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1 Corinthians # 8. 1 Cor 6:1-9

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Corinthians, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

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Let’s begin by reviewing. In the very opening of his letter, Paul told the Corinthians that in their relationship with Jesus Christ they were complete, mature and had all that they needed. As we have studied other New Testament passages, we understand what Paul mean. As we place our trust in Jesus, he makes our dead spirits alive. He transforms the eternal, non-dying part of us (the spirit) into a new creation, and spiritually, we become someone holy, innocent, and complete, living in perfect relationship with God.

This begins a process – the new life we have in the spirit is supposed to flow into our souls and then to our bodies, and to influence how we think, feel and act. But the problem in Corinth was that, while they had put their trust in Jesus, they were not drawing on the life of the spirit. Instead they were basing their motivations, desires, decisions and lifestyles on the “life of the flesh” – that is they were influenced not by the Lord’s redemption, but rather by the desires, attitudes and cultures of the physical world. So Paul writes:

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.

But the unbeliever does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. (1 Corinthians 2:11-14)

And then he points out to them:

Brothers, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, because you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, because you are still fleshly. For since there is envy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and living like unbelievers? (1 Corinthians 3:1-3)

We need to keep this in mind as we proceed through the whole book of 1 Corinthians. In most of the letter he is pointing out to them ways in which they are living by the flesh rather than the spirit. The solution is not for them to work harder or shape themselves up. Instead, they need to return to who they are in Christ, to draw their life and make their decisions from the spirit, rather than from the world around them, or from the temptations they face.

In particular, he seems to be focusing on how they exercise judgment. They are judging according to the flesh, not the spirit, when they break up into factions following one leader or another. They are doing the same thing when they evaluate how well a Christian brother is serving the Lord. They are judging (or failing to judge) from the flesh when they allow a Christian brother to flagrantly, persistently live in sin without repenting.

In chapter six, Paul points another way in which they are living from flesh rather than spirit. They are engaging in lawsuits against one another. Once again, this has to do with their failure to exercise spiritual judgment. Paul points out that from a spiritual perspective, there is no one outside the church more qualified than they are to judge disputes.

Or don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest cases? Don’t you know that we will judge angels — not to mention ordinary matters? So if you have cases pertaining to this life, do you select those who have no standing in the church to judge? I say this to your shame! Can it be that there is not one wise person among you who is able to arbitrate between his brothers? (1Cor 6:2-5, HCSB)

I have to admit, Paul’s claim that ordinary believers will judge the world and angels is a little bit startling (when Paul says “saints” he just means anyone who is a disciple of Jesus). I can’t think of any place else in scripture that states it quite this way. Jesus told his disciples that they would sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Luke 22:29-30). But that seems like something special for those original twelve. Paul tells Timothy that we will “reign with Christ” (2 Timothy 2:12). There may be more to it, but at the very least, I think Paul is being explicit about the fact that the life we’ve been given in Jesus Christ is more powerful and enduring than anything in this temporary existence of ours. God’s Spirit has the only clear, correct and righteous view of things. There is no one better qualified to judge than the Holy Spirit. In Jesus Christ, we have access to that Spirit.

So when the Corinthian Christians go to secular courts for lawsuits, not only are they judging according to the flesh, but they are even abdicating their access to the Holy Spirit and submitting to the judgments of those who cannot access the Holy Spirit. Paul’s sarcastic questions reveal how ridiculous this is. In his opinion, any Christian, relying on the Holy Spirit, would certainly be a better judge than a person, however wise, who cannot rely on the Spirit of God.

There is another aspect to the lawsuits. Why do they even have them in the first place? The very fact that it comes to the point where Christians are taking each other to court is a disgrace. Paul writes:

Therefore, to have legal disputes against one another is already a moral failure for you. Why not rather put up with injustice? Why not rather be cheated? (1Cor 6:7, HCSB)

This is a real challenge to me. It bothers me intensely when I think I have been cheated, or treated unfairly. If it is by someone who calls himself a Christian, I get even more angry. But Paul says it would be better to let it go rather than take it to court.

Couldn’t this lead to people taking advantage of you, because you are a Christian? The answer is obviously yes. But remember, one of Paul’s points is that we are not living for this life only. What happens in this life is important. This life is where we make choices that affect how we spend the rest of eternity. This life is where we can affect others for eternity. We experience real joy here, and are touched by real sorrow. But this life is only a very small slice of time, the very tiny prelude to the beginning of never ending life with Jesus (if we trust him). What does it matter, in the light of life with Jesus, if we are cheated out of $1000, or even 10,000? Paul is telling them (and us) to have an eternal perspective on these matters.

Picture yourself in the middle of a football game. The referee makes a bad call. It’s unfair. Maybe he even does it deliberately. Maybe it even costs you the game. That sort of thing really makes me angry when I see it. But it’s just a game. Ultimately, in the rest of life, the bad call doesn’t matter. Let me put it this way: I have never received any actual harm from a bad call at a sporting event. In the same way, while we are deeply involved in this life here and now, it is an indisputable fact that our lives are quite short, even measured against the relatively short time-span of human history. When I am with Jesus, it will not matter to me in the tiniest way, that I was once gypped for $11,000. To put it another way, I need to judge from the spiritual perspective, not the flesh perspective.

I’m not saying we should never try to fight injustice. But Paul makes it clear that it would be better to accept injustice from other Christians, than to take them to court. Think of it this way: if they treat one of their fellow-Christians unjustly, if they swindle one of God’s beloved children, they have a lot more than a lawsuit to worry about. They are going to have to explain themselves to God. And of course, this is another thing that Paul calls them out about. He says:

Instead, you act unjustly and cheat — and you do this to believers! Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? (1Cor 6:8-9, HCSB)

As a practical matter, it seems like Paul is suggesting that if there is some kind of dispute between two Christians, they should seek another Christian person to help arbitrate it (1 Cor 6:5). Of course, there’s not much you can do if you are the one being sued, but you could at least attempt to resolve things out of court with the person if she is a Christian. Show her this passage, and then suggest that you find a Christian arbitrator. She may not take you up on it, but it’s worth a try.

What if you have a dispute with someone who is not a Christian? Is it OK to sue them? This particular passage is not very clear about this. I would suggest in that case, that you continue to walk in your faith relationship with Jesus. In other words, ask Him about it. Seek his wisdom and leading in that circumstance.

All of this in general is a clear signal that Christians should be living radically different lives from those around them who do not follow Jesus. Our relationships in Christ must be more important than “business as usual” and even more important than our rights. Our relationships in the body of Christ should be so important that we are willing to be cheated or suffer in injustice.

I think it goes beyond lawsuits. The Holy Spirit wants Christians to live with a practical recognition that when we trust Jesus, we join a family of other brothers and sisters who also trust him. It shouldn’t just be something we talk about on Sunday mornings. It needs to make a difference in how do our daily business.

1 Corinthians Part 7. Excommunication? 1 Cor 5:1-13

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Corinthians, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment


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One of the reasons I think it is good for us to learn about the letter of 1 Corinthians, is that it challenges us at times to look at things we might prefer to ignore. I find chapter 5 to be one of those places.

Imagine you are a doctor. You have a patient who comes regularly. One day you notice a growth under his arm. You run some tests, and find out that this growth is a cancerous tumor. You could remove it with surgery. You might also have to treat the patient with chemo or radiation afterward. Instead, you say, “No, let’s leave it alone. If we remove it with surgery, that will be a big hassle for the patient, not to mention all the mental trauma he will feel if we tell him he has cancer.” Of course, such a doctor would not deserve to practice medicine.

This is almost exactly what has happened in the Corinthian church. There is a cancer of sin growing in their church. Now, let’s be clear. It’s not just that someone has sinned. The New Testament makes it clear that no one is perfect, and we all fail at times. But in Corinth, a church member is living in sin. He is persisting in a sinful lifestyle openly with no attempt or intention to change.

The sin here is something that Paul calls (in the Greek) “porneia.” You may recognize that our English words“porn” and fornication are based upon this term. In the New Testament, “porneia” means any kind of sexual activity between people that takes place apart from couples who are married to each other. In this particular case, a man and a woman who aren’t married to each other are engaging in sexual activity. It is a man and his father’s wife – probably his step-mother.

This isn’t an isolated incident. It is a repeated pattern of behavior. Even worse, no one in the church seems to have anything to say about it. In fact, Paul says “and you are inflated with pride instead of filled with grief.” This could mean that the Corinthians are proud in general (which Paul has already chided them for), but in context, it appears that they are actually proud of the fact they have welcomed and accepted someone with an immoral, and even incestuous lifestyle.

Paul says instead of pride, they should have been filled with sorrow. This is important to pay attention to. Even when a judgment must be made and action must be taken, it should not be done with anger, or even righteous indignation. The presence of a fellow-Christian who persists in a pattern of sinful behavior, should be cause for mourning in the church. It should cause us grief to have to take an action that makes a person aware of their sinful lifestyle. It should cause us grief that this person may have to leave the church.

Paul says that if the Corinthians had appropriately responded and been filled with this grief, the one who was doing this would be “removed from among you.” The Greek word used for “removed from” is an unusual one, and it occurs only twice in the entire New Testament, both times in this passage. The transliteration is “exairo.” I suspect that our English word “excise” comes from this term. The idea is exactly like the removal of a tumor.

Without wasting any more words, Paul tells them what they must do. The next time they meet as a church, they are to “hand over that person to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord.” This is obviously a strange and difficult command. But it isn’t the only place in the New Testament where this idea is given. Paul writes to Timothy:

Hymenaeus and Alexander are among them, and I have delivered them to Satan , so that they may be taught not to blaspheme. ( Timothy 1:20)

It is difficult to know exactly what Paul means by these statements. He says to the Corinthians that this is for “the destruction of of the flesh.” It could mean the literal destruction of his body. Sexual promiscuity always carries with it a risk of disease, and in those days, before modern medicine, many people died of sexually transmitted diseases. So Paul could mean that. However, that was not exactly a sure proposition, and Paul often uses the term “flesh” to mean the impulses, habits and decisions associated with a sinful lifestyle. The idea then, would be that this man would indulge himself fully in a “flesh oriented” (sin-oriented) lifestyle until he is sick of it. However, this is also a tricky proposition.

I think there are two things that we can definitely know from this verse, however. The first is that the man is to be “handed over to Satan.” The idea in the Greek words is that this individual will no longer be entrusted to the care of the church, but instead, “entrusted to” or “committed to” the devil.

The New Testament clearly teaches that we are in a spiritual war. During the second world war, the Japanese soldiers continued to fight long after it was obvious that Japan could not possibly win. In fact, they typically fought to the death in individual battles, even after it was clear that the battle was lost. It is the same with the powers of evil. They have lost the war. But they will fight until Jesus returns and destroys them forever. So the picture here is this: the church is turning out this unrepentant man – sending him over to enemy lines. He will no longer have the protection or care of the kingdom of God, or of God’s people. He isn’t their responsibility any more. He will now be in the realm that is dominated by the Enemy. If you aren’t in God’s kingdom, you are the mercy of Satan’s realm.

Second, the purpose of all this is: “so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” In other words, they aren’t turning him over because they are angry, or because they hope the worst for him. Instead, they are hoping for a positive result, the best possible result.

Now, the obvious question is, “how will turning him over the the realm of the devil cause him to be saved?” I think the hope is that this man will see the contrast between his life before he started down this path, and what it is like after. The idea is kind of like a medical diagnosis. If a person comes in limping into the doctor’s office, and an ex-ray reveals a broken leg, the doctor has a responsibility to tell the patient that her leg is broken. Perhaps the patient doesn’t want to believe this, or feels it isn’t a serious problem. The doctor can’t force treatment on her. But he can warn her, and refuse to give her something for the pain until her bone is properly set. Maybe if the patient limps around in pain for a few more days, she’ll decide she’d be better get the cause of the problem taken care of.

It’s the same idea here. A repeated pattern of an unrepentant, sinful lifestyle is a serious problem for spiritual health. If a person refuses to even repent and try to address the issue, maybe they need to experience the consequences of their behavior, with the hope that they will come back and repent.

There is another aspect to all this. The first thing, as we have said, is that the unrepentant sinner is putting his own spiritual life in danger. But the second aspect is that tolerating this sort of behavior within the church is a danger to the others who are part of the church. Paul says, “Don’t you know that a little yeast permeates the whole batch of dough?” In other words, when the church begins to compromise, it is a serious problem that has far reaching effects. Compromise, false doctrine and sin have a way of spreading. Just as a little yeast can affect a large ball of dough, so a little compromise can affect a church. For the good of the individual, and for the good of the church, Paul tells them to remove the person who won’t repent.

This is not the only place in the New Testament that tells Christians to take these sorts of actions:

15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault when the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have regained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others with you, so that at the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, treat him like a Gentile or a tax collector. 18 “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven. 19 Again, I tell you the truth, if two of you on earth agree about whatever you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. 20 For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:15-20)

There is an aspect to this that churches often miss, and it is because these miss this point, many Christians are held in contempt. Paul makes it very clear in verses 9-13 that this teaching is for dealing with unrepentant, persistent, lifestyle sinners within the church. This is not an approach we take with those who are not Christians, those who are not a part of the church. Paul says: “For what is it to me to judge outsiders?”

Too many churches do this backwards. We preach sermons about all the sin and immorality in the world around us. We talk about the problems of others. But we don’t address the problems within our own group. That’s one reason Christians are called hypocrites all the time. We point out the sin of people who have nothing to do with us, and ignore the persistent, unrepentant sin of our own friends and fellow-christians. It’s like a mother who keeps telling everyone else to discipline their children, while all the while, her own children are running wild.

There is sin and immorality in the world – don’t be surprised about that, and don’t get sucked into it. But it is none of my business if a man who is an atheist wants to live an immoral lifestyle. Telling him he is living in sin won’t accomplish anything, since he doesn’t even believe in sin. However, it is my business if someone in our own church is persisting in sin and is not repenting from it. It is your business too, if you are part of the church.

Now, I want to reiterate something. I’m not talking about picking on everyone who fails in a moment of weakness. Paul is talking here about a Christian who is willfully continuing to do what he knows is sinful. He is persisting in it, and he is not repentant. It is not a moment of weakness, but rather, a continuing pattern of behavior. We need to use the same guidelines. If I see someone in our church drunk once, I might talk to him about it, or maybe I’ll just pray for him. But when I see that getting drunk is a regular part of his lifestyle, a pattern of behavior, we’ll talk for sure. And if he refuses to repent, and claims that it isn’t sinful and it isn’t a problem, then I will be filled grief, as Paul said the Corinthians should be, and, depending on his response, that grief might have to lead to separation.

Now, there is one thing nowadays that makes this all different from when Paul wrote this. When Paul wrote, there was only one church in Corinth. They probably met in several different homes, but they saw themselves as a single church. So the persistent, unrepentant sinner who was kicked out, had no other church to go to. He couldn’t feel good or spiritual about himself by just showing up at a different church where no one knew him.

Nowadays, that is exactly what some people do. They leave one place if they are confronted with their persistent, unrepented sins, and go somewhere else where no one knows them. I only want to say this: spiritually speaking, they are playing with fire. That is like going to a new doctor, because your old doctor wants to treat the disease that is killing you, instead of just giving you pain medicine to alleviate your symptoms. You might be able to cover up your symptoms somewhere else, but you’ll only end up dead.

So, what does this mean for us today? I think there are two major applications, just as Paul had two major concerns. The first is for us as individuals. Is there any way in which we might be persisting in a sinful lifestyle? By the way, I think that at any given time, the answer to that for the majority of disciples would be “no.” But it is possible that someone reading this might be caught in a persistent pattern of sinful behavior – sin that you are not repenting of. If so, now is the time to repent. All we need is in Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, your spirit is already perfect. Let the Spirit rule, not your flesh. Repent, seek help from other believers, and leave it behind.

The other application is how we view sinful behavior in others. The sins of those who do not claim to be Christians are not really our business. Of course we should pray for those people, and try to lead them to Jesus, but there is no purpose in telling them to stop sinning if they don’t even know the Lord.

If we notice a fellow-disciple fail, like we all fail from time to time, we should pray for her. Maybe we could also ask her if she needs help or encouragement. We could remind her that she is forgiven, and already made perfect in her spirit in Jesus.

If we notice a persistent pattern of sinful behavior in another believer, we need to prayerfully take the steps that Jesus and Paul give us.

1 Corinthians Part 6. Liberation Theology? 1 Cor 4:7-16

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Corinthians, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment


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I was preparing this week to move on to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. However, I think the Lord suggested that I take an opportunity presented by the text in chapter 4. Verses 7-16 address an issue that has become more and more important in churches in the United States.

About 10 years ago some very dear friends of ours felt that the Lord was calling them to take a step of faith. He had a good job in the software industry, which allowed her to stay at home and raise the kids, and home-school them – something which they both felt was important. He quit his good job to launch out into a new career as a Realtor. He was positive that the Lord was calling him to do this. A year later, they were $30,000 in debt and on the brink of losing their home. She had to go back to work. He found a job painting houses, where he worked long hours at something he liked less, for less money.

Another couple we know had a dream farm in the country. He built this house on his own land, the land he grew up on. He has incredible skills – he can build or fix just about anything. But they felt the Lord calling them to start a home-school publishing business. To make a long story short, they lost their home, and ended up living in a campground in a 5th wheel trailer with five kids.

Now, what do you think when you hear these types of stories? I know what I thought – they must not have heard correctly. I came to this conclusion for two reasons. First, I thought they had made a mistake because things did not go well with them financially. Second, I thought they had made a mistake because they had no outward success in doing what they felt God had called them to do.

You see, I didn’t want to believe that God might deliberately call his people into a situation that was difficult. I didn’t want to believe that you could hear God correctly and follow him with your whole heart, and end up looking like a failure.

And then it happened to Kari and me. I can’t describe how much prayer went into our decision to leave our congregation in Minnesota. Our decision to move to Tennessee was drenched in prayer and godly counsel. And for three years it looked like one of the most stupid things either of us had done in our entire lives.

We were victims to what I call the American version of Liberation Theology. I personally know dozens of people who are influenced by this false teaching today. Liberation theology in other countries, maintains that the primary reason Jesus came was to bring political liberation to people who are oppressed. They don’t really emphasize the business of sin and forgiveness that much, or the fact that all humans seem born with a spiritual hole in their hearts. Instead, they point to various passages, most of them in the Old Testament. If you take these passages out of context, and apart from the rest of the Bible, you could make a case that their message is one of liberation from political and social oppression.

In America, we laugh at the foolishness of this, since we aren’t very oppressed (yet). But even so, we have a version of this, and it based on the same basic error. That error is to believe that God is primarily interested in making this earthly life comfortable for us. And so in America we either imply, or teach explicitly, that God wants to “bless” you. And we usually assume that the “blessing” means financial stability and growth, physical health, success in our efforts and a generally pleasant life. In case you wonder if many people really think this, let me share some words from a very popular “bible” teacher:

  • “Your faith will cause you to overflow in possessions, health, etc.”

  • “Having no [financial] increase renders you useless to the kingdom of God”

  • “The Word of God is the highway to the world of wealth”

These are not just quotes taken out of context. They are representative of the teaching of this man who has an extensive “ministry.” I know people from our town who attend his conferences. In addition, there is a widespread acceptance of the basic premise that faith is about God helping us get more comfortable. There is a little book called The Prayer of Jabez. It sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and it was basically about how we should expect God to bless us with outward success. There was another movement that started with a biblical approach. They were called “The Word of Faith” movement, and their basic idea was, that if God promised something, we ought to claim it, and believe that through faith, we have what is promised. So far so good. But gradually, that movement has gotten more and more focused on shallow, limited-situation promises that have to do only with this life.

Kari and I have attended church meetings here in Lebanon where the preachers said clearly that disease and trouble was a result of sin in our lives. They said if we lived as true Christians, we wouldn’t experience disease or financial hardship. The bible has a lot to say about this. It calls people who teach such things:

“…men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think godliness is a means to financial gain” (1 Timothy 6:5)

Even so, these teachings and teachers are very popular. They are popular precisely because they say what we are so eager to hear: that life is all about me and my personal comfort. Paul writes this to Timothy about such things:

Proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:2-4)

Now, it is true that following Jesus will bring you blessing. You will be blessed in that you were created for a relationship with God, and so through faith in Jesus, you enter into the very reason you exist. You were also created to do certain things in this world – to work with God and God’s purposes here and now. As you submit to that purpose and do those things you were made to do, you will experience a sense of fulfillment and joy. The Holy Spirit brings healing and wholeness to our Spirits, and that healing is meant to flow down into our psyches – to restore us each one as the unique person she or he was intended be.

It is also true that sometimes God bring physical healing. Sometimes he does other miracles that improve our lives here and now. But the Bible is clear that God’s purposes for us will only be truly fulfilled after the end of the world, when we inhabit resurrection bodies in the New Heavens and New Earth. In other words this life is not about this life.

This is exactly part of the message of 1 Corinthians 4:7-16. Paul takes the Corinthians to task for thinking they are like Kings, for thinking that they have already, in this life, achieved all that God has for them. Their attitude has been like that of many American prosperity preachers, or Liberation Theologians. In contrast, Paul shares a little bit about what his life has been like, following the Lord faithfully. So one popular teacher in our time says “Your degree of Soul Prosperity determines how well you prosper in other areas of life.” The apostle Paul says:

Up to the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless; we labor, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we respond graciously. Even now, we are like the world’s garbage, like the dirt everyone scrapes off their sandals.

Either the apostle Paul, who wrote half of the New Testament, did not have a good relationship with Jesus, or these teachers are wrong. Paul also said this:

If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone. (1 Cor 15:19)

I understand that this life can get grindingly hard and crushingly depressing. I know there is grief here that cuts like broken glass. Sometimes, you can’t help caring deeply about the difficulties you face. The Lord does offer comfort here and now. Sometimes he brings objective relief into our circumstances. But we must never accept the idea that what we experience for 70 or 90 years here in this life matters more than the future of unbroken eternity that we face when life is over.

Paul suffered hardship, as he recorded here. His faith did not bring him riches. It did not even bring him physical healing (2 Corinthians 12:6-9). But it did bring him joy and comfort. And never forget this – Paul’s sufferings ended – completely – almost 2,000 years ago. Even if he lived for 100 years and suffered every day of it, he has been in the presence of God for twenty times that long already. And this is what life is like for Paul today:

Look! God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.

1 Corinthians Part 5: Judgment. 1 Corinthians chapter 4

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Corinthians, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Jesus, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment


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In these first few chapters of Corinthians, Paul has been taking the Corinthians to task for their underlying spiritual immaturity. One manifestation of that immaturity is that they were splitting up into little cult-like groups following one particular leader – even though the leaders were absent, and did not wish them to behave that way.

Last time we looked at how Paul said to them that there is only one foundation – Jesus Christ – and that Christians will receive (or not receive) rewards for how they build upon that foundation. The passage we will look at this time is a continuation of those thoughts, which all come in the broader context of the pride and immaturity of the Corinthians.

If you remember, at the very beginning of this letter, Paul opened with a reminder of all that the Corinthians had in Christ. In Christ, they were perfect. In Christ, they had all wisdom, all spiritual gifts. Once more, Paul pauses to remind them of this. In fact, he points out how foolish it is to exalt one apostle above another, because all them, their teachings and their “style” belong to the Corinthians through Jesus Christ. So he writes:

21 So then, no more boasting about mere mortals! For everything belongs to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. Everything belongs to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Once again, the answer is not for the Corinthians to reform themselves – it is to go back to the well – to find their strength, their joy, their very life, in Jesus Christ. If they do that, they will be building wisely upon the foundation of Christ, and there will be no purpose in splitting up to follow the various apostles as if those apostles somehow meant anything apart from Jesus. They already have everything in Jesus.

Paul closes out this entire first section of the letter with chapter 4:1-21. There are two things I want to look at in this section.

By the way, as we go through this book I want to point out that I am not covering every little thing that could be covered in every single verse. Mostly, I am trying to listen to the Holy Spirit, and see what he wants to say to us, at this time, through this part of the bible. I am consciously by-passing some things that we could examine at greater length. Hopefully, I am doing that as the Spirit leads.

The first (and main thing) I want to examine today are Paul’s words about being evaluated, (or as some translations say, judged). Paul says he and Apollos are examples for all believers in this respect. He says that we are servants of Christ and managers of God’s mysteries. He goes on:

In this regard, it is expected of managers that each one be found faithful. It is of little importance that I should be evaluated by you or by a human court. In fact, I don’t even evaluate myself. For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. The One who evaluates me is the Lord. Therefore don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.

Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the saying: “Nothing beyond what is written.” The purpose is that none of you will be inflated with pride in favor of one person over another.

In Western culture today, there is a great deal of confusion about judging. One of the most misused and misunderstood verses of the Bible is Matthew 7:7 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.” This does not mean we can’t call sin, “sin.” It doesn’t mean that we can’t say what the Bible says, which is that the only way to be saved is through faith in Jesus Christ. For example, when confronted with someone who says “All religions lead to the same God and the same heaven,” I don’t need to pass judgment. I can simply say what the Bible says: “Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, the Life. No one comes to the Father except by me.” Acts 4;12 says “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.” I am not judging anyone. I am simply repeating what the Holy Spirit has already said. I don’t have to do it in an attitude of condemnation. I can simply pass on the information that the Spirit has given me through the Bible.

If I say “adultery is wrong” I am not making the judgment – I am simply affirming what the Holy Spirit Himself said through the Bible. Actually, it is when I insist on saying something that the Bible does not say – like that all roads lead to heaven – that I am making that judgment myself.

So when Jesus said not to judge, and when Paul says human judgment doesn’t matter, they are not saying we should just ignore the Bible – in fact, they are saying the opposite – let God do the judging, not our own biased opinions. In fact, in the very next chapter, Paul is going to apply God’s Word to someone who is sinning. He will call a certain behavior sin. He will tell the church to have nothing to do with the sinner until he repents. This is not judging someone – it is simply saying what God has already said. The actual decision of that person’s eternal future is still up to God.

In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul is talking about a specific kind of judgment – we are not judge someone else’s Christian life and service when sin is not an issue. He said the same thing in Romans 14.

Who are you to pass judgment on someone else’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand (Romans 14:4)

What Paul is saying is this: “You Corinthians are picking sides, and saying ‘Apollos is better than Paul. Paul is better than Peter.’ But Apollos, Paul and Peter are not accountable to you. God will judge how well they have served him. Your judgment about that is irrelevant.”

There is a lot of freedom as we walk with Jesus. There are many things that the Bible neither commands, nor forbids. For instance, not to shock you, but the Bible does not forbid smoking. I think we all know that smoking is extremely bad for your health, so it’s definitely not a good idea to do it. But if you are already hooked, understand this: You may be killing yourself physically, but you aren’t sinning every time you light up. We are not supposed to judge each other on these matters.

There are other things which are important, but which bible believing Christians disagree upon, and have for centuries. We all agree that baptism is important. But there is some discussion about how to do it, and what it means. I think what the Holy Spirit is saying to us through passages like these, is “follow me to the best of your understanding, and don’t condemn others who have a different understanding than you.”

We make evaluations based upon outward appearances. We looked at this a few weeks ago when we studied 1 Cor 1;26 – 2:16. We see a person with an outwardly successful life, and say “she’s doing well.” Actually, that’s judgment we aren’t qualified to make.

I don’t think New Joy has a problem with this, but you’ve probably been in churches in the past where people were judged based upon the clothes they wore to church.

Sometimes, it’s a positive judgment. But this isn’t any more right than a negative one. We might judge a person who does a lot of outward good works to be Holy. People are always surprised when a Deacon at the church who volunteers at homeless shelters suddenly turns out to be a child-abuser, or runs off with his secretary. This surprises us because we are making judgments we have no right to make. We’ve judged the man “good” by what he does on the outside.

We often make judgments based upon our traditions, our culture or what we are used to.

Churches are usually fairly traditional. By that I mean, many churches place a great value on tradition. That’s often a very good thing. However, because of this value of tradition, we may tend to have a negative view of things and people that are different from those traditions. The Bible claims that it is the revelation of God. It is different from, and has authority over, human-made traditions. So just because something is traditional, does not necessarily mean it is biblical. And something that we view as not traditional (according to our traditions) may in fact be more biblical than our traditions.

Paul’s emotional discourse after he makes these statements shows us something about the effect of making judgments. Even though Paul does not regard their evaluation of him as valid, it is still painful to be wrongly judged by others. Paul says it is of little importance that he should be evaluated by the Corinthians (4:3). I believe he means it, and was inspired by the Holy Spirit to say it. At the same time, though the evaluation of the Corinthians was not important to him spiritually, I think it is safe to say that Paul was deeply hurt emotionally by their attitude toward him. He is saying, in a godly and righteous way, that he deserves better from them.

Our brothers and sisters deserve the same from us. We can – in fact we must – say what the bible says. There are times when we need to point to brothers and sisters that their behavior is against what the Holy Spirit teaches through the Bible – Paul himself does that many times in this very letter, following this section. But even so, the actual judgment of that person is God’s responsibility, not ours.

Even more, we have no business bringing our evaluation or judgment to another believer when neither sin nor biblical truth is an issue. My sister in Christ is not my servant. She doesn’t exist on earth to do my work. She is here for God’s work. I should encourage her and help her. But it is not my business to evaluate how well she is serving God.

My biggest problem, practically, with this passage, is Tom. Paul says he doesn’t even evaluate himself. My biggest temptation is not to evaluate you, but rather me. But Paul says this is equally wrong. I don’t even have the authority to judge myself, because I do not live to serve myself, but Jesus.

Once again, we are in the realm of grace. We are called hear to give grace to others, and also receive it for ourselves. What will you do?