1 Corinthians
Messy Church
1 Corinthians 16:13-24
October 6, 2019 • Dr. Peter Radford
In the final section of chapter 16, Paul pulls covers a variety of topics, including challenges and greetings. This week, we examine this closing passage through the lens of a brief prayer Paul shares in verse 22, “Come Lord!” It’s clear that Paul is eager for the return of Christ and eager for the church to make preparations in light of Jesus’ coming. This passage presents us with four challenges for the church while we await Christ’s return: 1. Courageously Persevere (v. 13) 2. Love the Lord and love others (vv. 14, 22, 24) 3. Accept and submit to Christian Leaders (vv. 15-18) 4. Joyfully take part in the larger community of faith (vv. 19-24)
1 Corinthians 16:1-12
September 29, 2019 • Dr. Peter Radford
In chapter 16, Paul is tying up a number of loose ends including practical issues, such as taking a collection, travel plans, and fellow laborers. Paul unifies this diverse range of topics with one underlying truth: Ministering in the real world takes real-world commitment. Based on this truth, we discover three keys to real world ministry: 1. Faithful givers make ministry possible. (1-4) 2. Opportunities to minister often come amid abundant adversity. (5-9) 3. Maintaining grace-filled ministry relationships is a key to ministry success. (10-12)
1 Corinthians 15:35-58
September 22, 2019 • Dr. Peter Radford
In chapter 15, Paul is makes a larger argument about the resurrection. In our section today, Paul addresses the bodily nature of the resurrection from of the dead. He tells us three things about our resurrected bodies: 1. Our resurrected bodies will be different from our earthly bodies (37-41) 2. Our resurrected bodies will be spiritual and reflect our union with Christ. (42-49) 3. Our resurrected bodies will come when Christ returns and transforms us. (50-57) At the end of the chapter (v. 58), Paul challenges us based on everything he has taught us about the resurrection. His point is that our confidence in the resurrection should lead us to be stable in our hope of the gospel and to be serving in the lives of others.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
September 1, 2019 • Dr. Peter Radford
In chapter 15, Paul is making a larger argument about the resurrection. In our section for this week, the focus is on the resurrection of Christ. Paul rehearses the essential truths of the gospel, highlighting the importance of the resurrection. We identified three foundational truths of the gospel: 1. Jesus died for our sins. 2. Jesus was buried and rose from the dead. 3. Jesus appeared to Peter, Paul, and many. Based on the example of Paul’s life we discovered the big idea of this passage: The resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith and should motivate us to give our lives to share the good news of the gospel.
1 Corinthians 15:12-34
September 8, 2019 • Dr. Peter Radford
In chapter 15, Paul makes a larger argument about the resurrection. In our section this week, he focuses on correcting the Corinthian notion that there is no resurrection of the dead. Paul counters this idea with four arguments to prove that the resurrection is the linchpin of the Christian faith.
1 Corinthians 13
August 11, 2019 • Dr. Peter Radford
This week's passage talked about the role of love in exercising our spiritual gifts. The Corinthian church focused on who had the flashiest spiritual gifts (esp. tongues!), but they used their gifts with wrong motives: They were promoting themselves instead of blessing and building up others. So Paul wrote this chapter to show them that Christians are nothing without love. He gives three reasons for this statement: 1. Love is the quintessential element to all Christian practice and experience. (1-3) 2. Love is the fountainhead of all Christian Virtue (4-8) 3. While spiritual gifts have their limits in time and scope, love always endures. (9-13)
1 Corinthians 14
August 18, 2019 • Dr. Peter Radford
Introduction: In this week’s text, Paul addresses two key problems in the Corinthian church: Their (mis)understanding of spiritual gifts (especially prophecy and the gift of tongues) as well as their practice of these gifts in the public services of the church. This is a long chapter, from which we can derive several principles: 1. God has gifted you to bless others in the body of Christ. (vv. 1-19) 2. God has gifted you to bless the unsaved. (vv. 20-25) 3. Four Principles of the Church Service: Edification, Order, Truth, Submission (vv. 26-40)
1 Corinthians 12
August 4, 2019 • Dr. Peter Radford
The Big Idea of the passage we studied today was that The Holy Spirit gives grace gifts to each believer for the good of the body. Paul made the case for this with three principles: 1. The Holy Spirit resides in each believer. (1-3) 2. The Holy Spirit gives grace gifts to each believer according to His will. (4-11) 3. The Holy Spirit gives these various gifts for the good of the body. (12-31) In the end, the application of this message was to for each of us to assess our gifts, roll up our sleeves and get busy serving God and others.
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
July 28, 2019 • Dr. Peter Radford
Today’s passage presented an ugly picture of Corinthian church. Their practice of the Lord’s Supper had become a source of division. This was the exact opposite of what the Lord’s Supper was meant to convey. The passage breaks down in three parts: 1. The Problem with the Corinthians’ practice of the Lord’s Supper (17-22) 2. The Practice of the Lord’s Supper as intended by Christ’s teaching and example (23-26) 3. The Prescription Paul gave them to fix the problem (27-34) The Big idea of the text that we identified was that religious practices lose their power when they center on us and not on our Savior.
1 Corinthians 11:2-16
July 21, 2019 • Dr. Peter Radford
In the first part of chapter 11, Paul deals with a “minor” issue in the Corinthian church, head-coverings in the church service. Though the issue of head-coverings for women was a first century issue that doesn’t directly apply to us, we still discover an important principle for modern Christianity: Committed Christians are careful about small choices because they reflect in magnified ways on God and His Word.
1 Corinthians 10-11:1
July 14, 2019 • Dr. Peter Radford
In this section of 1 Corinthians, Paul is wrapping up his answer to the Corinthian church’s question regarding meat offered to idols. He argues that Our lives must bring glory to God in the gray areas of the Christian life. Along the way, he presents three steps that guide a person when making choices in these gray areas of life: 1. Guard our hearts from the sin of pride and presumption. (10:1-13) 2. Live out your life to the spiritual benefit of others. (10:14-30) 3. Give your life to win others to Christ. (10:31-11:1) These three filters bring great clarity to our choices in areas of Christian liberty.
1 Corinthians 9:19-27
July 7, 2019 • Dr. Peter Radford
In this text we get a window into Paul’s heart for the gospel. Contextually, he is still discussing the topic of his liberty and freedom to receive financial support from the churches he established, a freedom he chose not to exercise. But in this text he takes the matter deeper. He shows that our freedom in Christ compels us to give up ourselves in service of the gospel. We discovered three aspects of Paul’s commitment in this text: 1. Paul gave up his very identity in service of the Gospel. (19-23) 2. Paul exercised self-control over his liberty and desires for the sake of the gospel. (24-27) 3. Paul gave his life for the gospel because he desperately wanted to receive the approval of his Savior. (25)
1 Corinthians 9
June 30, 2019 • Dr. Peter Radford
In this text, Paul is illustrating the principle he established in the previous chapter. His point here is that as Christians, we are free to give up our freedom. In other words, the freedom we are given through Christ provides a greater opportunity to serve the mission of the gospel. Paul makes this argument in two parts: 1. Paul had a right to be supported financially for his work. (1-14) 2. Paul gave up this right for the furtherance of the gospel. (15-19)
1 Corinthians 8
June 16, 2019 • Dr. Peter Radford
In this chapter, Paul begins a discussion about meat offered to idols and whether or not the Christians in the Corinthian Church should partake. Paul identifies two principles (knowledge and wisdom) that should guide believers in making decisions on these types of issues (i.e., topics which the Bible doesn’t specifically address). Paul argues that both knowledge are wisdom are necessary, but neither is sufficient on its own. In the end, Paul challenges the Corinthians that love must trump their knowledge and their liberty when it comes to the issue at hand (i.e., eating meat offered to idols).
1 Corinthians 7:25-40
June 2, 2019 • Dr. Peter Radford
In this text, Paul is considering singleness and marriage in light of two realities, the present distress and the appointed time. Our study of the text will highlight 3 ideas from this text that challenge us not to live for this life but to be “light travelers.” 1. Light Travelers recognize that this world is a passing reality. (vv. 29-31) 2. Light Travelers give God their full devotion. (vv.32-35) 3. Light Travelers carefully weigh their desire for marriage against the Lord’s calling on their lives. (vv. 24-28, 36-40)