Do all to the Glory of God

stuart vickers

1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

1 Corinthians 10:23–33

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To God be the Glory

Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible “Flee from the Worship of Idols!” (10:1–22)

Finally, Paul draws the threads together by reiterating what is most important for all the church members if they are to live in unity as God’s elect (10:31–11:1). Of primary importance is precisely not what so dominates the social and moral concerns of the Corinthians, that is, eating and drinking as ways of displaying personal power (or feeling excluded from it)! Rather, it is doing what brings glory to God (10:31; cf. 6:20). Paul’s social morality is resolutely theocentric and (as we shall see below, at 11:1) christocentric. As such, it is a firm corrective to (anthropocentric) patterns of behavior oriented on what brings glory to one group of people at the expense of another. In practice, this “giving glory to God” means, negatively, not hindering the salvation (present and ongoing) of either outsiders (“to Jews or to Greeks”) or insiders (“the church of God”); positively, it means following Paul’s own example of trying to “please” everyone “so that they may be saved” (10:32–33).

As in the case of the closely parallel testimony in 9:19–23, the idea of “pleasing” as many people as possible is not a matter of self-seeking servility: that is what Paul explicitly denies (10:33b). Rather, in the context of ancient treatises on political leadership, “pleasing” as many people as possible has a particular connotation: it is the sacrificial and costly business of stepping down in social status and giving up otherwise legitimate rights and privileges in order to identify with and win over the majority, that is, those at the bottom of the social scale (cf. Martin 1990). But Paul does not do this as a “party politician,” for it is parties and factions which he wants the Corinthians to leave behind in their ecclesial life. He does it because he is a servant of Christ and therefore has given over his life to the imitation of Christ: “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ” (11:1). In his sacrificial stepping down in status and renunciation of rights, Paul is doing what Christ has done in the “foolishness” (mōria) of his self-giving on the cross (cf. 1:18–25; Rom 15:1–3; Phil 2:4ff.). This is the demanding, christomorphic model which Paul embodies and which he exhorts the Corinthians to embody also.

Today i want us to look at verses 23-24 & 30-33 because all in between has been covered over previous weeks.

These are some of the subjects we have covered as we have journeyed through 1 Corinthians so far Divisions in the church, Proclaiming Christ, True wisdom only found in relationship with the Holy Spirit. Christ our foundation, Starting block or stumbling block, surrendering our rights, loving on people, idolatry, whose on your throne of your life.

As in the case of the closely parallel testimony in 9:19–23, the idea of “pleasing” as many people as possible is not a matter of self-seeking servility: that is what Paul explicitly denies (10:33b). Rather, in the context of ancient treatises on political leadership, “pleasing” as many people as possible has a particular connotation: it is the sacrificial and costly business of stepping down in social status and giving up otherwise legitimate rights and privileges in order to identify with and win over the majority, that is, those at the bottom of the social scale (cf. Martin 1990). But Paul does not do this as a “party politician,” for it is parties and factions which he wants the Corinthians to leave behind in their ecclesial life. He does it because he is a servant of Christ and therefore has given over his life to the imitation of Christ: “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ” (11:1). In his sacrificial stepping down in status and renunciation of rights, Paul is doing what Christ has done in the “foolishness” (mōria) of his self-giving on the cross (cf. 1:18–25; ; .). This is the demanding, christomorphic model which Paul embodies and which he exhorts the Corinthians to embody also.

How not to live or what not to do & how to live, what we should put in place to be more like Jesus. Paul says & we get to it in a few weeks at the end of chapter 12, it says & i will show you a still more excellent way.

Ok let’s read .

As was said a few weeks ago the church at Corinth concentrated on their own rights & knowledge, but that means when it comes to receiving teaching their question is “what’s the harm to me” that’s what happens when we are focused on us & instead of only asking that question they need to also ask “what good can this be for me”. You see we don’t like change, we want to be able to carry on living life as we always have, infact we shut our ears to it, try to drown out that what might force us to change our ways & it;s because we are happy where we are but as Paul says here “all things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful but not all things build up, let no one seek his own good but the good of his neighbour.

focused & instead of only asking that question they need to also ask “what good can this be for me”. You see we don’t like change, we want to be able to carry on living life as we always have, infact we shut our ears to it, try to drown out that what might force us to change our ways & it;s because we are happy where we are but as Paul says here “all things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful but not all things build up, let no one seek his own good but the good of his neighbour.

The problems are:

We ask the wrong questions, being able to carry on as before.

We don’t ask enough questions which leaves us with an incomplete answer & so live an unbalanced life, doing good deeds, when what we need is Jesus & out of our relationship with him good deeds come.

Just because something is permitted doesn’t mean it’s beneficial. The Corinthians did not seek the helpful things or the things that would edify, essentially instead of wanting to go forward with Jesus as much as they could, they wanted to know how much they could get away with & still be Christians, that’s the wrong approach.

As the Corinthian Christians asked the question “what’s the harm to me” they didn’t consider how their actions harmed others.

Just because something is fine for me doesn’t mean i should do it. my own rights or what i know to be permitted for myself are not the standards by which i judge my behaviour, i must consider what is the loving thing to do towards my brothers & sisters in Christ.

Paul hits the nail on the head when he says in verse 31, do all to the Glory of God, our whole lives should be lived like this. Everything we do should be with God in mind. How do i Glorify God with my life. Hold nothing back, how you think, is what you think of others God honouring, what about how you speak to others, does that give God Glory or are there some conversation you need to repent over, maybe you need to go & say sorry to someone.

fe. Hold nothing back, how you think

Maybe you could do all to the Glory of God through your gifting even just doing something with your salvation. Maybe your gifting is in hosting people, then do it to the Glory of God. Get people to your house, host them. Get some people together & come see the leadership & set up a hospitality team, that would be awesome, maybe it’s generosity, then be generous. Technology, then get involved in the pa or media for church, find out how you can get involved but make sure it’s not about you but it’s about giving Glory to God.

Paul here brings out what is most important for all the church, then & now. If we are to live in unity as God’s people, we shouldn’t be trying to get one up on others, trying to have power over them, this is what i have, this is what i can do making people feel excluded from things because of what they have or because of where they are from or social standing.

What it’s about is doing what brings Glory to God. Paul’s social morality is theocentric, that is that God is the central focus & as we have seen all the way through his writing & Christocentric as we see in verse 1 of chapter 11 as he calls the Corinthians to follow him as he follows Christ.

The problem comes hen we the church think anthropocentric which means we put humankind as the most central or most important element of existence in place of God. When we do this, one group of people will become more important than others giving one group priority at the expense of others.

In practice giving Glory to God means not hindering the salvation of those in the church or outside of the church. It means following Paul’s own example of trying to please everyone, “so that they may be saved”.

The idea of pleasing people is not a matter of self seeking servility. Paul doesn’t say that, it’s more about the sacrificial & costly business of stepping down in social status & giving up otherwise legitimate rights & privileges in order to identify with & win over the majority, so Paul doesn’t do it like a politician who does stuff for their own name. it’s the politics, parties & factions he wants them to leave behind.

He does it because he is a servant of Christ & therefore has given over his life to the imitation of Christ, Paul is doing what Christ had done in the foolishness of his self giving on the cross.

Romans 15:1–3 ESV

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”

Romans 15:

Philippians

Philippians 2:4 ESV

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

This is demanding, it’s not easy, this is Christ’s model & Paul embodies it & he exhorts the Corinthian church & us to do the same

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