Moving Forward Together

Psalm 119:1-8 / 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

A Church In Decline

Paul planted

Acts 18:1-4 “1 After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Acts 18:8 “Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.”

Apollos Watered

Acts 18:24 “Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures.”

Acts 19:1 “And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.”

Corinth Failed

Moral failures - 1 Corinthians 5:1 “1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.”

Pollution of the Ordinances - 1 Corinthians 11:20 “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.”

Divisions - 1 Corinthians 1:10 “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.”

A Secure Way Forward

Setting:

Deuteronomy - The 2nd telling of the Law before Moses died

Deut 28-29 = God’s Judgment on Israel’s failures

Deut 30 - Hope and promise for restoration & longevity

Deut 30:1-3 ““And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.”

Speaking to the knowing, experienced People of God

Restoration & Longevity

Deut 30:5 “And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.”

Deut 30:19-20 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.””

The choice was the peoples’

Deut 30:15-18 ““See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.”

The need was obedience / adherence

Psalm 119:1 “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!”

The battleground is the heart

Israel in Deut 30:

Deut 30:6 “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”

Deut 30:16 “If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.”

Deut 30:17 “But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them,”

Israel under Solomon:

1 Kings 11:4-6 “For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done.”

1 Kings 11:11 “Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.”

Hearts Before Hands

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in NO WAY lessened the righteous standards of God

Hands before hearts:

Anger & Lust - we ignore that sin begins in the heart wether it finds expression and action or not

Divorce and Oaths - we devise solutions that can wind up compounding rather than avoiding sin

We must NEVER back away from teaching and holding to God’s righteous standards. We must faithfully & consistently call sinful choices, statements, and actions sinful, but that is only dealing with the visible part of the ice-burg.

True Christian ministry aims for the whole person, realizing both sin and righteousness are matters of the heart before they become matters of the hands.

Application: Moving Forward Together

Unity in Focus - 1 Cor 3:7 1 Cor 3:9

We must focus on restoration of our family through reconciliation and reconnection.

We must focus on growth of our family through continued evangelism and discipling.

In other words, actual (not just lip service) gospel focus

What and how we do needs to fall under these, or else we should skip it

The past matters, but less than moving forward in Christ

Unity in Labor - 1 Cor 3:5 / 1 Cor 3:8a

1st we must be ready (weary as we are) to labor in the Lord’s strength

2nd we must be ready to fill roles as God equips and/or provides

3rd we must support others in what they do, knowing that all our roles are meant to be complementary

Unity in Blessing - 1 Cor 3:6 - 1 Cor 3:8b

A people united in Christ, united in Gospel focus, and united in laboring together, will necessarily be united in blessing, for we TOGETHER are the Lord’s field. We together are the Lord’s building. He is growing us together. He is building us together. May God grant that Mount Juliet Church move forward together in Christ.