Our Big God

Luke 1.5-38

In 1952 JB Phillips published the classic Christian book, Your God is Too Small. Phillips was a genius. He hit the nail on the head. Most of us greatly underestimate the size and majesty of the God of the universe. And this meager conception impoverishes our worship. After all, it is hard to bow down in awe of a being who is only slightly more glorious than oneself.

Zechariah and Mary didn't have this problem at all. They each had an experience of the Holy that left them with open mouths, awed spirits, and bowed knees.

The first chapter of Luke gives us the story of two worshippers who had an experience of a God who was huge in at least five ways; a God who:

1. Communicates with human beings

2. Performs miracles

3. Has a plan for every human being

4. Has a plan of salvation for the whole world

5. Has a son who is called a King

I hope that your concept of God is not too small. I hope that it greatly expands during this Advent season.

Flee!

1 Corinthians 6.12-20

The ancient city of Corinth was well known for it's sexual looseness and promiscuity. There was a temple in town that employed 1000 ritual prostitutes. Wine, women, and song were the main objectives of many of the residents. The Corinthian battlecry seemed to be "Get as much sex as you can as quick as you can."

Ancient Corinth and 21st century America seem to be on the same page. Our culture is sexually saturated.

Paul's battle cry was "flee sexual immorality." Don't run towards it. Run away from it. The verb he used means "keep running away from it." This will be a constant battle. This will be a constant temptation. So keep your running shoes on. Flee!

What are we supposed to run away from? The word Paul uses is porneia. It is the ancient word that our modern term pornography is derived from. It means any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage.

How do we flee? Let me make three suggestions:

1. Acknowledge your own proneness to sin
2. Make firm commitments before you get in tempting situations
3. Create some personal guardrails, some lines you will not cross

What would those guardrails be for you?

My hope is that we will be committed to the kind of personal purity that the Bible teaches, and that our sexual ethics will not be "Corinthian."

Related passages: Romans 13.13-14, Ephesians 5.3, Colossians 3.5, 1 Thessalonians 4.3-4, Matthew 15.19

Internal Affairs

1 Corinthians 6.1-11

In this passage Paul lists 10 vices that Christians should avoid. Included in that list are greed and swindling. Of the two, greed is the bigger category. It can lead to swindling. But greed can also lead to other things like cheating, stealing, extorting, lying, hoarding, etc. Greed is a big issue in materialistic cultures like ours.

Greed had caused a dispute to break out in the Corinthian church. We're not sure what the dispute was, but it involved property. It might have been a loan that wasn't paid back, or a chariot accident with at-fault issues, or a tree planted on the wrong side of a property line, or something like this. The people involved got angry, let a small thing fester and grow, and ultimately one Corinthians was suing the other Corinthian in a public court.

Paul says this is acting like greedy, swindling pagans, and that they were looking like knuckleheads in front of the whole world.

There are three lessons we can learn from this passage:

1. We should deal with conflict when it is still small.
2. We should be aware that money can make us crazy
3. We should remember that our behavior is being onserved by the world we are trying to reach.

Additional scriptures: Galatians 5.19-21, Colossians 3.5-10, 1 Timothy 1.9-10, 2 Timothy 3.1-9.

Kick Them Out

1 Corinthians 5.1-13



1 Corinthians 5 tells the unsavory story of a guy in the Corinthian Church who was having sex with his stepmother. Now you'd think this would cause quite an uproar among church folks, but this overly tolerant congregation was sitting on their hands and doing nothing about it.

When Paul got wind of this he had a cow. It didn't take him long to reach his bottom line: kick the guy out of the church! The implication for today is that sometimes in extreme cases it might be necessary to do the bad job of asking someone to leave.


I have never had occasion to do this. Nor do want to. It's messy... very messy.



Paul's concern was that a little yeast can spread through the whole lump of dough. Translated: Sin can be contagious if not dealt with. The moral character of any group needs to be protected and preserved.

How we act in a group influences the group: both for good and for evil. There is no solitary sin. Sin always influences the social and public sphere. We would be wise to hold each other accountable, to help our church family build character and integrity. We are all connected to each other.

It seems to me that there are two poles in this regard: extreme tolerance on the one hand and witch hunting on the other. We need to avoid both extremes.

How involved in other people's lives are you willing to be?

Additional scriptures: Matthew 7.1-5, James 4.11-12, 1 Timothy 1.20. Matthew 18.15-17, Titus 3.10, 2 Corinthians 2.5-7.

The Big Head

1 Corinthians 4

Nobody likes arrogant people. Yet, the world is filled with them. And ancient Corinth was no exception. There were people in the Corinthian church who thought they were smarter, better, and more spiritual than the others. They counted their riches as evidence that they were a cut above. They bragged about their education. They did not acknowledge anyone's help in their success, but attributed their high status to an innate superiority. In short, they had big heads.

Paul had even more reasons to feel superior. He was highly educated, a recognized church leader, traveled the world, and was a Roman citizen. His accomplishments dwarfed those of the Corinthian churchgoers. Yet, he remained humble. He compared himself to a rower in the hull of a ship, to a steward who manages the master's affairs, and a soldier being led away to the lions in the arena.

Paul's overall self-assessment: I'm just doing the job that God assigned me. Fanfare and glory is unnecessary.

How do we become more like Paul? I would make these five suggestions as a place to start this week:

1. Determine to take one day and never talk about yourself.
2. Befriend someone who nobody else befriends
3. Repeat this expression before every meal: I am just a rower in God's boat
4. Repeat this expression before every meal: I am only a manager of God's stuff.
5. Do something kind this week and tell no one.

I hope you will attempt one of these suggestions.