Praire Hill CC: Archive of "Sermons"
The Church - Community Principles - 8/31/08
Friday, September 5th, 2008Sermon Series: The Church ________________
Sermon Title: The Church – Community Principles
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 8
Theme: In this section of scripture Paul begins his answer to the Corinthian church concerning their question over eating food which has been sacrificed to idols. While Paul’s answer is essentially three chapters long the theses or main principle is given here – the principle of brotherly love and concern outweighs both displays of religiosity and personal freedom.
Introduction: I have found out something since I have become a full time minister which is incredible. As a common rule Church people are some of the best cooks ever. And in every church that you go into there are those dishes which are made famous as they have become a part of carry in dinners for years. Teresa and I spent a couple of years traveling to a ministry which was about 100 miles from our home and occasionally we got the privilege of spending time and sharing meals in the home of those folks. Some of the best meals that I have ever eaten are now fond memories from those times. But I also remember a meal which was memorable for another reason. Let me preface this by making one thing clear – I hate spam. I know for some of you spam is a miracle of the modern age but something about canned processed pig just turns me off. (Being social when spam dinner is served)
Transition: Today we are going to continue our study of the book of 1 Corinthians by turning our attention to Ch. 8. A lot of us may be tempted to overlook this portion of the Corinthian letter which seems to have little relevance to people of our century and culture: After all none of us are in danger of eating food which has been offered sacrificially to a Greek or Roman deity. But when Paul answers this congregation’s question about this problem which they are trying to work their way through, he also puts in place some principles for living in community with one another which are more than relevant to the congregation at Prairie Hill, they are vital.
(Some background on the social context of the question)
Ultimately the question which is being asked of Paul has to do with how we live out our faith within the unbelieving world that we have to exist in and correspondingly what kind of behavior we should expect from each other as Christians in the world at large. You see as Christians we are given two fold responsibilities to love one another and have a positive impact in the world we are placed in.
I. The principle of restrained knowledge
a. As we experience and learn more during the course of our Christian walk we have to be sensitive to the fact that not everyone in our community is at the same place in their lives. Like every other part of the individual God has designed knowledge to fit into a certain place in the believers life.
b. The point of learning all that we can about God and the miraculous regenerative gospel message is not so that we get to exhibit our vast knowledge to the rest of the community of Christ and puff ourselves up.
i. This is not the first time in this letter that Paul has had to kind of pull out the discipline stick in regards to the “knowledge” which the Corinthian church is so proud of. Back in chapters 1; 2; 4; 5; and 6 he has cautioned them about their so called wisdom and knowledge. In chapter four verse six he used this same word (fusioo) to caution them about being arrogant concerning the person who led them to Christ. Here he says their knowledge is having the same effect.
ii. Here it appears from the Greek text that he is quoting them when he says that “all of us possess knowledge” this is apparent in the ESV version which I put on the screen.
iii. It is obvious that there is a contingent of folks among the Corinthians that are holding their supposed superior knowledge like a badge. Paul says they are puffed up. In other words if you inflate yourself through some so called knowledge you are setting yourself against Jesus’ principle of love.
c. The point of learning is not to use our knowledge like a measurement of religious fervor among the rest of the community.
i. Apparently some of these folks were also using their knowledge as some kind of measuring stick for the behavior of others.
1. While it is important that we keep one another accountable for our behaviors among each other and the world let’s be sure that the spiritual well being of one another is our primary goal.
d. If our knowledge is not leading us down a path which sees us becoming more and more like Jesus than our knowledge is worse than useless - it is dangerous.
i. When I first went back to Bible College at the ripe old age of forty I was pretty certain that I was more biblically literate than most of those young people that I was sharing classrooms with. After all I had been teaching adult studies at a couple of different churches for decades before coming back to college. As a matter of fact there was a part of me that kind of had the attitude that I would hang around there for a while and see what I could pick up from them but I wasn’t too sure how much good they could do me. Somewhere in the middle of that experience it slowly began to dawn on me that while I may possess a little bit more knowledge than some in the vast array of what there is to know and learn about God and His word I had not even scratched the surface. My pride began to deflate as the picture of that sea of knowledge grew more and more.
II. The principle of social liberty
a. As Christians we experience a freedom that has never been a part of most religious traditions throughout the world.
b. Most of the major religions in the world act as a catalyst for fear to try and modify the behaviors of the righteous.
i. In many of the eastern religions the adherents are encouraged to perform certain behaviors in order to keep from upsetting the careful balance of karma which is being supernaturally tallied up. Wrong decisions and actions can have the effect of bringing lifetimes of punishment in the form of reincarnation as beasts of burden or bugs or something equally nasty.
ii. Those professing Islam believe that for anyone who does not profess faith in Mohammed and the Koran and keep the tenets of the faith are destined for an eternity of torture including having scalding water poured over their heads and melting their skin.
iii. The modern philosophies of new ageism and postmodernism leave people with the conclusion that there is no personal and loving God only the mindless and soulless universe of unending choices and consequences.
iv. It is only through Christianity that we see God displaying Himself as the incredibly loving Deity who expresses Himself through the supreme sacrifice on our behalf. And the almost unbelievable point of this act of love is that God wants a personal and authentic relationship with us.
1. Throughout scriptures there is a long list of titles and names to try to capture the majesty and power and purpose of God but the one that moves me the most is used by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane as He calls out to ABBA the Aramaic equivalent of Daddy. Paul uses this same term in Romans 8 when he explains the nature of our relationship with God. (Romans 8:15-16)
v. This liberty is the heart of Christianity. – Paul made it clear that these idols were not living breathing entities and as such eating the meat that had been sacrificed to them was of no consequence whatsoever. This statement would have been next to blasphemy for the Jewish people in this church.
1. We are set free from the eternal effects of sin and death.
2. Our lives are disentangled from the minute observation of the religious dietary laws and social obligations that was a part of the Jewish law-keeping.
vi. This freedom leaves us with a responsibility to act as though who are in relationship with Christ. We are representatives, sons and daughters and co-heirs with Christ. While our freedom allows wide latitude in our behavior it entrusts us with the responsibility to act like God’s kids.
III. The principle of mature community
a. Finally Paul cautions the Corinthians that we also need to be mature in our care for others with whom we are partners in the community of Christ.
b. (Illustration of trying to be like the big kids)
c. As Christians we have to recognize that we are in community with other believers and our actions, attitudes and behaviors can have an effect on all of them.
d. Paul’s principle for the congregation at Corinth and for the one at Prairie Hill is that when our freedom comes at the expense of another brother’s spiritual well being than our freedom must be modified.
The Church - Corrupted 7/27/08
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008Sermon Series: The Church ________________ Read the rest of this news item »
Sermon Title: The Church – Corrupted
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 5:1- 13
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.””
The Church - God’s Gift 7/13/08
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008Sermon Series: The Church ________________
Sermon Title: The Church –God’s Gift
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 3:5-11
“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Introduction: Something here about a gift: A gift that is made precious not because of the corpulence of the gift but because of the personage of the giver.
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The Church Grown Up - 6/22
Friday, July 4th, 2008Sermon Series: The Church ________________
Sermon Title: The Church Grown Up
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 3:1-4
“But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?”
Theme: This message will deal with the need to mature ourselves into the people God desires to use for His kingdom building efforts. Immaturity, the failure to grow up, can keep us from enjoying the blessings God has for us.
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The Church Wise - 6/29
Friday, July 4th, 2008Sermon Series: The Church ________________ Read the rest of this news item »
Sermon Title: The Church Wise
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16
“Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”
The Church Divided - 6/08/08
Friday, June 20th, 2008Date: 6/8/08
Sermon Series: 1st Corinthians – The Church ___________.
Sermon Title: The Church – Divided
Text: 1 Corinthians 1:10-17
“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”
Theme: This message will introduce one of the main themes which Paul deals with throughout the rest of the letter: the disunity which is a part of the church at Corinth. This passage addresses, in general terms, the problem (factions) and the solution (focus on Christ).
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The Church Displayed - 6/15/08
Friday, June 20th, 2008Date: 6/14/08
Sermon Series: 1st Corinthians – The Church ___________.
Sermon Title: The Church – Displayed
Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.””
Theme: this sermon will deal with the idea that God has displayed through the church His wisdom and power. This wisdom and power does not conform to the world’s standards, it is instead according to God’s paradigm. This wisdom and power is displayed through Christ whom we should proudly highlight as our righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
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The Church Called
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008Date: 6/1/08
Sermon Series: 1st Corinthians – The Church ___________.
Sermon Title: The Church – Called
Text:
“Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Theme: Read the rest of this news item »
This message will introduce he sermon series through Corinthians. We will look at some background and contextual material and talk about the fact that the Church is called.
James - Wisdom Part 2 - Mega-Wisdom
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008Date: 5/18/08
Sermon Series: James – Faith, Wisdom and Behavior
Sermon Title: Faith Wisdom Pt. 2 – Mega-wisdom
Text: James 3:13-18
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Theme: Read the rest of this news item »
This sermon will emphasize the fact that the wisdom which we participate in, that which is descended from God, is displayed in our lives in service and disputed by jealousy and envy.
James - Wisdom Part 1 - Meta-Wisdom
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008Date: 5/18/08
Sermon Series: James – Faith, Wisdom and Behavior
Sermon Title: Faith Wisdom Pt. 1 – Meta-wisdom
Text: James 1:5-8
Theme:
This message will point out the fact that genuine wisdom comes from God, it has to be asked for and that it anchors us into a reality that we only get a glimpse of in the unreality in which we now live.
Introduction: Read the rest of this news item »
Relate the story of Mabel in the convalescence home. Real wisdom, the kind of special instruction which comes from God is like everything else that God provides it is unexpected. It is unlike the standard of wisdom which the world gives and transcends the power of wisdom which can be captured by any other means. It is not about making us look big or self accumulation it is clear reliance on God.
