5 Imperatives in 1 Corinthians
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Intro
Intro
Looking at the closing of 1 Corinthians.
To set the stage a little, Paul wrote this letter to address several of the problems this church was facing. No other church that Paul wrote to had this many problems.
There’s a total of 29 chapters between 1 and 2 Corinthians. 29 chapters of rebuke and admonishment, all done in love, to straighten them out.
Be Watchful
Be Watchful
The Greek word is Gregoreo and it means to be awake. Most lexicons tell us that is has an emphesis of being “really awake” or “really alert”. You know what’s going on and what to look for.
What was the Corinthian church doing?
For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.
Paul says, “When you come everybody takes before the other his own supper. One is hungry and another is” what?! “drunk.”
Paul says, “When you come everybody takes before the other his own supper. One is hungry and another is” what?! “drunk.”
They were getting drunk. The opposite of being alert.
One of the reasons that you shouldn’t get drunk is that when you are drunk you are no longer alert to what’s going on around you. Even more important, you aren’t alert to your Christian life or to spiritual matters. You are not alert to Satan. You are not alert to temptation. You aren’t alert to anything. That’s why you should never take in anything that brings you under it’s power and blinds you from being watchful.
Although they were getting physically drunk, Paul here is really talking about the spiritual.
Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
The people where in a state of spiritual stupor. They were the opposite of being spiritually alert. Paul says they have no knowledge of God. Here’s what he’s talking about.
“Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” You can let sin in the congregation without it affecting everyone.
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
You can let sin in the congregation without it affecting everyone.
“Don’t you judge those in your midst?” Don’t you examine people to see if they are adding or taking away from the fellowship?
For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?
Don’t you examine people to see if they are adding or taking away from the fellowship?
1 Co 6:2 “Don’t you know that the saints will judge in the kingdom?” Why don’t you take care of your matters in the way that God has really granted you authority to do rather than take them before a pagan judge? Don’t you know you can’t let leaven in? Don’t you know you’re supposed to judge sin in your midst? Don’t you know that God has given you the authority to judge in the kingdom? You certainly ought to be able to take care of affairs here and not drag them into pagan law courts.
Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?
“Don’t you know that the saints will judge in the kingdom?”
Don’t you know you can’t let leaven in? Don’t you know you’re supposed to judge sin in your midst? Don’t you know that God has given you the authority to judge in the kingdom? You certainly ought to be able to take care of affairs here and not drag them into pagan law courts.
In 1 Co 6:3 he says, “Don’t you know that we shall judge angels?” Don’t you know what a high calling we have before God and we ought to be able to settle our own problems? 1 Cor 6:5 “Is there nobody wise among you?”
Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!
“Don’t you know that we shall judge angels?” Don’t you know what a high calling we have before God and we ought to be able to settle our own problems?
I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers,
1 Cor 6:5 “Is there nobody wise among you?”
“Is there nobody wise among you?”
“Don’t you know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?”
“Don’t you know that your bodies are the members of Christ?”
“Don’t you know that if you're joined to a harlot you are one flesh with that harlot?”
“Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?”
The problem was that they didn’t know. They weren’t alert. They weren’t grounded in the Word. That’s why Paul says:
Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
We can learn from the letter here. So, what should we be watching for? (only a few things)
Temptation - “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation”
False Teachers
Lord’s Return - “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”
What else can or should we be watching for?
Stand Firm in the Faith
Stand Firm in the Faith
The Greek work is Steko and hearing it makes me think of a stake in the ground. Driving it down where it won’t be moved - it’s firm
What were the Corinthians doing? Were they standing firm?
They weren’t standing firm at all. They were blowing in the breeze when it cam to basic truths. Let me show you one
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
There were some denying the resurrection of Christ. The high point of the Gospel. Without Christ being raised, as Paul says, we are still dead in our sins.
“Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?”There were some denying the resurrection of Christ. The high point of the Gospel. Without Christ being raised, as Paul says, we are still dead in our sins.They were also letting human wisdom stand on the same level as God’s revelation. That’s why Paul tells them in 3:18 “If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.” Basically substract your human wisdom and what’s left is wisdom from God. We are told several times to stand firm. Told here and in , , , and “12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, stand.”How do we stand firm? - by being in the Word. Take up the armor of God - through His Word.
We are told several times to stand firm. Told here and in , , , and “12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, stand.”
How do we stand firm? - by being in the Word. Take up the armor of God - through His Word. We can’t stand firm in truth or faith if we don’t know what it is. It’s a daily things - not once...
Act Like Men
Act Like Men
We’ve covered Be Alert and Stand Firm - what is commanded next?
What do you think it means to be a man? How do we act like men?
NKJV reads “be brave”
You could even read this as “Don’t act like children”
NKJV - “be brave” - typically courage comes with maturity. Adults aren’t normally scared of the dark as a child might be.
Maturity. You typically see immature people cower when trouble comes. Mature people are “brave” as the NKJV reads. Spiritually mature people know how to deal with conflict. Mature Christians don’t get tossed about. Spiritually mature people are courageous or brave.
Look at what Paul says a couple chapters back.
Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
Paul couldn’t share more advanced teaching or deeper theological truths since they didn’t even have the foundation. They were like children - like babies.
so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
We’re told in Ephesians that we’ve been given resources (teachers, evangelists, pastors, etc.) so that we don’t continue acting like children.
I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,
How do we act like men? How do we develop maturity?
How do we act like men? How do we develop maturity?
We know how to be alert - Know the Word
We know how to stand firm - be grounded in the Word
How do we act like men? How do we develop spiritual maturity? It’s the same. Get in the Word of God. It won’t happen overnight. It’s a process, but it all happens when you dedicate yourself to God’s Word and His truth.
Be Strong
Be Strong
This is the only verb in this list that’s actually passive in the Greek. Passive, I mean, in that it’s not something we can actually do on our own. We are being acted upon.
The better way to read this is instead of “Be Strong” - is “Be Strengthened” or “Become Strong”
How do we be strengthened? Who strengthens us?
Isaiah 40:32
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Our strength comes from waiting on the Lord - He strengthens us. Why is that? verse 28 gives us the answer...
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
We derive our strength from God because He is the one of unending strength. He outlasts all creation and is the source of all creation and strength. We all wait on Him and depend upon Him. Where creation has a starting and stopping point, God does not.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
The source of our strength is “His might”
Do Everything in Love
Do Everything in Love
The last thing that really ties everything together is the demand that we do everything in love.
So much could be said about this and chapter 13 gives us that great definition of love that we hear at weddings all over.
Ultimately though, Jesus said it best in
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
In everything that we do, we ought to be displaying love to either God, our neighbor, or both. It’s simple to say, but, as we know, it’s hard in practice.
If the church in Corinth had followed just this one command then most of their problems wouldn’t have ever occured. Their discord with one another would have resolved itself. In the same vein, if we don’t love one another, we’re in for a world of trouble. Everything we do must be done in love.
Where do we get love?
The first 3 commands here come from the Word and the 4th one comes from the Spirit. Let’s see where this one comes from:
galatians 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
The Holy Spirit can make us become loving people by surrendering our lives to Christ on a daily basis. It’s the Spirit and the Word combined. Working together to produce love within us.
The Holy Spirit can make us become loving people by surrendering our lives to Christ on a daily basis.
Tying it all together
Tying it all together
5 imperative commands. Demands on the part of the Holy Spirit. Not optional, but necessary for us to carry our the Christian walk. Be alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong, and do everything in love.
These things are manifested through the Word and through the Holy Spirit.