1 Corinthians Chapter 5 - Sexual Sin

This chapter is very important for us in several ways
1) It highlights the problem of sin - especially sexual sin in the church
2) It gives directions on how to handle it
3) It clarifies interactions within the church and outside of it in regard to sin

Sexual sin was a problem for the Corinthian church as it is a problem for most churches in America today.  Today pornography, adultery, lust are destroying individuals and families in the church.  There is also growing problems and pressure related to homosexuality.  We must be clear that sin in general and especially sexual sins are wrong, they hurt the lives of individuals directly and indirectly involved, they hurt the church and they need to be addressed.  Paul makes clear that those participating in such sins, those who are unrepentant, need to be removed from the church.  It is important to note that church discipline and removal from fellowship relate to those who are engaged in the sin and are unwilling to turn from it.  In 2 Corinthians, Paul instructs them to bring back the one who had sinned and is now repentant (2 Corinthians 2:5).  Jesus gives very similar instructions in Matthew 18 regarding an individual who sins against another individual. Again the disfellowshipping is done in the case of unrepentance.  When someone is wanting to turn from sin, they should not be cast out but brought near to be helped and delivered in the name of Jesus.

Some people think/claim that pornography is a "victimless" crime.  The fact is that it is a vicious evil and it harms 1) those who are in the pictures 2) those looking at the pictures 3) the families (present and future) of those looking.  Those who are in the pictures have been degraded and are being treated as objects, not individuals who deserve honor, respect and modesty.  Sometimes the individuals have chosen willingly to participate, but they have been deceived about the propriety and value.  That doesn't change the fact that it is a sin against their body that should not be participated in.  We wouldn't inject a drug addict with drugs just because they are addicted and want the drugs.  We would need to help them get free from what is destroying them or at least choose not to participate if the individual refuses help.

For those who are looking at the pictures, this is the sin of lust, that Jesus says is adultery in the heart (Matt 5:28).  Jesus also says that a person who sins is a slave to sin (John 8:34). It can be clearly seen that pornography is addictive with always an increasing desire for more.  This spiritual slavery begins to destroy the person involved and removes their self control - as Proverbs 25:28 says, they become like a city that has been broken into and left without walls.  This lack of self control increases the appetite for other sins and decreases the ability to stop, so that the persons life becomes more and more sinful and less and less holy.  The Scripture is clear that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of heaven (1 Cor 6:9, Gal 5:21, Eph 5:5).  1 John says that those who continue in sin truly do not belong to God (1 John 3:6) and Jesus will say "I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness" (Matt 7:23).

Finally pornography destroys marriages and families and children's lives. (Most of my comments will be from the perspective of a man who is viewing the pornography because men have more of a temptation and problem due to the visual nature of sexual attraction.  However, some women are caught in the sin as well and the comments would apply to them as well from the female perspective.) If a person is currently married it will destroy their marriage because now instead of there being two people united in Christ and becoming one flesh, there are now multiple people invading the sacred intimacy of the marriage bed.  It is adultery in the heart and it will create jealousy, mistrust and division in the marriage.  The images seen will not easily be removed so that now instead of making love to your wife, the pictures of others will fill your mind and heart and the adultery deepens, continues and divides.  Then you will not be satisfied and intoxified with your wife as you should (Proverbs 5:19) but rather you will be destroyed, hate yourself and hate life (Proverbs 5:3-14).  It also destroys children, because the children are receive a spiritual inheritance (Exodus 20:5) from their parents for good or bad and the children usually repeat the sins of the parents even when they don't know about the sin.  For those who are not yet married, pornography destroys their lives and ensures that they will not have a satisfying, successful marriage unless they turn from the sin and are set free in Jesus.

Pornography, like some other sins, can be addictive and very difficult to stop.  First one must recognize that it is sin and choose to turn away from it, which is repentance. Because the walls of self control have been damaged or destroyed, an individual usually needs help in getting free from this sin and that is where the support of the church comes in. James 5:15-16 says that one who has sinned should go to the elders can confess their sins so that they can be forgiven and healed.  Often people are afraid to confess to an elder because they are ashamed, but this shame and fear is a trick of the devil who wants to keep them in the chains of sin.  As a pastor and an elder I know that I have sinned myself and I have counselled many others who have sinned and have helped people to be free from pornography and lust. As a point of clarification, by God's mercy, I'm not caught in pornography, but the sin effects even pastors. I don't look down on those confessing, but recognize that it takes courage and a determination to change in order to confess, so I actually consider the person who does confess to be commendable and on the right path to life and freedom.  The mere act of confessing to another removes some of the power of the sin and brings freedom. It is like you were being blackmailed by the devil over the sin but now you have brought out the issue to the light, so now the devil cannot hold the matter over your head anymore because the once hidden matter is now exposed so there is no longer any power over you.  To overcome such addictive sins there is also a need to continue in accountability, cry out to God in prayer for help and change whenever the temptation comes, memorize scripture related to the topic and thus have your mind renewed (Romans 12:2).  I have seen God set people free and there is hope for freedom and new life in Christ.

I have focused more on pornography in this post, but really the principles and concepts are the same for other sexual sins as well and in general for any sin.

Thank you Lord Jesus that you died for us to overcome the power of sin and death!  I thank you that you have set me free from a life of sin and I thank you that you are in the business of releasing the captives and bringing new life to people!  Thank you for your love and mercy!  Thank you for your power and forgiveness.

1 Corinthians Chapter 4 - True life is found in humility and service to others

Pride is a deadly sin. As are jealousy, comparison, slander and gossip.  The church in Corinth is wrestling with these problems and they are problems that we regularly wrestle with today.

In today's world where self-esteem is emphasized, where any wrong behavior is justified to get ahead - cheating, stealing and lying are acceptable if you don't get caught, and where fame, material possessions and financial prosperity are the ultimate goal, the example of the cross - humility, self-sacrifice, servanthood - doesn't go over very well.

Why would Paul, a successful, up-and-coming scholar leave his high position and become an itinerant preacher who is ridiculed, beaten, imprisoned, poorly dressed and homeless?  Why would Jesus, who was God, King of the universe, and had all power, authority, lacked nothing, why would Jesus leave all of that and empty himself of his power and become a servant, born in an animal stable, an itinerant preacher who was a social outcast, rejected by the wealthy and powerful and finally be mocked, falsely accused, beaten and crucified?  And he knew at the beginning that this would happen.  Why?  Because of love. Because of a greater, higher cause than physical comfort, popularity, fame and wealth.

Jesus gave himself up for you and me and suffered all that he did because he loves us.  That may seem impossible to believe, but think about the person(s) in your life who you love the most.  What would you do to protect them if you knew they were in danger?  What would you do to get them back if they were kidnapped?  How hard would you work to make sure they were taken care of, had food to eat if they had none?  Movies and stories like "Taken", "Not Without My Daughter" and many others play off of these emotions.

All of these powerful emotions that we can feel are there because of the remaining image of God that is within us.  When God made us, he made us in his image, in his likeness.  That image has been marred and covered by our sin and the sins of others so that sometimes it is unrecognizable but underneath it still is there, awaiting redemption, resurrection and life.

God sees us in our fallen state and loves us.  He wants better for us.  He wants to pick us up and bring us to new places, places of life, fulfillment, joy, belonging, hope and love.  He wants us to be with him, to know him, to establish a new,deep, fulfilling relationship with us in love.  That is why he left everything for us and why Paul left everything.

So God is calling us.  Calling us out of our comfort, out of our pride, out of our own way of doing things to follow him.  And Paul echos Jesus' call and asks us to imitate him.  To leave our pride and self righteousness and follow the way of Christ, the greater and higher calling of the cross of Christ.  Because he loved us, we love him.  Because he served us, we serve others.

Father, let me know your heart.  To feel what you feel, to love how you love.  I need more of you and more of your goodness in my life.  Call us and draw us ever closer to you.  Let my life be lived to your glory and in your name.

1 Corinthians Chapter 3 - How are you building?

As Paul is bringing correction to the Corinthians about their divisions over people (Paul vs Apollos vs Peter), he makes some important statements about living and working in Christ.  He says that when Christ returns, each of us who have given our lives to Christ will have his/her work in Christ judged by God and we'll be given our wages/rewards.  He compares our work in Christ to building a house with different materials and if our work in Christ is good, like gold, we will receive a reward.  If not, we will still be saved, but only "as through fire." All of our effort and work will be burned up.

In the context, Paul has described several things that constitute "bad" work: First off jealousy, strife (v 3) selfishness, pride (v 18) and building our own "kingdom" versus God's produce divisions and detract from the solid foundation of Christ.  He is contrasting spiritual versus fleshly/sinful works which in Gal 5:16-25 he provides a list of behaviors and characteristics that are examples of both fleshly/sinful versus spiritual.  In his second letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor 13:5) Paul says that we should examine and test ourselves to ensure that we are in Christ, and in this context, to ensure we are building our lives and working in the Kingdom of God according to his righteous, excellent standard.

Lord Jesus, help me to work unto you in such a way as to bring honor to you, not me.  Purify me, mold me, use me.  Shape us so that our lives will be a humble offering to you as we serve one another in your love.

Spiritual Immaturity
Paul's states that the Corinthians are infants in Christ, not spiritual, still taking milk and not solid food.  This reminds me of Hebrews 5:12.  This problem of spiritual immaturity cropped up in both these places and I think that it is a problem that still is common in the church today.  Unfortunately many know many things about God, but maturity comes from righteous living, choosing holiness - with doing, not just knowing.  Heb 5 describes maturity resulting from the constant use of discerning good from evil.

Father God, I pray that you will work in us so that your words go beyond our head and into our hearts so that they change the way that we live.  Let our actions and our lives reflect your goodness, holiness and love.

1 Corinthians 2 - God's Power in Our Weakness and Fear

When I've read Paul saying he came "in weakness and in fear and much trembling" (v 3), I always thought he was exaggerating.  But now as I've just read the context in Acts before reading this letter, I see that he had just been imprisoned and beaten and chased out of the two prior cities. When God spoke to him in a vision and told him not to be afraid that he wouldn't be attacked nor harmed (Acts 18:9-10) it was because Paul actually was afraid of this happening because it had happened to him in each city before this.

Sometimes we think of Paul and other heroes of the Bible as superhuman.  But the fact is that they were people just like you and I.  They had fears and failings just like us.  I haven't been imprisoned or beaten for preaching the gospel, but I have been in foreign countries preaching about Jesus and had my passport taken away at gunpoint and have had money taken and have been chased by authorities.  In most of the situations of danger God has given me supernatural boldness, but once when we were fleeing the airport to leave the country, I felt a definite sigh of relief when the wheels left the ground, so I can understand some of what Paul describes in his fear and trembling.

Paul also makes some interesting points in this chapter about his preaching about Jesus not being with "plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (v 4).  He wasn't just another voice in the marketplace of words, but God was speaking and acting so that the faith of the Corinthians can be built on the power of God.  When speaking to others about Jesus, especially to those who are Hindu or others open to religion, I have seen that they accept Jesus as just another god to add to their pantheon.  But Jesus isn't just another god.  He is the true and ONLY God! Here is where I really need more of God's power to be speaking and not mere wisdom of man.  What is interesting is that often God's power doesn't shine through until we come to recognize our weakness and inadequacy and we cry out to God for help.  As God spoke to Paul in 2 Cor 12:9, God's power is made perfect in our weakness.

Lord Jesus, I pray for more of your Spirit and power!  I pray that you would work in supernatural ways to speak and act and change hearts, so that others can find you and be rescued from a life of sin and death and separation from you!  Let me fully see my weakness, so that your strength and wisdom can be displayed!

Wisdom from God
On the one hand, Paul says that he didn't speak with "plausible words of wisdom", but he did speak with the wisdom of God.  But he clarifies that he does speak words of wisdom from God to those who are spiritual and mature who can accept the words of God.  To a person without the Spirit of God, they are foolishness.

What is incredible is that we can have the Spirit of God living in us, who knows the mind and thoughts of God, and who speaks to us the mind and thoughts of Christ!

Lord Jesus, attune my heart to be able to hear your Spirit better!  I want to know your mind and thoughts and I want to follow in the steps that you have for me!

1 Corinthians Chapter 1 - God's Power and Wisdom vs Our Weakness and Foolishness

As Paul opens his letter he says that he is writing along with Sosthenes, who appears to be the synagogue ruler originally from Corinth who was beaten in front of the tribunal in Acts 18:17 after the Jewish leaders unsuccessfully tried to stir up problems for Paul on his first visit to Corinth.

Also in his introduction, Paul gives a definition of a "saint" as those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  This is in contrast to a common misconception that people have today that "saints" are some special class of believers.  The fact is that everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ is called to be a saint - someone who has been set apart from the world to belong to Jesus.  This echos the word for "church" which has a literal meaning of "those persons who have been called out" and in context, have been called out of the world to belong to Jesus.  Let us live up to that calling!

God's Power and Wisdom
The first aspect of God's power mentioned is his work in the lives of the Corinthians that enriched their speech and knowledge, gave them spiritual gifts and will sustain them guiltless until Christ's return (v 4-8). Then God's power is also demonstrated in rescuing us from sin and death through the cross of Christ and through Christ himself. This power is described as foolishness, folly and a stumbling block to those who haven't (yet, in some cases) trusted in Christ and are thus perishing.

Have you ever known someone who thought that they were very wise or smart but clearly they weren't?  It is like the word "sophomore" which literally means "wise fool".  A foolish person who thinks themselves wise often knows some things but not enough to recognize the limit to their knowledge and to know humility. There are many who think themselves wise in respect to the nature of life through science but as Romans 1:21-22 describes, "their foolish hearts were darkened" because they suppress the truth about God and don't honor or thank him. I love Paul's comparison of God to us: The foolishness of God is wiser than man's greatest wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger that men's strength.  

Thank you Lord God for your wisdom and power and your mercy!  Thank you for having mercy on me, a sinner who is foolish and was separated from you.  Thank you for displaying your power and your wisdom in and through me and all those who have fully put their trust in you!

1 Corinthians - Brief Intro

Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians around AD 57 while on his third missionary trip, probably when he was in Ephesus where he spent two years (see this prior post for timelines and maps).  He had originally visited Corinth, a major city in Greece, on his second missionary journey and had spent over 18 months there which was his first long stay in a city on one of his trips.

Prior to his first time in Corinth, he had been put in prison in Philippi and chased out of Thessalonica and Berea.  While in Corinth, he met Aquila and Priscilla who he worked with both in secular tentmaking and in the Kingdom of God. God told Paul not to be afraid, that no one would harm him in Philippi and that God had many people in that city (Acts 18:9-10).

Corinth is just across the Aegean Sea from Ephesus where Paul was at the time and word of how the believers in Corinth were doing was coming across to Paul thus prompting the series of letters that he writes to them.  In 1 Corinthians 5:9 he references a previous letter to the Corinthians that we no longer have, so this is now his second letter (though it is called 1 Corinthians) and after this letter the Corinthians write back to Paul and he then responds in a third letter (called 2 Corinthians).

So let's now jump in and begin to read!

Galatians Chapter 6 - Three P's: Practical, Principle and Priority

This chapter is jam-packed with nuggets of wisdom and practical instruction.

Practical ways to show love to one another - restore those who've sinned, bear one another's burdens.
In the restoration process, Paul says that this is the task of spiritual (Spirit filled, mature) persons and gives additional caution about being tempted.  For someone who is younger in Christ, danger lies in helping others in restoring from sin because the discussions about the temptation faced by the other person brings temptation for the person helping.  Satan hates sin being exposed and people coming away from sin, so those who are helping will come under attack.
In bearing burdens, this would apply both to spiritual burdens that are carried in prayer and spiritual warfare and physical burdens that require physical help, time or finances etc.  These are practical examples of how we can love our neighbor as ourselves.

Principle of sowing and reaping - actions now for good or bad produce life or death in future.  Paul describes sowing to the flesh will produce corruption.  He had just given (in Chapter 5) a list of some of the obvious works of the flesh (including sexual sins, magic, drunkenness, anger, jealousy etc).  If we live in that way, we should not be deceived and think that we will end up with eternal life.  Many people are deceived in this way and think that just because they "prayed the prayer" or go to church regularly that they are now saved and going to heaven no matter what their life is like.  Jesus clearly said that people who live a sinful life will not enter the kingdom of heaven even if they claim to follow Jesus and do miracles in his name (Matt 7:21-23).  Paul wants the Galatians to know that their actions matter and they should continue in doing good.  Their "doing good" doesn't save them, but if they are not following the Spirit and turning from sin, then it is really evidence that they weren't saved.

Priority of believers - do good to all, especially those who are believers.  Loving our neighbor as ourselves means we will be doing good to others.  Paul says that our first priority in doing good should be toward those who are believers.  Part of the reason could be that at times it is easier to do good to those who don't belong to God.  This gives us then a priority of 1) God first 2) believers next 3) non-believers 4) ourselves.  Other passages will add immediate family as well.

Large letters note of interest
Paul comments in verse 11 about the large letters that he is writing with his own hand.  Some have guessed that this may be due to some eye problems that Paul seems to have experienced.  In Chapter 4 verse 13 Paul says that he first preached to the Galatians because of a sickness in his body.  He then says in verse 15 that in their love for him the Galatians would have gladly gouged out their eyes and given them to Paul - indicating that his ailment was with with his eyes and how much the Galatians wanted to help.  If indeed Paul did have some eye problems, it would make sense that his writing would be large to enable him to read it easier.