Author: Jubin Varghese

We’re back again with Paul addressing questions raised by the Corinthians. Remember in chapter 7 verse 1, an issue regarding sexual temptation and sexual relations with women was raised. There the people were saying that it is good not to have sexual relations with a woman given how great the temptation surrounding sex is. But Paul says you shouldn’t give up sexual relations with your spouse because that opens the door to more temptation in your life. Instead, you should embrace it as God’s good gift and enjoy it with thankfulness.

Similarly, today Paul addresses a question about eating food offered to idols. What was the problem here? In the times the Corinthian believers lived there was the practice of offering food as sacrifices to their false gods. These people used to have feasts in their temples and before the feast began, they would offer the food as a sacrifice, then they would eat. When the feast was done, the leftovers would be kept by the priest of the temple and sold in the marketplace. You should know that Paul and Corinthians are talking about the food sold in the marketplace. The food that was eaten in the temple during the feast was a different matter. What we’re seeing here is leftover food from the feast sold in the market. Now, the Corinthians are saying it’s okay to eat such food because we know the idols the food was offered to are not real. Verse 1 says “all of us possess knowledge”. If you look at the phrase, it’s in double quotes indicating that Paul is using a phrase that the Corinthians wrote in their letter to him. So, the Corinthians are saying we possess knowledge. What is this knowledge? It’s in verse 4-6. The knowledge is of the reality that there is only one true God and one Lord, Jesus Christ. These idols are not real, so the food offered to them has no meaning. Therefore, it’s okay to eat that food. So some Corinthian believers rather arrogantly say that have knowledge so don’t tell us to refrain from eating that food. Moreover, the sacrifice to idols was a common occurrence that it was impossible for the believers to escape situations where that kind of food would come before them.

And what is Paul’s response? Yes, we all have knowledge, including us the apostles. But this knowledge makes you proud. This knowledge makes you grow arrogant. This knowledge hurts you and others. But love on the other hand? Love builds up. If anyone thinks he knows something, he doesn’t know yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. If you say you have knowledge then you should be humbled. Because knowledge of God means knowing that God is so much more holier than you thought He was, so much more powerful than you thought He was, so much more infinite than you thought He was, and so much more in control and sovereign than you thought He was. And it doesn’t end with knowledge of God, there’s the knowledge of self. You should be heart broken when your knowledge leads you to realise that you’re much more sinful than you thought you were, much more helpless than you thought you were, much more impure than you thought you were. But you should also be able to rejoice because inspite of this, God is much more merciful than you can imagine, much more patient than you can think, much more loving than you can grasp, much more faithful than you can conceive. If you have knowledge of these things then you’ll actually respond with love. And love who specifically? Those who don’t have knowledge. You may know that eating food offered to idols is fine, but there are many who can’t reconcile that with their faith. So for the sake of that weak brother or sister, you will not eat such food. You don’t want them to stumble because of you. This is what the passage is about. And it has practical implications for us. But today, I don’t want to focus on what these implications are. Today I want to focus on the theological insight that comes from Paul’s words. When Paul was responding to the Corinthians, he shed some light on the theology that informed and ought to inform their actions. Imagine you’re going on trip with your friends and family. As you driving up the winding roads you notice that the scenery is so beautiful that you have to stop the car, get out and take it all in. Soon you’ll be heading for your destination but just for a few moments you want to enjoy God’s beauty. In the same way, I’m hoping that we can enjoy God’s truth in today’s passage before heading to the main issue of the whole chapter, which we’ll be hearing next Sunday. For today, we have six verses and all six are packed with doctrine that has significance for our lives. And not only that, I believe these doctrines will bring you comfort and reassurance for today. I have three points and my first point will be from the middle of the passage, the second point from the end of the passage and the last point from the beginning of the passage. So we won’t be moving in a linear fashion as we usually do but I’m hoping and believing it’ll still make sense. 

So, what is the first doctrine present in this passage? It is that we exist for God.

1. We exist for God (v6a)

“yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist”

The first one is a big one. Paul is saying yes it is known to them that “an idol has no real existence”  and that there is “no God but one”. When in verse 5 Paul says “For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— “ he is meaning to say that the non-believers of that time consider the existence of many gods and many lords because the were people who followed the Greek religion, the Roman religion, then the few other cults of that time. So for them there are many gods and lords. But for the Christians like Paul, the believers in Corinth, and you and me, there is one God. And contrary to the false gods and lords of that time, everything comes from God. It’s written in the verse “there is one God the Father from whom are all things” Everything that you see, touch, hear, taste, smell comes from God. Psalm 24:1 says “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” or another translation says “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it”. Everything comes from God and everything belongs to God. Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The very first verse says that God created the heavens and the earth. The first three words, “In the beginning” that is the beginning of time itself. Before the creation of the world, what was time? What were days and months and years? There was no such thing as time and there was nothing at all. Yet there was God. And “In the beginning” God was there to bring forth everything. 

Now for the main part, that is, the second half of the sentence, “and for whom we exist”. We exist for whom? For God. This verse unlocks the purpose of your life. Genesis 2:2 “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. .” The Bible says that in seven days God finished creating the heavens and the earth and all the host of them. In the process of creation, He even made man and women. Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 gives the answer to what God created, or rather who God created, man and women. 1 Corinthians 8:6 gives the answer to why God created man and women. He created them for Him. He created you and me for Himself. We don’t exist for our jobs, we don’t exist for our friends, we don’t exist for our spouse or children, we exist for God. And what does existing for God mean? There is something called “The Westminster Shorter Catechism”, which is a series of 107 questions and answers that summarise the major truths of the Bible. The very first question in the Westminister Shorter Catechism is: “What is the chief end of man?” Or in other words, what is the main goal of men and women? The answer to that is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever”. Existing for God means glorifying Him. And glorifying God means using every fibre of our being, our strength, our mind, our hearts, everything to praise, honour and worship God. We honour God with our words, we honour God by our obedience to Him, with our good works, we honour Him through our repentance, and with our love for one another and the care for the poor and needy. We honour Him by preaching the gospel to those who have not heard it. We honour God when we do our jobs faithfully and diligently or when we study well. We also honour God by enjoying His gifts, like music, sports, movies, food, and various crafts like painting, writing, carpentry, or enjoying His creation by travelling, trekking, hiking, we glorify Him by taking care of our health and bodies through exercise. The question I want you to ask yourself is, “Do you know you exist for God?” and if you do, “How are you existing for Him or how are you glorifying Him?”. But if you didn’t know you exist for God maybe today God is telling you that. If you try to exist for any other reason, you will be left unsatisfied. No matter what you gain in life, how successful, how beautiful your family is, how much money you make, you’ll be left wanting for more, it is like a bottomless pit, you can’t fill it up no matter how much you put in. To be truly satisfied, you need to accept that you were created for God. Your sole purpose in life is to glorify God. Coming to terms with that sets you on a path to fulfilment and eternal life. 

That leads me to my second point, which is we exist through God.

2. We exist through God (v6b)

“and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”

One thing this verse highlightings is how one Lord, that is Jesus Christ, is the true Lord. All other “lords” as mentioned in verse 5 are false lords. In the beginning of the verse, Paul says from God the Father all things come. Here it says through the Lord Jesus are all things. What this verse tells us is that `just as the Father was involved in creating the whole world, the Son was equally involved. The heavens and the earth came from the Father through the Son and to complete the trinity, by the power of the Spirit. Jesus is God as much as Father and Spirit is God. The three are one but separate, three in one. Not three gods but one. John 1:1-3 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” And again in Colossians 1:16-17, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” These verses also reenforce the doctrine truth that Jesus is God and all creation was created through Him and for Him.

But the part I want to focus on is the second half of the sentence “through whom we exist”.

You know there’s a certain impossibleness to glorifying God. How are we, weak creatures that we are, supposed to worship the Lord with 100% devotion all the time? Let me tell you, God demands nothing less than our 100% devotion. It says in Deuteronomy 6:5 “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.’ How much? With half your soul? With a quarter of your mind? With 3/4th of your heart? No with all, fully, absolute. Can you do that? Can you give 100% all the time? That’s a tough ask. Sounds impossible. Then there’s the problem of sin. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23. Forget about loving God fully, we’re not even worthy to stand in His presence. Are we to glorify God like this? Will God accept our worship? Will God accept us? If you’re born again then you know the answer. Whoever sitting here or listening online is a born again believer, then you can say with a shout, you can say with full confidence, you can yes with thankfulness, yes God will accept me, God will accept my worship, I can worship the Lord with 100% devotion because I exist through Jesus Christ my Redeemer, my Shepherd, my Lord and my God. I’m not living my Christian life alone, I’m not isolated, I have my Lord Jesus through whom I’m living. The greek word for “through” is dia. Other translations of the word dia are “because of”, “on account of”. So we can rephrase the verse like this: “one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things and on account of whom we exist”. It’s not only talking about existing in the physical world but also living spiritually and eternally. Look at 1 John 4:9 “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” The same Greek word for through is used here. Jesus Christ came into this world so that we may exist through Him. We might live through Him. And that should be a comfort for you because whatever is the requirements of worthiness are, Jesus Christ took care of it for us. 1 John 4:10 says, “ In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Propitiation means to satisfy or appease. Sin needed to be paid for because God’s was going to punish that sin, your sin and my sin. But with Jesus’s sacrifice, there is no more fear of punishment. 

So brothers and sisters, what does this mean for us? It means right now, you’re living through Jesus, if you’ve repented of your sins and turned to Him. This is true for you now. Your life is in His hands, your life is in His life. John 14:9 says, “Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” Because He lives, you will live in eternity and right now. So you keep striving to live a holy life, say no to sin, when discouragement and doubt knock at the door, remember that you’re victory is sure in Jesus because you exist through Him and He will carry you to the end.

And now for my final point, we don’t just exist for God even though is the greatest privilege, we don’t just exist through God, our sole comfort but we’re also known by God.

3. We are known by God (v3)

“But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.”

• Paul’s explanation about knowledge and love
• It is greater to love than walk around with knowledge
• Those who love God show evidence that they are known by Him
• Loving God is not a precondition for Him to know us. He knows us therefore we love
• The Greek word ginóskó means it’s to know personally and well, the same word is used for knowing sexually
• He knows us, our frame, the number of hairs on our head, we are not just another solider, servant, son or daughter
• To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.
• God sees you at you worst but still loves you.

As we’ve seen over the past few Sundays, the Corinthian church was messed up in many ways. Remember the divisions among them? Where some were saying I follow Paul and others I follow Apollos? Or the times when they were taking their fellow believers to court, and of course the glaring issues like sexual immorality. There was one guy sleeping with his stepmother, there were people going to prostitutes, and probably other things too. This was the culture of their times and it was heavily influencing their lives. Today’s passage is also about sexual immorality. Now you must be thinking when will this end, every week sexual immorality. Why did you title the sermon series as “The Church: God’s Dwelling Place” and not “Sexual Immorality and You”? What to do people? We’re doing expository preaching and we are subject to the text that is placed before us. Not only that, we’re obliged under God to bring the meaning out of the text as intended by the original author and not give our own meaning to the text. In other words, we have an obligation to expose the text. And after that we appropriately apply it to our lives.

And so we’re here with a passage on sex, marriage and singleness. Three of the most hottest topics in the church and even the world at large.

Unlike the previous weeks where we saw incidents of sexual deviance like incest and fornication, this Sunday’s passage talks about sexual abstinence. Not the right kind of abstinence mind you. Look at verse 1, it says “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.””

In chapter 7 and the subsequent chapters, Paul is beginning to address 2-3 concerns of the Corinthian church. The first one is here in chapter 7 and what is the concern, or what is the matter of discussion that Paul replies to? “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman”. The Corinthian believers are saying as a statement of truth that it’s better for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman or a woman with a man. Why? Because this belief is a response to the overwhelming nature of sexual temptations that were prevalent in their culture. Sex is used and abused so bad that the response of the believers are an outright rejection of sex. You know that is a good thing but these people were rejecting even sex within marriage. Some commentaries I read also pointed out the cultural understanding at that time, and this is

something that crept into the church, is that marriage was an evil state to be in. They said, if you want to truly be pure, you have to be celibate and have no sexual relations with your spouse. One harmful effect of this was divorce, if being married was evil then it’s better to be separated. But that is not what we have in our passage today. Paul has another harmful effect in mind and that is the power that sexual temptation was given because of this false belief. He says in verse 2 “But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband”. In essence he’s saying, you can try to not have sexual relations with your spouse but it’s foolish to do so because of how strong sexual temptation is. Here people are rejecting the God-given means to give an outlet to the God-given sexual desires and passions.

So you see how the problem started here? The Corinthian believers rejected God’s good gift and it resulted in problems for them. Why am I saying that? The Corinthians are saying it is better not to have sexual relations in marriage because it’s problematic and it makes me unholy. So they rejected the gift of marriage and the enjoyment of sexual relations that is a part of it. Because they were rejecting it, it opened them up to more sexual temptation. 

And I believe this is pointing to some of the proclivities of our hearts. We also tend to reject God’s good gifts and cause problems in our own lives. You know when God says to follow this or do that, it’s ultimately for our good and for His glory. When we reject God’s good gift, it brings sorrow and potentially destruction in our lives.

So I believe what God wants to tell us through this passage is an obvious one, “don’t reject God’s good gift”.

1) Don’t reject God’s good gifts (v1-2 & v6-9)

You know rejecting good things is not restricted to marriage. You can reject so many other gifts that God gives. In this passage it’s talking about sexual intimacy in marriage. And pushing back on sexual intimacy made the Corinthian people vulnerable to sexual tempation. We are not free from that kind of temptation. If you’re married, then sexual intimacy is something you should still pursue, for the sake of fighting against Satan’s evil work and also for the sake of your marriage. Because God ordained sexual intimacy as one of the ways for a husband and wife to bond and grow their relationship. More than that, it’s a picture of God’s steadfast love for His people. One article I read described it this way, “God designed this soul-level intimacy to reflect the deep, intimate, committed, faithful, servant-hearted commitment between Jesus and his bride, the church^[1]”. Now it may not be possible to have such kind of intimacy in your marriage because of physical difficulties and I can only imagine how difficult it can be. I hope and pray that you can trust God with your difficulties and believe that He sees and knows your trouble.

As I mentioned earlier, there are many other gifts you can reject. One thing is marriage itself. There are so many who don’t want to get married, who are afraid to make a commitment, who don’t have the courage to take that step of marriage. But marriage is actually a gift from God. I like how one author, the late Tim Keller, put it, “Marriage is a major vehicle for the gospel’s remaking of your heart from the inside out and your life from the ground up^[2]”. In other words, marriage is a means for God to shape your heart to be more Christ-like than ever before. But of course, this means finding the right guy or girl to marry. You want your potential spouse to be a believer in Jesus, committed to obeying Him, committed to a local church, committed to pursuing holiness and also ready to sacrifice for the sake of the marriage. I know this is a whole another topic, but one more thing before moving on, your aversion to marriage may be because of a previous bad experience and that’s tough, I must acknowledge that, again I can only imagine how much that’s affected you. But marriage is still a good thing. It’s designed and instituted by God for your good and for His glory. Don’t reject it because of bad experiences in the past. God can turn what the enemy meant for evil to something for your good. And don’t reject it because you don’t see any good examples of marriage around. A few days ago a colleague at work asked how’s married life going. I said it’s good, why will it be bad? And he was surprised that I’m saying it’s good because a lot of the stories he hears and what people say all indicate that marriage is a headache. He even gave the example of his own mom and dad who, according to him, had so many fights. He said he doesn’t want to get married because of this. I told him see even I have fights and arguments with my wife, but because I love my wife and value what we have, I will want to seek reconciliation and say sorry. And he was like oh okay are you reading some book or what. I laughed it off. The point here is a lack of good examples does not mean marriage is bad. Again I want to quote the late Tim Keller here, he says “Do for your spouse what God did for you in Jesus and the rest will follow^[2].” Which means if we strive to love and serve our spouse like how Jesus loves and sacrificed for us, then that’s a recipe for a good marriage. Plus, there’s the benefit of having the right context to enjoy sexual intimacy. Verse 9 says if single people can’t control their passions, it’s better to get married. Sex is not the reason to get married but it is the place where you can enjoy physical intimacy.

And lastly, the gift that Paul mentions her in verse 6 and 7, “Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.” When Paul says I wish that all were as I myself am, he is meaning that he wishes everyone was single as he was. He’s basically saying it’s better to be single like he was because it gave him the time and freedom to serve God more. So, if you’re single or widowed, this time is actually a gift from God. Now some of you will be like no need for this gift, please return it, no thank you, doesn’t feel like a gift. Again, I can only imagine what you’re feeling. Yes, I was there a short time till a short time ago, but your experience and struggle is unique. This time is difficult but the best thing to do right now is to wait on God and continue to serve Him. The Christian life doesn’t change after getting married, it just looks different. If you’re unmarried or widowed, you’re still called to obey, you’re still called to pursue obedience, you’re still called to serve, you’re still called to love Him with all your heart, soul and strength. The same continues in marriage. 

Or again, you’re someone who doesn’t want to get married because of fear or bad experiences and you see a verse like this and say, see Paul is saying be like him, single so even I’m going to do that. But he calls it a gift from God in verse 7. Paul says it’s better to be single but he also concedes and subject himself to God’s sovereign will by saying your singleness and marriage is a gift from God. God decides the gift, God is the giver of the gift. If He gave you a particular gift, it’s the best thing for you. If God gave you marriage, that’s the best thing for you. If God gave you singleness, that’s the best thing for you, and maybe for a season only.

Ultimately, Paul is saying that one gift is not superior than the other. One is not good and the other is bad. God is the giver of both, so both are good.

And moving on to the last point, “God’s good gift is meant to serve one another”.

2) God’s good gift is meant to serve one another (v3-5)

Look at verse 3 to 5. ‭”The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. [4] For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. [5] Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”

In response to the danger of sexual temptation, Paul is saying that the husband and wife should fulfil their marital obligations to one another, husband to wife and wife to husband. Because neither the husband and wife have authority over their own body but they belong to each other. So, he’s saying that God has give you a gift, use it to serve one another. He’s saying, the wife has sexual needs, the husband will willingly serve her needs. The husband has sexual needs, the wife will willingly serve his needs. Why do such a thing? Because you want to honor the other, you want to serve your spouse, you want to protect him or her from temptation, because that is what Christian life is all about. There’s a verse in ‭Romans 12:10 “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”

When I was reading this I couldn’t help but think how Jesus Christ came down in the form of a baby. Did He not live to serve? Did He not come to seek and save the lost? Did He not willingly give up His throne of glory to save sinners like you and me? Jesus’s whole life on earth was a preparation for the great and terrible day when He was to be crucified. All so that your sin and my sin could be paid for and we could be made clean, and restored to a right relationship with Him. After restoring us to a right relationship with Him, He also gives us the power to obey Him, He actually transforms us daily to be more and more like Him. He is our role model and He is the one who supernaturally enables us to be like Him.

And how is this all made available to us? By a simple faith in Jesus, that He is Lord and He cleansed us from all sin. And not just faith but also a turning away from sin and pursuing Him. Many of you dear brothers and sisters are on this journey, you have a put your faith in Him and that is a cause for rejoicing. If you are a believer in Christ, rejoice I say because your names are written in the book of life. You are the apple of His eye, you may not feel like it, but that doesn’t change what’s true. If you’ve never put your faith in Jesus, then today is the day, we don’t know what happens tomorrow. He calls you to come to Him with your sin and lay it at the foot of the cross and seek his forgiveness. 

Because Christ served, you also serve. Use what God has given you to serve one another. Serving can also look like giving your time and resources for the people in this church, giving your money for God’s ministry, discipling others, etc. It could mean finding a way where your job doesn’t consume most of your time freeing you up for things of God. It may mean looking for a job where you will fight for your time. I know this is easier said than done because finding a job is not easy. This applies for both married and unmarried people. If you’re married then you have the additional opportunity to serve your spouse by fulfilling their sexual needs.

When I was thinking about First Corinthians and all the problems Paul was addressing, I again thought to myself how messed up this church was. What we’ve heard so far is not the worst of their problems. In fact, if you read from chapter 5 onwards, things are worse. The things that were happening in this church and the things they were tolerating will make you cringe.

Yet God loved these people. God was not giving up with them. In the first chapter of this letter, in verse 8 it says that Jesus will sustain them to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so it is with you, brothers and sisters. I don’t have to tell you how messed up you are, or how broken you are. You already know. Yet God is not giving up on you. Verse 9 in first Corinthians says that God is faithful and He is even today.

This sermon and every sermon we preach is a message of redemption. It’s meant not to condemn but to invite you to throw yourselves once again into the arms of the Lord Jesus.

No one’s sin does God condone. But He cleared your debt by making Jesus pay. Now that Jesus is risen, it’s all good. Because you can be sure of God’s faithfulness to you, you can with assurance hope in the promises of God and you can look forward to the day when Jesus will return. For those who haven’t believed he invites you to turn away from your sin and turn to Him.

Introduction

Our passage brings us to an end of Paul’s explanation of how he and his fellow workers have to be viewed. When you read verse 9 again, Paul is adopting a sarcastic tone with the Corinthians. He’s essentially wanting them to see how pride has clouded their vision on how they view themselves. But the reality is different. They are actually not as great as they think they are. Just because they follow a certain leader doesn’t make them great, just because they were part of a group that listened to Paul or Cephas didn’t boost their reputation. The reality is that ministers like Paul were considered as scum of the world. In fact, believers in Christ are all considered weak and weird because of where they stand. You say no I’ll not watch this or I won’t talk in a certain way or I willingly give up my Sundays to be in a place called church. The reality is that Christian life and serving the Lord is tough.

The previous two Sunday, Jinson and Saju gave us a Biblical view of ministry. Today I believe the passage is leading me to talk about Real Biblical Ministry.

What does it look like? 

1. Real Biblical Ministry is not Glamourous (v9-13)

Paul used a lot of sarcasm when talking to the Corinthians but he wasn’t joking when he wrote that he and the other apostles were a spectacle to the world, poor, homeless, working hard to support themselves financially, fools for the sake of Christ, etc.

This was all true. Paul probably got beaten up more than the other apostles ever did at least from what we read. This is what ministry looked like for him. This is in stark contrast to how the Corinthian believers were behaving. Creates separate groups amongst themselves, failing to the pressures of the times, and all the other problems that existed in there.

I’m not sure what you all think about ministry, or if you think it makes you famous or cool. Maybe some of you think that being up front preaching or leading the singing is something glamorous, it really isn’t. For those of us who do it regularly we know it isn’t. It’s hard work yes but it’s just ordinary stuff. Everything we do is ordinary. Many of you sitting here serve in different capacities and you know that it’s ordinary. Paul’s ministry certainly did not have any glamour in it. And is ministry restricted to the pastors? No, you’are all called to serve in whatever way that God has for you.

So what’s the point of this? Real biblical ministry is not glamorous because God works through such unglamourous methods. That’s the truth. In verse 9 Paul says “For I think that God has exhibited us apostles last of all”. One commentary I read highlighted Paul saying that is was God who chose to exhibit the apostles as last of all. God did it. And to what end? What would God achieve through such weakness and foolishness? He would show His power. Yes, real biblical ministry is not glamorous but through this lack of glamour God works.

That has a direct application for you and me, friends. You are serving maybe almost every week in some capacity. Some of you are doing it for months and even for many years. It feels so ordinary. It seems like nothing is happening. But God is working through this, like He did through Paul. You may think that this church, our Gathering church can function without you, you may think what am I, I’m serving in this small way but no, God is working through if for your good and His glory. Your faithfulness is a display of God’s glory, your commitment is a display of God’s glory, your earnestness to serve is a display of God’s glory. Continue on. Push on. Serve in whatever way God has called you to. It may be ordinary but that’s because real biblical ministry is not glamorous.

2. Real Biblical Ministry bears the burden of correction (v14-17)

The point of Paul’s sarcasm was not to put down the Corinthians, it wasn’t to demean them or simply make them feel guilty.

His end goal was to “admonish” them. A commentary online defined admonishing as “to provide reasoning to a person to turn his or her direction to God. It means appealing to the mind by providing correct doctrine so that a person can change his or her conduct.

Paul wanted to correct them. And it cost him to do this always. He wrote letters but he was constantly worried about them. He would even part ways from his beloved brother Timothy in order to correct others.

He calls himself as a father to these Corinthian believers. He goes so far to say imitate him. Paul doesn’t think highly of himself, there are many passages that attest that not least when we calls himself the foremost of sinners in 1 Timothy 1:15.

The real work of biblical ministry is bearing the burden of correcting and admonishing one another. It’s not easy. The easy thing is to cop out. I’m not saying it’s easy for two reasons, one things such conversations can be messy, the other person will be unwilling to listen to, might rebel, might accuse you of stuff and make you feel guilty, and moreover, you need to see how a sinful person like can go and tell the other person if he or she is wrong.

But it’s important part of Christian life. Now I’m also not saying start correcting each other without taking due consideration. What to say, how to say it, when to say it should all be considered. And it should be done prayerfully. Is a brother or sister in your life consistently walking in disobedience? Are you noticing the fire of his or her faith cooling? Then maybe you need to bear this burden of admonishing and speak to them to bring that person to God.

Yes, I’m calling it a burden but it’s a good burden to bear. It’s heroic to bear burdens. It’s heroic to sacrifice. James 5:19-20 says “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” You want to be a hero? Admonish your wandering fellow believer and return him to the truth. 

And the last point is

3. Real biblical ministry has transformative power (v18-21)

Paul says in v20 “For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power”. What does this mean? Paul was talking about some people among the Corinthian believers who spoke a lot but did not walk the talk. Their life did not match what they spoke. If you remember earlier sermons on 1 Corinthians, the people of Corinth lived in a culture where philosophy, debating, wisdom from debaters, etc. were prized. The culture influenced the Corinthian believers so much that there were some who considered themselves wise because they could speak well and used to bad mouth Paul because he came to them in weakness.

Paul is saying that such people will be judged not by how well they talk but by the effect their words are producing. Because the kingdom of God is not just talk but it’s about a transformative power that changes dead unspiritual people to those who are alive to God and care about the things of God.

In effect he’s saying, real biblical ministry produces such transformative power. And that should be how we measure our effectiveness too. This has a direct bearing on the preaching. Is our preaching  producing change by the power of the Holy Spirit? What about our Bible studies in our GCs or DNA groups. What about the spiritual conversations we have? 

Conclusion

I want to end by saying real biblical ministry is only possible by the power of Christ. You’ll only desire to be real through your faith in Christ. Apart from Christ you can do nothing. Also, only a real faith in Christ gives meaning to everything that I just said. Why would you want to do the unglamourous work of ministry if you didn’t have Jesus who also did the same? Why would you want to bear the burden of correction if you didn’t have Jesus who did the same for you? Why would you care about transformative power if you didn’t see Jesus work similarly in your life? Real biblical begins by putting your faith in the Lord Jesus and turning away from sin. And real biblical ministry is sustained by your ongoing walk with the Lord. If any of you have not put your faith in Christ then today is the day to do it. You’re listening to this sermon because God wants you here and He’s inviting you to leave your slavery to sin and become a slave of Christ. Not just a slave but a friend and beloved son and daughter of the Most High God.

Good morning everyone! I hope you’re all doing well and also a warm welcome to those watching online. This Sunday we’re continuing with our sermon series in 1 Corinthians titled “The Church: God’s Dwelling Place”.

Last week when Saju preached we saw what kind of place and culture the people of Corinth were living in. Corinth was a rich city set up by the Greeks then later taken over by the Romans. So there was Greek and Roman influence in their culture, religion, governance, etc. And this is the place Paul came and preached the gospel in. After Paul spent a year and a half there, he left to continue his journey. But he heard bad reports about the church and as a result he wrote two letters to the Corinthians and even made a quick visit to them.

Two of the problems the Apostle Paul addressed were divisions among the church and the problem of people giving worldly wisdom too much of importance.

Last week we heard Paul challenging the so-called wise people there. He reminded them that the wisdom of the world is foolishness in God’s sight. And what seems like the folly of God is actually true wisdom.

And Paul reminded the Corinthians that they were not wise according to the world’s standards but God still chose them. Because of God, they were in Christ Jesus who became to them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.

Now in 2:1-5, Paul is taking it further and saying that were saved not by lofty speech or plausible words of wisdom but by the foolish message of the crucifixion. He said he decided to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. Paul was no fool. He could have given the best sermons yet he took a firm decision to preach Christ crucified.

Why did Paul decide to only know Jesus Christ and Him crucified?

Because he knew that this was the message that saves. it was in this message that the Spirit of God actually works. Not through lofty speech or words of wisdom but through a simple yet too-good-to-be true story.

But remember, here’s he’s saying this because the Corinthians had a tendency to put their faith in eloquent speech or run after the sophisticated and learned people because it meant higher status for them.

That was the problem for them and the message they needed to hear when Paul first visited them and even when he was writing this letter.

If Paul was writing a letter to us today, do you think he would say anything different? Is there a message we need to hear other than the Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross and rising after three days?

No, it wouldn’t be. We don’t need to hear a message about some interesting theological topic or some practical ways on how to be a good man or woman, and certainly we don’t need to hear false doctrines like doing good deeds to earn salvation or trusting God for greater wealth and possessions.

And also, we don’t need a message that just says what a portion of Scripture says and the history behind it and the Greek translation and some nice story connected to it.

What we need is the powerful, miraculous, saving message of the gospel. And we need it to hear it every day starting from Sunday till we meet again for service on Sunday.

Why do we need to hear this message every week?

1) Because it is the power of God (v4)

This is the power that saves you from you sin and keeps you going till your last day on this earth. Just to avoid any confusion, I want to make I want to categorically state the message I’m talking about. The message is this, we are helpless sinners who have offended a holy God. How have we offended? By lying, gossiping, hating, lusting, backbiting, grumbling, abusing, cheating and more. God is a just God who will punish sins. And He should punish you and me for the sins we’ve committed. But God being a merciful God did not punish you but punished His own Son, Jesus Christ. The Son of God became man to die a horrible death to cleanse us from sin and rise again three days later so that we could become sons and daughters of God. Now whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have eternal life.

By coming back to this good news again and again you’ll experience the power of God in your life. The power to overcome sin, even that sin that you commit repeatedly, the power to have joy in the midst of painful circumstances, the power of peace when you’re in a difficult situation, the power to believe in the goodness of God even when the worst happens in your life.

2) And the second reason to hear this message is because of our tendency to put our faith in people or things other than God (v5).

For the Corinthians, it was lofty speech and words of wisdom. For us it could be different. The allure and safety we find in money, or the meaning we derive solely from our jobs, or the idea that finding love in a husband or wife or boyfriend or girlfriend is the pinnacle of life or the opposite where running away from marriage to keep the illusion of freedom and independence. It all boils down to the idea that we can handle our life alone and we not dependant on the Almighty, we don’t need God, we have money, spouses, children, friends, jobs, hobbies, entertainment, books, movies, music, everything is available at the tap of your phone. We are more prone to depend on these than we’d like to admit.

But Paul here and the Spirit of God is directing us to not put our faith in these things. But faith in the One who cares for you.

What was Paul’s stance when he was with the Corinthians? It says it was in weakness, in fear and trembling. Some commentaries say he was physically weak because of the missionary journey he undertook, going from city to city, sailing the seas, facing persecution and beatings. That is possible. But he was also in fear and trembling because of the seriousness of his work and the magnitude of his message. This is was not some news that peoples lives were going to get better but it was a message that the God of the universe cares and loves someone small like you that He sent someone to rescue you from your sin. The greatness of the message humbled him. And God worked through that.

One direct application here is whenever you get a chance to share the gospel with your friends or family, you should know that God can save them even if you don’t share it as well as you’d like. Because God’s power doesn’t rest on your strength but works through your weakness. If they do believe because you shared both you who shared and the one who heard can say that “only the Lord could do this”. Not that you should be incoherent. You should do your best to present the gospel message as clearly as possible along with how that affected you personally. Even if it doesn’t come out great, God will still use it.

Secondly, the weakness, fear and trembling that Paul adopted is a general way we should live our life. Not that we should be scared or be weak. But in the sight of God we should humble ourselves and throw our full dependence on Him and not on our own strength.

So if you’re feeling your sense of inadequacy at a peak today or recently, it’s time to run to God. You know what God does to people who humble themselves before Him? You know the story of the prodigal son? The father ran towards the younger son when he saw him from afar. it’s the same for you. If you come in humility and trust in Jesus, He will lovingly welcome you. Not that you were out of His sight. In Mathew 12:20 it says that Jesus will not break a bruised reed and a smoking flax He will not quench. This means that when people who are physically and morally weak come to Jesus He will heal and lift up. Those who recognise their sin and admit it before God will be forgiven and lifted.

Also, those who don’t realise that they’re broken will be humbled. Maybe you’re someone who’s not put your faith in Christ. Maybe you’re thinking all is well I don’t need God because I have my money, my brains, my hard work. But God is calling you today to not depend on the wisdom of man, or the things of the world, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Believe in Him today and you will be saved. Amen.

So, what you heard today is a message you need to hear everyday, i.e. Christ crucified for our sakes. Why do we need to hear this message? Because it is the power of God that saves and brings sweeping changes to our life. And secondly because of our tendency to trust in our own wisdom.