Pastoral Musings

There is somewhat more of difficulty in what follows. Here the man is placed in an intermediate position between Christ and the woman, so that Christ is not the head of the woman. Yet the same Apostle teaches us elsewhere, (Gal. 3:28,) that in Christ there is neither male nor female. Why then does he make a distinction here, which in that passage he does away with? I answer, that the solution of this depends on the connection in which the passages occur. When he says that there is no difference between the man and the woman, he is treating of Christ’s spiritual kingdom, in which individual distinctions are not regarded, or made any account of; for it has nothing to do with the body, and has nothing to do with the outward relationships of mankind, but has to do solely with the mind—on which account he declares that there is no difference, even between bond and free. In the meantime, however, he does not disturb civil order or honorary distinctions, which cannot be dispensed with in ordinary life. Here, on the other hand, he reasons respecting outward propriety and decorum—which is a part of ecclesiastical polity. Hence, as regards spiritual connection in the sight of God, and inwardly in the conscience, Christ is the head of the man and of the woman without any distinction, because, as to that, there is no regard paid to male or female; but as regards external arrangement and political decorum, the man follows Christ and the woman the man, so that they are not upon the same footing, but, on the contrary, this inequality exists. Should any one ask, what connection marriage has with Christ, I answer, that Paul speaks here of that sacred union of pious persons, of which Christ is the officiating priest, and He in whose name it is consecrated.

Calvin’s Commentary on 1Corinthians 11:3

A God-Centered Sexual Ethic
1Corinthians 6:9-20

Intro: Remember that Corinth was afflicted with the love of philosophy and rhetoric. They wanted that which sounded good and seemed wise. It didn’t matter whether or not it was right, they just liked fine sounding and wise sounding things. (Cf. Acts 17:21 They spent their time either hearing or telling new things. Beware the itch for new things when the old will suffice.) Their pride led to division. Now, remember that James told us that envy and strife are accompanied by every evil work (James 3:16). It is no wonder, then, that Paul had to rebuke the Corinthians for the approval of a church member committing incest (1Corinthians 5:1-13). A proud and envious person who is striving with others is never satisfied, and that person is very likely to seek out his satisfaction in any place and manner that he can find it, except in God.

It is in this context that Paul establishes a God-Centered sexual ethic.

1. The Relationship Between Worship And Sex :9-11

They were once sexually immoral, but God has forgiven them and cleansed them of these things. The gospel of Christ is a message of sacrifice of self as well as good news that God gives us that which is better. Having cleansed them of their sins, God has given them Himself.

That being said, immorality is idolatry. Note the downward spiral of sin in Romans 1:18-17. The worship of the Creator is traded for the worship of the creature and carnal passions. It is not that the carnal passions are wrong, but outside of the context of worship of God, they are filthy and immoral, and they lead to that which is unnatural in the pursuit of pleasure and satisfaction. One only need observe the glorification of sex and the objectification of people in our nation to recognize that immoral sex is an act of misdirected worship.

True worship leads to monogamous, heterosexual pleasure. Note that the mandate given to Adam and Eve was not only to take dominion, but first to be fruitful and multiply. This mandate is about imaging forth God. It is about worshiping our Creator and showing His greatness through the way that we live. Being fruitful means having sex and raising children. Note also that there is pleasure associated with it, because Moses said that the man and woman were to cleave to each other, and that they were naked and not ashamed (Genesis 2:24-25). Man and woman were to enjoy their union, and they were unashamed in their union.

Later, Solomon wrote and exhorted his son to rejoice with his wife (Proverbs 5:18-19). Note that he was not instructed to rejoice in his wife, but with his wife. That is, he was told that he and his wife were to together find joy. That joy will first be in God, and then in each other. In other words, the joy that Solomon’s son was to have with his wife was the joy of worshiping Christ through expressing their love for God by loving each other.

This should be not be surprising to us, because husbands are told to have a God-Centered love for their wives- a gospel-motivated love. We are to love our wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25-33). This love is certainly a sacrificial love, but it is also a love that seeks to nurture, protect, and give joy to one’s wife. This includes giving emotional support and sexual pleasure.

Included in the issue of sex and worship is the issue of sexual flirtation and lust. They are both wrong. Jesus told us as much in Matthew 5:27-30 as He warned us against lust and the fact that it will lead to sin which could damn our souls.

2. Make Love As Worshipers Who Understand That God Has A Plan For The Body :12-14

Paul is probably repeating a statement that they made as an excuse for their sexual improprieties: “We are not under the law, so all things are lawful for me”. Paul says that, all things may be lawful, but not everything is helpful, and we are not to be brought under the power and dominion of anything. Only helpful things are truly lawful, and nothing should be lord of our lives other than Jesus Christ.

In saying this, Paul is still relating sexual morality to the gospel. We are not the servants of sin, but the servants of righteousness (Romans 6:17,22), and have been changed from being people dominated by sin (1Corinthians 6:9-11). With this in mind, we should not let sex rule our minds, hearts, and actions. Only Jesus should have that sort of power over our lives.

In verses 13-14, Paul anticipates their arguing that, since we have appetites for food and a stomach for food, that we should also be able to use our sexual appetites and organs to satisfy ourselves. Paul states that God is indeed in favor of our enjoying sex- the body is “for the Lord, and the Lord for the body”. God is not against fleshly pleasures, but He expects us to enjoy fleshly pleasures within the context in which He has created them to be experienced and enjoyed. Note how Paul is no prude at all, but he states that God is in favor of our pleasure. He doesn’t speak only about the negative aspect, but tells us where true pleasure is to be found- under the Lordship of Christ and as worshipers of Him.

To show just how much God is for our bodies, Paul states that the resurrection is proof that God is in favor of the body. Just as He raised up Jesus, He will raise us up from the dead (Cf. Romans 8:11). God is in favor of the body and fleshly pleasure! The body is the Lord’s, and is to be used in worship of Him.

3. Make Love As Worshipers Who Understand That Their Bodies Belong To Jesus :15-20

Our bodies are joined to Christ. Not only are we in Christ (See 2Corinthians 5:17), but we are part of the body of Christ (1Corinthians 12:13). This means that there is a union between us and Christ. We are not physically joined to Christ, but we are spiritually joined to Christ. Our bodies are made and redeemed so that we would give spiritual worship to Christ. That is why physical sin is not merely physical, but a matter of worship, as we have already seen.

When one is sexually joined to another, there is a one flesh union. This is not the same as marriage, which includes a lifetime commitment, but it is still a matter of two bodies joined as one. Being joined to Christ in a spiritual union, those who take the bodies which belong to Christ and commit sexual sin are actually dishonoring Christ. He is dishonored, not only because of our misusing His members; but, our members, being His members, means that we involve Him in our sin, in a sense. Those bodies which represent Christ here on earth surely are misrepresenting Him when involved with a harlot. Not only so, but the fact of most prostitution occurring at idolatrous temples meant that Paul was working hard to help the Corinthians to see that they were to fully leave idolatry.

Not only is sexual sin a sin against Christ, but it is sin against one’s own body, Paul says. John MacArthur says, “No sin has greater potential to destroy the body.” While other sins are apart from the body in that their effects are most often toward others more than toward ourselves, fornication is a sin against (Greek eis= into) that radically affects our bodies. The intimacy brought about by being joined to another is more than physical. It is an emotional intimacy. The damage that can be done to our bodies is indeed physical, and that of such a degree that it can kill us (See Proverbs 5:11,21-23;6:26-35;7:22-27) and condemn us, and that is an extremely emotional thing. In other words, all other sins do not have such a radical effect both immediately and in the hereafter as fornication, and especially that which is connected with idolatrous worship.

But, to take the issue of fornication being a sin into/against one’s body further, we must understand that our bodies are temples. We are desecrating the temple of the Holy Spirit. We remember that God does not take kindly to folks disrespecting His temple (See Leviticus 10:1-3;2Chronicles 26:16-23). No longer do we go to the temple to worship, but we are the temple. We sin into/against our own bodies because we desecrate the very holy of holies. Paul intends to shock (And I’m sure that he does so.) the Corinthians by making fornication analogous to having sex in the holiest place in the temple. In other words, fornication is sacrilege against our own bodies, the temples of God.

Not only so, but we are temples of the Holy Spirit because we have been purchased by the blood of Christ. The gospel truth is that Christ died to make us holy unto Himself (cf 1Corinthians 6:9-11;Ephesians 1:3-7;Titus 2:11-14). A God-Centered sexual ethic remembers that Jesus died to purchase us so that we could/would worship Him and find joy in Him more than in any other passion.

How do we glorify God in our body and in our spirit? We do so by seeking our joy first in Him, then by sharing our joy in Christ by showing Christian love in our sexual activities. We show love in that respect in two manners: 1. by refraining from sexual sin which is theft (1Thessalonians 4:1-8). We steal by taking that which is not our own- it is not our own because we are not married to the person, and it is not our own, because it is not ours to give to one who is not our spouse. 2. by passionately pursuing Christ and showing our joy in Christ to our spouse by being faithful to them as Christ is faithful to us. Not only so, but that love seeks to encourage the joy of our spouse just as Christ came that our joy might be full (John 15:11).

This is by no means an exhaustive study and exposition of the passage that is before us. Neither is it an exhaustive study of biblical sexual morality. I trust, however, that God will use this study to help us to understand where true joy is found (in Christ alone), and to lead us into the experience and sharing of that joy as we commit ourselves to enjoying God in the marriage bed. “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled…” (Hebrews 13:4)

I highly recommend reading the whole of the post from which this is an excerpt.

Raymond Ortlund Jr. has tried to imagine the church without the gospel. “What might our evangelicalism, without the evangel, look like?” he asks. “We would have to replace the centrality of the gospel with something else, naturally. So what might take place of the gospel in our sermons and books…and Sunday school classes and home Bible studies and, above all, in our hearts?”[1] Ortlund lists a number of possibilities:

“a passionate devotion to the pro-life cause”

“a confident manipulation of modern managerial techniques”

“a drive toward church growth”

“a deep concern for the institution of the family”

“a clever appeal to consumerism by offering a sort of cost-free Christianity Lite”

“a sympathetic, empathetic, thickly-honeyed cultivation of personal relationships”

“a determination to take America back to its Christian roots through political power”

“a warm affirmation of self-esteem”

In other words, the church without the gospel would look very much the way the evangelical church looks at this very moment.

via A DIFFERENT CHRIST CALLED “JESUS”. « kevinfiske.com.

I am not writing this book as a successful multiethnic leader. I am not successful. I am not an expert in diversity. If you came looking for the pragmatic silver bullet for the multiethnic congregation, I may as well bid you farewell. I don’t have it. I write because of truth I see in the Scriptures, convictions I have in my mind, and longings I feel in my heart.

I believe that the gospel—the good news of Christ crucified in our place to remove the wrath of God and provide forgiveness of sins and power for sanctification—is our only hope for the kind of racial diversity and harmony that ultimately matters. If we abandon the fullness of the gospel to make racial and ethnic diversity quicker or easier, we create a mere shadow of the kingdom, an imitation. And we lose the one thing that can bring about Christ-exalting diversity and harmony. Any other kind is an alluring snare. For what does it profit a man if he gains complete diversity and loses his own soul?

via John Piper: I Was Racist | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction.

I shall reserve comment except to say that the radical, God-centered, Gospel embracing spirit of Piper is a great example.

Related articles

• John Piper: Bloodlines (5ptsalt.com)
• Seven Lessons Learned With John Piper In Australia (via Desiring God) (mgpcpastor.wordpress.com)
• Thoughts on John Piper’s ‘Bloodline’ (5ptsalt.com)

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Via the Fundamentals.

First, Sin—its universality, nature and consequences…

If unrepenting and unbelieving, the future has for him, First, inexorable and awful judgment. (See Matthew 25:30-46; Hebrews 9:27; Jude 14,15; Revelation 20:11-13; 22:11-15). Second, the wrath of God. (See Ezra 8:22; Psalm 21:9; John 3:36; Romans 1:18; 2:5; 4:15; 5:9; 12:19; 13:4; Ephesians 2:3; 5:6; Colossians 3:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; Revelation 6:16,17; 14:10; 16:19; 19:15, etc.). And third, eternal torments. (See Psalm 11:6; Isaiah 33:14; Daniel 12:2; Matthew 3:12; 22:11-13; 23:33; 25:41, 46; Mark 9:43,48; Luke 12:5; 16:22-31; John 5:28,29; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Hebrews 10:28,29; 2 Peter 3:5-12; Revelation 19:20; 20:14,15; 21:8, etc.)

The preacher who ignores these three awful and inexorable truths preaches an emasculated gospel, be he never so faithful in proclaiming other truth…

Justification. “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might he just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:24,25,26). “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight” (Colossians 1:21,22). “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth” (Romans 8:33), for “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus; for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1,2). Believers are “not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14) and can rejoicingly say, judicially, of course, “As He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

By Evangelist L. W. Munhall, M. A., D. D., Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The site stats here are not that great, but I’m not extremely worried about that.

It is a blessing, though, to know that over 1,000 people have viewed my post on the Casey Anthony verdict, and that many shared it and discussed it on Facebook as well.

That is the good thing about the blogosphere; an insignificant pastor in Dixie can post about the Bible and current events and have an impact on more people than he does in his weekly ministrations in his churches.

Let those of us who blog never forget the impact we can have for Christ by applying the gospel to life as we blog.

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Chapell’s Christ-Centered Preaching has been a hit for a few years.  I finally picked up a copy while on vacation last week.  I devoured it in two days.

While not giving a full-fledged review of the book, I felt that I could at least give a few thoughts about it.

1.  The book was not very engaging to me.  I was not riveted to it because I felt it was an enjoyable read.  I was riveted due to the content.

2.  The book is faithful to Scripture.

3.  The emphasis upon what Chapell calls “Fallen Condition Focus” is a good emphasis.  It leads us to ask how a passage relates to us and how it leads us to Christ.

4.  The FCF and Christ-centered focus affect our exegesis and our hermeneutic.  They cause us to look at texts as pointing us to Jesus, the one of whom Scripture speaks.

All in all, this is a good text.  It not only directs us in our homiletic, but it helps us with our theology.

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“that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. ” (1 John 1:3–7)

One thing that Fundamentalists fail at is fellowship.  That is often why we are indicted by others as divisive.  In fact, we’re not only indicted, but convicted of divisiveness.

Why?  Because we forget that the basis of fellowship is not music, clothes, worship styles, Bible translations, or Bible colleges.  There are issues of morality that should divide us.  There are issues of theology that should divide us.  The issue before us is that the basis of fellowship is Christ.

There is a solid doctrinal foundation on which to build fellowship.  That foundation is the person and work of Christ.

John was calling people into fellowship with himself and other Christians.  As he did so, he was also calling them into fellowship with God and His Son.  In fact, fellowship with the Father and the Son is Christian fellowship.  If I am in fellowship with God through Christ, I’m in fellowship with His people.

Think about it.  Jesus came to bring us into fellowship with the Father.  He also brings us into fellowship with one another.

What God has joined together, let not  man put asunder.

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“And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. ” (Luke 6:29)

This passage seems to be a problem to most of us.  There are probably a number of reasons for that, and I won’t presume to think that I know the hearts of others.  Let it suffice to say that we have problems enough that we have differing views such as non-resistance and non-retaliation.  Then again, it seems it is often ignored altogether.  We struggle with passages such as this, don’t we?

It was instructive to me to read the following:

To the one who strikes you on the cheek offer also the other (cheek). What did he mean? That his words were not intended to be taken literally follows from his own reaction when he was struck in the face (John 18:22, 23). In fact, those who insist on interpreting every saying of Jesus literally get into difficulty again and again (Matt. 16:6–12; John 2:18–21; 3:3–5; 4:10–14; 6:51–58; 11:11–14).
What, then, did Jesus mean? When his words are read in the light of what immediately precedes in verses 27, 28, and when Matthew’s parallel (5:39 f.) is read in the light of what follows in verses 43–48, it becomes clear that the key passage, identical in both Gospels, is, “Love your enemies” (Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:27). In other words, Jesus condemns the spirit of lovelessness, hatred, yearning for revenge. He is saying, “Do not resist the evildoer with measures that arise from an unloving, unforgiving, unrelenting, vindictive disposition.” Once this is understood it becomes clear that “turning the other cheek” means to show in attitude, word, and deed that one is not filled with the spirit of rancor but with the spirit of love. Rom. 12:19–21 presents an excellent commentary.

William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, vol. 11, New Testament Commentary : Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke, New Testament Commentary, 349 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953-2001).

Note the concluding sentence,

Once this is understood it becomes clear that “turning the other cheek” means to show in attitude, word, and deed that one is not filled with the spirit of rancor but with the spirit of love. Rom. 12:19–21 presents an excellent commentary.

Very well said, I think.

I greatly appreciated this post from The Gospel Coalition (yeah, shoot me; I read TGC!).  It’s worth reading, for sure.

Scholarship, or theology, or whatever you want to label it, is not the enemy of lived Christianity. Theology, when done biblically, gives life. It is eminently practical. Faithful Christian scholars and theologians necessarily engage in an intensely practical task: teaching ideas that will shape the life of the student and the lives of those the student will affect.

via The (Welcome) Rise of the Pastor-Theologian: A Friendly Response to Donald Miller – The Gospel Coalition Blog.