Not Just Another Christmas

Merry Christmas and Welcome!  Today we will have something a little bit unusual (at least for Clemson Community Church).  We’re going to have a message which is not part of an ongoing series.  It’s not that this has never happened before, but I would say that it only occurs a couple of times a year at the most.

Today’s title for the message is “Not Just Another Christmas.”  On Thursday, Carl and I were joking around a little bit about how slight changes by omitting a word or varying your inflection when reading the title significantly changes its meaning.

Us: Die

Welcome! Today we come to the final message in our relatively short series on worship. I’m not sure what the people in the cars driving by the church all week thought about the message title – “Worship:  Die”. I want to get to the meaning of our title today, the subject of our message, in a roundabout way. I want to start by reading excerpts from one of my favorite stories, “The Golden Key” by George MacDonald. My great challenge is to not give up on the message altogether and just read you this story, to only tell the little parts that directly relate to this message. 

For those of you that haven’t heard of George MacDonald, he was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister who lived from 1824 to 1905. He is probably best known for his fantasy literature and for the fact that C.S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll both credit him as one of their most important influences. Indeed, if you read the Narnia books of Lewis and also read enough of MacDonald’s fantasies, you will see how Lewis was definitely inspired by MacDonald and even “borrowed” some of his imagery for his own works. Similarly, you can see MacDonald when you go down the rabbit hole and through the looking glass with Carroll.

Us: Bow

“Sing and Tremble.” I am very excited about this series on worship, so I’m sorry to have missed so many of the messages. Worship is such an important concept for us to understand and apply in our lives. Worship is actually fundamental to living as a Christian, because its purpose and practice go to the very heart of our relationship with God. We were created to worship – and that is what we as believers will be doing for eternity in heaven. One of the quotes that Carl put in his introduction to the series is from Don McMinn: “Our entire being is fashioned as an instrument of praise.” So worship is something that is built into us as human beings. Everyone worships something. Some of the most intense worship experiences I have seen since moving to Clemson have been at football games. It might sound a little crass, but many people here worship football.

Worship is usually defined in terms of a ritual or response associated with reverence and adoration – of something. There must be an object of worship. But worship is more than just expressing our love for something. It is more than just cheering at the football game or singing songs in church. Worship is defined by priority. The true worshipers of football are the ones who are out there cheering on the team, regardless of the weather, paying whatever it takes, going wherever they need to. To make something a priority means giving up other things. Therefore, worship implies sacrifice. You have to give up something to be a true worshiper. You choose to make the object of your worship more important than other things in your life.

Us: Gather

Ephesians 3:10-11 says, “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We, as Christians, are supposed to gather for worship.  For some things in our Christian walk it helps to understand the “why” before we do the “ought to”.  What I mean is that we “ought to” meet together to worship God.  But it’s good to know the “why” so that we can be motivated to meet together.

Us: Love

Good Morning!  We’re at the midpoint of our series on worship, and we’re about to turn a corner.  In our first four messages, we focused on God and His attributes, His character, and some of the ways He reveals Himself to us.  We looked at God as our Creator, our Savior, our Shepherd, and our Father.

In today’s message and for the remainder of this series, we’re going to look into different ways that we respond to God in worship.  Today, we will talk about responding to God in love.  In the coming week’s we will look at gathering in worship, bowing in worship, and laying down our lives in worship. 

In the series introduction and flyer, we talked about how we desired to explore worship not only intellectually but also emotionally, with our hearts.  Today’s topic as much as any of the themes is going to connect with our emotions, our hearts.  We are going to reflect on how we worship God in love.

God: Father

Welcome! Today we continue our series “Sing and Tremble” on worship. For the past several weeks we have focused on the object of our worship, on God. The reason we worship God is because He is worthy of worship. Over the past several weeks we have looked at God as Creator, as Savior, and as Shepherd; this week we will explore the role and nature of God as Father. In the coming weeks we will shift our focus to some of the different ways we can worship God – but I just want to say that, obviously, we are only scratching the surface when it comes to exploring who God is and why He is worthy of worship. We could spend a lifetime talking about this – and I expect that, in Heaven, we will – God’s accomplishments, and even more, His character, His vary nature, is beyond our ability to grasp. We understand less about God than a two-year old knows about quantum physics. And it is in part because of this that our series isn’t just entitled “Sing,” but “Sing and Tremble.” The goodness and greatness of God, in the little glimpse of understanding that we have, should overwhelm us with a sense of awe.

God: Shepherd

Welcome to week four in our nine-part series on worship.  The title of the series is Sing and Tremble.  Carl shared with us during the introduction these verses from I Chronicles which form the basis for our series:

Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim His salvation day after day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and joy are in His dwelling place. Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering and come before Him. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness. Tremble before Him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” –I Chronicles 16:23-31

The goal of this series is to explore worship together.  We not only want to increase our head-knowledge about worship, but also open wide our hearts in worship, experiencing depth and richness in our relationship to God.

God: Savior

Here in the South, a lot of people have grown up with some kind of connection with God, the Bible or the church.  You would think that means that most people here would be how we would describe as “saved” or a “Christian,” but there’s one question that stumps so many people.  It even stumps the most religious of people.  If you would have asked me that question before my sophomore year of college I wouldn’t have known how to answer it.  

I want to show what the Bible says about God being a Savior.  Then I will share the question that stumped me for a long time.  After that we will read some passages to discover what He saves us from.  Finally, I will share a story that demonstrates different ways people respond to the Savior.  

God: Creator

Welcome! Today is our second message on our series on worship entitled “Sing and Tremble.” Our focus today is on worshiping God as creator – the creator of the universe, creator of life, creator of you and me. Last week we talked about our title by focusing on God’s holiness, and how one proper response to God’s perfect holiness is in fact, to tremble: to remember that apart from Christ and what He has done for us on the cross, we would have no hope for reconciliation with God, that apart from Him we would stand condemned with no hope for forgiveness.

I am reminded of the account of the first sin, Adam’s fall, in Genesis 3. After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, we have this passage:

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” – Gen. 3:7-10

Worship: God & Us

Welcome! Today I am excited to begin with you a new series on worship. What exactly is worship? Is there a good definition? I am going to read one I have found and like. Unfortunately, it is quite long. This comes from D. A. Carson:

"Worship is the proper response of all moral, sentient beings to God, ascribing all honor and worth to their Creator-God precisely because He is worthy, delightfully so. This side of the Fall, human worship of God properly responds to the redemptive provisions that God has graciously made. While all true worship is God-centered, Christian worship is no less Christ-centered. Empowered by the Spirit and in line with the stipulations of the new covenant, it manifests itself in all our living, finding its impulse in the gospel, which restores our relationship with our Redeemer-God and therefore also with our fellow image-bearers, our co-worshipers. Such worship therefore manifests itself both in adoration and in action, both in the individual believer and in corporate worship, which is worship offered up in the context of the body of believers, who strive to align all the forms of their devout ascription of all worth to God with the panoply of new covenant mandates and examples that bring to fulfillment the glories of antecedent revelation and anticipate the consummation."

Indispensable and...

I Corinthians 12:12-31

We’re finishing our series titled Broken and Indispensable today.  We’re going to take a pause at this point in the book of I Corinthians, and we will come back to the last four chapters as a separate series starting in January.

Our passage for today is the second part of chapter 12.  Last week, Tim shared on that first portion regarding spiritual gifts.  The closing thought from last week’s passage was that different spiritual gifts are given to different individuals as determined by the Holy Spirit.  And so, we are each uniquely equipped for works of service.  Verse 7 said these gifts are “given for the common good.”  In other words, we should not use our gifts for our own benefit, but rather to benefit others. 

Today, we’re going to see that idea reinforced and talk about how God intends the body of Christ to fit together like a physical body.  These themes will also lead us to speak of the unity within the Body of Christ.

Different Kinds of Gifts

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

In our study of 1 Corinthians we have come across several issues where Paul has needed to correct the understanding or practices of the believers in Corinth. In the last chapter he addressed head coverings and the Lord’s Supper; in our passage for today he wants to teach the Corinthians more about the role of the Holy Spirit. Their understanding was limited to some degree. What does the Holy Spirit do? What is His job description? They probably knew God the Father as the Creator and Jesus as the Savior. It’s harder to identify the Holy Spirit with one main role.

If you look through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, you can actually find more than 50 types of things that the Holy Spirit does. He is instrumental in drawing us to God, in convicting us of sin, in regenerating us into new people, and in comforting, encouraging, directing, teaching, and empowering us day by day. In a couple of weeks we will be starting a new sermon series on worship, and one of the things we will talk about for sure is the essential role of the Holy Spirit in true worship.

The Lord's Supper

I Corinthians 11:17-34

Good morning and welcome!

We are continuing on in our series on the book of I Corinthians.  Last week, Carl covered the first portion of chapter 11.  Now, we’ll pick up there and finish the chapter with the subject of the Lord’s Supper. 

This whole chapter is best understood in the context of actions done in public gatherings, rather than what goes on in the privacy of one’s own home.  And, these themes continue through the remainder of the entire book of I Corinthians.

Let’s pray before we start into today’s verses.

Lord Jesus, thank you for sacrificing your own body on the cross for us.  Thank you for the memorial of the Lord’s Supper.  Please sharpen and freshen our minds and our hearts regarding this special remembrance of You.  Teach us, we pray.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Coverings

(I Cor. 11:1-16)

Welcome! Today we continue our series into I Corinthians, coming to Chapter 11. Let me say this is a hotly debated and contested passage, one of the most debated passages in all of scripture. One key question is whether the specific practice, head covering, is applicable today. There is also a question about appropriate hair length. Another key question is what the passage has to say about men’s and women’s roles in general. We will talk about all these questions today. You could say we have a lot to “cover,” so let’s get right to the passage.

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you. – I Cor. 11:1

Running from Idolatry

1 Corinthians 10:14-33

On December 2nd, 2006 I made a choice.  I said “I do” to Miriam.  And that meant that I said “I don’t” to every other woman on the face of the Earth.  I’m glad I said “I do.”  Miriam actually said the words “I sure do.”  

When it comes to loving God, you say “no” to everyone else and every other thing that can come between you and God.  It doesn’t mean you can’t love a spouse.  We just can’t put the spouse before God.  It doesn’t mean that you can’t make money.  We just don’t want to serve money over God.  

So, Paul talks about this issue of idolatry in 1 Corinthians 10, which is putting something before Him.  I divided up this passage into two sections.  One is focused on clear issues of idolatry.  The other is focused on grey areas of the Christian life.

Running to Win

I Corinthians 9:24-10:13

Welcome! Today we continue our series into I Corinthians, finishing Chapter 9 and going on into Chapter 10. Although today’s passage starts with verse 24 of Chapter 9, I want to back up a little and go back to verses 19-23.

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. – I Cor. 9:19-23

Self-Denial for the Gospel

I Corinthians 9:1-23

Praise God for the precious gift of His Son.

In the time we have remaining, let us continue with our study of I Corinthians.  We are going to read through a good portion of chapter 9 today.  The thoughts there stand by themselves, but it is helpful to consider where we finished up last week.

Tim shared on chapter 8, and the message there affirms our liberty in Christ.  We are free.  At the same time, we should take care with our liberty and how we express it.  We need to consider that our knowledge is limited.  And so, we need to think and act with humility.  But, we do not need to be afraid because God is more powerful than anything.  We can move forward with confidence.  And yet, we may need to choose to limit our freedom out of concern for our brother or sister. Our guiding principle must be love.  If taking advantage of our right to freedom would cause someone else to sin or even stumble, we should give up that freedom. (1 Corinthians 8:13)

In today’s passage, we are going to read about Paul’s example of his use of liberty.  I think what we will see is that he’s going to turn the reasonable and even Biblical course of action on its head.  While his course or direction may seem strange and certainly distinct, I think it is easier to understand by having just taken communion together.

Voluntary Limits to Freedom

I Corinthians 8:1-13

I want to begin by saying that I was really blessed by Scott Brittin’s message last Sunday. The phrase “reign in life” from Romans 5:17 caught my eye many years ago, and I have frequently pondered what it actually means. It’s clear that when sin reigns in us it leads to death: the deadening of our spiritual life and sensitivity; the death of our relationships with God and with other people. To be able to reign in life sounds like such a wonderful thing. How many people, including believers, just seem to be getting by, going through the motions, not failing but not really thriving either? I know I feel like this at times. 

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to live in the reality of Christ’s victory all the time, to reign in life consistently? The key, as we were reminded last week, is to receive grace – the abundance of grace that God offers. There is tremendous freedom and power in simply remembering and taking to heart how much God loves us: that He accepts us the way we are – while always desiring more for us. Reigning in life means experiencing true freedom from everything that would drag us down or hold us back.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.—Galatians 5:1

Live as God Has Called You

1 Corinthians 7:17-40

 

The message opened with the first 2 minutes of this clip…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFiljc9NVJs

Does anyone recognize which movie that clip comes from?  It’s from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.  That clip came to mind yesterday when I was working on the message.  I had added this thought, “even though it is not a command what Paul has written is clearly a better course of action.”  I’m kind of weird, but I often see life as a big story.  I’m always looking for themes and seeing parallels in movies and other media.

That particular scene where the horse Philippe looks first down the dark path and then the cheerful path cracks me up.  He purses his lips, shakes his head, and then tries to go down the bright and safe path.  I like to think I’m like Philippe, always choosing the right path.

In reality, I’m afraid I’ve been a lot like Maurice the old man.  He comes to the sign post, but the signs are illegible or contradictory, kind of like the signs our world gives.  He looks at his map but he’s not reading it correctly.  Then, he chooses the wrong path and later blames his error on Philippe.  “Where have you taken us, Philippe?”

Marriage and Singleness

I Corinthians 7:1-16

Today we continue our series on broken vessels that have been repaired and made into something beautiful.  Last week Tim's message was on fleeing immorality and lust.  One verse Tim shared was I Corinthians 6:13

The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

As I prepared for this message, I looked back to our series in 2009 on seven deadly sins.  During that series I presented a message on lust.  At that time I shared some alarming statistics on sexually transmitted diseases. One of those statistics was that (at the time) 20% --1 out of 5-- United States residents had been infected by one or more sexually transmitted disease (STDs). While preparing the message for today I sought out an update on that 2009 statistic.  What I found was even more alarming.  As of October 2014, 110 million people (that is 33%) in the US were infected with one or more STDs.  So in a period of five years the number went up from 1 out of 5 people being infected to 1 out of every 3 people in the US.  

The Humility of Fleeing

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Today we return to the topic of sexual sin, which Paul addresses several times with the Corinthian church. A couple of weeks ago, Carl spoke about the passage in chapter 5 where Paul rebukes the church for tolerating an illicit relationship between a man and his stepmother. In a society where immorality was widespread and generally accepted, Corinth as a city was renowned for its promiscuity and its temple to Aphrodite, the goddess of love and pleasure. This temple stood on the Acrocorinth, a rugged hill overlooking the city. The Greek geographer Strabo wrote in about 20 AD:

“The temple of Aphrodite was once so rich that it had acquired more than a thousand prostitutes, donated by both men and women to the service of the goddess. And because of them, the city used to be jam-packed and became wealthy. The ship-captains would spend fortunes there, and so the proverb says: ‘The voyage to Corinth isn’t for just any man.’”

The Christians in Corinth needed to be different. Paul was warning them: you can’t just go with the flow in this culture, where all kinds of sexual relationships were accepted – incest, prostitution, adultery, and homosexuality, mentioned in last week’s passage. His message is just as relevant for us today. In America we don’t have temples glorifying Aphrodite, but our Western culture is just as saturated with sex as the ancient Greeks were. It is almost impossible to avoid the blatant sexuality in advertising, movies, clothing styles, and all kinds of media. The temptations are all around us, as real as the prostitutes lining the streets of Corinth. Girls and women are given the message that they need to look a certain way to be considered attractive. Boys and men are being told that their every desire can be fulfilled anywhere, anytime, without commitment or consequence. What can we do? Is purity even possible?

Defeated Already

I Corinthians 6:1-11

We are inundated by a culture that values winning disputes at any cost.  If you don’t stand up for all of your rights then you’re considered to be weak or the unfortunate target of injustice.  While there are some serious issues going on in our nation there are some humorous things happening too.  For example, Fox News shared the following story about a court case between Aitken vs. NBC:

Handing Over

I Corinthians 5:1-13

Welcome! Today we continue our series in I Corinthians, looking at Chapter 5. Today’s passage is a challenging one, hard to hear, but I think its message was never more applicable than it is today. In previous chapters in I Corinthians, Paul has focused primarily on divisions in the church and on their immaturity as a whole. Through all this, however, he has also reminded them of who they are in Christ. But now he moves on to an additional issue in their church, sexual immorality.

Now when we began this series on I Corinthians about two months ago, we emphasized that the book was written to the body of believers as a whole in Corinth and also to all believers, each in their local bodies, everywhere. It is important when looking at today’s passage to remember that this letter was written to the church corporately; that is, it contains many instructions on how a local body of believers, working together, led by elders but also individually equipped by the Holy Spirit, were to act and behave.

Sent

1 Corinthians 4:14-21

You may have heard on Friday about the attack on a popular cafe in the diplomatic area of Dhaka in Bangladesh. I heard of it first from one of our workers there who lives just 5 minutes away. Once again, the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for yet another successful attempt to kill foreigners and spread terror. Their violence in the name of religion seems to know no bounds. Places that used to be considered safe have now become targets, and although America has experienced only a tiny fraction of what is happening in the rest of the world, recent incidents here as well remind us of the risk to virtually everyone now. Many people are afraid of what is happening in the world.

On the same day as the Dhaka attack, I was listening to a talk about how a Christian should respond to radical Islam. There were several good suggestions about how to love our enemies, as Jesus commanded. One of the speakers made two important points that I would like to highlight. First, we should not expect to be exempt from violent persecution. Jesus warned of it, and early Christians fully expected it to happen. In Acts 4, after Peter and John were arrested, the believers did not pray for protection. 

“Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.  You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?  The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.’

Entrusted

1 Corinthians 4:1-13

Today will look at 1 Corinthians 4:1-13.  In order to put today’s message in the context with the rest of the series we have to look back at a couple of verse from last week.  Here Paul exhorts the church in Corinth:

So let no one exult proudly concerning men [boasting of having this or that man as a leader].  For all things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas (Peter) —1 Corinthians 3:21-22 (Amplified)

Moving on to our passage for today, we read:

“So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.”—1 Corinthians 4:1

The Wisdom of this World

1 Corinthians 3:18-23

We opened the time with a video of the song “A Puzzlement” from movie version of The King and I.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u5iHzag120

Who recognizes that movie?  It’s The King And I.  It is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical from1951. It was based on a novel written in 1944 which in turn was based on the memoirs of Anna Leonowens.  Mrs. Anna as she is called in the movie was a teacher to the king’s household in the kingdom of Siam, modern day Thailand, from 1862 until 1867.  So the musical is based (somewhat loosely) on a true story.  The song we saw performed is titled “A Puzzlement”.  The king played by Yul Brynner is the singer. 

Have you ever felt like the king?  Have “there been times you almost thought you were not sure of what you absolutely know?”  Or have you “found confusion in conclusion, you concluded long ago?”  Are there many facts in your head “of which you wish you were more certain, you were sure?” 

God's Temple

I Corinthians 3:10-17

Welcome! Today we continue our series in I Corinthians, looking at verses 10-17 of chapter 3. I want to start today by telling you about my slightly exciting adventure the Friday before last. I came to work early, before almost anyone was around, parked and came through the basement entrance of my building on campus. There, as I have many times before, I got in the elevator and waited to be transported to the third floor. The elevator beeped as we passed by the 1^st floor, beeped again as we passed by the 2^nd, and just before I expected to hear the final beep and have the doors open, the elevator lurched to a stop. At the same time, the number three on the control panel which had suddenly been lit turned off, and so did the lighted display up at eye level of the number three.

I tried pushing the number three again, but nothing happened, nothing lit up. I tried pressing other numbers – again, nothing. Now I am getting concerned. I look more carefully at the elevator and notice there is a button with a picture of a bell on it. I press it, and a bell rings quietly. That’s not going to do any good, I thought, since nobody is here. Then I noticed a little door below the control panel. I opened it and found a phone with a keypad. I picked up the receiver and heard a dial tone, so I dialed 911.

Not Mere Humans

I Corinthians 3:1-9 

Good morning and welcome to I Corinthians chapter 3!  That is where we are in our series titled “Broken but Indispensable.”  In today’s passage, Paul is going to make some rather firm statements to the Corinthian church and likely to some of us listening.  Before we dive into our verses in chapter 3, let’s go back to see where we have come from, giving special attention to how Paul opened this letter.

In his regular fashion, Paul first introduces the writers of the letter:  himself and Sosthenes.  He states his intended recipients:  the Corinthians, of course, but he is also writing to “all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” which includes us as well.  Paul describes his audience as “those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus” and “saints by calling.”

Paul continues, saying, “I thank my God always concerning you.” (I Cor 1:4-9)  He goes on to say, “You’ve got it!”  You have been given the grace of God in Christ.  You have been enriched in everything in Him:  in all speech, in all knowledge.  You are not lacking in any gift.

What We Speak

1 Corinthians 2:1-16

“Do it God’s way”.  Has there ever been a time in your life that you knew that something had to be done your way?  I used to have a job working at a nursery doing a variety of different things.  One of the things I did was to do the regular maintenance on the tractors.  I grew up being able to drive a tractor and work on tractors some.  Over the years I learned quite a bit more about mechanic work.  My boss told me to jack up the tractor when I greased the king-pin joint in the front in.  He didn’t tell me why.  I thought he was telling me to lift up the tractor so I could get underneath the tractor better.  But when I did the first maintenance on the tractor I didn’t jack it up.  I didn’t need to lift it up because I could slide underneath it pretty easily. 

After I finished the work, my boss asked me if I had remembered to jack it up. I said that I didn’t because I could reach the joint without having to lift it up.  At that point he told me that it needed to be lifted up not so that I could reach the joint easier but so that the pressure would be lifted off of the front wheels, allowing the grease to penetrate all parts of the joint better.  I didn’t follow his directions because I didn’t think he knew the best way of doing it.  This nursery had been in the family for a 100 years and he had been doing nursery work since he was a little kid.  And he had been working on tractors for no telling how long.  But for some reason, I thought I knew best.

The "Foolishness" of God

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

 

Welcome! Today we continue our series in I Corinthians, Broken but Indispensable. Today’s title is The “Foolishness” of God. To make sure that nobody misunderstands me, note that the quotation marks around the word “foolishness” are very important! This means the supposed (so our world says) foolishness of God. But if God, the Author of the universe and all that is in it, is foolish, what does that make its’ creation that wants to belittle Him? But I am getting ahead of myself.

Now the word “foolishness” or “foolish” appears 6 times in today’s passage. There are two closely related Greek words used. One is moria. So for you Lord of the Rings fans, the Mines of Moria where the dwarves hoarded gold and dug too deep in their greed, disturbing things that should not be disturbed, are really the Mines of Foolishness, a very appropriate name, I would say.

Divisions Among You

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Last week, we started this new series on I Corinthians, a rather lengthy letter to the church at Corinth.  I was surprised to find it’s actually a few words longer than the book of Romans.  It’s just shy of 9500 words.  That’s about twice as many words as I’m likely to say in this message.  If we read straight through it out loud, it’d take us about an hour and a half to do it.

The basis of this letter is Paul’s heart-felt and deeply personal concern for the Corinth church as a pastor.  When I say concern for the church, I mean concern for the people of the church because that is what a church is.  A church is the people, not the building.  It is the ones whom God has chosen, His ekklesia.

Introduction/Enriched in Every Way

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Welcome! Today we begin a new series on the first 12 chapters of II Corinthians. We will return, God willing, to the rest of II Corinthians early next year. What, you think I said something wrong? Well, not entirely. In Chapter 5 and Verse 9 of this book, Paul writes, “I wrote to you in my letter…” That is, the book we call I Corinthians is not the first thing Paul wrote to the people of Corinth. In fact, Bible scholars think there are actually at least four letters to Corinth. But so as to not confuse you any longer, I will refer to this letter as everyone else does and from here on call this I Corinthians.

The Future: New Heavens and New Earth

Last week, John Farmer covered the doctrine of judgment. This week, we will finish our series on church doctrine by discussing the doctrine of the “New Heavens and New Earth.”  We will examine the Scriptures to see what the Lord has to say about the New Heavens and the New Earth and more specifically the New Jerusalem.

What is heaven?  Heaven is a place, not just a state of mind. Jesus taught his disciples to pray “Our Father who art in heaven.”  Luke records in his gospel:

“When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” --Luke 24:50-52

The Future: Judgment

Good morning!  We’re closing in on the end of our long running series on Sound Doctrine.  In fact, there is just one more message next week about the New Heavens and New Earth.  Today, we are going to talk about the Final Judgment.

We’ll look at the Scriptural evidence of this coming event, its timing, who will be judged and how, and we’ll talk about why judgement is necessary and God’s justice.  We’ll look at the application of these truths in our lives today.  And we will briefly talk about hell, the doctrine of eternal punishment.

So, what does the Bible say?  Revelation 20 describes not only the millennium we talked about last week, but also the release of Satan and the great battle leading to the defeat of Satan forever.  At this point we read about the judgment:

The Future: Tribulation and Millenium

Of all the topics that we have covered our series here on doctrine these two, the tribulation and the millennium, are without a doubt the ones that historically have generated the most diverse range of interpretations and opinions. In this context, “tribulation” refers to the Great Tribulation, a time of great trouble and distress described by Jesus in what is called his Olivet Discourse in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. A “great tribulation” is also referred to in Revelation. Some interpreters also claim a connection with the “seventy weeks” mentioned in Daniel 9 and with various other passages mentioning God’s judgment on the earth.

The “millennium” refers to one thousand years of Christ’s reign on earth, mentioned specifically only in Revelation 20, though, here again, some interpreters read it into other passages. So we can certainly agree that these two topics are Biblical and that at some point in history they will happen (or have happened or are happening, according to some). However, what they will look like and how they will fit together with other events prophesied in the Bible is not explicit. Should these passages be taken literally or figuratively? Can we say with certainty how long each event will last? More importantly, why should we care about them? What is the significance of the tribulation and the millennium?

The Future: The Return of Christ

Welcome! Today we begin the final section of our series on doctrine, focusing over the next four weeks on the future. As we have gone through our series, we have seen again and again that there are some things that are quite clear and uncontroversial, things that are presented quite clearly and explicitly in Scripture, but there are also other areas, other questions, other topics, that are quite the opposite. As we move to begin to discuss future events, it should be obvious that we are moving into areas where there is a lot of uncertainty. Next week Tim has the unenviable task of discussing the great tribulation and the millennium, some of the most uncertain topics of all. The following week John Farmer will talk about the great judgement, and then Fred will close out our series by talking about the New Heavens and the New Earth.

Who knows what the acronym TEOTWAWKI stands for? TEOTWAWKI stands for the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it. Survivalists use this and many other interesting terms. They try to plan for how to survive a civilization-altering event such as nuclear war, a severe disease that wipes out half the population, a complete breakdown of our economic system, an electromagnetic pulse from a weapon or from the sun that destroys electronics and our power grid, a severe natural disaster such as a comet or large asteroid hitting the earth or a super-volcano eruption that leads to something like a nuclear winter, zombies, or the election of Donald Trump as president. I’m kidding on the last two. See if you can guess what some of these other acronyms stand for:

The Church and Body Life: Sound Doctrine

You are unique, just like everyone else.  I’m especially “unique.”  I think Miriam is amazed at my “uniqueness.”  I think I probably ooze “uniqueness.”  For example, I have a special gift of remembering people’s email addresses, home addresses and phone numbers.  I’ve sent prayer letters to friends and family for many years.  I can remember a lot of their addresses.  When I run into a student on campus that I’ve forgotten to send an email to I’ll say, “Is your email firemonsterbreathingbunny45678@gmail.com?”  They look at me with an astonished look.  I know they must be thinking that I’m very “special.”  Or they’re thinking that I’m a stalker.  Miriam will say to me, “How do you do that?”  It’s a gift.  Now, I can’t remember what I ate for breakfast this morning or what I wore yesterday but I can remember all that other stuff.  Go figure.

While there are some special abilities we have that God created us with, there are also spiritual gifts that God gives to individuals after they become Christians.  The ability to read well, retain details, perform math problems, or any other mental or physical strength is something God usually gives a person from birth (although that doesn’t mean that God is limited in giving such abilities to a person later on in life, like when He heals a disease or some kind of physical weakness).  On the other hand, the spiritual gifts that God gives are given for the sake of edifying other believers, progressing the Gospel, and glorifying God.  I’ll talk more in a little bit about the details of some these gifts, but first, I would like to show how the Spirit has been working through people throughout the whole Bible.