Monthly Archives: January 2025

Chapter-a-Day

Man in the Middle

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“Man in the Middle” (CaD 1 Cor 9) – Wayfarer

If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
1 Corinthians 9:12 (NIV)

I sometimes feel like I live in two different worlds and I don’t always fit perfectly in either of them. I have a career of over 30 years in the business world. I own the business I started working for in 1994. I love what I do, and I love my clients. I also have a unique leadership position among my local gathering of Jesus’ followers in which I lead, teach and provide pastoral presence though I’m not an official member of the staff.

Over the years, I’ve often felt as if people in the business world who know about my pastoral service don’t always know what to make of me. Likewise, people in the church world who find out it’s not actually my vocation aren’t sure what to do with me either. I’m kind of an outlier to individuals in both worlds. I’m a “man in the middle,” but that’s where God has led and it’s worked.

One of the things I’ve observed along my spiritual journey is that modern readers of the Great Story are often so focused on mining spiritual encouragement that the historical context is completely lost. But sometimes there’s spiritual treasure buried in that context for those who are willing to dig.

The Jesus Movement that exploded after the resurrection was an organically structured system. Like any human organization, it was a mix of diverse personalities, temperaments, strengths, and blind spots. The leadership core was, of course, Jesus original twelve disciples. If I put on my business cap and think about the org chart, it would look like the Twelve in executive director positions with the title of Apostles. Peter was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as appointed by Jesus. But, then there are Jesus’ brothers, James in particular, who quickly rise in the organization. James (not to become confused with either of the two members of the original Twelve disciples named James) becomes kind of a Chief Operating Officer (COO) focused on the core Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem.

You kind of have to think about it, but Paul was an outsider to this leadership group. First, he had the baggage of having originally been a competitor. Paul started as enemy numero uno to everyone in the corporation. He was even responsible for having a beloved member of business, assassinated and he had members of the church arrested, imprisoned, beaten, and perhaps even killed. Trust me, it would not have been a comfortable Board Meeting at Jesus, Inc. when it became clear that Jesus’ had hired Paul to help expand global operations.

On top of that, there was grumbling all the way down the org chart about Paul being given the executive director title of Apostle along with The Twelve. The qualifications were that Jesus personally and directly hired them, and that they had seen the resurrected Jesus. Paul technically fit those qualifications, but there were certainly some who felt that Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road years after the resurrection didn’t cut the corporate mustard.

Nevertheless, the Twelve originally stuck close to home in Jerusalem while sending Paul off to share Jesus’ message with people far away and set up locations in towns across Asia Minor and Greece. The distance was probably good for everybody in the organization. It also gave Paul tremendous autonomy to do things the way he felt they should be done while he was operating far from corporate headquarters. He was a maverick, a head-strong leader, as well as being the most brilliant and educated member of the executive team at Jesus, Inc. The rumors, criticism, and doubts about Paul’s pedigree and worthiness within the organization would follow him and dog him for years., no matter where he went.

One of the things Paul did differently was the fact that he had a vocation outside of Jesus, Inc. Paul was raised in a wealthy, accomplished tent-making family business. He knew the trade. He was skilled at it. And no matter where he traveled or stayed, people needed tents made or repaired. It allowed him to meet people he might otherwise not have met. His business interactions gave him local knowledge and information that would help him navigate the establishment of the local chapter of Jesus, Inc. It also meant that Paul provided for himself and his companions by his own means. Jesus, Inc. didn’t have to pay him a salary, travel expenses, or a per diem. He certainly could have expected or demanded this. The corporation certainly provided for and took care of the expenses of the other corporate executives in Jerusalem. Paul chose out, and he did so for a reason.

If you haven’t read today’s chapter, or even if you have, I encourage you to take a few minutes and read it again and think about Paul in his organizational circumstances. I think you might see things you didn’t see before.

In the quiet this morning, I’m meditating on the fact that I have gained a greater appreciation for, and deeper personal connection with, Paul in recent years. He was an outlier, too. His ministry was channeled through and provided for by what appears to be an unconnected vocation, though a disciple of Jesus knows that every vocation is a ministry. Paul was able to share Jesus’ message, shepherd new believers, and establish local chapters of Jesus, Inc. while not needing or expecting financial support from the people he’s spiritually serving. There’s something powerful in that, to give and require nothing in return. There is also, I have discovered, a joy that comes with it.

That would eventually change when Paul was arrested and spent years imprisoned and waiting trial in the Roman legal system. But how beautiful to think of the gratitude of the believers in places like Corinth where Paul gave so much without requiring anything. When it came time that he did need something from them, I can only imagine the joy with which they stepped up to the plate.

Who knows but what maybe I will be in a similar position someday. In the meantime, I’m blessed and overjoyed to be a “man in the middle” like Paul was, even if can occasionally be a unique reality.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Awkward Moment at the Pub Part II

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Awkward Moment at the Pub Part II (CaD 1 Cor 8) – Wayfarer

Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.
1 Corinthians 8:13 (NIV)

In the 18 years I’ve been writing this chapter-a-day blog, I’ve always found it fascinating which posts resonate with people. There are days that what I write something that I think a lot of people are going to want to read and no one does. Then there are days that I just sort of write a quick post and throw it out there and suddenly it’s getting unexpectedly read and shared all over the place.

Last week I wrote about an awkward moment I had in the pub in which a Christian couple I know stopped to talk to me as I was sitting at the bar having a pint, but they refused to actually enter the pub. Instead, they stood and semi-shouted their conversation with me while making sure they didn’t cross the threshold. It was a popular post and even yesterday I had people stop me to ask if the story was true (it was).

Today’s chapter addresses an issue that was creating conflict with the Corinthian believers of Paul’s day. It is, however, not an issue that we deal with here in the 21st century. In the pagan religious culture of Greece and Rome, there were pagan temples everywhere, and people regularly sacrificed animals at these temples. The meat from the sacrifices found their way to the local market and were sold as food to anyone who would buy it. Among the followers of Jesus in Corinth there were those who felt that they could not, with a clear conscience, purchase and eat meat that had been sacrificed to a pagan god. Others among the Corinthian believers thought it was not a big deal. The two factions were at odds with one another and things were getting heated.

While meat being sacrificed to a pagan Roman god is not an issue today, I’d like to return to my friends who stood outside the doorway of the pub making sure their feet didn’t cross the threshold. It was obvious that my friends had been taught, and believed, that it was wrong to enter an establishment that serves alcohol. I’m equally sure that they are teetotalers. As silly as I might think they are being, it is certainly a matter of conscience for them and this is the point that Paul is making with the abstainers and eaters in Corinth.

I might disagree with my friends’ personal views on having a beer or entering a pub, but as a disciple of Jesus I am called to consider others ahead of myself.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV)

Knowing their feelings about drinking, I’m going to be considerate of those feelings if I find myself having a meal with them or socializing with them. I’m not going to flaunt the freedom of conscience I have if it’s going to create tension with my friends. Rather, I’m going to humbly respect their feelings and choose not to drink around them. In fact, if the awkward conversation at the door were to ever happen again, I think the right thing for me to do is simply leave my pint at the bar for a minute and step out onto the sidewalk to have a chat.

In the quiet this morning, I’m reminded that Jesus calls me to be considerate and servant-hearted with others. Sometimes this means that I serve others by submitting to their customs or preferences even if I don’t share them.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

The Time Paradox

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The Time Paradox (CaD 1 Cor 7) – Wayfarer

What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep;those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
1 Corinthians 7:29-31 (NIV)

Thanks to Mr. Einstein and his cohorts, we’ve come to realize in the last 100 years that time is far more complex than anyone realized . It’s relative, not absolute. Though I believe that God was already hinting at this to us when through Moses’ prayer we learn:

A thousand years in your sight
    are like a day that has just gone by,
    or like a watch in the night.
Psalm 90:4 (NIV)

And, of course, God exists outside of time, which blows my mind open to all sorts of thoughts and considerations.

I’m not going to pretend to thoroughly understand the intricacies of time relativity, but I can certainly understand that our perception of time has an impact on how we think and live. In yesterday’s post I wrote/said that this earthly life is like a marathon 162 game baseball season and I need to learn to “take the loss” some days. At the same time, it is also true that the time left on my earthly journey likely is shorter than my grandchildren, which changes my perspective and perhaps my life decisions.

Today’s chapter is fascinating on a number of levels as Paul addresses a number of questions that the Corinthian believers had posed to him regarding singleness, marriage, divorce, and sexual relationships in light of their newfound faith in Jesus and desire to follow His teaching. Corinth was steeped in Roman and Greek thought, which contrasted culturally with the Jewish traditions with which Paul was raised and which were foundational to Jesus’ teachings. Add to that, however, that time plays a huge role in understanding Paul’s perspective on these matters, and informing my own.

In over 40 years as a disciple, I’ve heard today’s chapter quoted regularly in defense of individual’s beliefs about sex, marriage, divorce, and remarriage. To be honest, this chapter was quoted to me more than once in condemning me for getting divorced and remarried. I am in good company in this regard, I’m quite sure. However, I’ve never in all that time heard anyone seriously address the three verses I quoted above/at the tope of the podcast in which we learn that everything Paul is writing and instructing is based solely on Paul’s perspective of time.

Jesus told His followers that He would return one day, and we know from all of Paul’s writing that he was convinced that this return was imminent. “Time is short” he tells the Corinthians. He wanted the Corinthian believers to live as uncomplicated and simple lives as they could because he was convinced they didn’t have much time. Except they did, and I’ll get to that in a second.

Add to this perception of time the fact that I am reading Paul’s thoughts and instructions from a different waypoint in time. Not only has Jesus yet to return 2,000 years later, but my perceptions of time and life are different because time is different. Life spans are much longer and change is taking place much faster than Paul could have ever imagined.

So, what should my perspective be? Should I live today as if life is a marathon or should I live today as if today may be all I’ve got?

Yes.

I don’t think it’s an either-or question. Time, as God created it, provides this finite human being with paradoxes. The answer is both. And, this creates a certain tension, but that tension has always been present in the Great Story. I ultimately don’t know the number of my days and today might be my last, so that should factor into my perspective. At the same time, the number of my days is certainly getting shorter so I know that I am closer to the finish line than ever before, and that should inform my perspective. At the same time, it’s also true that people today commonly to live into their 90s and I could have another 30-40 years before I finish this earthly journey, so I need to factor that possibility into my perspective. At the same time, I believe that this entire earthly journey is but a tiny dot on the eternal time line, and this should inform my perspective today, as well.

So in the quiet this morning, I’m thinking back to what I wrote/said in yesterday’s post/podcast. I only have so much time, but even I don’t know exactly how much time I ultimately have on this planet. It could be a breath. It could be 40 years. Either way, I have to give consideration to how I best invest my time today for either possibility or eventuality, and let it inform my thoughts, words, actions, and relationships.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Taking the Loss

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Taking the Loss (CaD 1 Cor 6) – Wayfarer

The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?
1 Corinthians 6:7 (NIV)

John Sexton, former President of New York University, wrote a book that I have in my personal library entitled, Baseball as a Road to God. In the book, Sexton shares the many things that the game and spirituality share. This includes things like faith, doubt, miracles, conversion, and the sacred. I agree with him. There are many spiritual lessons to be learned from the game

Every year, each major league team has its ups and downs. Every team, even the best ones, occasionally end up on the wrong end of a blowout. The sting of getting shellacked often gives way to some much needed comic relief when managers reach the point where they don’t want to waste any of their pitchers arms in what they know is going to be a defeat. They take the loss and place an infielder or outfielder on the mound to do the best they can. It makes for some funny moments and match-ups.

For those who are highly competitive, this strategy just feels wrong. The truth is that it’s a very wise move. It’s about the proper use of energy and resources in a 162 game season. Some days it’s best to take the loss and save your bullpen for tomorrow.

I have also learned that I sometimes have to do the same thing in life. It particularly occurs when I’ve been wronged by another person. Believe me, I feel the anger, the hurt, and the desire for vengeance and justice. Along life’s road, I began to ask myself about the usefulness of all those negative emotions along with wisdom of spending my energy focused on the person who wronged me. Often, the wrong I experience is relatively petty and small in the grand scheme of life, and I have much better things to do with my time, energy, and resources. Sometimes forgiveness feels like I’m letting my enemy off the hook, when the truth is that it’s freeing me to use my thoughts, energy, and resources more productively.

For those who have a heightened sense of justice, this just feels wrong.

In today’s chapter, Paul addresses his fellow Jesus followers in Corinth who were experiencing all sorts of conflicts between one another. Some of them had even escalated to the point where believers were suing one another. He asks the same question: Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? I can descend into anger, hatred, slander, and a lust for retribution, but all of those are character qualities Jesus teaches me to avoid at all costs. Choosing to switch the focus of my thoughts and energy towards ultimately more profitable, productive, and spiritually healthy pursuits is strategically the wise move. Life is a long season.

I’m reminded of two episodes in Jesus ministry. In one, the people of a town tell Jesus that they want nothing to do with Him. He and His followers were not welcome. In the other, Jesus’ disciples hear that someone who isn’t officially part of Jesus’ ministry was spreading Jesus’ teaching and even casting out demons. In both of these instances, Jesus’ disciples wanted to pursue their anger and indignation. They wanted Jesus to call down fire from heaven to burn up the town that rejected them. They wanted to go find that man who was doing their job without permission and tell him to cease and desist. In both episodes, Jesus told his disciples to let it go and take the loss. He had more important and more strategically productive ways to focus their time, energy, and resources.

In the quiet this morning, as I’ve meditated on these things, my mind has conjured up the names and faces of individuals who wronged me along life’s road. Some of them are distant memories. One or two are so recent that I still feel the internal struggle and the desire for justice and vengeance. I realize, however, that I have never regretted taking the loss with those former experiences and in fact it was the best decision for me in the long run. That helps me with the sting of my more recent experiences.

I’ve only got so much time, energy, and resources in my personal bullpen. I need to use them wisely. It’s a long season.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

An Awkward Moment at the Pub

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An Awkward Moment at the Pub (CaD 1 Cor 5) – Wayfarer

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
1 Corinthians 5:9-11 (NIV)

A number of years ago, I was running some errands in town one gorgeous spring afternoon. It was one of those amazing first warm days of spring here in the midwest when everyone opens windows and doors to air out the house after a long winter, and everyone gets outside to take a walk and enjoy warm weather.

With a little extra time on my hands, I decided to pop into the local pub for a pint before heading home. The pub had its front door propped open and I was sitting at the bar with my pint checking email, when I heard someone call my name.

I turned to find a Christian couple I know who had been passing by and saw me sitting there. I smiled, waved, and greeted them. Then it became clear that they wanted to have a conversation because they started right in making casual small talk, but it got really weird. They refused to step inside the pub. My friends even looked down a few times at their feet to make sure he hadn’t crossed the threshold. I was sitting twenty-five feet away. They were blocking the door and talking to me as if we were having an intimate conversation while semi-shouting so that the whole pub could hear. Eventually, they continued on their way, having successfully remained pure by not entering a sinful place. I finished my pint and went home.

As awkward and silly as the episode was, I knew exactly where my friends were coming from. I spent much of the early years of my spiritual journey being taught similar behavioral legalities. Avoid such sinful places or the sinful people inside might lead you astray. Don’t associate. Stay away.

Yet, in today’s chapter, Paul provides a command to the followers of Jesus in Corinth that I’ve never heard addressed among the legalistic circles who teach such things. Paul clarifies that when he told the Corinthian believers not to associate with immoral people, he was talking about immoral people inside the church, not outside. If I refuse to associate with immoral people outside the church then how will I ever be the light of the world, or the salt of the earth? Paul’s teaching is clear. He’s talking about those inside the church who claim to be disciples of Jesus but they live lives that are the obvious antithesis of Jesus’ teaching.

In my associations out in the world, I know exactly what I’m dealing with. These are people who don’t know Christ, who have no reason to act like they do. They’re the people Jesus associated with when the good religious leaders complained that He ate and drank with sinners.

“Yes!” Jesus answered his legalistic, religious critics unequivocally. “These are the people who need what I have to give! These are the people I came for!”

The people I’m really supposed to avoid are the hypocrites inside the church who faithfully go through the religious motions and put on its outward appearances, but whose daily lives and relationships are void of love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, or patience. In fact, that accurately describes the good legalistic religious people who were criticizing Jesus. Jesus told His followers to avoid them. And that’s the very point that Paul is making to the Corinthian believers. I don’t need to worry about an immoral person I meet in the pub. They’re lives are an honest reflection of their current world view and spiritual reality. I need to worry about the hypocrites in my pew on Sunday. They’re the ones whose lives are dishonest at the core. I need to avoid them like the plague if I want to be spiritually healthy.

At least, that’s what Jesus taught, and Paul. Though, you probably won’t learn that in a lot of churches.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself looking back at the years I led a very sequestered life. I, too, would have avoided crossing the threshold of a pub. And, I spent a lot of time hanging out with some really awful people, but they claimed to be Christians, so they were on the approved list. I am once again reminded that this life is a journey. Healthy things grow, and growing things change. I’m not in the same place I once was, nor should I be. If you’re ever in town, feel free to meet me at the pub. I’ll buy you a pint and introduce you to some friends.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Paul & the Prisoners of Rome

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Paul & the Prisoners of Rome (CaD 1 Cor 4) – Wayfarer

We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.
1 Corinthians 4:12-13 (NIV)

In ancient Rome, successful military conquests and campaigns ended with a triumphant homecoming parade. It was spectacle on a grand scale and the crowds loved it. The victorious general would lead his legion through the streets with their banners flying while the masses lined the streets and cheered.

Of course, every parade has to end, and in this case, at the end of the Roman victory parade were the prisoners of war, chained, beaten, and condemned. What a sharp contrast to the glorious, polished and pompous army who had just inspired and energized the adoring crowd. The prisoners provided the Roman masses with the opportunity to gloat in Roman greatness and bask in schadenfreude at their worthless enemies. The prisoners could be mocked, jeered, and pelted with whatever rocks or refuse was available along the street. In many cases, they’d already suffered abuse at the hands of their captors. They’d been ill-treated and marched for hundreds of miles against their will.

Ultimately, these prisoners would be marched to the Roman arena where, to the delight of the Roman crowds, they would face a horrific death. Among the most popular with the Roman masses was watching people getting ravaged and eaten by packs of wild beasts who had been starved in preparation for the occasion. But that wasn’t enough. The Romans would build contraptions that gave prisoners a false hope of being able to climb and escape from the beasts, but they were rigged to fall apart or fail, giving the crowds a little extra entertainment.

In yesterday’s post, I wrote about our human penchant for turning leaders into celebrities. In today’s chapter, Paul turns that entire notion on its head. He compares himself, and his fellow apostles to one of Roman prisoners being drug through the streets at the end of the parade. And, it wasn’t total hyperbole. When you study the persecution, punishment, and injustice that Paul and his fellow apostles endured, it’s both astounding and gut-wrenching.

Which makes his attitude even more amazing to me. “When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly.” Which, is not only what Jesus taught, but what Jesus exemplified as He was bound, beaten, mocked, and unjustly executed in a horrific way.

The struggle, of course, is to even connect with these realities here in my 21st century reality. I live in the most affluent country in the world in arguably the greatest time to be alive in human history. So, what am I supposed to take away from Paul’s reality and example?

First, I’m taking perspective with me into this day. I can list every single trouble, worry, or anxiety I might be feeling and then consider a Roman prisoner-of-war’s reality, Paul’s reality, and Jesus’ reality. Talk about a reality check. What am I complaining about?

Second, even in my own rather comfortable realities, I can think of specific instances of people being unkind towards me, unjustly accusing me of things, and using their power or influence against me. What’s my response?

Anger, vengeance, retribution, playing the victim card?

Or, like Paul, do I bless, endure, and answer kindly?

That, is a reminder I need every day.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Celebrity

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Celebrity (CaD 1 Cor 3) – Wayfarer

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.
1 Corinthians 3:5-6 (NIV)

When I was a young man, it was the age of mega churches and celebrity preachers. Size mattered, as well has having a preacher who could make it in the big leagues of television or publishing. It didn’t take me very long to observe that there was an entire industry built around them. Between conferences, videos, books, and guest appearances, there’s money to be made. I also observed in many instances that the higher certain individuals rose in celebrity, the harder they fell in messy, public ways.

There is something very human about the way we love celebrity. You can even see it behind the scenes in the Great Story. John the Baptist’s disciples start to feel the sting of John’s fading celebrity as the crowds start to migrate to Jesus. Jesus’ disciples start to argue over what positions they’ll occupy in what they assume will be Jesus’ earthly Kingdom. In the local gathering of Jesus’ followers in Corinth there was division based on loyalty to different leaders such as Paul, Peter, or a dynamic young preacher named Apollos.

Our local gathering of Jesus’ followers asked me to participate in trying something that was, in my experience, pretty unique. Over several years, I was asked to mentor and help individuals develop their preaching skills. not just church staff but also members who had demonstrated giftedness or calling. People were given opportunities, the messages in weekly worship were spread out among many individuals. It was a wonderful experience and I was privileged to be part of it.

In fact, there are many things that continue to be learned among our local gathering in which the multiple, diverse teacher paradigm generally continues. People began to appreciate different voices, perspectives, and communication styles. I as a listener discovered I had a responsibility to learn from whoever might be teaching any given week, not worry about who was teaching. It was amazing to watch how every teacher’s style resonated with different parts of the whole. All-in-all, I witnessed spiritual maturation taking place that was a complete contrast to the celebrity preacher paradigm I experienced in my youth and still witness in many places.

Paul is trying to make this very point with the fledgling believers in Corinth who are doing what we human beings do when we turn leaders into celebrities. Paul even tells the Corinthian believers directly that they are acting like silly human beings rather than spiritually mature disciples who understand that every leader, teacher, and preacher is an instrument that God uses to teach, develop, and grow us up. My spotlight should not be on the preacher I’m listening to, but on what God is doing in me to grow me up, mature me spiritually, and make me more spiritually fruitful each day. Or as Paul put it:

I don’t want to hear any of you bragging about yourself or anyone else. Everything is already yours as a gift—Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world, life, death, the present, the future—all of it is yours, and you are privileged to be in union with Christ, who is in union with God.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Book Summary List, Chapter-a-Day

1 Corinthians (Jan 2025)

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Each photo below corresponds to a chapter-a-day post for the book of 1 Corinthians published by Tom Vander Well in January 2025. Click on the photo linked to each chapter to read the post.

1 Corinthians 1: Wise and Learned

1 Corinthians 2: Outcomes

1 Corinthians 3: Celebrity

1 Corinthians 4: Paul & the Prisoners of Rome

1 Corinthians 5: An Awkward Moment in the Pub

1 Corinthians 6: Taking the Loss
1 Corinthians 7: The Time Paradox

1 Corinthians 8: Awkward Moment in the Pub Part II

1 Corinthians 9: Man in the Middle

1 Corinthians 10: The Many, Not Me

1 Corinthians 11: “Pucker Up, Professor!”

1 Corinthians 12: Giftedness and Honesty

1 Corinthians 13: The Real Love Chapter

1 Corinthians 14: Ceaseless Maturation

1 Corinthians 15: Essentials and Non-Essentials

1 Corinthians 16: Refreshment

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!

Chapter-a-Day

Outcomes

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Outcomes (CaD 1 Cor 2) – Wayfarer

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
1 Corinthians 2:6 (NIV)

I have found myself surrounded by some rather interesting and challenging circumstances in recent months on a number of different fronts in life. There is always a challenge when navigating diverse human temperaments, personalities, motivations, and conflicts in an effort to getting people unified and moving in a positive direction.

One of the things that has struck me as I’ve been meditating on these different circumstances is the differences between wisdom and folly. In some cases, I’m a bit further down life’s road than many of those I’m working with. There is a wisdom that comes with age and experience that others have simply yet to learn and develop. I’ve noticed that it’s easy for me to see things that others don’t as it relates to foreseeing the outcomes that particular choices, words, or courses of action will elicit. I can see a larger picture of what will be profitable and productive, and what will only stoke more problems and complications. Hopefully, I can be effective in influencing people toward the former while avoiding the latter.

At the same time, I have been faced with other circumstances that involve individuals my own age or older. Despite having traversed relatively the same amount of life’s road, these individuals appear to have learned nothing from their respective journeys. Their lives are a train wreck of perpetual poor choices and a refusal to learn from the painful consequences they’ve brought on themselves. There is little or no self-awareness, and appears to be zero desire to actually make any kind of meaningful positive change. At this stage of life’s journey, it’s a pretty good bet that tragedy will continue to follow them.

In today’s chapter, Paul continues to lay down a foundation for addressing the challenging circumstances among Jesus’ followers in the city of Corinth. Like the circumstances I have found myself navigating, the believers in Corinth were experiencing conflict, differences in motivations, differences in personalities, poor choices, foolishness, and unwillingness to change. Paul pleads that what is needed is God’s wisdom, which he points out is not like the wisdom the Greek sophists at the Corinthian temples espoused.

As I meditated on all of this in the quiet this morning, I found myself thinking about the outcomes Jesus says He wants from me as a disciple. I’ve observed that many people who call themselves Christians seem to have two primary outcomes in mind as it relates to being a Christian. First and foremost is making it into heaven. Second is to maintain some kind of social perception of moral goodness.

My perpetual journey through the Great Story, however, (of which this chapter-a-day post/podcast plays a part) reveals that when I made Christ Lord of my life then heaven was in the bag, and part of the surrender to His Lordship was becoming brutally honest about my moral failings instead of trying to hide them. If heaven is in the bag and I no longer need to pretend like I don’t have my own shit, what are the outcomes of this life journey that I am reaching for as a disciple? I discovered that what Jesus really asks of me and all those who follow Him is spiritual maturity. He wants me to grow up, grow wiser, learn from my mistakes, increase my spiritual knowledge, deepen my relationship with God and others, and to continue pushing further up and further in towards God’s Kingdom while letting go of this world and the things of this world.

So, here I am in the quiet once again, reading the Great Story, meditating on the daily challenges I’m navigating, praying for more wisdom, and attempting to be spiritually fruitful in my thoughts, words, actions, and relationships. My hope is that I speak “a message of wisdom among the mature but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.“

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

The Wise and Learned

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Wise and Learned (CaD 1 Cor 1) – Wayfarer

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
1 Corinthians 1:27-29 (NIV)

Over the Christmas holiday I enjoyed getting together with two dear old friends. It just so happens that both of them have spent their careers in higher education. Both of my friends have been very successful in their respective positions. Over lunch, however, they regaled me with stories about what it’s like to work and live in that institutional system. Let me just say that I’m glad I’m not them. I am, however, glad that they are there. That system needs good people.

As the cultural and political divide in America has grown, I’ve observed an increasing backlash against Christianity in my lifetime. I have heard it argued that the world would be far better off had Christianity never existed, and that Christianity is the root of all cultural ills. Much of this criticism comes out of the academic world.

Along my life journey, I’ve learned to try and avoid sweeping generalizations. My point in bringing this up is simply the observation that faith has always had its critics among the world’s intellectual elites. Jesus’ harshest critics were among the most learned of His own people. His chosen disciples were certainly not highly educated. One of the reasons Paul was such a key figure in the early Jesus Movement was the simple fact that he was highly educated in the Jewish system and he happened to be from Greece, the center of intellectual learning in that day. Paul crossed over into both of the cultural worlds that were at the heart of the Jesus Movement.

Today’s chapter is the opening of a letter that Paul sent to the fledgling group of Jesus’ followers in the Greek city of Corinth. Paul had received news that there were a number of troubles among the Jesus followers there, so he is writing to address those troubles. He begins his letter by reminding the believers of something that God had been proclaiming for centuries. God’s ways are not humanity’s ways. The way of Jesus flows against the tide of typical human thinking and feeling, especially among those who consider themselves wise and learned.

The prophet Isaiah wrote,

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.

Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”

So, in the quiet this morning, Paul reminds me that I shouldn’t be surprised when the world misunderstands, belittles, and/or maligns my faith in Jesus. Quite the opposite, I should expect it, especially from the world’s institutions of knowledge and learning. I have observed that they have their own brand of faith, but it’s in something completely different. I find it fascinating that Paul begins his letter with this simple observation. God’s ways will always run against the grain of the ways of the world. If I am truly following in Jesus footsteps there will always be people who think I’m crazy. It’s one of the ways I know I’m on the right track.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!