Life In Christ Ministry with Pastor Flavio Carvalho

Today Paul gives us a principle to live by, and he builds it out of a slogan that was apparently going around the Corinthian church. Listen:

“‘All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything.” (1 Corinthians 6:12, ESV)

Those quotation marks matter. The first half of each sentence is not Paul — it is the Corinthians. They had taken the glorious truth of Christian freedom and flattened it into a catchphrase: we can do anything we want to. And Paul does something wiser than denying it. He accepts it, and then limits it twice.

Yesterday Paul told a church that could not settle a lawsuit that it was destined to judge angels. Today he reminds the same church where every one of them came from. And he starts with a list that is hard to read aloud:

“Dont you know that evil people wont have a share in the blessings of Gods kingdom? Dont fool yourselves! No one who is immoral or worships idols or is unfaithful in marriage or is a pervert or behaves like a homosexual will share in Gods kingdom. Neither will any thief or greedy person or drunkard or anyone who curses and cheats others.” (1 Corinthians 6:9–10, CEV)

We close chapter 6 where Sundays message closed it, and then we look over the fence into chapter 7 — because Paul does not pause between them, and neither should we.

Here is where chapter 6 lands:

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18–20, ESV)

Today is the heart of the chapter, and Paul gives us three reasons the body of a believer is not his own to spend as he likes. Listen first:

“Dont you know that your bodies are part of the body of Christ? Is it right for me to join part of the body of Christ to a prostitute? No, it isnt! Dont you know that a man who does that becomes part of her body? The Scriptures say, ‘The two of them will be like one person. But anyone who is joined to the Lord is one in spirit with him.” (1 Corinthians 6:15–17, CEV)

This week we begin with a question the Corinthians had actually written to Paul about: may I take another Christian to court?

Listen to how Paul opens, in the English Standard Version: “When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?” Does he dare. Paul is not neutral about this. And then he makes an argument so large that most of us have never taken it seriously:

“Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!” (1 Corinthians 6:2–3, ESV)

We close chapter 5 where Sundays message closed it — not with a removal, but with a destination. Everything Paul has said about facing sin, restoring the fallen, and cleaning out the leaven has been pointed at one outcome. Listen to Ephesians 4:

“We must stop acting like children. We must not let deceitful people trick us by their false teachings, which are like winds that toss us around from place to place. Love should always make us tell the truth. Then we will grow in every way and be more like Christ, the head of the body. Christ holds it together and makes all of its parts work perfectly, as it grows and becomes strong because of love.” (Ephesians 4:14–16, CEV)

Friends, welcome back. Todays passage corrects a misunderstanding so old that Paul was already correcting it in the first century — and we still get it wrong. Listen:

“In my other letter I told you not to have anything to do with immoral people. But I wasnt talking about the people of this world. You would have to leave this world to get away from everyone who is immoral or greedy or who cheats or worships idols. I was talking about your own people who are immoral or greedy or worship idols or curse others or get drunk or cheat. Dont even eat with them! Why should I judge outsiders? Arent we supposed to judge only church members? God judges everyone else. The Scriptures say, ‘Chase away any of your own people who are evil.” (1 Corinthians 5:9–13, CEV)

We come to chapter 5, and I will tell you plainly: this is the chapter most churches would rather skip. Here is the question Paul answers in it, and it is as delicate as it is important: what should a church do when a believer chooses to persist in a life of sin?

Not stumbles. Not struggles. Not falls and repents. Persists — settles in, decides, and stays. Chapter 5 is Pauls answer, and it is not comfortable. But I want you to hear the heart behind it before we hear a word of it: Paul is not trying to punish anybody. He is trying to save a man and protect a church.

So let us walk through it in four movements, and then land where Paul lands — on a church grown up.

We have seen the problem and the prescription. Today Paul explains why the church cannot simply wait it out. Verses 6 through 8:

“Stop being proud! Dont you know how a little yeast can spread through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast! Then you will be like fresh bread made without yeast, and that is what you are. Our Passover lamb is Christ, who has already been sacrificed. So dont celebrate the festival by being evil and sinful, which is like serving bread made with yeast. Be pure and truthful and celebrate by using bread made without yeast.” (1 Corinthians 5:6–8, CEV)

This week we take it a piece at a time, and we begin where Paul begins — with a problem the church already knew about and had decided not to mention. Listen to verses 1 and 2:

“I have heard terrible things about some of you. In fact, you are behaving worse than the Gentiles. A man is even sleeping with his own stepmother. You are proud, when you ought to feel bad enough to chase away anyone who acts like that.” (1 Corinthians 5:1–2, CEV)

We close chapter 4 where Sundays message closed it, and Paul ends with a question he hands straight to the congregation. Listen:

“Some of you think I am not coming for a visit, and so you are bragging. But if the Lord lets me come, I will soon be there. Then I will find out if the ones who are doing all this bragging really have any power. Gods kingdom isnt just a lot of words. It is power. What do you want me to do when I arrive? Do you want me to be hard on you or to be kind and gentle?” (1 Corinthians 4:18–21, CEV)

Yesterdays passage was hard — apostles as the trash of the world, last in the parade. Today Paul sets the hammer down and picks up something else entirely. Listen:

“I am not writing to embarrass you. I want to help you, just as parents help their own dear children. Ten thousand people may teach you about Christ, but I am your only father. You became my children when I told you about Christ Jesus, and I want you to be like me. Thats why I sent Timothy to you. I love him like a son, and he is a faithful servant of the Lord. Timothy will tell you what I do to follow Christ and how it agrees with what I always teach about Christ in every church.” (1 Corinthians 4:14–17, CEV)

Yesterdays passage was hard — apostles as the trash of the world, last in the parade. Today Paul sets the hammer down and picks up something else entirely. Listen:

“I am not writing to embarrass you. I want to help you, just as parents help their own dear children. Ten thousand people may teach you about Christ, but I am your only father. You became my children when I told you about Christ Jesus, and I want you to be like me. Thats why I sent Timothy to you. I love him like a son, and he is a faithful servant of the Lord. Timothy will tell you what I do to follow Christ and how it agrees with what I always teach about Christ in every church.” (1 Corinthians 4:14–17, CEV)

Before we get to todays passage, we need three verses that set it up. In verses 6 through 8, Paul turns to the Corinthians and asks a question that has never lost its edge: “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you did not?” Then he says, with heavy irony, that they have already become rich, already become kings, and he wishes it were true so he could reign with them. They were comfortable. And they had become comfortable at the expense of the men who brought them the gospel.

That is the setup. Now hear what Paul says about the life of the people who actually carried the message to them:

“It seems to me that God has put us apostles in the worst possible place. We are like prisoners on their way to death. Angels and the people of this world just laugh at us. Because of Christ we are thought of as fools, but Christ has made you wise. We are weak and hated, but you are powerful and respected. Even today we go hungry and thirsty and dont have anything to wear except rags. We are mistreated and dont have a place to live.” (1 Corinthians 4:9–11, CEV

We close chapter 4 where Sundays message closed it, and Paul ends with a question he hands straight to the congregation. Listen:

“Some of you think I am not coming for a visit, and so you are bragging. But if the Lord lets me come, I will soon be there. Then I will find out if the ones who are doing all this bragging really have any power. Gods kingdom isnt just a lot of words. It is power. What do you want me to do when I arrive? Do you want me to be hard on you or to be kind and gentle?” (1 Corinthians 4:18–21, CEV)

Corinth was a wealthy port city, a place of commerce and philosophy and public reputation, and the culture there prized the celebrity orator. A man could make a living being admired. That instinct walked straight into the church, and by chapter 1 Paul is already dealing with the wreckage — “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Peter.” Chapter 3 told them they were behaving like infants. Now, in chapter 4, Paul does something more constructive. He does not just rebuke the factions. He teaches them how to think about ministers in the first place.

Pull up a chair, because we have arrived at the heart of 1 Corinthians 3 — and at one of the most searching passages in all of Pauls letters. In 1 Corinthians 3: 5-9, Paul has just called us Gods building. So, what materials have we been using on this building?

Today we close chapter 3, and the tile of our message is, “Everything is Yours!”

How does Paul end a chapter that began by calling these people babies? The way a great composer ends a symphony — the theme returns, and then it opens into something enormous.

Today we close chapter 3, and the tile of our message is, “Everything is Yours!”

How does Paul end a chapter that began by calling these people babies? The way a great composer ends a symphony — the theme returns, and then it opens into something enormous.

This week we are exploring 1 Corinthians 3, one section at a time. Today we focus on verses 1-4. Here is the sentence the whole chapter turns on, and I want you to carry it all week: a person can be saved and still be immature. Being born again happens in a moment. Growing up takes the rest of your life. Let that sink in for a minute.