There is a way out of any temptation!

Paul uses meat at dinner that had been provided at an idol ceremony. He says eat freely and without guilt (the idol isn’t a real god, remember?). If someone informs you that it is “idol meat” than avoid it for that person’s sake. See how freedom and rights are laid down in Christ?

How does this apply to us?

First, there is always a way out! Temptation is never as bad as we think! Run! Flee! Escape!

Second, be aware in matters of liberty to be wise and careful. I am careful with what I drink and “where I am seen.” I could drink at a bar in a reasonable fashion. Me being a pastor does not preclude me from doing so. However, I am careful for the sake of many. If I do consume alcohol, it is very limited and rarely occurs. I am free, but it is not beneficial for me to fully exercise my freedom. That is one case as an example.

Third, I stop doing something if confronted and consider my actions before continuing. I use this grid that Paul lays out and choose love over freedom. I teach the Bible when I can in these matters, but never want to be seen as argumentative or defensive. Still working on that! May Christ reign in my life and yours!

Paul is a man of integrity. Are you? Am I?

Sometimes I question whether we’re more American than Christian. Would you be willing to lay down your rights for the betterment of others?

This is what Paul is doing. While he has the right to ask the Corinthians for money, he won’t. He wants to be so far above any question of his motives and intentions that he avoids what he deserves to maintain a better standing. Would we be willing or able to do this?

Ironically, Christians are so “in power” in the US that we can’t even see at times how or why others would feel differently. We use our rights to stand tall and claim persecution. What if our goal was evangelism rather than freedom? What if our goals saved lives rather than wasted resources? We spend billions annually to attempt ending a perceived war on Christmas when we could be using that money to translate Gospel-centered materials into Arabic or sending missionaries to Syria. Just think about it. Or are we spending money on a building that could go towards loving our neighbor well?

Paul wants to run the race well. He’s willing to forgo what he is DUE in order to reach more. I wish I had an attitude more like this.

Here’s the key to a part of Paul’s theology – we have freedom in Christ because He is real and this place is not. At least that’s one way to put it in the language of today.

Chapter 8 lays it out this way:

An idol isn’t real.

Food sacrificed to an unreal idol is ultimately just barbecued (or boiled or …)

Because the food is only barbecued – eat up.

Unclean food doesn’t exist because Jesus made all things clean.

We can eat what we want without guilt.

We mustn’t take our freedom as a badge of honor to shove into a new believer’s face.

We must be gentle with those just starting out.

We wise then with what you eat and when and where you eat it from.

We are to do all things in love. We have the right to teach and explain and lead them in the ways of the Lord, but we do things out of love. All is permissible – not everything is beneficial.

Marriage is an amazing picture of what God does for us and in us. Two lives, separate but striving to live together, is a picture that our society does not uphold in the way they should. God reached all the way for us in the person Jesus. We now live linked to Him and attempting to walk in a way that pleases and honors Him. So it is with our lives in marriage. We strive to be one despite all the forces trying to pull us apart.

Some do not get married to accomplish this goal.

Some get married for the wrong reasons and then have to strive to work towards this goal.

Paul spends some time building a great case for marriage and what to do in different circumstances. Remember, this was written to the church that called Corinth home.

Marriage is meant to be a covenantal union of two lives that allows both to honor God instead of dishonoring Him with their choices. If one finds sexual immorality too strong a pull, marriage is the space that proper sexual relationships are formed. In this, neither party are meant to be in this relationship alone. They are to share their lives, bodies, etc.

If you are unmarried, consider staying that way.

If you are a widow, the same is true. Unless you must get married, then do so (see the freedom he explained in chapter 6).

If you are married, share it all.

If you are married to an unbeliever, show them Christ in how you conduct yourself in your marriage. This can be hard, but is crucial!

The rest of the chapter spells this out over and over. It is marvelous. Is your marriage stacking up? Perhaps you two need to talk this chapter out and consider what Paul is saying. If marriage is meant to be a picture of God’s relationship to us, how does your marriage stack up?

We should be able to work things out. As followers of Jesus, there is much at stake in our day-to-day interactions. This is not to say that we can’t mess up, confess it to one another and move on in redemption. We always have the option to do that with one another – and I hope that we are gracious with each other and willing to move on!

Our day-to-day interactions with one another is huge! If we are yelling and cursing out another person (follower or not), this is not the way of Christ. Our decision to settle matters should be done in the same way, and should bring glory to Christ, not stain our reputation publicly. There should be a wise person or two in the church that would help you settle a matter before you take it to court. Consider Christ!

Paul reminds us why it is so important – we were once _______, but are now Christ’s! Heaven is not full of the vile and sinful, but of the redeemed – saved by Christ. So now we live like that – giving grace and helping people understand that they are able to be redeemed. We must play a part in that – are you?

Paul then ends the thought by reminding us that in Christ, freedom reigns. However, that freedom does not mean we can do whatever we want. Things aren’t always good for us to do. My children ultimately may have the “freedom” to disobey me and play in the street, but that would not be right or prudent of them. So it is with so much in this life. Let’s choose the things that lead us to live and walk God’s way. After all, when we are in Christ, the Spirit dwells within us, making us a temple. That’s huge stuff!

Sexual immorality is no laughing matter. I know many guys think that “locker room” talk is okay, or not that big of a deal. However, the follower of Jesus has much to uphold and every word we say is incredibly important.

I had a colleague push me this summer to be better with my speech with one particular line I often said as a “joke.” Truth is, it wasn’t a good joke and needed to leave my bag of oft used phrases. Do you let someone call you on your language? As you follow Jesus, do you sense He is overcoming this area of your life?

The sin described in 1 Corinthians 5 is stunning. Yet today, one might joke in this manner and see nothing wrong. One might even make a strange search on-line to witness this type of sin acted out by another. Brothers – let’s serve Jesus and trust His ways to be better. Instead of indulging, let’s call on Him and choose relationship with Him and our wives over the things of this world.

Finally, we must consider the fact that Paul is charging a church to do the work of casting a member out – with the intention of redeeming them! It is the church’s job to “police” itself. It is not the church’s job to police those outside the walls. We can’t expect people that do not claim Christ to follow His ways. We can call people to consider Him and tell them that the things they are doing are not life-giving or good, but it must lead to us sharing Christ. We must proclaim there is a better way. A better sacrifice, once and for all, that paid for you and I to be redeemed. That is our role, not to police them hoping it will draw them near.

Paul uses a little sarcasm here to make a point! What church grows and “arrives” without leadership. If anything, he is pointing out that the lack of submission to leadership is keeping them immature!

So while leaders should not be made out to be something they aren’t (like a Savior), God did give leaders to help His body mature. He sends Timothy to them to encourage and point them in the right direction. He also tells them to shape up or he will come to set things straight! Paul seems a little more intense than we would expect a leader to be today. That is an interesting thought!

Divisions in the church based on leadership (especially mature leaders) is so ridiculous! We may have preferences (like preaching or worship leading) or find it easier to get along with a certain leader (due to hobbies or personality type) but often the leaders are not at odds and we just look foolish trying to grade them out.

Paul was not at odds with Peter. Neither of them was trying to gain followers that preferred Apollos. They were working together! God’s church is often better served by the plurality of leadership. Scripture points to it again and again. There is not a New Testament church with one leader that tells the church what to do. Consider this.

Paul cares deeply about what others think of him, but not in the ways many of us would/do. We want people to like us, to think much of us. How often have you volunteered information to sound better or be honored for a decision or action you made? We do this all the time, right?!? We want props. This is typical. How often do you feel like your spouse doesn’t see you? How often do you feel taken for granted at work? Common, right?

Paul wants people to think less of him! At least, he doesn’t want people making more of him than they should. When people honor him, he is quick to remind them of his past. When people declare loyalty to his teaching (1:12), he is quick to remind them that he has done little to earn that loyalty. Where others are eloquent, Paul is not (1:17). Where others use logic to try to convince people to follow Jesus, Paul appeals to the ludicrous concept that Christ makes no sense to the unbeliever. That’s okay! If you have time, listen to this podcast. The thing that challenged me the most was that ancient believers were not concerned to “make the culture happy” with them, but that the ancient believers would defend their actions well in the culture. They believed God and stood in the face of persecution and trial. Are we this robust? Do we hold more tightly to the Constitution of the US than God’s word? Do we shy away from Jesus’ tougher teachings in favor of the ones we already are following?

If God is real, He deserves our allegiance and honor! We should put Him first over country. We should honor God first over family, friends or culture. Paul understood this. I wonder what he would write to the EFCA church in Freeport, IL and Winnebago, IL to guide us back to the light? Are we open to that?

As a brief intro to 1 Corinthians: Corinth was a city in Greece that Paul went through and planted a church (Acts 18). He met Aquila and Priscilla, tentmakers from Pontus that were living in Rome but were kicked out by the emperor Claudius for being Jewish (he expelled Jews from Rome likely because of their missionary work as the Senate in 139 BC and Tiberius in 19AD had done). It was a large city and was a Roman capital of the region. You may enjoy reading a bit more about it here. Corinth had many places for worshipping gods at the time of Paul, but was likely no more or less immoral than other cities at the time. Many worship practices involved rituals that were sexual in nature (the temple of Aphrodite was huge and employed as many as 1000 temple prostitutes at one time) and worship of the Roman imperial family was common as well. Paul stayed and taught here for a year and a half, which was one of the longer stays. It should be no surprise that he wrote them so often. 1Co 5:19 suggests that he had written a letter before this (that we do not have access to) and 2Co 2:4 and 7:8 may be speaking of 1Co or may even be another letter! He clearly loved this church! They were also very much in the wrong on a number of issues. Be ready to dive into some tough subjects together!

Chapter 1
This church will show itself to have a number of issues, trust me. Yet Paul starts with thanksgiving for them and for all that God has given them and all that they understand God has done! They have all they need in Christ (remember Ephesians 1:3? – we preached on it last year, but will get there soon with our reading).

Due to their understanding of what God has done for them, there is still a problem with their actions. How is this possible? I thought Jesus saved them from their sin! He did, read Romans again. However, Christians must live differently in light of what we have received. One of the things we should not be taking part in is division. This is a hard one for many non-Christians to see. They see division within the body of Christ and doubt what Christ has done! Further, when the division is based on allegiance to a teacher or a pastor, this is not right and not a good thing at all! The early church struggled with this – see verse 12. Paul condemns this and we should do the same today.

Finally, Paul shows that Christ is foolishness/folly to the world. Death on a cross is ludicrous to honor and be thankful about. Everyone is offended (Jews and Greeks) about this truth. What’s further, God uses those with little to “give” the world to serve Him and build the church. This is amazing! You are significant and are bought with a price – so follow Jesus and let Him use you!