Church for the Rest of Us (5)

I Corinthians 10:23-11:1

Beginning in 1 Cor 11:2 Paul will begin addressing issues related to what happens when communities of faith come together for worship. Women’s roles in ministry, the appropriate place of the Lord’s Supper, the use of gifts, the power of love, and the ways in which God intends His gifts to be used.

But before getting to those topics he wraps up a discussion that at first glance seems to be unique to Corinth:

1 Corinthians 8:1 (HCSB)

About food offered to idols...

However, as we looked at those passages what becomes clear is that the underlying challenge focuses on how do churches - gatherings of fully formed followers - relate to a world that has no real grasp of the gospel?

Underlying Paul’s advice is an unshakeable conviction that is expressed clearly by Jesus in Matthew 22:37-38

Matthew 22:37–39 (HCSB)

Matthew 22:37–39 HCSB

He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

The purpose of all we do, the focus of all that we are as followers of Jesus is captured in Paul’s words:

1 Corinthians 10:31 (HCSB)

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for God’s glory.

Bearing in mind that everything we say and do is to draw attention from ourselves and point to God, Paul gives two specific instructions summing up 1 Cor 8,9, 10.

Seek the good of others first

Paul was quite familiar with the city and those who had come to faith in Corinth. The region had a rich Greek history that had only recently come under Roman dominion. As the capitol city of an entire province, people in Corinth quickly adopted Roman customs - particularly th pagan practices common in Rome.

The believers in Rome prided themselves on their ‘freedom,’ In vs 23 Paul quotes their ‘slogan’ two times: Everything is lawful!

Truly these believers recognized that in Christ, who had promised full freedom (see John 8:36, 38). They chose to measure their entire life around their freedom.

As Paul indicates freedom is not the same as license, freedom is not an excuse to ignore or put down others.

Corinth was an important city for trade. Located near ports allowing shipping between Rome and cities along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean sea, Corinth was known all over the area as a city of significant wealth.

Wealth sometimes colors ones ability to relate to others. Several places in the NT point to this issue. For example, in the letter of James we read of a circumstance that may have really occured:

James 2:2–3 HCSB

For example, a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor man dressed in dirty clothes also comes in. If you look with favor on the man wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” and yet you say to the poor man, “Stand over there,” or, “Sit here on the floor by my footstool,”

Paul encourages his young protege, Timothy:

1 Timothy 6:17–19 HCSB

Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good reserve for the age to come, so that they may take hold of life that is real.

There are many other places we can find similar counsel in the NT.

What is crucial for us today is this principle:

Seek the good of others first, and self last.

Paul doesn’t make a distinction between saved and unsaved, Jew or Greek, male and female.

As a follower of Jesus, modeling our lives on the example of Jesus, we are to always seek the good of others before our own.

This sounds simple and looks great as a slogan. But it requires more than simple lip service.

Paul poses a circumstance in vs 25-29a that you and I will likely never have to deal with among our neighbors.

He has already given clues in vs 23 as to how we evaluate what the ‘good’ of others might be.

a). Is it beneficial?

We are now reaping the rewards of several generations who have been raised with the belief that they as individuals and they alone have the right to define success. And for many of them - certainly not all - success means fulfilling their individuality displaying themselves freely.

One quick glance at social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and others is all it takes to recognize that many who post have no thought of what is helpful or beneficial!

Paul asks…just because you can, should you?

b). Is it edifying/useful for building up one another?

As Jesus neared Jerusalem He travelled through Jericho. While in that town He saw a tax-collector watching from a perch in a tree. Calling the man - by name - Jesus invited Himself to stay of his home!

When questioned by His followers Jesus simply answered:

Luke 19:10 HCSB

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

Give No Offense

In vs 32-11:1 Paul offers a second instruction.

The word translated ‘offense’ means “without offense, or causing no offense, but in more objective terms it denotes (passive) undamaged or (active) causing no damage.”

Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 794.