Sermons

William Tyndale, that great English Biblical scholar, linguist, translator, and Protestant Reformer, and the father of the English Bible describes the gospel as "good, merry, glad and joyful tidings, that maketh a man's heart glad, and maketh him sing, and dance, and leap for joy." He was describing the truth that Paul declares in this passage, which reveal that the Christian life is not dour, insipid, or dull, but neither is it the foolishness of the world. There is a surpassing vitality, greatness and superiority of the Christian faith, and God's wisdom and provision far exceed the folly of human wisdom and the small-minded negativity of factions within the church. Why would we settle for drinking from the polluted fountains of the world, with all the envy, strife, and division that factions produce, when "all things are ours"? Because we belong to Christ — and Christ belongs to God — every faithful teacher (whether Paul, Apollos, or Cephas), the world itself, life and death, the present and the future — all belong to us. They are given for our benefit, to be received with gratitude, enjoyed, and used for God's glory.

Christ's Example of Humility Christ's Mind to Be In Us Receive the Kingdom of God Like A Little Child

1. "You are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you." With these startling words, Paul switches from writing in third person about the minister of God in vv 1-14, and speaks directly to the Corinthian church, declaring to them that they, the corporate body of believers, are a building wherein God dwells and is worshipped. The temple of which he speaks is a garden temple (You are God's field- You are God's building as he said earlier), and it is reminiscent of the Garden of Eden and Solomon's temple. But, Paul has something even more glorious in mind. Remember how Jesus spoke of the wisdom of Solomon, but "indeed a greater than Solomon is here." Luke 11:31 Something greater is here, and today we want to look not only at this passage but others in the OT and NT that will help us to understand the glory, the majesty, the holiness, and the grandeur of this temple of God. I. The Church Is God's Temple Because the Holy Spirit of God Now Dwells in It (v. 16) II. Those who defile God's Temple Will Be Destroyed By God (v.17a) III. God's Temple is Holy, Therefore You are Holy (v.17b)

Ministers are instruments of God as overseers/elders and shepherds. They are to be humble servants who lead well. But without the Holy Spirit's work of regeneration, those who plant and water might as well be planting rocks.

The natural man is one who is the unrenewed person in his natural state. The one who is enlightened by the Holy Spirit is here set forth as the spiritual man. The carnal person, the babe in Christ.

Paul declares the method of his ministry, which is to not argue as the Greeks or Jews did, but to preach the Word of God as a proclamation, in demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power. That way was anathema to Greek thinking; That a god would conquer by dying, especially a death on the cross? "To speak enthusiastically of an executed deliverer-king was an oxymoron." (Pillar Commentary 1 Cor, p.114) Greeks loved debate, but Paul used the declaration of the truth. He sets forth Christ crucified, the power of God. Then, to those who "are mature", after he has laid the foundation of the simplicity of the Gospel in Christ crucified, he goes on to speak of the wisdom that is needed, the heavenly wisdom of Christ which God ordained. This is taught in the remainder of the chapter, vv 6-16.

How does a church maintain unity in Christ amidst differences and disagreements?

The Transcendent Nature of of Marriage The Otherness of Marriage God's Purposes for Marriage Final Applications