Paul's Masterclass In Application
Memory Verse: Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Sermon Sentence: Paul spent an awkward amount of time discussing sexual immorality to the church at Corinth, so we should consider the wisdom in doing the same thing.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Sermon Sentence: Paul spent an awkward amount of time discussing sexual immorality to the church at Corinth, so we should consider the wisdom in doing the same thing.
Day 1
Read 1 Corinthians 6:12-19
For the last three sermons, we have tried to frame this difficult passage of scripture into the logic that Paul is working through. It is important that context is considered as a whole idea here to arrive at the place of teaching that Paul lands in. There was a situation of extreme sexual immorality with a man and his (possibly) step-mom that was associated with the church in Corinth in a way that should have been embarrassing. Paul busts into the middle of the situation, furious with words and declaring that the person be removed from the church. Almost instantly, Paul begins defending his logic and explaining how he arrived at where he did in his judgement. He explained how judgement and court considerations should be handled by Christians vs non-Christians and made sure they saw the difference. Now in this text, he returns to what he had been saying to explain the Biblical direction of why he went so far so to declare that the person be removed. The reader should take verse 19 as the conclusion of this argument.
Interestingly enough, often is this verse quoted and rarely is it used in this context. Paul made the argument that “every other sin, is outside the body,” but sexual immorality is against the body. Then he goes back and forth using the plural forms and the singular forms of words in the same sentence. He is equating his logic for the individual to apply to the corporate church as well. Therefore, sexual immorality does not work because of what our bodies are supposed to be and what it means with what we understand about who we are. But it also doesn’t work in the Body of Christ, so therefore the distorted part of the “Body” needs to be removed. It feels like we took a long time to get here, but in my opinion, this seems to be the best way to understand chapters 5 and 6 in the entirety.
How would you apply Paul’s logic in a modern day church setting and how does this work in light of “cancel culture”, “political land mines”, “being politically correct,” and trying to reach the unchurched people?
Do you think it would be proper to apply verse 19 to anything other than sexual immorality? Why or why not?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
For the last three sermons, we have tried to frame this difficult passage of scripture into the logic that Paul is working through. It is important that context is considered as a whole idea here to arrive at the place of teaching that Paul lands in. There was a situation of extreme sexual immorality with a man and his (possibly) step-mom that was associated with the church in Corinth in a way that should have been embarrassing. Paul busts into the middle of the situation, furious with words and declaring that the person be removed from the church. Almost instantly, Paul begins defending his logic and explaining how he arrived at where he did in his judgement. He explained how judgement and court considerations should be handled by Christians vs non-Christians and made sure they saw the difference. Now in this text, he returns to what he had been saying to explain the Biblical direction of why he went so far so to declare that the person be removed. The reader should take verse 19 as the conclusion of this argument.
Interestingly enough, often is this verse quoted and rarely is it used in this context. Paul made the argument that “every other sin, is outside the body,” but sexual immorality is against the body. Then he goes back and forth using the plural forms and the singular forms of words in the same sentence. He is equating his logic for the individual to apply to the corporate church as well. Therefore, sexual immorality does not work because of what our bodies are supposed to be and what it means with what we understand about who we are. But it also doesn’t work in the Body of Christ, so therefore the distorted part of the “Body” needs to be removed. It feels like we took a long time to get here, but in my opinion, this seems to be the best way to understand chapters 5 and 6 in the entirety.
How would you apply Paul’s logic in a modern day church setting and how does this work in light of “cancel culture”, “political land mines”, “being politically correct,” and trying to reach the unchurched people?
Do you think it would be proper to apply verse 19 to anything other than sexual immorality? Why or why not?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 2
Read Acts 15:1-35
Throughout all of time and history in the church, there have always been the cultural hot button discussions. It has gone from things like marriage in the priesthood to discussions about alcohol. There is not a time period in the history of the church that you won’t find a version of disagreement about a cultural topic. In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul seems to be laying out two quotes that some believe were attributed to him, but seem to be a bit deeper than that. One is “All things are lawful for me.” The other is “food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food.” I think these two quotes are based off of the relevant cultural argument that was happening in the early church. My reasoning for this is because of the appearance of the idea of food offered to idols and the call to abstain from sexual immorality in this section of scripture. It seems that when the Gentiles started to follow Jesus, which was a largely Jewish thing to do because of the way the disciples were sent out, things started to get a bit muddy. They had all of these teachings and the Jewish person that converted to following Jesus did not seem to have to make a big jump in practice change. The Gentile, or the unbeliever was bringing in a lot more baggage that seemed to be further away from the ideas of the Bible. So when the apostles began this discussion, they landed on majoring on these specific issues. They thought they were the most difficult to reconcile if you were following Jesus.
That is not the same thing as saying this was the only thing they were to do to follow Jesus. That is not the case. In fact, Paul brings up the discussion of food offered to idols and seems to argue against what the Jerusalem Council decided in chapters 8 and 10 of 1 Corinthians. It makes me think that Paul was not in agreement with what was decided at the council, but was willing to submit. The freedom to still teach through what he thought was still there. But he did not vary on the idea of sexual immorality!
What do you think of the process that seemed to happen here and how that decision was past around?
Do you agree that these are the best things to major on even today in our current culture or do you think that there would be different things majored on now?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Throughout all of time and history in the church, there have always been the cultural hot button discussions. It has gone from things like marriage in the priesthood to discussions about alcohol. There is not a time period in the history of the church that you won’t find a version of disagreement about a cultural topic. In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul seems to be laying out two quotes that some believe were attributed to him, but seem to be a bit deeper than that. One is “All things are lawful for me.” The other is “food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food.” I think these two quotes are based off of the relevant cultural argument that was happening in the early church. My reasoning for this is because of the appearance of the idea of food offered to idols and the call to abstain from sexual immorality in this section of scripture. It seems that when the Gentiles started to follow Jesus, which was a largely Jewish thing to do because of the way the disciples were sent out, things started to get a bit muddy. They had all of these teachings and the Jewish person that converted to following Jesus did not seem to have to make a big jump in practice change. The Gentile, or the unbeliever was bringing in a lot more baggage that seemed to be further away from the ideas of the Bible. So when the apostles began this discussion, they landed on majoring on these specific issues. They thought they were the most difficult to reconcile if you were following Jesus.
That is not the same thing as saying this was the only thing they were to do to follow Jesus. That is not the case. In fact, Paul brings up the discussion of food offered to idols and seems to argue against what the Jerusalem Council decided in chapters 8 and 10 of 1 Corinthians. It makes me think that Paul was not in agreement with what was decided at the council, but was willing to submit. The freedom to still teach through what he thought was still there. But he did not vary on the idea of sexual immorality!
What do you think of the process that seemed to happen here and how that decision was past around?
Do you agree that these are the best things to major on even today in our current culture or do you think that there would be different things majored on now?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 3
Read 1 Corinthians 7:1-16
So we read 1 Corinthians 5 and 6 and talked about how Paul was working through that logic. He was addressing sexual immorality and the church and covered it all quite well. But after he made his teaching about the body being for the Lord and then the applications that came from that, there were still some lingering questions in this topic that needed to be addressed. That is what we have here in this section, the way that I see it. Paul is just cleaning up some specifics that he feels will arise as people in different situations are trying to figure out how far his teaching can be applied. What does this have to do with married people? What does this all have to do with single people? Paul is not trying to cover everything that he can, but rather a few things that may come up in light of it all.
What do you learn about what Paul is saying in this section?
What do you think Paul was trying to do by addressing these issues on the heels of chapter 6?
How does this become your prayer today?
So we read 1 Corinthians 5 and 6 and talked about how Paul was working through that logic. He was addressing sexual immorality and the church and covered it all quite well. But after he made his teaching about the body being for the Lord and then the applications that came from that, there were still some lingering questions in this topic that needed to be addressed. That is what we have here in this section, the way that I see it. Paul is just cleaning up some specifics that he feels will arise as people in different situations are trying to figure out how far his teaching can be applied. What does this have to do with married people? What does this all have to do with single people? Paul is not trying to cover everything that he can, but rather a few things that may come up in light of it all.
What do you learn about what Paul is saying in this section?
What do you think Paul was trying to do by addressing these issues on the heels of chapter 6?
How does this become your prayer today?
Day 4
Read Matthew 5:17-37
Recently, I was studying the 10 Commandments and this section of Jesus Sermon on the Mount just came alive for me. I have been raised around the teachings of the church and have my whole life, heard the discussion about the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. It was always taught to me that Jesus made things different, but the way that was explained or articulated just didn’t seem right. This was the section they always pointed to. You see, the Old Testament was just that “old” and therefore old things are not needed things…so you can throw them out. Especially with the new version, why keep the old around?
If you do not know by now, I absolutely do not agree with that logic anymore. Whether or not it was taught to me or where my mind processed it, is another discussion. When I go back to the beginning, as I very often think is helpful, Genesis told me a story that helped set a pattern. There were two trees. One was the tree of life and one was the knowledge of good and bad. The classic and very much modern choice battle was set long ago. You can either go off of any form or source of wisdom that you want to, or you can choose life. Only one wisdom has at its heart life. Only one wisdom leads to life. That is the one God gives us access to. The Law, or the line that you could cross, is not able to save us. It is only able to show us that there was a line and that we have crossed it. Jesus came to give us wisdom. So he took the line, the line of things like murder, and said, I will pay the penalty of the sin so that you can live on the other side of the line and learn the life that is in the wisdom. So don’t murder. Then, spend time meditating on the ideas around why murder is not good and all of its cousins and siblings of anger, rage, and hatred, all things that are on the way to murder, and all things that will lead to death. Jesus came to show us life and be the way of life. He “filled full” the commandment of not murdering, because in the wisdom that He offers to us we not only are saved from the penalty of murder, but also walked in the wisdom that would allow something like murder to rob the fullness of our lives. Life is more than just breath and a heartbeat. It is the fullness that is found in the wisdom that we are freely given access to.
How do you understand what Jesus is saying in verse 17?
I worked through the idea of murder in this devotion. You take the time to work out the reason behind the other three examples Jesus lays out in this passage: lust, divorce, and oaths.
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Recently, I was studying the 10 Commandments and this section of Jesus Sermon on the Mount just came alive for me. I have been raised around the teachings of the church and have my whole life, heard the discussion about the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. It was always taught to me that Jesus made things different, but the way that was explained or articulated just didn’t seem right. This was the section they always pointed to. You see, the Old Testament was just that “old” and therefore old things are not needed things…so you can throw them out. Especially with the new version, why keep the old around?
If you do not know by now, I absolutely do not agree with that logic anymore. Whether or not it was taught to me or where my mind processed it, is another discussion. When I go back to the beginning, as I very often think is helpful, Genesis told me a story that helped set a pattern. There were two trees. One was the tree of life and one was the knowledge of good and bad. The classic and very much modern choice battle was set long ago. You can either go off of any form or source of wisdom that you want to, or you can choose life. Only one wisdom has at its heart life. Only one wisdom leads to life. That is the one God gives us access to. The Law, or the line that you could cross, is not able to save us. It is only able to show us that there was a line and that we have crossed it. Jesus came to give us wisdom. So he took the line, the line of things like murder, and said, I will pay the penalty of the sin so that you can live on the other side of the line and learn the life that is in the wisdom. So don’t murder. Then, spend time meditating on the ideas around why murder is not good and all of its cousins and siblings of anger, rage, and hatred, all things that are on the way to murder, and all things that will lead to death. Jesus came to show us life and be the way of life. He “filled full” the commandment of not murdering, because in the wisdom that He offers to us we not only are saved from the penalty of murder, but also walked in the wisdom that would allow something like murder to rob the fullness of our lives. Life is more than just breath and a heartbeat. It is the fullness that is found in the wisdom that we are freely given access to.
How do you understand what Jesus is saying in verse 17?
I worked through the idea of murder in this devotion. You take the time to work out the reason behind the other three examples Jesus lays out in this passage: lust, divorce, and oaths.
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 5
Read Proverbs 5
Yesterday, we explored a bit of the process of wisdom and how it starts from a commandment or a law, and then expands out from there. Wisdom is not the line that we learn we should not cross, but rather also the understanding of the journey and process to the line and how that those things that are not good for us start in many other forms, drawing us closer to our destruction. This is part of the idea of what Jesus did when He came to “fill full” the Law, not do away with our need for it totally.
The wisdom approach is something that is taught in the book of Proverbs. The goal of Proverbs is not to give us the line that we shouldn’t cross (Thou shalt not…), but rather to point out to us the ideas that lead to the destruction we should avoid and why it is like that. In this Proverb, the fatherly writer is explaining the path to destruction that is contained in the commandment “You shall not commit adultery.” The goal of the Proverb is to show how the traps and landmines around adultery draw the person in. It is a bad place to be when you realize that you have fallen into the trap of adultery. The wise person considers all the of the elements around the problem and therefore avoids the philosophy and journey that is on the way to the problem. Maybe it is helpful to say it like this: Knowledge is to know that adultery is not good. Wisdom is to understand how adultery works in our deceptive hearts and minds and draws us into its death grip. Knowledge is good, but it, by itself, does not save us from the problem.
In verse 12, the Proverb talks about being found in the trap of adultery and after looking back, realizing that the path to where the trap is was riddled with a “hatred of discipline and a despising of reproof.” How are you in danger of these traps in your life?
Do you understand the difference between wisdom and knowledge? Attempt to explain it.
What do you take away from this Proverb?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Yesterday, we explored a bit of the process of wisdom and how it starts from a commandment or a law, and then expands out from there. Wisdom is not the line that we learn we should not cross, but rather also the understanding of the journey and process to the line and how that those things that are not good for us start in many other forms, drawing us closer to our destruction. This is part of the idea of what Jesus did when He came to “fill full” the Law, not do away with our need for it totally.
The wisdom approach is something that is taught in the book of Proverbs. The goal of Proverbs is not to give us the line that we shouldn’t cross (Thou shalt not…), but rather to point out to us the ideas that lead to the destruction we should avoid and why it is like that. In this Proverb, the fatherly writer is explaining the path to destruction that is contained in the commandment “You shall not commit adultery.” The goal of the Proverb is to show how the traps and landmines around adultery draw the person in. It is a bad place to be when you realize that you have fallen into the trap of adultery. The wise person considers all the of the elements around the problem and therefore avoids the philosophy and journey that is on the way to the problem. Maybe it is helpful to say it like this: Knowledge is to know that adultery is not good. Wisdom is to understand how adultery works in our deceptive hearts and minds and draws us into its death grip. Knowledge is good, but it, by itself, does not save us from the problem.
In verse 12, the Proverb talks about being found in the trap of adultery and after looking back, realizing that the path to where the trap is was riddled with a “hatred of discipline and a despising of reproof.” How are you in danger of these traps in your life?
Do you understand the difference between wisdom and knowledge? Attempt to explain it.
What do you take away from this Proverb?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Devotions
Archive
2026
March
April
May
June
2025
January
February
March
May
September
October
2024
January
March
May
June
No Comments