Sermons

Theme: We are won for Christ to bring God glory Points: 1. ALL for God’s glory 2. God’s Glory comes through winning others to Christ 3. God’s Glory comes from imitating Christ

Easter Sunday 2025. Theme: Because of Christ’s victory we can stand firm Point One: Christ’s victory means change Point Two: Christ’s victory means the defeat of death Point Three: Christ’s victory means our work has meaning

The standards by which God judges faithful ministry are the opposite to the values of this world. Themes within this sermon focus on the godly humility of leaders, marks of true spiritual ministry, the union with the sufferings of the cross, and the need for all Christians to have the gracious mind of Christ.

This is the 2nd part in a 2 part series to introduce and teach the church our new mission statement. “We exist to Win people to Christ and to be transformed to be like Jesus.” We want to recognise that having a mission gives us our reason for being and that from our mission comes action. This week we look at the need for Christians to be transformed.  We are called to holiness, to Christlikeness.  And it is not optional or for the super Christians only.  J.C. Ryle said, “Jesus is a complete saviour. He does not merely take away the guilt of a believer’s sin, he does more – he breaks its power.”

This is the first part in a 2 part series to introduce and teach the church our new mission statement.  “We exist to Win people to Christ and to be transformed to be like Jesus.”  We want to recognise that having a mission gives us our reason for being and that from our mission comes action. Today we look at what it means to Win people to Christ, how we are part of it and must seek to Win and yet recognise that it is only God who ultimately Wins anybody.

This Easter Day message considers the popular secular opinion that sees people trying to live their best life now.  Jesus death and resurrection, however, shows us that the best is yet to come!  Unless we follow Jesus today we will never experience the best that is yet to come and neither can we find true abundance in life today that Jesus promises.  An unbeliever cannot live their best life because we were made in his image and to live with God – anything else is 2nd best.  Jesus promises life abundantly today and eternal life to come.

Hebrews 12:1-2 has been the theme verse for the GEMS and Cadets this year (2018) which explores the theme of running the race. We need to be in the race firstly if we want to win the prize, but once in the race there is a way that we are expected to run, a way that we are expected to live our lives as Christians. We must 1. Cast off 2. consider the cost versus coasting and 3. We must look to the coach.

What Paul is addressing here is something that the church has had to face many, many times. The Christian Church has had to face attack after attack upon the very centre of its faith, which is the claim that Jesus did not rise physically from the dead.

14:20 “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.” It is for this reason that Paul pleads with the Corinthian Christians to exhibit some measure of restraint, some measure of control. That is, I believe the primary reason for what Paul is writing here this here. It seems obviously that their worship services were run in a chaotic way. Multiple people speaking at once, no particular rhyme or reason for doing anything much at all! There are two basic situations that Paul is dealing with here. • Firstly, verses 1 – 19 deal with how Christians relate to one another and • Secondly, verses 20 – 25 deal with what kind of impression Christians make on those who are visiting or are non-believers.

The Corinthians were an enthusiastic but immature church. The funny thing, however, is that they felt superior to others as if they had it all together as a church community. They looked at their ministries, their cleverness, their knowledge of Greek philosophy, their insightful members, their particular set of gifts and they actually thought that they had made it. That they were as perfect a church, as there could be. There was a smugness about them as a Christian community. Somehow the Corinthian Christians had misunderstood what maturity was. Maturity or perfection is to be like God, to be like Christ and what characterises God and Christ is the word “love.” Christian maturity and Christian love go hand in hand.

The love Christians demonstrate to each other is immensely powerful. It is simply a wonderful testimony to your faith in God. It is very attractive in a person. If members of a church exhibit love to each other, it makes the church massively attractive. On the other hand, if we act like little children, we can be immensely unattractive to the community around us. In this sermon we look at various attributes of love.

Now imagine that we had a drummer here today just hitting the cymbals continuously. Ding, ding, ding, ding. I wonder how long you would put up with it. It would drive you crazy. The problem with a cymbal or a gong is that they are simply a one note instrument. A Christian that ministers to others, without love, even in the most impressive ways is simply a loud and unpleasant noise, in the ears of God!

Thus, when it comes to ministries in the church, there has to be a deep appreciation of what others do, as well as a modesty/humility in regard to what we do! None of us should think to ourselves that our ministry is the only one that counts. All of us have been granted ministries by God to be used for building up the body. The only sin here is not to use what God has given us.

My thoughts have progressed over the years from… “Spiritual Gifts” given only after our conversion or coming to an age where we understood the Christian faith. “Spiritual Gift” becomes “Anything” (ability) used in a way to build up God’s Kingdom and bless his church. The Holy Spirit calls and places us into “various ministries” that build up the community that he has formed.” Kenneth Berding has influenced me here and I believe we have misunderstood the Greek terms used by Paul and translated them badly as “spiritual gifts”. I have come to believe that when we talk about “spiritual gifts” that it simply leads to pride and that instead we should concentrate on the ministries and opportunities that God has given us.

The Lord’s Supper, which was meant to be an earthly picture of a heavenly reality, had become disfigured and was now a really ugly picture of Christ’s Church. Paul, in that sense says, “It does more harm than good…” (v. 17). He suggests to the rich that if they are hungry they eat at home, but don’t humiliate those who have very little (v. 22). The words the Apostle Paul uses in verse 22 are “despise” and “humiliate.” One of things that ought to stand out in a church, a community of grace, is that divisions between people ought to be very small! It doesn’t matter whether you are a new Christian or an old one. It doesn’t matter whether you are rich or poor. Your ethnic background ought to make no difference! Nobody should be despised or humiliated in God’s Church! We are all saved by the same Lord and master.

True spirituality is not seen in the what we do or in ecstatic experiences but in love for the body and obedience to the Lordship of Christ. There is a great problem with the Corinthian query or fixation about “spiritual things/persons” because it shows that the Christians at Corinth were looking around too much. They were comparing themselves with each other and making conclusions that they wanted Paul to verify for them. Paul does his best to simply divert their attention away from what they are doing or how they are doing it to speak about life in the church, which he describes as a body and the importance of faith, hope and love.

Sometimes we can feel superior, like we would never fail ourselves, in a sense flirting with the devil and it is at that point that we fall again into sin. In terms of 1 Corinthians 8 you might feel very confident that you would never think of idol worship as anything. In fact, you could easily go to the temple, even eat there, and be totally unaffected by what happens there. Yet, Paul tells us that this is precisely where we can fall! It could be a bit like a happily married man flirting with a woman in his office but confident that it would only remain flirting and that it would never go to another level. Isn’t he risking a great deal doing that!  It could be like a reformed alcoholic going with his mates to the pub and thinking that he would never be tempted to pick up a drink – despite the atmosphere or his mates urging him on.

Paul demonstrates that Christian ministers deserve material support, while at the same time saying that he is forgoing that support for the sake of the gospel. Now, this whole area demands Christian discernment and that is what Paul is pleading for in chapter 8. The thing is that perhaps some in the Corinthian Church thought to themselves that Paul was being hypocritical. After-all, he wasn’t there and he perhaps was still eating steak and roast lamb! Perhaps they wanted to use the “It is not fair” card? Why should they be told not to eat meat sacrificed to idols when Paul himself was probably choosing what kind of gravy to put on his steak! Yet, chapter 9 clears this up! Whatever sacrifices the Corinthians were making in regard to not eating food sacrificed to idols was nothing compared to what the Apostle Paul was sacrificing. For the sake of the gospel he was even willing not to take any means of support for his work as an Apostle and teacher.

The important thing is to exercise the freedom we have in Christ in a loving and sensitive way. I don’t believe a person can say to you, “Well I have a weak conscience, so you have to give up doing something.” Rather, I think the onus is on the person who knows they are not doing anything wrong to think, in this area, I can compromise for the love of my brother or sister. I sometimes say, “You can be absolutely right and yet absolutely wrong.” The reason I say that is that you can be right in what you think and believe but lack wisdom in how you apply that knowledge in a situation.

The point Paul is making is that we have freedom to marry or to remain single. In certain circumstances, it would be better to remain single as opposed to getting married. As such we shouldn’t be so concerned about marrying off single people but far more concerned about serving the Lord whether married or single. Whatever our circumstances we should be seeking first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness.

Being circumcised or uncircumcised, slave or free, rich or poor, married or single, widowed or divorced doesn’t alter the fact that you can serve God in these circumstances. There were many people in Corinth who were convinced that if they could change their circumstances they could serve God better. Thus, some saw circumcision belonging to the old covenant and thus getting rid of the sign, would be a good thing because they are new covenant people. They might also think that getting rid of the sign would help them in their relationships with their non-Christian neighbour. On the other hand, some might have thought that being circumcised would draw them closer to God. After all, weren’t the Jews the Old Testament people of God. Surely, having a visible sign of the covenant would be a good thing? Whichever way people thought, the temptation was that if their circumstances changed they would be able to serve God better or be closer to God. Slaves too might have wondered as to whether they could serve God better if they were free men and women. They could then travel further and perhaps bring the gospel to other places and people. Perhaps they could offer hospitality to the saints and have open homes. These things were not possible for a slave. They would have felt restricted in their circumstances. Paul tells them to remain as they are, unless the opportunity for release is given you. The point Paul is making is this, “The quality of our

Paul gives the reason why a Christian should stay in their marriage to an unbeliever. Paul and others had brought the gospel to the Corinthian Christians but not everyone believed in the Lord Jesus. Many couples would have come to faith but of course there were some where only one of the spouses came to faith. At times a husband would have come to faith but his wife clung to the old ways and at times a wife would have come to faith but her husband hung on to the old ways of their previous religion. What to do in those circumstances?

The Bible distinguishes between marriage and casual sexual relationships by virtue of the three characteristics… Namely, the creation of a separate household, the permanence of the relationship and the becoming of the one flesh union. Sadly, the church has often felt okay about leaving a man or women in limbo, happy that they haven’t applied for an official, legal divorce but as far as God is concerned they are separated because all the biblical elements of marriage no longer exist. If a man or woman moves out of the home he has separated. If a man or woman separates from his or her spouse he has broken the relationship. If a man or woman refuse intimacy with their spouse it is displeasing to God as far as Jesus is concerned.

Our freedom in Christ is what matters and we are free to marry or not, depending on our inclinations and desires. Today, we are looking at God’s Word and re-assessing these verses and at the end I hope you would be able to say that the gift of singleness or marriage is in fact nonsense and something that Paul had no desire to communicate to us at all. Sadly, there have been those in the Christian church, especially the Roman Catholic Church, who have taken Paul’s words and used them to justify the whole idea of celibacy and living the single life. In that sense, the impact of misunderstanding Paul has been immense and perhaps one of the reasons as to why Churches have been so much in the news over the last couple of decades. The trouble with Bible interpretation is that so often we assume things and then, thankfully, by the grace of God, we re-access our assumptions and find a deeper and more satisfying interpretation of God’s Word.

What really helps in understanding this passage is asking ourselves this question. Is Paul giving his own opinion or is he quoting the Corinthians’ suggestion? We tend to read it as Paul giving his own opinion but look at it this way. “Now concerning the things about which you wrote: (Corinthians wrote…) It is good for a man not to have physical intimacy (touch) with a woman.” I suggest that this is how we should be reading 1 Corinthians 7. Paul is simply quoting back the Corinthians and then commenting on it and this certainly changes the way that we read the passage. Paul is saying that each man should continue to have a physical relationship with his own spouse and each woman with her own husband. It is something that they should continue to do! The husband and wife both owe each other physical intimacy.  

The lesson from these verses is to consider how we speak and reassess our whole concept of justice. Paul says, “Be careful how you express yourself.” If it is all about you, you will simply look like anyone else in the world – you have defeated yourself already. Secondly, Paul tells us that when we have to be very careful in how we treat our fellow brother and sister in Christ. If we rage against them before others who are not Christians we are defeating the impact of the gospel, and causing a stumbling block to people who might be immature in the faith or at least interested in the gospel. Churches filled with politics and divisions are not great places to bring up children, young people, or those who are new in the faith or immature in their faith or enquirers.

This “Third Mark” of what it is to be a true Church, according to the Reformers, is church disciple, and it is something that we rebel against. Many people, from the community, would find the whole idea of Christian discipline obnoxious. Western society supports individual rights and individual freedom! We live in a world, where it is preached that one’s own body can be used anyway he or she would choose. That kind of thinking can also pervade our minds and we might be tempted to think that Church discipline has no place in the modern church. Apart from a mindset that suggests that it is not loving to judge or that we have no right to tell another person how to live or to stop another person being happy, there is also the threat of litigation and yet Paul tells the Corinthians to expel the immoral brother.

The Corinthian Christian were into comparing and it lead them to feelings of superiority, which in turn lead to divisions and discord in the church. They compared their leaders and felt superior because of which leader they followed. They got excited about who had baptised them and felt superior for that reason. Later on, Paul will talk about their ministries and again some would have gotten excited about their ministries when they compared them to others. That smug feeling of superiority would have enveloped them and they couldn’t help but look down on others who had, in their eyes, lesser ministries. So, as we look at the Corinthian church we see a church divided. We see those who felt superior to others which of course leads to division. Paul has reminded them, up to this point of time, to have a proper understanding of Christian leadership.

The Christians in Corinth had their opinions and they started to rate their leaders according to their personalities and their so called, gifted-ness. Instead of seeing them as fellow workers they stood back and made their judgements. One admired Apollos another Paul and another Peter. They would argue about who they thought was more impressive as spiritual leader. What Paul does in the first part of 1 Corinthians is to make it clear that they are all fellow workers. In fact, complimentary workers. He begins by saying that who after all is Paul or Apollos or Peter? The conclusion – “Only Servants.”

The phrase, “Beauty in the eye of the beholder” is something that we see particularly when it comes to our perspective of the church and God’s perspective of the church. From our perspective, we see a lot of faults and problems. We look at ourselves or the church and we see failure, we see division, we see sinfulness, we see selfishness and we see little glory and yet from God’s perspective, he sees something that is glorious and precious and valuable.