What is your great quest? I Cor. 13:13, 14:1 LOVE is the greatest of these! “Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire this love – make it your aim, your great quest!!!”
V 3-4 A decision one makes when considering the question of tongues. One aspect/desire is to edify others and one aspect is to edify and improve himself. Paul’s highest desire for each of the saints was that they would prophesy…inspired to teach and preach…the most important!
v.15 Meditation – pray intelligently with my mind and understanding; I will sing with my spirit by the Holy Spirit that is within me; but I will sing intelligently with my mind and understanding.
Freedom to speak in tongues, but must be interpreted … v. 14 All sounds should be distinct…have its own power of expression and meaning. Excel and concentrate on ways that will build up the church.
Purpose of tongues…for unbelievers. Purpose of teaching/preaching for believers.
v.39…desire to preach and teach and to interpret God’s will and purpose…and do not forbid or hinder speaking in unknown tongues. DECENT AND IN ORDER!
Chp.15
The last chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Cor. deal with the church’s misunderstanding of the resurrection—the central truth of Christianity. Paul first defends the resurrection as a historical fact confirmed by more than 500 eyewitnesses v.6. Next, he defends the resurrection theologically, showing how God’s plan of redemption is incomplete apart from a risen Savior. That resurrection provides hope for the believer’s body as well, which will “be transformed into heavenly bodies that cannot perish, but will live forever. V. 53 in the blink of an eye when Christ returns. Paul concludes his epistle with instructions about an offering he will collect for the struggling brethren in Jerusalem.
Ponder this rather unusual question for a moment. “Do you feel MORE or LESS sinful than you did a year ago?
You might think the more Paul progressed in his walk with God, the more SINLESS and SATISFIED he felt. But, in fact, judging from the apostle’s own words, just the opposite was true! The older he grew in the Lord, the MORE sinful he sensed he was.
v. 59 I am the least worthy of all the apostles v.64 I am the most useless Christian there is (Eph.3:8) v.65 sinners—and I was the greatest of them all. I Tim. 1:15
The longer Paul walked with the Lord, the more sensitive he became of sin in his life—not because he SINNED more, but because he SAW more. The closer he drew to God’s perfection, the more clearly he viewed his life from God’s perspective.
Thomas Bernard: “Our sense of sin is in proportion to our nearness to God.
BE WISE ABOUT THE RESURRECTION:
Corinth was a Greek city, and the Greeks did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. When Paul had preached at Athens about it, some of the listerners actually laughed at him. Acts 17:32. Most Greek philosophers considered the human body a prison, and they welcomed death as deliverance from bondage.
Paul dealt with the subject by answering four basic questions.
ARE THE DEAD RAISED? The Cor. believers did believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul presented 3 proofs to assure his readers:
#1 their salvation. A dead Savior cannot save anybody. The readers had received the Word, trusted Christ, been saved, and were now standing on that Word as the assurance of their salvation. Their first stance was proof that their faith was genuine and not empty.
#2 The O.T. Scriptures v. 3-4 first of all = of first importance.
#3 Christ was seen by witnesses v. 5-11 seen by believers, Peter, disciples collectively, James the 500 plus brethren all saw Him at the same time…no hallucination or deception. Paul was the greatest witness of the Resurrection…soundly convinced that Jesus was dead…radical change in his life which brought him persecution and suffering – certain evidence . Why be a Christian if we have only suffering in this life and no future glory to anticipate … The Resurrection is not just important; it is “of first importance,” because all that we believe hinges on it.
WHEN ARE THE DEAD RAISED? V. 20-28 3 images Paul used—firstfruits When Jesus was raised from the dead, it was God’s assurance to us that we shall also be raised one day as part of that future harvest. (As the Lamb, He died on Passover; as the sheaf of the firstfruits before the Lord were waved by the priest…it was a sign that the entire harvest belonged to Him.) At death, the believer’s body sleeps, but the soul is at home with the Lord. At the resurrection, the body will be awakened and glorified.
Adam—The 1st Adam was made from the earth, but the last Adam, Christ came from heaven. The 1st Adam disobeyed God and brought sin and death into the world, but the last Adam obeyed the Father and brought righteousness and life. When Jesus Christ returns in the air, He will take His church to heaven and at the same time raise from the dead all who have trusted Him and have died in the faith. When He returns in judgment, then the lost will be raised in the resurrection of damnation. Nobody in the 1st resurrection will be lost, but nobody in the 2nd resurrection will be saved.
THE KINGDOM—When Jesus comes to the earth to judge, He will banish sin for 1,000 yrs. And establish His kingdom. Believers will reign with Him and share His glory and authority. …millennium.
Jesus Christ reigns in heaven today and all authority is “under His feet”. Satan and man are still able to exercise choice, but God is sovereignly in control. Jesus is enthroned in heaven today. The resurrection of the saved has not yet taken place, nor the resurrection of the lost. When will He return for us? Nobody knows, but when it occurs, it will be “in a moment in the twinkling of an eye…it behooves us to be ready!
WHY ARE THE DEAD RAISED? 29-34, 49-58
The resurrection of the human body is a future event that has compelling implications for our personal lives. Jesus is coming again! Even if we die before He comes, we shall be raised at His coming and stand before Him in a glorified body. The heavenly kingdom is not made for the kind of bodies we now have…bodies of flesh and blood.
HOW ARE THE DEAD RAISED? 35-48
Resurrect is not reconstruction. There is continuity (it is our body) but there is not identity (it is not the same body). Paul gave 3 analogies:
Seed = the seed dies, but from that death there comes life. The many grains that are produced when the plant matures, are not the same grains as planted., but there is continuity…you do not sow wheat and harvest barley. Usually more beautiful than what was planted. Our body today is suited to an earthly environment…made from dust…
The 1st birth gives us that which is natural, but the 2nd birth gives us that which is spiritual. God rejects the 1st birth…and says, “You must be born again!” If we depend on our 1st birth, we shall be condemned forever; but if we experience the new birth, we shall be blessed forever.
Flesh = Man is flesh – different and set apart from animals, birds, and fish…If God is able to make different kinds of bodies for men and other beings, why can He not make a different kind of body for us at the resurrection.
Heavenly Bodies = They differ from one another. Every cup in heaven will be filled but some may be larger than others.
God will give to us a gloried body suited to the new life in heaven. Unlike our present body in quality as the glory of the sun is unlike a mushroom in the cellar. We will use this new body to serve and glorify God for all eternity.
Paul was not trying to satisfy curiosity with his answers. He had some practical points to get across, and he made them very clear in v. 29-34. If we really believe in the resurrection of the body, then we will use our bodies today to the glory of God. Finally, the lost will be given bodies suited to their environment in hell. They will suffer forever in darkness and pain. It behooves us who are saved to seek to rescue them from judgment. II Cor. 5:11.
BE WISE ABOUT CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP.
Chapter 16 deals with 3 areas of stewardship: money v. 1-4; opportunities v.5-9; people 1-24.
Paul ends the 16th chapter naming people – not only people he had introduced to Christ but had become good friends.
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