"Do Not Becomes Slaves of Men" -- 1 Corinthians 7:17-40

The Thirteenth in a Series of Sermons on 1 Corinthians

Paul does not give us the specifics, but he speaks as though the Corinthian church is in the midst of some sort of serious crisis.  While Paul has spoken in some detail about the pressing issues facing this church–the love of pagan wisdom, the rampant sexual immorality, the fact that Christians were suing each other in secular courts and failing to discipline erring members–Paul now speaks of unspecified dire circumstances confronting the Christians in Corinth.  This crisis is the reason why Paul urges the members of this church to devote themselves to solving this crisis, and why in the meantime the Corinthians should remain in their current social status until things are resolved.

As we saw last time, Paul is responding to a letter from the Corinthians in which they asked the apostle a number of specific questions about marriage and celibacy.  In the opening part of chapter 7, Paul discusses marriage and the question of what to do when one party to the marriage becomes a believer while the other party remains an unbeliever.  Paul now moves on to address a Christian’s social status at the time of their conversion.  Three times in balance of chapter 7, Paul affirms the general principle “stay as you were when called.”  The issues here are very practical.  When someone becomes a Christian, they are now a bond-servant of Jesus Christ.  How does this relate to their social standing?  If they are uncircumcised, do they now submit to circumcision to avoid conflict with Jews?  Should Gentiles begin to live as Jews?  Should Jews seek to undo their Jewishness?  Do the limits placed upon slaves by their masters infringe upon their freedom (standing) in Christ?  What should slaves do once they become Christians?  Must they stay slaves, or is slavery incompatible with Christianity?  And then what about young women, betrothed to be married–what to do about them in the midst of the current crisis?

To read the rest of this sermon, Click Here

This Week at Christ Reformed Church (November 21-27)

Sunday Morning (11/27): We are pleased to announce that we will be ordaining Mr. Chris Coleman to the office of minister of word and sacrament. This is a time of great joy for Mr. Coleman and his family, as well as for the Christ Reformed Church family.

BTW--the photo is our last ordination service (June 2008), the ordination of Rev. Andrew Compton.

Sunday Afternoon: Ken Samples will be conducting our afternoon service. Our afternoon service begins @ 1:15 p.m.

Thanksgiving Service (11/24): On Thursday at 10:00 a.m., we are holding our annual Thanksgiving service. You are condially invited to join us. Rev. Compton is preaching and the offering is designated for our benevolence fund.

No Wednesday Night Bible Study this week.

No Academy this week.

For more information and directions, check out the Christ Reformed website: Christ Reformed Church

"The Reproach of Christ" -- Hebrews 11:23-28

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon.

Click Here

Audio from Ken Samples' Academy Lecture

Here's the audio from Ken Samples' Friday night Academy lecture (11/18): “Clear Pointers to God  - Explanatory Power and Broad Scope of Christian Theism – Is Jesus a Man, Myth, Madman, Menace, Mystic, Martian, or the Messiah?” 

Click Here

This Week's White Horse Inn

The Gospel of Pragmatism

Why do so many contemporary churches or best-selling Christian books focus almost exclusively on practical application rather than doctrinal truth? Why do most Christians prefer to talk about their own testimonies or changed lives, rather than arguing for the truth of the Christian faith? On this edition of White Horse Inn, the hosts take a look at the philosophy of pragmatism and its effects on contemporary Christian thought and practice (originally aired June 15, 2008).

Click Here

The White Horse Inn Conference at Sea -- January 2012

The folks at the White Horse Inn have uploaded a preview of some of the topics for the upcoming White Horse Inn "Conference at Sea."  You can find it here:  Click Here

The picture was taken during lunch at a recent taping.  Rod, apparently, was shocked at Mike's choice from the menu.

"Each has His Own Gift from God" -- 1 Corinthians 7:1-16

The Twelfth in a Series of Sermons on 1 Corinthians

From a Christian perspective, paganism often leads to some form of self-indulgence.  But paganism can also lead people to reject things which God ordains, and which are intended for our use and enjoyment.  If the soul is pure and trapped in the prison of the body, as the Greek pagans were teaching, then the body is the source of both physical desires and sinful urges.  And if the body is bad, then people will either indulge its every urge (as many in Corinth were doing), or else deny it any pleasure–even when that pleasure is ordained and blessed by God.  This too is a problem in Corinth, especially when it comes to marriage, of all things.  The Corinthians are confused about this and have written to Paul about asking for clarification.  Which he does.

As we continue our series on Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, we now move into that section of the letter in which Paul addresses some of the specific subjects about which the Corinthians had written Paul requesting additional information and clarification (7:1).  The first of these matters concerns marriage (chapter 7), before Paul turns to the subject of idolatry, beginning in chapter 8.

As we have seen, the Greco-Roman world was thoroughly pagan in terms of the prevailing sexual mores.  Denial of the biblical ethic usually took one of two directions.  The first direction is toward sexual promiscuity (including fornication and adultery).  Not only was it common for men to keep mistresses, concubines, and engage in adulterous behavior (7:2), it was not uncommon for people to procure the services of temple prostitutes.  Paul has already addressed this topic in chapter 6, urging all Christians to flee from sexual immorality, and he has urged the Corinthian church to discipline those who engage in such behavior, but who refuse to repent and in doing so bring scandal to the church.

Another issue associated with pagan sexuality is asceticism and the denial of sexuality.  Celibacy was stressed in certain quarters in the Greco-Roman world because it was thought that those who mastered all bodily urges were able to keep their souls pure from earthly defilement.  This is typical of pagan dualism.  It is easy to see how this would be an attractive option for Greeks who converted to Christianity, only to discover the biblical prohibitions against sexual immorality.  This was clearly an issue among the Corinthians and, apparently, a number of them had questions about how celibacy relates to the biblical sexual ethic.  Complete celibacy–even in marriage–was pushed by some as the norm for Christians.

Paul informs the Corinthians that while celibacy is “good” under certain circumstances, and while there are certain advantages to remaining celibate, according to 1 Corinthians 11:11, marriage is the normal human condition.  Marriage can bring greater completeness while removing certain temptations.  In 1 Corinthians 7:26, Paul speaks of the great distress in the church due to rampant sexual immorality, as the current climate in Corinth only exacerbated sexual temptation for those who were struggling.  As Paul sees it, celibacy is a gift from God and is one way of dealing with the pressures coming from pagan immorality.  While Paul prefers to remain celibate himself–he is probably widowed by this time–he does not command celibacy, but recommends it for those whom God has called to this status in life.

To read the rest of this sermon, Click Here

This Week at Christ Reformed Church (November 14-20)

Sunday Morning (11/21):  We are currently going through the Book of Hebrews.  On Sunday we'll be discussing Moses and the Passover (Hebrews 11:23-28)

For previous sermons in this series, go here:  Sermons on Hebrews

Sunday Afternoon:  We take up a discussion Lord's Day 25 of our catechism and Q & A 65-68 which deal with the sacraments.  Our afternoon service begins @ 1:15 p.m.

Wednesday Night Bible Study:  We are continuing our series on the sacraments, and this week we'll be going through the biblical-theological background of the covenants.  Bible study begins at 7:00 p.m.

The Academy:  The Academy meets Friday night, November 18 @ 7:30 p.m., as we begin going through the second chapter of Mike Horton's theology text, The Christian Faith.

Also Ken Samples is continuing his series on his forthcoming book, "CLEAR Pointers to God:  The Biblical God as the Best Explanation for the Meaningful Realities of Life." Ken's book will be released by Baker Books in the spring-summer of 2012. 

For more information and directions, check out the Christ Reformed website:  Christ Reformed Church

"God Is Able" -- Hebrews 11:17-22

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon.

Click Here

Audio from Ken Samples' Academy Lecture

Here's the audio from Ken Samples' Academy lecture (11/11/11), “Clear Pointers to God  - Explanatory Power and Broad Scope of Christian Theism – Scientific Cosmology and the Christian Worldview”

Click Here