“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
There we people bragging about immorality
Clicks were being established
Pride was rampant
They were almost to the point of come as you are
Meant do as you please
How could this happen
The church had
Let down it’s guard and was losing sight of Jesus in the process
Unfortunately, this happens so often today that it is scary
So
Paul says be alert
Be on Guard
Alert for what?
On Guard against what?
First, we must be on guard against the attacks of Satan
His job is to kill, steal and destroy
And he wants to do all three in your lives
And in the life of the church
He will use conflict
To cause division and disunity
He will use every tool at his disposal to tear down the body of Christ
To render us ineffective- personally and as a church
Satan loves it when the church is at odds
Why
We can’t fight him when we are fighting each other
He loves confict because the focus is no longer on the gospel
It is no longer on the lost
Next, we must be alert and guard our own hearts
The heart will lie to us
When we act on emotions often we will not do what is best or right
How many times have you heard someone justify an affair or an immoral relationship saying
The heart wants what it wants
We must guard our hearts
We must guard our minds
When we allow things in our minds
Pornography
Illicit literature
Movies
Wicked thoughts
Prideful thoughts and attitudes
We lose our focus
We must guard against our own selfish desires
Our own pride
Our own wants
Our desire to have it our way , no matter the cost
And we must guard our church
We must make our church a place of hope for the lost and a place of refuge for the children of God
Be on Guard- be alert
All the time
Verse 13 b
“stand firm in the faith”
Stand firm in the faith
Stand on what you have been taught
Stand on what you know to be true
Don’t let false teachings
Or worldly ideas
Or pride and selfishness
Self-interests and agendas
Change what you have been taught
We must stand on Jesus
His love
His mercy
We must stand on the crucifixion
The resurrection
The fact that he is the only way to get the heaven
He is the truth the life and the way
He is enough
Nothing else is needed for salvation
Not baptism
For church membership
Not Jesus plus
Jesus is enough
Stand on the fact that Jesus is the head of the Church
It is his church
We are simply part of it
That is where we need to make our stand
The old Hymn “I shall not be moved” should be our battle cry
Be on guard and stand on your faith
Paul says
Then in verse 13 c he says
“Act like men”
Ladies I don’t want to leave you out
I am sorry but at the time of this writing
Women were a rung or two lower than they are in today’s world
But I know God through Paul is addressing all believers
Male and female
Jew and gentile
White and black
When
He says act like men
I truly believe what he means is act like GODLY men
So
To include the ladies
Act like Godly people
If you have received the free gift of salvation
If you have been delivered from the bondage of sin
Redeemed out of hell
Act like it
In all you do
Godly men and women
Don’t gossip and manipulate
They don’t cause division or put up with it
Godly men and women
Strive for unity and peace within the body of Christ
Godly men and women stay away from the evil desires of the heart
Run from sin
Even the very appearance of sin
Godly men and women
Obey God’s word
All of God’s word
God’s word tells us how to handle conflict in the church
Face to face
One on one
The world says lie and gossip
Do an end run around that person
Gather yourself a following
And get your way – at all costs
Gods word says
Come together in love
For the case and cause of Christ
God’s word teaches us clearly on sin
And tells us don’t do it
The world says
Go ahead it ain’t hurting no body
God’s word gives us all we need to be men and women of God
But
We must open it
We must read it
And we must apply it to our lives
If we are going to be different from the world
We are to be a light in the darkness for the lost in this world
And if we finally get them into the doors of our church
And they see the same thing in the church as they see in the world
Gossip
Division
Dissention
Bitterness
Anger
Hatred
Slander
Selfishness
And so on
Why in the world would they want to be a part of that?
They can get that out there
If we are going to be Godly men and women
We must act like Godly men and women in all of our dealings
Inside and outside the church walls
inside and outside of our own hearts
Verse 13c
“Be Strong”
Paul is not implying that we should all go to the gym and work out
Ii can tell you it would not hurt me a bit to do so
He is talking about spiritual strength
The strength to stand firm
When everyone else is drifting
He is talking about the strength to act like Godly men and women
When everyone else is acting like the devil
The strength to be on guard against the attacks of Satan
The world
Our own evil desires and the
Ones who thrive on divisions and dissention
The strength to cry out to God for help
To hit our knees in prayer
To not be moved from our position
The strength to hold others accountable
And to be held accountable ourselves
The strength to speak truth
In love
Always in love
Philippians 4:13 is one of the most loved and quoted verses in scripture
“ For I can do everything through Christ,[a] who gives me strength.”
If we look at this verse as it was intended to be looked at
It is not our strength
But Christ’s strength that Paul wrote about
His strength
So, in 1 Corinthians
Paul says
Be strong- in Christ
He is your strong tower
He is the protector of your souls
He is the source of strength
Verse 14
Wraps up this short
“To do list”
14 And do everything with love.”
We must ask ourselves
Anytime we take any action on any subject
Am I doing this with love
If the answer is no
Then you need to get back in the word
Jesus says
That we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds
With everything we have, all our guts I like to say
And that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves
God says through Paul many times
That without love we are like noisy gongs
That without love we are useless for Christ
He also says if you don’t have love
There is a getter than average chance that we don’t have Christ
We are to act in love
Live in love
Show love
And do all things in love
Listen
Conflict is inevitable
Any time people are involved
There will be disagreements difference of opinions
But when we as believers take Pauls’ words to heart
We can overcome the conflicts with God’s strength in a way that honors him
We must guard against the external and internal attacks of Satan
Listen we have more attacks on the church from inside the walls than we do from outside
Recognize them for what they are and guard against them
Guard your minds
Guard your hearts
One I left out Guard you tongue
The tongue is one of the most powerful weapons at Satan’ disposal
Stand on the word of God
Stand firm in your faith
Draw a line that you will not cross
Act like saved people
Deal with conflict and disagreements in a Godly manner
Use Matthew 18
Seek Godly council
Make sure that what you want to say is true
Kind and necessary
If not --don’t say it- to anybody!!!!
Deal with people one on one face to face
It is amazing how many times what we think to be conflicts are simply minor misunderstandings when we follow God’s word in dealing with them
Act like Godly people in our dealings – all our dealings
Be strong in the Lord
And do everything in love
Love is the key
Love is the glue
Love is what sets us apart
Close from the heart
Pray
