Who Do You Turn To?
Notes
Transcript
Good morning and welcome to CCC. We are so glad you are here with us this morning. What a wonderful time of year the weather has changed, hopefully, we are headed into winter and Christmas.
Let’s Pray
START OBS
This morning we continue on with our We Are The Church sermon series in I Corinthians. Last week in I Corinthians 5 we talked about unrepentant sin and I challenged you to ask God to search and show you your heart in regards to unrepentant sin. I pray that if God showed you that you had unrepentant sin in your life that you dealt with that this week by laying it at the feet of Jesus at the cross!
This week we see again practical, don’t sue other Christians, and spiritual your love for your brother should cover their sin. We also see how we as Christians are to see and interact with the world and the lost.
We are going to deal with
I Corinthians 6:1-11
I Corinthians 6:1-11
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6 When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? 2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 4 So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? 5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, 6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? 7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
This week, actually over the past several weeks God has been pressing into my heart and mind the following things
Personal Sin
Personal Accountability
Personal Responsibility
Personal Effort
Personal Passion
Personal Commitment
Personal Selflessness
Personal Love
God paid a very high price, the physical death of His One and Only Son. Jesus suffered through God’s rejection, looking away as He became OUR sin....just to give us an opportunity to willingly accept His forgiveness and salvation.
I used to say freely and willingly, the gift of salvation is free or it would not be a gift in terms of I am free to accept or reject Jesus
However it will cost you everything in the physical to gain everything in the spiritual
Christians are not just called but fully expected to be different. Your life changes for eternity the second you meet and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior
We have lost touch of, lost sight of, lost the true understanding of what it requires one to truly follow Jesus
Some of you here this morning or watching online either live or our youtube channel know fully the cost.
You have lost relationships with friends
You have lost relationships with family
You have lost jobs or job opportunities or promotions
You have lost money
You have lost your health
Some of you have been called to walk into some very scary places.
I will never get used to a heavy door in jail slamming behind me locking me in to do the will of the Lord
Some know that sound from the other side as a prisoner
Some may even get to hear that sound as a prisoner because they choose to stand with God and against men and government
Make no mistake about it becoming a Christian and a true disciple of Jesus will cost you everything
Luke 9:23-26
Luke 9:23-26
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“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
Jesus many times tells His disciples to count the cost of following Him.
The gift of salvation is free but accepting it requires you to pay the cost. What is that cost?
Die to yourself daily. Sometimes 1,000 times a day. So many Christians are holding onto this physical life so tightly....holding on to this fleshly life so tightly that they miss the life God created them to experience and live!
What good does it profit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his soul?
Jesus wasn’t morbid
He doesn’t take joy in Death
No He understands reality
We believe we live in reality and some here do but most live in and have fully bought a fake reality
Jesus understands this fleshly, physical life is temporary
He understands the battle is spiritual
Your physical life is worthless. The more I realize just how awful I, Josh the physical really is
The more I am in the light the more I realize how dark I am…the only good in me is Jesus!
That is what Jesus is saying here in Luke 9.....you can become a trillionaire and go to hell
You can be homeless and broke and go to heaven
Physical doesn’t matter spiritual is all that matters
Therefore......because that is truth…your life my life must be lived differently than the world and the lost
This is the picture and backdrop that Paul is painting here in I Corinthians 6:1-11
I Corinthians 6:1-4
I Corinthians 6:1-4
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“When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?”
Paul starts out boldly....you got a problem with another believer, a brother or sister in Christ how dare you go to court and sue them instead of going to the church and saints to work it out
To Paul and I believe God there is never a reason to sue a fellow believer
This action......suing a believer is wrong on many fronts and ways
How dare a believer seek the lost’s opinion or judgement instead of God’s
This is putting the world ahead of God. This is conforming to the world.
Romans 12:1-2
Romans 12:1-2
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“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God....
The will of God is not to sue each other.
2. Christians will in and with Jesus judge the world, yet they seek out the lost and unrighteous to judge them?
Christians are more than qualified because of the Holy Spirit to judge among themselves
If you are a Christian then one day will sit with and rule with Christ You and I forget that and seek temporary solutions and fixes and sell God short. How dare we!!!!!!
I Corinthians 6:5-6
I Corinthians 6:5-6
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“I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?”
Paul again can’t believe in the church…that gathering of the saints…Christ’s body....God’s Children filled with the Holy Spirit and there is no one wise enough to settle disputes between believers
James 1:5
James 1:5
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“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
No excuse is really what Paul is saying to them
You have no excuse other than you seek the world not God and that is to your shame
If you seek God you would have the wisdom you needed to judge between each other
This comes back to the milk and meat truth. When you first are saved you are on milk, the basics, the gospel.
God never intended for you to stay on milk. Through the Holy Spirit applying the Word of God in your life and living life together in fellowship with other believers you grow and mature in Christ to meat.
The problem is people are not looking to grow just to be saved. They are looking for fire insurance not a true relationship with God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and Christians.
Church what and who you seek and turn to matters.
The truth that you believe and build your life upon matters.
Shame on you and shame on me for turning to the world instead of God and each other!
I Corinthians 6:7-8
I Corinthians 6:7-8
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“To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!”
This shows another reason you don’t sue other believers
By doing so you have already lost
We are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ
We are to lay down our life for them
When we love money or things or property more than our brothers and sisters in Christ we have already lost
Paul and God say it is better to suffer loss than to sue a brother or sister in Christ why because suing them is driven by pride....greed.....it is driven by a heart that turns to the world not turns to God
Paul also says don’t kid yourself you are just as guilty as your brother or sister in Christ. You have defrauded other Christians yet here you are suing a brother or sister in Christ over something you did to someone else.
This reminds me of a parable
Matthew 18:21-35
Matthew 18:21-35
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21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
You and I are that servant by the way....God through Jesus forgave us of so much more than we could every pay!
28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.
This is who we are when we sue another Christian. You and I have been forgiven of so much.....much more than we could ever pay and we get fired up about someone owing us something or taking something or a property dispute.
HOW DARE WE!!!!!! We deserve to be thrown into prison until we can pay every penny like the first servant in this parable!
If we understand who Jesus is and what Jesus has truly done for us suffering loss for our brother or sister is the least we can do!
I Corinthians 6:9-11
I Corinthians 6:9-11
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“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
Remember when we started this morning and I listed several things God was placing on and pressing into my heart and mind?
I believe it was for this section of scripture
I believe its not so much about a lawsuit but the heart behind the lawsuit
I John 2:7-11
I John 2:7-11
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“Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
Agape love
Sacrificial love
God’s love
The kind of love that made the cross make sense!
As a Christian you are to be different than the world.
You and I are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ.
We covered last week the steps to discipline inside the church....I believe these apply to a point here
Go to the other person and attempt to work it out
If that doesn’t work then you and the other person go to the Pastor or Elders and try to work it out
If it can’t be worked out let it go!
Love
Love
Love
If you love money or things more than your brothers and sisters in Jesus than is Jesus really in you?
I John 3:11-18
I John 3:11-18
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“For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
Look at how God defines love in 16-18
He....Jesus…laid down His life for us
He willingly died to save us
Jesus wasn’t so full of pride that he said they deserve it…that is true we did....
He wasn’t so full of pride that He said leave them to themselves
He wasn’t so full of pride that He said they knew they owed it they must pay it
NO. HE CHOSE DEATH TO GIVE US LIFE
If that love is in you
If Jesus is in you
If you are a Christian here this morning you will willingly lay down your life for your brothers and sisters!
I want you to understand something
Love....God’s love
Has nothing to do with comfort or talents or gifts
We have brothers and sisters in this body struggling with ministry
Struggling with trying to help meet needs of the lost in our community
Struggling with trying to build a Children’s ministry
Struggling with trying to keep bible studies up and running
Struggling with lots of things they are called to by God
We also have brothers and sisters in this body who are to full of the world and the world’s love to lay down their lives for them and get out of their comfort zone and say here am I send me
God is bringing us children but so far only two sisters have laid down their lives to minister to them
They will teach....you go serve.
Serve the kids
Serve your sisters
Help out
Be present
That is all that is being asked. Love them and your sisters enough to say I will be there!
God has laid youth on this body
We need brothers and sisters willing to lay down their lives for those kids God wants to bring to find Jesus!
I believe God has big things in store for CCC but if we won’t start laying down our lives to serve the lost and each other and kids this church CCC will die and God will accomplish His will through someone else.
I deeply love each and everyone of you
I have and will continue to lay down my life for you....will you for each other?
This is the heart of I Corinthians 6:1-11 and the heart of the Gospel of Jesus!
Die to you…..Live from Christ
He is the focus
Bringing Him to the lost and children must be our top priority
Are you washed?
Are you sanctified?
Then stop hanging on to the worldly.....fleshly things
Be all in for Jesus
Get out of the pew and into service!
It goes even beyond that however
God says this, a gathering of His Children, the body of Christ is the first place we should look to go in any situation or circumstance
The devil says it is the last place you should go
When you are down this is the place you need to be....the devil will tell you that you need some time alone
When you are busy this is the first place to sacrifice to be at.....the devil will tell you that you deserve down time
When you are sick this is the place to come and be anointed with oil and have hands laid on you in prayer as the bible says but the devil says stay away you are sick
I can’t imagine a place I would rather be to celebrate successes than a body full of believers who love and celebrate with me
I can’t imagine a place I would rather be to have my burdens shared than a body full of believers who love and carry my burdens with me
If that place is not here than shame on us I pray God convicts each and every one of us until it is
If this is that place and you don’t crave it, seek it, make excuses to be here than shame on you and I pray God convicts you until it is!
The song I choose for invitation has been heavy on my heart the past couple of weeks. Jireh....Jesus…run to him!