1 Corinthians Archives - Page 2 of 11

The Good News of Jesus Christ (KC)

Grace Sensing on July 14, 2024

SERMON TEXT:

1 Cor. 15:1–11

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11 Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The Severe Grace of Church Discipline (King’s Cross)

Grace Sensing on February 25, 2024

INTRODUCTION

As a young church, we have not yet experienced a public church discipline case. While the elders have been active in encouraging, admonishing, and occasionally suspending individuals from the Lord’s Supper privately, we have not yet reached the point of needing to go through the formal process of excommunication.

But if we are a faithful church, a time is coming when we will have to work through this together. Therefore, we should seek to understand the biblical practice of formal church discipline now in order that we may be found faithful when confronted with the task.

THE TEXT

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! ²And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. ³For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. ⁴In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁵deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. ⁶Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? ⁷Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. ⁸Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. ⁹I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. ¹⁰Yet I certainly did not meanwith the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. ¹¹But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. ¹²For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? ¹³But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person”

(1 Corinthians 5 NKJV).

WHAT WE DISCIPLINE

It could be said that there are two kinds of church discipline. The first kind is formative discipline – we sit under the preaching/teaching of God’s Word, we receive the sacraments, and we participate in the ebb and flow of community life. This is positive discipline.

The second kind is corrective discipline – beginning with private admonition, bringing in two or three witnesses, suspension from the Lord’s Supper, and ultimately excommunication (Mt. 18:15–20). This is remedial discipline.

The kinds of sins that lead to formal church discipline are unrepentant, outward, and serious.

WHY WE DISCIPLINE

We practice discipline for the good of the offender, with the hope that they will repent and be restored.

We practice discipline for the good of the church, to prevent the spread of sin, to maintain our witness to the world, and to honor God and prevent His coming in judgment against us.

HOW WE DISCIPLINE

All remedial church discipline is conducted with patience and grace, imitating our Lord.

When the individual is simply unrepentant and their sin rises to the level of needing formal discipline, the elders will suspend them from the Lord’s Supper for a limited time (2 Thess. 2:15–17). If they continue in their unrepentant sin, the final step is public excommunication. This typically involves a hearing, in which charges of sin with witnesses are brought forth and the individual has the opportunity to defend themselves. At a subsequent meeting of the elders, a verdict is voted on and communicated to the congregation at the next Lord’s Day service.

CONCLUSION: THE SEVERE GRACE OF DISCIPLINE

At the end of our passage, the Apostle Paul ends with this exhortation, “Therefore, put away from yourselves the evil person” (1 Cor. 5:13b).

This is a quotation from Deuteronomy, in which the unrepentant sinner was to be put to death, removing them from the covenant community (Dt. 13:5, 17:7–12, 19:19, 21:21). Under the New Covenant, while the civil magistrate still bears the sword (Rom. 13:4), the people of God remove the unrepentant from the covenant community by excommunication. In a very real sense, this is an obvious mercy under the New Covenant. At the same time, excommunication points to a spiritual reality more severe than physical death—spiritual death. “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Mt. 10:28).

Discipline that honors Christ must be exercised with a sober understanding of the severity of such judgment, and with a spirit of meekness, humility, and love.

The goal of excommunication is not punishment but restoration. It is meant to be an act of mercy toward the unrepentant sinner, that by the Spirit they would be awakened to their sin, repent, and seek the forgiveness that is only found in Christ.

Why We Worship On Sunday (CCD)

Grace Sensing on January 21, 2024

INTRODUCTION

With a handful of exceptions, Christians are overwhelmingly united in their willingness to worship God on the first day of the week. After all, we have been doing this for two thousand years, and we are rarely questioned about it. Why not just go with the flow? The answer to that question is that we should want to be deliberate Christians in everything we offer up to God. We never want to be guilty of the “will worship” that Paul condemns in Col. 2:23. We are constrained to offer to God what He requires of us, and not anything else. So why do we worship on the first day of the week? Why didn’t the Church remain with the seventh-day Sabbath of the Jews?

THE TEXT

“Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come” (1 Corinthians 16:1–2).

SUMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul is reminding the Corinthians about his directives for how they are to gather up the collection for the saints in Jerusalem. He is doing with them just as he did with the saints in churches throughout Galatia (v. 1). The Corinthians were to take up their collection in same fashion as did the Galatians. But how was that? The first thing to note is that Paul was authoritatively requiring them to do it in a particular way. On the first day of the week, everyone was to set aside a particular amount, as God had blessed him. This had to have been a collection at church because otherwise the problem that Paul was trying to avoid (“no gatherings when I come”) would not have been avoided at all. But thing about this passage that should interest us is how Paul describes Sunday. Many modern translations simply say “first day of the week,” but this is misleading. The phrase literally is mian sabbatou—“first [day] Sabbath.”

WHAT IS THE WORD FOR WEEK?

In Greek, the usual word for week is hebdomas. The common rendering of mian sabbatou as “first day of the week” appears to be taking “sabbath” as a synecdoche, taking the part for the whole—as in, “many hands make light work.” But this seems strained to me, especially considering the fact that the gospel writers appear to be using the phrase to point to something really significant about the importance of the resurrection.

Here are some literal renderings [Kayser]: “Now after the Sabbath, as the first [day] Sabbath began to dawn” (Matt. 28:1). “Now when the Sabbath was past . . . very early in the morning, on the first [day] Sabbath, they came to the tomb” (Mark 16:1-2, 9). “Now on the first [day] Sabbath, at early dawn, they came to the tomb” (Luke 24:1). “Now on the first [day] Sabbath Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early” (John 20:1).

We worship God the Father in the authority of the resurrected Son in the power of His Spirit, and we do this on the first day of the week. And yet, a very common greeting that we use is happy Sabbath, and we call our preparatory meals Sabbath meals. This is no extension from our theology. The New Testament repeatedly calls the first day of the week a Sabbath. It is God’s way of marking how He made all things new in the resurrection of Christ (Rev. 1:10; 21:5). Sunday really is a Sabbath.

AND SO CHRIST RESTED

Read through Hebrews 4 very carefully. We should take care not to fail to enter God’s rest in the way the Israelites in the wilderness failed to enter it. Faith is the way to enter (Heb. 4:1-3). God’s works were finished at the foundation of the world, and then He rested. But then, centuries after that, He said that faithless ones would never enter His rest, in just the same way that faithless Israelites had not entered His rest (vv. 3-5). This means that coming into His rest is still an open invitation—“it remains for some to enter.” So God in His mercy has again appointed a certain day, calling it Today. Do not harden your hearts as His voice comes to you Today (vv. 6-7). If Joshua had accomplished this through the invasion of Canaan, God would never have spoken of another day after that (v. 8). And this is why . . .

“There remaineth therefore a rest (sabbatismos) to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his” (Hebrews 4:9–10).

Who is being referred to here with the pronouns of v. 10? It cannot be referring to some discouraged Pharisee, finally giving up on his vain works, and then entering into a holy rest. That is nothing at all like God creating the world and then resting—and that is the explicit comparison that is made. So what is like that? Just as God created the world in six days and then rested, so also Christ recreated heaven and earth in three days and nights, and then He entered His rest. And that is why Christians still have a sabbath-rest, which is on our first-day Sabbath.

Let us therefore labor to enter into that resurrection-rest (v. 11). Let us not fail to enter into resurrection-Sunday rest the way the Jews fell short in the wilderness. Why is that? The eighth day, the first day of the week, the first day Sabbath, is the glorious Today. Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.

FROM THE BEGINNING

The Epistle of Barnabas (c. 100 AD) says this: “You see how he says, ‘The present Sabbaths are not acceptable to me, but the Sabbath which I have made in which, when I have rested from all things, I will make the beginning of the eighth day which is the beginning of another world.’ Wherefore we Christians keep the eighth day for joy, on which also Jesus arose from the dead.”

In the first giving of the Ten Commandments, the reason for sabbath observance was the creation of the world in six days and rest on the seventh (Ex. 20:11). In the second giving of the Ten Commandments, the reason given has been changed. It was now because of the Exodus from Egypt (Dt. 5:15). In the third giving of the Ten Commandments, we are reminded that the resurrection of Christ changed absolutely everything (Rom. 13:9-10; 14:9). This is because Christ is all. Christ is our creation-rest. Christ is our Exodus-rest. Christ is our resurrection-rest. And this means that Christ is the foundation stone for every successive first-day Sabbath.

Potent Bread & Wine (CCD)

Christ Church on October 22, 2023

INTRODUCTION

Last week we surveyed the landscape of the Sacrament of Baptism. This week we’ll hike the terrain of the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. Cathedrals have the baptismal font at the entrance for good reason; Christ, and Baptism into Him, is the door. However, once you come through the door you are welcomed to the Lord’s banqueting table. Baptism is like birth, the Supper is the eating & drinking which brings about maturity & growth.

THE TEXT

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
1 Corinthians 11:26

A MEMORIAL PROCLAMATION

This familiar passage packs a potent punch. The eating of bread and drinking of the blessed cup is a public display of the Lord’s death until His second coming in judgment. The traffic of this memorial proclamation runs in a few directions. First it is a testimonial from God to you–both as individuals and as the corporate bride of Christ–that His banner over you is love, and all the blessings of His covenant are extended to you. You are not cast off in disdain, but are welcomed in to partake of all He is and all He has procured for you in His death.

Secondly, it is a memorial from us to God. In partaking by faith of His body & blood, as signified by bread & wine, you are affirming before the Lord that as He has pledged to call you His own, so you shew that He is your God, even unto death (Ps. 48:14).

Third, just as Jesus was crucified publicly, so our partaking is a public memorialization of that death. In other words, what we testify here is that the Christ which the earthly rulers crucified and the heel which Satan bruised has become both Lord & Christ. This is one reason why private communion is a bit of an oxymoron.

And this leads a final point on the import of what it means for us to “shew the Lord’s death”. Our communion is not only with our Head but with His body. Our love for the Lord Jesus is displayed in our love towards each other (1 Jn. 5:1). This fellowship includes all baptized believers, regardless of age. Paul says earlier that all Israel partook of Christ in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:3-4). Furthermore, the instructions regarding the Passover feast not only mandated the instruction of children, but presumes their participation in it (Ex. 12:26-27).

LEAVENED BREAD

It’s worth inquiring as to what sort of bread should be used for the Supper. Some determine to use wafers. This stems from their belief that Christ is corporeally present in the bread. They want to avoid scattering crumbs of Jesus all over the floor. The Eastern Orthodox even gather up all the “pearls of Christ” and mix them in with the wine. The people aren’t permitted to eat the bread for fear of dropping crumbs. This isn’t merely getting to the same place by extra steps; both EO & RC views of the Supper lead us to see a re-sacrifice of Christ. Rather, Christ’s body is present in the meal by His Spirit, and we partake of Him by faith.

The Peace Offering required both unleavened & leavened bread (Lev. 7:11-14). The unleavened loaf was burned with the sacrificial creature for the Lord’s portion, the leavened loaf was waved before the Lord and both the priests & worshipper took a portion to eat. The celebration of Pentecost was marked by waving leavened loaves (Lev. 23:16-17). Amos rebukes Israel for offering the correct “sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven” in the incorrect place: Bethel & Gilgal (Am. 4:5). The early church partook of “the bread” together daily (Acts 2:42), and this was simply daily bread, bread on hand (άρτος not άζυμος).

WINE NOT WELCHS

Another common question worth answering is: why use wine? The concern is that it might cause someone who struggles with drunkenness to stumble. This argument doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. Someone struggles with gluttony, so don’t have a potluck. The argument for concern for the “weaker brother” misses the fact that Paul teaches that the meat offered to idols is nothing (1 Cor. 8:4), and he’s persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there’s nothing problematic in eating that meat (Rom. 14:14). In other words, don’t be a jerk to the brother with an immature conscience, but the text of Scripture invites the immature brother into maturity. Not vice versa.

Wine takes time. Cultivating a vineyard, harvesting, crushing, fermenting grapes requires years of peace. Couple this with the earlier discussion of leavened bread and you see a pattern emerge. Passover required a haste, and thus unleavened bread. When Israel entered the land the Lord was bringing them into a Sabbath Rest which would find its full meaning in Christ. Wine is potent, and so is grace. Wine gladdens the heart, and so does the good news of great joy. Dough slowly rises as the leaven works throughout, just as Christ’s Kingdom is filling the world. All of this because we have entered Sabbath Rest.

AS OFT AS YOU DRINK

What does Paul intend by that line “as oft as you drink it (1 Cor. 10:26)”? While it isn’t wrong to think about Christ while enjoying your evening glass of wine, he is clearly referencing sacramental––not common––use. Does the NT indicate how frequently the Supper is to be taken? The “as oft as you drink” shouldn’t be interpreted as a “whenever you all feel like it”. So, does this often-ness imply a certain regularity? Yes.

We have two clues from elsewhere in Scripture. Acts 20:7 tells us that the Ephesian church gathered together on the first day of the week, and they broke the bread (Cf. 1 Cor. 16:1). In two passages in 1 Corinthians (11 & 14), Paul uses the phrase “coming together” (συνέρχομαι) to describe the assembled saints. In 1 Cor. 11 they are rebuked for coming together in such a manner that inverts the Lord’s Supper, greedily gobbling up the food with no regard for others; while in 1 Cor. 14 they are taught how to behave decently and in order in their corporate worship as they “come together.” There’s another instance of “come together” in 1 Cor. 7; but the context there is for a husband & a wife’s need for regular marital consummation. Their vows need regular memorialization. Taking all this together, the “ as often” in view by Paul seems to be the regular weekly “coming together” on the first day of the week.

THE GOD WHO FEASTS

God is a God who feasts. He is a God of plenty. He is a God who makes gardens full of fruit trees for the free enjoyment of His image bearers. He is a God who gives the Israelites the bread of Angels in the wilderness. The sacrifices are spoken of as the Lord’s portion. When Jesus comes, he is accused by the religious hall monitors of too much feasting & drinking.

So, Jesus left us a feast. Promised in the Supper is the entirety of the blessedness of God the Father, Son, and Spirit. This feast is a declaration, until the world’s end, of Christ’s death. And what is Christ’s death? His death is the end of all your shame, guilt, and bondage to sin. His death severed you from the old man. His death destroyed the devil’s war machines. His death is the certain hope that the dragon has been cast down, and all the earth is the Lord’s. We feast because God, through Christ, is bringing us to an everlasting feast.

Resurrection Hope (CCD)

Christ Church on April 9, 2023

THE TEXT

Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable (1 Cor. 15:12–19 NKJV).