Gospel Holiness

Introduction

Chapter 8 - What can I do?

Gospel Freedom:

Does it violate clear teachings in the Bible?

Does my conscience condemn it?

Will it lead me toward a Jesus-first life?

Will it lead those around me toward a Jesus-first life?

Chapter 9 - Why should I do the things I do?

Remember what you are truly entitled to.

Submit your freedoms for the sake of the gospel.

Do ALL things to win some.

Chapter 10 - What should I do?

In Chapter 8, Paul is agreeing with some of the Corinthians regarding their freedom in Christ; however, we are do exercise that freedom while loving our neighbor.

Chapter 9 has a digression pointing out Paul’s motivation and what our motivation should be as well.

Chapter 10 - Paul is returning to the matter at hand - eating meat sacrificed to idols.

By way of reminder, (eating meat sacrificed to idols)

‘OK Paul, I now know how to discern what I CAN do with my gospel freedom, and I know that all of it should be tempered with a desire to see the people around me drawn toward Christ, but with all that in mind, what SHOULD I do?

Church Legalism:

Can’t miss a Sunday

No movies

No pants (for women)

No facial hair for men in leadership

Shirts tucked in

Refusing to help carry boxes because they once held alcohol

No playing cards

No ‘Rock’ music

No makeup, no hair cutting, no work outside the home

How you hold a microphone

“Legalism—a perversion of holiness that masquerades as morality—can look and feel godly, respectable, virtuous, and beneficial.”

https://research.lifeway.com/2019/05/28/9-signs-your-church-is-a-breeding-ground-for-legalism/

Do you ever wrestle with your spiritual “shoulds?”

Do you ever have this unsettled guilt that you ‘should’ be doing more in your walk with Christ?

Maybe you feel the ‘shoulds’ because you hear the ‘shoulds’ from people around you.

Maybe you feel you’ve heard so many Christian ‘shoulds’ that you are sick of the church and Christians telling you what you should do that you want to do the opposite but you don’t want to be ungodly in the process.

How do you remove unnecessary guilt, receive grace, and not become ungodly?

What should you do?

1 Corinthians 10:1–5 (ESV)

1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

1 Corinthians 10:6–13 (ESV)

6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

God is serious about holiness.

Warning!

“Now these things took place as an example. . . happened to them as an example. . . take heed”

There were those in Israel who looked like they followed God but in fact were led to follow idols.

Warning for us today - There are some who:

- go to church

- give to the church

- look and act like Christians, yet they do not life a Jesus-first life. They instead follow an idol.

Religion doesn’t save you. But before we, in our pews, all nod our heads, let us remember:

Neither does religion sanctify you.

But his point in all this must not be missed: just as God did not tolerate Israel’s idolatry, so he will not tolerate the Corinthians’. We deceive ourselves if we think he will tolerate ours.

— The First Epistle to the Corinthians (A. The Example of Israel (10:1–5))

Idols - We need to be careful not to try to make a 1:1 comparison with ‘idols of today.’

“What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give…

An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I ‘ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” There are many ways to describe that kind of relationship to something, but perhaps the best one is worship.”

—Tim Keller on pages xvii and xviii of Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters

I highly doubt any of us have a gold statue out back that we bow down to. Often I will hear that today’s idols are money, cars, possessions.

However, in ANE and 1st C idols were worshiped not because of its physical nature (‘Wow, look at this idol!’) but because of what they can give.

The worship of the idol was to get something from the idol - good health, a child, good crops, etc. which ultimately fed selfish motives — become a parent, more powerful, more prestigious, rich, etc.

Tim Keller on top three idols in Western Church:

Experience (looking to feelings, intuition, own will to be guide instead of God.)

Doctrine (dogmatics - if you have the doctrine right, then you must be mature - if you don’t, then you must be immature)

Consumerism (my felt needs become more important than the community)

https://www.gospelrelevance.com/2015/05/04/tim-keller-on-idols-in-western-churches-today/

I might add a few more:

4. Style?

5. Politics

Don’t bring your idol into church!!

Better yet, root it out of your heart.

[Gideon knocking over his father’s altar to Baal]

1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV)

13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Good news while you root it out:

1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV)

13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

This is in the context of idol-worship not donut-eating.

See how much greater this understanding makes this verse!

You will NOT be overwhelmed by your temptations and tendencies that want to lead you away from Jesus.

Are you here today and feel defeated in your walk with Jesus?

You can do it!!

“The Corinthians must be made to understand that they run no risk of sinning and falling away from the faith, if they have only to encounter the temptations God allots to them, but that they have no pledge of victory whatever in the case of temptations into which they throw themselves with light-heartedness.

— Godet, 69-70

Paul’s point, then, is that in ordinary human trials one can expect divine aid. There is no danger of “falling” here. But it is otherwise with idolatry. The “way out” in that case is simply put: “Therefore, flee idolatry.

Fee, G. D. (1987). The First Epistle to the Corinthians (pp. 461–462). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

You can’t expect divine aid if you are looking to the wrong god.

You can’t expect God’s help if you are staring at an idol.

1 Corinthians 10:14–22 (ESV)

14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

(and in so doing pursue holiness)

Fleeing idolatry (rightly understood) points you in the direction to pursue holiness.

15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God.

I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

Nothing you do is neutral, and everything you do is spiritual.

God is serious about holiness and everything you do is either walking toward an idol or God.

Romans 1:24–25 (ESV)

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

You only have options to worship the creation or the Creator.

Paul agrees there is only one God;

1 Corinthians 8:4 (ESV)

4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.”

However, he also knows you can’t be neutral.

‘participants’ = sharer, partner - from koinonia (fellowship)

This Present Darkness

“I do not think you will have much difficulty in keeping your patient in the dark. The fact that ‘devils’ are predominantly comic figures in the modern imagination will help you. If any faint suspicion of your existence begins to arise in his mind, suggest to him a picture of something in red tights, and persuade him that since he cannot believe in that (it is an old textbook method of confusing them) he therefore cannot believe in you.” — Screwtape Letters

Because of all this:

Personally pursue holiness; give grace to others.

1 Corinthians 10:23–33 (ESV)

23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. 24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. 25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 26 For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” 27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— 29 I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience? 30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

Knowledge and rights lead to pride; they are ultimately non-Christian because the bottom line is selfishness—freedom to do as I please when I please. Love and freedom lead to edification; they are ultimately Christian because the bottom line is the benefit of someone else—that they may be saved (v. 33)

The First Epistle to the Corinthians (4. On the Eating of Marketplace Food (10:23–11:1))

Personally pursue holiness; give grace to others.

Holiness vs Legalism

Legalism:

Takes personal convictions or corporate policies and turns them into a test for authentic Christianity or spiritual maturity.

Takes something God never said and says, ‘Thus says the Lord.’

Legalism condemns what God never condemns and demands what God never demands.

Legalism is concerned with external compliance whereas holiness is focused on internal character.

It’s important to note that legalism usually begins with misdirected holiness.

Mark 3

Test to see if you are a legalist:

Close your eyes and imagine a godly person. How would you describe this person?

What is he wearing? What does she say? Where does he go?

Now, how many of those things you would use to describe this person are explicitly found in Scripture?

The antidote to legalism is grace and the opposite of legalism is holiness.

Christian freedom is not a license to see how close you can get to the line of sin. We have Christian freedom because we have the Holy Spirit (instead of the external law) to help us stay as far away from the line as possible.

The answer (to ‘What should we do’) is neither legalism nor ‘leave-ism;’ it’s holiness.

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

Ask if what you do points to God’s glory, expresses His grace, and advances the gospel.

Ask (yourself) if what you do points to God’s glory, expresses His grace, and advances the gospel.

What SHOULD you do — live to bring God glory in all you do. In other words, be holy.

Notice how the implication of this verse is not legalism because it is set in the context of freedom.

Holiness is being set apart from not ‘being apart from.’

You can live holy, not be legalistic, and be both respected and attractive for the gospel.

When people see an authentic person with morals and standards (even if they are different from their own), they generally give respect and usually want to know how to be so sure of life for themselves.

When people see someone who judges them for not meeting a standard they don’t hold, respect is lost and so is a gospel voice.

How can you describe grace if you can’t show it?

Satan doesn’t care which side of the log you fall off — he just wants you off the log.

2 Types of people here today:

lean toward legalism

rule-follower

you can easily identify those who are ‘not mature Christians’ because you have made a standard.

you look down on those who are not as polished.

directed inward - guilt

directed outward - proud

lean toward license

you want to see how close to the line you can get without stepping over.

You can’t wait to tell a legalist about your freedom (or show)

directed inward - unspiritual

directed outward - proud

Ask if what you do points to God’s glory, expresses His grace, and advances the gospel.