One LORD gives many gifts for the good of all.

 

1 Corinthians 12v1-11.

 

INTRODUCTION.

 

“Now concerning spiritual gifts,….” these words indicate a new section in Paul’s letter. {Ch.12-14} We need to be aware of this section within the context of the whole letter and the Corinthian situation. Also because of the translation and the popular view of this section we tend to focus on the gifts, however, a more accurate translation would be “Now concerning the things of the Spirit…” Of course this includes the gifts but is not exclusively about the gifts.

 

Remember that the Corinthian Christians had come from a pagan background where the Greek-mystery religions dominated their lives and where spiritual experiences were everyday occurances. They were used to seeing supernatural phenomenon – trances or ecstatic behaviour or some other kind of inspired action. If these things were not evident then the authenticity of the relavant god or godess was suspect. These were the things that proved their power.

 

In our Western anti-spuernaturalistic society we find this kind of thing difficult to believe – if something is not tangiable or scientifically verifiable then we tend to question its reality. But for those who have lived and/or worked in non-western countries where the spirit world – esp. ancestors – have a dramatic influence on the everyday lives of the people, we know that it is a reality.

 

ILLUST: Many Zulu people in RSA won’t sleep on a bed that is not raised high off the ground  because they are afraid of the TOKALOSH – the evil spirit.

The Sangoma [witch-doctor] is usually the most powerful person in the tribe and when they put a curse on someone they often do get sick and sometimes die.

 

It was a similar society in which the Corinthian Christians lived – were the gods had a lot of sway. Ecstasy was the highest expression of religious experience and the more dramatic and bizzare the experience the more it appealed to the natural man.

 

It is not surprising therefore in view of the Corinthian Christians background that Paul is concerned that they are informed about the things of the true Spirit, the Holy Spirt of God and are not led astray by the counterfeit “signs and wonders” of the Satan himself.

 

Paul is not for one minute suggesting that these “dumb idols”  [v2]are [DK1] real but that behind these gods are the demons themselves. [8v4-6; 10v18-22.]

 

Satan is a genius at counterfeiting God’s work. People do not counterfeit what is NOT valuable – Satan counterfeits the Spirit’s gifts because he wants to confuse and destroy and undermine the work and worship of the only true God. If Satan can enduce false manifestations or sidetrack Christians to seek the gift rather than the giver than he has succeeded in weaking the Church and making it ineffective. That is Satan’s goal – to destroy the work of God.

 

Paul knows that before their conversion to Christ many were led astray by these “Dumb idols” behind whom is the power of the evil one himself.

 

1.  MANY “gods” BUT ONE LORD. [1-3]

 

Therefore I tell you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says,

“Jesus be cursed”,

and no on can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit [v3]

It is only the Holy Spirit of God who is committed to proclaiming that “Jesus is Lord”.

Jesus said of the Holy Spirit:

He {the Spirit}  will bring glory to me … [John 16v14]

 

It seems hard to believe that even the Corinthian Christians could say “Jesus be cursed”  – it is difficult to known whether or not they were actually saying this or whether Paul was simply using it as an anaolgy in order to shock them. Whatever the case Paul’s point was not to establish a means of “testing the spirits”. Paul’s concern in this section [ch.12-14] is to remind them that “inspired utterance” as such is not evidence for being led by the spirit.

 

no on can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit [v3]

 

Reading these words in the 20th century, we can loose the impact of what they really meant. Surely it is easy to say these words at will. To the 1st century Jew this was blasphemy and to the pagans there were many gods and many lords. Such a statement was equating Jesus with Yahweh ot the OT and declaring Jesus supreme over every other cosmic and demonic power.

 

In the early Church many died under Nero and other for believing thet “Jesus is Lord”. It was not just uttering word but a public confession of personal faith – this is what baptism meant to the early Christian. “Jesus [the crucified one] is [by his resurrection] LORD [of all the universe]. No one could confess this in fromt of a hostile world and maintain such a stand even in the face of death except by the power of the Spirit.

 

ILLUST: Many died with this confession on their lips. Still today in many parts of the world many die for their faith. In Sudan many have died, even been crucified, because the believe and confess that “Jesus is Lord”

 

We must come to this section about “spiritual things” with this in our minds. The primary activity of the Spirit is to exalt Jesus as Lord. Whatever takes away from this even if they are legitimate expressions of the Spirit, begins to move away from Christ to a more pagan fascination with spiritual activity as an end in itself.

 

Paul now moves on to deal with these Spiritual things about which he is concerned.

 

2. MANY GIFTS FROM ONE SOURCE [V4-6]

 

READ vv4-6

 

4 DIVERSITIES of gifts       there are, but the same Spirit;

5 DIVERSITIES of service    there are, but the same Lord;

6 DIVERSITIES of workings there are, but the same God,

who works ALL THINGS IN ALL PEOPLE.

 

Within the Church there is a rich diversity of people and every member is different. We are not mass produced to be exactly the same. The body of Christ is rich and multi-coloured even as the grace of God is multi-coloured [1 Peter 4v10].

 

ILLUST: When a diamond is first dug out of the ground it is no very attractive but only when it is cut by a mater-cutter does its true beauty show. The secret of a diamonds beauty is that it is multi-faceted – God’s grace-gifts are multi-faceted.

 

God doesn’t make copies – each one is a new creation – [Satan is the mimic – counterfeiter]

“If anyone be in Christ he is a new creation …. {unique} [2C0.5v17]

 

Paul uses 3 different words: GIFTS; SERVICE; WORKINGS;

 

GIFTS:  [carismata] hence Charismatic – gifts, grace-gifts, love-gifts.  It is the modern Greek word meaning “Birthday present”. You give people presnts because you love them and Pule wants the Corinthians to know that it is not a matter of earning God’s favour BUT it is out of love that God gives gifts to all his children. Purely grace {caris}.

 

SERVICE:  [Diakoniai] the gifts are given, not for selfish possession, but for the service of others, our neighbours, and God. Maybe theCorinthian Christians thought that the Church was an arena for demonstrating their talents. Maybe thay saw the church as a stage rather than a place of service.

That temptation still exists – when we see preacher and gospel singers performing on platform and before TV camera it is easy to see Paul’s concern. The opportunities for service are endless and they are gifts from God.

 

WORKING: [energhnata] energy – God not only gives the gift and the desire for service but he also given the energy, the power to carry it out. Paul is stressing the sheer power and inherent energy within the Christian because of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is this spititual energy that tranforms lives and restores relationships and enables us to do things we never thought possible.

 

We must not make too sharp a distinction between these words but Paul uses all of them to show the broadness of God activity.

 

Noticed the activity of the Trinity SPIRIT, LORD, GOD.  Just like we can’t compartmentalise the work of God so too we can’t compartmentalise God. The sovereign Triune God is the one who determines the gifts and to whom they are given.

v11 …. even as he wills

v.18 … God arranged..

v24 … God has combined …. and he has given ..

v.28 … God has appointed …

 

For beginning to end the whole scope of Church life is under God’s control and he is always working to demonstrate his love and truth. We can never manipulate God to give us what we want.

 

ILLUST: Children may be able to manipulate their parents to get what they want. We may be able to manipulate other for our own ends .

 

BUT God gives to all his children and he is always fair – he has no favourites.

 

3. MANY GIFTS FOR THE GOOD OF ALL [7-11]

 

READ 7-11 [OHP]

 

7 TO EACH is given the manifestation          of the Spirit

                                                                                    for the common good.

                        for

8   TO ONE is given   a message of wisdom,             through the Spirit;

            9   TO ANOTHER     a message of knowledge,        by the same Spirit;

                 TO ANOTHER     faith,                                        by the same Spirit;

TO ANOTHER     gifts of healings,                     by the one Spirit;

            10 TO ANOTHER     workings of miracles;

TO ANOTHER     prophecy;

TO ANOTHER     discernments of spirits;

TO ANOTHER     kinds of tongues;

TO ANOTHER     interpretation of tongues;

 

11  ALL THESE THINGS works the one and the same Spirit,

DISTRIBUTING to EACH ONE,

even as he wills.

 

Each child of God has the Holy Spirit –

… if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ

he does not belong to Christ [Romans 8v9]

The Holy Spirit is manifest in the life of every believer that is why every believer has a part to play within the Chruch. If you are saying “I have nothing to offer – there is nothing that I can do”  then you are not using – even abusing – the gift that God has given you. Every Christian contributes to the rich diversity within the Church. TO each one is given…..

 

Paul now give 9 examples of this rich variety. Other gifts are mentioned in Romans 12, Eph.4 and 1 Peter 4. There is some overlap between the various lists. This list here is not comprehensive nor is it graded – some gifts superior to others. It is representative and illustrative.

 

NB> NOT DEAL WITH EACH – FOR EVENING DISCUSSION TIMES.

 

What is the difference, if any, between natural gifts and supernatural gifts.

Are these spiritual gifts simply natural ablities that are harnessed by God and used for Him

Or are they only those that are manifestly supra-natural.

 

ILLUST: Does it follow that because a person is a good public speaker he will be a preacher.

OR a school teacher a good Bible teacher.

OR and accountant a good treasurer.

 

NO! but of course they may very well!

Sometimes a person needs to become a more mature Christian before they use their talents in God’s work. Maybe the Lord knows that such a person would rely on their own ablities ans self-sufficiency rather than on God’s enabling.

 

ILLUST: well-known story of actor visiting catherdral – recited Ps.23. Asked the old caretaker to read it – he did so haltingly. The actor was in tears. I know the Psalm but you know thw shepherd.

 

A highly trained singer may not feel free to use her voice in the Church until she is free from the driving ambition for personal recognition and public acclaim.

 

So God can use our natural abilities and give us new ones. He is our creator and our redeemer and he works in many ways to produce mant examples of his grace. And he is constantly there to provide whatever we need. As circumstances change and churches grow God gives them all they need to serve him and each other and the community.

 

In this passage the tendency, in recent years, has been to focus on the list of gifts whaereas they are really illustrative and the focus of Paul is on the ANOTHER and the SPIRIT.

HE distributes as HE WILLS.

 

God is sovereign and he is not taken by surprise at our conversion or at any other stage of our Christian development so that he has to make hasty decisions about what spiritual gifts he will give us. In his foreknowledge he has known all along what our situation is and what we need.

 

Jeremiah 1v5:

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you

Before you were born I set you apart

 

 

Ephesians 2v10:

For we are God’s workmanship

created in Christ Jesus to do good works,

WHICH GOD PREPARED IN ADVANCE FOR US TO DO

 

There is a tendency within some Christian circles today to ask for or claim or even demand from God certain spiritual gifts as if having a particular gift will make one more spiritual. Or having a particular experiance will make you more spiritual. This passage makes quite clear that it is God who gives these gifts. And he chooses which gifts he will give anf to whom.

 

Their is nothing wrong with asking for or desiring a certain gift as long as we don’t demand from God or as long as we don’t think that we will be higher up the spiritual ladder if we had it. Spiritual gifts are not given for our own selfish, private use BUT are always given for the COMMON GOOD. Yes we benefit but that is not the primaty reason.

 

Spirituality and maturity are not measured by the gifts of the Spirit but by the fruit of the Spirit that is why Paul says in the next ch. “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angel but have not love, I am nothing.” Gifts are for the building up of the community and not primarily for the individual’s benefit.

 

 

Paul’s point in this passage is to demonstrate that JESUS IS LORD  and the church owes its allegience to Him. The Spirit glorifies Christ as Lord and gives gifts to his people so that they can glorify Jesus as well. Even though there is so much variation and diversity within the chruch there is a unity through common purpose viz. the glory of God and the common good of all. AND the Spirit is sovereign in his giving of gifts.

 

We dare not box God in saying “He must do this or he doesn’t do that”  We must be open to what God wants to do in our midst. It might mean that we will be shaken out of our comfort zones. It will almost certainly mean repentence. It will undoubtedly mean change BUT if we claim that JESUS IS LORD then we must be willing for him to be just that, LORD, and to do what he pleases.

 

ONE LORD GIVES MANY GIFTS

                    FOR THE GOOD OF ALL

 

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

 

 

 

1.  MANY “gods” BUT ONE LORD. [1-3]

 

Jesus [the crucified one] is [by his resurrection] LORD [of all the universe].

 

 

 

2. MANY GIFTS FROM ONE SOURCE [V4-6]

4 DIVERSITIES of gifts         there are, but    the same Spirit;

5 DIVERSITIES of service     there are, but    the same Lord;

6 DIVERSITIES of workings there are, but    the same God,

who works ALL THINGS IN ALL PEOPLE.

 

7 TO EACH is given the manifestation of the Spirit

                                                                   for the common good.

 

 

 

3. MANY GIFTS FOR THE GOOD OF ALL [V7-11]

 

for

 

8   TO ONE is given    a message of wisdom,       through the Spirit;

          9   TO ANOTHER       a message of knowledge, by the same Spirit;

               TO ANOTHER       faith,                                   by the same Spirit;

TO ANOTHER       gifts of healings,               by the one Spirit;

          10 TO ANOTHER      workings of miracles;

TO ANOTHER       prophecy;

TO ANOTHER       discernments of spirits;

TO ANOTHER       kinds of tongues;

TO ANOTHER       interpretation of tongues;

 

11  ALL THESE THINGS works the one and the same Spirit,

DISTRIBUTING to EACH ONE,

even as he wills.

 

 

[Fee pp.584-585]

I CORINTHIANS 11v23 -29. 

The Lord’s Supper: remembering & proclaiming “until He comes”

 

INTRODUCTION.

ILLUST: The Voortrekker Monument – The Battle of Blood River – 16th December -“The Day of the Covenant” A Memorial representing a Covenant.

It served to remember the dead and to perpetuate the idea in the minds of some of the Afrikaner Nation that they were God’s special people to the exclusion of other nations. Simply because on one day in their history God save a few of them from massacre by the Zulus. Their monument is a memory to the dead.

God’s covenant with Israel in the OT was not to the exclusion of others and in the New Covenant of the NT it is positively opened to all people. Also the memorial of communion is not in memory of the dead but of the living. Yes we remember his death BUT he is not dead.

Some Corinthian Christians were abusing the Lord’s supper – the rich were going ahead with the meal without waiting for the poorer ones and they were also eating better food. They had apparently lost touch with the meaning of the supper itself.

Paul here in the words of institution reminds them that the reason for celebrating this meal goes back to Jesus himself.  The Lord’s Supper is precisely that THE LORD’s – in his honour and proclaiming his death – it is a witness to the salvation available to sinners through the death of Christ.

Paul also reminds them that the Lord instituted this “on the night he was betrayed”. A reference to Judas and a warning to the Corinthians and to us that attendance at communion is no guarantee of salvation. Judas had been with Jesus for 3 years – he had gone through all the motions but in the end he was following his own agenda and not Christ’s.

You can be a Church member – maybe even very active in the Church – The issue is not “Are you religious?” BUT “Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour?”

The Lord’s Supper reminds us that at our best we are just sinner and when we have done all we think we should we are still “unprofitable servants” YET it is the same Table that shows us that by God’s grace we can also be God’s new covenant people – part of the family of God.

The whole purpose of celebrating the Communion is to remember the Death of Jesus and to Proclaim the facts and significance of his death “until he comes”

 

 

 

1. REMEMBERING HIS BODY AND BLOOD.

1.1 The bread.

“This is my body which is for you

do this in remembrance of me”

What are we remembering when we break bread? It is not just recalling historical facts. It is taking part in a Spiritual reality. The Lord’s Table is not like a monument that we walk around and admire. It is here that we have fellowship with the living Lord. We have fellowship with him because he is our Saviour and he died to give us life.

When we talk of the bread representing Jesus’ body we don’t only mean his physical body – to the Jewish mind the body represented the whole person. The body of Jesus represents who he is – his life, his teaching, his ministry and his work – all he was and all he did!!

The death of Jesus – the cross – is the central point of our faith – it is the central point of history. It is here where sinners become saints. It is here where God takes my life and all my weakness and sinfulness and places it on Christ and say to me “FREE” “FORGIVEN”

Isaiah foretold this centuries before Christ:

For he bore the sins of many

and made intercession for the transgressors.

[Isa.53v12b]

Peter quoting from Isa.53 reminds his readers …

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,

so that we might die to sins and live to righteousness.

For you were like sheep going astray

but now you have returned to the Shepherd

and overseer of your souls. [1 Peter 2v24-25]

Without Christ’s death there is no hope of salvation. There’s is no hope for eternity. If the only hope we have is in this life then we are to be pitied. If all you are living for is to have a nice home and a good job and financial security – or to be successful or famous. What is fame or success – well it depends on other people. You are only famous if people know who you are – how quickly fame fades – how quickly stars fall.

ILLUST: Financial security – what about all those who thought their pensions were safe……What about those who put their trust in the stock market? RECENT ECONOMIC NEWS IS NOT GREAT!!!

Security – there is no security in this life. You can be insured for millions. But illness and motor accidents don’t take too much notice of insurance policies. You can invest in a Personal Pension Plan and never live to enjoy it.  {NOT SAYING – you should NOT make provision for your retirement if you are able to – we have to be responsible citizen} Where is your final security?? In human institutions?? Or in GOD?

Jesus Christ died in our place to destroy the thing over which we have absolutely no power. SIN and DEATH. With all our scientific knowledge and all our cleverness we have no answer to the moral vacuum in our society!! We have no answer to death – doctors can sometimes prolong the life but the can’t stop the inevitable! Mankind has no answer BUT GOD does and his answer in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross!

Jesus said “This is my body which is FOR you”

FOR – in our behalf – “Jesus Christ died for our sins” [1 Cor.15v3]

–  ” You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. … God demonstrates his own love for us in this; While we were still sinners, Christ died for us [Romans 5v6&8]

FOR – in our place – He is the substitute.

ILLUST: Passover – Jews exodus from Egypt – the angel of death Passover the house because the blood covered the doorposts. The lamb died in place of the first-born. The blood symbolised the cover and protection from death.

And so Jesus died in our place – to protect us from the judgement of God. It is not popular these days to talk about Hell. The Bible speaks about hell and says that the person who rejects Jesus Christ as Lord will go there. You may not like that and you may choose not to believe it but that is what the Bible says.

“Oh But I thought God was a God of Love” He is!! That is why Jesus died on the cross.

For God so loved the World that he gave His only Son

the whoever believes in him should not perish but

have eternal life {John 3v16}

There is no greater evidence for the love of God than the cross of Christ. And whoever believes will be saved / live!!

1.2 The Cup.

This cup is the new covenant in my blood, do this,

whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.

A new covenant presupposes that there was an old one. In the OT when God gave the law through Moses they were sprinkled with blood to ratify the covenant.

[Using blood to seal a covenant was a normal everyday way of coming to a binding agreement]

It was agreement between God and Israel, the people of God – obey God and keep his law and there will be consequences – He will bless you BUT disobey and there will be consequences – God will punish you. Your choice!!

BUT they didn’t keep it because they couldn’t and God knew that therefore his plan was always to make a new way through his SON, Jesus Christ.

A new way, which says God will do it and give it as a gift to those who will receive it! The new covenant is not dependent upon us but upon the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

The new covenant, like the old, is sealed in blood. The blood of Christ. And it creates a new people of God who are in a covenant relationship with God. We belong to Him. We are his children. The terms of this covenant are not dependent on our abilities but on God’s promises.

The Promises:-     “..a new creation …”

” and full life [purposeful]”

” eternal life” [life not ending in death]

” sins forgiven..’

” Peace with God” [Not no stress or trouble but peace even in the midst of trouble and strife]

“.. a new family.” [The family of God]

2. PROCLAIMING THE BODY AND BLOOD.

Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you PROCLAIM the Lord death until he comes.

This communion is a witness to the death of Jesus. Every time we do it we are proclaiming a message – the message that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died on a cross to save sinners.

What we have received from him is only a taste of what is still to come.

Jesus said to his disciples on the night of the Last Supper:

I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine

until the kingdom of God comes. [Luke 22v18]

“UNTIL HE COMES” tells us two things.

1) To the Christian it is a reminder that the best is yet to come.

ILLUST: When your loved one goes away you have a photograph to remind you of  her/him.

When he/she returns you don’t sit staring at the photo.

So to with Christ – the communion is a symbol – a reminder – when he returns we will not need it any more because we will see him and we will be like him.

2) To those who have not yet committed their lives to Jesus Christ its an opportunity – the ‘”UNTIL HE COMES” says there is yet time! Don’t delay!

God is patient and long-suffering BUT there will come a time when God Says, “ENOUGH” and after that it will be too late.

ILLUST: A a communion service a pastor noticed a lady who he knew to be a Christian refuse the bread as it came by – knowing her struggle and her feeling unworthy he went to her with the bread and said ” Take it , my dear, its for sinners”

The Communion is not for the perfect. If that were so none of us would be able to take it! The communion is for sinners – for those who acknowledge that Jesus Christ died to save them. For those who have repent and believe in Jesus. If you have never done that – Why not today – NOW? Jesus loves you and showed that by dying for you.

For the Christian the communion is a constant reminder of and witness to the death of Christ for us. It also reminds us that we are God’s people in a New Covenant relationship with him AND that we are family – related to each other.

If you claim to be a Christian what difference does it make to the way you live your life. It is no good coming to church on Sunday if you live the rest of your life as you please. The death of Jesus for you demands more than Sunday lip service.

Does you faith make a difference to the way you treat your spouse, children, family and friends.

Does it make a difference to the way you do your work – relate to your colleagues? Do they know that you are a follower of Jesus?

In other words how are you PROCLAIMING HIS DEATH UNTIL HE COMES?

I am not talking about being a bible-baser.

I am not talking about being so heavenly minded that you are no earthly use! You have got to have your feet on the ground! Your faith must affect your life in the nitty-gritty everyday affairs of life.

The communion reminds us of what Jesus did for us and challenges us to examine our lives in the light of that.

1 CORINTHIANS 11v17-34

 

THE ABUSE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

[The “Have’s” discriminating against the “Have not’s”]

 

INTRODUCTION.

 

Preaching on a passage of scripture like this does have difficulties. The problem is that we read this passage so often when we come to communion – we generally read only vv23-29[or32] – it becomes so familiar, many could probably quote it by heart. Now there is nothing wrong with reading this passage at communion BUT we must always remember to understand it in the context in which it was written.

 

It is not just about the Lord’s supper but it is in the context of the ch.11-14 in which Paul is dealing with the public worship of the Church. In the first half of ch.11, as we saw last week, Paul deals with the distinctiveness of male and female esp. in regard to the woman’s role in public worship. In the first half of the ch. he uses quite soft language BUT when we come to this present section his language is fairly harsh.

In the following directives I have no praise for you,

for your meetings do more harm than good. [v17]

 

That is pretty straight talk!!

So what is Paul complaining about – Why is their meeting doing damage?

 

1. SNOBBERY – ABUSE OF THE POOR. [17-22]

 

We need to understand how the Christians celebrated the Lord’s supper in the early Church. It was not the way we do it. The normal practice in the early Church was that the believers came together for a meal and then usually at the end of the meal they would take bread and wine and remember Christ’s death. Sometimes it was called a “love Feast” [Jude v12].

 

Problems arose because there was a significant gap between the rich and the poor. They would meet for these meals in someone’s home, presumably the home of a rich person as theirs would be the only one big enough to accommodate a large number of people. {Remember that there were no church buildings in those days}.

 

Instead of it being a family meal where they all ate together remembering Christ’s death and demonstrating Christian unity, it ended up being a free-for-all with gluttony and drunkenness characterising the occassion.

 

 

Paul’s main point is not the gluttony or drunkeness – NOT that he approves of either – BUT rather in their coming together it is in fact not a coming together at all – but divisions are very evident amongst them. NOT the kind of divisions that were talked about in ch.1 – those were about personalities.

 

Their divisions were not that they failed to gather together but that when they did gather they failed to demonstrate that they were truly the new people of God, neither Jew nor Greek, rich nor poor, slave nor free ….

 

What had crept into the Church at Corinth was an obnoxious kind of snobbishness. It would seem that the rich – the “have’s” – were meeting either before or separately from the poor – the “have-nots”.

 

In a situation where you have rich and poor – slaves – there was disparity in the kind of food and the amount of food eaten.

 

BACKGROUND: The houses in that time often had a “dining room” which would seat a few people and then a “courtyard” which would accommodate a larger group of people.

 

The rich were eating before or eating in the dining room and eating good food and lots of it and leaving the poorer ones to have the inferior food and wine. So the rich had earlier starting times and privileged portions.

 

These kinds of social divisions are not acceptable. Paul is not saying that everyone will be of the same social class BUT that in the Church social class in NOT a reason for division.

 

It is not acceptable in the Church of Jesus Christ for there to be division on the basis of social class. How do you and I treat people who are not as well off or not as well educated. BUT class consciousness is not only a problem in the upper class.

 

WHAT DOES HE MEAN BY “..to some extent I believe it” [v18] Well Paul is not naive – he knows that those who are whinging about their treatment are not simply disinterested observers.

 

ILLUST: When I first came to England I was working as a carpenter at Sotherby’s in the West End. Sotherby’s caters to the rich and famous. The workers used to take home paint and wood and all manner of things from the workshop to use at home. The reasoning was, “Well, they can afford it!”

 

It is all to easy for those who are poor – or less well off to have a chip on their shoulder! AND in UK there are few – if any poor – Anyone can get food and medical care! I am not justifying the class distinction in society but it is a fact of life! BUT when that same attitude is exhibited in the Church and makes some Christians superior to others – that is unacceptable!

 

Paul is a realist and he knows that differences within the Church are inevitable!

No doubt there have to be differences among you

to show which of you have God’s approval. [v19]

 

In any Church we have different people, with different personalities, from different backgrounds. Christians are not yet perfect, even if some may think so, and therefore divisions will result. BUT God uses these things to test the maturity and genuineness of his disciples. It does not mean that he approves of the divisions but he uses them.

God is at work in all things for the good of them that love

 him and are called according to his purposes [Rom.8v28]

 

Paul has no praise for the Corinthian Christians in this matter. They have abused the poor and have abused the Lord’s table.

 

He says, “You may gather together but it is not the Lord’s supper you are celebrating.”

 

The Lord’s supper = the meal in the Lord’s honour! Communion is supposed to symbolise the death of Christ in whom all are equal and in whom there in no distinction with regard to race, sex or social standing. What the Corinthians were doing was exactly the opposite! How can it be in the Lord’s honour if the practice destroys what he died to bring about??!

 

Paul raps them on the knuckles with a number of rhetorical questions.

 

– Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? In other words if you want to be greedy and get drunk them do it at home NOT at the Lord’s table.

 

– “..do you despise the church of God an humiliate those who have nothing? The poor had little or nothing to contribute to the meal and felt ashamed, wrongly but understandably. The rich man’s action should have been controlled by love and NOT greed.

 

– What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!! –

God has accepted us as we are – rich or poor, weak or strong Christians are to accept one another. We should have such an attitude at all times BUT esp. at the Lord’s Supper which in itself is a symbol of our unity and equality in Christ.

 

2. SACRILEGE – ABUSE OF THE LORD. [v23-26]

 

Paul now moves on from SNOBBERY  to  SACRILEGE. This kind of behaviour at communion is not only abusive toward the poor but also towards God.

 

By the rich – the “haves” – going ahead with their meal and humiliating the poor -“have-nots” they had lost touch with the real significance of the supper. Paul repeats the words of institution to remind them of why they celebrate this meal in the first place – viz. they are “remembering his death” & “Proclaiming his death until he comes”

Their actions were not in keeping with the essence of that proclamation!

 

NB> going to deal with this in more detail next week at Communion!!!!!

 

Paul has already hinted at this problem in Chapter 10.

 

READ 10v14-17

 

ONE BODY – the bread signifies the one body of Christ into which we have been brought. It signifies unity and oneness with Christ and with each other. How dishonouring is it therefore when there are division. It is abusing the Lord – slapping him in the face.

 

THE CUP – it is the cup of the NEW COVENANT. Drinking the wine shows the new covenant relationship we have with God – but at the same time we enter into covenant with each other.

 

Whether we like it or not we are related! “You can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family” – Well in Christ we are family and he chooses us and brings us together as his body. And we have to learn to love one another, speak to one another, put others first, forgive one another — How can we be unforgiving when we come to communion which symbolizes Christ’s forgiveness of us.

 

The Lord’s supper is not only a memorial of the last supper, nor just of Christ’s death – it is that. BUT it is also a repeated and constant reminder of the efficacy of that death for us. BUT more than that it is not only personal and introspective. Salvation through Christ’s death creates a new community of people who bear HIS name. We miss the point of communion if we think of it only in terms of our personal needs and not also in terms of the needs of others.

 

Paul now moves on to the solution with on of his famous “THEREFORE’s”

 

3. SOLUTION – DISCERN THE BODY [v27-32]

                         -[wait for one another – v33-34]

 

v.27 has probably been one of the most misunderstood verse in Protestant pietistic circles.

“Unworthily”{KJV} – coupled with v.28 “a man ought to examine himself” led to deep introspection as to whether or not one was worthy of the Lord’s table. If you were unworthy you would come under judgement. There was great foreboding in coming to the table and a sense of guilt in case we had partaken unworthily.

 

NOW of course, we need to be open with God and ourselves and confess our sin but the point of this passage is not to instill in us a self-absorbing introspection. It is precisely because we are unworthy that we need Christ and what better place to come to him in confession and repentance than at communion.

 

The danger is that there are those who come to the Lord’s table without exercising even the slightest self-examination.

 

Paul is addressing believers – the communion is for believers only – the context implies that the self-examination should be esp. directed to ascertaining whether or not I am living and acting “in love” toward my neighbour.

 

Paul has harsh words to say to the Corinthian Christians who were mistreating their fellow-believers.

Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord

in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against

the body and blood of the lord [v27]

 

Paul is saying that when you come to the Lord’s table with this kind of attitude you place yourself not in the company of those who are sharing the benefits of his passion, BUT in the company of those who are responsible for his crucifixion.

 

The behaviour of the Corinthian Christians belied the gospel the claimed to embrace.

 

ILLUST: To trample the Union Jack underfoot does not dishonour the piece of clothe but the country of Great Britain it represents. To come to the communion in an unworthy manner does not simply dishonour the ceremony but dishonours the one in whose honour it is celebrated. [MacArthur]

 

VV.30-32. speak about judgement. NOT eternal judgement but temporal as v32 makes clear – discipline. Paul is not speaking about losing your salvation. Paul is telling the Corinthians that God has disciplined them with sickness and even death because of their abuse of the Lord’s supper.

 

What he is not saying – That every time someone abuses the Lord’s table there will be sickness and death.

– NOR that those who get sick or die prematurely have abused the Lord’s table. There are some today who teach that Christians should never be sick or die before 70 and if they do it is because of sin in their lives – Rubbish. That is not what this passage is saying.

– ALSO Paul is not identifying the sick and the death as the guilty one’s – When there is sin in the camp the whole community suffers. That is why we need to live holy and godly lives NOT only for our own good but also for the good of the body.

 

ILLUST: Army – if one in the squad messed up we ALL ran. We ALL suffered together.

 

The Lord’s table is not a table of condemnation but of grace. It is a place where we affirm who we belong to – Jesus. It is the sinful, the weak, the weary who are the very ones who need the assurance that this table affords – and that is all of us. We do not have to get rid of our sin before we come to Christ and partake at his table. It is here by faith the we receive the assurance that “Christ receives sinners”

 

On the other hand, Christ receives REPENTANT sinners so we dare not come arrogantly or presumptuously without discerning the Body. We come by Grace, recognising the need to be gracious to others otherwise we miss the point of the table altogether!

 

 -[wait for one another – v33-34]

 

Wait for [welcome] one another.

– if you can’t wait eat at home. Lit. “If anyone wants to gorge let him do it at home” Where you will not humiliate those who are not so well off. Don’t flaunt the fact that you have more than someone else.

 

Rather WELCOME  one another – consider them important enough as brothers and sisters in Christ to give up your luxurious meal to demonstrate the unity and oneness of the Body of Christ.

The attitude to the fellowship around the Lord’s table is in microcosm what the body of Christ should always be. It is the attitude of considering other first – of putting the good of the community of believers first, before our own wants and desires, so that Christ, who is the Head of the Body, can be honoured.

 

I thank God for the spirit of love and care that there is at Binscombe – we are far from perfect but God has been good to us. This passage comes as a reminder not to take what we have for granted and as a challenge to do better.

 

Let’s make the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi our prayer as we sing #124

Make me a channel of your peace…

CHORUS:………….

O Master grant that I may never seek

So much to be consoled as to console

To be understood as to understand

To be loved as to love with all my soul!

1 Corinthians 11v2-16

The Distinctiveness of  women from men.

[And the behaviour of women in public worship]

INTRODUCTION:

 

This passage that we come to today is a relative mine-field when it come to interpretation. It has been used by anti-feminist to support their position. It has been used to insist that women should wear hats to church. Also that men should have short hair and women should have long hair. There are probably others issues as well. To used this passage to uphold ones traditional position has been a common practice.

 

Let recognise that this is an extremely difficult passage of scripture to interpret simply because there are some phrases and words that are unclear and we simply do not know that original meaning. BUT there is enough for us to be able to draw out some principles.

 

This passage of scripture has nothing whatever to do with hats!

 

Paul is dealing here with the distinctiveness of male and female, and the headship or leadership of the male, and with the behaviour of women in public worship. This is not to say the he is not concerned with how men behave in public worship!

 

BUT REMEMBER he is writing in response to a letter which he had received from the Corinthian Church. SO he is replying to a specific difficulty within the Corinthian context AND what he says here, as with the rest of the letter,  must be understood against the background of the Corinthian situation. When we take it out of its historical setting we can end up with distorted beliefs and practices or even with heresy.

 

We must distinguish between the cultural practices  of the time and the cardinal principles that emerges from that.  Cultural practices are local and not binding WHILE cardinal principles are universal and are binding.

 

1. THE PRINCIPLE STATED [v3]

 

Paul begins his argument by declaring a principle “Now I want you to realise that the HEAD of every man is Christ, and the HEAD of every women is man, and the HEAD of Christ is GOD”

 

Now clearly Paul is not using the word HEAD literally but metaphorically!

 

BUT what is the metaphorical meaning?

Whether on a divine scale or a human scale, subordination and authority are indispensable elements  of God’s order and plan.

 

CHRIST THE HEAD OF EVERY MAN – Most of the human race do not acknowledge that Christ is in authority over them BUT that does not change the fact that all authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to him [Matt.29v19]. In a unique way he has authority over the Church. He is the Saviour and Lord of the Church; He has redeemed us and bought us as his own.

Unbelievers who are on rebellion against God ignore him – God in his patient forbearance allows them to continue but one day they will acknowledge him as Lord. He is in ultimate control of all men, now and forever.

 

THE MAN IS THE HEAD OF A WOMAN –

The principle of man being the head of woman is the basic order of creation. This is the way God planned and created mankind to be. Now I know that this doesn’t sit too well with feminists!

And feminists appeal to passage like Gal.3v28 “there is neither male nor female” and 1 Peter3v7 “And grant her honour as a fellow heir of the grace of life” to support their case – and they accuse Paul of being a male chauvinist.

BUT Paul makes no distinction between men and women i.t.o. their self-worth, intellect abilities or spirituality.

 

ILLUST: Their are many women who are stronger than me, more mature, more intelligent, have greater ability and are more spiritual.

 

God has established male headship for the purpose of order and not because of some innate male superiority.

 

ILLUST: An employee might be more capable than her boss, but a company cannot run without proper authority, even if the employee is more intelligent and capable than her boss.

 

Elders are chosen from amongst the spiritual men of the congregation and there may be others in the Church who are more spiritual BUT because the ARE more spiritual those NOT in POSITIONS of leadership will submit to those who are!!

 

A wife may be better educated than her husband, she may know the scriptures better, she may be more competent in many areas, She may be more spiritual but because she is , she will willingly submit to her husband as the head of the family.

 

Paul now ties this submission – equality principle to the Godhead.

 

THE HEAD OF CHRIST IS GOD – Jesus made it quite clear from his teaching that he was equal to the Father – “I and my Father are one” “What even the Father does, I do” In no way is Jesus inferior to God the Father. YET he willingly submitted himself to the Father to fulfill the divine purpose.

 

The 3 aspects of this principle are inseparably tied together. If you reject the one then you reject the other. E.G.- IF you reject the principle of women’s submission to man then you must also reject the principle of Christ’s submission to the Father and the believers submission to Christ.

 

LOVE – The authority and submission in each of these cases in based on love, not tyranny!!

The Father sent the son out of love.

Christ submitted to the Father out of love. He rule the church in love.

In response the Church submits to him in love.

Likewise men, Husbands in particular, are to exercise their authority in love, NOT lording it over.

Men do not have authority because of greater worth or ability BUT simply because of God’s wise plan. It is not a matter of worth or dignity but of task and responsibility.

 

2. THE PRINCIPLE APPLIED [to Corinthian culture] [v4-6]

 

READ v4-6

 

Background before we can understand these verses.

First century Greek dress was very similar except for the women’s head-covering. [Which only covered her hair and not her whole face as the Muslim veil] This was the normal everyday dress of the women of Corinth.

Some women did not cover their heads – the high class mistresses of the influential men of Corinth; And possibly the high class women of the Temple to the goddess Aphrodite. Also, slaves often had their head shaved and so did convicted adulteresses.

 

The Christians did not get specially dressed to go to Church meetings, which were not in Church building, they when along in their everyday clothes. It would seem that some of the women, with their new found freedom in Christ would throw back their head-coverings allowing their hair to fall loose.

This was no doubt a distraction to those around her esp. the men – the only women they normally saw with uncovered heads were immoral or slaves.

 

Thus Paul argues that for a women to have her head uncovered while praying or prophesying in public worship is shameful and dishonouring to her head – to herself, to her husband {and fellow male believers} and to Christ who is Head of the Christ.

The Christian women of Corinth were to keep their heads covered otherwise there was no freedom to worship, but much distraction. They shared equally in the ministry of prayer and prophecy.

 

So, says Paul, if that is how you behave outside the church. your head covered there is no reason to change that practice inside the Church.

 

The men MUST NOT cover their heads otherwise they bring dishonour to Christ their head.

 

Why was it a disgrace for a women to have her hair cut off [short] or shaved? It was a symbol of an immoral woman. Women who were lesbians would have short hair to look like men [remember they wore similar clothing] There must be no blurring of the sexes. God made men and God made women and he wants each to keep their distinctiveness.

 

In our society where the roles of men and women are increasingly blurred we need to hear this.

Transvestism is becoming increasingly popular. Men who get sexual pleasure from wearing the clothes of women and women from wearing men’s clothes. Homosexual and Lesbian couples who consider it normal. They might think it normal BUT God does not.

 

ILLUST: Radio Sussex and Surrey this week – a woman from an adoption agency arguing for Lesbian couples and homosexual couples to be able to adopt children so they can have a normal upbringing.

 

When we reversed our God-given role we are on the slippery slope to disaster. Both individually and as a community.

The devil is always active in trying to turn God’s order of things upside down That what was happening in Corinth and so Paul tells the women to keep their head-coverings on – because that was the accepted practice of the prevailing culture. If she did not have her head covered then she may as well shaved all her hair off because the conveyed message was the same – immoral!

 

3. THE PRINCIPLE EXPLAINED [i.t.o. the creation order] [v7-10]

 

READ v 7-10

 

Paul has given the cultural reasons why the Corinthian women should cover their heads in public worship. Now he give a reason from Creation.

 

The man was created first and was created in the image of God and for his glory He  was the crowning glory of God’s creation. Adam was created for God alone. for His pleasure, His joy and His glory. In a similar way woman was created to be the glory of man. Deriving her being from man – she was created from Adam’s rib – and finding her fulfilment in being his helper.

In this sense then the woman is the “Better half” being man’s glory

 

Let us make man in our image …

So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them [Gen.1v26-27]

 

Male and female are to compliment each other. Paul concern is that God is glorified in the worship of the Church and that only happens when men and women jointly fulfill their God-given roles and responsibilities.

 

Paul must have been reflecting on the creation account when he wrote this.  Man by himself is not complete, he is alone and needs a companion. The animals were not good enough – he needed someone who was like him but different – who is uniquely for his own glory.

She is man’s “glory” because she “came from him” and was created “for him” NOT be to subordinate to him, BUT because she is necessary for him. She was the only one suitable for him so that he might be complete and together they could form humanity.

 

So men and women have a unique relationship to each other and stand equally before God, made in his image so that he might be glorified.

 

N.B. Don’t miss what freedom women received when the gospel came. Women had been subservient to men – their chattels and playthings – the gospel had brought women a before unimagined freedom. Paul is simply warning that this new freedom is not abused or taken beyond the bounds that God set.

 

Through this maze that is difficult to interpret  – [because of the angels – it is almost impossible to know what this means] – one thing is clear – Paul wants the Corinthians Christians to know that God wants worship to be orderly and descent with no hint of immorality or the blurring of sexual distinctiveness.

 

[REMEMBER Temple worship to the gods involved cult prostitution and gross immorality – What would an unbeliever have thought if they had come into a worship service to see women with uncovered head when in the culture of the day that symbolized an immoral woman]

 

In our culture women’s head coverings have no moral significance and therefore the practice is not an issue but the principle of maintain her femininity is. A woman must be feminine and a man must be masculine. And in the Church those roles must be treated with honour and love with no hint of immorality between fellow believers.

 

4. THE PRINCIPLE BALANCED / QUALIFIED [v11-12]

 

READ v 11-12

 

Just so that the men do not get the wrong idea about what he has been saying he qualifies it in these verses!

The key phrases in these verses are “in the Lord” and  “all things from God”  While it is true that the woman is man’s glory having been created for his sake that DOES NOT mean that she was created for his purposes into some kind of subordinate position for his aims and desires.

 

God has arranged things so that “In the Lord” the one cannot exist without the other. Woman was created from man BUT every man since then is born from woman. There is an interdependence that makes in impossible for one to consider him/herself superior to the other.

 

There is no room for male chauvinism or for feminism. Both are perversions of God’s order.

In order for the Church to be strong we need each other and we need to relate to each other in the way God has set out.

 

“All things originate from God” – Men and woman have different role BUT NOT different importance. They are equal to each other in the world, in the Church and before God

 

5. THE PRINCIPLE OBSERVED [v13-16]

 

READ v13-16

 

In the Nature of things men have short hair and women long hair!

 

Paul now argues from the logic of How things are! How this is culturally universal is difficult to answer!!

ILLUST: African women can’t have long hair

 

BUT Paul’s major point is undeniable – God has made men and women different! You may have noticed!!!

 

Different cultures and societies express the masculine and feminine roles in different ways – the kind of jobs they do and the kind of clothes they wear. But God intends that men and women have different but complimentary functions.

 

Men must be truly masculine and women truly feminine – allowing the Bible to define those terms and not cultural stereotypes. In a society where the “unisex” theme is high on the agenda, Christians need to express themselves according to God’s pattern.  God has created us and redeemed us and our worship needs to glorify him as we fulfill our God-given roles within the church as we meet together and in society as we relate to believers and to unbelievers.

 

Paul is not laying down in these verses [2-16] universal practices – He is applying the principle that we look at last week “Everything is permissible” – but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible” – but not everything is constructive.

 

And so the principle for Christians at worship [and for life in general] are that modes of dress are to be appropriate – not conveying an immoral message [sexually suggestive or flirty]. That things need to be orderly –

AND the distinctiveness between the sexes must be maintained. So that as we fulfill the roles God has given male and female we can compliment each other and help each other to glorify God.

1 Corinthians 10v23-11v1.

Free to serve God and benefit others.

 

INTRODUCTION:

 

These verses, 10v23-11v1, are the concluding remarks of a long section of Paul’s letter dealing with the matter of food sacrificed to idols and the whole practice of idolatry. It is clear that the problem is not the idol itself. It was simply an inanimate object that had no inherent power. BUT Paul warns that it is what lies behind the idol that is the danger. The idol is nothing. But behind the idol is a power that is anti-God.

 

It is tempting in our western, 20th century culture to think that idolatry is not a modern problem. After all we don’t have strange statues around our houses to which we offer food or prayer. Behind the statue or idol was a demonic power that was anti-God AND we in our Western society need to learn that the demonic is not as remote as we would wish to believe it is.

 

ILLUST:  Did you know that there are more practising witches in the UK than there are Clergy!!

 

We have grow up in a scientific age that is anti-supernaturalistic. There has been a move away from God and from belief in a supernatural Creator God. The miracles of Jesus are explained away and the virgin birth and the resurrection are questioned. This anti – biblical stance has left a spiritual vacuum that Satan is only too willing to fill. The Bible is clear that we are involved in a spiritual battle. And we don’t have to be actively involved in witchcraft and idolatry and black magic or Voodoo to be idolatrous.

 

When God is sidelined and something or someone else takes his place then we are guilty of idolatry.

 

ILLUST: Thus your home or your job or a sport can be an idol – these things are not wrong in themselves and God wants us to have them [he gives them to us] – BUT when the become substitutes for God then we have gone to far.

 

Not only do these things become our idols BUT we become their slaves. We have to have this or that!! We must do this!! We must achieve that!! All of which may be perfectly legitimate things in themselves BUT with the wrong attitude can be enslaving.

 

So Paul warns the Corinthian Christians that while the idol itself has no power, what lies behind has the power to enslave. Therefore they need to be very careful in their dealings with people so as not to communicate a wrong message.

 

YES, as a Christian these powers no longer have power over you because have been freed from this bondage by the power of Christ. However DON’T endanger yourself or mislead others.

 

 

1. HOW TO USE OUR CHRISTIAN FREEDOM.

 

Most of the Corinthian Christians had come out of a Pagan background where food was offered to the idols and including in the worship of the many Corinthian gods was drunkeness and sexual orgies. Many of the Temples to the gods had cult-prostitutes.

 

With their new freedom in Christ, some of the Corinthians had misunderstood Christian liberty. And their slogan was “Everything is permissible”

 

“Hey, I am free! I can go to the temples whenever I like! I am free to eat the food offered to an idol! And if there is drunkeness and orgies going on around me , Well, so what, I am not involved!”

 

Paul has already forbidden this practice of going to the temples.

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord

and the cup of demons too;

you cannot have a part in both

the Lord’s table and the table

of demons. [10v21]

 

The Corinthians had tried to make attendance at the temples a non-essential but for Paul it was an absolute because it was idolatry.

 

For them it was a question of Knowledge and rights. “We know that an idol is a nothing therefore we have the right to exercise our freedom”

BUT for Paul it is not a matter or knowledge and rights but a matter of love and freedom.

 

There are some things about which the Bible is clear and there is little room for debate. But there are many areas of life and behaviour that are not always clear – the grey areas.

 

It is the grey-areas that Paul is addressing in these last verses of Chapter 10.

 

Yes the Christian is free but that does not mean license to do as I please!!

 

“Everything is permissible” but not everything is beneficial;

“Everything is permissible” but not everything is constructive

1.a. Constructive behaviour and not self-gratification.

 

Because something is allowed it does not automatically follow that it is right or profitable.

 

We live in a society in which the rights of the individual are upheld and defended. That is itself is not a bad thing. Everyone is of value. BUT very often people use their individual rights for purely selfish reasons which are destructive to society and impinge on the rights of others.

 

ILLUST: “Do reporters have the right to invade others lives and destroy them?”

 

“Do people have the right to make claims far in excess of the wrong suffered?”

 

“Do we have the right to gossip about another and cut them down because it may make us look more important or satisfy our desire for scandal?”

 

There are some things that we are free to do but are not necessarily beneficial for others or for us.

It is easy to cut down BUT GOD wants us to put others first.

 

1.b. Others first!

 

Nobody should seek his own good,

but the good of others [v24]

 

This kind of thinking is foreign to our society in which we are told and taught to be aggressive and assertive. In the work place employees are sent on assertiveness training courses. You must fulfill your potential, you must reach your self-actualization. SELF is the preoccupation; MY life, MY job; My target figures; MY potential …. AND if others get in the way and need to be trodden on well that just too bad!!

 

What is the bottom line for marriage break-down, for corruption, for sexual immorality …… the bottom line is selfishness! What is in it for me!

Did you ever hear a woman say “I am leaving my husband because he is gentle and kind and considerate and he really puts me first and loves me!” NO!! NO!!  It is because he is insensitive, inconsiderate and selfish and I don’t think he really loves me any more!!”

 

1.c. Liberty before legalism [v25-26]

 

READ v25-26.

 

Paul in these verses is asserting that a Christian is free from legalistic rules and regulations. He uses the example of the food sacrificed to idols which has been the subject of the Corinthians inquiry.

 

The Temple Priests in Corinth received many sacrifices from the people and much of the meat brought for sacrifice went out the back door of the temple and was sold in the meat market. Some of the Christians thought it was wrong to eat such meat because it had been offered to an idol.

 

Paul reject eating in the temple, not because of the food but because of the location. Here he says that all food comes from the Lord.  God is the creator of all things; He made the food so “BUY AND EAT”

 

In others words, don’t create problems were their aren’t any. Eating meat or not eating meat is a non-issue. The implication is that God doesn’t care about this so then neither should you. It is not an issue for conscience so don’t worry about it.

This was a radical position for Paul to take. Remember that he is a Jew – the Jews would only eat “kosher” food. Paul says “Don’t ask all kinds of conscience questions – just eat it”

 

1.d. Act graciously and don’t take the moral high ground.

 

READ V27-29 – an example of the issue!

 

When you go to another house don’t ask questions about the food, just eat it! If they tell you it comes from the meat market and you know it will cause them problems if you do eat it then don’t eat it. The issue is not the food it is rather the person in whose presence you will eat THEREFORE the principle of putting others first takes precedence.

 

Our personal freedom is not absolute it is always conditioned by the rule of putting others first and seeking their good.

 

ILLUST: In the Christian community in which I grew up in RSA it was not the done thing for Christians to drink wine etc. So I did not! When we lived in Portugal and we went to Portugese homes it was acceptable to drink wine, it was expected! For them it was a non-issue! I drank the wine the gave me!

 

You see in the Bible the issue is not whether one drinks wine or not! The issue is not to get drunk!!

 

ILLUST: If you attend another Church, or even if we have things in this church that you don’t like – certain types of music – The outward form is not the issue – God is concerned with the attitude of our hearts.

 

We have no right to condemn another for something which is a non-essential and is God given.

So Paul is telling us that we are free – but we are so free we are free not to exercise our freedom. We are free to given up our freedom if it for the good of others!!

 

2. THE GOAL OF CHRISTIAN FREEDOM.

 

READ v31-33

 

Paul now opens it up to include all aspects of life and not just food and drink – Whatever we do The goal is GOD’S GLORY. That is what we live for – to bring praise to him and to honour Him!

 

What brings glory to God? What pleases Him? When we put the good of others first! What is the best thing that we can ever do for another person? It is to point them to Jesus Christ!!

 

For I am not seeking my own good

but the good of many,

SO THAT they may be saved

 

When we live the kind of lives that are turned away from ourselves out towards others putting their good before our own in the hope that God in his grace will bring them to himself THEN God is please with us.

 

He does not want us to be a hindrance to others – a stumbling block. To either the believer or the unbeliever! Doesn’t this curtail our freedom! How can we live without offending someone? It is not possible.

 

Paul’s point is related to intentional behaviour! He says that we must not purposely pursue a path that is to the detriment of another. So we are not simply talking about hurting the feelings of an over-sensitive person who is difficult and who is never pleased with anything. NO!! We are talking about behaving in such a way so as to prevent a person from hearing the gospel.

 

We are talking about alienating a fellow Christian by insensitive behaviour!

This does not mean that we water-down what we believe because others don’t agree and may be offend by the message of the gospel NO! The gospel is an offence to other who reject it. We saw that in the opening chapter of this letter.

 

But we need to be sure that people are not put off or hurt because of our stupidity of insensitivity.

 

ILLUST: “Are we willing to open our homes to people” To invite them in knowing that they will infringe on our privacy – they might spill coffee on the carpet – the children might put dirty hand on your chair or damage your china.

 

May be your home is a bit shabby and you don’t have nice furniture and you don’t want people to know that – Are you willing to swallow your pride for the sake of others.

 

We can learn a lot from other cultures – Asian in RSA – always welcome in spite of poverty.

wooden boxes and no carpets. Dirt floors. BUT a smile and a glass of water.

 

3.THE EXAMPLE OF CHRISTIAN FREEDOM.

 

READ 11v1

 

There are some things that are altogether incompatible with life in Christ and they must be shunned. BUT there are other things that are of no consequence. We are free in regard to those things – free to give up our rights for the good of others.

 

Jesus set the example for us, Romans 15v3:

For even Christ did not please himself;

but, as it is written “The insults of

those who insult you have fallen on me”

 

Jesus Christ had the rights to the glories of Heaven but he was willing to give that up for our sakes. He did not die for himself – he died for us to make it possible for us to be reconciled to God and have our sins forgiven.

 

He is the example – giving up his right for the good of others! That is what he is asking us to do! We can’t do it until we have come to Christ for salvation and come into a living relationship with him.

 

Then he calls us to follow him – to live for him – putting others first and thus bringing glory to God.

 

We can’t do it in our own strength BUT whenever God asks us to do something he ALWAYS supplies the resources to accomplish it.

Though we are weak his grace is everything we need , –

we’re made of clay, but this treasure is within:

he turns our weaknesses into his opportunities,

so that the glory goes to HIM {Graham Kendrick}

FREEDOM TO BE FREE OR FREEDOM TO LOVE!

 

1 CORINTHIANS 8v1-13

 

INTRODUCTION.

 

Chapter 8:1 – 11:1 is dealing with the one overall subject of food offered to idols. As we have seen so many times – we can’t really understand the what Paul is saying unless we understand the historical setting in which he wrote. Food sacrificed to idols is not really something that you and I deal with in our everyday lives. It might be in other parts of the world but not in the part of 20th century England that we live in.

 

It seems clear from v.1 that Paul is writing in response to one of their inquiries in the letter they sent to him “Now about food offered to idols”  Why was this such an important issue in Corinth?

 

Corinth was a city that worshipped many gods and there were many temples dedicated to these gods. The eating of a cultic meal was a regular part of worship. These meals were sometimes State Festivals and at other times were private celebrations.

 

There was the preparation of the meal, the sacrifice itself and then the feast.  The sacrifice was divided into three portions, part burned before the god, part given to the worshipper and part place on the table before the god. This last portion was often taken out the back-door of the Temple and then sold in the public market place so that you could unwittingly be eating food that had been offered to an idol in someone’s home.

 

It does seem however that Paul is not deal in Ch.8 with the meat bought in the market but with the issue of eating at the temple itself. Most of the Gentile Christians in Corinth would have eaten in the Temples before their conversion. Bear in mind that the Temples were the basic restaurants of the day. They would eat there as we would eat at a restaurant or local pub!

 

There were two extremes to which the Corinthians were going in regard to Food offered to idols

– 1) the legalists who said “Don’t have anything to do with this meat because it is not pure.”

– 2) the libertines who said “ We are free from legalistic rules – offering food to a statue doesn’t change the meat in any way so we are free to eat what we like and eat it where we like.”

 

It is the second group that Paul is addressing in this chapter – those who are free – the libertines who consider those not like them to be the “weak”.

 

Before Paul actually deals with their questions about food offered to idols he lays down some important foundational truths.

 

 

 

 

1. THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE: “LOVE BUILDS UP”. [v1-3]

 

The word “Know” or “Knowledge” appears in this chapter a number of times. “Knowledge” was one of the “in” words at Corinth. We know that we all possess knowledge was possibly one of the slogans of the Corinthian Christians and Paul; is not disagreeing with that. BUT they were going further!

 

Their attitude becomes clear in v.2 The man who thinks he has arrived at knowledge [NOT NIV. knows something] Remember from previous chapters how the Corinthians thought the they Had already arrived. Their emphasis on the already as opposed to the not yet which affected their view of wisdom also here affects their view of knowledge.

 

These Corinthians had an inflated view of themselves and their knowledge. And as a results they thought of themselves as being better and stronger than those who did not share their view!

They considered themselves to have received a special kind of knowledge and it was possessing this special knowledge that made them super-spiritual and a cut about the rest!

 

“We know that this meat is not affected by being held up in front of an idol and therefore we are free to eat it when and where we like!”

 

Paul does not disagree that We all possess knowledge but he warns of their misuse of that knowledge.

Knowledge PUFFS UP,

but

love BUILDS UP.

 

On its own knowledge is inflated and empty. Christians need to be filled with love  because it is love that builds up.

 

ILLUST: If you prick a puffed up balloon it will burst. Lean on a built up wall and it will hold your weight.

 

It is so easy for us to think that we have all our theology all wrapped up and neatly packaged and to be able to articulate the niceties of Christian doctrine and we might even impress people by so doing. BUT how much closer are people brought to God??

 

Paul warns that the one who thinks he has already arrived at knowledge does not yet know as he ought to know [v2]. It is not simply that his knowledge is incomplete, although that is true, NOR is Paul point that “a little knowledge is dangerous”, although that is also true, BUT Paul’s point is that the one who “thinks he is in the Know” is in fact showing that he doesn’t yet have the real thing. i.e. LOVE.

 

It is not knowledge that makes us spiritual BUT love

the man who loves {God -NIV}

This one truly knows {or  is known}

 

Not “loves God” NIV but loves his brothers and sisters – which is of course an outworking of our love for God.

The basis for Christian behaviour is not knowledge BUT love. By this Paul does not mean that knowledge is unimportant. We need to know what we believe and why we believe it. We need to study and come to grips with the deep truths of scripture. BUT if that knowledge does not have an outworking in our love and care for each others then it has only served to puff up and not build up.

 

So we need to ask questions like, “Are people brought closer to God? Are Christians strengthened in their faith? Is our knowledge of God radiated and passed on by Love?”

 

There is a warning in this passage about those teachers or systems that entice to receive “special insight” or “deeper revelation” that will put us one-up. This leads to pride and alienates rather than building up. Knowledge without love is a dangerous thing. The way of love supersedes the way of knowledge

 

2. THE FOUNDATIONAL TRUTH: ONE GOD, ONE LORD! [V4-6]

 

Paul now returns to the matter of food offered to idols.

This group of Corinthians Christians who had no conscience about eating food offered to idols and eating it in the temple reasoned thus: “We know that there is only one God and one Lord and that these idols are nothing but dumb pieces of wood, stone, gold and silver.”

 

We read Ps.115 which describes these gods.

 

Therefore they reasoned that if this idol is not a god then it can’t effect the meat therefore we are free to eat it.

 

Paul readily with their theology but not with their practice as we have seen and will come to again in the last few verses of the chapter.

 

If we simply took the catch-phrase of the Corinthians “There is no God but one” we could argue that everyone is really worshipping the same God. We might give them different names and we may worship in different ways but really it is all the same.

This syncretistic/universalistic mood pervades the society in which we live. That is why inter-faith worship has become so popular and you can stand alongside a Hindu and a Muslim and any other kind of religious adherent and be quite happy. BUT in so doing you side-step or reject the central message of the Christian Faith.

 

Paul is adamant in these verses that we worship the one God – Father – the creator and sustainer of all things AND Jesus Christ who is also creator and sustainer and therefore equal to God. NOT just a prophet as the Muslims believe or a good teacher as some teach.

 

The foundation of the Christian Faith is that God the Father is the ONLY God and that Jesus Christ is Divine and the Only Saviour and the Only way to God. And the Holy Spirit is the ONLY one who can give spiritual live and that these three are ONE GOD. Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 

All these other god are simply “so-called gods” and exist only in the minds of their worshippers.

 

It is not the wood or stone that has any power but rather what is behind it! In 10v20 Paul gives a warning about this very thing “…the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons”

 

ILLUST: Hindu boy worshipping Monkey god – jumps into tree and chatters. No power in the monkey but power behind is Satan

 

Muslim Saint worship – trances – young skinny teenager throwing off 4 grown men – no power in dead saint but power of the Devil .

 

Satan in the Prince of This World and he will substitute anything to deflect us from worshipping the One true God.

 

Paul now goes on in the remaining verses to explain how the Fundamental Principle of “Love builds up” and the Foundational Truth of “One God and One Lord” Have there outworking in practical Christian behaviour.

 

3. THE FOREMOST CONSIDERATION: OTHERS FIRST! [V7-13]

 

READ v7-8

 

Whether they eat the idol food or not really has no spiritual value and is of no consequence to God ultimately.

 

BUT while all know at a theoretical level that an idol is nothing it had been so much part of their lives and so dominant in their lives for so long that it was difficult to possess that knowledge at an experiential and emotional level. While they were pagans these “gods” and “lords” had been very real to them and it would take time to break away from that for some of them.

 

Remember that Paul is addressing the “Strong” or at least those who consider themselves to be strong – those who think of themselves as “free”.

 

READ v9-13

 

For the “weak” – “weak of conscience” – eating in the temple food that had been offered to an idol could well be the thing that would cause them to slide back into paganism and away from God. And says Paul to the “strong”, “If you are encouraging them to do that then you will be guilty of destroying them by your so called knowledge!”

 

1) Those who are the “strong” were going to the Temples and eating food offered to idols.

2) They were also encouraging the “weak” to do the same and indeed putting them under pressure.

3)  The problem with the “weak” is NOT so much that they are offended by what  the “Knowing-ones” are doing BUT it was going to the temple and eating – What was simply FOOD to the strong was to the weak Food sacrificed to idols and it was not the food that would destroy them BUT the idolatry inherent in eating in the temple.

 

Again it is not the food or the idol but what is behind it that has the power – Satan.

 

So Paul here brings in what has become know as the stumbling block principle. The stumbling block principle is not simply offending some overly sensitive person who has a hang up about some particular non-essential:

 

ILLUST: We must not move the pulpit because so-and so will be offended.

We must not have drums or guitars in church because only a piano or organ are worshipful.    SOME are simply TOUCHY and will always be offended by something.

 

That is not the stumbling block principle. It is actively encouraging someone to do something that will destroy their faith. And doing it because we feel that we have the right knowledge and should have the right to exercise our freedom.

 

When we insist on OUR freedom and OUR rights at the expense of others then we are on dangerous ground. We live in a society that is very individualistic. My rights and my freedom – what I feel is my due is all that is important and if that impinges on another’s rights well too bad!!

 

We must not allow that thinking to predominant in the Church of Christ.

 

ILLUST: A Christian who had an alcohol problem before being saved! It would be wrong for a fellow Christian to pressurize him to go to the pub and encourage him to have a drink Knowing that it could cast him to fall back into alcoholism!

 

The strong Christian is not the one who insists on his/her rights as the Corinthians were doing BUT rather the strong are those who because of the knowledge and love for God and their fellow believers are willing to give up their rights for the sake of others.

If you are in bondage to exercise your freedom then you are not free.

Christians are so free that they are free not to exercise their freedom!!

 

ILLUST: Muslims friends when missionaries – did not eat pork in front of them. Not because I don’t like pork but it is an offense to them.

 

V.11 – Christ died for the weak brother – If we are going to love like Christ loved which is the goal and what God wants from us then we, like Christ must be willing to give up our rights and our freedom for the sake of the other.

 

If we cause another to stumble we are sinning against him / her and also against Christ. Love builds up the body of Christ, the Church, when we by our behaviour cause another to fall we are in danger of damaging not only the individual concerned but also the body of Christ.

 

ILLUST: Church where I grew up – split because a group became preoccupied with [obsessed] with a particular theological view and when the rest of the church would not go along they left cause great damage to the church.

 

The principle therefore is v.13 [Paul’s example]

Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to sin,

I will never eat meat again, so that I will not

cause him to fall.

 

The issue is not offending someone in the church simply because they are touchy BUT it has to do with our conduct that others would emulate and cause them hurt.

Or worse actively urging people to do certain things because of our so called superior knowledge.

 

The other danger that needs to be avoided and which would be an illegitimate use of the stumbling block principle is this: Those who feel that they have been offended trying to force others to conform to their own idiosyncrasies of behaviour.

 

ILLUST: I thinks it is wrong for women to wear makeup trousers therefore it is wrong and I will try to force others to follow my ideas.

 

Paul’s whole point in this passage is that as God’s people living in community with each other we are to build each other up in love – putting the needs of others before our own rights. Without one group demanding their own behaviour of others.

 

True knowledge is not academic but practical – expressing itself in acts and attitudes of love and kindness so that others can be built up and God glorified.

SEX, MARRIAGE AND THE BELIEVER. [Part 1]

 

1 CORINTHIANS 6V12 – 7V40

 

INTRODUCTION. [6v12-20]

 

READ 6v12-20.

 

“I want the freedom to express myself and to find my own fulfillment. To reach my potential without anyone hindering me in any way. This is my right! I have the right to do what I with my life what I want to do!”

 

Freedom of expression is the axiom of many. “I can do what I like!” “Everything is permissible for me.” [6:12]. This is a philosophy of life that covers every aspect of life no less the area of sex and marriage.

 

Like the Corinthians we live in a society that is obsessed with sex. Corinthian was the Red light District of the first century. Prostitution is certainly not new and exists in many, if not all societies.  When society becomes obsessed with sex all kinds of diviant and perverted practices occur.

 

ILLUST: The News Agents in our society are full of magazines and newspapers not only porteaying these things but also advertising for its readers to get involved. Prostitution [massage or sex dates] Gays and lesbians, Couples with couples and every other kind of perversion.

 

1. SEXUAL FREEDOM AND CHRISTIAN LIBERTY.

 

Paul was writing to the Corinthian Church who lived in such a society and out of which many of the members had come. Some it would seem were still involved in these practices, because their philosphy was “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food!” “Sex for the body and the body for sex”

 

Part of the reason for such a view was that some thought that “it is the soul that is important and the body is unimportant therefore I don’t need to really care what I do with my body”

This kind of dualism has also infected the Church throughout its history even to the present day so that we get this emphasis on “SAVING SOULS” as if people are really disembodied spirits.

 

People are body and soul and when we are redeemed we are redeemed body and soul. God is not only concerned about us as souls but also about our bodies and what we do with them. “The body is for the Lord and the Lord for the body [v13]

 

As Christians our bodies do not belong to us but to the Lord and are to be used for his glory. We live in Christ and he lives in us. How then, Paul argues, can you Corithians even contemplate being united to a prostitute “NEVER!!” It was unthinkable! Sexual intercourse united a man and a woman so that they become “One Flesh”  Paul reminds them that this is what God had said to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

 

All sin is sin! BUT sexual sin is different, not worse, in that it unites the body to anothers body. In a sexual relationship there is something of the individual that is given away that cannot be taken back – it is gone!

 

Far from our bodies being important as some of the corinthian Christians thought, they were important enough for Christ to die for! He died for all of me, not just my souls but all of me body and soul. Therefore Paul concludes that:

You are not you own, you have been bought with a price,

therefore honour God with your body” [v20]

 

Using one’s body for sexual immorality is certainly NOT honouring to God! Sexual immorality has no place in a Christian’s behaviour! Christian liberty is not equal to sexual freedom!!

 

Not only does sexual immorality affect the individual but it also affects the whole of society.

 

Mary Whitehouse “What a man or woman does with his or her sexual energy will decide not only the quality of their own lives, but the kind of world they live in.”   “When sex in deformed, cheapened and exploited then the potentiality of life and the whole social fabric of society deteriorates.”

 

Here Paul has dealt with sexual immorality, which includes the things mentioned early in Ch.6 viz. homosexuality, adultery, fornication and prostitution.

He has dealt with areas where sexual relationships are not permissible. He goes on to talk about marriage – in the biblical view the only relationship in which sexual activity is permissible.

 

2. MARRIAGE AND SEXUAL ABSTINENCE [7V1-7]

 

READ 7v1-7.

 

“The first sexual thought in the universe was God’s not man’s” Doug Barnett.

Because sex has be abused and cheapened we are in danger of always seeing it as dirty. It is not! It is God’s idea – he is the one who made male and female and said be fruitful and multiple!

 

We said earlier that the corinthians had this dualistic concept  – dividing body and soul. Some said that it didn’t matter what you did with your body! Licence!

Others said that, because the soul is the impotant part we must not gratify the body and give in to physical desires. These were the ones who considered themselves to be super-spiritual.

 

Their slogans was “It is good for a man not to touch a woman” I do not believe the NIV is a good translation “not to marry” [v.1] “To touch a woman was a well known Jewish euphemism meaning sexual intercourse.

 

This is not Paul’s view. I believe that he is quoting from their letter. It would seem that there were those in the Corinthian Church who were saying that all sexual activity is wrong and that married couples must abstain if they want to be really spiritual.

 

Paul warns against this – it is not a good idea! I puts too much pressure on the relationship and it is not what God wants. God created sexuality to be enjoyed.  In fact Paul says that husbands and wives have a conjugal duty to each other and for one to deprive the other is not acceptable.

 

Don’t deprive each other…

 

ILLUST: When sex is used as a weapon in a marriage to manipulate or punish each other then the marriage is on dangerous ground – generally we think of women using it as a weapon because that is often how it is portrayed – but men are equally guilty.

 

Once I am married I no longer have exclusive right to my body. The husband belongs to the wife and vice-versa. In fact witholding these conjugal rights Paul says that the partners who is doing that is depriving [defrauding – he uses legal language].

If this witholding of conjugal rights goes on to long it can give Satan a foothold. He makes a concession for prayer BUT no for long because Satan will use every opportiunity to break up the marriage relationship.

 

Today Satan is very active – if he can destroy marriages within the Church then he will. When the family is weakened the church is weakened – when the family breaks up society as a whole is weakened.

STATISTICS: In England and Wales [since 1980] the number of marriages has declined by 10.5% while the nymber of divorces has risen by 3.5%.

 

So Paul is not against marriage or sexual relationships but they must occur within the boundries that God has set. Paul warns the Corinthians not to be so “super-spiritual” as to neglect the physical side of their marriages because it is not spiritual at all. Abstinence is a concession not a command.

 

Then comes this controversial verse which some have used to say that Paul was against marriage.

I wish that all men were as I am [v7]

ie. single {he may have been married but no longer} -You must complete the verse

But each man has his own gift from God

one has this gift, another has that.

 

Paul recognises that celibacy is a gift which he has been given by God. It is not a requirement for every believer nor is it a requirement for a certain group of clergy.

His reason for wishing all men to be single like himself is not because he is opposed to marriage BUT because he is so pasioned for the gospel to be preached to the whole world and in his opinion [as we will see later in the chapter] it is easier to do that when you are single. BUT that does not mean that he is against marriage.

 

Paul is a realist and recognises that sexual drives are very strong and natural and that not all have the gift of celibacy, therefore he qualifies his statement:

 

READ v8-9

 

Celibacy is for the celebate and a sexual life in marriage is another kind of gift. Too many still treat sex as though it is the privelge of the husband and the duty of the wife. NOT SO!! It is the privelege and duty of both together. Each belongs mutually to each other.

 

3. MARRIED BELIEVERS WANTING TO SEPARATE [V.10-11]

 

There were those in the Church at Corinth who were advocating that in order to be really spiritual you had to be single – possibly even using Paul as an example. Paul is quick to refute this position. Neither a believing husband or wife must leave their believing spouse. He is speaking to Christians here.

 

Divorce is a very sad fact of life in our society and sadly it has also affected the Church.  The effects of divorce are devastating.

 

STATS: England and Wales – 1971 -74 000 divorces

                                             1991 – 159 000 divorces

Each week 3076 children caught up in divorce. At present levels 1/4 children will experience divorce before 16.

Re-divorce is common – in past 10 years it has risen by 103%

Economics – {27 million a week spent on divorce/separation – 1988

                     UK companies {200 million per year due to marital breakdown

 

Before we are quick to pass judgement – divorce is not the unforgiveable sin. The Church has often been guilty of treating divorcees in that way.

While divorce is not the ideal – there are circumstances were it is necessary [e.g. – for the safety of spouse and children].

If you have been divorced  your life is not over. Our God is a loving, forgiven God who is in the business of rebuilding lives. With God there are always new beginnings.

 

Remeber Paul here is speaking about divorce for ascetic reasons and between Christians. How can Christians who cannot be reconciled as a couple preach a message of reconciliation. Therefore he says if they do/have separated then they should be reconciled.

 

4. BELIEVERS MARRIED TO UNBELIEVERS WANTING TO SEPARATE [v12-16]

 

READ v12-16

 

Paul is continuing with the theme of divorce – obviously some Corinthian Christians thought that if their spouse was not a believer then they most seek a divorce. Maybe it was even being taught.

 

No say Paul – the believer most not initiate divorce for the reason that their spouse is not a believer. There may be other grounds for divorce [adultery and/ or safety of children or self]

WHY? Marriage is institued by God. It is his idea! Whether a couple are Chrictian or not marriage is still sacred. Marriage is ordained by God. THEREFORE in the marriage service “What God has joined let no man separated”

 

Paul’s point is that the marriage should be kept together. BUT what does he mean by “NOT BOUND” in v15. READ. Does it mean that the Christian partner is now free to remarry? I don’t believe you can answer that question from this passage! Paul is not addressing remarriage he is talking about divorce! THEREFORE if the unbelieving partner leaves the believers can do little about it -“Let him go” You can’t be bound by the ruling to keep the marriage together if your partner has walked out. One is simply not underbondage to maintain the marriage which the otyher wishes to dissolve!

 

This does not mean that Paul disallows remarriage in such circumstances but he is not addressing that issue here!

 

In our society in most of these situations it is the wife who is the Christian but not always. And Paul addresses both here equally.

 

Stay with your spouse and be the best husband/wife you can possibly be in the hope that God in his grace will save them too.

Peter gives similar advice to wives in his letter:

Wives in the same way be submissive to your husbands,

so that if any of them do not believe the word, they

may be won over without words by the behaviour of their

wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.

[1 Peter 3v1-2]

 

ILLUST: My mother became a Christian after she was married – about the time I was born – she prayed for and stayed with my father for another 25 years before he was converted. It wasn’t easy. But God was gracious and saved ny Dad two years before he died.

 

Being married to a person who is an unbeliever is no ground for divorce!

 

CONCLUSION.

 

Paul’s concern is that we are to serve Christ were we are in the circumstances we are in.

Live holy lives by not getting involved in sexual immoralty. Also live holy lives by being the best husbands/wives you can possibly be so that your spouse if not a believer may become one in God’s grace.

 

 

 

 

SEX, MARRIAGE AND THE BELIEVER. [Part 2]

 

SUMMARY OF PART 1 AND INTRODUCTION TO PART 2.

 

So far in this section of I Corinthians from 6v12 Paul has been answering the Corinthians questions about sex and marriage and the responsiblities of husbands and wives.

 

Remember it was the Corinthians who had said in 7v1:

It is good for a man not to touch a woman [to marry NIV]

i.e. to have a sexual relationship with a woman.

 

Paul is quoting from their letter. This was the view of some of the Corinthians because they had a wrong view of the body and soul. They concentrated on the soul to the exclusion of the body. Their thinking was that to have a sexual relationship with your wife/husband was unspiritual. Paul  condemned sexual immorality in ch.6. BUT he also comdemns the Corinthinas view that sexual intercourse within marriage is wrong!

 

This view says Paul is quite ridiculous because it was God who made male and female and sex was originally God’s idea and not man’s.

 

Those who are married must not seek a divorce/separation even if their spouse is an unbeliever. BUT if the unbeliving spouse wants to leave then the believer is not bound to the ruling to stay in the relationship. Let the unbeliever go if that is what they want.

 

Paul now moves on to get theological reason as to why they should not seek to change their marital status.

 

5. BE CONTENT WITH THE PLACE GOD HAS ASSIGNED YOU. [v17-24]

 

READ v17-24.

 

We don’t want to get bogged down in the details of this passage. Paul is now giving a theological reason for his view that you must not seek to change you marital status when you become a Christian.

 

Paul is giving the general principle for what he has just said about not changing marriage status and is applying it to life in general as well as matters of marriage.

 

Paul is saying that God is not so much concerned about your social status as he is about your spiritual calling.

God who has called you into fellowship

with his son, is faithful [1v9]

 

 

The calling the Paul is talking about is conversion and NOT our career or social position. When God saved you he knew all about your position in this life. He knew if you were married or not. He knew if you were a slave or a freeman, a Jew or  a Gentile. He knows if you have a difficult home life or unreasonable boss at work.

 

Paul is not saying that change should never happen. But what he is saying to the Corinthians is that they must NOT think that changing their social position will make them more spiritual. Such change has no real religious significance.

 

The Gospel transcends and eliminates all merely social distinction. [cf.12v13]:

We were all baptised in one Spirit into

one body – whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free.

 

 

Paul uses two illustrations to drive home his point.

 

Circumcision/Uncircumcision – If you are a Jew then stay that way [I can’t imagine how someone could become uncircumcised] If you are a Gentile don’t go and get circumcised.  Both situations in themselves count for nothing.  For the Jew circumcision was a sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham.

 

Paul was proud to be a Jew and he loved his own people. But he was opposed to what the Corinthians were teaching Because it weakened the message of the Gospel. You can be saved but you must also do something else. [i.e. Faith plus…..]

 

The most important issue is that we obey God in all things.

 

Each one should remain in the situation

in which he was when God called him [v20]

Paul’s argument is that when God called us we were in a particular situation and we are to remain there so that we can be an influence to the sake of the gospel. [i.e. a believing spouse with and unbelieving husband/wife]

 

In case we begin to think that Paul is against all change we need to look at the next illustration that he gives.

Slaves/freemen – By telling slaves to “stay as you are” Paul is not condoning slavery. If they are able to obtain their freedom then they must do so BUT a slave is free in Christ and his physical slavery is totally eclipsed by his spiritual freedom.  Also, those who are free physically are in fact slaves of Christ anyway.

 

What was happening in Corinth was that some young Christians were being influenced to change their situation by so called “mature believers” but by so doing they were in fact becoming slaves of men – following sets of rules.

ILLUST: There are of course situations that must change if you become a Christian. Obviously organised crime, gambling and prostitution are not compatiable with the Christian life.

 

We must not be quick to change after conversion because God wants to use us where we are. If and when the time is right to change God will move us. Paul is not saying change must never happen but rather that we must avoid it simply for the sake of change.

 

God is in control – the situation in which you find yourself is also under God’s control.  Paul is not saying that things must never change BUT rather that whether they were slaves or free, rich or poor, married or single, black or white, is ultimeately irrelavant. What counts says Paul is not our social standing nor our sociological conditions BUT what is important is keeping God’s commands.

 

We live in a very mobile culture where upward social advancement is almost a duty.

It is easy in our society to think that if we have material wealth and an education then we are well off and if we don’t then we are deprived. But what does that matter to God. Will that add to our salvation?? NO!! Our worldly status and possessions carry no weight with God.

 

We belong to God “you have been bought with a price, do not become slaves to men” [v23] by following man made legalistic rules.  Christians are slaves to the one who has set them free.

 

6. TO THE NEVER-BEFORE-MARRIED [v25-38]

 

READ v25-28

 

Those who are engaged and those who haven’t yet found a fiance!

 

Virgins – probably refers here to men and women -or at least including the men engaged to the virgins .

V27  NIV not good – “Engaged” rather than “married”.

 

Paul clearly perfers singleness BUT this he insists is his opinion NOT the Lord’s command.

His reasons – we are no longer living for this world but for the Kingdom of God. This world is passing away and the time to spread the gospel is short. So his one reason is that in view of that fact that this world in passing away we should be careful not to get too bogged down in its affairs.

He also favours singleness because of the “Present Distress” – We do not know what exactly this was but it seems clear that things were not easy for Christians. Nero’s persecution was beginning – the Jews had had a difficult time and possibly Paul’s concern was that to be married when life was so difficult made it even more so difficult.

 

ILLUST: Who in the midst of the Bosnian civil war or Rwandan civil war would be thinking of marriage.

 

Now the situation in Corinth was not Civil War but things were not peaceful for the Christians of the Roman Empire. So Paul reasons for singleness are NOT theological but practical and pastoral. That is why he says in v.25 This is not a command from the lord

 

The Corinthians who were advocating singleness had other reasons. i.e. they were teaching that it was sinful to marry  “it is good for a man not to touch a woman” and were possibly using Paul as an example.

 

Paul is at pains to distance himself from their reasons while he does prefer singleness in the present circumstances.

Some of the Corinthians were saying that to marry is sin. Paul bluntly denies that:

..if you do marry you have not sinned

 and if a virgin marries she has not sinned [v.28]

 

Paul’s concern is that because of the difficult days in which they live those who are married will have the additional concern of a spouse.

 

If we took vv29-31 out of context they would make strange reading!

 

READ V29-31

 

These verses are pure rhetoric!  Paul is not saying that we must ignore our spouses, be unhappy and never buy anything!! That would not fit the context – nor the teaching of Paul elsewhere.

 

This world in its present form is passing away [v32]

 

Those who have come to Christ are KINGDOM people – their goal is therefore not this world but the one to come.We are to live in this world just like everyone else – marrying, sorrowing, rejoicing, buying and making use of what we buy – BUT none of these things are to determine our lives.  The Christian is marked by eternity. We must not allow the things of this life and this world to dominate our existence!

 

We are to adopt a whole new worldview. Paul concern is beyond staying single or getting married – these belong to the realm of that which is passing away.

 

Because we know what the end will be we need to order our lives accordingly and get our priorities straight.

 

ILLUST: The analogy of telling a joke! The punchline shapes the telling of the story. Because of the resurrection of Christ Christians know the Divine punchline {which is not a joke but a reality} Because we have a clear view of the outcome of the story we should be shaping our lives accordingly.

 

Paul returns to the extra pressures placed on married people in vv 32 – 35.

 

READ V32-35.

 

Paul is not making a moral judgement in this passage he is simply stating the fact. A person who is single and has no children will have more time available.

 

ILLUST: I know many single people who have a wonderful minstry. [John Stott, Dick Lucas, numerous single lady missionaries]

 

But being Single does not automatically lead to being more spiritual! Ultimately it is a matter of Gift! And we have to serve God with the gifts that He has given us! If one has the gift of  marriage then serving the best we can as a married person. If the gift of singleness then serving the best we can as a single person.

 

It is not a matter of one being superior to the other BUT of unhindered devotion to the Lord.

 

 “Live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord”.

 

The situation in Corinth is in many ways opposite to the situation in the western Church today. In Corinth they were teaching that to be married was really to have settled for second best. The singles were considered to be the spiritual ones.

 

In our churches very often it is the singles who are often left out or sidelined. Paul shows that both these views are wrong!

If you marry you are not sinning! If you remain single you are not sinning!

You see the Corinthian were striving to be holy by avoiding sexual relations! How ridiculous!! How can sex be sinful if it was God’s idea in the first place!

 

It is not a matter of being married or unmarried BUT a matter of devotion to Christ no matter what our marital status.

 

 

v36-38 Paul gives advice to those engaged to be married but who are in turmoil because of this false idea of holiness in Corinth.

 

READ v36-38.

 

Basically he is saying to these engaged people, “If you don’t have the gift of celibacy then get married, it would be foolish not to.”  But equally, “Don’t feel under pressure that you must marry if you think that is not right for you.”

 

 

If you marry you are doing RIGHT If you don’t marry you are also doing RIGHT [BETTER]

What does he mean when he says “better” ? Paul’s preference is singleness but he has been at pains to point out that singleness is NOT suprior to marriage.

Paul affirms marriage very strongly!

 

 

He affirms that those who have lost their spouse through death are free to remarry if the so choose

READ v39-40.

 

Paul in these verses lays down a vital principle for Christians who are to marry. It must be in the Lord. If you become a believer after marriage then stay with your unbelieving spouse. BUT if embarking on marriage a believer must “Not be unequally yoke together with an unbeliever”

 

ILLUST: Many who have marry in this way have suffered for many years. Somtimes God is gracious but usually it is the believer who ends up compromising their faith.

 

Paul main point in all this is that whether married or single we are to be devoted to Christ!
Marriage is to be held in High honour and the marriage bed is sacred. Any sexual involvement outside of marriage is abhorrent to God. BUT sexual relations within marriage are good and wholesome and given by God to be enjoyed!

 

We should therefore work hard at building good marriages and homes in which children can grow up in love and security. Christian homes that are open to a world that is hurting because of family breakdown. Where those who are hurting can come and feel loved and accepted. Churches that reachout to a hurting world. BUT our church will only be as open and welcoming as we are as people and that includes our homes!

 

In terms of sex and marriage, our society for the most part has lost it way because they have turned away from God! Christians need to model and alternative lifestyle! Life that reflects the ethics of the Kingdom of  God!

LAWSUITS AMONG BELIEVERS

1 CORINTHIANS 6v1-11.

 

INTRODUCTION.

 

ILLUST: The week before last [May 1994] on the national TV news a case was reported of a golfer who having been accused by two fellow player of cheating, took them to court and lost his liable case. Now is faced with a bill of 250 000 Pounds.

 

These days if anything goes wrong in Hospital or school or with the neighbours, people are very quick to go to court and sue for damages. Sometime people are afraid to help those in need because if something goes wrong they could be sued.

 

There are cases where legal action is necessary. BUT very often it is simply greed and the motivation is self gain and sums of money gained are out of all proportion to the offence.

 

When a celebrity is awarded millions for a defamatory newspaper article and a rape victim is offered BP500.00 for a holiday and the rapist gets a suspended sentence then something is sadly wrong.

 

Litigation has become a way of life in our society.

 

Litigation was a way of life in Corinthian society! The Corinthians were very quick to take each other to court. And of course the courts were public – the famous Bema  [the judgement seat] was located in the heart of the market place.

 

The Corinthians Christians were so used to arguing and disputing and suing one another before they became Christians that they continued the practice after they became Christians without thinking of the wider issues involved.

 

They had continued this practice because they had misunderstood some key aspects of what it meant to be a Christian.

They misunderstood the Real position they had as God’s people in relation to the World. [v.1-6]

They misunderstood the correct attitude they should have had in relation to one another. [v.7-8]

They misunderstood the correct attributes they should have exhibited in relation to God’s standards of righteousness. [v.9-11]

 

1. THEIR CORRECT POSITION AS THE PEOPLE OF GOD. [v.1-6]

 

Paul’s tone in this first 6 vv. is a mixture of horror, sarcasm and rhetoric.

If anyone of you has a dispute with another,

dare he take it before the ungodly for judgement

instead of before the saints [v1]

 

Paul is outraged! The gall of the man to even consider such action!

You may be saying, “Well I have never taken a fellow Christian to court!” And I hope that you never will but we can be guilty of the same attitude. What was the motivation behind these court cases! Well these Corinthian Christians were fulfilling what they thought were their rights. I have a right to defend myself, don’t I?  After all, what about the spirit of fair play?

 

Sometimes we can get onto our high-horse and defend our rights and be very self-righteous. We might not actually go to law but we are going to get our pound of flesh.

 

Why is Paul so angry? Was it because they could not agree? I am sure that he wished they could agree BUT his anger is at the fact that they are taking their cases before the “Ungodly”. Paul did not mean that Roman Law was necessarily unjust. He deals with the Christians relationship to the civil law else where [e.g. Rom.13]. His meaning is that the “ungodly” are those who are outside of the body of Christ. They are outside the kingdom of God .They are not Christians.

 

He then proceeds to explain why it is so outrageous for Christians to take their cases before civil authorities.

 

READ v.2-4.

 

How Christians will judge the world and angels we are not told – we are not given many details but we do know that we will reign with Christ. When Paul speaks here of judging angels I believe that he is speaking of fallen angels [2 Peter 2v4; Jude 6]

 

 

Some of you will be asking – How is it possible that here Paul is saying that we will judge the world and angels and yet in 5v12 he says:

What business is it of mine to judge those

outside the Church? Are we not to judge

those inside? God will judge those outside.

 

The difference is in the kind of judgement. In ch.5 he is speaking of present judgement of people who make up the world, and it is not our business to judge them. But in ch. 6 he is speaking about the final judgement of the world as a whole, the entire anti-God system of things that will come under God’s judgement. Somehow the saints will be involved in this judgement.

 

Is it not true that when we begin to evaluate our lives and our conflicts with others in the light of eternity they seem completely trivial and unimportant. The Corinthians hadn’t grasped this true.

Remember a few weeks back we look at the problem of the Corinthian Christians thinking that they had already arrived.

 

They considered themselves to be wise and strong and honoured:

We are fools but you are so wise in Christ!

We are weak, but you are strong!

You are honoured, we are dishonoured [4v10]

 

We live in the tension between the already and the not yet – The Corinthians were putting too much emphasis on the ALREADY and not enough on the NOT YET.

 

If indeed they had already arrived as they claimed they would see that taking each other to court had no place amongst them. That these disputes were trivial in the light of the eternal judgement.

 

Paul’s argument is that when believers have earthly quarrels among themselves, and we do, it would be naive to think that we never have any differences – But when these disputes do arise it is inconceivable to think that those who will rule eternally with Christ should try to settle their disputes through courts runs by unbelievers.

 

If two Christians cannot settle a difference between them then they should ask a mature godly Christians to settle the matter and then be willing to abide by that decision.

 

It is an extremely poor testimony when Christians hang their dirty washing in public! We are not saying that we are trying to present an image that we are perfect – that we have arrived. That would be falling into the same trap that the Corinthians fell into. We need to be real and open and honest even about our weaknesses and failures but as God’s people we should be able, with God help to deal with any problems amongst our self without legal action.

 

When we cannot solve our disputes we shame ourselves.

I say this to shame you!

Is there no one wise enough to

judge a dispute between believers? [v5]

 

This verse is dripping with sarcasm. What have we seen in the first few chapters – the Corinthian Christians thought themselves to be so wise. They were very proud of their wisdom and philosophy and looked down on the apostle Paul because he was not in their eyes wise or eloquent.  Paul says, “You are so wise but you can’t even settle trivial disputes”

 

Ideally Christians should never take each other to court. Sadly it does happen. Sometime one party has moved so far from Christ that they are no longer following him.

 

ILLUST: A Christians who is being divorced by his/her spouse has no choice but to go through the courts. Sometimes for the protection of a neglected or abused child we need to seek court protection.

 

If you are forced to go to court the aim should be to glorify God, to see justice done but not for selfish gain. The text does not deal with what a Christians should do when defrauded by an unbeliever – but even here public litigation would hopefully be the last resort. The emphasis being on being a good witness and upholding justice and not selfish gain.

 

So Paul goes on to deal with:-

 

 

2. THE CORRECT ATTITUDE OF GOD’S PEOPLE. [v7-8]

 

READ v7-8.

 

ILLUST: In the 1970’s two international mission agencies took each others to court in the USA. The gospel was dishonoured and the credibility of not only these agencies but Christian work in general was undermined and suffered untold damage.

 

They both lost – I don’t mean financially although maybe they did – but the real damage was spiritual, to them and to the gospel itself. For Christians to go to law is admitting defeat and dishonouring to God because we are saying that our God can’t help us in this matter! No wonder Paul says “SHAME ON YOU!”

 

When we cannot settle our disputes it because one is unrepentant or one is unwilling to forgive or both.

If we have been wronged it is better to endure the wrong – rather than to have a public dispute.

 

We might not go to court and therefore think that this passage doesn’t apply to us  – wrong! If we have been wronged and then go about canvassing support for our position from others in order to balster self and put down the others then we are just as guilty!!

 

As we saw last Sunday evening we are to forgive one another even as God in Christ has forgiven us

 

In Luke 17 Jesus said to his disciples:

If your brother sins, rebuke him,

if he repents forgive him.

If he sins against you seven times in a day

and seven times comes back to you and

says “I repent”, forgive him.

The apostles said to the Lord,

“Increase our faith!”

 

It is not surprising the apostles said, “LORD INCREASE OUR FAITH!” That kind of forgiveness does not come naturally. And even if our fellow Christian does not repent  Paul tells us here that it is better to suffer wrong than to be guilty of dishonouring the name of Christ in public.

 

It is not possible for one Christian to sue another Christian and win – spiritually.

Our primary concern should not be to protect our possessions or our rights BUT to protect our relationship with God and our relationship with our fellow believers.

 

When we try to settle our disputes in public we are behaving like the world the Paul has just reminded us we will one day judge with Christ. We are behaving like the wicked.

 

 

3. THE TRUE CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD. [V9-11].

 

READ v9-10

 

Paul is not here giving a list of sins that if committed will lose us our salvation. Rather it is a catalog of sinner who are typical of unbelievers and this is not an exhaustive list. God is a righteous God and his kingdom is a righteous kingdom. It is the unrighteous who exclude themselves from the kingdom of a righteous God.

They exclude themselves by their chosen behaviour. God’s kingdom is characterised but righteousness and compassion and those who insist on living by different standards – standards other than God’s standards – will not be there.

 

That is why we need to be living righteous lives as a witness to the world and out of the context of our living telling people about the good news of Jesus Christ’s salvation so that God in his grace will redeem them.

 

Here Paul is not talking about isolated acts of unrighteousness – we al sin, we are not perfect. Rather he is talking about a way of life that is alien to the kingdom of God that is persistently pursued.

 

Corinth in Paul’s day was one of the sex Capitals of the world. It is not surprising therefore that he mentions so many sexual offenders.

 

Sexually immoral -[fornicators] sex between unmarried.

Adulterers – sexual relations  of married with those other than there partners.

Male-prostitutes  – call boys

Homosexuals – men with men [covering women with women]. Emperor Nero is said to have taken a young boy as his “wife”.

It is not popular to speak against these things today. Premarital sex is accepted in society. Open marriages are common placed -i.e. partner swopping.

If you speak out against homosexuality then you are accused of being a gay-basher.

 

What are these things wrong? Because God’s creation order was that sexual relationships were to take place only between a man and a woman who are married. Ant sexual activity outside of those boundaries is wrong! We will be dealing with this more in the weeks ahead.

 

BUT notice Paul places alongside these sexual sins – idolators,

Thieves and the greedy [greedy or covetous – those who desire what belongs to others; thieves actually take it].

Drunkards – excessive alcohol consumption [could included drugs – anything which causes you to lose control].

Slanderers – those who destroy with the tongue.

Swindlers – those who steal indirectly through things like shading business deals.

 

Bearing in mind the kind of city Corinth was with its gross immorality and corruption we can begin to appreciate something of the miracle of the church there. It was made up of these kinds of people.

And this is what some of you were! [v11]

 

Amazing that God can take people like that and make them into his people. Amazing that God can take people like us and make us His people. We like the Corinthians were guilty of the same kinds of sins.

 

BUT … BUT … BUT  3x Paul now uses the strongest contrasting word in the Greek language to show the difference between what they were and what they now are.

Paul has had some hard things to say to them but he can’t end without encouraging them by reminding them of what god has done.

 

BUT you were washed

BUT you were sanctified

BUT you were justified,

in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ

and by the Spirit of our God. [v11]

 

Paul reminds them, and us, that they have been washed from the sin of their former lifestyle.

They have been sanctified – set apart by God for holy Godly living that stand in stark contrast to their former way of life.

Once they were “unjust” – cut off from God and his kingdom – now have been justified, declared righteous by God and have been brought into His Kingdom and will one day inherit it in its fullness.

 

How is this possible? It has been made possible by the love and power of the triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 

A life transformed by God should produce transformed living. In the light of what God has saved us from and in the light of what we will one day become we must strive to live at peace with one another. Settling disputes in a spirit of repentance and forgiveness. Not publicly or for selfish gain. So that our fellowship with God and each other is unhindered and our witness to the world is strong and true and God is glorified.

 

Make me a channel of your peace;

where there is hatred, let me bring your love;

where there is injury your pardon, Lord;

and where there is doubt true faith in you.

 

18 January, 2013

1 CORINTHIANS 4v1 – 21

 

LEADERS AND THE PEOPLE

 

INTRODUCTION.

 

In the preceeding chapter Paul was at pains to show that there was no difference in the status of leaders; they all are appointed by God to do different functions and there is no point comparing them.

 

This is a favourite past-time of some Christians. “Our Pastor is very entertaining!” “Our minister is good at visiting!” “Our pastor has a BD!” “Our Vicar is a Ph.D”

As someone wisely commented, “The Church is dying by degrees!!”

I am not against academic study. We need good Evangelical Theolgians. BUT academic cleverness does not make a man/woman of God.

 

Paul ended chapter 3 by stressing that everything we are and everthing we possess ultimately comes from God THEREFORE we have NOTHING to boast about.

SO all this talk about comparing Paul and Apollos and Peter is very silly as all belong to God.

 

SO THEN don’t put some people on pedastels. The most anyone can be [4v1] is a servant of Christ.

 

1.  SERVANTS AND JUDGING. [4v1-5]

 

Paul is not one of those  who has an inflated opinion of himself. The world makes much of social position. Sadly that attitude creeps into the Church. If anyone desevred a high position in the church it was Paul and yet he describes himself as a servant of Christ.

 

The word he uses is a common one which was used to refer to the under-rowers in a galley slave ship.

 

ILLUST: There were different levels of rowers in the galleys. The lowest slaves were placed on the lowest level. It was hot, dark, smelly. Their work was hard and their punishment cruel.

 

The most we can be in terms of status is “servants” but even servants/ slaves were entrusted with great responsibility.

So then, men ought to regard us as slaves of Christ

and as those [stewards] entrusted with the

secret things of God. [4v1]

 

Paul now expands the picture of the kind of slave he is. We might all be just servants but that does not mean that we all have the same function. As with the picture of the building and the field in Ch.3 different people have differnt gifts and functions.

 

The same was true of slaves. Paul is a slave but is also an entrusted steward.

Oikonomos – The household manager – these stewards were still slaves but were given authority by the Master to run the household. They would control the food, finance, other servants etc. Their authority lay not in themselves but in the things with which they had been entrusted and ultimately in the one who had entrusted these things to them.

 

What are these secret things that Paul has been entrusted with? The revelation of the gospel. In his first letter Peter in speaking about salvation says that it was a mystery that the angels longed to see.

PAUL in Col. 1v26

… the mystery that has been kept hidden

for ages and generations, but is

now disclosed to the saints.

 

Those who are entrusted with the secret things of God will be judged by God as to whether or not they have been faithful.

On that Day when we all stand before God we will not be judged according to our popularity, our success [ in man’s eyes], the number of people in our Church. Faithfulness is what will count!!

 

In v4-6 Paul moves on to spell out what this means.

What you Corinthians think of me is inconsequential.

What human courts think doesn’t matter.

What I think of myself is also of no account.

 

It is only God’s judgement that is final and true.

 

OTHERS. Often too much of others opinions. Yes we need to encourage and a sincere word of appreciation is good. Helpful criticism is also good. But it is too easy to seek it and then to act with false modesty when we receive it. There is a fine line between encouragement and flattery.

 

SELF JUDGEMENT. Paul says here that “… my conscience is clear …”  Does that mean that if I think that I am alright then that’s okay!!? NO! Paul is quick to add that self judgement is as easily flawed as others’ judgement. We all have and inbuilt bias towards SELF.

 

It is good to have a clear conscience and to know that there is no conscious sin in our lives. BUT our very conscience was damaged by the fall. Our consciences are imperfect and THERFORE unreliable.

 

Can we ever judge? Well clearly as we will see in the following weeks [ch.5 ff] there are times when people sin is so obvious that we must discipline them as a church to protect the body from dishonour. BUT that is not the kind of thing Paul is talking about here.

Here Paul is talking about judging the worth and value of anothers’ ministry.

We are all servants of God. Judgement must wait till the LORD comes [v.5]. What does it matter what the other servants think? What does it matter what I think of myself? It is only when the MASTER and LORD of the house comes that judgement will be final.

 

Paul is saying to the Corinthians and to us, “Don’t reach a premature verdict?” Only God knows the true verdict and he will judge our work as to whether it is wood, hay and  straw OR gold, silver and precious stones.

 

It is good when Christians speak well of each other. It is good when we have a clear conscience BUT it will be wonderful to hear the master say, “WELL DONE GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT!”

 

On the Day of Judgement what other thought of us won’t matter! Our self-evaluation will be unimportant. Our success or popularity will be swept away. Only our faithfulness to the gospel itself will count for anything!

 

2. KINGS AND PAUPERS [MARKS OF TRUE APOSTLESHIP] [v.6-13]

 

In this section vv.6-13 Paul contrasts the Corinthians pride with the humility of the apostles.

 

READ v. 6-7

 

Paul has shown in v.1-5 that no one Christians is superior to another. So What makes you Corinthians think that you are any better than the rest of us. If it were true that you did have special gifts that would not be cause for boasting because you did not deserve them  but God gave them to you!

 

There is nothing to be proud of. God does not have favourites.

The Corinthians were presumptuous and ungrateful. Their boasting is sure evidence that they have missed the grace of the gospel.

 

When we become proud and arrogant in our faith we discredit the gospel. The grace of God has a leveling effect. It brings humility and a right view of who we are. That is God’s wisdom – the wisdom of the cross.

 

Human wisdom puffs up [lit. for pride in v.6] It feeds self-sufficiency, self-esteem and self-exalting. The Corinthians boasting is proof of their preoccupation with human wisdom.

 

OVER-REALISED ESCHATOLOGY. One of the tensions that we as Christians have to live with is that while we have been saved and have eternal life we still live in this world with all its sinfulness and limitations.

 

ILLUST: This week Lloyds Bank announced the take over of the Cheltenham and Glouster Building Society. The C & G customer will receive bonuses of $500 plus. They won’t recieve them until next year BUT they know that the money is theirs.

They are living between the already and the not yet. As Christians we have received salvation but we are not yet perfect and there is still much more to receive.

 

The Problem with the Corithian Christains was that they thought they had already arrived. Some early Christians were called the Telios – “The having already arrived ones”

 

They considered themselves to be wise and strong and honoured. They put all the emphasis on the ALREADY and no emphasis on the NOT YET.

 

Paul uses biting irony and rhetoric in verses 8-9.

Already you have all you want!

Already you have become rich!

You have begun to reign [become kings]

{we are kings but not yet reigning}

You have begun to reign –

and that without us.
How I wish that you really

had begun to reign that

we might reign with you!

 

If they were reigning then the end for which all Christains wait would have already come but clearly it had not!

 

This same error that the Corinthians Christians were guilty of is still around today.

Those who say that Christians should never be sick, or poor or unhappy. Jesus never promised his followers health, wealth and prosperity IN THIS LIFE. One day the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ and we will reign with him BUT that is NOT YET.

If the Gospel is Health, wealth and prosperity then HOW do you preach that kind of gospel in Africa and Bosnia and the shanty-towns of Manila and on the streets of Bombay.

 

The Corinthians had the gospel upside down and we in our comfortable, self-sufficient western lif style need to be careful that we don’t fall into the same trap.

 

Paul now goes on to show how much he and the other Apostles have suffered and are suffering while these Corinthians Christians bask in their false glory!

 

 

In contrast Paul give the true marks of Apostleship in v.9-13.

 

READ v.9-13.

 

In the Roman arenas the lowest prisoners were brought in last, at the rear of the procession, and thrown to wild beasts. It is in this position that Paul places himself and others.

 

 

APOSTLES Fools                } Weak               } for Christ Dishonoured     }

CORINTHIANS Wise              } Strong            } in own eyes Honoured      }

 

In contrast to these “Filled, rich already reigning” Corithians the apostles were hungry and thirsty, dressed in rags, brutally treated and homeless. Hardly a desciption of those who had already arrived.

 

We have not arrived, this world is not our home.

All these people [THE GREAT SAINTS]

were still living by faith when they died.

They did not receive the things promised;

they only saw them and welcomed them

from a distance. And they admitted that

they were strangers and aliens on earth.

… they were longing for a better country,

a heavenly one. Therefore God is not

ashamed to be called their God,

for he has prepared a city for them. [Heb 11v13&16]

 

Jesus calls us to follow him. “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering …” He was considered as nothing before men.

 

Paul ends this section by using some degrading discriptions “the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world”  Words that refer to the sweepings off the floor or the dirt removed from the body.

Not a pretty picture. Paul identifies himself with that. What a contratst to the “filled, rich reigning, wise, strong and honoured Corinthians.

 

How do we in 20th Century comfortable England respond to a passage like this. I know nothing of the kind of suffering that Paul is talking about here.

FEE  [p.182] “..we try desparately to indentify with Paul when in fact we are probably much more like the Corinthians than we dare to admit”

 

It is easy to feel guilty on the one hand or on the other hand to devlop a martyr complex because we love to suffer and we do it so well.

 

Maybe we would know more of what Paul meant if we were more willing to stand in oppostion to the status quo of worldly wisdom. How often do we really stick out our necks for the truth of the Gospel.

 

More than anything we need to have a right perspective of the already and the not yet. We need lose roots in this world. One of biggest hindrance to Christian growth in the Western World is materialism.

 

 

3. FATHERS AND CHILDREN [APPEAL AND EXHORTATION] [V14-21]

 

READ V.14-16.

 

Paul concern is not to glory in his suffering and to show them up. His over riding desire is that the follow Christ as he does.

 

A change of metaphor FATHER – CHILD.

 

Paul was the one who intially brought them the gospel and in that sense is their spiritual father.

He is not trying to take the place of God as their father.

 

Like any loving father he is deeply concerned for his children.
ILLUST: Parents go through tremendous anguish when they have wayward children.

 

Paul is in anguish over his spiritual children. They are going astray. He can foresee disaster and he wants to prevent it.

 

He wants to bring them back gently but if neceesary he will be harsh to saved them from catastrophe.

 

ILLUST: Child play with electric socket. Move away. Focus in another direction. Warn. Smack if neceesary to avoid disaster.

 

There is a great challenge for father [and mothers]. IMITATE ME. Can we say that to our own children. Can we say that to younger Christians.

All too often our message is, “Do what I say, not what I do”

 

Paul is not bragging when he say “Imitate me” but there is a quiet confidence. In our society the focus in teaching is on verbalizing. But that is not the best way. How are we to make disciples??

By modelling the gospel. Follow – do what I do. Isn’t that how children learn the most. They do what they see their parent doing!

 

Paul’s concern is that the Corinthians Christians get back on track with the gospel. They where so caught up in the wisdom of the world that they were missing the power of the Kingdom of God working in their lives.

 

 

The Corinthians were living as if the future had come, they were above the weaknesses of the apostles. But Paul lived in the kinds of weaknesses that were characteristic of Christ AND it was through his weakness that the power and grace of God was at work bring people salvation in Christ.

God said [ to PAul] “… My strength is made perfect in weakness”

Therefore [says Paul] I will boast all the more gladly about my

weaknesses, so that Christ’s power[dunamos] may

rest on me [2 Co.12v9]

 

In ourselves we have nothing to boast about. The most we can be is a SLAVE. BUT not just any slave  – Christ’s. That is the high status anyone can have. This is foolishness to the world which seeks honour and wisdom and riches and position.  BUT it is only through weakness and the foolishness of the cross of Christ that we can know the power of the kingdom of God.

 

Paul urged the Corinthians to imitate him only as he imitated Christ.

Let us imitate Christ in our lives.

So let us learn how to serve

and in our lives enthrone him,

each others needs to prefer –

for it is Christ we are  serving.

 

This is our God the servant King….

1 CORINTHIANS 3.

 

INTRODUCTION.

 

As we have seen over the past weeks the Corinthians prided themselves on the wisdom of their culture. Philosophy and worldly wisdom was elevated in the culture of the day. It was the teachers of this philosophy that were held up and almost worshipped.

ILLUST: In America it has been and may still be fashionable for those in society circles to have “Their Therapist”

 

In Paul’s day it was fashionable in Corinth for everyone who was anyone to have their Philosopher. This party spirit was carried over into the Church. The Corinthians Christians were aligning themselves with different prominent Church leaders.

“I follow Paul! I follow Apollos! I follow Peter! I follow Christ!

 

Paul has already made a strong appeal in Ch.1 not to cause these divisions.  You are one body!

Hear the admonition in his voice:

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? [1v13]

 

Having dealt with Wisdom in the second half of Ch. 1 and ch. 2 Paul now comes back to the divisions in the church.

 

1. SPIRITUAL BUT ACTING AS FLESHLY. [1-4]

 

The Corinthians Christians were not new converts. Paul had originally spent 18 months with them and had been gone for some time and others like Apollos had taught them. One would expect Paul to address them differently to the way he does.

“But mere lapse of time does not bring Christian maturity” [Barrett]

 

ILLUST: TEFL Teacher – 12 years experience or 1 year experience 12x.

 

v1. worldly = fleshy  – infants- babies: What does Paul mean?

Does he mean that they are not Christians? NO! He is addressing them as “Brothers” and as infants “in Christ”. They may be infants but they are still in Christ and in that sense are spiritual because you can’t be a Christians and not have the Holy Spirit.

 

So what does Paul mean? He has been dealing with wisdom. The Corinthian Christians have been behaving in a worldly/fleshly way – their actions have been infantile. The issue is not that they are drinking milk when they should be on solid food because spiritual milk and meat are necessary for Christians growth.

The issue was that they had preferred the synthetic substances. What they needed was to move away from their present preoccupation with wisdom back to the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

 

There is always a danger that Christians move away from the simple doctrine of the faith because they think it is “old hat”. We are not to move away but to go deeper. The idea that we can rum 6 week discipleship course and then graduated to a higher level is false. We never graduated from being disciples – we are rather to learn move so we can obey more.

 

It was not that the Corinthian Christians didn’t have spiritual life but that they were living as if they didn’t have it.

 

ILLUST: Steak – leathery [leather-like]     saddle – leathern, made of leather

 

They were Christians but they were living as if they were not.

 

We, too, are always in danger of this.

 

ILLUST: A little baby drinking milk and still in nappies is cute and wonderful.  At 20 year old in the same situation in heartbreaking.

 

Paul gives them an indication as to how he knows that they are still “fleshly” [worldly].

Since there is jealousy and quarreling among you are you not worldly? [3v3]

 

Jealousy was a big problem in Corinth. They were constantly comparing gifts and seeing who had the more spectacular gifts. Little cliques had formed and competition and jealousy abounded.

When there is jealousy quarreling always results. Jealousy is the attitude and quarreling the behavioural outworking of it.

 

ILLUST: Children behave in this fashion. “That’s mine give it to me! I’m not going to play with you any more! What you are doing is so stupid!”

 

Paul says: “Stop acting like a baby and grow up!”

 

There is no place for competition in the Church or for cliques! It causes division and disunity.

 

Spiritual people, as the Corinthian Christians are, should walk by the Spirit and not follow worldly/fleshly systems.

 

2. THE UNITY AND DIVERSITY OF LEADERSHIP. [5-9a]

 

Paul now goes on in this next section to show that their behaviour is not only infantile but totally illogical.

 

READ v5.

 

Paul and Apollos are mere servants! Is it not idiotic to worship the servant rather than the master.

WHO are these two? They are nothings in comparison to the master.

 

If we begin to follow personality and try to play one off against the other then we are on the slippery slop to disaster!

 

The purpose of having different leaders with different gifts is so is so that the overall task can be accomplished THEREFORE Paul uses the illustration of the farmer’s field.

 

What kind of a farm would it be if every labourer did the same task – well it would be pretty dumb!

 

Paul’s purpose is two-fold: (1) stressing that the difference between Paul and Apollos Paul wants to show that this is not occasion for division by following a human leader but they are both God’s servants, indeed ALL Christians are only God’s servants.

 

When we compare leaders or preachers we are falling into this trap. We are all different and all our gifts are God given.

(2) Paul stress that the focus should be on God not his servants.

 

He uses the illustration of the field; the important thing is that GOD is both the one who give the growth and the owner of the field.

 

We are all just worker in God’s field. Different gifts and different functions but no one person more important than the other. That does not mean that there are no leaders but the leaders are also only servants of God. Paul is stressing here the unity and the diversity of Church leadership.

 

No one person can do it all (1) it is and impossible task (2) it is unbiblical.

 

ILLUST: Do you think I could preach all the sermons, lead all the Bible studies, visit everyone who comes and the sick, and counsel everyone who needs it – I wouldn’t last a week.

 

If that is your expectation of a pastor or parish priest you will be bitterly disappointed. It is impossible and unbiblical.

 

Paul stresses that it was through his ministry and that of Apollos and others that they came to faith in Christ but they are insignificant in comparison to God Himself.

 

It is human wisdom to follow human leaders, it is also childish, BUT it is spiritual wisdom to follow Christ who alone is the one who can bring us to maturity.

 

3. THE MASTER BUILDER BUILDING FOR THE MASTER [9-17]

 

Paul now changes the metaphor from a field to a building.

 

READ  v10-14

 

Describes himself as an expert builder. “wise architect” are actually the words. Continuing the theme of wisdom. He is a wise architect/master builder and as such knows like any architect that he can’t build alone. He depends on the skills, craftsmanship and sheer hard work of others.

 

Paul has done what God gifted and called him to do. Laid the foundation. What is that foundation?? JESUS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED. The son of God is the only sure foundation upon which to build a church. Trying to build on any thing or any one else will only and always lead to disaster.

 

Trying to build on a foundation other than Jesus Christ is like the Foolish man who build his house on the sand rather than on the rock. “On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand.”

 

Each one of us who are God’s people are involved in the building up of the Church, the body of Christ and how we build will not always be evident to others and we can even fool ourselves but not God. And on the day of Judgment it will all be revealed.

 

ILLUST: Bodger builds with inferior materials and then papers over. It won’t stand the test.

 

California – earthquake proof  buildings – how do we really know if they are earthquake proof. After the earthquake they are still standing.

 

Is the work we are doing for God Fire proof?

 

Do not need to go into too much detail about the gold, silver, precious stones – The point is they will stand the fire test. Whereas wood, hay and straw will not.

 

None will ever have work that is absolutely pure and we shall all have some sadness at seeing our work burnt up but this should spur us on to be extra careful as to how we build.

 

ILLUST: Jim Elliott – Martyred by Auca Indians in Ecuador “Life is short it will soon be past, only what is done for Jesus will last”

 

Working for God and building up his Church are not the things that save us. Salvation is only by his grace based on what Jesus Christ did for us. BUT Works are the marks of salvation.

 

Those who work well and whose work is acceptable to God and stands the test will be rewarded. Those whose work is wood hay and straw and see it all go up in a puff of smoke will not lose their salvation. We are not saved or damned according to our works BUT according to the grace and mercy of God. THEREFORE even if a persons work is burnt up:-

 

but he himself will be saved,

but only as one escaping through the flames [v15]

Those who have believed in Jesus Christ are secure in Him.

Jesus said: “Truly, truly I say to you,

he who hears my word and believes

him who sent me, HAS ETERNAL LIFE;

he does not come into judgment but has

passed from death to life [Jn.5v24]

 

REWARDS. What are these rewards? The Bible mentions rewards in a number of places. And we can affirm that there will be rewards BUT what exactly those rewards will be we do not know. The Bible does not spell it out.

 

Our salvation is secure BUT God scrutinizes our work for him and his Church. WHY? because the church is the Temple of God. It is where his presence dwells and his glory is at stake.

God’s Spirit dwells in you.[v16]

The “you” is pl. [else where it is sg. but not here] God’s spirit lives in us as a body and we must not allow anyone to destroy of abuse the Church of God. NOR must we its members abuse ourselves.

 

When there is division and dissension and shoddy building then we are abusing ourselves.

 

There is a stark warning to those who would oppose the church of God.

If anyone destroys God’s temple,

God will destroy him;

for God’s temple is sacred,

and you [pl] are that temple [v17]

 

ILLUST: Church in RSA – 5-6 men in leadership blocking Church growth and manipulating decisions. Some people started to pray for God to do something. In 6 months all were either transferred by their companies or dead.

 

God doesn’t always act so quickly but he will not tolerate anyone destroying HIS Church.

 

We can only build God’s church God’s way – Jesus the foundation. Working together. Complementing each other not competing with each others. When we focus on God and on others the perspective is right. BUT when we turn in on ourselves, individually and as a church, then division and disunity result.

 

4. SHUN WORLDLY WISDOM. [V.18-23]

 

Paul now begins to conclude his argument by referring again to wisdom. When we move away from God’s agenda for his people and substitute man’s wisdom we end up shooting ourselves in the foot.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight

As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”

and  again: “The lord knows that the thoughts of the wise

are futile”  [v19-20]

 

People think that they are so clever and have all the answers and therefore do not need God in their lives. It is difficult to teach some one who thinks they know it all.

[Mac Arthur]The Roman Teacher Quintilian said to some of his students: “They would doubtless have become excellent scholars if they had not been so fully persuades of their own scholarship”.

 

The only true wisdom is knowing that we are totally dependent on God for everything. We can do nothing without God. Not just spiritual but nothing. Can’t walk, talk, eat, breathe without God – He holds everything in his hands.

 

Everything we have and are and do is because of God’s grace how stupid then to boast.

This is Paul’s summing up argument:

So then, no more boasting about men!

All things are yours whether Paul, or Apollos

or Cephas [Peter] or the world or life or death

or the present or the future –

all are yours, and you are of Christ and
Christ is of God. [20-23]

 

What is the point of being jealous of each other we all have all things in Christ. There is nothing that I have that you don’t or that you have that I don’t because we are all Christ’s and he is ours.

 

Doesn’t mean that we are identical – we have different gifts and abilities – but they are God given and they are his ultimately. So we must turn away from comparing ourselves with each other and together glorify God in our work for and worship of Him.

 

PRAYER:       Lord you prayed to your father for your disciples:

I am not praying for the world but for those you

have given me, for they are yours.

All I have is yours and all you have is mine.

… My prayer is that…. they may be one as we are one:

I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity

to let the world know that you sent me and I have

loved them even as you have loved me. {Jn.17}

Lord may this always be true of us here at Binscombe that as a result

 of your love for us we might be united in our loved and work for you

and our love for each other so that your great name might be glorified.

Amen.