Will you please turn to 1 Corinthians? First Corinthians, Chapter 10. We will read verses 31, 32, and 33.
1 Corinthians 10:31:
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Give no occasions of stumbling, whether to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the church of God:
Even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.
I would like to read it again.
Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Give no occasion of stumbling, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God:
Even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but that of the many, that they may be saved.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, as we gather in Thy presence, we do want to hear Thy voice. Speak to us. Take away any dullness from us, that when Thy Word comes to us, it may register in our hearts, transform us, and conform us to Thyself.
Lord, we believe Thy Word. We believe in the reality, the eternity, of Thy Word; and we do want Thy Word to be living and working in our lives, that Thou mayest be glorified.
We commit this time into Thy hands. We pray that Thou wilt use this time to break Thy bread to us, that we may be fed. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
We have been considering together 1 Corinthians. I would like to mention again that when you read 1 Corinthians, you may think it is a very negative letter because it deals with a lot of negative things.
But I believe that 1 Corinthians is very positive, because at the very outset, He sets before us that we are called to the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. And there is nothing more glorious than this calling.
Think of that. The Corinthian believers—sometimes we look upon these Corinthian believers and say, “How can they be believers and be in such an unbelieving state?” But wait a minute. Think of ourselves. And even so, we are all called into that wonderful, glorious, heavenly fellowship: the fellowship that the Son has with His Father, and the Father with His Son.
Now this fellowship has been extended even to us, the redeemed of the Lord, that we may share in common with God, with Christ, and with one another. And I think there is nothing higher than that.
It is not a theory. It is not a doctrine, a teaching. It is a fellowship, and fellowship is living. Fellowship is real. We are all called into the fellowship.
The reason we find so many problems in Corinthians is because they are not in that fellowship. These are problems that are against the fellowship. If only they would live in that fellowship, all these problems would be solved. Here you find the Apostle Paul trying to tell them how these problems can be solved in a positive way.
We have covered six chapters in the past. During these six chapters, they had two very serious problems. But, strange to say, the Corinthian believers did not even ask Paul about these problems. In other words, they thought these were no problem. But actually, these were the biggest problems.
One problem Paul heard from the house of Chloe, and the other problem was universally reported.
The first problem is division. Now think of that. Division cuts across the very meaning of fellowship. Fellowship is bringing together into one, sharing with one another the same thing; and division is breaking up that fellowship.
The reason for breaking up is because they do not center upon Christ Jesus and Him crucified. Our fellowship is around Jesus Christ and nobody else. We are not fellowshipping around Paul, not fellowshipping around Peter, not fellowshipping around Apollos, or anybody else. We are fellowshipping in Christ Jesus, with Christ Jesus, and all about Christ Jesus. That is what we share in common.
If we want to really share Christ Jesus, we have to know Him crucified, because it is through the cross that Christ is given to us. It is only by the working of the cross in our lives that we are able to really fellowship in Christ Jesus and not in ourselves, nor in others.
So the biggest problem is division, and the way to solve it is to see Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Then you find the second problem. It was universally reported, and yet the Corinthian believers were not even conscious of it as a problem. They allowed such a thing to go on without any correction, without any discipline, as if it were nothing. Yet it was something that even the world had rarely seen. It was incest.
So the Apostle Paul dealt with this problem, and again he dealt with it in a positive way. Why? He said, “Christ our Passover hath been sacrificed.”
We are now in the feast of unleavened bread. How can we celebrate the feast with leaven, with leaven of corruption—whether it is moral corruption or teaching corruption? We have to be a pure meal offering to God. That is what the fellowship is. That is what the church is.
If we celebrate it in the right way, such moral corruption will be dealt with. So these are the things that we have already covered.
Now, God willing, this morning we would like to cover four chapters, from Chapter 7 to Chapter 10. I do not know how familiar you are with God’s Word, so I hope that if you are not that familiar, even after this morning you will go home and read these four chapters.
Beginning from Chapter 7, Paul began to answer the questions that the Corinthian believers wrote and asked of him. So finally, you come to some of the problems that they had among themselves.
In 1 Corinthians 7:1, he said, “Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me.” Of course, in Chapter 7, you find this matter of marriage—in other words, their sexual life.
Then in Chapter 8, you find that they asked concerning things sacrificed to idols. They asked about eating and drinking, their social life; and this continues on to Chapter 10.
Then, of course, in Chapter 12, they asked about the matter of spiritual things. Now, in the original, it is “spirituals,” and it deals with this matter of gifts. Then in Chapter 16, they asked about collections.
But anyway, you find that following Chapter 7, Paul was answering the different questions that the Corinthian believers asked of him. I put this matter of sexual life and social life together. That is why we have these four chapters for this morning.
Now, the Corinthian believers, before they believed in the Lord Jesus—the Corinthians were noted for two things.
Number one, they were noted for their intelligence. They were very intelligent, knowledgeable; they had knowledge. And they were eloquent too. Some people may have knowledge but not eloquence, but the Corinthians had both knowledge and eloquence.
But, on the other hand, they were noted for their moral corruption. There were sayings in those days: “You speak like a Corinthian.” In other words, you are very eloquent and intelligent. They also said, “You live like a Corinthian.” You live a very corrupt, immoral life. That is what Corinth used to be.
But thank God, now they had been justified, they had been sanctified, and they had been redeemed of the Lord. After they were saved, after they came into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, naturally you find that some problems like those they asked about would arise.
They asked, first of all, about sexual life. After they were saved, how should they live their sexual life? They also asked about social life. After they were saved, how should they eat? How should they drink? How should they continue with their social relationships? These were very practical questions.
Now, I wonder if we have ever asked such questions. I wonder, we who are saved by the Lord, we who have lived for many years in the past and now are saved—how should we live our sexual life? How should we live our social life? I wonder if we have ever asked such a question. We should.
Then you find another thing. When the Corinthian believers asked these questions, I do not know whether I am just reading something into it or whether there was something in it. Why did they ask these questions?
They allowed incest, such moral corruption among them, without asking any questions. Now they asked about their sexual life. Why did they ask that?
They had enjoyed their social life all along. Why should they ask questions about eating and drinking? Why?
Evidently, there was something within them challenging the way that they lived. Because they still wanted to continue in their own way of living, that is why they asked these questions. Now, I wonder if I am reading something into it or not.
Brothers and sisters, when God created us, He did not create us just as one individual. He said, “It is not good that the man should be alone.” Man is made up of male and female.
In other words, when God created us, we are social beings. We are not supposed to live all by ourselves. We ought to live with other people, either in the family or in society. Human beings are gregarious. We belong to one another. We are not just one single individual. That is the way God created us.
God created us with sex. There is nothing wrong with that. It is from God. God created us with the desire to eat and to drink; otherwise, we cannot live. That is the way we are created, and that is the way we have been living all along.
Now we come into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. How does it affect us? Are we going to be monks and nuns? Are we going to be hermits? Is that the only way to live the Christian life?
The very word fellowship tells us that we ought to be together, sharing together.
Brothers and sisters, sometimes we have a wrong feeling. Sometimes our sense is too extreme. One extreme is that whether before you are saved or after you are saved, you live in the same way. Before you were saved, you lived in such a way, and after you are saved, you still live in that same way.
That is one extreme. The other extreme is that now, after you are redeemed and belong to the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, you are supposed to be spiritual; and to be spiritual is to be less human—unhuman.
I remember our dear brother Watchman Nee sometimes saying to us, “If you do not know how to be a human, how can you be spiritual?”
There is no conflict between being human and being spiritual. As a matter of fact, unless you are human, you cannot be spiritual. But by human, it does not mean fallen human; it means redeemed human.
God created us with a purpose, and to be truly human is to live as the man and woman that God has created. That is being human, and being human is being spiritual, because that is the way God has created us. That is His purpose.
So do not think that because now we are saved and belong to the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, therefore we have to be unhuman. The more truly human we are, the more spiritual we are. Exactly the opposite.
But is it because of that that we can live our own way of life, continue in moral corruption, satisfy our lusts and passions without any control or discipline, and live a dissipated, immoral life?
Should we continue to live in our own way, even in our family, in our home, or in society? Now, what should we do? Should there be any change, and in what way?
Brothers and sisters, these are very practical questions. Here the Apostle Paul is trying to answer them, leading them in a positive way.
After we are saved, it does not mean that we are no longer human beings. We are on our way to becoming truly human and truly spiritual. You cannot divide these two things.
But, on the other hand, we should be clear that because now we have a new life—it is the life of Christ, a holy life, sanctified, separated, heavenly, spiritual—therefore, in our sexual life and in our social life, there must be a change.
Unfortunately, God’s people today compartmentalize their lives. In other words, our life touches many areas and covers many areas. We have our personal life, when we are alone by ourselves. We have our family life, when we are in the family with husband and wife, father, mother, children, brothers, and sisters. We have our social life: we work in the world and are in contact with people. As a matter of fact, fellowship is social, but it is on a higher level.
So we still continue to live in all these areas. But, brothers and sisters, how sad it is that many of God’s people try to compartmentalize their lives.
By that I mean you can live a personal life different from your family life, your social life different from your church life. You can put them into different compartments and live these different lives.
Now, at least you have two lives. You have the life of Christ in you, and you have the life that you inherited from Adam. Sometimes we use our Adamic life in all these so-called unspiritual areas, and only apply spiritual life—the Christ-life—to church life.
When you go to church, you become spiritual. You begin to live by that life that is holy, spiritual, heavenly, uncommon, unique, different. But when you are home, you are a different person. When you are at work, you are a different person. When you are in society, you are a different person.
Brothers and sisters, this is not what the Lord wants us to be. There is only one life.
Formerly, we lived by that Adamic old life—alone, with parents, with children, with husband and wife, and in society. Now we have a different life: eternal life, the life of Christ.
Can it be that we only live the life of Christ in the church, and still live our own life alone, or in the family, or in society? If so, we are hypocrites.
May the Lord deliver us from being hypocrites. There is only one life that we live alone, all by ourselves, in the family, in society, and in the church. No matter in what area you are, there is only one life. Are we living in that one life?
The Corinthians thought that they could compartmentalize their lives. In the church, you behave one way; in the family, by yourself, and in society, you can still live your own life, your own way. No way.
Here you find the Apostle Paul laying down certain positive principles.
First, do all things to God’s glory.
All things include eating, drinking, sexual life, family life, social life—everything. Do all things to God’s glory.
Second, give no occasion to stumbling. Do not cause anybody to stumble, whether they are Jews, Greeks, or the church of God.
Third, do not seek your own profit, but that of the many, that they may be saved. Always seek the eternal salvation of others.
In our marriage life and family life, we need to live by the life of Christ in us. So when you read Chapter 7, you find behind Chapter 7 that Paul is trying to tell us something.
Dear brothers and sisters, do not think that because you now believe in the Lord Jesus, you are in bondage. I am afraid many believers have that kind of false thinking.
“Oh, formerly we were free—free to do anything we wanted. Now we believe in the Lord Jesus; now we are under bondage. You cannot do this. You should not do that.”
But, brothers and sisters, actually it is just the opposite. Before we believed in the Lord Jesus, we were in bondage. We were not free. We were slaves to sin, slaves to the world, following the current of the world.
We drifted along with the current because we could not resist it. There was no power in us. We were under the power of darkness. We were not free. We were slaves, just like the Israelites in Egypt—slaves, with no freedom.
But thank God, now we are free. He has freed us. We are not under law; we are under grace.
By being under grace, it simply means this: that we are now free to choose. Formerly, we could not choose because we were under law, we were in bondage. But now we can choose.
Formerly, we could not choose not to sin, but now we can choose not to sin. Formerly, we could not choose to do the right thing, but now we can choose to do the right thing. Our Lord Jesus has set us free.
All things are lawful for me; but not all things are expedient.
All things are lawful for me; but I will not be brought under the power of any.
All things are lawful; but not all things are expedient.
Brothers and sisters, think of that. We are now living on a higher ground, under a higher law. No longer under bondage, we are a free people.
You can sin if you want to. You can live your own life if you want to. You can still live your own way of social life if you want to. You can do that. But, on the other hand, you can do otherwise. You can live as God wants you to live.
You can live for the glory of God, that in everything you do, you glorify the Lord—even in your private life, personal life, in your home, in society, and in the church. You may do all things to the glory of God.
People think that to be free, you should do anything you like to do. But real freedom is that you are free to do what God wants you to do. That is freedom.
The Apostle Paul shows us that in Christ there is liberty. It is a law of liberty. It is the royal law of love.
If you love, you fulfill all the law. So, brothers and sisters, do remember this: we are free, and because we are free, we choose the higher ground. We choose to do all things to the glory of God.
The Corinthian believers liked to be social. In those days, most social activities were carried on in the idol temples.
The best meat you could get, and the cheapest, was meat that had been sacrificed to the idols. Then the priests would sell it in the market at the cheapest price. So that was where you got the best meat.
If you wanted to eat the best meat, meat that had been sacrificed to idols was the meat. If you wanted to eat and drink and enjoy a social gathering, you went to the temple. If you did not go to the temple, then you were isolated.
The Corinthian believers liked social life. They liked all these parties, and all these parties were carried on in the temple. They enjoyed the best food and the best drink they could ever have. Now they got saved. What should they do?
Should they go to the temple to eat? Should they still join with the others and eat the meat that had been sacrificed to idols? Should they do that?
Ah, they were very knowledgeable. They said, “We know there is only one God. All these so-called gods are nothing. Because these gods are nothing, things sacrificed to nothing are nothing. So we can eat this meat at a cheap price.”
“The temple offered to the idols—the idols are nothing—so the temple is just another building. That is all. So go to the temple. Enjoy yourself.”
Well, is that real, good, solid, sound knowledge? Yes. We have only one God. We have only one Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ, and all the other things are just nothing. Very correct.
But Paul said, “You want to enjoy yourself, and you can. But you forget that you are not alone. There are other brothers and sisters, people with weak consciences.”
They worshiped idols before. They offered to idols. They ate what was offered to idols. Now they are saved, and they feel that all these things are unclean. They do not want to go to these temples. They do not want to touch these things sacrificed to idols.
But when they see that you go into these temples, enjoy yourself, eat, and drink, they say, “Now, if you can do that, I can do it too.” So they do it with an evil conscience. Their conscience is defiled.
Their conscience is evil. It bothers them, and yet they do it. Now you have caused your brother to stumble.
In other words, we who are in the Lord do not live for ourselves. We live for others. We do not live by our knowledge; we live by love.
Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies, builds up. True, you have the knowledge, and you are all puffed up: “Why cannot I do it? I know it. I enjoy it.” But you forget that you cause your brother to stumble, the one who has a weak conscience. You sin against your brother, and you sin against the Lord.
We do not live by knowledge; we live by love. Love thinks not of itself; love thinks of others—what is best for our brothers and sisters.
Oh, brothers and sisters, even in our social life, how we just live for ourselves. Why do we want social life? Why do we want parties? Why do we want eating and drinking? To enjoy ourselves.
But do you ever think of your brothers and sisters, of the weaker ones? Maybe what you are doing causes your weaker brothers and sisters to stumble. If that is the case, you sin against the Lord.
So the Apostle Paul said, “Your knowledge is correct, but you do not live by your knowledge. You live by love.”
As a matter of fact, even what you consider as correct knowledge is incorrect. Why? Because you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
So it is still incorrect. No matter how logical you think it is, it is still illogical in the sight of God.
Brothers and sisters, we are living on a higher ground. We are under a higher law. We are free to do anything, but we are able to choose what is the right thing.
So the Apostle Paul illustrated this to us. He said, “If I eat meat and my brother will be caused to stumble, I will not eat meat anymore.”
We should eat meat. God does not want us to be vegetarians. But the Apostle Paul was willing to let go of his rights.
He had many rights. “I can take a wife and travel with me, like the other apostles. I can live by preaching the gospel, like the others.” But he said, “I do not do it. I am willing not to seek my rights, if only I can save some.”
He lived for others, for their eternal good. Brothers and sisters, this is love.
So you find in these chapters that the Apostle Paul tries to tell us that life is a race. We are running a race.
When you are saved, God has put you on the course, the race of faith. Now we are running that race.
When you run a race, you need to have a mindset: you run to win. That is the way to run. Otherwise, halfway, a third of the way, or after a few steps, you drop out.
When you run, you have a goal, and you set your heart upon it. Paul said, “So run, that ye may attain.” That is the way to run—not without any goal, drifting.
Brothers and sisters, do we have a goal before us? The Apostle Paul in Philippians tells us that he forgets what is behind and presses on toward the goal to win the prize. The prize is Christ—to win Christ.
That is right. Life is a wrestling, and when you wrestle, you have to obey certain rules—discipline. You live a disciplined life.
Paul said, “I put my body underneath.” In the original, he said, “I beat it black and blue,” and do not allow my body to get over me, to rule over me. I do not live for my body; I live for Christ.
Lest I preach to others and I myself be cast away. Brothers and sisters, this is the mindset that we should have.
Today’s Christians are chocolate soldiers. That is why Satan is not afraid. We are drifting. There is no more time, brothers and sisters.
Be vigilant. Be diligent. Watch and pray, for the days are closing.
So, dear brothers and sisters, Paul tries to help us that we may really be in the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and that it may touch every area of our life. May the Lord help us.
Dear Lord, these may be hard words, but Lord, Thou knowest this is truth. We pray that we may really be sons and daughters of truth, that we may truly be Thy children, that we may live an all-round life to the glory of God and for the good of others. We pray in Thy precious name. Amen.