FBC Morning Light (11/30/2024)

Good Saturday morning, people of faith.

This weekend's reading is in 1 Corinthians 8 -14, and I'm going to be focusing on chapters 9 and 10 of 1

Corinthians. In the beginning of 1 Corinthians 9, Paul's authority is questioned, and he takes a bit of time to answer that.

It says in verse 1, Am I not an apostle? Am I not free?

Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the

Lord? The answer to all these questions is, yes, he is an apostle, yes, he is free, yes, he has seen

Jesus Christ our Lord, and yes, the Corinthians are his work in the

Lord. If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the

Lord. Verse 3 says, My defense to those who examine me is this, do we have the right to eat and drink?

Do we have no right to take along a believing wife as also the other apostles, the brothers of the

Lord and Cephas, that is Peter? There's liberty here.

He has many rights, and he is an apostle, and he has the right to take along a believing wife even as Peter did.

In verses 12 and 15, though, he talks about how he lays these rights aside for the benefit of the

Corinthians and the gospel. He says, If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more?

Nevertheless, we have not used this right, that is his liberty, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.

And it says in verse 15, But I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things, that it should be done so to me, for it would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void.

He'd rather die than to get in the way of the gospel in its presentation to the

Corinthians in particular. Down in verse 23, it further says that he serves men for the gospel's sake.

It says, Now I do this for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.

So Paul, his authority was questioned as an apostle, and he responds with,

Yet I am an apostle, and I have the right to all of these things that I had not taken in order that the gospel may go forward.

He would have the right to be paid as someone who ministered in the gospel, and he would not accept payment for that.

And then it goes on into how in verses 24 through the end of that end of chapter 9 of how he maintains his discipline so that he can run the race in such a manner to win the prize that he doesn't just go about life willy nilly and out of control, and he doesn't want to become qualified, which leads right into chapter 10.

Chapter 10 goes back to the Old Testament example of the Jews, and it says in verse 1 of chapter 10,

Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

What's he talking about here? He's talking about the exodus from Egypt and how they went through the

Red Sea, and then how they were led by the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.

And yet what did this nation do? They rebelled.

They took the report of Joshua and Caleb and rejected it and accepted the report, the evil report of the 10 other spies from the land saying that they are, but we are, but grasshoppers in their sight and they rebelled against God's loving provision for them.

They rejected the manna and wanted meat and they did all these things. And what does it say about them?

It says in verse 5, it says, but with most of them, God was not well pleased for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

Right? And so it continues here. We have this possible pitfall for all of us that we would, that we would rebel, that this is not something that just happened only to the

Jews. It says in verse 12, therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

Right? If you think, well, that was the Jews back then or the Israelites back then, I wouldn't have a problem with that.

If I got to eat manna, I would just be so happy to eat manna. Well, maybe, we don't know, but it's pretty certain that you would have rebelled with many of them.

It's quite possible, right? Outside of the Lord's provision. So we are commanded in verse 14 to, it says, therefore, my beloved flee from idolatry.

Right? Anything that would take the place of God's authority in your life.

And this is all leading to a culminating message that I'll get to in just a moment, but we have

Paul's authority questioned and his right surrendered in order to present the gospel, but yet there are pitfalls for any minister of the gospel here.

And, and, and so what is it that maintains our focus through these things?

And I would suggest to you that it's verse 31 of chapter 10 says, therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

All right. If that main, if you have that mindset, it's going to prevent you from making certain errors, a lot of them, if not most of them.

And if you have that mindset, it's going to propel you to do the right things in many situations.

Um, our minds, I think are, are kind of hardwired.

If we are thinking of the right things, we tend to do the right things.

And if we're thinking of the wrong things, we tend to do the wrong things. Let me give you an example. Um, the other day we had a, a chess meeting, it was supposed to be a fun meeting.

And so we were messing around and talking with each other. And I said some things while playing to another, to one of the other players that were really, really just not very good.

I would, you're kind of going back and forth. And I just said, Oh, you're down a piece. So you're going to, you're going to exchange, which is not a good thing you want to do.

But I said it in such a way that it was offensive to them. And it, and it wasn't meant to be, but yet it came out that way.

Why? Because in my heart, I was not thinking of in whatever

I do, do all for the glory of God. I was thinking about doing something for the glory of me.

And it hindered the gospel of Christ in our relationship.

Another example, this is a much more materialistic relationship by a friend a number of years ago, who was building a brick patio and he was on his ride home from work one day.

And all of a sudden he noticed a pile of bricks behind there in the alleyway behind somebody's house with like weeds growing all over them.

And so he went and knocked on the door and said, Hey, are you doing anything with those bricks? Can I buy them off of you?

And what was it that, that caused him to notice those bricks, except for the fact that he was wanting to build a brick patio.

All right. And so the idea being that if your mind is set on glorifying

God, you are less likely to do the wrong thing and more likely to do the right thing.

Let's pray. Lord, thank you for the warnings and from your word, from the way

Paul cautioned us to flee from idolatry and sexual immorality, and yet gives us the principle to follow in positive direction, that we would live our lives for your glory.

It's in your son's name. Jesus, we pray. Amen. Have an excellent day, people of faith.