Corinthians and Sexual Immorality
Paul also calls out another problem. Paul brings forth the issue of sexual immorality. He says even the Pagan don't practice this and here a church was welcoming a man who was engaged in sexual activity with his father's wife. Now, this could be a step mother or it could have been the man's birth mother, but either way, it was not his wife and was the wife of another man. Paul says that this person should be removed from the church. Many today would say "don't judge" and misquote Jesus and the meaning of what he was saying. We are to judge in the right spirit for those within the church.
Even though Paul wasn't there, he already passed judgement on the one who did this and said that person should be delivered to Satan. That does not mean that person needs to be a human sacrifice as per a ritual, but they need to be put out into the world which is Satan's domain.
Paul calls them out for being boastful about their ignoring this man's sin. His point is that it is not loving to accept sin of this kind into the church. We are all sinners, sure, but we cannot collectively as a church just accept sin as a-ok and ignore it like it isn't there. Paul warns us about associating with fellow Christ followers who indulge in sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, etc (1 Corinthians 5:11). We are not to judge those outside the church, but those on the inside.
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Works vs. Faith
There was a belief that works provided salvation more so than faith. But as Paul has explained in Romans 4, by Abraham's example, his actions (such as circumcision) came from his faith in God. People (Pharisees and religious leaders) had things twisted. Paul explains to them that it was not Abraham's circumcision that made him faithful to God, but his faith in God is what led to him to be circumcised.
The same goes with us. It is not our works that will save us and give us salvation. We are blessed to have Jesus save us from the death of our sins so that we could be redeemed to God (Romans 4:7-8), before him people had to have faith in God as is. God had not sent Jesus yet so Abraham could not follow Jesus as the disciples could or as you and I can. But that still did not keep Abraham from having faith in God who came to later in human form as Jesus.
You can go to church every day of the week. You can feed every homeless person. You can care for every orphan and widow and visit the sick, but without faith in God those works do not symbolize anything about the Kingdom of Heaven. As we will read later in James 2:26, faith without works is dead as the body is dead apart from the spirit.
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What is Keeping You from Following Christ?
In our last 2 Wednesday and Friday posts, we have covered the
young rich man and his willing inability to sell his possessions and
follow Jesus. We also covered that just because you are rich it
doesn't mean that you cannot follow Jesus. If the thinking says that
you cannot be rich and be a man of God or follow Christ then I ask
those people to look at the lives of Solomon, Abraham and others
(click here to read more). But, outside of money, what are some things in our
lives that keep us from seeing God's blessings in our lives. What are
some things that draw your attention away from Jesus and keep you
distracted?
For starters, maybe it is work. Have you ever heard of the term
"workaholic"?
This is person who works far too often. One might think that they
enjoy that work, but sometimes workaholics feel compelled to do that.
But, if you are constantly working, how can you have a Sabbath? That
is just one of the commandments we need to adhere to. We need rest.
We need to take that time away from everything else and just leave
ourselves a day to reconnect with God and recharge our physical and
spiritual batteries. Remember Luke
10:38-42 when Mary and Martha were hosting for Jesus's visit?
Martha was upset with Mary who had sat to listen to Jesus's
teachings. Martha had been so busy serving that she didn't stop to
listen to the man that she was preparing for. We have to remember it
isn't about everything we do, it is about our relationship with
Jesus.
Another possible thing that keeps us from following Christ is our
way of thinking. We have lived and believed a certain way for as long as we can remember, but that way of thinking is blocking the ability to see Jesus. It is blocking our ability to willfully follow Jesus. People conform to the patterns of the world and cannot see what is the will of God because they do not know enough about what is written in Scripture to test what is the will of God and what is not (Romans 12:2). People know of Jesus and his life and resurrection, but
do they actually care about it? Scripture gets quoted out of context
but the whole passage or the whole chapter is never read. T-shirts
and hats are worn referring to Jesus as a homeboy, but there is no
submission in the soul to do God's will and follow Christ. Is Jesus your homeboy or the Lord of your life? When the world is guiding you it makes it that much more difficult to be transformed by following Christ. Something's gotta give.
No matter what it is that is blocking our submission to God's will, it must go. If you want to have an abundant life in Christ then that will take a step on your part to not use will power but God's power to further your walk. You can make a bunch of decisions to stop watching ungodly films and listening to ungodly music, but why are you doing it? In relationships, do you stay faithful and not cheat because it is wrong or because you are committed and dedicated to the other person? Rituals and religion or relationship with Christ? The choice is yours!
To read more about what distracts us from God please click here.
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