1 Corinthians 8:1-13 Do Good Works!

 1 Corinthians 8:1-13  Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.”  But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.  Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.  But whoever loves God is known by God.  So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.  But not everyone possesses this knowledge.  Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.  But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.  Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.  For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols?   So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.  When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

This is an interesting chapter because Paul is telling us as Christians who possess knowledge about the truth of the gospel, we should be careful how we deal with the weaker brethren in our fellowship of believers.  Sometimes our knowledge can be used as a cudgel to hamper or destroy people who are not as far along in their belief in Christ.  To destroy or criticize others about their ignorance of THE WAY can lead Christians away from Christ and not towards him.  We must be careful of thinking we know absolutely God’s mind about everything, for that kind of assurance in our own knowledge can do little more than puff us up.  But if we love others with a servant's heart, with sacrificial love, we can reveal the love of God to them, his everlasting, enduring love even to those who struggle with worshiping idols or other ideas about God.  The mature or maybe the knowledgeable Christian should always hold to the idea that whoever loves God is known by God.  In the Greek community the norm for a spiritual life was to believe in many “gods” and many “lords.  Idol worship was the customary way of serving their many gods.  Prominent in idol worship was the idea that you must work to please the gods; you must show your dedication to them by praying, bowing at their images, and giving them the gifts they desired, such as food and flowers.  Without these good works, you were alienated from the affections and blessings of the gods they served.  In this chapter Paul cautions Christians who know the truth not to be too harsh on the weaker brethren, for the truth is, It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.   For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  (Ephesians 2:8-10)  The Christian Greeks are emerging out of a society that is burdened with the necessity of good works to please their gods.  For them to step over the idea of works to please a god to a God of mercy and grace is a difficult transition for them.  However, Christianity, for the weak or the strong is that there is one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.  And this one and only true God loves them and desires to have fellowship with them, but only faith facilitates this relationship with the one and only true God, not works.    

Paul was raised under the Mosaic law that says clearly, You shall have no other gods before me.  “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.  (Exodus 20:3-6)  Paul understood well the darkness of idol worship.  He knew the Israelites had been judged harshly by God because of falling into this darkness.  Now, we see Paul saying to the Christians to be careful about judging the weaker brethren, do not be so harsh with them that you destroy them with your better understanding of how to serve God.  What is important in these weaker brethren is their love for God.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)  Have they fallen in love with Christ, are they now the children of the living God because of their love for God?  What is essential in their lives as Christians is their love for Christ, not their understanding of some things.  Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.  But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.  Paul does not appreciate any aspect of idol worshiping, so he knows it is the devil's tool to keep people from worshiping the one and only God, but he does not want the untrained, the unlearned believer to be destroyed by your knowledge.  For Christians are not to get in the way of the Holy Spirit.  He will teach people who love the Lord a better way to know God and how to live in this world successfully.  But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away.  Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.  When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.  (John 16:7-11)  Paul is telling the more mature Christian who might be puffed up with his or her knowledge of how to come to God by faith, not to get in the way of God’s work through the Holy Spirit who abides in each Christian.  Yes, teaching is necessary in the church of the living God, but condemnation and criticism are not the way to mature people in faith.  Paul is warning the Christians to encourage faith in Christ, not to crush people’s faith by explaining the reality of idol worshiping.  Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill.  He also warms himself and says,“Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.  ”From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships.  He prays to it and says, “Save me!  You are my god!”  (Isaiah 44:16-17)  Yes, idol worshiping is crazy and it has no spiritual reality, but those who had been immersed in that culture all their lives struggle with cutting themselves away from such a belief.  

       Today idol worshiping is strange to most of us.  We see clearly that worshiping idols has no spiritual reality in it.  Yet, where our affections are in life can be classified as our idols.  Where do we go to find the meaning of life?  What are we substituting for God in our lives?  The Greeks were substituting the material things of this world for God; images made out of stone, wood, precious metals.  Today we have a society based largely on material things.  We revolve around our material possessions, our electronics, our activities, giving little thought to serving the CREATOR  OF ALL THINGS.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  (John 1:1-5)   Paul says even though we Christians know God and the meaning of life, we should not be too harsh with weaker Christians who are still quite inundated with the things of this world.  For if we are too critical, we might crush them and lead them away from Christ and not into a deeper walk with Christ.  The question for all Christians: how do we live successfully in this life?  This is the question for all of us regardless of being strong or weak in knowing Christ.  Whoever loves God is known by God.  Because of that, we are known as his children.  Jesus came as a servant to mankind.  He gave his life for the world for every person great or small.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but TO SAVE THE WORLD through him.  (John 3:16)  We too are to live as Christ lived, to serve a world.  Jesus has asked us to serve everyone, not just our friends, acquaintances or those who love us, but our enemies too, doing good to those who misuse us and abuse us.  “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.  If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.  If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.  Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.  Do to others as you would have them do to you.  (Luke 6:27-31)  Breakfast companions, we no longer serve idols, but we do have the weaker brethren in our midst.  Watch how you live before them.  Do not let your freedom do anything that would be a hindrance to their lives in Christ.   Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.  You have been set free in Christ, but you must use your freedom wisely for the good of the body of Christ. 

  

 

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1 Corinthians 7:33-40 Be Honorable and Devoted!

1 Corinthians 7:33-40  I would like you to be free from concern.  An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord.  But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— and his interests are divided.  An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit.  But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband.  I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.  If anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if his passions are too strong and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants.  He is not sinning.  They should get married.  But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin—this man also does the right thing.  So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does better.  A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives.  But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord.  In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is—and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

In the above focus Paul is encouraging people to be of one mind: devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit.  For Paul, such an intense devotion to God is not very difficult, for he had a supernatural encounter with Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus.  With that experience, he knows the spiritual world is real; he knows Christ is real, not an illusion or trick of the mind.  With this encounter with Christ, he knows serving God is not just obedience to the laws given on Mount Sinai; there is much more than that to knowing God.  Paul now knew Jesus was the Messiah.  The apostles knew Jesus as the Messiah too.  They had walked with Jesus, heard his teaching and watched his miraculous deeds.  Jesus was not an illusion or hallucination: He was real flesh and blood.  For them to know Jesus as the Christ brought an urgency about fulfilling Jesus’ commission to them: to go into the world and preach the Good News, saving many from perdition.  We see Paul passing on this Good News to the Corinthians, letting them know that Jesus is real and that they should devote themselves to him.  Paul believed Jesus would be returning soon, so he desired the Corinthians to stay in whatever situation that they found themselves in at the present time.  They should live with undivided devotion to Christ.  Christ was real; He was not the product of some sort of collective hallucinations.  The apostles had walked with Jesus, had watched Jesus functioning completing as a human, with all the biological necessities of a human.  But for them to believe Jesus was someone beyond a natural man took time for them.  Peter when he experienced Jesus filling up a net with fish after he and his friends had fished all night and caught nothing said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”  (Luke 5:8)  When the disciples were in the midst of a storm on a lake, they were astonished that Jesus who was with them could control the wind and the waves.  Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat.  But Jesus was sleeping.  The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us!   We’re going to drown!”  He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.  The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this?  Even the winds and the waves obey him!”  (Matthew 8:24-27)  John the Baptist had a strong witness of the Holy Spirit that Jesus was the Lamb of God, sent by God to redeem his people from their sins.  But even John had some questions about Jesus' divinity and his mission on earth.  Was this nondescript man he baptized truly God’s Messiah?  He knew Jesus was someone special, for the Holy Spirit remained on Jesus when Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan.  Nevertheless, John sent two of his disciples to check on Jesus’ ministry.  When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”  At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind.  So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.  (Luke 7:20-23)  Jesus' ministry was full of miraculous deeds as Jesus revealed to John’s disciples.  He was truly God, but He also was truly the son of man, the son of every man.  Isaiah tells us how common he was, He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.  (Isaiah 53:2)  But the disciples knew him as Christ; Paul knew who he was, the Son of the Living God, for he had encountered him on the road to Damascus.  Now Paul wanted his converts to realize this man, Jesus, is God’s Son, and that their lives should be given totally to serving the Christ.

For Paul, Christians should be singleminded in their lives, living for Jesus, elevating in every way the Good News embedded in their lives.  For him, no other life was worth living.  He desired the Corinthians to go beyond the daily duties and obligations of life.  He wanted their lives to be fruitful and honored by God.  To be fruitful, they should be uncoupled as much as possible of the demands of life, living their lives in the right way, in undivided devotion to the Lord.  Because marriage could impede a life for Christ, he wished the Corinthians would stay single, living entirely for the purposes of God.  He knows if marriage enters the picture of their lives, they are now bound to their mate as long as they live.  The cares and needs of the mate must be met to have a happy union.  Their focus in life naturally becomes divided between God and their companion.  To be married is not a sin but it can hamper a devotion to God only.  Paul, in his discourse with the Corinthian church about providing for him financially, mentions the marriages of prominent leaders in the Christian world, Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?  (1 Corinthians 9:5)  These leaders were spreading the Good News to the world successfully, yet they were married.  So Paul knows it is not a sin to be married and that God’s message of Good News is not necessarily hampered by the unity of two in a marriage.  If the union is secure and focused on the purposes of God, they will act as one in revealing the Good News to the world.  Paul is concerned about sexual activity in the Greek world, for much deviant sexual behavior is part of the Greek society.  Therefore, he wishes the Greek Christians to be focused on serving God and not on relationships in marriage or outside of marriage.  If they are virgins, stay as virgins.  If they need to marry, do so without guilt, for they still can serve the Lord in that unity.  But once bound to the other in marriage, it is permanent until death separates one from the other.  From the very beginning of time, God meant for a man and woman to be bound in marriage permanently.  Jesus clarifies this issue in his ministry to the people.  “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”  “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 19:3-6)  Marriage is a permanent state, they are no longer two, but one flesh.  By being one flesh Christians must function for the benefit for each other.  This oneness might interfere with serving God completely for the obligation to the other are part of the necessities in life.

When Christians commit their lives to Christ, they become born again.  Their focus in life shifts in reality from living their lives for themselves to living their lives for Christ.  Paul is expressing this theme in his writing to the Corinthians about marriage.  The focus on Christ is a matter for the Corinthians to understand completely.  They are no longer citizens of this world; they are aliens and strangers in this world of sin and diversions.  Abraham and the patriarchs, even in Canaan, knew they were not citizens of Canaan: they were just moving through, living in tents, always ready to move on.  The Greeks in Corinth vicariously were abiding in tents, living lives of faith, knowing the Promised Land is in the future.  Therefore, Paul wanted them to keep this focus; he did not want them to bed down in this life, losing their purpose for living.  Paul chose not to live for himself, but for Christ.  He was called to do God’s will and not his own.  For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)  He wanted the Corinthians to no longer live for themselves, even in their marital status.  He believed their lives would be better if they lived in singleness.  Because of his own dedication to God, his view of life was skewed toward living a life untangled with marriage.  For him, a single life dedicated to God was not an aberration but a calling from God.  Peter said he left everything to follow God, but he still had a wife, still had obligations to his union with his wife.  But Jesus told him that God will honor him for his willingness to follow him.  God will honor people who are single and people who are married if they consider this world as not their home, working every day to lifting up the Good News in actions and words.  God sees the heart; he knows the deepest intentions of the heart.  He knows our prayer life; he knows our thought life.  Nothing is hidden from him.  Paul understood well that these Corinthian Greeks were coming out of a very chaotic world, one where secular norms were not the same as the Jews who were under Moses’ law.  He knew that relationships could interfere greatly in their dedication to God.  For them promiscuity should be left behind, singleness or marriage should be a stable existence in serving God.  Our friends around this breakfast table, no matter what state we find ourselves in, we should be focused on doing the will of God in our lives.  We are but aliens, this life is not our home.  Jesus puts our lives as the redeemed into focus when he said,  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.  What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?  Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?   (Matthew 16:25-26)  Married or not, let us seek the will of God in our lives.  Someday before all the angels and principalities in heaven, we will be honored for living lives dedicated to Jesus, the Christ.  Let us be sure that we honor him in all things.  

1 Corinthians 7:17-31 Be Strong in Struggles!

1 Corinthians 7:17-31  Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them.  This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.  Was a man already circumcised when he was called?  He should not become uncircumcised.  Was a man uncircumcised when he was called?  He should not be circumcised.  Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing.  Keeping God’s commands is what counts.  Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.  Were you a slave when you were called?  Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so.  For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave.  You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings.  Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.  Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.  Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is.  Are you pledged to a woman?  Do not seek to be released.  Are you free from such a commitment?  Do not look for a wife.  But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned.  But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.  What I mean, brothers and sisters, is 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.

In the above focus we see Paul telling the Corinthians that the time was short before the return of the Lord and because of that reality, each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.  If they had been circumcised, set apart for God, they should remain in that situation.  If they were not circumcised, they should remain uncircumcised for the time is short.  If they were slaves, be satisfied to remain as slaves; if they were free, do not seek to become a slavish followers of men or women.  Stay free from such entanglements.  Remain stable in your emotional state; do not be overly involved in your emotional feelings in life: those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not.  Do not become heavily involved in the things of this world, what you buy, what you use, for all of that kind of activity and concerns will pass away soon.  For Paul and the other disciples of Jesus, a primary assumption in their lives was that Jesus would return quickly.  We see this impression of theirs in everything they did for Jesus had talked about his return a lot.  On Jesus' ascension into heaven, two men dressed in white questioned why they were just looking at Jesus disappearing into the clouds, maybe implying they should get busy for He will return someday quickly.  Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.  And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?  This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”  (Acts 1:9-11)  Jesus had given them an assignment of spreading the Good News throughout the world before He returns.  Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:18-20)  By saying that He will be WITH THEM until the very end of the age, implies that in their short lives they will see the end of the age, the soon returning of the Lord.  Jesus also warned the disciples that they would be persecuted at the end of time.  “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.  Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.  Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues.  On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.  But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it.  At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.  You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.  When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another.  Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.  (Matthew 10:16-23)  Of course Paul and the disciples experienced all of these things that Jesus talked about: imprisonments, floggings, addressing governors and kings, fleeing from town to town, hated by the people they were addressing.  They felt the urgency of getting out the message of redemption.  Their mission will not be finished before Jesus returns.  Paul is now writing to the Corinthian church who are experiencing persecution: the present crisis.  He tells them not to waste their time seeking another situation or condition in their lives, for Jesus is returning soon, so he desires that they stay as they are presently, so that they might be fully engulfed in knowing Jesus when He returns.  

Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit; he was given an assignment by Jesus to minister the Good News to the Gentiles.  He now knows that the Good News is also for the Gentiles and that they too will receive what the prophet Joel spoke about: In the last days, God says,I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days,and they will prophesy.  — And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  (Acts 2:17,18 and 21)  In the above focus he reminds the Corinthians that they were bought at a price, the precious blood of Jesus.  This price ransomed them from eternal death so they should understand as new creatures in the Kingdom of God that they are servants of the Most High now.  So it does not matter that on this earth and in their present state whether they are slaves or not.  Their concern in life should not be whether they are slaves or not, but whether they are God’s slave.  What is important is the NEW CREATURE not the condition of the old creature, the latter is assigned to eternal death.  The former is free to be in the presence of God forever.  Paul is establishing in this letter to the Corinthians that their responsibility in life should be to Christ and to the new life that Christ has won for them through the cross.  In this new life there will be opposition, a crisis to their stability and peace in the world, but their dedication to Christ should be strong regardless of their struggles or situation in life.  Paul is a good example of what a born-again life looks like, one not entangled with the affairs of men.  But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.  I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.  (Philippians 3:8-11)  Paul is asking the Corinthians to forsake some of their own desires for their lives so that they might know Jesus Christ better.  If they hold onto this life and their own desires for their lives, they will lose the victory of Christ in their lives and maybe even their spiritual existence.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.  What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?  Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?  For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.  (Matthew 16:25-27) 

Paul and the disciples believed in the soon return of the Lord.  This causes them not to be indolent, inactive, lazy.  If they would have considered that Jesus would not return for at least 2,000 years, they might have taken their time in telling the Good News to others.  Paul might have not traveled over 2,000 miles to win people for Christ.  But they expected the soon return of Christ, so they were busy fishing every day for souls to win some for the kingdom of God.  Paul was especially active, experiencing distresses of all kinds in his life, living always under the threat of death.  But Jesus conditioned the disciples to believe in his imminent return.  He told them about the last days and what to expect. “If anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.  For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.  "Immediately after the distress of those days“ ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’  “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.  And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.  And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.  (Matthew 24:26-31)  Paul and the disciples understood well that it was important to tell the message of redemption.  They wanted people not to mourn when Jesus returns, but to rejoice for they are part of the body of Christ.  They hurried from one community to the next with the words of redemption on their lips; they wanted the Good News to be trumpeted everywhere before the last trumpet call.  Paul is telling his beloved Corinthians to forsake seeking change in their lives, instead, to  focus on the new within them.  He does not want them seeking only the benefits of this life, but rather seeking the benefits of the eternal with God.  Even the slaves in this world should be focused more on their new life IN CHRIST than on gaining their freedom.  Now breakfast companions, where are your thoughts and activities in this life?  Are you praying constantly?  Are your hours spent in quiet communication with God?  Or has this life robbed you of the active presence of the Spirit of God in your life?  We all have short lives; death is always a part of our finite lives.  For all of us this world in its present form will pass away.  Therefore, how should we live as born-again, new creatures IN CHRIST?  We should await his glorious appearing and listen for that loud trumpet call.  This is what our focus for today is telling us.

 

 

    

 

  

    

 

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!