformity, but rather mutual respect

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and a common purpose. Another

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point is collective grace.

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This passage of scripture emphasizes that spiritual gifts aren't

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personal possessions, but communal resources.

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It says you don't need a thing, you've got it all, which suggests

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an abundance that comes through sharing rather than individual accumulation.

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And this challenges both religious consumerism

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and spiritual individualism, which was prevalent

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in the 1st century church and indeed is

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prevalent in our contemporary faith communities.

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One more point is the decolonizing of leadership.

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Paul's rejection of baptizing in his name, Paul's name,

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and collecting personal followers for Paul, not Jesus, challenges

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a hierarchical religious leadership. This invited us invites

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us to examine how religious authority

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can either perpetuate or dismantle systems

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of power and privilege. True spiritual leadership

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empowers rather than dominates.

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Here's your action step. I wanna invite you to think about creating a

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interfaith justice circle. That is reach out to people who are a

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little different than you, from different faith traditions or

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denominations or have

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some differences about their outlook on things, but share a

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common commitment to social justice.

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And I just invite you to meet some other people, meet virtually or in person,

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identify the common ground that you have and plan something you

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can do together, some concrete action or community healing.

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Focus on what unites your values rather than

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theological differences. We're gonna have a prayer in

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just a moment. Do wanna remind remind you that we have a great resource for

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you that's gonna help you with your individual Bible study.

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It's called the ABC 123 Bible study

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guide. And indeed, it makes Bible study as straight and

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direct and straightforward as ABC 123. You can find

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it at our website voice of god daily

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dot com. That's where you have all the catalog of all of

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our daily bible reef 4 fresh episodes, over 700

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and transcripts of those episodes. Hope

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you'll take advantage of it. Let's pray.

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Divine God, the source of unity, help us to move beyond the tribal boundaries

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that we often have set for ourselves and separate ourselves from each

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other, and free us from the need to be right at the expense of

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being loving. Guide us in using our gifts not for personal

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gain, but for collective liberation and healing.

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When we're attempted to create new hierarchies, remind us of

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your leveling love. May we find strength in

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our device in our diversity, wisdom in our

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differences, and courage to work together

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for the healing of our world. Transform our divisions

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into opportunities for deeper understanding

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and shared action. Amen.

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Well, indeed, it's been a pleasure to be with you here on Daily Bible

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Refresh. Always is. I love coming to you first thing in the morning. We

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usually publish this before 6 AM every single

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day. You can find us at voice of god

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daily.com, and invite your friends to join

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us. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Until that time, remember that

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god's loyal love doesn't run out. His

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merciful love hasn't dried up. It's

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created new every morning.