A Temple Bought at A Price

Paul is encouraging the Corinthians to use theology to drive behavior

We are called to obedience, but without the proper understanding it is a struggle

Proper, ‘Biblical Theology’ is making God’s revelation YOUR reality

As Christians we live based on our Theology

If our theology is not Biblical we cannot even be BE saved, much less BE obedient

Doing our best to see God’s point of view, as He reveals it in His Word is important

God wants us to know that what we do with our bodies matters

When we surrender our lives to Christ we stop living 4 ourselves & start living 4 Him

This means that we are joined to him spiritually and physically

Biblical salvation results in different attitudes, actions and lifestyles that demonstrate what is now a ‘New Creation’…this is not optional, God’s Spirit changes us

If we have truly surrendered our lives to Christ we WILL live for Him!

1 Cor. 6:11

And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

  • We all we owned by sin lifestyles before God converted us (Washed / Sanctified / Justified)

1st Corinthians 6:12-20

I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.

  • It is believed this was a slogan that was misapplying Paul’s teaching of freedom
  • Christ sets us free not to do what we want to but to do what God wants us to do
  • As followers of Christ we surrender our rights to do as we desire
  • Tension between The Freedom Christ gives and the obedience we give Him

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.

  • Perhaps another slogan, saying it doesn’t matter, God will end it all
  • Greek thought separated the physical from the spiritual (not Biblical)
  • But every bit of what we do with our bodies matters. Why?
  • The spiritual effects the physical, and the physical effects the spiritual

By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 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!

  • God’s has power over the physical world, demonstrated in the Resurrection
  • We are united with Christ by God’s Spirit and become part of HIS body
  • This is no small deal! Our spiritual reality is that we are an actual part of God
  • It would be like taking Jesus with you to go have sex with a prostitute

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.” But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

  • The intimacy that happens in sexual relations is unique and intense
  • Sex is a uniting that God has designed for a man and a woman in marriage
  • It is a unity of the physical, whereas with Christ the unity is spiritual
  • The key reality is that they are not separate things

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.

  • Fleeing is removing yourself from it in every way, not being anywhere near it
  • Sexual relations involve you in a way that cannot be separated from your body
  • it can’t happen without using your body; & what you do with your body matters

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

  • When God’s Spirit indwells you that makes YOU HIS TEMPLE
  • It is a work of God
  • He is calling them to put the things they have been taught into action

You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

  • The crucial reality of salvation is that you (by God’s power) surrender your life
  • God paid the ultimate price to buy you back from eternal death
  • This is reality for those who have been biblically converted to Christ followers
  • Based on that reality is how we are to live, in every way, because it all matters

Application Questions:

What are things you do that may not be sin yet are not beneficial?

Do you envision yourself as an actual part of God’s body? Why or why not?

What are the things about sexual sin that make it so damaging?

How can you treat your body more like God’s dwelling place?

What regular practices can connect you to the reality that Christ bought you?

Sanctified Conflict Resolution

Who we are called to be in Christ is meant to impact every part of our lives

The Church, Jesus’ Body, is to on a journey to be made like Christ

‘Realignment’ 2 God’s ways impacts our social, legal, sexual, ethical & relational lives

The Word of God, The Scriptures, call us out to be Holy, in every area of life

This is nothing new, God has been showing us how we are to live in union with Him

Paul is using different issues in the lives of the Corinthians to make the same point

As fully surrendered Christ Followers we are to be ‘Transformed’ by God’s Spirit

Paul asks a number of questions in this passage: Theological Questions

Last one: Do you not know that the ‘Unrighteous’ will not inherit the Kingdom of God?

So we see that it all about being made ‘Righteous’ and then living that out

When the Gospel is total reality we move from self absorption to Christ Absorption

Various factions in the congregation label others as wise or foolish, weak or strong; fight over who was the best pastor before the current one; bring lawsuits against one another; argue over sexual morality, whether it’s better to be married or single, what makes a healthy marriage, what constitutes grounds for divorce, what are appropriate dietary practices; what is the correct understanding of resurrection and the afterlife; and on and on. When conflict becomes that pervasive, no conflict management plans have any hope of succeeding unless the people involved can move beyond self-absorption, step back, and see a bigger picture of a higher calling. Paul seeks to accomplish that. ~ Frank Crouch

Our objective as Christ followers is to be ONE with Christ.

He must increase, we must decrease

1st Corinthians 6:1-11

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?

  • Unrighteous vs Sanctified: God does the sanctifying that makes us righteous
  • TOGETHER with Jesus we will Judge all creation

And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!

  • Knowing our eternal future gives us a pattern for here and now
  • We will be one with Christ (Biblical Conversion) HE we will Judge everything
  • He prepares us for eternity living as HIS Church (Justifies & Sanctifies)

So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame.

  • If Christ is the focus of our lives we can settle all disputes ‘In The Spirit’
  • It is a shame when we don’t trust God for basic things…

Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?

  • The idea that God’s people should learn to settle their own disputes Exodus 18
  • This is one of the roles of Elders & Mature / Experienced in Christ’s church

To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!

  • If there is anything that eclipses Christ’s Spirit governing in our lives is a ‘fail’
  • We are better off suffering wrong than letting anything else take priority over JC

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:

  • The mark of ‘Unrighteousness’ is that our self desires rule instead of Christ
  • Until we have surrendered our lives to Christ our desires own us
  • We cannot be righteous in any way until we give our entire self to HIM
  • Don’t be fooled by yourself or the culture of the day:(Stick with God’s Standard)
  • The reality of your relationship to Christ is revealed in your ‘Lifestyle’

Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

  • This is a list of ‘lifestyle / habitual Sin’
  • Identity is crucial, when your desires rule you they become who you are
  • People are not ‘Unrighteous’ because they may have done these things…
  • They do these things, make them lifestyle, shape identity around because they have not been made ‘Righteous’ in Christ by surrendering to the Gospel
  • These are lifestyles that God has clearly been against forever
  • The priority of Self vs that of Christ’s Body (what we do proves what is priority)
  • If your desires are consistently more important than God’s ways, have you been made ‘Righteous’ by Christ?
  • If being found ‘right’ in a dispute is more important to you than the unity of Christ’s Body, then are you really part of that Body?

And 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 Spirit of our God.

  • We all start out in this category: Unrighteous & not inheriting The Kingdom
  • But those of us who have surrendered our lives to Christ and HIS Gospel…
  • We have been made repentant of our sin through Christ’s perfect sacrifice
  • God’s Spirit enabled us to surrender and began the process of sanctification
  • We are justified when our reality is Christ’s Lordship of our lives
  • God does all of this by HIS Spirit, we cannot make any of it happen

Application Questions:

Why does Jesus want His Body to settle their disagreements among themselves?

How does our union with Christ reflect in how we settle disputes?

How can we leverage the wisdom of our congregation to help settle disagreements?

What is it that makes any of us righteous or unrighteous?

The Yeast of Unrepentant Sin in False Converts

The topic of Church discipline is an emotional minefield

People have been hurt by churches practicing Non Biblical Church Discipline

The only Biblical reason to remove someone from a church membership is for unrepentant, planned, ongoing sin… WHILE confessing to be a Christian

The witness of the church to the world is to be about obedience born of love / grace

We are to live a life ‘Set Apart’ by Christ, for Christ and patterned after Christ

1st Corinthians 5:6-13

Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?

  • The attitude of allowing, & celebrating unrepentant sin is dangerous / infectious
  • The lowered / non-Biblical standard will spread and become ‘Culture’

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.

  • The example is of yeast in bread…it is an illusion to the Exodus from Egypt
  • Yeast is symbolic of Sin / Evil (Exodus 12:15 / Matthew 16:6)

Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

  • Keeping the Festival is doing it as God has commanded
  • The nation of Israel kept the Passover to keep connected to God’s promises
  • Unleavened bread is with out the infiltrating influence of unrepentant sin

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—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.

  • Paul wrote the church a previous letter that is no longer exists (not HS Inspired)
  • He’s clarifying his instruction: The expectation isn’t for non-confessors of Christ

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.

  • We are called as Jesus Church to not affirm ‘False Converts’
  • False Converts have no desire for: Discipleship / Holiness / Scripture / Change
  • Tenets / Standards of Judaeo Christian faith are unchanged for 3400 years
  • As members of the body we are called to value Sincerity & Truth
  • Those claiming Christ without being Biblically Converted are not to be affirmed in their insincere claim.
  • Let’s be honest about our surrender to Christ or not

What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”

  • The question is about the churches role in upholding the standard of Christ
  • We are not called to judge behavior & lifestyles of those outside Christ’s Body
  • All who have not surrendered their lives to Christ are under God’s judgement
  • Paul affirms the responsibility of the Church Body to stay ‘Unleavened’
  • We re to be set apart by Christ, & are Christ accountable to Christ & His Body
  • The Non-Biblically Converted exclude themselves from the Body of Christ

Application Questions:

Why does Paul compare the acceptance of Unrepentant Sin to yeast in bread?

What is the significance of the Passover Festival to you as a Christ Follower?

Why is there often a passivity in The Church about evaluating other’s faith claims?

How do we @ Midtown have honest accountability about Biblical Standards?

1st Corinthians 5:1-6: Removal From Fellowship Can Save

When you preach through books you have passages like this that are odd

God wrote the ‘Whole Bible’… all of it matters

Not your normal church situation…

It is a symptom of the greater illness befalling the church @ Corinth

The sickness of tolerating false converts rather than confronting unrepentant sin

I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother.

  • Not a mistaken sin but a ‘Sin Lifestyle’
  • This is a man who is a member of the church

You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship.

  • Perhaps this guys was a prominent man in Corinth
  • They are tolerating or ignoring the sin because they don’t want to lose him
  • They should be grieved and disgusted
  • Paul calls for removal from the fellowship (church discipline / excommunication)

Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man in the name of the Lord Jesus.

  • This speaks to the true oneness we have as a body in the Spirit
  • Based of the ‘Spiritual Connection’ and the shared values & standards
  • We are called to judge within the body of Christ
  • Jesus said: ‘don’t Judge if you don’t want to be judged’ (Paul was willing to be)
  • Within the church Body we all are accountable to each other & Christ)
  • Paul is doing this by Christ’s power (in his name)

You must call a meeting of the church. I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus.

  • It is the gathered body that has the power of Christ
  • Paul is part even though not there physically

Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns.

  • The kindest thing they can do is to throw him out so he can face his sin
  • It is designed to cause repentance
  • The ultimate end is that this guy will surrender his life to Christ

Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough?

  • Paul is deeply concerned with the attitude that church in this, ‘Boasting’
  • They don’t realize what compromise does, and how it effects the whole church
  • This is why we can’t waver from the principles of God’s Word

Application Questions:

What is the difference between a committing a sin and having a sin lifestyle?

Why does God want us to be accountable to each other and not just Him?

How can people who are sinners pass judgement on someone else?

What does ‘Hate the sin, Love the sinner’ call us to do within our membership?