1 Corinthians 10:1-10

July 15, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

Download the Kids’ Korner.

The sermon starts at 19:45 in the audio file.

Or, Dangerous Lusts of the Blessed

There is a common human craving not only to satisfy ourselves, but to self-satisfy using religious reasons. Men are not only idolators, they are often idolators using God’s name. We want our worldly cake and communion with the Lord, or, we want the cake for communion.

The Corinthians Christian had a lot of problems. Based on Paul’s first letter to them, they had more self-esteem than humility, more self-interest than discipline, more self-serving than sacrifice. What’s more, they justified their petty divisions according to their favorite preachers, they justified their sexual immorality according to their “spirituality,” and in some cases they justified their association with idols based on their belief in the one, true, sovereign God (see 1 Corinthians 8:1-6).

Since the beginning of chapter 8 Paul has been challenging them to apply not just their knowledge of God but also the love of God in their actions and interactions with fellow believers, especially the weak ones. Paul himself lived as an illustration on how to treat others as more important than one’s own self-gratification (1 Corinthians 9:1-23). This is the way of the cross, and this is the Christian race. Run to win. Be self-controlled and disciplined lest you lose the prize and get kicked out of the race (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

Many of the Corinthians apparently acted as if their shoes could never come untied. They thought they were above stumbling, let alone losing. They knew they had God’s blessings, which is true, but they didn’t realize that having God’s blessings is a goad to run, not a guarantee of having won.

Paul continues his point from chapter 8 into chapter 10, and will return explicitly to the subject of food offered to idols throughout the chapter. He demonstrates from history that we must keep running. As God’s people, we cannot allow ourselves to quit self-control, and we cannot allow ourselves to crave self-indulgence, especially in God’s name.

Verses 1-13 belong together, but there is a lot to work through, so we’ll take it in two sermons. For today we’ll consider the Divine Blessings (verses 1-5) and the Dangerous Cravings (verses 6-10).

Five Divine Blessings and a “But” (verses 1-5)

It is a new chapter, but the argument for running continues: For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers. Paul urged them to run with self-control and said that he himself was concerned about the possibility of being “disqualified” (9:27). Disqualification from, and so losing, the race is a real risk. The Corinthians seemed to think themselves above such a temptation, so Paul reminds them about the stories of some previous runners who didn’t finish well.

Gains for All (verses 1-4)

In order to make the comparisons most relevant, Paul chooses from runners who were clearly blessed. He doesn’t select losers, he selects God’s select. He remembers five blessings of God’s sovereign grace and shows how all of the Israelites knew them.

First, all the Israelites were protected: our fathers were all under the cloud. All of these blessings came to them during the Exodus from Egypt and during their time wandering in the wilderness. Paul calls these fathers because Gentiles are saved into the same root as the Jews (see Romans 11). Not everything is the same between Israel and the church, and yet both “belong to a single history of God’s activity and self-disclosure” (Thiselton). God’s people were all under the cloud meaning that all of them were lead by and covered by God’s care.

Second, all the Israelites were delivered: and all passed through the sea. Not one of them was left behind in Egypt, not one of them was drowned[...]

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

July 8, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

Download the Kids’ Korner.

The sermon starts at 15:20 in the audio file.

Or, Three Ways to Lose the Race

Marathons can be brutal. Even for those in peak physical condition, if they run to win, they will finish exhausted. I’ve run three marathons in my life, though I only really trained for two, and I was spent by the end though I was running more than twice as slow as the winners. The race is grueling, grinding, as much a test for the mind as for the body.

Most people I talk to don’t like to run at all, let alone long distances. Running certainly isn’t the only exercise, but it’s one that doesn’t require too much equipment or expertise. What it does require is discipline to get out of bed or off the couch, discipline to complete the mileage, and discipline before and after in rest and diet or else the run itself will feel miserable.

Paul knew about running, as in, actual, foot-racing contests. Whether he himself laced up his track sandals, athletic competition was popular in his day throughout the Roman Empire, and he used sports illustrations regularly in his writing, and presumably his preaching. He talked often of wrestling, boxing, and running. He commanded the Corinthian Christians: Run to win. It wasn’t just a motivational poster, it was a call to focused and fervent effort for every believer, not just the Christian Professionals or All-Star Team.

Run, run until the finish, run to finish in first place. This running is imperative, not optional, and there are at least a few ways to lose. It is a lot easier to quit, it’s even easier to sit in the stands and watch.

The final four verses in chapter 9 transition from Paul’s exhortation to give up their rightful rights for the sake of others, to a reminder about Israel’s failure of worship in the next chapter.

The Command: Run (verse 24)

There are two parts in this first verse of the paragraph, the starting point and the command itself.

The Starting Point

With his most used phrase in 1 Corinthians Paul begins with a shared assumption. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Of course they know this, or if they didn’t, they should have.

To call this a race is fine, but the Greek word is stadio (σταδίῳ, referring to an arena or stadium. It’s a race track with seating for spectators. There were four, well-known Games, with the Olympic Games being most popular and the Isthmian Games (on the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece) the second most popular (there were also the Pythian and Nemean games). Documents show that the Isthmian Games took place in AD 49 and 51 which would be around the time of Paul’s writing. Documents also show that the city of Corinth sponsored and organized those games, including “the renovation of buildings and the provision of banquets” (Thiselton). Perhaps Paul even made tents for some of the athletes or attendees. The Corinthians knew about the games, even if they didn’t attend them, like a modern day citizen of Seattle knows about the Seahawks even if he doesn’t know the difference between a tight end and loose end.

The starting point is not that there are races. The fact of runners running around a track is not what’s important. The shared assumption is that in a race, only one receives the prize. Who knows how much longer it will continue, but even today, unless there is a tie, only one gold medal is given and one national anthem is played. Sno-cones and participation trophies are a modern invention for envious kids raised by parents suckled at the self-esteem bottle. There are lots of runners, only one winner. The winner goes and gets it.

The Command

We could be tempted to edit Paul, or at least be surprised by his exhortation. So run that you may obtain it. Or, “Run in such a way that you may win”[...]

1 Corinthians 9:15-23

July 1, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

Download the Kids’ Korner.

The sermon starts at 15:35 in the audio file.

Or, Free to Win by All Means

I am not sure which is easier: to misuse our personal rights or to misuse the passage we’re going to study this morning. Ironically, the way this passage (especially verse 22) is often used makes the opposite point of what the passage (in the context of chapter 9) means.

The theme of the these two paragraphs in 1 Corinthians 9, verses 15-18 and 19-23, are Paul’s intent to do all that he did “for the sake of the gospel” (verse 23). He was concerned about doing anything that would “put an obstacle in the way of the gospel” (verse 12), and he was especially concerned with how taking money as a preacher could cause a hindrance to the hearers.

In the first part of the chapter (verses 1-14) he built a solid case that paying those who proclaim the gospel is right. Everyday occupations, temple occupations, and God’s Word itself all point to this right. And it was a right that Paul refrained from using.

In the next section he clarifies that he’s still not interested in getting material support from them. He explains why, in terms of his calling (verses 15-18) and his strategy to see others saved (verses 19-23). He is free, a point he made at the beginning of chapter 9, and because he is free he has even more opportunities to be a slave. This is a paradox, as is the glory of the cross.

Paul finishes his argument about renouncing payment and renouncing his preferences for the benefit of others, and all of it embodies his challenge to the Corinthians to give up their own position of strength for the benefit of others. This is his winning formula, a formula to win by all means, and it is not as cheesy or as easy as it sounds.

For the sake of the gospel Paul did not take rightful payment. (verses 15-18)

He already couldn’t help himself from making the point (verse 12), but here he really transitions to his personal refrain. But I (for my part) have made no use of any of these rights. Even the “Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel” (verse 14), not in such a way that Paul was disobeying, but proving that it was the proper expectation. He had the right, and he renounced the right.

He hadn’t changed his mind either. Nor am I writing these things to secure such provision. They could have taken his arguments in the first half of the chapter to be a set up, as if he said, “Paying preachers is right, as you know and as you have done, though not to me. Now it’s well past time to pay up.” Instead he explains his motivation for continuing to refuse their patronage. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. Or the less smooth, more exact translation:

In fact, it would be better for me to die than—-no one will deprive me of my reason for boasting! (NET)

He doesn’t finish his thought. It’s emotional, it’s extreme. But what “ground of boasting” does he have in mind?

Verse 16 continues the chain of explanations (see the “for” v.15 “for” v.16 “for” v.16 again “for” v.17 and another in v.19). For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. We need more to fill out his meaning.

For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. (verses 16-17)

What is he talking about? He’s talking about his calling to preach. He could preach or not preach (verse 16); he preached. He could either preach freely or under compulsion (verse 17); he preached without a choice. It wasn[...]

1 Corinthians 9:15-23

July 1, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

Download the Kids’ Korner.

The sermon starts at 15:35 in the audio file.

Or, Free to Win by All Means

I am not sure which is easier: to misuse our personal rights or to misuse the passage we’re going to study this morning. Ironically, the way this passage (especially verse 22) is often used makes the opposite point of what the passage (in the context of chapter 9) means.

The theme of the these two paragraphs in 1 Corinthians 9, verses 15-18 and 19-23, are Paul’s intent to do all that he did “for the sake of the gospel” (verse 23). He was concerned about doing anything that would “put an obstacle in the way of the gospel” (verse 12), and he was especially concerned with how taking money as a preacher could cause a hindrance to the hearers.

In the first part of the chapter (verses 1-14) he built a solid case that paying those who proclaim the gospel is right. Everyday occupations, temple occupations, and God’s Word itself all point to this right. And it was a right that Paul refrained from using.

In the next section he clarifies that he’s still not interested in getting material support from them. He explains why, in terms of his calling (verses 15-18) and his strategy to see others saved (verses 19-23). He is free, a point he made at the beginning of chapter 9, and because he is free he has even more opportunities to be a slave. This is a paradox, as is the glory of the cross.

Paul finishes his argument about renouncing payment and renouncing his preferences for the benefit of others, and all of it embodies his challenge to the Corinthians to give up their own position of strength for the benefit of others. This is his winning formula, a formula to win by all means, and it is not as cheesy or as easy as it sounds.

For the sake of the gospel Paul did not take rightful payment. (verses 15-18)

He already couldn’t help himself from making the point (verse 12), but here he really transitions to his personal refrain. But I (for my part) have made no use of any of these rights. Even the “Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel” (verse 14), not in such a way that Paul was disobeying, but proving that it was the proper expectation. He had the right, and he renounced the right.

He hadn’t changed his mind either. Nor am I writing these things to secure such provision. They could have taken his arguments in the first half of the chapter to be a set up, as if he said, “Paying preachers is right, as you know and as you have done, though not to me. Now it’s well past time to pay up.” Instead he explains his motivation for continuing to refuse their patronage. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. Or the less smooth, more exact translation:

In fact, it would be better for me to die than—-no one will deprive me of my reason for boasting! (NET)

He doesn’t finish his thought. It’s emotional, it’s extreme. But what “ground of boasting” does he have in mind?

Verse 16 continues the chain of explanations (see the “for” v.15 “for” v.16 “for” v.16 again “for” v.17 and another in v.19). For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. We need more to fill out his meaning.

For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. (verses 16-17)

What is he talking about? He’s talking about his calling to preach. He could preach or not preach (verse 16); he preached. He could either preach freely or under compulsion (verse 17); he preached without a choice. It wasn[...]

1 Corinthians 9:1-13

June 24, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

Download the Kids’ Korner.

The sermon starts at 15:35 in the audio file.

Or, The Rhetoric of Refraining from Using Your Rights

If a man wanted to prove his strength, he might set up an opportunity for everyone to watch. Let’s say that he decides to knock over a wall in front of others. He could construct a wall made out of Lego bricks, but of course this wouldn’t really prove his strength at all, though it would perhaps say something about his sense of theatrics (or lack thereof). A serious man would build a tall, thick wall of concrete blocks. To knock that wall down, everyone agrees, would be a strong man’s work.

1 Corinthians 9 is sort of like the wall. Paul builds up a case only to knock it down. The analogy breaks down somewhat, since there is a sense in which the wall in chapter 9 stands on its own. The principles that Paul uses to prove the rightness of providing for those who proclaim the gospel do not actually get torn down. But he gets them to agree that providing is right, clearly right, lawfully right, and only then does he show that he refrains from using this right.

It’s an illustration of refraining, really renouncing the use of a right for sake of something else. This is exactly the call for all Christians in chapter 8, and Paul finished that chapter by claiming that he would never eat meat again if it caused a weaker brother’s conscience to be destroyed. The key verse in this section is verse 14: “those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.” Paul argues with his own life that he is living by the gospel by not taking their money though he had every right to do so.

He uses over seventeen rhetorical questions in the first fourteen verses of chapter 9 (as translated in the ESV). The questions have obvious answers, some Yes and others No, and they pull the Corinthians in to realize something they may not have connected before. Paul wasn’t taking their money. He shows them that of course it was right for him to do so, but that he wasn’t asking them to give up something (meat in chapter 8) that he wasn’t willing to do himself (money in chapter 9).

Apostolic Freedom to Eat (verses 1-2)

The chapter break is fine, but remember that this immediately follows his vow not to offend a brother (8:13). But surely, as an apostle, he had the freedom to eat, right?

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? These all expect positive answers. Yes he is free, yes he is an apostle, yes he saw Jesus. The freedom that he’s speaking of goes beyond Christian freedom, it includes his authority as one called directly by the Lord Himself. In Paul’s case he was called by the risen Lord on the road to Damascus.

His apostolic credentials are in order, and their existence as a church proved God’s use of Paul. Are you not my workmanship in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. They were his workmanship, the result of his labor. So also they were a seal, official documentation. This isn’t an Arminian proof text about man’s abilities, it’s proof that God’s sovereign ministry has personal means. So they knew that he was an apostle, even if other churches didn’t because he was the human reason they existed as a church at all.

How would he use his freedom? And why?

Apostolic Right to Support (verses 3-14)

Having made a general case for his freedom to eat whatever he wanted, now he makes a more particular case for his right to be supported financially by them. The key word is “right,” used in verse 4, verse 5, verse 6, and again in verse 12. There are even more rhetorical questions, and more arguments that build his case.

Right from Everyday Life (verses 3-7)

Some translations take verse 3 as re[...]

1 John 5:1-21

June 17, 2018

Evening Service

Dave Light

Download the Kids’ Korner.

1 Corinthians 8:7-13

June 17, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

Download the Kids’ Korner.

The sermon starts at 13:45 in the audio file.

Or, How to Eat Right

We eat food every day, multiple times a day. Food is one of the most mundane, as in earthly rather than heavenly, things we concern ourselves with, and yet God says that even our eating and drinking is supposed to be for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31).

What are our responsibilities when it comes to food? How important are the ingredients? The source of those ingredients? The chemical make-up of those ingredients? The preparation/packaging of the food? Should you research and investigate the motives of anyone who had any part in getting the food to your table? What if the people who grow/make/sell you your food are idolators?

We come to the hinge point in 1 Corinthians 8. Last Lord’s Day we began to talk about food, especially food associated someway or another with idols. The Christians in Corinth were Kuyperian Calvinists, before that was even possible of course. They had the knowledge of God’s sovereignty over every thumb’s width of grain and vegetable and animal. They knew that idols couldn’t compare, let alone compete, with the one, true God of gods and Lord of lords.

Food eaten at a pagan temple couldn’t actually give power to a “so-called god,” even if people actually believed that they were praising that god. Meat bought from the butcher shop connected to the pagan temple couldn’t have effective idol cooties. Only one God gives food, and while some “gods” might have been real demons disguising themselves (see 1 Corinthians 10:20), even if those demons claimed to be givers of corn and wheat and cows and sheep, the Corinthian Christians knew the actual and ultimate source behind every bite: God Himself. “All things” are “from” the Father and “all things” were made “through” Jesus Christ.

The problem, as we began to see, is that some of the Christians held this knowledge in a way that magnified themselves rather than their brothers, which means they were not actually honoring God either, no matter how accurate their slogans about God’s sovereignty were crafted. What they knew was (mostly) true about God, except they showed that they didn’t truly know God because He is the God of love. We’re supposed to love like Him, not just know about Him.

Those who were conscious of God’s sovereignty were not conscious of (some of) their brothers’ consciences. Some brothers were loving their eating (and perhaps socializing) more than loving their brothers’ souls. What should have been building up the body was destroying it.

Paul calls the Corinthians to be conscientious consumers. But this is not being conscientious about the food as much as it is being conscientious about the God of food and their brothers in the Lord. There is a way to eat clean, to eat right, and it has more to do with how we consider the consciences of our fellow consumers and less to do with what we put in our mouths.

The Problem (verses 7-8)

The Corinthians knew that all the Corinthians had the knowledge (8:1), but they didn’t know that they were also wrong. However, not all possess this knowledge. Paul isn’t referring to the nonbelievers in Corinth, but to some of the believers in the church. It’s not that some of them had received different teaching, it’s not as if some of them were Arminians, or evolutionists. The rest of verse 7 explains the problem: their head knowledge hadn’t fully informed their conscience.

But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Paul introduces us to a category of believer: the weak in conscience. Conscience is an important, but not infallible (meaning that it could be wrong) [...]

1 Corinthians 8:1-6

June 10, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

Download the Kids’ Korner.

The sermon starts at 16:15 in the audio file.

Or, A Primer on the God of Food

Food is a strange and fascinating subject. The growing, hunting, purchasing, preparing, cooking, eating, cleaning up from, and thinking/talking about food occupies perhaps the majority of waking hours for the majority of the people in the history of the world. Food belongs with big business, big parties, and is one of God’s big gifts.

Food is also a god for many people, used to medicate or distract, or because they believe humans have an obligation to honor the vegetables and animals that become our food. Food is associated with the gods, given from them or demanded by them. Food has been associated with sacrifices of worship since at least the sons of Adam and Eve.

The Bible says a lot about food, and food is the presenting problem in 1 Corinthians chapter 8, it is an issue again in chapters 10 and 11, and though chapter 9 isn’t about food, it provides an complementary example that teaches us something about food.

I don’t have the ambition to say everything that can be said about food in the upcoming sermons. I don’t claim to know all there is to know about food anyway. And I am particularly interested in the context in Corinth and Paul’s instructions to them first, though there are principles with plenty of application for us in a different setting with our own set of problems.

This is another branch growing from the same root problem among the Corinthians. They knew enough to be mean to each other, they heard enough of Paul’s teaching to spread their pride on almost everything. They had so-called knowledge, which actually led to so-called snobbery. They believed in the sovereignty of God, and applied that doctrine to the subject of food. But based on how they treated one another it was clear that they did not actually know the God of food.

So-called Knowledge (verses 1-3)

The issue in this section of 1 Corinthians relates to conscience (verses 7, 12) over consuming certain food (verses 1, 4, 7-13) among the community of believers in a culture full of idolatry (verses 5, 9-13).

It is not a new issue; certainly Paul had worked through some of theses problems during his stay and teaching in Corinth. But some of them had taken his teaching in unhelpful ways and had written to him for confirmation. Paul does some confirming and a good amount of correcting.

Now concerning food offered to idols. This is the same formula that he used in 7:1 and 7:25 to bring up topics from their letter to which he’s replying. First was married celibacy, then singleness and betrothal, now food. The subject of food and worship takes up all of chapter 8 and much of chapters 10-11, with chapter 9 related in a different way.

Food offered to idols is one word in Greek (a form of εἰδωλόθυτος) and means “something offered to a cultic image/idol“ (BDAG). It could have been eaten in a few different contexts. It could have been food provided at social events held in a pagan temple (compare it to maybe the fellowship hall of a Baptist church), it could have been food sold by the pagan temple butcher shop, or it could have been food bought and served by a pagan friend who invited you for dinner. There is a social level, an economic level, and a personal level.

It appears that Paul quotes (as the ESV represents) from their letter: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” He will provide the content of this knowledge in verses 4 and 6, but before he talks about the knowledge, he talks about the relative importance of knowledge and how knowledge that leads to snobbery over fellow believers is not as impressive as we think.

This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. This is the same root of puffing-pride as mentioned previously in the letter (1 Corinthians 4:6), an[...]

1 Corinthians 7:32-40

June 3, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

Download the Kids’ Korner.

The sermon starts at 17:00 in the audio file.

Or, Marriage: A Mess Worth Avoiding?

It is always a good challenge to figure out how to redeem the time because the days are evil. Presumably, those who are not saved don’t really care about the redeeming part. They serve the competing gods of Happy Moment Providers, Inc. But for those who have God’s Spirit, those who hear God’s Word, those who love God’s Son, we want to know how to honor Him in the world.

There are inevitably, though, some Christians who prefer to do this with the least amount of tension as possible. Another word for tension could be “anxiety,” and while there is a wrong way to be anxious, there is an appropriate way if by it we mean that we are concerned to do the right thing. As disciples, we are concerned to please our Master. How can we do that the best?

The most crucial human relationship that requires consideration is marriage. From the beginning, men and women have been getting married, or wanting to get married, or not getting married, and it takes up a lot of effort. Think about how dominant this theme is through all the love stories, the love songs, and the credit card bills in history. From dating to wedding to signing mortgage papers, then to being fruitful and multiplying, all this, as it turns out, consumes a lot of resources both individually and as a society. For those who love Christ more than anyone else, should they keep their love and service “pure” from any other commitments, including a spouse (and kids)?

These are some of the questions Paul deals with in 1 Corinthians 7. The church in Corinth had written Paul a letter, which he referred to in verse 1, and to which he’s replying. Based on the tone he takes, their letter to him sought his confirmation on their choice standards for holiness. Some of them had a dualistic, an ascetic, an almost anti-body approach. They argued that married couples should remain celibate, and that if married couples could become single, even better.

Starting in verse 25 the subject switches to the betrothed, to those who were promised to others for marriage but who were not yet married. Paul’s counsel is consistent with the previous 24 verses: be content and be holy, and if that is in marriage, so be it.

He refers to “the present distress” in verse 26, and I believe that this was a unique, local, more temporary problem facing the believers in Corinth. Paul’s “judgement” is not relative, but it is related to the particular life setting. He says, especially in light of the present distress, it avoids some stresses if you ca go through the distress without a wife (and family). That said, it is better to be in the distress with a wife than to be in the distress with the guilt of sexual immorality.

Verses 32-40 continue the counsel with another reason to consider not getting married, along with a final word of counsel for the betrothed and then extended to widows.

Married Couple Distractions (verses 32-35)

Paul’s recommendation of celibacy is for those for whom God gives this gift, which is not everyone. Consider your calling.

I want you to be free from anxieties. These stresses come along with the present distress, as well as distractions. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided.

This is a simplistic description, and yet a fair distinction. Thinking about one is less than thinking about two.

Paul refers to two sources of anxieties. The word anxieties means “cares” or “concerns,” and cares are inevitable. But can you have less cares, or more focused cares? Apparently yes. The single man, who is content and who is in con[...]

1 Corinthians 7:25-31

May 27, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

Download the Kids’ Korner.

The sermon starts at 15:15 in the audio file.

Or, Marriage: A Mess Worth Avoiding?

When Jesus commissioned His disciples He told them to make disciples who identified with Jesus in baptism and then committed to lifelong learning about Jesus and obeying His commands. Jesus did not commission His disciples to get others to pray a prayer and then be transferred immediately to heaven. Being a disciple, and making disciples, involves living in the present world for Jesus rather than getting out of it.

When Jesus prayed for His people in John 17 (especially verses 14-19) He knew that the world would hate His people because they are “not of the world.” Yet He did not ask the Father to take us “out of the world” either. We’re not of, and not out. Jesus even prayed that the Father would send us “into the world,” sanctified in the truth. How much depends on these little prepositions. And how little do Christian disciples seem to understand how to do it.

It is a constant effort to keep our thoughts and our choices for the Lord. The Lord made us to do so, and He also taught that many are distracted by the world and the seed of the gospel is choked out by riches and cares of this life (Matthew 13:22). Because we don’t welcome living in tension about crucial things, we tend to choose one foot to hop on, then we know we’re right. Some choose to stay in the theological bed all day and try to ignore the larger implications, while others choose to hyperventilate over the smaller implications of everything. Either we give up trying to figure out what is good, or we decide that only certain things are good, especially the things that make us look good.

The Christians in Corinth struggled with this, especially when it came to relations between the sexes. Some thought that using a prostitute was as as good for the body as food (1 Corinthians 6:13), and others thought that abstinence with one’s wife was obviously the greater good (7:1). Both are wrong.

1 Corinthians 6 dealt with those who weren’t thinking enough about boundaries and restrictions on earthly appetites, 1 Corinthians 7 deals with those who desired castle moats and 50 foot tall electric fences. The apostle Paul teaches them how to think about relationships, and in the process teaches them how to relate to a lot of things in this world.

In verses 1-16 he addressed married couples. In verses 25-40 he addresses those who are engaged/betrothed or widowed. In between, in verses 17-24, he went over the basic principle of God’s earthly callings for each person and how committed service at our station is key.

We’re going to consider the last half of the chapter in two parts, starting with Paul’s counsel to the engaged in the context of “the present distress” (verse 26) in a world that is “passing away” (verse 31). Paul will give his judgement in the matter (verses 25-28), and then give five exhortations for Christian judgement (verses 29-31). Is marriage a mess worth making, or a mess worth avoiding?

Married Couple Problems (verses 25-28)

When I mention the ESV translation I usually am critical. I should express more thanks more often, since I do think it’s a great translation overall, it is what I read for myself and memorize and preach from, and it’s what I encourage others to use. In these troubled translation waters, the ESV does very well.

Now concerning or “about” (NIV) likely refers again to the letter that the Corinthians wrote him. He started the chapter that way (verse 1) as some in the church were arguing for the good of abstinence in marriage. They thought it was more holy, even for spouses, to avoid sex. They also apparently thought it was more holy to avoid certain foods, as the “now concerning” introduces chapter 8 as well. Here is the middle issue, it is mo[...]