High level of Corinthians
First Corinthians covers a TON. We’re not going to cover it all today. I want to focus on 2-4 with maybe a hint of 5. Here’s all of what’s covered and I’d encourage everyone to read the full book. You can read it all in under an hour.
- Intro
- Addressing division
- Finding your identity in Christ, not man
- Judging sexual immorality
- Glorifying God in your body
- Marriage
- Idolatry (food offerings, do all to the glory of God)
- The rights of an apostle (the “should pastors get paid?” chapter)
- The Lord’s Supper
- The body of Christ and spiritual gifts; above all: love; parenthetical about tongues and prophecy
- Reiterating the Gospel
- Final notes
Some focus points
How we should behave
What makes us ‘infants’ in the faith
We often hear the term “spiritual meat” or “spiritual infant”. Where does this come from?
For brothers I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people bus as fleshly, since you are infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet strong enough for solid food. 1 Cor 3:1-2A
But what actually makes us a spiritual infant? How do we know when we’ve grown past this?
You are still, at the present time not able [to eat solid food]. You are still fleshly. For where there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and walking according to man? When someone says “I am of Paul,” or another “I am of Apollos,” are you not just people? Who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are servants through whom you did believe and to each as the LORD gave assignment. for we are fellow workers of God, you are cultivated fields of God, a building of God. 1 Cor 2B-5, 9
What makes us spiritual infants is also that which divides us: our need to feel important or better than others. Like we know something they don’t. To be fair, you probably do know something they don’t, but so too do others understand things you don’t yet know. We all have a piece of God’s puzzle; we are all parts of one body. Do the eyes need to understand how the ears work to function properly? No. The proper perspective is to remember that we are all workers in Gods field. Following a certain spiritual leader or believing one thing over another is not going to change that status or make you any better at the work God has for you. God’s work is for you alone to find and execute. No one else can hand that to you. Nor can executing God’s plan for you make you better than one that has only just found the plan or has yet to find it altogether.
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness’s are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Isa 64:6 Let no one deceive himself: if someone thinks he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he could become wise. For wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. 1 Cor 3:18-19
Questions for the group
- What are some things in your life that can easily cause division or cause you to feel somehow elevated as a Christian?
Legalism, classification of sins as “more” or “less sinful,” making our walk too public (And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they Love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. - Matt 6:5)
- What do you feel like your part of “the puzzle” is? What do you feel like God has given to you specifically as a passion, to share with others? How can we help each other find that passion or strengthen that gifting?
I feel like my gifting is in knowledge of the scriptures and a spirit that calls it to mind quickly and accurately, to the point that I can speak boldly when needed. I feel like this helps me to encourage others with God’s Truth, not worldly or personal platitudes. I also feel like this helps to strengthen those that may be doubting aspects of faith or in God completely and help remind them that there is more to life than just living. That a thirst for God’s Truth can be rewarding. I don’t do this perfectly and I can come off as harsh or uncaring, because I put the truth before all else, but I feel like God has given me this as a gift to be shared, not something to be ashamed of. I have to trust that God uses my words, even if they come off wrong, to help others in some way. That he will use me to water the seeds others have sown.
How to treat others
Brothers & Sisters in the Faith
Paul is clear that we should not support sin in our midst. He goes so far as to say we should give them over to Satan so that his flesh can be destroyed. That is, we should let this broken world do what it does: steal, kill, and destroy, until that person is left as nothing.
It is heard that there is a sexual immorality among you, and such immorality which is not among the heathens, for someone to have his father’s wife. And you are proud and should you not rather be sad, that this work which I did could have been taken from among you? For though I am absent in body, I am present in spirit and … When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? You must immediately cleanse the old leaven, so that you would be a new lump, just as you are unleavened: for also our Passover Messiah was sacrificed. Thus we should celebrate not in old leaven and not in wickedness and evil, but in unleavened purity and truth. 1 Cor 5:1-8
However, Paul is also clear that, while pushing a brother away may be the best for a short time, so that he can see the error of his ways to avoid temptation yourself, it is also our duty to welcome them back when they have been humbled again to repentance. In his next letter to the Corinthians:
Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure - not to put it too severely - to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorry. So I beg you to reaffirm your Love for him. For this is why I wrote: that I may test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive.2 Cor 2:5-10A
Paul isn’t flexing his leadership muscle and saying that he just wanted to make sure they’d blindly follow what he asked them. He wanted to ensure that these people were willing to take God’s truth to heart. To understand that sometimes a person needs to know that they did wrong. To forgive in a way that the person understands that they truly did wrongly but to move past it regardless of the pain. This passage implies that the man who was essentially excommunicated for sleeping with his step-mother had repented after the community rebuked him. Paul is now encouraging the believers to welcome him back with open arms.
Non-believers
That passage in 1 Cor seemed harsh but the very next thought helps put it in perspective. This was truly only for sold-out believers. Those that call themselves Christians and want to “walk the talk.” By no means is Paul saying we should shun the world because they’re not good enough. By that standard, Jesus would never have come down.
I wrote to you in the letter not to be associated with sexually immoral people - not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler. Don’t even eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you. 1 Cor 5:9-13
Paul is basically saying that those that say they are a Christian and at the same time say that no one can judge them but God are fools. You are either of the world or of God, not both. If you are of the world, it is expected that you will behave like the world does - and that behavior doesn’t deserve judgement - it warrants the forgiveness and grace of God. However, if you are of God, you must adhere to his standards and nothing less. As brothers in the faith, we are to hold each other accountable to God, not each other. We must value God’s view over friendships; we still treat brothers with Love and compassion but we must balance that with Truth for the sake of the body of Christ.
Questions for the crew
- This is a hard pill to swallow. How do we balance showing Love and compassion to believers while, at the same time, helping them grow as a Christian and discourage them from stumbling twice in a row?
I think there needs to be a balance of encouragement and hard truth. If the person feels as though it’s not a big deal at all, there is no consequence and grace quickly becomes a license for sin. However, if they only ever hear what they are doing wrong, the will to try wanes thinner and thinner. We have to rebuke the sin and Love the sinner, which is easier said than done.
- What’s one area that we, as a group can help hold you accountable to God? Or how can we help encourage you to fight the good fight?
Closing Thoughts
All of this can be boiled down pretty simply. First things first, Love God and Love people. Above all, Love God, even if that means sacrificing friends or pleasures. We Love people by, first accepting that the world is broken and in need of a savior. The world is going to be depraved. We are not to shrink away from it but approach it with Love and mercy, pointing toward the gift of salvation. Once a person is saved, we shift how we love. We move from accepting them as the broken, fallen man that we all are to clay in God’s hands. It becomes our goal to help them to give up the flesh and conform to the power of God’s transformation. We have to discern when it’s best to encourage their faith and when a line needs to be drawn but our ultimate aim should be unity in the body of Christ and God’s will for our life and the lives of others - namely salvation but also sanctification.