Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / October 16, 2022 | 1 Corinthians - Judgement for the Unrighteous

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October 16, 2022 | 1 Corinthians - Judgement for the Unrighteous · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Morning, everybody.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Good to see you.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Back in September, the uh I think most of you would be aware that the Queen of England passed away.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: And um this morning's message made me think about her son, now King Charles III.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what it must have been like to wait for 70 years knowing that you were going to ascend the throne.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: 70 years.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Long time.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Long time to wait.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Some of us struggle to wait for toast, right?
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And he waited 70 years to become the king of England, since he was three years old when his mom became queen.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: And now he is the king of England.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, this morning as we turn the chapter into six, we're going to be talking about Paul's admonition, his correction of the church at Corinth and the way that they were treating one another, in particular, the way that they were taking each other to court and what that meant.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: But the correction that he provides for them is simply one of reminding them really who they are and what their future is.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you were King Charles and you had waited for 70 years, and for those of us here across the pond, we know a little bit about his life.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: We also know that it's a hard job being in the royal family.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: There are certain expectations that are placed upon you, and even within the recent past, if you don't fulfill those obligations, sometimes the royal family might not be the place for you.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: That is going to have a lot to do with what we're talking about this morning and really the call that Paul has upon our life that we live with the future in mind.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: That we consider what it means to live with our glorious future as Christians and how that affects our daily life.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, with that, let's go ahead and begin in verse 1, chapter 6.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says, If any of you has a dispute against another, how dare you take it to court before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Or don't you know that the saints will judge the world?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the trivial cases?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you know that we will judge angels?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: How much more matters of this life?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have such matters, do you appoint as your judges those who have no standing in the church?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Paul, uh, in the first five chapters, has laid the groundwork for an argument that over the last chapter or two he has really started to become specific on.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Started out chapter one, it was factions, right?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's disunity in the church.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: People are breaking apart, valuing things they shouldn't, and as sort of an almost an overarching theme, God's kingdom and the world's kingdom, they've been flipped in their priorities, that people value the world more than they value the things of God.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: And now we're getting into the part where these are specific things that the church in Corinth has done.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: And what our goal is, is to look at these specific things and draw from them conclusions that apply to our own life.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: For many of you, you have not taken a fellow Christian to court over a civil matter.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, the things that Paul is talking about still apply to us.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: And at the very beginning in verse 1, Paul expresses his anger.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: This word dare, he says, How dare you?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really strong word in the Greek.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: And basically there's this heavy emphasis behind it.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: You can almost hear his sort of scathing rebuke.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: He says, How dare you think that what you are doing is right?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: How dare you act in such a way?
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: What were you thinking?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's the voice that we don't like to hear, but it's the voice that's sometimes needed.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how he begins.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now, his problem with them is one I've alluded to already.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Um, how dare you take into court this dispute before the unrighteous and not before the saints?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: What he's talking about here is he's saying that there are brothers and sisters in Christ who have disagreements with each other.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And the problem is not that there is conflict.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, chapter 5, the entire thing was like, hey, you should have conflict with people who are, you know, in rebellion against the church.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: But here, he's not saying that there shouldn't be conflict or that there won't be conflict within the church, but that rather that when it arises, it should be able to be handled within the church.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a constraining measure we have to put on this.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Later on, he refers to it as matters of this life.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And these are like Judge Judy cases, okay?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: These are not like severe criminal cases.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: These are matters of a civil court, smaller matters.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: And what's happening is those within the church are taking each other into these this Greco-Roman court system, which is it is not like our court system today, right?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Justice is perverted back then.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And what is going on is that basically in this in this culture where status and prestige and and wealth have so much more influence, so much so that I cut out a whole section just where commentators during the time, people who are living, were just joking about what it means to take something to court if you don't have money to win.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um Paul is saying this isn't the environment for these disputes to be handled.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: And what is happening is also as a part of the litigation, is what would be expected is that the one who is accusing another is that they tear each other down and they criticize each other and they attack their character.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: It becomes a very personal thing, as if being sued isn't personal enough.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: But what Christians were doing here was dragging the name of Jesus through the mud in an attempt to gain some sort of benefit over and above their fellow Christian.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so Paul's really upset by this.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: He's upset by what they are doing amongst each other, but also what it's representing to the world around them.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: And his correction is one that he assumes they already know.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: He says twice, right?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Don't you know?
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Later on, don't you know?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Don't you know that the saints will judge the world?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the trivial cases those we're talking about?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you know that we will judge angels?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: How much more these things?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you know?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's Paul had apparently communicated this to the church when he had been with them.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, he lived in Corinth for over a year.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: And apparently during this time they had a Sunday lesson where he talked with them about what it was like to reign with Christ at the end of all time.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And perhaps unfortunately for us, or rather disappointingly, uh, he doesn't get into the specific details.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's not his goal.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And Michael this morning is not getting into the specific details of this.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because basically, Paul is saying this fact about the future, how you will reign and what you will do, in this sense, judging others and ultimately being lifted above angels, which currently we are below angels in the holy hierarchy, he says, by virtue of the fact that you will be in that position, that should change how you live right now.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: And there's certainly an aspect of that that applies in all of Christianity, that when we learn something, that it should affect the way that we live.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: That even though there is motivation, by following God's word, we can be faithful and we can abide and we can have peace and joy and that we will understand the way that the world works even in times of difficulty, there's a lot of motivation.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: But Paul is simply saying, by knowing the fact, that should change how you act right now.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: So you might be surprised, maybe you're not, that this isn't unusual when we're talking about Christianity.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: This idea that those who are meek and lowly right now will eventually reign.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: When Jesus is speaking to his disciples in Matthew 19, he says, Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Context, that's not everybody.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's he's talking to the twelve disciples, right?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so they will have this uh particular function at the end times, and where they are judging the nation of Israel.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: But Revelation 20, it expands the scope.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Then I saw thrones, John says, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: They will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: What is cut out of there, which I just cut out for the sake of space, but those who come to life and reign with Christ during his millennial reign, before the real end of all things, Satan is judged, all that stuff.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the one that John sees here that's sitting on the thrones, they're those who have been beheaded because they shared their faith and they were killed, they were martyred.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: So whether it's the disciples, whether it's the martyrs, or whether we go even sort of further back into the broad notion of all Christians, right, we have a role to play in the end times, and it's an authority given to us by Jesus.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: But even now, I mean, I know it's captivating, but really the point is that we're there, that it happens.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: And because we have been given that responsibility, or will be given that responsibility, because we know that's basically our job title in the future, Paul's like, can we not handle the stuff now?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna judge the world by God's authority with him, with Christ, reign with him.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, Can we not handle these little Judge Judy cases, please?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Paul continues though, right?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, So if you have such matters, do you appoint as your judges those who have no standing in the church?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's two ways this could be translated, and I'll just say what I think this means, and what he's saying, is he is commenting, much as he has in the previous five chapters, about the inversion of the kingdom values and the worldly values, right?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so he is he is rebuking them because they have appointed those who don't know anything about the kingdom, who are unjust and unrighteous, to now judge the righteous.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's an inversion of the end times.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: The righteous judge the unrighteous.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right now he says you're making a mistake, you've changed it up.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: The unrighteous are judging the righteous.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: He says it shouldn't be that way.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what it should look like.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Those who have no standing in the church.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: But as Paul keeps going, though, he isn't going to talk about this as often.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: He's not going to continually remind them of the future, but it's important for us that we carry that piece of information as we're walking forward too, because that's in the back of his mind, and that's in the back of the reader's mind.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Everything he says, and especially when we get to the end, and it's a little controversial, we have to keep in mind that he is comparing everything with are we living now in a way that shows to the world and to our Lord, basically, that we understand what's coming in the future.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: As he goes on in verse five, he says, I say this to your shame.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Gloves off.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Can it be that there is not one wise person among you who is able to arbitrate between fellow believers?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, brother goes to court against brother, and that before unbelievers.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: As it is, to have legal disputes among against one another is already a defeat for you.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Why not rather be wronged?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Why not rather be cheated?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Instead you yourselves do wrong and cheat.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: And you do this to brothers and sisters.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: In chapter 4, verse 14 of 1 Corinthians, Paul said that he was speaking in a way as a loving father, because he did not want to shame them.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to shame them now.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Different idea.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And a kind of a point on that.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's my perception, I don't know if this is the case for you, that in just kind of general Christianity, the way that we've often talked about guilt and shame is that one of them is good and one of them is bad.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that guilt is sort of healthy in this certain context, and we understand how we've gone against God, but that shame, shame doesn't really have a place in what we're talking about because shame is unhealthy.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I disagree with that.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think in moderation and in appropriate circumstances, there are things that we should feel shame for.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: And in this context, Paul is righteous in shaming the church at Corinth because the way they are acting is, I've said this before, dragging Jesus' name through the mud and defaming him before unbelievers.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Their witness for him against the world that rejects him is not captivating.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's not loving.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's simply putting on a show that Christians are fighting against each other.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, you should be ashamed for that.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: You should feel shame that that is the way that you are representing the kingdom of God.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's not the way he talks with him all the time, and it's not the way he talks with them even close to the majority of the time.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: But in this situation, he says, this is appropriate.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then he uh uses their own words against them.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: You might recall back in uh chapter one, the Corinthians have been gifted in every spiritual way.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: They're a really impressive church from a worldly perspective, that the Holy Spirit has given them so many gifts that from an outsider's perspective, it looks like they have everything going for them.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: They have a lot of things that are in their favor, and in particular, they really value wisdom, worldly wisdom.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: That was the whole thing in chapter three.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: He said, You value the world's wisdom more than God's wisdom.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well now he's they say, Paul, don't you know that we are wise?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, Is there not one wise person amongst you who can judge these cases?
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: He says that to their shame.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, he says, verse six, brother goes to court against brother, and that before unbelievers.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: So the first problem that Paul has is that Christians are fighting against each other.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is over and above any sort of consideration for how that looks to the outside world.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, he says, hey, you are supposed to be a family.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's why this chapter is filled with language of brothers and sisters.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, we are not just like co-Christians that we believe in the same thing, but we are actually a part of a holy family.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: And as every sort of Fortune 500 CEO has ever said that their company's culture is like a family, okay?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: We are actually a family.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Not flesh and blood in the sense that we are all related to each other in that way, but we are all co-heirs with Christ.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: And we are going to spend eternity together in heaven.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: And just as it is awkward when somebody cuts you off in traffic and then you are right up next to them at the next light, okay?
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Paul's like, hey, we're going to be spending a lot of time together.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Might as well get to love each other.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: So the main problem is that Christians are not treating each other the way that they should be treated.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: They are dragging each other through the mud, and in so doing, dragging Jesus alongside them.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for all of us, it's important to remember to Paul's second point here, that when we do these things, that it does send a message to those who don't know Jesus.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: It bothers me the amount of times, and I understand why, I've heard people say, because of this individual in my life, because of this circumstance, because of this pastor doing something stupid, I don't believe that I can trust in Christ because apparently that's what he represents.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: And we should we should feel a measure of shame for that.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Or at least we should feel pity for those people who don't understand the joy and peace of knowing Jesus because they've had people around them who defamed God's name.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's a problem.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: So in verse 6, brother goes to court against brother, and that before unbelievers, Paul, this is the problem, this is the main context, right?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's the fact that they are going to court against each other is the vehicle for this particular problem to be manifested.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: That there's fighting and it's showing to the world that the church is not any different than the fallen places around it.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: And he says the vehicle you're using is courts.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, as it is in verse 7, to have legal disputes against one another is already a defeat.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: He says, before you've even like stepped foot in there, before you've even started arguing with each other, he says, you've lost the war.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: You might win the battle, but you'll have lost the war.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Paul then asks some very hard questions.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Why not rather be wronged?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Why not rather be cheated?
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're reminded of his encouragement to the church in Corinth back in chapter 4 to live life like the apostles.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: When we are reviled, we bless.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: When we are persecuted, we endure it.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: When we are slandered, we respond graciously.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Even now we are like the scum of the earth, like everyone's garbage.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, if you recall, if you're with us during that week, he's contrasting that with the church, those who are in the church, they're acting in a way that people think they're superior, right?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, but those who are closest with Christ, we don't act that way.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, we are seen as the scum of the earth.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And when we are reviled, we bless.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: When we are persecuted, we endure it.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: When we are slandered, we respond graciously.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: In every way, they act like Christ.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where I think the like wristband version of what would Jesus do conflicts with the real world version of WWJD.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: And what I mean by that is that acting like Jesus and being called by God and by the power of the Spirit to live your life like Jesus is much deeper than loving people and valuing justice.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: What it means also is that you sacrifice for the benefit of others.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: That is what Paul is doing here, right?
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the argument against it is not that Christianity is telling you that you don't have rights.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus had every right in the world, accorded to you and I, and also above that, because he's God's Son, he had every right in the world to not endure the cross.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: And yet he chose to give up that right for the benefit of all humanity.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: That is the image that we're reflecting, that we're supposed to reflect to the world.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's not that we don't have rights, but that we willingly give them up for the benefit of other people.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: What Paul is not saying here is you might hear him ask these questions, you're like, hey, Paul, I personally love my uncheated and unwronged life, would love to keep it that way.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Paul isn't saying that you seek out to be cheated, that you, you know, go and buy Visa gift cards for every telemarketer that calls you, right?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: We aren't seeking out to be fools.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: But he says, if you have to choose between the two, if you have to choose between going to court to win this petty battle but ruin the name of Jesus, or you have to endure the slander or the gossip or the slight or whatever it is in order to preserve the name of Jesus, he says, Why would we not be cheated?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Why would we not be slandered?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: That is the answer.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: That is the one we should choose every single time.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Not that we seek it out, but that we live like Christ.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do this to brothers and sisters.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: What's even more of a shame to the church at Corinth is that it's not even as if they're passive in doing this, right?
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: That they are still going to courts, but they were the ones offended.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: They're the ones offending each other.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: They're the ones committing crimes against each other.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: They've made the situation even worse.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: So if we were to summarize what has happened in these first eight verses here, we can say that Paul has said you were supposed to live with the future in mind, that you are going to be righteous and you will judge the unrighteous, but that there are some of you who are living such an unrighteous life or doing such unrighteous things, you are acting as if you will not inherit that future.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that is the context that we take on our last passage, and the one that is a little bit dicey.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 9.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God's kingdom?
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Do not be deceived.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males, no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God's kingdom.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: And some of you used to be like this, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about the list first.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: So Paul here lists things which are sins.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: And this is the same thing he has done.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: He did it just the chapter before in verse chapter five, and he does this in all of his letters, right?
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: He gives these lists of things that they should not be doing that do not define the righteous life of Christians.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um we need to make sure that we're viewing these in the in the proper context, which is that Paul is giving the things to the church at Corinth that they need to watch out for because those are the things they have already encountered.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: The reason Paul is telling them to stay away from sexual immorality or to watch out for greedy people or for drunkards is because those are the things they encounter in Corinth.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so this isn't an exhaustive list, right, which is sometimes how it's seen, that these are sort of the this is some kind of entrance examination into the kingdom of God.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not it at all.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is giving these things with context because he says, I lived with you, and whether it's because of my experience then or his knowledge from Chloe's people that have come to me.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: To tell him about what's going on in Corinth or Stephanus or other Corinthians, he says, I know these things are happening.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: These are the things you need to watch out for.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Sexually immoral people is an umbrella term.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: The word is pornea, and it is what we talked about last week, which defined the incestuous relationship of the man.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: The three things that are listed after that, idolatry, adultery, and homosexuality, are all things that fall under that umbrella.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: You might say, how is idolatry?
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, in Corinth, this is the uh temple, or rather the ruins of the temple of Aphrodite.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: And if you were uh in Corinth at this point in time and you worshipped Aphrodite, one of the things that you would do for worship is go to this temple and you would seek out a cult prostitute and you would have relations with her as a way to worship Aphrodite.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so idolatry in the context of the Corinthians includes sexual immorality.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: But back to the list.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so idolatry fits, adultery, males who have sex with males, um, very specific language.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: What's going on here in the Greek is, moreover, than any other passage in the New Testament, some very specific language that references the passive and the active participant in homosexual acts.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'll let you figure out what I'm talking about there.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: But it is uh unavoidable that that is the topic that Paul is discussing here.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: No thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God's kingdom.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: So all of these things come together with a dramatic statement that no one who does these things will inherit God's kingdom.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then Paul goes on after such a dramatic statement and describes the status of the Corinthians.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you used to be like this, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: You were washed, which is a euphemism for baptism, is probably a reference to the forgiveness of their sins because of Jesus.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: You were sanctified, which is our word from Leviticus, which means holy.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: You are set apart, you are clean and not unclean.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: And not because you've done anything, but because of Jesus Christ, you are sanctified.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: You're justified.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a legal term, right?
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Funny in our passage about taking people to court that Paul uses this legal term.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: But he says, you are righteous, you're seen as righteous before God.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing that is accorded to people because of their status in Jesus.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then Paul tops all of that off by saying, You were done, all of these things were done in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: Paul, after just giving in verses 9 and 10 what sounds like this very demanding statement on works righteousness, then moves on into verse 11 and giving almost this textbook answer in grace by faith.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: And Paul is writing this passage from Ephesus.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's where he wrote the letter to the Corinthians.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: And later on, when he writes the letter to the Ephesians, is where Paul himself writes that you have been saved by grace through faith, and it is not a matter of works, but it is by God.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: So that guy wrote this passage.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: How can we suss all these things out?
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, first of all, let's talk about the phrase that nobody will inherit God's kingdom.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: If I were to tell you, um, I can't eat a watermelon in one bite, okay?
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that is a true statement because it is physically impossible for me.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: I can't unhinge my jaw like a snake.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: All right?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it is true because of that factual statement and not because somebody came up to me and said, hey, you might choke.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: Or, hey, you don't really like the taste of watermelon, so you shouldn't do it.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's a true statement because it's a fact and not because of some influence or what we might refer to as a causal reality.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: It would be the same way if I said that a rabbit can't play Beethoven on the piano, or that I cannot walk to the moon.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Those things are true because they're physically impossible.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: They're simple facts of reality and does not have to do with anybody's motivation.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: When Paul is talking about these things, I mentioned this earlier, we like to use it as an entrance examination.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: That only if we can stay away from the things that he listed here, then we're good to go, right?
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: If we can live a life that doesn't involve these things, then we're in, we inherit the kingdom, right?
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: You can pick up on his language of the future here, talking about an inheritance.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Paul's statement stops short of that.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: And we have to be careful we don't take it too far.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: Simply, what he is saying is that God's kingdom does not include sin.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: God's kingdom will not have these things in it.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's a pretty simple statement.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: Being with a holy God, being sanctified and justified, that in heaven there won't be any sin.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: And therefore, this kind of sin won't be present there.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: And therefore, those who carry on this kind of sin, they won't be there either.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: Paul does not divorce this from the idea of grace through faith, but rather he sees them sandwiched together.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of sandwich, let's talk about BLT.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about BLT.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: Bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo, if you know what's good for you, right?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: If I take out any of those three component parts, it is no longer a BLT sandwich.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: What we like to do when we talk about these things is we separate everything out.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: We say, hey, let's talk about grace by faith.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're going to chop it up, we're going to take it into its smallest parts, we're going to compartmentalize it, right?
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we are going to say, hey, absolutely, I'm going to, I believe this constrained statement that is based upon a lot of verses that I'm not saying are taken out of context, but are not included with all of the other context.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so we look at that, and we can sometimes lose sight of the fact that Paul, every time he speaks about these things, he speaks of it in a totality.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Paul gives a complex and nuanced view of salvation.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: And for him, what that means, the same guy who wrote in Ephesians, you are saved by grace through faith, he said, I also just assume that people who know Christ and trust in Christ attempt to act like Christ.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't go much deeper than that.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's not a fair statement.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: It goes a lot deeper than that.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: But the implication is simply Paul says, I expect, you Corinthians, who trust in Christ, who have accepted him as your Savior, that you will act like him.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: And the way that some of you are acting are like those who won't inherit the kingdom of heaven.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: We don't need to make it more of a statement than what it already is.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says, You have been saved by grace through faith.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: Every single one of those things he listed, you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified, is something that you are given as a gift from God on the moment of conversion.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then we continue to walk forward in this life, absolving ourselves of sin, seeking greater sanctification, what we would call progressive sanctification, that we are trying to look more and more like Jesus every day because we don't.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then we try and act and live a righteous life.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Simply, what Paul is saying here is that an unrighteous life does not equal a righteous kingdom.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: He wants you to know that you are headed for a righteous kingdom.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, those who are acting unrighteously, they don't fit in that future kingdom.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because that future kingdom won't include any unrighteousness.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: That is the fact that we wrestle with.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: And just as Paul was telling others how they needed to respond in their current life to the fact of the future, he's doing the same thing here.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I want you to know, Corinth, the way this is playing out for you guys is court cases.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I want you to know that, hey, as righteous people, we should be living a righteous life.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: We are not saved because we live a righteous life, but it's part of the deal.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we do.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because we've been called to it.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: So as we summarize all of these things together, we can ask the question, what does this mean for our life?
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: How can we take this heavy teaching, sometimes confusing teaching, and apply it?
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you've heard me say this before.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: We need to live with the future in mind.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think the first step is that you would consider where you're going to spend eternity.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: Think about that for a second.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a deep question.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: One of those that can sort of make your, you know, keep you up at night or put you to bed at night, potentially.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: Where are you going to spend eternity?
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: And when you have that answer, how does that affect what you're doing right now?
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't know where you're spending eternity, right, then uh you would have to understand also that those who have trusted in Christ have their eternity assured by the blood of Christ.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: And for those who have rejected Jesus said they don't need him, said they can get to either heaven on their own or they can do something else on their own, and they aren't worried about what's coming, they're going to experience an eternity without God.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: But for those who know God, who have trusted in Christ, who understand what it means to be saved by faith alone, through grace alone, by the blood of Jesus and the power of the Spirit, they understand the inheritance that is coming.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that is it, I had somebody at the end of the first service who came to me and said, I've often thought of my life as that I should not anticipate the glories of heaven, but that I am prepared to take the lowest place in heaven because it is better than the better, best place in hell.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, you know, I think that's a fair statement.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think we should be living with any sort of entitlement that we get to sit on some throne and rule with Christ.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, we have to understand the future because if we don't, we can sort of be inoculated into this life that is rather meaningless and just waiting until the end comes.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says, God says, you are royalty of a divine origination because of Christ.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: And every single one of us is an heir of that kingdom, which is wild to think about, that we are co-heirs of salvation.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: But it also means that we should be acting and showing the world around us what it means to live that sort of life.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: And if we are living such a life beyond our own church walls, that is showing the world around us that there's nothing captivating, there's nothing enticing, there is nothing glorious about a future with Jesus, then we have fallen way short of our goals here.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: The way we live our life in righteousness should be showing the world that something is different here, but not because we're special, because Jesus is special.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: And we want other people to know him.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we should live with the future in mind.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: I call back to, for just a moment, King Charles III.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: Seventy, I just feel like 70 years waiting to be king.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: But yet he knew what it was like to prepare his entire life to be the king of England.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there's a lot that has to do with us today in that same regard.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: That it might be quite a while before this happens.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: There have been a lot of people who came before us who thought it was coming during their lifetime too.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: It might be quite a while.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: We might pass away, God might call us home before this time comes for us to reign and rule with Him.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: But wouldn't we be better off if we were preparing now to do the job that we're going to be called to do in the future?
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think so.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: And by God's grace, when we live in the way that He has called us to live, His gospel is more apparent, it is more captivating, and it shows people what it means to find joy and peace in trusting in that future.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: Those who trust in that future, they know what their eternity looks like.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: And we need to make sure that those who don't know, know.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we thank you for today.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, you are good to us, far better than we deserve.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: Father, I pray that you would forgive us and that we would feel a sense of shame for the ways in which we have drugged Jesus' name through the mud, that we have not represented him well to those outside of us.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, perhaps made some people in our lives decide that they don't want to know Jesus because of the way that we have acted.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: Father, I ask for your forgiveness.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: I ask for your forgiveness for the way that I have done this and the way that others in our church have as well, Lord.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: Father, I pray, though, that you would help us to seek out your kingdom, to be brothers and sisters in Christ, who love one another, and who create an environment that is welcoming and exciting to those who don't know you because they see that we have something different.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: We have the Holy Spirit.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, I also pray that you would help us to understand what it means to live a righteous life.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: God, not that we would take this command too far and we would just start checking off boxes, but we would look at our own lives and say, Am I living with the future in mind?
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: Am I living with the anticipation, Lord, that I will rule with you one day, even though I do not deserve it?
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: Father, these things they they captivate our hearts.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: And God, I pray finally that you would help us, Lord, in those moments where we feel like we are being rebuked, we are being uh slandered, we are being persecuted because of our faith.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, those people who are who feel like they have been cheated and they've been gossiped about, Father, I pray that by the power of your Spirit, you would give them the strength to endure those moments like Christ.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: They would not seek to retaliate, but that would they would seek an option which is better for your church.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that is simply giving up rights for the sacrifice of others.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: Father, this is hard.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: And we thank we're thankful for the example of Jesus who showed it to us, the depth of meaning behind the cross.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we love you and we thank you.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it's in Jesus' name we pray.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, everybody.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great week.