Immanuel Sermon Audio
1 Corinthians (46:66)
all right find first Corinthians in your Bible yep if you can't find it just go left at second Corinthians and you'll be there easy so we just sang a song you're you serious when you said you used to sing that every week like every week at the end of church held hands when you did it maybe we'll do that when we're done tonight old time's sake so think about that lyric though I am so glad that I'm part of the family of God it's kind of a funny thing to sing when you look around at a lot of churches today and if you visited a lot of churches and just looked around I wonder if you would see people who looked glad to be there I had a whole list of stories that I had been thinking of over the last week to talk about first Corinthians and they were not necessarily Bible stories they were just real life stories from churches and they were not the kind of stories that would make you want to hold hands with the person next to you and sing I am so glad that I am part of the family of God and their stories about problems and some of them are funny and some of them are not funny and some of them are funny because of how not funny they are and I had this whole list of things and and and I decided this afternoon when I was looking over it I just thought you know I don't I don't want to talk about those things because at the end of the day they're not funny and if you're part of a church family you should be able to sing that song and mean it that you really are glad that you're part of that family and unfortunately a lot of churches deal with the kinds of problems that Corinth was dealing with and just to be real up front I don't think there was a lot of people at Corinth who when they read this letter from Paul obviously the song wasn't written yet but you understand what I'm about to say they read this letter from Paul and they're dealing with all the things that they're dealing with said let's end the service today by holding hands and singing I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God the the church was in total chaos and I want you to hold your spot in 1st Corinthians and I want you to flip back to the right in your Bible to the book of James and I just want to remind you and me why sometimes church is chaotic and messy and there's problems and it's not fun and you don't feel like you're very happy to be part of that family look at James 4 verse 1 James 4 1 what causes quarrels and what causes fights among you is it not this that your passions are at war within you okay in other words in that one verse James just said why do you have fights and quarrels you you're the problem something inside of you is causing that verse - you desire and you don't have so you murder you covet and you can't obtain so you fight and you quarrel you don't have because you don't ask you ask and do not receive because you asked wrongly to spend it on your passions you adulterous people James is basically saying the reason there's fights and problems and quarrels inside a church family if you really want to boil it down is that we're the problem it's us it's our hearts and it's the fact that we are self focused we're self indulgent and we're selfish people and here in the United States of America we have the economic prosperity and the political freedoms to take selfishness and self-indulgence and selfishness to a whole new level and again I have a whole long list of things of examples of how we're selfish but I don't think I need to tell you those things I think you know that I don't think I have to convince you that in this country by and large we are selfish self-focused self-indulgent people and James says that's the problem when you get a bunch of those kinds of people together to be clear people like me and you at some point you start to have problems and conflict and issues and that was certainly true in Corinth in Corinth we're gonna talk about these things they were fighting each other there was sexual immorality of various kinds there was lawsuits between members church members suing each other in court people were visiting prostitutes people were falling into idolatry people were giving themselves over to drunkenness at church and when they came together and had a worship service however you're gonna interpret the in passages Paul does say it's completely too chaotic what's happening this church was a total in complete mess and look how Paul begins the letter first Corinthians 1 1 Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus and our brother Sosthenes to the church of God that is in Corinth to those sanctified in Christ Jesus that means those who have been set apart they've been called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ both their Lord and ours grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and when you when you read through this book and you see some of the things that they were doing and struggling with and dealing with it's amazing that Paul doesn't introduce himself and then turn right around and say you're a bunch of idiots knock it off and instead he begins by gently but firmly reminding them you have been sanctified you have been set apart to something better than this you have been called by God to be saints holy ones and in that just that introductory paragraph there should have been enough rebuke for everybody at Corinth to get it you're not living up to your calling you're not living like the kind of people that God has created you and called you to be so here's something interesting about the book of Corinth as we jump in let's talk about Paul's relationship with the Corinthians when Paul wrote to the Romans we looked at that last week he had never been there and he's writing to some people he knows but some people he's only heard about very very different with the Corinthians and I'll let you fill in those blanks there and then we're going to talk about these different things and flip around in our Bible some there's an initial visit of Paul there's a previous letter that Paul wrote this church we don't have it no one no one knows what happened to it but Paul mentions it in first Corinthians he says in the previous letter so he wrote them a first letter then the Corinthians wrote Paul a letter mentioned in among other passages 1 Corinthians 7 1 Paul says throughout 1 Corinthians you asked about this you mentioned this you wanted to know about this they wrote Paul a letter asking all these questions then there is Paul's pastoral letter that's 1 Corinthians that we're looking at then there was a painful visit and in 2 Corinthians 12 14 Paul talks about I'm about to come to you for the third time and we know there was an initial visit so somewhere in there we're not exactly sure where but somewhere in there there's this painful visit probably after 1 Corinthians written then there's a sorrowful letter that we don't have we don't know what happened to it but we don't have it today then the thankful letter second Corinthians and then one last visit so we're going to talk about these real quick and you can jot down some notes if you want to hold your spot flip back to the left and look at Acts 18 Acts 18 1 this is Paul's second missionary journey it's about AD 50 we know that pretty firmly because in chapter 18 Paul says that a man named Galileo is the Proconsul of Achaia and we know from Roman records that he was the Proconsul in 50 AD and we piece things together we can find in scriptures and we say so it's about 50 AD Acts 18 1 after after this Paul left Athens and he went to Corinth he found a Jew named Aquila and his wife Priscilla and we're gonna talk about some of those things in a minute this is the initial visit and so you can hold your spot there because we're gonna come back to there then there's a previous letter okay look at 1 Corinthians 5 9 this is the first letter we have that Paul wrote them but when you look at 1 Corinthians 5 9 Paul says I wrote you that's past tense not I'm writing you but I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people so whatever was in that first letter that Paul sent them one of the things he told them is don't associate with sexually immoral people we know that from 1 Corinthians 5 9 and then they sent Paul a letter and we know that because you can look at 1 Corinthians 7 1 he says now concerning the matters about which you wrote so they wrote Paul this letter and they're asking all these questions in this middle part of the book Paul's addressing all of those questions that they had and then there's first Corinthians which we're looking at tonight and then there's this painful visit look at second Corinthians 12 14 stay with me because there's a reason that we're gonna we're making this chain of of relationship second Corinthians 12 14 here for the third time I am ready to come to you and I will not be a burden for us seek not what is yours but you not after your money he says I'm just after you and being reconciled to you so there's this painful visit where he comes and they sort of hash out their problems and then there's a sorrowful letter so look at 2 Corinthians 2 3 we'll just start in verse 1 2 Corinthians 2 1 I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you that's why we call the the previous visit painful for if I cause you pain who is there to make me glad but the one whom I've pain and I wrote as I did so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice for I felt sure of you all that my joy would be the joy of you all for I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart with many tears not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you so we call this letter that he's talking about here the sorrowful letter then second Corinthians itself is this thankful letter and then flip back to acts if you held your spot there and acts 20 verse 23 I'm sorry 22 to 3 when he had gone through those regions and given them much encouragement he came to Greece and he spent there he spent three months and a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to sail for Syria so he decided to return through Macedonia this stop in Greece was in Corinth so here's my point okay and hold your spot in Acts 18 when Paul writes to the Romans he's riding to mostly strangers you remember we talked about last week he's on a missionary trip when he's writing the letter to the church in Rome he's taking this offering that he's collected and he's taking it to Jerusalem and prophets have told him predicted bad things are waiting for you in Jerusalem when you get there it's not gonna go good they're not the Jews are after you they want to get you and so he knows in the back of his mind this could be my last trip and he writes this book of Romans and it's sort of his his magnum opus this great work of his life and he pours himself into it and but he's writing to people he really doesn't know he's never been there he's never smelled Rome when he writes to the Corinthians it's like he's writing to family we'll see in just a minute he spent a year and a half in Corinth when he started the church very unusual for Paul usually he went to town started the church and things got so crazy he had to jet pretty quick maybe he could leave behind some of his friends but he had to hit the road 18 months he stayed there longer than any other place and he taught and he preached and he labored with these people and he served with them in the church and he built relationships with them and he's writing all these letters back and he's making all these visits to him and there's just much more of a personal feel when you read through through first Corinthians so let me put a map up just so you know what's going on in Paul's life there's a couple of cities here you see over on the right Antioch you remember when Paul and Barnabas went out on their first missionary trip they were in Antioch that's where they were sent out from over on the left you see Athens you can read about Paul going to the city of Athens in Acts chapter 17 he went there he talked to the philosophers he got to preach in the Ariapagos and he was you know that was an exciting thing for Paul but truth be told when you read Acts 17 it pretty much says he got laughed out of town you wonder how Paul took this most places he went he got ran out of town by an angry mob and they were angry because so many people were coming to faith in Jesus and Athens they listened to him and they said you're an idiot you're not even the kind of idiot that makes us upset we you're the kind of idiot that we laugh at and they mocked him and he moves on in chapter 18 and he goes to a city named Corinth so let me tell you a little bit about Corinth that has some pictures for you of Corinth that is in the foreground down low that is the ruins of the temple to Apollo in Corinth you can go visit it today and they're in the background up in that hill is part of the city is called the acro Corinth and it was sort of the main stronghold the fortress of the city so go to the next picture this is the acro Corinth up close and you can see these walls they had all the way up the city and it's sort of just a sort of a protective barrier a military strategic defense to say if we really needed to under attack we could all go up the acro Corinth and we've got these walls and these gates that are going to protect us then go to the next picture this is on top of the acro Corinth a great view and you can see the harbor there this was a port city and very commercial lots of trade came in and out of this town a lot of sailors and merchants came in and out in the ruins you see right there on the on the bottom left are the ruins of the temple of Aphrodite and not necessarily scholars think in Paul's day but not long before Paul's day this was an active site of not only pagan idol worship but temple prostitution and some historians tell us maybe they're exaggerating if they're exaggerating this still a lot that there was a thousand prostitutes who worked at that temple up at the top of the of the acro Corinth and so in your mind just think this is Corinth right lots of money flowing through the town he recognizes one of the most wealthy towns in in Rome it was the capital city of its province so there's government officials there there's important people there there's a lot of trade going on which means there's a lot of money there's a thousand prostitutes up the hill all of these things are in the culture of this city that Paul goes to and he preaches the gospel next picture this is the theater the ruins of the theater and I looked this up on several things today I had never read this and I just wanted to make sure I was right it held 15,000 people so we went to a basketball game the other night in Lubbock in the arena holds 15,000 and it wasn't completely filled but that's a lot of people and sometimes we you know think we're so great in the modern world and they had some pretty great things back then too they had a theater that could hold 15,000 people and most scholars say that in Corinth there was a couple hundred thousand people who lived there this is a big city this is not a little fishing village but there's a lot of people here next picture I think is just a Roman fountain sort of something that would be in all Roman cities especially a capital city you can go visit that see that and then the last picture is a road pretty impressive that it's still there and you can just see ruins on either side of that road so this is Corinth here's the story in Acts 18 Paul goes to town to this wealthy economically vibrant city politically important city sexually immoral city and he goes to the synagogue and he starts preaching and all these people in the synagogue start coming to faith in Jesus Christ and it doesn't take very long for the synagogue ruler in Corinth to sort of blow a gasket and run them off and this is one of those things you want to know the backstory on it we don't know the back story but we do know that Paul took the church out of the synagogue and moved it literally next door to the house of a guy named Tischius Justice and he moves the church right next door so sort of like a church split and they just moved to the property right down the road and they start meeting and people are being saved and people are are coming to faith in Jesus now do you remember Paul's last stop Athens and you remember what happened to him there he gets laughed out of town nobody really believes a few believe most laugh at him he goes to Corinth all these people are getting saved and in a vision God comes to Paul and he says don't be afraid I know it's starting to get dicey but do not be afraid don't go anywhere either stay right where you're at I have many people in this city who are mine and they're going to come to faith so you stay right here where you're at so Paul doesn't leave he sticks it out he's preaching he's teaching he's he's working as well you can read in the first couple verses there about Aquila and Priscilla who were tent makers and Paul works with them to earn a living while he's in Corinth and eventually the Jews bring charges against Paul and they're jealous they're upset you read in chapter 18 verse 8 after they moved next door Christmas the ruler of the synagogue believed in the Lord so they run Paul out he moves next door and then at some point the ruler of the synagogue leaves the synagogue and comes next door to the church and becomes a follower of Jesus in the Jews they're just outraged and they bring these charges against Paul and they're dragging before Galileo who's the pro console you can read about that in verse 12 and Galileo basically says I don't want anything to do with you guys you're crazy this is stupid he hasn't broken any laws he's not hurting anybody and he doesn't want anything to do with it and in return they attack the new ruler of the synagogue and beat him and then we read down in verse 18 of chapter 18 Paul stayed many days longer and then he took leave of the brothers and he set self for Syria and with him Priscilla and Aquila so he takes a few folks with him that's the background he goes in all these people get saved they have to move the church more people get saved Paul's sort of in his mind thinking it's time for me to go somewhere else and God says no you're staying right here I got more work for you to do so he just plants and he works and he preaches and all these people are coming to faith in Jesus there's riots they arrest Paul they dragging before a judge and eventually Paul takes off and then he writes back this letter that we have his first Corinthians it's really a very very simple letter you're ready there's an an introduction if you want to look at the outline then in the first part Paul responds to news that he has heard about the church somebody brings him word of how things are going and so the first part of the letter he says hey I've heard this and this and this and this and you need to do this this and this and then in the second section he says okay you asked about this here's my answer you asked about this here's my answer you asked about this here's my answer so first he responds to the news and the news is not great and then he responds to the questions and the press excuse me the questions reveal just chaos in the church and then he ends the letter so it's pretty simple there's at least four things in this letter I wish we had time to talk about tonight and we don't have time so I'm just gonna put them on the screen and you can read them and if you just dying to talk about them or argue about them I would love to do either so here's some debated issues in first Corinthians what does Paul mean when he says we're going to judge angels this one is less debated than the other three but it's still pretty interesting to talk about he's talking about church members suing each other and how pathetic that is that they can't just work it out you don't have the mind of Christ you don't have enough wisdom to settle it you're you can't just come to a common ground are you serious and he's just sort of an unbelief and then he just throws this comment and says don't you know that one day you're gonna judge the angels and then just moves on and doesn't say anything else about it said I we didn't know that we would like to know more about that could you tell us and he doesn't do that what does he mean by head coverings in chapter 11 a debated passage what does he mean about speaking in tongues in chapter 14 I have read a lot a lot a lot of different books and commentaries and articles about first Corinthians 14 and I've never read one that I thought nailed it completely and I'm not telling you that I could write that article I'm just telling you when I read explanations I say okay I can maybe buy this but what about this or I read another article and say okay I'm with you on this but what about that and it's a really really a tricky passage and then there's a verse in chapter 15 about baptism of the dead and Mormons take that verse and run with it and lots and lots of different interpretations about what that means we don't have time to dwell on those we're gonna focus on the clear things last week I gave you 10 truths from Romans this week I'm gonna give you 10 lessons about church life from first Corinthians alright 10 lessons about church life number one church should be a place of unity and love not a place of factions and fighting look at chapter 1 verse 10 I appeal to you brothers by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you but that you be united in the same mind in the same judgment it's been reported to me here's the news right and reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling remember what James says about quarreling what causes fights and quarrels among you you there's quarreling among you what I mean is that each one of you says I follow Paul I follow Apollos I follow Cephas or I follow Christ is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you were you baptized in the name of Paul he goes on he talks about that and he's saying there should be no division there should be unity you should be the same mind he talks about it again in chapter 3 verse 5 what then is Apollos what is Paul there's servants through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each I planted in Apollos water but God gave the growth neither the one who plants or waters is anything but only God who gives the growth again saying you can't be divided on this issue look at chapter 5 excuse me chapter 6 verse 1 one of you has a grievance against another does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints in other words you've got problems in the church okay how are you gonna deal with it are you gonna take them to somebody outside of the church an unrighteous Roman official to be your mediator is there no one in the church that can sort of stand between you and you guys can come to some sort of common ground verse 2 or do you not know that the saints will judge the world and if the world is to be judged by you are you incompetent to try trivial cases do you not know that we're to judge angels how much more than matters pertaining to this life you got bigger things ahead of you and you can't even come to common ground with the people in your own church now I'll be honest with you in 2016 in Odessa Texas I don't see a lot of church members suing each other although I have had that happen in one of my churches what I see more often is a disagreement a rift hurt feelings and somebody or both leave just walk away you understand in Corinth there wasn't a first Baptist and a first Methodist and a manual and an asbury and well I'm just gonna take my toys here and go over here there's just a church today right wrong or indifferent we have all these choices and it's very easy for us in this country to say yeah work it out I'd rather not I'll just go down the street and I think if Paul was writing this letter to us he would say really you're just gonna leave you're just gonna walk away from the place that I led you to because you got upset about something one of these days you're gonna be in charge of judging the world and judging the angels and you can't even work it out in your own church right now look at chapter 13 we talked about this chapter a few weeks back when we talked about what it means to be a church member I just want you to understand as way of reminder that chapter 12 is about life in the church and chapter 14 is about life in the church and in chapter 13 Paul didn't lose his train of thought and all of a sudden start talking about marriage he's talking about the church in chapter 12 he's talking about the church in chapter 13 he's talking about the church in chapter 14 and when he says in 1 Corinthians 13 for love is patient and kind it does not envy or boast it is not arrogant or rude it does not insist on its own way it is not irritable or resentful it does not rejoice at wrong doing but rejoices with the truth love bears all things believes all things hope all hopes all things endures all things love never ends he's not talking about you loving your wife or your husband that way although there's application he's talking about you loving the people in your church that way that's the point this is the kind of love that you should have for the people who are part of your church family so should be a place of unity and a place of love number two church should not center on one person and we're not going to read this again you can go back and look at chapter 1 and in chapter 3 but basically you had groups in the church wanting to put different preachers up on some sort of pedestal as this is the only person that spiritually feeds me this is the only one who I can understand what his preaching is this is the only one who communicates in a way that I can he's just he's my guy I can't listen to the other guy preach I just I need to be fed Paul says it's not about a person it's not about one person so it's a show that's what was happening in Corinth there's nothing new under the Sun you understand that is not something we invented in the 21st century this was going back going on all the way back in Corinth and you understand it doesn't just happen in quote-unquote trendy churches with all these campuses and video screens it happens in Southern Baptist churches where one senior pastor is the end all be all for good bad or indifferent and Paul is saying in this letter it shouldn't be that way it shouldn't be about one person if it becomes about one person you've gone off track you got a problem number three church discipline is a mark of a true church chapter five there's a man who's having an affair it's public it's not being hidden everyone knows about it and not only do they know about it but they feel good about themselves for being so open-minded that they're letting it happen right it's not like everyone knows about it and they're embarrassed said everybody knows about it and they say well at least we're just such a loving welcoming church that we just we love people we care about people and they don't do anything about it and verse Corinthians 5 verse 9 says I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people not meaning the sexually immoral of this world greedy swindlers idolaters since then you'd need to go out of the world but I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he's guilty of sexual immorality or greed or greed powerball or greed or is an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or a swindler not even to eat with such a one for what have I what have I to do with judging outsiders and the implied answer to that question in the way he wrote it in the Greek is nothing I'm not worried about people outside of our church what they do that's their business those inside the church that we're to judge God judges those outside purge the evil person from among you you say wait a minute I thought Jesus said don't judge anybody Paul is saying exactly what Jesus said in Matthew 18 if somebody claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ and they're living in open blatant flagrant unrepentant sin we're not talking about they made a mistake we're not talking about they did something and then they were broken over it we're talking about they're doing it they know what's wrong and they're not gonna quit it and they don't care Paul says you don't treat that person like a Christian doesn't mean you treat them like garbage doesn't mean you treat them like Phil but it means you don't recognize him as a follower of Jesus talking about church discipline I know that's a funny thing for us to think about but you know as well as I do that everybody believes in church discipline on some level at some point the difference is that most of us just draw the lines of where we're most uncomfortable so if I was to stand up on a Sunday morning and say you know I read an article online this week this is true I did read this article that the guy with the reality TV show and he's married to all these different women I already got married to another woman he added another sister wife and I've been thinking about it and I think I'm gonna do that that part is not real you just you're going with me and I think I'm gonna do that and so I'm gonna be picking one of you to be my second wife so I'll let you know I'm pretty sure you would practice church discipline and say buddy first you need some counseling second you need to repent and third you're out of here that's church discipline okay somewhere I can make you draw the line at some point you say enough's enough the problem is in our society when we think about church discipline we've just gotten used to a lot we're like the old toad and water and we just don't realize how bad it is and maybe we need somebody like Paul to write to us and say really you just gonna let that go on and pretend like nothing's happening so he's talking about church discipline number four the church that look different than the world in the areas of sex and marriage chapter five chapter six chapter seven and you can read those chapters here's all that I'm gonna say to you in that in that statement and in me trying to summarize those chapters there's got to be a negative aspect to that where we're willing with conviction to say we are against this okay that has to be there but if that's all the only way we try to look different if that's all we have to say to the world then we missed it because Paul says in five six and seven don't do this don't do this don't do this but he also says do this and his believers there has to be something that were for that we stand up to the world and say yes we're against this but we're for this this is what we think is the best and that includes marriage singleness sex all of these things Paul is saying to the church and Corinth you should look different and you remember he's writing to a church that's right down the hill from a place where a thousand temple prostitutes used to work sex is part of the DNA of Corinth immorality is just second nature like our society it's everywhere it's ubiquitous you can't get away from it you can't hide from it so we got to look different number five some issues in church are matters of conscience where we can agree to disagree there was this question in Corinth all these pagan pagan temples they sacrifice these animals as an offering then they take that meat they don't just throw it out they take it and they sell it and there's this question in Corinth of can we go to Market Street grocery store HDB and buy the meat that somebody else sacrificed to an idol if we weren't involved in that sacrifice or had nothing to do with it is that okay and you had some people in the church who said no you shouldn't do that it's not appropriate you had others who said hamburger didn't have anything to do with that I'm just buying the meat and Paul's answer basically is follow your conscience on this and don't be hateful towards other people in your church who don't agree with you there's room on this issue for disagreement you don't need to start two churches the partaking church and the abstaining church you just need to realize that it's okay for you to disagree on this and don't be hateful towards each other Baptists have been historically pretty bad about this and have had a strong tendency I'm not gonna get into a lot of specifics but had a strong tendency to say we feel this way on this certain issue and if you if you're not with us then you're hellbound sometimes we need to be that firm and sometimes we need to step back and think about the things Paul's saying here in chapter 8 and say do I have a strong conviction about it yes can I be in the same church with you and you disagree with me yes and can I not be hateful towards you about it yes so matters of conscience here number six church members should be slow to insist on their way and quick to surrender their rights not very American I realize but part of what Paul is calling this church to look at first Corinthians 9 verse 22 the whole chapter leads up to this you should go back and read it's why I gave you these chapters and not just verses but look at first Corinthians 9 22 to the week Paul says I became weak that I might win the week I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I might share with them in its blessings and in that chapter he's basically saying look in this area in this area in this area I could insist on my own way I have the right to do that but I am willingly laying down my rights in these areas things that I'm maybe you could say quote unquote entitled to for the sake of the gospel and he doesn't do that with a bad attitude and he doesn't do it unwillingly but he's telling them about it to say you got to have that mindset you got to be willing to say in church because this whole letter is about life in church it's not about me I'm willing to lay down my rights for the good of the gospel and for the furtherance of the of the kingdom number seven church should be marked by a sense of togetherness chapter 11 chapter 11 is interesting he talks first about the head covering issue which I told you we're not going to cover for the sake of time but I'd love to visit with you about it if you have questions and then he talks about the Lord's Supper and basically here's what was happening at Corinth when they did the Lord's Supper they would get together on a regular basis more than likely they had the Lord's Supper weekly not you know sporadically like some churches tend to do us but consistently all the time and they did in the form of a meal and they started having this meal and they're all getting together and you got some very wealthy business people in Corinth and you got some very poor people in Corinth and they're coming together and I'm reading between the lines but I think this is pretty safe to say at one point one of the rich folk says you know we come to this meal every week and that person doesn't bring anything and they're eating all my food they're rolling through the potluck line and they didn't bring a cover dish and a little group of people get their feelings hurt who have money and they say okay here's the deal huddle up we're gonna come 30 minutes early and we're gonna have our own potluck and then the riffraff can come along later and they can have the seconds deal deal so they come together they have their own little potluck and to make it even better they bring wine to it and they get drunk they get lit at the pre-potluck potluck and then all the poor folks show up and they're like you guys are toasted and there's not any food and Paul hears about it and he says really that's what we've been reduced to some of you are coming on your own and you're getting drunk and you're not waiting for the others and his advice is you need to do this together wait for each other don't start without everyone wait till everyone's there and you do this together rich poor you're all in this is one there ought to be a sense of togetherness that's tricky in churches but there needs to be a sense of togetherness and it cannot just be come see the show and then leave it has to be come and be a part we're together we're in this together and I think you see that in chapter 11 number 8 God gives every Christian spiritual gifts for the good of the entire church okay there's lots of things in chapter 12 and then chapter 14 that we can debate one thing we cannot debate is that when God gives spiritual gifts to his people and he gives them to all of his people he does it for the good of the entire congregation that means every one of us who claim the name of Jesus Christ have to be willing to step back and say how am I building up the body what am I doing to make a contribution that helps this togetherness if I'm not doing anything that furthers this togetherness and builds it up and strengthens it and makes it a better place I'm not using the gift that God gave me at all or I'm not using it in the right way number nine corporate worship must be orderly but some things are inappropriate for church and again chapter 14 is really tricky but Paul does flat out say in chapter 14 and some issues don't do it this way do it this way the way you're doing it is not okay stop that and do this okay if we don't agree on anything else about chapter 14 I think we can agree that from that one lesson you look at corporate worship togetherness which is what Paul's describing in chapter 14 and you say we can't do whatever we want in corporate worship is there a place for creativity yes is there a place for different sorts of expression yes is there a place for different styles where we're willing to give up our rights where we're not going to insist on our own way yes but some things we don't have to agree on what the some are but from this chapter you say some things are not appropriate for corporate worship on a big scale Paul makes that pretty clear I read an interesting article if you want to read it you go online you go to Google and you type in Tom Rayner T-H-O-M Tom Rayner instruments in church Tom Rayner is the leading church growth church health researcher in the world and he released an article this week about did this little study polling people what is your most favorite instrument to hear at church and what is your least favorite instrument to hear at church and it's really interesting I won't give it away but you can look that up one last idea the church is on a mission chapter 16 Paul was the goer and the church in Corinth was part of those who sent and he talks in chapter 16 about the importance of sending look what he says in first Corinthian 16 one concerning the collection for the saints you remember he's going to Jerusalem with this offering is I directed the churches of Galatia so also so you also are to do on the first day of each week each of you is to put something aside and store it up is he may prosper so that there will be no collecting when I come and when I arrive I will send those whom you a credit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem if it seems advisable that I should go also they will accompany me so what he's saying is I'm coming to town and we're going to take an offering you're going to be part of this mission effort to send this team on and to give to this collection that's going to Jerusalem so just a reminder that the church is on a mission okay really quickly I'm gonna look at these super fast four lessons about salvation and I'm gonna let you fill those blanks in and then we're gonna read these scriptures and then we're gonna pray the gospel is simple grace comes first the Holy Spirit lives in us and we're anticipating resurrection look at first Corinthians 15 is one of the most clear passages in all the Bible about explaining what the good news is first Corinthians 15 one I would remind you brothers of the gospel that I preach to you which you received in which you stand and by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word that I preach to you unless you believed in vain for I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received here it comes Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures he was buried he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and he appeared to Cephas then the 12 then to more than 500 brothers at one time most of whom are still alive meaning you can go ask him about it some have fallen asleep he appeared to James then to all the apostles last of all is to one untimely born he appeared also to me that's pretty simple Jesus died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures he was buried he was raised and he appeared to people that's the gospel according to Paul look at chapter one talking about grace and the role that it plays in our life 1 Corinthians 1 18 the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it's the power of God for it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart where's the one who is wise where's the scribe where's the debater of this age is not God made foolish the wisdom of this world for since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom it pleased God through the folly of what we preach what do we preach Jesus Christ died in accordance with the scriptures he was buried he was raised he appeared through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom but we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God for the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men consider your calling brothers not many of you were wise according to worldly standards not many were powerful not many were of noble birth but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong God chose what is low and despised in the world even the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God and because of him you're in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that as it is written let the one who boast boast in the Lord our boasting is not in what we have done Paul says we're foolish and weak and pretty much pathetic our boasting is that God has done great things for us his grace moved first the Holy Spirit lives in us look at chapter 3 verse 16 do not know that you are God's temple and that God spirit dwells in you if anyone destroys God's temple God will destroy him God's temple is holy and you are that temple when he says that all of those use are really y'alls in chapter 3 he's talking to y'all he's saying you all of you together y'all you're the temple of the Holy Spirit and if anyone destroys the temple y'all the church God is going to destroy him don't mess with God's temple because the Holy Spirit lives here so he says the church is is where the spirit lives and then look at chapter 6 he narrows it down to individual Christians in chapter 6 and he's talking about sexual immorality in verse 19 he says do you not know that your body individually your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God you are not your own you were bought with the price so glorify God in your body that's the verse above Jesus loves me in case you were wondering you were bought with the price you're a temple of the Holy Spirit lastly chapter 15 Christians are not hoping for someday where we float on clouds and play harps and wear robes and float around as a spirit but we're waiting for the resurrection of our bodies and you can read the whole thing let's just start in verse 35 15 35 someone will ask how are the dead raised what kind of body with what kind of body do they come you foolish person what you sow does not come to life unless it dies what you sow is not the body that is to be but a bare kernel perhaps of weed or some other grain but God gives it a body as he is chosen into each kind of seed its own body not all flesh is the same there's one kind for humans animals birds fish heavenly bodies earthly bodies but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind in the glory of the earthly is another one glory of the Sun and another for the moon one of the stars stars differ from star and glory so it is what the resurrection of the dead what is sewn perishable what is raised is imperishable just sewn and dishonor it's raised in glory it's sewn in weakness it's raised in power sewn as a natural body it's raised as a spiritual body there's a natural body there is also a spiritual body thus it's written the first man Adam became a living being and the last Adam became a life-giving spirit but it's not the spiritual that is first but the natural and then the spiritual the first man was from the earth the man of dust and the second man is from heaven as was the man of dust so also of those of the dust as is the man of heaven so also are those who are of heaven just as we have born the image of the man of dust we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven verse 50 I tell you this brother's flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable behold I tell you a mystery which are not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment and the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed this perishable body must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality then shall come to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory death where is your victory O death where is your sting the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ we'll end with verse 58 therefore my beloved brothers be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your labor is not in vain and let's pray Father forgive us when we make the good news of Jesus too complicated forgive us when we think that we are part of your family because of something good that we have done remind us that we are weak and we are foolish and the only reason we have to boast is you and your grace remind us that your spirit indwells us as a church family and it indwells us as followers of Jesus Christ remind us that we are not our own but that we were bought with the price and that we're called to glorify you in our body and Father we long for the day when Christ returns and the trumpet is sounded and the dead are raised and those who are alive are changed and Father my prayer tonight is that until that day comes and until we experience that great hope and it becomes reality that just as Paul prayed we would be right now steadfast and we would be immovable and we would always be abounding in the work of the Lord and that we would remember that our work for you is not in vain Father we love you we're grateful for the privilege of representing you to the world and Father I pray tonight for our mission team who was leaving this week for Chris and for Lisa and for Sarah and for Sammy we pray that you would keep them as they travel we pray that you would open doors for ministry while they're in Kenya Father we pray that you would be honored in their service that they would be an encouragement to our friends there we pray that you would give them wisdom as they make plans and as they think about the summer Father we also pray for our African friends who will be with us next Wednesday here for the kiddos who will be traveling that you would keep them safe that as they come and sing it would be an evening not just a performance but of worship and celebration of who you are Father we're grateful to be a part of this family and we know that we have problems and we know that we're not perfect as a church and we know that really the problem is us and our hearts and so we pray that you would help us to live up to our calling as those who have been sanctified those who have been called to be saints and that the things that Paul wanted to be true of the church in Corinth would be things that are true of us Father we know that we need your help for that to happen and Father we know that if you pour out that kind of blessing on our church that our only place of boasting is in you not in us and so we give you all the glory and all the credit and all the praise and we do it in Jesus name amen