The Book of 1 Corinthians
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Chapter 16
5-24: God Loves Messed Up Churches
We’ve studied 1 Corinthians every summer for the past three years, and one thing we can all agree on is that the Corinthian church was a messed up church. They had so many problems all happening at the same time. They were very confused and troubled. Yet, God still loved them very much.
1-4: Churches Helping Other Churches
Throughout our study of 1 Corinthians, we’ve thought a lot about what it means to be the church. Mainly, we’ve focused on being a church, a local church – but today’s passage reminds us that we’re also a part of the church, all the Christians around the world.
Chapter 15
50-58: Practical Living in Light of the Resurrection
The Corinthian Christians doubted the resurrection. They didn’t think that those who trust and follow Jesus will be raised from the dead when He returns to new, eternal life with transformed bodies.
35-49: What Will the Resurrection Be Like?
The resurrection of the dead is usually a topic for funerals – but it’s good to think about it just on a regular Sunday. Why? Because the resurrection of the dead is a reality. In Christ, we are promised a bodily resurrection from death. So we need to look at it in concrete terms, asking the question: Do we really believe this?
29-34: Why Bother?
If death is truly the end of your life, then what would be the meaning and value of any human pursuit? If there is no resurrection, what would be the point of all life’s efforts? Without the resurrection, rituals for the dead are meaningless and risks for the sake of ministry are worthless.
24-28: The Kingdom Project
The resurrection is an essential Christian belief because the kingdom is coming. It is essential for the culmination of all that God has been doing in the world, in humanity and in your life.
20-23: Resurrection Firstfruits
19-20: Easter Sunday
17-19: Easter Meditation
The resurrection is so central to Christianity that Paul wrote the following: "…and if Christ has not been raised, you’re faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only we are of all men most to be pitied."
17-18: Easter Sunday | Living Hope
Jesus is alive. This is the central fact of Christianity. 1 Corinthians 15:17-18: "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished."
12-19: Why Jesus' Resurrection Matters
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Jesus Himself was not raised from the dead. And if Jesus was not raised from the dead, then all is lost.
1-8: Receiving, Standing & Being Saved
Today we celebrate the greatest series of events in all of human history. Greater than the American Revolution, the Reformation, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of World War 2, greater than all these combined were the events of Jesus’ sinless life, His death on the cross for everyone who would believe in Him ...
1-7: Gospel Reminder
Chapter 14
26-40: Orderly Worship
We are to love one another with our spiritual gifts, using them to build each other up in following Jesus Christ. Worship gatherings are times when we realign ourselves to reality. But worship services can go bad in various ways.
20-25: Evidence of God's Work
13-19: Worship God with Your Whole Self
6-12: Strive for the Best Thing
We strive, we seek, we pursue and desire any number of things on any given day. What have you been seeking and desiring? There is probably a variety of things – most of which are probably also good. But, are you striving for the best thing?
1-25: Desire Spiritual Gifts
Do you think about spiritual gifts on Sunday morning before church? Do you think about how the Holy Spirit might empower you to serve and bless other people as the church gathers? Often we don’t think on that level before we get together.
Chapter 13
8-13: Love Lasts
What God does with a new Christian is like what someone might do to an old, abandoned house that they just bought. They move in, but before the house is livable, they have to cut down the overgrown yard, fix broken windows, repair the roof, and paint and paint some more.
4-7: Love Is Action
Love is not a feeling or an emotion – it’s action. If you are a Christian, you have not been called to feel a certain way about your fellow Christians. Feelings come and go and you really can’t control them.
1-13: Loveless Christians Say Nothing, Are Nothing, Gain Nothing
1 Corinthians 13:1-3: "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal ..."
1-3: Nothing Without Love
Put yourself in the position of a parent or parents trying to get the whole family ready and out the door for church every Sunday morning (for some of you that may not be too difficult). Weeks go by and you get better and better at it. Eventually, you can be up and out the door for church in 30 seconds.
Chapter 12
27-31: The More Excellent Way
12-26: Unity and Diversity in the Body
1-31 - 13:1-13: Commissioned
(This sermon was part of our annual Commissioning Service, when we thank last year’s church officers and pray over the new year’s church officers.) It’s easy to mistakenly think that our official volunteers are the most important part of our church. But as we’ll see in 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, this isn’t the case.
1-11: One Spirit
Chapter 11
17-34: Communion
17-34: The Body in Communion
17-31: Communion
2-16: Understanding 1 Corinthians 11:2-16
Big Idea: In 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, I believe Paul is addressing a specific issue in the ancient Corinthian church. Women were coming to worship gatherings without their head coverings, which, in that society, were the culturally understood symbols of respectability and chastity.
Chapter 10
23-11:1: Otherishness
In America, you can drive past 10 churches that don’t suit your preferences and then go to the one that fits like a glove – the one where everybody’s just like you, where all the opinions are just like yours, and where you feel the most comfortable.
16-17: One Body in Christ
14-22: Flee Idolatry
“FLEE IDOLATRY!” That is the banner over the rest of this Scripture passage. Anything that you are tempted to elevate above God Himself can be an idol – your relationship to this thing or person can become idolatry. Idolatry is to be escaped like a python on the loose.
1-13: Don't Be So Sure
Every Christian struggles with the temptation to sin. Everyone you know struggles with the temptation to sin. Even the people you look up to the most struggle – it’s just a fact for us in this fallen world as God’s people.
Chapter 9
24-27: Eyes on the Prize
1-23: Christian Rights Under the Gospel
Chapter 8
1-13: Knowledge Without Love Is Dangerous
Chapter 7
36-40: Honor Both Singleness and Marriage
32-35: Undivided Devotion
17-24: Global Missions: The Strategy
Picture a missionary. Do you imagine someone wearing a safari jacket or someone like yourself? We tend to think of missionaries as super-Christians in foreign lands; but every Christian is an ambassador for Christ. The great commission to make disciples of all nations applies to all of us.
17-24: Embrace Your Calling Where You Are
12-16: An Unbelieving Spouse
6-11: Marriage & Singleness
1-7: Guarding Against Sexual Temptation
Chapter 6
12-20: Flee Sin & Glorify God
12-20: Lawful But Not Helpful
1-11: Resolving Conflict Between Believers
Chapter 5
9-13: Handling Sin in the Body
1-13: Serious Consequences for Unrepentant Sin
Chapter 4
14-21: Spiritual Fatherhood
1-13: Learning Not to Go Beyond What Is Written
1-5: Praise, Criticism & Judgment
People love praise and hate criticism. That’s why we either fear being in front of a crowd or crave it. It’s why we check Facebook a dozen times a day to see how others have ‘liked’ our posts. It’s why verbal bullying drives kids to suicide. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but a critical word can break our hearts.
Chapter 3
18-23: Mercy, Fools & Losers
Since Pastor Matt is on a well-deserved vacation this week, I wrote the following “recap,” hitting the highlights of both Sunday school and the sermon plus a few thoughts of my own.
10-17: Building the Church
1-9: God Gives the Growth
1-4: Growing Up in Christ
This passage offers two signs that you’re growing up in Christ: 1) you’re growing in your ability to take in God’s wisdom and 2) you’re growing in the fruit of the Spirit.
Chapter 2
15-16: The Spiritual Person
The spiritual person is able to think about and live in light of both natural and spiritual things, but does not perform according to natural criteria.
6-3:4: The Natural Man
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14).
6-16: Wisdom Is Knowing God's Thoughts
Wisdom is knowing the thoughts of God as revealed by the Holy Spirit and imparted in the words of the Bible. "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God ..."
6-16: Spiritual Wisdom
Christians have the secret and hidden wisdom of God as revealed through the Holy Spirit. This special knowledge of God and his ways is altogether different from and more glorious than the wisdom of men.
1-5: Proclaiming Christ Crucified
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (ESV): "And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified ..."
Chapter 1
26-31: God Glorifies Himself
God glorifies himself through the demographic make-up of the church.
18-31: Global Missions: The Weapon
Did you see the Kony 2012 video? It reveals a horrific evil taking place in Africa. Many who watched it were stirred to do something. But what? As the debate over what to do grew, the determination to do it shrank. What can we do about the darkness in the world? A lot.
10-25: The Power of the Cross of Christ
The church is imperfect, but has been given a holy calling and everything necessary to fulfill it. We have the true power of Christ; but that power is not evident to most. Therefore we are tempted to abandon it for the false power of performance.
10-17: Agree and Be United
The church is imperfect, but has been called to agree and be united. 1 Corinthians 1:10-17: "I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment" (v. 10).
1-9: Imperfection & Calling
The church is imperfect, but has been given a holy calling and everything necessary to fulfill it.