TB 236
The Body – PART 9:
Wonderfully-Wired Worshippers!
26 April 14
(You can find a recording of this sermon here.)
This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
Ignorant behaviour… ever seen such a thing in the Body? Ever been privy to bonehead behaviour, yahoo attitudes, foolish words that divided, hurt, wounded and enraged? The word “ignorant” means “to be uninformed, to not know, to not understand”. However we have all witnessed ignorant behaviour where the person was well-aware of what they were doing and saying. The hurt was intentional the insult was well-planned.
Text: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Read the text and note the context of their ignorance.
V1- Their ignorance is connected to spiritual gifts, endowments abilities, how each of them was wired. This was a bit of a slap in the face because some of the Corinthians thought they had this area all figured out, but they didn’t, and some were getting badly beaten up because of it. Their ignorance was in the fact that they isolated one or two gifts - tongues and prophecy - elevated them, favoured them, and then defined true spirituality as those who had them. The result was that other gifts were neglected, people were belittled and marginalized, while others were exalted. It all spelled…
i-g-n-o-r-a-n-t b-e-h-a-v-i-o-u-r!
So Paul is challenging them to Celebrate The Wonderfully-Wired Worshipper, not to act ignorantly.
Question: How can we drop the word ignorance from our relational vocabulary?
Let me give you two statements that Paul makes to counter the ignorant behaviour. You could probably take most of these points and apply them to any situation where there is ignorant behaviour.
1. LIVE BY A NEW ORIENTATION (V.2,3)
V2- What do we learn about their former way of life?
“Influenced and led astray” is a phrase that meant “to be led off to trial for punishment and imprisonment.”
V3- Who now leads them? It is believed that the false teachers claimed that their visions, revelations, and messages (cf. 2 Cor. 12:1) were from God, but they apparently denied the humanity of Christ, as expressed by the words Jesus be cursed.
Now note the contrast, “Jesus is Lord!”Anyone can say these words. Paul is not talking about lip service but heart transformation, “by the Holy Spirit.” When the Spirit causes us to say Jesus is Lord - this is a radical departure from the way we use to live. New allegiance, new orientation, new framework. The use of “Lord” meant absolute radical allegiance to Jesus.
Just like the Corinthians we could also contrast our past with our present. There was a way we once lived but now because we say, “Jesus is Lord” we live differently. What are some of the differences Christ has made in you? Think of attitudes, values, priorities, career, stewardship.
The specific issue of needed change in our context was in how they treated others and their gifts. They were claiming a super level of spirituality because they had tongues and prophecy but people were getting terribly beaten up because of their ignorant behaviour. Because “Jesus is Lord”, because He is their example, Paul is saying, they need to clean up their relationships. The abuse needs to stop.
“The presence of the Spirit in power and gifts makes it easy for God’s people to think of the power and gifts as the real evidence of the Spirits’ presence. Not so for Paul. The ultimate criterion of the Spirit’s activity is the exaltation of Jesus as Lord. Whatever takes away from that, even if they be legitimate expressions of the Spirit, begins to move away from Christ to a more pagan fascination with spiritual activity as an end in itself.” (1 Corinthians, Gordon Fee, page 582)
A review of the last few chapters shows where the shift in relationships needed to occur to reflect “Jesus is Lord”:
Ignorant Redemptive
(old life) (new life)
Cheat others Walk of relational integrity
Ignore the weak Embrace the weak
All for my glory All for God’s glory
Seek only my good Seek the good of others
Me first Wait for others
My Rights Give up rights
Knowledge Knowledge shaped by love
Elitist Brothers and Sisters
2. APPRECIATE DIVERSITY IN UNITY (V.4-6, V.7-10)
Note how many times Paul uses the word different in v4-6. Also note all the different manifestations of the Spirit listed in v.7-10. Note that Paul does not define them or say that this is an exhaustive list. He is simply illustrating diversity.
Then note the unity and diversity in the Godhead. This is trinitarianism.
Note in v.4-6- Spirit, Lord and God
Spirit- a reference to the Holy Spirit already mentioned in v.3
Lord- a term Paul used to describe Jesus
God- Although God is not called Father here- Paul regularly does so- 8:6, 2 Cor. 13:13
(gifts, service and working- all are addressing the idea of manifestations of the Spirit)
There is unity within the Godhead yet visible diversity. Also note in v.4-10 the use of the adjective same in describing Spirit, Lord and God. Paul is driving at diversity and unity.
We are all so different but we are to be united. Discuss the following statement on diversity and spiritual growth.
Wise spiritual directors lean into this. To borrow an analogy from Marcus Buckingham, good spiritual directors play checkers; great spiritual directors play chess. In checkers, each piece moves exactly the same way. One checker is pretty much interchangeable with any other checker. But in chess, the possibilities vary according to the piece. Skill at helping people grow spiritually, like skill at playing chess, depends on understanding and valuing differences.
Not only are we different in our gift wiring but as the carrier of that gift there is so much about that person that may be very different than who I am, for example ethnicity, gender, generational, maturity, etc.
How do we move from ignorance to being informed?
How do you grow in understanding Christ followers that are very different than you?
What efforts do you make to listen, learn and understand?
What are road blocks and frustrations?
What was happening in our text was that they are not appreciating diversity regarding gifts but minimizing them and creating disunity and in the process people were being hurt.
At Bethel one of our values is solidarity. It is important that the Body celebrates the wonderfully-wired worshipper and seeks to understand, attempts to listen and expresses appreciation for that brother or sister that may be very different than me or you. That kind of attitude, that posture, is not ignorant but in fact a profound way of demonstrating to the world that Jesus is Lord!
Mark
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Touching Base Part 235
TB 235
The Body – PART 8:
Pass the Baloney Sandwiches!
6 April 14
(This article can also be found on our website
at http://www.bethelkingston.com under the tab called "Blog")
This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
Imagine going to a church where class distinctions were highlighted, the “haves” and the “have nots” were definitely two distinct groups and the result was that one group felt shamed and, ultimately, the Church was despised. In our text today this is what was happening. One group was eating prime rib and the other was eating baloney sandwiches.
Before we jump into the text, does anyone in the group want to recall an experience where they were made to feel like a second class citizen? How often do people struggle with feeling like they don’t fit in, measure up or are not good enough?
Big Idea: Jesus Eats Baloney Sandwiches!
Text: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34
The Problem (v.17-22)
Read the text and list all the clues in these verses that illustrate that the Corinthian church had problems. You can be sure that this was a sick church in many ways.
Note that the divisions Paul is talking about here are different than the kinds of divisions he had referred to earlier. These divisions were around the rich and the poor. The prime rib eaters and the baloney sandwich consumers.
Background
Paul is concerned with at least two social facets of the problem, namely, the disorderliness and the inequality of the proceedings. Neither of these characteristics was at all unusual at Greco-Roman banquets which were usually followed by drinking parties. The larger dining rooms in homes were equipped to hold only nine to twenty people, and there were certainly more Corinthian Christians than that. Regarding the triclinium/dining room - archaeology has shown this room would have held about 9-12 people. The majority would eat in the atrium which was like a courtyard holding 30-50 guests. It was the normal practice to rank one’s guests in terms of social status, with those of higher status eating with the host in the dining room and others eating elsewhere and getting poorer food - prime rib vs baloney.
Notice that the abuse was so bad that Paul says (v.20), “it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat…” The Lord’s Supper took place within the context of a meal and it was to remember Christ (see below). The abuse was so bad that even though they may have been going through the motions, their corruption of it had turned it into anything but the Lord’s Supper. They were adopting the social paradigm of the day and transferring it into the church. Meals were often occasions to show off social status. They were bringing the manners and practices of the culture into the church.
Where have you seen the social paradigm of the day transferring into the church and thus despising the church?
How would you describe Paul’s response towards them? What might be his dominant emotion?
What are modern-day examples of division within the Church?
Now, notice how Paul proceeds to tear down the walls of division
The Solution (v.23-34)
V23-26 - The original context was Jesus with his disciples eating the Passover meal, at which time he reinterpreted the bread and wine in terms of his body and blood, soon to be given over in death on the cross.
Note “remembrance” (v.24,25) - This word is stated twice. It is defined as the act of putting something in the mind for attention. They are forgetting what this meal is all about and thus you have this mess in Corinth. They need to remember.
Note “proclaim” (v.26) - Who?
They were not remembering or proclaiming Jesus.
Note “new covenant” - Covenant refers to a contractual arrangement between God and a person, or between human beings, which required binding action from one or both parties; one party often had higher status in the arrangement.
Who has higher status in our context? God. He is in the “dining room”, as it were, but what did he do? He crossed over into the atrium - breaking down the barriers.
The heart of the Gospel is the Greater One coming down to the lowly, the Greater One humbling Himself, making relationship possible. At Christmas we celebrate God becoming a man, and at Easter God (in Jesus) submits Himself to the humiliation of a cross and death. Stepping down.
This is the heart of the Gospel. But note that what was going on in Corinth at the Lord’s Supper… was exactly the opposite of the heart of the Gospel. What was the result?
When you don’t remember and you don’t proclaim the church can become something that is profane!
Now Paul gets really practical in how to tear down some walls.
V.27 - When we do not allow this Gospel to invade our horizontal relationships we sin against Jesus. How does one make sure they are not eating and drinking in an unworthy manner? See v.28.
V.28 - What am I looking for as I examine myself? See v.29.
V.29 - The body of the Lord is referring to the church, the very issue he raised in v.17-22. Note 10:17,12:12.
People could be eating and drinking and celebrating what Jesus has done, but be absolutely unwilling to do what Jesus did for them. Do you see how this not only humiliates people, but despises the church? V.27 says it even more clearly - “sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.”
They were supposedly vertically-transformed… but horizontally-challenged!
Note Paul’s final words on this topic (v.30-34). Note the anger of the Lord towards Corinth on this issue.
Some questions as we wrap up:
Who might be in your “atrium”? Who might you be unwilling to move toward?
A class distinction might cause you to not move toward someone.
Someone may have hurt you and so you have put them in the atrium.
Someone in the atrium might be someone you refuse to forgive.
Possibly a person in your atrium is someone who has made no attempt to move towards you. Thus you think they don’t deserve your kindness. You think “they deserve that baloney sandwich!”
Someone who is just weird perhaps is in your atrium. “Weird” builds walls and justifies my disengagement.
Someone….
Let’s face it, we can so easily isolate people, build barriers and distance ourselves from others who we think are so undeserving. The heart of the Gospel, at times, can be the farthest thing from our hearts, even though we drink the cup and eat the bread.
Lord forgive us! Lord teach us to eat baloney sandwiches!
Join us today for Breathe- Worship, 4pm in the Upper Room.
Mark Kotchapaw
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
The Body – PART 8:
Pass the Baloney Sandwiches!
6 April 14
(This article can also be found on our website
at http://www.bethelkingston.com under the tab called "Blog")
This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
Imagine going to a church where class distinctions were highlighted, the “haves” and the “have nots” were definitely two distinct groups and the result was that one group felt shamed and, ultimately, the Church was despised. In our text today this is what was happening. One group was eating prime rib and the other was eating baloney sandwiches.
Before we jump into the text, does anyone in the group want to recall an experience where they were made to feel like a second class citizen? How often do people struggle with feeling like they don’t fit in, measure up or are not good enough?
Big Idea: Jesus Eats Baloney Sandwiches!
Text: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34
The Problem (v.17-22)
Read the text and list all the clues in these verses that illustrate that the Corinthian church had problems. You can be sure that this was a sick church in many ways.
Note that the divisions Paul is talking about here are different than the kinds of divisions he had referred to earlier. These divisions were around the rich and the poor. The prime rib eaters and the baloney sandwich consumers.
Background
Paul is concerned with at least two social facets of the problem, namely, the disorderliness and the inequality of the proceedings. Neither of these characteristics was at all unusual at Greco-Roman banquets which were usually followed by drinking parties. The larger dining rooms in homes were equipped to hold only nine to twenty people, and there were certainly more Corinthian Christians than that. Regarding the triclinium/dining room - archaeology has shown this room would have held about 9-12 people. The majority would eat in the atrium which was like a courtyard holding 30-50 guests. It was the normal practice to rank one’s guests in terms of social status, with those of higher status eating with the host in the dining room and others eating elsewhere and getting poorer food - prime rib vs baloney.
Notice that the abuse was so bad that Paul says (v.20), “it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat…” The Lord’s Supper took place within the context of a meal and it was to remember Christ (see below). The abuse was so bad that even though they may have been going through the motions, their corruption of it had turned it into anything but the Lord’s Supper. They were adopting the social paradigm of the day and transferring it into the church. Meals were often occasions to show off social status. They were bringing the manners and practices of the culture into the church.
Where have you seen the social paradigm of the day transferring into the church and thus despising the church?
How would you describe Paul’s response towards them? What might be his dominant emotion?
What are modern-day examples of division within the Church?
Now, notice how Paul proceeds to tear down the walls of division
The Solution (v.23-34)
V23-26 - The original context was Jesus with his disciples eating the Passover meal, at which time he reinterpreted the bread and wine in terms of his body and blood, soon to be given over in death on the cross.
Note “remembrance” (v.24,25) - This word is stated twice. It is defined as the act of putting something in the mind for attention. They are forgetting what this meal is all about and thus you have this mess in Corinth. They need to remember.
Note “proclaim” (v.26) - Who?
They were not remembering or proclaiming Jesus.
Note “new covenant” - Covenant refers to a contractual arrangement between God and a person, or between human beings, which required binding action from one or both parties; one party often had higher status in the arrangement.
Who has higher status in our context? God. He is in the “dining room”, as it were, but what did he do? He crossed over into the atrium - breaking down the barriers.
The heart of the Gospel is the Greater One coming down to the lowly, the Greater One humbling Himself, making relationship possible. At Christmas we celebrate God becoming a man, and at Easter God (in Jesus) submits Himself to the humiliation of a cross and death. Stepping down.
This is the heart of the Gospel. But note that what was going on in Corinth at the Lord’s Supper… was exactly the opposite of the heart of the Gospel. What was the result?
When you don’t remember and you don’t proclaim the church can become something that is profane!
Now Paul gets really practical in how to tear down some walls.
V.27 - When we do not allow this Gospel to invade our horizontal relationships we sin against Jesus. How does one make sure they are not eating and drinking in an unworthy manner? See v.28.
V.28 - What am I looking for as I examine myself? See v.29.
V.29 - The body of the Lord is referring to the church, the very issue he raised in v.17-22. Note 10:17,12:12.
People could be eating and drinking and celebrating what Jesus has done, but be absolutely unwilling to do what Jesus did for them. Do you see how this not only humiliates people, but despises the church? V.27 says it even more clearly - “sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.”
They were supposedly vertically-transformed… but horizontally-challenged!
Note Paul’s final words on this topic (v.30-34). Note the anger of the Lord towards Corinth on this issue.
Some questions as we wrap up:
Who might be in your “atrium”? Who might you be unwilling to move toward?
A class distinction might cause you to not move toward someone.
Someone may have hurt you and so you have put them in the atrium.
Someone in the atrium might be someone you refuse to forgive.
Possibly a person in your atrium is someone who has made no attempt to move towards you. Thus you think they don’t deserve your kindness. You think “they deserve that baloney sandwich!”
Someone who is just weird perhaps is in your atrium. “Weird” builds walls and justifies my disengagement.
Someone….
Let’s face it, we can so easily isolate people, build barriers and distance ourselves from others who we think are so undeserving. The heart of the Gospel, at times, can be the farthest thing from our hearts, even though we drink the cup and eat the bread.
Lord forgive us! Lord teach us to eat baloney sandwiches!
Join us today for Breathe- Worship, 4pm in the Upper Room.
Mark Kotchapaw
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Touching Base, Part 234
TB 234
The Body – PART 7:
“North of 7”
23 March 14
(This article can also be found on our website
at http://www.bethelkingston.com under the tab called "Blog")
This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
Got any favorite texts? Probably the most popular scripture texts would be Psalm 23, 1 Corinthians 13 and John 3:16. Got any least favorite texts? How about the genealogy texts or the long list of tribes and names in the Pentateuch? Or for some, it might be some of the prophets who constantly are announcing words of judgment on the crazy behavior of the Israelites. And to that we could add another category - “Most Difficult” - passages that are hard to understand, passages that create lots of debate. Part of that difficulty is rooted in language, culture and understanding the context. I call it the “North of 7” dilemma. “North of 7” refers to an actual geographic area north of highway 7. For some, it’s cottage country, a place to retreat to fish, hunt, skidoo or just break with the normal pace of life. It’s where we encounter “different” - a different culture, and at times language, pace and focus.
One thing that is true about Scripture that’s “North of 7” and physically being North of 7 is that we share a lot of common issues. Our humanity ties us together, our dreams, wounds, brokenness and joys. We are very different but we can be quick to discover that we have much in common.
Today our text is definitely “North of 7” - there is much one could debate because not all is that clear. For example regarding verse 10, one commentator says, “But finally, again, we must admit that we cannot be sure.” Gordon Fee
My purpose is not to debate, but to agree on two very clear things Paul is saying in this text.
Big Idea: Both Genders Make the Body Better
Text: 1 Corinthians 11:2-16
Question: What are the two clear things Paul is saying in this text?
1. GENDER INTERDEPENDENCE
Have you seen a healthy model of interdependence, where the dependence issue went both ways? Or did you grow up in more of a sexist, chauvinistic background? For some, one gender’s opinion did not carry as much weight as another’s.
Note how Paul develops this issue of interdependence.
V.3. Note the word head (kephale).This is a “North of 7” kind of word. There are intellectual heavyweights on both sides of the argument who deeply love Jesus but are on opposite sides regarding interpretation. One side says that this word “head” is a word that refers to authority. The other side says that, in the Greek language, the predominant usage of this word would have meant “source”, like the source of a river… that the original audience would have understood the word head in this way.
Now regardless of how you land on this word’s meaning, gender interdependence is something we all can agree on that Paul is driving at. Personally, I side with the “source” crowd.
“the head/source of every man is Christ” - Jesus is the source of our salvation. Paul is making a singular point about men, not at all saying that Christ is not the source of salvation for women as well.
“the head/source of the woman is man” - Why would Paul say that? Verse 8 give us a clue - he is obviously referencing Genesis 2, where woman is created from man. The source is man.
“the head of Christ is God.” - Probably referring to the incarnational work of Christ - God is the source of Christ - who through his redemption became the source of every person for salvation.
V.9 - “woman for man” – This is not a statement that speaks of her subordination but that she was necessary for him. Check out Genesis 2 the very text that Paul is referencing. Without her, Adam was incomplete, alone, without a companion. The animals will not do, he needs bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, one who is like him but different.
And just to clarify, also note, v.11,12 - Paul is not so much driving at authority but that we need each other - mutual dependence or interdependence - connected and in need of one another.
As a man, Jesus is an example of interdependence. He could list names of women who played a key role in His ministry.
One example is Luke 8 - we are told that the group that travelled with Jesus were both men and women - It would have been scandalous having a rabbi travelling with a group of men and women relating to one another as brothers and sisters. Not to mention the fact that Luke goes out of his way to tell us that women were the ones helping bankroll this mission.
Paul could list names of significant women that he relied on – interdependence - Junia, Priscilla, Phoebe, Julia, Trophena, Tryphosa, Persis, plus Eudia, Syntyche in Philippians who labored alongside Paul as missionaries for the early church.
“Questions can make hermits out of us, driving us into hiding. Yet the cave has no answers. Christ distributes courage through community; he dissipates doubts through fellowship. He never deposits all knowledge in one person but distributes pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to many. When you interlock your understanding with mine, and we share our discoveries, when we mix, mingle, confess and pray, Christ speaks.” Max Lucado, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear (Thomas Nelson, 2009), p. 144.
Both genders are in that community mix.
Men… who are the women who have deeply impacted your life, who currently speak into your life, who you learn from, grow from, are challenged by?
Women… who are the men who have deeply impacted your life, who currently speak into your life, who you learn from, grow from, are challenged by?
Both Genders Make the Body Better.
2. GENDER DISTINCTION
It is amazing that even though we are “North of 7” we have so much in common with these folks. This next issue may surprise you.
“This week (March 11) marks the 40th anniversary of an event close to the hearts of gender activists everywhere. On March 11, 1974, ABC aired Marlo Thomas’ “Free to Be…You and Me” — a musical program celebrating gender-free children. Thomas and her fellow co-neutralists envisioned a world where the sex distinction would melt away. Instead of “males” and “females,” there would be mutually respectful, non-gendered human persons. The project resulted in a platinum LP, a best-selling book, and an Emmy. More than that, the idea of gender liberation entered the national zeitgeist. Parents everywhere began giving their daughters trucks and sons baby dolls. Like so many dream boats floating on the utopian sea, this one crashed and sank when it hit the rocks of reality.” Christina Hoff Sommers (a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. She is the author of several books, including The War Against Boys. Follow her on Twitter @CHsommers)
“In a wide-ranging interview in the Wall Street Journal, Camille Paglia says most feminists today deny the basic differences between the sexes, and as a consequence are setting us up for a huge fall. “What you’re seeing is how a civilization commits suicide,” she says. Male neutralization, Paglia says, includes the idea that men and women are biologically the same and that gender is nothing but a social construct. And this is why we shouldn’t be surprised that California schools have started to allow kindergartners with supposed “gender identity” issues to go to whichever bathroom they choose.” (Academic trained at Yale, Camille Paglia)
So what was going on “North of 7”in our context regarding blurring the distinctions?
There were eschatological women. Their definition of spiritual somehow broke down the distinctives in the sexes. They were like angels, they perhaps thought where there was no sexual distinction. What do we know about angels? They do not marry (Mt 22:30), so they could be regarded as sexless;
How would you, “North of 7” in Corinth remove the distinctions?
Check out the text.
V.4-6 What about this tells you that you are “North of 7”, in a very different world? In verse 6 Paul uses a technique called “reductio ad absurdum” (to take something to its logical extreme) to show them the logical extension of their position. For a woman to shave her head in that culture would be absolutely unacceptable. Note v.13.
In Paul’s context (because this issue did differ amongst Romans, Greeks and Jews) in a Roman city like Corinth, it would not have seemed strange for women to have their heads covered during religious acts. In Corinth, it symbolized immodesty and even seduction to not cover one’s head. In some cases in this context, hair was viewed like a private part. But there were women who wanted to remove head covering to remove the distinctions, and in the process they were dishonoring the men and shaming themselves. For example, in the Corinth of his day, the only women who appeared in public without some kind of head covering were prostitutes.
V.7- What does Paul mean in 7a? We know that Gen 1:26-27 clearly says that both are created in the image of God. One writer states, “Paul does not deny that woman is created in the image of God, or that she too is God’s glory - his point is singular - she is related to man as his glory - a relationship that seems to be jeopardized by current actions.” (Gordon Fee)
V.14,15- What does Paul mean by “nature”? He is probably meaning natural feelings of contemporary culture.
In Paul’s day (as, in many ways, in ours), gender was marked by hair and clothing styles. We can tell by looking at statues, vase paintings and other artwork of the period how this worked out in practice. Paul employs hair only as an illustration from nature. Paul is saying there are differences; there are distinctions that need to be honored and upheld. In the culture of that day, some form of a head covering defined those distinctions. Don’t transcend them, embrace them.
Apply
Should we, or shouldn’t we, employ head coverings today? Why or why not?
Why is it that when we start talking about distinctions between the genders in our culture today, some can get all defensive?
Discuss the following:
It is these differences, distinctions that make the Body strong.
How have you seen this?
People need to realize that one of the gifts they bring to the Body is their gender, not just their spiritual gifts. Both genders are huge gifts to the Body.
These differences are what make interdependence so crucial.
Do you have an example of how the opposite gender brings strength to your team because of how uniquely they are wired?
Three final words as we wrap.
Embrace - This is how the healthy Body of Christ works. There is no plan B.
Pursue - Make the effort, burst your gender bubble. Some of us don’t live in balance.
Listen - Learn, ask, and expect great insights. Your gender has blind spots, and your opposite gender has great insights.
Both Genders Make the Body Better!!!! And all God’s men and women said….!
Join us today for Breathe - Community, 4pm in the Upper Room
Mark Kotchapaw
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
The Body – PART 7:
“North of 7”
23 March 14
(This article can also be found on our website
at http://www.bethelkingston.com under the tab called "Blog")
This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
Got any favorite texts? Probably the most popular scripture texts would be Psalm 23, 1 Corinthians 13 and John 3:16. Got any least favorite texts? How about the genealogy texts or the long list of tribes and names in the Pentateuch? Or for some, it might be some of the prophets who constantly are announcing words of judgment on the crazy behavior of the Israelites. And to that we could add another category - “Most Difficult” - passages that are hard to understand, passages that create lots of debate. Part of that difficulty is rooted in language, culture and understanding the context. I call it the “North of 7” dilemma. “North of 7” refers to an actual geographic area north of highway 7. For some, it’s cottage country, a place to retreat to fish, hunt, skidoo or just break with the normal pace of life. It’s where we encounter “different” - a different culture, and at times language, pace and focus.
One thing that is true about Scripture that’s “North of 7” and physically being North of 7 is that we share a lot of common issues. Our humanity ties us together, our dreams, wounds, brokenness and joys. We are very different but we can be quick to discover that we have much in common.
Today our text is definitely “North of 7” - there is much one could debate because not all is that clear. For example regarding verse 10, one commentator says, “But finally, again, we must admit that we cannot be sure.” Gordon Fee
My purpose is not to debate, but to agree on two very clear things Paul is saying in this text.
Big Idea: Both Genders Make the Body Better
Text: 1 Corinthians 11:2-16
Question: What are the two clear things Paul is saying in this text?
1. GENDER INTERDEPENDENCE
Have you seen a healthy model of interdependence, where the dependence issue went both ways? Or did you grow up in more of a sexist, chauvinistic background? For some, one gender’s opinion did not carry as much weight as another’s.
Note how Paul develops this issue of interdependence.
V.3. Note the word head (kephale).This is a “North of 7” kind of word. There are intellectual heavyweights on both sides of the argument who deeply love Jesus but are on opposite sides regarding interpretation. One side says that this word “head” is a word that refers to authority. The other side says that, in the Greek language, the predominant usage of this word would have meant “source”, like the source of a river… that the original audience would have understood the word head in this way.
Now regardless of how you land on this word’s meaning, gender interdependence is something we all can agree on that Paul is driving at. Personally, I side with the “source” crowd.
“the head/source of every man is Christ” - Jesus is the source of our salvation. Paul is making a singular point about men, not at all saying that Christ is not the source of salvation for women as well.
“the head/source of the woman is man” - Why would Paul say that? Verse 8 give us a clue - he is obviously referencing Genesis 2, where woman is created from man. The source is man.
“the head of Christ is God.” - Probably referring to the incarnational work of Christ - God is the source of Christ - who through his redemption became the source of every person for salvation.
V.9 - “woman for man” – This is not a statement that speaks of her subordination but that she was necessary for him. Check out Genesis 2 the very text that Paul is referencing. Without her, Adam was incomplete, alone, without a companion. The animals will not do, he needs bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, one who is like him but different.
And just to clarify, also note, v.11,12 - Paul is not so much driving at authority but that we need each other - mutual dependence or interdependence - connected and in need of one another.
As a man, Jesus is an example of interdependence. He could list names of women who played a key role in His ministry.
One example is Luke 8 - we are told that the group that travelled with Jesus were both men and women - It would have been scandalous having a rabbi travelling with a group of men and women relating to one another as brothers and sisters. Not to mention the fact that Luke goes out of his way to tell us that women were the ones helping bankroll this mission.
Paul could list names of significant women that he relied on – interdependence - Junia, Priscilla, Phoebe, Julia, Trophena, Tryphosa, Persis, plus Eudia, Syntyche in Philippians who labored alongside Paul as missionaries for the early church.
“Questions can make hermits out of us, driving us into hiding. Yet the cave has no answers. Christ distributes courage through community; he dissipates doubts through fellowship. He never deposits all knowledge in one person but distributes pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to many. When you interlock your understanding with mine, and we share our discoveries, when we mix, mingle, confess and pray, Christ speaks.” Max Lucado, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear (Thomas Nelson, 2009), p. 144.
Both genders are in that community mix.
Men… who are the women who have deeply impacted your life, who currently speak into your life, who you learn from, grow from, are challenged by?
Women… who are the men who have deeply impacted your life, who currently speak into your life, who you learn from, grow from, are challenged by?
Both Genders Make the Body Better.
2. GENDER DISTINCTION
It is amazing that even though we are “North of 7” we have so much in common with these folks. This next issue may surprise you.
“This week (March 11) marks the 40th anniversary of an event close to the hearts of gender activists everywhere. On March 11, 1974, ABC aired Marlo Thomas’ “Free to Be…You and Me” — a musical program celebrating gender-free children. Thomas and her fellow co-neutralists envisioned a world where the sex distinction would melt away. Instead of “males” and “females,” there would be mutually respectful, non-gendered human persons. The project resulted in a platinum LP, a best-selling book, and an Emmy. More than that, the idea of gender liberation entered the national zeitgeist. Parents everywhere began giving their daughters trucks and sons baby dolls. Like so many dream boats floating on the utopian sea, this one crashed and sank when it hit the rocks of reality.” Christina Hoff Sommers (a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. She is the author of several books, including The War Against Boys. Follow her on Twitter @CHsommers)
“In a wide-ranging interview in the Wall Street Journal, Camille Paglia says most feminists today deny the basic differences between the sexes, and as a consequence are setting us up for a huge fall. “What you’re seeing is how a civilization commits suicide,” she says. Male neutralization, Paglia says, includes the idea that men and women are biologically the same and that gender is nothing but a social construct. And this is why we shouldn’t be surprised that California schools have started to allow kindergartners with supposed “gender identity” issues to go to whichever bathroom they choose.” (Academic trained at Yale, Camille Paglia)
So what was going on “North of 7”in our context regarding blurring the distinctions?
There were eschatological women. Their definition of spiritual somehow broke down the distinctives in the sexes. They were like angels, they perhaps thought where there was no sexual distinction. What do we know about angels? They do not marry (Mt 22:30), so they could be regarded as sexless;
How would you, “North of 7” in Corinth remove the distinctions?
Check out the text.
V.4-6 What about this tells you that you are “North of 7”, in a very different world? In verse 6 Paul uses a technique called “reductio ad absurdum” (to take something to its logical extreme) to show them the logical extension of their position. For a woman to shave her head in that culture would be absolutely unacceptable. Note v.13.
In Paul’s context (because this issue did differ amongst Romans, Greeks and Jews) in a Roman city like Corinth, it would not have seemed strange for women to have their heads covered during religious acts. In Corinth, it symbolized immodesty and even seduction to not cover one’s head. In some cases in this context, hair was viewed like a private part. But there were women who wanted to remove head covering to remove the distinctions, and in the process they were dishonoring the men and shaming themselves. For example, in the Corinth of his day, the only women who appeared in public without some kind of head covering were prostitutes.
V.7- What does Paul mean in 7a? We know that Gen 1:26-27 clearly says that both are created in the image of God. One writer states, “Paul does not deny that woman is created in the image of God, or that she too is God’s glory - his point is singular - she is related to man as his glory - a relationship that seems to be jeopardized by current actions.” (Gordon Fee)
V.14,15- What does Paul mean by “nature”? He is probably meaning natural feelings of contemporary culture.
In Paul’s day (as, in many ways, in ours), gender was marked by hair and clothing styles. We can tell by looking at statues, vase paintings and other artwork of the period how this worked out in practice. Paul employs hair only as an illustration from nature. Paul is saying there are differences; there are distinctions that need to be honored and upheld. In the culture of that day, some form of a head covering defined those distinctions. Don’t transcend them, embrace them.
Apply
Should we, or shouldn’t we, employ head coverings today? Why or why not?
Why is it that when we start talking about distinctions between the genders in our culture today, some can get all defensive?
Discuss the following:
It is these differences, distinctions that make the Body strong.
How have you seen this?
People need to realize that one of the gifts they bring to the Body is their gender, not just their spiritual gifts. Both genders are huge gifts to the Body.
These differences are what make interdependence so crucial.
Do you have an example of how the opposite gender brings strength to your team because of how uniquely they are wired?
Three final words as we wrap.
Embrace - This is how the healthy Body of Christ works. There is no plan B.
Pursue - Make the effort, burst your gender bubble. Some of us don’t live in balance.
Listen - Learn, ask, and expect great insights. Your gender has blind spots, and your opposite gender has great insights.
Both Genders Make the Body Better!!!! And all God’s men and women said….!
Join us today for Breathe - Community, 4pm in the Upper Room
Mark Kotchapaw
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
Touching Base, Part 233
TB 233
The Body – PART 6:
Who Do You See Here?
16 March 14
(This article can also be found on our website
at http://www.bethelkingston.com under the tab called "Blog")
This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
Philip Yancey says, “I often wish that we could somehow set aside church history, remove the church's many layers of interpretation, and encounter the words of the Gospels for the first time. Not everyone would accept Jesus—they did not in his own day—but at least people would not reject him for the wrong reasons.
Once I was able to cut through the fog still clinging from my own upbringing, my opinion of Jesus changed remarkably. Brilliant, untamed, tender, creative, merciful, slippery, loving, irreducible, paradoxically humble—Jesus stands up to scrutiny. He is who I want my God to be.”
How much do you resonate with what Philip Yancey says?
Has this been your experience?
Today we are looking at the big idea, The Church Is Jesus!
Text: 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1
In this section, Paul touches on some similar themes that he has been addressing since chapter 8. He elaborates on, and provides an illustration to help drive home the importance of giving up one’s rights. I would like to focus on two key statements that Paul makes that help the Corinthians understand what the Church is all about, or should we say WHO the church is all about.
V.31 “… do it all for the glory of God”
What does the first part of the sentence tell you about the glory of God?
“Doxa” or glory means the manifest presentation of God’s infinite and majestic nature; normally conveyed to humanity as superlative brightness. It is a word that ties three concepts together: repute, splendor and reflection or image. Do all for the reputation, splendor and reflection of God.
What do people often think of when they think of the glory of God?
Notice the very practical ways God’s glory is revealed in this text. Finish this sentence, “I reveal the glory of God in my life by….” (scan v.23-33 for some clues).
Let me help:
V. 29b,30 “Why should my freedom be determined by another’s conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?” is again the objection of the Corinthians, as in v.23a, and does not represent Paul’s own view. In v.28, Paul offered a hypothetical example, and here he offers a hypothetical objection or retort to his own argument. Paul himself has just argued that he does limit his freedom, and the Corinthians ought to limit theirs precisely because of someone else’s conscience.
What I want you to note is that the impressive beauty (glory) of God does not always come packaged the way we (or Hollywood) would like to portray it.
If you have seen the movie Son Of God, then you know that they are portraying Jesus as a “hot Jesus” played by Diogo Miguel Morgado Soares- a former model. However note the following:
One tradition dating back to the second century suggested Jesus was a hunchback, and in the Middle Ages, Christians widely believed that Jesus had suffered from leprosy. Most Christians today would find such notions repulsive and perhaps heretical. Was he not a perfect specimen of humanity? Yet in all the Bible there is only one physical description of sorts, a prophecy written hundreds of years before Christ's birth. Here is Isaiah's portrayal (from Philip Yancey), in the midst of a passage that the New Testament applies to the life of Jesus:
“Just as there were many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness… . He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
Sometimes the glory of God surprises us!
For another example, check out John 17 and note the mission of Jesus - to bring God glory and note one of the ways that was done, “ …by completing the work you gave me”. This included dying on a cross. Cicero calls it “ the most horrendous torture.” So hideous was the act of crucifixion upon a man that he writes that “the very word ‘cross’ should be far removed not only from the person of a Roman citizen but from his thoughts, his eyes and his ears.” (The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, Gary Habermas and Mike Licona, p.49)
Does the Church demonstrate the glory of God in the setting aside of rights, serving, loving, coming alongside, sacrificing, “dying” for others?
Sometimes our contorted version of God’s glory has made us God’s shame.
The Church is Jesus, and we are to reflect His glory.
11:1 “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.”
Was Paul being arrogant when he called for others to imitate him? Not at all. Living in a pre-literary age, he was adopting a deliberate teaching strategy used by many communicators—calling on new converts to imitate the patterns of behavior he modeled for them. Ultimately they were to follow Jesus but for many Paul would have been the model for Christ-like behavior. Note 1 Cor. 2:1-5, Paul clearly wants them to see Jesus.
“Follow” means to mimic or copy, it means to allow who you are following or trusting to determine your response, actions, attitudes and beliefs.
Is that difficult? Can you think of any situation where following Jesus is particularly challenging these days?
When Christ is not the one who we are mimicking, what does the church become? How would you finish this, “The church is…“ (i.e. an accumulation of the traditions of men, a reflection of the trends and needs of current culture)
As a group brainstorm on why “the Church is Jesus” is so crucial. One answer is that people have feet of clay. Regardless of our spiritual heroes, people fail us, our role models let us down at times. If we don’t point people to Jesus, then we can overstate the importance of people, create a savior complex for some and see people crash.
The Church Is Jesus!
Join us today for Breathe, 4pm in the Upper Room – The Living Word Of God
Mark Kotchapaw
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
The Body – PART 6:
Who Do You See Here?
16 March 14
(This article can also be found on our website
at http://www.bethelkingston.com under the tab called "Blog")
This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
Philip Yancey says, “I often wish that we could somehow set aside church history, remove the church's many layers of interpretation, and encounter the words of the Gospels for the first time. Not everyone would accept Jesus—they did not in his own day—but at least people would not reject him for the wrong reasons.
Once I was able to cut through the fog still clinging from my own upbringing, my opinion of Jesus changed remarkably. Brilliant, untamed, tender, creative, merciful, slippery, loving, irreducible, paradoxically humble—Jesus stands up to scrutiny. He is who I want my God to be.”
How much do you resonate with what Philip Yancey says?
Has this been your experience?
Today we are looking at the big idea, The Church Is Jesus!
Text: 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1
In this section, Paul touches on some similar themes that he has been addressing since chapter 8. He elaborates on, and provides an illustration to help drive home the importance of giving up one’s rights. I would like to focus on two key statements that Paul makes that help the Corinthians understand what the Church is all about, or should we say WHO the church is all about.
V.31 “… do it all for the glory of God”
What does the first part of the sentence tell you about the glory of God?
“Doxa” or glory means the manifest presentation of God’s infinite and majestic nature; normally conveyed to humanity as superlative brightness. It is a word that ties three concepts together: repute, splendor and reflection or image. Do all for the reputation, splendor and reflection of God.
What do people often think of when they think of the glory of God?
Notice the very practical ways God’s glory is revealed in this text. Finish this sentence, “I reveal the glory of God in my life by….” (scan v.23-33 for some clues).
Let me help:
V. 29b,30 “Why should my freedom be determined by another’s conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?” is again the objection of the Corinthians, as in v.23a, and does not represent Paul’s own view. In v.28, Paul offered a hypothetical example, and here he offers a hypothetical objection or retort to his own argument. Paul himself has just argued that he does limit his freedom, and the Corinthians ought to limit theirs precisely because of someone else’s conscience.
What I want you to note is that the impressive beauty (glory) of God does not always come packaged the way we (or Hollywood) would like to portray it.
If you have seen the movie Son Of God, then you know that they are portraying Jesus as a “hot Jesus” played by Diogo Miguel Morgado Soares- a former model. However note the following:
One tradition dating back to the second century suggested Jesus was a hunchback, and in the Middle Ages, Christians widely believed that Jesus had suffered from leprosy. Most Christians today would find such notions repulsive and perhaps heretical. Was he not a perfect specimen of humanity? Yet in all the Bible there is only one physical description of sorts, a prophecy written hundreds of years before Christ's birth. Here is Isaiah's portrayal (from Philip Yancey), in the midst of a passage that the New Testament applies to the life of Jesus:
“Just as there were many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness… . He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
Sometimes the glory of God surprises us!
For another example, check out John 17 and note the mission of Jesus - to bring God glory and note one of the ways that was done, “ …by completing the work you gave me”. This included dying on a cross. Cicero calls it “ the most horrendous torture.” So hideous was the act of crucifixion upon a man that he writes that “the very word ‘cross’ should be far removed not only from the person of a Roman citizen but from his thoughts, his eyes and his ears.” (The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, Gary Habermas and Mike Licona, p.49)
Does the Church demonstrate the glory of God in the setting aside of rights, serving, loving, coming alongside, sacrificing, “dying” for others?
Sometimes our contorted version of God’s glory has made us God’s shame.
The Church is Jesus, and we are to reflect His glory.
11:1 “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.”
Was Paul being arrogant when he called for others to imitate him? Not at all. Living in a pre-literary age, he was adopting a deliberate teaching strategy used by many communicators—calling on new converts to imitate the patterns of behavior he modeled for them. Ultimately they were to follow Jesus but for many Paul would have been the model for Christ-like behavior. Note 1 Cor. 2:1-5, Paul clearly wants them to see Jesus.
“Follow” means to mimic or copy, it means to allow who you are following or trusting to determine your response, actions, attitudes and beliefs.
Is that difficult? Can you think of any situation where following Jesus is particularly challenging these days?
When Christ is not the one who we are mimicking, what does the church become? How would you finish this, “The church is…“ (i.e. an accumulation of the traditions of men, a reflection of the trends and needs of current culture)
As a group brainstorm on why “the Church is Jesus” is so crucial. One answer is that people have feet of clay. Regardless of our spiritual heroes, people fail us, our role models let us down at times. If we don’t point people to Jesus, then we can overstate the importance of people, create a savior complex for some and see people crash.
The Church Is Jesus!
Join us today for Breathe, 4pm in the Upper Room – The Living Word Of God
Mark Kotchapaw
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Touching Base, Part 232
TB 232
The Body – PART 5:
Getting More Than We Bargained For!
9 March 14
(You can find a recording of this sermon here.)
This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
I am sure that we can all tell a story of how we got more than we bargained for. It might be positive, as in “it was awesome, what a deal, I felt so great”. Or it could be downright lousy… if you had seen what was coming, you surely would have ducked.
This week, our text challenges us to think about getting more than we bargained for, not in the positive sense but in the negative sense. The issue circulates around the issue of idolatry. Corinth was filled to the brim with idolatry, and most (if not all) of the Gentiles coming to Christ had come out of idolatry - at least that was the game plan!!!! Some were still dabbling in it, thinking that they could get away with it (remember v.12), but Paul wants to be clear that what they are doing is playing with fire… and they will get burned.
Big Idea: Our hearts’ affections have a spiritual connection.
Question: How does this text demonstrate that they got more than what they bargained for?
Text: 1 Corinthians 10:14-22
There are two answers to this question that we want to look at, that come from this text. But first note v.14. The command is to flee idolatry. The problem is revealed by the verb “flee” - not all were putting on their running shoes and darting in the opposite direction.
Idolatry
John Calvin remarked that the human heart is an “idol factory”. Anything can be an idol and everything has been an idol. Timothy Keller says that idolatry refers to anything that bumps God from being number one in our lives. Another author says that idolatry is when a good thing becomes an ultimate thing. The bottom line is that the act of idolatry challenges Jesus’ Lordship in our lives.
Now to answer the question.
1. Our hearts’ affections can have a demonic connection (v.15-21)
Paul makes this point by contrasting two tables:
a. The Lord’s Table v16-18
V.16 - cup of thanksgiving - a technical term for the cup of wine drunk at the end of a Jewish meal and over which the thanksgiving or grace is said: “Blessed are you, O Lord, who gives us the fruit of the vine.” In the Passover meal this was the third cup of the four to be drunk. This was probably the cup Jesus identified as the cup of the new covenant in his blood at the Last Supper. The point is that this new covenant was enacted by Christ’s death.
V.17- What are your observations about the bread? Note the symbolism.
Paul says that we partake (or participate) in this table. This word is getting at the idea that when we drink and eat at this table there is a communion with Christ, or one might say an appropriation of the benefits of His death—forgiveness, cleansing, and the like. We have been blessed by what Jesus has done for us. It is the celebration of the New Covenant.
Paul talks about the table in v.21. Table fellowship in that culture connoted intimate relations. As we partake at the table, we are celebrating our relationship with Christ. This is a picture of fidelity, faithfulness and devotion.
Notice v.18, Paul is referencing the Old Testament covenant and that the Israelites also benefited from what God had done through the OT agreement/covenant.
Notice that there is another table, and this is the problem or tension in the text.
b. The Table of Demons v19-21
V.19- What is Paul saying? See 8:4
V.20,21 Where is the real danger with idolatry?
So picture this, you have Christians eating from the Lord’s table - devotion, affection, love, blessing and fidelity. But you have those very same Christians going off to another table, not to observe from a distance but to participate in – hearts’ affections. Note “You cannot”- v.21, said twice - Paul is saying you cannot do this and get away with it, you cannot do this and not pay a price. The challenge to flee in v.14 suggests that some were not fleeing but instead were cleaving.
What is it about idolatry that demonstrates they were getting more than what they bargained for?
Our hearts’ affections have a spiritual connection.
How can you tell when the Body has drifted into idolatry? Remember Paul’s words are directed to the Church, the Body in Corinth. Check out Revelation 2:1-7. Note all the good things going on in this church, BUT there is something deeply wrong - idolatry.
Caution
This doesn't mean that there is a ghost behind every bush, or that every problem only has a spiritual solution or that if I commit idolatry that I have demons stuck to me like 3M Post It Notes. But it does mean that we need to be mindful of the spiritual reality of idolatry and the danger of it. The heart of idolatry is robbing God of His rightful worship and gives the enemy a platform in our lives.
Does your worldview make room for the spiritual backdrop within which our lives unfold? Does your worldview acknowledge that the enemy is also part of that spiritual backdrop?
Read through the following texts to see how the Gospels demonstrate this reality. Satan does play a key role in the Gospels, where he is mentioned more than 30 times and is described performing various activities. These passages help us to better understand Christ's mission, the challenges we face, and the reality in which we live:
• He thrusts Jesus into the wilderness, for 40 days, where he is tempted by Satan (vv. 12–13). The Spirit-empowered life is hardly portrayed as one of tranquil bliss.
• In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus explains to his disciples that Satan snatches the kingdom message from the hearts of many hearers (Mark 4:15).
• When Peter wants to prevent Jesus' suffering, Jesus calls Peter "Satan" (8:33) and rebukes him for acting with human rather than divine motives. The kingdom without the Cross misunderstands the King's mission.
• When we pray for God to protect us from temptation, we also pray for protection from the tempter, "the evil one" (Matt 6:13).
• Luke 13:16 suggests that Satan also causes some illnesses, even in people who have done nothing wrong to invite his activity. As Peter said, Jesus healed those oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38).
• Satan wants to destroy the faith of Jesus' disciples (Luke 22:31).
• in John, Jesus himself also prays for our protection from the evil one (John 17:15)
• And elsewhere, John says that the entire world is in the devil's grip (1 John 5:19).
As the Corinthians dabbled in idolatry, Paul wanted them to see that they were getting way more than what they had bargained for. Notice, though, we have one more answer to the question we started with.
2. Our hearts’ affections have a divine connection (v.22)
Notice the Lord’s reaction to Christians who are eating at both tables.
Notice below what some say about the Lord’s jealousy. Do you agree?
“Richard Dawkins claims that God breaks into a monumental rage whenever his chosen people flirted with rival gods. Oprah Winfrey said that she got turned off of Christianity when she heard that God can be jealous. Bill Maher said that being jealous of someone having other gods is not moral.” Paul Copan, Is God A Moral Monster?
We need to understand that the Bible describes jealousy in two different ways, both as a vice and as a virtue. As a virtue, jealousy is described as fighting for someone’s good or best interest. Jealousy denotes God’s holy zeal for the honour of his name and the good of his people who are bound to him in the marriage of the covenant (Dt. 32:16, 21; 2 Ki. 19:31; Ezek. 36:5f.; Zc. 1:14f.; Jn. 2:17)
The term “jealousy” is a powerful love word. God becomes jealous when we are rummaging around in the garbage piles of life and avoiding the ultimate source of satisfaction. Like the comic strip of a dog who had been drinking out of a toilet bowl. With water dripping from his snout, Fido looks up to tell us, “It doesn't get any better than this!”
Idolatry is seditious and evil, thus Scripture typically associated God’s jealousy with idolatry. – Ex 20:5, 34:14, Deut 4:23-24, 5:9,6:14-15,Josh 24:19-20, I kings 14:22, Psalm 78:58
Note, it is not the idol itself that arouses God’s jealousy but what lays behind it - the enemy whose intentions are evil. In the Gospels, we see an elaboration on what the Old Testament and ancient Jewish tradition say about Satan: he is an accuser, deceiver, and tempter.
So here is my question: how moral would God be if He saw His creation drinking out of the toilet bowl and did nothing? love and moral integrity should cause a person to rise up – this is godly jealousy - to protect, like a loving spouse, a compassionate father, a God who engages with his people. Jealousy is a love word.
Our hearts affections have a spiritual connection - demonic and divine jealousy.
As God looks at your heart is He jealous?
What idols are most tempting?
As he looks at Bethel, is there any reason for Jesus to say to us, “You have abandoned your first love!”
Jesus invites us to eat at His table, a place of devotion, faithfulness and fidelity. Jesus likened the kingdom of God to a feast. See Luke 14:15-24. Let Him breathe His life into you and let nothing take that breath away!
Join us today for Breathe, 4pm in the Upper Room - Pray Fit!
Mark Kotchapaw
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
The Body – PART 5:
Getting More Than We Bargained For!
9 March 14
(You can find a recording of this sermon here.)
This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
I am sure that we can all tell a story of how we got more than we bargained for. It might be positive, as in “it was awesome, what a deal, I felt so great”. Or it could be downright lousy… if you had seen what was coming, you surely would have ducked.
This week, our text challenges us to think about getting more than we bargained for, not in the positive sense but in the negative sense. The issue circulates around the issue of idolatry. Corinth was filled to the brim with idolatry, and most (if not all) of the Gentiles coming to Christ had come out of idolatry - at least that was the game plan!!!! Some were still dabbling in it, thinking that they could get away with it (remember v.12), but Paul wants to be clear that what they are doing is playing with fire… and they will get burned.
Big Idea: Our hearts’ affections have a spiritual connection.
Question: How does this text demonstrate that they got more than what they bargained for?
Text: 1 Corinthians 10:14-22
There are two answers to this question that we want to look at, that come from this text. But first note v.14. The command is to flee idolatry. The problem is revealed by the verb “flee” - not all were putting on their running shoes and darting in the opposite direction.
Idolatry
John Calvin remarked that the human heart is an “idol factory”. Anything can be an idol and everything has been an idol. Timothy Keller says that idolatry refers to anything that bumps God from being number one in our lives. Another author says that idolatry is when a good thing becomes an ultimate thing. The bottom line is that the act of idolatry challenges Jesus’ Lordship in our lives.
Now to answer the question.
1. Our hearts’ affections can have a demonic connection (v.15-21)
Paul makes this point by contrasting two tables:
a. The Lord’s Table v16-18
V.16 - cup of thanksgiving - a technical term for the cup of wine drunk at the end of a Jewish meal and over which the thanksgiving or grace is said: “Blessed are you, O Lord, who gives us the fruit of the vine.” In the Passover meal this was the third cup of the four to be drunk. This was probably the cup Jesus identified as the cup of the new covenant in his blood at the Last Supper. The point is that this new covenant was enacted by Christ’s death.
V.17- What are your observations about the bread? Note the symbolism.
Paul says that we partake (or participate) in this table. This word is getting at the idea that when we drink and eat at this table there is a communion with Christ, or one might say an appropriation of the benefits of His death—forgiveness, cleansing, and the like. We have been blessed by what Jesus has done for us. It is the celebration of the New Covenant.
Paul talks about the table in v.21. Table fellowship in that culture connoted intimate relations. As we partake at the table, we are celebrating our relationship with Christ. This is a picture of fidelity, faithfulness and devotion.
Notice v.18, Paul is referencing the Old Testament covenant and that the Israelites also benefited from what God had done through the OT agreement/covenant.
Notice that there is another table, and this is the problem or tension in the text.
b. The Table of Demons v19-21
V.19- What is Paul saying? See 8:4
V.20,21 Where is the real danger with idolatry?
So picture this, you have Christians eating from the Lord’s table - devotion, affection, love, blessing and fidelity. But you have those very same Christians going off to another table, not to observe from a distance but to participate in – hearts’ affections. Note “You cannot”- v.21, said twice - Paul is saying you cannot do this and get away with it, you cannot do this and not pay a price. The challenge to flee in v.14 suggests that some were not fleeing but instead were cleaving.
What is it about idolatry that demonstrates they were getting more than what they bargained for?
Our hearts’ affections have a spiritual connection.
How can you tell when the Body has drifted into idolatry? Remember Paul’s words are directed to the Church, the Body in Corinth. Check out Revelation 2:1-7. Note all the good things going on in this church, BUT there is something deeply wrong - idolatry.
Caution
This doesn't mean that there is a ghost behind every bush, or that every problem only has a spiritual solution or that if I commit idolatry that I have demons stuck to me like 3M Post It Notes. But it does mean that we need to be mindful of the spiritual reality of idolatry and the danger of it. The heart of idolatry is robbing God of His rightful worship and gives the enemy a platform in our lives.
Does your worldview make room for the spiritual backdrop within which our lives unfold? Does your worldview acknowledge that the enemy is also part of that spiritual backdrop?
Read through the following texts to see how the Gospels demonstrate this reality. Satan does play a key role in the Gospels, where he is mentioned more than 30 times and is described performing various activities. These passages help us to better understand Christ's mission, the challenges we face, and the reality in which we live:
• He thrusts Jesus into the wilderness, for 40 days, where he is tempted by Satan (vv. 12–13). The Spirit-empowered life is hardly portrayed as one of tranquil bliss.
• In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus explains to his disciples that Satan snatches the kingdom message from the hearts of many hearers (Mark 4:15).
• When Peter wants to prevent Jesus' suffering, Jesus calls Peter "Satan" (8:33) and rebukes him for acting with human rather than divine motives. The kingdom without the Cross misunderstands the King's mission.
• When we pray for God to protect us from temptation, we also pray for protection from the tempter, "the evil one" (Matt 6:13).
• Luke 13:16 suggests that Satan also causes some illnesses, even in people who have done nothing wrong to invite his activity. As Peter said, Jesus healed those oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38).
• Satan wants to destroy the faith of Jesus' disciples (Luke 22:31).
• in John, Jesus himself also prays for our protection from the evil one (John 17:15)
• And elsewhere, John says that the entire world is in the devil's grip (1 John 5:19).
As the Corinthians dabbled in idolatry, Paul wanted them to see that they were getting way more than what they had bargained for. Notice, though, we have one more answer to the question we started with.
2. Our hearts’ affections have a divine connection (v.22)
Notice the Lord’s reaction to Christians who are eating at both tables.
Notice below what some say about the Lord’s jealousy. Do you agree?
“Richard Dawkins claims that God breaks into a monumental rage whenever his chosen people flirted with rival gods. Oprah Winfrey said that she got turned off of Christianity when she heard that God can be jealous. Bill Maher said that being jealous of someone having other gods is not moral.” Paul Copan, Is God A Moral Monster?
We need to understand that the Bible describes jealousy in two different ways, both as a vice and as a virtue. As a virtue, jealousy is described as fighting for someone’s good or best interest. Jealousy denotes God’s holy zeal for the honour of his name and the good of his people who are bound to him in the marriage of the covenant (Dt. 32:16, 21; 2 Ki. 19:31; Ezek. 36:5f.; Zc. 1:14f.; Jn. 2:17)
The term “jealousy” is a powerful love word. God becomes jealous when we are rummaging around in the garbage piles of life and avoiding the ultimate source of satisfaction. Like the comic strip of a dog who had been drinking out of a toilet bowl. With water dripping from his snout, Fido looks up to tell us, “It doesn't get any better than this!”
Idolatry is seditious and evil, thus Scripture typically associated God’s jealousy with idolatry. – Ex 20:5, 34:14, Deut 4:23-24, 5:9,6:14-15,Josh 24:19-20, I kings 14:22, Psalm 78:58
Note, it is not the idol itself that arouses God’s jealousy but what lays behind it - the enemy whose intentions are evil. In the Gospels, we see an elaboration on what the Old Testament and ancient Jewish tradition say about Satan: he is an accuser, deceiver, and tempter.
So here is my question: how moral would God be if He saw His creation drinking out of the toilet bowl and did nothing? love and moral integrity should cause a person to rise up – this is godly jealousy - to protect, like a loving spouse, a compassionate father, a God who engages with his people. Jealousy is a love word.
Our hearts affections have a spiritual connection - demonic and divine jealousy.
As God looks at your heart is He jealous?
What idols are most tempting?
As he looks at Bethel, is there any reason for Jesus to say to us, “You have abandoned your first love!”
Jesus invites us to eat at His table, a place of devotion, faithfulness and fidelity. Jesus likened the kingdom of God to a feast. See Luke 14:15-24. Let Him breathe His life into you and let nothing take that breath away!
Join us today for Breathe, 4pm in the Upper Room - Pray Fit!
Mark Kotchapaw
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
Friday, February 21, 2014
Touching Base, Part 231
TB 231
The Body – PART 4:
Cheese Balls!
16 Feb 14
(This article can also be found on our website
at http://www.bethelkingston.com under the tab called "Blog")
This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
Last week I was walking in the grocery store and, right there in the middle of one of the aisles, sat these enormous containers of cheese balls. The price was cheap, the location was strategic and for anyone with a craving for salty foods, the offer was too good to resist. Cheese balls are a great picture of temptation - we are convinced that it won’t cost us much, but temptation always knows where to locate itself in our lives and it has a way of appealing to our cravings and desires.
Take a moment and list what cheese balls can look like in our lives.
Big Idea: Every life has cheese balls in the center of the aisle.
Question: What does Paul teach us about temptation/cheese balls?
Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13- The key verses are v.11-13. Verses 1-10 serve to illustrate what Paul is talking about.
1. The word of God can provide a warning from God (v.11)
Notice v.11 and v.6 and how Paul reminds them of one of the functions of the Word of God. To warn someone is to call someone’s attention to a matter that they might not notice on their own.
Who is Paul using as an example for these Corinthian Christians? See v.1-10.
As a group, take a few moments and share what passages of Scripture have served as great warning texts for you in your spiritual journey. Have you ever been saved much pain or regret because of the warnings of Scripture? Was there ever a time when you knew God’s Word was cautioning you, but you went ahead anyways and purchased the cheese balls?
The following questions are helpful in identifying the ways that Scripture can warn us.
The “application” acrostic:
Is there an Attitude to adjust?
Is there a Promise to claim?
Is there a Priority to change?
Is there a Lesson to learn?
Is there an Issue to resolve?
Is there a Command to obey?
Is there an Activity to avoid or stop?
Is there a Truth to believe?
Is there an Idol to tear down? (That’s a big one.)
Is there an Offense to forgive?
Is there a New direction to take?
Is there a Sin to confess?
(Rick Warren)
2. Places of strength can be places of great vulnerability (v.12)
Notice the example Paul uses of a people who were standing firm.
V1,2
The cloud is symbolic of God’s presence.
Moses is an example of God’s provision for Godly leadership.
The Sea - an event where God’s presence in the life of Moses enabled him to provide great leadership. This nation was standing firm. They had been baptized, inaugurated into all these blessings!
V3,4 Paul calls the manna “spiritual” food, by which he probably means food miraculously provided by the Spirit of God, not food with a heavenly taste or texture. Nor indeed was the water spiritual in character. It was, rather, spiritually provided, just as the rock was spiritually enabled to give water.
Paul believes that Christ was preexistent in OT times helping God’s OT people along. Note what John said in 1:1
But notice how such strength and such blessing resulted in such judgment (v.5-10). The problem with some of the Corinthians is that they had a false sense of security. Possibly the Corinthians had a magical view of the Christian sacraments and thought that since they had partaken of the Christian initiation rite (baptism) and the Christian communion rite (the Lord’s Supper), they were immune to spiritual danger at pagan feasts. They seem to have held to some form of an “eternal security by means of sacraments” view.
Have you ever seen someone looking so strong but actually falling?
We can be experiencing an internal breakdown long before things go public. Discuss the following quote,
“We fall because of many mini decisions that lead to what is visible for all to see.”
Truth be told, the fall happens way before we hear the crash!
Places of strength are places of vulnerability because the human heart is deceptive, and wicked and dark and easily becomes proud, overconfident, and self-reliant. It is always amazing how dark the heart can be even while someone is standing in the brilliant light of God’s blessing. The human heart is no different today than it was thousands of years ago. Check out Jeremiah 17:9,10, Matthew 15:18, Hebrews 4:12.
With all our advancement, sophistication and progress, are we any different than past generations?
3. There is nothing new under the sun, just different attire (v.13a)
“Seize” can mean to attack, catch, apprehend, lay hold of
“Common to man” - What belongs to man, human temptation. It appeals to the flesh. In other words this temptation has been around since the dawn of civilization. What is seizing you is an old man, wrinkled, well versed in such things, and who has preyed on many a victim.
The comfort of that is that we can learn from others, thus Scripture can warn us from the lives of others. The discomfort is that temptation is like a deceptive, wise old veteran who is really good at his evil craft.
For example we ask the same old questions that can lead us down “cheese ball alley”. These are some questions the Israelites may have been asking:
• Is God good? (v.7) Idolatry essentially says that God can be improved on can be updated and modernized.
• Are God’s sexual boundaries reasonable? (v.8) God had given very clear boundaries regarding sexual conduct.
• Is God able? (v.9) Numbers 21:4 gives the context of questioning the ability of God.
• Is God really wise? (v10) Numbers 14:1-4 gives the context for questioning the wisdom of God.
These are not new questions but rather age-old questions that Old Man Temptation uses time and time again to get us to go after the cheese balls.
Are we so much better, so much more sophisticated that we don’t ask these very same questions today? The asking of the question isn’t wrong – it’s the posture of the heart.
4. God is Faithful in the face of temptation (v.13b)
How is the faithfulness of God demonstrated in this verse? Notice we see the power of God demonstrated in judgment (v.6-10) and now the power of God demonstrated in Him being faithful.
Notice the phrases “provide a way out” and “stand up under it”. The reality of some temptation is that we cannot flee it but must endure it, stand up under it. The way out is not necessarily to remove ourselves from it but to be strong in the face of it. Eventually we might be able to flee it but until then, we can stand up under it. Note verse 14 - the admonition is to flee but no doubt they had to endure before they were able to remove themselves.
Part of the Corinthian problem, of course, was that, in the face of temptation, some were not looking for a way out by endurance, but a way in for indulgence.
How well will someone do, in this scenario, if they have not been training? Remember last week’s message, “Get Fit, Stay Fit”? The way you prepare for temptation is to train. It is what you are doing before temptation comes knocking that will deeply impact how you respond.
Discuss the following:
“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay,
and cost you more than you want to pay.” – unknown
As a group, compare Jesus’ temptation in Matthew 4 with this text. What are the parallels? Let me give you the first parallel: Jesus was in the desert and so were the Israelites. They failed where Jesus succeeded.
Watch out for the cheese balls!
Mark
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
The Body – PART 4:
Cheese Balls!
16 Feb 14
(This article can also be found on our website
at http://www.bethelkingston.com under the tab called "Blog")
This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
Last week I was walking in the grocery store and, right there in the middle of one of the aisles, sat these enormous containers of cheese balls. The price was cheap, the location was strategic and for anyone with a craving for salty foods, the offer was too good to resist. Cheese balls are a great picture of temptation - we are convinced that it won’t cost us much, but temptation always knows where to locate itself in our lives and it has a way of appealing to our cravings and desires.
Take a moment and list what cheese balls can look like in our lives.
Big Idea: Every life has cheese balls in the center of the aisle.
Question: What does Paul teach us about temptation/cheese balls?
Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13- The key verses are v.11-13. Verses 1-10 serve to illustrate what Paul is talking about.
1. The word of God can provide a warning from God (v.11)
Notice v.11 and v.6 and how Paul reminds them of one of the functions of the Word of God. To warn someone is to call someone’s attention to a matter that they might not notice on their own.
Who is Paul using as an example for these Corinthian Christians? See v.1-10.
As a group, take a few moments and share what passages of Scripture have served as great warning texts for you in your spiritual journey. Have you ever been saved much pain or regret because of the warnings of Scripture? Was there ever a time when you knew God’s Word was cautioning you, but you went ahead anyways and purchased the cheese balls?
The following questions are helpful in identifying the ways that Scripture can warn us.
The “application” acrostic:
Is there an Attitude to adjust?
Is there a Promise to claim?
Is there a Priority to change?
Is there a Lesson to learn?
Is there an Issue to resolve?
Is there a Command to obey?
Is there an Activity to avoid or stop?
Is there a Truth to believe?
Is there an Idol to tear down? (That’s a big one.)
Is there an Offense to forgive?
Is there a New direction to take?
Is there a Sin to confess?
(Rick Warren)
2. Places of strength can be places of great vulnerability (v.12)
Notice the example Paul uses of a people who were standing firm.
V1,2
The cloud is symbolic of God’s presence.
Moses is an example of God’s provision for Godly leadership.
The Sea - an event where God’s presence in the life of Moses enabled him to provide great leadership. This nation was standing firm. They had been baptized, inaugurated into all these blessings!
V3,4 Paul calls the manna “spiritual” food, by which he probably means food miraculously provided by the Spirit of God, not food with a heavenly taste or texture. Nor indeed was the water spiritual in character. It was, rather, spiritually provided, just as the rock was spiritually enabled to give water.
Paul believes that Christ was preexistent in OT times helping God’s OT people along. Note what John said in 1:1
But notice how such strength and such blessing resulted in such judgment (v.5-10). The problem with some of the Corinthians is that they had a false sense of security. Possibly the Corinthians had a magical view of the Christian sacraments and thought that since they had partaken of the Christian initiation rite (baptism) and the Christian communion rite (the Lord’s Supper), they were immune to spiritual danger at pagan feasts. They seem to have held to some form of an “eternal security by means of sacraments” view.
Have you ever seen someone looking so strong but actually falling?
We can be experiencing an internal breakdown long before things go public. Discuss the following quote,
“We fall because of many mini decisions that lead to what is visible for all to see.”
Truth be told, the fall happens way before we hear the crash!
Places of strength are places of vulnerability because the human heart is deceptive, and wicked and dark and easily becomes proud, overconfident, and self-reliant. It is always amazing how dark the heart can be even while someone is standing in the brilliant light of God’s blessing. The human heart is no different today than it was thousands of years ago. Check out Jeremiah 17:9,10, Matthew 15:18, Hebrews 4:12.
With all our advancement, sophistication and progress, are we any different than past generations?
3. There is nothing new under the sun, just different attire (v.13a)
“Seize” can mean to attack, catch, apprehend, lay hold of
“Common to man” - What belongs to man, human temptation. It appeals to the flesh. In other words this temptation has been around since the dawn of civilization. What is seizing you is an old man, wrinkled, well versed in such things, and who has preyed on many a victim.
The comfort of that is that we can learn from others, thus Scripture can warn us from the lives of others. The discomfort is that temptation is like a deceptive, wise old veteran who is really good at his evil craft.
For example we ask the same old questions that can lead us down “cheese ball alley”. These are some questions the Israelites may have been asking:
• Is God good? (v.7) Idolatry essentially says that God can be improved on can be updated and modernized.
• Are God’s sexual boundaries reasonable? (v.8) God had given very clear boundaries regarding sexual conduct.
• Is God able? (v.9) Numbers 21:4 gives the context of questioning the ability of God.
• Is God really wise? (v10) Numbers 14:1-4 gives the context for questioning the wisdom of God.
These are not new questions but rather age-old questions that Old Man Temptation uses time and time again to get us to go after the cheese balls.
Are we so much better, so much more sophisticated that we don’t ask these very same questions today? The asking of the question isn’t wrong – it’s the posture of the heart.
4. God is Faithful in the face of temptation (v.13b)
How is the faithfulness of God demonstrated in this verse? Notice we see the power of God demonstrated in judgment (v.6-10) and now the power of God demonstrated in Him being faithful.
Notice the phrases “provide a way out” and “stand up under it”. The reality of some temptation is that we cannot flee it but must endure it, stand up under it. The way out is not necessarily to remove ourselves from it but to be strong in the face of it. Eventually we might be able to flee it but until then, we can stand up under it. Note verse 14 - the admonition is to flee but no doubt they had to endure before they were able to remove themselves.
Part of the Corinthian problem, of course, was that, in the face of temptation, some were not looking for a way out by endurance, but a way in for indulgence.
How well will someone do, in this scenario, if they have not been training? Remember last week’s message, “Get Fit, Stay Fit”? The way you prepare for temptation is to train. It is what you are doing before temptation comes knocking that will deeply impact how you respond.
Discuss the following:
“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay,
and cost you more than you want to pay.” – unknown
As a group, compare Jesus’ temptation in Matthew 4 with this text. What are the parallels? Let me give you the first parallel: Jesus was in the desert and so were the Israelites. They failed where Jesus succeeded.
Watch out for the cheese balls!
Mark
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
Friday, February 14, 2014
Touching Base, Part 230
TB 230
The Body – PART 3:
Sochi Christians!
16 Feb 14
(You can find a recording of this sermon here.)
This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
Get Fit, Stay Fit!
If you’re in a small group, take some time to talk about the above statement:
• Is physical fitness one of your priorities?
• If so, what do you do to stay fit?
• What do you least like about the discipline of physical fitness?
• Do you come from a family where physical fitness was a priority?
Text: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Big Idea: Get Fit, Stay Fit!
BACKGROUND:
The biannual Isthmian athletic games, second in importance only to the Olympic Games, were hosted and sponsored every other year by the people of Corinth. They were held only ten miles from the city so most people there would have been familiar with their goals and practices, as well as being able to observe and attend them. Paul himself was in Corinth in A.D. 50–52, so he would have been present for the Isthmian Games held in the spring of A.D. 51. These games included six events: wrestling, jumping, javelin and discus throwing, and, most importantly for Paul’s analogy, racing and boxing.
Now, with this background and the Corinthian problem of self discipline, is it any wonder that Paul weds these two ideas and writes one of the most well-known parts of his letter? So with this spiritual metaphor now in place, discuss the same questions again, but with a spiritual application:
• Is spiritual fitness one of your priorities?
• If so what do you do to stay fit?
• What do you least like about the discipline of spiritual fitness?
• Do you come from a family where spiritual fitness was a priority?
Question: What does Paul tell us about spiritual fitness?
1. THERE IS THE “THEY DO IT - WE DO IT” TENSION (V.24,25)
Describe the “they do it - we do it” tension in the text - what are the differences in the two types of runners?
“They do it” - a crown that will not last
The Olympic crown was made of wild olive leaves, and the Isthmian crown was made of pine or ivy. From the earliest periods of history, chaplets of leaves were bestowed upon heroes who had conquered on the field of battle. This wreathe was corruptible. It eventually took on the characteristics of cottage cheese in the back of the fridge.
“We do it” - a crown that will last forever
Check out the following verses on the crown. What was that crown? 2 Timothy 2:5; 4:8; James 1:12; 1 Peter 5:4; Revelation 2:10; 3:11. I also think 1 Cor. 13:12 explains the crown. Who shall we see perfectly? The crown that doesn’t last was material and corruptible. The crown that lasts is ultimately a person, Jesus and His Kingdom!
The reality of the race is that not all are heading the same direction, not all are running for the same prize. Thus, how people run, how passionately they run, and the direction they run in will be different.
As we commit to being spiritually fit we need to realize that our focus, our crown, will determine the path we take, the types of disciplines we engage in, the kinds of priorities we arrange, the types of sacrifices we are willing to make and the ways we will invest our time, finances and talents. The prize determines the path I take.
Exercise: If someone could watch your life - 24/7- see everything- your thoughts and actions, private disciplines and ones most visible. What might they conclude about the “crown” you have oriented your life around?
What do you do daily to demonstrate that your life is not just pursuing the cottage cheese?
Do you sense, at times, the tension, “They do it - We do it” in your life? Are you ever deeply aware how radically different your life is in many ways because the crown that you are pursuing is so different than the world’s crowns?
What are examples of worldly crowns? How do you know when the worldly crowns are starting to seduce you and dilute your pursuit of Christ?
2. THE WAY TO FITNESS IS THROUGH TRAINING (v.25)
Training implies self- discipline, self-control. This was something many of the Corinthians were lacking. To train physically means I need to submit my body to a series of disciplines to transform it from one state to another. We condition the body to perform in a way that it will not unless we engage in training. The Corinthians were familiar with the training regimen that athletes had to go through. Paul is reminding them that to be spiritually fit - Get Fit, Stay Fit! - one needed to train. Once we come to Christ, training is what lines up our practice with our new title - sons and daughters of God.
One area where this is very obvious is in our thinking. Note what Paul says in Romans 12:1,2 about the importance of the renewal of the mind. The mind needs to be trained to think in new ways. What we often find with believers is that they are God’s kids living with the enemy’s lies. Those lies have a way of making the training process incredibly hard.
Exercise: Think about the wrong doctrine many believers live out of, and contrast it with right doctrine. I have given you a few examples to get started:
Bad Doctrine
I am worthless
Nobody could love me
I can’t be forgiven
I will never measure up
Good Doctrine
I am created in image of God
I am His Son/Daughter
If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins (1 John 1:9)
What is the truth?
How does living out of bad doctrine affect relationships, one’s walk with God, self perception?
Where do people get this bad doctrine from?
What are you doing daily to make sure you are training your mind to live out of the right doctrine? - Psalm 1
3. THE TRAINING NEEDS TO BE A WHOLE-PERSON WORKOUT (v.26-27)
How does Paul not fight?
Who is Paul fighting in this metaphor?
The enemy he is describing is not some external foe who threatens his leadership, but his own desires.
The term “body” (“soma”) refers to Paul’s entire person. It is not one of three aspects of mankind. It often stands for the whole person. Read Rom. 12:2, Phil. 1:20.
Spiritual training involves inviting the Lordship of Christ to invade every area of a person’s life. Check out the floor plan below and discuss the following questions:
What makes letting God into a particular rooms so hard?
What is it about the teachings of the church that make some people think it is okay to keep God out of some rooms?
How does this picture help explain sanctification for you?
How do we end up hurting others when we don’t let God into the rooms of our lives?
Discuss the following:
Only when we are willing to live in reality is God able to do a deep work.
How does keeping God out of various rooms create a pseudo-reality?
Have you ever needed help from some trusted friends to allow God into a room that has been closed off for years?
Often, when we allow God in, there may be be sin to confess, lies to correct, pain that needs to be healed (click below to see the whole picture).
As we close we come to some very sobering words. Paul talks about being “disqualified”. I don’t believe, based on context and the bulk of Paul’s writings that this is referring to salvation. I think Paul is talking about Christians who have trained poorly, Christians who have “preached to others” but are shelved because of poor training practices.
There is nothing sadder than when someone so gifted, so used by God gets set aside because of poor training.
Thus the need to heed Paul’s words and to embrace the whole counsel of Scripture that demonstrates we need the Spirit of God to keep us faithful, the word of God to keep us rooted, the body/Church to keep us accountable.
Get Fit, Stay Fit!
Mark
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com
The Body – PART 3:
Sochi Christians!
16 Feb 14
(You can find a recording of this sermon here.)
This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
Get Fit, Stay Fit!
If you’re in a small group, take some time to talk about the above statement:
• Is physical fitness one of your priorities?
• If so, what do you do to stay fit?
• What do you least like about the discipline of physical fitness?
• Do you come from a family where physical fitness was a priority?
Text: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Big Idea: Get Fit, Stay Fit!
BACKGROUND:
The biannual Isthmian athletic games, second in importance only to the Olympic Games, were hosted and sponsored every other year by the people of Corinth. They were held only ten miles from the city so most people there would have been familiar with their goals and practices, as well as being able to observe and attend them. Paul himself was in Corinth in A.D. 50–52, so he would have been present for the Isthmian Games held in the spring of A.D. 51. These games included six events: wrestling, jumping, javelin and discus throwing, and, most importantly for Paul’s analogy, racing and boxing.
Now, with this background and the Corinthian problem of self discipline, is it any wonder that Paul weds these two ideas and writes one of the most well-known parts of his letter? So with this spiritual metaphor now in place, discuss the same questions again, but with a spiritual application:
• Is spiritual fitness one of your priorities?
• If so what do you do to stay fit?
• What do you least like about the discipline of spiritual fitness?
• Do you come from a family where spiritual fitness was a priority?
Question: What does Paul tell us about spiritual fitness?
1. THERE IS THE “THEY DO IT - WE DO IT” TENSION (V.24,25)
Describe the “they do it - we do it” tension in the text - what are the differences in the two types of runners?
“They do it” - a crown that will not last
The Olympic crown was made of wild olive leaves, and the Isthmian crown was made of pine or ivy. From the earliest periods of history, chaplets of leaves were bestowed upon heroes who had conquered on the field of battle. This wreathe was corruptible. It eventually took on the characteristics of cottage cheese in the back of the fridge.
“We do it” - a crown that will last forever
Check out the following verses on the crown. What was that crown? 2 Timothy 2:5; 4:8; James 1:12; 1 Peter 5:4; Revelation 2:10; 3:11. I also think 1 Cor. 13:12 explains the crown. Who shall we see perfectly? The crown that doesn’t last was material and corruptible. The crown that lasts is ultimately a person, Jesus and His Kingdom!
The reality of the race is that not all are heading the same direction, not all are running for the same prize. Thus, how people run, how passionately they run, and the direction they run in will be different.
As we commit to being spiritually fit we need to realize that our focus, our crown, will determine the path we take, the types of disciplines we engage in, the kinds of priorities we arrange, the types of sacrifices we are willing to make and the ways we will invest our time, finances and talents. The prize determines the path I take.
Exercise: If someone could watch your life - 24/7- see everything- your thoughts and actions, private disciplines and ones most visible. What might they conclude about the “crown” you have oriented your life around?
What do you do daily to demonstrate that your life is not just pursuing the cottage cheese?
Do you sense, at times, the tension, “They do it - We do it” in your life? Are you ever deeply aware how radically different your life is in many ways because the crown that you are pursuing is so different than the world’s crowns?
What are examples of worldly crowns? How do you know when the worldly crowns are starting to seduce you and dilute your pursuit of Christ?
2. THE WAY TO FITNESS IS THROUGH TRAINING (v.25)
Training implies self- discipline, self-control. This was something many of the Corinthians were lacking. To train physically means I need to submit my body to a series of disciplines to transform it from one state to another. We condition the body to perform in a way that it will not unless we engage in training. The Corinthians were familiar with the training regimen that athletes had to go through. Paul is reminding them that to be spiritually fit - Get Fit, Stay Fit! - one needed to train. Once we come to Christ, training is what lines up our practice with our new title - sons and daughters of God.
One area where this is very obvious is in our thinking. Note what Paul says in Romans 12:1,2 about the importance of the renewal of the mind. The mind needs to be trained to think in new ways. What we often find with believers is that they are God’s kids living with the enemy’s lies. Those lies have a way of making the training process incredibly hard.
Exercise: Think about the wrong doctrine many believers live out of, and contrast it with right doctrine. I have given you a few examples to get started:
Bad Doctrine
I am worthless
Nobody could love me
I can’t be forgiven
I will never measure up
Good Doctrine
I am created in image of God
I am His Son/Daughter
If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins (1 John 1:9)
What is the truth?
How does living out of bad doctrine affect relationships, one’s walk with God, self perception?
Where do people get this bad doctrine from?
What are you doing daily to make sure you are training your mind to live out of the right doctrine? - Psalm 1
3. THE TRAINING NEEDS TO BE A WHOLE-PERSON WORKOUT (v.26-27)
How does Paul not fight?
Who is Paul fighting in this metaphor?
The enemy he is describing is not some external foe who threatens his leadership, but his own desires.
The term “body” (“soma”) refers to Paul’s entire person. It is not one of three aspects of mankind. It often stands for the whole person. Read Rom. 12:2, Phil. 1:20.
Spiritual training involves inviting the Lordship of Christ to invade every area of a person’s life. Check out the floor plan below and discuss the following questions:
What makes letting God into a particular rooms so hard?
What is it about the teachings of the church that make some people think it is okay to keep God out of some rooms?
How does this picture help explain sanctification for you?
How do we end up hurting others when we don’t let God into the rooms of our lives?
Discuss the following:
Only when we are willing to live in reality is God able to do a deep work.
How does keeping God out of various rooms create a pseudo-reality?
Have you ever needed help from some trusted friends to allow God into a room that has been closed off for years?
Often, when we allow God in, there may be be sin to confess, lies to correct, pain that needs to be healed (click below to see the whole picture).
As we close we come to some very sobering words. Paul talks about being “disqualified”. I don’t believe, based on context and the bulk of Paul’s writings that this is referring to salvation. I think Paul is talking about Christians who have trained poorly, Christians who have “preached to others” but are shelved because of poor training practices.
There is nothing sadder than when someone so gifted, so used by God gets set aside because of poor training.
Thus the need to heed Paul’s words and to embrace the whole counsel of Scripture that demonstrates we need the Spirit of God to keep us faithful, the word of God to keep us rooted, the body/Church to keep us accountable.
Get Fit, Stay Fit!
Mark
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