FCOR-22-200209 - length: 87:21 - taught on Feb, 9 2020
Class Outline:
Welcome To
BARAH MINISTRIES
a Christian Church
Rory Clark
Pastor-Teacher
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…an intimate, local Christian Church with worldwide impact. My name is Pastor Rory Clark. At Barah Ministries we know this truth…that Jesus Christ is God. As the Lord He is 100% Deity. He is God the Son. He is also 100% true humanity just like you and me… He is Jesus Christ. The Lord, God the Son…became flesh…Jesus Christ... and lived among us. He is the Sovereign God of the Universe…He is the Savior of the whole world…and He is the Jewish Messiah.
Those who make Barah Ministries their spiritual home, believe in Jesus Christ. We are Christians, and we have a deep, intimate, and personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. The Lord Jesus Christ is a Person and not a thing or a concept. Just as we would do with any person we love, we spend time getting to know Him through the study of His Word. You can’t get to know the Lord without knowing His mind, and the Bible is His exact thinking.
I was reflecting on wine this week…on how it is made…and on where it comes from…grapes grown on a vine…and this verse came to mind…John, Chapter 15, Verse 5…
JOHN 15:5
I (the Lord Jesus Christ) am the vine…you believers in Christ are the branches…the believer who abides in union with Me and I indwelling him… he bears much fruit (the fruit of the Spirit) … for apart from Me (as an unbeliever) you can do nothing…
As believers in Christ, we are God’s fine wine. Doesn’t it make sense for us to get to know our God through the study of His Word so that He can produce fruit through us?
Barah Ministries makes a difference by teaching the Word of God from the Lord Jesus Christ’s perspective, and not from man’s perspective. We search the Scriptures to learn who the Lord is as a Person, and to learn what our God has to say about Himself, about His plan for all mankind, and about His personal plan for each of us. We look at life from His perspective.
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON - Teachers Don’t Get No Respect…No Respect at All!
LESSON INTRODUCTION
No one in right mind would ever take a leadership position. No one. Why? Because leaders volunteer to take the blame for everyone and everything. Yet many, including me, sign up for the abuse. In today’s lesson, Paul outlines some of the challenges of teaching. We don’t get no respect…no respect at all! In addition, as we do every month, we’ll celebrate The Lord’s Supper…we’ll honor the Ultimate Leader…our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…and we’ll learn that His work at the Cross made His believers holy and blameless…and we’ll learn the significance of this gift in our lives.
SONG INTRODUCTION
First John, Chapter 3, Verse 1 says…
FIRST JOHN 3:1
Look at the great and unconditional love God the Father has lavished on us (believers in Christ) … that we would be called children of God the Father… and that’s what we are! For this reason, the world (of unbelievers) does not know us (or recognize who and what we are…why?) … because the world did not know the Lord (they rejected a relationship with Christ).
An absolute love is what we have from our God…a love without conditions or requirements…a one-way love from God to us without hooks or tricks or hoops to jump through to get it. Here’s Christ Tomlin to sing about it in his song…JESUS LOVES ME
MUSIC AND REFLECTION
Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ
Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
JESUS LOVES ME
Chris Tomlin
OPENING PRAYER
Let us pray...
We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…
Father, thank you for inspiring us to step to the front…thank you for giving us the knowledge of You through letting us experience what Your Son experienced…intense tribulation…thanks for making our tribulation much less and not even comparable to His…
…help us to grow through the adversity to become people who reflect you in adverse situations…people who are able to “get no respect” yet able to keep on giving…
…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s
name...Amen.
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON - Teachers Don’t Get No Respect…No Respect at All!
Passage 3 of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians extends from Chapter 1, Verse 10 to Chapter 4, Verse 21. The apostle Paul is addressing rivalries and dissensions in the Corinthians Church. Why is Paul writing about divisions and rivalries? He tells us in this next section…First Corinthians. Chapter 4, Verses 6 to 13……
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:6
Now with regard to these things, brethren (believers in Christ)…these things I have applied both to myself and to Apollos for your sakes…so that you may learn…“Stick to what stands written” (obeying the Word of God)… so that not one of you will become puffed up with arrogance (self-absorption instead of self-knowledge)…favoring one person over another.
Stick to what is written reminds us that as believers in Christ we walk by faith and not by sight…
The real rivalries in the Corinthians church are among the “silent” leaders… not rivalries between the leaders up front, even though Paul connects the rivalries teachers. Paul is really addressing cliques in this rivalries and divisions passage. Paul wants the believers at Corinth to learn humility, which is teachability…the opposite of arrogance…the willingness to learn and to do what the Word of God says. But the people of first century Corinth, thanks to the influence of the Greeks, considered humility to be weakness. Paul IS rebuking the congregation in this entire passage…but Paul doesn’t want to single anyone out, even though he wants His powerful message to land solidly. So, Paul addresses the arrogance in the Corinthian church without being too direct by including himself and the other teachers in this rebuke as any great Pastor would. Paul continues with questions…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:7
For what makes you special? What do you have that you did not receive from God? And if you did receive everything (from God), why do you boast as if you had not received it (from God)?
Your talents…your abilities…your social skills…your blessings…your adversity…all come from God! Yet Paul says…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:8
So quickly you have become satisfied with yourselves…you have already become rich, and apart from us you have become kings (ones who reign… you elevated yourselves to a throne) … indeed, I wish that you did become kings so that we also might reign with you!
Paul is back to being sarcastic, saying, “You Corinthians are legends in your own mind.” True Kings, like the apostles and like Paul, rule with the gratitude for the Cross in mind.
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:9
For, I (Paul) think, God has displayed us apostles (your teachers) as last out of all…as men condemned to death…so that we might be a spectacle (a theatron) to the world…both to angels and to men.
You’ve heard the idea that people in heaven look down on us. Not true. It’s angels in the Supreme Court of Heaven looking down on us…in the theater of heaven…to learn the details of the Creator-creature conflict between the Lord and His enemy…Satan. What will they see?
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:10
We (as teachers) are fools for Christ’s sake…but you are sensible in union with Christ…we are weak, but you are strong…you are esteemed, but we are dishonored.
They will see people, teachers, who are being taken advantage of, and mistreated, and ignored just as Christ was. Paul outlines the disadvantages of being up front…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:11
To this present moment we are both hungry and thirsty…and we are poorly clothed (in tattered clothing) … we are roughly treated…and we are homeless…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:12
…and we toil…working with our own hands…yet when we are reviled, we bless…when we are persecuted, we endure…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:13
…when we are slandered, we speak encouragement…we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.
Paul has set us up for the big finish of this passage which we’ll take on next week. Being a leader…being a teacher is brutal…because we want to see results from you. We want to see you grow. We want to see fruits for our labors. Yet that is the rare exception rather than the rule. Yet as teachers, even though we are not respected here on earth as perhaps we should be…we press on for the blessed hope of a heaven where leadership is respected, honored and loved because it is without the disruptions and the disrespect caused by God’s enemy Satan. As a nation, our attitude toward our President is the perfect example of how not to teat someone in authority,
whether you like him or not. It’s absolutely disgusting to me. In fact, it’s downright dishonorable. When we return from our five-minute break, we’ll take the offering and then we’ll celebrate The Lord’s Supper. Do you know what it means that you have been redeemed?
FIVE MINUTE BREAK
NOBODY
Casting Crowns
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON - Teachers Don’t Get No Respect…No Respect at All!
When God puts us in positions of leadership, He wants us to care for the position well. Luke, Chapter 12, Verse 48 says…
LUKE 12:48
From everyone who has been given much, much will be required…and to whom is entrusted much, of him it will be asked all the more.
Be generous with the gifts your Lord has given you. Let your giving reflect amazing leadership. Let’s welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.
THE OFFERING
Deacon Denny Goodall
OFFERING VERSE
COLOSSIANS 1:16
For by the agency of the Lord Jesus Christ all things were created…both in the heavens and on earth…both visible and invisible…whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
OFFERING SONG
THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU
David Bauer, Instrumental
THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION
At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ Made Us Holy and Blameless
Welcome to The Lord’s Supper Celebration, the most intimate expression of our love for the Lord Jesus Christ in The Christian Way of Living. The Lord demonstrates His desire for a deep, intimate and personal relationship with His believers by creating a way to keep on sharing His body and His blood with us, just as He did with His apostles on the night before His death. Luke, Chapter 22, Verses 14 to 16…
LUKE 22:14
When the hour had come (and His crucifixion was near) … the Lord Jesus Christ reclined at the Passover table…and the apostles reclined with Him.
LUKE 22:15
And the Lord said to the apostles, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer … ”
LUKE 22:16
“…for I say to you I (the Lord Jesus Christ) shall never again eat this
Passover meal until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God the Father.”
In First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verse 26, the apostle Paul says, on behalf of the Lord…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:26
…as often as you eat this bread (representing His body)…and as often as you drink this cup (representing His blood)…as part of the Lord’s Supper Celebration…you proclaim as a reality and you announce the significance of the Lord Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross…and His resurrection from the dead…until He comes again at the second coming.
The Lord’s Supper Celebration is a time when the resident members of this congregation join hands through the miles with our non-resident members, and we demonstrate our unity by remembering our Lord together. This is a celebration for which we set aside time. We don’t do it on the move.
During the Lord's Supper Celebration, Jesus wants His believers to look
back to the Cross for a moment. He wants us to REMEMBER how He rescued us from the kingdom of darkness. He wants us to REMEMBER the sacrifice of shedding His blood to cover our sins. He wants us to REMEMBER the deliverance to the resurrection life He orchestrated, bringing us into His kingdom of light. Most of all, the Lord wants His believers to look forward with ANTICIPATION that He is coming again.
As believers in Christ, when we celebrate The Lord’s Supper, we ask ourselves in reflection, “What did the Lord Jesus Christ do for us at the Cross?” At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ made us HOLY AND BLAMELESS. Colossians, Chapter 3, Verse 12…
COLOSSIANS 3:12
So, as those who have been the chosen ones of God the Father…(whom HE has made) HOLY and beloved (a divinely loved one)…
Since God has made you HOLY AND BLAMELESS let’s start with a question. Please don’t answer the question out loud…answer it to yourself. I’ve been asking Christians a question they ought to know the answer to… “Who does God blame when Christians sin?”
We know that Christians are saints in God’s eyes…not sinners. Unbelievers are sinners. Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 8 says…
ROMANS 5:8
God the Father demonstrates His own unconditional love toward all mankind…in that while we were yet sinners (while we were unrighteous, ungodly, unbelievers) … Christ died (a sacrificial death) for us (at the Cross).
We also know that saints sin…believers in Christ continue to sin after salvation. I taught a lesson last year to prepare you for our study of First Corinthians…SAINTS SIN. Yet God says you are HOLY AND BLAMELESS. So holy ones sin? The apostle John confirms that saints sin, even though it is preferable not to…First John, Chapter 2, Verse 1…
FIRST JOHN 2:1
My little children (believers in Christ), I am writing these things to you (in this letter of the Bible) so that you may not sin. And if (1) anyone sins, and of course believers in Christ do, we have an Advocate with God the Father… Jesus Christ…the righteous One…
Now back to the question. “Who does God blame when Christians sin?”
The answer is…
Who do Christians blame when they sin? First and foremost, we blame ourselves. We also blame others. We listen to Satan’s prompting and we completely ignore what God says to us in Romans 7, which continues into Chapter 8, Verse 1…
ROMANS 8:1
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in union with Christ Jesus.
We have no right to judge ourselves or others, yet we do. The legalist will chime in here. “So, what you seem to be saying is that as Christians, we can sin anytime we want to.” That’s correct. We can…and we do. The legalist continues. “Well, you’re giving people a license to sin!” Actually, God gave us a license to sin by giving us free will. We can act independently from God. The legalist is back. “So, what you seem to be saying is you can just sin and get away with it. I think we need to repent from our sins.”
Are we going to follow what a legalist says…what false teachers claim…or what God says in His Word? Because anyone who thinks that God wants Christians to sin is a bit “touched.” Let’s get God’s point of view…Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 20…
ROMANS 5:20
The Mosaic Law was introduced (came in alongside of us) so that the transgression would increase…but where sin increased, (God’s) grace abounded all the more…
When there is a law, we break it. We drive above the speed limit…we walk on the grass when the sign says don’t…we disobey a parent and get hit in the head with a baseball bat (that’s me)! Yet in the spiritual realm, when we make mistakes (called sins) God gives us ABUNDANT grace. Then Romans, Chapter 6, Verses 1 and 2 say this…
ROMANS 6:1
What shall we believers in Christ say then? Are we to continue sinning so that God’s grace may increase (abounding even more to us)?
ROMANS 6:2
May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
Taking advantage of God is a childish thing to do. We would never want to do that. Yet we do make mistakes, and then we do something to ourselves and to others that God doesn’t do to us or others…we judge before the time. As we learned last week, we have no right to judge ourselves or others in the middle of our life’s race. God judges our race at the end.
When we are over focused on sin…we when are over focused on keeping the Law…we miss taking advantage of the generosity of God’s grace. More importantly, as Paul says in Galatians Chapter 2, Verse 21…to the legalistic Galatians…
GALATIANS 2:21
“I (Paul) do not (ouk) NULLIFY the grace of God…for if righteousness comes through (keeping) the Mosaic Law, then Christ died needlessly.”
When we ignore what Christ did for us at the Cross by shedding His blood for us…the complete and ONLY satisfactory payment for our sins, once and for all time…when we think that we can clean up our own sins…when we think we can be “Christ-like” … when we think we can be “good” and impress God….we delude ourselves. What did Christ do for all mankind at the Cross? Colossians, Chapter 2, Verses 13 and 14…
COLOSSIANS 2:13
When you were spiritually dead in your transgressions and you were in the uncircumcision of your flesh (at physical birth)…yet God the Father made you spiritually alive together with Christ, having forgiven us ALL of our transgressions…
COLOSSIANS 2:14
…having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us…which was hostile to us…and Jesus Christ has taken the certificate of debt out of the way, having nailed it to the Cross.
As a result, believers in Christ are REDEEMED…purchased from slavery to sin. First Peter, Chapter 1, Verses 18 and 19…
FIRST PETER 1:18
…you were not REDEEMED with perishable things like silver or gold from the futile way of life you inherited from your forefathers…
FIRST PETER 1:18
…but you were redeemed with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
The Lord’s work at the Cross makes you HOLY and BLAMELESS. Do you feel HOLY and BLAMELESS? You don’t! Why? Because you focus on sin that is already paid for instead of focusing on serving the Gracious One. And when you refuse to accept what Christ did for you at the Cross, you’re telling the Lord that you don’t accept His finished work on your behalf. How does that help you?
A passage in Colossians brings the point home…Colossians, Chapter 1, Verses 21 to 23…
COLOSSIANS 1:21
And although you believers in Christ were formerly alienated from the life of God (as spiritually dead unbelievers)…and hostile in mind…engaged in evil deeds…
COLOSSIANS 1:22
…yet the Lord Jesus Christ has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death (on a Cross…designed to get a definite result) … in order to present you believers in Christ (at the Judgment Seat of Christ) before God the Father HOLY AND BLAMELESS AND BEYOND REPROACH (completely sanctified)—
COLOSSIANS 1:23
…if (1) indeed you continue in the faith…and of course you will (ge… without a doubt)…firmly established and steadfast (by studying the Word of God)…and not moved away (from studying the Word of God by an outside agent…not being moved away by anyone or by anything) from the hope of the gospel (the confidence of the coming exit resurrection of the Church… the Rapture) that you have heard about…which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven…and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
Instead of being moved away from the conscious knowledge of the hope we have…the absolute confidence of a victorious present and a victorious future…we are to keep on pursuing the prize of rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verses 3 and 4 say this…
EPHESIANS 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…who has blessed us believers in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in union with Christ…
EPHESIANS 1:4
…just as God the Father chose us believers in Christ to be in union with Christ before the foundation of the world…that we would be HOLY AND BLAMELESS before the Father.
You are holy and blameless thanks to what Christ did for you at the Cross. God the Holy Spirit is continuing to perfect your holiness so that you are conformed to the image of the Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. And God the Holy Spirit has never failed a single time. So, as we look back at the Cross during this Lord’s Supper Celebration, let’s rest in the finished work of our Lord, and let’s not be moved away by a “smack talking” enemy who wants us to abandon our victory and our confidence by lying to us.
THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION
Enjoying the Elements
Obeying God’s command, we keep on celebrating Christ and His Cross
regularly. We eat to remember who He is as a PERSON. We drink to remember His WORK on the Cross…the voluntary sacrifice He made to deliver us. We remember with gratitude what God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ have done to save us. Matthew, Chapter 26, Verses 26 to 28…
MATTHEW 26:26
While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take…eat…this is My body (which is being broken for you).”
MATTHEW 26:27
And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you…”
MATTHEW 26:28
“…for this is My blood…the blood of a new testament (a new covenant)… blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of their sins.”
As you enjoy the bread and the cup, REMEMBER the Cross, and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who hung there. Let us keep on giving thanks that we are loved unconditionally, that we are forgiven, and that we are accepted fully by a Lord who is always there for us…the One on whom we can depend. Let’s keep on being transformed by His life…His death…His burial…His resurrection from the dead…and His Word.
SONG INTRO
Do you remember what the Lord said to us in John, Chapter 15, Verse 5?
JOHN 15:5
I (the Lord Jesus Christ) am the vine…you believers in Christ are the branches…the believer who abides in union with Me and I indwelling him… he bears much fruit (the fruit of the Spirit)…for apart from Me (as an unbeliever) you can do nothing…
Danny Gokey puts that sentiment to song…IF YOU AIN’T IN IT.
LORD’S SUPPER SONG
IF YOU AIN’T IN IT
Danny Gokey
GOD WANTS YOU!
Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life
The closing moments of our study are for the benefit of anyone who does not have a personal relationship with the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We want you to know that GOD WANTS YOU.
As human parents, often we are emotional, arbitrary, and sentimental. We tell our children exactly what we want them to do, expecting they will do it. Quite often, they do the opposite…and quite often they ask us for an exception to our request. “I know I didn’t do exactly what you asked…but please, please, please…can I do it my way?” Often, our emotional, arbitrary, and sentimental side kicks in, and we allow them to go against our requests. We allow them to disobey. By doing this, we teach them to ignore our requests in critical matters.
Many people think God is a similar parent. God tells us exactly what we must do to be saved, and many don’t do it, but they think in the end God will be emotional, arbitrary, and sentimental...and He will let them into heaven their own way. But in John, Chapter 14, Verse 6…
JOHN 14:6
Jesus said…“I am the way (to salvation)…and I am the truth (through the Word of God)…and I am the resurrection life…and no one comes to God the Father (in heaven) but through believing in Me.”
Your salvation is a critical matter, and the Lord isn’t emotional, or arbitrary, or sentimental about it. He’s crystal clear. In Matthew, Chapter 7, Verse 21, the Lord says…
MATTHEW 7:21
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven...but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter into the kingdom.”
What is God’s will in the matter of your salvation? Second Peter, Chapter 3, Verse 9 tells us what is NOT God’s will…
SECOND PETER 3:9b
…(it is not God’s will) for any of you (unbelievers) to perish (in the Lake of Fire) but for all of you to come to repentance (a change of mind about having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ).
What IS God’s will is simple, revealed in Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…
ACTS 16:31
“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”
If we ignore God’s critical request, there are consequences…John, Chapter 3, Verse 36…
JOHN 3:36
“He who believes in the Son has the resurrection life right at that moment… but he who does not obey the command to believe in the Son will not see the resurrection life…instead the wrath of God (the Lake of Fire) abides on him.”
Who is this God who saves you? The apostle Paul describes the Lord Jesus Christ in First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verses 3 and 4…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:3
For I (Paul) delivered to you as of primary importance the gospel message I also received… that it was Jesus Christ who died for our sins according to the Scriptures…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:4
…and that He was buried…and that He was raised from the dead on the third day…according to the Scriptures…
So, if you want to get to heaven, it’s probably just best to do what God asks you to do…Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…
ACTS 16:31
“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”
When we believe, we simply take God’s word for it in the matter of what it takes to be saved…and we do it!
SONG INTRO
In Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verses 7 and 8 the apostle Paul tells us…
EPHESIANS 1:7-8
In union with Christ, we believers in Christ have redemption through Christ’s shed blood…the forgiveness of our trespasses…according to the glorious riches of His grace which the Lord lavished on us…
June Murphy echoes this sentiment in her song WE’RE FORGIVEN.
CLOSING SONG
WE’RE FORGIVEN
June Murphy
CLOSING PRAYER
Let us pray...
Thanks for coming!
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for listening!
www.barahministries.com
Our growth is a delicious fruit of respect .
Welcome To
BARAH MINISTRIES
a Christian Church
Rory Clark
Pastor-Teacher
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…an intimate, local Christian Church with worldwide impact. My name is Pastor Rory Clark. At Barah Ministries we know this truth…that Jesus Christ is God. As the Lord He is 100% Deity. He is God the Son. He is also 100% true humanity just like you and me… He is Jesus Christ. The Lord, God the Son…became flesh…Jesus Christ... and lived among us. He is the Sovereign God of the Universe…He is the Savior of the whole world…and He is the Jewish Messiah.
Those who make Barah Ministries their spiritual home, believe in Jesus Christ. We are Christians, and we have a deep, intimate, and personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. The Lord Jesus Christ is a Person and not a thing or a concept. Just as we would do with any person we love, we spend time getting to know Him through the study of His Word. You can’t get to know the Lord without knowing His mind, and the Bible is His exact thinking.
I was reflecting on wine this week…on how it is made…and on where it comes from…grapes grown on a vine…and this verse came to mind…John, Chapter 15, Verse 5…
JOHN 15:5
I (the Lord Jesus Christ) am the vine…you believers in Christ are the branches…the believer who abides in union with Me and I indwelling him… he bears much fruit (the fruit of the Spirit) … for apart from Me (as an unbeliever) you can do nothing…
As believers in Christ, we are God’s fine wine. Doesn’t it make sense for us to get to know our God through the study of His Word so that He can produce fruit through us?
Barah Ministries makes a difference by teaching the Word of God from the Lord Jesus Christ’s perspective, and not from man’s perspective. We search the Scriptures to learn who the Lord is as a Person, and to learn what our God has to say about Himself, about His plan for all mankind, and about His personal plan for each of us. We look at life from His perspective.
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON - Teachers Don’t Get No Respect…No Respect at All!
LESSON INTRODUCTION
No one in right mind would ever take a leadership position. No one. Why? Because leaders volunteer to take the blame for everyone and everything. Yet many, including me, sign up for the abuse. In today’s lesson, Paul outlines some of the challenges of teaching. We don’t get no respect…no respect at all! In addition, as we do every month, we’ll celebrate The Lord’s Supper…we’ll honor the Ultimate Leader…our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…and we’ll learn that His work at the Cross made His believers holy and blameless…and we’ll learn the significance of this gift in our lives.
SONG INTRODUCTION
First John, Chapter 3, Verse 1 says…
FIRST JOHN 3:1
Look at the great and unconditional love God the Father has lavished on us (believers in Christ) … that we would be called children of God the Father… and that’s what we are! For this reason, the world (of unbelievers) does not know us (or recognize who and what we are…why?) … because the world did not know the Lord (they rejected a relationship with Christ).
An absolute love is what we have from our God…a love without conditions or requirements…a one-way love from God to us without hooks or tricks or hoops to jump through to get it. Here’s Christ Tomlin to sing about it in his song…JESUS LOVES ME
MUSIC AND REFLECTION
Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ
Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
JESUS LOVES ME
Chris Tomlin
OPENING PRAYER
Let us pray...
We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…
Father, thank you for inspiring us to step to the front…thank you for giving us the knowledge of You through letting us experience what Your Son experienced…intense tribulation…thanks for making our tribulation much less and not even comparable to His…
…help us to grow through the adversity to become people who reflect you in adverse situations…people who are able to “get no respect” yet able to keep on giving…
…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s
name...Amen.
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON - Teachers Don’t Get No Respect…No Respect at All!
Passage 3 of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians extends from Chapter 1, Verse 10 to Chapter 4, Verse 21. The apostle Paul is addressing rivalries and dissensions in the Corinthians Church. Why is Paul writing about divisions and rivalries? He tells us in this next section…First Corinthians. Chapter 4, Verses 6 to 13……
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:6
Now with regard to these things, brethren (believers in Christ)…these things I have applied both to myself and to Apollos for your sakes…so that you may learn…“Stick to what stands written” (obeying the Word of God)… so that not one of you will become puffed up with arrogance (self-absorption instead of self-knowledge)…favoring one person over another.
Stick to what is written reminds us that as believers in Christ we walk by faith and not by sight…
The real rivalries in the Corinthians church are among the “silent” leaders… not rivalries between the leaders up front, even though Paul connects the rivalries teachers. Paul is really addressing cliques in this rivalries and divisions passage. Paul wants the believers at Corinth to learn humility, which is teachability…the opposite of arrogance…the willingness to learn and to do what the Word of God says. But the people of first century Corinth, thanks to the influence of the Greeks, considered humility to be weakness. Paul IS rebuking the congregation in this entire passage…but Paul doesn’t want to single anyone out, even though he wants His powerful message to land solidly. So, Paul addresses the arrogance in the Corinthian church without being too direct by including himself and the other teachers in this rebuke as any great Pastor would. Paul continues with questions…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:7
For what makes you special? What do you have that you did not receive from God? And if you did receive everything (from God), why do you boast as if you had not received it (from God)?
Your talents…your abilities…your social skills…your blessings…your adversity…all come from God! Yet Paul says…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:8
So quickly you have become satisfied with yourselves…you have already become rich, and apart from us you have become kings (ones who reign… you elevated yourselves to a throne) … indeed, I wish that you did become kings so that we also might reign with you!
Paul is back to being sarcastic, saying, “You Corinthians are legends in your own mind.” True Kings, like the apostles and like Paul, rule with the gratitude for the Cross in mind.
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:9
For, I (Paul) think, God has displayed us apostles (your teachers) as last out of all…as men condemned to death…so that we might be a spectacle (a theatron) to the world…both to angels and to men.
You’ve heard the idea that people in heaven look down on us. Not true. It’s angels in the Supreme Court of Heaven looking down on us…in the theater of heaven…to learn the details of the Creator-creature conflict between the Lord and His enemy…Satan. What will they see?
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:10
We (as teachers) are fools for Christ’s sake…but you are sensible in union with Christ…we are weak, but you are strong…you are esteemed, but we are dishonored.
They will see people, teachers, who are being taken advantage of, and mistreated, and ignored just as Christ was. Paul outlines the disadvantages of being up front…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:11
To this present moment we are both hungry and thirsty…and we are poorly clothed (in tattered clothing) … we are roughly treated…and we are homeless…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:12
…and we toil…working with our own hands…yet when we are reviled, we bless…when we are persecuted, we endure…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:13
…when we are slandered, we speak encouragement…we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.
Paul has set us up for the big finish of this passage which we’ll take on next week. Being a leader…being a teacher is brutal…because we want to see results from you. We want to see you grow. We want to see fruits for our labors. Yet that is the rare exception rather than the rule. Yet as teachers, even though we are not respected here on earth as perhaps we should be…we press on for the blessed hope of a heaven where leadership is respected, honored and loved because it is without the disruptions and the disrespect caused by God’s enemy Satan. As a nation, our attitude toward our President is the perfect example of how not to teat someone in authority,
whether you like him or not. It’s absolutely disgusting to me. In fact, it’s downright dishonorable. When we return from our five-minute break, we’ll take the offering and then we’ll celebrate The Lord’s Supper. Do you know what it means that you have been redeemed?
FIVE MINUTE BREAK
NOBODY
Casting Crowns
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON - Teachers Don’t Get No Respect…No Respect at All!
When God puts us in positions of leadership, He wants us to care for the position well. Luke, Chapter 12, Verse 48 says…
LUKE 12:48
From everyone who has been given much, much will be required…and to whom is entrusted much, of him it will be asked all the more.
Be generous with the gifts your Lord has given you. Let your giving reflect amazing leadership. Let’s welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.
THE OFFERING
Deacon Denny Goodall
OFFERING VERSE
COLOSSIANS 1:16
For by the agency of the Lord Jesus Christ all things were created…both in the heavens and on earth…both visible and invisible…whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
OFFERING SONG
THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU
David Bauer, Instrumental
THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION
At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ Made Us Holy and Blameless
Welcome to The Lord’s Supper Celebration, the most intimate expression of our love for the Lord Jesus Christ in The Christian Way of Living. The Lord demonstrates His desire for a deep, intimate and personal relationship with His believers by creating a way to keep on sharing His body and His blood with us, just as He did with His apostles on the night before His death. Luke, Chapter 22, Verses 14 to 16…
LUKE 22:14
When the hour had come (and His crucifixion was near) … the Lord Jesus Christ reclined at the Passover table…and the apostles reclined with Him.
LUKE 22:15
And the Lord said to the apostles, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer … ”
LUKE 22:16
“…for I say to you I (the Lord Jesus Christ) shall never again eat this
Passover meal until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God the Father.”
In First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verse 26, the apostle Paul says, on behalf of the Lord…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:26
…as often as you eat this bread (representing His body)…and as often as you drink this cup (representing His blood)…as part of the Lord’s Supper Celebration…you proclaim as a reality and you announce the significance of the Lord Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross…and His resurrection from the dead…until He comes again at the second coming.
The Lord’s Supper Celebration is a time when the resident members of this congregation join hands through the miles with our non-resident members, and we demonstrate our unity by remembering our Lord together. This is a celebration for which we set aside time. We don’t do it on the move.
During the Lord's Supper Celebration, Jesus wants His believers to look
back to the Cross for a moment. He wants us to REMEMBER how He rescued us from the kingdom of darkness. He wants us to REMEMBER the sacrifice of shedding His blood to cover our sins. He wants us to REMEMBER the deliverance to the resurrection life He orchestrated, bringing us into His kingdom of light. Most of all, the Lord wants His believers to look forward with ANTICIPATION that He is coming again.
As believers in Christ, when we celebrate The Lord’s Supper, we ask ourselves in reflection, “What did the Lord Jesus Christ do for us at the Cross?” At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ made us HOLY AND BLAMELESS. Colossians, Chapter 3, Verse 12…
COLOSSIANS 3:12
So, as those who have been the chosen ones of God the Father…(whom HE has made) HOLY and beloved (a divinely loved one)…
Since God has made you HOLY AND BLAMELESS let’s start with a question. Please don’t answer the question out loud…answer it to yourself. I’ve been asking Christians a question they ought to know the answer to… “Who does God blame when Christians sin?”
We know that Christians are saints in God’s eyes…not sinners. Unbelievers are sinners. Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 8 says…
ROMANS 5:8
God the Father demonstrates His own unconditional love toward all mankind…in that while we were yet sinners (while we were unrighteous, ungodly, unbelievers) … Christ died (a sacrificial death) for us (at the Cross).
We also know that saints sin…believers in Christ continue to sin after salvation. I taught a lesson last year to prepare you for our study of First Corinthians…SAINTS SIN. Yet God says you are HOLY AND BLAMELESS. So holy ones sin? The apostle John confirms that saints sin, even though it is preferable not to…First John, Chapter 2, Verse 1…
FIRST JOHN 2:1
My little children (believers in Christ), I am writing these things to you (in this letter of the Bible) so that you may not sin. And if (1) anyone sins, and of course believers in Christ do, we have an Advocate with God the Father… Jesus Christ…the righteous One…
Now back to the question. “Who does God blame when Christians sin?”
The answer is…
Who do Christians blame when they sin? First and foremost, we blame ourselves. We also blame others. We listen to Satan’s prompting and we completely ignore what God says to us in Romans 7, which continues into Chapter 8, Verse 1…
ROMANS 8:1
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in union with Christ Jesus.
We have no right to judge ourselves or others, yet we do. The legalist will chime in here. “So, what you seem to be saying is that as Christians, we can sin anytime we want to.” That’s correct. We can…and we do. The legalist continues. “Well, you’re giving people a license to sin!” Actually, God gave us a license to sin by giving us free will. We can act independently from God. The legalist is back. “So, what you seem to be saying is you can just sin and get away with it. I think we need to repent from our sins.”
Are we going to follow what a legalist says…what false teachers claim…or what God says in His Word? Because anyone who thinks that God wants Christians to sin is a bit “touched.” Let’s get God’s point of view…Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 20…
ROMANS 5:20
The Mosaic Law was introduced (came in alongside of us) so that the transgression would increase…but where sin increased, (God’s) grace abounded all the more…
When there is a law, we break it. We drive above the speed limit…we walk on the grass when the sign says don’t…we disobey a parent and get hit in the head with a baseball bat (that’s me)! Yet in the spiritual realm, when we make mistakes (called sins) God gives us ABUNDANT grace. Then Romans, Chapter 6, Verses 1 and 2 say this…
ROMANS 6:1
What shall we believers in Christ say then? Are we to continue sinning so that God’s grace may increase (abounding even more to us)?
ROMANS 6:2
May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
Taking advantage of God is a childish thing to do. We would never want to do that. Yet we do make mistakes, and then we do something to ourselves and to others that God doesn’t do to us or others…we judge before the time. As we learned last week, we have no right to judge ourselves or others in the middle of our life’s race. God judges our race at the end.
When we are over focused on sin…we when are over focused on keeping the Law…we miss taking advantage of the generosity of God’s grace. More importantly, as Paul says in Galatians Chapter 2, Verse 21…to the legalistic Galatians…
GALATIANS 2:21
“I (Paul) do not (ouk) NULLIFY the grace of God…for if righteousness comes through (keeping) the Mosaic Law, then Christ died needlessly.”
When we ignore what Christ did for us at the Cross by shedding His blood for us…the complete and ONLY satisfactory payment for our sins, once and for all time…when we think that we can clean up our own sins…when we think we can be “Christ-like” … when we think we can be “good” and impress God….we delude ourselves. What did Christ do for all mankind at the Cross? Colossians, Chapter 2, Verses 13 and 14…
COLOSSIANS 2:13
When you were spiritually dead in your transgressions and you were in the uncircumcision of your flesh (at physical birth)…yet God the Father made you spiritually alive together with Christ, having forgiven us ALL of our transgressions…
COLOSSIANS 2:14
…having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us…which was hostile to us…and Jesus Christ has taken the certificate of debt out of the way, having nailed it to the Cross.
As a result, believers in Christ are REDEEMED…purchased from slavery to sin. First Peter, Chapter 1, Verses 18 and 19…
FIRST PETER 1:18
…you were not REDEEMED with perishable things like silver or gold from the futile way of life you inherited from your forefathers…
FIRST PETER 1:18
…but you were redeemed with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
The Lord’s work at the Cross makes you HOLY and BLAMELESS. Do you feel HOLY and BLAMELESS? You don’t! Why? Because you focus on sin that is already paid for instead of focusing on serving the Gracious One. And when you refuse to accept what Christ did for you at the Cross, you’re telling the Lord that you don’t accept His finished work on your behalf. How does that help you?
A passage in Colossians brings the point home…Colossians, Chapter 1, Verses 21 to 23…
COLOSSIANS 1:21
And although you believers in Christ were formerly alienated from the life of God (as spiritually dead unbelievers)…and hostile in mind…engaged in evil deeds…
COLOSSIANS 1:22
…yet the Lord Jesus Christ has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death (on a Cross…designed to get a definite result) … in order to present you believers in Christ (at the Judgment Seat of Christ) before God the Father HOLY AND BLAMELESS AND BEYOND REPROACH (completely sanctified)—
COLOSSIANS 1:23
…if (1) indeed you continue in the faith…and of course you will (ge… without a doubt)…firmly established and steadfast (by studying the Word of God)…and not moved away (from studying the Word of God by an outside agent…not being moved away by anyone or by anything) from the hope of the gospel (the confidence of the coming exit resurrection of the Church… the Rapture) that you have heard about…which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven…and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
Instead of being moved away from the conscious knowledge of the hope we have…the absolute confidence of a victorious present and a victorious future…we are to keep on pursuing the prize of rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verses 3 and 4 say this…
EPHESIANS 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…who has blessed us believers in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in union with Christ…
EPHESIANS 1:4
…just as God the Father chose us believers in Christ to be in union with Christ before the foundation of the world…that we would be HOLY AND BLAMELESS before the Father.
You are holy and blameless thanks to what Christ did for you at the Cross. God the Holy Spirit is continuing to perfect your holiness so that you are conformed to the image of the Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. And God the Holy Spirit has never failed a single time. So, as we look back at the Cross during this Lord’s Supper Celebration, let’s rest in the finished work of our Lord, and let’s not be moved away by a “smack talking” enemy who wants us to abandon our victory and our confidence by lying to us.
THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION
Enjoying the Elements
Obeying God’s command, we keep on celebrating Christ and His Cross
regularly. We eat to remember who He is as a PERSON. We drink to remember His WORK on the Cross…the voluntary sacrifice He made to deliver us. We remember with gratitude what God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ have done to save us. Matthew, Chapter 26, Verses 26 to 28…
MATTHEW 26:26
While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take…eat…this is My body (which is being broken for you).”
MATTHEW 26:27
And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you…”
MATTHEW 26:28
“…for this is My blood…the blood of a new testament (a new covenant)… blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of their sins.”
As you enjoy the bread and the cup, REMEMBER the Cross, and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who hung there. Let us keep on giving thanks that we are loved unconditionally, that we are forgiven, and that we are accepted fully by a Lord who is always there for us…the One on whom we can depend. Let’s keep on being transformed by His life…His death…His burial…His resurrection from the dead…and His Word.
SONG INTRO
Do you remember what the Lord said to us in John, Chapter 15, Verse 5?
JOHN 15:5
I (the Lord Jesus Christ) am the vine…you believers in Christ are the branches…the believer who abides in union with Me and I indwelling him… he bears much fruit (the fruit of the Spirit)…for apart from Me (as an unbeliever) you can do nothing…
Danny Gokey puts that sentiment to song…IF YOU AIN’T IN IT.
LORD’S SUPPER SONG
IF YOU AIN’T IN IT
Danny Gokey
GOD WANTS YOU!
Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life
The closing moments of our study are for the benefit of anyone who does not have a personal relationship with the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We want you to know that GOD WANTS YOU.
As human parents, often we are emotional, arbitrary, and sentimental. We tell our children exactly what we want them to do, expecting they will do it. Quite often, they do the opposite…and quite often they ask us for an exception to our request. “I know I didn’t do exactly what you asked…but please, please, please…can I do it my way?” Often, our emotional, arbitrary, and sentimental side kicks in, and we allow them to go against our requests. We allow them to disobey. By doing this, we teach them to ignore our requests in critical matters.
Many people think God is a similar parent. God tells us exactly what we must do to be saved, and many don’t do it, but they think in the end God will be emotional, arbitrary, and sentimental...and He will let them into heaven their own way. But in John, Chapter 14, Verse 6…
JOHN 14:6
Jesus said…“I am the way (to salvation)…and I am the truth (through the Word of God)…and I am the resurrection life…and no one comes to God the Father (in heaven) but through believing in Me.”
Your salvation is a critical matter, and the Lord isn’t emotional, or arbitrary, or sentimental about it. He’s crystal clear. In Matthew, Chapter 7, Verse 21, the Lord says…
MATTHEW 7:21
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven...but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter into the kingdom.”
What is God’s will in the matter of your salvation? Second Peter, Chapter 3, Verse 9 tells us what is NOT God’s will…
SECOND PETER 3:9b
…(it is not God’s will) for any of you (unbelievers) to perish (in the Lake of Fire) but for all of you to come to repentance (a change of mind about having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ).
What IS God’s will is simple, revealed in Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…
ACTS 16:31
“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”
If we ignore God’s critical request, there are consequences…John, Chapter 3, Verse 36…
JOHN 3:36
“He who believes in the Son has the resurrection life right at that moment… but he who does not obey the command to believe in the Son will not see the resurrection life…instead the wrath of God (the Lake of Fire) abides on him.”
Who is this God who saves you? The apostle Paul describes the Lord Jesus Christ in First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verses 3 and 4…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:3
For I (Paul) delivered to you as of primary importance the gospel message I also received… that it was Jesus Christ who died for our sins according to the Scriptures…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:4
…and that He was buried…and that He was raised from the dead on the third day…according to the Scriptures…
So, if you want to get to heaven, it’s probably just best to do what God asks you to do…Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…
ACTS 16:31
“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”
When we believe, we simply take God’s word for it in the matter of what it takes to be saved…and we do it!
SONG INTRO
In Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verses 7 and 8 the apostle Paul tells us…
EPHESIANS 1:7-8
In union with Christ, we believers in Christ have redemption through Christ’s shed blood…the forgiveness of our trespasses…according to the glorious riches of His grace which the Lord lavished on us…
June Murphy echoes this sentiment in her song WE’RE FORGIVEN.
CLOSING SONG
WE’RE FORGIVEN
June Murphy
CLOSING PRAYER
Let us pray...
Thanks for coming!
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for listening!
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