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1 Corinthians

Strong Faith in a Broken World - 1 Corinthians 16:13-24

February 26, 2023 • Andrey Bulanov • 1 Corinthians 16:13–24

Outline: 1. Be strong in the faith. - Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be loving. 2. Respect and follow the right people. - Recognize and submit 3. Walk in the love of christian community Scripture References: • 1 Corinthians 16: 13-24 • Hebrews 13:7 • Hebrews 13:17 Application questions: • What are the holes in your spiritual strength? Alert? Rooted in the faith? Courageous? Loving? • Are you intentional about who you respect and submit to? What is your active relationship to the leaders in your life? • Do you come to church and group to enjoy the love of your church family? Are you here to share that love with others? Discussion questions: • What is your impression of a person who is spiritually strong? What does it take to be that person? How does your idea compare to what Paul is saying here? • How do we think about the idea of submitting to leaders? What are the barriers to practicing this well? • How do we submit to leaders? What does this mean? • What are the barriers that often prevent our experience of love and community in the church? ----- Our journey through 1 Corinthians has been a very amazing one. Paul addresses a variety of topics, he speaks harshly - and yet it is a letter that is so deeply personal. His firmness is balanced with care and vulnerability as a leader. There is so much we can learn from the overall approach. In this final section we see his final greetings, we see his marching orders for strong faith in a complex world. One of the core challenges for the Corinthians is the question of how do we as christians live in the midst of the world that is broken and wrong on so many levels - and yet maintain our clear identity as christians? How do we live in such a way that our christian faith is not constantly manipulated and influenced by the sinful values of the world around us? So much of what the Corinthians got wrong had to do with a lack of clear difference between them and the world. They were worshipful of certain leaders in the church in the same way as the greek world praised its wise teachers. They were prideful and selfish about their spiritual gifts in the same way the world around them exalted in human wisdom. They were loose with sexual sin in the same way that the world around them was. As Paul concludes the letter he exhorts them one last time to be firm and strong as christians in the world. this is something we all need. And this spiritual strength we all know we need we often admit that we lack it, but we make the process of growth too complex. Paul gives us some very clear and firm commands that help dictate our steps in a broken world. 1. Be strong in the faith. 13 Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong. 14 Do everything in love. People will say, "I feel weak and unmotivated. I am not like those spiritual people." But being strong in the faith is not a feeling or emotion. it is a lifestyle. Paul gives us 5 key actions for it. In many ways all these words describe a person who is in a state of war. This is a common finishing theme for Paul in his letters. this is because this IS our reality. The world you and I live in is a world of fierce and relentless war. There is a war for your soul going on. There is a fierce enemy. There is a hell. there is eternity. And many poeple are lost. And if you follow Jesus, it is the enemies job to get to knocked out of the mentality that life is a war. His goal is to get you do get embroiled in drama. To have conflicts in your life. To be distracted. to be obsessed with entertainment. To allow sin to take down your life - so that while you are down, all the people around you who need your help would be exposed and weakened spiritually. • be alert "be watchful" "be on your gaurd" We must live with an awareness that every day we face challenges that target our souls. With an awareness that the world is a dangerous place. That sin is not just a little thing. Whenever i am dealing with daily battles - a disagreement with my wife, challenges in the church, struggling with parenting my kids, choosing my entertainment, - these are the moments when i am struggling in dangerous territory. These are times when there is a true threat to me and the people i love. • Stand firm in the faith Our alertness must be rooted in our commitment to the truth of Scripture. "stand firm in the faith" refers not just to the ACT of faith - of beleiving. Its referring to "the faith" as in "the truth of the gospel". "Stand firm in the true christian faith" because all around you is error. The reason why christians today are so easily manipulated by the world is because christians today don't know what they believe. They don't have a deep foundation in biblical truth. If we do not take time to study, to think, to learn what Scripture teaches - if your christianity is more about inspiration and emotion - you will be naive and easily manipulated by sin. NOTE - lots of people listen to podcasts and sermons today. But you know, this can also just be a form of emotional encouragement rather than intentional pursuit of growth in the faith. The question is, do you know WHAT is the truth that you are fighting for in your life? Do you know the King that you follow? Do you know his kingdom and his values well? Growing in biblical knowledge and understanding is not just about being smarter - its about knowing our own battlefield and our story well. • be strong and courageous literally "be a man" or "act like men" walking faithfully in the truth takes courage. it takes courage out in the world obviously. But it also takes courage in the church. It takes courage to call people out, to call sin sin. To tell people when they are off track. It takes courage to stand firm in the faith in your own home. Husbands especially need to admit this. it takes courage to speak truth, to share your needs to let others in to your life, to stand close with others. If your faith doesn't require any courage on a weekly basis something is off! • Do all things in love This last command echoes back to the beautiful chapter 13, where Paul reminds us of the centrality of love. Love is the balancing force to true strength and courage. without love, our "spiritual strength" becomes prideful and insensitive. But without strength and courage, our love becomes spineless and worthless. Its really interesting to reflect back over this epistle and see how Paul himself reflects all these characteristics. He is not naive - he is very much alert to the danger that is taking over the church as he sees the errors. His whole heart is rooted firmly in the truth, the faith that he has recieved - and this is the basis for everything he does. He is able to warn about the dangers. He is able to speak and correct and guide. He demonstrates powerful courage as he lays his whole ministry on the line. He is not doing the popular thing. He is not telling them what they want to hear. He speaks firm and convicting words to them. 22 If anyone does not love the Lord, a curse be on him. Yet at the same time he does it in such love and care. He is vunerable. He shares his heart with them. Because this letter is so specific with all the things he has to challenge them in, its also very very personal. 24 My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus. As he models this, he also calls them to a life of spiritual strength. 2. Respect and follow the right people. 15 Brothers and sisters, you know the household of Stephanas: They are the firstfruits of Achaia and have devoted themselves to serving the saints. I urge you 16 also to submit to such people, and to everyone who works and labors with them. 17 I am delighted to have Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus present, because these men have made up for your absence. 18 For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore recognize such people. Its hard for us to be exactly sure, but most likely, these three guys are the ones who are carrying the letter back to the church. It's also likely that they are the ones who came to Paul to tell him about how the church is doing and tell him about all the problems. they are involved in ministry leadership in the church - that is also clear. They are also some of the founding members of the church - Paul describes them as some of the first believers in Achaia - the general region where Corinth is found. If you remember, one of the problems the Corinthians had was being too worshipful and attached to certain people. Paul tackles this issue in chapters 1 and 2. Paul says all the leaders in the church are just servants of Christ, and we should not elevate them to a higher status that is healthy. Our allegiance to different leaders should not cause division or separation in the church. At the same time, this does NOT mean that we should not put any thought into respecting and following leaders. Here, as Paul concludes the letter, he is actually emphasizing that the people you respect and follow is CRITICALLY important to your spiritual health. We are driven by example and visible leaders. This is how we are created as human beings and that is not a flaw. Who you follow and who you respect will determine the kind of person you become. Heb 13:7 7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Paul sets Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus as worthy examples and leaders for the church. And he says two things - recognize such people and submit to such people. • Recognize What kind of people do you respect? What kind of people earn your admiration? We live in a world where digital technology can allow us to become almost worshipful of certain people without realizing it, without reflecting - wait, why DO i love this person so much?? What kind of people grab your attention? What are the qualities of these people? This is something I had to reflect on this week in my Instagram use. I follow some athletes and enjoying seeing their goals and achievements. At the same time I had to stop and ask, "Why and how much do I admire this guy? Yes he's really good in certain areas, but in other areas he is vile and terrible." No matter how rebellious and independent you are - we all have our stars. There were a lot of flashy people and impressive people grabbing for attention in the Corinthian church. Paul says, you know what kind of people you need to respect? These kind of people. People who may not be so flashy or impressive - but they are truly devoted to serve God and the church. They are the kind of people that it is refreshing to be around. They are the kind of people that others are blessed and encouraged by. Not only do they work hard to humbly serve the church, they also have a track record of fruit - the people around them are refreshed and encouraged. These people YOU KNOW. They are not somewhere out there. They have been laboring in your church from the start. In our digital age its tempting to get attached to people we admire online more than people in our lives, and we think that those leaders online are so great and so perfect - we are shielded from their true selves. Sometimes we are drawn to people - but we don't think about what kind of effect those people have on us. Are we becoming more cheerful, more joyful, more serving? or does this person make me more cynical, critical and angry? Are you conscious about the kind of people you respect? • Submit I urge you 16 also to submit to such people, and to everyone who works and labors with them. biblical discipleship is all about learning to follow Jesus together. That means that we are all learners at the end of the day. We are all submitted to someones preaching and teaching. It is a lot easier to be submitted to some preacher on youtube or some podcaster than it is to be submitted to the leaders in your church. Its interesting that you can't MAKE poeple submit to the leaders of the church. You submit willingly to the people that you respect. If you don't submit to the leaders that God has placed in your life, its because you don't value and respect these people to the point that you trust them with your soul. Theres only two reasons for that - either something is very wrong with them and you shouldn't submit to them, and in that case find a different church. Or something is very wrong with you - and you live your life rebelling against good people and following bad ones. Submitting to your leaders is an active posture on your part - and it includes following their leadership, seeking them out, valuing their input and agreeing with the direction they set for the church. Hebrews 13:17 17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, since 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. It's impossible to be a strong christian without submitting to healthy leadership in your life. People who think they are independent are naive because they are likely submitting themselves to teachers and role models that are destroying their life. 3. Walk in the love of christian community 19 The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla send you greetings warmly in the Lord, along with the church that meets in their home. 20 All the brothers and sisters send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. 21 This greeting is in my own hand—Paul. 22 If anyone does not love the Lord, a curse be on him. Our Lord, come! 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24 My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus. One of the common accusations that non christians had about the early church is that they were perverted weirdos that called each other brothers and sisters and said they all loved each other. They made up all sorts of false stories about christians. It was super weird for the world to see how christians greeted and loved one another. In a world of pride and sin, true loving community is extremely unusual. And yet at the same time its our deeper human desire to belong and to be known and loved. Paul finishes the letter on a note of greets. Greetings from him. Greetings from others. And a command for the Corinthians to live in a life where they have a true and honest love and openness to each other. The call to great one another with a holy kiss is a command that appears here and a few other places in the NT. It is carried over both from Judaism and the greco-roman world where a kiss was a very common sign of kinship, respect and reconciliation. This is still true in many cultures in the world. The point is that we greet one another in whatever form is most expressive of this idea - of kinship, openness and belonging. In American culture kissing each other is not how we express kinship - its rather a hug, or a handshake or a combination of the two. The point is that as a christian - you should live and experience a deep sense of bond, belonging and love for the community of christians you live with. and you should live with that sense of bond with the wider community of the church in the world around you. Its a dark and lonely world out there. But what we have in Christ is the deepest and most amazing experience of belonging. Jesus doesnt just call us to be individual followers or slaves - he calls us to be his family. and he wants us to share in all the benefits of being encouraged and strengthened as we live in his family. So often we come to church so preoocupied with our own emotions and thoughts and problems, and we fail to just simply enjoy the family of God. Sure we aren't perfect, but theres a lot of people here who care for you who are happy to see you. Do you allow yourself to recieve the encouragement of showing up and being around God's poeple? Also, are you a person who intentionally comes to church and to group to make others feel loved and welcomed? "No one notices or cares about me" As you pour into others you will also see that there are a lot more poeple around you who care about you than you may realize! This is essential to our spirutal strength out in the world. We need to learn to live in a sense that we are connected to a family - that we aren't at it alone! I love the concluding phrase here, "Come Lord Jesus!" Paul finishes in this exhortation to point to the end. Christianity is not about just being good poeple or living a good life. Its about our spiritual strength that is rooted in the message that Jesus has come - that being God he entered our world and became one of us, that he came to live the perfect life we could never live, and to pay the price we could never pay - to give his life for our sin and guilt. This message of Jesus as the conquering King who through his love has victory in this world - thats the banner than hangs over our lives. Its pointing to the fact that he came and that we look forward to his coming. Our whole struggle for wisdom and spiritual strength is fueled by him, but who he is and what he did. He is the reason we can pursue spiritual strength. He is the reason we bond with our spiritual leaders. HE is the reason we live in a community of real love and belonging. Application questions: • What are the holes in your spiritual strength? Alert? Rooted in the faith? Courageous? Loving? • Are you intentional about who you respect and submit to? What is your active relationship to the leaders in your life? • Do you come to church and group to enjoy the love of your church family? Are you here to share that love with others?

The Lord's Work - 1 Corinthians 16:1-12

February 19, 2023 • Victor Kuksenko • 1 Corinthians 16:1–12

Title: The Lord's Work Structure: I. Paul instructs the Corinthian church on financial participation II. Paul expects partnership from the Corinthian church in his ministry III. Paul's care and understanding for his co-laborers - Timothy - Apollos Scripture: - 1 Cor. 16:1-12 Quotes: • John Wesley once said "Money never stays with me. It would burn me if it did. I throw it out of my hands as soon as possible, lest it should find its way into my heart • Gordon Fee says it well "Paul demonstrates remarkable willingness to put the unity of the church and the interests of his coworkers above his own personal desires and fears." ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sermon Notes: Open with me to 1 Corinthians 16:1-12 What fills the space in this passage? What common things come up? • We see various churches and people ◦ We are introduced to Galatian churches - who were also desiring to participate in collection for the needs of the saints. ◦ We read about the saints in Jerusalem that are in need. ◦ He addresses his plans to go to Macedonia to visit churches there. ◦ Currently it seems that he is in Ephesus and amazing things are happening there. ◦ Paul is telling the Corinthians that Timothy is coming to them, but they are to treat him well. ◦ And Apollos is not willing to come to Corinth for now even though Paul strongly urged him to go but probably later. • The whole section is directed to the Corinthian church. And even though they had problems in their church, and some had issues with Paul himself. He still had confidence that they will help him in his ministry. ◦ As Apostle Paul is instructing them, and sharing his plans, in the process he is teaching all of us how to think, and what to do in the Lord's Work. The work that is being done is our Lords. He is building his kingdom through his people to the ends of the earth. ◦ We know that when God created this world, he told Adam and Eve to populate this world and fill this world with God's presence. God is the Lord of the universe and he desires us to reflect his image, his desires, his will in all that we do. ◘ This Eden is to be all over the world. A place where God reigns and as a result everything works. ◦ Yet, humans rebelled against their Lord, we wanted to be our own lords, and in the process severed ourselves from His kingdom. We created our own kingdom, which lead our souls from paradise into the desert, where there is scorching sun, beating down on our hearts. Where we cannot be satisfied because our satisfaction is from the Lord. ◘ No matter what we do, what we build and where we go, all of it still is not enough to fill our empty souls, that cannot be satisfied without the Lord. ◦ Yet, our Lord who had full right to destroy us, out of his Love promises a Savior who will bring us back into himself. God became man, his name is Jesus. He took our sins that separated us from God and nailed them to the cross! ◘ He died to pay the price of our rebellion against our Lord. He was buried, but on the Third day he arose from the dead. ◦ Now he is calling all of us, to come to Him, for he fills our longing hearts and parched souls with living water. ◦ Those who receive Jesus - by repenting of their sins and trusting in Jesus's work on our behalf is placed into his church. His kingdom! • But that is not the end of the story. Jesus sends out his disciples, to establish God's reign on the earth. ◦ How is that happening? - Jesus is building his church through us. ◦ Now he wants us to do His Work by His power and His guidance for His glory ◦ This is HIS WORK! • So the Lord's work is not just for special people, but for all those who have been brought near, all those who know this good Savior of our souls. This is why we need this word today: To be encourage to do the Lord's work. To see how does this work looks like, where can I serve. What can I do.. We will break down this text into three points: _________________________________ I. Paul instructs the Corinthian church on financial participation v. 1-4 The Jerusalem church experienced extreme poverty and needed financial support. • No one really know exactly why they were in such a dyer need, it might have been numerous factors. ◦ There was a famine of the late 40s, this book was written around 55 AD ◦ A number of poor people flocked into the early church, because everyone was welcomed. ◘ They even created a system to take care of the widows. ◦ Jews becoming Christian would most likely have been cut off from the distribution of food and provision for the needy. • It was a big enough problem that Apostle Paul made it his aim to raise funds from various Gentile churches to help in the need. ◦ This collection was very important to Paul he dedicates two whole chapters in 2 Corinthians 8-9 on it ◦ Many churches were participating in this need: from Galatia, Macedonia, Achaia and Greece. • Money plays a big role in Ministry. ◦ For example, for our church to function as it is, it requires financial support and that is happening from faithful tithers in our church. ◦ When a person comes to Jesus one big change that happens is that person becomes sensitive to the financial needs of people around them. ◘ Especially sensitive to the need of giving to the church to support the work of ministry. • Often we don't realize how important it is to support something financially. ◦ God blesses people with higher income so they would be able to give more. ◦ John Wesley once said "Money never stays with me. It would burn me if it did. I throw it out of my hands as soon as possible, lest it should find its way into my heart" ◦ Jesus says that where our money is that is where our hearts will be also! ◘ Our money is a strong indicator of what we care about. ◘ If we care about God's kingdom we will give to it. But notice how Paul teaches this church to give. It is very organized and careful. • There is a lot wisdom here. Because it is one thing to give, but also it is another thing to be strategic in giving. The Corinthian church was asking him about this collection for the Jerusalem saints and he instructs them how to do it well. 1. Giving should be planned ◦ on the first day of the week which is Sunday, set aside and save. ◘ Side note: this was the time the church gathered together, so they were instructed to save weekly for this need. ◦ When Paul comes then they don't need to overburden the people, the gift is already ready to be collected. ◦ It is not chaotic or random, but planned and carefully thought of. ◘ How is our giving? ◘ Often even in tithing the best way to give is when you get your paycheck you give right away and then calculate your bills and things. ◘ But also when need comes, it might be wise to save up a small portion from your income and when a need arises you can take that and give generously and more if you want. 2. Giving should be proportional ◦ he says "save in keeping with how he is prospering" ◦ If God is blessing you then give more and participate more. ◘ If you are very tight then you are not obligated to give. We all have seasons and we can use the times of blessing to save to give. ◦ It is not spiritual to give everything because there is a need and wait for God to provide for you. ◘ You consider how can you move your expenses around and then decide to give for a need. ◘ Yes, God might call some to give radically, but that is not a norm. 3. Giving should be under accountability ◦ Notice he is asking them to find trustworthy people whom the church recommends to send this gift. ◘ Paul does not bring his own people for this, but rather he gives them a way to not only give but also deliver this gift to Jerusalem. ◘ So there is no question where this money went to. ◦ Also there should be a few people, not just one. ◘ There are checks and balances, ◘ He gives no room for corruption and theft. How are we participating financially for God's kingdom? • Are we sensitive to various needs? Do we realize that as people of God we need to care about the poor and the widows. • Yet, many of us may be living from paycheck to paycheck and are unable to give for various needs, maybe in those situations we need to seek wisdom and understanding how to work with money and budgeting. ◦ Maybe we need to look through our expenses and close some of them down, various subscriptions and change our habits? Before we even give. ◦ We need to realize that if we don't plan on it we will never have money to help in financial needs. ◦ Maybe it may mean when you get your paycheck you set aside a small amount into a specific "special needs savings" and it starts growing, and as you see a need around you you can pull from that and give. • Are we careful in giving? Is there accountability? Not all people who ask for money are in need. ◦ There are so many businesses that operate on peoples "good" desire to give. ◦ Some may say, well God knows my heart, but are you not lazy to do your homework? - ◘ What if your money is keeping a system alive that is based on lies? ◘ What if your giving is promoting a lazy lifestyle? ◘ Did you know that the best results in missions is when the local church is able to self-support and care for their needs outside of foreign funds? ◦ We need to be generous but also wise in our giving • Do we care about the condition of our brothers of sisters? ◦ When we see a need in our church or a person going through a financial challenge, do we look for ways to help? _______________________________________________ II. Paul expects partnership from the Corinthian church in his ministry v.5-9 Paul is most likely writing this letter from Ephesus. • We read about him staying in Ephesus for 2 years in Acts 19 ◦ For the first 3 months Paul speaks boldly in the Synagogue, ◦ After he withdraws from them and starts gathering people in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. Where it says that "all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord" (19:10) ◘ Paul is also performing extraordinary miracles there, healing and casting out demons ◘ The people respond favorably by burning their magic books a total of 50,000 pieces of silver. ◦ This is precisely why Paul says that "a wide door for effective ministry has opened for me" ◦ But also he adds "yet many appose me" ◘ this was when Demetrius developed a riot in the city of Ephesus. Paul shares his traveling plans: • He will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost (which is late Spring, till May) • Then he will plan to travel to Macedonia (which is north, by the Agean Sea) • Then go down south to Corinth and stay there for the whole winter, not just in passing. Why does Paul share his blessing and struggles and his plans? • Because he saw them as partners in his ministry. • He says "So that you may send me on my way wherever I go" ◦ The word for "send me" is often referring to sending with provision or supplies. ◦ Meaning he is expecting them to help him in his stay and journey. ◦ Paul has expectations of this church, that if they are partners they will help him in any need • He desires to come to them and not just visit in passing but really stay there. In the Lord's work Paul expects the church to be ready to serve. • Notice that this works is reciprocal. ◦ Meaning that Apostle Paul served these people but also he expected these people to serve back. ◦ Our culture has a "consumer" mindset. Where I receive and that is it. ◘ The church often gets into the same rut. ◘ But in reality the church seek to help and to give in any way it can. ◦ Ex: just think of our children, if you do everything for them will they learn to do things that blesses others? ◘ We need to love them and let them do things for us and others so they learn. ◦ So is the church, it exists as a body, where every piece plays a significant role in taking and giving. ◘ Where I receive the blessing, but I also sacrifice myself in ways to bring about that blessing. ◦ In this context: we see a need to provide your home for someone. Hospitality is huge. Where you take someone under your care and provide for them. ◘ What did God give you? - you use it for the blessing of others. ◦ We need to learn to share our ministries with our brothers and sisters, so they may help up in the load. ◘ This requires us to share our struggles, challenges and blessings at times. ◘ It requires us to share our goals, ambitions and plans with others. ◘ There is this healthy horizontal element of doing ministry together. • This work is planned yet open to change ◦ Notice that Paul had a specific plan, yet "if the Lord wills". ◘ He also a reason to stay in Ephesus "because he sees an open door for his ministry" ◦ God is constantly doing something in around us, in us and through us. Are we sensitive to his leading. ◘ We should plan, strategies and think deeply about our next steps but also we need to be sensitive to what is God doing among us and in us and through us. ◦ For many of us change came be very scary ◘ We like where we are and what we have now and we don't want to change that. Yet God often calls us to change and go through challenges so that his will would be done in different ways. ◘ We need to learn to function amongst the change. ◘ This means we need to submit to God as the ultimate arbiter of my life and of the ministry that I have. ◦ If God opens the door for ministry in places we don't expect and it will require us to go through challenges, are we willing to go? ◘ Are we willing to do hard things for God? • Obviously there is wisdom here too we should not be quick to change as well, when God opens the door we are to stay where we are and be faithful in serving. _______________________________________________________ III. Paul's care and understanding for his co-laborers v. 10-11 We read about two ministry partners Timothy and Apollos in this section. Timothy ~The Corinthian church had many problems, so Paul send them a letter to answer a lot of the misunderstanding but also he is sending Timothy, his fellow co-laborer to help remind them the ways of Paul. • Paul himself does not see it a good reason to leave the work he is doing in Ephesus, so he sends someone he trust will teach them the truth. • Paul is sending Timothy into a difficult church. Paul is actually worries for Timothy, so he tells the church to treat him well. he says it twice ◦ He says: "See that he has nothing to fear while with you" and "so let no one look down on him" ◦ Paul is worried. He could have just come himself, but he doesn't drop everything, he sends Timothy, this is a way for him to learn and to be able to represent Paul. ◦ This church already had people who were not liking Paul, and to have Timothy come could make it worse. • We learn here about the importance of delegating tasks in ministry ◦ There might be a need and you cannot fulfill it, then you trust another person enough to send him or her to that need. ◦ Jesus did that as well, he sent out disciples who would proclaim the message of Jesus all over Judea. ◘ They were untrained and had little experience and Jesus entrusted them the work. ◦ Often we think we can do something better, and never bring someone around with us, or even delegate someone that need. ◘ Yes here is a chance they may mess up but in reality they will learn so much more. ◦ We are not all there is, there are many people who are along side us doing the Lord's work ◦ That is why in our church we seek to develop more leaders and ministers who will serve along side us in the work that God called us to do. Apollos • We know that Apollos plays a significant role in the lives of the Corinthians. ◦ Some were saying in the Corinthians church "I'm with Paul, others saying I'm with Apollos and others saying I'm with Christ." • Yet because Apollos was one of the focuses for disunity Paul "strongly urges" him to come and make things right. ◦ He might be able to provide significant help in the time of strife and conflict. ◦ And it seems that this church was asking for him as well. • Yet, Apollos did not agree to come for his own reasons, but suggests that he might visit later. It seems that Paul and Apollos both understood that both of them were not responsible for the troubles in the beginning of the letter. • It seems that the church took positions because of internal struggle. • Also, notice how Paul calls him "our brother" ◦ this indicates that Paul is united with this brother, even though he is doing his own work. ◦ Paul definitely does not see this church as his own ministry, he sees that God is ultimately working in their church and bringing various people who influenced and shaped them. ◦ If Paul were at odds with Apollos he would be the last person that he wanted to come. Notice Paul's respect to Apollos • Apollos disagreed to come for his own reasons, and Paul really wants him to come because it might be better for them. But Apollos does not and Paul is ok with that. • He does not push him or use his authority to do what the "apostle" sees right. • Gordon Fee says it well "Paul demonstrates remarkable willingness to put the unity of the church and the interests of his coworkers above his own personal desires and fears." Do we treat other ministers with respect? • We might have our favorite preachers or teachers and might reject those who are starting out. • Do we see value in each minister in our church. ◦ Or do we "use" them for our own benefit and when they are done we get rid of them? • God is bringing up leaders in our church for the blessing of others, are we willing to care for them and to listen to them? • It seems that in our day and age we are very quick to smother people or churches for differences of opinion of an issue that occurred? ◦ But do we have a sense of godly respect for them? __________________________________________ In Conclusion Apostle Paul is a great example of a careful minister, whom we need to imitate! • He has a heart for the needs of other believers, and is willing to bring other Christians into that need. • He is careful organized and planned. • He is open to God's leading and guidance. • He delegates and hopes for the best. • He places others interests above his own. Where did he learn to be such a minister? - From our Lord Jesus Christ. • Jesus cares about his church. • Jesus is building it from imperfect people. • He desire us to seek his will and guidance for our lives and the life of our church. • Do we take part in this work? ◦ Are ministering with our own unique abilities? ◦ Are we seeking his Kingdom to be spread around us? ◦ Are we faithfully serving?

Prophets And Tongues in the New Testament - 1 Corinthians 14:1-25

November 27, 2022 • Andrey Bulanov • 1 Corinthians 14:1–25

Title: Prophecy and Tongues in the New Testament - 1 Corinthians 14:1-25 Outline: 1. What is the gift of prophesy? 2. What is the gift of tongues? 3. Are these gifts present today? 4. How does this text speak to us today? • The goal of the gathered church is edification, not personal exaltation, or performance. • Christian growth is rooted in understanding his truth. • Spiritual experience must be explained and supported by Scripture. • We should indeed expect a dynamic daily experience of God's presence and work in our lives. Scripture references: • 1 Corinthians 14: 1-25 • 1 Corinthians 14: 30-31 • Ephesians 2:20 • Acts 2:4-13 • Acts 10:46 ---------------------------- A lot of what is wrong with human religious experience is that it is driven by personal experience and that it is rooted at exalting the self. Rather than pursuing deep, slow, patient spiritual change - people would rather have a supernatural experience that makes them feel spiritual and alive. Rather than humble themselves under God's authority - people want to feel like they are in control - like they can do something and show how good they can be. These are the tendencies of the sinful human heart, and they manifest themselves in human religiosity in a variety of settings. Unfortunately they also frequently flow into the church. Rather than submitting to the message of grace, that we bring nothing, that we must first of all see our total need in God alone - people want to come to the church as a place where there ego is put on display - a place where they can show their skills or gifts. Rather than submitting to a slow process of spiritual growth, rooted in God's Word, people want to change supernatural experience that makes them feel spiritual and close to God without humbling process of real discipleship. These are the challenges we see in the Corinthian church. They were obsessed with supernatural gifts and experiences. They made their church life about some members of the congregation putting themselves in the spotlight over others. Here in ch. 14 we get to the heart of the argument Paul makes to them about their unhealthy understanding of spiritual gifts, and the especially the gift of tongues. In thier obsession with spiritual gifts and personal exaltation - they had a particular obsession with the gift of tongues that was totally backwards - and it was creating chaos in their church services. Paul counters this imbalance by pointing to the supremacy of the gift of prophecy, and in doing this he points to the TRUE purpose of the gathering of the church - not personal glory or miraculous experience - but the building up and encouragement of all who are present. So much confusion continues to exist in the church on this same subject - prophecy, spiritual gifts, miracles, tongues. And it can be quite damaging. This chapter is massive and theres no way we will cover every detail. But we will try to get most of it. Won't be able to cover everything. I am happy to talk and answer questions. Recommend book. 1. What is the gift of prophecy? "Prophecy is the act of communicating spontaneous revelations from God." This is a very common sense definition that fits with the general pattern of the whole Bible. Spontaneous - not based on planning or studying. • 30 But if something has been revealed to another person sitting there, the first prophet should be silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that everyone may learn and everyone may be encouraged. Prophecy is also not the same thing as teaching or preaching. Preaching has to do with studying Scripture and preparing a message. Paul challenges Timothy to be a good servant of God who "rightly teaching/handling the Word of God.." (2 Timothy 2:15) Sometimes its a prediction of future events: • Agabus in Acts 21:10-11 - Paul would be bound and imprisoned. Always for the edification of the church • 3 On the other hand, the person who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and consolation. Some people say that prophecy in the NT is different from prophecy in the OT. The main proponent of this view is Wayne Grudem. We love most of his writing. But here I think he is unpersuasive. • Grudem: "Prophecy is an impression or a idea that the Holy Spirit puts on your heart, which may be fallible and should not be treated with the same authority as Scripture." • Example - During a church meeting, God puts it on someone's heart to say we should call such and such a church because they might be willing to sell their building. • Example - After church, God puts it on my brother to come up and encourage them to persevere in the challenges they are facing - though i don't even know what kind of challenges they are facing. • Essentially an impression of the Holy Spirit to say something for their building up. NT prophecy is NOT different from OT prophecy: • The New Testament speaks of prophets and prophecy a lot, it quotes the old testament about prophecy a lot - and there is never any clear reason to think that it is doing that in a way that is totally different from the OT. • Hannah, John the Baptist, Jesus, Agabus (uses formula "thus says the Holy Spirit") • The book of Revelation is called a prophecy numerous times (1:3, 22:7, 22:18, 22:19) • 2 Peter 1:20-21 speaks of the writing of Scripture as a prophetic act I certainly believe the Holy Spirit does that. And sometimes we have an impression or idea we think is from God but we may be mistaken. But we should not call that prophecy. We would just call it, "something the Lord put on my heart...". One of the dangers of this view is that it makes it almost impossible to distinguish between true and false prophets. The Bible constantly warns about people claiming false prophetic gifts - one of the key features of a false prophet is that they said something that wasn't true. But if the New Testament gift of prophecy is a gift that can make mistakes, how were christians in the early church to tell false prophets from true ones? In Ephesians 2:20 Paul says that the church is "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone." So the prophets have a unique role in the building and setting the foundation of the church. This is not just some gift of impressions that everyone gets. Its something that was very important to the foundation of the New Testament church. 2. What is the gift of tongues? There are two main answers to this question: • The gift of tongues is the gift of speaking God's truth in human languages that a person never learned. • The gift of tongues is the experience of expressing ecstatic utterances with no discernible code or meaning. The gift of tongues in Acts 2 is is clearly human languages. Acts 2:4-13 4 Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout people from every nation under heaven. 6 When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 They were astounded and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites; those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts), 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues.” 12 They were all astounded and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But some sneered and said, “They’re drunk on new wine.” The next instance of speaking in tongues is found in the story of Cornelius and his friends (Acts 10:1–48). They receive the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues (Acts 10:46). Acts 10:46 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and declaring the greatness of God. Luke makes it clear that the gift is the same one that was given to the 120 on Pentecost. In other words, Cornelius and his friends spoke in languages they didn’t know. Peter confirms this interpretation in Acts 11:17 when he says, “If, then, God gave them the same gift that he also gave to us.” Peter specifically tells us that the gift was the same one received on Pentecost. Following this line of reasoning - you have to assume Luke is speaking of the same thing in Acts 19 - because he has already established the meaning of tongues. What about tongues in 1 Corinthians? Three reasons why "tongues" in Corinthians refers to human language: • Acts clearly speaks of languages. There has to be two very different experiences in the NT with the same term used. Is there evidence of this? I don't think so. Especially since speaking in tongues in Acts was such a big deal - a sign of the coming of the Spirit and the New Covenant age has begun. • "Glossa" is a greek word that clearly means human languages. The historic scholarship on this is clear. • Paul repeatedly speaks of the need for interpretation. This is the assumption Paul has in the whole chapter. "5. The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be built up." "13 Therefore the person who speaks in a tongue should pray that he can interpret." Notice that Paul says that if someone is present who can interpret the tongue speaker then it becomes similar to the gift of prophecy - it is God's truth that builds up the church! What about vs 2? "2 For the person who speaks in a tongue is not speaking to people but to God, since no one understands him; he speaks mysteries in the Spirit." Isn't this different from Acts? In Acts, they were speaking in languages and people got saved. It was like a prophetic gift. But here Paul says its just for God, mysteries in the Spirit. But that doesn't mean the gift was different. It just shows the situation was very different. In Acts you have a bunch of people from all different nations - and they heard the truth in their own languages. What is interesting is that in Acts also, some of the people thought the Apostles were drunk because they were speaking in other languages. What about 13:2 - the language of angels? • Paul is speaking in exaggerated terms. The tongue of angels is never again mentioned anywhere. It could likely be an exaggeration. • Even if its not, it still assumes a language with meaning. Linguists have analyzed the experience of people who claim to have the gift of tongues today and can never find any sort of discernible code or meaning. What then do we make of tongue speaking today that is made up of ecstatic utterance? Is this something spiritual or demonic? • Some of what goes on in charismatic churches is likely demonic. There are some very dangerous and twisted aspects of the charismatic movement today which completely goes against Scripture. • It is clearly wrong to say that unless someone has the gift of tongues they don't have the Holy Spirit. • It is clearly wrong to say that tongue speaking is the result of some second blessing or spiritual baptism. • "13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body" - the baptism of the Spirit occurs when a person becomes a christian • It is clearly wrong make tongue speaking the most important spiritual gift - thats Paul's who point here! • But it is likely that not all who experience what is called today the gift of tongues is demonic. • J. I. Packer identifies it as a form of psychological relaxation. This phenomenon has been identified by psychologists outside of christianity who study this behavior and point to the fact that some people have an ability to vocalize non language sounds that bring people a form of relaxation. 3. Are these gifts still present today? • The gift of apostleship is ceased for sure. Apostolic authority is a key in the New Testament. It is a unique office of people chosen by Jesus to take his message to the world and be the foundation of the church. • If by prophesy we mean people who spoke God's Word to the church, then with the passing of the Apostles and the completion of the New Testament canon, it seems clear that the need for prophesy has also passed. Paul repeatedly speaks of "the apostles and the prophets" forming the foundation of the church - Eph. 2, 1 Cor. 12, Eph 4 - these two gifts were uniquely given for a season in the life of the church when the foundation was being set and Scripture was being written. People today who claim to reveal revelations from God that are equal with Scripture make a dangerous claim that questions the sufficiency of Scripture. What about the gifts of tongues, miracles and healing? When we look at the whole story of Scripture, we can see that miracles took place, not evenly though-out. But at certain high points in redemptive history to authenticate God's redeeming work. This happens in the Exodus time with Moses. It happens during the time of Elijah/Elisha. And it happens during Jesus and the early church. Additionally, even by the end of the New Testament era, it seems that the prominence of these gifts is already fading. When you get to the period of the early church in the first three hundred years, you hardly see any mention of supernatural gifts, prophesy and tongues. I just had a conversation with an early church historian about this a few weeks ago. Does this mean God doesn't heal today? No! This does not mean God does not do miracles today or that occasionally God does not give someone the ability to preach the gospel in a language they never learned. This does take place today. However it is far from the norm. This has been the case throughout virtually all of church history. The healings of the NT are not like the healings on charismatic tv - back pain, fatigue. Plus in the NT there is a very diligent process of verification - did this person REALLY get healed? (see John 9) 4. What does this mean for us today? • The goal of the gathered church is edification, not personal exaltation or performance. "Paul isn’t criticizing tongues or any other spiritual gift, but he reminds us that they are not the pinnacle of spiritual experience." Schriener • Christian growth is rooted in understanding his truth. Much of what fills the charismatic world is a movement on experience and emotion. It is a christianity that is rooted in experience. Paul and the rest of the NT show us that it is Scripture that is our root source of life. It is Scripture that the Holy Spirit uses "3 On the other hand, the person who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and consolation." "19...I would rather speak five words with my understanding, in order to teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue." So many ppl jump from experience to experience when we have the Spirit inspired Word! • Spiritual experience must be explained and supported by Scripture. Experience does not provide its own interpretation. Just because something felt like something - does not mean we understood it correctly. • We should indeed expect a dynamic daily experience of God's presence and work in our lives. It has to be rooted in Scripture. It has to be for the sake of loving and building others up. And yet we should not merely become brains on a stick christians who do not beleive in anything subjective or dynamic. Answers to prayer must be expected. Impressions and leading from the Holy Spirit must be expected. God will work in ways we don't understand. We don't need put everything in a box of everything we can perfectly logically explain and had deep doubt on people who's experience is different than our own. 24 But if all are prophesying and some unbeliever or outsider comes in, he is convicted by all and is called to account by all. 25 The secrets of his heart will be revealed, and as a result he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, “God is really among you.” Notice here the effect of truth piercing the heart. Prophesy was ONE way that truth was expressed in the church during the NT era. But obviously not the only one. We have something far greater than a prophet today. We have Scripture. What is the effect of a group of people gathered and worshipping in the Word? It should be a place of movement by God. It should be a place where hearts are exposed. Where people are convicted. A place where people proclaim in worship to God and say, "God is really among you!" Do you hunger for this power to work in and through you today? God has drawn near to us in Jesus. God has come to bridge the gap between our sinfulness and his holiness by taking our sin on himself on the cross. He has given us himself that we may have life. Do you have this life? Has his word cut deep into your heart to make you new? Do you life a life in Jesus that is saturated in the power of his Word working in and through you?

Lord's Love is the Way to Go - 1 Corinthians 13:8-13

November 20, 2022 • Vitaly Kunda • 1 Corinthians 13:8–13

“Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known. Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love — but the greatest of these is love.” Because divine love is never failing and eternal, we should be united in the pursuit of it as a most important virtue. 1. Unite on priorities 2. Adjust practices 3. Grow in the “better way” Context: “But desire the greater gifts. And I will show you an even better way.”1 Cor 12:31 ‬‬‬‬‬‬ “Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy.” 1 Cor 14:1 1. Unite on priorities • Worldly priorities (none of political leaders, religions, including Judaism, philosophers and psychologists demanded to love) Love is a mark of Jesus followers. ““You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”Matt 5:43,44 ““I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another John 13:34,35 • Churches with wrong priority choices (Corinthian on spiritual gifts, Ephesians on faithfulness to the truth, ministry, expository preaching, mission…particular language Ukrainian speaking, oriented churches) “I know that you have persevered and endured hardships for the sake of my name, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first.”Rev 2:4,5 • Prioritize Love. There are many gifts that are given to the church (Holy Spirit, bold of Jesus, Bible, body of Christ, confession, forgiveness, lords, supper, adoption, baptism, prayer, grace, peace, fruit of the spirit, gifts of the spirit, love, hope , faith, they are of different categories, some are given only for earthly life and some start here and go to eternity Corinthian church had all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, they were true gifts, healings happened, prophecies came true, true other languages, wisdom of mysteries, however these gifts can be used only in the context of love. He says it’s a better way, love is essential, love has special characteristics, it lasts. Gifts are temporal (earthly existence of church), partial, some of them childish( only for the early stages of the church development ( prophecies, knowledge until we have cannon) some could be used in particular contexts, gift of languages for the unbelievers but love has to be percent everywhere (“loving church” is the greatest pursuit) Why? It is better way, love is essential, it is eternal (not time limited), it is complete ( not partial), sign of maturity ( not childish). If church to choose one gift from Gods gifts, it must be Love as a priority. When God gave Solomon a choice to ask something that he wants from God, he chose Wisdom. We as LWBC need to choose Love - it’s that lasts But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.” ‬‬‬‬‬‬ 2. Adjust practices – love that adopts • Taught by Holy Spirit ( not Slavic practice to have open Christian fellowship, openness, humility, care, trust, hospitality, confection, forgiveness, acceptance, compassion, accountability. • People oriented, not ministry (new members to enjoy fellowship – know and be known, gifts will be noticed and required, we don copy ministries of other churches, we provide trellises to the growing vine, soccer, sports ministry, teens ministry, mission for young adults, Russian ministry, men’s and ladies breakfasts, counseling ministry, outreach, theology classes, leaders development.– respond with love to need • Response to hurts and to Joys (Roxy, Ira Chernomorets got in car accident – response, prayers, meal train, car was offered as a lender) • Lord’s will for LWBC to become English speaking church ( required a lot of love, pastoral readjustments) step of faith. Pioneer Missionary C.T. Studd, to China, India Africa understood the truth of Christ love and said “if Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him” • New good challenges (more people, different people, difficult situations), after some research, we came to conclusion that it’s not worthy for us to add anything to this existing building, we are mow looking for new building, Scott is already on the mission church building swap, might have to move to two services. Past year elders had to adjust to how we can serve now in different context, who is going to do what in terms of teaching, pastoring and overseeing. It was interesting process. In case we go two services, pastors want to be present on both in order to know everyone who comes new, to keep contact with all. Key is Love never ends, it doesn’t fail, we can adjusts, but with love. 3. Grow in a “better way” • Increase and duplicate / be fruitful and multiply 1 Thess 3:12, “And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we do for you.” By becoming English speaking church we don’t want to loose what we have learned, stay together, love each other, fight sin, encourage each other, build each other, care for each other. We want to duplicate what we have, but be open to new suggestions. • Pray for Holy Spirit enabling • Love God - worship, spend time, share your heart – Martha and Maria, not to be busy working but sit by Christ • Teach love 1 cor 13:4 what love does and doesn’t do. Speak of love often, devote several months to teaching on love. Premarital, Margie counseling • Get rid of sin – love can grow cold or weakened by neglect, sin, worldly destructions, false teaching. “Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins 1 pet 4:8 • Walk in love – every step is to be one of love – imitate Father as beloved children “Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.” Eph 5:1,2 • Christian home – love that initiated by husband instead of men’s selfishness, laziness, passivity, but Christ self giving atmosphere of Christian home. Tragic if we show love to people at church, strangers but fail to practice it at home. Love begins at home. Love atmosphere for children to see it modeled. Devine love doesn’t need to be used only in difficult situations, it has to be use in every situation, love is kind, not irritable, does not keep record of wrongs“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her” as well as wives “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything.”Eph 5:25 • Love for kids. We want training and teaching, effective discipline but we should use love a lot. There is deficit of true love in the world. Deficits in love, greatest need, we give attention to babies but not as much to older kids, give hugs, kind words, use love when they throw disobey, wining, fighting siblings, when he is saturated with love he will quit asking • Love at church place where brothers and sisters totally committed to display God's love by loving and caring for one another. We need to meet regularly and encourage each other for love and good deeds. Growth in love is not just individual exercise, it’s corporate learning experience. Christian can’t develop love by sitting home watching service online. To grow in love we need stresses and tests. “And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works,” Hebrews 10:24 Believers need to take responsibility for churches growth in love or it’s loss of love. It is not only responsibility of leaders but of every member • Love for all people – loving unlovable, who hurt us (tough marriages, people who don’t like us, who critiques us, who are different “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High. For he is gracious to the ungrateful Lk 6:32,35 “Love never ends…. Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love — but the greatest of these is love.”1 cor 13:8,13

Love Is... - 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

November 13, 2022 • Andrey Bulanov • 1 Corinthians 13:4–7

Main idea: The whole christian life is a practical pursuit of a life of genuine love, a love that flows down into our hearts from the heart of our Savior, a love that flows through our bodies, and hands, our feet, our words, our thoughts - out to the lives of others around us. Outline: 1. Love is patient and kind 2. Love is not prideful 3. Love is not a nasty Scrooge 4. Love takes no satisfaction in evil 5. Love is unconquerable Application: • Hold your heart up to the mirror of truth • understand love • love love - value this as supreme! • pursue love through the power given to you in Jesus ◦ when you study love and value love you will learn love ◦ but deep down the only true motive is Christ himself, pouring our his love in your heart Scripture References: • 1 Corinthians 13 • Colossians 3:14 • John 13:34-35 • Matthew 11:28-30 • John 13:1 ------- Read whole chapter Love is the most sought out thing in the world, and yet the thing most lacking at the same time. One of the most important theologians of the history of the church boiled it down to one issue: love. All human behavior is animated by various loves within us that collide with each other. All human existence is created for the love of God. To experience his love, his presence, his fellowship - and to live out all of life out of the satisfaction of that love - to be his image bearers, to reflect his glory and goodness, to be sources of his love and glory in the world. What moves you today? You are either chasing the various loves of your heart, the things that will not lead to real joy. Or you are living out of the love of God which already fills your heart. In terms of content, this chapter is really the burning center of the whole letter. Paul has been challenging and correcting the behaviors of the corinthians : • prideful human wisdom • division • relationship to idol temples and perverted culture • singleness and marriage • lust and self control • spiritual gifts and worship Here in chapter 13, he breaks form, he breaks from the structure of his whole letter to give this beautiful poetic meditation on love and you realize that it is LOVE that he has been talking about all along. It is love that drives Paul. It is love that he is trying to teach the corinthians. Colossians 3:14 "Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity." Two weeks ago, pastor Aleksey preached on the first three verses and we saw the centrality of love. To be a person of love is the very center and focus of all of Scripture - Jesus said this is the whole law and the prophets. Love God and love people. In Ephesians 4, Paul puts it another way - he says the very definition of spiritual growth is growth in a life of love with the family of God. How do I know that I am growing spiritually? • I can see that I am growing in my ability to love people. There is evidence of greater fruit and blessing in the lives of others around me as I seek to live, understand, encourage and build relationships with my brothers and sisters in Christ. In this sense I thnk that love is the highest wisdom. wisdom is knowing how to live in the various situations of life. Love is what you get when you when you have a person who is truly transformed and living out the word of God in daily life. What happens when the Word of God becomes a person and lives. John 13:34-35 34 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” The whole christian life is a practical pursuit of a life of genuine love, a love that flows down into our hearts from the heart of our Savior, a love that flows through our bodies, and hands, our feet, our words, our thoughts - out to the lives of others around us. What then is love? How do we define it? How do we describe it? • Grudem "God's love means that he eternally gives himself to others." • "Love is lifestyle where we prioritize, practice and find satisfaction in doing good to others and seeking their blessing." it is this portrait that we want to give pracitical attention to today. As Paul calls us to the priority of love, he gives us a very practical portrait of love. He gives us a list of three positive qualities, eight negative statements, followed by a statement on love's enduring power. 1. Love is patient and kind One writer made the observation that these two qualities are the active and passive responses of love to difficult poeple. What makes love hard, what makes seeking the good of others hard - is that people themselves are sinners and they are not easy to love. People do thinks that are hurtful to us. It takes patience to hang on to relationships, to not give up on them, to keep loving. And it takes a response of kindness when we are treated unkindly. In Romans 2:4, Paul shows us that patience and kindness are two things that define God's own relationship to sinnners. He patiently endures our darkness, rebellion and sin - rather than wiping us out. But not only that. God demonstrates kindness to sinners. He goes on the offensive against our sin - he gives grace and sends his own Son to give us salvation. We can all get motivated to love people. But it is our lack of patience that cuts that commitment short. Real love requires patience because people are difficult to love. Do we expect people to be challenging? Or do you expect them to be always thankful and appreciate you when you do something good? We can often get frustrated when we try to be kind or do good to someone and it blows up in our face - and we say "I tried but that person is just rude.." Love is patient. "John and Charles Wesley were blessed with a patient mother. At one time her husband said, “I marvel at your patience! You have told that child the same thing twenty times!” Susanna Wesley looked fondly at the child. She said, “Had I spoken the matter only nineteen times, I should have lost all my labor.” • Tan, P. L. (1996). https://ref.ly/logosres/tans7700?ref=page.p+985&off=24&ctx=+the+twentieth+time%0a~john+and+charles+wes (p. 985). Bible Communications, Inc. Patience is the enduring part of love, kindness is that active part of love. For some of us kindness comes easier than others. Some of us find it very unusual to be kind to others. Maybe its how we were raised and molded. When we open our mouth we need to actively seek to do what is good. Kindness takes conscious active practice. It’s very natural for us to be rude and irritable the next verse says when we are send against or when we are responding to people around in their complicated mess. Some of us might say I’m not a people person. Paul says we all need to learn. When you are pursuing love, you become more of a people person. Sometimes I thnk we say we are not ppl ppl as an excuse for being lazy and unintentional in our approach to people. We don't want to engage in the active process of learning to be kind. 2. Love is not prideful. "Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant.." The negative parts of the list show us that in our journey of learning to love a large part of this journey is learning to push back down against our sinful impulses. When we have a bad attitude at home one of the questions I try to ask is is this how Jesus teaches us to love? The journey of love is a journey into directions. It is a journey outward learning to focus on the needs of others and elevating them above ourselves and it is simultaneously a journey down in word a process of noticing exposing and actively working to kill our selfish impulses. If your spiritual life is not an active process of pushing against your sinful impulses at the same time as learning to walk in the opposite direction of those impulses you are not growing in love. envy, boasting and arrogance - the common idea here is an inflated sense of self worth. The problem of arrogance is often simply the problem of reality. Arrogance is an unrealistic perspective on self on how good we are and how important we are. Arrogant people are just out of touch with reality. The stories of arrogant people in the Bible are the stories of people with terrible falls down. Think of Nebuchadnezzar. All of them out of touch with reality. This is why pride leads to envy or jealousy - because we are always clashing with reality - we always feel like others have more than they should and we have less than we should. We think we deserve better. This is also why pride leads to boasting. When you have an inflated sense of self worth - you will always carry the burden of defending and proving it to others. You will need to present yourself as truly accomplished and successful. you will need to higlight your goodness to others. The solution is NOT that we are WORTHLESS. The reality is that we DO have value and worth. Its just that our value and worth is NOT established by our own boasting and our own success. Here is where love is key again. It is only in the love of God that we discover our deep value and worth. God's love for us elevates us - it draws us in. but it also humbles us. God sees us in our sin and weakness, and yet he loves us just the same. His love draws us in at the same time as teaching us to grow out of our sin. His love fills us with true STRENGTH, BOLDNESS and POWER - and yet there is no boasting here. Love teaches us humility because when you try to love people you realize how hard it is. When you try to love people you realize how immature you are. When you try to love people you realize how much wisdom you need and how great God is for loving us despite all of our faults. one way this is expressed is in our relationship to technology. Some people say, "I just can’t have Instagram because it makes me think of other people or it makes me really struggle with my life. It makes me judge people and it makes me envious at the same time..." Maybe it’s right for you to not have Instagram but you not having a Instagram is in solving problems that Instagram is revealing in your heart When you are rooted in God's love you drink deep from that. Your heart finds deep sense of satisfaction, love and affirmation. It evaporates pride, envy. It fills with desire to see other's succeed. 3. Love is not a nasty Scrooge. "5 is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. " We are coming up on the holiday season and Charles Dickens classic story "The Christmas Carol" is one of my favorites. Everyone is having a good ole time and getting ready to celebrate Christmas and old scrooge is just a nasty grouchy mean and selfish old man. Our tendency is to brush these kinds of people aside as just so unpleasant. But you know there is a REASON why scrooge is the way he is. The story reveals that he has deep wounds that go back to his childhood and life growing up. Wounds that he kept wrapped up and protected. Wounds that make him a nasty, mean and selfish person. How do you respond when poeple tell you you've been rude, harsh, unkind? Sometimes people just say, "Thats just how I am..." You are rude, cold, irritable and brooding for a reason. These are all blinking lights of pain and sin in your heart that needs to be healed by the Savior. It can be the most difficult thing of all to go into these sections of our heart - into the dark rooms filled with spiders and webs. To uncover that below our anger and bitterness is often deep pain. Jesus is not afraid of our wounds. Hes not afraid of the blackest and bitterest parts of your heart. Matthew 11:28-30 28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Hurt people hurt people. Healed people heal people. I know its cheezy but its true. 5 is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. - WHY? because love is a heart healed by the Savior. You can never be a healing and forgiving presence to others unless you are experiecing healing and forgiveness in JEsus every day. 4. Love takes no satisfaction in evil. 6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. 2500 years ago the greek philosopher Plato reflected on one of the most puzzling and disturbing characteristics of humans - our attraction and our desire to be entertained by evil things. He makes an example by telling the story of a man named Leontius who was traveling by the place where executions of criminals took place (a very different world from ours!). As he passed by he was torn by two opposite desires - to look away from the death and the blood, and to look at it. After blocking his eyes for a time he finally spun around and said to his own eyes, "Fine then you disgusting things look and enjoy!" The story highlights the dark impulse in the sinful heart to enjoy watching destruction in the world around us - especially others. We are further conditioned by our digital world of entertainment to enjoy suffering and bloodshed as entertainment. This is dangerous because it feeds the same evil impulse. And then it translates into our lives when we start to enjoy seeing or talking about the brokenness that takes place in the lives of people around us. This is why we love to gossip. We love to hear how messed up and bad the lives of others are. Even if deep down we know some of the things we say are not even true or accurate, we say them anyways because it gives us some sick sense of satisfaction. Because love is patient and kind. Because love is humbled and satisfied in God. Because love is healed by Jesus - love is sensitive to the struggles of others. When God's love is working in my heart, we grow in our sense of the sinfulness of sin, we naturally hate it more and more, we don't look at the sins of others from a detached "observational" perspective. We are grieved when they are in the wrong. We desire to see them grow, to succeed, to have victory over sin. At the same time, this highlights the fact that love is not naive. it rejoices in the truth. it is not afriad to look at the difficult things. it is not afriad to ask hard questions. Its very much part of our traditional christian culture to sometimes just sweep things under the rug. Pretend we don't notice. Assume someone else will take care of it. It takes courage to ask people about their struggles. It takes courage to enter people's pain. Love is the only thing that gives us that courage. 5. Love is unconquerable. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. The last thing that Paul highlights is the ability of love to endure - to last - to push through through difficult things. This has been one of my favorite verses over the last few years. There is ` more disturbing and discouraging to see people fighting, disagreeing and splitting over silly and foolish things. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing people work through difficulties in relationships - seeing friends work through deep pain or offense, seeing a married couple work through seasons of frustration and misunderstanding. The real beauty of love is seen in the picture of the person who is trying to love and everything is pushing AGAINST him, and he keeps loving, keeps hoping, keeps trying. This is WHY the love of God is so amazing. He keeps loving us and pursuing the plan of salvation throughout the story of the Bible even though the darkness of our sin and rebellion is making it more and more impossible for him to love us! Example from the book of Hosea You look at the life of Christ. What was it that drove him in the final moments? John 13:1 "Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." And he got up and washed their feet. In love he suffered the darkness and evil in the garden. In love he suffered through the last moments of life, as he hung on the cross. "forgive them, they know not what they are doing..." It is love that drove Jesus to enter our world to bring us forgiveness, reconcilation and restoration. It is love that made possible the impossible. Love is unconquerable. Why? Because love looks, not just at the situation right now - but forward to what could and what will be. The true power of love is seen in its power to see past the immediate situation - to look ahead, to be confident of better things to come. Jesus did what he did because he knew where he was taking us. And he teaches us to do the same. He teaches us to see people through the lens of the possible - to see what grace can do to them, to see the potential of healing and restoration. This gives love the power to push through the extremely difficult and terrible - because at the end of the day, love rests not in OUR ability to change people, but in the confidence of the present grace of God that is working THROUGH us. How do we go from here? • Hold your heart up to the mirror of truth • understand love • love love - value this as supreme! • pursue love through the power given to you in Jesus ◦ when you study love and value love you will learn love ◦ but deep down the only true motive is Christ himself, pouring our his love in your heart

Love: The Better Way - 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

October 30, 2022 • Aleksey Khizhnyak • 1 Corinthians 13:1–3

If I speak human or angelic languages but do not have love, I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body in order to boast[a] but do not have love, I gain nothing. What is considered eloquent in our churches where we grew up? What do we take pride in? • Our reverence in dress code. On many occasions I hear people say look at how Slavic people dress. Suits, ties, dresses… people know that they are going to church. And in bigger churches and some churches back home it is still a significant indicator that this is a Slavic church. I think it is truly beautiful and respectable to dress properly to the church. • Slavic churches across the board are known for large families. If you go outside and count how many mini vans we have, you would know right away – Slavic church. It is a gift of God to have large, healthy and well raised families. It signifies that we love kids and consider them a gift of God. It signifies that we are not afraid of tomorrow because God is there and he will take care of us. No Covid, no war, no economic uncertainties will stop us from having children. • Packed Church life schedule. On Monday we have counseling, Tuesday prayer in the morning, Tuesday evening teens group, Wednesday evening bible study group, Thursday youth service, Friday Elders meeting, Saturday men’s breakfast, ladies breakfast, soccer, Christmas play practice, Sunday theology class in the morning, church service, evening Russian service… Find me another American church with so many activities. And we don’t have choir, we don’t have symphony orchestra… It is all needed and we are grateful to God that there are so many activities where we can grow and serve. • Packed Sunday service. Three sermons, choir, poems, solos, quartets… It allows many people to participate, to express their talents, their revelations and bless everyone in the building. It is good. It is well. What about our church today? What do we take pride in? • Theology class twice a week, packed. • Groups, growing, splitting from positive growth. • Counseling ministry. People are being helped. Chains of sins are broken off. • Preaching of the word is clear and powerful • When Scot complements our church as being welcoming and open for new comers • Unity in the leadership • Freedom from legalism • Serious approach towards church discipline • Worship team, players, singers, songs selection I. Ministry without love is annoying, empty, and useless. Corinthians had all the gifts of the Spirit. In chapter 12 Paul introduces the teaching on spiritual gifts. But what was going on in their church that prompted Paul to write chapter 13? Chapter 13 is not a worm and cuddly passage that we should place on wedding invitations. He tells them if they don’t have love, all their flashy gifts and ministry equate to annoying sound that would be better if it would quiet down, because it is making unpleasant noise. 1. If I speak human or angelic tongues without love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. Speaking in languages was a hot topic for them because they did have a gift to speak a foreign language for the furthering of the Gospel. He will continue covering more about speaking in different languages in chapter 14. If I speak in the most eloquent way and everybody around me are in awe, but with out love, I am just a noisy sound that should stop. 2. If I have the gift of prophesy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge If I have all faith so that I can move mountains but if there is no love I am nothing. Balaam was a prophet of God. He knew God, he knew his word, he feared God, but he loved himself more than God and people. With a financial offer from Balak, king of Moab he agreed to curse the people of God. 3. If I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast/be burned, but do not have love, I gain nothing. What is Love? • The Greek word agape (love) seems to have been virtually a Christian invention—a new word for a new thing (apart from about twenty occurrences in the Greek version of the Old Testament, it is almost non-existent before the New Testament). Agape draws its meaning directly from the revelation of God in Christ. • unselfish, self-giving, willful devotion, concern for the welfare of others • were mostly disdained in ancient Greek culture as signs of weakness. • Not to those who love us, but who hate; not to those who are pleasant and agreeable, but who repel; not because our natural feelings are excited, but because we will to minister, even to the point of the cross, must our love go out. II. Love that God requires of me is more than I can handle. Kids don’t understand why they should let others sit in the front seat. But why? It is my turn. I got here first. That is fair. If we would get what is fair, we would all end up in hell along time ago. In fact it is difficult for me to read this passage. I don’t know how people are able to write it on napkins, paper cups, and wedding invitations. The list that Paul gives is everything I am not! Patient?! I am not patient. Not patient even with my close ones that I supposedly love. If a child doesn’t understand homework, or disobey you after tenth time, patient? Is not self seeking? Do you think I make massage to my wife every time she ask me? Love bears all things, endures all things. Make your wife half an hour massage. Can’t. Why is love the better way? If I already move mountains? If I understand all mysteries, and all knowledge? Shouldn’t that be enough for ministry? If my heart is so giving I sold all my possessions and fed the poor. I gave my body to be burned is that not enough? Why is it annoying noise? Why is it nothing on his scales? Why does it not gain anything for me? Because God is not there! The gift is there but the giver is not! Love does not come apart from God himself. God is love. Love is the fruit of the Spirit. If you are going to have love you will have to have God. Rom.5:5 This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Jonathan Edwards talking about spiritual gifts: “They are like precious jewels, with which the body may be adorned; but true grace is that where by the very soul itself becomes as it were a precious jewel.” “Grace is, as it were the holy nature of the Spirit imparted to the soul.” • Balaam had a supernatural gift of God and was a recognized prophet even by the enemies of God. “They have gone astray by abandoning the straight path and have followed the path of Balaam, the son of Bosor,[h] who loved the wages of unrighteousness 16 but received a rebuke for his transgression: A donkey that could not talk spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s irrationality. 2 Pet.2:15-16 • King Saul was among the prophets, had manifestations of the Spirit but died as a wicked king. • Judas had the gift of casting out spirits, healing, prophesy. ”Summoning His 12 disciples, He gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out and to heal every[a] disease and sickness… As you go, announce this: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases, drive out demons. You have received free of charge; give free of charge. • Matthew 7:22-23 On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ 23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’ III. Both gifts and love come from the Spirit of God. I have nothing to offer and boast about. What shall I do then? Why is Paul not giving me steps to take to harness this love and keep watch that I don’t loose it? Gifts are given at salvation. Spirit of God is poured out at salvation. We have Him, if we are His. He is in us. Remember chapter 4, 6 where he told us that we became a home for him. Our bodies are his temple. We do not belong to ourselves. Does he have to waste his ink and space on the paper to pen it again? You have everything for life and Godliness in Him! Get out of the way. Humble your self. Submit under his leadership. Hear him through his word. Seek him through prayer. He is available. He didn’t go anywhere. Allow Him to permeate you from the inside out so it would be evident to all!

One Body, Many Gifts - 1 Corinthians 12:12-31

October 23, 2022 • Andrey Bulanov • 1 Corinthians 12:12–31

Scripture Passage: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 Outline: 1. Spiritual gifts are how Jesus continues his work in the world today. 2. Spiritual gifts come to the church in a huge variety. 3. Spiritual gifts are to be practiced in a posture of love and care for others. ◦ Interdependence NOT independence ◦ Diversity NOT Comparison ◦ Other-centered NOT self-centered 4. Pursue the gifts of the Spirit Application Questions: • Are you intentionally seeking for God to reveal and grow your spiritual gifts? • Have you every truly considered the supernatural gift of God to give you spiritual life and fill you with his Spirit? Do you see that this gift comes with a responsibility also? • Do you measure your life in the church based on how much you receive or how you can give? • Is your joy being killed today by selfishness, pride or jealousy? • What is the posture of your heart today? Is it open to the needs and lives of other? Read text "On the night of April 9, 1906, Seymour and seven men were waiting on God on Bonnie Brae Street, "when suddenly, as though hit by a bolt of lightning, they were knocked from their chairs to the floor," and the other seven men began to speak in tongues and shout out loud praising God. The news quickly spread; the city was stirred; crowds gathered; services were moved outside to accommodate the crowds who came from all around; people fell down as they approached, and attributed it to God; people were baptized in the Holy Spirit and the sick were said to be healed." The topic of spiritual gifts has been a major concern for christians ever since - both in confusion and controversey. The result is in two opposite directions - some poeple obsess over the topic of spiritual gifts too much, to the point that they neglect to formulate a healthy view of the christian life - thier life is built on spiritual highs and experiences. On the other side, some people are afraid to talk about spiritual gifts at all - and neglect a very important aspect of the life of the church. This week we continue our work through 1 Corinthians 12, and I want to build on what Pastor Vitaly has already said to lay down a practical framework for spiritual gifts for us today. Book recommendation - Spiritual Gifts: What they are and why they matter by Thomas R. Schreiner 1. Spiritual gifts are how Jesus continues his work in the world today. I stole this point from J. D. Greear in his work on this specific passage - and I want to start with the broadest possible statement here. The topic of spiritual gifts is not relegated to some side aspect of the life of the church. Paul speaks here in our text of the WHOLE christian community. 12 For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink. When Paul speaks of these gifts he is including the entire christian community - and he is including the whole life of the church. When a person understands, receives and trusts in Jesus with their heart, makes a decision to renounce sin and to follow Jesus - there is a miraculous work that is also simultaneously taking place in their hearts. The Holy Spirit fills their heart and life - and he empowers them for service to the kingdom of God. what are the goals of the life of the church? • to expose and destroy the work of sin in human hearts, and to enable them to become changed, to love God and love others, to walk in his ways. This applies to the work of evangelism and discipleship. Think about this. This is a supernatural work. This is a miraculous work. Where does the power come from for this? The gifts and power of the Holy Spirit who lives inside all believers and enables them to be agents of his eternal grace. We have to acknowledge this. Christianity is not just social community, its not just behavior modification, its not just cultural transformation. The whole life of being a christian is a life that depends and works towards supernatural ends. The ordinary work of discipleship and ministry and life in the body - its not ordinary. Its miraculous and requires supernatrual power because poeple have no power at the end of the day to transform themselves. 2. Spiritual gifts are how Jesus continues his work in the world today. The Holy Spirit is at all times present in the lives of all believers to use their bodies, brains, abilities - to do his work. Note - this goes against the idea in many charismatic and pentecostal movements that say that the "baptism of the Spirit" is a second experience after conversion. That is not what Paul says here: 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink. ALL of us who are in Jesus, are entrusted with this privilege and power. Leaders, teachers and pastors are NOT the whole ministry of the church. The only was Christians can live their lives on the sidelines of church life, not really caring to devote energy and time to pursuing their specific callings in the church - is they don't really believe that they have been given this great responsibility. "I'm not that important here." What makes you say that? is it pride that doesn't want to admit jealousy? Is it selfishness, that wants to stay in the realm of our personal comfort? Do you understand your own personal significance and belonging in the church? Spiritual gifts come to the church in a huge variety. 8 to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit, 9 to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another, the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, distinguishing between spirits, to another, different kinds of tongues, to another, interpretation of tongues. 14 Indeed, the body is not one part but many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as he wanted. The reason that spiritual gifts create a lot of drama in the church is that we have a tendency to isolate a few important ones that we see as superior to the others. In the Corinthians church, people were divided over their gifts because poeple who had certain gifts felt superior, and those who didn't have those same gifts felt jealous. Paul pushes back by saying, "it is the massive VARIETY of gifts that makes the body of Christ a body!" Without the variety, there is no body. The body is composed of a great number of different parts working together! What are the gifts? Can we get a precise list? Can we do a precise personality test and identify our gift There are three pain passages in the New Testament that address this question: 1 Corinthians 12–14 but Romans 12:3–8 and Ephesians 4:7–13 All these passages contain lists. However, what we see here is that none of these lists is identical. Conclusion - the lists are more like samplings, not comprehensive. But it is helpful to look at the lists because it gives us a glimpse of the great diversity of the body of Christ. The gifts can generally be divided into gifts of speaking and gifts of service • apostle - personally saw the risen Lord and commissioned by him. (no more) Have some gifts ceased? I think yes. We can see it in the purpose these gifts served and in the practice of the early church. • prophet - a person who receives a spontaneous revelation from God (no more) • teacher • miracles • healings • helping • administration • speaking in languages/tongues • the interpretation of tongues • word of wisdom • word of knowledge • faith - a strong sense from God regarding what he wants to do, compells to action and prayer. • distinguishing between spirits - discerning truth from error • evangelist • pastor-teacher • serving • encouraging • generosity • leadership - ability to organize, inspire and direct church life effectively for its growth • mercy Some of these may come in a certain time or season - some last for a lifetime. How do we know our gift? One mistake is to focus on yourself exclusively - what I like, what I thnk i am called to do - what I am good at. The gifts are lived out in the life of the body. That means you can't know what your gifts are if you are not actively serving the church. Also, you can't have clarity about your gifts if you have not received feedback from other christians regarding your giftedness and your ministry. Second of all - clarity on the spiritual gifts grows as we are walking in the Lord, filling our lives with his Word and his presence. The deeper our life of prayer and Scripture is, the clearer we will see how he is calling us in life. Putting those things together, heres a diagram I think its helpful: Affinity - Affirmation - Ability - your gifts fall somewhere in the area those three converge. God himself has soverignly arranged the church as a combination of very DIFFERENT people. Rather than comparing ourselves to others and trying to be like them only, we need to celebrate and joyfully grow in the things that he has given US. Example - Avengers - their strength is their difference. temporary, lifelong, ordinary, miraculous 3. Spiritual gifts are to be practiced in a posture of love and care for others. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable. 23 And those parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe these with greater honor, and our unrespectable parts are treated with greater respect, 24 which our respectable parts do not need. Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, 25 so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. 26 So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. I use the word "posture" here because it describes the inner disposition of the heart. The question is not even HOW much you do things in the church. The question is your inner attitude towards what you do and the PEOPLE that surround you. • Interdependence NOT independence Paul says that the proper attitude towards the life of the church is not independence but INTERDEPENDENCE. It is not "Here i am and heres what I do" it is "here is my spiritual family, these are the people i can't live without, and the people that I live for.." sometimes we get really focused on our ministry and our service to the church in a very technical sense and we forget that the whole purpose of all that we do is for the building up of others. • we find doing things easier than connecting with people • we find people frustrating because they get in the way or slow down our ministry • does your ministry and your participation in the church cultivate your sense of personal connection and love for the people? • Diversity NOT Comparison Comparison and competition kill love, kill unity and kill fruitfulness in ministry. When we understand the beauty of God's design we celebrate the diversity of gifts in the church and we see others growth as a DEEP ENCOURAGEMENT rather than a challenge to our identity. Our identity is rooted, not in our performance in the church - it is rooted in JESUS who has saved us all and has given ALL of us the supernatural work of the Spirit burning in our hearts! Often times we get very annoyed or uncomfortable when things are not done OUR way. Especially those of us who are more perfectionistic and controlling (hand raise- I am guilty here! I always have to work against my own thoughts saying - your way is NOT always the best! Learn to rest and delight in the work of others!) • Other-centered NOT self-centered "Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, 25 so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. 26 So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it." One thing we can never over do is to emphasize how our current cultural moment so COMPLETELY soaks us in the mindset of individualism. so many christians feel a lack of purpose, connectedness and gifting because their approach to church is about what THEY get out of it, not about being intimately connected and serving the blessing of others. Our joy is unleashed when we allow our hearts to be more concerned with the burdens and needs of others rather than our own. Selfcenteredness, Pride and jealousy kill joy. Why does God allow such suffering and pain in his church? • one big reason - for the church of Jesus to seize on that pain together - with the power of prayer, with the power of encouragement, with the power of service, with the power of faith, with the power of healing. • We pull together in pain, we show the darkness that surrounds us that the church is the church and no matter what kind of challenges you throw at it, the supernatural power of the Spirit in our hearts comes through even more powerfully as we suffer and love together as one community. if you are a christian, you are part of the body of Christ, you are gifted uniquely for it - you have no choice in the matter. The one thing you can do is to have a bad attitude of Judge mentalism comparison or isolation. When you do that you’re depriving people of unique and abilities they God has given you 4. Pursue the gifts of the Spirit 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it. 28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, leading, various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all do miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But desire the greater gifts. And I will show you an even better way. Paul finishes with another list which seems to include a sense of heirarchy - the apostles and prophets were foundational to the life of the NT church. Amazing! God gives pastors and teachers that help the whole church unlock the power of his Word in their lives. Amazing! But are all called to these? No! To each their own. So pursue YOUR calling. "desire the greater gifts..." Paul is encouraging that we pursue the greater gifts, a greater fruitfulness in our gifts... Notice - this takes intentionality in your life. • Are you intentionally seeking for God to reveal and grow your spiritual gifts? Our growth takes time. Maybe we are discouraged when we see others so strong, so fruitful - got it all together. We don't see the background work God has done in their lives to humble them, to teach them, we don't see the background energy and devotion they put - how they lay their lives down for others. Let yourself be inspired and encouraged by the examples of others and devote yourself to intentionally pursuing your spiritual gifts in the church. Example - wife seeing how other women can serve so well and being overwhelmed and a little discouraged. But over time, humbly workin and growing - her abilities have grown so much. Another example - teens ministry - so fruitful today, but it had very humble and small beginnings. More questions: • Have you every truly considered the supernatural gift of God to give you spiritual life and fill you with his Spirit? Do you see that this gift comes with a responsibility also? • Do you measure your life in the church based on how much you receive or how you can give? • Is your joy being killed today by selfishness, pride or jealousy? • What is the posture of your heart today? Is it open to the needs and lives of other?

Spiritual Gifts in the Life of the Church - 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

October 16, 2022 • Vitaly Kunda • 1 Corinthians 12:1–11

Spiritual gifts in the life of the church 1 Cor 12:1-11 1. Importance of spiritual gifts 2. Source 3. Purpose 4. Nature Goals: to realize presence and work of Holy Spirit, especially through His gifts that are given to the church for participating in edification of believers. New section with very important topic – on spiritual gifts. Has been much confusion, ugly practices in the name of this grace… Yesterday on ladies seminar I had to translate and there they were talking about things they are thankful for : gift of forgiveness, blood of Jesus and Holy Spirit. I think you ladies are more prepared for what Lord wants us to teach for next few months. I believe Teresa was led by the Holy Spirit in her gift of teaching to teach us about 1. Importance of spiritual gifts: 101 fundamentals of Christian life. “Now concerning spiritual gifts: brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be unaware. You know that when you were pagans, you used to be enticed and led astray by mute idols. Therefore I want you to know that 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.”1 Cor 12:1-3 Reality of every Christian. With a I dwelling of Holy Spirit everyone is given a spiritual gift. Corinthians experiences these gifts but didn’t know what to make out of them. Should be teaching for every new believer.‬‬ It’s place in New Testament. Large and detailed sections on spiritual gifts, main once in 1 Cor 12,13,14 Rom 12, 1 Peter 4, Eph 4. For full teaching study all, in Corinthians we see mainly list of miraculous gifts, in other passages they are divided into two categories mainly ministry of word and ministry of mercy Rooted in trinity “Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different ministries, but the same Lord. And there are different activities, but the same God works all of them in each person.” 1 Cor 12:4-6 It is desire of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit for gifts to be given and practiced. Spirit gives and encourages, Son provides context, Father energizes. It has been designed by God for believers to share Gods purposes, desires, love for others. Much confusion and misuse ,practices. Decisions, self assigning glory, pride, jealousy, complaining, fake experiences, fears, confusion. Chose either to choose Spirt or Word of God – where both Spirit and Word should go together. Lesson: good time for us to be educated, to examine our attitude towards Holy Spirit – are we afraid of everything that had to deal with His gifts, are we welcoming them in our lives. This will gives us new realizations, new goals, new guide for priorities. Where life of self- preoccupied, self-centered average Christian will become kingdom, Christ centered, other centered person. 2. Source of spiritual gifts: Presence and work of Holy Spirit In the text, it’s all about Holy Spirit Not the gift of the Spirit but gifts of the Spirit. Gift of the Spirit would refer to gift of the Spirit , person of trinity to the new believer who would live now in the person. Before we can talk about gifts we should know who is in charge of them and what is their purpose. “Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”Jn 16:7,13,14 his task first of all to show us Jesus that he is God, “Jesus is Lord” by the Spirit. Then his task is to show us reality of our unity with Christ and each other at the same time is to build our faith , free from sins, change our behavior encourage our love and worship.‬‬ “He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.”Jn 14:17 ‬‬ Lesson: communion may become Christ-less as well practice of spiritual gifts may become Spirit-less. Many good comments about personal or LWBC life can be attributed to human achievements. Another failure may be if we get used to do what we usually do without inviting Holy Spirit do His spiritual work. We also should always consider ourselves as a helpers or participants in His ministry not inviting Him to help our ministry. We need to pray for the Holy Spirit, we need His participation, His miraculous work. Each one of us commended to be filled with the Spirit. Church can go to new experiences of dependence and abilities to be what god intended church to be. 3. Purpose of the spiritual gifts – to participate in the ministry of the Spirit “A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good:”1 Cor 12:7 manifestation – work of God is more visible to others when gifts are practiced. When believer that is in need is served by other to build his/ her faith. With words of encouragement, truth, prayer, gifts of helps, giving, cleaning, visiting, organizing, ‬‬ To serve and strengthen others in faith Illustration with birthday cake: Once I was given and article with observations of one of the birthday where many people present. It was focused on the responses to the one event that took place. During event one person was carrying birthday cake and tripped on the way. Cake falls on the floor. It was interesting to see how people of different personalities participated in this incident, one came with encouraging words, another ran after broom and mop, another started give directions how to deal with this situation, another left party rushing to the store to get another cake… (leader, encourager, giver, comforter, helper) This story shows participation to the need , they all shows care and love. This story illustrates human personalities and abilities to help. Sometimes we describe these people to be cute and nice Similar is happening with spiritual gifts – however it is not onLy on the physical level but things happening on the spiritual level when Spirit is involved and he is doing miraculous things using our spiritual gifts. “Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,” Eph 4:7,11,12 ‬‬ Illustration with new born Davida I want to share something personal. You all probably know, William. He is adopted by our family, he is very special boy to our God, our lord has decided to-place him into our family five years ago. Back then, William couldn’t live with his parents, because of their lifestyle. His parents' parental rights were taken away. Recently, now this is going to be secret revealed, Williams mom gave birth to a little girl. Now he has a baby sister, she is about two month old. Because their parent were taken parental rights, this girl is now needs parent who would adopt her. Our family prayed and we are open to receive her if our Lord wants her to live with us and with William in one household. Meanwhile Davida is staying with her Aunt, Vita. Vita herself has three children and not too long her husband died. She is about 35 years old. She decided to take Davida for now, until adoption is legal. She is a nurse, and her employer gave her 2 month maternity leave. How does our Lord look at that household. She is a widow and David’s, little girl is an orphan. God is for both of them, he cares for them. We shared this story at our group for a prayer support, everyone was eager to see what God would do. And guess what, next day we have one member of our group coming to my house with large amount of money for Vita, for us to send it to her. When I told her she refused to take it, that we might need it. I want us to see how Spirit works through gifts, he used a person wit (giving gift to care for another, I had to use my gift of discernment to explained to her that this is how God shows His love and care for them in times of need. She was greatly thankful to God for his fatherly love as well as the love of his people who responded in obedience. In this instance our God was glorified, Holy Spirit manifested. To glorify God “If anyone speaks, let it be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, let it be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.”1 peter 4:11 ‬‬ Lesson: we need to understand the goal of spiritual gifts. Until we begin cultivate love and care for people gifts won’t be used. We need to work together in any need we hear (Samoylenko Roxi, Savchaks and Rafa to Greece, every Sunday service , many involved– we need someone to vacuum carpet right after service ) we need to realize that spirit works beyond our community, he worked with unbelievers as well with other churches. We can share: our people, we can lunch another church plant, we can share our experience of switching to English language Resources with mission in Greece and other places We shouldn’t think that spiritual gifts only have to be public or miraculous, Spirit works in many different ways. If you see the need pray how you can you meet that need, and she will show what is your part in it. 4. Nature of spiritual gifts “A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good: to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another, the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, distinguishing between spirits, to another, different kinds of tongues, to another, interpretation of tongues.”1 Cor 12:7-10 • Are not same as spirituality • Not human activity • Not human talents • multitude of them • Every Christian has at least one • Not earned or deserved • Each is valuable • Same source and purpose • Temporary In conclusion: Acknowledge Holy Spirit in your life and life of LWBC Welcome gifts of the Spirit and practice them Study four passages (1 Cor. 12-14, Rom 12, Eph 4, 1 Peter 4) Pray for Holy Spirit to fill your life and life of our church

Do This In Remembrance - 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

October 9, 2022 • Andrey Bulanov • 1 Corinthians 11:17–34

Outline: 1. The Corinthian church missed the point of the Lord’s Supper 2. Realigning our experience of the Lord’s Supper 1. Receive 2. Participate 3. Proclaim 3. The call to self examination 1. A spirit of self righteousness 2. A spirit of defiance 3. A spirit of division Application - Do you recognize Jesus as the only Savior and King to rule your soul? Are you submitted to him and repentant about your sin? - Do you live a lifestyle of receiving and participating in Jesus life and death for you? Is this of particular focus for you as you receive communion? - Do you specifically seek to receive, participate, and proclaim the goodness of Jesus in your life with the church? --------------- 1 Cor. 11:17-34 Some of the most powerful and sacred places in the world are memorials. These are the places of some of the most powerful artistic genius and creativity. They are also some places that have the most powerful impact on us. Why? There is something reorienting, sobering, settling about a memorial. Something that resets perspective. Something that makes us pause, stop, consider, take in. This is exactly what is called for when we consider the most important ritual and memorial act of the christian faith, the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper has been central to the life of the church from the very very earliest days. And it has been a very powerful and significant part of the faith ever since. It's also one of things that is most often misunderstood, and causes no small deal of controversy and argumentation. A similar thing was happening in Corinth around the Lord's Supper, and it is something that has Paul VERY emotionally worked up, something that he passionately seeks to correct. 1. The Corinthian church missed the point of the Lord’s Supper Paul is really upset - "I do not praise http://you....you gather for the worse!" the reason he is so upset? - divisions when they gather "in some sense divisions are inevitable - to expose the false and the correct people in the church..." Paul tells us in the last days all kinds of people will work their way into the church who are not really walking with God. It is therefore inevitable that there will at times be divisions and struggles in the church - because there will be a clash between those who are truly following Christ and those who come to church for false reasons. In this case the whole problem is regarding how the corinthians approach their gatherings as a church. Background: A lot of the early church gatherings happened in the homes of people in the church. Obviously these gatherings happened in homes of the rich members of the church since they had bigger homes. As part of their gatherings they would have a whole meal together. They would eat together for a long time and then they would do church and communion. This set up favored the rich people in a few ways. - the inner dining area of the homes was usually not big enough to accommodate everyone in the church - wealthy people were connected to each other, and according to the customs of the greco roman world - enjoyed a deeper social privilege - the wealthy people would have more free time and resources - it seems that they would arrive earlier than the poorer people in the church and have a whole feast. - then later on, the poorer folks would join after work, and they were left with a small amount of food, and space to gather outside - literally creating two different congregations. - The rich are feasting and sipping on wine while the poor are hungry and have nothing. This lead to division in the church and a practice of communion and worship that was separated to two different groups - the rich and the poor. Paul is pretty upset. "22 Don’t you have homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I do not praise you in this matter!" In order to correct them - he brings them the tradition of the Lord's Supper. He is saying, "You are acting this way because you don't understand what it means to gather as God's people, because you don't understand the Lord's Supper." If you just take a few minutes to reflect on WHAT the Lord's Supper is, it will change how you view other christians, how you view the gathering of the church, and our life together. 2. Realigning our experience of the Lord’s Supper What is it that we are doing when we part take in the Lord's Supper? - We receive The very heart of the Lord's table is the words of Jesus regarding the bread and the wine. It's important to not that when Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper on the last night he was with his disciples - if you remember, he was celebrating with them the passover feast. The passover was a memorial celebration of how God had spared the people of Israel when he judged the Egyptians and how God delivered them from Egypt. This moment when Jesus takes the bread and the wine and tells them to do this in remembrance of HIM - he transformed the celebration. It was like - the salvation of God in Egypt was a picture of what God would do when Jesus came - but not the REAL thing is here. There are two aspects here: The bread - no longer is the passover lamb the thing that God's people celebrate - now there is a new passover lamb, Jesus himself. It's not just some animal sacrifice that saves us, it's the body of the Savior who came and gave himself for us. "This is my body, which is for you..." He gave himself to rescue you. He gave himself to know you. He gave himself you pay your debt. He gave himself to give you all the riches of heaven. He gave himself to adopt you into his family and his kingdom. He gave himself for you - so that you may have all things in him. So that you may have healing for you soul. We receive his gift anew. It doesn’t mean you are re-saved. It means you are renewed in the gift of his love, a gift that keeps on giving. "This cup is the New Covenant in my blood..." The whole struggle in the story of salvation in the OT is that the people were never faithful to God. The old covenant kept getting broken. The fellowship, love and blessing that the people were offered from God was always under threat because of their sinful tendencies. Jesus says "I am here to begin the New Covenant - I give my life so that something radically new can take place - an everlasting change, an unchangeable work of salvation in the hearts of the people who will be mine forever..." Not only does communion call us to receive the Savior who is for us - it calls us to rest in his grace which never ends. Jesus is not just a Savior who is available. He is a Savior who binds himself to us forever. We approach the Lord's Table with a posture to receive his amazing gift of everlasting covenant love. - We participate The imagery of eating the bread and drinking the wine has another element. Not only are we receiving - we are part taking. We participate in Christ in a unique way in communion. It is a physical act that teaches us the fact that every day we feed on Christ in our hearts. We take and we eat. We are deeply connected to him and we are inviting to participate and experience his love and his power. God is present in a special way to bless and build up our faith in the practice of communion. Notice the emphasis on spiritual participation that Paul gives in the previous chapter. 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, since all of us share the one bread. To add to this, we participate in a deeper experience of unity with the christians around us. God have the Lord's Supper as a practice that would be deeply unifying to the church. The bread represents one body in Christ - the unity and oneness that we have as God's people. We are one body in Jesus no matter how different we are externally. We are unified into one church, one family. Our sense of belonging to God's church is not based on a feeling, or friends or people approving us. It is the delight of Jesus to being us all into one body. - We proclaim "do this in remembrance of me..." Christians have often gotten a little backwards. When Jesus institutes this remembrance he is REPLACING the remembrance of the passover celebration. That Remembrance was not just thinking about how sad it was that the lamb died to save them. It was a remembrance of the whole story of God's amazing plan to save and his amazing victory. This is what Jesus means by remembrance. This is also what Paul says in verse 26 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. in other words - the Lord's Supper is a proclamation of the story. We proclaim that Jesus saves. That HE has set the table and all are welcome to come and receive him as the King. Yes there is sin and yes there is a Savior. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord can be saved. This Savior who tells us "this is my body which is for you" is the Savior that we proclaim to ALL. And this proclamation is filled with hope - it is both past oriented (the Lord's death) and it is future oriented ("until he returns") He is King of kings and he is coming back to make all things new. There is a hope, there is a direction that we are all moving in together. So the experience of the Lord's Table for the church is very active. We receive, we participate and we proclaim. And its not just for the holy people or the people feeling extra super spiritual - this Savior has come to give himself to us, broken sinners. But there is an important warning that Paul is trying to give... 3. The call to self examination Notice the harsh warning here: 27 So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep. 31 If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged, 32 but when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned with the world. The experience of the Lord's table is a very important thing to the life of the church and to Jesus. - the reality of the judgement God cares deeply about his holiness and the holiness of his church. It is dangerous to approach these things lightly. Ananias and Sapphira in Acts were killed because they lied to God and the church. In this church, there was judgement taking place on people - some were ill and some were dying. "The Theologian DA Carson tells the story of a pastor friend, who had a church of about 200 and sin was so rampant that he could not even discipline, for the leadership was involved in a lot of the sin and didn’t want to do anything about it. This pastor prayed for 3 months for God to change the church or move him out. The next year, he said, he had 34 funerals. 20% of the church died in the space of a year! The year after that he baptized 200." J. D. Greear - the reason for the judgement God cares deeply about the holiness of his church. And he will purge our church and our individual lives if we approach him lightly. "32. when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned with the world." - The call to healthy self judgement "28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup31 If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged..." What does it mean to eat in an "unworthy" manner? Many of misunderstood this as the fact that you need to "feel" close to God or you need to not be struggling with sin. JD Greear helpfully gives three characteristics that should lead us to avoid the Lord's Table: - A spirit of Self righteousness This table is the table of sinners who are dependent on a Savior. It is not the seat of the perfect and holy ones. It is the ones who admit their need in Jesus - he came for the sick, not the healthy. If you consider yourself a pretty good person compared to others, if you think about the sins of others but have no thoughts about your own deep need in God's grace - you are missing the point entirely. - A spirit of defiance If you are living a life of openly and intentionally doing things that you know are wrong - you are attacking the very purpose of Jesus death on the cross. Its the same thing as saying, "Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for my sins and I will continue to do these things which brought your suffering" this is dangerous and evil and you need to not participate. If you are not surrendered to Jesus, if you are not submitted to him as your Savior, as your King - in your heart - you need to not touch the bread and the wine. You need to repent. you need to call out to him. You need to be honest about the condition of your heart and your need for him. - A spirit of division This is really at the heart of what Paul was getting at in this text. The church was divided. There was pride and superiority in the way people thought about each other. 29 For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. The body here is talking about yes the body of Christ, but also more specifically it's talking about the church. People who are receiving and participating in Jesus' death are people who's heart are humble and full of love to the church. These are hearts that are free from division. these are hearts that are full of joy and freedom to see all the diverse members of the family gathered together. Resentment, anger, division, judgement on others - these are things that cannot be present in our hearts as we receive Jesus in the Supper. - Gospel clarity, joy, peace and reassurance in our struggles - Togetherness, belonging and love Receive, Participate, Proclaim These are elements of our participation in the Lord's Supper. The are also essential rhythms in our daily lives with him. Application: Do you recognize Jesus as the only Savior and King to rule your soul? Are you submitted to him and repentant about your sin? Do you life a lifestyle of receiving and participating in Jesus life and death for you? Is this of particular focus for you as you receive communion? Do you specifically seek to receive, participate and proclaim the goodness of Jesus in your life with the church?

Gender Distinction and The Glory of God - 1 Corinthians 11:2-16

October 2, 2022 • Andrey Bulanov • 1 Corinthians 11:2–16

Outline: God created both men and women equal in his glorious image. God created men and women with differing characteristics and callings, which uniquely bring glory to him. All women are not under authority of all men, but under their husbands Male headship does not mean female subservience or subordination, it means strong Christ-like love Male headship is leadership from the inside. The church must be a place of healthy gender distinction The glory of God, not people, must be at the center when God's people gather. Application: Is your understanding of men and women in the church shaped more by culture or by Scripture? Do you work to intentionally cultivate healthy masculinity and femininity in your life and relationships? Do you welcome the complexity of these conversations? Is the primary aim of your life and relationships in the church to honor and spotlight Christ? Scripture References: 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 Genesis 1:26-28 Living as honest followers of Jesus in a broken world is a challenge in any age. Although God's truth is clear, black and white - the task of constantly and faithfully applying God's word to our specific personal, cultural and historical situations is always challenging and always changing. Today we return to our study of 1 Corinthians where one of the big themes is the call for Christians to live distinct and different from the world around. Corinth was the ancient equivalent of combining New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. It was a center of both business, religion and the arts in the ancient world. The christians in Corinth were coming from a wide variety of backgrounds including pagan and jewish backgrounds. As we have studied in the previous chapters the Corinthians were being naive in their relationship to the world - especially the world of pagan idolatry. Paul comes along to help address various specifics on how we navigate our identity as christians in a broken world: 1. Divisions in the church (chapters 1 – 4); 2. Questions surrounding sex and singleness (5 – 7); 3. How to navigate controversies surrounding meat offered to idols (and other controversies that kept them from reaching people) (8 – 10) Chapters 11-14 are all built around how we as christians must approach our worship together when we gather. As I mentioned a minute ago - even though God's word is clear, our process of application of his truth to our cultural settings is often challenging and requires maturity and wisdom. Every generation of disciples to Jesus faces this constantly renewing task - to receive the traditions and practices from previous generations, to look into God's Word, to assess their culture - and to live as faithfully as they are able. One of these constantly contentious topics is the roles of men and women in the church and in the family. As we dive into this book today, we are diving into one of the most complex passages in the NT. It is one of the key passages in the NT about gender distinctions. And yet it also contains numerous confusing statements that have often been totally misunderstood. When it comes to complex passages in the Bible, we need to learn to work from the obvious and clear points down to the more confusing parts. My approach is to build mostly off the stuff we know for sure Paul is saying - which is most of the text. From there, we work to the more confusing parts, which OFTEN will iron themselves out once we understand the big picture. As we have said, a lot of confusion existed in the Corinthian church regarding gender. Historical background: In the Roman world, one of the key features of healthy womanhood was the characteristic of modesty and respectability. One of the ways that this was expressed was in the wearing of a covering or a shall . For a woman to wear her hair down in public places and especially in religious contexts - was considered sexually promiscuous - a sign that she is available and attracting attention of men. Paul had come to the Corinthians in the past, and taught them that in Christ, all are one. That we are equally brothers and sisters in Christ and none of us is considered more significant to God because of our gender or our social status. It's clear that some women in the church were taking this point a little too far. They were participating in the worship service with their heads uncovered. If you remember from the previous chapters, there were a few weird expressions of "higher spirituality" including some women who decided they needed to not have any physical intimacy with their husbands. Putting all these things together, we can see there was a confusing and disruptive situation going on in which some women were making it look like they were no longer acknowledging the leadership and authority of their husbands and making themselves look promiscuous by wearing their hair down. How does Paul go about bringing clarity to this issue? God created both men and women equal in his glorious image. The question of the difference between male and female - and the proper way to make those distinctions is one of the most vicious debates in our culture today - AND in the church. There are two extremes we see in history (both in the church and the world) Exaggerated difference - usually male dominated, repressing women and their value compared to men. Exaggerated sameness - usually female dominated, repressing any gender distinction or restriction leading to sexual confusion and sin. Gender distinction is BOTH universal AND culturally defined. Every culture until now has affirmed some form of difference between male and female, and yet every culture has had different expressions of male and female. Our challenge is to affirm the universality and importance of gender distinction while also avoiding the mistakes of embracing culturally flawed expressions of gender. this is what Paul is trying to do here. He is pushing back against abusive authoritarian male domination, while also affirming a healthy biblical distinction. All throughout this text, Paul is affirming that men and women are both equal in worth and value. This happens in a number of ways in the text. the clearest place we see that is verse 11-12 11 In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, and man is not independent of woman. 12 For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman, and all things come from God. Paul says that one gender is not more worthy and valuable than the other because all come from God, and because both are interdependent upon each other. Throughout this text Paul is constantly alluding to Genesis 1:26-28 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” Notice the important emphasis on equality. Both are created in God's image. Both are blessed. Both are given the command to be fruitful, multiply and subdue the world and rule over the animals. Another way Paul shows their equality is that in verse 3 man is called the "head" but in verse 7 the woman is called the 'glory" of man. She has a glory, she is made second, not necessarily meaning lower but meaning she is the completion of the man. If man was the crown of creation, she was the crown of the crown. Finally we see that Paul compares the relationship of man and woman to the relationship of Christ and God the Father. Just as the Son and the Father same the same nature and glory, man and woman share the same nature and glory - though they have different roles. This goes against the culture of the day. The greco roman world viewed the woman as a deformed man, of lower status and value. This goes against a lot of unhealthy tradition in the church regarding male headship where women are seen as inferior and less important than men. Women are seen as having no role in the church when it comes to spiritual depth and insight and a genuine contribution to the life of the church. Paul himself here is talking about the importance of women "praying and prophesying" in the church. Throughout the NT we see numerous examples of women who were bringing important spiritual contribution and insight to the life of the church. Anna prophesied about Jesus Mary sat at the feet of Jesus to learn Pricilla, the wife of Aquila worked together with her husband to instruct Apollos So ladies, just because your husband is called to be the leader, it does not mean that you role and spiritual depth and contribution is less significant. One of the mistaken assumption of christian teaching on gender often seems to be that women's spiritual depth is less important and their spiritual contribution to the life of the church is less significant than the men. The result is shallow and naive women. Sometimes this is because men make women feel inferior and frown upon them when they contribute to meaningful conversation. Sometimes it is because the women themselves take a back seat and don't see the importance of deep discipleship for themselves. If the church affirms an equal spiritual value to both men and women, that means that the church must work to cultivate a culture where the thoughts of both men and women are valuable. Its interesting that many who use this text to stress the lower status of women because it says the husband is the head of the wife, often fail to see that this whole text revolves around the idea of women praying and prophesying in the church. Paul says it is totally appropriate for women to pray and prophesy in the church gathering, they just need to do this in a way that is not making it look like they are rebelling against their husbands. In our church we believe the gift of prophesy was given in the early NT church time to build up the church while the Bible is being written, so we don't believe the gift of prophecy is still functional today. But how does this apply today? Women are encouraged to share in the groups and fellowship gatherings. There is nothing more godly about a woman who sits and says nothing. The woman is a sister in Christ and has just as much to share about how God is working and what she is learning as the men. Women are encouraged to learn and grow in biblical doctrine. Just because women are called to support their husbands leadership does not mean she does not need to cultivate biblical depth. All are called to be disciples and disciple makers. Woman are encouraged to teach, counsel, and disciple other women and kids. Women are called into evangelism and many other kinds of ministries where their spiritual insight is required. God created men and women with differing characteristics and callings, which uniquely bring glory to him. 3 But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ. 8 For man did not come from woman, but woman came from man. 9 Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man. The central thrust of this text is to push back on the sexual promiscuity and gender confusion of the church. God created men and women in a structure of authority and function which is expressed most clearly in the family and in the church. Men are created as the head of their wives who submit to Christ and lead in a way that honors Christ. Women are created as the glory of man which empower his leadership, support him, nurture and bring beauty to life around the home and society in a way that only a woman can. Man - responsibility, provision, protection, leadership, love Woman - support and submit to healthy leadership, cultivate, nurture, beautify, empower. "for the sake of man..." - not as a servant, but as a companion to the mission and charge that God had already given Adam. Within the church this also means that only qualified men are called to be pastors/elders. All women are not called to submit to all men, but to their husbands There has been a number of unhealthy and not-so-helpful ways that biblical manhood and womanhood has been taught in the last 50 years. Some books instruct women how they need to be careful if a man asks them for directions, and in giving him directions, they don't impose on his masculinity. they need to give him directions in a way that still expresses submission. This is not right. Scripture calls women to submit to their own husbands. Yes there is a way that a woman carries herself in public that is feminine and beautiful. But Paul's focus is on women not being rebellious and sexually promiscuous. The NT calls us to live as brothers and sisters in the body. Headship and submission is expressed in the family, and it is expressed in the church submitting to healthy male pastoral leadership. We need to be careful not to OVER DO the prescription of men and women. Male headship does not mean female subservience or subordination, it means strong Christ-like love We can see countless examples of women treated as second class citizens and servants. Ungodly and immature christian men have used this text as an excuse to mistreat their wives and demand their service like slaves. Yes women are called to submit and respect their husbands. But men are called with use their position of authorities to love their wives as Christ loved this church. This leadership is loving, protective and honest. It assumes responsibility for the good of the wife and the kids - not for personal good at the expense of the wife and kids. The relationship is not of a slave to a master, but of a king and a queen. this is DIRECTLY what we see in Genesis 1:27. This is also what you see in Paul's statement that the women is the "glory of a man" She is the reflection of his love, strength and leadership. Male headship is leadership from the inside. Jsut as the church follows Jesus, women are called to follow their husbands. But this also implies that the husband leads in a way that is not pressing his authority and forcing his way. Rather he is leading in a way that wins the woman's heart and trust - in way that makes her want to follow his leadership. Men are called to take the initiative, to pursue godly strength, to have a clear sense of mission in life from God, to make his wife and family feel protected and provided for. A lot of men want the benefits of being treated as a head when they act like they are not the head - selfish, lazy, passive and weak. The church must be a place of healthy and beautiful gender distinction 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with something on his head dishonors his head. 5 Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since that is one and the same as having her head shaved. 14 Does not even nature itself 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? Once again - gender distinction is BOTH universal in creation AND culturally defined. The challenge for christians is to see the principle here and apply it to their cultural setting. In the Corinthian church people were creating a spotlight for themselves. Some women wanted to show how spiritual they were by not wearing any coverings on their heads during worship. If you remember in the previous chapters, there were also some women who were refusing to have physical intimacy with their husbands because they were too spiritual. But this was just confusing and distracting - make the church seem to be a place of sexual promiscuity and confusion. The same thing with men and long hair. In the greco roman world, a man with longer hair was a man who was actively trying to look like a woman. Paul says, "you should not do that". A woman is to behave in a way that shows that she supports the authority of her husband and the authority of God in the church. A man is to dress and behave in a way that shows that he is a man. Clearly, we can see that head coverings and men with long hair don't mean the same thing today, as they did in Paul's time. this is where we need to see the core principle of the text and apply it to our time properly. If a woman was raised in a setting where the head covering was a key expression of femininity, and she ways to wear it - this is great! No problem. But the deeper question is - why are the ways that we express and live out healthy masculinity in the church? Clear expression of qualified male pastoral leadership in the church. This is a job that God said is specifically given to some men who fit the calling and the qualification, who are affirmed by the church. Healthy femininity dresses and behaves in such a way that demonstrates that it upholds the proper leader ship of their husbands and the men in their lives. Healthy masculinity that takes seriously the calling of spiritual leadership in the home. Men who are passive or fearful to lead in the home are abandoning their God given callings. What about single people? The commands here are specifically directed at the married folks. Masculinity and femininity don't depend on marriage - you are still men and women Cultivate healthy expressions of your gender in your singleness and practice for the callings of marriage in various ways Single women are not lower in the church than single men just because they are women The glory of God, not people, must be at the center when God's people gather. As we finish up, it is very important to see Paul's deeper aim in this text. His goal is not just to establish some sort male dominating leadership. His focus is to point to the fact that God is to be the center of our life as the church. "2 Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions just as I delivered them to you. 3 But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with something on his head dishonors his head. 5 Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head..." Paul begins the text by giving them a universal biblical principle. And then he goes on to apply that biblical principle to their specific problem. A lot of people miss the forest for the trees here by jumping to the gender stuff but his deeper purpose here is the fact that the authority structures between men and women that God has placed, especially in the church - all flow back to the glory of God. The headship structures create a flow of authority which ultimately shows honor to the head. When we disrupt this order we are dishonoring the head. "man...dishonors his http://head...woman dishonors her head..." The ultimate head being dishonored is Christ. this is his chief concern. Later in the text the conversation switches to the concept of "glory" but the idea is the same - men who don't act like men are disgracing the glory of God. Women who don't act like women are disgracing the glory of man and - ultimately and most importantly - God. There is a great temptation always for people to replace the glory and honor of God in the worship service and life of the church - to the glory of people - whether it be men or women. Paul is making a deeper point - this is God's church. This is the place where we come to honor and glorify HIM. The church is not a platform for the glory of people - when it becomes that, it disgraces and dishonors God. We will see this deeper concept trace through the next 4 chapters in the questions of practicing the Lord's Supper and in spiritual gifts. And here we see it applied to the gender distinctions that we embrace as Christians. What you do with your body - how you behave as a man or a woman in the church - is ultimately bringing glory or shame to God. And the most important place in the world to see the glory of God on display is in the community and life of the church. Our gender is one of the important aspects of how God has created us has his unique image bearers. That glory is marred and tainted by sin. And it is through the work of Jesus, becoming a man, taking sin upon himself and triumphing over death in new life - that God is restoring that glory. the only way that our humanity is restored is not by trying to be better men and women on our own - but through Christ's transforming work in our hearts. He is the one who restores our identity - and in him we live as a community of his people that honor him. Husbands as heads, lead and love as Christ loves. Wives follow, support, cultivate. Church leaders exercise oversight. The diversity of the body that works together to honor Christ. Application: Is your understanding of men and women in the church shaped more by culture or by Scripture? Do you work to intentionally cultivate healthy masculinity and femininity in your life and relationships? Do you welcome the complexity of these conversations? Is the primary aim of your life and relationships in the church to honor and spotlight Christ?

Does It Build Up? - 1 Corinthians 10:23-33

April 24, 2022 • Victor Kuksenko • 1 Corinthians 11:1, 1 Corinthians 10:23–33

Structure: 1. Principle: Do not seek your own good but the good of the other person (v. 23-24) 2. Example: When someone invites you for dinner (v. 25-30) 1. Eat everything without questioning 2. For the sake of their conscience don't eat of it 3. Conclusion: Do all things for the glory of God without causing any offense to the people around us but instead seeking their benefit (v. 31-1) Scripture: • 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1 • Romans 14:19,21 15:2 • Philippians 2:4 • Psalm 24:1 • 1 Timothy 4:3-4 • Mark 7:18-20a • Gal. 1:10 • Eph. 6:6 Quotes: • Tom Schriener - "Believers may think they have the right to do so, but the rights of believers are not the only consideration, for one must also consider whether eating such food is helpful for and edifying to others." • Gordon Fee - Knowledge and rights lead to pride; they are ultimately not Christian values because the bottom line is selfishness - the "right" to do as I please when I please. Love and Freedom leads to edification; they are ultimately Christian behavioral values because the bottom line is the benefit of someone else - that they may be saved. • Simon Kistenmaker - "Christians must be sincere, honest, trustworthy, dependable, prudent, and efficient in this strife. But the constant pressures on Christians in today’s world test them. Closely watched by the world, Christians are expected to honor their word, maintain their moral integrity, and avoid even the appearance of evil. In business deals, at social gatherings, on special assignments... Questions to think further: • What are key factors in my decision making? Do I only consider what the Bible allows or does not allow, or do I also consider how this decision will build others up? • Do we think carefully about our context and people around us? Do we know our people? Do we understand the people that we work with or that are part of our life? • Are we respectful of the practices, habits and culture of the people around us? • Are we speaking truth in love? Do we shy away from hard conversations? Do we go about them carelessly? ________________________________________________ SERMON NOTES: 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1 We are studying 1 Corinthians as a church, and you might remember that in Chapter 8, is when apostle Paul starts a lengthy discussion on Food offered to Idols. • Our section today is the conclusion that Paul draws before he starts to talk about other things that this church needed to hear. • So in other words he spent 3 full chapters talking about food offered to Idols. ◦ The reason for that is because this church had divisions on this issue. And so Paul brings this issue to the for front. But in order to answer this question, he introduces a lot of principles that will allows this church to be able to think correctly through this. ◦ In chapter 8, he points to "love" as the ultimate attribute in controversial things. • He even end by saying "if food causes my brother or sister to fall, I will never again eat meat, so that I won't cause my brother or sister to fall" ◦ In chapter 9, Apostle Paul points to to what drives him to do the work that he does. • At first glance it seems like he is leaving this topic of idolatry all together. But in reality he want the Corinthians to know that The GOSPEL is the primary motivation for his life. • That means if we are to pursue something in life, that is to know and share the GOSPEL so that it shapes our lives and the lives of other people. • Our goal is not to convince people that to eat food offered to idols is wrong. But to bring them the gospel. To praise Jesus, and his work. ◦ In chapter 10, after he emphasized the key principles of LOVE and GOSPEL he tries to answer the question if food offered to idols something a Christian can eat. • He starts by pointing to the central issue, that we as Believers are to flee idolatry. • He "you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons". • Basically he says Christians should not eat food offered to idols, because demons are behind it all. Now after all of that comes our passage, so let read it: 1 Cor. 10:23-11:1 • Ok we should not eat food offered to idols but what if you accidentally eat food that was offered to idols??? ◦ Like buying meat from the meat market and it might have been sacrificed to idols, but you don't know that. ◘ Should you be asking around before you are confidence that this is the food is not idol food before you buy it? ◘ That is what the Jews did. ◦ But even then what about an unbeliever inviting you to eat? Should you just not go? These were very important questions to the Corinthians. So apostle Paul attempts to answer all these questions. And ultimately through that he uses the opportunity how Christians are to build their lives, and how they are to make decisions. • The structure of this text is very simple ◦ First he give us the principle ◦ Second we see an example of how this principle is at work. ◦ Lastly he concludes this whole context. ____________________________________ So let's start with the first point: I. Principle: Do not seek your own good but the good of the other person (v. 23-24) This is how Christians are to live their lives!!!! • We should ask ourselves does my decision build others up? • Is my living a stumbling block to people? • Sometimes as Christians we becomes heavy in our brains, we start knowing a lot of things, and realize that we are much more free to live and do things than we thought. ◦ So we make decisions simply because we are free to do them. We may say where does the Bible say I can't do this or that? ◦ But in reality what Paul is saying is that just because the Bible allows us to do certain things, does not mean we should do them. ◘ Freedom should not be the only factor in my decision making. The blessing and building others through my life is what should be a big factor when I make decisions. ◘ We are to learn to seek others good through our lives. ◦ We are free to do many things, but our freedom is there to bless others. • If you think about it, "sanctification" is the process of growing into Jesus. ◦ Jesus saved us by grace, and we received salvation through faith and now we were "Justified" before God. Our sins are paid for on the cross. ◦ Now we are to change into the image of Christ. ◦ But what is that? What does it look like to be like Christ???? What is this sanctification? ◘ Is it merely self improvement? ◦ It is to be like Jesus, but what does that look like? ◘ Jesus loved people, and cared for people, he healed people, he lived among the people. HE cared about their needs. He spoke things that are difficult to hear so that people would truly believe in him. • We are not merely focusing on self-motivation, or self-change. But rather it is living a life that will bless others, and build other up and help others. • Notice your sin is not just against God, but also against people around you. ◦ This means if you grow in loving God, then you are to grow in loving people. The phrase in v. 23 "Everything is permissible" but not everything is beneficial." Is almost identical to a previous phrase he says in 6:12 of this books, he says: • "Everything is permissible for me," but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me," but I will not be mastered by anything". • Notice in our passage he says: ◦ "Everything is permissible," but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible," but not everything builds up" (10:23). • In other words, even if some things are permissible to do, we should consider if it "builds up people or not" ◦ We are considering others in our decisions? In our preferences? In our freedoms? ◦ Tom Schriener says it well "Believers may think they have the right to do so, but the rights of believers are not the only consideration, for one must also consider whether eating such food is helpful for and edifying to others." • Just because you have the right to do such and such, does not mean you should do it, simply because it might impact people arounds you in wrong way. This principle is all over the Bible: • Romans 14:19, 21 - "So then, let us pursue what promotes peace and builds up one another. Do not tear down God's work because of food.... v. 21 It is a good thing not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble" • Romans 15:2 "Each one of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself". ◦ Do we live our lives in a way that will please our neighbors. Or do we simply say I as the citizen of this country have my right and I utilize them as much as I can. • Philippians 2:4 "Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interest of others". _________________________________________ After Paul make his point about looking for the others good, then he goes on to show how this works in a specific example: II. Example: When someone invites you for dinner (v. 25-30) So what do Christians do about idol food sold in places where you might not know it's food offered to idols? 1. Eat everything without questioning • A Meat Market - is a place where a normal citizen in Corinth would be able to buy meat. ◦ And often it had no connection idolatry. But It would have food from all kinds of places, including from their temple. So some meat was given as a sacrifice and now it is sold here. ◦ Jews who lived in areas like that were taught to ask the sellers where the food came from, and if it had any connection to the pagan temple they were not allowed to eat it. ◦ But for Christians, Paul says that it's ok to eat that meat, even if that mean came from an idol temple and you don't know about it, you are not participating in idolatry. Because this meat now serve a different purpose. ◦ Outside of idolatrous context, idol food is simply food and it come ultimately from God. • Similarly: If an unbeliever invites you for dinner and you want to go, then eat everything without raising questions. ◦ Meaning if they are of a different religion, and serve a pagan idol. You can eat their food. ◦ Notice that he gives an option, by saying "and you want to go", then go and eat. ◦ If you feel in your conscience that you can't, then don't, you are not obligated. ◦ But if you go then don't ask questions where the food came, enjoy it from the Lord. • Paul quotes Psalm 24:1 as support to that idea "the earth is the Lord's and all that is in it" ◦ All of the produce and animals that we have is blessed by God himself. ◘ No matter where the food came from, take it with thanksgiving to God. ◦ In 1 Tim. 4:3-4, we read of a similar argument "For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, since it is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer" • As Christians we should enjoy all kinds of food with thanksgiving. ◦ We should be not be looking for things that make this food impossible to eat. ◦ Like for example: ◘ Not ordering coffee from Starbucks because it is somehow connected to pagan roots. Because have you seen their logo??? ◘ Or buying an Apple laptop because it has an eaten apple sign ◘ Or buying meat that was sold by Muslims or Mormons and questioning if them if they prayed over it. ◘ Or people saying you know why you have these health problems, because you bought your food from this particular store and I was told they practice magic. So you basically brought a curse on yourself. ◘ You need to be cleansed from these evil spirits. ◦ That is all false, God says to us, eat all kinds of food with thanksgiving and don't raise question. ◘ You are not participating in anything spiritual. ◘ There is no unique spiritual connection to food itself. ◘ Even Jesus says to his disciples "Don't you realize that nothing going into a person from the outside can defile him? For it doesn't go into his heart but into the stomach and is eliminated. And he said 'what comes out of a person is what defiles him" (Mark 7:18-20a). But what if someone informs you that this food is from a sacrifice 2. For the sake of their conscience don't eat of it So what changed? - Well the person who is telling you this is convinced that eating this food would be wrong for you. • Even though you know that it's ok to eat this food and you give thanks to God for it, but because of their "conscience" you should abstain from it. • Apostle Paul goes on to say that to eat food that others think is not right is not right in front of them. But generally we can eat food even if some think we should not. ◦ But if our freedom impacts them, we should stop doing what we were ok doing. • This means we consider the other person, and we respect their views. ◦ Even if they might be wrong, it is not our position to argue with them about something that they might think is wrong to me. How does that relate to us??? • We might not think drinking alcohol is a big deal. But what if a person that we are with does think it's a big deal. What if they had problems with alcohol in the past. Or if they where raised with the idea that Christians are not to drink. • What if some in my neighborhood think that having a very nice car is not right for a Christian, and they are convinced. That only a prosperity preachers have nice things, and they know all about TV evangelists, and how much money they make. But they met you, and they start realizing that there are different Christians • Here is another example: do you give tips at a restaurant??? • We are all in different kind of circumstances and places. We should be conscious of how our decision will impact people. ____________________________________________________ III. Conclusion: Do all things for the glory of God without causing any offense to the people around us but instead seeking their benefit (v. 31-1) Apostle Paul concludes with these famous words: • "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God" - v. 31 Notice that this phrase is often taken out of context, because the whole time he is empathising that you should be conscious of other people. • So if you read this text and say, and focus on how you are to relate to God, without considering other people, you are misunderstanding what he saying. • That is why he goes on to say "Give no offense to Jews or Greeks or the church of God, just I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved." • Us living for God's glory is inseparable from living for the good of the people around us. ◦ Notice what Paul is saying, he is pointing to Jews (who were religious people) They had concern for tradition, and for laws and rules and regulations. ◦ He says Greeks(these are pagan people, people of this world) - these people live without God, and serve their stomachs. These are the "democrats", the people of other religions and the Gnostics. ◦ He also says the church of God - that means us, the saved people. We can still be negatively impacting our brothers and sisters in how we live and what decisions we make. • Wait a minute? - Is apostle Paul a people pleaser???? he says "I try to please everyone in everything" ◦ We know that he never shies away from saying hard things, We read him writing: ◘ Gal 1:10 "http://...am I striving to please people? if I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ" ◘ Eph. 6:6 "Don't work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, do God's will from your heart" ◦ This is important to define. ◘ Should we never say truth to people because they might be offended? - of course not, Jesus said that you will be persecuted for the message, people will not want to accept it. ◘ Sometimes we are too afraid of what people will think of us when we start sharing about Jesus. SO we need to be courageous to have hard conversations. ◘ But it also means, that we are not careless for people. ◘ If I am telling them the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they are obviously not receiving it and saying that I should stop and leave. But I am raising my voice so they can hear better, because their soul is on the line for this? ◘ Here is a real example: I am street preaching by a Hindu restaurant and they asked me to move somewhere over there because we are scaring people and they are losing business, but I am committed to preach the gospel. ◘ We should speak TRUTH IN LOVE! ◘ We can be very stuck up and right all the time. But we should humble and hear them and listen to them, and be able to speak to them, not past them. ◘ This is pointing to the state of our hearts, ◘ Are we humble enough to hear and listen to people. ◘ Or are we on our agenda to "do the right thing" Gordon Fee - Knowledge and rights lead to pride; they are ultimately not Christian values because the bottom line is selfishness - the "right" to do as I please when I please. Love and Freedom leads to edification; they are ultimately Christian behavioral values because the bottom line is the benefit of someone else - that they may be saved. Simon Kistenmaker says: "Christians must be sincere, honest, trustworthy, dependable, prudent, and efficient in this strife. But the constant pressures on Christians in today’s world test them. Closely watched by the world, Christians are expected to honor their word, maintain their moral integrity, and avoid even the appearance of evil. In business deals, at social gatherings, on special assignments... Questions to think further: • What are key factors in my decision making? Do I only consider what the Bible allows or does not allow, or do I also consider how this decision will build others up? • Do we think carefully about our context and people around us? Do we know our people? Do we understand the people that we work with or that are part of our life? • Are we respectful of the practices, habits and culture of the people around us? • Are we speaking truth in love? Do we shy away from hard conversations? Do we go about them carelessly?

Feasting at The Table of The One True King - 1 Corinthians 10:14-22

April 10, 2022 • Andrey Bulanov • 1 Corinthians 10:14–22

Main idea: We must flee idolatry because life under the blessing and fellowship of King Jesus automatically puts us into opposition to powers and priorities that surround us in our broken world. Outline: 1. To be a christian is to automatically share in the fellowship of King Jesus and his covenant community. 2. Satan and his demons are working hard to gain your fellowship at the tables of idolatry. 3. Flee idolatry because you love and fear the King who's table you feast at everyday. Scripture References: • 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 • Psalm 1:1-2 • Ephesians 2:1-3 • 1 Peter 5:6-9 Application: • Are we conscious of our fellowship with the Lord and his people? Do we live in that fellowship? • Do you flee from idolatry or do you dance on the line? Does your life share in fellowship with the Lord and with his enemies? • Are we conscious of our fellowship/war with the evil world system around us? Do you understand that your daily battles with sin are part of a bigger process of evil spiritual opposition to God and to God's covenant community? • Do you come to the Lord in humility, leaning on his power? Do you see his power at work in your life? Key ideas: • satan and demons • idolatry • spiritual warefare • christian fellowship • communion ----- Today's worship service is extra special for a couple of reasons. First of all, we are going to be baptizing not 4 but 5 young disciples of Jesus into a deeper life of commitment, membership and participation in the christian life. Second of all, in the church calendar, this is the day of the triumphal entry. This is the day, one week before his death, that Jesus entered triumphantly into Jerusalem as the rightful King who has returned to lead his people. Third of all, it is our church anniversary. Today marks 7 years since Living Word Bible church first gathered to worship together. This is a day of rich participation, not just for the folks getting baptized but for all of us together. It is very important for us to understand the significance and power of the things we do and the places we go. If you are here today as a passive observer, I want to let you know that simply by showing up you have entered into a unique and powerful experience today by gathering with God's people. If you have been with us you will know that the Corinthian church had a problem of seeing the significance of the things they did and the places they went. They were naive about the spiritual threats and dangers that surrounded them. They thought they could attend and participate in feasts hosted at pagan temples because they believed in the one true God and that idols themselves are not real gods. Last week Paul warned us about the danger of idolatry because it is a powerful way that our sinful desires can grow in our hearts and begin to take over our lives. Its not just about believing in wood or stone idols. Its about the fact that your presence in the world exposes you to various sources of temptation to follow evil desire. Last week we noted that temptation in a fallen world can have three possible sources: the world, the flesh and the devil. And we mostly focused on the first two sources of temptation - the world and the flesh. We took some time to unpack how idolatry works in our lives. Today Paul gets to the final core of his argument and he gets to the third source of spiritual danger - the devil himself. Not only are we in danger from our fallen sinful nature or the world around us - we are also in danger from the world of spiritual evil that surrounds us. READ TEXT. As he is unpacking his point here, there is one main idea that Paul seeks to share: We must flee idolatry because life under the blessing and fellowship of King Jesus automatically puts us into opposition to powers and priorities that surround us in our broken world. 1. To be a christian is to automatically share in the fellowship of King Jesus and his covenant community. "14 So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I am speaking as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I am saying. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, since all of us share the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel. Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?" After coming at them hard, Paul all of a sudden takes a caring and sympathetic tone. To come along side and call them to just think about their lives a little more carefully. "I am speaking as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I am saying." So often we get so worked up into a frenzy by our world, our lives, our struggles - we loose touch with truly seeing life as it is. Seeing ourselves. Seeing our calling in Jesus. Seeing the beauty of life in him. Notice the word "sharing" which is repeated here four times. Greek - Koinonia. Its a special word that speaks of deep participation together with someone. Paul is trying to get us to see something VERY IMPORTANT about our christian identity, that we may easily forget. He takes the image of communion that we part take in as Christians and he seeks to point to a deeper fact, a deeper reality of what it means to follow Jesus. We do not take communion as a church lightheartedly. We do not participate in the ordinances that God has called, absentmindedly. There is deep significance here. We are participates, in Jesus AND his people. Notice there is a vertical and horizontal dimension here. Vertical - The bread is the body of Christ. It symbolizes that he is your King, he has given himself that you may have new life, and he is the one who sustains you. Horizontal - You participate as a member of the covenant community of God's people. The life and death and resurrection of Jesus is the seal that binds you to a new kind of humanity, a new community. This bond is not based on the level of YOUR commitment, but in the power of HIS body and blood given for you. what kind of sharing is this? "the cup of blessing" - the New Covenant is the way that God has made for sinners to be completely set free from sin, death and guilt - and given new life. It is a life at the table of the Lord. It is a life under the umbrella of his blessing. Not on the basis of your emotions or your level of commitment, but on the power of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Notice that this is AUTOMATIC. it doesn't mean that the quality of your fellowship is good - but whether you realize it or not, you are bound with the King and his people. This is the significance of this event today! This is a covenant community ceremony. We celebrate the new life we share in Jesus as he gives us forgiveness and new life and brings us into the community his people. When we consider the concept of fellowship or community or belonging - we often thing of a feeling or experience that we want to get to. This means we also spend our energy trying to get to something that we already have. We act like we are on the outside when Christ has already brought us in. do you consider the reality of your participation in Christ? Do you consider yourself as one who is marked out and belonging to God? This is also important because it highlights the fact that we are ALWAYS in fellowship with someone or something. Our modern notion of the totally independent individual is completely naive to how the world truly works. If you bear the name of Jesus and parttake in his table - you have a seat at the table of the King. Are you mindful of all the other tables that you sit at? Here you are on Sunday morning, but where do you go on Friday or Saturday nights? Are you aware of the different kinds of fellowship that surround you in the world? Do you have a distinct awareness of how your identity as a follower of King Jesus drives your relationship to other circles of fellowship? Psalm 1:1-2 "How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! 2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night." 2. Satan and his demons are working hard to gain your fellowship at the tables of idolatry. "19 What am I saying then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but I do say that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons! 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" For a moment, it may seem like Paul is going backwards on the point he made in chapter 8 - that idols in and of themselves have no power. Here he pushes to a deeper point. Sure, idols are nothing. But idolatry itself is not nothing. It is the domain of demons. It is the work of a very real and powerful and dangerous invisible force that surrounds us in the world. Like the Corinthians, Christians today have a tendencies to live with a very naive and shallow understanding of the spiritual threats that surround them. Paul says, "you are going to these feasts, do you have ANY IDEA what you are doing? Do you have any idea who's table you sit at? No its not just the sinful ppl - you live in a world of darkness and it is powered by the prince of darkness." Think about it, "i am talking to you as sensible people!!" C. S. Lewis: "Our mistake in relationship to the devils is one of two extremes: to obsess over the devil or to disbelieve in him completely." A common middle mistake, noted by Jonathan Pokluda is - we admit that Satan and his demons are real, but we live as though they are not - or as though they have absolutely no relevance in our lives. Paul says you must flee from idolatry because idolatry is the domain of demons. Do you understand that there is a spiritual war going on for your soul every day? A war that involves angels and demons - forces and creatures powerful and mysterious? Are you aware that your daily battles and temptations are part of a bigger battle going on in the world around you? You are a member of team Jesus, you sit and feast at his table every day. You are part of a church community. You parttake in communion. You read his word and pray. You are feasting at his table spiritually. You life is the result of his victory and his riches. Your life is a problem to enemies that you can't see. They hate you. They hate God. They hate Jesus. They love to destroy, deceive and watch us all in pain. A couple of important clarifications: • the devil is not everywhere - he is a limited creature to one place at a time • the devil can't read your thoughts - but he is an expert in understanding human emotion and manipulating and tricking us • the devil's primary power is his ability to capture and ruin lives through false beliefs and destructive desires Ephesians 2:1-3 "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also." If you are a follower of Jesus, if you come and take communion, if you open and read your Bible and pray everyday - you are a child of the King. You sit at his table. What other tables do you sit at? implications: • other religions are not neutral and fake ◦ some are, but some have real power. • nothing in the world is neutral. ◦ christians getting involved in eastern spirituality - yoga, meditation, etc. • just because someone bears of the name of Jesus does NOT mean they are of Jesus ◦ you will know them by their fruits • culture is idolatrous ◦ music, movies, shows, books ◦ we must not be obsessive about seeing illuminati demon worship in everything. But we must also not be naive. ◦ some forms of horror genre, music - deep dark stuff • satan would much rather have you worship the idol of money instead of being part of a cult because the idol of money is easier to hide. ◦ he is not running around in red pajamas with a pitchfork ◦ he is after your heart and desires Your heart is formed by the places you go and the things you do. • are we conscious of our fellowship with the Lord and his people? do we live in that fellowship? • are we conscious of our fellowship/war with the evil world system around us? • are you the same person sunday through saturday? or do you live in parrallel universes of darkness and light? 3. Flee idolatry because you love and fear the King who's table you feast at everyday. "flee from idolatry...21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" We have a danger of missing the point here - satan and demons! Oh no! Paul's point is a little different. The real danger is not just the spiritual world. Its the judgement you bring on yourself from the KING when you sit at his table and at other tables. We flee idolatry because we love and we fear the King who has given us a seat at his table. Lets take our example from the story of Saul in 1 Samuel 29 A king who worshipped at the idol of people and their opinions. How did this idol snake its way through his life? At the start, he was afraid and anxious - hiding when he was named king. Later it lead to anger and insecurity when he saw the success of others. Later still it created terrible conflicts and lead to really foolish decisions. Later again it lead him to clearly disobey God's Word in bringing sacrifices himself instead of waiting for the prophet Samuel to come. Finally, at the end, it lead him to go to a witch - a woman who had connections to the satanic spiritual world - so that he could get some answers. Do you remember what happened? The ghost of the prophet Samuel appeared - and it freaked out the witch herself who was afraid of God and his powers. Samuel says to Saul - "what do you think you are doing? Look where your sin and idolatry has brought you. Dabbling in the demonic. You have brought death and judgement upon yourself and your sons." Some weeks there is a deep dark pressure to compromise. Its powerful to realize it. to understand that there is a bigger battle raging around you for your soul and the soul of your family. 1 Peter 5:6-9 "6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you. 8 Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. 9 Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world." Today as we are baptizing five new members in God's family, we are also proclaiming the victory of Jesus, we are sharing together, as the church, in his grace and his strength. We are part of a bigger process of God working redemption and renewal in a broken world. Application: • Are we conscious of our fellowship with the Lord and his people? Do we live in that fellowship? • Do you flee from idolatry or do you dance on the line? Does your life share in fellowship with the Lord and with his enemies? • Are we conscious of our fellowship/war with the evil world system around us? Do you understand that your daily battles with sin are part of a bigger process of evil spiritual opposition to God and to God's covenant community? • Do you come to the Lord in humility, leaning on his power? Do you see his power at work in your life?

Battle of the gods - 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

April 3, 2022 • Andrey Bulanov • 1 Corinthians 10:1–13

Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Main idea: True christianity lives a life of community and vigilance, as we understand the dangers of the temptations that surround us in the world, as well as our own inner weakness. Therefore, we learn to lean into the faithfulness and presence of God as our hope and strength. Outline: 1. Just because you are among God's people, does not mean you are safe. 2. Your soul is always under attack to desire evil and serve idols. 3. Learn to continually rely on God's faithful power and presence. Application: • Do you have a healthy self awareness about the dangers that your heart faces every day? • What are the biggest sources of sinful desire in your life today? • Is it part of your spiritual growth to expose idols in your heart? Do you welcome fellow believers to help you in this process? • Is God your source of greatest comfort? Do you turn to the faithfulness of God in the midst of struggles and battles with sin? Scripture references: • Exodus 32:1-5 • James 1:14-15 • 1 John 5:21 • Ezekiel 14:4-5 • Ephesians 2:1-6 • Ephesians 6:10-14 • Romans 8:31-35 Main ideas: • idolatry • spiritual danger • self awareness • evil desire • God's faithfulness • spiritual strength --------------------- Read text We can easily be tricked about the condition of our souls because we are surrounded by God and his work. One of the greatest challenges of the church is christians who don't live as christians. and yet this was warned from the beginning. We can be naive about the condition of our souls. This is the naive condition that Paul confronts in chapters 8-10. He wants the Corinthians to see that real christianity is not a faith that is determined by personal needs and personal freedoms. True christianity is a faith that actively understands the spiritual dangers that always surround us, and it is a faith that responds to that danger by embracing a lifestyle of communal vigilance. We live as a body of believers as we fight sin. And we adjust our spiritual lives to the glory of God and to the blessing of others. Truth is never give to the individual in an isolates state. Truth is given to be digested in a community of disciples who are diligently learn to battle sin and glorify God together. The people in Corinth were naive about the relationship between the world and the church. This is why they had a lot of different sin issues in their church - sexual immorality, selfishness, pride, broken marriages. On top of this, some of their people were openly going to pagan temples and participating in the feasts that took place there, as well as openly buying meat that was sacrificed to idols. Their main argument was that "idols are not real" so we have nothing to fear from these temples. Also in God we are free from the law and we don't need to limit our actions by what bothers other christians. Paul demolishes these arguments in two steps: • chapters 8-9 he says your Christianity is all wrong if its focused on you and your own well being. True christianity is focused on the beauty of Jesus and the love of others. It is driven to serve others, to build others up with the truth. • chapter 10 he says - you are wrong because you are naive about the spiritual dangers that surround you. 1. Just because you are among God's people, does not mean you are safe. "Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless God was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness." Paul starts with recounting the story of the people of Israel, and in this whole text, he sets up a spiritual parallel between the people of Israel and the church. Now its interesting how Paul sets up the story of Israel through the two practices of baptism and communion. "baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea..." "ate the spiritual food and drink..." And then he drives deeper the similarity by saying: "For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that was Christ..." Of course there is a big difference between the OT and NT - they had a theocracy, a nation state that was rooted in worship. They had the laws and sacrifices that were the means by which they drew near to God. We live on this side of the cross and Gods plan of salvation through Jesus. We have the victory of Jesus and calls us to new life in him. But there is also a massive parallel and similarity. The foundational principles of the stories of the Old Testament are the same: God saved sinners who were not looking for him or worthy of his grace. The purpose of the OT laws was not dead religion - it was love to God and a mission to make God known in the world. Paul wants to emphasize that similarity. The people of Israel were saved by God's grace. They were shown his power. They were sustained and fed by him. They experienced God's presence. And yet - MOST of them died in the desert for their evil and thier unbelief. "5 NeverthelessGod was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness." Healthy self awareness is one of the most difficult things to cultivate - primarily because we don't LIKE to pay attention to our most important weaknesses. We can easily be naive about the condition of our soul because we are surround by the church and are doing lots of christian things. We can be tricked into thinking that the enemy is "out there" in the world, the progressives, the liberals, the fundamentalists, the right, the left.... And we become totally blind to the very real and present dangers right in front of us. 2. Your soul is always under attack to desire evil and serve idols. "6 Now these things took place as examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did. 7 Don’t become idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party. 8 Let us not commit sexual immorality as some of them did, and in a single day twenty-three thousand people died. 9 Let us not test Christ as some of them did and were destroyed by snakes. 10 And don’t grumble as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. 11 These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall." Verse 6 gives us a very incisive picture of the true danger. "so that we will not desire evil things as they did..." It doesn't matter how much you are surrounded by the christian world and the works of God - the true battle ground is your heart - and your heart aways carries a brokenness, a twistedness, that desires evil things. This is what is meant that we still live "in the flesh" - even though we are christians redeemed by Jesus, we still have the remaining influence of the sin nature. Paul launches into a series of commands, and its important to see here how they are interconnected. I don't think these commands and warnings are given here at random. The first one kicks it off and sets the tone here, and its very interesting.. "Don't become idolaters, as some of them were..." This is a really interesting command - how can christians become idolaters? This is important to not in the context of idol temple feasts, and as the corinthians, who definitely DID NOT believe in the power of the idols - were going to those feasts - and to them, Paul is warning, don't become idolaters! They did not believe in the power of the idols, and it is because they didn't believe in the power of idols that they were most likely to become idolaters themselves. How can christians become idolaters?? How does anyone become an idolater? Exodus 32:1-5 "When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make gods for us who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!” 2 Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the gold rings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf. Then they said, “Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it and made an announcement: “There will be a festival to the Lord tomorrow.” 6 Early the next morning they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented fellowship offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party." Notice here, when they made the golden calf, they did NOT think they were going away from the God who brought them out of Egypt. Notice the phrase "....festival to the Lord..." - this is the specific name of the God who lead them, the God of the Bible. They didn't think they were going away from God, rather they were rebranding, redefining God based on what they felt and desired in that moment. Here, I think we see the connection between the opening warning given in verse 6 - "http://...so that we will not desire evil things as they did..." The key to idolatry is evil desire, not statues of gods. This explains pagan idolatrous religious - how do people worship a rock? Answer, its not the rock they are worshipping - its their own desires. Any pagan and human religious system appeals to the evil desires of the human heart - thats why it works. "7 Don’t become idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party." Party: sexual partying and revelry They wanted security and they wanted pleasure. And they follow those desires to arrive at idolatry. Evil desire grows into an idol that controls our lives. James 1: 14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. One of the main ways Scripture speaks of the mechanism of sin, of how sin works in the human heart is in the terms of idolatry. That is why Paul is writing to christians and he is warning them not to become idolaters, even as they don't believe in the power of other fake religions. The truth is that idolatry takes many different forms in the human heart. Idolatry is seen in the actual practice of bowing down to statues. And Idolatry is also seen in the human heart when we give in to an evil desire and that evil desire begins to control our lives. Both kinds of idolatry are fueled by evil desire. What is an idol? Anything that controls our desires and behaviors away from the purposes of God and his kingdom. 1 John 5:21 21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols. Ez. 14:4-5 "‘This is what the Lord God says: When anyone from the house of Israel sets up idols in his heart and puts his sinful stumbling block in front of himself, and then comes to the prophet, I, the Lord, will answer him appropriately. I will answer him according to his many idols, 5 so that I may take hold of the house of Israel by their hearts. They are all estranged from me because of their idols.’" Evil desire, when followed and obeyed, grows into an idol that controls our lives. Here is where I think the different commands in this passage weave together. Idolatry works in our lives as evil desire snakes its way through multiple departments of our lives to weave it all into one tangled mess: • sexual immorality • testing Christ • grumbling Sources: (Ephesians 2:1-6) • Internal - the flesh • Social - the world • Spiritual - the devil How to spot an idol: • An idol controls your desires and your time. • An idol sets up rules and laws for you to follow. ◦ If only you do this/get this... ◦ The only way to be happy is to... • An idol promises fulfillment and redemption in your life that only God can give. An idol can be an evil thing or it can be a good thing twisted by evil desires. An Idol is anything that controls our desires and behaviors away from the purposes of God and his kingdom. Example: • Family is a good, but it can be twisted by my evil desire for loyalty and security at all costs. • Work is important, but it can become a life dominating power force, that almost feels like its forcing you to play by its rules even though you know its not always right. • Comfort and rest is good, but when i see that I am cutting corners to decrease time with kids in Scripture and prayer... ◦ When you see that your allegiance to something is making you do things that you don't think are right but feel like you have no choice - when you are obeying any rules that are outside of God's rules ◦ idols can set up complex networks of rules and expectations in our hearts and lives "Let us not be http://unaware...let us not be naive..." "12 So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall. " Are you aware of the battle that rages every day for your soul? Are you naive about the line between the kingdom of God and the evil system of idolatry that surrounds you today? 3. Learn to continually rely on God's faithful power and presence. 13 No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it. We are always surrounded by enemies that want to take our souls captive. The first step to battling the dangers of idolatry in our hearts is awareness. Don't be naive. the second step is to learn to rest and depend upon God. "But God is faithful..." battling the gods means leaning on the faithfulness of God Let your heart rest in his faithfulness, his presence, his care for you. When we learn to rest in God, our heart learns to tie all our deepest desires to him, not to the lies of the flesh, the world or the devil. God doesn't just want your obedience. He wants your trust, your heart - he wants to be your one and only strength and comfort. How do we know he is faithful? Romans 8:31-35 31 What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? 33 Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. 34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. 35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Proud people who think they stand are people who are not acknowledging the presence of security of the Father who watches and keeps us. He is the Shepherd of our souls. His is our Father. He allows us to be challenged. But these challenges are a training ground for our faith. When you are tempted and challenged - see it for what it is - its the training ground of your faith. We are all weak and we all need help and we learn that as we are pressed down on all side by life, by our flesh, by the world and by the devil. God is faithful. He provides a way through. Notice, he DOES NOT take away all your struggles. Rather he provides a way of escape "so that you may bear it...." Ephesians 6:10-14 "10 Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. 13 For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. 14 Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist..." You greatest victory is NOT that you have no battles, but that in the midst of the battles you learn to stand by resting and being strengthened in the Lord. You learn to expose your idols. You learn to not bow down to the false ideas and false promises. You learn to stand firm by exposing your evil desires and robbing them of their power. We destroy idols by learning to stand firm in the midst of the lies that come at us. Application: • Do you have a healthy self awareness about the dangers that your heart faces every day? • What are the biggest sources of sinful desire in your life today? • Is it part of your spiritual growth to expose idols in your heart? Do you welcome fellow believers to help you in this process? • Is God your source of greatest comfort? Do you turn to the faithfulness of God in the midst of struggles and battles with sin?

Pastor, We've Got You Covered - 1 Corinthians 9:4-14

March 27, 2022 • Vitaly Kunda • 1 Corinthians 9:4–14

1 Cor 9:4-14 “In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel.” 1. The Lord’s calling to be a pastor - Requirements - Tasks and responsibilities care, protect, discipline, feed, encourage, love - Rights and limited authority 2. The Lord’s calling to support pastors a. financial support - The common human practice - The Practice of O.T. - The Lord’s commandment b. Reasons for this support - Calling of the Lord - partnership in the Gospel - personal needs of the pastor - blessings to the giver himself c. Wrong practices: By pastor: - It is a calling, not just your work - Misuse of church finances - Rejecting church support By congregation: - Neglect - demanding unpaid ministry - Ownership of the pastor – demanding obedience and no freedom. - Misuse of tithing 3. Our Lord’s Earthly example of partnership in the Gospel - Son of God was called to serve people -His followers supported Him 4. Practical ways to support our pastors - Tithing - Praying - Words of encouragement - Sharing of your victories “In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel.”

Running the Race - 1 Corinthians 9:1-27

March 20, 2022 • Andrey Bulanov • 1 Corinthians 9

Main idea: When we look at the life of the apostle Paul we learn that it is Jesus alone that truly turns our hearts out from self centered focus to live for a greater story - the story of God's saving and redeeming grace in the world. Outline: 1. Motivation - When our heart is captivated by the beauty of the gospel, it is charged with a sense of mission and sacrifice that springs purely from our own hearts, with zero external compulsion. 2. Sacrifice - A gospel driven life is moved by love to touch as many people as possible with the healing grace of Jesus. 3. Focus - A gospel driven life sees all of life under one unifying purpose and works hard to align everything it has to that one purpose. Application: • What is your vision of Jesus? Does it just blow you away that God has loved you, has given himself to you and has called you to a unique purpose in his kingdom? When you consider who God is in Scripture and his purposes to save, are you amazed by God and all that he is? • Does the gospel compel you to a new life? To action for the kingdom? Or are you constantly needing to be poked out of your passive state? • Do you view freedom as to take for yourself or as the freedom to give to others? Have you discovered the deep joy of being used by God to bless others? • What is the focus of your life? Is there intentionality in your life to bring everything in alignment with that focus? Scripture References: • 1 Corinthians 9:1-27 • Philippians 2:5-11 Key ideas: • life motivation • spiritual growth • sacrifice • gospel centrality • discipline • purpose --------- Read text. The contrast between Brave New World and 1984 - one book predicted that our world would get worse through more government control, the other one predicted that our world would get worse through pleasure and excess. What is interesting is that we have seen in history authoritarian governments who take the 1984 option - control and fear. And this works to an extent. But its always on a timer. People on the bottom will eventually rise up. Its only a matter of time. The greatest way to control people is to drown them in everything they want. "In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us." Neil Postman C. S. Lewis echos this idea when he says that the door to hell is locked from the inside. In many ways this is the reality we are living in today. The rates of anxiety and depression are directly correlated to the shift in culture to elevate the self. To add to this we live an age when we have more stuff and its cheaper. To add to this we live in a time when the digital age makes it possible to live most of your life in the the online world of social media and entertainment. Think about the concept of "reality TV". Billions of dollars are made by filming people's lives - people who do nothing good. There is no story to the show. The person and their existence and self importance IS the story. They just live self obsessed, lavish lives. And we are obsessed with watching it. Today our greatest drug is to get what we want. In contrast to this, you have the example of every good story. Every good story has the same plot: a small person takes on daring and scary foes, against all odds, prevails. Why is this the case? It NEVER gets old. This is the case because this is how God made us. This is how God made reality. True beauty, satisfaction and joy are found when we reach outside of ourselves and live for sometime infinitely bigger. This is why we may at times come to a sense of deep dissatisfaction and frustration with out lives. We feel like its a story that we are very unsatisfied with. What kind of story is your life shaping up to be? What kind of impact or footprint does your life leave on the people it touches? The Bible is full of epic tales. Just read Hebrews 11 to get a sampling. One of the most epic tales is the life and heart of the apostle Paul. As he is calling us to think about living a life that is different, a life that is externally focused, he pauses here in chapter nine to give us a snapshot of his life. When we look at the life of the apostle Paul we learn that it is Jesus alone that truly turns our hearts out from self centered focus to live for a greater story - the story of God's saving and redeeming grace in the world. The gospel of Jesus is the only thing that is powerful enough to raise us out of our dead and foolish self obsession. 1. Motivation - When our heart is captivated by the beauty of the gospel, it is charged with a sense of mission and sacrifice that springs purely from our own hearts, with zero external compulsion. "Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, because you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 3 My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 Don’t we have the right to eat and drink? 5 Don’t we have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife like the other apostles, the Lord’s brothers, and Cephas? 6 Or do only Barnabas and I have no right to refrain from working? 7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink the milk from the flock? ... Half of this chapter is just a rapid fire machine gun roll of questions. And these questions cast our attention to one main thing: Paul has all the rights and freedoms like anyone else in ministry. And yet he chooses not to take advantage of some of the key parts of those rights of his own free will. Vs. 4 - limits on what he eats vs. 5 - limits himself in respect to marriage vs. 6 - limits himself in financial support All of these things are totally neutral things. All of these things are things that Paul willingly decides to sacrifice. He goes off on a whole side point on the money question to make this point abundantly clear. vs. 6-14 - give a detailed argument why it is right for pastors and preacher of the gospel to be financially supported by the people they serve. Next week we will loop back around and look at that section in more details. The short summary of it is that Paul is saying it is right and good for the church to pay its pastors! Paul pushes through that to make his primary point - 15 For my part I have used none of these rights, nor have I written these things that they may be applied in my case. For it would be better for me to die than for anyone to deprive me of my boast! 16 For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am compelled to preach—and woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this willingly, I have a reward, but if unwillingly, I am entrusted with a commission. 18 What then is my reward? To preach the gospel and offer it free of charge and not make full use of my rights in the gospel. 19 Although I am free from all and not anyone’s slave, I have made myself a slave to everyone, in order to win more people. " What is Paul saying? "I have been gripped by Jesus and his story. This is my whole life. I am cursed if I don't preach! I can't not preach!" "In fact, I am so captivated by this mission, to live for the message of Jesus - that I want to do everything I can to make it more available!" "Jesus is the one who reached out and gripped me! So what can I do of myself to reach back out to grip him?? I want to do something, I want to do more!!" "This is my thing - I will refuse payment. Its good for pastors to get paid. But i am unmarried. I have less strings that tie me down. I am gonna work double time so that the gospel will be spread through me even more!!" "19 Although I am free from all and not anyone’s slave, I have made myself a slave to everyone, in order to win more people. " vs. 18 - THIS is my reward!! Notice the sense of motivation here. To Paul, christianity is not about doing the minimum. When our heart is captivated by the beauty of the gospel, it is charged with a sense of mission and sacrifice that springs purely from our own hearts, with zero external compulsion. Paul sees Christ above all things - and he decides within himself this is it. THIS is what I want to spend my life on. What about you today? What do you want to spend your life on? What is your relationship to Jesus? If you don't know Jesus today - you need to stop and listen. If you are a christian - what kind of christian are you? Does your relationship with Jesus compel your heart to DO THINGS. When you think about the gospel and all the lost people in the world, and all that God is doing - does it make YOU want to grab a sword and jump into the battle?? Or do you just prefer to stand on the sidelines and cheer? Theres something really wrong when churches are full of passive people. Jesus doesn't make passive disciples. Sometime we get so caught up with what others expect of us, we don't realize taht at the end of the day that we live the life we want to live. No one will make you do anything. Your life is the product of your will and your choices. In a very real way, God controls and guides your life. But also in a very real way, YOU make the choices. He gives Adam and Eve the keys and says - go. Take dominion. Rule the word. It is his DELIGHT to see us MOTIVATED to do something for his kingdom. Not because we are trying to earn brownie points and be on God's good list. But because we are ALREADY redeemed and washed and accepted and we are so EXCITED to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. What are you doing with your life? What to do want? Why do you want the things that you want? Are you passive in your faith? Does it always take someone to poke and prod you? Question: what kind of lame Jesus do you follow? If you find that you are constantly grumbling, negative, complaining, unsatisfied, passive - you have a wrong view of Christ! 2. Sacrifice - A gospel driven life is moved by love to touch as many people as possible with the healing grace of Jesus. "19 Although I am free from all and not anyone’s slave, I have made myself a slave to everyone, in order to win more people. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law—though I myself am not under the law—to win those under the law. 21 To those who are without the law, like one without the law—though I am not without God’s law but under the law of Christ—to win those without the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some. 23 Now I do all this because of the gospel, so that I may share in the blessings." Paul traveled a lot, met lots of different kinds of people. Here he tells us his internal approach to relationships. Some may think Paul is describing a life of hypocrisy here. With the Jews hes one guy. With the Gentiles he's a different guy. No. "I am under God's law, the law of Christ..." I walk in fundamental obedience and integrity to God and his word. But there are certain freedoms or social norms that I can choose to abstain from in order to be less of a stumbling block to the people I am with. "what can I do in myself to remove any personal hinderances to this person more clearly seeing Jesus in me?" the real joy of life is found in living for others with the goodness of Jesus. Often times we want to be a blessing to others, the problem is that we don't have something in ourselves to give to people. But when Christ is working through us, we become infinitely valuable to others. The greatest joy is to discover how powerfully the gospel can work through us in the lives of those around us. When we understand that, then we are defined by others greatest good, not by their opinions of us, not by our selfish desires for our own fulfillment. We seek their good. WE are not afraid of others because we love them. (sidenote - this is the cure to social anxiety) His greatest freedom is to make himself a slave to others. How does that make any sense? Only in light of the gospel - the message of the exalted, perfect, holy and glorious God who willingly came down to suffer for us, to be with us, to bring us back to himself. Philippians 2:5-11 "5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. 9 For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth— 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Heres a simple test: What in your life takes the MOST of your sacrifice? - time, money, energy, stress.... Is the object of your sacrifice something that will pass away with this life? “A materialistic world will not be won to Christ by a materialistic church.” David Platt A gospel driven life is moved by love to touch as many people as possible with the healing grace of Jesus. When we speak of sacrifice for Christ, we are not just talking pie in the sky. We are talking something very concrete. Love for Jesus moves us into deep love for others around us. When you are impacted by the wondrous love of God you will want to see that same love bless the lives of others around you. How much does our heart burn with love for others? How much is our heart weighed down for the lost people in our lives? This is so easy! We don't have to all become missionaries in Africa. We are all surrounded by people all the time. Make a goal to pray for someone this week you didn't pray for this week - at least one believer and one unbeliever. And ask God to open a door to serve these people. 3. Focus - A gospel driven life sees all of life under one unifying purpose and works hard to align everything it has to that one purpose. "24 Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize. 25 Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown. 26 So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. 27 Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified." Corinth was home to some of the most important sporting events of the greco roman world. Without extreme focus and dedication there is no success in a race. Paul's life was not just motivated, it wasn't just marked by loving sacrifice - it was also focused. It had a deep sense of self awareness and purpose. our lives are so ordinary. most days and weeks we do the same thing over and over. Where is it all going? What is the purpose? What is the goal? If you don't think carefully about it, it will be all gone in a flash. is your ordianry life a treadmill going no where? is your ordinary life a chase running up the wrong mountain? we work so hard to be famous, rich, free, affirmed. What are you deepest motivations and goals. That may sound all deep and stuff, but its essential. Eventually we will all lay down into the dirt and our memory will fade. What is going to be the value of your life? I will tell you: its gotta be a life built on and driven my the message and mission of Jesus to bring redemption and restoration to the world. And the point is not that you need to escape this repetitive cycle - you CAN'T. What do you tink the missionaries in the jungles do?? The same thing over and over. The question here is TO WHAT END??? You go to school. you go to work. You pack our lunch. You take out the trash. You change diapers. You make your bed. You wave to your neighbors. TO WHAT END?? Paul says, "don't just be jogging and draggin your feet. RUN LIKE YOU MEAN IT. Run in such a way to win the prize." Your mundane life is created to all come together, after all those millions of moments, and days and weeks and months - to come together to be a masterpiece. 1508-1541 - during repeated visits and periods of time, Michalangelo spent 10 years of his life painting the Sistine Chapel. Thousands of mundane moments. Paint splatters. Aching neck and arms. The beauty of our life is not measured by how many repetitive moments it contains. It is measured by the Jesus is present in those moments, working in and through us to put himself on display. A million little moments of self control - lead to a mountain of character and conviction. A million little moments of love and sacrifice - leads to hundreds of lives impacted in ways we have no idea about. A gospel driven life sees all of life under one unifying purpose and works hard to align everything it has to that one purpose. Plug for self control - is very good and beautiful and essential. Friends sometimes its really healthy for us to just come to a very honest assessment - we are so weak. Compared to the saints who sang hymns as they were lit on fire, we are weak. Compared to the missionaires who brave jungles and disease and death to bring Jesus to others, we are weak. "its just so hard not to watch 6 episodes straight of that http://show....its just so hard not to eat a tub of ice cream..." What is our standard? what do we consider hard? Sometimes these things betray our deep lack of focus. The point here is not to guilt us. It is to rouse us from our sleepiness. It is to make us ask once again - what is our vision of Jesus? What kind of Savior do we believe in? Paul's life of motivation, sacrifice and focus - was not perfect. But it was gripped by a gospel, a message, a Savior that MOVED it all. Application: • What is your vision of Jesus? Does it just blow you away that God has loved you, has given himself to you and has called you to a unique purpose in his kingdom? When you consider who God is in Scripture and his purposes to save, are you amazed by God and all that he is? • Does the gospel compel you to a new life? To action for the kingdom? Or are you constantly needing to be poked out of your passive state? • Do you view freedom as to take for yourself or as the freedom to give to others? Have you discovered the deep joy of being used by God to bless others? • What is the focus of your life? Is there intentionality in your life to bring everything in alignment with that focus? C. T. Studd "When this bright world would tempt me sore, When Satan would a victory score; When self would seek to have its way, Then help me Lord with joy to say; Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. Give me Father, a purpose deep, In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep; Faithful and true what e’er the strife Pleasing Thee in my daily life; Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. Oh let my love with fervor burn, And from the world now let me turn; Living for Thee, and Thee alone, Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne; Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. Only one life, yes only one, Now let me say,”Thy will be done”; And when at last I’ll hear the call, I know I’ll say “twas worth it all”; Only one life,’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last."