1 Corinthians (Program #38) – Dealing with Eating of Sacrifices to Idols (3)

1 Corinthians chapter 9 shows us two very significant factors in the ministry of the apostle Paul. First we see how pure he was. Pure in a sense that he had only one motive to be wholly in Christ and for Christ. He sought nothing for his personal gain. Second Paul was also faithful. Faithful because he saw his commission from the Lord in the gospel is a kind of stewardship with which he had been entrusted. Listen to these verses in 1 Corinthians

9:16-17 “For if I preach the gospel, I have no boast, for necessity is laid upon me; for woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. If I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a stewardship.”

To read words such as these can’t help but convict us because we all become keenly aware of the impurity of our motives when we receive light from God’s word. But rather be discouraged we should take heart. For in other of Paul’s writing he opens the door to help all of God’s children to as such pure living and in such a faithful serving.

In Galatians
2:20 “I am crucified with Christ;”

and in this book 1 Corinthians chapter

6:17 “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”

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1 Corinthians (Program #37) – Dealing with Eating of Sacrifices to Idols (2)

Paul’s way of writing in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 indicates that the church in Corinth had doubts and questions about him and about his apostleship. Why else would he opened the chapter in such a bold way?

“Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?  If to others I am not an apostle, yet surely I am to you; for you in the Lord are the seal of my apostleship. My defense to those who examine me is this.”

Here is a striking account of the apostle commission with the majority of the New Testament revelation forced to make a bold defense of his own apostleship. But in so doing much was reveal about the Corinthians that were doubting him and much is revealed about us as well.

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1 Corinthians (Program #36) – Dealing with Eating of Sacrifices to Idols (1)

After opening the book of 1 Corinthians in a very spiritual way, the apostle Paul then turned his attention to several practical matters in the middle chapters.

Chapter 7 for instance deals with marriage. Chapter eight with eating, our diet. These are some of the most basic and practical of all human items. Yet as he begins this fellowship on eating in chapter 8 he inserts a very wonderful and very spiritual phrase. Listen to the first verse of chapter

8:1 “Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”

Building up, a theme that runs through out this book. And a very important theme for all of us God’s people to understand.

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1 Corinthians (Program #35) – Dealing with Marriage Life (3)

When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, it was very hard for those around Him to discern that what He was speaking was actually God’s word. Because unlike the prophets of the Old Testament He spoke as a normal man with normal language and never one time does the Bible record Him using the phrase “doth saith the Lord”. Yet He was the Lord and every one of His word was the word of God. What set Him apart from those of the Old Testament dispensation was incarnation. He wasn’t just speaking for God in the way of prophesy, He was God.  God incarnated to be a man. This principle of incarnation is the unique characteristic of the whole New Testament. Not just man under the influence or inspiration of the Spirit speaking for God but man so one with God in their life, in their living and even in their speaking that their words were God’s words.

1 Corinthians 7 is the chapter that illustrate this principle of incarnation. Not only is it applied to the Lord Jesus but even as it applied to the apostles and the apostle Paul specifically.

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1 Corinthians (Program #34) – Dealing with Marriage Life (2)

The philosophical and cultured believers in the church in Corinth had many questions concerning a topic that people today also struggle to cope with and understand. That topic is marriage.

His words in answering to their many questions were found in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 where on the one hand he gave them the principle where universally is applicable today as there were in apostle’s time.

On the one hand we see the spirit of the writer, the spirit of a man absolutely one with the Lord and one with His economy, a man who had learned the secret of contentment in what ever circumstance or situation that God would bring to him.

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1 Corinthians (Program #33) – Dealing with Marriage Life (1)

Have you ever noticed the way that 1 Corinthians chapter 7 began:

“Now concerning the things of which you wrote:”

Well this means that Paul is about to respond to a series of questions that the believers in Corinth had previously sent to him in a letter.  What questions? Well, according to the context of chapter 7 we can readily see that these cultured, highly educated, philosophical saints that were the church in Corinth had many questions about marriage.  The whole chapter in fact is devoted to marriage with Paul giving the Corinthians more than a dozen principles related to marriage. It’s likely that we all had had serious questions regarding marriage. Even the unmarried ones wonder about this critical human item. That on one hand is the source of so much trouble in the human life. While on the other hand can be the source of so much blessing.

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1 Corinthians (Program #32) – Dealing with the Abuse of Freedom (3)

The Bible is so rich so infinitely beyond man’s ability to compose. How can we hope to understand it with our mere mental apprehension?   We need the Lord’s gracious shinning to illuminate and unveil the truth in the Bible. Often this is done through the eyes of those who had gone before us to unlock the treasures that are contained in passages of scripture both obscure and familiar.

A well know and oft’ quoted verse 1 Corinthians 6 is an example has much more to convey to us than a simple glance revealed.

6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.”

Sounds familiar? Well it sounds clear enough as well. But reading the whole passage can’t help but impress us that there is much more been spoken of here. Listen to the verses surrounding this verse.

15 “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?”

17 “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”

19-20  “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price. So then glorify God in your body.”

Three marvelous truths are contained in these verse. These rich verses contain in 1 Corinthians 6.

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Romans (Program #6) – Justification in God’s Way

It’s on Christ as our propitiation place that God can dispense Himself as grace into us for His glory, for His expression, and for the manifestation of His righteousness.

Our life-study today brings us to one of the pillars of the Christian faith – justification. Most Christians are aware of the famous doctrine of justification by faith, and Martin Luther was very much used by the Lord to recover this marvelous truth of our faith. more…

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Acts (Program #62) – The Propagation in Asia Minor and Europe through the Ministry of Paul’s Company (28)

In Acts 21 through 23, the Apostle Paul finds himself surrounded by men seeking to do away with him. Given the chance to speak on his own behalf, he boldly declares the very truth that has provoked his enemies. God sovereignly intervenes to protect and secure his chosen one for the work that was still before for it. Stay with us today as we see our faithful Lord and His chosen vessel laboring together for the testimony of the all surpassing Christ on this life study of the Bible.

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Luke (Program #40) – The Ministry of the Man-Savior in His Human Virtues with His Divine Attributes from Galilee to Jerusalem (20)

The Bible is so marvelous.  Not only do the teachings convey truths to us, the parables and the stories illustrate those truths and even more marvelous, eventually we discover that even the arrangement and sequence of the story and accounts in the Bible help to underscore those truths. One example is found in Luke 18, where the Lord Jesus for the third time tries to unveil His coming death and resurrection to His disciples, but they simply do not have eyes to see or ears to hear. Then the Lord Jesus in a wonderful display of His sovereign arrangement heals a blind man. Who, in reality were the blind ones in this passage?

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