Sermon Tone Analysis

“*FOR THE GLORY OF GOD*”

(A Series on I Corinthians)

 

Westgate Chapel 9~/6~/98 a.m.

I Corinthians 10:23-33

 

PROPOSITION:  The freedom that a believer has in Christ with regards to matters of conscience is on condition that he~/she is seeking the good of others, is held in tension with the conscience of others, and has the glory of God as its object.

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I. introduction

!! -     “I AM my own man....my own woman!”

!! -     “I AM a self-made man or woman!”

!! -     “I PLEASE no one but myself!”

!! -     “I DID it my way!”

!! -     “I DON’T have to answer to anyone!”

!! -     THESE are all lies.

!! -     THE whole culture that we are a part of is full of lies....is actually based on lies.

!! -     IN reality you are not your own.....never have been, never will be.

!! -     IF you are not a follower of Christ, Satan owns you.

!!! ~*     Jesus said in John 8:34,

!!!!       “*I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.*”

!!! ~*     Jesus told Paul, in Acts 26:18 that unbelievers are under...

!!!!       “...*the power of Satan*.”

!!! ~*     In 2 Timothy 2:26 Paul says that Satan has,

!!!!       “...*taken *(unbelievers) *captive to do his will*.”

!! -     SO, you can sing Frank Sinatra’s song all you like and party till the sun comes up....you are not doing it YOUR way.

You are doing it SATAN’S way....and the end of that captivity is eternal death.

!! -     BUT, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, do you know who you belong to?

!! -     WELL, the first and most obvious answer is God.

!!! ~*     Not only is He your creator and the author of ALL life.

!!! ~*     But He also bought you back from slavery to sin, flesh and the devil...through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.

!!! ~*     I Corinthians 6:19-20 says,

!!!!       “*You are not your own; you were bought at a price*.”

!!! ~*     And the end result of belonging to Christ is forgiveness of sins, newness of life, and eternal life in God’s presence.

!! -     BUT as a Christian there is someone else that you belong to.

Do you know who that is?

!!! ~*     You belong to other members of the body of Christ.

!!! ~*     The ownership that others have of you is via our mutual connection to Christ, but it is no less real.

!!! ~*     Romans 12:5 says,

!!!!       “...*in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others*.”

!! -     EVERYTHING you do has immediate and sometimes far-reaching consequences on those who are walking in your tracks....and because of what Christ has done for you, you owe it to those people to live a life worthy of the calling and worthy to be followed.

!! -     YOU are not your own.

!!! ~*     The things you hold as values in life have far-reaching consequences.

!!!! •     Your values effect me immensely, because they govern your life and choices which impact me immediately.

!!! ~*     The words that come out of your mouth have eternal consequences.

!!!! •     They either edify, build up those who are listening.

!!!! •     Or they tear down and inflame bitterness, discord or unbelief.

!!! ~*     Your conduct towards members of the opposite sex has huge ramifications.

!!!! •     It matters to your spouse.

!!!! •     It matters to your children.

!!!! •     It matters to your grandchildren...even if they have not been born yet.

!!!! •     It matters to your co-workers.

!!!! •     It matters to your fellow-Christians.

!!! ~*     What you do with your time and energy has huge impact on the family of God and the purposes of the kingdom.

!!!! •     When God only gets the dregs of your time that drags the rest of us down spiritually, because we are no stronger than the common denominator of our combined spiritual strength.

!!! ~*     How you spend your money is of great significance to me and the rest of God’s family.

!!!! •     It determines where your heart goes...and that impacts me as a fellow-member of the family of God immediately.

!!!! •     It effects the financial load that rests on the body of Christ for the ministries of this fellowship.

!!!! •     God has determined the mission for this church that is based on our combined spiritual gifts being invested here, our time, our energy and our tithes and offerings.....and when one believer witholds his or her best we come up short on God’s purposes for the Northwest.

!! -     THE believers in Corinth were telling Paul that they could do anything they wanted with their lives and that it didn’t matter.

!! -     SO, in I Corinthians 10:23, he comes back to a subject that he has touched on before in this epistle...but it is important enough to re-visit.

!! -     AND in the remaining 11 verses of the chapter Paul shares three principles with the church regarding the conditions of their freedom in Christ as new believers.

!! -     YES, they are free from the bondage of sin.

!! -     YES, they are free from slavery to Satan.

!! -     YES, they are free from the guilt of their past.

!! -     YES, they are free from the whip of the law.

!! -     AND the wonder and exhilaration of their new-found freedom must have been incredible compared to the slavery of their past.

!! -     BUT this freedom could not be carried out of context.

!! -     AND the context was that the believers in Corinth belonged now to God....they were slaves now to righteousness....and belonged to each other in Christ.

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ii.

free, BUT with a condition

!! -     THEY had caught Paul’s teaching on being free from the myriad of rules and regulations of the Jewish religion but needed the balance of this passage.

!! -     AND the first principle that Paul teaches the believers of Corinth is.....that they are free, but with a condition.

!! -     “EVERYTHING is permissible” was their new slogan....which is why it is in quotation marks in verse 23.

!! -     LET’S start reading I Corinthians 10: 23,

!!!       “*‘Everything is permissible’-- but not everything is beneficial.

‘Everything is permissible’-- but not everything is constructive.*

(24) *Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others*.”

(I Corinthians 10:23-24)

!! -     THE condition and context of our Christian liberty is the good of others.

!! -     THE good of others is a higher standard.

!! -     OUR human nature is to seek what is good for me, first and foremost.

!! -     PAUL says, no, we are to be more concerned with what is good for your spouse, your children, your friends, your work associates....all the people who are taking their cues off of you.

!! -     WHAT is beneficial for those people?

!! -     WHAT is constructive for those people?

!! -     THAT is the context of the Christian life.

!! -     YOU are not an island.

!! -     YOU are not your own boss.

!! -     IF we could all stop being so selfish with our lives we would catch a vision of what the kingdom of God is all about.

!! -     IN Matthew 19:19, Jesus commands us to love our neighbors as intensely as we love ourselves.

!! -     IN Romans 12:10, Paul writes,

!!!       “*Honor one another above yourselves*.”

!! -     IN Philippians 2:3-4, Paul writes,

!!!       “*Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.*

(4) *Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others*.”

!! -     IN I Peter 4:10, the apostle writes,

!!!       “*Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms*.”

!! -     YES, we are free in Christ, but there is more to think of than what pleases me.

!! -     THERE are a host of other people to think of in all of our choices and decisions....some of whom may not even have been born yet.

!! -     (THINKING the other day about encounters I have had in recent months with people who knew my father....who knew my uncles who ministered to the Indian people in South Africa.

!!! ~*     These people have come up to me in India and said, are you J.F. Rowlands’ relative?

!!! ~*     A young Indian girl now attending Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, came up to Vanessa and said....are you related to the Rowlands’ in South Africa?

!!! ~*     An evangelist from the Church of God called my house on Thursday....now in his late sixties....who had worked with my Dad in South Africa, and told me how much he loved my father.)

!! -     THE choices that my two uncles made to serve God with all their hearts.