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Hey, listen. God has made us worshipers. Shall we worship him? Let's do this. Let's stand up.
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We'll sing together. We'll wake up this way.
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Alright. Before the day, before the day, before the night, before the world falls upon the sun. God on high, stepped down into time, and wrote the story of his love for everyone. And he has filled our hearts with wonder so that we'd always remember. You and I made to worship.
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You and I called to love. You and I forgiven and free. You and I embrace surrender. You and I choose to be. You and I will see who we were meant to be.
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And all we are and all we have. All we are and all we have. It's all the gift from God that we receive. Brought to life. We open up our eyes to see the majesty go beyond the tree.
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And he's filled our hearts with wonder so that we'd always remember. You and I are made to worship. You and I are called love. You and I are forgiven and free. You and I embrace surrender.
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You
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Let's pray together, should we? God, you gave us another day. Thank you for breath in our lungs. Thank you for meaning and purpose. Thank you that you have created us for you.
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Thank you, God, for your wonderful life, your death, your resurrection, ascension, your Holy Spirit that fills us up. May we remember. Amen.
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Amen. Y'all can be seated. I've got a couple of announcements. Actually, one of them is just welcome. Glad that you're here.
3:56
Last night, it was it's been so pretty here for so long. Last night, it thundered outside and Tanya said, what was that? And it started raining and she said, she checked her phone, she said, it's not raining. Now, I opened the door and I said, no, it's raining. It actually is and y'all y'all came on out anyway.
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So, I'm glad that you're here. Glad you got out in it because it's coming. So, come on. We also have one announcement, I think. We would like to take your picture.
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We don't want the little image. You remember the image from the high school yearbooks that said, picture not available or not taken, you know, the out out to school or out to lunch. Please, please, please, let somebody here take your picture and Doug, where are you? Doug Wacham has a camera right there and if you, when you're going down the hall to the connect hour, which happens between services about ten ish, maybe a little early today, maybe a little late. We'll see.
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If you go down the hall, on the right, there's going to be a a bulletin board that has pictures up on it so that you can start to know some people's names. There are a lot of new folks and we don't know everybody and some of the new folks don't know the old folks and so if you would, new or old, please let Doug or somebody with a camera take your picture and we're going to do that and I think that that's the only weird or different announcement. Am I wrong? Is there a weird or different announcement? All of our fall programs are up and running so that means Monday nights at first B runs year round.
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Anyway, 06:15 meal music and message. Concurrent with that in this room is the Awana time, 05:45, six right around there. They get started. So, that is in this room, Awana is great. We have Women's Wednesday worship every Wednesday at noon and what else is going on?
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Thursday precept study, Thursday mornings at nine. What's that? Men's fraternity at six. Warming the place up in the morning with breakfast in here, in this room, 06:00 in the morning. There's a video, laugh your way to a better marriage for four more weeks and then they'll go into Steven Mansfield's Book of Manly Men.
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So it's really really good. But that's the normal stuff. All of that stuff is in your bulletin note. So I do have one more thing I'd like for you to do. Ladies, there was a retreat, the tenth through the twelfth up at the Heart six, and I'm gonna ask Anne if she'll come up, Anne Stalker.
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Anne kinda instigated this. She actually had come to me a couple of years ago and said, you need to do this. We need to do this at first b, and it went from you need to do this and we need to do this and to I feel compelled to do this. And so she kinda got the ball rolling, but there are lots of teachers and lots of people involved. I'm gonna ask all of you or let her ask all of you to come up.
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So good morning, everyone. Two weeks ago, there was a house makeover at Heart six Ranch with about fifty first B ladies. We retreated in order to advance our Christian faith as we took a closer look at the topic, my heart, Christ's home. Four excellent teachers from our congregation asked us to examine scripture to have Jesus fully live in the many rooms of our heart. We discussed in small group settings what the Christian life looks like when we let Jesus do a room by room makeover, when we let him clean out the stinky bits of our lives, and we let when we let him be the owner and master of our hearts and lives.
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So we worshipped, we glorified God, we laughed, we cried, we were convicted, we were pushed to think, reflect, and change. During free time, some played outside, some played indoors, and some enjoyed a spiritual workshop on forgiving others. We enjoyed new and renewed friendships over five delicious meals. Of course, we sang joyfully to our lord. One song, I Give You My Heart, reflects the themes of sanctification, surrender, and Holy Spirit transformation from our weekend away.
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We would like to sing it to you one time and as you listen, please enjoy the slideshow and then, we would like to sing it again. You all have the lyrics. We'd like you for the second time to stand up and join us in singing. So, we hope that the slideshow captures a little bit of the fun and fellowship that we experienced and we hope to do it again next year. Thank you.
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Amen. Thank you, ladies and would you all just mingle for a minute? Y'all get together. It's the end of the announcements time. Would you get together?
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Love one another.
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Alright. We serve a holy God. Shall we sing to him?
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Alright. We'll sing holy holy holy. We're gonna sing from the cradle to the cross. God with us. From the cradle.
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God and man, you are high and lifted up. And all the world might praise your great name. For the name. Your great name.
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You can be seated.
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The children are dismissed to go down to Peak Children's Church. When Tanya and I were down in Mexico, we had a a white ministry van. It was a 15 passenger van with a v 10 big van, you know, and it had a CD player in it that got stuck on that song. For two years. The last two years we were down there, I listened to that song.
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If I was in that van, I listened to either that song or the radio but it was it was stuck in there. That was it. But I love it. And what what better advice can you have? Come to Jesus and live.
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That's it's great. As we're going forward, this is kind of funny to me. In that, we, I told you when we got to chapter eight, we're going to talk about meat offered to idols and it seems like it's a release for us a little bit that okay, I hadn't eaten any meat offered to idols lately. So, I'm I should be alright through this one. Well, this is the third sermon about eating meat offered to idols and I don't think it's just about meat offered to idols.
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For us, that's not normally our typical thing. One of the sermons I mentioned, who you love is more important than what you know and I think that'll probably come up again but first Corinthians ten twenty three through eleven one is the next little section. Those numbers, you know, were added later, not divinely inspired. I'm pretty sure that eleven one goes with this section because it takes a pretty dramatic change in eleven two and he goes on to another point of teaching. We'll hopefully get to that next week.
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Might skip next week and come back to it but first Corinthians ten twenty three through eleven one is where we are. If you want to turn in the pew Bibles, the pew bibles, most of them, the red ones are NIV. The dark blue ones are NLT, New Living Translation. The burgundy colored ones are revised standard version. We have an amalgamation out there and you'll hear me when I'm speaking.
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I will usually use the New King James. That's kind of what I grew up with and that's what I remember. I memorized in the old King James, most of em and I can still recognize em in the New King James. That's why I use that. I think that after we finish with first Corinthians, I want to do a study just for one Sunday.
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We're going to do a history of the Bible in English because I think that that's something that unnecessarily divides people. I don't feel it here at all but I I want to do that. I'm looking forward to. That's a forecast. That's a little bit out there but 10/23 through eleven one.
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Most of it I'll do in the New King James but one of em I'm going to swap over translations and I'm doing that. Hopefully, the reason that I do it is not because it proves my point. I want to do it because every translation gives a little something up and I think that sometimes the New King James is just so confusing for us in modern parlance that we can't even understand what it says. So, I will go for that. All things are lawful for me but not all things are helpful.
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All things are lawful for me but not all things edify. Now, y'all know that Paul had received a letter back and since chapter seven, he's been talking to them about the things that they had mentioned in his letter and one of the things that they mentioned him is about liberty in Christ and all things are lawful or all things are permissible for me. All things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me but not all things edify. He mentioned something very similar to this a couple of chapters back.
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This one I think gets at the heart of it. He's saying, yes, you do have liberty in Christ and you are really free. He's written the law in your heart. You're not encumbered. You're not going to be castigated.
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You're not going to be cast out. But be honest with yourself and with other people. It's permissible, but is it helpful? Does it build up? Is it constructive?
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That's what he's saying. Yeah. You could do that. Should you do that? That's Paul's point.
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Does that make sense? All things are permissible for me but not all things are helpful. After that first sermon that I talked about, somebody came up afterwards and says, yeah, but what is the throttle mechanism? What is it that makes lets you know when is it that you're stepping on somebody's toes? When is it that you're offending a brother that you don't even realize it?
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When are you causing him to stumble? And what should be your motivation? Well, Paul starts off again here. All things are permissible for me. All things are lawful.
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You know, we're not encumbered anymore by that law, but not all things are helpful and you have to realize it. And this is the standard well, helpful and edified. That's helpful is actually healthy, comfortable, good for you, building up, it gets even more at it. Not all things construct or build up, edify. How are we to judge which is which?
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What's good for us? What's not good for us? The next verse he goes to it sounds very much. All Pauline theology is grounded in do medical tradition, right? When Jesus said that we should love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love our neighbor as our self.
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Paul says, let no one seek his own but each one, the others, well-being. Anytime you see that, italics right there, that's to help it make sense in in the translation. It's to help it make sense in our language. Actually, the Greek on that is funny. It says, let me see if I wrote it up here.
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Third person command, yes. This is a third person imperative. Let seek. When we say, let us pray or let him let everything that has breath praise the Lord. For us, it seems like we're saying to God, God, allow this to happen.
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Does that make sense to you? Does that the way you see it? When you say, let us pray. We're saying, okay, if y'all are all in agreement, let us all pray or let that happen, lord but that's not what it is. It's a third person command.
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We don't do that in English. We only do second person commands. We say, Ryan, would you get up and go get your mandolin? Ryan, get up and go get your mandolin. More like it, imperative.
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If I were to say, I I can't even do it. We can't even think that way in English. I can't look at Ryan and say, Peter has to get the mandolin. It doesn't make any sense to us because it's an actual command. He's saying, Paul is saying, no one which is anyone, right?
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It's any of us. No one or anyone. Do not seek your own but seek the other. And it's that short. It says, do not seek your own self.
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Seek the other. Does that make sense? It makes more sense if you put well-being in there and I think we all know that. Let no one seek his own but each one, the other's well-being but it's very very short. He's saying, it's not about you.
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Yes, you can do that but it's not about you. You are allowed. Yes, but is it helpful? Is it constructive to you and to the body? And Paul's primary concern up under his commission from Christ is the building up of the kingdom, the advance of the gospel, the building up of the church.
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Now, Christ is building his church, right? But he's doing it through human agency led by the Holy Spirit. He's doing his building through people and Paul recognizes and says, let no one seek his own but one, the others well-being. Okay. Now, he goes on.
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It seems abrupt to us that he would go, eat whatever sold in the market, the meat market, asking no questions for conscience sake, for the earth is the Lord and all its fullness. Does that seem to go at all with what he just said before that? It doesn't really to us but what he's saying is, alright, it's not about you. Yes, you could do that but it's not about you. And then he backs off and says, go ahead and eat whatever's in the market.
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Do you get it? Go ahead. It's cool. It's alright, really. You can eat whatever's in the meat market.
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Now, could have said right here, meat market, there's another word for idol worship, you know, things that were offered to idols, the meat. He doesn't use that. He just means normal food. It's normal food. If somebody's selling it past the point of having offered it to idols, Come on, people.
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Do y'all get that? What eat whatever's sold in the meat market and ask no questions for conscience sake. For the earth is the Lord and all its fullness. This earth is the Lord and all its fullness. You might read right past it and go, Paul, what are you smoking?
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This makes no sense whatsoever. Psalm 24 though is it says this, the earth is the Lord and all its fullness. The world and those who dwell therein and it's part of a Jewish blessing that's used at meal time. It's a very normal thing. Actually, the Jews did not normally always pray before the meal.
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They enjoyed the meal and then prayed the blessing. I've heard some people say, if they enjoyed it but no, that's not true. It was part of a blessing and it was done actually before and after most of the time but this is part of a Jewish blessing that was used at meal time. So, it makes sense that Paul says, eat it. Say the blessing, okay?
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It really is something that God can handle. I know it's offending your religiosity. A lot of people say because the church in Corinth was made up of both Jews and Gentiles that this would have been a sticky wicket. It would have been a very sensitive subject for the Jews because they have been taught not to eat certain things, not to eat things that have been prepared a certain way, not to ever eat in the house of a Gentile, not to ever eat in the house of a Sumerian. Gracious.
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They've been taught not to, not to, not to, not to, not to. And Paul's saying, no. Go ahead and eat it. Asking no questions for conscience sake. For the earth is the Lord in all its fullness.
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Whatever sold in the meat market. Now, that's you going and buying something at the meat market. Go ahead. Get it. That's fine and if you go in and you say, is it okay?
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Is this kosher? Is everything exactly so? Can I inspect your kitchen? Have you had the priest buy? All of that stuff, Paul says, come on.
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It's okay. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience sake and he just said before that, all things are lawful for me but not all things are helpful. He's kind of saying, relax your religiosity. Relax it. But don't relax it so much that you just act like the world.
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Don't blend to the point that you aren't salty, you aren't light. Consider whether or not it's helpful. Consider whether or not it edifies. Alright, where were we? Right here.
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This reminds me of Acts 10. When I read this, I think of Peter and actually, I think back beyond that when Jesus was talking to the lady in Samaria at the well and then she has this encounter with Jesus and she accepts what he says is the truth. He's told her everything about her life. She goes back into town and she tells everybody. This man showed me everything that I had ever done and she said it with a smile.
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She loved him and she introduced him to people and he went into town and the disciples were there with him and they spent three days, the Bible says. Three days, Peter spent in Samaria. Good Jewish boy. We'll see what he says right here. Let's just do this.
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This is from Acts 10. Now, this is later. This is after Jesus has been crucified, dead, buried, and resurrected, and restored Peter after his fall. All of those things had happened before this and Peter had saw, had seen, sorry, had seen the Holy Spirit descend at Pentecost and he had seen some great and amazing things. So, Peter, the next day, as they went up on the their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, good Jewish boy.
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Christian, but he's been raised right and he's in his tradition. He went up on the housetop to pray and it was about the sixth hour and he became very hungry and he wanted to eat But while they made ready, he fell into a trance and he saw heaven open and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four footed animals of the earth while beasts creeping things and birds of the air. And the voice came to him, a voice came to him, rise Peter, kill and eat. Does that make some of y'all hunters just go, oh, rise, kill, and eat.
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It's like 04:30 in the morning going to stalking elk or turkey or whatever. Rise, Peter, kill and eat but Peter said, not so lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean. He spent three days in Samaria with Jesus. He must have fasted the whole time because there was nothing clean in that little town. I have never eaten anything common or unclean.
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I keep the law. I'm I'm I'm I'm holding it. I'm holding the line. I'm not about to do this. No way.
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And a voice spoke to him again the second time. What God has cleansed, you must not call common. And this was done three times and the object was taken up into heaven again and that was a place where it was kind of the relaxation had happened, right? The relaxing of the dietary laws. It was something that if you're going to reach the whole world, you gotta relax about some of the stuff, okay?
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If you're going to reach the whole world, I don't know what God's purpose was in the beginning from it. A lot of people say they do. I don't know if they do. I'm not sure. Lots of things were pointing towards Christ.
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They're pointing to our holiness but when it gets to the point where he's ready to spread his message to the rest of the world, he's saying, alright, love people. Love them well. Hold the line on loving people. It must be about that. These dietary laws, I'm releasing you.
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For for Peter and then they started from there. Now, we still struggle with it. You see Peter struggling with it? You see the church struggling with it? What are the questions that comes up over and over?
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They wrote the letter in Acts that went back to Jerusalem Council. They said, what should you should do? You don't eat meat offered to idols. The Corinthians know that and they write Paul and say, what about meat offered to idols? And when he's telling them, this is what I think of actually when I when I see this passage.
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My pork, oh my goodness. I miss it so bad. This, oh, doesn't that look delicious? Smokey pig, barbecue, Lynnwood Boulevard, Columbus, Georgia. It makes my heart flutter just a little bit.
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My mother-in-law, when she comes out and she comes out fairly regularly, she always brings smoky pig barbecue for us, and she forgot the sauce this time. Look at that sauce. It's perfect. Barbecue sauce is not supposed to be red. I don't care what y'all say.
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Anyway, I had to mix my own sauce this time and I'm not a cook but I got it kind of close. I'm saying and Paul goes on to say it. I'm not just saying it. This is the new King James version of the second passage. Listen to this and see what you hear.
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If any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no question for conscience sake. But if anyone says to you, this was offered to idols, do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you and for conscience sake. And the earth for the earth is the Lord's and all its fullness. Conscience, I say, not your own, but that of the other. For why is my liberty judged by another man's conscience?
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But if I partake with thanks, why am I evil spoken of for the food over which I gave thanks? Did you all get that? Yes. Yes. That's what I got out of that and I studied it all week long.
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I think the New Living Translation which is a translation I I underline the T up there. It's an actual translation and they take into account every word. It's not a paraphrase like the old living Bible was. If someone who isn't a believer ask you home for dinner, accept the invitation if you want to. Does that sound, hey, that's pretty easy.
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Paul is saying, relax. It's okay to go into a Gentile's home. It's okay to go into an unbeliever's home. It's okay. Now, a couple weeks ago, we were talking about going to the temple to eat and going into the temple to eat is kind of a different thing.
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There's a lot especially in those temples. There was a lot of sexual immorality. It was a part of pagan worship. There was a lot of lots of stuff, bad stuff. I, this morning, woke up with an illustration that I'd deign to use.
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I'm not really sure that I should. Go into Sidewinders. Yeah. There's a bar in Sidewinders. Oh my goodness.
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That I would never have gone to Sidewinders when I a little kid. Never ever been in there. We went to Bonanza because the strongest thing they had was Doctor Pepper. We did. But for me going to Sidewinders is like I don't real, I don't still think about it and go, oh, like I used to.
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I relaxed that a little bit. Now, I don't drink. This is not, I'm not, I don't. But if somebody wants to meet me there rather than meet me here, you better bet I'm going to meet them there. That's just the way that it is.
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I think that that's what Paul is saying. Accept the invitation if you want to go. It's loving them. Now, if somebody asked me to Hooters, I don't think I could go. I really don't.
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I think that that's a pagan temple. I just don't get that. I'm not sure. If you don't know what that is, praise Jesus. I'm glad.
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Thank you. Alright. If someone who isn't a believer asks you home for dinner, accept the invitation if you want to go. Eat whatever is offered to you without raising questions of conscience. Who you love is more important than what you know.
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And then, I think the New Living Translation has it right that there's a parenthesis right here. This parenthesis kind of makes this make sense. If you don't put this in a parenthesis, this whole section, then I can't see how verse 30 makes any sense at all and I've got a lot of commentators that agree with me. That's why it has the parenthesis in this version. But suppose someone does tell you, this meat was offered to an idol, then don't eat it out of consideration for the conscience of the one who told you.
35:46
It might be a matter of conscience for you. It might not be a matter of conscience for you, but it is for that other person. They brought it up for a reason. If they're inviting you in, you have to you have to believe any encounter that you have is an opportunity. As a Christian, any encounter that you have with anybody, anywhere is an opportunity.
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I'm not saying it's an opportunity to hand them a track and say, you need to go to Jesus or you're going to die and go to hell. Where that might be true, it is not terribly loving. Okay? But suppose someone tells you this meat was offered to an idol. There is something to people testing what a Christian will do, where you will go, how you will act, given a situation, given a choice.
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What are you going to do in this place? And for them, it very much could be, is he going to cave? Is he going to do something dishonest? If you're a accountant, says, well, this is the way to do it without paying the tax. If somebody says, well, this is the way.
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They know you're a believer. Hopefully, your life is lived in such a way that they know you're a believer. Suppose someone tells you this meat was offered to an idol. They throw it out there. Oh, this meat was offered to an idol.
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Either they're thinking you're a Christian and you don't do this or they're thinking, he's a Christian. I wonder if he'll do this. Either way, his conscience is the one that is going to be affected. It's an it's not a moral issue for you but if he brings it up, Paul says, it's not worth it. It's not worth it that loss of friendship.
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It's not worth it. You can argue theology with him once he's a Christian if you want to. You know, who you love is more important than what you know. He's already told you it's okay to eat what's from the meat market. Now, he's saying, don't eat it out of consideration for that conscience.
37:41
It might not be a matter of conscience for you. I would almost put an obviously in here. It obviously is for that person if they brought it up. They don't want to offend your delicate sensibilities, whatever. Or they're testing you.
37:54
If Paul says, if I can thank God for the food and enjoy it like I can love that half pound plate at the Smoky Pig, you know? I probably would not invite my rabbi friends in on that. I just wouldn't do it. But it's out of consideration for them and what I know that is they believe. If I'm invited in to a house of a Muslim and I know that there is a great concern for halal meat and making sure it's exactly done exactly the same way, very similar to the ancient Hebrews in the way that they did meat.
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I'm going to eat whatever's offered to me, and I'm not going to eat it with my left hand because that's not done. I'm going to do a lot of things different from the way that I normally function but it's out of love for them so that I have audience, so that I have a way. It's not, oh, this this is kind of one of those things that gets me to. I'm not saying be nice to people and sneak up on em. Do you understand?
38:55
There there was a series of commercials that the Mormon Church put out years and years ago and it was all these random nice deeds that people were doing and they they really was more like be really sweet to the rest of the people then we'll get a chance to bring em in. I'm not saying that. I'm saying, if you love people, if you love people, meet them where they are. Meet them where they are. If I can thank God for the food and joy, why should be I, why should I be condemned for eating it?
39:23
He says that up back up to the first verse that I read, 27 there. If someone who isn't a believer ask you home for dinner, accept the invitation if you want to, eat whatever is offered to you without raising questions of conscience. If I can thank God for the food and enjoy it, why should I be condemned for eating it? Do you get it now? Does that make sense?
39:42
Okay. A lot of blank stares at the beginning but you're starting to nod. Okay. Another quick story about this. Naughty.
39:50
Natividad, and Francisco invited us over to their house. When I went to Mexico for the first time and then Tanya came back with me, we went down. Tanya was a vegetarian and had been for nine years and we wandered in and Nadi came out and she had a big old pot and she said, you know, she just went on to a long, long speech. I want to say thank you for what the school has done for Francisco and all of this stuff and she said, we've prepared a meal of tamales. We usually only do this on birthdays and special occasions Tanya's vegetarian.
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I was like, oh, tamales. There are pork tamales in there, beef tamales, and I was like, oh, good. That's lovely. And I was going to eat it obviously. Out of my concern for the other, was I was going, I looked, I cut my eyes over at Tanya, she said, don't you dare say a word, and she ate.
40:43
That's it's out of love for the people. Now, she was sick as a dog afterwards because she had no enzymes for dealing with that stuff or or whatever but but she still, they became some of our closest friends. I still stay in contact with them by the internet and Francisco is a believer now and so is his whole family. The ministry of the school was to them. So, therefore, whether you eat or drink and Paul saying, a moral issue doesn't matter whether you do or don't, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
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The glory of God. We hear it all the time. We sing about it. Good gracious. We sing about it all the time.
41:22
Glory of God. What is the glory of God? What is God's glory? And I, you know, you know me. I went into a couple of different ways and I'm not going those ways but the intrinsic glory of God cannot be changed.
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God is God. He is love. He is who he is and nothing we do can change that. We can't diminish it and we can't make it any bigger because it can't get any bigger. So, the the intrinsic glory of God is never to be changed but the ascribed glory of God, systematic theologians call it, the ascribed glory of God is the glory that is rendered to him, that's given to him.
41:59
He deserves it. He actually deserves all the credit that he gets and more. You will never reach giving him his intrinsic but the more people on Earth that give glory to God, the better. The more often we as his believers give glory to God, the better. It is what our lives should be about.
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Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Have that in consideration. Does this build God up or does this tear down tear God down? In my life, for all of you too, in your lives, does what I'm doing right now build God up or tear him down? Being legalistic tears him down.
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Being so full of license that you do whatever, tears him down, especially if you're a believer. So, do all that you do to the glory of God. I like what Chuck Reyrie said about this, Charles Reyrie and I call him Chuck. This is funny because my best professor, my favorite professor in seminary was best friends with Charles Reyrie and he called him Chuck and I think it's funny. God's glory and is his reputation.
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To live for God's glory means to live so that God's reputation is enhanced. It's heightened in quantity and in quality and is not diminished in any way. Praise God. That's God's glory. That's kind of what it's about.
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You can't see this very well from where you're sitting. Maybe you can on this screen. This one's a little better. Johan Sebastian Bach, when signing off and I've heard this a couple of times recently, I heard it at a school opening a while back. Johan Sebastian Bach, when he would sign off on a piece, at the end, he would sign off like this, either SDG or Soli Deo Gloria, which is only to God the glory.
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And Bach said and wrote, the aim and final end of all music, and what was his life about? JS Bach? Music. It was all about music. But what he saw that music to be, the aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God.
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It should enhance God's reputation among those who do not know him and the refreshment of the soul. So, solo, solo, Deo Gloria is only the God the glory. So, after the whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. He says, give no offense either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God. So, he's saying, when you're around the Jews, get with them.
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Spend the time with them. Love them in the way that they can be comfortable. Present the message especially among the Jews. They know the whole Old Testament. If you will respect their traditions enough to offer new insight, to offer old verses with Christ in the picture, then you have a better chance.
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If you say, do whatever I want to. I'm going to eat whatever I want to. I'm going to walk however I want to and I'm not going to pray at the right time. That would be an offense given to Jews. To the Greeks, they seek after knowledge.
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By all means, Paul in Acts, not far after, Acts 17, he quotes from the pagan scholars. He quotes from the prophets. He quotes from all of them. So, the Greeks or the church of God. Just as I also please all men and all things.
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Now, you know, you can't please all the people all the time. What he's saying is, I I try my best. I do what I can to get there. I won't go into the place of sinning with them but I will go with them and I'll get there with them because I love them. Not seeking my own not seeking my own prophet but the prophet of many that they may be saved.
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That is the throttle mechanism right there. That they may be saved. If you realize that what you're doing is not helping, you might not be the one for that job. That's really hard, really hard to take. So that they might be saved.
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There might be a different way to deliver that message. Not seeking my own profit, credit, reputation, but the profit of many that they may be saved. And I'm going to end here in just a second. What does that mean, Renzi? Are you doing a symbol to me?
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Is there something that I'm supposed to know? Good. Alright. It's just a nervous twitch. That's good.
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S s d g, we saw means solely Deo Gloria. So, that is only to God the glory and he signed off at the end of those. So, the last thing that he wrote on a piece of music when it was finished, when he feel like he had completed his task, that was God given to him. Only to God the glory but at the beginning, does anybody know what JJ means? That right there is JJ and it is Yeizu Yuba.
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Yube, I'm not sure, Latin scholars. It means Jesus help. It's a second person command directly to Jesus. Jesus, help. That's the first thing he wrote.
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Up in the top corner of that side of the page, Jesus, help me. It's prayerful when he started, moves all the way through. He's doing the work that God's wired him to do and the to the best of his ability and when he gets to the end, no credit for me, it goes to God. Solo day of glory. So, this verse goes with that section, I believe.
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Paul says to them, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. Now, there are couple of things that sounds really haughty in a way. Imitate me because I'm the man. He doesn't say that. He says, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ.
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He's saying, imitate Christ in the same ways that I do. I thought about that. I thought, how could Paul not imitate Christ? What are the ways that Paul could not imitate Christ? He cannot live a perfect life.
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You cannot live a perfect life. You can live a holy life and you can live a life surrendered to God but you're going to make mistakes. Forgiveness is available. Love is available. God can get you through your mistakes and you can learn from em.
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You cannot live a perfect life because you already haven't. You've already made mistakes. You can't live a perfect life. Christ did. Lived an absolutely perfect life, owed no sin debt whatsoever.
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Paul could not die a sacrificial atoning death for sin. He could not do it because he had his own sin to pay for. Christ could and did. He said that he would. He did.
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He was raised, resurrected, and told us to go tell the story. Now, Paul could not personally extend the gospel to every tribe, tongue, and nation. Christ does that. He says, I will build my church and he does. That's what he does.
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Jesus helped me. How can I help? Imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. How did Paul imitate Christ? He was obedient to God's revealed will.
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If you feel like there's something that you must do, that you have to, that it's a God given task, you have to be obedient to it. Now, how you do that? You might bump your head against the wall over and over and over again. Stick into the task prayerfully, whatever. Jesus, help me.
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Jesus, help me. Jesus, help me find the way that's loving to them and true to your word and true to your calling on my life. Please help me. He was obedient to God's revealed will. He loved God and he loved people.
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Do you see that in Paul? Oh my goodness. I'm seeing it more and more as being a pastor and studying this closer and closer every week. I see that he just loved people. I used to think he was judgmental and kind of a legalist.
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He's not he's not. He's not heavy handed. He loves people and out of love for people, he wants for them to have a direct connection with God that he feels himself and Paul did imitate him. He was willing to extend God's message of love and forgiveness to people who he knew would reject it because he truly loved them with God's love. He did it the same way that Jesus did from the time he got his commission.
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He lived forward from that knowing that it could kill him and it did. But he still believed it and he still kept going. So, he had a sacrificial love just like Jesus. The message of the cross is what we carry and some people will believe it and some people won't. You can't control that but you can carry it with you.
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You can carry it in the way you live your life and you can carry it on your tongue and you know, if you feel like, oh my goodness, I don't know what to do. There's just point up towards Jesus. I wanted to put the same thing same thing with JS Bach, Martin Luther. There's a great old 1547. There's a picture and Luther standing on one side up in a up in a a balcony and on the other side, the whole congregation, men, women, boys, girls, his wife is in the picture actually and then Jesus is in the middle on the cross he's got one hand on the Bible, the word of God, he's got the other finger pointing towards Christ and that's that's what we're supposed to do because we can't do what he did but we have to do what God has given us to do.
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That makes sense. Alright. Good. Carl, will you come on up? If y'all feel like God's stirring in you right now, that there's something that he is kind of wants for you to do.
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He's given you maybe not the clearest of direction but he's given you an inkling of what it is, who it is. Would you pray for them all throughout this song right now and then, this week, pray for opportunity to to do what it is, meet them on their terms, and love them. Amen.
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Yeah. Would you stand up with me? And, you know, we sing these songs, but I really want us to know what we're singing here. Can I just highlight some of these things when we say take my life and let it be consecrated to thee? Take my life.
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Take my moments and my days. Take my hands. Take my feet. Take my will. Take my heart.
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I surrender all. It's really saying, hey. Take me. Take me. Use me.
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I'll sing I surrender up. I surrender all. I surrender all.
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Amen. My may the grace and peace of Christ our savior be with you all. May you carry that to the rest of the world. Amen.
