1 Corinthians - A Ten-Thousand Foot View

Today is an historic day at Bethlehem Bible Church. What we're going to do this morning has only happened in the last 13 years four other times.

And that is to start a major book of the Bible. James, Mark, Ephesians, Sermon on the

Mount, and today, 1 Corinthians. You are here at the bottom, working our way up.

1 Corinthians, the whole book we'll go through verse by verse by verse.

This is one of those books that you should be super excited about because A, it's

God's Word, but B, it's exciting. If anybody is bored during the 1

Corinthians series, maybe I will be boring to some degree, but I think it's rather because you're not engaged in paying attention and it's because it's not that the text is boring, for sure, it may be the pastor is boring, but I think the problem might lie within your own heart because you can't read this book without saying, this is fascinating, this is outrageous, this is provocative.

I don't have to put a spin on this like I do some of the radio shows. You know, the radio shows at No Compromise Radio, always biblical, always provocative, always in that order.

I don't need to do any of that here because 1 Corinthians obviously is biblical and it's very, very thought -provoking.

The book of 1 Corinthians is one of those books that is exciting. You see the problems of other people so you say to yourself,

I don't want to do that. It's very relevant. I don't have to make it relevant. It just is relevant.

It's very readable and it talks about things that you would never think are appropriate for a

Sunday morning worship service. I'm excited about this book. I got to teach it in Germany earlier this year.

I had 25 one -hour sessions to get through all the book. If you can pray for me for praise,

I've just been asked to go to Corinth next November 2010 and teach this book in Corinth in Athens.

So I'm very excited about that. But, you know, I said I wouldn't want to go. It's too boring. The book is boring. The place is boring.

I feel like I want to get down in some kind of three -point stance for this book. Some kind of,

I've used the illustration before, but like in the roller coaster ride. You know, your anticipation goes up as you can just feel yourself go in that first car.

Click, click, click, click. You're waiting to get to the top because then you know you're going to be zooming straight down.

It's one of those kind of books. For some it will be too controversial.

For some you might be encouraged. For others you might be mad. But we want to teach through the book of 1

Corinthians like it's written, verse by verse by verse. But before we look at the smaller bites, kind of atomistically looking at the text,

I like to give a broad overview. If you have a home Bible study or you have a class that you teach, instead of jumping into a book of the

Bible, let's say the book of Revelation, and teaching piece by piece by piece, it's better I think to have one initial message to say this is the overview.

Let's take a look at this from a bird's eye view. So then when we dive into the pieces, we'll know how they fit.

Don't you think that would be a good way to teach it? Well, even if you don't think it's a good way, I do and I get to preach today. The book of 1

Corinthians divides itself out very simply. It has an introduction, it has an ending, and two parts in the middle.

The introduction is found in verses 1 to 9 of chapter 1. And then we have, if you look with me to 1

Corinthians 1 verse 11, the second part of the book. Let me give you a quick outline first.

We have the introduction first, then we have the second section, which is found in the rest of chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

And there's been a report from Chloe's household. Take a look at verse 11. Paul said,

For I have been informed a concern in you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are quarrels among you.

And so Paul is going to answer these problems. He's going to talk about divisions in the church, he's going to talk about lack of discipline in the church, he'll talk about lack of morality in the church, he'll talk about lawsuits in the church, because he's heard a report from Chloe's people.

So you have the introduction, Paul answering the report from Chloe's household, and then the next part of the book is found in chapters 7 through 15.

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. There are some questions that these folks have for Paul, and he gives the answers.

Turn with me, if you would, to chapter 7, verse 1. So you've got the introduction, then you've got some reports from a household that Paul deals with in this carnal church, this fleshly church, and then there's some replies to specific questions.

We don't know the specific questions, but we know how Paul specifically answers them. And if you look at chapter 7, verse 1, now, concerning the things about which you wrote, and then he leads into question number 1, is it good to be celibate?

Question number 2 in chapters 8, 9, 10, what about meat sacrificed to idols?

Chapter 11, the first part, what about head coverings in a local church service? At the end of chapter 11, the next question is, what about the

Lord's Supper? How should we act? Ask another question, what do we do about spiritual gifts in chapter 12, 13, and 14?

And then the last question he talks about is, just how important is the resurrection? 1

Corinthians chapter 15, then he gives a conclusion. So once again, when you look at 1 Corinthians, and you want to outline it, like anything else, there's an introduction and a close.

And in the middle, you've got a report from Chloe's household that Paul addresses four issues, and then you've got these six questions.

We don't know the questions, but we know the answers, and we have a good idea what the questions are based on what the answers are, and that is 1

Corinthians chapter 1 through 16. Sprinkled in, if I might say,

Paul's going to defend his apostolic authority. And now you basically know 1 Corinthians.

Paul is writing this book not to commend them like 1 Thessalonians, but he is here to what?

Instruct them, and to reprove them, and to rebuke them, and to put the right kind of thinking into their minds, as he would as an apostle.

So let's go through the introduction. Let's go through these Chloe's issues, the six questions, and then the closing.

And if I was a vowing man, I would make a vow right now that we're going to do all 16 chapters right now.

I have to start next week in chapter 1, verse 1. I don't know why I have to, but I just want to do the one jet tour.

And I can tell I'm starting to get a little worked up, because I know once we get into here, it is going to be the proverbial

G -forces on your face. And they will be on my face and your face too, because it's just the onslaught of information.

You've heard of the drinking from the fire hose. That's exactly what these 16 chapters will force you to do.

You put your mouth to it and just... Well, I don't have to explain it. Interestingly, this book was meant to be read in one setting.

How often do you read a letter? I think I'll read a little bit of this letter today, and maybe next

Sunday I'll read a little bit more of the letter. No, it's just a letter. And so you would sit down and you would just read this letter.

So I want to kind of preach it from an overview style, making sure I show you where everything goes, so then next week we'll start putting the pieces there.

This is like the foundational message. 1 Corinthians 1 -16.

Let's look at the introduction. Paul, chapter 1, verse 1, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sothenes, our brother.

So that's how they would write letters back in those days. The writer starts first. You don't have to wait to the end to say, sincerely,

Paul. Then he says, oh, who are you writing it to? To the church of God, which is at Corinth.

To those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling. They might not be saints by the way they're acting, but by calling, they're saints.

And all those who in every place call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

And then Paul says, like he often does, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

He's not necessarily going to commend them for what they've done, like Romans and Ephesians.

He's not going to commend them for being a participant in the gospel, like he did in Philippians. He thanks them in kind of an oblique way, verse 4,

I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God, which was given you in Christ Jesus. The whole book is going to be how they contort grace, how they twist grace, how they dislocate grace.

But Paul says at the beginning, he says, I'm thanking God that he's given you grace. You just haven't responded to grace properly.

And more on the city, more on the background next week. That's the introduction.

Now let's move to Paul reproving their sin based on the report from Chloe's household.

Now, again, as we look at this, what I don't want us to do is just say, this is just information for us. This is just interesting data.

I want you to learn the truth. So, A, you think the way this book thinks. And B, if you see something in your own life, you say,

I have fleshly areas in my life, carnal areas. They're areas that I don't walk according to the fruit of the

Spirit. Then we say, God, use this book because I want to be a better husband. Make this truth come alive by your

Spirit's power so I'm a better wife, a better preacher, a better evangelist, a better worker.

Do you think God would be honored if we would do such a thing? It's just not, oh, look at how bad Corinth is.

Because sometimes when you do that, you realize we've met the enemy, and the enemy is... I don't think our church is like Corinth, but I think in our hearts sometimes we can act

Corinth -like. And so when we come to these passages, we want to say, God, filet my soul so you make me look more like Christ Jesus.

Now, there's four matters that Chloe's household brought. The first one, let's look at chapter 1, verse 10.

Divisions in the church. Divisions in the church. This takes care of chapter 1, 2, 3, and 4.

There's different leaders. Maybe some said, we like the apostle Paul. We'll follow him.

No, we like Peter. He's the leader of the church of Jerusalem. We'll follow him. No, Apollos, he's really eloquent.

We'll follow him. No, you guys all follow other people. I follow Christ. And so they're dividing themselves, and Paul knows that's not right because they're all simply sinful servants.

Certainly, Jesus isn't a sinful servant, but short of Jesus, they're all just people. And Paul gives them a little shock right here.

I'll read verse 10, 11, and 12, but the shock is in 13. I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our

Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord, why does he say Lord? For obvious reasons. That you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind, in the same judgment.

For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each of you is saying,

I am Paul, I am Apollos, I am of Cephas, I am of Christ. And then the shock. This is you stand in water and put your finger in the socket.

Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he?

I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Spirit and the Apostle Paul. No, was

Paul, were you baptized in the name of Paul? Why are people thinking this divided way?

Answer, Paul goes into it and says, you've got the wrong view of wisdom. Your view of wisdom has to do with fleshly, earthly, human wisdom, not wisdom from God, because wisdom from God would make you unite.

You're following the wrong wisdom. This ties in perfectly together. The cause for division is faith in man's wisdom.

Man's wisdom says, we'll measure our spirituality by externals. Well, for us today it could be, we'll measure our spirituality by how many people are at the church and how many baptisms and how many professions of faith and how big our offering is.

Paul says, you don't understand the Gospel if you don't figure out grace is the right way to think about things.

Demerited favorists, in Clare Ferguson would say, you can't think of things according to man's way. Is your church successful?

What do we do today? The ABCs of church growth. Assets, buildings, and cash. If you've got the three,

God is blessing you. Nickels and noses. You just have all these things. People ask the question.

I mean, please don't ever ask it to me, but you're already here, so you already know the answer. But when I get to go overseas or travel anyplace else,

I just think, I hope no one says, how many people are at your church? How many people do you pastor?

Because you know what? When they ask me, I lie. I do. I just lie. People say, well, how many people are at your church,

Pastor? And I say, 3 ,000. And you know what they do? Wow! We're really listening to you now.

You're a big shot. Can we have your autograph? 3 ,000 people. What if I would say six?

See, that's man's wisdom. I end up telling the truth. I say, I just lied. I guess there's 250, 300.

I don't know. I try not to count. I'm not responsible for how many people come to the church. Long ago,

MacArthur said, men, you choose your priorities. Either be faithful or popular. You get to choose one.

That's godly thinking. Wisdom of man says, you know, we've got a lot of giving, and somehow the church is healthy.

And Paul says, you've got the wrong kind of gospel when you think that way. Verse 18, don't place your faith in the wisdom of men because it will cause divisions.

Instead, look at the nature of the gospel. Verse 18, for the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.

You want counterintuitive information. Here's the stick in your eye, Paul says.

It's a cross. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

It is written, and it stands written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever

I will set aside. Don't think the way the world thinks. Pragmatism. All these other issues.

Where's the wise man? Where's the scribe? Where's the debater of this age? Come one, come all. I'll take all takers. They're not going to measure up to the gospel wisdom.

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? If he's made it foolish, why do we try to package it in wisdom?

Why do we say, you know, it's product, place, price, and promotion? Well, that's not what we do.

Why follow someone when God chooses you, not based on who you are, but his own good pleasure?

Look at what he said in verse 26. God chooses people in spite of who they are. For consider your calling, brethren.

There are not many wise among the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to what?

Shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world. God doesn't think like human, sinful people think.

And the base things of the world, verse 28, and the despised, God has chosen things that are not so that he may nullify the things that are.

If God chooses weak saints, why do we say I'm following that weak saint? That's the idea. Paul can be used of God, though, and so he says in chapter 2, and when

I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom. He could, he was well trained in that.

Proclaiming to you the testimony of God. I didn't come that way. Why? Verse 2. For I determined,

I made a resolution, I was resolute, I set my face towards Jerusalem with this thought, to know nothing among you, including man's wisdom, except Jesus Christ.

And by the way, what's the opposite of man's wisdom? I'll show you a Jesus who's crucified, a crucified

Messiah. So the text should read, except Jesus Christ, even him crucified. You want wisdom? You have a

Roman king, general, successful, first coming king, don't you? But wisdom doesn't go, a

Messiah just got crucified, naked, by the Romans, and he couldn't do anything about it.

Paul says you want wisdom? I'll give you what you don't want. That's real wisdom, a

Messiah who's crucified. Friends, what you believe determines what you do.

Or as one man said, ideas have consequences. And if your idea is that somehow we go by human wisdom, you're going to have divisions in the local church.

Show me a church that has divisions, I'll show you a church that says, it's not about the Gospel, it's not about Jesus Christ, it's about who's better, who's more popular, who's the better elder, who's the better pastor, who's got the better influence.

Those are all ways to think wrongly, and Paul says you ought not to do that. The elders are servants, chosen by God, weak in and of themselves, but they promote the glory of God, because God chooses the foolishness of the world to shame the wine.

The church of Corinth wanted this kind of wisdom, and basically Paul says next in chapter 2, verses 10 and following, you can't find wisdom on your own.

Maybe the church now says, okay, we really want that, now we better go find it. Socrates and all these people, we're going to go find

Plato, and we'll get this wisdom. Paul says wisdom from God can only come from, well, what a concept, from God.

Take a look at verse 10. For to us, apostles,

God revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit teaches all things, even the depths of God. You want God's wisdom, don't you?

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man, except the Spirit of a man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the

Spirit of God. Now we apostles have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we the apostles also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, not in those taught by the

Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. We are here to tell you the truth.

You can't find wisdom on your own. You don't have wisdom. God's going to reveal wisdom to you, and the wisdom comes through his apostolic messengers.

Show me a church that has division. Show me a church that has pride. Show me a church that's been relying on the wisdom of a man, and I'll show you true or false.

A mature, godly church. No, you'll find a what? A carnal church described in chapter 3.

See, these are all tied together. We have these chapter breaks where there should be no chapter breaks. This is all tied together.

The result of division and following false wisdom is what? Goo -goo -ga -ga kind of talk.

That's what it is. That's sucking your thumb kind of talk. That's what it is. I looked out and a couple of you were looking like you were getting ready to fall asleep, so I'm going to put these words in here, and you're going to say, did he just say that?

Show me someone who sucks on the bottle of division and false wisdom, and I'll show you a spiritual

Goliath, giant, or pygmy, and I think we know the answer.

These people say, we want the deep truth. Give me the deep truths. They can't even receive milk because of their attitude.

Chapter 3, 1 Corinthians. By the way, if you're calculating it out, we've gone 20 minutes and two chapters, and so how long will we be here today, church?

We're going to get there. We just might have to go really fast. I got to speak at a

Southern Baptist convention meeting this last Friday at Hope Chapel down the street in Sterling, and I didn't speak until 9 at night, and everybody knew that the baseball game, the

Red Sox game, was at 935 first pitch or something, and I heard people talking about it, and we're going to get out on time and everything, and I thought they should have put the preaching up front so then you get the preaching done, and if you don't get the financial report around and talk about that, then that's fine, but I was the last, and so I got up and I did this.

I said, thank you very much for having me here to speak. It's a real honor and privilege, and we're going to look at a passage today in the

Bible that when you get into it and you start studying it, I dare you to think about the

Red Sox halfway through the message. Not because I'm some great preacher, but because it's the text and the gravity of speaking from God.

We hear from pundits and TV people, and I'm tired of hearing from athletes, you know, what do you think about this world?

I'm tired of hearing musicians who are going to tell me about political aspirations and all of these. They don't offer me anything.

Let God speak, and I'll be like this. So I don't know what you're going to do afterwards, but I'm going to try to challenge you as we're into 1

Corinthians. I don't think you're going to think about pumpkin picking until after the service. Chapter 3, verse 1,

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual men. You thought you were, but you're not, but as men of flesh, as to, can you imagine if you got this, and you were a leader of the church, to babies, infants in Christ.

I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it. Ever tried to give an eight -week -old baby ribeye steak?

Never thought of that. It's not that Paul was teaching them the wrong thing.

Their hearts were callous to receiving the right thing. They didn't even understand ministry.

They didn't even understand who a pastor was and what he had done. If you go to chapter 4, what happens when you are a baby in Christ and you don't understand these things?

What you do is you think, I don't even understand what a Christian leader is supposed to do. And so Paul defends himself in chapter 4, because he said,

I want you to stop judging other people. Let me tell you what a real servant is like, so you see that we're after faithfulness.

Chapter 4, verse 1. What's the solution to this problem when you've got the wrong view of leaders?

Let a man regard us in this manner. Chapter 4, verse 1. As servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found what? Wise in his own eyes.

Popular. Well studied in human wisdom. No, trustworthy. But to me, it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you or by any human court.

In fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not acquitted by this.

But the one who examines me is the Lord. So what's Paul's solution to all this?

Verse 5. Therefore, do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the

Lord comes, who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts, and then each man's praise will come to him from God.

Quit trying to be a motive reader of leadership, because if you stop that, you wouldn't follow any of these leaders at the expense of following Christ.

And secondly, he says in chapter 4, verse 6, stop being so arrogant. Just stop it.

Chapter 4, verse 6. Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other.

Quit exalting yourselves over the word of God. That's what Paul is saying. Now you hear him kind of back off a hair in verse 14.

I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

Don't be arrogant. Don't be prideful. Then Paul says in verse 21 of chapter 4, who talks like this?

What do you desire? When I come back and talk to you, if I'm able to do that, shall

I come to you with a rod or with love and a spirit of gentleness? Do you want me to come back and paddle you with a rod?

Is that what you need or is it time to grow up? It's time for you to act like men, if you're a man, and grown women, if you're women.

Paul says, speaking of rods, you don't use rods in your own church. I should give you one because you don't use any in your own church.

We come to the second problem. Not just divisions, but lack of discipline. Show me a church without discipline and I'll show you a church that's not a church.

You don't discipline your child because you hate them, you discipline your child because you love them.

Chapter 5. There was immorality in the church and they just let it go. They didn't really care about it.

Look at chapter 5, verse 1. I think we need a good dose of this in evangelicalism.

Chapter 5, verse 1. It is actually reported. It is actually reported. I can't believe it, but it's actually reported.

Who would ever think of this? This is like some kind of heinous sin is in the church.

This is Jerry Springer, but not in the studio, but in the church. Paul says, I just can't get over it.

You're supposed to be saints, holy, set apart, God's called out one, and you're letting this immorality in the church.

There's immorality among you. This is sexual immorality. You want to know to what degree there's sexual morality?

An immorality of a kind that does not even exist among the Gentiles. This is not what Jerry Springer people do.

This is worse than that. That someone has his father's wife.

Someone's sleeping with his mother -in -law. And instead of getting the rod out, instead of saying this sin has to be dealt with, or these people need to be excommunicated, what do they do?

They say, we can take it. We can deal with this. We're arrogant. We're prideful.

Verse 2. You have become arrogant and have not mourned. You should be crying for that person and crying for the bride of Christ sullied

So the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. There are reasons for church discipline.

One is to restore the person. But there's also a reason to say there's leaven in the church. Expel it.

Show me a church that says, I won't do church discipline because it's unloving, because we'll get sued, because we'll do all these things.

I'll show you a Corinthian. You say,

I don't like that. I never thought you would. I don't like it either. But truth is truth.

Paul says in verse 3. So discipline him. For on my part, although, though absent in body, but present in spirit, have already judged him.

If I would have been there, I would have done it, because I've done it here. I'm just not there. Verse 4.

In the name of our Lord Jesus, Lord, Master, Sovereign, someone that you're supposed to obey, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of the

Lord Jesus. You've got the power to do it. If you're weak, here's the power of Christ Jesus. Here's what Paul did. I've decided to deliver such a one to Satan, for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the

Lord Jesus. Paul said this. If I was there, we would have kicked that person out, and when you church discipline someone, here's what you say, according to the

Bible. We will hand him over, or her over, to Satan. And Satan might ravage that person's body, and health, but what we're after is, that God would save his spirit, before the destruction is over.

If you're a Christian, Christians fall into sin, and church discipline. We're still after the right thing.

Can you imagine, how important is church purity? It's so important, that when the church kicks someone out, according to Matthew 18, and Titus chapter 3, and other passages that we looked at, even last week, the church says, you are handed over to Satan.

Who talks like that? By the way, that's not a good way to keep a lot of people, at your church, if you're looking for just numbers.

But if you're looking for purity, and if you want godly wisdom, and if you want godly growth, would you be willing to do it?

That's the issue. Like I said, when you look at this book, who talks this way? Who preaches this way?

What would you do, if you got a letter like this? If I got a letter like this, from John MacArthur, I would keel over.

And this is only John MacArthur. How about Paul the Apostle? Here's the Apostle Paul, and here's

MacArthur. There's leagues in between them. But how about the Apostle, the sent one of Jesus Christ?

It's not Paul giving this letter to the church. It is Jesus Christ. If you tolerate sin in your church, you're going to become contaminated.

To use the language of apple picking, one bad apple, what? Spoils the whole.

So Paul said, don't tolerate it. Cleanse the church. And he talks about that in verse 7.

Clean out the old leaven. You say, well, what else do they do?

Chapter 6. They would sue each other. They would sue each other. Chloe's people wrote to Paul and said, you know what, they're suing each other here.

What do we do? Chapter 6 verses 1 to 8.

Just listen to the language. Does anyone of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints?

You're going to say, well, we won't deal with it in the house with people who are qualified spiritually.

We'll go to the pagan unbeliever as a judge. Maybe he's a good judge. Maybe he's a nice judge.

Maybe he's a family judge. But he's still not the one to judge the church because Jesus has given judgment to the church to the leaders of the church.

He says, don't do that. It makes you look bad. You say, I want to get my revenge.

I want to get what's mine. And Paul says, that's false wisdom. That's man's wisdom. Don't think that way.

What would be better? Just let it go. What you have, just let it go. It's all from God anyway. So just let it go.

It's not that big of a deal. You're so prideful.

You're so occupied with who you are and what you have and your social status. Just let it go. You're going to judge angels one day, he says.

And then he says, there's another problem. The lack of purity. Chapter 6 verse 9 to 20. Some people are having division.

Some people are having impurity regarding immorality and they won't judge.

Others are saying, you know what, we'll just sue people. And now look at this. Some of the most amazing verses in all the

Bible, 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 9 are, Do you not know? Paul says, you should know.

Everybody should know this. That the unrighteous, those that aren't righteous like God, will not inherit the kingdom of God.

And if you're not careful, you're going to be tricked. Do not be deceived. Why did he write that? Because you can be deceived.

You can say, I've got a friend who's a fornicator. It's my sister who's the adulterer.

It's my father who's the homosexual. There's all kinds of family relationship things. And you could say,

I better think like the world does. I better not cast pearls. I mean, I better not cast my judgment.

Paul says, think biblically. Neither fornicators, this is lifestyle stuff, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will what?

Inherit the kingdom of God. When these people act like that, they show they're not Christians. And Paul says, you ought to think that way,

Church of Corinth. The great liberating news is verse 11. Such were some of you. You used to be that way.

And when God's Spirit got a hold of you, you're different. I mean, think about it this way.

When the all -powerful God of the universe, the Holy Spirit, makes you born again, quickens you, seals you, illumines your mind, regenerates you, you mean to tell me that you won't be different in any way, shape, or form, and you'll live your lives like you always live your lives?

No way. You were washed, verse 11. You were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the

Lord. Why does he say Lord all the time? Because they're not acting like he's Lord and in the Spirit of our

God. Paul says, you're going to try to say this. Well, God, you made us, and you gave us hormones, and those hormones want to work.

And so when I'm hungry, I eat. When I have a sexual desire, I want to engage in that.

Paul says that's the wrong kind of thinking. They even had slogans for it. Remember the slogan? What does chapter 6 say about that slogan?

Here's their slogan, chapter 6, verse 13. Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for food. Hey, I get hungry.

I've got to eat. I want to fornicate, have adultery, or be an idolater, or homosexual.

I just have to do it. I have those desires. I have those urges. Paul said, that's not the way you think.

That's abusing this kind of language. And it's not even profitable, verse 14 and following.

It doesn't do any good, by the way, verse 20. You've been bought with a price. Your body has been brought with a price. Therefore, glorify

God in your body. Assuming that fornication, homosexuality, all the rest, doesn't glorify

God in your body. Paul says, don't do that. You can't do that.

So Paul gives an introduction. Paul says, there's some issues I address. And then now he comes to reply to their questions.

And now is the time we have to speed up even faster. I knew this was going to happen, but that's okay.

If we don't get through everything, you'll just have to come in three years to make sure you hear me talk on these verses.

At Grace Church, where I grew up, we wouldn't say, how long have you been at Grace Church?

We would say it like this. We'd say something like this. What was John preaching when you got here?

I'd say, I got here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. Oh, I got here in Matthew 7. And then some of the old timers would go,

I was here when he was preaching through John. Okay, okay. If you're new, you'd say, I got here when we were going through 1

Corinthians five years ago. There's divisions in the church.

Paul addresses it. Lack of discipline. People are suing each other. There's no purity. And now Paul makes a transition, verse 1 of chapter 7.

Now concerning the things about which you wrote, remember there's an easy outline. Intro, conclusion. He deals with the four issues from Chloe's household.

And now he answers the six questions. That is 1 Corinthians. When you know the outline, then you can go to a passage and you can figure it out a little easier.

And the first question was, is celibacy legitimate? He talks about marriage and divorce and other things.

Now what you don't know is this, or maybe you do know, Corinth was pagan. Corinth was so bad, people would go to the temple and to commune with the gods.

If you were a man, you'd sleep with the prostitute and that would be the highlight of communion. That would be the way that there would be the actual communion with the gods.

And all of a sudden, if you were doing that, and then you got saved out of it, what do you think might be your temptation?

I know for me, when I was in drugs and alcohol before I got saved, when I got saved I said, alcohol is from the devil.

And I went farther than what the scriptures talk about. Alcohol. Alcohol can be abused.

Drunkenness is always sin. But alcohol isn't from the devil. Read Psalm 104 sometime.

Read what God did when he judged Israel, like, not give them wine, etc. But we go too far, is my point.

You know, you say, well, I used to like rock music. I get saved. And then you think, I can't listen to rock music at all, even though some rock music is probably fine and dandy to listen to.

Pagan, idolatry, worship, sex. And all of a sudden you get saved and you go, when

I think about that topic, it's all fleshly, carnal, no. And it's even worse because for a woman, let's say, she gets saved and her husband's still involved in all that, and he's a pagan.

The woman says, do I sleep with a pagan unbeliever who goes to the prostitute temple house? What do

I do? So they ask Paul. And Paul responds.

Verse 1. Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it's good for a man not to touch a woman.

This is cloaked language for sexual touch. Because of immoralities, but because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife.

And each woman is to have her own husband. And so Paul says, it's fine.

He says in chapter 7, verse 3, the husband must fulfill his duty to the wife, physically, intimately, likewise also the wife to her husband.

Don't get saved out of some sex cult and then say husband and wife can't be together. Paul says that's not the way you do it at all.

Verse 5. There were some people depriving their spouse because of this carnality. Stop depriving one another physically, sexually.

Why? Because you're going to let Satan right into your house if you do that. If you're able to and you deprive, there's a problem.

And then he says, but this, next verse, I say by way of concession, not of command. I wish that all men were even as myself.

However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner and one in that manner. If God has given you the gift of singleness, then fine.

Then serve the Lord. If God has not given you the gift of singleness, then it's okay to be married.

It's okay to be with your spouse. It's okay to stay married. And so Paul talks about this issue.

He talks about celibacy. He talks about immorality. He talks about not abandoning the duties of a spouse has to their husband or their wife.

And he says, by the way, let's make it further. What if you're the wife who's married to the pagan?

You're the Christian. Besides the issue of intimacy, you say this, I've got to get divorced. Forget just that issue of intimacy.

I've got to divorce the person. And Paul will say in this chapter, if he, the pagan, wants to live with you, you may not get divorced.

You must stay with this person because of what God might do. He says in verse 10, look with me.

To the married I give instructions. Not I, but the Lord. He's quoting, this is what

Jesus said in essence. If Paul said, it's me, it's the same import. But he said this was

Jesus' teaching. Do you remember when Jesus was on earth? That the wife should not leave her husband. If she does leave, she better remain unmarried.

Is it okay to be married to an unbelieving spouse? Of course, verse 12.

But to the rest I say, not the Lord. Jesus didn't address this, but I, the apostle with full Holy Spirit authority, say that if any brother has a wife who's an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her.

Only two ways out of a marriage, and only two ways. There is immorality based on one of the partners.

That could still be forgiven. And if the unbelieving spouse wants to leave because you're a Christian, you let them go.

Anything else is not biblical. You say, well, but what if I was in this sin,

I've been married 14 times, and I went to these 14 cold houses, and then I got saved, and then

I'm married to this lady, and this lady's been divorced 13 times, and she was a temple prostitute, and now we get together.

Can I marry that person, and what could I do? I am married, and now it's too late to back up. What do I do?

And Paul has a theme in the rest of chapter 7. What's that theme word? Remain. You can't unscrew the inscrutable.

You can't kind of take the egg that's been already whipped up. The way you are, the way God saved you, you just said,

I live an ungodly lifestyle, I act like an unbeliever, I'm now a Christian, and now I'll stay a Christian with the woman that you have given me.

Second question, what about, speaking of temples, what about eating meat that had been offered to idols?

I find it interesting when I go to a Chinese restaurant, and we walk in, and there's a little temple up there, and there's a little cat god.

And I'm just thinking, there's that kind of smiley little, I don't know what they're called, that's a nice little cat god up there, and I go, I know all the food here has been dedicated to this cat god.

I don't know what cat gods eat, there's usually some kind of little orange up there or something. Can you imagine, here's the orange up there, and they go, you know what, they need a little more stuff on their plate, and we've got to find that orange for that orange chicken, we can't find it.

They take that orange from the orange chicken, make it, and give it to you, do you eat it? You go, where's this guy coming from?

I have no idea. But it's that kind of thing. It's cheaper to get meat that's offered to idols than just go down and pay full price.

Is it okay for a Christian to eat? And Paul answers the question. And we don't have time to go through this right now, but here's what he says.

As you increase in your knowledge of false gods, which aren't gods at all, and you eat, the increase of knowledge that you have regarding that should also see in your life an increase of love for people that don't have that knowledge.

With the increase of knowledge, chapter 8, 9, and 10, should come the increase of love. And if you're around a person who's a new

Christian, and they don't want to eat that because they think there's a demon in there, and they think if they eat some of that demon food, somehow the demon's going to get them, or they're not thinking properly, you go, it's okay,

I won't eat any food. Because as my increased knowledge goes up, I mean, as my knowledge is increased, sure, then

I won't eat any meat. I'll be a vegan, I'll be a vegetarian, it's no big deal. Because I want to love you.

Increased knowledge, increased love. They're not really idols anyway, but we'll make sure we're showing love and humility.

And so Paul says in chapter 9, let me show you my love and humility. Let me show you how I could demand money from you as an apostle, and I just, with humility and love, worked.

I just worked. You didn't even have to support me. You want to see what it's like when it comes to humility and love and a lack of pride for weak

Christians who don't think they can eat food offered to a fake idol? Let me just show you from my own life, chapter 9.

I want to work with humility and love. He appeals to what he did. He didn't have to, but he did.

And we move to the next question, and we're going to now even get close to wrapping it up.

How am I going to do this? I have no idea how I'm going to do this. Let's just keep going, see what happens. Question 3. Should women have their head covered in a public worship service?

There were problems, and so they wrote about it. And here's what was happening. According to chapter 11, that wives, to show that they have someone over them, they have head covered.

So they would walk around Corinth, outside the house, and they'd have their head covered. And so everyone would know, oh, that person has a husband.

They have their head covered. Now when they would go into the temple of a false god, they would say this,

I have no husband over me. Only God is over me, Diana.

Off goes the veil. Somebody says, well, you know, is this right, Paul? So Paul said, listen, even though you're equal in essence, even though the

Father and the Son are equal in essence, chapter 2 says, there is a functional subordination, although equal in nature, so too the women who show themselves to have a head, and that is their husband, need to make sure when they go to corporate worship services that they just don't go,

God is over me, not my husband, and throw the thing off. And so Paul addresses that. And I know you're all thinking now, does that mean it's for today?

I'll see you in two years. We'll talk about that. I will say this, no matter what we preach, we will not have doilies at the door, and you will be required to have a doily on your head if you're a married woman, or else you won't be allowed in.

We won't do that. How's that? Are you relieved? People say, well, yeah, we don't do that in our city.

Paul says in chapter 11, verse 16, we do it in every city. Question 4, what about the

Lord's Supper? Here's what happens in the Lord's Supper, chapter 11, verse 23, and we're just going to wrap things up quickly.

Here's what happens. I'm rich. I don't have to work because people work for me. I go to the

Lord's Supper early at noon, and I get tons of food, and I get a drink all day long. And by the time slave, servant, gets done working at 8 o 'clock, they show up to the love feast, and all the best stuff is gone, and all the alcohol is gone, and I didn't save anything.

Paul says, you know what? This is the Lord's Supper. This is communion. We are all leveled because of the

Lord's table. Don't go early and eat all this food and get drunk at the expense of the other poor guy or gal who has nothing to eat.

I can make an application to our food line last week, but I won't do that. The poor people in the back got, you know, bologna sandwiches.

They did. It was true. Fifth question found in chapters 12, 13, and 14, talking about spiritual gifts.

And so here was the question, basically. Are tongues the end all and be all of spiritual gifts? And Paul says, not even close.

You, Corinth, say gifts of the tongues are at the top. And Paul says, you don't even know what's at the top.

You don't understand spirituality at all. You do it without love. And then Paul in chapters 12, 13, and 14 says, let me put tongues in their place.

And for sure their place is not at the top, Corinth. Well, I don't know if, is

Jesus going to be raised from the dead? Is resurrection important? When I die, will I go to heaven?

Chapter 15, last question, how important is the resurrection? Just how important is the resurrection?

And Paul says it's very, very important. Some people would say, you know, Corinth people die and there's no afterlife.

Paul says ideas have consequences. If you deny the resurrection of these people, you're going to deny resurrection in general.

You'll deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's not what you want to do. Paul says,

I'll prove from the scriptures, Jesus was raised from the dead, chapter 15, verse 3. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, he was really dead, and that he was raised on the third day.

You want more proof of the resurrection? Eye witnesses, chapter 15, verse 5 and 6.

And if you deny it, you're in trouble. Then Jesus isn't, he hasn't been raised from the dead.

Your faith is in vain. You suffer now for no good reason later. Paul answers the question, is the resurrection important?

Absolutely. People say, yeah, but how can the resurrected body be the same? It can't be earthly.

There's the body on earth and the body for heaven. That seems like it's weird, one body, two bodies.

And Paul says, there's different kinds of flesh. Seeds are sown, but grain appears.

And then Paul says the resurrection body is going to be incorruptible, glorious, powerful, spiritual, and like Jesus's body.

There's a real resurrection. You bury a Christian, you know that person's alive and will one day receive this great body.

Paul gives a conclusion. He talks about chapter 16, verse 1 and 4, about guidelines for giving on a regular basis.

Why do we give on Sundays? This is just a guideline, maybe not prescribed, but a good description. Paul talks about his visit in verses 5 through 9.

And then we close with this, verse 13 and 14 of chapter 16. If the church were to do these things, their problems would be solved.

How do you stop from being a church of Corinth? Here are five commands that, of course, are driven by the

Spirit of God and His power. But these are the commands. They are pithy. They are pointed. They are particular. Be on the alert.

They weren't. They weren't having their eyes wide open to these issues. They were just going along to get along.

Stand firm in the faith. They were standing firm in wisdom of man.

Act like men. Knowing what we do now about the whole book, they weren't acting like men. They were acting like babies.

Did we have a cry just there a second ago? We did. Nadus, thank you. On key. Even the unregenerate babies can obey.

That's excellent. Act like men, Corinth. Be strong.

It takes courage. It takes loyalty. It takes strength to obey the gospel of our King. And then wrap it all up with love.

Let all that you do be done in love. It wasn't loving to have divisions in the church.

It wasn't loving to sue other people in the church. It wasn't loving to somehow not kick people out of the church.

It wasn't loving to say tongues is the end all. It's not loving to say I'm going to eat this meat even though it's going to make you stumble.

So do everything with love. 1

Corinthians is the book that God wants us to study, I'm convinced. 1

Corinthians will show us the errors of others so that we run from those and run to the cross.

1 Corinthians will change our church. And it will change you. Let's pray.

Thank you, Father, for our time today in the word. It is a glorious thing to be called a Christian. One who has been called from sin unto you because of Christ Jesus.

And, Lord, we're thankful that you've given us this book. And we look forward with eager anticipation that you would teach us these truths that will be just perfect for Bethlehem Bible Church.

We'd like to be on the alert, Father. We want to stand firm in the faith. We want to act like men. We want to be strong.

We want to be loving. And so help us to do that. I pray for the carnality that could be in the church that's in some of our hearts.

It's in our hearts daily. I just pray that you'd excise that. Like a good physician, would you just cut that cancer out and get rid of it?

And, Father, then as we learn and we grow, it will be so much easier to minister to other people here at the church and help them.

Father, would you make this place a place that extols Christ Jesus, prevent our church from ever being divided, and looking after false wisdom.