" In Pursuit Of Honor" Dealing With Conflict

“In Pursuit of Honor”

1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Trails to Christ Cowboy Church, Jacksonville, Texas

April 15, 2018, Pastor Shuffle

I am sure that I am not alone when I say that I am a fan of the Old West

I love Western fiction books - Louie Lamour, Elmer Kelton, Jack Shaffer

I love western movies- Lonesome Dove- Tombstone- The Cowboys and so many more

I also love the historical writing of that time period, authors such as Remington, Teddy Roosevelt and so many more

All of these historical and fictional stories have one thing in common

Conflict

In every good story there is conflict

A bad town with corrupt officials

An outlaw rancher

A tough gun hand

Sometimes

The weather or

The terrain

Is the villain

Other times we see a conflict within the heart of the character himself

Conflict abounds in western writings

But you do not have to read western novels

You do not have to read history books about the Old West

You do not have to watch the movies

To find conflict

We do not need to go to Tombstone

Or Dodge city

To find corruption

To find conflict

We can find it right here today

In our own towns

In our own homes

And even in our own churches

The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to a church many years ago that was dealing with conflict

The Church at Corinth had been started and was doing good

Then

The world started creeping back into the church

So, Paul wrote a letter

To the infant Church

Telling them how they should be acting as disciples of Christ

He spent 15 chapters

Addressing issues such as Sexual immorality

Divisions in the Church

The wisdom that comes only from God

Spiritual pride

Conflicts between believers

He gives us instructions on many topics including

Marriage

Spiritual freedom and the importance of not causing others to stumble

He discusses in detail idolatry and shows us that anything we place before God is capable of becoming an idol

He goes on to discuss the spiritual gifts

Proper use of them

And the importance of orderly worship

In chapter 12 he teaches about unity

With the illustration of one body with many parts

In chapter 13

Commonly known as the love chapter

He teaches about the importance of love and how we as believers should exhibit love in all we do

In 14 he readdresses the spiritual gifts and orderly worship

In 15 he reminds his readers about the resurrection of Christ and the importance of our resurrection one day

For 15 chapters

Paul deals with problems in the congregation

He deals with conflicts- and division

He deals with false teachings and pride

The first 15 chapters if broken down into a few words

Are Paul’s instructions

For

“Don’t do that”

Then in chapter 16

He gets to a place where he says

This is what you should do

And that is where we are going today

Please open your bibles to

1 Corinthians chapter 16

I am going to use just 2 verses today

But we will break then down and apply them to our own lives

Chapter 16

Verses 13 and 14

I teach from the NLT bible which is the same as your Learning the ropes bibles

I love the easy to read format

So, lets read 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 for the NLT

“13 Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous.[a] Be strong. 14 And do everything with love.

As Much as I love this bible

Sometimes

We need to dig a bit deeper

Sometimes it is important to go back to the original languages in order to understand the intent of the writer

When I need to do that I use the NASB bible

It is by most accounts the closest to the original languages of any translation

But it does not flow poetically and is often hard to read

But in the case of todays scripture it is important that we understand Paul’s intent fully

So

Let me read you 1 Corinthians 16 verses 13-14 from the NASB

13 Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.

In this passage Paul is giving the church at Corinth

And us in the process

Good rules for living as Bona Fide believers

In Christ

Those who place Jesus first

24 -7 – 365

Let’s break Down Paul’s words

And see how we can apply them to our own lives

And to the church

Verse 13a

Be on the alert

The NLT says be on guard

Watch out

Wake up

Pay attention

False teachers were trying to change the direction of the church

The world and all that is evil was being brought into the church