The Gospel in a Nutshell

Pastor Don Carpenter

A Beautiful Mess / 1 Corinthians 15:1–11

Once Billy Graham was challenged when giving a message on the reality of God and His Son Jesus Christ; somebody said to him. “Hi, Billy, you talk very much about God as if He lives. He is dead. He has no more power in the affairs of men.” Billy Graham coolly replied “I do not know of His death. I spoke to Him this morning”

Of all of the mistakes, miscues, and blunders that Paul had to correct in the church at Corinth, the false doctrine mentioned in this chapter is the most deadly. Some Corinthian believers had come under the influence of philosophical intellectuals who cast doubt upon the literal fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul began counteracting this heresy by reviewing the essential elements of the Gospel they claim to have believed.

The Gospel is not subject to change

1 Corinthians 15:1 KJV

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

A. It is the same one they believed in the first place

Galatians 1:6–9 KJV

I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 

Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 

As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

B. It is the same Gospel by which they stand before God forgiven

Romans 5:1–2 KJV

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 

By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 15:2 KJV

By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

The unchangeable elements of the Gospel

A. Christ died for our sins

1 Corinthians 15:3 KJV

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

Isaiah 53:4–12 KJV

Surely he hath borne our griefs, And carried our sorrows: Yet we did esteem him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 

But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace was upon him; And with his stripes we are healed. 

All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned every one to his own way; And the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, Yet he opened not his mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, So he openeth not his mouth. 

He was taken from prison and from judgment: And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living: For the transgression of my people was he stricken. 

And he made his grave with the wicked, And with the rich in his death; Because he had done no violence, Neither was any deceit in his mouth. 

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 

He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; For he shall bear their iniquities. 

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, And he shall divide the spoil with the strong; Because he hath poured out his soul unto death: And he was numbered with the transgressors; And he bare the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

1 Timothy 2:6 KJV

Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

B. Christ was buried – He was literally dead

1 Corinthians 15:4 KJV

And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Matthew 12:39–40 KJV

But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

C. Christ rose again

Psalm 16:10 KJV

For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Romans 6:3–4 KJV

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

D. Christ was seen after His resurrection

1 Corinthians 15:5–8 KJV

And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 

After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 

After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 

And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

1. By Cephas – Peter

2. By 500 witnesses

3. By James

4. By all the other apostles

5. By Paul

What if we had each person that witnessed the resurrected Lord come up here this morning and talk for 15 minutes giving a testimony to what they saw.

If we listened to the testimony of all the people that Jesus appeared to, we would be here all day, and all night, and Monday and Monday night and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and sometime early Friday morning they would just be wrapping up the testimony.

It would take over 128 strait hours just to hear, for 15 minutes each, the testimony of those that saw the Lord after he rose.

E. The Gospel is through God’s grace, not one’s merit

1 Corinthians 15:9–11 KJV

For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 

But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 

Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.

1. Paul did not deserve salvation

2. Through God’s grace, Paul became a person

2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Centuries ago on the South Coast of China, high up on a hill overlooking the harbor of Macao, Portuguese settlers built an enormous cathedral.

They believed it would weather time, and they placed upon the front wall of this cathedral a massive bronze cross that stood high into the sky.

Not too many years later, a typhoon came and nature’s finger work swept away man’s handiwork. That entire cathedral was pushed down the hill and into the ocean as debris, except the front wall and that bronze cross that stood high.

Centuries later, there was a shipwreck out a little beyond that harbor. Some dies but a few lived. One of the men that was hanging onto wreckage from the ship, moving up and down in the crest of the ocean as the swells were moving, was disoriented, frightened. He didn’t know where land was. As he would come up on the swell, he’d spot that cross, tiny from that distance. His name was Sir John Bowring.

When he made it to land and lived to tell the story, he wrote this hymn:

In the cross of Christ I glory,

Towering o’er the wrecks of time;

All the light of sacred story

Gathers round its head sublime.

The last stanza says:

When the woes of life o’ertake me,

Hopes deceive, and fears annoy,

Never shall the cross forsake me:

Lo! It glows with peace and joy.

John Bowring is telling us that we have a cross, we have an altar. And when all of life seems to crush in on top of us, we need to go back to the Cross and remember the empty tomb. Call to mind the fact that a Man is neither on the cross nor in the tomb, but He lives. He stands ready and able to give us victory through whatever we are going through at the time.

Come by grace to the Cross and say, “That is my sufficiency. That is my only hope.”

–Kenneth Osbeck, 101 Hymn Stories.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:19 PM November 3, 2022.

This Changes Everything

Pastor Don Carpenter

A Beautiful Mess / 1 Corinthians 6:9–20

Many people all over America are hoping that their lives will change for the better. The addict is hoping to find freedom only to become enslaved. The broken hearted seek pleasure, only to find more pain. The guilty search for religion, only to find greater condemnation. It seems for many that they are condemned to hopeless situation, with no chance in sight.

Some people, however, have encountered some incredible truths. They saw that they were sinners, hopelessly condemned before God. They saw they could do nothing on their own to erase that sin. They realized that Jesus paid the price for sin and asked him to save them from their sin. This changes everything!

The apostle Paul outlines this wonderful truth in our text this morning. The only thing that will truthfully change a person inside and out is salvation.

When you come face to face with God’s saving grace, you will come to realize that this changes everything.

Salvation changes your inheritance

1 Corinthians 6:9 KJV

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

A. No one is righteous

Romans 3:10 KJV

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Romans 3:23 KJV

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

B. Unrighteousness is described

1 Corinthians 6:9–10 KJV

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 

Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

If a person commits just one murder, he is considered a murderer

1. Fornication= “Pornos”= one who has sex outside of the marriage bond.

2. Idolaters- worshiping something other that the true God- one who has passionate devotion to a person or object.

3. Adulterer- one who has sex with another’s spouse

4. Effeminate= soft – one guilty of addictions to sins of the flesh

5. Abusers of themselves with mankind= homosexual.

6. Thieves

7. Covetous= “desires enviously what belongs to another”

8. Drunkard

9. Reviler= slanderer

10. Extortioner= obtain by force or improper pressure.

C. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God

Salvation changes your standing before God.

1 Corinthians 6:11 KJV

And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

You are washed -> cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ

Psalm 51:2 KJV

Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.

Psalm 51:7 KJV

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Isaiah 1:18 KJV

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Titus 3:5 KJV

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

You are sanctified= set apart, made holy.

1 Corinthians 1:2 KJV

Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

John 17:17 KJV

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

You are justified= declared righteous.

Romans 5:1–2 KJV

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 

By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Salvation changes your value system.

Because I am saved I refuse to be enslaved to anything

1 Corinthians 6:12–13 KJV

All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 

Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

1 Corinthians 9:27 KJV

But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Romans 6:1–2 KJV

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 

God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Because I am saved I refuse to yield my body as an instrument of unrighteousness

Romans 6:12–13 KJV

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

1 Corinthians 6:13–14 KJV

Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. 

And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.

Where at one time, having sexual relations outside marriage was considered liberating, current studies show that it damages one’s ability to trust, affecting future relationship, one’s respect for self, affecting every decision and diminishing the value of right decisions, and one’s respect for health.

Liberating? At what cost.

Drs. Freda Bush and Joe McIlhaney released a study at Harvard University that shows that exposure to immorality and participation in sexual acts during childhood years actually changes the brain, interrupting the normal production and usage of dopamine, vasopressin and oxytocin in the brain for the remainder of the life.

These chemicals, when released properly, create the “monogamy syndrome”, in that moment bonding the person to another. If this occurs outside of marriage, that moment of bonding never fully takes place, even after marriage.1

According to the study, listen, “But that bonding, which acts like adhesive tape or Velcro, is weakened when people tear away at its power by breaking off with a sexual partner and moving on from one to another to another. So when it does finally come time to bond permanently with a spouse, the ability to bond is damaged.

The brain actually gets molded to not accept that deep emotional level that’s so important for marriage. When they do marry, they’re more likely to have a divorce than people who were virgins when they got married.”

Others studies, reported by American Journal of Preventive Medicine, physical and emotional changes in unmarried people who have sex, as well as in married people who have sex outside marriage.

This is not to discount the spiritual changes in these people.

The Bible is relevant concerning the building blocks of a strong, supportive, fulfilling family life, although some have misrepresented what it is teaching through the years. One of those building blocks is entering into the most important human relationship of choice with the ability to commit fully, and much further than you have ever committed to another in your life. Purity before marriage is now seen as a crucial part of that. This is something many will miss out on because the deemed the Bible irrelevant to themselves.

1 Corinthians 6:15–19 KJV

Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 

What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 

But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 

Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

Because I am saved I resolve to glorify God with my body

1 Corinthians 6:20 KJV

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1 Corinthians 10:31 KJV

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Conclusion:

Can you fathom this? The God of the universe, who holds all things together by the word of His power, who fills all things and is bigger than the universe; bigger than time, literally lives in you. Calls you His dwelling place. What a magnificent creation you are! What high and wonderful privilege we have been given, to house the Holy Spirit of God!

– Clark E. Tanner

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 7:28 PM April 21, 2022.

Proper Peer Pressure

Pastor Don Carpenter

A Beautiful Mess / 1 Corinthians 5:1–13

Rich Atchley says that if you went to the average university campus today, & asked students if they know a verse of Scripture, most would say that they do. If you had asked 10 or 15 years ago, most would have quoted John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Everybody knew that verse then.

But today, most would reply with, “Judge not that you be not judged.” Atchely says, “The whole focus has changed. Ten or 15 years ago the focus was on the truth of God’s love. But today, surveys reveal that practically everyone is convinced that there is no absolute truth. So the emphasis has switched from truth to tolerance.”

And that leaves us free to do anything we want without worrying about what God teaches.

___

As we continue to look at the “Beautiful Mess” that was the church at Corinth, we find Paul turning from the issue of division to impurity. The first thing he had to deal with was a huge issue that had gone unchecked and was festering among the believers.

___

Paul is dealing with what, for him, was a constantly recurring problem. In sexual matters, the Gentile world did not know the meaning of chastity. They took their pleasure when and where they wanted it. It was so hard for those in the Christian Church to escape the in?uence of this attitude. They were like a little island surrounded on every side by a sea of idolatry; they had come so newly into Christianity; it was so dif?cult to unlearn the practices which generations of loose living had made part of their lives; and yet, if the Church was to be kept pure, they must say a ?nal goodbye to the old ways.

1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., p. 52). Westminster John Knox Press.

There Is A Pride Problem

1 Corinthians 5:1–2 KJV

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. 

And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

Commonly reported fornication 

– a behavior out in the open, embraced with pride not a sense of guilt and shame. It is one thing to struggle with the flesh it is another thing to call evil good.

Isaiah 5:20 KJV

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; That put darkness for light, and light for darkness; That put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Sexual immorality The Greek word used here, porneia, can refer to a number of illicit sexual behaviors. Here it refers to a specific instance of sexual immorality that jeopardized the health of the Corinthian church.

1 Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (1 Co 5:1). Lexham Press.

Incest was the particular issue

Leviticus 18:8 KJV

The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.

Leviticus 20:11 KJV

And the man that lieth with his father’s wife hath uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

The Church Was Prideful of their Tolerance

Some Corinthian believers misused their freedom in Christ to excuse sexual sin (v. 1). Members of Graeco-Roman and Jewish society considered this an abhorrent act, yet some within the church community mistakenly tolerated it because of a distorted understanding of grace (compare Rom 6:1, 15).1

1 Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (1 Co 5:2). Lexham Press.

They Should Have Been In Mourning.

Shocked as he was at the sin, Paul was even more shocked by the attitude of the Corinthian church to the sinner. They had complacently accepted the situation and done nothing about it when they should have been grief-stricken. The word Paul uses for the grief they should have shown (penthein) is the word that is used for mourning for the dead. An easy-going attitude to sin is always dangerous. It has been said that our one security against sin lies in our being shocked at it.1

1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., p. 52). Westminster John Knox Press.

There Was A Purging Problem

1 Corinthians 5:3–8 KJV

For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, 

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 

Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

The judgement is self evident because the sin is public.

Deliver to Satan

Deliver such a person to Satan – remove him from the protection of the local church. This acknowledges that Christian suffers destruction when left out from under the local church.

1 Timothy 1:20 KJV

Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

John 12:31 KJV

Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

Hand over such a person Refers to expulsion from the church community—probably including their worship gatherings, their meals, and the Lord’s Supper (compare 1 Tim 1:20).

To Satan Paul is likely suggesting that those outside the community of believers belong to the realm of Satan (see 2 Cor 4:4 and note; Eph 2:2). In that scenario, Paul would be suggesting that the sinner be handed over to the realm of sin ruled by the evil one (Satan). Alternatively, he could be referring to Satan’s role as accuser; if this is the case, then Paul is using the term in the same way as the book of Job (e.g., Job 2:6). It’s also possible that both ideas are at work1

1 Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (1 Co 5:5). Lexham Press.

The Goal Is Repentance – Destruction of the Flesh

Galatians 5:24 KJV

And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

But we have to note that even a punishment as serious as that was not vindictive. It was in order to humiliate the man, to bring about the taming and the eradication of his lusts so that in the end his spirit would be saved. It was discipline, exercised not solely to punish but rather to awaken, and was a verdict to be carried out not with cold, sadistic cruelty but rather in sorrow as for one who had died. Always at the back of punishment and discipline in the early Church there is the conviction that they must seek not to break but to make the person who has sinned.

1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., p. 53). Westminster John Knox Press.

For the destruction of the flesh Paul is not referring to physical death for this person since the goal is repentance and eventual restoration. Immediate physical death accompanied divine judgment for sin (Acts 5:1–11; 1 Cor 11:30–32), but this is probably not the case here. Also, Paul instructs the believers not to eat with this person, which further implies that “destruction of the flesh” does not mean immediate death (see v. 11). The purpose of this discipline is to break the pattern of sin (compare Gal 5:24).1

1 Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (1 Co 5:5). Lexham Press.

The Goal Is Also Preservation of Purity

Deuteronomy 13:5 KJV

And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

The goal is also preservation of the purity of the church. Leaven is a picture of sin.

Since Christ is our Passover Lamb, the leaven of known sin that has not been repented of should not be allowed .

1 Corinthians 5:13 KJV

But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

There Is a Purity Problem

1 Corinthians 5:9–13 KJV

I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: 

Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 

But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 

For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? 

But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

Christians are to be careful of the company they keep.

Psalm 1:1–3 KJV

Blessed is the man That walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 

But his delight is in the law of the LORD; And in his law doth he meditate day and night. 

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That bringeth forth his fruit in his season; His leaf also shall not wither; And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

This is not an isolation doctrine, else how could the church reach the world with the truth.

John 17:15 KJV

I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

1 John 5:19 KJV

And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

Ephesians 2:2 KJV

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

This is a consistency doctrine.

If someone wears the label Christian, their life should back the label. If not, then we should not fellowship with them like the label actually was correct.

1 Corinthians 5:11–13 KJV

But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 

For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? 

But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

Ephesians 5:11 KJV

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

2 John 10 KJV

If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:

2 Thessalonians 3:6 KJV

Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.

The nineteenth-century Scottish historian and moral teacher Thomas Carlyle said that we must see the in?nite beauty of holiness and the in?nite damnability of sin. When we cease to take a serious view of sin, we are in a perilous position. It is not a question of being critical and condemnatory; it is a question of being wounded and shocked. It was sin that cruci?ed Jesus Christ; it was to free us from sin that he died. No Christian man or woman can take an easy-going view of it.1

1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., pp. 52–53). Westminster John Knox Press.

Sin destroys lives. If someone is living in public, unrepentant sin, calling evil good, the church must act by removing the privilege of fellowship until that precious wayward soul is won back to the Savior by His marvelous grace. This is Proper Peer Pressure.  

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 6:52 PM March 31, 2022.

The Paternal Pastor

Pastor Don Carpenter

A Beautiful Mess / 1 Corinthians 4:14–21

A young boy looked up at his grandfather and wondered aloud, “Grandpa, how do you live for Jesus?”

The respected grandfather stooped down and quietly told the boy, “Just watch.”

As the years went by the grandfather was an example to the boy of how to follow Jesus. He stayed rock-steady in living for Him. Yet the grandson often lived in a way that was not pleasing to God.

One day the young man visited his grandfather for what both knew would be the last time. As the older man lay dying, his grandson leaned over the bed and heard his grandpa whisper, “Did you watch?”

That was the turning point in the boy’s life. He understood that when his grandpa had said, “Just watch,” he meant, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” He vowed that from then on he would live as his grandfather did – striving to please Jesus. He had watched, and now he knew how to live.

(From a sermon by Ajai Prakash, Godly Dads, 6/13/2012)

With this passage, Paul brings to an end the section of the letter which deals directly with the dissensions and divisions at Corinth. It is as a father that he writes.

1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., p. 49). Westminster John Knox Press.

The conclusion to this rebuke is both tender and intense. It is because of the intimacy he has with the Corinthian believers, he can make his final plea with them.

Be Warned!

1 Corinthians 4:14 KJV

I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.

My Goal is not to shame you.

The very word which he uses in verse 14 for to warn (nouthetein) is the word regularly used to express the scolding and advice which a father gives his children (Ephesians 6:4). He may be speaking with the accents of severity; but it is not the severity which seeks to bring an unruly slave to heel, but the severity which seeks to put back on the right rails a foolish child who has gone astray.1

1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., p. 49). Westminster John Knox Press.

I Am More Than Your Teacher

1 Corinthians 4:15 KJV

For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

Galatians 4:19 KJV

My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,

Paul felt that he was in a unique position as regards the Corinthian church. The tutor (paidagogos: cf. Galatians 3:24) was not the teacher of the child. He was an old and trusted slave who each day took the child to school, who trained him in moral matters, cared for his character and tried to make a man of him. A child might have many tutors, but he had only one father. In the days to come, the Corinthians might have many tutors, but none of them could do what Paul had done; none of them could bring to birth in them new life in Christ Jesus.1

1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., p. 49). Westminster John Knox Press.

I led you to Christ, I am your spiritual father, therefore I love you as my child.

A child may have many guardians and teachers, but he can have only one father. He has a special relationship to his father that must not be preempted by anyone else. There had been no church in Corinth before Paul came, so that even the second-generation believers in the church were the results of Paul’s effective ministry.

Paul founded the church and Apollos followed him and taught the people. In some way that is not made clear in the Scriptures, Peter also ministered at Corinth. (Perhaps he had not been there personally, but other teachers from Jerusalem had ministered in Corinth as “representatives” of Peter.) God’s children need the ministry of different teachers, but they must never forget the “spiritual father” who brought them to Christ.

1 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 585). Victor Books.

Be Followers

1 Corinthians 4:16–17 KJV

Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. 

For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

Not out of fear but out of a two way love.

Philippians 4:9 KJV

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

2 Timothy 1:7 KJV

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Then Paul says an amazing thing. In effect, he says: ‘I call upon my children to take after their father.’ It is so seldom that a father can say that. For the most part, it is too often true that a father’s hope and prayer is that a child will turn out to be all that he has never succeeded in being. Most of us who teach cannot help saying, not ‘Do as I do’ but ‘Do as I say.’ But Paul, not with pride, but with complete unselfconsciousness, can call upon his children in the faith to copy him.1

1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., p. 49). Westminster John Knox Press.

Children have a way of imitating their parents, either for good or for ill. Researchers tell us that teenagers learn to drink at home and not from their peers. My guess is that other bad habits are learned the same way.

The word followers literally is “mimics.” Paul gave the same admonition in Philippians 3:17, but we must not think that he was exalting himself. Little children learn first by example, then by explanation. When Paul pastored the church in Corinth, he set the example before them in love, devotion to Christ, sacrifice, and service. “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). Paul was a good example because he was following the greatest Example of all, Jesus Christ.1

1 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 585). Victor Books

Timothy is Trained to Lead you in the Same Direction.

Then he pays them a delicate compliment. He says that he will send Timothy to remind them of his ways. In effect, he says that all their errors and mistaken ways are due not to deliberate rebellion but to the fact that they have forgotten. That is so true of human nature. So often, it is not that we rebel against Christ; it is simply that we forget him. So often, it is not that we deliberately turn our backs upon him; it is simply that we forget that he is in the scheme of things at all. Most of us need one thing above all—a deliberate effort to live in the conscious realization of the presence of Jesus Christ. It is not only at the sacrament but at every moment of every day that Jesus Christ is saying to us: ‘Remember me.’1

1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., pp. 49–50). Westminster John Knox Press.

Be Teachable

1 Corinthians 4:18–20 KJV

Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. 

But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. 

For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.

Those puffed up are not teachable

Paul moves on to a challenge. They need not say that because he is sending Timothy he is not coming himself. He will come if the way opens up; and then their test will come. These Corinthians can talk enough; but it is not their high-sounding words that matter, it is their deeds. Jesus never said: ‘You will know them by their words.’ He said: ‘You will know them by their fruits’ (cf. Matthew 7:16). The world is full of talk about Christianity, but one deed is worth 1,000 words.1

1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., p. 50). Westminster John Knox Press.

God’s power will inhabit truth, not pride.

1 Corinthians 2:4 KJV

And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

2 Corinthians 10:2 KJV

But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

1 Thessalonians 1:5 KJV

For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.

One way or another there will be an accounting of truth.

1 Corinthians 4:21 KJV

What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?

2 Corinthians 13:10 KJV

Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.

In the end, Paul demands to know whether he is to come to mete out discipline or to keep company with them in love. The love of Paul for his children in Christ throbs through every letter he wrote. That love was no blind, sentimental love; it was a love which knew that sometimes discipline was necessary and was prepared to exercise it. There is a love which can ruin people by shutting its eyes to their faults; and there is a love which can restore people because it sees them with the clarity of the eyes of Christ. Paul’s love was the love which knows that sometimes it has to hurt in order to put things right.1

1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., p. 50). Westminster John Knox Press.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 6:49 PM March 24, 2022.

Stewards of the Mysteries of God

Pastor Don Carpenter

A Beautiful Mess / 1 Corinthians 4:1–5

 David Brainerd said this to Jonathan Edwards: “I do not go to heaven to be advanced but to give honor to God. It is no matter where I shall be stationed in heaven, whether I have a high or low seat there, but to live and please and glorify God.… My heaven is to please God and glorify Him, and give all to Him, and to be wholly devoted to His glory.1

1 Michael P. Green. (2000). 1500 illustrations for biblical preaching (p. 252). Baker Books.

Our passage this evening gives us an interesting set of principles to consider. This message is especially for those who have already been born again. You have trusted in Christ’s finished work on the cross. You are now living a life of service to the King. Today we will see that as a servant, or a minister, you are a steward of the things that Christ has given you. You will some day give an account for how you used those things. May God give us wisdom as we consider the implications of our stewardship.

God’s servants are His stewards.

1 Corinthians 4:1 KJV

Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

 A. Minister = servant

  1. A born again Christian

  2. A vocational servant

 B. Steward = manager entrusted with oversight

 C. Mysteries of God = “That which is outside the range of unassisted natural apprehension” – Vine

1 Corinthians 2:14 KJV

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

  1. Spiritual truth about salvation.

Romans 10:17 KJV

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

  2. Spiritual truth about consequences.

Galatians 6:7–9 KJV

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 

For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

God’s stewards must be found faithful.

1 Corinthians 4:2–4 KJV

Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 

But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 

For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.

 A. Faithful = trust worthy, reliable

  1. With the truth about salvation

  2. With the truth about consequences

  3. With the truth about society

  4. With the opportunities given to influence others.

  5. With the freedom we have as American citizens to vote

  6. With the free flow of information about political issues.

 B. It is a small thing to be judged by men.

  1. Peers and friends

  2. Society

  3. Your own heart

Jeremiah 17:9 KJV

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

 C. God will judge our stewardship

  1. Don’t be afraid of others.

  2. Don’t judge others in their stewardship.

God’s stewards will be thoroughly evaluated.

1 Corinthians 4:5 KJV

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

 A. Don’t try to do God’s job by judging others – your information and perspective is limited.

 B. God will shed light on the deeds that are done in secret whether they be good or bad.

 C. God will expose private thoughts and motives.

 D. Everyone will get the praise that they deserve from God, even if it seems to be lacking now.

1 Corinthians 3:11–15 KJV

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 

Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 

Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 

If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 

If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

There’s a story of two paddleboats that left Memphis about the same time, travelling down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. As they travelled side by side, sailors from one vessel made a few remarks about the snail’s pace of the other.

Words were exchanged. Challenges were made. And the race began. Competition became vicious as the two boats roared through the Deep South.

One boat began falling behind. Not enough fuel. There had been plenty of coal for the trip, but not enough for a race. As the boat dropped back, an enterprising young sailor took some of the ship’s cargo and tossed it into the ovens. When the sailors saw that the supplies burned as well as the coal, they fuelled their boat with the material they had been assigned to transport. They ended up winning the race, but burned their cargo.

God has entrusted us with a precious cargo in life called salvation ….. I wonder how many times we sacrifice it just so we can ‘win’ in life?

If you are a born again believer, you are Christ’s servant and, in a sense, you are His minister. You have been entrusted with truth about salvation, truth about consequences, and truth about society. Every action that you take on earth will be evaluated in light of how you used that truth. Did you tell lost people about salvation? Did you tell Christians about consequences that would come as a result of their actions? Did you effect a moral cleansing in your society? Did you vote? Did you vote Biblically? You do not have to answer to your family, your friends, or even your own heart. Some day however, you will answer to God. I pray that the Holy Spirit will give you wisdom as you consider the implications of your stewardship.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 6:05 PM March 10, 2022.

Don’t Kid Yourself

Pastor Don Carpenter

A Beautiful Mess / 1 Corinthians 3:18–23

Michael McCartney tells the following story:

I was at Boy Scout Camp when I discovered the terrible damage a fire storm could do to my life. It was a lazy afternoon very hot and dry. John and I were sent back to camp to start dinner for the guys. When I got back to camp, I discovered that the camp fire looked as if it had gone out. So I decided to rebuild the fire to get it ready for our meal. So I gathered firewood and placed it on the coals and tried to get it to burn. It would not start, so I decided to pour some kerosene on the wood, figuring it would help get the fire started sooner so that John and I could start dinner sooner for the troop.

So I poured the kerosene on the wood, and all of a sudden the fire ignited. It then traveled up the liquid and into the can I was holding in my hand. Within seconds, the can exploded in my hand, sending burning kerosene streaming in every direction. Most of the burning fuel landed on my lower right leg, and it burst into flames.

It was so surreal. I looked down as the heat started piercing through to my leg, and I began screaming. I was 12 years old, and my leg was burning out of control. I screamed for help and threw myself to the ground. I began to roll and roll, and the more I rolled the more the ground burst into flames around me. I rolled into a tent, and it caught on fire. I was screaming because of the pain and crying out for help. I started thinking, “This is it. I am going to burn to death,” and right at that moment another Boy Scout came to my rescue. John had a blanket in his hand, and he grabbed me and wrapped it around my leg to put out the fire. Once he put out my leg, he then proceeded to put out the tent and the burning ground around us.

I laid there in shock and disbelief with horrible pain throbbing up my leg. John held me and asked me to hang in there, because he was going to get me help. He ran like the wind for about a mile to the first aid head quarters in the park. I laid there all alone on the ground thinking, “Why did I do that!” Then the thought crept in: “Is this it?” It seemed as if I laid there forever starring up into the blue sky.

The Park Rangers came and the troop leaders came as fast as they could. As they pulled the blanket off of my leg, part of my jeans and burnt flesh came off with it. They cut my jeans off immediately and started cleaning out my badly burned leg. I screamed in pain. I heard one man get sick and throw up and another say, “Oh my Lord!”

I was burned from my ankle to just above the knee. I still remember the awful smell of burnt flesh rising off my leg. All I could do was moan and cry because of the excruciating pain inflicted from this fire. All I could do was keep asking questions, “What happened? Where did the fire come from? Why did this happen to me?” I was stunned by how quickly I had caught on fire.

It took the troop leaders 4 hours before they finally got me to a hospital. It was a horrible 4-hour trip from the mountains to the hospital. As I rode in a truck, I just moaned as my driver, a Boy Scout leader, just encouraged me to hang in there. I remember he turned his air conditioning onto the floor section so that cold air could blow onto my leg. My flesh was hanging off, and I was wishing for a miracle as I looked at my deformed leg. I thought this could not be my leg.

When we arrived at the hospital the doctors started to work on my leg immediately. They cleaned it up and put salve on it then wrapped with burn wrap. My mom showed up at the hospital in tears asking, “What happened?” The doctors informed my mom that I had second and third degree burns on the lower half of my leg. I remember the doctor telling her the importance of making sure that my leg did not become infected.

So daily she would clean my leg off. I would not look at my leg – my mom said it looked horrible, almost like hamburger. But eventually I did heal.

I often think about that day. It is etched into my memory forever. It was the painful day because I became a victim of a fire storm. I learned a few lessons that day that I will never forget: “Do not dump Kerosene on hot coals!” The biggest lesson I learned that day was not to be careless with a fire. I discovered the hard way that fire is hot and it burns very quickly and it does maximum damage in short amount of time. The firestorm I experienced lasted for minutes but caused major damage to my leg and it took months to heal. I still have scars on my lower leg from that fire storm. It reminds me as I look at that scar the danger of fire storms and how painful they can be.

Firestorms happen in this world every day–firestorms in relationships flare up doing maximum damage in a short period of time. A situation or word is misunderstood and the fire ignites scorching and burning up everything in sight.

A few years back I read the book “Firestorms.” The author Susek warned about the danger, the destruction and the damage that firestorms can do to a church, an organization or even a family unit. He shared true to life horror stories of Christians acting like raging firestorms and leaving a path of destruction in churches, in communities, in families and in individual lives. He shared the tragic stories to warn us Christians, leaders, and pastors how to prevent firestorms in our relationship’s, he stressed how to put fires out quickly in relationships, and even how to rebuild relationships after a firestorm.

Dr. Robert said, “No church is more than twenty-four hours away from a major conflict breaking out. In less than a year, it can destroy years of hard work and growth” (Firestorms, page 12).

He spoke about the danger and the ferocity of firestorms. He warned us that once a firestorm ignites it causes damage quickly to the surrounding terrain and races off to burn up whatever is in its path. They move fast and quickly across the landscape burning everything up in sight. They are dangerous and destructive. They have even been known to be brief but so intense that they cause maximum loss in a short period of time.

So we need to learn how to become fire fighters if we want to preserve our family relationships, our friendship relationships, our church relationships, our community relationships and our individual relationships.

Firestorms come in many forms and can ignite in any type of a life situation.

(From a sermon by Michael McCartney, Experience the Spirit in Conflict, 4/7/2011)

___

Paul has been addressing the problem of carnality within the “Beautiful Mess” that was the church at Corinth. He had been explaining how our fleshly attitudes and strife and destroy a local assembly. At the heart of any interpersonal conflict is the clash of prideful people.

We have been learning that there is a way that seems right to us, and that way is wrong unless our “common sense” has been reworked by the transforming wisdom and grace that only comes from God.  

Often in order for God to be able to work freely within a congregation, we need to stop kidding ourselves and realize that we don’t have the wisdom we think we do… we really are not “all that”.

You Are Not All That Wise

1 Corinthians 3:18 KJV

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

It comes as a shock to some church members that you cannot manage a local church the same way you run a business. This does not mean we should not follow good business principles, but the operation is totally different. There is a wisdom of this world that works for the world, but it will not work for the church.

The world depends on promotion, prestige, and the influence of money and important people. The church depends on prayer, the power of the Spirit, humility, sacrifice, and service. The church that imitates the world may seem to succeed in time, but it will turn to ashes in eternity.1

1 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 581). Victor Books.

Galatians 6:3 KJV

For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

Ephesians 5:6 KJV

Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

The World’s Wisdom is not “All That”

1 Corinthians 3:19–20 KJV

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 

And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

Romans 1:21–22 KJV

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Isaiah 19:11–14 KJV

Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, The counsel of the wise counsellers of Pharaoh is become brutish: How say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, The son of ancient kings? 

Where are they? where are thy wise men? And let them tell thee now, And let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. 

The princes of Zoan are become fools, The princes of Noph are deceived; They have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof. 

The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: And they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, As a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.

Isaiah 5:21 KJV

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!

2 Timothy 3:13 KJV

But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

James 1:22 KJV

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Psalm 94:11 KJV

The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, That they are vanity.

The church in the Book of Acts had none of the “secrets of success” that seem to be important today. They owned no property; they had no influence in government; they had no treasury (“Silver and gold have I none,” said Peter); their leaders were ordinary men without special education in the accepted schools; they held no attendance contests; they brought in no celebrities; and yet they turned the world upside down!1

1 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 581). Victor Books.

Relax, There Is Nothing to Brag About.

1 Corinthians 3:21–23 KJV

Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; 

Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; 

And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

Romans 14:8 KJV

For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.

Finally, we must build with the right motive (vv. 21–23). That motive is the glory of God. The members of the Corinthian church were glorying in men, and this was wrong. They were comparing men (1 Cor. 4:6) and dividing the church by such carnal deeds. Had they been seeking to glorify God alone, there would have been harmony in the assembly.

Paul closed this appeal by pointing out that each believer possesses all things in Christ. Each one of God’s servants belongs to each believer. No member of the church should say, “I belong to Paul!” or “I like Peter!” because each servant belongs to each member equally. Perhaps we cannot help but have our personal preferences when it comes to the way different men minister the Word. But we must not permit our personal preferences to become divisive prejudices. In fact, the preacher I may enjoy the least may be the one I need the most!

“All are yours”—the world, life, death, things present, things to come! How rich we are in Christ! If all things belong to all believers, then why should there be competition and rivalry? “Get your eyes off of men!” Paul admonished. “Keep your eyes on Christ, and work with Him in building the church!”

“Ye are Christ’s”—this balances things. I have all things in Jesus Christ, but I must not become careless or use my freedom unwisely. “All things are yours”—that is Christian liberty. “And ye are Christ’s”—that is Christian responsibility. We need both if we are to build a church that will not turn to ashes when the fire falls.

How we need to pray for ministers of the Word! They must feed the family and bring the children to maturity. They must sow the seed in the field and pray for an increase. They must mine the treasures of the Word and build these treasures into the temple. No wonder Paul cried, “And who is sufficient for these things?” But he also gave the answer: “Our sufficiency is of God” (2 Cor. 2:16; 3:5).1

1 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, pp. 581–582). Victor Books.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 7:10 PM March 3, 2022.

Watering Working, Warning

Pastor Don Carpenter

A Beautiful Mess / 1 Corinthians 3:5–17

A fellow stopped at a gas station and, after filling the tank on his car, he paid the bill and bought a soft drink. He stood by his car to drink his cola and he watched a couple of men working along the roadside.

One man would dig a hole two or three feet deep and then move on. The other man came along behind and filled in the hole. While one was digging a new hole, the other was about 25 feet behind filling in the old. The men worked right past the fellow with the soft drink and went on down the road. “I can’t stand this,” said the man tossing the can in a trash container and heading down the road toward the men.

“Hold on,” he said to the men. “Can you tell me what’s going on here with this digging?”

“Well, we work for the government, ” one of the men said.

“But one of you is digging a hole and the other fills it up. You’re not accomplishing anything. Aren’t you wasting the People’s money?”

“You don’t understand, mister,” one of the men said, leaning on his shovel and wiping his brow. “Normally there’s three of us–me, Sam and Jesse.

”I dig the hole, Sam sticks in the tree and Jesse here puts the dirt back.

Now, just because Sam’s sick, that don’t mean that Jesse and I can’t work.”

When it comes to the church of Jesus Christ, sometimes people do not think very much, either. People attend church, but they don’t get what church is all about, or they are blinded by assumptions. They just dig holes instead of planting trees.

---

As we continue studying Paul’s letter to the “Beautiful Mess” that was the Church at Corinth, we continue to learn why the carnality of division is so silly. The Corinthian believers, like we often do, have split up following different personalities and styles. Paul is making the case that it is all the same Bible and the same work, and the same miracle of Grace that works in and through us in spite of our lack of merit.

Often in our churches, we get very secular in our thinking. It is not the effort, it is the results that matter… or so we say. Once again we will find that God is in charge of the results and the personnel assignments. We are simply to be good stewards of the everyday Grace and opportunities to serve that is our life after salvation.

Watering – Understanding Christian Partnership.

1 Corinthians 3:5–8 KJV
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

Personality is not the Key

Galatians 6:3 KJV
For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

1 Corinthians 15:10 KJV
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

The Type of Work is not the Key

1 Corinthians 2:2 KJV
For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

1 Corinthians 3:8 KJV
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

God gives the increase – the labor does not necessarily guarantee the increase.

1 Corinthians 3:7 KJV
So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

1 Corinthians 15:10 KJV
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

1 Corinthians 1:4 KJV
I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;

Psalm 127:1 KJV
Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

God gives the reward individually according to labor (not production)

Psalm 62:12 KJV
Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: For thou renderest to every man according to his work.

Galatians 6:4 KJV
But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.

Working – Building on the Same Foundation.

1 Corinthians 3:9–11 KJV
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Workers build upon each other’s efforts

Acts 18:27–28 KJV
And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace:

For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.

The foundation is Jesus, not a personality.

Galatians 2:6 KJV
But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man’s person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me:

Matthew 16:18 KJV
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Warning: Each of us will give full account of our stewardship of life.

1 Corinthians 4:3 KJV
But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.

Accountable For Our Opportunities in Life

1 Corinthians 3:12–15 KJV
Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

1 Peter 5:4 KJV
And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

Romans 12:6 KJV
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;

Accountable For Our Bodies

1 Corinthians 3:16–17 KJV
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Conclusion

We need to quit stressing over what does not matter. Anything good that happens is because God in His grace worked through us. So elevating one person over another and separating over it, is not Biblical. Watering and planting though different are the same, because without the touch o God neither produces anything. God is interested in our stewardship, not primarily the results. God handles the increase… we are accountable for our effort. I believe when we lose sight of this we get easy 1, 2 3 pray with me stuff. We also get external extrabiblical sanctification. It is much easier to cut your hair, shave your face, put on a tie or dress rather than letting the peace of God rule in your hearts. It is all about Grace. Jesus died and rose again because we cannot attain righteousness. We also cannot stand in our own righteousness after salvation. One plants, one waters, but God, in His grace gives the increase.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 6:36 PM February 25, 2022.

Failure To Thrive

Pastor Don Carpenter

A Beautiful Mess / 1 Corinthians 3:1–4

 There is a tragic condition that some children suffer with called “Failure to Thrive.” The following is taken from the Johns Hopkins web site:

What is failure to thrive?

Children are diagnosed with failure to thrive when their weight or rate of weight gain is significantly below that of other children of similar age and sex. Infants or children that fail to thrive seem to be dramatically smaller or shorter than other children the same age. Teenagers may have short stature or appear to lack the usual changes that occur at puberty. However, there is a wide variation in what is considered normal growth and development.

Symptoms

In general, the rate of change in weight and height may be more important than the actual measurements.

Infants or children who fail to thrive have a height, weight and head circumference that do not match standard growth charts. The person’s weight falls lower than the third percentile (as outlined in standard growth charts) or 20 percent below the ideal weight for their height. Growing may have slowed or stopped after a previously established growth curve.

The following are delayed or slow to develop:

Physical skills, such as rolling over, sitting, standing and walking

Mental and social skills.

_____

As we continue to study Paul’s letter to the “Beautiful Mess” that was the Church at Corinth, we come upon a section where the Apostle really turns up the heat in his rebuke of these believers. He spent chapter 2 explaining how silly it is to have divisions when whatever we have learned is spiritually imparted, and not the result of our own intellectual prowess. 

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Three: Be Wise about … the Local Church (1 Corinthians 3)

Paul already explained that there are two kinds of people in the world—natural (unsaved) and spiritual (saved). But now he explained that there are two kinds of saved people: mature and immature (carnal). A Christian matures by allowing the Spirit to teach him and direct him by feeding on the Word. The immature Christian lives for the things of the flesh (carnal means “flesh”) and has little interest in the things of the Spirit. Of course, some believers are immature because they have been saved only a short time, but that is not what Paul is discussing here.

Paul was the “spiritual father” who brought this family into being (1 Cor. 4:15). During the eighteen months he ministered in Corinth, Paul had tried to feed his spiritual children and help them mature in the faith. Just as in a human family, everybody helps the new baby grow and mature, so in the family of God we must encourage spiritual maturity.

What are the marks of maturity? For one thing, you can tell the mature person by his diet. As I write this chapter, we are watching our grandson and our granddaughter grow up. Becky is still being nursed by her mother, but Jonathan now sits at the table and uses his little cup and (with varying degrees of success) his tableware. As children grow, they learn to eat different food. They graduate (to use Paul’s words) from milk to meat.

Tonight we are going to look at a spiritual tragedy that happens when Believers cannot stomach anything other than the milk of the Word, and therefore are spiritually malnourished. They can be seen as having the Spiritual condition of Failure To Thrive.. a danger of Carnality.

Still Babes In Christ

1 Corinthians 3:1–2 KJV

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 

I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

Carnality Stunts Growth

 In verse 1, he calls them sarkinoi. This word comes from sarx, which means ?esh—a word that is so common in Paul. Now, all Greek adjectives ending in -inos mean made of something or other. So, Paul begins by saying that the Corinthians are made of ?esh. That was not in itself a rebuke; human beings by their very nature are made of ?esh, but they must not stay that way. The trouble was that the Corinthians were not only sarkinoi, they were sarkikoi, which means not only made of ?esh but dominated by the ?esh. To Paul, the ?esh is much more than merely a physical thing. It means human nature apart from God, that part of men and women, both mental and physical, which provides a point of entry for sin. So, the fault that Paul ?nds with the Corinthians is not that they are made of ?esh—all human beings are—but that they have allowed this lower side of their nature to dominate all their outlook and all their actions.1

1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., pp. 35–36). Westminster John Knox Press.

 “Carnal” (3:1, 3).—This is a harsher word than its Greek equivalent, for we apply it only to an excessive dominance of the bodily appetites. In Paul it seems to refer to the whole tendency of life and thought, as governed by lower impulses and worldly motives rather than by the spirit. Thus in the present passage “jealousy and strife” prove the existence of a carnal temper, for these subserve no higher than earthly ends, and are impossible to genuine spirituality.1

1 Drummond, J. (1899). The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians, Romans and Philippians (O. Cone, G. L. Cary, & H. P. Forbes, Eds.; p. 73). G. P. Putnam’s Sons; The Knickerbocker Press.

Spiritual Life But Failing to Thrive.

1 Peter 2:2 KJV

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

Matthew 4:4 KJV

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Hebrews 5:14 KJV

But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Psalm 119:103 KJV

How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

The Word of God is our spiritual food: milk (1 Peter 2:2), bread (Matt. 4:4), meat (Heb. 5:11–14), and even honey (Ps. 119:103). Just as the physical man needs a balanced diet if his body is to be healthy, so the inner man needs a balanced diet of spiritual food. The baby begins with milk, but as he grows and his teeth develop, he needs solid food.

It is not difficult to determine a believer’s spiritual maturity, or immaturity, if you discover what kind of “diet” he enjoys. The immature believer knows little about the present ministry of Christ in heaven. He knows the facts about our Lord’s life and ministry on earth, but not the truths about His present ministry in heaven. He lives on “Bible stories” and not Bible doctrines. He has no understanding of 1 Corinthians 2:6–7.

1 Corinthians 2:6–7 KJV

Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: 

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

Milk = Christ’s Earthly Ministry

Meat = Christ’s Current Heavenly High Priestly Ministry.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Three: Be Wise about … the Local Church (1 Corinthians 3)

The usual answer is that “milk” represents the easy things in the Word, while “meat” represents the hard doctrines. But I disagree with that traditional explanation, and my proof is Hebrews 5:10–14. That passage seems to teach that “milk” represents what Jesus Christ did on earth, while “meat” concerns what He is doing now in heaven. The writer of Hebrews wanted to teach his readers about the present heavenly priesthood of Jesus Christ, but his readers were so immature, he could not do it (note Heb. 6:1–4).

WIERSBE

Hebrews 5:10–14 KJV

Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. 

Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. 

For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 

For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 

But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Symptoms of Carnality

1 Corinthians 3:3–4 KJV

For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 

For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

James 3:13–16 KJV

Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 

But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 

This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 

For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

2 Corinthians 12:20 KJV

For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

 What is it about their life and conduct that makes Paul level such a rebuke at them? It is their partisan attitude, their strife and their factions. This is extremely signi?cant because it means that you can tell what a person’s relationship with God is by looking at the way that person relates to others. If someone is at variance with others and is a quarrelsome, argumentative, troublemaking type, that person may be a diligent church-attender, even a church of?ce-bearer, but not a child of God. But if someone is at one with others, and has relationships that are marked by love and unity and concord, then that person is on the way to being one of God’s children.1

1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., p. 36). Westminster John Knox Press.

 Greek culture sometimes divinized heroes into gods; some scholars have also claimed that initiates to some mystery cults were said to become gods. Later traditions divinized philosophers, and philosophers often claimed that people could be divinized by virtue, because they considered the soul a divine part within each person. Although some Jewish writers in the Greek world adopted the language of deification, the principle of one God generally kept Jews and Christians from following this concept that far (Gen 3:5). Here Paul says: If you follow humans, then you are not only not divine; you are not even following the Spirit of God.1

1 Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (1 Co 3:4). InterVarsity Press.

 There is another way to determine maturity: the mature Christian practices love and seeks to get along with others. Children like to disagree and fuss. And children like to identify with heroes, whether sports heroes or Hollywood heroes. The “babes” in Corinth were fighting over which preacher was the greatest—Paul, Apollos, or Peter. It sounded like children on the playground: “My father can fight better than your father! My father makes more money than your father!”

 When immature Christians, without spiritual discernment, get into places of leadership in the church, the results will be disastrous. More than one brokenhearted pastor has phoned me, or written me, asking what to do with church officers who talk big but live small.

Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 578). Victor Books.

Conclusion:

Carnality is the condition that exists when we allow our flesh to rule in spite of the fact that Jesus’ blood has broken sin’s chains around our souls.  

Romans 6:1–2 KJV

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 

God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

The message of the Gospel gives us hope and assurance that we no longer need to cower under the controlling arm of our flesh. Jesus’ blood has made us free! We simply need to recon or count these things to be so. Rom 6.12-13

Romans 6:12–13 KJV

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Recognize the symptoms of Carnality that cause the Spiritual Condition of Failure to Thrive. Confess it, forsake it, and live in the Grace God has provide in the Gospel to live free and grow as we were designed to do.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 8:58 PM February 19, 2022.

Spiritual Wisdom

Pastor Don Carpenter

A Beautiful Mess / 1 Corinthians 2:6–16

A group of Christians gathered in a church auditorium for an evening Bible Study. Some were talking while waiting for the study to begin. One man began to share with the leader about a church breakfast he’d attended. A well known Bible scholar had been invited to speak at the breakfast. During the course of his remarks the scholar stated that he had recently gained new insight into a verse of Scripture that had puzzled him for years. “When I heard this,” the man said to the Bible Study leader, “I thought to myself, ‘If this scholar who has written commentaries and books and who has studied the Bible for years is just now understanding a verse of Scripture, how can I, an ordinary church member, understand the truth?”’

“You know,” replied the leader, “rather than being discouraged by the scholar’s remarks, I’m encouraged. It just goes to show that understanding God’s truth doesn’t depend on our intellectual ability or number of theological degrees earned. Rather, God’s truth is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.

Tonight we continue studying the letter Paul wrote to “Beautiful Mess” which was the church at Corinth. We have seen that Paul is amazed at the work of Grace in this assembly, but that there are some things that must be addressed. One thing that he spends several chapters on is the matter of unity and carnal division.

In our passage this evening Paul spends a little more time explaining what true spiritual wisdom and where it comes from.

Paul argues that the Spirit is necessary to understand God’s wisdom, since it cannot be perceived through human nature. Paul wants the Corinthians to recognize their need for true wisdom from God’s Spirit before he resumes his appeal for unity beginning in 3:1 (see 1:10).1

1 Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (1 Co 2:6–16). Lexham Press.

We Speak Wisdom

1 Corinthians 2:6 (KJV)

Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect…

Paul hastens to explain that he does not oppose genuine wisdom; but this wisdom is beyond human understanding and can be accepted only by those who know God’s heart through the Spirit.1

1 Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (1 Co 2:6–16). InterVarsity Press.

Philosophers used the term for “mature” or “perfect” (KJV) here for those who had progressed to an advanced stage in wisdom. (Its use for full initiates to the mystery cults is less relevant here.) The contrast in 2:6–9 is between temporal wisdom of those great in this age and God’s eternal wisdom.1

1 Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (1 Co 2:6). InterVarsity Press.

We Do Not Speak Worldly Wisdom

1 Corinthians 2:6 (KJV)

…yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:

1 Corinthians 1:20 KJV
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

Proverbs 28:5 KJV
Evil men understand not judgment: But they that seek the LORD understand all things.

James 3:13–15 KJV
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

We Speak the Wisdom Of God

What Was Once Hidden

1 Corinthians 2:7–9 KJV
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Salvation was purchased by the Son, but it was planned by the Father. Those who talk about “the simple Gospel” are both right and wrong. Yes, the message of the Gospel is simple enough for an illiterate pagan to understand, believe, and be saved. But it is also so profound that the most brilliant theologian cannot fathom its depths.

There is a “wisdom of God” in the Gospel that challenges the keenest intellect. However, this wisdom is not for the masses of lost sinners, nor is it for the immature believers. It is for the mature believers who are growing in their understanding of the Word of God. (The word perfect in 1 Cor. 2:6 means “mature.” See 1 Cor. 3:1–4.) Perhaps here Paul was answering those in the church who were promoting Apollos, who was an eloquent and profound preacher (Acts 18:24–28).

1 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 574). Victor Books.

Planned For Our Glory

This wisdom involves God’s ordination (v. 7). This means that God made the plan, set it in motion, and will see to it that it will succeed. The great plan of redemption was not a hasty afterthought on the part of God after He saw what man had done. Though all of this boggles our minds, we must accept the Bible truth of divine election and predestination. Even the death of Jesus Christ was ordained of God (Acts 2:22–23; 1 Peter 1:18–20), though men were held responsible for the wicked deed. One of the secrets of an effective prayer life is to lay hold of God’s purposes by faith (Acts 4:23–31).1

1 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 574). Victor Books.

Hidden From the Unsaved World

This wisdom is hidden from the unsaved world (v. 8). Who are “the princes of this world [age]” that Paul mentions? Certainly the men who were in charge of government when Jesus was on earth did not know who He was (Acts 3:17; 4:25–28). When Jesus on the cross prayed “Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34), He was echoing this truth. Their ignorance did not excuse their sin, of course, because every evidence had been given by the Lord and they should have believed.

But there is another possibility. Paul may have been referring to the spiritual and demonic rulers of this present age (Rom. 8:38; Col. 2:15; Eph. 6:12ff). This would make more sense in 1 Corinthians 2:6, for certainly Pilate, Herod, and the other rulers were not recognized for any special wisdom. The wisdom of this age has its origin in the rulers of this age, of which Satan is the prince (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). Of course, the spiritual rulers would have to work in and through the human rulers. So perhaps we must not press the distinction (John 13:2, 27).

But if this interpretation is true, then it opens up a challenging area of consideration. The satanic forces, including Satan himself, did not understand God’s great eternal plan! They could understand from the Old Testament Scriptures that the Son of God would be born and die, but they could not grasp the full significance of the cross because these truths were hidden by God. In fact, it is now, through the church, that these truths are being revealed to the principalities and powers (Eph. 3:10).

Satan thought that Calvary was God’s great defeat; but it turned out to be God’s greatest victory and Satan’s defeat! (Col. 2:15) From the time of our Lord’s birth into this world, Satan had tried to kill Him, because Satan did not fully understand the vast results of Christ’s death and resurrection. Had the demonic rulers known, they would not have “engineered” the death of Christ. (Of course, all of this was part of God’s eternal plan. It was God who was in control, not Satan.)1

1 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, pp. 574–575). Victor Books.

Wisdom Applied to the Believer’s Life Today

Finally, this wisdom applies to the believer’s life today (v. 9). This verse is often used at funerals and applied to heaven, but the basic application is to the Christian’s life today. The next verse makes it clear that God is revealing these things to us here and now.

Isaiah 64:4 KJV
For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, Neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, What he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

This verse is a quotation (with adaptation) from Isaiah 64:4. The immediate context relates it to Israel in captivity, awaiting God’s deliverance. The nation had sinned and had been sent to Babylon for chastening. They cried out to God that He would come down to deliver them, and He did answer their prayer after seventy years of their exile. God had plans for His people and they did not have to be afraid (Jer. 29:11).

Paul applied this principle to the church. Our future is secure in Jesus Christ no matter what our circumstances may be. In fact, God’s plans for His own are so wonderful that our minds cannot begin to conceive of them or comprehend them! God has ordained this for our glory (1 Cor. 2:7). It is glory all the way from earth to heaven!1

1 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 575). Victor Books.

We Speak Wisdom Revealed By The Spirit.

2:10 to us God has revealed them God has shown the hidden wisdom of God to those who follow Christ (v. 7). Paul argues that people desiring to know more or have greater wisdom should seek to walk more closely with Christ, as God reveals His eternal work to people this way.1

1 Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (1 Co 2:10). Lexham Press.

1 Corinthians 1:24 KJV
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

Only God’s Spirit knows what is in his heart, but because believers have God’s Spirit, they can know his heart too. This was a radical statement for most of ancient Judaism, because most Jewish teachers did not believe that the Spirit was active in their day. “Spirit” had a broad variety of meanings, including “attitude,” “disposition”; hence “spirit of the world” need not refer to any particular spiritual being (unlike God’s Spirit).1

1 Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (1 Co 2:10–13). InterVarsity Press.

2 Corinthians 4:4 KJV
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

The reason we are given the Spirit of God is that we might know the truth freely given to us.

2:10–13. Only God’s Spirit knows what is in his heart, but because believers have God’s Spirit, they can know his heart too. This was a radical statement for most of ancient Judaism, because most Jewish teachers did not believe that the Spirit was active in their day. “Spirit” had a broad variety of meanings, including “attitude,” “disposition”; hence “spirit of the world” need not refer to any particular spiritual being (unlike God’s Spirit).1

1 Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (1 Co 2:10–13). InterVarsity Press.

Only Those With The Spirit Can Comprehend Things Taught By The Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:14–16 KJV
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:21 KJV
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

We Have The Mind of Christ

Rabbi Slostowski, a professor at a seminary in Tel Aviv, hated the Lord Jesus Christ. So great was his resentment that he sharply criticized a young student who was reading a Hebrew New Testament. The young man replied by giving him the copy. That night, the rabbi, alone in his room, stayed up until three in the morning reading about the Nazarene who claimed to be the Messiah. The Holy Spirit guided him into all truth, and later he confessed, “I have already found more than 200 passages of the New Testament that prove beyond a doubt that Jesus is truly the Messiah.” Oh, the power of the Holy Spirit to bring light where there is only darkness. He is truly awesome.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 7:34 PM February 4, 2022.

What Are You Bragging About?

Pastor Don Carpenter

A Beautiful Mess / 1 Corinthians 1:26–31

THE NOBODIES OF THE CHURCH

Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States during the Clinton administration, was interviewed on “60 Minutes” on June 26, 1999. She seems to hold this ancient opinion of Christians. Here is how she defined a cultist:

“A domestic terrorist is one who has a strong belief in the Bible and the Second Coming of Christ; who frequently attends Bible studies; who have a high level of financial giving to a Christian cause; who home schools their children; who has accumulated survival foods and has a strong belief in the Second Amendment; and who distrusts big government. Any of these may qualify a person as a cultist but certainly more than one of these would cause us to look at this person as a threat and his family as being in a risk that qualifies for government interference.”

Let me put it another way, we are the last ones picked to be on the team on the school playground or we are still sitting on the sideline while everyone else has been picked to dance. Let me just take a chance, has anyone here received a personal call from one of the Presidential candidates inviting you to a fundraiser BBQ? Nobody here is on the A list?

When the world wants to make changes they go after the rich, the wise, and celebrities. The world goes after people with a following. But for all its wealth and intelligence and influence, the world doesn’t come near accomplishing the good that the nobodies of the church get done. This brings glory to God.

(From a sermon by Ed Sasnett, Nothing to Add, 6/2/2010)

The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the “Beautiful Mess” of the Church at Corinth. These Believers were truly saved and were growing as a functional local Body of Christ… but they had several problems that needed to be addresses. That was the purpose of Paul’s first Epistle to the Corinthian believers.  

One of their biggest issues was the issue of division. They had split up by following different leadership styles within the church. Last week, we saw that Paul exposed the fact that God does not use man’s flashy wisdom, but instead uses the foolishness of preaching … and the preaching of the cross to save those who believe, therefore it was not the clever or winsome personalities that were getting the job done… so there was no reason to split over style.

Today we will see how Paul continues with this thought. There is no reason to divide over perceived skill or prowess, because God purposefully avoids using that to build the kingdom. So this begs the question, what are you bragging about? 

The Focus of God’s Call Silences our Bragging

1 Corinthians 1:26 KJV

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

33.312 ?????d; ??????a, ??? f; ????????????b: to urgently invite someone to accept responsibilities for a particular task, implying a new relationship to the one who does the calling—‘to call, to call to a task.’

?????d: ??? ? ??? ???????? ???? ??? ??? ?????????? ???? ‘(God) called you to this through the good news we preached to you

Invitation to experience of special privilege and responsibility, call, calling, invitation. In our lit. almost exclusively of divine initiative.

Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 549). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Wise

32.33 ?????b, ?, ??: pertaining to understanding resulting in wisdom—‘prudent, wise, understanding

Mighty

87.43 ?? ???????: important persons, based upon their power or influence

Noble

87.27 ???????a, ??: pertaining to having high status, with the possible implication of special family relations contributing to such status—‘high status, important.’

John 6:44 KJV

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

The Purpose of God’s Choice Silences our Bragging.

1 Corinthians 1:27–29 KJV

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 

And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 

That no flesh should glory in his presence.

The Foolish to Confound the Wise

32.58 ?????b, ?, ??: (derivative of ????? ‘foolishness,’ 32.57) pertaining to thoughts devoid of understanding and therefore foolish—‘foolish, nonsensical, to be nonsense.

The Weak to Confound the Mighty

The Base Things to Destroy the Established Things.

87.59 ??????, ??; ??????, ??: pertaining to being obscure or insignificant, with the possible implication of lacking in noble descent—‘low, insignificant, inferior.’

??????: ?? ????? ??? ?????? … ????????? ? ???? ‘God chose … what was inferior in (the eyes of) the world’

So No One Steals the Glory God Deserves!

Jeremiah 9:23 KJV

Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Neither let the mighty man glory in his might, Let not the rich man glory in his riches:

There is a World War II story that shows how the smallest deed can make all the difference. During the last months of the War, the British conducted daily bombing raids over Berlin. One night the bombers were attacked by a large group of German fighter planes. During the dogfight one of the Bomber Planes got separated from the protection of British Fighter Planes. They watched helplessly as a German Fighter Plane came within range. Bullets whizzed by over and over until five bullets slammed into the fuselage of the bomber near the gas tank. The crew braced for the explosion, but it never came. Fuel poured from the bullet holes, but there was no explosion. After landing, a mechanic handed the pilot 5 bullets he had pulled from the plane. The pilot carefully opened the shells. They were empty — except for a tiny wad of paper with a note that read: “We are Polish POWS forced to make bullets. When guards do not look, we do not fill with powder. Is not much, but is best we can do.” Five tiny bullets, made by a few weak and lowly prisoners … but for the Crew of that British Bomber it made all the difference. God often chooses insignificant people and events to bring about His great purposes.

From a sermon by Terry Blankenship, The Insignificant Church, 10/14/2009

The Outcome of God’s Grace Changes The Focus of Our Bragging.

1 Corinthians 1:30–31 KJV

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 

That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Ephesians 2:10 KJV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Wisdom

Ephesians 1:17 KJV

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

Righteousness

2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Romans 8:33 KJV

Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.

Sanctification

John 17:17–19 KJV

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 

As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 

And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

Redemption

Titus 2:14 KJV

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Therefore If You Have Been Made Into Anything, Brag on God!

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:36 PM January 21, 2022.