There is nothing new about scepticism concerning resurrection. In the 15th chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul addresses people who do not believe in resurrection. According to Paul, “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised… If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still answerable for your sins. Also anyone who has died in Christ has perished. If our hope in Christ only relates to this life, we are the most pathetic of all people.”

Christians believe that sin makes us imperfect, separating us from God who is perfect. The only way to reconcile ourselves to God is for the effects of our sin to be cancelled. Jesus died on the cross to pay the necessary price to cancel the sins of the world, and his resurrection is the sign that sin has been defeated. If Jesus did not defeat death, then he did not defeat sin, which would mean that our sins have not been cancelled and there remains an unbridgeable barrier between us and God.

So what is resurrection really like? Most people would prefer a body upgrade in the next life, with wrinkles, flab and other imperfections neatly airbrushed away. Paul makes it clear that our heavenly bodies will be quite unlike our earthly bodies: “I tell you, friends, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. The perishable does not inherit the imperishable.”

In the fourteenth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul says: “If lifeless things which make sounds, such as pipes or harps, do not produce distinct sounds, how would anyone know what music is being played? If the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for war? Likewise, unless you speak words which are easy to understand, how will people know what you are saying? You would be talking into space.”

Paul specifically encourages people not to speak in tongues in church unless someone interprets the message, so that the listeners will understand clearly what is being said. Most contemporary Western churches do not have big problems with too many people speaking in tongues, but many of them do have problems because of a failure to communicate the gospel message clearly, instead producing uncertain, indistinct sounds.

In order to help people understand how the gospel message relates to their everyday lives, it is helpful to refer to elements of contemporary culture. However, in many churches the gospel message gets squeezed out as a result of the desire to be seen as relevant or to avoid offending anyone, or because the church becomes ritualised so that ceremonies are performed but the meaning is lost.

The thirteenth chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians has much to say about the positive characteristics of love: “Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy. Love does not boast, is not proud, does not act inappropriately, does not seek its own way, is not irritable, does not remember offences, enjoys truth rather than evil, endures everything, is trusting, is hopeful, and is long-lasting. Love never fails.”

The problem is that these characteristics are all giving characteristics, rather than receiving characteristics. Paul doesn’t say that love is a reciprocal relationship, that love is about being rewarded for your kindness, or that the more love you give the more love you get in return. In fact, every characteristic of love listed by Paul is something you can do even if the person being loved is completely unresponsive.

So if love is all about what you do for others and nothing to do with what you get from others, is there any benefit for you in showing love? Yes there is, if you believe that you have been created in the image of God. People who have been created in the image of God only ever rise to their full destiny and fulfil their role in God’s plan for the world when they pour themselves out in love for others, just as Jesus first did for them.

If the gospel message is true, and Jesus is who he claimed to be, then why do so many churches seem to be struggling and failing? Churches that once started with a tremendous sense of mission, and grew with enthusiasm, have then gone through a period of stagnation followed by a slow but inexorable decline. Perhaps part of the answer is given in chapter 12 of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.

According to Paul, the Holy Spirit gives different spiritual gifts to different people in the church, for the benefit of all. When everyone is using his or her spiritual gift in the manner intended for the building up of the church, the church as a whole thrives. When people start withdrawing their gifts from the community of believers, or when people start taking on roles that they are not gifted to do, the church becomes dysfunctional.

It is very common to find in a declining church that the people leading the music are not gifted musicians, the people doing the preaching are not gifted preachers, the people leading the church are not gifted leaders, and most people in the congregation are spectators rather than participants in the work of the church. Having the wrong people in the wrong positions is not the only possible cause of church decline, but it certainly is a significant one.

If the only things you knew about Christianity were derived from the gospels, you might imagine that every church is a community which devotes its time to feeding the hungry, helping widows and orphans, visiting prisoners, caring for the sick, serving the poor, talking about Jesus, and living together in an amazing form of community. Unfortunately most churches fall short of that ideal, many of them by a long way.

In chapter 11 of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul highlights some of the abuses that had crept into the church at Corinth just 25 or so years after the crucifixion of Jesus: “I hear that divisions exist among you when you meet as a church, and I partly believe it… One person goes hungry, and another is drunk.” Somehow the unity of the body of Christ had fallen into disunity, and instead of looking after the poor people were looking after their own interests.

While disunity and failure to care for the poor seem to be two different things, one causes the other. When followers of Jesus stop looking at Jesus and start looking at themselves, they become more concerned about what they are getting rather than what they are giving. Disunity typically stems from the conflict of selfish interests, whereas unity typically stems from the meeting together of generous interests.

In developed countries, wooden or metal idols are largely things of the past when it comes to worship, but idols are anything which takes the place of God in our lives. For some people, material possessions are idols. For some people, another person or even a dreamed-of imaginary person becomes an idol. For some people work is an idol. For some people it is fame or popularity or power or pleasure or excitement.

In chapter 10 of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul said, “You have not faced any temptation which is not faced by other people. God is faithful, and will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. With any temptation he will provide a way out so that you can withstand it. So run away from idol worship, my dear friends.” Life is filled with tempting idols, but God gives us the power to resist them if we let him.

Humanly speaking, the temptations which we encounter in our daily lives often are too strong for us. We develop cravings and become addicts. We become enslaved by our dependencies. Our lives become ruled by our passions. The pressure to do what everyone else is doing, to fit in with what everyone else expects, is often almost overwhelming. But when you become a follower of Jesus, there is a way out of the slavery to our addictions, and God gives you the power to resist.

The Christian life is often “sold” as the solution to earthly problems. Sign up, and all your financial woes, all your relationship troubles, and all the stresses in your life will be solved. The reality is somewhat different. As Paul says in chapter 9 of his first letter to the Corinthians, “Although I was free from being a slave to anyone, I made myself a slave to everyone, to win more of them.” Following Jesus turned him from a free man into a slave.

Many people think that becoming a Christian is about inviting Jesus into your life, so that he can become a factor in your plans for the future. In reality, following Jesus is about him inviting you into his life, so that you can become a participant in his plans for the future. God does care about the details of your life, but his plan for your life is part of his plan for the world, and it involves you doing the serving, not being served.

For many people this is hard to understand, but in God’s economy getting stuff is a form of slavery, while serving others is a form of freedom. The time and effort you spend thinking about and working for yourself, your own needs and desires, and your own entitlements, is time and effort spent in slavery. The time and effort you spend thinking about and working for God’s plan in serving others and bringing about the Kingdom of Heaven is time spent in freedom.

One of the complex things about Christianity is that it is about truth, but it is about love at the same time. If you try to focus exclusively on convincing people that the message of Christianity is true, they will be inclined to think that you are arrogant because, as Paul said in chapter 8 of his first letter to the Corinthians, “Knowledge makes people arrogant, but love builds people up.” If you want to build people up rather than alienate them, you have to ensure that any knowledge which you communicate is communicated in the context of love.

Paul goes on further to talk about the problem of eating food sacrificed to idols. We know that idols do not have any divine power, but others who have lesser knowledge might think that idols do have power, so it is best to abstain from eating food sacrificed to idols for the sake of such people. The knowledge that we have should not be used in an arrogant manner, but should be used to build people up in love.

The eating of food sacrificed to idols is not a burning issue today for most people, but there are plenty of other similar weaknesses to which Paul’s warning might apply, such as junk food, alcohol and gambling. We tend to think that a person should immediately be cured of all addictions and undesirable behaviours upon becoming a Christian, but sanctification is a process that is never fully completed in this life.

Contemporary churches are usually great supporters of people getting married. They tend to prefer Genesis 2:18 (“It is not good for man to be alone”) over the writings of Paul on the subject. His views as expressed in chapter 7 of his first letter to the Corinthians are often dismissed because they were expressed in the context of “the crisis that is upon us”, which is usually thought to refer to persecution that the church was facing at the time. However, in my view Paul’s advice is more generally applicable.

Paul essentially says that there is nothing wrong with choosing to get married and there is nothing wrong with choosing to stay single. He does, however, say: “But people who marry will face suffering in this life, and I want to spare you.” He may have been referring to the suffering faced in times of persecution, but he may also have been referring to the suffering (literally “afflictions in the flesh”) involved in settling the differences of opinion that inevitably arise within a marriage.

Paul goes on to say: “But I want you to avoid worries.” People who are married have to worry about keeping their partners happy and they have to devote significant resources to their family; people who are unmarried are free to devote all of their resources to the Lord. On the whole, Paul’s advice is to consider carefully whether marriage will enhance the way in which you are serving God before you take the plunge.

A popular perception of Christians – justified in many cases – is that they are judgmental people. If you look at the teachings of Jesus and compare them with how Christians are commonly viewed, and how a lot of people claiming to be Christians actually behave, you can be amazed by the disparity. Jesus taught a radical and innovative message about love and forgiveness and mercy and self-sacrifice. How is it that Christians have come to be perceived as conservative, reactionary, angry, unforgiving, unmerciful and self-righteous?

When you visit churches you often see people looking very serious and severe. If you’re not wearing the right clothes or speaking the right language, you may feel unwelcome. As a result, many people get the mistaken idea that Jesus taught his followers to obey a strict set of rules, live a conservative and strict lifestyle, and look down on or avoid people who do not meet the same high standards.

In Chapter 5 of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul told the Christians that it was none of their business to judge people who are outside the church. Whilst it is important to encourage people inside the church to behave in a manner which maintains the integrity of the church, that does not give Christians a right to judge or look down on outsiders. So if you want to be a true follower of Jesus, you need to start practising non-judgmentalism.