"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works!" (I Corinthians 3:16-17, KJV) The Phillips translation puts it this way: "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the faith and correcting error, for resetting the direction of a man's life and training him in good living!  The Scriptures are the comprehensive equipment of the man of God, and fit him fully for all branches of his work!"
 
"Sola scriptura"!  That was the rallying call for the Protestant Reformation!  Declaring, without any reservation, that the Word of God, not church tradition, is the ultimate and only infallible authority for the Christian faith!  The apostle Paul would, I'm sure, give a hearty "amen" to that declaration, and that's the reason why we, as "men of the Bible," study the Bible and meet together to share what we have learned!  And why we have met together over the past nine months, specifically, to study and share the "epistle" of I Corinthians!
 
And why I Corinthians?  I'll give you the same answer I gave back on September 4, 2024, when we first started our study: "What better book of the Bible to study--for such a time as this--than the book of I Corinthians which was written by the apostle Paul to the church which is at Corinth, specifically to address various questions raised by the Corinthians, and concerns the apostle Paul himself had for believers in the "problem-steeped church" of Corinth, which required 'reproof and correction,' and with "admonitions" that would prove useful for the Corinthians, to train them in how to live--and help them grow in their faith!  Some of the same questions and issues which have confronted and challenged believers, and the Christian church down through the ages, and which are just as relevant, and even more so, for consideration by believers, and the Christian church, in our day"!
 
The apostle Paul says (in I Corinthians 4:14) that he wrote to the Corinthian believers, "not to shame them. but to admonish them as his beloved children"!  He became, in essence, their "spiritual father through the gospel" and (like a good father!) "exhorted them to imitate him, as he imitated Christ"!  He didn't "come down with a hammer," but came "along side them," as a fellow believer, with love, to encourage them, to "beseech" them, to appeal to them, and first to all, he said (in 1:10), that "there would be no divisions among them, but that they would be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment"!  Just as he wrote to the Ephesians (in Ephesians 4:1-3), "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace!"  And to the Philippians (in Philippians 1:17) that they "conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ...and stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel"!
 
Interestingly, Paul began and ended his epistle to the Corinthians on a note of "grace"!  In 1:3, he wrote, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!"  And he ended it (in 16:23) with, "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all!"  The "unmerited favor" He provided us by sending His Son!  In Ephesians 2:8-9, he wrote, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not the result of works, so that no one may boast"!  God's amazing grace!  "Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sin!"
 
Isn't it so amazing how God would use a "Damascus-road experience" to turn around the whole life of a man once named Saul, and make him a "new creation" in Christ--a man who once persecuted Christian, to be totally transformed and truly equipped for every good work"!  II Corinthians 5:17 (also written by the man now called Paul, speaking from experience), "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature!  Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new!"  And that the message (or the word) of the cross, "which is foolishness to those who are perishing (as it once was to him!), but to unto us who are saved, it is the power of God!"  And from then on, he "determined to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (as he wrote in 2:2)!  And he goes on to tell the Corinthians (in chapter 15) that he was "delivering to them," something "of first importance, that he had received (from God!)"--the simple basic "gospel which he said the Corinthians "had received, in which they also stood, and by which they were saved...that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that He was raised the third day according to the Scriptures"!  Echoing the words and promises of John 3:16 which is simple (and yet so profound!) for even a child to understand and, by it, to become a "child of God"!  
 
"And now" (he writes (in 3:12-16) "we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God...which the natural man cannot understand, because they are spiritually appraised"!  And, in I Corinthians 6:19-20 that, as new-born believers, our "bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in us, whom we have from God, and that we are no longer our own, for we have been bought with a price"!  And we are "therefore to glorify God in our bodies"!  And in that same sense, he says we are to "flee fornication... and that our bodies are not for immorality, but for the Lord!"  But he has more to say, in other writings, about how we should treat our bodies!  In Romans 12:1-2, he urges us "by the mercies of God, to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which (he says) is our reasonable service...and not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we may be able to prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect!"  But there's more!  In Romans 8:23 he notes how "all creation groans and suffers the pains of childhood until now...and that even we groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies"! Philippians 3:20-23 says, "...eagerly waiting for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself!"  Whew!
 
But what about this life?
 
Paul come "back to earth" by addressing the marriage relationship in I Corinthians 7, making it clear that marriage is between a man and a woman only, and that "each man is to have his own wife, and each woman her own husband;" and that "a wife should not leave her husband (but if she does, to remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband")!  And that a husband should not divorce his wife"!  And that it's all about 'til death do us part"!  (Paul would later write in Ephesians 5:22-28, that "wives ought to be subject to their husbands, as to the Lord...and that husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, so that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she might be holy and blameless.  So husbands ought also to love their wives as their own bodies...!") 
 
Chapter 8 says we should take care that "the liberty we have in Christ" doesn't become "a stumbling block to a weaker brother"!  In chapter 9, Paul testifies that "he has become all things to all men, so that he might by all means save some"!  And he likens the Christian life to one who competes in the Olympic games, and so encourages us to "run our race in this life in such a way that we may win, "and to exercise self-control," and to "discipline our bodies so that we won't be disqualified"!
 
In chapter 10, he tells us to "take heed so that we don't fall, and assures us that "no temptation will overtake us but such as is common to man, and that God is faithful not to allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, but will with the temptation make a way of escape also, that we may be able to endure it!  What a promise!
 
And, in chapter 11, he gives something important "to do in remembrance of Him"!  The Lord's Supper!  Paul writes, in verses 23-26, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus Christ in the night in which He was also betrayed, took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me."  In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink of it, in remembrance of Me.'  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes!"  (And he warned us "to examine ourselves" before partaking, "so that we won't be judged"!)
 
In chapter 12, Paul notes that, as Christians, "each one of us has been given a manifestation of the Spirit (a spiritual gift!), for the common good...to each one individually just as He wills...and that we all have been baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we are all made to drink of one Spirit...and that if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it!"  (And so, he seems to be asking, "whether we too have discovered our spiritual gift?")
 
Then, I Corinthians 13!  One of the greatest chapters in the Bible!  All about "love"!  The "agape love" that only can come from God!  And he begins with the bottom line!  "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing!"  Nothing!  Wow!  But he's not done!  And so, in 11, he continues, "Pursue love!"  And Peter adds (in I Peter 4:8), "Above all!  Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins!  Remember how Rod noted how it's a "beautiful softening principle, and MacArthur adds that "it balances everything else we do"!  (We're reminded, again (!) of the love of God, and of the words to that great old hymn, "O love of God, how rich and pure!  How measureless and strong!  It shall forever more endure, the saints and angels song!")
 
I Corinthians 14 goes on to address the controversial topic of "speaking in tongues" (not "known tongues," or other languages, which God gave to the saints, in Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost with the start of the church, but to the unknown "gibberish," practiced by the pagans)!  Paul sums it up by saying, in verse 19, that he'd "rather speak five words with his mind so that he might instruct others also, that ten thousand words in a tongue (basically with a bunch of gibberish), which can only drive people away from the church!  His main concern, he says, is that "all things be done decently and in order, and for edification"!  And that if someone wants to speak in an "unknown tongue" in the church (and, particularly, if no one is present to interpret the tongue), it's best for that person to "keep silent"!
 
Then, I Corinthians 15, and another one of the greatest chapters in the Bible, where the apostle Paul gives indisputable evidence of the resurrection of Christ and the assurance that we too will be raised one day to spend eternity in heaven!  "If Christ has not been raised, and if our hope in Christ is in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied"!  But he continues, in 16;1, "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who are asleep"!  Hallelujah!  He is risen!  This, the "blessed hope" for all believers!  The "centerpiece" of our Christian faith!  We too shall live!  And it makes me want to sing again!  "O the wonder of it all, the wonder of it all; just to think that God loves me!" 
 
But Paul then closes out his great epistle, recognizing that "until that day," the Corinthians, and all of us, need to live in this fallen world!  And so, in I Corinthians 16, he gives them, and us, some final words to live by!  Five imperatives, or "take-aways," which MacArthur calls "principles for powerful living" (and which we discussed last night, in greater detail, in our closing lesson for our study of I Corinthians, and which apply to every believer in the church age--"until He comes"!  And they're worth repeating again, and taking with us!  "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong!  And let all that you do be done in love!"
 
And how about a fitting final song, which I'm sure the apostle Paul would gladly sing along with us!  "Because He lives!"  "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; because He lives, all fear is gone; because I know, I know, He holds the future, and life is worth the living, just because He lives!"
 
May God be with you all, 'til we meet again"!
 
Maranatha!
 
Lowell 

"Be on the alert, stand fast in the faith, act like men, be strong!  Let all that you do be done in love!"  (I Corinthians 16:1-2)
 
These are the final words of exhortation which the apostle Paul gave to the Corinthian believers at the end of his epistle, following 15 chapters of mostly admonitions and rebukes, to address and correct the many problems that existed in the church!  MacArthur notes that the Corinthian church had more problems and was in worse shape than any of the New Testament churches, but also that what he wrote was all done in real love!  He said in I Corinthians 4:14 that he wrote what he did "not to shame them but to admonish them as his beloved children" (which, MacArthur says, is "the whole key to the book")!  He became, in essence, their "father through the gospel," and he exhorted them to "imitate him" as he imitated Christ"!
 
And so the final four imperatives, as a kind of "take-away," and a good reminder, to help them deal with all the everyday problems they would continue to face, which MacArthur calls, "principles for powerful living," and which apply to us as well, and to every believer through all the ages!  "Be on the alert, stand fast in the faith, act like men, be strong, and let all that you do be done in love!"  
 
Many of the Corinthians lived not only in a "physical stupor," due to drunkenness (even when gathering to celebrate the Lord's supper, according to what Paul earlier wrote) but, more importantly, in a "spiritual stupor," and thus needed to "awake" and become aware and watchful of what was going on around them, and particularly of what "their adversary, the devil," was up to!  I Peter 5:8 says, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert; your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour!  But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world!"
 
They also needed to be alert to "temptation"!  Jesus told His disciples, while in the garden of Gethsemane (in Mark 1:38), that they needed to "keep watching and praying that they might not come into temptation," and how "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak"!  Prayer strengthens us in God's ways just as it protects us against the ways of Satan!  MacArthur calls it "the heartbeat of spiritual life"!  Ephesians 6:18 says, "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints!"
 
Watch out too for "apathy and indifference" to the things of God, as was the case with believers in the church of Sardis (in Revelation 3)!  They assumed that they had spiritual life because, verse 1 says, "they had a name that they were alive, but they were dead"!  They were so indifferent to the Lord's ways that they didn't even realize that they were "dead"!  And so the Lord said, "Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God!  So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent!"
 
Then, to false teachers!  II Peter 2:1-2 says, that "false prophets arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves!  Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned!"
 
But there are also some positive things to be alert to as well!  Most importantly, we should be watching for the Lord's return!  Matthew 24:42 says, "Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day the Lord is coming!"  And II Peter 3:10-12 adds, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens and the earth will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up!  Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you top be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!  But according to His promise we are looking for new heaven and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells!"
 
The second great imperative!  "Stand firm in the faith!"  Or, "hold fast to the gospel!"  I Timothy 6:12 says, "Fight the good fight of faith!  The faith revealed by God!   The gospel message!  I Corinthians 1:18 says, "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God!"  MacArthur notes how the Corinthians had allowed human wisdom to infiltrate the church and that they were accepting it on an equal basis with God's revelation!  And so "God's revelation had lost its distinctiveness"!  Some didn't even believe in the resurrection of the dead!  And so, they weren't standing for the faith!  And that needed to change!  Philippians 4:1 says, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, whom I long to see, my joy and my crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved!"  Galatians 4:1 says, " It was for liberty that Christ set us free; therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of bondage!"  And Ephesians 6:14 adds, "Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness!"
 
Thirdly, "Act like men!"  Be mature!  Not like the Corinthians who were like babies--immature, fighting and squabbling, and "being tossed around in all forms of false doctrine"!  They needed to "put away childish things"!  II Peter 3:18 says, "But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!"  Ephesians 4:13-14 says we are to keep growing, "until we become a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ...and we are no longer children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming!"
 
And, fourthly, and closely related, "Be strong!"   Here we're reminded of Paul's admonition to Timothy, in II Timothy 2:1, "You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Jesus Christ; the things that you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also!"  And, in I Corinthians 10:12, Paul warned the Corinthians (who thought they were strong), "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall!"  And, finally, in Ephesians 6:10-11, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might!  Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil..."!  And how can we be strong?  Psalm 27:14 says, "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He will strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!"  And Paul also writes this (in Ephesians 3:14-19): "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and heights and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God!"  Wow!
 
And so that's how we can be strong in the Lord!  "Strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man"!  It's God who gives us the strength!  (I find myself often talking to the Lord throughout the day, "Lord, give me strength for..." whatever!)  Rod noted in his talk last night that "we only grow in strength as we use our strength," as in daily workouts, and that it's the same for growing in spiritual strength, through the discipline of reading and relying upon His Word!
 
But there's something else that's needed!  And that's "love"!  Strength without love doesn't work!  And that brings us to the fifth and final imperative for powerful living!  Paul writes, "Let all that we do be done in love!"  I Peter 4:8 says, "Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins!"  It's the "beautiful softening principle," noted Rod,  and MacArthur says it's so important because "it balances everything else!"  We need to be "rooted and grounded in love"  (I want to sing: "O love of God, how rich and pure!  How measureless and strong!  It shall forever more endure, the saints and angels song!")  Let us love one another!
 
The apostle Paul closes out I Corinthians by showing how the "marks of love" were displayed by Paul and the Corinthian believers, as Rod noted, through evangelism and service, submission, companionship and respect, and hospitality!  Paul writing how Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, "supplied what was lacking...refreshed his spirit and the spirit of others, and should be acknowledged;" by sending greetings from close companions, Aquila and Priscilla, who opened up their home for the church (in Ephesus); by calling for them to greet one another with a "holy kiss," as was their practice!  Then, by citing the common "watchword" used by believers upon departing, "Maranatha!"  "The Lord is coming!"  Followed by Paul's closing words, which he apparently penned by hand, to authenticate his writing, "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you!  My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen!"
 
And so, the five principles for powerful living that the apostle Paul gave us in this passage?  Working on them, til the Lord comes?
 
Maranatha! 
 
Lowell

"On the first day of every week each of youis to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come!"  (I Corinthians 16:2)
 
The apostle Paul finished off last week's lesson on the great chapter of I Corinthians 15 with what basically amounted to an anthem of praise in response to all the truths that he had received (by inspiration!) from God and passed on to the Corinthians--the glorious gospel message of how Jesus Christ "died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and raised the third day, according to the Scriptures"!  This, the message "of first importance" which he said he delivered to them, "which they received, and in which they stood, and by which they were saved if they held fast to what he preached to them"!  The gospel message of salvation by God's grace and through our faith in Him alone, and the reality of the bodily resurrection of all believers as well one day, at the coming "rapture of the church"!  
 
This portion of Scripture should more appropriately be sung about in a celestial symphony rather preached," notes MacArthur, which in fact is exactly what George Frederic Handel did many years ago when he wrote the beautiful oratorio, the "Messiah"!
 
"But thanks be to God," the apostle Paul wrote, "who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ," and then he goes on to conclude I Corinthians 15 with another great "therefore"!  "Therefore, my beloved brethren (because of what Christ has done for us through His work on the cross, and the promise that we too will be raised to live with Him eternally in heavenly bliss)--while we continue to live in this life--"be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor is not in vain in the Lord"!  Always "abounding" in the work of the Lord!  Excelling!  Going above and beyond!  And he adds, in Colossians 3:23, that "whatever we do," we're to do it "heartily as unto to the Lord, and not unto men"!
 
That set the tone for Paul's final words in I Corinthians 16, and our lesson Tuesday night, where he addresses a final question raised by the Corinthians, to top off this great epistle--a question about "giving" and, specifically, relating to collections to be taken and offerings to be made for destitute believers in the famine-stricken city of Jerusalem!  Seemingly going from the grandiose things of the heavenly to the mundane things of this life!  From doctrine to practice!  MacArthur notes that "every glimpse we get of future glory is given to encourage us to a deeper sense of our commitment and responsibility for the here and now"!  And what better opportunity to "abound in the work of the Lord" than in our commitment to giving to others in need!  Following the example of how Christ has "abounded" for us, as illustrated in Ephesians 1:3-8, and elsewhere in Scripture!
 
Ephesians 1:3-8 says,"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ; just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him!  In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intentions of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the beloved!  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us!  In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth!"
 
Wow!  Is that an example of Chirst's "abounding" for us, or what?  Ephesians 5:7 says (and it's worth stating again!),"...In Him we have redemption thorugh His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which he lavished on us"!  Wow!  I think "lavishing" is even more than "abounding"!  And that sets the standard of how we too should "abound" in helping to meet the needs of others!
 
This is not the first time the apostle Paul touched on "giving"!  In verse 1 he notes that he's "directing" the Corinthians on this subject just as he "directed the churches of Galatia"!  In Galatians 6:9-10, he wrote, "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary!  So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of faith!"!
 
And how did he direct believers to give?  Verse 2 says, "On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come!"  On the first day of the week, when Christians gather to worship, in commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ!"  And it's for "each one of them" to do (and that would include us!), and "every week"!  "As he may prosper"!  Note that he didn't mention tithing, but "as one may prosper," leaving it open! As God would place on one's heart!  Based on how much he's been blessed!  To be "freely given"!  Something between him and the Lord!
 
Tithing was the Old Testament way of giving!  Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, who was a type of Christ (in Genesis 14:20) and Jacob set up a ceremonial pillar, which he named Bethel, and vowed to give back to God a tenth of all that God would bless him with!  Some people use that as the basis for teaching tithing in the church age; but under grace our giving, according to Paul, should be "as the Lord has prospered us," and as He places it on our hearts to give!  It's between us and God!  An opportunity to "abound"!
 
Interestingly, Deuteronomy 15 speaks of a "sabbatical year" (every seventh year), when Jews would be granted a remission of their debts!  There was to be "no poor among them"!  And verses 7-8 say that "if there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks"!
 
Jesus also taught about our obligation to the poor!  Remember how He spoke to the rich young ruler who claimed to have kept all the commandments!  "If you wish to be complete," He said, "go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven; and come and follow Me!"  (And it goes on to say that when the young man heard this, "he went away grieving, because he owned much property!")
 
This practice and attitude about giving to those in need was carried over into the church, and Acts 2 says that "they shared all they had together, and there was not a needy person among them"!
 
Verse 3 indicates that the "collections" called for in this passage had to do with contributing funds for destitute believers in the church of Jerusalem, those who were recovering from the famine that had taken place earlier!  Acts 8:1-3 says, that "on that day a great persecution began against the church of Jerusalem, and they were scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria...and that some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentations over him.  But (interestingly) it was partly because of Saul who (earlier in his prior life) "began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and woman and putting them in prison"!  (And you wonder if this in some way motivated Paul all the more to somehow make up for all the pain he had helped cause!)  Acts 11:27-30 says, "Now at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch; one of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world.  And this took place in the reign of Claudius.  And in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution to the relief of the brethren living in Judea.  And this they did, sending it in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders"!
 
In II Corinthians 9:1-9, Paul says he boasted to the Macedonians about the Corinthians' "readiness and zeal to give a 'bountiful gift' for the needy believers in Jerusalem," and he adds this (in verses 6-9, "Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingl, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully! Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart,not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver!  And God is able to make all grace abound (there it is again!) for every good deed..."!
 
Back to our text, in verses 5-9, where Paul shares more about his plans for ministry!  Trusting God for His leading!  Jeremy last night called this section, "Doing the Lord's work in the Lord's way"!  (Another way of expressing "how to abound" in doing the work of the Lord!)  Note how Paul writes (in verse 7-8) about his plans--with Jeremy describing Paul's way of thinking as, "if the Lord permits," and with "vision and flexibility, conmmitted to thoroughness in service, team-building, acceptance of opposition, and exhibiting sensitivity to the Spirit's leading"!
 
Paul's commitment to service is further illustrated by his commitment to remaining in Ephesus, where he "saw a wide door opened to him," despite the many adversaries that were confronting him!  In II Corinthians 1:8-10, he describes his experience there more graphically: "  "For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdered excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raised the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us!  He on whom we have set our hope!  And He will yet deliver us, you also joining us in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on your behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many!"  Wow!  (Notice that the "giving" was much more than merely money!)
 
And so, what is it that motivated the apostle Paul and that should motivate us as well to "abound in our work for the Lord," while we still have the opportunity in this life?
 
MacArthur writes, "If we truly believe that we are going to leave this world and that our bodies will one day be transformed and perfectly united with our spirits to live all eternity with God, our concerns should be to lay up treasures in heaven while we are still on earth"!  Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also!"
 
Our God is a giving God!  He loves to give!  And so should we!  Our generosity in giving is a demonstration of God's character and also a response to all that He has done for us! Because He is generous, we also are called to be generous!  To "abound" in our giving (whether with money or through other ways of service)!  And, you know what?  We can never even begin to outgive God!
 
I can't believe how much the Bible has to say about "giving"! (And "abounding"!)  Here are just some of the other verses:

• Luke 6:38--"Give, and it will be given unto you!  They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over.  For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return!"
• Acts 20:35--"It is better to give than to receive!"
• II Corinthians 9:8--"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed!"
• John 10:10--Jesus said, "I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly!"
• Psalm 103:8--"The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness!" Abounding!
• Luke 12:48--"From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more!"

May we, as "men of the Bible" (MOBsters!) resolve to abound more and more in the work of the Lord--and in looking out for, and ministering to, others who God (by His diviine providence!) brings into our lives--"knowing that our labors are not in vain in the Lord"!
 
Lowell 

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord!"  (I Corinthians 15:58)
 
Last night, we completed our study of what many consider to be the greatest and most important chapter in the Bible, I Corinthians 15!  Remember how the apostle Paul, in I Corinthians 15:3, claimed that he was delivering to the Corinthians (and by extension to us and everybody in the world) a message "of first importance" that he had received from God, "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised the third day according to the Scriptures"!  This is the inspired message of the gospel of Jesus Christ that he preached to the Corinthians, which (he said) they "received," in which they "stood," and by which they were "saved, if they held fast the word which he preached to them"!  The gospel message of Jesus Christ about which the whole Bible was written, and is based!
 
Paul wrote what he did because some of the Corinthians still didn't believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ; and while others believed in the resurrection of Christ they couldn't conceive of the resurrection of their own bodies, or that of other believers in the end day!  And so he wrote I Corinthians, and particularly I Corinthians 15, to set the record straight not only about the gospel message of salvation through Christ alone, but to give explicit and irrefutable evidence that would hold up in any court hearing, and stand the test of time, about the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, the reality as well of the bodily resurrection of believers one day, and the consequence for everyone of us if, in fact, Christ had not been raised!  "If the dead are not raised," he said, "not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ hasn't been raised your faith is worthless, you are still in your sins, and those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished!"  And, he added, "If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied"!  But he goes on to declare, with triumphant eloquence and unabashed affirmation (in verse 20), "But now Christ has been raised from the dead and become the first-fruits of those who are asleep!"
 
Hallelujah!  Christ is risen!  And because He lives we too shall live!  And "because He lives (as the song goes) I can face tomorrow, because He lives all fear is gone...!"
 
The resurrection of Christ is the foundation of our Christian faith, and the basis our firm belief and conviction that we too shall be raised one day!  MacArthur notes that "the ultimate act of salvation is the raising at the last day of those who are in Christ!"
 
But "how are the dead raised, and with what kind of body do they come?" the Corinthians wanted to know!  And so Paul illustrated the resurrection with a lesson from nature, comparing it with a grain of seed that must first be planted into the ground and decompose (die!) before springing forth and producing a life of its own!  A different form but still connected with the seed from which it came!  "God gives it a body just as He wishes, and to each of the seeds a body of its own," Paul writes (in verse 38).  Then goes on to describe the diversity and uniqueness of God's creation!  Just as there are so many vastly different bodies and forms in God's created universe all suited for life in this world, so God can (and will!) design unique and different bodies for resurrection life!
 
Paul describes how the resurrection of believers is not simply a resuscitation of dead bodies but a powerful, supernatural re- creation of new glorified bodies!  Constable writes that "these verses help us understand that it's not the same body that goes into the grave that is raised but an entirely new type of body, and so it doesn't matter what its condition it is at the time of death--whether lying peacefully in a coffin, buried at sea, torn in pieces as a result of a tragic accident, or cremated!  The Lord will raise it up into a new glorified body"  Just like the resurrected body of Christ!
 
And so the apostle Paul concludes that "the first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving spirit"!  Through the first Adam we received our natural bodies, but through the last Adam (Christ) we will receive our spiritual bodies at resurrection; and we will bear the image of His body, fit for heaven, just as we have borne the image of Adam's body fit for here on earth!
 
And all that set the scene for our lesson last night on the final section of I Corinthians 15, which is literally an anthem of praise in response to all the truths that Paul has already shared!  A portion of Scripture which MacArthur writes should more appropriately be sung about in a celestial symphony rather than preached!  Which is exactly what George Frederic Handel did so many years ago when he wrote his beautiful oratorio, "Messiah"!
 
"Now I say this, brethren," Paul writes in verse 50, "that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable"!  There first must be a great transformation of our bodies!  We've got to be changed!  And different in order to dwell in that domain!  We'll no longer be earthly, like Adam, but heavenly, like Christ!  As we have "borne the image of the earthly, we will also bear the image of the heavenly"!  A new body fit for the new creation!  And Paul calls it "a mystery"!
 
"Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed!  For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality...!"
 
A parallel passage is given in I Thessalonians 4:12-18 (also written by the apostle Paul): "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. and so we shall always be with the Lord!  Therefore comfort one another with these words!"  (And what a comfort it is for us to have the "blessed hope" of a believer!  Knowing that this life is not the end, and that "the best is yet to come"!
 
We shall all be changed!  "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye!"  One-sixth of a nanosecond!  That's pretty quick!  It's not a process!  "At the last trumpet!"  (Trumpets are used for many things in the Bible; to announce a great triumph in battle; assemble people for festivities; to summon people to hear from God!  Exodus 19 tells how with the sound of a trumpet God came down on Mount Sinai to confer with Moses and to give the ten commandments!  In I Corinthians 15 (MacArthur notes) "to herald the end of the church age and the rapture of believers"!
 
"Caught up together with them (the "dead" who will be raised first) in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air!  Wow!  What a reunion!
 
"Then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory!  O death, where is your victory?  Where is your sting?"  Paul quoting from Isaiah 25:8 where the prophet Isaiah prophesied, "He (speaking of Christ) will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of HIs people from all the earth"!  The prophet Hoses wrote (in Hosea 13:14), "Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?  Shall I redeem them from death?  O death, where are your thorns?  O Sheol, where is your sting?"
 
"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law," Paul continues!  (Phillips says, "It is sin which gives death its sting, and it is the Law which gives sin its strength!")
 
Death is still the enemy, and it "stings"!  Grief is the normal, natural reaction when a loved one dies!  Paul cried out in Romans 7:24, "O wretched man that I am!  Who will free me from this body of death?"  Even Jesus was "troubled in spirit and wept" (John 11 says) when he saw the pain associated with the death of HIs friend Lazarus, even though He had the power to raise him, which He did after crying out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!"  In that same passage Jesus proclaimed, in verses 25-26, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die!"
 
And though the sting of death is still real in this life, we "don't have to grieve as others who have no hope" (as Paul wrote), because Jesus took the sting for us!
 
And so the apostle Paul "exudes" (as Kirk noted) with gratitude as he writes, in verse 57, "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!"  He also wrote, in Romans 7:24, after anguishing about death (and questioning about how he could be delivered), "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"  And John wrote, in I John 5:4, "And this is the victory that overcomes the wordl--even our faith!"  (I want to sing, "Faith is the victory, all glorious victory that overcomes the world...!")
 
Paul closes out this great chapter of I Corinthians with yet another great "therefore"--a verse to always remember, to live out!  I Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding (to the extreme, Kirk noted!) in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor is not in vain in the Lord!"  What more could we say?
 
Thank you, Lord, for I Corinthians 15!
 
May God be with you all!
 
Lowell