The Bible from 30,000 feet-- soaring through the Scripture
from Genesis to Revelation. [MUSIC PLAYING] Turning your Bibles to the
book of 1 Corinthians, also known as 1 Californians
by some because there are certain similarities. You know, I am a Californian. And that is a very
populated state, nearly 40 million people. We have under 3 million here. It's not only populated,
but there was always the idea that whatever happens
on the west coast eventually makes its way east. Although on the east coast,
they will dispute that. Nonetheless, lots
of trends happened in California that sort of
swept through the country. It is not a bastion
and the apotheosis of morality on the west coast. It's got a seedy side to it,
more liberal and progressive in ideology. And so there are similarities
between that state and the city that bears the name at the
top of the letter, Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. So as we study this book--
just again, a reminder, this is the Bible
from 30,000 feet. We're soaring over it. I just have my New
Testament here. I'm going to be poking my way
through the 16 chapters that is called 1 Corinthians
with you to give you sort of a layout of this. Now, if you remember
last week, we said that the book of
Romans, which we studied, was written from Corinth. The book of 1 Corinthians
was written from-- no, that's a trick
question, actually. It was Ephesus. I just wanted to throw that
out just to see if any of you knew that. So, Paul was in
Corinth for a while, as we're going to study tonight. He was also in Ephesus longer. And while he was in
the city of Ephesus for, well, about
three years, he had time not only to preach
and to disciple but also to write letters. And one of the letters
that was on his heart was a letter to the
Church at Corinth. Now, let me tell you a
little bit about Corinth. And if you happen to
have a Bible with maps at the back of your
Bible, it's good to locate a map, especially the missionary
journeys of Paul the Apostle, especially Paul's second
missionary journey where they show you
the route that he took. And you will be
able to see that he found his way to the European
continent by way of Philippi. That's the first
city he came to. And then he worked his
way down toward Athens and then eventually to Corinth. Now, if you're
looking at that map, you'll notice something
about the area of Greece. If you can find Athens and
if you can spot Corinth as you're looking at that map-- on one side is the Adriatic
Sea, the other side is the Mediterranean. If you can spot
Greece, you'll notice that the upper part of Greece-- let's call that north Greece,
sort of like North Carolina-- is separated from south Greece
by a little neck of land. Do you see that little,
tiny-- how it narrows? That's a little isthmus. Do remember that
word that you had to say when you were in school,
and you can't do it 10 times really fast? Isthmus is a little neck
of land that connects these two sections of Greece. That little neck of land
is only about 10 miles long and about 3 and 1/2 miles wide. But to sail around that from one
side to the other is 250 miles. So back in the day when you
were in a ship and you were navigating-- you were trading,
you were buying and selling, or you're transporting people-- it would be a lot
easier, would it not, if you could go across
that little neck of land? 3 and 1/2 miles is a lot easier,
conceptually, than 250 miles. Not only is there a
distance, but there is a considerable factor
in terms of safety. It was dangerous. The old sailors back
in that day used to have a saying because
that peninsula, south Greece, called the
Peloponnesian peninsula, or simply the Peloponnesus,
whatever you'd like to call it. But that peninsula, the
Peloponnesian peninsula, at the very bottom
tip is a place called Malaya, the Cape of Malaya. And there was a saying
in ancient times that if you're going to sail
around the Cape of Malaya, you'd better have a will
filled out before you go. Because the crosswinds
can be killer. The storms can be outrageous. Many a ship has sunk
off the Cape of Malaya. So because of that problem-- and because the
trade routes would be great if you could
just sail across the land, but you can't because
there's a landmass there-- they tried to figure
out a way to connect one side to the other
side, 3 and 1/2 miles, by way of a canal. They thought, if we
could just dig out a river, a canal, to connect
these two bodies of water together, we would have it made. Now, they were never
able to do that. Alexander the Great
thought about doing it. Julius Caesar thought
about doing it. Caesar Nero, in AD 67,
actually attempted it. None of them succeeded. And it wasn't
until the year 1893 that the Corinthian
canal was completed. Today, you can sail right across
in a little narrow strait, as they've carved
those cliffs out. And you can go by
sea from one side to the other, 3 and 1/2
miles-- a quick journey. So what they did in those
days is come up with something rather ingenious. They developed a
cart with wheels where you could lift a ship
up on top of the wheels and cart it by land
3 and 1/2 miles. And it was important for them
to do that because, again, if you're in business, if you
want to make some bank, set up a shop in Corinth-- man, it is at the crossroads
of north, and south, and east, and west. And now that they
have a contraption to haul ships from east
to west, all the better. Corinth was, therefore,
a very wealthy city. And that's the city
that Paul addresses. Not only was it wealthy
because of the trade routes. It was an
entertainment capital-- in a good and a bad way. You've heard about
the Corinthians. Most of you know they
had a bad reputation. But let me tell you
the good side first. You've heard of
the Olympic games. The second most popular games
in the ancient world-- the first was the Olympics,
it goes way back. But the second were
called the Isthmian Games. They took place at Corinth. So if you were a
competitive athlete, you want to hang around
between north and south Greece, between Athens and Corinth. You're going to be doing
paces, running your marathons. A lot of the
athletic competition took place in and
around Corinth. But then there was that
dark underbelly side of entertainment as well. For in Corinth-- and those
of you who've been with us to the city of Corinth-- as you approach Corinth, as
you approach it from the road and you go up on a little
plateau, just to the back of it as you are entering it, you
notice it continues to rise and there's a hill in the back. That hill was called the
acropolis, or the Acrocorinth, a rock jutting up out
of the city of Corinth. And atop of that hill, the
Acrocorinth or the acropolis, was a temple to the
goddess of love, Aphrodite. 1,000 priestesses lived
on top of that hill and, nightly, would come
down into the city of Corinth to ply their trade. These prostitutes with
the men of the city, the travelers of the city--
it didn't matter the gender. It was sex for sale to keep
the temple of Aphrodite going. Because of that and
many other things, Corinth developed a
dismal reputation. There were sayings like,
not every man can afford a trip to Corinth, meaning you
couldn't afford the prostitutes at the temple of Aphrodite. There was even a word
coined in the ancient world. And it is the Greek
word [GREEK] I don't expect you to know that
word or memorize that word. It's a hard word. [GREEK] means to
play the Corinthian, or to live like a Corinthian. It meant if you were a
debauched, amoral, or immoral person, you're a Corinthian. Whenever the Corinthians were
played in the Greek plays onstage, they were always
depicted as a drunk. So this city had
everything except a church. And this city,
wouldn't you agree, desperately needed a church. But as much as it needed a
church, and needed a witness, and needed to hear
the gospel of Christ, I think you would agree in
a city like that it would be difficult to live
out your Christian faith with that kind of pressure
in the ancient world-- very real, as much as
in the modern world. Because of that
reality, that church faced all sorts of
struggles, as you can see by this first
letter to the Corinthians. Now, let's sort of
retrace Paul's steps. Paul was in Troas. The Holy Spirit kept
shutting doors for him. You remember the
story in Acts 16. And so in Troas, he
gets a vision of a man from Macedonia saying, come
over to Macedonia and help us. Most of our ancestors
come from Europe. And so we are thankful
today that Paul the Apostle heeded the call of
God upon his life to go to the continent of
Europe and be the first gospel witness there. It would be in Philippi. But then it would spread
westward throughout all of Europe eventually. So he goes from Troas over
to the shores of Europe. Officially, that is
the European continent. He goes to Neapolis. But the first city he goes to
to really preach the gospel is the city of Philippi. There's not a whole
lot of success. A woman at the
river named Lydia-- the Lord opens her heart to
the things spoken by Paul. Paul gets thrown in jail. You know the story,
the Philippian jail. They're in chains. But at midnight because
of an earthquake, they're singing praises to God. The Philippian jailer
comes to know Christ. He and his whole
family get baptized. So a church starts in Philippi. Then he goes and works
his way down from Philippi down to Thessalonica,
from Thessalonica down to Berea, from
Berea down to Athens. He preaches the
gospel in Athens. Not a whole lot of fruit there,
but a few people believed. Then he goes to Corinth. He doesn't pass through Corinth. He spends the longest time
that he spent in any city-- except for one,
the longest stint was in Ephesus, three years. The second-longest time he
spent in a city of any repute was in Corinth. He spent 18 months in that city. He spent 18 months cultivating
disciples, sharing the gospel. And I mentioned about the seedy
background of that culture. I'm going to take you--
first, before we even look at some versus in
chapter 1, go over to chapter 6 in your Bibles. And look at verse 9. Let's begin the book there. He's writing to the
church, do you not know that the unrighteous will not
inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revivals,
nor extortioners will inherit the Kingdom of God. And here's the phrase-- and such were some of you. Man, that was you. I'm describing you guys,
the church, at Corinth. That was your background. That's the city you live in. Such were some of you. But you were justified. Or you were washed,
you were sanctified, you were justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of God. So Paul goes to Corinth,
lives with a couple who had the same profession as Paul,
the same work profession-- that is, being a tent maker. So he lived with
a couple named-- cute names, Aquila and
his wife Priscilla. So their names rhymed. And I could just picture them as
just this cute couple together. I have my own little
picture in my mind. He lives with this wonderful
couple for a period of time. Then he moved from that setting
into another house, all written about in the book of Acts. And from there, his
ministry developed. Now, 1 Corinthians alludes to-- this is all introductory-- another letter written previous
to this that Paul wrote them. I just want you to see
it because we're not going to be going back over it. So go over to chapter 5. You were just in chapter 6. Look at chapter 5. Now, again, this is called
1 Corinthians, right? The first letter of Paul, it
says, at the top of my Bible-- the first epistle of Paul the
Apostle to the Corinthians. Actually, that's inaccurate. It is not the first. Because if you look at
chapter 5 verse 9, he says, I wrote to you in my
epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. So there was a letter
prior to 1 Corinthians that he speaks of here. What that means
is, 1 Corinthians is actually 2 Corinthians. And 2 Corinthians is
actually 3 Corinthians. But we don't have the first
letter he mentions here. We only have this one. So we naturally call it 1
Corinthians and the other one 2 Corinthians. Do you follow? Why did he write this letter? Why the second letter? Here's why. One of the church leaders
or prominent people who were believers in Corinth,
by the name of Chloe-- we don't know if that's
a male or a female. It's an ancient name. It could be either/or. Chloe writes to Paul and says,
Paul, we've got problems here. There's divisions in the
church that you started. There's people who are polarized
around earthly leaders. And we have disunity
that's eating away at the fabric of our church. We have a lot of weird
questions about things you never talked about,
weird doctrines developing. And so she writes, or
he writes, a letter to Paul with these issues,
with these questions, and mentions several
problems that are going on in the church of Corinth. So 1 Corinthians is largely
a corrective letter. It's a polemic. It is written to
correct behavior, correct weird doctrine, and to
get the church back on track. So I have outlined 1
Corinthians by its problems. Now, here's why I
like 1 Corinthians. I'm glad it's about problems. Because every single church I
have ever seen has problems. And yet people are looking
for the perfect church. And we always tell them, if you
find one, please never join it. Because you will ruin it. Churches are made
of church people. And church people are
saved, redeemed sinners. So we come with our own
problems, do we not? So it is really a book that
really showcases the problems going on in the early church. And I love it because I
hear this romantic sentiment so often by people-- we need to get back and
be like the early church! And I say, be careful. Which early church
do you mean, exactly? Because Corinth was
an early church. Surely you don't want
to be just like them. So with that in mind,
we have the problems. That I've outlined seven
of them in this book. The first one, beginning
in chapters 1 and 2, is congregational disunity. There were divisions, as we'll
see early on in this book. Now, remember--
unity among believers was high on the priority
list of our savior, Jesus. He prayed a personal prayer to
his father in John chapter 17. And when he was praying
that long prayer, he said, Father, I do not
pray for these disciples only, but also all those
who will believe in me through their word. I pray that they may be
one even as we are one, that the world may
know that you sent me. Jesus knew that unity
was to be a top priority. It doesn't mean we'll
agree on everything. But there's a wholesome way
to express disagreement. And disagreement is different
than dissension or contention. And what was going on
in the church at Corinth were dissensions and
contentions, not just disagreements. So they're addressed. And if you go down to verse
10, you'll see where it is. "Now I plead with you, brethren,
by the name of Lord Jesus Christ, that you all
speak the same thing, that there be no
divisions among you but that you be perfectly
joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me
concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's
household, that there are contentions among you. Now I say this. That each of you says, I am
of Paul, or I am of Apollos, or I am of Cephas"-- that means the apostle Peter-- "or I am of Christ." Paul asked them,
is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized
in the name of Paul? There were four leaders that
the Corinthian Christians were kind of siding with
in four different groups. One group said, oh,
we just love Paul. He's the founder of our church. There's nobody like Paul. Man, he was a Jewish rabbi. He was a Pharisee but
the Lord delivered him. He comes from a
traditional background but he's free in Christ. And since he's the founder,
man, we relate with Paul. But the second pastor at
Corinth was a guy mentioned here by the name of Apollos. Apollos came from Alexandria,
Egypt, was saved in Ephesus, was sent down to
Corinth by Paul. And he was very intelligent,
very eloquent, very learned. His Greek-- some people
believe that it was Apollos that wrote the Book of Hebrews. If that is the case,
the Book of Hebrews is written, stylistically,
in a Greek that is vastly different from
the common Galilean Greek as like in the Gospel of John,
and even the writings of Paul, even though Paul's are
much headier and harder. The Greek that is given to
us in the Book of Hebrews is difficult, classic,
erudite, educated. And many believe it was
Apollos who wrote it. So there's people who go, oh
man, I can relate to Apollos. He thinks. He's a thinking preacher. The third group loved Peter. Peter's a blue collar
worker, a fisherman, a man of working with his hands. And he's one of the original 12. You know, Paul is an apostle. But Peter's one of
the original 12. He actually was with Jesus. Apollos wasn't, Paul wasn't. Peter was. But then there was
a fourth group. That was the worst group of
snobs out of all of them. They were the kind who
said, we don't identify with any earthly leader. We only follow Christ. You've heard that before. We don't believe that earthly
leaders are all that important. And so we're non-denominational. We just follow Jesus. I find that these same
groups, this same behavior, happens all the time even today. People rally around their
favorite radio preacher. Well, you know, Dr. So-and-So
or that preacher doesn't agree. He says this. So? What does the Bible say? He may be right. He may be right. Why polarize over people? Did any of them die for you? Were you baptized in their name? That's the kind of
questioning Paul asks. Every now and then, I'll
get very well-meaning but-- well, folks who love
to identify with one of two big theological camps,
Calvinism or Arminianism. Not Armenians, by the way-- Armenian is a people group. Arminian is a follower
of Jacobus Arminius, who had a different theological
take on scripture than John Calvin. But they rally around either
Arminianism or Calvinism. And you know, John Calvin-- who cares? They're both dead. I don't care what
John Calvin said. I respect him. I've read him. I love reading him-- brilliant. I don't care much
about him, though. He's dead. Or Arminius. He's dead. Jesus is alive. [APPLAUSE] So, I don't want to sound like
a fourth group too much, but-- what's the remedy for that? The remedy for that
kind of polarization is to realize who God uses. Go down to verse 26. "For you see your
calling, brethren, that not many wise
according to the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called." There are some. There are a few, but not many. "But God has chosen the
foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise"-- this is my life verse. "And God has chosen the
weak things of the world to put to shame those
things that are mighty and the base things
of the world, and the things which are
despised, God has chosen, and the things which are
not, to bring to nothing the things that are"-- and here's why. "That no flesh should
glory in his presence." God uses ordinary people
with an extraordinary message to do his work. You don't have to be special. You just have to be faithful. God will give you
gifts for whatever display he wants in
the body of Christ as well as your
witness in the world. But if you look back to the
kind of people Jesus picked, he didn't go say, OK,
I've got to go to Athens and get the smartest
philosopher. I have to go to Rome and
get the mightiest general. He goes, that loud-mouthed
fisherman named Peter, I'm going to bring him on. That guy named Judas,
John, I'm going to get these fishermen, these
Galileean peasants, that tax collector-- you guys want to join my team? The foolish things
of this world, those are the ones that
are on his team. If you think about it,
think, in one sense, of the disadvantage God is at. We're all he's got. [LAUGHTER] This is it. This is it. Saved people-- just look around. You see your calling brother--
not many mighty, not many-- this is all he's got. And he likes it that way. He's chosen it that way. And do you know why that is? Well, think of a brilliant
workman, or tradesman, or physician who is
brilliant in what he or she can do but is confined
to using very poor tools. It adds to the drama
of the work that is done when somebody is
confined to using poor tools but does an incredible job. So for a surgeon to have a
modern medical suite in Boston General or Mayo Clinic-- yeah, OK. I want a good job. I expect that. But give a guy a
Swiss army knife, and take him to the
jungles of Africa, and have him perform
the same surgery. If he could do it,
he's brilliant. A mechanic, if he has all
the pneumatic tools-- well, give him a crescent wrench. My brother's a golf pro. I hate playing golf with him. I take a bag with
all of the clubs. He walks out there
barefoot on the course, takes a couple of irons,
maybe three clubs in one hand, and walks out. He's a PGA pro. So he just putts by
turning the club backwards and beats everybody. So he's confined to less tools
and he does an incredible job. So this is all God has. And when God does his
work, we don't go, wow, that guy's amazing! Because if you do, you
got the wrong message. You should go, wow,
God's amazing-- he used even him,
even them, even her-- that no flesh could
glory in his presence. So that's the first section-- congregational disunity. I want to speed this up. Also, in chapters
2 through 4, we now address the second
problem, or Paul does, and that is
spiritual immaturity. As soon as you come
to Christ, Jesus said a man must be born again. You're born again, right? You have a spiritual birth. Now, I don't remember my birth. But when I was
born, I was normal. I didn't stay that way. But I was born a normal
baby, 7 and 1/2 pounds, right around there. It was a normal birth. And they said I
was a normal child. That's normal, to be born
at seven and a half pounds. But if, 15 years later, I
can't show much progress from babyhood, Houston,
we have a problem. So if I'm 15 years of
age or 16 years of age and I come home to my
parents and go, ma-ma, da-da, they're going to take
me to a specialist. They're going to go, uh-oh. So we are born again. It's a normal birth. It's by the spirit of God. But there needs to be a
discipleship, a maturity. One of the saddest
things is a Christian who has been a
Christian for years, but you get talking to them
and you realize, man, they have about as much
depth as somebody who's been saved for a couple
weeks or a few months. You want to grow. So in this section, Paul
talks about spiritual maturity and immaturity. And he mentions three
classes of people. First of all is the unsaved
person, or the natural man. Verse 13 of chapter 2-- "these things, we also speak
not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the
Holy Spirit teaches"-- comparing spiritual
things with spiritual-- "but the natural man"-- that's the unsaved person,
the person by nature. We are, by nature, the children
of wrath, the unsaved person. "The natural man does
not receive the things of the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him. Nor can we know
them because they are spiritually discerned." The unbeliever is governed by
the appetites of the flesh. That's all he or she knows. And they don't get
spiritual things. Have you had the frustration
of witnessing to an unbeliever, and you're pulling
out every argument? And finally, you get frustrated
and you say, don't you see? Don't you get it? And of course, the logical
answer is, of course not. Could you expect a person who's
blind to enjoy the sunset? Or a deaf person-- would you put a nice record
on of Tchaikovsky or Beethoven and go, hey, do you like that? Like what? I lack the faculties
to appreciate it. A natural person lacks
the spiritual capacity to understand. So that brings us to
the second person. Verse 15, after the natural
man, the supernatural man. That's the saved person. But he was spiritual, judges-- better translation, discerned--
all things, understands. He gets it. She gets it. Yet he, himself, is
rightly judged by no one. Nobody gets him or her. They don't understand
this crazy-- why do you want to
go to church so much? Why do you read
that book so much? Why do you hang out
with those people? They don't understand you. For who has known
the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. The third person after the
natural and supernatural-- let's call him
the unnatural man. That's the carnal Christian. "And I, brethren"-- he's
speaking to believers-- "could not speak to as spiritual
people--" You're not growing, "--but as to carnal. Two babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and
not with solid food. For until now, you were
not able to receive it. And even now, you
are still not able." Oh, they're born again. They're saved. But they're stunted. It's a foreshortened growth. They're not maturing
like they should. They don't know much. In fact, they can't digest much. You can give them the basic
things of Christianity. But you go just a
little bit deeper, and they go, oh, you lost me. And they don't even
care to understand it. I love evangelism. But if somebody were
to ask me, Skip, what brings you the greatest joy? I would have to echo what John
said in his little epistle. I have no greater joy than
to hear that my children walk in the truth. I want them to grow. And so Paul is addressing--
you can be saved. You can be unsaved. Or you can be saved but stunted. And that is the
carnal Christian. So he deals with
spiritual immaturity. Now, chapters 5 and 6-- he deals with a problem
very prevalent in Corinth, and that is sexual immorality. I told you a little
bit about what was going on in
the city over there in 1 California or Corinth. And so those problems made
their way into the church. That's chapters 5 and 6. Look at chapter 5
verse 1, how it begins. "It is actually
reported that there is sexual immorality among you." He's talking to the church. You church folks, you
Christian believers who gather together and worship
the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit, I hear-- I've heard-- it's been
told to me that there's sexual immorality among you. "And such sexual
immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles." Even pagans don't do this. And that is-- it says that
a man has his father's wife. Evidently, it's a case of incest
where one of the church members is having a physical,
sexual relationship with his stepmother. And verse 2 is key
to understanding-- and you are puffed up and
have not, rather, mourned that he who has done this deed
might be taken away from you. That is, excommunicated. "For I, indeed, as absent in the
body but present in the spirit, have already judged, as
though I were present, him who has so done this deed. In the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered
together along with my spirit, with the power of our
Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for
the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved
in the day of the Lord Jesus." Paul hits it head-on. There's sexual immorality. Pagans don't do this. Cicero wrote that
incest was strictly forbidden by Roman law. And Paul says-- I mean, this
is so bad they don't do it. And it's going on in your midst. And you're puffed up. You're patting
yourselves on the back because you're so tolerant. Boy, we love-- we almost worship
at the altar of tolerance. If you tolerate, oh, yeah,
everybody's doing it. I'm very open-minded, I
tolerate any kind of sin. That doesn't speak well of you. Paul says, shame on you. You should kick this person
out unless there's repentance. You should put
him away from you. So he instructs them to do that. Go down to chapter 6
verse 18 where he sort of sums this notion up after
writing extensively about it. Flee-- run away from--
sexual immorality. "Every sin that a man
does is outside the body, but he who commits
sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know
that your body is the temple of the
Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from
God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a
price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your
spirit, which are God's." This chapter and the
next few chapters, he's going to talk
about relationships-- if you're single or
if you're married. So here's basically God's ideal. Stay pure until you're married. And then stay married
until you're dead. That sort of sums it up. That just sums up the whole,
in a nutshell, God's ideal of marital relationships. Stay pure until you're married. And then stay married
until you're dead. Now, I understand that
ideal is not always reached. We live in a sinful world. You can't account for
others in the relationship. You might have a spouse that
says, I'm done with you. I don't want to
work conflict out. I'm just bailing on
the relationship. Or they commit adultery
and they sever the marriage relationship. And so there is a
freedom for remarriage. I understand that. Or the unbeliever departs. All that's spoken about here. So we can't always
bank on the ideal. Because we are married
to imperfect people who also make choices like we do. Having said that,
the trend today-- I think you'll agree. You know this. This is axiomatic. As the years go on, our
country gets looser, morally, than the previous
generation, more tolerant of all types of behavior. You're told not to say anything
about it, judge it, et cetera. And the trend today
is not to commit to a long-term relationship but
rather test-drive that person. Take it out for a spin. Live together for a while. See if you're compatible
sexually and intellectually, and if he can pick
his socks up or not. And then just live
together a while. Then you'll know if you
can be married or not. The problem with
that is several-fold. But purely from a
secular viewpoint, I was looking through
several studies this week again, to make sure that
it's still the case, but several studies bear out
that people living together first before marriage are more
apt to fail in their marriage than those who don't
test-drive first but make a commitment first. In fact, according to one
article, studies show, based on 50 years of data,
that couples who live together before marriage have a 50%
greater chance of divorce than those who don't. Those who cohabit also have less
satisfying and more unstable marriages. Why? The researchers have found that
those who had lived together later regretted having
violated their moral standards and, quote, felt a loss
of personal freedom to exit out the back
door, closed quote. Furthermore-- same
study-- and in keeping with the theme of
marital bonding, they have stolen a
level of intimacy that is not warranted
at that point, nor has it been validated
by the degree of commitment to one another. Simply put, research
shows that when you test-drive
the vehicle first, you end up trading it in later. You don't stick with it. Whereas if you understand
what this covenant is and you make a commitment,
you're apt to stick with it, purely by statistics. Now, chapter 7 takes
us to the third problem addressed by Paul. And that is marital infidelity. He's going to speak to
single people as well as married people. Go down to verse 8. "But I say to the
unmarried and to the widows it is good for them to
remain even as I am. But if they cannot exercise
self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry
than to burn with passion." And it's rare. But if-- some can do it. But if you can live your
life without needing the distractions that
will naturally come-- maybe that's too
strong of a word-- the responsibilities that
marriage will bring your way, if you can be content
without needing that and you can serve the Lord
as a single person, do that. Now, that's a gift. One time, the
disciples said to Jesus after hearing his
teaching on divorce, well, maybe it's better for
a man not to marry. And Jesus said, well, only
those to whom it has been given can do that. And if you have that gift,
don't let anybody pressure-- why aren't you married yet? Man, you're 25,
you're 35, you're whatever age-- you
should be married. No, maybe not. Quit trying to play
matchmaker and cupid. I know, it's fun. I've done it too. But it doesn't work out well. OK. Here's the problem. And I'm going to sum this up. At the time Paul wrote
this, the Roman Empire was seeing an increase
in immorality. It was also seeing an
increase in the divorce rate. It was seeing a large
feminist movement at the time. You can read the records
of women deciding to go into the arena
and wrestle wild boars, and all sorts of stories
about this feminist movement that started in Rome and was
spreading around the world. So the backlash of those
trends in the church at Corinth was this. People were saying, well, maybe
it's better to be celibate. Let's tell these people
you can't get married. Or let's tell them you'll
be more spiritual if you stay single. Or let's tell believers who are
married to unbelievers, man, dump your unbelieving spouse. You're unequally yoked. Just dump that unbeliever
and marry somebody else who's a believer like you. That was the backlash. That was one of the problems
that Paul addresses here in this section. Now, I'll take you to chapter 8. Chapter 8 begins
yet another problem in the early church of Corinth. And that is a problem
with personal liberty. In verse 8, he says,
"now concerning things offered to idols: we
know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up." But love builds up, or edifies. "And if anyone thinks
that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet
as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God,
this one is known by God." Chapters 8, 9, and 10 deal with
issues of personal liberty. OK. Jesus set us free. He's given us liberty. Whoever the sun sets
free is free, indeed. But in Corinth,
there were issues that people were dealing
with that Jesus never really talked about. He never addressed,
can you eat a burger if it comes from an
animal that was killed, and was butchered, and
cooked in a pagan temple? It's been sacrificed to an idol. But now they're
selling the meat. You buy a Buddha
burger or whatever, out on the street,
a pagan burger. And you're out there with
a little green chili on it to spice things up. And you're just-- oh, man, the
best pagan burger in Corinth is right over there
at that altar. So Jesus never
addressed that issue. So they bring this up to Paul. Can we do that? So there are several
issues in this section that we would call gray areas-- not black and
white, sort of gray. So Paul is asked the questions. He addresses them. Just like today, we
have certain issues that we have to apply biblical
principles to because they're not written about even
in the letters to Paul. Can Christians go to a movie? They didn't have
movies back then. What kind of music can
a Christian listen to? What kind of
freedoms do we have? Can a Christian dance? I get asked that,
can Christians dance? And my answer is, well,
some can and some can't. [LAUGHTER] I'm one who can't. That's why I played in
the bands in high school. It's interesting, though,
the things that divide us. So you've heard me
quote Charles Haddon Spurgeon, yes, many times. Charles Spurgeon,
a great preacher in the Victorian era
in London, England. Down the street from
Spurgeon was another preacher by the name of JW Packer. They were brothers. He was a great preacher. They loved each other. They even exchanged pulpits
on a couple of occasions. However, Spurgeon believed
JW Packer was worldly. Because he would go to
the theater and see plays. He went to the theater,
and that's un-spiritual. What's funny about that
is Spurgeon smoked cigars. He aw no problem
with that at all. In fact, there's a funny
story of DL Moody who came to meet Spurgeon, had heard
about him, wanted to meet him, found him in London,
knocked on the door. And Spurgeon answered the
door with a big stogie. You know, picture
Winston Churchill. And Moody sees that. And he drops his jaw. He's shocked. This great, revered
preacher smoking a cigar! Now, DL Moody was quite a large
guy, an XXL, a rotund fellow. He was large. And so he's standing on the step
of Spurgeon's flat or house. Spurgeon opens the
door to the parsonage. And he sees Spurgeon
smoking a cigar. And he points at the
cigars says, how can you, as a man of God, do that? And Spurgeon smiled and pointed
to the large belly of DL Moody and said, the same way that you,
as a man of God, can do that. You don't see that as a sin. You see this as a sin. So we get funny about
worldly things, do we not? So Paul addresses some of
these things in this book-- personal liberty in
chapters 8, 9, and 10, and gives some really
good guidance about that. Verse 9 of chapter 8,
he says, "but beware, lest somehow this
liberty of yours become a stumbling block
to those who are weak. For if anyone sees you who have
knowledge eating in an Idol's temple, will not the
conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those
things offered to idols? And because of your knowledge,
shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died?" Now, this is a reason I don't-- you'll never see me at a
restaurant having a drink. I don't care if
you have a drink, if you have a glass of wine
or a beer, whatever you have. That's up to you. I won't do it. If I'm out at a
restaurant, or you see me at the bar hammering down a
few beers or glasses of wine, and you go, um, honey,
isn't that Pastor Skip? But that's one thing. What if you had a parent
who struggled with alcohol? Or what if you, yourself,
has struggled with alcohol? And you see that. Now you're emboldened. Well, I can do that. No, you can't. So we have liberty. But we have to be very
careful how we exercise it. So I want to sort of see
how that's summed up. Go to chapter 10 verse 23. Now, this will answer for you-- here's some principles that
govern gray areas in your life and what kind of personal
liberty you can exercise. Verse 23, "all things
are lawful for me but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me
but not all things edify"-- or build up-- "so let
no one seek his own but let each other's well-being. Eat whatever is sold
in the meat market, asking no questions
for conscience sake. For the earth is the Lord's
and all its fullness." You can do whatever you want. But there are limitations. And he outlines them here. When people say,
Skip, do you drink? I drink as much as I want. I don't want it. And why? What are the parameters? Verse 23, "all things
are lawful for me". I can do anything. "But not all things
are helpful". Now, that's the test of utility. Can I use this activity? Is this going to expedite? That's the word. Will this expedite? Will this speed me along
my spiritual growth route? Is it helpful? Is this something that's
going to be helpful to me? Or is it just going
to be a weight? If it's going to weigh
me down, I don't need it. It's extra. I'm an athlete. I'm running the race. I don't need extra stuff. Is this helpful? Is this going to
expedite it or not? So it's the test of utility. Second is the test of charity-- all things are lawful for
me, but not all things edify. OK. They don't build up. Somebody sees me doing it or
hears that I do this a lot. Is that going to
cause them to stumble? Am I going to have
to explain that? Better to not do it for the
sake of mutual edification. There is a third test. But that's found a
couple of chapters back in chapter 6
verse 12 where he says, all things are lawful for me
but not all things are helpful. Here's the second part of that. All things are lawful
for me, but I will not be brought under
the power of any. That's the third test,
the test of authority. So the first is utility,
the second is charity, and the third is
authority, to not be brought under the power of any. You know what I mean by that. Do you become addicted to it? Do you have to do it? You can't live without it? Is it controlling you or
are you controlling it? Is it kind of
pushing you around? So now it really
does become a weight. It's calling the shots. It's the authority. So that is sort of the
summary filter of gray areas. The sixth problem
that he deals with is the problem of imbalanced
community, chapters 11, 12, 13, and 14. So in chapter 11, he's going
to deal all about gender, male and female, behavioral
patterns in the public assembly of worship. What is OK to do given the city
that they live in, Corinth? Given the culture they live in? Given the mores and all? He's going to give that kind
of balance in chapter '11. Also in chapter 11, the
conduct of the Lord's Supper. They were trying to
get there and eat all the food at the love
feast before the Lord's table. And so they were selfish
about getting together at their potlucks. Some say, you can't say potluck. You have to say pot faith. Potluck! I just want to do that
if that ticks you off. I kind of want to do that. Because that's just stupid-- pot faith, whatever. OK. So at the common meal, OK? People were getting there
to hoard it for themselves and eat it for themselves. That goes against
the concept of unity. It's the antithesis
of unity, selfishness. So he writes about the Lord's
Supper and behavior there. Then in chapter 12, it's all
about spiritual gifts, which is part of that same issue. So verse 1, chapter 12-- "concerning spiritual
gifts, brethren, I do not want you
to be ignorant." Stop. Every time in the
New Testament Paul says, I'm going to
tell you something because I don't want you
to be ignorant about it, know that that is at the
precise point most people are ignorant about it. One of the most controversial
points in the church has been-- for a long time,
still is-- spiritual gifts. Many of us are ignorant
about the proper use of spiritual gifts. I don't want you to be ignorant. Another time Paul said that
is in 1 Thessalonians 4. "Concerning the coming
of the Lord, brothers, I don't want you
to be ignorant." There's so much controversy
about the coming of the Lord, the rapture of the church,
the second coming, et cetera. So when Paul writes that,
it's because he knows these are points of conflict. And spiritual gifts
is one of them. There are two,
basically, extreme views concerning spiritual gifts. I've talked about it at length. So I'll just touch on it. There are secessionists
that simply believe gifts have ceased,
hence the word cessation. They've ceased. They've stopped. They were for the early church. We don't need them anymore. The scripture's complete. Spiritual gifts
are passe, old hat. They're not practiced anymore. That's one extreme. The other extreme
isn't sensationalism but sensationalism. There are some people
who think if you're not speaking in tongues
every service and seeing a miracle
every day, and slapping somebody on the head and having
them fall over and get healed from diseases they
may or may not have-- if you don't see that all the
time, the Holy Spirit is gone. He's not there, man. And so they just are in it for
the sensational aspect of it. The key word when it comes to
spiritual gifts is balance. I believe all of the
spiritual gifts are for today. I believe that. I believe all of
them are for today. But I also believe in the
balance that all things must be done decently and
in order, a phrase that comes right out of Corinthians. People ask me, are
you a fundamentalist? Or are you a charismatic? And sometimes I say,
I'm a fundamatic. And that'll bother some people. They go, well, you can't be. You have to be in this
camp or this camp. Because I've read about
both camps and you have to fit in one. Well, I don't fit in
either one of those. There's certain aspects of
both that I think are good and others that are a
little bit too narrow. Anyway, verse 4. "There are diversities of
gifts but the same spirit. There are differences of
ministries but the same Lord. There are diversities
of activities but it's the same
God who works in all. But the manifestation
of the spirit is given to each one
for the profit of all." Don't you love the fact
that God loves variety? He didn't give the same
gifts in the body of Christ. Wouldn't you hate
the same gift-- this Christmas, what if
everybody in your life gave you the same exact gift? T-shirts and underwear,
socks and underwear-- thanks. That would be so
boring, wouldn't it? Wouldn't you love
a variety of gifts? Just like there's
variety of terrain. God loves variety. And God has made us different. And he has given
us different gifts. And when we're all working
together, it's awesome. Chapter 15-- let's
go over there. The seventh and final
issue he deals with is the problem of
doctrinal perplexity. If you were to list the 10
greatest chapters in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 15
has to be in it. It is the most complete,
definition slash description slash explanation of
Resurrection that exists in the Bible, both
Jesus' Resurrection and our resurrection. And so he writes in
detail about that. Because though they believed in
Jesus' physical Resurrection-- otherwise they couldn't
be a Christian. You can't be a
Christian unless you believe in the bodily
Resurrection of Christ. They believed that. They were having
trouble with believing in their own future
physical resurrection. And you say, why would they
have a problem with that? Because they come from
a Greek background. They believed in Greek dualism. Among Greek ideology, the
body, anything physical, was considered inferior and bad. And so why would you ever have
a physical flesh resurrected? So he talks about that,
chapter 15 verse 12. "If Christ is preached, that he
has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say there
is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no
resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not risen. If Christ has not risen,
then our preaching is empty and your faith is empty. Yes, we are found
false witnesses of God, because we have testified of
God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up-- if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise,
then Christ has not risen. And if Christ has not
risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have
fallen asleep"-- or died-- "in Christ have perished." Here's the summary
verse of that. "If in this life only
we have hope in Christ, we are of all men
most pitiable." If there is no
resurrection from the dead, then Jesus is still
dead, number one. Number two, Jesus
is a liar because he kept saying he's
going to get killed but rise again from the dead. Number three, your
preaching is useless because it's based on the
Resurrection from the dead. Number four, we're stupid to
spend our life being beaten up and chased by people for this
gospel message if all we do is live, and then die, and
never see anything after this. We're just wasting our lives. So he just kind of goes through
all those different arguments. Verse 35-- I'll make this quick. "Some will say, 'how
are the dead raised? And with what body
do they come?" Let me give you
the short answer. The short answer-- your
body, when it's resurrected, is going to be like Jesus'
body when it was resurrected. Think about what
Jesus was able to do. He was able to, like, go through
walls, show up at one place and then, like,
immediately, miles away-- [WOOSHING SOUND] You get teleported there
to that next place. So you're going to have
those same capacities. I did an entire
message called getting the body you always wanted. That's the name of
the message-- getting the body you always wanted. And I go into
depth and in detail in this chapter of what happens
to your resurrected body when that happens. Chapter 16 closes the book. It is the practical chapter. And what he's ending
with is an offering. Paul is taking an offering. He is banking on the generosity
of the Corinthian church, the wealthy church, to help
support those in Jerusalem who are struggling. Verse 1-- "Now concerning the
collection for the saints, as I have given orders to
the churches of Galitia, so you must do also: on
the first day of the week, let each of you lay
up something aside, storing up as he may
prosper, that there be no collections when I come. And when I come,
whomever you approve by your letters I will send to
bear your gift to Jerusalem. But if it is fitting
that I go also, then they will go with me." OK? A couple the things
you'll notice real quick. They're meeting on the
first day of the week. By this point,
there's no Sabbath. I know, I've heard people
say, Sunday is the Christian Sabbath, right? Wrong. It's not the Christian Sabbath. Sabbath is Saturday. Sunday is the first
day of the week. Christians stopped
worshipping on the Sabbath and started worshipping
on Sunday not because it's the mark of the beast, like the
Seventh Day Adventist Church says we're guilty of doing. They did it because
Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week. They're celebrating the
Resurrection every single week. Now, if you're going, oh no, I
come to Saturday night service! You're off the hook. You're off the hook based on
Romans chapter 15, which says, one man esteems one day of
the week over all the others. Another man esteems
all the days alike. Let each be persuaded
in his own mind. Are you persuaded
that you should go to Saturday night service to
clear your schedule on Sunday? Good. Then you're persuaded
in your own mind. That's good for you. Do it. If you go, oh, no, I
must do it on Sunday. OK. See you Sunday. I'm glad we have both. So, the book ends-- verse 22. "If any one does not love
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. O Lord, come!" If you have the old
version, it says, "if anyone does not love
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema"-- followed by the word maranatha. Anathema is a Greek word,
maranatha an Aramaic word. Anathema means cursed,
pushed aside, rejected. Maranatha means "come Lord." The early church used to say
to one another, maranatha. The Lord's coming-- maranatha. The Lord's coming. It's a great word. We used to say it a lot in
the early days of the Jesus movement. Maranatha-- we all
knew what it meant. Now you know what it means. Let's use it. Maranatha-- the Lord is coming. "The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you
all in Christ Jesus. Amen." Notice how the book closes-- with love. Paul gives a polemic. Paul gives a corrective. Paul addresses issues. All of it's based on
his love for them. Thank you, Father,
for your love for us. We have celebrated that
in the Lord's Supper. We have celebrated
your love as we've looked at this very
crucial letter, very, very germane to our current
situation in churches today, the book
of 1 Corinthians. I pray, Lord, that we would
continue to glorify you as we grow in you. May we be not
captivated by carnality. But may we grow as
spiritual men and women, plugged in, abiding in
Christ, in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's all stand. Forgive me for stealing six
more minutes of your time. Let's close in worship together. We hope you enjoyed this message
from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Church. For more resources,
visit CalvaryNM.church. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from the Bible from 30,000 feet.
