Tag: churches in lebanon tn

The Purpose of “things of the Spirit” 1 Corinthians #19. 1 Cor 12:1-7

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


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Paul has been talking to the Corinthians about several different topics that arose because of their letter to him, and the visit that he had with some members of the church. It is unclear whether or not the Corinthians had questions about what is in this next section (roughly, chapters 12 – 14) but in any case Paul begins by saying: “About spiritual things brothers, I do not want you to be unknowing.” Whether or not they asked, these things are important for them to know, if they want to be disciples of Jesus.

Paul begins alleviating their ignorance with this interesting statement:

No one speaking by the Spirit of God says “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. (v 3)

I don’t think Paul means that no one can physically utter the phrase “Jesus is Lord” without the Holy Spirit. He means, rather, that no one can truly affirm in his/her heart and believe in the Lordship of Jesus unless he/she has the Holy Spirit. There is a practical side of this. If someone claims to be a prophet and speaks a prophecy that has the ultimate result of making people more independent from God and the Lordship of Jesus, then that prophecy did not come from the Holy Spirit. If someone claims to have a new revelation from God that rejects what the Bible teaches about Jesus, and rejects Jesus as true God and true man, then that revelation did not come from the Lord. In case you are wondering how that is applicable, bear in mind that the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons have done exactly that. We can tell they are false teachings because they reject the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Their “prophetic utterances” are not from God, because they do not affirm that Jesus is Lord. Even more recently, Gwen Shamblin, founder of the Weigh Down Workshops has started a cult, rejecting the Lordship of Jesus. So if anyone is claiming to be an instrument of the Holy Spirit the end result should be that Jesus is lifted up as Lord.

Even on a more personal level, we should apply this test to people who claim to be speaking or working for God. I knew a lady once who claimed to be a prophetess. But much of her speaking seemed to glorify herself. She also claimed to have the gift of healing. One time, she retold the story of the woman who was healed when she pressed through the crowds to touch the edge of Jesus’ cloak. She then invited all the listeners to crowd around her, and touch her own clothing and be healed. The effect was that the focus was all on her. She was glorifying herself, not Jesus.

If my own preaching and teaching seems primarily to glorify myself; particularly if it seems to draw more attention to me than to Jesus, then what I say is probably not by Holy Spirit. If my preaching or teaching seems to lift up or draw attention to another human being or human institution, rather than Jesus Christ, then I may not be speaking by the Spirit of God.

You might find a church or a religious group that does not glorify a person or institution, but their teaching ends up somehow minimizing Jesus. I attended a group meeting once where three preachers spoke. Each one urged us to make ourselves better by our own efforts. Each one told us that we had the power and responsibility to make ourselves holy – on our own. They did not lift up what Jesus did for us on the cross. They did not publicly proclaim that our holiness comes only through Jesus. The Lordship of Jesus was minimized – our own efforts and good works were the main things that were lifted up. I think they were not speaking by the Spirit of God.

On the other side of things, when Jesus Christ is glorified and lifted up, we have good reason to trust the source. When credit is given to the Lord, and the human beings involved are viewed as lowly unworthy instruments who happened to be used by Him, then we can remember that Paul says, no one can truly believe and truly express the Lordship of Jesus unless the Spirit of God is in that person.

Paul adds another thought about “spiritual things:”

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Paul lists three categories of things here. The first is gifts. Literally, the word used is “graces.” Many Christians call these “spiritual gifts” but because of the Greek, I prefer the term “grace-gifts.” We don’t know for sure what Paul means by “graces,” but he does use this exact word referring to healing both in verse 9 and in verse 27. The second category of “spiritual things” is service. The word used here is actually plural, and it could also be translated “ministries.” I think this is a broad category suggesting that the Holy Spirit works through those who serve the church in various capacities. Don’t be fooled by the term “ministry.” It mean service. If you serve God or others in some way, the bible calls it a “ministry.” Paul says that all these different kinds of ministries come from the Holy Spirit. The third category Paul mentions is “activities.” A more literal translation might be “energies” or “empowerments.” The word is all about supernatural power. Linguistically, this has a clear connection to obvious miracles and to exorcism (the driving out of demons).

In the following verses, Paul does not say which particular things are grace-gifts, which are ministries, and which are empowerments. The main point is, they all come from the Holy Spirit.

Now, these “spiritual things” or “things of the Spirit” have been somewhat controversial in Christian history. Some Christians claim that God doesn’t do anything miraculous anymore (although most of those folks would still agree that God sometimes heals miraculously). So to them, the entire passage that follows is basically irrelevant. But one of the reasons people came to feel that way is because other Christians have sometimes ignored the important points Paul makes here about things of the Spirit, and the result is that they fake spiritual gifts, or try to manipulate them, or take them as a sign of some special Christian status. But Paul says that the point of all these “things of the spirit” is that they glorify Jesus, and they work for the common good of those who trust him.

“Spiritual gifts” as they are often called, are not a sign of maturity. Since Paul writes about these things, it is a pretty good bet that the Corinthian Christians had these “things of the spirit.” And yet we know from the rest of the letter that in many ways they were spiritually immature, and even wrong in both their theology and practice. So we won’t make the mistake of thinking that because someone has the gift of prophecy, or tongues or healing, that it automatically means that such a person is mature in following Jesus. We will also, as we examine the next few chapters of 1 Corinthians, pay attention to what Paul says about these things and how to put them into practice. We won’t fake theses things of spirit. We won’t try to manipulate them.

On the other hand, according to the bible these things do actually exist, and when they are used according to the direction given by the Spirit through the bible (as in this passage), they bring great benefit to the whole Church. So we won’t throw out the baby with the bath water. We will seek these things of the spirit, as Paul tells us to in 12:31. And as we do, we will glorify Jesus.

As usual, Eugene Petersen, in the Message, has a pretty good handle on the meaning of these verses:

God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!

State of the Church Address. Feb 2011.

On By Pastor TomIn Christianity, Faith, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment


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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus,

Usually sometime during the first few months of a new year, I like to offer a “State of the Church” message. With that in mind, I’d like to share what I think the Lord has been saying to me about New Joy Fellowship in 2011.

New Joy Fellowship is a different kind of church. We are unlike many, if not most, of the other churches in our area. Depending on your point of view, this could be either good or bad. I think, however, that at present, we are almost exactly the church that the Holy Spirit wants us to be.

Particularly in this area of the world and of the country, people view church as something to do. You do the Sunday morning service. You do Sunday School. You do programs for the church. Church represents a hub of activity and work. In addition, most church activities are “programmed” – which means that they happen because they are planned and pushed by a small leadership group, or maybe the pastor. There are some positives to this approach. Usually, with this system, there is accountability to make sure things are done, and done properly. At the end of a year it is easy to quantify what the church has accomplished, by listing the programs that were run, and the number of people who participated in them.

Obviously, this does not describe New Joy Fellowship.

There are negatives associated with the typical way of doing church. Because it is activity and program centered, it is easy to feel like you have done your good religious duty by attending or helping with a church program. It becomes something you do, rather than a relationship with Jesus that leads to loving relationships with others. It is easy to replace true interaction with God, and true love-in-action for fellow believers with simply putting time and effort into activities and programs. It becomes religion, rather than relationship.

In America, we have turned church into something you do. But real church is a community you belong to. Sure, a real church should “do stuff.” But that doing should flow out of a faith relationship with God, and love for fellow believers in the community.

As I reflect upon New Joy Fellowship, that is exactly what I see that we are. We are first of all, a community of believers. As we relate to each other, and to those we interact with at work and at home, we get involved in the mission of Jesus. We don’t have any programs for this. Even so, it happens. I tend to think of this as “real church.” Those of you who come to Sunday morning worship before the first song starts may have noticed our slogan, displayed on the wall every Sunday: Real Presence (walk with God); Real People (walk with others); Real Purpose (work in the Kingdom). That is God’s call for New Joy, and to a fair degree, we are living these things out in our church community.

Belonging to a church community like this is not as exciting as it sometimes is to “do” church the way so much of our culture does. We don’t get our name in the newspapers. There is not a lot of hype either about New Joy, or in our community.

But that does not mean that we are insignificant. God is still at work, in us and through us. 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 says this:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

New Joy is not powerful according to worldly standards. We are not strong or exciting. To be brutally honest, by the world’s standard of judging, we are not much at all. But praise God, those are just the kinds of people and churches that the Holy Spirit seems to delight in using. As Paul writes, the Lord loves using the little, weak, foolish and no-account things to accomplish his purposes in this world, and to shame the proud.

I had to put forth a bit of mental energy to consider how God has been using us, but when I did, I was thrilled. Last fall, I talked to our financial deacons. I wanted to make sure we were giving away 10% of what we take in as a church. They said we were close, but we weren’t giving away quite 10%. We gave that 9% or so away to missions organizations and other ministries that I know well enough to trust that it will be well used. However, the Deacons. pointed out that we also do a lot of things that aren’t “on our books” so to speak. What they meant is, we don’t have either programs or budget-line-items for much of what we actually do as a church. Instead, we walk with God and with each other, and through that the Lord motivates us for Kingdom purposes.

Lisa Fiehweg, one of our deaconesses, does a lot of her work as an attorney for children who need legal representation. Often this is because the adults in their lives have been terribly irresponsible, or even abusive. Lisa is part of our community. So it seems like at least once a year or more, we buy and gather things that these kids need. We don’t give to organization that takes care of needy children. We don’t have a program. But quite a few kids had a blessed Christmas only because Lisa is a part of our community, and we responded to the Lord’s prompting to give. A few years ago we did something similar through another Lisa, Lisa Decker.

We don’t have a “world vision program.” But Marcie has been connected to World Vision for many years. Because Marcie is part of our community over the years our little church has grown to sponsor a proportionately large number of overseas children through world vision. In the past few years we have radically changed the lives of dozens of families around the world by purchasing them cows, and helping them get fresh water.

Are you starting to see a theme here? We belong to God. We belong to each other. As we live out the truth of that together, we are working together for God’s purposes.

New Joy does not have a Middle-School evangelism program. But just a few days ago, I got a phone call from Tyler Garrels, one of our youth. He invited me to speak at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes function before his school started on Thursday. I went, and as I do from time to time, after I spoke I invited anyone who had not already done so, to give their lives and hearts to Jesus. Afterward, three people came up and told me that they did that for the very first time when I gave the invitation. Three people have a relationship with Jesus today because Tyler Garrels is part of our community, and more importantly, acted like part of our community. With a lot of time and energy and money, we might have been able to put together a middle-school evangelism event that brought the same result, but even then, I doubt it.

We all have a role to play in this community. Even the smallest, most insignificant-seeming role is vital. Tyler may not thought much of his role before. But if he wasn’t part of New Joy, and if he hadn’t invited me, those three kids probably still wouldn’t know Jesus today.

With all this mind, I think the Lord wants to say three things things to us as a church.

First, he wants to encourage us to stay in community with Him, and with one another. Hebrews 10:23-25 says this:

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Some of us may be tempted to go find excitement elsewhere. We may be tempted to take a quick look at New Joy and say, “nothing much happening here.” But don’t judge the way the world does. The Lord is at work in New Joy. We need you here, because when we are all a part of the community, when we act like we belong to the Lord and to each other, then the Lord can and does work through us. It may not look like it does in other churches, but it is real, and it is happening. Stay the course. The life of faith is a marathon, not a sprint. Our Christian relationships and our church affiliation should reflect that.

Second, I do believe that the Lord wants us to be a community that is willing to grow by adding new members. There are people in Lebanon, Wilson County and Smith County who need to be a part of New Joy. I’m not talking about us becoming a mega-church. But some of our friends, neighbors and co-workers are supposed to be here. Pray for them. Invite them. Don’t give up on them.

Third, I think the Lord wants us to hear “Well done!” I think he is pleased with our attitude, and with our results. I believe with all my heart that if we had not been here these past five years, many people would be much worse off today. We are on track. Don’t lose heart. Be encouraged. Stay the course!

What is Communion? 1 Corinthians #18. 1 Cor 11:17-31

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

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Three weeks ago Paul’s comments about food sacrificed to idols taught us some things about what we call The Lord’s Supper, or Communion. We learned that to take the bread and wine in faith is to enter into community with Jesus, to fellowship with him in a special way. It is also a special kind of communion or fellowship with other believers who take the bread and wine with us.

1 Corinthians 11:17-33 is also about the Lord’s Supper. As we get into this today, you might be tempted to think “Pastor Tom has some kind of bee in his bonnet about Communion. He’s really pushing this right now.” But that’s not accurate. If were up to me, I would not preach about Communion again so soon. However, this is one of the reasons I think it is important to preach through books of the Bible, passage by passage. When we go through the bible this way, I am not the one setting the agenda. I’m not thinking of some topic we ought to cover. In the same way, I am not following some theological group’s preaching plan for the “church year.” Instead, the Holy Spirit sets the agenda through the text of the Bible each week. And so, once more on the menu this week is some teaching about Communion. In obedience to the Holy Spirit, we’ll look at it, and see what He has to say about it this time.

In order to fully understand this passage, I want to remind you of the historical context. All Christians for the first 300 years after Jesus met in small groups in homes. Sometimes they had the use of a public meeting place also, like a rented room, or a synagogue. In the case of the Corinthians, the Christians had been violently expelled from the synagogue, and it is virtually certain that they met in the homes of church members. In those days, houses were not usually very large, and few, if any of the Corinthians were noble and wealthy (see 1:26). People would come to the houses to eat, celebrate communion, and then talk about the bible and pray. Communion was celebrated as part of the meal, as it was in the last Passover that Jesus held with his disciples.

In Corinth, the few wealthiest people would be there first, because they would have the most flexibility in their time. The poorer laborers almost certainly had to work until dark, and so came later. It was even harder for the slaves, who obviously would have had difficulty gaining the liberty to go to a church meeting. Those who were financially better off were likely the ones who provided the bulk of the food. They had an opportunity to show wonderful Christian love by providing a meal that their poorer fellow-Christians couldn’t normally afford. But what actually happened was that they started eating right away, and by the time the poorer folks and the slaves arrived, there was precious little left. Paul notes that some of the early-comers were even drunk by the time the latest arrived!

We already learned from 1 Corinthians 10:14-31 that communion is special connection with Jesus and with each other. It is one way in which God touches us with his grace. This way of conducting their meal did not reflect the communion that they had with each other, nor the full depth of the connection they had with Jesus through the Lord’s Supper. In a sense, they had begun to treat communion as if it were some little ceremony tacked on to the end of the meal, almost like a fortune cookie.

In verses 23-26, Paul reminds them of the words of Jesus. These are the words I say every time we celebrate communion. If you have celebrated the Christian Passover with us, you understand the context and meaning of these words better than 90% of Christians living today. It is conjecture, but it is a very good guess that it was a special piece of bread, the afikomen – the “bread of life” which Jesus broke and over which he spoke these words. After all, in John 6:35 Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” Through communion, Jesus is inviting us to feast our spirits on his life and presence.

Continue reading “What is Communion? 1 Corinthians #18. 1 Cor 11:17-31” →

The Gender Dance, Part II. 1 Corinthians #17

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


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Last week we found that 1 Corinthians 11:3-16 contains both universal truths, and cultural applications. We spent most of our time looking at the universal truths. Here is a summary of what we have learned so far:

  • Men and women are created in the image of God to be equal

  • Men and women are created in the image of God to be different and have different roles. The spiritual role of men is “head” and the spiritual role of woman is “helper companion.” (*We did consider how to apply this).

  • Men and women are created to function as a team.

It seems that one of the most controversial things I said last week is that I sometimes watch “Dancing with the Stars.” I stand by decision, and I stand by my analogy that God created the genders to relate in a way that is something like a dance. The dance can be a beautiful, attractive thing to watch. In the dance, men and women don’t have the same steps. Sometimes their steps mirror each other. I have heard it said, more than once, that Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did, only backwards and in high heels. I get the sentiment, but the truth is more subtle than that. She didn’t do the same thing – her steps were different from his A backwards step is not the same thing as a forward step. Rogers’ role may certainly have been more difficult. But she could not have done it without Astaire. It certainly would not have been a dance without both of them. Imagine Ginger had said, “I want to do your steps” and Fred said, “OK, we’ll both do them.” We would not be talking about them today, because the result would not be a beautiful dance.

Now, I heard some jibes about “Dancing with the Stars” from some of you male Neanderthal types who are no doubt insecure in your masculinity (I’m just kidding – I enjoyed the ribbing I got). So, to satisfy everyone, I want include another analogy – gender relationships are like a football game. Ladies, bear with me – apparently your husbands need this.

In a professional football team (apologies to my international friends – I mean American NFL football) the coaches discuss and plan the plays for the upcoming game. During the game, the Offensive Coordinator calls the plays, occasionally checking with the head coach. The quarterback gets the play-call through a radio in his helmet, and then he tells the rest of the team, and they run the play.

On the field, the other players listen to the quarterback. It isn’t that the quarterback is always the best, smartest or most experienced player on the team. But his position or role means that he is responsible to get the team into the right formation, and then get the ball to the right person.

A wide receiver would not technically have to run the route the quarterback tells him to. But if he doesn’t, he ends up hurting the team. In recent memory there have been incredibly talented wide receivers who ended up as liabilities to the teams on which they played. Terrell Owens and Randy Moss are both very able receivers. But they generally choose to act as if the purpose of the game was about their own individual performance. They have both jumped from team to team, not because of lack of talent, but rather the lack of ability to work with others.

Every year some teams lose their starting quarterback, and have to replace him with someone younger and less experienced. Some teams start off with young inexperienced quarterbacks. Undoubtedly, some of the centers, wide-receivers or running backs on these teams know more about the game, and are more talented than their own quarterback. Even so, the quarterback is called on to lead the team, and tell the others the plays given by the coaches. When the other players respect this, they have a greater chance of success.

The quarterback does not have to make all the plays. In fact, usually, teams don’t do well unless everyone is doing what the coaches ask, and working together. The quarterback’s job, in fact, is usually to get the ball into the hands of someone else who will make the play.

The rest of the team has relationships with the coaches also. They don’t have to go through the quarterback to talk to the coach. It isn’t a hierarchy like that. Even so, when they are on the field, the quarterback is the one who is responsible to communicate the play and lead the team so that everyone is on the same page.

Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 11:3-16 that men hold a spiritual position, just like quarterbacks hold a team position. The spiritual position of men is called by the bible, “the head.” This doesn’t mean that men are better than women. But it means that men are responsible before God to lead both men and women in accomplishing God’s purposes. If a quarterback allows a wide receiver to determine which play the team will execute, the coach will still blame the quarterback if it goes wrong. Adam allowed Eve to direct their spiritual choices in the Garden of Eden. The Bible is clear that Eve made the choice, and she took the fruit, and she gave it to Adam, who followed her leadership. Even so, both the Old and New Testament blame Adam, not Eve, for what happened. This because Adam was the head – the player on the field who was spiritually responsible for the team.

It isn’t a hierarchical situation. Women have the same direct relationship with the Lord that men do. But here on the field of life, men will be held spiritually responsible for the care of their families and churches in a way that women will not.

Women are definitely called to be involved. Just like on a sports team, things don’t work unless well everyone is playing hard, and people are paying attention to the role they have on the team. God did hold Eve accountable for what happened, but in a different way than Adam. So also, He will hold women responsible for supporting and assisting and helping their husbands and church leadership.

Male Leadership/headship does not mean domination. It has nothing to do with that. It means responsibility. It means that when God calls us to account, he is going to hold men responsible for the spiritual direction taken by their churches and families.

Male headship does not give men the right to control women in any way. In fact, it is about men caring and taking responsibility. If a woman chooses not to respond to male headship, that is between her and the Lord. A leader shows the way, but never forces. So men cannot force women to follow or to submit.

The best leaders exemplify a combination of being personally involved, and delegating. The quarterback on a football team does touch the ball on every play. He calls the plays. But he doesn’t make the plays. Almost always, he hands the ball off, or throws it to someone else. In the same way, male leadership doesn’t mean that men are supposed to do everything while women must sit quietly and do nothing. It just means that men must be responsible and involved while also welcoming and inviting the involvement of women.

To put it another way, male headship does not mean that women need to stay barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. In fact, this very passage contains one of the most clear affirmations of public female ministry – that of prophesy.

New Testament prophesy comes in three variations. There is predictive prophesy – that is the Holy Spirit, through the prophet/ess tells His people about events that are coming in the future (Acts 11:28-29; Acts 21:10-11). There is present prophesy: when the Holy Spirit, through the prophet/ess reveals His will for His people in the present, as He did when He told the church at Antioch to send Barnabas and Saul as missionaries (Acts 13:1-3). There is also a prophesy of exhortation, where the prophet/ess gives a message of encouragement to the people of God (1 Corinthians 14:3).

There is nothing in 1 Corinthians 11, or anywhere else in the Bible, that restricts women from any of these three forms of prophesy. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul assumes that women will prophesy. He also assumes that they will pray out loud in church meetings.

Prophesy and prayer are powerful gifts in God’s kingdom. According to this passage, it is good and appropriate for women to speak out to encourage other believers. It is good and appropriate for women who have the gift of prophesy to say what they believe the Lord wants to do among his people.

When it comes to the application of these things, what Paul is saying is that the Corinthians should conduct their church meetings in such a way that others can tell that men and women are involved in the spiritual gender dance. He wants their public conduct to reflect the image of God, to demonstrate the headship role of men, and the helper-companion role of women – in whatever ministries the church has. In 1st Century Corinth, apparently you could show all this, at least in some measure, through head coverings.

You may think it’s crazy that head coverings could communicate anything like that. And I certainly believe that head covering do not communicate such things in modern Western Society. Even so, I have a young single Muslim friend from South America. We were eating together once, and he remarked that he had seen some ladies at the bank with little white hats on. As he described them further, I realized he had seen some Mennonites. He was very impressed with them. He said, “I want to meet some young ladies like them. It shows that they have good character.” If you know anything about Mennonites, they dress very conservatively. But he was instantly attracted to these young Mennonites because they wore head coverings. It communicated something to him that it does not communicate to most Americans or Western Europeans. So I think it is certainly possible that head coverings did indeed communicate some significant things in 1st Century Corinth.

So what about now? Since in our society, head coverings generally don’t mean the same thing, what do we do?

First I think we should consciously engage in the dance. Some women have the gift of speaking out publicly to encourage others (that is, the gift of prophesy). They should use it. We should all welcome it. Women who have it should use that gift as women, and not try to imitate male pastors or leaders as they share. In addition, they should somehow offer recognition of the spiritual dance, and that the male leadership of church and family will be held accountable – even partially for what they (the women) say and do. In the dance of the Trinity, the Father honors and Son, and the So honors the Father and so on. So, even in public ministry, women can honor men.

Men need to recognize the dance (or the football team, if you prefer) and engage. We are not called to dominate or control. But we are called to take responsibility for the spiritual state of our families and our church. This means we need to be more involved, more relational. We too, need to lift up and honor women, and not relegate them to the kitchen and nursery, unless they feel called to those places.

As with everything, we need to pray and rely on the Holy Spirit as we implement these truths.

The Dance. 1 Corinthians 11:3-16

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Corinthians, apostle paul, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Faith, Sermon, Uncategorized1 Comment

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There are seven passage in the New Testament which teach clearly and openly about the roles of men and women in the church and in the family. This is one of them. There is a great deal to explore in this passage. Too much for a single, ½ hour sermon. So I will break this up over two weeks. Please understand, if you only read this message, you are missing out on half of the message, and your understanding of what I am saying will be incomplete. Please do not quote me or assume you know what I am saying until you have heard or read both messages.

There are typically two responses to passages like this one. The first is to simply accept it without any real study. This usually results in rules that say women should wear hats or head-coverings, and women should “keep in their place” (meaning they have very little real input in church or family). I call this approach Traditionalism. I don’t think it does justice to what the bible really says.

The second reaction is to recognize how different this teaching is from our culture today, and find some way to interpret it that ends up either being meaningless, or even meaning the opposite of what it actually says. I call this approach Evangelical Feminism, and I think this also ends up failing to really appreciate what the Bible says. In fact, I think Evangelical Feminism lays the foundation that ends up in plain old heresy.

I am not saying that my parents taught me this, but I grew up basically thinking along Evangelical Feminist lines. In my teen years I heard some ways to dismiss the teaching of this passage and others like it. Basically, I accepted the argument that this passage is specifically and only for the culture of Corinth in the 1st Century, and it really doesn’t apply to us anymore. I categorically rejected any notion that there were some roles that should be held only by men or some that should be held only by women.

I was in college before I heard anyone seriously argue that these passages actually mean something in today’s world. I didn’t like the person who made the argument, and I dismissed it out of hand. A few years later, some people that I truly respected told me that they believed there was something to this, and the six other passages which teach about gender-roles. I began to be a bit more open, but I still maintained Evangelical Feminism.

Finally in seminary I looked into it for myself, and I was humbled to find out that I had been careless in my approach to the Bible about this subject.

The fact is, I think most Christians end up at either extreme. Traditionalists use passages like this to repress and even oppress women. Evangelical Feminists do theological gymnastics to make the same passages meaningless, and end up re-writing the Bible to say whatever suits them. But there is a middle road, the way of Truth.

It is true, part of this passage is just cultural application. But part of it is the teaching of important eternal truths. And we should bear in mind that this is just one of seven passages, all of which teach the same eternal truths about men and women.

The cultural aspects have to do with hairstyle. Paul says:

If it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head.

The question is, what if it is not a disgrace for a woman to have short hair? The fact is, Paul seems to be basing his application instructions upon the hairstyles of his time. Again he writes:

14 Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, 15 but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory?

The question arises again – is long hair a disgrace to men? That appears to be a fairly superficial thing that changes with the times.

However, we make a grave mistake if we say that this entire passage is merely a discussion of how Christians should wear their hair in 1st Century Corinth. In fact, if we dismiss the whole passage as cultural, we have greatly weakened the biblical case for two vital ministry roles that are open to women.

Paul’s teaching here is quite clear: women can and should pray in public, and women can and should prophesy in public. This is the only New Testament passage that explicitly endorses women in these ministries. So if we say the whole thing is cultural, then the idea of women prophesying and praying is also only a cultural accommodation to the 1st Century.

The fact is, we have two things going on this passage:

  • First, there is the teaching of a universal truth about men and women

  • Second, there is an application of that truth to 1st Century Corinth.

The specific application (in this case, hairstyles during worship) may or may not be relevant today, but we still need to seek to apply the universal truth to our situation.

The universal truths expressed here are basically this:

  • The male gender is the spiritual head of the female gender, just as Christ is the spiritual head of the church and the Father is the spiritual head of Christ (v. 3).

    • This is a result of how we are created (Genesis 1:27). It is demonstrated in Genesis 2, by the fact that Eve was created to be a helper-companion to Adam, to fulfill him and to join with him in caring for the world (v. 8-10).

  • Even so, men and women are not independent of each other – they need to work as a team (v. 11).

  • In worship and in the conduct women’s ministries, these truths should be reflected in some appropriate way (v. 10).

This is exactly the same basic message that we find in the other six New Testament teaching passages which deal explicitly with gender roles. For example, Ephesians 5:22-23:

Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body.

This idea of “headship” is troubling to us in the Western World in the 21st century. But it is an often repeated idea in the Bible. Here, Paul connects the idea both to the nature of God (v.3) and also to how we were created(v.8). If we look at these two things, we might gain a better understanding of what exactly this relationship means.

The bible describes God as a Trinity: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He is one God. There are not three Gods, but only one. The bible also teaches that he exists as three persons at the same time. So the Father is God, but he is not the Son or the Spirit. The Son, Jesus Christ, is God, but he is not the Father or the Spirit. The Spirit is God, but he is not the Son or the Father.

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are equal to each other. We worship all three persons as one God. We pray to all three. There is not one that is “better” than another one – they have the same God-nature.

Even so, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have different roles. It was Jesus Christ, the Son who took on human flesh and walked physically in this world. It was he who died for us, not the Father or the Spirit. It is the Spirit who lives in our hearts and imparts the power and life of God to us, not the Father or the Son. It was the Father, who sent the Son, not the Son who sent himself. It was the Father who said “this is my Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

The fact that the Son has the role of the Son does not make him less important than the Father. The Spirit’s role does not make him more important than the Son. They are equal, but different.

So when Paul says, “and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God,” it does not mean inequality. What it means is that men and women have different roles. Like the Trinity, Men and women are equal. Like the Trinity, men and women are different. Men and women were made for different roles.

Paul makes reference to Genesis in 1 Cor 11:8. There are two passages from the first part of Genesis that I want to briefly consider. The first is Genesis 1:27

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (emphasis mine).

We were made in the image of God. We have just seen that God exists equally and the same in nature, but different in personality and role. It seems clear that Paul is referencing this exact idea. The fact that “God is the head of Christ” has nothing to do with equality – it is about role. In the same way “man is the head of woman” is not about equality. It is about role.

In addition, we see that the different roles of the Trinity give the Father, Son and Spirit opportunities to give each other honor and glory. The Son gives honor and glory to the uniqueness of the Father. The Father lifts up the Son above all things. The Spirit gives glory to both. This giving of honor and glory to the each other does not erase the distinctions between the three Persons. Even though the Father glorifies the Son, and they are equal, they are still different, and live out of their different roles. In fact, they could not honor each other in this way unless they really did have different roles. Their different roles provide an opportunity for them to honor, bless and love one another. The Father does not relinquish his Fatherhood, or change the Son into the Father. He gives him glory as the Son. The Son does not glorify the Father for coming to earth, but for being the Father. All three Persons, acting out their different roles, complete the Trinity, and they work together as a team for a common purpose.

In the same way, because men and women are different, and have different roles, we have the opportunity to honor and love one another in special ways. When we erase those differences and those roles, we also erase the opportunity for men to honor women as women and for women to honor men as men. There is unique glory and honor in being female. There is unique glory and honor in being male. But if we say that men and women must be not only equal, but also the same, we are eliminating those honors.

Paul also references Genesis chapter 2, which describes Adam being created first, and getting lonely, and being unfulfilled, even in sinless paradise. Eve is then created, to fulfill Adam, and to assist him in the mission of humanity, which at that time was to manage God’s creation. The Bible uses the term “helper-companion” to describe Eve’s role.

If Eve had nothing unique to bring, why was Adam lonely? If Eve had nothing unique to bring, then why did God make her? It wasn’t just about reproduction. God certainly could have designed that differently. So woman was created to fulfill a unique role, one that man could not fulfill, the role of helper-companion. In the same way, woman was not created to fulfill man’s role. That would imply that either man or woman is redundant. But woman is not a redundancy, nor is man.

We have a situation today where there is great confusion about this. In many places, Eve, instead of seeking her unique created purpose, is trying to do Adam’s job. Meanwhile, Adam, for the most part, is happy to let Eve do it, because he is too cowardly to risk a fight, and he is prone to be passive anyway. I believe that is the reason that New Testament teaches explicitly about this subject no less than seven times.

The other thing we have done is to separate the genders. We act as if we have a whole bunch of independent missions in life which are not necessarily connected. A man has his ministry, and a woman has her ministry. But Paul disagrees. He writes:

11 In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.

The teaching of 1 Corinthians 11:3-16 is a correction to the independence we try to have from each other. Here is a summary of what we have learned so far:

  • Men and women are created in the image of God to be equal

  • Men and women are created in the image of God to be different and have different roles. The spiritual role of men is “head” and the spiritual role of woman is “helper companion.” (*We have not yet considered how to apply this).

  • Men and women are created to function as a team.

A few months ago, as I was praying about this whole topic, I felt like the Holy Spirit gave a me word. The word was “dance.” After that, I watched “Dancing with the Stars” a few times, to try and understand what He might be getting at. I think “Dance” describes very well the Lord’s plan for relationships and roles between men and women.

  • First, a couple’s dance is usually more appealing and attractive than just one person dancing by himself or herself. This goes along with Paul’s insistence that men and women are not independent from each other. Both are necessary in this spiritual dance.

  • Second, them and women have different steps in a dance. If the woman did the same steps as the man (or vice versa) the dance would not be beautiful. It would chaotic. In the same way, this reflects that fact that men and women have different roles. The steps each one takes, complements the actions of the other.

  • The man leads the dance. And yet, one of his primary goals in leading is to show off the beauty and grace his partner, the woman. His leadership does not make him better, or even necessarily draw attention to himself. We found this same principle at work in the Trinity. The Father does not glorify himself, but glorifies the Son. The Son glorifies the Father. So in the gender-dance, leadership is a role, but it does not mean that the leader is better or more valuable.

Please check back next week for the second part of our study of this passage.

Communion: Remembrance, Or More

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Paul finally returns to the question that began his rambling: is it OK to eat food that has been sacrificed to idols? In actually answering this question, he provides us with some interesting and important teaching on another subject also: the significance of the Lord’s Supper.

Theologians call it the Eucharist. Some regular people call it the Lord’s Supper. Others call it communion. Honestly, I like the term Communion, and I’ll share why in just a moment.

Paul compares idol worship to true Christian worship. He says:

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? (1 Cor 10:16)

I think it is quite obvious that Paul is referring to the Lord’s Supper. The word “participation” here is also translated “sharing.” The Greek word is koinonia. It is often translated “fellowship,” but especially it is the main word for “community” or “communion.” What Paul means is that to eat the bread and to drink the wine is to enter into community with Jesus. When you are in community, it means that you have relationship with those in the community. It means that you interact, you communicate. People in community are committed to each other at some level. So as we participate in communion, we are connected with Jesus in some way. There is some kind of commitment implied between us and the Lord. There is some kind of communication that takes place between Him and us.

There is also community among the people who take communion together:

Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread (1 Cor 10:17)

Paul further explains by mentioning the temple sacrifices practiced by the people of Israel. In every sacrifice except the burnt offering, the worshipers would bring an animal to be killed. Part of the animal would be burned on the altar, symbolically giving it to God. Part of it would be given to the priests and temple workers to eat. The rest of it would be eaten by those who came to worship. In other words, eating the sacrificed animal was an act of faith, an act of worship and an act of community. You wouldn’t even be there to eat if you didn’t have faith. You wouldn’t be there if you didn’t belong somehow to the group that was offering the sacrifice. Eating and drinking connected you to God and to those with whom you ate. In the same way, says Paul, eating and drinking communion is an act of faith, an act of worship and an act of Christian community. It connects us with the Lord, and it connects us with each other.

Now,There are three widely held differing views about Communion. The first one, held generally by Roman Catholics, is called “transubstantiation.” They believe that when the priest/pastor speaks the words spoken by Jesus, the bread and the wine miraculously turn into the actual flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. After all, Jesus said “this is my body, this is my blood.” Thus, the significance of communion in this view is that you are physically imbibing Jesus.

Another view is held by many Baptists, Methodists and others. They would say that communion is all about remembrance. After all, Jesus said “do this in remembrance of me.” So they would say that significance of communion is that it reminds of Jesus and his sacrifice for us. 500 years ago, during the time of the Reformation, the Roman Catholic church was saying that communion (which they called and still call “mass”) was actually a ceremony wherein Jesus sacrificed himself for us again. In other words, every mass was a new sacrifice of Jesus’ body and blood. Partly in reaction to this, many reformers rejected any idea of anything “mystical” about communion. To avoid the clearly unbiblical idea of re-sacrificing Jesus, they maintained that there was nothing at all to communion except a remembrance.

A third perspective has traditionally been held by Lutherans. They would say, “yes, it is a remembrance.” They would also say when Jesus says “this is my body, this is my blood” he is saying that when we do this, he is offering us his presence in some way. They reject the idea of a “re-sacrifice” but they point to verses like these in 1 Corinthians and say “there is something more here than only remembering.” There is, in fact, communion with Jesus and with other believers.

The reason I share this is because you may have had questions about communion. Sometimes, people are concerned about what happens to the bread crumbs or the extra wine. Are we throwing pieces of Jesus on the floor, or dumping him down the sink? That concern, of course, comes out of the Roman Catholic view that the bread and wine physically turn into Jesus. I don’t think so. I think communion bread crumbs are like any other bread crumbs.

Some of you may have heard of, or experienced “close communion.” Churches who practice close communion do not allow just anyone to receive communion. You must be a member of the church or denomination. The idea behind this makes sense. If communion is indeed a participation in community with Jesus and other believers, you should be a part of the community. If you don’t trust Jesus, it doesn’t seem appropriate to participate in communion. And if you don’t trust Him, you aren’t truly part of the community of those who do.

Even so, I think “close communion” goes a little too far. That is why I usually say something like “if you trust Jesus, you are welcome to receive the Lord’s Supper.” Who am I to determine if you really trust Jesus or not? Only you and the Lord really know if you trust Him. So I leave it up to every individual to decide if it’s appropriate for him or her to participate in communion. But it is something I think we should all take seriously. There should be no pressure to take part in communion if you aren’t sure you believe.

I want to point out that Paul’s words here indicate that when we participate in communion, there is something that happens here beyond the daily connection that believers already have with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Paul is writing to people who believe, and that means they have the Holy Spirit. It is clear from 1 Corinthians chapters 12-14 that the Corinthians have also been filled with the Holy Spirit. Even so, he indicates that in communion, there is some connection with the Lord that is different from our day to day Christian faith of walking with Jesus through the power of the Spirit.

I think the Roman Catholic idea that we are taking in the physical flesh and blood of Jesus is more than the Bible actually says. But I also think the idea of some of the reformers, that it is only a remembrance, is less than what the Bible says. Paul is speaking here of some kind of connection that takes place through the eating of the bread and the drinking of the wine. This connection is not carefully defined, but it is clearly indicated. What is all amounts to, is that through communion, we can be connected to Jesus, and to each other, in a special way. The traditional Lutheran way of saying this is that it is a “means of grace.” It is a special way in which God’s grace can touch us. Lutherans (and others) tend to forget, however, that it is also a special way in which we are also connected with each other – with fellow believers.

So, going forward, as we participate in communion I want to encourage you to receive it in the understanding and in the faith that through the eating and drinking, God wants to connect with you in a special way. I often think of it as a tangible touch from the Lord. As my body touches the bread and the wine, so God’s grace just as truly touches me. At the same time, I also encourage you to bear in mind that as we take it together, we are connected to each other in God’s family. We are in community together.

It is from this understanding of Communion that Paul concludes his thoughts about eating food sacrificed to idols. Remember, there are three contexts in which the Corinthians might encounter meat sacrificed to idols: in the meat market, at a dinner party, or at the temple sacrifice ceremony itself.

Paul says not to worry about whatever they buy in the meat market. God is the only God, and everything is his, so enjoy the good cheap meat. When it comes to eating at someone else’s house, Paul’s attitude is similar. Go head, enjoy. However, he says even then to be careful of the conscience of of the people you are eating with. If there is another Christian present who might be compromised in faith if you eat it, then don’t eat it. Paul makes it clear that there is nothing wrong with it, but that we should be concerned about the conscience of others.

But the third context is different. The temple sacrifice is a little like communion. It is a participation in worship. It is a joining with others in their religion. And, says Paul, it is a participation in demons. This is just a side note, but Paul clearly says here that there are demonic powers behind some of the pagan worship. Elsewhere in the New Testament (particularly in the book of Acts) we have seen that demons have some limited power to enact “miracles.” So even though there is no other God, pagan worship is not harmless.

Paul finally ends this section with a terrific summary:

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

1 Corinthians #14. A Way Out. 1 Cor 10:1-13

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Just as in 1 Corinthians chapters 1-4, Paul has a general subject in mind here, but he starts straying and covering all sorts of topics before he comes back to finish the discussion. The topic, begun in chapter 8, was about food sacrificed to idols. But he tells us in that chapter that the point is not what you are free to do, but how your actions affect the consciences of others. In chapter nine, he spent a great deal of time detailing his own rights and freedoms, and pointing out that he gave those up for the Corinthians.

In chapter 10, he warns the Corinthians that they are not above falling. He uses the Israelites as an example. In verse 11, he says:

Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction…

This isn’t the main point, but it is an important one. He says something much like it in Romans also:

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

The reason I point this out is that sometimes Christians act as if the Old Testament is no longer relevant to us any more. But the New Testament itself teaches that the Old Testament offers us instruction and encouragement. It applies to us – certainly in a different way than it applied to the Israelites who lived before Jesus, but still, it is there for our instruction, encouragement and benefit. Paul, looking at the Old Testament, sees its fulfillment in Jesus, and its application for present followers of Jesus.

So he uses an Old Testament example for the Corinthians. The Corinthians were baptized into Jesus Christ. They had faith in Him. They regularly received the Lord’s Supper. But, says Paul, that does not automatically mean that they will be in heaven, if they don’t persist in these things. He says that the ancient Israelites, had their own baptism-like experience. They had their own experience of the Lord’s Supper, partaking of food and drink that were not only physical, but spiritual (v.3-4). Paul even says that Jesus Christ was present with them through the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, just as Jesus is present with us through the Holy Spirit.

I have seen two common attitudes among Christians like the attitude that Paul warns about. In the Lutheran and Catholic traditions, many people have the attitude that if they simply get baptized as babies, get confirmed as teenagers, and take communion once or twice a year, they automatically go to heaven. They feel that if they just do those things, they can live the rest of their lives however they want, and it will have no eternal consequences.

Many Baptists and other evangelicals have exactly the same attitude, only in a different way. They laugh at the idea of putting their faith in sacraments. But instead, they put their faith in a different ceremony, that of “getting saved.” They believe if that at one single point in their life, they respond to an altar call, walk down to the front of the church and say that they believe, then they “got saved.” Church of Christ people would add that they have to get baptized too. But the attitude is that if they simply do that once, they can go live the rest of their lives however they want, and it will have no eternal consequences.

The result of all this is that we have people all over the country who never go to church, never talk to God, never read their bibles, live in all different kinds of moral sin, give their lives to alcohol and drugs, or to the pursuit of money, and yet believe that when they die, they’ll be in heaven with a Lord they have never known or cared about. But Paul says:

Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence. (1 Cor 10:12, the Message).

Now, there is great debate between Christians about a related topic. Some Christians feel that if you are truly saved, you can never lose your salvation, no matter what. They point to several verses like Romans 8:38-39

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Others point to this passage, and other passages like Hebrews 6:4-8, which contain strong warnings about falling away, and even to people like Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom Paul says rejected the faith and so destroyed themselves spiritually (1 Timothy 1:20).

I like to solve the dilemma by saying this: First, there are great many promises to us so that we can rest assured, knowing that the power and grace of Jesus holds us and will keep us and bring us safely to eternal life with Him. Second, a life of true faith will show itself by growing closer to God and moving away from sin and worldly ambitions (even if the movement is slow).

The point Paul is making today is the second one. If you have true faith, you won’t neglect your relationship with God. If you think that you can more or less ignore God for the rest of your life and still have eternal life, then you are in desperate spiritual and eternal danger.

But Paul also has a word of comfort. He says:

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. (1 Cor 10:13, New Living Translation)

In other words, though the possibility of spiritual danger is very real, God does not simply leave you to figure it out yourself. He doesn’t abandon you to stand or fall on your own – he is there to help in the middle of your temptations and trials. The word for temptation here means to “trap” or to “test.” This word is for you if you are tempted to sin, or if you feel caught, or if you feel your faith is being tested in some way.

Now, I want to be honest with you: there were times in my life when I wasn’t sure that this was true. For a long time I struggled with a sin that I always seemed to give in to. If I was tempted in that way, I was going to sin. I wondered where my ‘way out’ was. Slowly, over the years, I’ve learned two things about the “way out” listed here.

I had areas of my life where I was holding on to hurt and not forgiving others. I had closed off parts of my heart from God, and that naturally opened them up to the devil. I was defeated by that particular temptation, because I let Satan live in a little corner of my heart where I wasn’t letting God come in. In other words, God couldn’t give me a way out, because I closed part of me off from him. I needed help and prayer from other believers to discover this and to walk through the process of dealing with it. Once I did that, I was till tempted to sin in the same way, and yet I found that I could now resist that temptation.

If you are dealing with a particular sin in which you fail again and again in the same way, I encourage you to talk to me or another mature Christian about it, and seek the wisdom and prayers of others.

There is another aspect about this way of escape from temptation. You must believe that the Holy Spirit really does offer it, and that means you need to keep looking until you find it.

I grew up in Papua New Guinea. We always had plenty of food available to us, but not nearly the variety of food there is in the United States. We could always find meat and bread. There was always rice. Fresh milk was never available. Other things, like crackers or potato chips or breakfast cereal only showed up occasionally. If we saw Froot Loops or macaroni and cheese in the store, we knew a ship had recently come in to town. We also knew that within a few days, all boxes would be gone, and we probably wouldn’t see that kind of food again for a year or more.

One year we returned to the US for a few months of furlough. I went to an American grocery store with my Grandfather. We got various items, and then we started looking for oyster crackers. We went to the aisle where Grandpa normally found them. They weren’t there. Grandpa was puzzled, and we looked very intently without finding them.

“Grandpa,” I said after a while, “they’re probably just out of them.”

Grandpa didn’t really know any more about New Guinean grocery stores than I knew about American ones. He stared at me like I was an alien. “They’re not out of them” he said. He was vastly amused at my idea that there would be no oyster crackers.

If it had been me, I would have gone home without oyster crackers, because I did not believe they were there. However, to my great surprise, we eventually found them, and my grandpa laughed at my consternation all the way home.

In order to find the way of escape promised by the Holy Spirit here, you must believe that it really exists, and you must keep searching, believing you will find it. If you don’t believe it is there, you might be like me with the oyster crackers – you’ll look around a little, and then give up. But my Grandpa found what he needed because he believed it was there, and kept searching until he had obtained it.

That needs to be our attitude when we face temptations and trials and tests of any kind. The way is there. God has promised it. Don’t stop, don’t give up until you have made use of it to find relief from temptation and trial.

1 Corinthians #13. Paul’s Example

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As always, it is important to study the bible in context. Remember that last week, Paul was tackling the issue of whether it was OK or not to eat meat that had been sacrificed to pagan idols. In chapter 8, he more or less bypassed that question, and said, “the point is, not what you are free to do, but how your actions affect your fellow Christians.”

Chapter nine, our text for this week, is a continuation of that theme, however Paul continues it with very personal examples. He describes for the Corinthians how he himself has refrained from exercising his freedom in order to encourage them in their own faith.

As we saw in the first section of the letter, and particularly in chapters 3 & 4, a little bit of Paul’s personal frustration comes out here. Paul went to Corinth and ministered to these people. He sacrificed so much that they never even knew about. And now, they sort of disrespect him. His underlying attitude is a little bit like this:

Don’t you see that I myself am free? I am an apostle, for Pete’s sake, and if anyone disputes it, at the very least I am your apostle. I’m free to do all kinds of things that I refrain from doing – and I refrain from them for your sake. The least you can do is have a little concern for your fellow believers.

So the main point is really a continuation and an illustration of what he said in chapter eight: that they ought to be willing to adjust their behavior in order to encourage and strengthen others in the church. In addition, however, because of the illustrations, Paul uses, there is much valuable teaching here about other subjects as well. Since we got the main point last week, this time we’ll look at the specific subjects that Paul brings up in chapter nine.

In Paul’s frustration with the Corinthians, he begins to enumerate exactly what his rights and freedoms are. First, he reiterates that he is an apostle, a leader in the church. The implication is that they owe him some respect, and that they ought to willingly support and follow his leadership. The New Testament is full of instructions for believers to listen to, and follow their spiritual leaders:

The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.1 Timothy 5:17

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. Hebrews 13:17

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. James 3:1

Paul is an apostle, and especially, he is their apostle. They owe him their respect, though clearly, by his tone here, he has not insisted on it previously, nor have they really given it to him.

Next, Paul adds that he has the right to be married. This is another right and freedom that he has not insisted upon. In fact, he gave up that right in order to more fully dedicate his life to preaching the gospel (remember 7:8 & 7:32-35). It is a right that he chose not to exercise so that he could better serve people like the Corinthians.

I just want to mention a historical note here. As I’m sure you are aware, the Roman Catholic church forbids ordained priests from getting married. Sometimes they use the example of Paul, and the things he wrote here, and in 1 Corinthians 7 as justification for that. However, Paul’s entire point here is based on the fact that he could get married if he chose to. This passage in fact, teaches that pastors/priests and church leaders are certainly free to marry. And the Roman Catholic doctrine, though it cites biblical passages, actually came from the Pope, not the bible, and the Pope did not make that decree until around 1000 AD.

Paul’s next right is the right to financial compensation for his work as a teacher and preacher of God’s Word. I might as well just get this out in the open: obviously, this part of text is somewhat personal for me. I make my own living by preaching and teaching the bible. I might get a few hundred extra dollars from writing every year, but my profession and livelihood come as a pastor. I also want to say that I feel tremendously blessed that this is so. In addition, I am not teaching on this because of some lack that I feel from New Joy Fellowship. This is in the text for this week, and so I want to teach it faithfully, as I try to do every week, no matter what the topic is.

I have heard some Christians (not many, but certainly some) suggest that this text means that there should not be any such thing as a paid pastor, or at least, not one who makes his whole living from teaching God’s word. But just as it was with Paul’s words about marriage, the entire point Paul is making depends on the fact that he does have a right to be paid for preaching. In fact, he makes the case quite strongly. He says the claim is from the scriptures (meaning, for him, the Old Testament) and not from human authority. It can’t get much clearer than verse 14:

In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

This isn’t the only place Paul teaches this. He writes to Timothy (keep in mind, the term “elder” is interchangeable with “pastor”):

The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.” (1 Timothy 5:17-18)

There is clearly a principle here that God’s people have responsibility to financially support those who are called to preach the Bible. I say that not in an angry, demanding way, but rather in a sort of happy wonder that I get to do this for a living, and that it really is a good and righteous thing.

Paul’s point is that he had a right to receive a salary from the Corinthians, and yet he never did. This is not to say that Paul never received financial compensation from any church. It is almost certain that the church at Antioch helped support his missionary efforts. We know that at on more than one occasion he received financial support from the church at Philippi (Philippians 4:14-20). Even when he was at Corinth, after Silas and Timothy arrived, Paul stopped making tents (his other profession) and devoted himself fully to preaching (Acts 18:5). This means that someone was paying for his food, lodging and other expenses. It just wasn’t the Corinthians.

The following is a succinct summary of what Paul is saying overall:

But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. (9:15)

Again, his arguments depend on the fact that he actually has these rights, and that the normal thing would be for him to make use of them. Remember the context is about what freedoms or rights the Corinthians have. Basically, Paul is saying “Look at me! Look at all I’ve given up for you. Why don’t you take the same attitude towards each other?”

In verse 19-23, Paul expounds on the lengths to which he is willing to go so that people could become faithful disciples of Jesus. Though he is free, he’ll act like a slave. Though he is a Jew, he’ll become as a Gentile; though he is free from Jewish law, he’ll behave according to it. His whole focus is on how he can bring someone closer to Jesus. His heart is focused on heaven, and the reward he will have there (see 1 Corinthians 3:1-23, and the accompanying sermon notes [1 Corinthians #4]), and so he is willing endure discomfort here and now for the sake of others. He’s running to win the prize (verses 24-27).

There is a great missionary principle here. Paul never compromised on the message of the gospel. But he is willing to present it in different ways that are culturally relevant to those whom he is trying to reach.

Now, I want to offer a brief explanation here. I had a conversation with someone last week about chapter 8. If we don’t think about this carefully, it sounds like we need to submit to any stupid little rule in order to not put any obstacle in front of our fellow Christians. It seems almost like someone with a bunch of petty spiritual neuroses could control the way we live. We’ll talk about this a little more at the end of chapter 10, when Paul wraps up the whole discussion. But I want to point out now, the issue is not whether you offend someone – the issue is whether your actions hurt their conscience.

Suppose someone thinks it’s a sin to wear blue-jeans in church. Unfortunately, I’ve learned that this is not a hypothetical situation. Now, if you wear blue-jeans, and this causes the other person to also wear them – while he believes in his heart it is wrong – then you have injured his conscience. For his sake it would be better to stick with the dockers.

But often times people who have these ridiculously restrictive ideas are not in danger of violating their own conscience. They just want you to behave according to their conscience. If you don’t, it won’t change their behavior or their mind. They’ll think you’re sinning in Levi’s but they would still never put on a pair. In that case, wearing blue jeans will not damage the person’s conscience – it will just offend him.

Paul himself didn’t back down from offending people. Such people are not weak, but rather proud. Paul’s main focus here is to tell us to care for each other, and encourage one another in faith, and not do anything that would endanger the faith of someone else.

Love & Liberty. 1 Corinthians Part 12. 1 Cor 8:1-12

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

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In order to better understand 1 Corinthians 12 we should learn a little about the historical context. You may remember from the introduction to 1 Corinthians, that Paul wrote this letter in response to a letter that the Corinthians sent him, and also in response to the report some visitors from Corinth gave him about the church.

In 1 Corinthians 7:1 Paul says, “now concerning the matters about which you wrote…” Apparently chapter 8 is continuing to address some things that the Corinthians wrote about in their letter to Paul. The topic for this chapter is food (almost certainly meat) that had been sacrificed to idols.

In those days, meat was a relatively rare commodity. There was no refrigeration of course, so all meat had to be eaten within a day or two of the slaughter. Even as recently as the 19th century, one of the great attractions for joining the British army was that all soldiers were given a ration of meat every day. Daily meat was rare enough to make this a big selling point for recruiters. In the 1st century (when Paul wrote this) meat was at least that scarce, if not more so.

When I was a child, my family sometimes went to live in small villages in Papua New Guinea for weeks at a time. The situation there was similar, as regards meat. We ate vegetables and rice. Meat was only for special occasions of celebration and feasting. Once an animal was slaughtered, it had to be eaten with a day or two.

In 1st Century Corinth, the main occasions for eating meat would be connected one way or another with the worship of idols and false gods. If it was a feast day or some other special day of worship in the pagan religion, people would go the temple and slaughter an animal. Part of the animal might be burned on an altar, or left in front of the idol. Another portion would be given to the priests. A third portion would be given back to the worshipers to feast with. Sometimes families would make a sacrifice or have an idol feast for some personal reason, and the meat was divided the same way. On feast days especially, the priests and temple workers would often end up with more meat than they could eat before it spoiled. So they would sell the rest in the city meat market. If the animal was large, the family celebrating might also have too much meat, and likewise, sell the extra. Alternatively, the family would sometimes invite friends and relatives over for more feasting after the pagan worship, in order to use up the rest of meat.

So during or immediately after pagan worship celebrations, meat would be more available, and less expensive than at other times. But a lot of that meat would have been originally part of pagan worship ceremonies to idols and false gods.

Not only that, but for a poor family, they might have a chance to eat free meat by going with friends to a pagan temple, or by eating at the houses of friends who had just sacrificed at the temple.

Apparently the Christians at Corinth were divided over whether it was OK to eat meat that had been involved in pagan worship, or whether it was wrong. We don’t know know for sure, but is possible that when Paul says “we know that all of us possess knowledge” he is quoting their letter to him. From this, and from the tone of his response, it sounds like at least some of the believers at Corinth were saying, “Look, we know that there is only God, and idols are nothing. So we are free to eat whatever we want, whenever and wherever we want to.”

Paul responds in two parts. The first part of his answer is here in chapter eight. He gets into a very involved discussion and then concludes his answer in chapter 10. But there appears to be two distinct issues here. The first is, “is it OK, in general to eat meat that might have been sacrificed to an idol?” The second question is, “is it OK to attend the idol feasts themselves and eat there?”

Paul’s answer in chapter eight is to change the subject.

It isn’t that he doesn’t have an answer – he gives the answers fairly definitely in chapter 10. But his point in chapter eight is that the issue is not really about eating meat, but rather about looking out for each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.

It is set up like this. In Paul’s opinion, nothing is unclean.

6 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism…(Colossians 2:16-18)

There are some things in the bible that are neither commanded nor forbidden. We should not accept someone judging us regarding something like that. When it is not commanded or forbidden, we can keep a clear conscience about our own behavior, whatever we choose.

At the same time, Paul recognizes that not everyone is in the same place with regard to conscience. Some of the Corinthians had previously been Jews; they had never in their lives worshiped idols, nor believed that there was anything to an idol. Therefore eating meat used in sacrifice, or even eating at the temple, presented no problem to them.

On the other hand, many of the Christians in Corinth used to worship those very same idols. Going to the temple might suck them back into that lifestyle and belief system. In some cases, they felt that even eating something offered at the pagan temple would be sinful. Paul says, even though they are technically free from all that, if they believe it is wrong and then do it, they have succumbed to sin in terms of their intentions. They have violated their own conscience.

Once when they were younger, one of my children took a swing at one of her siblings. She wasn’t terribly coordinated, and the punch did not connect at all – she punched air. So technically, she did nothing wrong. But obviously, it was her intention to punch her sibling in the face. I disciplined her just as if the punch had connected. I did this because obviously something in her heart needed to be corrected, even if she failed to carry out the deed. It is the same here.

Suppose I point a gun at someone, believing it is loaded, and pull the trigger. If the gun is not loaded, I will not actually harm the person. Even so, I could be arrested and convicted for attempted murder. The fact that I did not actually do wrong does not change the fact that I intended to.

Paul, writing about basically the same subject as 1 Corinthians 8 in Romans 14, puts it this way:

But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23)

So a person who eats idol-meat, believing it is wrong, has deliberately done something they think is wrong. In that person’s heart, he made a choice to do wrong, even though the action itself is morally neutral. Paul’s conclusion about all of it is this:

20Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.21It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. (Romans 14:20-21)

The point is not what you are free to do, but rather, how your actions affect your brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.

Now, I haven’t been invited to any idol-feasts lately. I couldn’t tell you if I have ever eaten meat sacrificed to an idol (though considering how I grew up, my chances are better than yours). So what does this mean for us today? Is it just a historical curiosity, or is there a principle here that helps us even now?

I think the principle is clear: when something is neither commanded nor forbidden by the bible, we should internally hold on to our freedom, while externally behaving in such a way so as to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ.

These days, many Christians aren’t sure about alcohol. Some drink to excess and never worry about it. Others feel that even a sip would be sinful. It is clear to me that Jesus and his disciples drank alcohol in the form of wine. Paul wrote to Timothy to drink a little wine for his health. But the New Testament also clearly says that drunkenness is a sin. It is listed alongside adultery and homosexual behavior in 1 Corinthians 6, which we studied a few weeks ago.

So for myself personally, I have a clear conscience drinking a glass of wine with dinner, or having one alcoholic beverage over the course of an evening. I have never been drunk. Praise the Lord, I’ve never even been tempted to drink too much.

But I know some people who think it is categorically wrong. If I am around someone who feels that way, I won’t drink anything at all, so that I don’t throw them into confusion, or cause them to violate their own conscience.

Likewise, I know some people who can’t stop with just one drink. If they have one drink, they are going to have at least three or four (or maybe a lot more), and they won’t stop until the alcohol affects them. They can’t drink without at least getting “buzzed.” Unfortunately, that usually means they would be legally considered drunk if they were driving. Those people may or may not feel alcohol is wrong. But I won’t drink when I’m around them either, for fear of encouraging them to drink too much.

I am settled in my own mind that I’m free to drink alcohol without abusing it. I have a clear conscience about my occasional use of it. But in terms of where and when I have some, my concern is not about my own freedom, but about the spiritual welfare of the people I am with.

There are other things like this. Some Christians feel that dancing is wrong. Others have issues with certain foods. Some believers feel that you have to observe certain Christian festivals or ceremonies. Some people feel it is wrong to shop on Sunday. I am convinced in my own mind about my freedom in Jesus Christ. Even so, I am willing to alter my behavior so as not to cause harm to another believer in Jesus. Paul puts it this in Romans 14:13. [When he says “brother” he means “person who believes in Jesus Christ, whether male or female.”]

13Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

Far from being some ancient and irrelevant problem of the Corinthians, the whole concept of food sacrificed to idols is very relevant today. Ask the Lord to speak to you about this right now.

NEW YEAR’S 2011

On By Pastor TomIn Bible Teaching, Christianity, Jesus, Sermon, Uncategorized1 Comment

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I love Christmas. There’s no way you could call me a Christmas scrooge. I like the spirit of the season. I enjoy getting gifts and I like giving them too. But when it comes to New Year I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, some New Year’s traditions appeal to me. I think it’s a good thing to look at where you have been for the past year, and then evaluate and consider possible adjustments in your life for the next year. Hanging out with your loved ones and considering how important they are to you, is also a great New Year’s tradition.

There are other traditions that aren’t so great, like beginning the brand new year by getting falling-down drunk. I also don’t care for the tradition that there is no more eggnog available in stores after New Year’s Eve. And there is one New Year tradition to which I emphatically say, “bah humbug.”

New Year’s resolutions.

Let’s face it, almost nobody keeps them. Nobody remembers them. Do you remember your resolutions for last year? But it’s not just that New Year’s resolutions don’t really accomplish anything for most people. The fact is, New Year’s resolutions, the way our culture practices them, reinforce a false understanding of spiritual reality and human nature. New Year’s, when we make resolutions, is a time when we reaffirm our belief in the power of the flesh.

Consider your most typical sorts of resolutions. We resolve to lose weight. Most of us don’t ever think about how, we just say we want to. We resolve to exercise three times a week. We resolve to say one nice thing every day, or to finish writing a book, or even to read the bible every day. Maybe we resolve not to get falling-down drunk next New Year’s Eve.

None of those resolutions are bad. New Year’s resolutions are full of good intentions.

Three things draw us to New Year’s resolutions. First, we see there is a problem. There are things in our lives that should be addressed. This is a very positive thing, and it is the only part of the resolution concept that I approve of.

But we also gravitate toward resolutions because we are inclined to believe that we have the power within ourselves to change ourselves and make the world a better place.

Third, we tend to make New Year’s resolutions because our focus on what is in this world, instead of our eternal future. I’m not saying it’s bad to lose weight. I want to be healthy. I want to look like my old svelte self. But whether I lose weight or not, I will die someday. When this body is gone, it really won’t matter whether or not I lost weight in 2011. Most of the things we resolve at New Year’s don’t matter eternally. I’m sure some people make eternal-oriented resolutions, but the vast majority of our focus is on things that really don’t matter very much.

New year’s resolutions fail so often for two reasons.

First, they are ultimately self centered. I resolve to do this. I resolve not to do that. The focus of almost every resolution is self. Even an unselfish resolution – like saying something uplifting every day – are not focused on all the encouraging things there are to say – but rather, on the fact that I am going to say them.

Second, they rely on the power of the flesh. Aren’t you the same person that failed to keep your New Year’s resolutions last year? Isn’t the reason that you need to lose weight in 2011 because you failed to control your diet in 2010 (for me, the answer would be “yes!”)? Isn’t the reason you are resolving to exercise is because you have not been exercising? What makes us think that the mere passing of a certain date will make us able to do what we have not done yet?

It is a fake chance to start over – to start over in exactly the same manner you failed before. It is doing what you have always done, and expecting a different result. The reason I’m talking so much about New Year’s resolutions, is because it isn’t just New Year’s. We tend to live our whole lives this way.

Generally, we recognize when we have problems. But our approach to solving them is to put hope in the same flawed person who got you your problems in the first place – you. We think we can pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We’ll think we’ll just act differently next time. But we can’t. We are trying to live not by the grace of “receive” but by the law of “do.”

God has a different approach to our problems. He would like to kill the sinful flesh. In fact, when we turn our lives over to Jesus, that is exactly what he does. Through faith, baptism buries us with Christ – our sinful flesh is dead and buried. We want to keep resurrecting it, so to speak, and trying to make it work for us. But the bible says, it’s dead. Let it rest in peace. Paul puts it this way:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

So, you don’t get to make New Year’s resolutions anymore, because you are dead. The life you have now is the life of faith, not flesh. It is the Life of Jesus Himself that shall be lived out through you now. Are you going to bind the life of Jesus to some barely-relevant, ultimately meaningless New Year’s resolution?

Colossians 3:1-4, says this:

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

You died. Your flesh is counted as dead in God’s eyes. There’s nothing there anymore to fix or reform. You’re trying to put make-up on a corpse, and the result is only grotesque. Why are we messing around like this anymore? Paul says to fix our eyes and our focus on our real life – the eternal life that is ours with Jesus. It’s already in heaven, hidden until Jesus returns. That is where our focus should be for the New Year, not with what is already dead and dying.

Now, you may say, but Tom, what if there is something that really should change in my life, something that may have eternal significance, like getting into a habit of daily bible reading?

I’m so glad you asked.

When I was thirteen years old, I read a book called the Cross and the Switchblade, by David Wilkerson. It was the exciting true story of how a small-town pastor in Pennsylvania began a ministry to gang members in New York City. There was crime and fighting and it was a great book. Also in the book, was the story of how David Wilkerson got filled with the Holy Spirit when he was thirteen. I wanted that to happen to me, so I prayed that God would fill me with the Holy Spirit

As far I could see, nothing happened. I didn’t feel any different. I didn’t speak in tongues. Sometime, not long after that, I finished mowing our lawn. It was my favorite time of day, and our spot in Papua New Guinea was really quite pretty. I looked around and said, “God, you are so beautiful, I’m going to read the Bible every day from now on.”

That wasn’t the first time I tried to read the Bible regularly. I had started many times before, and never got much further than Exodus. But it was the first time I’d tried to read the bible after I asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I read a chapter that night. I read the next chapter the next night. For some reason, I didn’t start in Genesis this time. I read the psalms first. Then the New Testament. Then I went back a read a few books in the Old Testament. Ten years passed…and I had never missed a single day of bible reading until I was about 23.

Now, it wasn’t New Year’s when that happened. I didn’t think about some resolution I wanted to make. But the life of God, living through me (not my flesh) resolved in me to do this. I really don’t think I can credit myself with anything here. What thirteen year old boy decides to take up bible reading? What teenager can stick to a promise to read the Bible every day? Not me. It was the Holy Spirit, living in me, that brought forth the resolution, and the power to carry it out.

What we need in 2011, is not more effort. We need more Holy Spirit. We need to hear from him, to obey when he speaks, and trust that he – not us – will carrying it out through us, using His power.

Take a moment right now with the Lord. Ask him to fill you again with his Holy Spirit. Or ask him to do so for the first time!

Now sit quietly a minute more. Let Him speak to you about 2011, about your life, about His life that he wants to live through you. Be aware this next week, of how he might speak to you. And trust him for the power to do what he wants to in you and through you!