Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro review:

God ‘s kingdom

Inheritance

five lists of those who do not inherit:

sexually immoral (summary term)

idolaters (idol of body and gratifying flesh)

adulterers (not committed to the design of God between man and woman and those who lust after those whom they are not married to)

effeminate

homosexuals

Second list of five focuses not only on issues in the church in Corinth, but are also characteristic of unrighteousness.

These listed today can be found throughout lists in Paul’s letters as examples but not cumulative examples of those who confess to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and who radically turn from such sin in their lives.

Paul is not talking about those who have stumbled in sin and later repented and put their hope in Christ to cleanse them.

The dividing line of the righteous and unrighteous is found in those who detest sin, walk in faith and repentance versus those who practice sin in different areas of life, cannot turn from it consistently and who do not hope in Christ.

Remember that as we looked at the first five lists, we recognized that unrighteousness leds all unbelievers to redesign the original design of God.

This started in the garden when Satan temped Adam and Eve to doubt God’s word and tempted them towards believing the possiblity of another way outside of God’s authority.

Sin leads all unbelievers to try and undo and redo what God has done in creation and salvation.

This is the sinful nature of man.

Most of this list is part of the decalogue and just as Moses was instructed by the Lord to teach the people of Israel how they should live among pagan nations because of their relationship with the Lord, so the church is called to live holy because of the work of Christ in our hearts.

These in this list deal with outward acts towards our neighbors which flow first from a faithful or rebellious heart towards God.

Let’s jump right in and look at the second group of five characteristics:

6. GREED I want to deal with the second word in this group because once again, I think it is the under-layer to the outward actions listed below it.

Paul mentions robbery and theft in this list, but the under-layer is greed.

Some translations use covetous and some greed.

The study of greek shows us that the term pleontekai has a root word which means “too much.”

Something with excess is defined as PLEON which means that greed is the desire for “too much” instead of being content with what we have.

Greed again flows from a heart that is not accepting of God’s design and purposes.

If we live in contentment, we are thankful and pleased with God and all that he has given us.

If we are greedy, then we cannot accept the financial, relational, or familial place that God has for us.

One person wants another persons job, another persons wealth, or another person’s family or spouse.

That person fantasizes about the possibilities and the changes that situation would bring instead of dealing faithfully with the place that God has placed us today.

Greedy persons are like Israel looking at the kings of others nations and wanting one like them, instead of having God already as our king.

Jesus gives a great example for us of greed in a parable in Luke 12:13-15

Jesus destroys our rationalization for our greed when he gets to the heart of the matter.

Our possessions don’t define us…no matter if we are Jeff Bezos or Jeff living under the bridge.

Yet with a greedy and covetous heart, we set our hearts on things of this earth, thinking that if we just had more possessions or more power, then life would be better.

Remember, “too much” is too much for God’s intentions for your life and so therefore, just enough is how we should live in light of God’s provision.

Jesus tells the parable to illustrate greed:

This man spent all his energies working hard but being consumed by his possessions.

He is not being rebuked for making wise decisions about his wealth.

Instead, his heart displayed an idolatry with his wealth instead of a heart of thankfulness and service to God.

Look at how he spent his time once he accumulated his wealth..”he ate, drank and was merry.”

His heart was not attuned to worshipping God for his abundance, he merely wanted to find rest in those temporary pleasures that cannot satisfy for eternity.

You and I are not defined by our wealth.

You and I must find our identity in God and him alone.

Jesus teaches that our lives are in his hands.

His provision, protection, care for our physical lives as well as for our spiritual lives should rest in Him alone.

Contentment in God’s plan, design and sovereignty is the way we fight greed.

He rest in Him and what he has given us, when he has given it to us.

This doesn’t mean we allow ourselves be idle and we stop working hard.

No we work hard and we give the Lord our best with our hands and we settle for what he has given us from the fruit of our labors.

This means practically that we must fight against the marketing in our day and age which is constantly advertising items to add to our earthly collection.

You need those new shoes, you need those new cars, you need that new gadget.

It is actually more freeing when we are content, instead of greedy for we recognize the lies that are being promoted.

We don’t need those things.

Instead, our mental and physical energy can be redirected to contentment serving the Lord.

#7 and #8 Stealing/Extortion: The reason I wanted to look at Greed first is because greed leads to theft and extortion.

These are two different words used in this section but Greed is a large contributor to them both.

The first word translated theft in v 10 is KLEPTAI from the root KLEPTO A kleptomaniac is one who has the urge to steal without any profit or need, but this is not what Paul means here.

He is speaking of those who steal for greedy gain and profit.

Greed is the lust for other people’s possessions while theft is the action of violating our neighbors and taking what belongs to someone else.

Now greed is not the only reason that people steal.

Theft also occurs out of laziness, a lack of faith and entitlement.

Years ago when I was in banking, we had a young girl stealing money out of the safe.

I worked inside of a Kroger and she was meeting her boyfriend in the public bathrooms and handing him cash from the safe.

It didn’t take long for her to get caught and I just remember her attitude was one of entitlement.

She acted like she deserved that money and since it had been kept from her in life, she was just gonna take it back.

The last item in Paul’s list is similar but it includes another nuance of this theme.

Paul finally mentions extortioners or swindlers, as your translation may say.

These people are those who defraud and lie in order to gain some advantage with your wealth in order to make it their wealth.

These charlatans can clearly be seen in today’s society, preying on the weak and gullible persons out there.

If you are a child of the 90’s, you may remember the R&B duo, Milli Vanilli, who took financial advantage of fans of their music when it was revealed they were not actually singing their own songs on the records.

This world famous group sold millions of records, became instant successes only to fall flat on their face when their fraud was discovered.

They even won a Grammy in 1990 for Best New Artist only to have that award rescinded.

Sadly, many of these extortioners in the world today also call themselves pastors in the Lord’s church.

But they are far from true shepherds, and far from true believers.

Jesus had a stern warning to men and women who extort people of their money.

Speaking of the Scribes and Pharisees in Mark 12:40, he calls them out for

“devouring widows houses” in which they will receive a greater condemnation.

Devouring widows houses was a way in which Scribes would convince widows to sell their property or put it under the control of religious leaders so that the church might profit from it.

This of course who strip away any assets that were built up for the widow by her deceased husband.

Once again, this form of greed and dishonesty is not representative of a person who is trusting by faith in God’s provision and plan for his life.

Instead, he is reflecting his true master, Satan who is the Father of lies.

They reflect a serving of their self as the great benefactor of their exploits and are simply looking for personal advantage in this life with no regard to eternity.

Their focus and attention is not on the things that are above, but on the things of the earth.

#9 Drunkenness:

The next type of person who does NOT inherit the kingdom is the drunkard.

This person is characterized by someone who doesn’t show control over enjoyments.

If you study the Scriptures, the drinking of wine is always related to joy and merriment.

Some want to argue that wine was not enjoyed at the same levels of fermenting that wine is today.

I will not argue for or against that point because what Paul is talking about is drunkenness.

He is referring to intoxication to a state that a person loses control of oneself.

Drunkenness is considered a sin throughout the bible, while drinking alcohol is not.

If that drink had some intoxicating effects to it, then people are called not to abstinence but instead, to self-control.

That self-control avoids people who lose control of their bodies and in turn do worse things while under the influence.

Intoxication is paired with nighttime carousing and immorality in 1 Thess 5:3-8

Paul is speaking about the coming of Christ and how surprised the unrighteous will be when he returns because they are “sleeping” or drunk which means numb to the idea or expectation of his return.

But Paul here speaks clearly here that drunkenness is categorized with unrighteous living and belongs with activities of darkness and evil.

Sobriety is used metaphorically in these verses where Paul calls for alertness to the coming of Christ and to be faithful in serving Him.

Therefore, if drunkenness is a characteristic which is related to unrighteousness, recklessness, and a lack of self-control, then God is calling those who belong to his kingdom to turn from such indulgences but instead to cast their hope in him.

If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation knowing that a drink cannot give you true joy, cannot give you real comfort and only numbs your mind to see God’s good purposes in suffering.