Qualified To Decide-5 Series

QUALIFIED To DECIDE-V—1Corinthians 6:1-11

OR Qualified To Rectify

*WARNING to parents about the ‘delicate’ subject matter of this sermon*

Attention:

Alerted Passenger:

A passenger is in a plane enjoying the view of the clouds when a man with a packed parachute appears at the window.

The man says "Would you like to join me?"

The shocked passenger responds with, "No thanks."

The man says, "Suit yourself, I'm the pilot."

The passenger was indeed qualified to decide her fate!

Paul rebuked the Corinthian Christians because they sought out & trusted secular sources to rectify personal grievances among themselves.

‘Grievance’—‘A real or imagined wrong or other cause for complaint or protest, especially unfair treatment.’

‘Rectify’—‘To put(something) right; To correct.’

The Church & Christians are uniquely fitted for properly rectifying personal grievances among themselves.

How/When are Christians fit to rectifying personal grievances?

6 confirmations that Christians are uniquely qualified to properly rectify personal grievances.

We have already found that Christians are qualified to rectify grievances thru Their...

1. DARING/Boldness(:1)

2. DESTINY(:2a & :3a)

3. INFERENCE(s)(:2b & :3b-4)

4. WISDOM(:5-6)

5. SELFLESS/Loving CONCERN(:7-8)

*WARNING to parents about the ‘delicate’ subject matter of this sermon*

6—Christians are qualified to rectify grievances thru Their...

CONTRASTING LIFESTYLE(:9-11)

Explanation:(:9-11)Comparison/Separation/Proof/Dissimilarity

:9—“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,”

The uncaring, self-driven actions of people illustrate what it means to be “unrighteous.” Paul reminds them(& us!) that those characterized by “unrighteousness” “will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Therefore a self-seeking Christian behaves in a manner unbefitting to the Kingdom & will not be prepared to experience freedom there(either currently or eternally).

“God’s rule brings with it moral conditions that require a radical transformation of values & behavior for believers.”—BECNT

“The Corinthians seemed to imagine that their religious knowledge & Christian talk would suffice to open heaven to them...”—Godet in BECNT

Even !Christians can be Deceived!...by the wiles of the devil...by the ways of the world...by their own hearts!

“Fornicators/Whoremongers/Sexually immoral”—Gigilos/Male prostitutes/Libertines

“Idolaters”—Worshipers of false gods &/or belief systems.

It is noteworthy & ponderable, that Paul places “idolatry”(something other than God is your god!) in direct relation with obvious manifestations of sexual sins.

“Adulterers”—Faithless

Mat. 12:38-39—“Then some of the scribes & Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered & said to them, “An evil & adulterous generation seeks after a sign, & no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”

Mk. 8:34-38—“When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, & take up his cross, & follow Me. “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake & the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, & loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me & My words in this adulterous & sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Ezek. 6:7-9—“The slain shall fall in your midst, & you shall know that I am the LORD. Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries. Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, & by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations.”

“Homosexuals/Effeminate”—“Males who are penetrated sexually by males”—BECNT

“Sodomites/Homosexuals”—“Males who sexually penetrate males”—BECNT

By the time Paul penned these verses by the Holy Spirit, “homosexuality had been rampant in Greece & Rome for centuries”—MNTC

“Confusion of sex roles”—including adultery, & homosexuality—“is particularly evil because it attacks the family,” & thereby God’s “plan for the family.”—MNTC

To the Greeks & Romans, “a person’s rank & status determined what was considered acceptable or unacceptable.”.....“A free male could not “indulge passive acts of love like a woman or a slave” without incurring a stigma”...“But he[a free male] could use boys, slaves, or persons of no account with impunity as long as he remained “on top”[the penetrator/initiator]. “Same-sex sexual acts between two men of equal standing” would have been considered “shameful” even to pagans.—BECNT

In our American(& other) political culture & society there is movement toward accepting homosexual lifestyle as natural, standard, & normal. God condemns such outright!