1 Corinthians - Divisions in the Church - PDF

I Corinthians AN URBAN PENTECOSTAL CHURCH IN TROUBLE PROBLEM #1: DIVISIONS 1  Problem #1 Divisions 1 Corinthians 1:10-4:21 2  Greeting & Thanksgiving (1:1-9) 1 Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Ch...

I Corinthians AN URBAN PENTECOSTAL CHURCH IN TROUBLE PROBLEM #1: DIVISIONS 1  Problem #1 Divisions 1 Corinthians 1:10-4:21 2  Greeting & Thanksgiving (1:1-9) 1 Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ. 2 to the church in Corinth, sanctified in Christ Jesus, and saints. 5 InChrist you have been enriched in every way— with all kinds of speech and knowledge. 7 you do not lack any spiritual gift. 3  Paul loves these people and if these Comment issues are not being addressed, he knows he will lose them. So he is fighting for the church to exist. The Corinthians are a Spirit-filled Pentecostal church. They speak in tongues & have all the spiritual gifts. Note: Paul’s choice of words as he begins his letter: 1 Apostle, 2 to the church in Corinth, sanctified in Christ, saints. 5 In Christ, enriched in every way,—all kinds of speech and knowledge. 7 not lacking any spiritual gift. 4  Comment BUT they have misunderstood spiritual experiences. Because they speak in tongues “of men and of angels”, they have achieved “special wisdom & knowledge”. They claim they are more spiritual, wiser, stronger, and superior compared to others (including Paul). The Corinthians are proud, arrogant, boastful. And they will fight—even with each other to compete for who is the most spiritual! “The Corinthians have the Spirit, but the Spirit doesn’t have them.” 5  Paul’s Response to What He Has Heard (1:10-6:20) There are four major problems: 1) Divisions in the Church (1:10-4:21) 2) A Case of Incest (5:1-13) 3) Lawsuits: Brother Against Brother in the Marketplace (6:1-11) 4) Members Going to Prostitutes (6:12-20) 6  My Main Points (1:10-4:21) God is made strong in weakness The more power you have the more influential, you can do all those things if you do it for the right reasons but that is not how it works (by the power of the Spirit) in church Secular society seeks power, wealth, authority, education, professional status, popularity, reputation. In the first four chapters, Paul restructures society’s social norms. Power in the foolishness of the cross They think the cross is ridiculous Power in the weakness of the people God calls Power in testimony/evangelism in spite of human limitations/weaknesses The Lord uses as his bearer of good news! He is the one that transforms Power to gift us in our weakness to do his work Power of the Holy Spirit Paul is incomprehensible, unless we can udnerstand the power of the holy spirit 7 Two questions: Who were you when Christ called you? What do you have that you didn’t receive from Jesus? 8  Problem #1 Divisions in the Church (1:10-4:21) Divisions in the Church (1:10-17) The Foolishness of the Cross (1:18-31) The Foolishness of God’s Wisdom (2:1-16) Corinthian Spirituality (3:1-4) The Church: Workers, Foundation, & the temple of the Holy Spirit (3:5-17) Servants and Fools (4:1-4:21) Theme: What do you have that you didn’t receive from Jesus? 9  1. Divisions in the Church (1:10-17) 11 Some from Chloe’s household have told me there are quarrels among you. 12 One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Peter”; still another, “I follow Christ”. 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? 17 Christdid not send me to preach the gospel— with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 10  Comment 11 Chloe’s people … 12 Thechurch has divided into four groups. The Paul Group None of these are problematic, the issue is when divisions come because of this The Peter Group The Apollos Group The Christ Group More than just a problem with favorite personality. The power of the cross is “grace plus zero”. 11 Peterson's Translation The Foolishness of the Cross (1:18-25) 18 Themessage of the cross is foolishness to those who are lost, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. On the contrary, no other message has the power to save The way we get to heaven is through cruxificion and thats the way that God has chosen 20 Where is the wise person? Where is the philosopher of this age? The wise of this world could not save you. 21 The world through its wisdom did not know God and God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. The greeks love deep thinkers, rhetoric, excellent logic and our ability to speculative knowledge 12 It's like taking scripture and making it a conspiracy theory The corithians find out that Paul is taking money from the These people would even practice their voices as to how they speak in front of others philippian chuch and they are really angry and embarrassed because the phillipian church was not a wealthy church. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom. 23 Christ crucified is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greek, 24 but to those God has called … Christ is the power of God and through the foolishness of the cross, he can save all who believe. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom. 13  Comment 18 Message of the cross is foolishness … to the world, but no other message has the power to save people. 20 Where is the wise person … The Greeks loved philosophers–deep thinkers, with smooth rhetoric, excellent logic and/or ability to create speculative knowledge. 14  What this church is doing is using culture as a measuring stick - The The Corinthians spoke in the tongues of angels. Corinthian secular culture approach to measure spirituality - Here Paul To this ecstatic experience, they added wisdom Fails in building up this church. and knowledge of the philosophers! The Outcome: Perfect wisdom and knowledge in everything spiritual, but who cares about the body? A new brand of spirituality. A human measuring stick for what/who is spiritual. And this new brand didn’t need to include the cross or the resurrection. 15 23 Christ crucified–a stumbling block to Jews– foolishness to Greek. The message of the cross can be a problem for people. 24 -25 The foolishness of the cross … makes foolish anything the world offers. The cross has the power to save! 16  The Foolishness of the Cross (1:26-31) 26 Consider who you were when you believed. Not many were wise by human standards, not many influential or of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 29 no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord”. 17  Comment 26 Considerwho you were … Do you remember who you were when you found the Lord? We already know that a number of them are important, but what Paul wants us to see is that God chooses the foolish of the world 27 God chose the foolish things of the world … God chooses and uses weak people like us to shame the strong! Paul doesnt use kingdom language because in the Graeco Roman world thats' a direct challenge and it will discontinue christianity 18  is because you are in Christ Jesus … 30 It That you have been made- Righteous (right standing) Sanctified (holy–set apart) Redeemed (bought with a price) 31 Therefore boast in the Lord. Grace might be free but it is not cheap. It cost God his son. So if you are going to brag about who you are in Christ boast in the Lord. 19 The Foolishness of God’s Wisdom (2:1-16) 1Idid not come to you as someone superior in speaking ability as I proclaimed the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 4 My preaching was not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. 6 But I do speak wisdom … not of this world … 7 a mystery which God planned before the foundations of the world. 20 9 “Things which eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” 10 To us God revealed them through the Spirit … 12 so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. 21  Comment The Corinthians complained that Paul was a poor speaker. Stumbled over words, not smooth. 1 I did not come to you … 2 For I determined … 4 My preaching not … Paul didn’t use smooth talk or soaring rhetoric of human wisdom. He preached the message of the cross and expected the Holy Spirit to do the work. He is a master in rhetorical training and he is able to preach very well but he chose not to and we need to learn from this. He chose and he was determined to speak where people can understand - simple words. We don've have to bedazzle, its the power of the cross to transform 22  6 ButI do speak wisdom—not of this world— 7 but a mystery … God’s plan before the foundation of the world … God’s wisdom—a mystery hidden—a plan before time began—the story of salvation. Human wisdom could never understand. The word "mystery" - the father, son and the holy spirit already had a plan for our redemption that Christ would come for our lost generation. It is now no longer a mystery since Christ has died for us and revealed this plan to us. 9 Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered in THE CRUXIFICION It's foolishness to the greeks and the heart of man, it's a stumbling block to the Jews the things God has prepared for those who love him! When people are looking to Jesus, dont be a stumbling block to them. Dont put stuff in 10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit … 12 so front of them that keeps them from seeing what Jesus really is. that we may know … I understand what I need to know, but some spiritual things are just too big for me! God is big, incomprehensible but yet comprehensible in the way he's given us everything we need 23 and that is a marvelous information that is transformational and should be followed up by moral behaviour. That is why Paul say, don't you know no eye has seen, no ear has heard. So who is the church? The church are people who name Jesus Christ as Lord and who are united together  Corinthian Spirituality (3:1-4) 1 I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2Igave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? 4 Forwhen one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? 24  Comment The Corinthians complained that Paul’s messages were too shallow—like “milk” for babies. They weren’t being fed. They’re more mature (2:6; 3:1)—and have moved on to more profound stuff—like “perfect wisdom”. They aren’t sure Paul was spiritual enough anyways! The Corinthians are “in Christ”, but they don’t act like it. Fighting over who is the most spiritual, saying, “I am of Paul or I am of Apollos,”... How spiritual and how wise could they be? 25 Paul: 2 “I had no choice but to give you milk, I was preaching to infants unable to handle solid food!” 3 You are still worldly! The Corinthians didn’t understand that it’s not possible to be spiritual and divided at the same time! Those are mutually exclusive options. 26 The Church: Workers, Foundations, God’s Temple (3:5-17) Workers (3:5-8) 5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God makes it grow. Foundations (3:9-15) 9 You are God’s building. 10 I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 27 15 If [our work] is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. The Church is God’s Temple (3:16-17) 16 Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple. 28 Question: So who is the church? The Church The Church is a living organism comprised of a fellowship of believers who name Jesus Christ as Lord, and who are united and empowered by the Holy Spirit to carry out God’s plan of redemption for the whole world. 29  Comment Paul’s view of ministry and of the church We plant and water. Only God has the power to give the increase. Paul and Apollos are not rivals but colleagues—not in competition. Leaders are servants who plant and water. God is responsible for transformation. 30 Christ is the foundation. God uses people like us to build on his foundation. We must build with care. But each member has a valuable function. The church is God’s temple where the Holy Spirit dwells. Paul warns anyone who disrupts the unity of the community. Paul will renounce power for the sake of the community. 31  Servant Leadership & Gifts Christians are called to be servants and called to serve. Who God calls, he equips. Humility is not saying you don’t have any gifts. Humility is recognizing your gifts, and the responsibility to use them. 32 Some have more gifts than others, but we have the gifts to do what God asks of us. God uses our strengths and works through our weaknesses. Ministry in the church may not look very exciting. May have to wait for heaven (my pastor). Trust the Lord to use you according to his plan. We are dependent upon the power of the Holy Spirit. 33 How to make sure our work is not burned up as “wood, hay, and stubble”? v. 15 Is Christ at the center? Does it glorify God? Does it build up the church? The “Day of the Lord” will reveal it! 34  Servants and Fools (4:1-21) 1 Weare servants of Christ and entrusted with the mysteries God. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 35  Fools Compared with Servants (4:7-10) 7 Forwho makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 8 Alreadyyou have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! 36 9 Godhas put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole world. 10 Weare fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! 37  Comment The Corinthians are confident they have already arrived (perfect wisdom and knowledge). They have already experienced life as “mere mortals” and have moved on to the “not yet”. From their heavenly perch, the Corinthians are already “reigning” with Christ in heavenly places. “The Now but Not Yet.” Paul is still living in the now. “In Christ but in Corinth”. 38  The Marks of a Servant (4:11-13) 11 We go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, brutally treated, and homeless. 12 Wework hard with our own hands. When we are abused, we bless; When we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment. 39  Comment When Jesus teaches the disciples about “upside down power”, he focuses on the cost of discipleship. You must lose your life in order to gain it. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. Can you drink the cup? Paul tells the Corinthians, “nothing has changed”. For us, neither! 40  Conclusion 14 I am writing not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. 16 I urge you to imitate me. 18 Some of you have become arrogant.19 But I will come soon, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21 What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit? 41  Questions from the first four chapters Who were you before you found the Lord? What have you received that didn’t come because of the cross of Jesus Christ? So why do you boast? 42 Everything I have is because of Jesus. What about you? 43  The So What? The cross is the central theme * The cross is the great equalizer—level playing field. God is made strong in weakness. Cults of personality. Status enhancement, the very thing the gospel should break down. 44 The church is the body/temple of Christ. The unity of the church as the body of Christ. * Lead by example. Conforming to the image of Christ is more essential than talent. * How might we get our theology as tangled up as the Corinthians? 45  Problem #2 A Case of Incest 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 46 The issues are mostly talking about leaders What is behind this issue is that this person is a leader who has money. A Case of Incest (5:1-13) Even secular people know this is wrong but why did the church not solve it? A brother in the church is sleeping with his perhaps this person held a certain influence becasue of the money mother-in-law and he continues to participate Paul wasnt so much as upset about the incest but more about the fact that the in worship. Most greeks and romans, incest cannot be tolerated church tolerated it. The leadership in the church isn’t doing anything about it. Note: Paul wrote a previous letter about this matter. The Corinthians ignored him. 47 Anything that harms the community of faith is bad - this is one of Paul's theological foundations the church has to deal with it.  I Corinthians 5:1-13 1 It is reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? 3 I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus. 4 When you are assembled and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 48 So How do we do discipline? Its the leadership's job needs to come together and deal with this kind of things If you are not unified you are in trouble 5 hand The only way this person will straighten this man over to Satan for the destruction of the up is with tough love and maybe when he hits the bar, then he will come back to flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the God. Paul is not saying that there should not be sinners in church. This was a Lord. specific problem in Corinth. This man is probably even a leader. Thats why a little 6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with the old Paul builds on the word above on yeast to the passover so theologically he bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the builds. unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The feast of unleavened bread, the starters will need to be thrown out after a few months because49 it will go back so likewise, we need to clean out the "bad". Jesus Christ is the passover lamb and the passover is the reason why they celebrate it to remind them that God has delivered them. This was how paul treats the issues with the unleavened bread and the passover 9I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. 12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” 50  Comment There are three problems: Incest: Unlawful by Jewish, Greek, and Roman law. Tolerance: The church is tolerant. Arrogance: They should be grieving. They are boasting about how kind and tolerant they are! Arrogance is part of the problem in several other cases. 51 The Corinthians have no sense of sin, nor have they considered the consequences this sin will have upon both insiders and outsiders. Paul makes the decision. When assembled … cast the man out so that his soul might be saved. (vv. 3-5) Why did Paul make the decision? 52 Paul’s view of the church as a living organism. (vv. 6-8) Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover. “Stop boasting. Don’t you know … little leaven … ruins …”. (v. 6) So, clean out the old leaven so you can be a new loaf … which you already are. Christ is our Passover lamb … sacrificed for us. (v. 7) Indicative/imperative Good news: Therefore – Celebrate! (v. 8) 53 9Iwrote to you … Paul wrote a previous letter (now lost) instructing them not to associate with sexually immoral people— 11 Butnow I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral, greedy, idolaters, slanderer, drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. Paul’s laundry list of vices. 54  Laundry list of vices Immoral (sexual sin) Greedy (covetous) Idolater Slanderer Drunkard Swindler (thief) 55  The So What? Sin impacts the entire community. Hard to discipline in modern churches. Discipline is not the responsibility of one or two, but of the body. The “people of God” ought to be different than the “people of the world”. The key: Heed the indicative-imperative statement (v. 7) by the power of the Spirit. Celebrate your salvation. 56 NOTE: Paul is speaking about a person who has committed a sin and is boasting about it while the church tolerates it. Paul isn’t speaking about people who have committed sin and asked for forgiveness (that sin is blotted out). 57  Problem #3 Lawsuits in the Marketplace 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 58 Lawsuits in the Marketplace (6:1-11) Church members are taking each other to public court to resolve personal/trivial disputes rather than within the church. It wasnt so much about taking someone to court, it was what the issue was taken to court for. The public court is located in the marketplace. Likely a social class issue. Paul’s rhetorical style. Learn from paul's sytematic approach in talking about this issue Statement or slogan. Rebuttal statement: “Do you not know …” Support statement: “Therefore …” 59  1 Corinthians 6:1-6 1 If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? 2 Do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 60 4 Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, don’t ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church. 5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you “wise” enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6 But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers! 61  1 Corinthians 6:7-11 7 The fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not suffer wrong? Why not rather be cheated? 8 Instead, you cheat and do wrong, to your brothers and sisters. 9 Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Neither will the sexually immoral, idolators, adulterers, nor men who have sex with men, 10 thieves, greedy, drunkards, slanderers, nor swindlers. 11 But such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit. 62  Comment “Do you dare …” (v. 1) Paul is filled with horror. What are they thinking? What must the “world” think? Paul is always concerned about what the world will think about the believers. Eschatological “Do you not know” “Do you not know” … “judge the world” … “not competent” to settle trivial (v. 2) “Do you not know” … “judge the angels” (v. 3) Therefore … (v. 4) 63 The corinthians think they are so proud of their wisdom “To shame you” … not one person among you “wise” enough … (v. 5) (sarcasm) Lack of understanding of who they are “in Christ” … Bring shame to the community of faith. 64  Comment (6:7-11a) “When you act like this, you have already lost.” (v. 7) Better to “suffer wrong” or “be cheated” than to hurt the community. We can be right but we don't have to make the other person "swallow it up" Paul is saying here, just put up with it in this circumstance Instead, you cheat. (v. 8) Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? (vv. 9-10) (See list of vices on next slide.) 65  This is typical of Paul: always giving laundry lists Laundry List of Vices (9-11a) Sexually immoral Idolators Adulterers Men who have sex with men Thieves Greedy Drunkards Slanderers Swindlers “Such were some of you” (v. 11a) Indicative/Imperative You are a new preacher and Christ has a fact, so Act like it 66 Here is Paul's theology Comment (11b) “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (v. 11) Eschatological framework v. 2 … will judge the world. (The future) v. 11 … you were washed. (Past/present) “Washed” (sins gone). “Sanctified” (people of God). “Justified” (right standing, just as though you had never sinned). This is what should guide your life! Divine Indicative. 67 When you read Paul, look for the "BUT" In Christ (Ephesians 1) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. He chose us to be holy and blameless in his sight. He adopted us (into sonship) through Jesus Christ. He redeemed us through his blood. He forgave our sins, according to the riches of his grace that he lavishes on us. He marked us with a seal and gave us the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. He told us the mystery that was before the foundations of time. 68  The So What? If one’s actions bring harm to the community of faith, don’t do them. Qn: Does one's action really will bring harm to the community of faith? Ans: If it causes your brother to stumble don't do it. Suffer wrong. Be cheated. Question: Who are you “in Christ” in light of eternity? We are God’s eschatological people and we are to bear witness to the world. We are not in heaven yet and we still live in this world so our lives need to be pleasing to the Lord Live out your life in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. 69  Problem #4 On Going to Prostitutes 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 70  On Going to Prostitutes (6:12-20) Active members of the church are continuing their cultural practices of visiting prostitutes under the excuse of Christian freedom. Argue that they are people of the Spirit, they have achieved a higher level in the realm of the Spirit. It’s their spirit that is saved. Their body will turn to dust. They aren’t impacted by behavior related to the body, which will just turn. They are free to do what they wish with their body— including visiting prostitutes. 71 Two Problems: False concept of freedom and sexual immorality (5x). False concept of the “body” (8x). Slogan. 72  1 Corinthians 6:12-20 12 “You say, I have the right to do anything,” but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 73 15 DO YOU NOT KNOW that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 DO YOU NOT KNOW that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 74  Greco-Roman Diatribe/Dialogue A style that offers a dialogue that is alive: 1.Slogan. 2.Rebuttal statement from Paul (objection/false conclusion). 3.Support statement (second person) “Do you not know?” Therefore … 75 There are three Corinthian slogans in 6:12-20. 1. “All things are lawful for me”. 2. “Food for the stomach and stomach for food, but God will do away with both of them”. 3. “Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body”. Paul confronts the practice of immorality by attacking the theology the Corinthians are using. 76 Slogan/Corinthians (1) v. 12 … “All things are lawful”. Paul’s Rebuttal v. 12 … But not all things are beneficial. v. 12 … But I will not be mastered by anything. 77 Slogan/Corinthians (2) v. 13 … “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food”. Paul’s Rebuttal v. 13 … But God will do away with both of them. v. 13 … But the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. v. 14 … But God has not only raised the Lord, he will also raise us up through his power. 78 Paul’s Support Statements v. 15 … DO YOU NOT KNOW that your bodies are members of Christ? … v. 16 … DO YOU NOT KNOW that one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. May it never be! v. 17 … But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him. v. 18a … Flee immorality. 79 Slogan/Corinthians (3) v. 18b … “Every sin that man commits is outside the body”. Paul’s Rebuttal v. 18 … But the immoral man sins against his own body. 80 Paul’s Support Statements v. 19 … DO YOU NOT KNOW that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you and that you are not your own? v. 20 … For you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God with your body. 81  The So What? Sex outside of marriage is a sin. How big of a problem is this in the church? When we get saved, God redeems all of us— body, soul, and spirit. Our bodies belong to God. It matters what we do with our bodies. 82 Lack of theological understanding why no sex outside of marriage. Salvation: bought with a price. Not your own. Your body belongs to God. Temple of the Holy Spirit. The resurrection. Glorify God with your body. 83 Lack of theological understanding why no sex outside of marriage. Salvation: bought with a price. Not your own. Your body belongs to God. Temple of the Holy Spirit. The resurrection. Glorify God with your body. 83 Lack of theological understanding why no sex outside of marriage. Salvation: bought with a price. Not your own. Your body belongs to God. Temple of the Holy Spirit. The resurrection. Glorify God with your body. 83 SOT ADM 2024 BIB353 I & II Corinthians Problems in a City Church Lesson 2, 24 October, Transcription Part 1 and look forward to the next three hours of looking at one of my favorite books and letters in the Bible, First Corinthians. We are going to start this morning with two or three questions and then I'll start working through the material. I don't know how far I'll get but hopefully it'll be far enough so if we can pull both Jennifer and myself up on the slide. Morning Jennifer, for both of us it's like a time that we don't ever see very often. We are delighted to be with you. Good morning Jennifer. Good morning, good to see everyone. Let's start with those three questions and see where we go. These questions are from last week. We're going to start each session with your last week questions that are pertaining to the lesson. So these are questions pertaining to the lesson and it says, hi prof, with regards of the social economic status divide society. We ourselves are in a globalized world that has a similar if not exceedingly more stratified status across all channels be it commerce, culture, language, religion, etc. We too would fall into a specific status in each of these channels. How do we then break them down when we ourselves are greeted subjected confined to those same barriers? Do we then only reach those within our status barriers? What a great question. If I can remember all the parts. I think Paul tries to answer that question with the Corinthians. There are a series of barriers that Paul wants to break down when you come in to be part of the family of the Lord. He wants to break down the rich and poor, that huge gap between rich and poor. And 1 Corinthians has 11 problems. More than half of them deal with the disparity between rich and poor. And Paul says that can't exist, that has to change. Also the gender gap, where between male and female, and we'll see that especially in chapter 11. The slave free is very similar to the stratified society, and this idea of Jew Gentile. ethnicity, and how that divides us. Here's where all would be. And here's Paul on culture. Don't change anything you don't have to change. Make it easy for people, and so don't set up a whole bunch of rules that you just happen to like. However, if culture conflicts with gospel, and if culture conflicts with the cross, as we'll see tonight, there's only one response to that, and we're going to have to deal with it. The book of Acts is filled with these counterculture culture issues, but we'll look at 11 of them, and I think I'll hit that question pretty well as we go. Okay, very good. This is also a very good question. Hi, Prof. Thank you for the introduction to 1 Corinthians. The part about plurals instruct me, because in Singapore we're big on religious harmony. Is it good that sometimes this is good, but sometimes this also leads to people thinking that all religions lead to the same God? How can we point to the truth of Jesus being the only way well-being sensitive to others' faith in our culture? I think I'll touch on that one just in a few minutes. That's the problem in Corinth, is they have a pluralistic society that relates to religion. There is a God on every corner, and so when Paul comes with the good news, that's our problem. They used to do one more God. Paul never begs on... or diminishes other religions. He just doesn't do that. What he does is make the point that I'm the way of the truth in life. So his challenge to the Corinthians is going to be, here you have all these gods on your shelf. It's not a matter of adding hei over there. It is a matter of you getting rid of all those gods. It just went and God sits. And that he finds is a problem. We'll look at that specifically in chapters 8 and 9, sacrifice titles. OK, just a simple question. Is there a reason for the phrase Lexus and olive tree? Yes, I probably didn't explain that well enough. It's the name of the book by Thomas Friedman. And the point Friedman is making. is that in a globalized world, we have, we're really functioning to cultures. One is the one we have at home, where it's the, say, the family language, the family food, everything is that comfort area. But the moment you walk out the door, that home, what he calls the olive tree, the moment you walk out the door, you live in another culture, and it functions according to its own rules, and that he calls the Lexus, which is a high-end vehicle. So he's comparing globalization, culture of globalization, with the culture of what happens in your own family, and all of us have that. My parents were immigrants, so I grew up with, once you were in our home, our food would be very Scandinavian. When you walked out the door, it wouldn't be. Our value system, in fact, there's this test you can take about, how Danish are you? And I don't speak Danish, but I took that test, and I was really, really Danish, because that's the value. It's still to me with my mother and father. That is the olive tree, and when we walk out the door, we're more like rural citizens. Okay, we have one more question. I was really impacted, especially on the point of thinking globally and work locally. How does that translate to how some of the Bible characters does it, and also how you conduct your missions? We're the Think Globally Act Locally. Let's say you're doing reaching out and reaching people group. You may have, I don't know if this is a saying, Baker's does it, which means not 12, but one more at 13. You may just have a handful of people, and it may take you a while to get that. That is working locally, but you need to remember you're part of something that is much bigger. We participate in this community of faith that's made up of people who name Jesus Christ as Lord. And so it can never be us four and no more, or we're so small, we're so sad. There is always something much bigger. And so we belong to the community of faith, both in our local church, as well as in the world. Now, the Corinthians, they're all focused on... their local faith. They have no concept of acting globally in that sense of going outside their doors very much. So we'll see that one, too. Okay. Are we good? Yep, we're good. Thank you for your questions. Be sure you post some thanks for your kind comments. This is the only feedback Jennifer and I get, so we appreciate it. On the other side, don't put Prof. Doug, you're just terrible tonight. You just even keep that one to yourself, and I'll read the others, but thank you absolutely so much. We are going to pick up tonight where I left off. I was talking about a person who is one of the most influential personalities in 2,000 years, not just for us in the Church, but for overall society, whether they know it or not. Paul is his critical figure. Where this will really be contrasted is where the Corinthians think he is just not very good, which says something about the Corinthians. Paul was a talented leader. There is always these comments about, oh, Paul was macho, or Paul was temperamental. That is absolute nonsense. He worked with about 40 people, and his teams traveled with him. Paul didn't go very many places alone. He always had 8, 10, 12 people. These people would go into the new community, start a church, and no opposition was going to come. and that they all probably going to take a beating, they would and they stayed with Paul. They stayed with him for all 20 years. People don't follow a leader unless that leader has something so attractive that it's worth them following. So we've looked at Paul the person. I wanted to start here with Paul the Apostle. The early church designated Paul as the Apostle to the Gentiles. So Paul is at the point of the spear. It's the the power structure in Jerusalem like the disciples who agree that Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles. Where the hitch comes and will come in first Corinthians early is that to be an Apostle. You were supposed to have been with Jesus. You couldn't be an apostle if you weren't with Jesus. The idea being that you heard him, you know what he thinks, you know his actions, so you can keep good doctrine going. And so that part was absolutely critical. Paul had not been with Jesus. What Paul had was this vision. He talks about it in 2 Corinthians, where he got called up, he says, into the third heaven. And had something so spectacular happened, it must have been like a transfiguration experience, and the Lord appointed him as apostle. Well, here's the hitch. Paul would say that vision's too precious for me to talk about. So you just have to trust me. And so this keeps coming up and up. It's Paul really an apostle in the Corinthian church. Everywhere else, this one is sort of settled. Paul led the missionary emphasis to the Gentile world. He was ideal for this because he was intercultural. That's why for Paul, how do you understand culture? He has this continuity, in continuity. When you're taking the good news, and I mentioned this, continuity means don't change anything you don't have to. That makes the gospel harder. Part 2 I remember the first time I went to India, I was probably 22 years old, and they would have all these language services and they would sing. One group had a sitar. Try to sing a chorus with a sitar. They're that's continuity. Don't change it. What warms my heart is irrelevant. Go with it unless it's something that challenges the gospel. Discontinuity is precisely that. When something happens that breaks with the gospel, we have to deal with it. So Paul is always in this continuity, this continuity mode. He provides the church with his first theology. Paul's brilliant. When you read 1 Corinthians, you probably think Paul's challenged. But Paul is brilliant. Read the epistle to the Romans and then put it up against yourself and say, could I write something like that? I'm a normal person. And the answer, of course, is no, none of us could. Very talented. He was what we call a task theologian. Now this will be very important. When we interpret all the letters in the New Testament, we need to remember we have one side of the conversation. We don't have two. We have the writer's side, and then we have to infer, put stuff in the blanks as to what issues is this writer addressing. So it can make it much more difficult to understand. I'll do that as we go through all 11 problems, where if you read 1 Corinthians, it's just straight up. Sometimes you can miss what is happening. This is one dramatic letter, but we need to piece some of the areas together. So when Paul writes a letter, he is not a systematic theologian. That is, he lays all the theologies out. This is the doctrine of salvation. This is the doctrine of the incarnation. This is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, eschatology, whatever the case, he doesn't. What he does in all his letters, except maybe one, is he is writing to address a problem, and he always addresses a problem theologically. So when you read Paul, look for the theological key in every example. So when you read Paul, you can't say, well, what does Paul say about why didn't he say this, or did he say that? That's not what Paul's trying to do. He is addressing a problem in a church, and he's going to use the theological perspective, and he uses a lot of them that best addresses the problem. He writes to the Galatians, because they agreed about salvation is by grace, but they start practicing circumcision again. That's what Paul's letter is about, and he is upset. And his point there is it's Christ plus zero. He writes to the Thessalonians, they're misunderstanding the Second Coming. He writes to Flamin, there is a problem with a slave Onesimus. The prison epistles each address a series of problems. We can work through all of the letters and see Paul as a task theologian. And we put that all together, we can get a pretty good idea of Paul's larger perspective. But don't expect that you find out everything about some theology when Paul's dealing with a problem. That's not what he's doing. Paul treats really sticky issues. And often when we see sticky issues in the church where we try to do it, oh, well, maybe they could do this, I could do that, Paul has. For Paul, here's the theological response, because you're created in God's image, because of the incarnation, because of the life of Christ. because of the ascension, because of the moral life, because of the power of the Spirit. That's how he is going to deal with these issues. I will post the document, and I think it's in a Word document, it's called and theologically. How do we think theologically? And when I say well find the theological key. This is a generalization but it works pretty good, first of all we need God is independent from him. anybody and let's use these three he's all powerful he's all knowing he is everywhere he always was he always will be those are the kinds of things that make God different from us he has created us in his image what he stamped upon us are his moral attributes kindness long-suffering patience joy sin comes into the world and Mars what the kind of person we need to be but when we find Christ those start to repair if we grow and we call it inform me to the image of Christ until we shall be like him so when you think theologically it's got to be in one of these categories it's got to be Christology incarnation life of Christ so karaology the salvation story ecclesiology life in the church and what it should look like pneumatology the power of the Spirit eschatology that which is to come and so you just take those categories and almost everything will fit in there in one of them it's just an easier way to approach so let's go on to the next slide all plants the church in Corinth with Silas and Timothy who come a little bit later during a second missionary journey about 49 to 50 or 51 we can fix the date within a year for sure from historical issues he stays 18 months which is a long time for Paul usually it's just in church a few weeks so he knows this church he knows everybody's name he knows their kids name and almost all of them have found the Lord through Paul and they are threatening him we can tell a lot from names so as you read first Corinthians or this is especially helpful when you read acts take note of any name usually it's there for some kind of reason but historical studies of the first century have helped us we can tell from a name somebody Jew or they agenda we can tell their their status are they rich are they poor they somewhere in between here are the people that Paul mentions in the Corinthian letter Priscilla and Aquila they're Jews they're business owners and they pop up they are in Corinth in the church meets in their house they are in Ephesus and the church meets in their house and then they're in Rome and the church meets in their house they are like a pastor's dream for lay people and Priscilla her name is first so almost certainly she has financial strength otherwise her name wouldn't be first on Christmas he was a Jew he was the leader of the synagogue Christmas gets saved and this turns into a complete deadlock next slide Phoebe Phoebe is a woman I lost Phoebe go back and see yes Phoebe Phoebe's a woman she is also a pastor and almost certainly has financial strength Chloe is Greek and she has a business she's a businesswoman and she travels and she's one of Paul's patrons probably which means in our language she helps to support them these next two catechists and luchas are Greeks next one Sothsones is a Jew, a leader in the synagogue, and a coworker. He gets saved. And he, as we will see, probably has substantial wherewithal, because most homes were like two rooms. And so whenever a church met in somebody's house, we can tell they have more wherewithal. Gaius, he's a Roman. And Gaius is one of the wealthier members in Corinth, because all the churches come together, be like all the Selvers. All the churches come together and meet in his home. So he is financially pretty strong. Titus Justice is a Roman. He lived next door to the church. And I think Paul actually moves in there after Priscilla and Aquila. Portunatus and Quartus are Romans. We see Stephanus and his household. He's Greek. The church meets in his home. Again, there's some wherewithal. Erastus is the most important person from a secular position in Corinth, in that he is the city treasurer. And they found, by archeology, they even found the plaques and whatever with Erastus at this time. He's the highest ranking member. Next slide. I have a loosely book that I've kept, and it's called People with Paul. And every time I learn something on a name, I just put it in. And at this point, I have probably 50, 60 names. One can tell quite a bit from a name. I think I have the term household later, so I'll talk about that. Here are some important terms that we need to know. Honor and shame. First century early church is a high honor and shame culture. That is, what do people think about me? And if people think negatively about me, that's shameful. It is, if they think highly of me, that's honor. And that determines the way people behave. We all live in a culture of honor and shame just to different degrees. I'm a Canadian, so I can talk about Americans and say whatever I feel like. In the US, we're a low honor and shame culture. It's that if I fail something, it's like, oh, the exam wasn't any good. It's not that big of a deal. Water off a duck. And I'm over it in two days. In probably most Asian cultures, honor is huge, absolutely huge. So when you read the New Testament, when you're interpreting some of the stories, think about honor and shame. It's really important to Paul. Paul's a Roman citizen, and he'll suffer anything for the gospel, but he's not going to suffer it for nonsense. Status and role. Status is a person's position in society, like you're wealthy, you're upper middle class, you're middle class, you are struggling, you're at the bottom of the drum, you're poor, and then you're slave. That's a stratified society, which we struggle with in almost every church. Role means what is the expected behavior from that status? Now, it can be difficult for a person to change their status. If you're in a society that has a really good educational system, you can come out of the poorest of poor and end up running a Fortune 500 company. In many other places, I know the years I worked in Latin America and slums, is generational poverty, one round after another. The status doesn't change. The gospel isn't going to do wonder for one's position. And maybe not immediately. My parents were poor. I mean, we were really poor. And they were wonderful believers. They enjoyed the blessings of the Lord because their son got a great education. was able to benefit from what the Lord had done if they were looking for a new Immediate return that's not always how God works. So next slide I Did the apostleship let's take me on the next one Okay patron a patron in In First century was somebody that was wealthy and Then somebody of lower standing who a patron would support from one reason or another Usually there was a hook where It's time to pay back. So patrons distance support out of goodwill There was a time to pay back There are Numerous patrons in the early church The difference for the most part is they didn't expect to pay back. They did it as on to the Lord If you are one who has financial standing Help everyone you can and it's never transactional quit. Um, and, um, in Latin American society and politics, that's just absolutely huge. Um, so I have pointed out some of the wealthy people in the church. Um, most of them from what we know were the kinds of patrons who would lend their support, give financially without expecting return. Paul actually is supported by a number of rich women, um, like Lydia. Lydia is as a big house and she's rich. She travels, she sells luxury goods and she is a patron of Paul. Um, next slide. Okay. Here's the story of this church. It's a Pentecostal Charismatic church. If we want to see a copy in the 21st century of something in this period in the early church, Corinth is the place to see it. Um, they are Pentecostal, they're Charismatic. They are urban. As we work through the 11 problems, all of these are applicable to us. That's why, uh, first Corinthians is so important. It opens the door and it's really the only place in scripture where we get to see what is life like in the community of faith or in the church. Um, we get a story that, um, is absolutely marvelous. Their leaders speak in tongues all of the time. We'll be right back. and they believe that they've had a spiritual experience that is so marvelous that they're already caught up halfway to heaven. And this spiritual experience has given them, I suppose, some kind of special wisdom and they are arrogant about it. That is, I'm more spiritual than you are. I'm more spiritual than the next place. And they even compete in the church where one person is in competition with another as to who can speak in tongues the most. They got the whole thing backward, but they are a church that enjoys. what the Lord has given. We'll see shortly they have been given every spiritual gift. That doesn't mean they have the fruits of the spirit, which they don't. But it does mean that they have been gifted, and they're a talented bunch. Now, almost certainly, the names I've given you are the people on the upper end, but the majority of the church would have been on the bottom end. And so we're going to see, I think, whoever the leadership is in a given situation is using a heavy hand. And for Paul, this is a big, big problem. Your assignment for exegesis, 1 Corinthians 11, 17 through 34, is the wealthy people are taking advantage of the poor and then celebrating the Lord's Supper. And Paul is furious. He says to them, if you can't fix this, stay at home. Stop having church until I come. This division is just horrific. They have been blessed in everything, and they think they are super spiritual. Superior to everyone next slide And as we'll see, they think Paul's a loser. They didn't think that. And almost certainly, there are some of these legalistic Jews who track Paul everywhere he goes and they get into church and cause all kinds of problems. And then the culture is so powerful. The Corinthians challenge Paul. When you read 1 Corinthians, I read it for years without noticing this is like a fighting document. It starts right at the beginning, verse 11, and goes all the way through. And as one conflict after another, things even get worse after 1 Corinthians and we get 2 Corinthians. They criticize Paul. They criticize him. They say, he's not spiritual enough because he doesn't have these supernatural experiences that we have. Paul's just clumsy. He speaks like, we would say, Campesino, like someone that's from a rural area. And he lacks the capacity to go deep. It's sort of this old line, well, I'm not going to go to this church anymore because I'm not getting fed. That's the Corinthians argument. They're not, they're going to stay in the church and they. their beloved pastor is the one who's not feeding them. Their moral behavior is abysmal. They are believers who are in Christ, but they haven't shaken off cultural practices and cultural values. That is, they still do all their ridiculous stuff. I mean, they go to prostitutes, for goodness sake, and are proud of it. And they then speak in tongues, and they're arrogant, they're boastful, and they're proud. Nothing could be worse in a leader than these areas, and you probably know something like this. Next slide. The Holy Spirit they may have, but the Holy Spirit doesn't have them. They speak in tongues, but they still follow the values and standards of secular society. The idea to come out from among them and be separate is a foreign concept. To make matters worse, they are in open rebellion against Paul. When you were reading first screenings over these last couple of weeks, I'm wondering if you were able to see this conflict. It's not like Paul's giving them nice little advice. It is not that. He is absolutely leveling it out. He is so upset. They see little reason why Paul has a right to correct them. We don't accept his apostleship. Who said you're an apostle? Apostles did have the right, the first century, first run of apostles, did have the right to correct. And they're saying, Paul, we don't believe you. What is so painful, Paul, is he's led these people to the Lord. He's their spiritual father. What could they possibly be talking about? And if your ministry, the greatest hurt in your ministry to come from inside, not from outside, come from inside, where people you love. Bye. Each Corinthians is Paul's response to two things. First of all, he gets news from its Chloe's people. Chloe is probably a businesswoman, and so her business extends from Corinth, Paul is in Ephesus, so that's a long way away, and her people are probably on business, but they bring Paul stuff that's happening in the church. It's more than just gossip, but they bring Paul some questions that the Corinthians have raised or that they're talking about. One of them is they're fighting like crazy. There's divisions among them. They have someone in the church who's living with his mother-in-law, and they won't do anything about it. They are taking each other to court, almost certainly the rich taking the poor, to court in the marketplace, which are all reigned. And the fourth one is they are going to prostitutes. That's the news Paul gets. So, when you read 1 Corinthians, chapters 1 through 4, he deals with the divisions. Chapter 5, he deals with the incestuous man, and chapter 6, the law courts and the prostitutes. Then he switches, and if you read the first verses of chapter 7, it's these are questions they have raised in their letter to him, but these questions are not straight up. They're not really asking Paul, well, can we do this, should we do that? They are in your faith, sarcastic, and we'll see Paul's response. So, here's the things they've written him about. Chapter 7's on marriage and sex in marriage. They're not asking Paul's opinion. Can we eat food, sacrifice the idols? They don't. We have a snap. They're presenting their own side, chapters 8 and 9. It's our equivalent, can I still do this and be a Christian? 8, 9 and 10, chapter 11 brings us two more problems. One is women in church, and there are some women in the Corinthian church that are acting up in the service, and they're embarrassing the life of everybody. Unfortunately, it's these few verses that people who do not believe in women ministers use to support that view, which has absolutely nothing to do with that view. Paul has, by count, at least eight women pastors, women ministers. The Bible's a long, complicated book, you have to use all of it. Then, the Lord's Supper and this abuse, and then chapters 14 through 16 is about the spiritual gifts. They are abusing the life of the spiritual gifts. In chapter 15's resurrection, they're raising questions about, we know our spirit goes to heaven, but our body just rots away. So, who cares what we do with our body? That's one of their arguments as to why they can go to prostitutes. So, Paul is going to address each one of these with a theological argument, and they may think he doesn't speak very well. Paul is absolutely brilliant. Read chapter 13, the love chapter. So, let's move on from here. I've talked about these 11 problems, so you can see those, and this is a good time for our break. I'm right on time. It's 9.51, so when we come back, we'll start with chapter 1, and we'll work through chapter 1 through 4. So, come back at 9.02, and I'll start right on the nose, 9.02. So, we'll see you in 10 minutes. Part 3 In the Bible that would be good and that remember to keep reading especially the episodes that we'll cover in a week but it's important for you to have your Bible. I have a lot of slides because the letters are so big and so it's probably half as many normally and a quarter of those are made up of the scripture so I can move through it reasonably quickly. So let us begin with the first slide and I'm going to have, I'm not sure if it's Kim or Jerblynn who's reading but will read so if you would start here and read the first few verses. If you'll know how Paul is going to approach this I have underlined some of the important words. Here you've got a super spiritual congregation they've been blessed with every spiritual gift and they, Paul's going to lay that out as a problem. As we go make no mistake Paul loves these people. He is their pastor and he knows that if these issues cannot be addressed And if his apostleship is not recognized, this church is going to go off the rails. And he's going to lose them, and they're going to lose out, and they'll cease to exist. So Paul is fighting for the life of this very talented congregation. Probably, not everybody is fighting, but at least half of them, the majority. And perhaps more. Notice what I've underlined, to the church. They may be doing every stupid thing you can imagine, but they are still the community of faith. Sanctified and saints, that means to be set apart. Again, they may be egregious of some of their behavior, but they're still in Christ. It's not one of these things where make a mistake straight down. That's not how our salvation works. And here I'll bring this up over and over. Paul has a position that is, we call it the indicative. You are a new creature in Christ. That is for sure, is a fact. Therefore, we get the imperative, act like it. What Paul has recognized is that these people are in Christ. He's not suggesting they're not. What he's saying is that you need to connect your behavior to your spiritual experience, which is an important thing in churches for us today. They have been blessed with all kinds of speech and knowledge. It's hard to say if Paul's being sarcastic here. He recognizes their talent. He certainly knows they don't know what they're talking about when it comes to spiritual things. But he does make the point, you're not lacking any spiritual gift. Take the nine gifts of the spirit, them all, which is magnificent. It's how they are using them. Next slide. They have this spiritual experience, but the way they use it is just abysmal. And what's more, they think it's spiritual. In fact, they think they're more spiritual than anybody. They think, Paul, you're the one who has a problem. We don't have a problem. We have this understanding, and you don't seem to have it. So maybe you're not even spiritual enough. Are you spiritual at all? They're proud. They're arrogant. arrogant, they're boastful, and they will fight. They will fight with each other. They'll compete for who is the most spiritual. One of the major problems we'll see as we come to the first one on divisions is this is a church terribly divided, and Paul wants to make the point about for all churches on unity can't be a good church if you're fighting. You have to figure out how to get on the same page. So let's go and we'll start. I think my next slide starts with the divisions. I've already talked about these four, so let's keep going. The main points and this division section starts in verse 10, and it goes all the way through chapter for. So most of the other issues are much shorter. Paul is going to make several issues here, and one of the points he's going to make through all, which is a foreign concept of the Corinthians, is that God is made strong in your weakness. Their concept of secular society is like ours. You compete, you move up the top, the more power you have, the more influential, the better you are. Paul say, no, no, no, that's not the way it works in the church. You can do all those things if you do them for the right reasons, but that's not how it works in the church. It's in fact, when you go through the trial of your life that you'll discover God is powerful, not super your own kind of nonsensical behavior. So he's going to lay out a few issues here. Power in the foolishness of the cross. They think the cross is ridiculous. Power in the testimony, in spite of human limitations, where the power comes is when we recognize, we don't have power to change anybody. The Lord uses us as his bearers of good news, but he does all the work. He is the one who transforms. The gift comes as we struggle through our work, that God becomes present. And throughout Paul, Paul's incomprehensible, unless we can understand the power of the Holy Spirit for Paul, that just links them. In fact, and I could get this, if you go through the Gospels and Mark, every time the spirit is mentioned. John does it much more than Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Everybody does it, but Acts is just filled with the power of the Spirit as we move into the early church, and then Paul's letters, it becomes exponential. Paul is completely committed to, this isn't going to work if the Spirit doesn't help us. Next slide. Two questions, and these are to you. Who were you when Christ called you? What do you have that you didn't receive? These are the questions that Paul asks the Corinthians. Who were you when Christ called you? And what do you have now that you didn't get because of Christ? lives in your life. Those are questions we always need to ask ourselves next slide. Now, there are these divisions and you'll see and on your study guide, I did the study guide and I did these slides at completely different times and I'm not sure if I match on the way the verses are divided. For at least this lecture, this is how I'm dividing them. Divisions, then the foolishness of the cross, the foolishness of God's wisdom, Corinthian spirituality, the workers' foundation and the temple of the Holy Spirit. Here's Paul's great ecclesiology statement or the theology of the church and then I'll end with servants and fools. We are servants to the Lord Jesus Christ and when we think otherwise, we're a bunch of fools. What do you have that you didn't receive? Next slide. Now, I'm going to simply for this first chapter, I'm going to have these verses read so that I can work from them. So, let's read through these verses. Verse 11, some from Chloe's household have told me there are quarrels among you. Verse 12, one of you says, I follow Paul, another I follow Apollos, and another I follow Peter, still another I follow Christ. Verse 13, is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Verse 17, Christ did not send me to preach the gospel with wisdom and eloquence, the power. The cross of Christ the empty of its tower now we see in that first source I think it's verse 10 or 11 about Chloe's people that's where Paul gets the information Chloe's people tell him here are the problems they're fighting with each other there's this person living with the father-in-law they're taking each other to court and they're going to see prostitutes and in almost all these cases we're talking about leaders so let's fall this church has divided itself into four groups and it works sort of like this some are saying they're the Paul group that's probably those who think Paul has taught about freedom you can do whatever you want because you're a new creature in Christ the Peter group is probably those who want a lot of the Jewish type and the circumcision Apollo's group are and we'll see in Corinth and in the early Church throughout the Breper Roman Empire. They love the smooth-talking speakers and Apollo's Was a wonderful person and he was a terrific speaker They just love that and then maybe these are the super spiritual they think well We're not any of those. We are the ones who really have the Bible These are more than just a problem with Favorite people we have that and that's not bad Where who's your favorite preacher? Who's your favorite? Let's use City Harvest Church Who's your favorite preacher at City Harvest Church some would say well, nobody can match pastor Kong. Are you kidding? Somebody else way, you know, I like Bobby. I like the way Bobby goes at it or You know Daniel's my friend. He sounds better. Howdy is this is this I and we have our favorites work Do you know you can listen all those I like profit None of those are problematic as long as we don't divide over them. They're just Things we got no problem. That's just human nature. It's this church is fighting over them it's that if you don't belong to my group, you're wrong and My group cannot associate with your group. That's when divisions come so We need to see The power of the cross in these and that's what Paul's going with this. It's grace plus zero next slide As you read that's 18 message of the cross is foolishness to those who are lost but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Verse 20, where is the wise person? Where is the philosopher of this age? The wise of this world could not save you. Verse 21, the world through its wisdom did not know God and God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Verse 22, Jews demand science and Greeks look for wisdom. Verse 23, Christ crucified its stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greek. Verse 24, but to those God has called. Christ is the power of God and through the foolishness of the cross he can save all who believe. Verse 25, for the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom. Now as you look at those verses and you're looking in your Bible and you're thinking, what translation is that? Probably some of it is the Peterson translation, where I've cut out some things, I've hooked others together for convenience, but I think I've done justice with the scripture, but it may look a little different than in any of your translations. Here is the bottom up, the message of the cross is foolishness to the world. And then on the contrary, no other message has power to save. So you can see this as pluralism, you can see this as conflict in religions or whatever to the world. How we get to heaven is through a crucifixion, that's just that. And Paul is saying that's what God has chosen and that's the only place there's any power. Read this verse for me, verse 20. Verse 20, where is the wise person? The Greeks loved philosophers, deep thinkers with smooth rhetoric, excellent logic, and our ability to create speculative knowledge. Here we have to see the other side of the communication. What he has heard is precisely the things that he is addressing. They understand themselves to be wise, they believe in that's any good should be wrapped up in smoothness and in this fancy rhetoric that the knowledge is like it's like taking the scripture and coming up with a conspiracy theory that's their idea of knowledge versus even more outrageous here is this runs through first Corinthians and then pokes his head up in second Corinthians and that is the Greco-Roman world and Corinth was just intoxicated with people who could speak these philosophers that they are all paid it was sort of work like this in fact there's all kinds of evidence these philosophers or good speakers would even work on their voice the way an opera singer would so that they can just get that right little sustain and then they would get all this knowledge that nobody knows and it's like they're opening up something and it'd be just absolute nonsense. Not important. The important part was is it intriguing and how good are they? Because Corinth was wealthy, these smooth talkers would proliferate. They would come and groups would hire them and early first century is just filled with this. I think the emperor had his own very smooth talking person and he paid him like a superstar. They love this. So they are upset with Paul because he sounds like he's from the country. He is he doesn't the fancy stuff. He doesn't go in quotes deep and they are angry with him. There's another reason honor and shame in that every group has their own sort of like you have an in-house lawyer or in-house counsel. They would have an in-house philosopher. They knew Paul is brilliant before they went off the rails and obviously as we work our way through they are upset with Paul because he would not accept money. Now for them that's honor and shame. It's embarrassing and it's like I don't take anything from you. I'm not sure that this was the case in any of Paul's other churches. In Corinth, Paul must have had the sense from the beginning, I cannot get into these people's debt, or I'll never get out. Because other churches supported him, and then that's what causes bigger hassle. They find out Paul is getting money from the Philippian church. And now they're really angry, because now that's really embarrassing. The Philippian church is not a wealthy church. They are a wealthy church, and the Philippians are paying for their philosopher. So they just are going to take shots at Paul, one after another. Next slide. Babe, talk about all of this. They're speaking in tongues and this ecstatic, not just ecstatic speech, but ecstatic experience where they got this mysterious wisdom and knowledge that nobody else had. And that they were able to get this down to an art form where everybody else looked like beginners and they only loved that real smooth content. It didn't matter a lick as to whether or not it actually was good content, it's like being a poet, so to speak. And what this church is doing is measuring spirituality with their own measuring stick. With a measuring stick from the culture. Culture says this is what is good. Culture says powerful is good. Culture says weakness is a malady. Don't ever show weakness. And so they are going to use the Corinthian secular cultural approach to measure spirituality. And by using that approach, Paul fails. Next slide. Next slide. human standards, not many influential or of noble birth. Verse 27, but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. Verse 29, no one may boast before him. Verse 30, it is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus who has become a righteousness, holiness and redemption. Verse 31, therefore let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. Consider who you were. Paul is reminding them that not many of you are important, though we've already seen a number are, but he wants to make this point that God chooses what seems foolish. to the world to accomplish his plans. He doesn't work by your measuring stick. What is foolish to the world is this whole idea of the cross. Next slide. When Paul talks about in Christ, that's a favorite Pauline phrase, in Christ, is the same as in the gospels of being part of the kingdom and our language is being saved. Paul doesn't use kingdom language because in the Greco-Roman world that's a direct challenge to Caesar and that would end Christianity. So he just changes his vocabulary. Continuity, discontinuity. So let's change the vocabulary, not have a fight. So he changes it to in Christ. If you read the first 14 verses of Ephesians, I think he uses that phrase 11 times, but that's one of Paul's favorite phrases. You have been made righteous. Here is this soteriology approach. This is the cross because of the cross. You've been sanctified, set apart, and he'll make this point by the power of the Spirit. There we see the pneumatological and this grace is not free. We are saved by grace, but to take Bonhoeffer's famous phrase, grace is not cheap. It might be free, but it's not cheap. It's not like selling cheap Jack wares in the marketplace. That's like trinkets. It costs God his son. So, if you're going to brag about who you are in Christ, boast in the Lord. Next slide. Chapter 2, verse 1. I did not come to you as someone superior in speaking ability as I proclaim the testimony of God. Verse 2, for I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Verse 4, my preaching was not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Verse 6, but I do speak wisdom, not of this world, a mystery which God planned before the foundations of the world. As nine, things which I have not seen nor hear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him. Verse 10 to us God revealed them through the spirit verse 12 So that we may know the things freely given to us by God We can get the point of these first four chapters working through up to chapter 2 the Corinthians are complaining that Paul was poor speaker and That is not a good thing for their main Philosopher he stumbles over words. He's not smooth And so when Paul says I did not come to you with fancy talk I could determine not I preached just the gospel Paul didn't use smooth talk or a soaring rhetoric. Here's where Paul's coming from. I Preached the most simple gospel. I preached Christ crucified in a way that everybody could but understand now You'll read the commentaries and there'll be one after another one that will say maybe Paul had a list maybe stuttered Obviously, he couldn't speak. Well, I don't believe any of that read Paul's letters read Romans, how could he write so fantastic and sound like a junior when he's speaking Paul chose not to use that rhetoric He could if he wanted and in 2nd Corinthians 10 through 13, he uses it Paul is a master and Rhetorical speaking he's even trained in it But he has determined I'm only gonna preach the cross we could learn much from this Let's not be preaching all over the place. Let's get to the basics This is what was promised the incarnation like death resurrection, ascension, soon return and we live between the ascension and soon return. Those are the areas we should be preaching about. So that's why he's making that, he's responding to their critique of him. Paul really doesn't care if they think he's a good speaker or not. But I don't agree with the commentators who say Paul was a poor speaker. Paul is purposely keeping the gospel simple. When you're preaching don't use big words, don't use. Speak where people can understand. I may not always be able to do this but I try. When I speak I try. I'm speaking to my mother who had eighth grade. If my mom couldn't understand me then I'm missing it. We don't have to dazzle people, because it doesn't work. We don't have any power. It's the power, the cross, that transforms. Next slide. So, Paul says, I don't speak in the wisdom of this world. Again, he is responding to this. You have all of this secular wisdom that is just nonsense and can't change anybody. It might make you feel good, but I speak in a mystery. And here comes one of the great promises. Here's the mystery. Before God created, before heaven and earth existed, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit already had a plan for our redemption. Christ would come and give us life for a lost generation or lost people. We know this, because it all tells us when he writes Ephesians. This was a mystery. It was hidden. But it's not anymore. When Christ reveals himself, it's no longer a mystery. And you have this knowledge. What you can't do is sit on it. If you have any idea how wonderful, how marvelous your salvation experience is, you've been telling people it's not a mystery anymore. Before the foundations of the world, God had a plan. God's wisdom is way too big for us. You think of God never was. or always was, never will be. I can't give my head around that. It's too big that there is one God, three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's big that God can be everywhere, that God has all power, that God knows everything. Those are way too big for me, and there is no way I have adequate language to express them. But if God wasn't too big, and just didn't take our breath away, He couldn't help us. If God was like us, not going to help. God needs to be nothing like this in His, like us, in His natural capacities. So He comes with this, I has not seen nor ever heard. Paul has talked. about the foolishness of the cross, that it is foolishness to the Greek. It's stumbling block to the Jews. Here's where he's coming with that. For the Jew, cursed is he who was hung on the tree. For the Jews to have the Messiah be a crucified Messiah. One thinks God choose a little less graphic way of saving us. And for the Jews, that is a stumbling block. That still is a problem for us. When you're telling somebody, you know, it's the blood of Jesus Christ that washes away your sins. They look at you like, are you kidding me? And sometimes we need to find vocabulary that will work. But that is the story. It might be one of those things that is a stumbling block. Here's what I often say is, when people are looking for Jesus, don't be a stumbling block. Don't put stuff in front of them that keeps them from seeing who Jesus really is. To the Greeks is foolishness. For the Greek and Roman world, what are the values? What are the standards? Power, influence, financial strength, all of the things of this world. So when you talk about a crucified Christ, that's just ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Paul says it's a mystery that is so marvelous that through Christ, he can transform us absolutely completely totally and we become new creatures in Christ and so he follows it with don't you know I have not seen nor ear heard the things that God has prepared for them who love him God is too big for me but here's what I know the Lord has given us everything we need to know I God in the big sense to me is incomprehensible he's way too big but he's comprehensible in a sense he's given us everything we need we don't need to be out there speculating He's given us this story of the cross, how it transforms us, how it makes us new people. And that transformation should be followed up by moral behavior, should be followed up by sharing your faith. It is straightforward. It is simple. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes unto the Father but by me. The foolishness of the cross, it is hard to explain how the cross is the way to Christ but that's what it is. And to so many, it is just foolish. There's no, it makes no sense. Paul says the wisdom of God. The wisdom of men isn't worth anything. The wisdom of God is this mystery, the plan before the foundations of the world to redeem us. There is nothing else. Your language doesn't do it. Nothing else you do can do it. So you can work through a lot of the power points that follow but I've given you the basic thing. Somewhere on these power points, I have, Paul moves from this to what should the church look like? And who is the church? The church are people who name Jesus Christ the Lord and who are united together by the power of the Spirit and in due with power. And I don't quite have the... write smooth language there to carry out everything Jesus said and did. If you find that statement, I got it down pretty smooth. It took me forever to write it. There it is. The church is a living organism, comprised of a fellowship of believers who name Jesus Christ the Lord and who are unified and empowered by the Spirit to carry out God's plan of redemption for the world. I read it pretty good. I can't think of a better way to explain. This is at the heart of our ecclesiology of the church. So now we're going to shift gears and we're going to look at three problems and I don't know if I'll get through all three. But we're gonna start with the first one, which is the incestuous man, begins in chapter five. So if you take me to problem number two, and we can just wait while they, here it is, the case of incest. This one is unbelievable. A brother in the church is sleeping with his mother-in-law and continues to practice in worship. Now, this was even egregious for the Romans, for the Greeks, incest could not be tolerated. This is where Paul gets the statement, and he's living as good as the pagans do. They know this is wrong, and you're doing it in the church. Here's the foundation for where they're coming from in this. We live in another level. Our spirit is already halfway to heaven. We have all this knowledge, and we don't see this as a big problem. You are looking at it from a physical realm. We're looking at it from a spiritual realm, which is absolute, of course, nonsense. I think what is behind this issue, and I may be wrong, is that this person is a leader who has money. Because if everybody knows, even secular culture knows you can't do this, why don't they stop it? Money means power, and it could be we don't want to lose this money. Where Paul's not upset though with the man who was sleeping with his mother-in-law so much He's upset with the leaders who tolerate it Why do you put up with this? This is unbelievably egregious and They are proud of it now this problem Extends into second Corinthians. We know from if you read verse 5 13 Paul had already written them before you ever about the news about the problems it had come to him from somewhere about this man's thinking with the mother-in-law and Paul had written to them to fix it and They had ignored them So as for Paul's coming I already told you to fix this One of Paul's theological foundations is this. Anything that harms the community of faith is bad. An individual does not trump the community. If what you are doing, it may not be anything terrible like this, but if what anybody is doing brings the community of faith, disrepute, it is not, it can't be. We have to deal with it. Now, to try to deal with how to discipline in the church is a tough one for us. Let us see how Paul goes about this. And so, take me to the verses about where he tells them to the Feast of the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. And we'll look at, okay, here's the theology that Paul uses. Here we are. Your boasting is not good. In the previous verse, he says, turn this man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved. This one is, I am not sure what Paul is saying there. It could be, the only way this person is going to straighten up is with tough love. And maybe when he hits the bottom, he'll come back. What I do know is Paul is not saying we can't have sinners in church. Sinners are precisely the ones we want to have in church. If not, we'd have an empty church. Um, that isn't the problem. This is a very specific problem in Corinth that the leadership is tolerating and probably this man is a leader. He says your boasting is not good. You're bragging about it. Don't you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch. Get rid of the old yeast so that you may be a new 11 batch as you really are. For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificial. All right, sort of try to see those. But here's where Paul is going in the fist. Theologically, here's what you need to do. and he builds it on the Passover and he builds it on the Passover or Unleavened Bread and one is linked into the other. With the Unleavened Bread, once a year, they were to clean out their house of everything that was unleavened and start over again. There is a very natural reason for this, is that something that has been leavened over time, it makes food taste great, but if you don't change it, it will kill you. Sort of like this, probably nobody can identify with this because this takes me back to my childhood. My mother would make bread and she would have a starter that she used and you didn't dare touch that starter because it was at the base of being able to make bread, french fries, that's where they got this great taste. But my mother knew she had to throw it out after a few months and start again because it goes bad. That's the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Clear out all of the garbage. So he's saying to them, listen, you go into the church, go into your life and clean it out. Let the power of the Spirit sweep through you and clean it out for Jesus Christ as our Passover Lamb. So he links these two together. If you pick up the Passover in its initiation, has instituted, God tells Moses, when the blood goes on the doorpost, and I give you the signal to run, run for the Red Sea, make sure the people are prepared. He says, when that blood is, that's the mark, that I will pass over you. So for the next thousand years, that is what the Jews practiced every year, was the Passover to remind them God has taken us out. He is the Lord our God who has delivered us. So we see how Jesus handles the Passover, celebrates it exactly the same way as it was. in Exodus, except when he comes to the phrase of the lamb, he says, I am the lamb. I am the lamb. And we get our communion story from there. That's what Paul is saying, don't you know that Christ is the one who has redeemed us? In the Exodus story, God tells Moses, have the people tell their children. And when their children say, what's that? You tell them it's like your testimony passed from generation to generation to generation. That's the same point that Paul is making here. This is our testimony. Christ has been sacrificed for us. Therefore, once you clean out all the garbage in your life, all the garbage in the church, and you recognize Christ is the one who has died for our sins, then celebrate. God doesn't take any amount of time to forgive. It isn't like, well, you ask for forgiveness, and in two weeks, you'll be fine. It is at that moment. Paul says you've been living terribly, ridiculous, get rid of that, and then celebrate. Not with leavened bread, they filled with wickedness, but the unleavened bread, which brings the truth. See how Paul is going to treat this incestuous problem with these two festivals, the unleavened bread and the Passover. I have a sermon. It's actually a three-part. I do the Passover from Exodus. I do the Passover with Jesus. And And I do the Passover in 1 Corinthians. You will work on the Passover in 1 Corinthians. This issue is one that is difficult for us because how do we do discipline? In a modern church, it just goes on to another church. So it is difficult, but what we know from Paul's teaching here, it's not the pastor's job. It is a leadership's job where leadership comes together and deals with these kind of things. But I see that it is a difficult one for us to handle. The point here, though, is if you're not unified, you're in trouble. If you still have sin in the camp, you're in trouble. But God can fix this in a moment. Okay. 9.52, we will come back at 10.02, or yeah, 10.02 works, works for you, I think. Anyways, we'll come back in 10 minutes, and I will do the first one or the second one on the law course. I then want to break and talk about assignments. So, we'll see you back in a few minutes. Part 4 Why not suffer wrong? Why not rather be cheated? Verse 8, instead you cheat and do wrong to your brothers and sisters. Verse 9, do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Neither will the sexually immoral idolaters, adulterers, nor men who have sex with men. Verse 10, thieves, greedy, drunkards, slanderers, nor swindlers. Verse 11, but such was some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit. these verses give us a perspective on the