THE BOOK OF 1 CORINTHIANS: Reflecting Christ in a Broken World
Pastor Steven Osborne
Transcribed by Post Sunday (with edits)
I started a study with a podcast this week—and it’s probably gonna take about a year, so it’s a long study—and they look at how we interpret in our Western culture God’s Word very differently than from our Jewish friends, right? And so there is a big difference. And in this study, they shared this word—it’s a Hebrew word—and I want to teach you this word this morning. And I just, I’ve been just reflecting on this word all week. It’s the word yada. Everyone say, “Yada.”
The Meaning of Yada
Okay, so you’re wondering, “Okay, what does that all mean?” So here’s what it means: Where nothing is hidden and there is complete vulnerability.
Now, we see this passage in several places. Genesis chapter 4:1 says,
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”
And so that “Now Adam knew,” that’s the word yada. Okay? The NIV puts it this way:
Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.”
Now in Psalm 46:10, it says,
“Be still and know [yada] that I am God.”
Psalm 139 says,
Lord, you have searched me,
and you know [yada] me.
You know [yada] when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
Why am I sharing that with you this morning? As we read Scripture, it is not just about gathering information. This is one of the big differences when we think about our Western culture. A lot of times when we study God’s Word, we are looking for the facts, right? We’re looking for the bullet points. In Eastern culture, it is not about looking for the facts, but it is getting to know the Creator. So it’s way more intimate. And so what makes this word so beautiful, when we look at Adam and Eve, it says he “gets to know,” that they’re having sexual intimacy. And we know, as we think about just sexual intimacy between a husband and a wife, that it is something beautiful, right? It is something intimate, and you get to know your spouse on a deeper level. And we know that it’s not just physical, but it is spiritual as well, and it’s emotional as well, and it is such a gift.
Yada in Marriage
And I wonder—I’m kind of going off topic a little bit here. Unfortunately, we have lost a lot of that beauty in our culture when we look at Hollywood and what the media is telling us, that it says, oh, it is just about pursuing, in a sense, your flesh; it is just pursuing lust, right, and your fleshly desires in that moment. It has nothing to do with this word yada, “to know,” to know your spouse, right, to be completely vulnerable.
I had to think about that even this week. It’s like, I don’t know after even 24 years of marriage if I have completely reached that place. Unfortunately—and this is now turning into some sort of marriage seminar. I wasn’t planning on this, but just as I was worshiping and thinking about this yada, and kind of all week, and just with Venessa and my marriage, and it is to be on that place where it’s like, Lord, it is so easy when life is so busy not to know our spouses, to be completely vulnerable, to be completely transparent, to make that sexual intimacy so much deeper, right? And it’s like, I think in a lot of our marriages we haven’t reached that point. And a lot of times it is—you know, I think a lot of times in our marriages it is, in a sense, just we’re roommates, right? When last have you had time to be completely vulnerable and honest with your spouse? Now, again, this takes time.
A lot of times in premarital counseling—there’s several couples that’s going through premarital counseling, and there might be some post-marital counseling after today—we talk about the “three C’s” that is incredibly important in marriage.
One is commitment, right? It’s like, we need commitment, to say, “I’m staying with you, honey, even if I get fat and bald.” We were trying to cut some of my hair—I was really looking in bad shape, kind of looking like a wild chicken—and Venessa was cutting my hair. I was sitting there on the deck, and in the mirror looking I was like, “Man, I’m losing a lot of hair in the back of my head, right?” It’s like, “Honey, I hope you will continue to yada me in spite of my hair.” But so it’s that commitment.
And then it’s communication. You know, to have honest and open communication.
And then the one that I think we all struggle with a lot is connection. How do we connect well? How do we make sure that our hearts are connected and that we have those deeper conversations, that we’re not just roommates.
Yada with God
Now in the same way, as we think about our relationship with God, God yadas us. He knows us intimately. And in the same way, God wants us to know him intimately. God wants us to yada him. And again, when we, just even like when we read Genesis, right? A lot of times when we read Genesis and we look there, “In the beginning God created,” a lot of times in our culture, we will look for the scientific facts. “How did God do all of this?” Right? “How did it all happen?” And instead to be on a place to just like, “Lord, how do I discover you more intimately in all of this creation?” See how that changes things a little bit? That we’re not just looking for the facts and the bullet points, but that we’re actually going after God.
Now I’m saying that again to you because I think this is important for us, when we read these books and work through our study in 1 Corinthians, that we don’t just look for the political agenda, that we don’t just look for the things that is gonna gun and cut other people and where we’re gonna just point fingers. The goal in this book, again, is to know God and how do we deal with stuff, anything in our lives that is hindering us to know God deeply. And so that’s the heart of what I want to just share with us this morning as we read this study.
How We Should Represent God
And again, just how do we represent God? Right? It’s all about, we’re called to be the salt. We’re called to be the light. And so in 1 Corinthians, we’re gonna learn God—or at least through Paul—Paul is reminding the church, he’s like, “You have a role to play. You are called to be the salt and the light. Make a difference. Live like that so that people can experience God through you, that God’s light will shine through you.” And so, I don’t have this on the screen, but if you want to turn your Bibles to 2 Corinthians, chapter 5:20.
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
But just a reminder that we are Christ’s ambassadors. In 1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 9… 1 Peter 2 verse 9, it says,
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
We are God’s chosen people, right? We’re his ambassadors, and that’s the Church. And now we got to learn, how do we live like that?
And so Paul is now talking to the church. He planted this church. He spent about a year and a half with them. He received the letter in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 about complaints about the way that they have been living, the way that they’ve been acting, and Paul is correcting them, and he’s cheering them on because he understands this, that the church is a holy people. We are called out. We need to live differently. And how do we cheer each other on?
And last week in chapter 5, we looked at when there is sexual sin, or when there is sin in the body of Christ, that it affects the whole body. And so we have a responsibility to do a self-check, self-evaluation, to say, “Man, I got to deal with the sin and things that’s in my life, because it doesn’t just affect me, but it also affects the rest of the Church,” because we’re all connected. Amen? And so we got to really believe that. And so don’t just allow sin and think, “Oh, I’m getting away with it.” You’re not getting away with it. And guess what? It also affects the body of Christ. And so we talked about how do we keep each other accountable and how do we speak into each other’s lives through some of these things.
I want to just brag here for a second. Man, my time. How is that happening? All right. I want to just brag about Grant Johnson. I got to watch his game on Friday night, and he did a fabulous job playing. Their team/school won. Right? And so we were sitting there, and I was, you know, just watching mom and dad and grandma, right? There were some moments of intense prayers as they were running behind, and suddenly, Grant—I think the prayers worked. I don’t know how, it’s like Anna and Debbie and Jeff, they really actually just should be on their knees here just praying for us because their prayers are really powerful. And as we were just cheering on the team and cheering on Grant, I was thinking like, “Man, this is what this morning is all about.” That is—it was a tremendous game, and Grant will be talking about that game for a long time, but again, when he is in front of God (whenever God calls us), it doesn’t have that much weight to it, right? A lot of fun. Very impressive, his gifts and his talents, and we’re proud of Grant and his family. I was so impressed.
But how do we, in the bigger scope of things, when we think about our journey, our race, how do we cheer each other on to say, “Christo, I want you to succeed. I’m cheering you on,” right, and for us to continue to do that and not just to point fingers and to kind of kick people when they are down and when they’re sinning and struggling?
Main Passage
All right, that was a long introduction. 1 Corinthians, chapter 6. Let’s start in verse 1.
If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!
There’s two aspects to this chapter. And so again, we have looked at chapter 1–4 in the context of relationships, we’ve looked at division, and now in chapter 5–7, we’re looking at sexual sin and how that impacts different relationships.
Christians in Court
But at least in this first part of chapter 6, it talks about these Christians, the Church, suing each other, taking each other to court. And so Paul, again, is very witty and very sarcastic, and he’s like, “You know, there is gonna be a time at the end of our lives when we’re with God and we’re gonna judge angels and we’re gonna judge people.” I don’t know exactly what that all means. I’m assuming what he’s meaning, that we will be part of that process when Christ is returning and there’s the judgment on evil angels and whatever that’s gonna look like, that we will witness. We will see that. Not that we’re gonna actually judge angels or judge other people, but I think he’s saying we’re gonna witness all of that. In the big scope of things, that’s pretty tremendous. That’s big. And he says, “In the scope of that, now, as believers, we’re taking each other to court.” And so he’s trying again to speak to their witness. He says, “You are a chosen people. You are Godly people. How is it that you’re taking each other to court in front of unbelievers? You’re actually taking each other to a court,” and it’s probably a pagan judge that now has got to deal with the faith community. And he says that you are in a sense losing your testimony if you do this, right? And so just the warning—so at least remember again, the context is Paul is speaking to this early church, and obviously they were taking each other to court.
And I think we still see this today. My previous town in South Africa, it was really sad to see how many pastors had to go to court because of shady business deals, right? And it’s like their whole testimony ruined because some of these things. And so it is not good. We have to live godly. We’re not supposed to sue each other. We’re not supposed to take each other to court. We’re supposed to deal with this with each other, right? Ask God for wisdom.
Now, just to be aware, it doesn’t say that we cannot take the ungodly to church. This is just talking within the church body. And again, we’re just so sue-crazy in our Western culture. So Paul’s reminding them to say, “Hey, let’s deal with this within the church. You’ve been bragging…” In chapter 1 and chapter 3, we’ve seen that this church was bragging about their wisdom, right? And so Paul is kind of stabbing at them here a little bit and poking, and he’s like, “You guys are declaring that you’re so wise, and yet you can’t even figure this out. Where’s all that wisdom now?”
Sexual Sin
Verse 9:
Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Verse 11. I want you to highlight that if you can.
And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
So let’s pause here. Paul is mentioning—he’s speaking to the church, he’s writing to the church, and he’s listing some things that says, “Before you were saved, before you experienced the work of God in your life, you were all of these things, right? There was, some of you were slanderers, sexually immoral, idolaters, sleeping with men, greedy, drunkards,” right? That sounds like the church! I don’t know about you, but that was us before we received Jesus Christ as our Savior. You know, we’re sitting here today because we’ve all realized that we’re sinners, that we’re in need of the transformation power of Jesus Christ in our lives, and we gave our lives to Christ. We repented of our sins. And then it says that now we were washed, right, by the blood of Jesus Christ. We were sanctified, we were set apart, and we have been made righteous. Now guess what? We are not those things anymore. We are righteous. We’re sanctified. We’re set apart. We are a holy people. We are a chosen people. And so Paul is saying, “Why are you then going back to your old lifestyle? Why are you still involved in your old ways of doing when Christ has done some of these things, this transformation in your life? This is not the way to live! Where is the testimony of Christ, of being a holy people, being ambassadors, if you’re just going back to your old ways of living? You have been sanctified, you have been made righteous, and so don’t live like that anymore.”
Okay, go in peace. You guys are away. You’re just looking at me.
Now, if we’re having honest conversation this morning, over the years—and again, just a lot of this conversation happens in our political conversations and the political climate—when we think about sexual immorality and the things that we allow and don’t allow in our communities and even in the church, a lot of times we have been highlighting human sexuality, homosexuality. And the church, unfortunately, have made it bigger than other sins as well. And the reality is, a lot of times it is easier for us to point fingers to other people’s sins because then we feel much better about ourselves, right? And we have said, “Okay, homosexuality, that’s a level 10. Swindlers is a level 2,” right? But in the big scope of what Paul is talking about, he’s putting that all together, and he’s forcing us to say, “Let’s pay attention to our hearts, and let’s deal with these things. Let’s not make one sin bigger than the other. It all affects our relationship with God, and it impacts our relationship with one another.”
We know that sexual sin most definitely have a deeper impact on our bodies and spiritually and emotionally. You can probably get over being a drunk, right, and get counseling and get over it and be redeemed and be freed. And the same thing with sexual sin, but the reality is, a lot of times there is some baggage that we carry because of that, that impacts our marriages, that impacts how we relate with God, because a lot of times when it comes to sexual sin, it carries a lot of extra guilt and shame.
Higher Standards
Verse 12 says:
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
Now, just to kind of go back to verse 12, what he’s saying is, within the church, the culture was to say, “Hey, when I’m hungry, I can just eat. Not a big deal.” And so he relates that to sexual sin, to say again, some of the things that was happening within their community—we’ve talked about it, the temples, the thousand prostitutes that was in Corinth, and how that impacted the church—and he says, “No, you cannot just go and eat or live a sexually loose life because you feel like it. Don’t you know that your body belongs to God, that you are a holy temple?”
And this doesn’t just go to human sexuality. This goes into our relationships, it goes to what we watch, it goes to what we listen and stuff, that we have a higher standard for ourselves and to say, “I got to deal with pornography in my marriage.” Don’t think, “Okay, I’m not involved in human sexuality or homosexuality, but there’s pornography.” We are all guilty. And it all speaks to brokenness, sexual brokenness, and we all need to deal with that and experience healing.
And what I love about this church and what Paul is trying to teach to them is to say, “You were there, but you have experienced the redemption power of God,” right? You are no longer the product of your sin. You have been redeemed. And if you’re sitting here this morning and if you don’t know Jesus Christ this morning and you’re dealing with some of these things, you don’t have to feel guilty. You don’t have to experience the shame. That shame and guilt is from Satan himself. And condemnation—God reminds us in John, it says that God did not send his Son to bring condemnation, but to bring us life, right? And so you and I have experienced that in our lives, that we have been transformed, but don’t think for one second we can just sit in church and not be transformed. There should be an active desire to say, “Lord, I want to yada you. I want to know you. I want to deal with the sin and the things in my life. I come to you, and I repent,” whatever that sin is.
I was sure this morning nobody was gonna be here after last Sunday, but good thing Christo is preaching next week.
Not Pointing Fingers
Verse 17:
But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
Verse 18:
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Now, I was a little nervous about preaching this because a lot of times, you know, if you’re maybe very conservative, you might sit here today and say, “Preach it, Steven!” Right? And it’s like, “You can go even a little further and really hammer some of these things.” And, you know, maybe if you’re on liberal side on theology, you know, you might have a different approach. My aim this morning is not to give you ammunition. I don’t want us to point fingers. I mean, I think the warning for us is in Matthew 7:5. It says:
You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
And so there’s a call for us not to point fingers this morning and to point fingers to the world. And again, you’ll remember last week we talked about to say that we are not supposed to judge the world. God will judge the world. Let them do whatever they want to do. They will have to face God. We’re supposed to judge each other within the church community.
But here is a key piece to say, make sure that you deal with the sin that is in your life first. Because when you deal with that, now you can actually go and be helpful, and you’re not gonna go with a judgmental attitude and say, “Oh, look at all the stuff that is happening in your life.” Again, it is kind of going back to Grant’s game, sitting in that stadium, cheering him on. We want to cheer each other on because there is such a big price to pay if we get this wrong. We want to stand. We want to clap for each other and say, “You can do this! Deal with this stuff. I’m standing with you, and I’m not coming within judgment.”
Flee From Sin
So this passage reminds us, it says, “Flee from sin.” So this morning, a couple things. How do we flee from sin? I’ll go quick. If you are actually intentional with these things, you will succeed and you will overcome sin. So here it is:
Guard and renew your mind (Romans 12:2). Right? Guard your mind. Renew your mind. There’s no way that we can watch evil, disgusting stuff on TV and not think that it’s not gonna impact our hearts and our minds. It will open up a door for sexual sin in your lives.
Number two, set clear boundaries. Set clear boundaries.
Here’s one that we don’t like: fasting and prayer. Right? If you know you’re dealing with sin, you’re dealing with stuff in your life, really bring that to Lord. Have you fasted about some of those addictions and bondages in your life that you just can’t experience freedom? Have you brought that to the light? Have you actually fasted? The Lord came to set us free.
Stay accountable (James 5:16). Who are the men that are speaking into your life that you can be vulnerable with, that you can be honest with and say, “Man, I am struggling. Here’s some of the stuff that’s going on in my life. Pray for me, help me, keep me accountable”?
The Goal of Restoration
And then we’ll close with this passage this morning again, just as we think about our call this morning as the church.
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
The goal for us this morning as a church is to restore people. It is always about being restored. But one thing I do know is this: We’re not gonna mess around with sin and immoral lifestyles. God has called us to be a holy people, to be his ambassadors. And so if you call yourself a believer, if you love Jesus Christ, if there’s some stuff that you got to deal with, deal with it. Find people that can stand with you, because we’re all connected, and your stuff, baggage, impacts the whole body of Christ. What if we’re the church that actually believes God’s Word and we start to live it? I got to believe that God will draw our world, our community, that this church will be overflowing, because the world and our community will see that here’s a congregation that is actually living God’s Word. I believe with all of my heart that the world is hungry for something real. I got to believe with all of my heart that the world is hungry for healing and restoration, because nobody is sitting in sexual sin and in brokenness and saying, “Oh, this is fun.” When you’re dealing with that type of addiction and brokenness, everything is crying out in you for hope and for restoration and for freedom, and the church can be that place, and God can do it. God wants to restore us, and that should be our message of hope to the world. And so I want to just remind us that we will invite—our doors will be open to anybody. Anybody can come through these doors and experience God’s presence and his worship with us. But just know this, that there’s a call to repentance.
