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1 & 2 Corinthians Themes: Saving Others
New Testament Sermons / Speaker:Berry Kercheville
1 & 2 Corinthian Themes: Saving Others
Introduction: As I have mentioned in introducing these lessons, because Paul deals with so many of the Corinthian “errors,” we are often distracted from deeper themes in these two letters. On the surface, Paul’s letters focus on correcting sinful practices. However, all sins have at their root deeper heart issues. When the heart is changed, the sins disappear. This is one of the major mistakes that most of us preachers have made: more emphasis on stopping the sin than changing the heart.
That brings us to the foundational theme for this lesson: Paul’s emphasis on being aware of the spiritual condition of people around us, whether those who are Christians or those who haven’t come to Christ.
Paul’s Approach
Before you think that Paul gives a number of commands for the Corinthians to be more evangelistic, that is not true. In fact, what is uniquely absent from all the NT epistles is an apostolic urging for the first century Christians to go save others. That should be a major concern for us when we compare them with us.
No one needed to tell them to tell 1st Christians to seek to save others. It was prophesied repeatedly that the Messiah’s disciples would spread the gospel message, and the only direct command given in the NT was the Great Commission. Saving souls was an automatic response by all Christians in the book of Acts, and it continued for over 1900 years in all churches.
Suddenly, halfway through the 20th century that emphasis began to change. Our churches typically need to be urged and reminded that saving others was Jesus’ primary goal, the primary goal of the apostles, and the primary goal of all who came to Christ.
The point is, Paul’s approach was not, “Go out and teach the gospel,” his approach was twofold:
First, God allowed Paul to use himself as an example for all Christians. 1 Corinthians 4:16 “I encourage you, then, be imitators of me.”
Paul taught Christians that we are called to “work together with God” (2 Cor. 6:1) to save others.
Paul taught that Jesus made us a new creation so that we look at other differently than before:
“He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.” (2 Cor. 5:15-18 NLT)
It is scary to realize how easy it is for a church to become so inward thinking, so “this is all about us,” that saving a soul is not only absent from the church’s work and goal, lost souls come and go and even fall into the lap of Christians and preachers without any desire to save their soul!
It begs the question: Are we really the prophetic picture of the Messiah’s disciples? Do we really care and have the love of God as a shepherd for a lost sheep and as a father for his lost son? Does it truly disturb us that this person is “destroyed for whom Christ died” (1 Cor. 8:11)?
Paul’s Emphasis on Saving Others (ch. 8-10)
1 Corinthians 8:8-13 “Now food will not bring us close to God. We are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do. But be careful that this liberty of yours does not become a hindrance to the weak. For if someone weak sees you who possess knowledge dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience be “strengthened” to eat food offered to idols? So by your knowledge the weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed. If you sin against your brothers or sisters in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. For this reason, if food causes my brother or sister to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause one of them to sin.” (NIV)
1 Corinthians 10:31-33 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.”
2 Corinthians 2:14-15 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.”
Paul’s Description of Winning People to Christ, 1 Corinthians 9:19-27
First, please note Paul’s primary argument and discussion in chapters 8-10. The primary argument of the text is teaching the Corinthians the need to give up self and one’s rights so that others may be saved. Paul first warns them about giving themselves up to save believers, but then turns to outsiders. Paul uses himself as an example of giving up one’s rights when he refused to accept wages from them so that he would not “we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ” (9:12).
He follows this with a lengthy paragraph on the sacrifices he makes in his effort to save others:
9:19 “…that I might win the more.”
9:20 “…that I might win those under the law.”
9:21 “…that I might win those outside the law.”
9:22 “…I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.”
Then after Paul gives a warning about falling back into idolatry (10:1-22), he again gives a caution when eating meat even in a common dinner party (10:23-30). His conclusion (10:31—11:1), reminds them that there are three classes of people they must consider that the “many” may be saved: Jews, Greeks, and the church of God.
Note Paul’s words of, “I try to please everyone in everything…” is the idea of doing all that can be done, “not seeking my own advantage,” (in other words, I keep my needs, wants, and desires secondary to the “many, that they may be saved.”
The concluding words in 11:1 are the clincher. One of the major errors by teachers and commentaries on the Corinthian letters has been to interpret Paul’s illustrations of how he lives for Christ as an argument defending his apostleship. Not only does Paul deny this in 2 Corinthians 12:19, but his repeated admonition to “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” should take away any doubt. Paul is illustrating Christ, and therefore must be followed.
Therefore, when we read the Corinthian letters, we should continually be saying to ourselves, “Look at Paul! That’s how I am supposed to live.”
Let’s conclude with a more careful look at 9:19-27.
Vs. 19: “I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.”
Have you considered how this affects our lives on a daily basis? We are slaves to our neighbors, our co-workers, and those we “touch” each day. We do this so that, as Paul says in verse 22, “that by all means I might save some.”
Now if I have made myself a slave and if you have made yourself a slave, am I allowed to choose myself and my “advantage” over the lost? No, because Christ became a servant to all, I must also make myself a servant to others. Look at it this way. I am willingly making them my priority when it comes to anything needed to bring them to Christ.
Vs. 20: “I became as a Jew…” indicates Paul had given up his “Judaistic” lifestyle, but would quickly return to it in order to save other Jews. This was illustrated clearly when Paul took Timothy and circumcised him so that they would both have a better opportunity to teach other Jews. That example makes it clear to us the kind of sacrifices that might be necessary.
Vs. 24-27 drives Paul’s point home. Teaching and saving others takes great discipline. It is painful discipline. It is grueling discipline. It is a discipline that is looking win a race, not just practice for a race.
Conclusion: Is this what you have seen in churches? Is this the lifestyle that we are following? It doesn’t take long to realize the radical message Paul gave the Corinthians. “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.”
Berry Kercheville
The post 1 & 2 Corinthians Themes: Saving Others appeared first on Woodland Hills Church of Christ.
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New Testament Sermons / Speaker:Berry Kercheville
1 & 2 Corinthian Themes: Saving Others
Introduction: As I have mentioned in introducing these lessons, because Paul deals with so many of the Corinthian “errors,” we are often distracted from deeper themes in these two letters. On the surface, Paul’s letters focus on correcting sinful practices. However, all sins have at their root deeper heart issues. When the heart is changed, the sins disappear. This is one of the major mistakes that most of us preachers have made: more emphasis on stopping the sin than changing the heart.
That brings us to the foundational theme for this lesson: Paul’s emphasis on being aware of the spiritual condition of people around us, whether those who are Christians or those who haven’t come to Christ.
Paul’s Approach
Before you think that Paul gives a number of commands for the Corinthians to be more evangelistic, that is not true. In fact, what is uniquely absent from all the NT epistles is an apostolic urging for the first century Christians to go save others. That should be a major concern for us when we compare them with us.
No one needed to tell them to tell 1st Christians to seek to save others. It was prophesied repeatedly that the Messiah’s disciples would spread the gospel message, and the only direct command given in the NT was the Great Commission. Saving souls was an automatic response by all Christians in the book of Acts, and it continued for over 1900 years in all churches.
Suddenly, halfway through the 20th century that emphasis began to change. Our churches typically need to be urged and reminded that saving others was Jesus’ primary goal, the primary goal of the apostles, and the primary goal of all who came to Christ.
The point is, Paul’s approach was not, “Go out and teach the gospel,” his approach was twofold:
First, God allowed Paul to use himself as an example for all Christians. 1 Corinthians 4:16 “I encourage you, then, be imitators of me.”
Paul taught Christians that we are called to “work together with God” (2 Cor. 6:1) to save others.
Paul taught that Jesus made us a new creation so that we look at other differently than before:
“He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.” (2 Cor. 5:15-18 NLT)
It is scary to realize how easy it is for a church to become so inward thinking, so “this is all about us,” that saving a soul is not only absent from the church’s work and goal, lost souls come and go and even fall into the lap of Christians and preachers without any desire to save their soul!
It begs the question: Are we really the prophetic picture of the Messiah’s disciples? Do we really care and have the love of God as a shepherd for a lost sheep and as a father for his lost son? Does it truly disturb us that this person is “destroyed for whom Christ died” (1 Cor. 8:11)?
Paul’s Emphasis on Saving Others (ch. 8-10)
1 Corinthians 8:8-13 “Now food will not bring us close to God. We are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do. But be careful that this liberty of yours does not become a hindrance to the weak. For if someone weak sees you who possess knowledge dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience be “strengthened” to eat food offered to idols? So by your knowledge the weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed. If you sin against your brothers or sisters in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. For this reason, if food causes my brother or sister to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause one of them to sin.” (NIV)
1 Corinthians 10:31-33 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.”
2 Corinthians 2:14-15 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.”
Paul’s Description of Winning People to Christ, 1 Corinthians 9:19-27
First, please note Paul’s primary argument and discussion in chapters 8-10. The primary argument of the text is teaching the Corinthians the need to give up self and one’s rights so that others may be saved. Paul first warns them about giving themselves up to save believers, but then turns to outsiders. Paul uses himself as an example of giving up one’s rights when he refused to accept wages from them so that he would not “we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ” (9:12).
He follows this with a lengthy paragraph on the sacrifices he makes in his effort to save others:
9:19 “…that I might win the more.”
9:20 “…that I might win those under the law.”
9:21 “…that I might win those outside the law.”
9:22 “…I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.”
Then after Paul gives a warning about falling back into idolatry (10:1-22), he again gives a caution when eating meat even in a common dinner party (10:23-30). His conclusion (10:31—11:1), reminds them that there are three classes of people they must consider that the “many” may be saved: Jews, Greeks, and the church of God.
Note Paul’s words of, “I try to please everyone in everything…” is the idea of doing all that can be done, “not seeking my own advantage,” (in other words, I keep my needs, wants, and desires secondary to the “many, that they may be saved.”
The concluding words in 11:1 are the clincher. One of the major errors by teachers and commentaries on the Corinthian letters has been to interpret Paul’s illustrations of how he lives for Christ as an argument defending his apostleship. Not only does Paul deny this in 2 Corinthians 12:19, but his repeated admonition to “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” should take away any doubt. Paul is illustrating Christ, and therefore must be followed.
Therefore, when we read the Corinthian letters, we should continually be saying to ourselves, “Look at Paul! That’s how I am supposed to live.”
Let’s conclude with a more careful look at 9:19-27.
Vs. 19: “I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.”
Have you considered how this affects our lives on a daily basis? We are slaves to our neighbors, our co-workers, and those we “touch” each day. We do this so that, as Paul says in verse 22, “that by all means I might save some.”
Now if I have made myself a slave and if you have made yourself a slave, am I allowed to choose myself and my “advantage” over the lost? No, because Christ became a servant to all, I must also make myself a servant to others. Look at it this way. I am willingly making them my priority when it comes to anything needed to bring them to Christ.
Vs. 20: “I became as a Jew…” indicates Paul had given up his “Judaistic” lifestyle, but would quickly return to it in order to save other Jews. This was illustrated clearly when Paul took Timothy and circumcised him so that they would both have a better opportunity to teach other Jews. That example makes it clear to us the kind of sacrifices that might be necessary.
Vs. 24-27 drives Paul’s point home. Teaching and saving others takes great discipline. It is painful discipline. It is grueling discipline. It is a discipline that is looking win a race, not just practice for a race.
Conclusion: Is this what you have seen in churches? Is this the lifestyle that we are following? It doesn’t take long to realize the radical message Paul gave the Corinthians. “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.”
Berry Kercheville
The post 1 & 2 Corinthians Themes: Saving Others appeared first on Woodland Hills Church of Christ.
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