1 Corinthians Message 12-21-09

No Compromise Radio. Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendroff. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse with no compromise.

Rededication and Radical Change in Salvation

This is a rededication service bound to change your behavior. Second affirmation. You must affirm that when the Lord Jesus Christ saves a person, that person is radically different. When God saves you, you're radically different.

As I've said a thousand times before, if the God of the universe who speaks a word and the oceans are made indwells you, I don't think you're going to have the same old, same old attitude. I'm just the same person.

Paul, Sosthenes, and the Background of Corinth

Now, this is an indirect way Paul goes about this. Verse 1, Paul called an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. I'm speaking to you of not my own authority, but of God's authority. And now he has a comrade.

Not an apostle. He calls him Sophonis, our brother. Not another apostle. Not somebody that's seen Jesus. He has co-sender in almost every book except Romans. And why did he do that? Well, he doesn't want to show that he's isolated.

He doesn't work with people. I think there's a different reason. Who is Sophonis? He's only found two places in the Bible. Where are those two places? 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and one other place. When you study epistles, what's one of the places you should go to study more about that epistle?

You say, I'd like to understand Ephesus. Where do you go to understand more about the ministry of Paul at Ephesus? The answer is Acts. Let's turn there. Acts 18. I have something very easy for you to remember.

Paul was in Athens, excuse me, in Corinth 18 months. And we find his ministry at Corinth in Acts 18. 1818. It's not a year. Acts 18, 18 months Paul was there. We're going to go take a look at some of the background of Corinth and you're going to meet Sophonis and you're going to see why Paul includes him in his introduction.

Paul's going to be in a second missionary journey. And he says in chapter 18 verse 1, after these things, he left Athens and went to Corinth. After what things? Well, back up just a hair. The previous chapter, verse 32, now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer.

Another said, we shall hear you again concerning this. So Paul went out of their midst. Some people believed. So Paul, after those things left Athens, fairly dejected, I would imagine. He wasn't violently cast out, but they just said, oh, you're not smart enough.

You're not intelligent enough. You didn't go to Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. You know, we're not concerned about that. We like to talk. But it was a sophisticated kind of dismissal. And he leaves and he goes to Corinth.

Sometimes he would leave because he sparked riots. Sometimes he would leave because they would just dismiss him. And he walks about 50 miles. It's 50 miles from, you know what we should do? Turn to the last book of your Bible, the 67th book of the Bible, the book of maps.

Let's just turn there just for a second. Turn there. Always gets a laugh. All right. Turn to the very back of your Bible and just take a look at the chapter or the page rather. Mine is map eight, the missionary journeys of Paul.

Just so you can get your mind's eye wrapped around where Corinth is and where Athens is. And if you take a look and you try to find where you would normally find Greece today, and you see the Aegean Sea, you go down there, there's a bunch of islands, and you should see the city of Athens.

On the other side, you've got the Adriatic and Ionian. And you'll see right there in Achaia, the place called Corinth. And I have a little arrow there, a red arrow, and it shows basically Paul walking from Athens to Corinth.

Now we can go back to Acts chapter 18. God gives him a good report and off he goes. Maybe there's 200 ,000 people in Corinth, maybe 400 ,000. Acts chapter 18 verse 2. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.

He came to them and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working for by trade. They were what? Tent makers. And what did Paul do? Interesting to see the life of Paul at a new place.

And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. So he would dialogue with them, he would reason with them. He always started at the synagogue and of course he would preach the gospel even if people weren't Jews, even if they were Greeks.

And then he has this ministry, verse 5. But when Silas and Timothy came for reinforcements, they were reinforcements, down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

Here comes Silas, here comes Timothy, good news is brought, money from Philippi has been brought, and Paul literally held himself to the word. Preached and preached and preached. He doesn't have to work on tense anymore and now he is preaching the word.

And look what happens when the word of God is preached to unbelievers. But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments, verse 6, and said to them, your blood be on your own heads, I am clean, for now I will go to the Gentiles.

You are resisting the word of God. It means in battle array, it means in military array. You're lining up like a formation against the word of God because you will not have King Jesus rule over you. And so what would the Jews do to Gentiles that they didn't like?

You go through Samaria and at the very end, what do you dust off? Dust yourself off, dust your feet off because you don't want to have any bit of their soil on your shoe. And now Paul reverses it and instead of having the Jews dust, the Gentiles dust off their feet.

What does Paul do? It's the exact opposite. He does it to the Jews. I'm going to the Gentiles now. Blood's on your own head, shaking out his garments, you blasphemers. And it's not because you're anti-Paul, but because you're anti-Jesus.

Your blood's on your own heads. I mean, who talks like that today? Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Tidius, justice, a worshiper of God. That just means he's not a pagan, whose house was where?

Next to the synagogue. How mad they must be. Paul gets kicked out of the synagogue, the blood's on your own head, and he goes, well, where's the next opportunity for ministry? I'll go next door. Next door evangelism.

They must've been so mad. They must've followed him over there. It gets better. The shock waves continue. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord. Maybe he followed him over too, and then he hears the message and he believes with all his household.

And many of the Corinthians, when they heard, were believing and being baptized. It's the best. The word of God trumpeted forth through Paul the apostle, and God was saving people through the ministry of his word.

Verse 9, the heat is up so hot that Paul needs some encouragement. And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, Paul, I know you're afraid. Do not be afraid any longer. You know, it's typical for Paul.

He gets to a new city, and the first thing he does is he looks up the Google map and finds out prisons, because he knows shortly he'll be there, and they'll probably be beaten up and sent there. Jesus said, don't be afraid any longer, but go on speaking.

Do not be silent, for I am what? I'm with you. That sounds like Matthew chapter 28, and, lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. And no man will attack you in order to harm you, because when Paul preached, that's what they would do.

When Stephen preached, that's what they did. For I have many people in this city. Paul gets Galatian persecution, Macedonian persecution, Athens kind of persecution. Here we go again. It's the next city.

And God, with his grace and with his kindness, says, you just keep preaching. You may have difficulties. You may have trials, but nobody's going to hurt you. And by the way, here's the theological language.

There are lots of elect people in this city who aren't believers yet. There's lots of unregenerate elect people. There's lots of people who, when they hear the gospel, will respond. For I have many people in this city.

What a lucky vision for Paul to get. Out of all the six visions, this luck, random chance, fortuitous, serendipitous vision happened just right then. How lucky. No, it was with encouragement. And with that encouragement, just at the right time, look what Paul did, verse 11.

And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. I'm going to just hunker down and do this. God's with me. He's going to protect me. Fireworks continue, verse 12. This is all happening in Corinth.

But while Galileo was pro-council of Achaia, the Jews, with one accord, rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat. You're not going to get hurt, Paul, Jesus said, but you're going to have troubles.

And they bring him to this bema seat, this raised platform of civil and religious and other kind of judgments. They bring him before Galileo, the pro-council of Achaia. By the way, history tells us this is Seneca's brother.

And basically, they're going to say this, Galileo, you make a judgment so this guy can't preach anymore. And so, verse 13, saying, this man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law, Roman law.

Of course, they think Jewish law too. But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Galileo said to the Jews, if it were a matter of wrong or a vicious crime, oh, Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you.

But if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves. I am willing to be a judge of these matters. I'm not going to talk about religious debates. I'm here for civil issues, social issues.

Christianity's fine is basically what he's saying. And what did he do? He drove them away from the judgment seat. And you think they're just going to sit back? Here comes Sothenes right here. If we can't grab Paul, if we can't hurt Paul, we'll get somebody else.

And they all took hold of Sothenes, the leader of the synagogue, must have been some chief ruler of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Galileo was not concerned about any of these things.

God promises to watch over Paul, and here's this other guy there, and they start beating him up. Isn't that amazing? Galileo, you're going to snub us, and we can't take out our anger on Paul, we'll get somebody else.

We're going to beat him in the marketplace, in the forum. Now, back to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Back to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Why would Paul mention this guy? Why in the world would Paul say, I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Sothenes, our brother?

Why would he say that? Here's why I think he says this, Corinth, you're carnal, you're fleshly, you're ungodly, you're not living like Jesus is Lord. I'm writing you a letter, and I'm writing this letter with greetings from a man who will stand up for Christ Jesus, whether he's beat, whether he's killed.

This is like, we're writing to you, and this is, I don't know if it's shaming them, I don't know if it's, it's certainly not sarcasm here, but Paul is saying, there's a man who at Corinth acted like Jesus is Lord, won't you too?

They know who Sothenes is, he's not just some guy they made up. He's radically different. One minute he's a Jew, and the next minute he's a Christian, and he has got the bruises and the stripes to prove it.

The Church of God Belongs to Christ, Not to Us

Number three, found in chapter one, verse two, you must affirm that the church, BBC, Bethlehem Bible Church, or any other church is not yours, it is God's. How do you say to yourself, I'd like to be revved up again for God, not in a moralistic way?

Well, number one, the Spirit of God will work through his word as apostolic messengers. Number two, I realize that his word does change people, and I ought to be a changed person with whole new life, whole new motives, whole new issues, whole new desires.

And number three, you need to recognize this isn't my church, this isn't our church. Take a look at this, verse two, to the church of God, which is at Corinth. This is God's church. I don't know how often you do it, but sometimes if I'm not thinking properly, I do it.

Well, at my church. Friends, this isn't my church. You don't want this to be my church, do you? This is God's church. I'm not responsible for birthing you into the kingdom. I'm not responsible for giving you spiritual gifts.

This is God's church. And Paul says the same thing. Corinth, you're acting selfishly like this is your club. This is your moose lodge. This is your elk's lodge. This is your grange society meeting club organization.

You forgot this is the church of God that Christ has purchased with his own blood. Act like it. Paul is giving them all this information in their mind where they're thinking, I'm living carnally. I should be listening to the apostolic word.

I should be realizing that Sothenes was changed from a pagan, from a non-believer to a believer, and now I'm thinking, I'm acting like it's our own church. We make up our own rules. We do what we want.

This is to the church of God. It's not a political assembly. And by the way, most of the time when Paul writes, he uses the plural, and here he uses the singular. One church, one accord, no divisions.

You're all the people of God. Now, on a side note, I want to say this. If this is Jesus Christ church, who determines what we ought to do in this local assembly? Well, it has to be Christ Jesus. I think the Corinthians had a slogan for their church, and their church slogan was this.

The customer is always right. This is seeker-sensitive stuff from the get-go. Jesus, I know, maybe purchased the church, but now we've got to use our own wisdom to figure out what we need to do. I'm sure they would say the church of Corinth because they thought it was their church.

As one man said, keep your pastoral prayer short in your seeker services. The unchurched can't handle long prayers. I'm sure they would affirm this man who said, we must be willing to adjust our worship services when unbelievers are present.

God tells us to be sensitive to the hang-ups of unbelievers in our services. That's Corinthian style. That's the church of Corinth. That is not Jesus purchased this church. Jesus owns the church. It's his own possession.

He treats it like a bride, and we are to do only what he calls us to do in the local church, and God never said you treat the bride like the bride is a whore. He never said that. You never treat the bride of Christ like the bride of Christ is not the bride.

How will unbelievers respond if we do something? If you're an unbeliever here today, welcome. It's not a matter of being unfriendly. It's a matter of this. We're not here to put a worship service together so you'll like it.

We're here to honor God because this isn't my church. It's not the elder's church. It's not your church. It's Christ's church. And if he's happy at the end of the day but you throw rocks, so be it. Adjust our worship practices when unbelievers are present.

Here's what should happen in Jesus' church. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. I'll give you a little idea. You say, Pastor Mike, you're kind of all riled up about this. Let me put it this way. If you're married and someone began to attack your bride, friends, you will no longer be a pacifist.

If you've got any clue, any stature at all, any courage, honor, loyalty, thankfulness, gratitude, or anything else, you will not just stand there and go, defile my wife. Go ahead, besmirch her, bedob her with all kinds of gross things.

You just do whatever you want to my wife. The smallest framed man who has any courage or understanding of being a husband would stand up to his dying breath to protect his wife, wouldn't he? This is the bride of Christ.

And the Church of Corinth had just played fast and loose with it. They just acted like they're in charge. They're not under apostolic authority. They do what they want, when they want, how they want. And when the world floods in, they think it's probably a good evangelistic opportunity.

In Jesus' purchased church, here's what should happen when unbelievers show up. And if you're an unbeliever here today, this is my prayer for you. Verse 23, if therefore the whole church should assemble together and all speak in tongues and ungifted men and unbelievers enter, will they not say that you're mad?

Verse 24, but if all prophesy or preach the word, declare the truths of God, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all. Why? Because the word is preached. He is called into account by all, because everyone who's preaching the word will call into account.

One day you'll die and stand before God, and you need a righteousness not of your own. You need to be forgiven by the risen Christ. What does the word of God do like Hebrews chapter 4? The secrets of his heart are what?

Disclosed, laid open. And so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you. Now, if it's my church, that's too radical. If it's our church, that's too tough. But if it is Christ Jesus' church, that is just right.

You say, well, I don't feel good about it. If we felt good about it, there wouldn't have to be words to tell us opposite of our feelings. When someone says that unbelievers don't respond to worship services with old songs or long preaching, friends, mark this and mark it well.

Unbelievers don't worship the God of the universe. They only worship themselves. This isn't our church. My job on Sunday is not to entertain goats, as Spurgeon said. It is to edify the sheep. And once you turn into the Church of Corinth and say, anything goes, numbers matter, getting the unbelievers in matter.

I like getting the unbelievers in, but we don't change our methodology. How about Reverend Tim Dyson? You can cancel the Reverend part of his name, of Church Alive in Tampa, Florida, gives away money for newcomers.

Friday night's event will include clowns, a light show, and music from rock musician Clint Brown. It takes creativity to reach out to new members. No, it takes disobedience to turn the worship service into a place where if you show up, you get free oil changes like some churches do.

You say, well, that doesn't happen around here. Wall Street Journal, Stamford, Connecticut. Mary Wilkinson went to church on Sunday in January at St. Francis Episcopal Church, holy communion for pets.

The 59-year-old retired portfolio manager carried her 17-year-old tiger cat to the altar, waited in line behind three panting dogs. I mean, I want to laugh or shout, I don't know what, cry. Waited in line behind three panting dogs to receive the host, the Eucharist, and had a special dedication performed for her cat, Purbox Jr.

I like other parishioners who are animal people. I like the church to do what I want. This is my church. This is our church. With pews hard to fill, a small number of otherwise traditional clergy are welcoming animals into the flock.

And I say with total disdain and no compromise style, when clergy officiate at pet funerals and group bark mitzvahs, I want to scream. This is not my church. This is not your church. That isn't their church.

Maybe it is the church of Sardis because they're dead. This is Christ's church. And where are the people to stand up and say, come what may, we'll honor Christ's Jesus. You say, well, you're getting too upset about it.

I wish everyone would be upset about the defaming of the bride of Christ. What do you call a man who won't stand up for his bride? I'll call him a coward. What do you call people of the church, elders, pastors, and lay people who won't stand up for the word of God?

People want to do all the hows of ministry. How about the who of ministry? Whose church is it? That would pretty much solve every problem. And Paul says, this is the church of God. Act godly. Be under the word of God.

Not this, does it work? How many numbers will we get? How will we get credibility in the congregations? How about Jesus in John 6, 66? As a result of this teaching, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore.

The day we have to take a survey at this church of the community asking them what they like in church is the day I quit. Why? Because they don't know what they need. I know what they need because Jesus has told me and he's told you in the word.

And we do it whether they walk with us anymore or whether the place blows up to 5 ,000 people. When Rick Warren says, is my deep conviction that anybody can be one to Christ if you discover the key to his or her heart, the most likely place to start is within a person's felt needs.

Friends, that isn't even a Christian statement. There is one who seeks, and it's the Father who seeks people to be his worshipers. Bill Heibel says to Peter Jennings during an interview on TV, Peter Jennings said, you don't think it was even important to have one cross in your church building?

Heibel responds, we're very serious about what Jesus did on the cross. But to capture the essence of Christianity in a single symbol is a little dangerous, we feel. Paul says in chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians, I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, even him what?

Whether you eat or whether you drink or whether you have public worship service, you do all for the glory of the purchaser of the church. That was Corinthian's problem. Same man I quoted before said, the problem is the longer you're a believer, the less you think like an unbeliever.

A, is that a problem? B, your interest in value change, values change. Because I have been a Christian for most of my life, I think like a Christian. I don't normally think like an unbeliever. Worse than that, I tend to think like a pastor.

And that's even further removed from an unbeliever's mindset. I must intentionally change mental gears when seeking to relate to non-Christians. If that's one on one, maybe, but not in the church that Jesus purchased.

We need to preach the cross that Tozer talked about. Not the new cross, but the old cross. The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect.

To the self-assertive, it says, come and assert yourself for Christ. To the egotist, it says, come and do your boasting in the Lord. To the thrill seeker, it says, come and enjoy the thrill of Christian fellowship.

But the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense is the gospel. Friends, we are no one. I am a no one. This isn't my church. It's not your church. I just want this. I want you to obey what the apostolic messengers said by the Spirit's power.

I want you to realize that if God gets a hold of you, you're going to be different. And you ought to have people in your lives whose lives have been so dramatically transformed. You say, that's a good reminder.

And you ought to say, this isn't my church. Therefore, I should do everything that the owner, that the Lord, that the purchaser of the church says to do. And if it doesn't work, it doesn't matter. If it's not popular, I don't care.

If it's not copacetic with the culture, it matters not. I have a husband, I have a king, I have a savior, and I'll do what he says even if it kills me. That should be our attitude. And the good news is today, church, I know you believe this.

This is not a scolding sermon. You're on the other side. This is what we believe. For the majority of us here, we affirm we are under this book. We are not over it. And the Lord and the king of the church says to do something, we want to just do it with more fidelity and more faithfulness, right?

No Compromise Radio, with Pastor Mike Abendroth, is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible-teaching church, firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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