Life In Christ Ministry with Pastor Flavio Carvalho

Welcome back to our series on Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians — Christian Answers to Real Life. We have arrived at chapter 10.

For two chapters now Paul has been wrestling with the question of Christian liberty. In chapter 8 he taught us that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. In chapter 9 he showed us, from his own life, how to lay down a right for the sake of the gospel. Today, in chapter 10, Paul lifts our eyes higher still. He stops asking, “What am I free to do?” and asks the question every Christian must finally face: “What kind of life actually pleases God?”

Welcome back to Life in Christ Radio. This is our final broadcast in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and what a week it has been. We have heard that privilege is not piety, that the four sins of the wilderness still kill Christians today, that in every temptation God provides a way of escape, and that the cup and the bread confess one Lord and one loyalty. Today Paul gives us the rule that gathers it all together. Listen first to verses 23 and 24.

Welcome to Life in Christ Radio. I am glad you are with me today. For the past two weeks we have been walking through Paul’s teaching on Christian liberty. In chapter 8 we saw that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. In chapter 9 we watched the Apostle Paul lay down every right he had for the sake of the gospel. This week, in chapter 10, Paul lifts the conversation higher still. He stops asking, “What am I free to do?” and asks the question every Christian must finally face — “What kind of life actually pleases God?”

And to answer it, Paul reaches all the way back to the most familiar story in Israel’s memory — the wilderness generation. Listen to verses 1 through 5 of 1 Corinthians 10.

Welcome back to Life in Christ Radio. Yesterday we opened 1 Corinthians 10 and watched Paul reach back to the wilderness generation — a people who had every privilege of belonging to God, and most of whom died in the wilderness anyway, because privilege is not the same thing as a life that pleases God. Today Paul gets very specific. He names four sins — four specific ways the wilderness generation displeased God — and he warns us that the same four can still bring down a Christian today. Listen to verses 7 through 10.

Welcome back to Life in Christ Radio. For two days now we have been walking through 1 Corinthians 10. We have seen that privilege without obedience does not please God, and we have heard Paul name the four sins — idolatry, sexual immorality, testing Christ, and grumbling — that brought down the wilderness generation and still bring down Christians today. Today Paul does something pastoral. After all the warnings, he hands us one of the most beloved promises in all of Scripture. Listen to verses 12 and 13.

Welcome back to Life in Christ Radio. For three days we have been walking through 1 Corinthians 10. We have seen that privilege is not piety, that four killers still bring down believers, and that in every temptation God provides a way of escape. Today Paul reaches for the most powerful symbol of belonging in the Christian life — the Lord’s Supper. Listen to verses 14 through 17.

Yesterday we framed Paul’s question — can a Christian eat meat sacrificed to an idol? And we saw that the question really probes something deeper — when my freedom in Christ might wound a brother, what do I do? Today Paul lays his first principle on the table, and it is one of the most important sentences in the entire New Testament.

Listen to 1 Corinthians 8, verses 1 through 3, in the Contemporary English Version:

“In your letter you asked me about food offered to idols. All of us know something about this subject. But knowledge makes us proud of ourselves, while love makes us helpful to others. In fact, people who think they know so much don’t know anything at all. But God has no doubts about who loves him.”

We are now in chapter 8. For the past three chapters, Paul walked us through purity in the church, purity in the personal life, and purity in the home. Today he turns to a question that may sound strange to American ears in the twenty-first century — but is, at its heart, one of the most relevant chapters Paul ever wrote. The question: can a Christian eat meat that has been sacrificed to an idol? And behind that question lies a deeper one — when my freedom in Christ might wound the conscience of my brother, what do I do?

This is the final broadcast in our walk through 1 Corinthians 8. If you have been with me all week, thank you. And if today is your first day, welcome — Paul brings the whole chapter home today with one of the most beautiful pastoral sentences in all of Scripture.

Listen to 1 Corinthians 8, verse 13, in the New King James Version:

“Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.”

Beloved, let that sink in.

For two days now, we have been walking through 1 Corinthians 8 together. We have framed the question — meat offered to idols, and the conscience of the believer — and we have seen Paul’s first principle — love comes before knowledge. Today, Paul lays the doctrinal foundation. Listen to 1 Corinthians 8, verses 4 through 6, in the Contemporary English Version:

“Even though food is offered to idols, we know that none of the idols in this world are alive. After all, there is only one God. Many things in heaven and on earth are called gods and lords, but none of them really are gods or lords. We have only one God, and he is the Father. He created everything, and we live for him. Jesus Christ is our only Lord. Everything was made by him, and by him life was given to us.”

For three days now, we have been walking through 1 Corinthians 8. We have seen the question Paul is answering, we have seen Paul’s first principle of love over knowledge, and we have seen Paul’s confession that there is only one God. Today Paul turns to one of the most pastoral passages in any of his letters — the weaker brother and the wounded conscience.

Listen first to 1 Corinthians 8, verses 7 and 8, in the Contemporary English Version:

“Not everyone knows these things. In fact, many people have grown up with the belief that idols have life in them. So when they eat meat offered to idols, they are bothered by a weak conscience. But food doesn’t bring us any closer to God. We are no worse off if we don’t eat, and we are no better off if we do.”

Last week, we walked through 1 Corinthians chapter 7 — Paul’s direct answers to delicate questions about marriage, singleness, and the Christian home. Today we move into chapter 8, and Paul takes up a question that may sound strange to American ears in the twenty-first century, but is one of the most relevant chapters Paul ever wrote. The question — can a Christian eat meat that has been sacrificed to an idol?

This is the final broadcast in our walk through 1 Corinthians 7. We have seen Paul give direct answers to delicate questions — marriage and singleness as gifts, married couples called to stay together, the believing spouse who sanctifies the home, the principle of staying as you were called, and the great “to marry or not to marry” question lived out in light of eternity. Today Paul addresses two specific cases — those who are engaged, and those whose spouses have died — and then he brings the whole discussion home with three big-picture truths.

Listen to 1 Corinthians 7, verses 36 through 40.

For three days now, we have been walking through 1 Corinthians 7 together. Today, Paul takes up the great question every adult believer eventually asks — to marry, or not to marry?

Listen to selections of 1 Corinthians 7, verses 25 through 35.

For two days now, we have been walking through 1 Corinthians 7 together. We have seen Paul honor marriage and singleness, and we have seen his pastoral wisdom for staying married — even married to a non-believer. Today, Paul lifts the question to a wider principle. When God saves you, do you have to scrap your whole life and start over from zero?

Listen to 1 Corinthians 7, verses 17 through 24.

Yesterday we saw Paul honor both marriage and singleness as gifts of God. Today we take up two of the hardest questions in his entire answer to the Corinthians. What about Christians who are already married — should they stay together? And what about Christians who are married to people who do not yet know the Lord?

Last week, in chapter 6, we saw Paul press the holiness of the Christian body — your body is a temple, you are not your own, you were bought with a great price. The very next breath, in chapter 7, Paul moves from purity in the body to purity in the home. That is no accident. Personal holiness is the foundation of a healthy marriage.

Listen to how chapter 7 opens, in verse 1, in the English Standard Version: “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote…” The Corinthian church had sent Paul a letter full of hard, awkward, real-life questions. We do not have their letter, but we have his answers — and from his answers, we can hear the questions. Should I be married at all? What does mutual intimacy in marriage look like? What if my spouse and I are drifting apart? What if my spouse is not a Christian? Do I need to start over now that I am saved? Should I marry, or stay single? What about my engagement? What if my spouse has died? Friends, we could title 1 Corinthians 7, “Everything you wanted to know about marriage but were afraid to ask.”

Last week, we walked through 1 Corinthians chapter 6 — Paul’s sharp call to honor God with our bodies, because we are not our own. Today we cross into chapter 7, and Paul moves from the purity of the Christian body to the purity of the Christian home. That move is no accident. Personal holiness is the foundation of marriage holiness.

We could title 1 Corinthians 7, “Everything you wanted to know about marriage but were afraid to ask.” Eight delicate questions. Eight Spirit-led answers. This week, the Lord willing, we will walk through them together. Today we begin with the first set of answers — Paul’s teaching on marriage as a God-given gift, and singleness as a God-given gift.

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)