Is it better to stay singe?

1 Corinthians 16

은혜로 빚어진 일상 · An Everyday Life Shaped by Grace 1 Corinthians 16:1–12 Here is a question for you. When was the last time giving money away actually felt good? Not guilt, not pressure. Just good. For most of us, generosity is something we feel our way into. We give when we are moved, when an appeal tugs at us, when guilt finally catches up with us. But here is the strange thing. The apostle Paul never once asks the Corinthians how they feel about giving. He just tells them when, how much, and how often. That is where we land today: 1 Corinthians 16, verses 1 through 12. And here is what is remarkable about this chapter. It comes immediately after the most glorious passage in the whole letter. Chapter 15 is the resurrection chapter. Christ is risen. Death is swallowed up in victory. Our labor is never in vain. And then chapter 16 opens with a fundraising plan, travel logistics, and personnel notes. John MacArthur once observed, in a sermon on this very passage, that Paul seems to move with quiet humor from the grandest vision in all of Scripture straight into the most ordinary business of church life (MacArthur, 1977). That shift is not an accident. It is the whole point. The resurrection not only gives us a doctrine to believe. It gives us a life to live. Today, we walk through three places that life shows up: our Provision, our Patience, and our Partnerships. [POINT 1 — PROVISION] First: Provision. Verses 1 and 2: "Now about the collection for the Lord's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made" (1 Corinthians 16:1–2, NIV). Notice what Paul does not say. He does not say, "Give whenever you feel led." He says: Plan it. Every week. In proportion to what you have actually earned. Calvin, commenting on this passage, observes that whatever is done suddenly and in a rush is rarely done well. Giving was meant to belong to the steady rhythm of worship, not to a spontaneous afterthought. There is something deeper underneath this, too. Calvin notices that Paul's language here echoes Jesus's own words in Matthew 6:20: " Lay up your treasure in heaven, not on earth. For the Christian, giving is not a loss. It is a transfer into one place that thieves cannot reach. And preaching on this same passage, MacArthur described the right posture toward giving as flowing from "a liberal, free, willing, sacrificial heart" (MacArthur, 1977). One more layer. In other letters, 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 and Romans 15, Paul uses the very same Greek word for this collection that he uses for the deep fellowship believers share with one another. This was never merely a transaction. You cannot share your resources with someone without sharing your life with them. Giving, rightly understood, is fellowship made visible. [POINT 2 — PATIENCE] Second: Patience. Verses 8 and 9: "I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me" (1 Corinthians 16:8–9, NIV). Here is what is striking. Paul loved the Corinthians. He says so just a few verses earlier, even hoping to spend the whole winter with them. But he does not go. Not yet. Why? Because God had opened a door somewhere else, and that door came with real opposition attached. Calvin's comment on this verse is worth sitting with. He says Paul did not choose Ephesus for his own convenience, but stayed for one reason only. In Calvin's words, because it was the place "where he might do most good, and serve his Lord with most abundant fruit" (Calvin, 1546/n.d., commentary on 1 Cor. 16:9). Paul submitted his calendar, even his affection for a church he loved, to wherever the Lord was actually working. And just one verse earlier he adds: "if the Lord permits" (v. 7). That is not Paul hedging. That is Paul submitting. How many of our own plans and timelines, our "once this happens, then I will" moments, could use that same small phrase attached to the end? [POINT 3 — PARTNERSHIP] Third: Partnership. Verses 10 and 11: "When Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am. No one, then, should treat him with contempt" (1 Corinthians 16:10–11, NIV). Why the warning? Because Timothy was young, and young men get overlooked. Then there is Apollos, the very teacher some Corinthians had practically made their favorite. Paul had urged him to go, but Apollos chooses not to, not yet. Paul does not force it, and he does not take offense. He simply explains it and moves on. What strikes me here is what is absent. No rivalry. No turf. No one keeping score. Paul defends a younger coworker's dignity, and he respects an older coworker's freedom to say "not yet." The congregation competed over these two men. The two men simply cared for one another. In a church as fractured by favoritism as Corinth was, that is no small thing. [GOSPEL ANCHOR] Here is the thread running underneath all three: the money, the calendar, the coworkers. None of it works without chapter 15. Without the resurrection, the offering box is just money changing hands, the calendar is just scheduling, and Timothy and Apollos are just two men who could be competing for a job. But because Christ is risen, because death has already lost, even our smallest and most ordinary obedience carries weight that lasts forever. The gospel does not just save us for eternity. It shows up on a Tuesday. [COACH BRIAN'S QUESTIONS — The Three P's: Provision, Patience, Partnership] On Provision: What would it look like for you to make giving something planned, instead of something you only do when you happen to feel moved? On Patience: Where, right now, are you waiting on God's timing instead of your own? What is it like to stay in that place a little longer? On Partnership: Is there someone, a coworker, a friend, a fellow believer, you have quietly been comparing yourself to? What might it look like to simply esteem them instead? [SIGN-OFF] This is Coach Brian. Thanks for joining us. Don't forget, in Christ, we are freed to live. Now let us live to free others. Godspeed! 오늘도 함께해 주셔서 감사합니다. 그리스도 안에서 우리는 살기 위해 자유를 얻었습니다. 이제 우리가 다른 이들을 자유롭게 하는 삶을 살아갑시다. 더 많은 묵상은 jubileecoach.com에서 만나보실 수 있습니다. Thank you for joining us today. In Christ, we are freed to live, so that we may now live to free others. You can find more daily meditations at jubileecoach.com. References Calvin, J. (1546/n.d.). Commentary on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 16:9). Christian Classics Ethereal Library. https://ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom39.html MacArthur, J. (1977, October 30; November 6). Concerning the collection (Parts 1 and 2) [Sermon transcripts]. Grace to You. https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/1883 Scripture quotations (English): Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV). Scripture quotations (Korean): 개역개정. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2601934/support]

1 Corinthians 13

고린도전서 13:1–13  ·  1 Corinthians 13:1–13 사랑은 몸을 입고 오셨습니다 Love Came to Us in Christ 쥬빌리 코치  ·  Jubilee Coach  ·  말씀 묵상 시리즈 오늘의 말씀 묵상 오디오  ·  Listen to Today's Meditation 들어가며  ·  Opening 고린도전서 13장은 많은 사람에게 “사랑장”으로 알려져 있습니다. 결혼식에서 자주 읽히고, 아름다운 시처럼 들리기도 합니다. 그러나 바울은 지금 낭만적인 사랑을 말하고 있는 것이 아닙니다. 그는 은사 때문에 서로 비교하고, 자랑하고, 상처 주던 고린도 교회를 향해 말하고 있습니다. 그러므로 13장은 12장과 분리해서 읽으면 안 됩니다. 12장이 “우리는 한 몸입니다”라고 말한다면, 13장은 “그 몸은 사랑으로만 건강하게 움직입니다”라고 말합니다. First Corinthians 13 is often remembered as “the love chapter.” It is read at weddings and heard almost like a beautiful poem. But Paul is not speaking first about romantic love. He is addressing a church where spiritual gifts had become a source of comparison, boasting, and injury. Chapter 13, then, should not be detached from chapter 12. If chapter 12 says, “We are one body,” chapter 13 says, “That body can only move in health when it moves in love.” Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2601934/support]

Am I Exploting Myself?

Introduction Those are the words of Kim Mi-kyung — speaker, author, and entrepreneur — in a recent interview. A viewer had written in: "On the outside I look fine, but inside I'm falling apart. Work is okay. But the moment I come home, it's like the power goes off. I'm hollow. Every day I just get through it on duty." Does any of that sound familiar? The Functional Self Trap Diagnosis There is a version of ourselves built for the world — competent, capable, productive. Call it the functional self. We invest in it heavily. Then there is the self that comes home at night — the one we leave in the corner to fend for itself. Edward Welch, in When People Are Big and God Is Small (P&R, 1997), traces this to a deeper root. When we hand the weight of our worth to other people's approval, those people quietly grow larger than God in our inner world. We stop seeing ourselves from the inside and begin perpetually evaluating ourselves through external eyes. The functional self is the structure that fear builds. Tim Keller makes a related observation in Every Good Endeavor (Dutton, 2012): work and achievement are genuinely good things — but the moment they become the source of our identity, they become idols. Marshall Goldsmith adds in What Got You Here Won't Get You There (Hyperion, 2007): the very patterns that produced success become, at a certain point, the greatest obstacles to growth. A Theology of Stopping Rest Kim Mi-kyung's hard-won wisdom: "Some things cannot be solved while running. You have to stop and set them down." But stopping is terrifying — because the moment we stop performing, the identity built on performance is suddenly exposed. The Westminster Shorter Catechism opens here: the chief end of human beings is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. That is the original KPI — Key Performance Indicator, the measure by which you judge whether you are succeeding — and it was never issued by the market, never earned by decades of grinding. When that KPI becomes the one we live by, everything begins to shift. "So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his."— Hebrews 4:9–10 (ESV) Gospel The rest of Hebrews 4 is not about sleep or vacation. It is about ceasing to prove yourself — because God has already declared you in Christ. Reformed theology has always understood this rest as fulfilled in Christ himself: he is our Sabbath. We do not rest in order to be accepted; we rest because we already are. John Calvin wrote in the very first lines of the Institutes that nearly all wisdom consists of two things: knowledge of God and knowledge of ourselves — and that these cannot be separated. Self-knowledge that bypasses God leads us back to the mirror of other people's approval. Only God-knowledge gives us a place to stand that does not shake. The Turning Point in the Dark Vulnerability Kim Mi-kyung shared something many public figures never say aloud. At the height of her career — the speaking, the staff, the recognition — her inner world was in collapse. She described it plainly: "I was carrying unhappiness into every working day." In the depths of that season, she called her sister. And said: "언니, 나 좀 살려 줘 — Sister, help me live." It was the moment she stopped holding the weight alone and let someone see her. That became the turning point. Marcia Reynolds writes in Coach the Person, Not the Problem (Berrett-Koehler, 2020) that real change rarely begins with solving the presenting problem. It begins when a person feels genuinely seen — not for what they produce, but for who they are. That one phone call opened exactly that space. "The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit."— Psalm 34:18 (ESV) A Second Life — When the KPI Changes Freedom After that season, Kim Mi-kyung describes seeing the world differently — not as a stage on which she must prove herself, but as a constructed set whose rules no longer have to be treated as ultimate. The KPI changed: from "what can I achieve?" to "do I know who I am, and am I living from that?" David Powlison of CCEF observed that the question of identity can only be rightly answered when we first know who God is — self-knowledge follows God-knowledge, not the other way around (Powlison, "A Man's Identity," Journal of Biblical Counseling, CCEF). Returning to Welch's insight: as long as other people's approval feels larger than God, fear of losing that approval will keep us running past every warning sign. When that fear loosens its grip — when the fear of the LORD takes its proper place — we find that we can, at last, stop. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2601934/support]

Is it better to stay singe?

Beginning in chapter 7, Paul enters a new phase. He opens with the phrase, "Now concerning the matters about which you wrote" — meaning he is no longer raising his own concerns, but answering questions the Corinthians themselves sent him. We only have one side of the correspondence. But reading his replies, the shape of their questions begins to emerge. It seems some in the Corinthian church had concluded that the more spiritually mature a person is, the freer they should be from physical things — that a holier life meant keeping one's distance from marriage and marital intimacy. In contemporary language, the question becomes: "Isn't singleness a holier state than marriage?" This question has recurred throughout church history. Roman Catholicism has long answered it in one direction through the institution of clerical celibacy. But Paul's answer is far more balanced, far more generous — and, in all honesty, far more consistent with the Gospel. 1부 · The Body Matters (vv. 1–7) The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 1 Corinthians 7:3–4 — NIV These verses were striking in the ancient world. In Greco-Roman culture, women were largely regarded as property of their husbands. The very idea of granting wives equal standing in this domain was exceptional. Yet Paul says exactly that: the husband's body belongs to the wife, and the wife's body belongs to the husband. This is mutual accountability within the covenant of marriage. Tim Keller, in a 2005 leadership talk at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, described marital intimacy as a covenant renewal — a way of saying in physical terms, "I belong completely, totally, and exclusively to you." Paul is not embarrassed by the body. He treats it as a gift from God and an expression of the marriage covenant. Paul then says: do not deprive one another — except by mutual agreement, for a limited season of prayer. And after that, come back together. Otherwise, Satan may find an opening through lack of self-control. (v. 5) This warning is not an encouragement toward asceticism. It is exactly the opposite. Paul is actively commending physical intimacy within marriage. Then, in verse 7, Paul reveals his own heart. He wishes that everyone were as he is — that is, single. But he immediately adds: each person has their own gift from God, one kind or another. Calvin, in his commentary on 1 Corinthians (available at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library), identifies this as "a singular token of modesty" (Calvin, Commentary on 1 Corinthians, 7:7): Paul is endowed with the gift of continency but does not impose his own standard on others. To require celibacy of those who do not have that gift is to work against God's own design. Reformed Note The Council of Trent (1563) declared celibacy superior to marriage for those entering holy orders. The Reformers — Calvin above all — rejected this as an unwarranted hierarchy not found in Scripture. For Calvin, marriage is a legitimate calling and a God-given remedy, not a concession to weakness. Neither state is inherently closer to God. What matters is whether a person is living faithfully within the calling God has given them. 2부 ·  Singleness Is Not a Consolation Prize (vv. 8–9) Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. 1 Corinthians 7:8–9 — NIV The phrase "it is better to marry than to burn with passion" is sometimes read as though marriage were a lesser option. But that is exactly the wrong reading. Paul's point is this: if God has given you the gift of marriage, use it. Forcing yourself into a celibacy you were never given is not a mark of holiness — it is a setup for failure. By the same logic, a church culture that regards single people as those who "haven't found someone yet" also conflicts with Paul's theology. Singleness is not second-class citizenship. It is also a gift from God. Singleness is a gift from God. Marriage is a gift from God. Neither one saves you. Neither one defines you. What defines you is your union with Christ alone. 3부 · The Gospel Holds the Marriage (vv. 10–16) From verse 10, Paul turns to those who are already married. And here he does something he does rarely — he explicitly appeals to the Lord's own teaching: do not divorce. This is not merely Paul's personal opinion. He grounds his instruction in what Jesus himself commanded, reflecting the teaching of Jesus found in Mark 10 and Matthew 5 and 19. In a world where divorce was relatively accessible in both Roman and Jewish culture, this was a genuinely new and demanding word — and likely unfamiliar to many Corinthian believers. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 1 Corinthians 7:14 — NIV This verse requires careful reading. Paul is not saying the unbelieving spouse is automatically saved. He is saying something more subtle: the very presence of a believing spouse brings that household into the sphere of God's grace. The children grow up within contact of the covenant community. This connects to what Reformed theology calls covenant nurture — salvation is not automatic, but the means of grace are at work in that home in a real and meaningful way. But what if the unbelieving spouse chooses to leave? Paul says: let them go. "A brother or a sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace." (v. 15) And then comes verse 16 — one of the most quietly hopeful lines in the chapter: "How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?" This is the language of hope, not abandonment. You do not know what God might yet do. To remain faithful in that uncertainty — that is to live as a person of the Gospel. Neither marriage nor singleness saves us. Christ alone saves us. And within that freedom of the Gospel, we are freed to glorify God in whatever calling we have been given. Coaching Questions Status  How do you honestly feel about your current relationship status — married or single? Is there a story you've been telling yourself about it that might look different in light of what Paul says here? Surrender Within your marriage or your life as a single person, where are you still holding something back — from God or from the person He has placed in your life? What might change if you were to surrender that place? Sanctification Paul says the believing spouse becomes a channel of grace within the home. Who is closest to you right now — family, colleague, or friend — and what does your presence communicate to them? Is the grace that lives in you reaching them? Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2601934/support]

The Courage to Know Yourself

Episode #85: 나를 알아가는 용기 / The Courage to Know Yourself 나를 알아가는 용기 The Courage to Know Yourself 대한민국 역대 최연소 사법시험 합격자가 8년간 몸담았던 김앤장을 떠났습니다. 실패해서가 아니었습니다. 성공했는데도 행복하지 않았기 때문입니다. 박지원의 세바시 강연은 단순한 커리어 전환 이야기가 아닙니다. 그것은 오랫동안 남이 정해 준 길 위에서 달려온 사람이, 처음으로 자기 자신에게 정직해지는 이야기입니다. 이번 에피소드에서 쥬빌리 코치는 박지원의 이야기를 통해 이런 질문들을 함께 생각해 봅니다: * 외적 동기(돈, 지위, 인정)와 내적 동기 사이에서 나는 어디에 있는가? * "나에 대한 데이터베이스"를 쌓는다는 것은 무엇을 의미하는가? * IFS(내면 가족 체계) 관점에서, 내 삶을 주도하고 있는 것은 어떤 부분인가? * 자기인식은 어디서 끝나고, 하나님을 향한 여정은 어디서 시작되는가? * 성취(achievement)와 성장(growth)의 차이는 무엇인가? 성경은 자기 자신을 아는 것과 하나님을 아는 것이 서로 연결되어 있다고 말합니다. 나의 한계와 공허함을 정직하게 바라볼 때, 우리는 스스로 채울 수 없는 것이 있다는 것을 발견합니다. 그리고 그 발견이 우리를 하나님께로 이끕니다. 박지원이 말하는 "성장"의 여정 — 그것은 복음 안에서 더 깊고 더 자유로운 의미를 갖습니다. Korea's youngest-ever to pass the bar exam spent eight years at one of the country's most prestigious law firms — and then walked away. Not because she failed. Because she had succeeded, and still wasn't happy. Park Ji-won's Sebasi talk is not simply a career-change story. It's the story of someone who had been running hard on a path others set for her — and who, for the first time, got honest with herself. In this episode, Jubilee Coach reflects on Park Ji-won's story and explores these questions: * Where do you land between extrinsic motivation (money, status, approval) and intrinsic motivation? * What does it actually mean to build a "database of yourself"? * Through an IFS (Internal Family Systems) lens — which parts are running your life right now? * Where does self-knowledge end, and where does the journey toward God begin? * What is the difference between achievement and growth? Scripture has always held that knowing ourselves and knowing God are bound together. When we look honestly at our limits and our emptiness — what we cannot fill on our own — we discover a need only God can meet. And that discovery leads us somewhere. The journey toward self-knowledge that Park Ji-won describes becomes, in the light of the gospel, something deeper and freer than a personal project. It becomes a form of worship. 이번 에피소드에서 다루는 내용 | In This Episode — 박지원 세바시 강연 소개 | Introduction to Park Ji-won's Sebasi talk — 외적 동기 vs. 내적 동기 | Extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation — IFS: 관리자 부분과 Self의 주도권 | IFS: Manager parts and Self-leadership — 자기인식과 하나님 인식 | Self-knowledge and knowledge of God — 성취와 성장의 차이 | The difference between achievement and growth — 쥬빌리 코치의 질문들 | Jubilee Coach's reflection questions 참고 자료 | References 박지원 (Park, J.). (2025). 나만의 행복의 공식 [세바시 강연]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTzomRi_Hwk [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTzomRi_Hwk] Brown, B. (2010). The gifts of imperfection. Hazelden. Schwartz, R. C. (2021). No bad parts. Sounds True. Powlison, D. (n.d.). What is your calling? CCEF. https://www.ccef.org/products/what-is-your-calling/ [https://www.ccef.org/products/what-is-your-calling/] 쥬빌리 코치 소개 | About Jubilee Coach 쥬빌리 코치는 개혁주의 칼빈주의 신학, 기독교 생애 코칭(ICF 기준), 그리고 IFS 치료 훈련을 바탕으로 한 Life Blog 및 팟캐스트입니다. 우리는 모든 사람이 창의적이고 자원이 풍부한 존재임을 믿습니다. Jubilee Coach is a Life Blog and podcast grounded in Reformed Christian theology, ICF-standard Christian life coaching, and IFS therapy training. We believe every person is creative, resourceful, and whole. 전체 블로그 (한국어 · 영어) | Full bilingual blog (Korean · English): [링크 추가 · https://www.jubileecoach.com/blog] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2601934/support]