Faithful to the Lord & Each Other

Introduction:

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 1500 As Usual with Wesley

1500 As Usual With Wesley

A lady once asked John Wesley that suppose he were to know that he would die at 12:00 midnight tomorrow, how would he spend the intervening time. His reply: “Why madam, just as I intend to spend it now. I would preach this evening at Gloucester, and again at five tomorrow morning; after that I would ride to Tewkesbury, preach in the afternoon, and meet the societies in the evening. I would then go to Rev. Martin’s house, who expects to entertain me, talk and pray with the family as usual, retire to my room at 10 o’clock, commend myself to my heavenly Father, lie down to rest, and wake up in Glory.”

Review:

Review:

Remember: Believers are to flee idolatry! Because God is faithful in his allowances and provisions for temptation, you are able to bear and flee from any idol that you encounter as a believer.

To drink the blood of Christ and to eat the body is to believe in the sufficient sacrifice of Christ for sins. It is to confess the Lord Jesus.

To believe on the Lord Jesus is to be spiritually reborn - to be a new creation. New life is brought about by God’s Holy Spirit.

To have this new life brought about by the Holy Spirit is also to be indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God.

That initial belief and confession is commemorated corporately in what is called the Lord’s Supper.

Corinthian Question:

Is it really a problem to participate in this worship, if the idols being worshipped are not real gods anyways?

Proposition:

Let’s imagine that you were born a woman to a servant/slave in the time of AD 50. Because of this birth, you are immediately thrust into slavery within the owners home. As part of the slavery, you are forced to do normal chores but you are also forced to do the unthinkable for your master. As time progresses, an Emancipator comes to town. His sole purpose is to free slaves by providing the exact amount of money necessary for each slave to be released. He does so for you on a particular day that you will never forget. You are set free:

* from the dominance of your slave-master

Though we are free in Jesus Christ, there is an absolute that must characterize the Christian church’s life. In other words, you cannot be a Christian church and participate in some things!

* from having to perform the grotesque acts that you formerly had to perform

*

What would you commemorate? Would you commemorate your slavery or would you commemorate your new, free life?

We are called to be faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ and to each other in a way that would cause us to abstain from certain practices!

Illustration:

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Faithfulness

Maintaining faith or allegiance; showing a strong sense of duty or conscientiousness. In biblical Hebrew, “faith” and “faithfulness” are grammatically related. Although both concepts are important in the OT, there is no English word exactly equivalent to the Hebrew terms. The most relevant Hebrew verbal root (related to our word “amen”) carries such meanings as “strengthen,” “support,” or “hold up.” In a physical sense it is used of pillars that provide support for doors

Communion/Partakers (, ) Fellowship - koinonia (κοινωνία, 2842), “a having in common (koinos), partnership, fellowship” (see communicate), denotes (a) the share which one has in anything, a participation, fellowship recognized and enjoyed - Vine, W. E.

Communion/Partakers (, ) Fellowship

koinonia (κοινωνία, 2842), “a having in common (koinos), partnership, fellowship” (see communicate), denotes (a) the share which one has in anything, a participation, fellowship recognized and enjoyed;

Vine, W. E.

(1) You cannot partake of the the meat without participating in the worship (v. 18)

Paul asks a rhetorical question.

Israel after the flesh are the ethnic people of Israel

Paul’s implication is that when someone eats the meal associated with the sacrifice, they are expecting some kind of benefit or they have some kind of faith in the sacrifice itself.

Paul tells the Corinthians to CONSIDER Israel.

App: Be careful with the assumption: "That will never be me." (v. 18)

Be careful with the assumption: "That will never be me." (v. 18)

The initial deliverance of God in your life does not make you sinlessly perfect.

A 50 year salvation testimony does not make you immune to idolatrous practices.

(2) You must see your participation as the worship of devils (v. 19 - 20)

Paul makes an important qualification (see 8:4)

The image itself is nothing and the meat itself is nothing.

The sacrifice itself though is offered to demonic spirits.

Historical Illustration:

The cult of Isis

648 An Egyptian myth which took various forms was best described by Plutarch in his work entitled On Isis and Osiris, which told of Isis and her husband Osiris, a godly king of ancient Egypt; he was murdered by his brother Seth who hacked him into fourteen pieces and scattered them over the whole Egyptian countryside. Isis goes out to search for the pieces, and when she has found them, she restores Osiris to life. Because one of the pieces landed in the Nile, people believed that Osiris also entered the underworld. Now he lives as ruler of the kingdom of the dead....

650 In the Hellenistic period, the Ptolemies allowed the name of Osiris to be changed to Sarapis, so that the new name would designate the highest deity Egyptians and Greeks should worship. The god Sarapis was equated with Zeus, the father of the gods and of humans, and was praised and worshipped as the saviour and redeemer who helped everybody. At his side stood Isis, the divine mother, who was venerated as a goddess.

De Villiers, J. L. (1998). Religious life. In A. B. du Toit (Ed.), The New Testament Milieu (Vol. 2). Halfway House: Orion Publishers.

App: Be clear and humbly accept how deep this unfaithfulness really is (v. 19 - 20)

Clear Application:

Wiccan & Witchcraft

Bahi Faith

The Baha’i Faith is a non-Christian cult of distinctly foreign origin that began in Iran in the nineteenth century with a young religious Iranian businessman known as Mírzá’ Ali Muhammad, who came to believe himself to be a divine manifestation projected into the world of time and space as a “Bab” (Gate) leading to a new era for mankind. - Martin, Walter. Kingdom of the Cults, The (p. 321). Baker Book Group - A. Kindle Edition.

Martin, Walter. Kingdom of the Cults, The (p. 321). Baker Book Group - A. Kindle Edition.

Spiritism:

By far the oldest form of religious cult extant today, and certainly one of the deadliest where the certainty of divine judgment is concerned, is that of Spiritism, often erroneously referred to as “Spiritualism.” However, in speaking of this cult, it is sometimes necessary to use that term in order to communicate in the vernacular of our day. In 1949 Dr. Charles Braden wrote that in America, spiritist leaders “estimate [there are] from 500,000 to 700,000 spiritualists in the United States; and . . . 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 in the world” (These Also Believe, New York: Macmillan Company, 1960, 356). This estimate today, as far as the United States is concerned, is difficult to substantiate. In 1976 the International General Assembly of Spiritualists, the Nationalist Spiritualist Alliance of the United States of America, and the National Spiritualist Association of Churches reported more than two hundred churches, with a total membership of over ten thousand, and more than two hundred clergy. ~As of 2002 the National Spiritualist Association of Churches lists only eighty-nine churches on its Web site and does not put forward total membership numbers. - Martin, Walter. Kingdom of the Cults, The (p. 261). Baker Book Group - A. Kindle Edition.

Martin, Walter. Kingdom of the Cults, The (p. 261). Baker Book Group - A. Kindle Edition.

* this means that demonic activity is closer than we often believe.

* unfaithfulness to Christ is also unfaithfulness to each other - Notice the plural “ye”

(3) You cannot participate in the worship of devils and worship of the Lord at the same time (v. 21)

You cannot be in fundamental fellowship with that which idols represent and the Lord. This is an absolute of the Christian life.

App: Be committed to exclusive devotion to the Lord (v. 21)

* this means that the genuineness of your faithfulness to Christ is not so much what you participate in at corporate gatherings but what you participate in throughout the week.

* this means that I would encourage believers to intentionally NOT exalt current cultural icons. Show a clear allegiance to Jesus Christ.

Being members of one body in Christ makes it quite impossible to be involved in idolatrous practices. Fundamental allegiance is at stake. One cannot serve God and mammon—or demons, whatever form they may take in our modern world. - Fee

Unbeliever:

* this means that you can be in relationship to God through Christ, but you must reject/repent of sin and confess the Lord Jesus.

(4) You excite the jealousy of God when you participate in devil worship (v. 22)

This provokes God to jealousy and calls for God's judgment immediately. Paul is referencing , , , , , (strength of God).

Several truths for the Corinthians:

(i) Participating in pagan feasts excites God's jealousy

(ii) God's jealousy leads to God's discipline

(iii) God's discipline shows forth his strength

App: Be jealous for God's glory personally, corporately, and globally (v. 22)

Thoughts on God’s jealousy:

What is God’s jealousy?

It is God’s zeal or passion for his own honor.

...the jealousy of God is of the essence of his moral character, a major cause for worship and confidence on the part of his people and a ground for fear on the part of his enemies. Milne, B. A. (1996).

Milne, B. A. (1996).

What is the problem with man’s jealousy?

The primary problem with man’s jealousy is that is is often based upon some kind of honor or recognition that a man believes himself to be worthy of...

...this can also extend to the dishonor he may sense when someone is speaking to his or her spouse.

We are not to be proud, but humble. Yet we must realize that the reason pride is wrong is a theological reason: it is that we do not deserve the honor that belongs to God alone (cf. ; ). - Grudem, W. A. (2004)

Grudem, W. A. (2004)

Why is God’s jealousy not wrong?

God is fully deserving of all honor.

He alone is infinitely worthy of being praised. To realize this fact and to delight in it is to find the secret of true worship. - Grudem, W. A. (2004).

Grudem, W. A. (2004).

This provokes God to jealousy and calls for God's judgment immediately. Paul is referencing , , , , , (strength of God). Several movements of Paul in this last verse of the paragraph to the Corinthians:

(i) Participating in pagan feasts excites God's jealousy

(ii) God's jealousy leads to God's discipline

(iii) God's discipline shows forth his strength

* this means that God is jealous for his honor and that, as believers, we should be jealous for HIS HONOR ALONE in church gatherings.

App: Be jealous for God's glory personally, corporately, and globally (v. 22)

Concluding Thoughts:

Why is this such startling behavior for a Christian church to participate in?

Is it not because Jesus was the ultimate faithful One who faithfully suffered on behalf of the unfaithful ones (you and me) so that we could be partakers with Christ in full faithfulness before God?

How do believers show fidelity to the Lord:

(1) Be careful with the assumption: "That will never be me." (v. 18)

(2) Be clear and humbly accept how deep this unfaithfulness really is (v. 19 - 20)

(3) Be committed to exclusive devotion to the Lord (v. 21)

(4) Be jealous for God's glory personally, corporately, and globally (v. 22)

Questions for reflection:

(1) Are you currently practicing something that calls your allegiance into question?

(2) Have you made little of something you are doing - that is really a devotion to a false cultural god?

(3) How would you characterize your devotion to Jesus Christ?

(4) Have you considered that when you are unfaithful to Christ you are also being unfaithful to the body of Christ?

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 1510 Sallman’s “Last” Three Months

1510 Sallman’s “Last” Three Months

Millions of copies of Warner Sallman’s “Head of Christ” painting hang in homes around the world. The picture presents Jesus as a man of strong personality, rugged health, with the marks of character and leadership. Here is the artist’s life that shaped his view of Jesus:

In 1917, the young artist was told by his physician. “You have tuberculosis of the lymph glands. Without surgery I believe you have about three months to live!”

Warner Sallman left the office in a daze. He was concerned for the young singer who had recently became his bride and for their baby that was soon to be born.

Mrs. Sallman said, “We will pray and thank God for the three months. We will ask him to use us to the limit and if He will mercifully give us more time, we shall be grateful for it.” Together they knelt in trusting prayer.

A marvelous healing took place. Warner Sallman never needed surgery. For many years he remained in robust health, an earnest Christian dedicated to Christ.

1511 Epigram On Faithfulness

• Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my little apple tree and pay my debts.

—Martin Luther

• St. Francis of Assisi, hoeing his garden, was asked what he would do if he were suddenly to learn that he was to die at sunset that day. He said: “I would finish hoeing my garden.”