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.

1 CORINTHIANS 1V18 – 31.

 

The Wisdom of God and the Wisdom of man

 

1. INTRODUCTION.

 

Verses 10 – 17 are dealing with the divisions in the Church at Corinth. [We will deal with these when we come to chapter 3] The divisions arose over leaders. The members of the Church were aligning themselves behind Paul, Peter, Apollos and Christ; possibly others as well. Before Paul actually deals with these divisions he lays a foundation for the wisdom and power of the gospel.

 

Corinth was a cosmopolitan city influenced very much by Greek Philosophy and by Roman law.

Even though the Romans ruled the world of the time it was the Greeks who had the cultural and intellectual influence. The international language of the day was Greek. That is why the NT was written in Greek so that it could be understood internationally.

 

Greek philosophy dominated the intellectual world. Corinth was a intellectual centre; it was a natural bridge between the eastern and western Mediterranean. It was where many travellers passed through and was therefore a strategic place both commercially and culturally.

 

Some commentators tell us that there were up to as many as 50 identifiable Philosophical parties.

[philo = to love; sophia = wisdom] Love of Wisdom.

 

There were numerous travelling Sophists [teachers; orators] who would give lectures or hold debates about religion, education, economics, politics and social issues. And they would charge a fee  for doing so – the more popular and articulate the speaker the greater the fee.

 

In their arguments to belittle Paul some of the Corinthians were saying that he couldn’t have been much of a speaker if he didn’t even charge a fee. [alluded to by Paul in 2 Cor.11v7]

 

ILLUST: Mrs Thatcher can command large sums of money for her world speaking tours.

How do we judge her message? By its content or by the persuasiveness of her arguments and her oratory [and possibly by the persuasiveness of her handbag]? or by the fee she is paid?

 

Some of the Corinthian Christians had brought this kind of thinking into the Church. Paul here reminds them that this is absurd, as the cross is foolishness to the philosophies of this world. You can’t add human wisdom to God’s wisdom. You can’t add to what God has done!

 

2. THE FOOLISH MESSAGE. [1v18-25]

 

There were no chapters and verses in Paul’s original letter and the link between v17 and v18 is important.

He is drawing a distinction between the word of human wisdom and the word of the cross

 

[Christ sent me to] preach the gospel

not with words [logos] of human wisdom

…. for the message [logos] of the cross

… is the power of God [v17-18 extracts]

 

The logos that belongs to human wisdom and the logos that belongs to the cross are mutually exclusive.  Paul is telling the Corinthians Christians that there is no longer any need to follow the philosophies of human wisdom. Don’t be misled and divided by human speculautions. Don’t get carried away with philosophy.

 

People today are still carried along by various philosophies – caught up in the admiration of human opinion and human thinking. Human philosophies will always come up short – they will always be found wanting.

 

ILLUST: Communism was to be the new idea that would solve all the world’s problems. Has it?

Has Capitalism? Has democracy?

 

None of these things answer the basic questions of life.

 

ILLUST: As Ecclesiastes teaches, Life from an under the sun perspective, a human perspective, is meaningless!!

 

The only thing that can give meaning to life is the Gospel and it is that very thing that human philosophy rejects as foolishness. The world doesn’t want to know what the Bible says. Yet they all decry the terrible state of the nation and none of them have any answers to the dilemma.

 

To those who reject the Message of the cross, to those who are perishing, the message appears to be foolish nonsense. And it remains that way as long as they continue in their unbelief. The message of the gospel is not something that people can figure out for themselves given enough time and enough intelligence. NO!

 

The gospel is not philosophical wisdom but revealed wisdom. And that is why is only makes sense to those who are being saved. It was one of the early Church fathers who said,”I believe in order to understand”. Until God’s Spirit enlightens our minds the cross remains foolishness. And so it was to the Greeks and the Jews of Paul’s day.

 

Paul was writing to the Corinthian Church not because these philosophies were prevelant in the world but because they had crept into the Chrurch. It’s the same today.

 

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “The whole drift toward modernism that has blighted the Church of God and nearly destroyed its living Gospel may be traced to an hour when men began to turn from revelation to philosophy.”

 

What are we doing when philosophy takes over from revelation. We are elevating man and lowering God. But that is man’s way.

To promote self.

To exalt self.

To be self-willed and proud and independent.

To think that we are so clever and have the answers to life’s questions appeals to our ego.

 

The cross of Christ cuts right across this way of thinking. It asks us to do nothing – allows us to do nothing – except respond to the message of the cross and accept Christ. It deals with our sin and it also deals with our pride.

 

Philosophical wisdom doesn’t deal with these. Human education and technological advncement are good things and properly used are of great benefit to mankind. BUT philosophy is bankrupt when it come to when it come to human nature, morality, sin, God and the hereafter.

 

Paul is being very sarcastic in v20.

Where is the wise man?

Where is the scholar?

Where is the philosopher of the age?

 

Paul is really asking,”Where are all these clever people who can solve the world’s problems?”

How much closer in peace than it was 100/1000 years ago?

Are we any closer to beating hunger, poverty, crime, immorality than they were in Paul’s day?

Has all our technology made us advance?

Has our education made us more moral?

Has international communication made us understand each other any better?

The basic human problems still remain!! And human wisdom is itself a basic part of the problem.

 

All of this worldly wisdom and philosophy hasn’t brought us any closer to God.

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom

did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of

what was preached to save those who believe. [v.21]

 

Salvation comes to those who take God at his word and believe in Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross. You can’t argue a person into the kingdom of God.

 

ILLUST: Farhad a young Muslim man after many evenings of discussion. “You are right Jesus must have claimed to be the Son of God but it’s too hard, I can’t believe it”

 

Philosophical argument saved no one.  The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, to all those who believe.

 

Paul now goes on to give two examples of those who rejected the cross in his day because they considered it to be foolishness.

Jews demand miraculous signs and

Greeks look for wisdom. [v.22]

 

They considered it to be foolish because it didn’t coincide with their idea about how to find God. The Jews had expected the Messiah to be a majestic conquerering king whose work would be accompanied by the kind of spectacular miracles that occured in the OT. Yet Jesus performed miracle after miracle in public for them all to see yet they did not believe.

Even though OT passages like Ps.22 and Isa. 53 foretold a suffering Messiah the Jews simply reinterpreted these passages to fit in with their preconceived ideas. To them a crucified Messiah was a contradiction in terms. This was a stumbling block to the Jews [v 23]. [a scandal]

 

To the Greeks God was ultimate reason – God could not feel – therefore if he didn’t fit what they thought was reasonable then he couldn’t possibly be God. If he couldn’t feel then the idea of a God who suffered was a contradiction in terms.. To them God was utterly detached and remote. The idea of God in Christ reconciling the world to himself through the cross was both incomprehensible and ridiculous. It was foolishness [v23] mwria – moron. – moronic.

 

What is clear from both these groups is that they refuse to bow the knee before God, instead they are determined to to make God fit their own ideas and desires.

 

Is this not like the world in which we live today. As long as God is there to christen us when we are born, bless us when we are married and comfort us when we die then we are satisfied, as long as he doesn’t  interfere with the rest of my life. As soon as we have preconceived ideas about what God can and cannot do and will and will not do we fall into the same trap as the Jews and Greeks of Paul’s day.

 

As long as the Jews continue to seek a sign and the Greeks cling to the wisdom they remain separated from God. The very thing they rejected – this foolishness/ this madness/ this cross – is in fact the only true sign and wisdom.

 

The scandal of the cross. It is hard for us to understand what the cross meant in Paul’s day. It was the most shameful,  despicable death anyone could die. It was reserved for the lowest criminals and the dregs of society. There was nothing more humiliating.

 

From a human point of view the Cross is folly and weakness. BUT it is this very foolishness and weakness that is in fact the demonstration of the wisdom and power of God. And that is only evident by the supernatural act of God saving both Jews and Greeks [Gentiles].

 

It is in the cross that God nullifies human wisdom. It is in the cross that God overpowers his enemies. The only message a Christian has to proclaim is the message of the cross, the Son of God becoming a man, dying to pay for our sins and being raised from the dead in order to give us new life.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom,

and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. [v.25]

 

Paul is not saying that God is either weak or foolish. But that if God could possess any sort of foolishness it would be wiser than man’s greastest wisdom. And if it was possible for God to be weak that would still be stronger than man’s greatest strength.

 

In talking about God’s foolishness and weakness Paul means of course from the unbeliever’s perspective. Tragically, it is this very work of God that man rejects that is the only thing that can save man. The cross is the greatest demonstration of God’s power and wisdom.

 

3. THE FEEBLE RECIPIENTS. [1v26-31]

 

Paul now moves on from the foolish message to the feeble recipients.

Paul didn’t write 1 Corinthians to argue against the world’s false boasting, but rather because this boasting had crept into the Church at Corinth. Christians were glorying in their own abilities and and elevating their gifts. They were forgetting that their faith depended on God’s call and not on their merit. They were forgetting that the gospel is the message of the cross!!

 

Being Christains doesn’t mean that we are immune from false pride. We like to think that we can in some way contribute. But such an attitude reduces the power of the cross. Paul now reminds them that they in fact had nothing to offer God.

 

READ VV.26-28.

 

Paul tells those who think that they need worldly philosophy and wisdom to simply remember themselves as they used to be before God stepped into their lives. Most of them were the nobodies of society. They had nothing to crow about.

 

God is not interested in our social standing, our educational qualifications or our bank balance! Those things may carry weight in society but not in terms of our salvation. On the day of Judgement God isn’t going to ask us what school we went to. What counts is how we respond to the message of the cross of Christ.

 

God’s ways are not our ways! His wisdom is a kind of paradox. It was not that there were no wealthy or influential people in the church at Corinth, But not many. The philosophers and those walking the corridors of power were conspicuous by their absence.

 

This was not just true of Corinth but has been the case all through Church history!

What did Jesus say in Matt.11v25:

I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

because you have hidden these things from the

wise and learned, and have revealed them to little children.

 

It was the riff-raff, the scum of the earth that God chose to make kings and priests in his kingdom.

 

ILLUST: {MacArthur} A simple, uneducated, untalented and clumsy believer who has trusted in Jesus Christ as Saviour and who faithfully and humbly follows his Lord is immeasurably wiser than the brillant Ph.D  who scoffs at the gospel.. The simple believer knows forgiveness, love, grace, life, hope, God’s word – God himself. He can see eternity. The unbelieving Ph.D, on the other hand, knows nothing beyond his books, his own mind, and his own experience. He sees nothing beyond this life, and con be considered nothing but foolish.

 

ILLUST: We are often tempted to think that if this famous lady or that national sports star became a Christian they could make a real contribution to the gospel. NO! no more than any one else!

 

Servants are not highly reverred in the world but in God’s economy if you want to be great you must learn to be a servant.

 

ILLUST:  By God’s standards John the Baptist was the greatest, apart from Jesus himself.

I tell you the truth: Among those born of women

 there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist:

yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven

is greater than he. [Matt.11v11]

John the Baptist had no formal education, no political standing, no social position, no military rank and no money.

 

Those who remain proud and arrogant and unbelieving will never know true power and wisdom.

God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble [Prov.3v34. cf James 4v6]

 

God is constantly in the business of bringing proud people to their knees so that they can enter his presence in repentance and faith.

 

Paul’s purpose is not just to show that Corinthians that they have nothing to boast about but also to show the wonderful grace of God. That God can take the nobodies of the world and makes them sombodies for Him – that’s grace!

 

To know God is to know wisdom! And we have wisdom if we know him. He has given to us righteousness, sanctification and redemption. This is the wisdom of God and this is amd possible only by the Cross which is foolishness to the world.

Because of Christ’s death on the foolish cross sinners can be made righteous – justified – before

God.

Because of the cross the sinner can be set apart for God; made holy and blameless.

Because of the cross the sinner can be rescued from the the power and penalty of sin – ransomed.

 

The complete and eternal acceptance of the repentant sinner is foreign to the wisdom of the world. The wisdom of men calls for clever words, good deeds and human effort to gain salvation.

 

The ways and wisdom of God spell out the message of the cross as the only way. It is not the cross plus … BUT the cross alone!!

 

Listen to the words of the prophet Jeremiah:

Thus says the Lord:”Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,

let not the mighty man glory in his might,

let not the rich man glory in his riches,

but let him who glories, glory in this,

that he understands and knows ME,

that I am the Lord who practises

stedfast love, justice, and righteousness

 in the earth; for in these things I delight:”

 says the Lord [Jer.9v23-24]

 

If our finances, our education and our social position have no influence or merit with God, which they don’t, and if our salvation is solely God’s work, which it is, THEN we have nothing to boast about in ourselves.

 

There is no need then to feel any sense of inferiority or superiority! Anything and everything we have is as a result of God’s goodness! THEREFORE the only thing we have to boast about is God himself.

 

MacArthur ” … in Christ we have received God’s wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redmption, we have no grounds for pride or boasting, because we didn’t deserve, earn or produce any of them. Man’s wisdom can produce none of those things. It can only produce pride, misunderstanding, strife and division.”

 

Therefore says Paul quoting Jeremiah:

Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. [v.31]

 

In ourselves we have NOTHING. In Christ we have ALL THINGS.

 

1 CORINTHIANS

1V1-9

PROFILE OF A PERFECT CHURCH

 

1. BACKGROUND TO CORINTH.

 

In order to better understand Paul’s first letter to Corinth we must look at the situation in the city of Corinth. Whether we like it or not we are always influenced to a greater or lesser degree by the culture in which we live.

The church in Corinth was no different. BUT we have to bear in mind that they were all new Christians and so didn’t have the long Christian tradition that we have today. Tradition can, of course, also be a problem if we allow it to adversly affect the gospel message.

Corinth was an important city, not because it was situated in good farming country, but because of it geographical position. Corinth was the city that stood on the narrow strip of land that linked the southern part of Greece with the rest of the country. This strip of land called the Isthmus linked the Peloponese with the main part of Greece and separated the Saronic Gulf from the Corithian Gulf. It was four and a half miles across.

Rather than sail around the Penninsula small ships were “rolled” overland to the other side and larger ones were unloaed and the cargo reloaded into another ship across the Isthmus. Nero tried to build a canal across this strip of land but failed. A canal was finally completed in 1893!!

 

Corinth was therefore master of these East-West Harbours. Corinth was also dominated by a hill 1850 feet high, the Acrocorinth, which meant good military defense. It also had a good supply of spring water. Corinth was destroyed by the Romans in the 2nd century B.C. But then refounded by Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. So it was a relatively young city by Paul’s time. No real aristocracy. Made up of freedmen from Rome, Greeks, Jews, slaves. There was an influx of people from east and west. The city had become very prosperous very quickly.

 

Vice and religion flourished in this new city. The Acrocorith, was the location of the Temple to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of Love. There were reported to be 1000 preistesses in the temple who were prostitutes. They applied their trade in the city at night.

The Temple of Apollo was also in the city. He was the god of music, song and poetry. Nude statues of him were many and his devotees displayed their devotion by homosexual acts with the god’s beautiful boys. It was a city were anything and eveything was to be found.

 

It was no different to many modern seaports. It was the Soho, Amsterdam and Los Angeles of the time. Commercialism, sexual-obsession, materialism and human philosophy dominated the city.

It could be a discription of any number of cities in the world today.

 

It was into this situation that the Apostle Paul came preaching the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. [Acts 18v1-18]

 

As we read in Acts 18 Paul preached in the synagogue until he was thrown out and then moved into the house of Titius Justus. A number of prominent Jews and Greeks became Christians as well as many ordinary folk including slaves. After staying in Corinth for 18 months Paul left and went back to Ephesus

From the time of his leaving Corinth and the writing of 1 Corinthians Paul had actually written another letter which we have no copy of. He refers to this in 5v9.

This present letter is written in response to a verbal report and a letter which he has received. Possibly the verbal report given by the bearer of the letter.

 

2. THE PROBLEMS IN THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH.

 

No church is perfect because it is made up of people who are not perfect – Corinth is no different.

It was a church wrought with a number of difficulties. It was a large Church but it had become cliquish – each following a different leaders or teachings. It was also a church where social class was very entrenched – snobbery was rife. There was very little church discipline, as a result immorality was tolerated and so also was false teaching. There was a distinct lack of “putting others first”  Also, too much emphasis on dynamic spiritual gifts rather than Love grounded in Truth. AND finally a disregard for the authority of the Apostle Paul himself.

With all this background, which is important in the understanding of 1 Corinthians, we come to read what Paul wrote.

 

READ 1V1-9

 

3. PAUL’S GREETING. [V1-3]

 

Paul’s Calling

 

Paul called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God..

 

Part of the conflict in the Church at Corinth was the they were questioning the authority of Paul. Right at the outset he reminds them that his authority is directly from God. God called Paul to be an apostle- A sent one. He was commissioned by God to be God’s messenger. The authority is God’s, NOT his.

 

This is always the case with any leader in the church – not that any today have the same authority as the apostles had. That was a special calling for the establishing of the church. BUT any authority in the church must be based on the word of God alone.

Paul was specially called by God.

 

The peoples’ Calling

 

Not only was Paul called BUT so too were the Corinthian Christians. He reminds them that they are not the Church of Corinth but rather “The Church of God in Corinth” – there is no room for division in the Chruch. It is not the church belonging to this or that leader or denomination. The Church belongs to God. There will be no denominations in heaven!!

We are not the Church of Binscombe – we are the Church of God in Binscombe.

 

Ekklesia – “a company of those called out”. We are called by God, both individually and collectively. It is God who takes the initiative. Together, “together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”  and Jesus is “their Lord and ours” No Christian or group of Christians has special claim to Jesus.

This was aproblem in Corinth as we will see 1v10-17 “I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas, I follow Christ”

 

It is healthy to be reminded that the Church is not our possession – its not MY Church or YOUR Church – its GOD’S Church and we are His possession. In Fact we are SAINTS.

“Called to be Holy” – hagios – ie Saints. The set apart ones.Saints are not a special group of  pious self-sacrificing Chrsitains who have been singled out and connonized by and ecclesiatical council. NO!! EVERY CHRISTIAN IS A SAINT!!!

 

Amazingly Paul calls this bunch of weak, cliquish, Corinthian Christians, Saints. And so are we. We have St. Jane, St. Minnie, St. Roger etc…..

Unfortunately we don’t always act like Saints, do we? But that does change the fact that we are.

 

ILLUST: Presidents don’t always act like Presidents. Prime Ministers don’t always act like Prime Ministers. But the are still Presidents and Prime Ministers.

 

Christians don’t always act like Christians but they are still Christians. We have been saved, redeemed, we are in Christ and when God looks at us he see Christ and he considers us holy because of what Jesus has done for us.

Our position “in Christ” should compel us to improve our practice. [MacArthur]

 

4. PAUL’S THANKSGIVNG FOR THE CORINTHIAN CHRISTIANS. [V4-9]

 

Paul gives thanks for two areas.

– What they have recieved from God

– What they will receive from God

 

What they have received from God. [v4-7]

 

Not only has the Church recieved salvation which is, of course, a gracious gift from God but they have also recieved ALL the gifts they need.

“… his grace given you … enriched in everyway … you do not lack any spiritual gift…”

 

It is important to note here that the “YOU” is Plural. The Church has all the gifts. NO individual Christian has all the gifts. Paul will deal with this in more detail in ch.12.

There is no room in the church for people who want to operate a one-man-band.

 

There is a sense in which we have received all of God’s grace – we have received Christ and with him we have received all things.

He who did not spare his own son,

but gave him up for us all –

how will he not also, along with him,

graciously give us all things? [Romans 8v32]

 

GRACE and GIFTS are very closely linked – charis & charismata. What we have received from God in terms of our salvation and our gifts – using these words emphasises that they are unmerited. There is nothing we could have done to receive them. We never deserved them and we can never repay God for them.

 

“Grace is a gift, not a loan. Grace makes us totally indebted to God, but because the cost is so great we cannot repay it,, and because his grace is so great we need not repay it. In other words we are completely indebted but we have no debt. We cannot pay for our salvation, neither before or after we are saved” [MacArthur]

 

ILLUST: When your employer pays you he is not being gracious he is simply being honest and just. He is giving you what you deserve.

 

Salvation is priceless you can’t pay for it!!

 

One of the problem in the Corinthian Church was the misuse of the SPEAKING gifts – tongues prophecy etc. The word used is logos – same word used to discribe Jesus in John1v1

In the beginning was the Word and

the Word was with God and the Word was God

 

There were those in Corinth as there are in every generation who thought that their gift/s was /were superior to everyone else. The same is true of the word KNOWLEDGE. There were those who thought that they had access to special knowledge. If you go this way you end up with 1st and 2nd class Christians. BUT we are all special to God from the most obscure unknown Christian to the Apostle Paul Himself – all are equal!!

 

BUT Paul is  not speaking about Human wisdom or philosophy which was very popular amongst the Greeks of the day. Nor is he speaking about oratory or having a way with words.

ILLUST: Have you ever tried to talk to or discuss an issue with someone and you know what they are saying is not right but they have such a way with words that it is difficult, if not impossible, to argue with them.

 

BUT Paul is talking about God’s word and God’s knowledge which is given as a gift. The message of the cross is foolishness to the natural mind but is the power of God for salvation. It is ridiculed and considered anti-intellectual to believe the Bible.

Remember that in the context of what Paul is saying these gifts of ALL SPEAKING [LOGOS] AND ALL KNOWLEDGE are given to the Church. No one person has a monopoly of the word of God. That is why we are a team and must work as a team because the Spirit of God is at work within each one and EACH ONE has a contribution to make and is important to the healthy functioning of the body.

Having these things as gifts does not mean that we don’t have to study  and learn!!

ILLUST: An athlete has God-given ability. But If Lindford Christie didn’t train hard and use his talent he would not be World, Olympic and European 100m Champion.

 

Our goal is to be doing the best we possibly can until Jesus Christ returns as you eagerly wait for Jesus Christ to be revealed.

 

What they will receive [v8-9]

He will keep you strong to the end.

so that you will be blameless,

on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God, who has called you into fellowship

with his son Jesus Christ our Lord,

is Faithful. [vv8-9]

 

“God saved us by his grace. He presently empowers us with gifts of his grace. He guarantees the final fulfillment of his grace. THE BEST IS YET TO COME.” [MacArthur]

 

God has called us into fellowship with Christ and he is not going to abandon us or go back on his word. One day Jersus Christ will come back and we will stand in the presence of God on the Day of Judgement – BLAMELESS.

 

This Corinthian Chruch with all its divisions and immorality and snobbery – blameless?? YES!!

This Chruch at Binscombe with all its imperfections and weaknesses – Blameless?? YES!!

Satan will not be able to bring a single charge against us. That Great Pursecutor of the Brethern will be silenced.

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?

It is God who justifies! [Romans 8v33]

Those he justified he also glorified …[Romans 8v30]

 

In spite of all the problems that Paul saw in Corinth he could still honestly thank God for them.

He could remeber what they used to be before God saved them and he knew what they would be when Jesus Christ returns – Holy and Blameless.

 

They same is true of us.

HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? in a church infected by a city like Corinth? Because God was at work in them and he wasn’t finished his work in them  – AND he  isn’t finished his work in us either.  SO how is it possible to be blameless and holy??

GOD, ….. IS FAITHFUL [v9]

 

It is his doing; we can take no credit. We can only respond to his grace by living lives pleasing to him.

In the words of C T Studd that great English cricketer and pioneer missionary to China and Africa, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me then nothing is too much for me to do for him”

May God help us to live lives worthy of our calling!