Month: September 2018

Re:Verse reading—1 Corinthians 8; 10:22-23 (day three)

“Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.”

Living as a “good witness”—a reliable conveyor of the gospel—is a good and right aspiration, but that’s not Paul’s focus here.  Rather, his stated reason for refraining from meat is the well-being of his Christian brother.  He marks the controversy in the fellowship—to eat or not to eat—as an unsolvable clash of opinions.  It’s ultimately a sham question, not unlike the one the Pharisees put to Jesus: Give to Caesar or nah?  Jesus transcended the arguments.  Paul does the same.  At issue here isn’t “Who’s right?” but “Will we love one another?”  Vexing conflicts that become zero sum games always call us to stop debating and, instead, to love.

Re:Verse reading–1 Corinthians 8 and 1 Corinthians 10:22-33 (day two) All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. 10:23

If I can have it, and I want it…I should get it, right? Notice nothing in that question stated motive or circumstance. If you can have something, meaning it is not immoral, illegal, or harmful, then why should there be a problem getting what you want?

Here is Paul stated another way: Just because you can do something, it does not mean that you should do that thing.

If we have a Christian world-view our hearts should constantly burn for an unbelieving world. If abstinence from some activity will help strengthen your witness, are you willing to give up a behavior? Paul is reminding us that the action in question may not be “bad”, but we are called to consider others. There are larger issues at stake than our own creature comforts and desires. Is being a stumbling block to your unsaved friends worth it?

Re:Verse reading–1 Corinthians 8 and 1 Corinthians 10:22-33 (day one) 

“Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again.”   v. 8:13

It was a revolutionary ethic!  Not one anyone saw coming.  I will live love.  The good of others will be the foundational principle for my personal choices.

The alternative is ubiquitous.  The default of human history is self.  Self-advancement.  Self-protection.

Only the church (and only with the undeniable example of the selflessness of Christ) imagined a different way to make choices.  Concern for others.  The larger good.  A grand dream of the salvation of the world ( see 10:33) with all the logical and ethical and practical choices that flow from that vision.

A few months ago, our church met to ask ourselves, “What does LOVE look like?”  1 Corinthians 8 and 10 make that question larger than a single topic.  It is the center of the New Testament ethic.

Because we have been loved, we love.  At least we should. . .

Re:Verse reading–1 Corinthians 5 (day seven)

Paul begins 1 Corinthians 5 with a damning accusation: a seemingly powerful man in the church is sleeping with his stepmother.  We don’t know all the details of the situation, but we do know that Paul is flabbergasted that the church is not embarrassed by this ordeal. Unrepentant sin in the church is unacceptable, and unrepentant sexual sin (pornia in the Greek) carries an extra burden as Paul explains in the next chapter.

Flee immorality (pornia – sexual looseness). Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Those sexual sins directly alienate you from God in a way other sin does not, and Scripture pushes back on the church with a heavy hand when do not lead one another towards repentance.  May we confess all our sexual sin before God and be healed.

Re:Verse reading–1 Corinthians 5 (day six)

It is for freedom that Jesus set us free.- Paul, Galatians 5:1

Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. -Paul, Romans 6:13

“If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off.”-Jesus, Matthew 5:30

1 Corinthians 5 is a reminder just how seriously God takes sin. The church in Corinth had become cavalier, arrogant even. They were under God’s grace after all, why should they concern themselves with sin; so they thought.

Truth is, we can’t ignore inrepentant sin. Jesus didn’t; he died to set us free to righteousness. So be free. Don’t ignore unrepentant sin in your own life…or the church. Take sin as seriously as Jesus did.

Re:Verse reading–1 Corinthians 5 (day five)

Why did no one confront or challenge the sinning member?  Maybe they were afraid. Perhaps their perspective was that past experiences or other influencing factors were the cause of his sin. Yes, the world is “fallen” and all of humanity has been effected by its brokenness. We can almost rationalize any behavior (ours and others) with this line of thinking. But our biggest problem is not sin in the broken world (what happens to us and what we experience). The Bible teaches the biggest problem is the sin inside us (Psalm 51:5). Evil inside us attracts us to evil in the world and causes evil actions and motives. God’s grace changes our perspective about  ungodly behavior/thinking (ours and others). He changes us from the inside first. We don’t have to be afraid to confess and repent. We don’t have to be afraid to approach our brothers and sisters in Christ with the same grace and hope that God gives us.

Re:Verse reading–1 Corinthians 5 (day four)

No one wants to be labeled as ‘judgmental.’  In today’s culture, that characteristic has been made to be derogatory or repulsive.  According to Paul, we are not to be critical or judgmental toward those who are outside the church…those in the world. We are to exercise discernment inside the church though and correct immoral behavior by a brother in Christ.

Believers are held to a higher standard. We have the Holy Spirit within us to convict us of wrong behavior.  Sometimes, we choose to ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit and we sin.  Our church community has a responsibility to bring discipline upon us to restore us to righteous living.  If a believer is allowed to remain in sin, he becomes a harmful witness to the truth of the gospel.

Deuteronomy 13:4 says, “You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.”  Verse 5 says, “So you shall purge the evil from among you.”

Re:Verse reading–1 Corinthians 5 (day three) 

And you are proud!

When Paul said that this kind of incest-y behavior didn’t occur among the pagans, he meant it didn’t occur as a practice accepted by the establishment.  Neither did murder, but people still got bumped off.  Paul’s point is that even pagan society addressed the ethical implications of human desire.  This is good and right.  If by contrast the emerging ethics of Christianity would begin to resemble undisciplined minors whose parents have left the house for the weekend, few would take it seriously for long.  “The rules were always holding me back” is not a vision for the gloriousness of the human person.  The Incarnation shows us God’s regard for human beings—and for bodily behavior in particular.  If we’re going to live with our bodies any way we please, the tomb might as well have remained occupied.

Re:Verse reading–1 Corinthians 5 (day two) 

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? vs. 6

One of my collegiate choir directors was always fond of saying “You’ve got to clean out the cage before anyone can enjoy the bird!” In terms of music he was saying that you must sing in tune before what your are saying or singing can truly be appreciated. You can have the most incredible text, or lovely melody line, but if you are out of tune – no one cares.

Our sin is like that too. It often gets in the way of any good that we are called to do. If we continue, unrepentant, our sin will derail even the best motive. Are you hoping that doing a good thing will make up for the sin that you are reluctant to release? It will never work that way. Clean the cage, and let the beauty of God shine.

Re:Verse reading–1 Corinthians 5 (day one)

Challenging passage.  No question.  In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul presses uncomfortable questions onto the members of that ancient church (and to us).  Is sin contagious?  Are my personal choices your business?  Is your behavior my concern?

The situation was sad and dangerous.  A member of the Corinthian congregation “had” his father’s wife.  (see v. 1)  Was the father still alive?  Had there been a divorce?  The passage doesn’t tell us.  What we do know is that it was public and scandalous sexual relationship.   Even nonbelievers knew it was wrong.

Paul’s concern is that the church had not “mourned”  Not taken action. Swept in under a rug.  Avoided involvement. (See Matthew 18)

Where sin is tolerated, dismissed or justified, the church can never be what God designed it to be.  The Lord is not passive or uninvolved when we drift into sin.   He challenges!  Convicts the conscience!  Shouldn’t the church care in a similar way?

Give us courage, Lord.  Galatians 6:1-2