1 Corinthians 7:8-16 Each One has a Gift!

1 Corinthians 7:8-16  Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do.  But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.  To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband.  But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband.  And a husband must not divorce his wife.  To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.  And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him.  For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband.  Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.  But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so.  The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.  How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband?  Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

In the above focus we see Paul encouraging fellow believers to live as he lives, unmarried and completely committed to God.  Paul lives his life as a living sacrifice to the will of God.  Since he met Jesus in a personal way on the road to Damascus, he fell under the will of God; his life of murderous threats and anger towards others was transformed to the love of God for all people.  Paul’s commitment to God demonstrated his love for Jesus.  Jesus told his disciples that to enter the Kingdom of God and yet hang onto this world is an impossible life to live successfully as followers of Christ.  Jesus illustrates this point when talking to a wealthy young man who addresses him as good master.  “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”  (Matthew 19:16)  This man had followed the commandments and its regulations in a perfect way.  Jesus loves him because he is so dedicated to God, but he does not confirm his life as being perfect; instead, Jesus asked something of this man that he could not do: If you want to be PERFECT, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.”  (21)  The disciples immediately recognized what a difficult task it would be for humans to abandon everything in this world and follow God as perfect servants of his will.  When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”  (25)  Jesus calms their fears by saying, With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.  (26)  This statement shows us the magnitude of God’s grace for imperfect human beings.  When Jesus was put on the cross: the impossible was committed that day, the death of the Son of God.  Jesus had told the people in his Sermon on the Mount, “Be ye perfect as God is perfect.”  Of course, God giving us Jesus as the propitiation of our sins makes us perfect.  So, as Jesus said, all things are possible to God.  Now in our focus for the day, Paul is suggesting to the Corinthians to live a more perfect life is not to marry.  It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do.  Of course unmarried people are free from the entanglements of being responsible to another person.  In a marital relationship, the other person’s needs and desires are paramount in a successful union.  Marriage is a union of two made one, under an oath to God and to others.  This is a serious commitment, for it places the two in the hands of God.  Has not the one God made you?  You BELONG to him in body and spirit.  And what does the one God seek?  Godly offspring.  So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.  (Malachi 2:15)  If God accepts and sanctifies this marital relationship, then all in this relationship, including the children, are under God’s protection, his umbrella of love.  God will bless such a relationship as long as the couple are faithful to each other.  “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?  So they are no longer two, but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”  (Matthew 19:4-6)

Not all people can live as Paul lived: unmarried.  In many ways it is an unnatural life, even going against God’s command for humans to procreate, to populate the world.  Men and women are given a God-driven sexual passion, a passion necessary to produce children.  Paul is asking the Corinthians not to give in to this intrinsic biological sexual desire, to put aside their basic instinctive desire to have sex and serve God completely.  But Paul understands what he is asking and that it is an impossibility for most people, so he relents and says, I wish that all of you were as I am.  But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.  (1 Corinthians 7:7)   Peter was married, yet he carried out the will of God in his life.  He forsook everything in his life to follow God.  We must assume that his wife too forsook everything in her life to follow God, for they had been united under God’s blessings.  Under God’s blessings--divorce is not an option except for unfaithfulness.  Jesus told the disciples that Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard.  But it was not this way from the beginning.  I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.  The disciples said to him, If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.  (Matthew 19:8-10)  This statement shows the carnality of humans.  If we are straddled with just one sexual partner under our marital oath to God, should we free ourselves of this restriction by not marrying?  Jesus said, realistically under the commandment of God to procreate, men and women struggle with sexual activity.  Should they marry or not?   Should their attention in this life be completely for God in his service or should they marry and divide their attention between their partner and God?  Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given.  For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.  The one who can accept this should accept it.”  (Matthew 19:11-12)  Are you willing to live sexless lives for the kingdom of God?  That is your choice; not everyone can do that: like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.  Paul verifies this statement of Jesus about the eunuchs when he writes, each of you has your own gift from God.  If God desires you to be married, then give yourself into a marital relationship.  If you were born not to be in union with another in marriage, then live that way and thank God that you can give your whole life to God.  If your self-discipline is strong and you are willing to forgo marriage for the sake of God, do it with thankfulness and faithfulness to God only.  Paul understood well what he was asking of the Corinthians.  He also understood that the Corinthian society was lascivious and unrestrained in their sexual activity, all of it impure, without God’s blessing on it.

In Paul’s teaching about sexual activity and marriage in the Corinthian church, he is primarily focused on these new converts to know Christ in his fullness, to become rooted deeply in Christ.  Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.  See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.  (Colossians 2:6-8)  Within the Greek society, many deceptive philosophies had been taught to them from their earliest awareness.  Variant sexual practices were considered good and only natural.  Prostitution was rampant, embedded in their culture, even in their temples.  The new converts in the the Corinthian church struggled with the idea of faithfulness to one partner, for it seemed to be an unnatural requirement put on the flesh.  The Corinthian church had even allowed incest within their congregation and they boasted about it.  Paul warned them that their service to God must be stronger than their fleshly urges of sexual passion.  Because the Corinthians struggled with sexual issues as viewed by the Greek society, some were asking whether they should just forgo marriage all together, because unfaithfulness was so much a part of their culture.  Paul is saying, no, but their lives must depend on the role God has given them, some can be married and serve God wholeheartedly and some cannot serve God wholeheartedly unless they are single.  Paul wishes for the latter, but he knows this lifestyle is only for a few.  Jesus talked about a farmer (or God) sowing seed throughout the world.  Some seed fell on hard paths, such as we see in the stories of Noah and Lot.  The people in those stories were actively involved with the world.  Their agendas were too strong and prominent for them to notice the seed that was sown in their lives.  The devil quickly snatched up the seed from their lives and in both cases God judged them for their wickedness.   Other seed was sown on rocky ground where the roots could not go deeply within the soil.  They had received the Good News with joy for a while, but then in a time of testing they fell away.  Some seed fell among weeds and they sprouted, but life’s worries, riches and pleasures caused them not to mature.  This was Paul’s chief worry about the Corinthians, could they put away the sexual pleasures that they had participated in within the Greek culture?  Could they come into maturity?  Paul’s teaching about appropriate sexual behavior under the authority of God was designed to bring them into maturity so that they would produce much fruit for the kingdom of God.  He had to be rather explicit to disengage them from learned practice from their youth.  For Paul, salvation for all was his primary purpose for this teaching on sex and marriage.  He urges believers not to divorce their unbelieving mate, if their mate wishes to stay married to them.  Why?   For the salvation of their unbelieving mate.  Paul wants the unbeliever in the marriage to experience the Good News by observing the believing wife or husband.  Our friends around this breakfast table, sexual activity and sexual pursuits outside of God's will for you can damage your whole life.  Live in integrity and faithfulness with others in every part of your life.  If single, live happily in that framework; if married, likewise.  In all things, live your lives unto God, knowing his blessings, that his constant and active presence within you are for the good.  

1 Corinthians 7:1-7 Enjoy Others with Pure Hearts!

 1 Corinthians 7:1-7  Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”  But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband.  The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.  The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband.  In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.  Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer.  Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.  I say this as a concession, not as a command.  I wish that all of you were as I am.  But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.  

In this focus today we see Paul fighting against the mores of the Greeks and Romans at that time.  These Corinthians were in a Greek culture where immorality was considered normal.  Men especially had license to do many things that Christians would consider immoral.  Once a Greek woman married she was to have fidelity to her children and to her husband.  In Romans 1 we see men and women in the Roman Empire chasing after experiences of “shameful lust” activities.  Sexual activities of all kinds have been part of the human condition from the beginning and most of it not merely for procreation.  Men and women have been blessed by God with a sexual passion for each other, a God-given passion for the purpose to fill the earth with humankind for God’s glory.  God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”  (Genesis 1:28)  Sexual activity is natural, a prominent part of life.  We see in Song of Solomon the fantasizing of two young people about the other’s attractiveness: their desire to have physical intimacy wth each other.  There I will give you my love.   How beautiful and pleasant you are, O loved one, with all your delights!  (Song of Songs 7:12&6)  Love is an important part of intimacy: the desire to be bound together physically with your lover, to be one with her or him.  Paul warns Timothy as a young man to be focused on oneness with God and not on sexual activity with women.  Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts.  Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace.  Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.  (2 Timothy 2:22)  We see in the above focus that Paul has placed himself within this milieu of oneness with God.  He is recommending this lifestyle to others so that they might give themselves completely to God.  Of course this is a very unnatural lifestyle for a human being who was given by God the passion for sexual activity.  In answering a question given to him, Paul answers, It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.  He wishes that all men and women could live life as he is living life for God.  For him the purpose of his life was to spread the Good News to all, especially to the Gentiles who are caught up with all kinds of illicit sexual activity, none of which God desired for mankind from the beginning.  Paul tells these Greeks, I wish that all of you were as I am.  But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.  But some of you have the ability to not have to be solely focused as I am on God and still carry the Good News effectively to the world, so get married if it is your desire.  God can bless your lifestyle, married or not married.  

Paul’s dedication to the Lord was intense because he had been given by Jesus a special commission to preach the Good News to the whole world.  He had been blinded by Jesus for three days, and in those three days he had to consider seriously what it means to know God through the work of Jesus Christ.  Up until the road to Damascus, Paul was a virulent enemy of Jesus.  He hated this person Jesus, for Jesus to him was an apostate to the truth of knowing God through the law.  Everything Paul was, Jesus was not.  Paul was the hypocrite that Jesus spoke against.  As a rabbi Paul had deemphasized the grace and mercy of God, the weightier things of the law, and had chosen to emphasize the regulations and strictures of the law, placing the heavy burden of the Law and the rabbi’s demands rigidly on the backs of the people.  Paul was a Pharisee, the religious police of that era.  He thought true holiness was earned through complete obedience to every regulation and law that the rabbis demanded.  Now as a Christian, Paul’s previous life had been turned upside down.  The weightier things in serving God became primary in his life.  In front of the mob in Jerusalem that wanted to kill him, Paul defends himself before them by recounting his experience with the Lord, and how he became a follower of Jesus and a minister to the Gentiles.  “‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you.  And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’  “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”  (Acts 22:19-21)  When Paul told the Jerusalem Jews that he went to the immoral Greeks to teach about God, the crowd again tried to kill Paul.  The Roman garrison saved Paul’s life.  But for the Jews to hear that Paul was ministering the Good News to the wicked Gentiles was more than the crowd could accept as being good.  The Jews were quite aware of the Gentiles’ lifestyle; they knew of their sexually deviant and immoral behavior.  They knew their temples to their goddess were but brothels.  For Paul to teach about their God to such people was an anathema that could not be tolerated, so they tried to kill Paul.  Of course Paul was in the business of changing the lifestyle of the Greeks to the holiness of God.  He taught against the Greeks' sexually immoral behavior.  Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute?  Never!  Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body?  For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”  But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.  (1 Corinthians 6:15-17)  The Greeks' understanding of sexual behavior was strongly attacked by his presentation of the Good News.  He tells them that a Christian should be united in Christ, one with him in holiness.  They are to have one mate to unite with in a intimate relationship, no others.  Since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband.  The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.  The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband.  In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.  Within the sanctity of marriage, people are to engage in sexual activity.  Outside of marriage it is condemned by God and He will not bless such relationships.

Paul’s ministry about sexual relationships is based on his understanding that the Lord will come soon and that each person should dedicate his life completely to God and not be distracted by other concerns in life.  Later on in this chapter he tells the once promiscuous Greeks that the time is short.  From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them.  For this world in its present form is passing away.  (1Corinthians 7:29-31)  Paul’s life was dedicated to the Lord completely because he felt the time was short; the Lord would be coming soon to collect those who are his own.  Therefore, Paul traveled thousands of miles in the ancient world to tell them of the Good News, to prepare them for the Lord’s return.  He traveled in the lands of very immoral people, instructing them that there is a better life to live, one that is less chaotic and disruptive, a life of fidelity to one’s mate and to God.  But Paul also knows that infidelity and miscreant behavior have been part of the Jewish experience too.  The prophet Malachi cries out loudly to the Jews to come back to the Lord in fidelity to him and to their partners in marriage.  Here is another thing you do.  You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, weeping and groaning because he pays no attention to your offerings and doesn’t accept them with pleasure.  You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord accept my worship?”  I’ll tell you why!  Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young.  But you have been unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of your marriage vows.  Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife?  In body and spirit you are his.  And what does he want?  Godly children from your union.  So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth.  “For I hate divorce!” says the Lord, the God of Israel.  “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.  “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.”  (Malachi 2:13-16)  We see in this passage what Jesus said about Jewish people not staying married to another because of the coldness of their hearts.  Sexual activity is a strong component of the human existence.  If not controlled, deviant and extra marital sexual experiences will spread like a virus.  Paul had told the Corinthian church to cast out the man who was boldly living in an incestuous relationship with his mother.  Why?   Because this kind of behavior is like yeast: it will spread just as deviant sexual behavior has become a part of the Greek culture.  Paul was fearful that this unnatural behavior would destroy the fidelity of the church to others and to God.  When disobeying God and the harmony of life as He constructed it, sin becomes natural, darkness becomes accepted.  Sadly and truly, God will judge such behavior as not his will and destruction will follow.  So faithful breakfast companions, put Christ first in your life, jettison lascivious, immoral, and adulterous thoughts from your minds.  You have been bought by the precious blood of Jesus.  You are now to live his life in holiness in thoughts and actions.  When you fail, know for sure God forgives a repentant heart.  David had a contrite heart, and God counted him as very precious to him, even Jesus came from his lineage.  Accept your place in Christ and rejoice in him.      

  

         

     

        

      

 

  

 

  

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Live a Good Life!

1 Corinthians 6:18-20  Flee from sexual immorality.  All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.  Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your bodies.

In this brief focus we see Paul writing about what is a betrayal to our own bodies.  Whoever sins sexually is acting against the best interests of his or her own spiritual body, a place where God’s Spirit abides.  God’s Spirit is a place of unity, of harmony, and of peace.  An act of adultery is a betrayal of God’s Spirit, for it is an act against a direct commandment given by God on Mount Sinai: Thou shall not commit adultery.  Such an act breaks unity with God.  It breaks harmony with God, for He did not create us to participate in sexual experiences with those who are not our mates.  And within this caldron of adultery, peace within and peace outside in the community are disrupted, for solemn promises and vows were broken to his or her mate and to the community at large.  Adultery is the ultimate act of betrayal, for it hides behind deception, a demeanor of lies.  The longer the deceptive cohabitation takes place, the more damage it will caused when the evil is exposed.  The other violations of God’s commandments are outside the body:  I am the Lord thy God.  Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.  Remember to keep holy the Lord's day.  Honor thy father and mother.  Thou shall not kill.  Thou shall not steal.  Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.  All of these are diametrically against God’s holiness and perfection, but done alone without joining with anyone else to complete the act of disharmony with God’s will for humans. The act of adultery needs a coconspirator in breaking God’s perfect will for a man or woman.  Christians possess the Spirit of God within them.  Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?  If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.  (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)  This is a clear warning for those who participate in adulterous affairs.  If you destroy the holiness and sacredness of God’s place within you, God will destroy that person.  The Holy Spirit is not to be dishonored or belittled.  He is the power of God; He is the power of resurrection in each Christian.  Without him in our lives, we are void of any power that will bring us eternal life.  That is why in today’s focus Paul says,  Flee from sexual immorality.  Peter tells us, we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that we may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God; once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy.  (1 Peter 2:9-10)  Because our lives are hidden IN CHRIST, we should perform the priesthood duties of bringing praises to God.  If we are united with Christ, we should honor him within our communities by not acting on our variant sexual desires.  Peter goes on and tells Christians to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.  Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.  (1 Peter 2:11-12)  Sexual purity within a Christian or within a Christian community will bring light to an adulterous world, one where people betray each other, one where people live in lies and deception.

Sexual sins within the world are an indication of darkness and chaos.  Without fidelity, without oaths of honor, agreements, vows, treaties, and the like, the world is in a state of constant instability.  Since sexual sins are between one man and one woman, unfaithfulness in such intimate relationships can easily be seen as a precusor of greater problems within the world at-large, for if people cannot be faithful in individual, intimate relationships, they definitely will have problems working together in global circumstances.  Jesus knew the nature of mankind; He knew they were adulterous not only in their own relationships, but also to God.  When the Pharisees and Sadducees approached Jesus to perform another miraculous sign for them, Jesus identified clearly what adulterous people they were, for He had already performed many miraculous things within the community of the Jews.  These were acts that no man had done from the beginning of time; yet, they would not believe He was sent by God to them.  The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.  He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’  You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.  A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.  (Matthew 16:1-4)  Jesus saw them as not necessarily sexually immoral, but immoral to God, unfaithful to God, unwilling to bend to God’s authority.  The elite, governing Israelites were always fighting God’s authority in their lives.  In the Old Testament we see God judged the  kingdom of Israel first because of their unwillingness to serve him.  These ten tribes broke away from Judah under Jeroboam.  Jeroboam had the people in his kingdom worship Baal.  Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites.  He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar.  This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made.  (1 King 12:31-32)  Because the kingdom of Israel disobeyed God by worshipping other gods, He sent the Assyrians to war against the Israelites and carried them off to Assyria as captives.  Later on the Babylonians defeated Judah because they too were rejecting the God who rescued them out of Israel.  They too forgot their God and turned to idols.  “The sin of Judah is inscribed with an iron chisel—engraved with a diamond point on their stony hearts and on the corners of their altars.  Even their children go to worship at their pagan altars and Asherah poles, beneath every green tree and on every high hill.  (Jeremiah 17:1-2)  All twelve tribes turned to worshipping other gods, claiming that these gods had rescued them out of slavery, claiming these gods would bring prosperity and security to them, but they were wrong.  Their gods were but stone and wood, containing no power to rescue them from anything.  The Israelites of old fought God in their lives, rejected the prophets' words that God sent to them.  Now in Christ's time, they were rejecting Jesus; rather than serve him, they killed him on the cross.  The Israelites are a perfect depiction of mankind in general.  We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  (Isaiah 53:6)

Paul in the above focus is telling the Christians to flee sexual sins, for the sin of adultery is a sin against God, for we who are IN CHRIST are God’s people.  Israelites, God’s chosen, lived in adultery; they turned to many lovers.  They chose the affections of these lovers over the love of God for them.  God found them in slavery; no one wanted them, but God wanted them.  He picked them up when they were bloody and without strength.  They were as a baby abandoned at birth, but God chose them as his own and as a good father took them out of slavery and gave them a new life.  On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.  No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you.  Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised.“  ‘Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, “Live!  (Ezekiel 16:4-6).  But the Israelites betrayed God by playing wth adultery, seeking other lovers to please them.  Because of their adultery, God abandoned them to fierce nations that would enslave them, make them once more dependent on the will of men.  However, God in his everlasting love, his eternal, enduring love, brought the Israelites back to the Promised Land.  We who are now named as Christ’s own, should walk in faithfulness to God.  To seek physical sexual experiences that are out of the will of God will bring discipline, for God loves us.  It is a dangerous escapade, for it brings us in danger of losing the presence of God in our lives.  We should never forget that we were the baby in the wilderness that no one wanted.  Life had bloodied us up, but God came along through the works of Jesus to save us from eternal death.  The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  (Isaiah 53:6)  We ought not to seek the world’s lovers, to satiate the flesh’s wayward longings.  Rather we should seek the eternal love of God.  We are not to combine our flesh physically with the world’s lovers or prostitutes.  Our affections should be one-hundred-percent toward God just as his love toward us is so great that He gave his only begotten Son for our redemption.  IN CHRIST WE HAVE A NEW LIFE; old things should pass away.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:  The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)  As Christians, we should be in the business of reconciling the world to Christ.  We are to be God’s ambassadors, revealing the righteousness of God to the world.  Adultery is the very opposite of reconciliation, the very opposite of being free from the entanglements of the flesh.  Therefore as Paul says,  Flee from sexual immorality.  Instead, championing the works of Christ, as with Christ’s fidelity with God, let us be the same: ONE WITH GOD, ONE WITH CHRIST AND ONE WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.  This is your inheritance, your birthright.  Amen!    

    

 

1 Corinthians 6:9-17 Walk in the Light!

1 Corinthians 6:9-17  Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And that is what some of you were.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.  “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial.  “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.  You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.”  The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.  By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.  Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?   Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute?  Never!  Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body?  For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”  But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

God has designed the body, the universe, and the sky above to run exactly as He has ordained it.  There is no chaos or disharmony in his established existence.  In the world we know, Food for the stomach and the stomach for food.  But this world is tentative: the things of this world and all the physical preciseness of it and existence will cease someday.  The Lord God is eternal; even if heaven and earth pass away, God remains in his glory.  Eating and drinking will be gone someday.  At the present, humans and existence itself, groan to be delivered from the bondage of the penalty of sin, just as the Israelites groaned to be delivered from the heavy hand of Pharaoh.  The Bible says that Satan is the prince of the air, or that his spirit rules everywhere.  In the above focus, we see Paul excoriating the behaviors of the fleshly man and woman: immoral sexuality, worshiping idols, adultery,  sex with men, thievery, greediness, drunkeness, slandering, swindling.  In Romans 1 Paul adds many more human behaviors, thoughts and actions that are contrary to God’s will for men and women: envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossiping, insolence, arrogance, and boastfulness.  He goes on, humans lack true understanding of the world or the nature of humans; they have no steadfast fidelity, no enduring love or mercy.   All of these distort God’s image and his perfect will for humans.  God made men and women in his image and likeness.  In the beginning, man and woman were eternal, for they were holy and perfectly made.  But sin entered the world; men and women thought that their freedom from God’s authority would bring them happiness; instead, their lives became disruptive, chaotic, and evil.  Rather than live in the light of God, they lived in darkness without knowing the reason or purpose for their lives.  Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world.  If you follow me, you won’t HAVE TO walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”  (John 8:12, NLT)  The light Jesus reflected was the light of God; Adam and Eve lived in the light of God in the Garden.  Jesus said, He and God are one; when you see me, you have seen the Father, for I am the complete fulness of God.  Christians who are IN CHRIST are to image God, not evil or Satan.  We are to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  (Ephesians 3:19)  Paul reminds the Corinthians that they are IN CHRIST, washed, sanctified, justified.  They are new creatures who no longer live in darkness.  They have the Holy Spirit in their lives as the Israelites had in the wilderness: the cloud by day and the pillar of fire at night to lead them to the Promised Land or where the eternal God dwells.  All of this glorious inheritance comes through the mighty name of the Lord Jesus.  

What is in the name of Jesus?  The Lamb of God is the name of Jesus, the power of God on earth.  To escape the confines of Egypt, the burden of slavery, the children of Israel had to place the blood of a lamb around the door frames of their houses.  By doing this the angel of death would pass over their homes, allowing them to escape the death of their first born.  This was a choice they made, to follow Moses’ instructions about the Passover.  They did not HAVE TO follow Moses’ words.  They could ignore them and experience the death that would enter their houses that night.  Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb.  Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe.  None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning.  When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.  (Exodus 21-23)  This passover lamb had to be perfect with no defects.  The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.  (Exodus 12: 6)  When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  (John 1:29)  Two of John’s disciples left John’s side and followed Jesus that day, for they knew the Passover Lamb of God was to set people free from the household of slavery.  John knew that Jesus was sent by God, for he heard the voice of God when he baptized Jesus in the Jordan River.  From that day on, Jesus would perform the works of his Father.  He would heal, cast out demons, turn water into wine, feed thousands from just a few loaves of bread and some fish, and tame nature by telling the wind to calm down.  Jesus would walk on water and teach with authority the eternal words of God.  He demonstrated that He was the Son of God.  Jesus’ life of miraculous happenings frustrated the religious leaders of that time.  Because of Jesus breaking the Sabbath, they thought of Jesus as being the son of the devil and not of God.  Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?  Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father.  But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.  (John 10:36-38)  The leaders of the Israelites were jealous of Jesus’ popularity with the people.  They hated Jesus and constantly sought to kill him.  The religious leaders were functioning outside of God’s will for them.  They supposedly followed their father Abraham by insisting on the laws of Moses to be evident in the Jewish community, but they were not much more than religious police, unwilling to show the Jews the reality of God’s mercy and grace for those He loved.  They definitely were not in unity with God’s  purpose for the human race.  Now in the above focus, we see Paul warning the Corinthian church of being out-of-step with the will of God because of their fleshly lives.  They were uniting their spirits with the spirit of the world just as a man who unites himself with a prostitute.  Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute?  The obvious answer is, no.  Of course not, a Christian is to be united with God.  Whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

Our actions, thoughts, and deeds are to be in harmony with God’s perfection.  Jesus ends his teaching on the Mount, saying for us to be perfect as God is perfect.  “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?  Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even pagans do that?  BE PERFECT, therefore, as your Heavenly FATHER IS PERFECT.  (Matthew 5:43-48)  We must be united with God in spirit, completely enveloped by him in our actions and thoughts.  God’s words are perfect and last forever.  When God gave the Israelites the law, He gave them a way to perfection, but sin interrupted the purpose of his words.  Paul proclaims that no one can be completely obedient to the laws and regulations given to Moses on Mount Sinai.  James says to us that if we prefer some people over others in the congregation of God when we seat them, we are breaking the perfection of God’s will for us.  Therefore, we are not perfect.  God’s words are eternal and they are meant to be followed.  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.  (Matthew 5:17-18)  God’s words can be considered as being on a eternal continuum.  They will never cease or be taken back.  They must be fulfilled.  Paul is a good example of this.  He was a murderer; he had a murderous heart.  Moses too was a murderer; he killed an Egyptian.  David also committed murder.  If God says, you cannot murder, does He take those words back because he loved Paul, David and Moses.  No, his words are eternal; righteousness is eternal, holiness is eternal; God’s words go on forever and must be fulfilled.  But now we see the Lamb of God entering the picture.  He will fulfill God’s words by substituting himself on the cross for the act of murder by Paul, David, and Moses.  He will complete the continuum of God’s eternal words by placing himself into those everlasting words.  God is not a liar; Jesus’ price on the cross pays the price for all law breakers, so that we as lawbreakers can be considered PERFECT as God IS PERFECT.  We are no longer under condemnation or judgment from God because the price for our sins has been paid in full.  Jesus gave his life as a ransom for many.”  (Matthew 20:28)  Therefore breakfast companions, be in unity with Christ in everything you do; please the Father God in words, actions and thoughts.  We pray that we, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  (HIS PERFECTION, NOT OURS.)  (Ephesians 3:14-19)  God bless you as you walk in the fullness of God today, rooted and established in his love.  

1 Corinthians 6:1-9 Display Your Light!

1 Corinthians 6:1-9  If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people?  Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world?  And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?  Do you not know that we will judge angels?  How much more the things of this life!  Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church?  I say this to shame you.  Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?  But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!  The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already.  Why not rather be wronged?  Why not rather be cheated?  Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters.  Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Paul is writing to a church that is very carnal in nature.  They are born-again believers but still functioning in the old nature of the flesh.  They are fighting about who should be their spiritual leader.  The Corinthians are heavily involved with selfish pursuits.  They are suing each other over trivial matters in secular courts.  In the gospel of John, we read this kind of lifestyle is worldly and will be judged by God for its foundation is the carnal activity of the fleshly world.  Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.  (1 John 2:15-17)   Paul knows this self-willed behavior of the congregants has split the church.  Rather than being in unity with their fellow brethren, they have chosen the waywardness of the flesh, consumed by self-interests, selfish pursuits, greediness, and jealousy.  In their disputations with each other, they have dimmed the light of God in a nascent church of the Living God.  They are emulating the world that is incessantly fighting and bickering, even going to battle over issues that should have been solved by other ways.  In the environment of the institution of the church, the nature of Oneness IN CHRIST should be seen by the world.  Christians know that Jesus the Son and the Father function as ONE, together in directions, goals or desires.  In Jesus’ prayer about the disciples He says, “My prayer is not for them alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be ONE, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  (John 17: 20-21)  Christians are people of faith in God’s goodness and love through their faith in Jesus Christ and his works; they are to be ONE IN CHRIST, hidden IN HIM, possessing the characteristic of the family of God.  In the Corinthian church we see disputation over leadership, the condition of suing each other in secular courts, and open sin, such as incest.  Rather than being the light of God, they are displaying much of the corruption and contamination of the flesh.  Paul is fearful for them because God will judge a wayward church severely, for such a church brings shame on the message of salvation through Jesus’ name.  Paul reminds them that at the end of time, they will even judge angels.  Do you not know that we will judge angels?  How much more the things of this life!  He wants to know, why are you letting the nonessentials of this present life break unity within the church?  The things of this life should not be considered so important, for faith in Jesus gives eternal life to you now.  You are presently living a life that will never cease!  God has forgiven you of your sins.  You are his children, so grow up and take hold of the eternal life God has given you.   

Sadly, the heart is deceitful and betrays our reality of eternal life now.  The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?  (Jeremiah 17:9)  The Corinthian church struggled with the understanding that they are new creatures who should be living for Christ and not for themselves.  They were functioning as infants in this new life, needing milk rather than the meat of the gospel.  They needed to be reminded of who they really are IN CHRIST.  Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.  (John 1:12-13)  As children of God and as members of the family of God, the responsibility of revealing God's goodness and love rested on them.  Jesus said Christians are lights to the world.  Therefore, Corinthian believers should display that light to the world, not obfuscate it under the darkness of fleshly living.  They must remember the basic facts of being a Christian.  Paul tells Timothy.  Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.  This is my gospel,  for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal.  But God’s word is not chained.  Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.  Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him.  If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.  (2 Timothy 2:8-11)  The Corinthians are free in Christ, but they also must die to the endeavors of the flesh.  Without dying to the pursuits of the old life, they will not reign with Christ.  Their new lives ought to be entrenched in Christ and his purposes.  Paul says he endures everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.  Paul is now asking the Corinthians to forgo or endure the wrongdoing that has been perpetrated against them in this life.  Why not rather be wronged?   Why not rather be cheated?  For the elect's sake move on in your life--do not ask for the justice you might deserve in the court of law.  Jesus tells the crowd that it is best to solve your disputes between each other before you go to court.  He is talking to the unredeemed, but He advises them to seek peace rather than perfect justice.  “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?  As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way, or your adversary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.  I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”  (Luke 12:57-59)  In the Christian environment, Paul is advising the Corinthians who have eternal life, just allow the injustice to stand.  Your eternal life is much more important than any victory you might win in a secular court .

Anger towards another Christian or even disputes with people in the secular world are very dangerous in the eyes of the Lord.  “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’  But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.  Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court.  And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.  (Mathew 5:21-22)  As with murder, uncontrollable anger is subject to judgment.  God does not allow that kind of behavior to go unnoticed in the annals of your life.  In the court system of the world, it is dangerous to display uncontrolled anger: judgment will fall on such words.  To say Raca to someone, (empty-headed, vain or worthless) will reap correction or judgment from the courts of justice.  Anger carries judgment with it.  To say someone is a fool is a statement that can bring the fire of hell upon you.  Paul is telling the Corinthian church that anger, disputation, conflict, quarreling are not something that should be found in the church of the living God.  These kinds of behaviors display the works of the flesh.  They do not indicate the presence of the Spirit; they reveal clearly the infiltration of the fleshly nature in the born-again believer.  Such behavior will be judged.  Since Paul is the founder of the Corinthian church, he wants them to be aware of their betrayal of God’s nature.  If they continue in their fleshly ways, his work with them will be of no avail.  His fear is that they will fall under the devil’s persuasive ways completely, living only under the influence of their flesh.  Rather than battle others in the church, they should be sensitive to making things right with the loved ones of God.  Jesus tells us how sensitive Christians should feel towards others who believe that we have done something wrong to them.  He tells people not to offer gifts to God before they make things right with other people who believe they have been wronged.  “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.  First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.  (Mathew 5:23-24)   Paul realizes the Corinthian divisions even affect the church in their communion services.  They are unaware that their disunity causes them to dishonor the body of Christ when they participate in taking the sacraments together as Christ’s body.  Their lack of discerning the wholeness of the body of Christ is detrimental to the health of the church.  So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.  Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.  For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.  (1 Corinthians 11:27-29)  Our breakfast companions open your hearts and minds to the necessity of being One in Christ.  Be open to seeking unity before you seek God in these circumstances.  Jesus said, BEFORE YOU SERVE GOD WITH A GIFT, FIND YOUR BROTHER WHO BELIEVES YOU HAVE WRONGED HIM AND MAKE IT RIGHT.  Then you are discerning the body of Christ correctly.  Often people fight each other by using the Bible against other believers or a special revelation they have had from God.  But God says, a true believer will first go to the person who feels he or she has been hurt by the person's words or stance and make it right.  Jesus says, make it right with the person whom you are in conflict with.  The world is full of conflicts, battles, wars.  This is the darkness of the world; we should not engage in this kind of behavior.  Instead we should seek peace, kindness, gentleness, love, and grace.  We should be LIGHTS in a very dark world.  We know you will seek to shine brightly, for you are children of the living God WHO POSSESS THE NATURE OF GOD’S GOODNESS AND MERCY.        

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 Find Peace!

1 Corinthians 5:9-13  I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters.  In that case you would have to leave this world.  But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler.  Do not even eat with such people.  What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?  Are you not to judge those inside?  God will judge those outside.  “Expel the wicked person from among you.”

Paul is upset with the Corinthian church for allowing immoral behavior: incest, to exist openly in their congregation.  Paul expresses to them something these Greek believers knew was true: this kind of sin is not even acceptable within the secular world.  The sin of incest within their fellowship is not hidden, but openly known by the believers.  The law of Moses’ states that  A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not dishonor his father’s bed.  (Deuteronomy 22:30)  This kind of behavior interferes with the harmony of existence, how God designed the world and the cosmos.  We see life on earth, existing in an environment that is precise and integrated.  Our bodies function cell by cell in harmony, in unity.  We have everything needed within our bodies to sustain life.  Life on earth functions in a designed environment for the benefit of biological existence.  When people practice incest in their society, they open themselves to some damaging consequences for their offspring: lower intelligence or intellectual disability, heart dysfunctions,  auto-immune problems, physical deformities, and so on.  Paul is saying that incest is outside of God’s desire for men and women.  Such sin will bring dire consequences.  When people do not serve the living God, they fall into adverse, troubling and destructive behaviors that destroy the well-being and harmony of existence.  Paul enumerates many of them in Romans 1: every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.  People's deviant behavior outside of God’s design for them causes them to be gossipers, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful.  They invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.  (Romans 1:29-31)  As with incest, all of this kind of behavior and action are categorized as sin.  None of them contain the nature of God: harmony, peace, love and mercy.  All of this iniquity separates man from God permanently.  All disruption to God’s design for mankind and his existence will be judged harshly.  Paul is telling the Greek Christians that disharmony with God's will brings death.  Therefore, they should not associate with the deeds of death, but with God’s life-giving Spirit.  The Way, the Truth and the Life which is found only in the fellowship of Christ.  Paul tells them not to allow darkness to abide in their community without judgement on sinners' wayward behavior, not to associate with sexually immoral people.  If the person’s  sin is outward and brazen, Expel the wicked person from among you.

Of course in the world we will be involved with people who do not know God or do not want to know God.  Atheists, agnostics and sinners will work with us, associate with us, maybe even be our friends.  Some people will carry the tag on them that God has assigned to them.  The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”  They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is not one of them that does good.  (Psalm 14:1)  God includes all people in this category who are without the willingness to know God.  The Bible says all people have gone astray from God; all people are lost sheep without the Shepard in their lives.  Paul tells the Corinthian believers they are sheep in God’s fold: they are living under God’s protection and guidance; therefore, they should not entertain yeast that comes into the fold.  Yes, they should love the people, but not fellowship in their sinful lifestyle, for yeast has a property that is very viral.  It will infect anything and everything that comes into contact with it.  Outside of the fold, Christians live most of their lives, but Christians also have the Holy Spirit, the power of God protecting their existence.  We see this in Jesus’s time; in the wilderness, He was tempted by Satan.  Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness after He was baptized in water.  The Holy Spirit had descended on him at that time.  He now possessed the power and leading of God in his life.  He will be exposed to Satan’s direct intervention.  Satan’s voice will be real and compelling to the flesh.  But Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, will combat the words of Satan with the Holy Scriptures.  The devil is helpless when the scriptures are used against him, for they express the voice of God. so he goes away for a season.  We too, who journey every day into the wilderness of life have the Spirit of God powerfully in us.  We have the power to not be influenced by the sins and activities of men and women.  We carry the tag on us placed by God as the children of God.  We are eternal beings and we know it as a reality in our lives.  I keep my eyes always on the Lord.  With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.  Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.  You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.  (Psalm 16:8-11)  We are IN GOD AND HE IS IN US, whether we are in the work place or at home.  He will never leave us even in death.  We will always be in the presence of the Lord, but we should not bring within the Tabernacle of our hearts or the church community the influence of sin.  Paul is telling the Corinthians that in the church of the living GOD, they should not be fellowshipping with people who are openly INVOLVED in sin: sexually immoral, greedy, idolaters, slanderers, drunkards, swindlers.  Do not bring the yeast of the world into the community of believers.

The God of the cosmos is holy, orderly and precise.  All that is made comes from his hand, from his existence.  Nothing exists outside of him and no aberration of his nature of love and mercy will exist without judgment.  Sin is adverse to God’s authority, his nature of holiness, goodness and love.  Mankind was made in God’s image so we have been given freedom to choose our lifestyle.  Eve chose self over God’s authority; Adam chose his own self-will over God’s existence.  Because of the uniqueness of MANKIND MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD, not as the angels, we were cast out of the Garden, where before sin we possessed eternal life. The glory of God was given to us from the beginning and that glory is wrapped up in the word, eternal.  We were initially given the privilege to be like God, to have his glory of eternal life.  But that was terminated because of sin; the crown of eternal life was taken off our heads.  So since that time, we are dust that will return to dust at our demise.  Paul is now telling the Corinthians, remember who you are IN CHRIST. You are eternal, so do not associate with the deeds of death--judge this man who is embedded in incest.  In and through Jesus, we know of God’s great love towards all people, even those who are his enemies.  We see Jesus approaching Jerusalem to be crucified by the Romans.  The people who greet him as He is moving towards Jerusalem are Jews who are crying Hosanna in the Highest, expecting Jesus to deliver them from the bondage of Rome.  But Jesus fails their expectations.  He is presented to them by Pilate as just a weak, frail man, no power to overcome the authority of Rome.  We find them in Jesus’ last hours, yelling to Pilate, Crucify Him.  Jesus knew this would happen to him, for Jesus did not trust the words and the honor of people.  Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.  But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.  He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.  (John 2:23-25)  As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, He weeps.  “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.   The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.  They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls.  They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”  (Luke 19:41-44)  Jesus knew the people who are greeting him now, and those in Jerusalem will scream, Crucify him!  But He loves them and knows they will be crushed by the Roman legions.  Their temple will be torn down, and they will be slain by the thousands.  He weeps for them out of his great love for them.  Paul’s love for the man who is contaminating the Corinthian church with his sin is strong.  He beseeches the believers to pray for the man's death so that his soul will be saved.  Pray that he will find peace with God.  This is the Good News that the disciples were to preach in every land: peace with God.  Peter realizes what this commission means when God offers the Good News to Cornelius, a Roman officer in Caesarea.  “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.  You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of PEACE through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.  (Acts 10:34-36)  When the Roman officer and his household were offered the Good News, the peace with God, the whole household was filled with the Holy Spirit.  When they accepted the Good News of faith in Jesus Christ, peace came to them through the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  Now Paul is telling the Corinthian church, establish peace once again in your midst.  Do not let a disruptive spirit interfere with your peace IN GOD.  This man caught in the sin of incest repented, and his soul was saved.  The Corinthian church was not perfect, as we all are not perfect, but the harmony of God, the design of God for each of us is that we have peace with God, so there is no division between us and God.  Let that peace dwell richly in you today.  Love, Dad and Mom