"Whether then you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God!" (I Corinthians 10:31)
 
Last week, in our lesson on I Corinthians 10:1-13, the apostle Paul gave a heart-rendering reminder to the Corinthian believers of how the Israelites of old--"their fathers"--were miraculously delivered from bondage in Egypt, when God parted the waters of the Red Sea and led through on dry land!  And he reminded them of how "they were all under the cloud"--the cloud which guided them on their journey through the wilderness by day, and with a fire by night!  And how "they were all baptized into Moses, who led them in solidarity!  And how "they all ate the same spiritual food"--the manna (which Psalm78:25 calls "the bread of angels," coming down from heaven!  And how "they all drank the same spiritual drink, from the rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ"!  (The pre-incarnate Christ appearing in Old Testament times, providing "life-giving water," as only He could give, to sustain them on their wilderness journey!)
 
"Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased (Paul writes); for they were laid low in the wilderness"!  And he goes on to say that "all these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they craved"!
 
Then, beginning in verse 7, he gives them (and us!) some solemn warnings!  "Do not be idolators, as some of them were; as it is written, how 'the people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play'!  Nor act immorally, as some of them did," resulting in 23,000 dying in one day!  Nor try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents!  Nor grumble and complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer!"  And Paul says again to them (and to us!) that "these things happened as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come"! (Wow!  Sounds like the things that Paul mentions are only worse in our day--which may be a sure sign of the "last days"!)
 
And just in case we think that these things could never happen to us, Paul adds, "let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall" But then adds some comforting words to close out last week's lesson, with a verse that we're all challenged to take along with us wherever we go!  And to put to memory!  And here's what he writes, in I Corinthians 10:13 (and I'm quoting from the KJV, where I learned it many years ago, through my exposure to Navigators), "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it!"
 
And that set the scene for our lesson last night, on I Corinthians 10:14-33, where the apostle Paul continues to focus on sins which are a particular abomination to God--and for which the Christian, who otherwise has "freedom in Christ," has no liberty to engage: idolatry, immorality, and grumbling and complaining to God!
 
And he begins with a specific warning, which he addresses to "his beloved brothers" (and that would include us!): "Flee from idolatry!  I speak to you as wise men!" (The Phillips translation says, "the lesson we must learn, my brothers, is for you, at all cost, to avoid worshipping a false god.  I am speaking to you as intelligent men; think over what I am saying!")
 
Paul wants first to assure the Corinthian believers that he loves and cares for them, in spite of their grumbling and many spiritual failures, and so addresses them "as to the wise"--probably because Corinthians took special pride in considering themselves wise; and so Paul, realizing that as believers they had the Holy Spirit to guide them, felt confident that, if they listened, they would understand and open their hearts to the truths that he was about to give to them!  "And so, my beloved brothers, flee from idolatry...!
 
And so, for us (as to "wise MOBters"!), what exactly is "idolatry"?
 
MacArthur notes that "it's more than bowing down or burning incense to a physical image!  It's having any false god--any object, idea, philosophy, habit, occupation, sport, or whatever has one's primary concern and loyalty, or that to any degree deceases one's trust in, or loyalty to, the Lord! And because it's worshiping something other than the true God in the true way, it's the most serious and contaminating of sins!  Why? Because it strikes at the very character of God and says, if effect, that He's not the only true God and that other so-called gods are worthy to share His glory and honor; it declares that the Lord is somehow deficient, that He is not all-wise, all-powerful, and all-sufficient!  And a "Pandora's Box" is opened to other loyalties and other moral and spiritual standards!"  (Wow! And that casts "a wide net"!  As Rod Turk noted last night!)
 
And so, it's not by accident that the first two commandments are prohibitions that have to do with idolatry! (Exodus 20:1-6 says, "Then God spake all these words, saying, 'I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  You shall have no other god before Me!  You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth.  You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments!"  Wow!
 
But ever since the fall in Eden, men have wanted to make God over into their own image and likening!  Romans 1:21-23 says, "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculation, and their foolish heart was darkened!  Professing to be wise (there it is again!), they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures!"
 
MacArthur notes that when God revealed Himself to the Israelites, He was not represented in any visible form; there was no physical representation of God, and that's true of God through all of Scripture! And why?  Because God can't be, and doesn't want to, be reduced to any image!  Worshiping any image is idolatry!  Even statutes or other images of Christ are not to be revered or worshiped!  John 4:24 says, "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth!"
 
Galatians 5:19-20 says, "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, enmity, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!"  And so idolatry is listed among the vilest of sins, since it is "a sacrifice to demons," and involves worshiping demons, and "drinking the cup of demons," instead of "the cup of blessing"!
 
Exodus 34:14 says, "You shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name if 'Jealous,' is a jealous God!'"  And in Isaiah 48:11 God says, "my glory I will not give to another!'
 
And so, in verse 16, the apostle Paul speaks of the "cup of blessing which we bless as a sharing in the blood of Christ." and the bread which we break as a sharing in the body of Christ..." referring back to Luke 22:14-23!  You know the story of how on Christ gathered with His disciples "in the upper room" on the Sabbath to celebrate, and institute, what became known as "the Last Supper"!  And verse 17 (of Luke 22) says that when He (Jesus) had taken the cup (the "cup of blessing"!) and given thanks, He said, "Take and share it among yourselves; for I say I will not drink of the fruit of the wine from now until the kingdom of God comes!  And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them saying, "This is My Body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me!  And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, 'This cup (the cup of blessing!) which is poured out for you is the New Covenant of My blood...!"
 
And so Paul is reiterating (in I Corinthians 10) that when we participate in the Lord's Supper and "take the cup blessing, we are sharing together (figuratively speaking) in the blood of Christ; and when we are partaking together of the bread, we are sharing in the body of Christ"!  Celebrating together as a church (the "body of Christ") in a sacred act of worship, in remembrance of what Christ accomplished for us by going to the Cross! What a wonderful reminder of His sacrificial atonement, and of the unity and "oneness" we have with Him, and with our fellow believers!  And we can better understand why celebrating the Lord's Supper is sometimes referred to as a "Communion Service," where we come together to "commune" with the Lord and His people, our brothers and sisters in Christ, in unity and love!
 
Then we see the contrast Paul makes, in verses 19-22, between the believer's participation in the Lord's Supper and the pagan's "sacrifice to demons, and not to God"!  And Paul makes it clear that believers are not "to become sharers to demons," by sharing in their feasts (even if only to get a "free lunch"!)  "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons!  Do you want to provoke the Lord to jealousy," Paul asks?  (Jeremiah 25:6 says, "And do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm!"
 
Then Paul, in verse 23, returns to the principle that that determines how a Christian should exercise his "liberty in Christ"!  "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable; all things are lawful, but not all things edify (or build up!)"  And he reminds us all again that while there's nothing wrong with the meat itself which is offered to idols (speaking of the meat left over from the sacrifices), but if eating it somehow injures the conscience of other believers, and might cause them to "stumble" (and particularly those new believers who have been saved out of a life of pagan worship), don't go there!  Give it up!  "Limit your liberty out of love for your brother!"
 
Philippians 2:3-7 says, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also the interests of others.  Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond servant, and being made in the likeness of man..."!
 
And so Paul closes with this great admonition, which fully sums up the last several passages which we have studied about how the Christian is to exercise his (or her) "Christian freedom": "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do (and that includes 'everything'!), do all to the glory of God!"
 
Then the apostle Paul adds this, in verses 32-33, "Give no offense either to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God (and that includes everyone!); just as I also ("try to," I think he must have in mind here!) please all men, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved!" (Phillips puts it this way, "I (Paul) try to adapt myself to all men without considering my own advantage, but their advantage, that if possible they may be saved!"  Then follows up in verse 1 of chapter 11 with something that seems to fit better as a closing to this lesson!), "Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ!"
 
Wow, that's so great!  Thank you, Lord; and thank you, Paul, for being such an example for all of us!  And thank you, Rod, for so deftly explaining these wonderful words to live by!  I want to be more like that!  
 
And so with all that, we're finished with the section of I Corinthians that has to do, basically, with the principles of "Christian freedom"!  And I particularly like the way Rod summed up the last four chapters on how we should "balance" that freedom!  The "liberty" we have in Christ!

• Balance your knowledge with love (chapter 8)!
• Balance your authority with discipline (chapter 9)!
• Balance your experience with caution (chapter 10:1-22)!
• Balance your freedom with responsibility (chapter 10:23-33)!

And "...whatever you do, do all to the glory of God"!
 
On to I Corinthians 11!
 
Have a great week, men!
 
Lowell 

"There hath no temptation that taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it!"  (I Corinthians 10:13, KJV)

In last week's lesson on I Corinthians 9:19-27, the apostle Paul continued to write about his calling from God to preach the gospel, and to do it without requiring, or expecting, wages from anyone for his ministry!  He claimed that "although he was free from all men, he had made himself a slave to all, so that he might win more"!  To the Jews--those under the Law--he put himself in the position of being under the Law, even though he was free from it, that he might win those who were under the Law"!  To "those without the Law (speaking of Gentiles), he became a man without the law (even though he could not be a lawless man, since he was bound by the law of Christ), so that he might win those who had no law"!  And "to the weak, he became weak" (stooping to make the gospel clear for those with less understanding), "so that he might by all means win some"!

And so, Paul writes that "he became all things to all men, so that he might by all means win some"!  But doing so, as MacArthur notes, required a great deal of self-denial as well as personal discipline and self-control!  Likening the Christian life to one "running a race" in one of the athletic events of that day, known to them as the "Isthmian games" (and to us in our day as the "Olympic games")!  And so Paul reminds us, as he did the Corinthians, that we all run a race, figuratively speaking, and thus need to exercise self-control in all things, that we might run well, and win!  Noting further that although the winner of an athletic event received only a perishable wreath, those who run the race for Christ will receive rewards that are imperishable!  And so Paul noted how he "disciplined his body and made it a slave, so that after he preached to others, he himself would not be disqualified (not speaking of salvation but of continuing to be an effective servant of God, and mounting up eternal rewards)!  And we were reminded, that if the "great" apostle Paul was so concerned about being "disqualified," how much more should we!

And that set the scene for our lesson last night on I Corinthians 10:1-13, where Paul begins with a sobering reminder of how the Israelites of old--"our fathers"--who, despite having experienced a miraculous deliverance, and a new-found freedom, after being rescued after having spent 400 years of bondage in Egypt, soon fell into all kinds of sin, including idolatry and immorality and rebellion, on their "wilderness journey"--in effect, "disqualifying" themselves from much of God's blessings!  (He writes that "he doesn't want them to be unaware of these things" because a large part of the believers in the church of Corinth were Gentile converts, who had little awareness of Jewish history!)

And so writes how they were "all under the cloud and all passed through the sea (the Red Sea); and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ!  Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness"!  Wow!

"Under the cloud"?  Signifying the Lord's presence!  Exodus 13:21 says, "The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night"!  And so this was the means by which the Lord led the people out of Egypt and through the wilderness!  They were guided by God's presence every hour of the day, and the cloud also provided a covering that screened them from the intense heat of the sun in the Arabian desert!  How could they have felt more comfortable and secure?  And particularly after having seen, up close and personal, the miraculous hand of God in opening up the Red Sea, and closing it down and drowning the Egyptian army which followed them!  Delivering them from bondage in Egypt!

Then, "for them all to be baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea"--MacArthur notes, "indicating their oneness, or solidarity, with Moses as their leader"!  And for them "all to eat the same spiritual food"--the manna, or "bread from heaven"!  Psalm 78:25 calls it "the bread of angels"!  And "for all to drink the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ"!  The pre-incarnate Christ appearing in Old Testament times to provide "life-giving water" to sustain them through their journey!  (MacArthur notes that the spiritual food and drink "was actual food and drink provided by the spiritual power of God."  Benson (not Joel!), in his commentary, says it was called "spiritual food and drink" because it "pictured and typified the spiritual blessings of the Lord's Supper"!  Matthew Henry writes that the manna which they ate "was a type of Christ crucified, the bread which came down from heaven to give eternal life"!)

And yet, as Paul notes, and as the book of Exodus records, the Israelites "forsook the God who delivered them and actually (would you believe?) turned to worshipping idols--and became involved in orgies and all kind of sexual immorality, and then grumbled and complained of God's provision!  All of which tried God's patience, and led to His hand of judgment!

And so the apostle Paul writes, in verse 6, that "these things happened as examples for us so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved..."!  And he gets specific in verse 7 where he writes, "Do not be idolaters, as some of them were..." and in verse 8 where he add, "Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did"!  And includes a quote from Exodus 32 that says, "the people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play"!  Referring to the time when the Israelites camped at the base of Mt. Sinai, while Moses was up on the mountain, receiving the ten commandments from God!  But after he was delayed in coming back down, Aaron, at the urging of the people set up a golden calf for the people to worship, after which, it's written, that "they sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play" (referring to their participation in an orgy, and in other "lewd behavior")!  Greatly angering the Lord who, in verse 34, vowed to "punish them for their sin"!

Numbers 20:1-9 records how the Israelites "joined themselves in the idolatrous practices of Baal of Peor, engaging in acts of immorality with the women of Moab, since this was part of the pagan cult," resulting in God sending "a plague that killed 24,000 of the sons of Israel"!  (These accounts and other reveal that one of the most enticing things about pagan worship was its connection with sexual practices!)

In verse 9 Paul adds, "Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents"!  "Nor grumble as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer"!  Referring first to the account in Numbers 21:4-5, where "the people" (again speaking of the Israelites) became "impatient because of their journey and spoke out against God and Moses," questioning "why He brought them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness..."  Resulting in God "sending fiery serpents" to bite them, and kill many of the people!

And more "grumbling" recorded in Numbers16:1-4, in what's known as "Korah's rebellion"!  Where Korah, a Levite, along with Dathan and Abiram, and others, "assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron," questioning their leadership!  Leading, verse 32 says, "to the ground opening its mouth and swallowing them, and their households, and their possessions"!

But more "grumbling," recorded in Numbers 20 where, again, the sons of Israel "grumbled" about the manna, which they "hated," and because of their lack of water in the wilderness; and the sad story of how Moses improperly responded (perhaps out of anger) in "striking the rock"!  Twice!  Resulting in lots of water, but also in God's anger toward Moses for his disobedience, and (would you believe) God's vowing to prohibit Moses, of all people, from entering the "promised land"!  He was apparently "disqualified"!  Wow!  

"Now all these things happened to them as examples (for us!), and were written for our instruction, verse 11 says, upon whom the ends of the ages have come!"  (Sounds like he talking about our day!)

Then, in verse 12, Paul gives another highly thought-provoking warning!  "Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall!"  Constable reminds us that the Bible is filled with examples of people who are, or became, "overconfident"!  One thinks of Peter, the apostle, who in Luke 22: 31-34 claims that he would never "deny" Christ!  And we all know what happened there!  Another example, in Revelation 3, where the church of Sardis, having a name which means "alive" were actually "dead"!  "Wake up!" (says verse 3)

Well, our lesson ends with the comforting words of I Corinthians 10:13, a verse to remember (and memorize, and have handy)!  And I'm going to write as it appears in the KJV, which is where I learned it (and memorized it, as part of my involvement in the "Navigators")!  "There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man; but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted beyond what ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape that ye may be able to bear it!"  

So, don't do "as they did"!

What more can (or need) I say?

Lowell 

"To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak.  I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some!" (I Corinthians 9:22)
 
In our last two lessons on I Corinthians 8-9, we saw how the apostle Paul warned the Corinthian believers to "take care that their 'liberty in Christ' did not become a 'stumbling block' to the weak," and even resolved that he himself "would not eat meat offered to idols again if it caused his weaker brother to stumble"!  And he went further in applying this same principle to his work as a minister of the gospel, by refusing to expect or demand wages for it--even though he had a clear right to receive them!  And even though it was written in the Law of Moses that "you should not muzzle an ox while it is threshing;" and even though "if he sowed spiritual things in them, it wasn't to much to expect to reap material things from them"!  And even though Jesus Christ Himself declared that "those who proclaim the gospel should get their living from the gospel"!  And yet--despite all these reasons for his rights--Paul determined not to use any of it on his behalf, but chose instead to "endure all things so that he wasn't a hindrance to the gospel of Christ"!  And he also wanted to make it clear to all that he wasn't just writing all these things about his rights "so that it would now be done for him"!  He added that he'd "rather die than for anyone to think that he was in it for the money!  He was "under compulsion to preach the gospel," he said!  It was a "stewardship entrusted to him" by God; and "woe is me if I do not preach the gospel"!  Wow!
 
And that set the scene for our lesson last night, on I Corinthians 9:17-29, where Paul continues to write about his calling from God to preach the gospel, and to do it without charge!  And he begins by stating that "for though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more"!  (There he goes again!)  Paul claims that he would absolutely do anything (within the bounds of God's Word) to win people to Christ, illustrating again the principle of how "love limits our liberty" as believers!  And what follows demonstrates how Paul denied himself to accomplished it!
 
And so what's involved for one to apply this principle in every day life?  MacArthur writes that it involves two basic things, which we see illustrated in this text: self-denial and self-control!  And lots of both!  Let's see!
 
Paul writes, in verse 20 that, "To the Jews I became a Jew, so that I might win Jews!" The Phillips translation puts it this way: "To those who were under the Law I put myself in the position of being under the Law (although I stand free from it), that I might win those who are under the Law!"  And so Paul basically identified himself with his fellow Jews when he was with them, adapting himself to the Jewish culture and customs-- keeping the Sabbath, engaging in their feasts and ceremonies, and rituals, and doing whatever was necessary to gain a hearing, and thus be able to share the truths of the gospel with them!  For example:
 

• Acts 16:1-5 records how Paul persuaded Timothy, who had a Gentile father and wasn't circumcised, to be circumcised before accompanying Paul on his second missionary journey (even though there was no need or spiritual benefit in having it done), in order that he would be accepted by the Jews to whom they would minister!
• Acts 18:18 tells how Paul took a Nazarite vow, and had his hair cut, before traveling to Ephesus and entering the synagogue there to "reason with the Jews"!
• In Acts 21, upon returning to Jerusalem, after having spent a great deal of time in ministering to the Gentiles, and after being considered "ceremonially unclean" by the Jews, after word got out that he was teaching the Gentiles to forsake Moses and Jewish traditions (which he wasn't doing!), he agreed (at the urging of James) to undergo a purification ceremony, in order that the Jews would see him in a different light and hear what he had to say about the gospel!

Paul obviously had a great love for his fellow Jews!  In Romans 10:1 he writes, "Brethren, my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved!"  Just prior to that, in Romans 9:1-3, he said--as hard as it is to believe--"For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ, for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh"!  ("accursed," a word which in the Greek means "anathema," or "to be devoted to destruction in eternal hell," can you believe?)  And although he must have known that what he was suggesting was impossible, it was at the very least a sincere expression of the deep love that he had for the Jewish people!
 
Then, in verse 21, Paul writes about "those who are without the Law" (speaking of Gentiles)!  Phillips says, "To those who had no law I myself became like a man with the Law (even though in fact I cannot be a lawless man for I am bound by the law of Christ), so that I might win the men who have no Law"!
 
To further clarify this difficult verse, Constable writes that, "As a Christian Paul was not under the Law of Moses, but he was under the 'law of Christ"!  The Law of God for Jews, before the Cross, was the Law of Moses, but the law for Christians, in the present age, is the "Law of Christ," and Constable goes on to describe it as "the code of responsibilities that Christ and His apostles taught in the New Testament, which include some of the same commandments as are in the Mosaic Law!  Galatians 5:14 say, "...the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, 'you shall love your neighbor as yourself"!  Romans 13:8 says, "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor fulfills the Law"!  And Christ, in Matthew 22:37-38, said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, This is the great and foremost commandment.  The second is like it; 'you shall love your neighbor as yourself!  On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the prophets!"  (Sounds like the "Law of love," to which Paul said he was "bound"!  And to which we too are bound!)
 
But Paul's not done!  In verse 22, he says that, "To the weak I have become weak, so that I may by all means win some!  I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some!  I do all things for the sake of the gospel. so that I may become a fellow partaker of it!"  Wow!
 
MacArthur notes that Paul "stooped to make the gospel clear at the lower level of comprehension...not offending anyone within the bounds of God's Word, including those weak in understanding; condescending in ways that could lead to salvation, but never changing Scripture or compromising the truth" in doing so!  And so, in this passage, a whole lot of self-denial going on!
 
But Paul's not done in illustrating what's involved in serving God and his fellow man!  It also requires lots of self-control!  And it comes out loud and clear in verses 24-27!
 
Do you not know (Paul writes) that those who run in a race run all, but only one receives the prize?  Run in such a way that you may win!  Everyone who competes in the game exercises self-control in all things!  They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable!  Therefore I run in such a way as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified!  Wow!
 
The analogies are clear!
 
Paul writes in II Timothy 4:7-8, "But have nothing to do with worldly fables, fit only for old women.  On the other hand, discipline yourselves for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things since it holds promise for the present life, and also for the life to come!"
 
Paul says that he needed to discipline and control his body--make it his slave, and bring it under subjection, so that he doesn't get disqualified from "running the race"!  (MacArthur notes that "liberty cannot be limited without self-control, since the flesh resists limits on its freedom"!) Can you imagine the apostle Paul ever becoming disqualified from preaching the gospel and running the race, and serving the Lord?
 
How much more should this speak to us?
 
The apostle Paul might ask this of us: "Are you ready, and willing, to limit your liberty out of love for Christ, and others"?

Lowell 

"For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; but woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!" (I Corinthians 9:16)
 
In our last MOB lesson for 2024, on I Corinthians 8, the apostle Paul addressed a question--and a concern--raised by some of the new Corinthian believers about whether it was right, and ok, for them to eat meat offered to idols!  They lived in a "polytheistic world" where it was common practice for unbelieving Greek and Roman people to offer meat as a sacrifice to their pagan gods, basically (they beleived) to keep them from contaminating the meat with evil spirits.  The meat left over from these sacrificial rituals was then given to the pagan priests and served to those participating in the temple feasts, or sold in the local marketplace.  Some of the Corinthians who had become Christians were apparently bothered by their conscience for eating this meat, associating it with their former pagan entanglements, and might even have been tempted by it to return to pagan worship; while others, "more knowledgeable," understood that there was nothng unclean or wrong with the meat itself and therefore felt "at liberty" to enjoy eating it!  Afterall, it was probably the best nad most economical meat available!  And yet as Paul considered the concerns that were raised, he saw it as a possible "stumbling block" for the "weaker" brothers; and so warned the Corinthians to "take care that this liberty of theirs wouldn't somehow become a stumblinmg block to the weak"!  A sin, Paul said, not only against a brother but against Christ!
 
And not only did Paul address the question but he set the example, and established the principle, by resolving for himself that "if food caused his brother to stumble, he would never eat meat again, so that he would not cause his brother to stumble"!  And so an important principle that the apostle Paul established for himself and other believers in that day, and a principle that applies as well for every believer today!
 
And we saw this principle "of limiting, or yielding, one's rights out of love for one's brothers" carrying over into our lesson last night as well, on I Corinthians 9! Where Paul begins with a series of rhetorical questions (where the answers are obvious)!
 
"Am I not free?  Am I not an apostle?  Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?  Are you not my work in the Lord?  Do we (He and Barnabas) not have the right to eat and drink"  Do not we have the right to refrain from working (on the side, as 'tentmakers,' to support themselves)?"  And so this is how the apostle Paul began our lesson last night!  In chapter 8, Paul resolving to "limit his right to eat meat if it causes his brother to stumble"!  And now in chapter 9, limiting his right to receive material support for his ministry, from the church of Corinth, a church which he founded, if receiving such support became a "hinderance to the gospel of Christ"!
 
He begins by offering a defense for his "apostleship" (and the "authority" of his teaching which goes along with it!) which has apparently been questioned by the Corinthians--perhaps because he and Barnabas were working as tentmakers, on the side, to support themselves, rather than exercising their right to receive wages for their ministry, as was the custom for other apostles and philosophers and teachers!  Indicating to the Corinthians perhaps that Paul himself didn't consider himself as an apostle worthy of support!
 
There should be no question of his apostleship, according to Paul!  First of all, he had seen the resurrected Jesus which, according to Acts 1, was a requirement for an apostle!  You all know the story, and they undoubtedly did too (recorded in Acts 9), of how Christ appeared to him, on the road to Damascus, at the time of his conversion, and how he sent Ananias to minister to him, telling him that he (Paul) was "a chosen instrument of His, to bear His name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel"!  And Acts 18:9 records how the Lord also appeared to him, in a vision, in the night, while he was in Corinth, telling him "not to be afraid...and that He had many people in that city"!  And last, but not least, in I Corinthians 15:5-11, where Paul recorded how the resurrected Christ appeared, among others, "to Cephas, then to the twelve...and, last of all, to me," whom he called "the least of the apostles"!
 
And, secondly, he was an apostle as evidenced by what the Lord had accomplished through him in establishing the church of Corinth, where he was sent by God!  The very word "apostle," in the Greek, means "a sent one"!  And the believers in Corinth were "the seal of his apostleship!
 
And so, as an apostle, Paul had some clear rights, including the right to be supported for his ministry!  "Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense?  Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it?  Or who tends a flock and does not use the mild of the flock?"
 
And this is not just his own thinking about the issue, he says (in verse 8).  "Does not the Law of Moses also say these things?" And he cites Deuteronomy 25:4, where it's written that "you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing"!  This same analogy is also quoted in the New Testament, in  II Timothy 5:17-18, where it adds, "the laborer is worthy of his wages"!  II timothy 2:6 says, "The hard-working farmer ought to be first to receive his share of the crops!"  Paul sums it up by writing in verse 10, "Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops"!
 
Then Paul gets to the bottom line, in verses 11!  "If we sowed spiritual things in you (things which have eternal value!), is it too much (to ask!) if we reap material things from you? If others share the right over you, do we not more?
 
And so, Paul firmly established himself as an apostle of Christ!  He has seen the resurrected Christ and the results of his labor in Corinth more than establish his authority as an apostle!  And so, he should be heard, and treated as one!  He has his rights!  Right?
 
But then verse 12!  And here it comes!  "Nevertheless..."!"
 
"Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things (the Phillips translation say, "we have put up with all sorts of things!") so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ"!  Wow!  (And so, again, Paul sets the example of being willing to "yield," or limit his rights, and his 'liberties in Christ,' for the cause of the gospel!)
 
But he's not finished!  He can't seem to let go of this!  And so, in verse 13, he adds, "Do you not knbow that those who perform sacred services (in the temple!)--going back again to the Old Testament--eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar share from the altar?"  And then concludes with the best argument of all!  Referring to how Jesus Himself when sending out His discipes to preach the gospel (in Matthew 10:5-15, and in corresponding passages in Mark 6:8-13 and Luke 9:2-6), told them to "not to carry any money belt...but to stay in the house where they enter, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages..."!  
 
What more needs to be said?  Paul, you made your case!
 
But Paul is still not finished!  In verse 15 he wants his readers to know that he "was not writing any of these things so that it would be done so in his case," and that "he'd rather die than for anyone to think that he's preaching for the money"!  How like Paul!
 
And that gets to Paul's bottom-line reason for preaching the gospel, in verses 16-18, "For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel...I have a stewardship entrusted to me.  What then is my reward?  That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel!"  Wow!
 
Peter Marshall once wrote, "May freedom be seen, not as a right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right!"
 
Dr. Bob Jones Sr. used to say, "Do right!  Do right!  Do right til the stars fall!"
 
What more could we say!
 
Lowell

"But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak!" (I Corinthians 8:9)
 
In last week's lesson on I Corinthians 7:25-40, the apostle Paul gives some final words of instructions and guidance to the Corinthian believers' in response to questions they addressed to him concerning marriage versus singleness.  And he started by giving his peal opinion that "in view of the present distress,"  it was good for both men and women to remain in whatever state they were in when God called them to salvation.  And so, if a man was "bound" to a woman, he should remain "as is," and not seek to be "released" from her; and, if released, not to seek another wife! But that "if a man does in fact marry, he thasn't sinned; and if a virgin (ESV says, 'a bethrothed woman") marries, neither has she sinned!" And yet, by getting married, they both would open themselves up for "trouble in their lives"!  And he proceeds to tell them that he's giving the advice he's giving them "to spare them the trouble," and to free them from the "anxieties" that come with being married!  "The one who is unmarried," he said, "is concerned (or at least can be concerned} about the things of the Lord, and how he (or she!) might please the Lord, while the one who is married is more concerned about the world, and how he (or she!) might please his wife (and she her husband)"!
 
Then, in verses 36-38, we noted Paul giving advice to fathers who were making vows to keep their daughters as "virgins"--at least as it's interpreted in the NASV, while the ESV and other versions see it as Paul giving advice to men who are considering whether or not to follow through on marrying their betrothed virgins!  Assuming Paul was advising fathers (which is MacArthur's understanding), it should be understood that, in the Jewish culture of that day, parents, and particularly fathers, played a dominant role in whether, and to whom, their daughters might marry!  And so arranged marriages were the norm for that day!  As to why the vow, Constable notes that fathers may have resorted to making such a vow because of what Paul had written about singleness as the preferable state; or because of the "ascetic infuences" in the church of Corinth, that gave a false sense of "spirituality" for those remaining "celebate"!  Or, perhaps, because of the "present distress"!  In any event, Paul seemed to be coming to his senses by further advising the fathers that they should feel free to change their minds and break their vows in view of their daughter's strong desire to marry and the appropriateness of allowing this to take place!  (Same advice for men who were considering whether to follow through in marrying the virgin to whom they betrothed!)
 
There was one further reason for Paul's belief that it was better for some people to remain single, and that is because of the "permanency of marriage"!  Paul ends his discourse by writing that "a wife is bound to her husband as long as her husband lives," and that only after he dies is she free to remarry"! (And the same "bounding" would apply for the husband!)  In that regard, remember how the disciples reacted (in Matthew 19:19) when Jesus taught the same principle!  Then, "it's better not to marry," they concluded! (Giving the impression that they seemed to fear "being stuck" for life in a bad marriage!) 
 
And with that, Paul concluded his discourse, including his opinions, on marriage versus singleness, in response to questions raised by the Corinthians on the subject!
 
And so, on to our chapter 8 where the apostle Paul sets out to address another issue raised by the Corinthians, that being questions concerning "eating food offered to idol"!
 
The Corinthians raised this question apparently because they lived in a "polytheisic, and polydemonistic" world where both Greeks and Romans worshiped many pagan gods but, according to MacArthur, also believed in many evil spirits which, among other things, would try to invade human beings by attaching themselves to the food they ate; and that somehow the spirits could be removed if food was offered (or sacrificed!) to them!  And so the food that wasn't "burned on the altar," as a sacrifice for the pagan gods (including prime meats!), was served at pagan feasts, and what was left over was sold in the local marketplace!  And so this became a primary source of food (mostly meat!) for the people to eat!
 
Some of the more "knowledgeable" believers knew that idols "were nothing" and that there was only one God, and so had no problem eating the left-over meat, which was available both at local pagan feasts, and in the local markets!  Food was food! However, other less knowledgeable and "weaker brothers" who had been involved in worshiping pagan gods and offering food sacrifices before becoming Christians, were bothered by their conscience about eating such food again, and felt "defiled"--and even tempted to return to pagan worship!
 
And so Paul's response was for those more "knowledgeable" believers to "take care that "this liberty of theirs did not become a stumbling block for their weaker brothers"!  And possibly even result in them returning to their pagan worship and empty rituals!  And so Paul reminded them that even though their knowledge and belief about the existense of only one God, and the harmlessness of eating the food offered to idols was basically correct, they might be "ruining" (Phillips says "bringing spiritual disaster"!) to a weaker brother for whom Christ died"!  And not only was this a sin against a weaker brother by "wounding his conscience," but a sin against Christ"!
 
And so Paul established the example--and the principle--for how a loving Christian brother should react to such a situation by determining that "if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble"!  And thus establishing an important principle for how "love" changes ones' attitude and actions in cases where one is exercising "liberty in Christ"! 
 
Paul's writing in Romans 14:13-23 adds importantly to our understanding of this passage: "Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this--not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way!  I know and am convinced that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean!  For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love!  Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died!  Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating or drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men! So then we pursued the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food!  All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense.  It is good not to eat meat or drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles.  The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God.  Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.  But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith and whatever is not from faith is sin!"
 
How then shall we live!
 
Merry Christmas, my beloved brothers!
 
Lowell