Tuesday, May 31, 2016

1 Corinthians 6:1-11



1 Cor. 6 continues a theme from the previous chapter.  The common idea is sin in the church.  In Ch. 5 it involved a failure to judge a member for unrepentant immorality.  In Ch. 6:1-11 there is a failure to judge church members with legal differences.  It would be difficult for the Corinthian church to do this given the divisions mentioned in Ch. 1-4.  They needed to gather together (5:4) and judge between brethren (6:5), a unity that was difficult with such contention.  

Furthermore, you will notice the term judge twice in the preceding paragraph.  In 5:12-13 Paul reminds the church of its responsibility to judge those who are inside.  In 6:5 the word is essentially the same, though with a prefix so this term means to judge between.  But the concept is the same: to make a distinction.  

Many Christians object to this, quoting Matt. 7:1, Judge not, that you be not judged; or Paul’s words in 1 Cor. 4:5, judge nothing before the time.  Others might point out 1 Cor. 5:13 which says those who are outside (unbelievers) God judges and yet 6:2 says the saints will judge the world.  Does this seem confusing?  It is not IF we simply pay attention to context.

The Bible says we have responsibilities both ways.  Jesus in Matthew 7 dealt with hypocrisy, the sin of judging others for sins that we tolerate in ourselves.  A judge must have personal integrity (e.g. 2 Chron. 19:4-11).  And in 1 Cor. 4:1-5 Paul’s concern was not with immorality or sin of some sort.  It had to do with the judgment of the various teachers.  They were all doing the Lord’s work but in different ways and situations.  Whether they were faithful would be for the Lord to decide when He comes.

But unrepentant sin is clearly a concern for the Body.  What is at stake is our worship of Christ, our Passover sacrifice (5:7).  The unrepentant sinner worships with malice and wickedness.  That is why Paul says: we are to judge ourselves, in the Body, and not those outside.  May I say it is interesting that we often complain about the sinfulness of the world, where it is expected, and yet overlook the same sins in the Body.

In today’s passage Paul notes that in the future, when God judges those outside, He will do it through His Son and those who reign with Him.  We are those who reign with Him!  The point is: if we have that role in the future, how is it that we cannot use our godly wisdom to judge among ourselves now?  Why take our differences as brothers to the judges of this world?  If we cannot settle them among ourselves it would be far better to simply let it go, suffer the loss, and be cheated, rather than dishonor Christ by taking it before the world.  

The passage ends in such a profound way by reminding the Corinthians of the change brought about in their lives by Christ.  This is our testimony to the world.  Inability to come together and deal with sin in the Body results in presenting the world with a false Christ!  Let us hear and obey the Lord in this matter.

Monday, May 30, 2016

1 Corinthians 5:1-13



This chapter shows the importance of attitude.  The believers in Corinth were proud of their tolerance of sin and the sinner, apparently thinking they were being Christ-like in forgiveness.  Jesus certainly was forgiving.  But He never encouraged forgiven sinners to remain in sin; rather His words were go and sin no more (John 8:11).  His words to the sinful woman in Luke 7:50 (“Go in peace”) come after she has shown her repentance and faith.  In John 4 Christ offered living water to the woman, but He did not let her sin go unchallenged.  For us to walk in obedience we must know that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1).  But forgiveness, purchased by Jesus’ blood, must not be a license to continue in sin (Rom. 6:1-2).

Instead the attitude of the Corinthians, and our attitude, should have been to mourn over sin.  Again, it is what caused the death of our Lord.  Grieving over sin is essential to leaving sin behind.  Godly sorrow produces repentance (2 Cor. 7:10).  The first steps in the path of the Pilgrim (Psalm 120-134) is to turn from sin which has become grievous to us (Psalm 120).  This attitude will lead to:

·        The judgment of sin by the Church, v2b-3,12-13.  Paul discouraged judgment in 4:1-5 because the issues were not about false teaching or the sin of the teachers.  But here it is essential for the Church to make a distinction (judge) and then act on that distinction.  In essence this judgment is simply agreement with God who calls it sin.

·        The joining together of the Church, v4.  This matter has come to the final step of Matt. 18:15-18 where the entire body of believers has become involved.  Enough must be shared about the situation so that they can all understand, not necessarily every detail, but certainly the nature of the sin and the unwillingness of the sinner to repent.

·        The delivering of the sinner to Satan, v5.  This is not merely removal from a membership list; it is withdrawing of fellowship.  It is leaving the sinner in the choice he has made with the evil one he has chosen to follow.  The hope is that the loss of fellowship and all the blessings of this will lead the sinner to finally repent and turn from the fleshly way he has been walking.  But also, those in the body of Christ must see that there is no place among god’s people for refusal to repent of sin.  Discipline properly applied can work (it did in this case; 2 Cor. 2:3-11).  But continued fellowship for the sinner will only make him comfortable in his sin and shames Christ who died for our sins!

Note the important conclusion to the chapter.  One thing the Church is not to do is to withdraw from the sinners of the world.  The old adage, we are “in the world but not of the world,” is true.  We are not to copy their sins; but we are to be salt and light in this world and that requires that we keep company with them.  How we treat sin among ourselves will go a long way in telling the people of the world the hopelessness of sinful way in which they live (Acts 5:11).

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Psalm 93



In the final years of David’s reign there were cries for Absalom, “Long live the king!” (2 Sam. 16:16) but his reign and life ended suddenly.  A rebel named Sheba gained a following, only to have his head handed to Joab (2 Sam. 20:1,22).  David’s son Adonijah sought to take the kingdom to the cries of “Long live king Adonijah” (1 Kings 1:25).  But by the end of the day his reign had ended and he soon lost his life.  Bathsheba said to David, “Let my lord King David live forever,” yet his personal reign would come to an end shortly.  Solomon was acclaimed by the same cry, “Long live King Solomon” (1 Ki. 1:39).  His long and prosperous rule faded spiritually towards the end and resulted in a divided kingdom.  Political uncertainty afflicted Israel during Old Testament times even as it does in today’s world.

How unlike all of that is the acclaim of this Psalm.  The Lord reigns! 
·        He is clothed with majesty (v1).  Not with the accoutrements of majesty but with majesty itself.  His reign is the definition of majesty!  The pomp and ceremony of today’s leaders is ultimately a public relations campaign.  With the Lord majesty is substance!  His splendor radiates from His very being.
·        He is clothed with strength, girded about so He is always on the ready (v1).  That is why the saints are not among those who trust in chariots and horses but we will remember the name of the Lord our God (Ps. 20:7). 
·        In the Kingdom where the Lord reigns the world is firmly established (v1).  This speaks of the earth, the planet created by God for the good of its inhabitants.  The earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein (Ps. 24:1).  By His sovereign wisdom and might He has established the earth; it cannot be moved.  The earth does not disrupt the Kingdom where God reigns but it fulfills His purposes.
·        The reign of the Lord is not something new but is from of old (v2).  There are none of the defeats or difficulties or death such as brought to an end one kingdom of men after another.  His throne is established because He Himself is from everlasting.  The Lord has always reigned; and thus even the earthly reign of the Lord (the Messianic Millennium) is a sure thing. 
·        The certainty of the Lord’s reign on earth is emphasized in v3-4.  There have been and will yet be great floods against the Lord and His reign but none will prevail because the Lord on high is mightier than any of those waves of evil.  Consider particularly a Satanic flood that will be launched against God’s saved Nation in Rev. 12:13-17.  God always protects His people.  And why?
·        Because His testimonies (precepts and promises) are very sure; and because holiness adorns His house (everything about His Kingdom will be uniquely perfect).  Such is the reign of the Lord.  The Lord reigns!

Bow in worship of the Sovereign Lord!  Recognize your citizenship in that Kingdom (Phil. 3:21).  In His reign nothing is uncertain.