Sermon January 4th
“This week our Sermon was from 1 Corinthians 6:1-11
We started back into our 1 Corinthians Series after a short Advent break with a review of Chapters 1-5: 1) THE VISION: The Church is God’s Gift of Shalom 2) THE PROVISION: The Holy Spirit is God’s power and wisdom 3) THE PROBLEM: Spiritual Babies can’t provide help 4) THE SOLUTION: Kids need dads. CHAPTER 5: WHEN YOU ARE OUT OF ALIGNMENT WITH GOD EVERYTHING IS BROKEN; NO SHALOM. INSTEAD OF EVERYTHING AS IT SHOULD BE, NOTHING WORKS QUITE RIGHT. WHEN YOU ARE OUT OF ALIGNMENT IT’S TIME FOR SOME HOUSE CLEANING. Paul begins the “house cleaning” by exposing their PETTY BICKERING AND DIVISIVENESS on display for all to see. The Corinthians were lying and cheating each other and taking each other to court. YOUR TESTIMONY MATTERS. YOU REPRESENT GOD ON EARTH. Yet, the PROBLEM IS DEEPER THAN THEIR BAD TESTIMONY. THEY HAVE A BAD HEART. The Scarcity World View says, there is not enough. I must get mine. God is not the provider. I AM THE PROVIDER. The Connected World View says, we are in this together. GOD IS MY PROVIDER. How you see others is a great indicator of what world view is ruling in your heart. HOW IS YOUR TESTIMONY? DO YOU HAVE A HEART ISSUE? The real issue is their SELFISHNESS. Lawsuits… cheating each other… these are the results of SELFISHNESS; MAKING IT ABOUT ME. How do you “DENY YOURSELF?” POUR OUT THE BROKEN AND POUR IN NEW LIFE. YOU NEED TO GET THE ROOT RIGHT BEFORE YOU CAN GET THE FRUIT RIGHT. VICTORY COMES FROM RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. NOT PERFORMANCE. CONNECTEDNESS. ALIGNMENT. CHOICE. RESOLVE. SPIRITUAL BREATHING.
Discussion Questions
1. What was causing the Corinthian Church to take each other to court? How does Paul instruct them to fix this problem?
2. How does God expect the world to know His character if His People are not aligned with Him in their actions? How does it effect unbelievers when we refuse to do things God’s way?
