Mosaic Teaching Guide
3 May 09
The Season of Easter

Our mission is to become a diverse community of friends who are learning the way of Jesus together.
1 Corinthians 3.1-9:
And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely human?  What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Teaching Outline: FOOD (part 3) Milk

1. The Church in Corinth
1. The Corinthian church had a much deserved reputation for being a divisive community. 
2. A Lactose Only Diet
1. Paul tells the good folk of the First Church of Corinth that they are a bunch of babies.
3. Jealousy and Quarreling
1.  In other words the Corinthian church is filled with many persons who would rather be right than good. 
4. Apollos
5. Diakonoi
6. The Cross, the Basin, and the Towel

Mosaic Study Guide
For Personal Reflection or Smaller Group Encounters

Questions for Everyone: What is your favorite thing to do on a Sunday afternoon?  When are you at your best, morning, afternoon, or night?

On Sunday we talked about the ancient church of Corinth to which Paul wrote his two epistles.  Apparently the Corinthian church had a much deserved reputation for being divisive. 

Questions:  Have you ever been a part of a divisive church?  What was that like?  What were the issues of division?  Have you ever had to work in a divisive environment?  What affect does a divisive context have on you? 

It was said on Sunday that the Corinthian church was filled with people who were more concerned with being right than being good.

Questions: Why does this happen in the church?  How does a faith community overcome this propensity?  Can you push this too far?  That is to say, might there be occasions when loving unity needs to be compromised by a commitment to orthodoxy?  Is it true that how I treat people is always more important than my opinion?

Paul submits the cross as the central symbol of those who follow the way of Jesus.  He claims that the cross is God’s way of wisdom.  And that this wisdom will seem like utter foolishness to the worldly wise. 

Questions: How might reflection upon the cross of Christ help a community remain in love?  How might the cross help communities mitigate conflict and bring about loving unity? 

  

 

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