Lion of Grace

It is imperative that we remember Christ's broken body and shed blood for us because this is the foundation of our faith! It is only through the body and blood of Christ that we have any redemption at all and without Jesus' sacrifice there is no salvation or righteousness in or for us. Jesus is all in all and that is the truth. I've gone to churches that reduced the practice of communion to next to none and even wanted to go so far as to take it out all together because it was merely "tradition." I eventually left those churches because they dishonored and missed understanding the very foundation of how we are saved or what "church" is about! I was raised to believe that the bread and wine became the body and blood of Christ by miraculous transformation. I now believe that the bread and wine are symbolic of the body and blood of Christ. The main belief I have had in both ways is that communion is a very sacred remembrance of all Christ did for us and should be taken reverently and with deep gratitude.

Paul uses the athletic analogies to bring home the point that if anyone wants to win and receive the prize (award) then there is training involved and self discipline required. He compares this to a race to be won (our Christian journey in life) with a focus on the goal line. (Heaven and it's eternal rewards) Paul also points out boxing and how it is important to make every punch count. We have to be accurate and focused in the way we live and how we present ourselves and God's message to others, not sloppy, unfaithful, and swinging at air, missing our mark. Self discipline is imperative in our walk with Christ and in our demonstration of our faith to others. We are serious about our beliefs and living them out. We are serious about our purpose and mission. We are prayed up and we are in the Word. We take preparation every day for our race very seriously. We don't go about it unfaithfully or with half-hearted truths or motivations. Self discipline keeps us from gross sin because we remain abiding in Christ through the Holy Spirit. We are constantly aware (but not afraid) that temptation can come our way and trials will come that can attempt to urge us to give up. When we set disciplines in our lives such as daily Bible reading, prayer or practices such as fleeing from sin or unhealthy relationships or groups of people who teach another way but the Gospel of Christ, then we are strengthened in mind, body and spirit to continue in Christ who IS our strength. Troubles, persecutions or things like rejection will begin to pale in comparison to what we have in Christ and we will stay the course. Lack of discipline makes us soft, unfaithful, wishy washy and of no good to anyone. Lack of discipline leads to compromise, fence sitting and opens our minds to untruths, deception and sin.

Paul became all things to all men because he wanted to reach all for Christ. If he was among the Jews, he followed the law so as to not offend them and keep them open to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Likewise with the Gentiles, he was like the Gentile and did not follow the traditions and laws that were so treasured by the Jews. He knew he and the Gentiles had freedom from the law and he did not require them to live like the Jews. His sole purpose in this was so many would come to believe. Paul was very authentic in doing this. While he did not offend the people he was living among and was trying to reach, he did stand firm in the truth when it came to the religious leaders or even other Apostles like Peter when he started to refuse to eat with the Gentiles. Paul could distinguish when he needed to comply with tradition so as not to offend anyone, but he also knew when to speak the truth boldly. He never abandoned his (or others) freedom in their faith, but he did work towards the greater good by complying in the non-essential areas like some of the traditions of the Jews. Paul's ministry and mere role playing differ because Paul was very rooted and grounded in Christ and what that meant for those he was ministering to. His purpose was to eventually lead them to truth. If he had to follow a silly tradition to get there he would, but his motivation was to win them for Christ. Mere role playing is not rooted in anything and that is what makes it so wishy washy. To reach some to Christ, I have had to give up my set opinion of different cultures. I've also had to let go of "christian lingo". Though other Christians may know what I'm talking about it can be a BIG turn off to non Christians. I've had to learn to "fit in" to different scenarios but without compromise to my basic beliefs. I've learned I can't be hard core religion if I want people to stay for a Gospel message and I've had to give up arrogance and be a respecter of people. Though they are not saved, I can love who they are and who God created them to be and has intentions of using in the future for His kingdom. I've had to look past "now" to "what will be." Most importantly, the highest premium is on "time." It's hard to give time to someone who demands so much of me and who isn't on a Godly page with me or who presents daily challenges to my patience and faith. To really love and care for others comes from the Holy Spirit and I pray to be strengthened in those areas to be an effective witness.

Paul does not have a personal choice about preaching the Gospel because he has a call on his life. Called directly by God to preach the Gospel, Paul is obedient to God with a fire in his heart and this became his passion. Volunteer and bi-vocational workers will have a greater reward in heaven. They will have preached the Gospel giving totally of themselves with no compensation in this life. They preach the Gospel for one reason and one reason only....so many can come to know salvation through Jesus Christ. They have no thoughts of money or personal gain in this life, they merely answer their call and give of their lives. This reminds me of missionary's of old who really did have a call to go to preach Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. They packed up with few personal possessions and they went to live among the people they desired to reach. Many times they lived in poverty in a foreign land adopting differing life styles all purely for the Gospel of Christ.

Jesus commanded the disciples to receive support from families on their journey because He was sending them out empty handed! They were not to take any silver or gold, no bag for the journey, no extra clothes, sandals or a staff. They were to go out and to be totally dependent on God's provision through other believers! Christian congregations are to be moved to give Godly provision to those who are in ministry so they can do the work of ministry. Full time ministers need an income so they can go about the call on their lives. However, I don't see this meaning to over provide for ministers or a means of anyone getting rich. I do see the need to support those who are truly called but am cautious of being involved in supporting those who say they have a call, but jockey around to find the church that pays the most or where they will be promoted quickly to a better social status within the church. The disciples were going out with nothing to preach the Gospel. They were merely accepting care and provision on their journey to do this. Accountability to paying church leaders less (and even more than they should) will fall into the hands of God. If leadership has decided to not pay a Pastor an amount that will serve in providing for an honest living and as a means for him to answer a call, the church will most likely suffer the loss of a Pastor and good shepherd and they will eventually see no one willing to come and lead. If they overpay they will attract those seeking for a good job in an economic market and will most likely suffer the affects of greed and being led by a heart not committed to Christ but to money. They will cease to be a true church.

Paul argued for the right of the apostles and other Christian workers to be supported because this standard does have a Biblical backing. He has decided though, not to claim his "rights" because his heart of hearts was to preach the Gospel. He didn't want the burden of people having to support him to hinder his Gospel message in any way. Paul worked and had financial freedom to move about and preach without burdening others. He could preach to everyone, rich or poor and did not hinder the poor from coming for lack of funds. I think too, Paul knew the dangers of ministries for pay. He wanted to remain a servant in humble service to God dependent on God to provide for him. His life was for Christ....in every circumstance. I really respect Paul in the face of what some ministry has become today. Not a "call" but a "job". The Biblical standard for supporting some in ministry is being abused and outrageous salaries and lifestyles show more greed than a heart to serve the Lord. It would hinder Paul's ministry if new converts are expected to support him because they would see it as preaching for pay. They would not see His true heart for the Gospel and wouldn't accept a pure Gospel message in the way he could offer it if he gave it for free. The Gospel of salvation through Jesus is a pure message and free for everyone. A gift! What better way to convince listeners than to show it is freely given and should be freely received? What a wonderful heart for Jesus Paul had!!!

According to 1 Corinthians 8:4 An idol is nothing at all in the world and there is no God but one. He continues to say though, that there are indeed many gods and many lords, referring to those gods and lords in satan's realm. The spiritual danger to us in taking part in any kind of idol worship or participating in any occult practices is spiritual compromise. We can open a door to darkness and deception when we cross those lines. We can become contaminated and slip into darkness and oppression. We, who are God's children live in His light. We should have absolutely no part in darkness. Why would we WANT to? Satan is very real and he is waiting to get his foot in any door. We do very well to shut our door tight and not even peek out when he comes knocking! I took part in some dark stuff as a young adult and I can testify to the fact that it can lead to demonic oppression. Even seemingly harmless things like horoscopes and fortune telling can all be tied to demonic activity. I did denounce all those things from my former life and the freedom was amazing! I'm very careful to stay in God's good and wholesome light now. SO much better!!!

The priests were set apart for holy service. They ate of the sacrifice that was God's provision for them. The sacrifice was eaten in a holy place by a people who were set apart by God. We too are a people set apart, a royal priesthood who have been united with Christ and through Him share in the offering He made on the cross. This is sacred and holy and the greatest priviledge and should never be taken lightly or thoughtlessly. We have true, holy fellowship with Christ as well as each other united as one when we partake of communion.

Koinonia means participating in and sharing in with others. To participate or share in the blood of Christ is experiencing a unity as believers. We all share in redemption through the body of Christ who was sacrificed for us. We are now a complete body and all members are equally a part of the body. The example of the loaf of bread is a visual we do well to take in. There is one body (the loaf) and we each have a part in that. We each partake of the body in unity. In Christ, we are many but we are one too no one being more important than the other. All united in Christ. This is the same when we drink the cup. We are united in the blood of Christ and Christ is present when we drink. One bread, one body,One Lord of all. One cup of blessing which we bless. And we, though many, throughout the Earth... We are one body in this one Lord.

We as humans, have a fallen nature. We are driven by our own desires and to be fulfilled in those desires which lead us into sin. Our natural state is not one of goodness. We tend to walk in darkness and self absorption. This is the way of the world. We love self and desire to gratify self. Since our desire is to gratify self, we come into many temptations that lie to us and tempt us in ungodly ways. So we are tempted to sin. This passage teaches us that all are tempted to sin, but when we are tempted, God will help us and provide a way out for us. He will help us to remain steadfast under temptation. It is also good to note that being tempted is not sinning! Only when we rebel and take part in a sin from the temptation are we sinning! So we are wise to flee from sin and the temptation to sin and take our way out. That also means renewing our minds after being tempted too because a seed of temptation planted in our minds that is entertained there can lead to going back to sin! This could be anything from a temptation to moral failure, hatred in our hearts, arrogance towards another, love of money etc. so we need to renew our minds turning to the Holy Spirit for help. What we know about God is that He will be our ever present help in times of trouble and He is very faithful to help us!!!

The liberal Christians excused eating in the various pagan god temples or eating food sacrificed to these idols because they "knew" that the "gods" were nothing at all, therefore the food offered to them was acceptable to eat. They acknowledged that they worshiped the One True God and so they dismissed any part in pagan worship from their minds. They thought it important to celebrate different occasions with friends and families and they justified where they celebrated and what they ate with their true "knowledge" of God. They were very prideful though of such knowledge and were arrogant in flaunting their behavior even though they knew it caused confusion in other new believers. Sometimes we excuse our own behavior. We can be sure of the validity of what we should truly be doing by aligning it to the word of God but that is not enough. It should be our foundation to make sure we are living truth, but like the Corinthians in this lesson, we should make sure love is the basic motive. These Corinthians were stubbornly living for themselves because they knew they had the "right" but they totally ignored relationship, extending love and a humble example to the new Christians who were struggling with this. They in essence were causing them to stumble and maybe even fall away because of their behaviors. They failed terribly in the law of love and we can too if we are not careful to consider the whole of scripture and what it means to truly live a life of Christ. Every new believer ( I did this when I first came to believe) is very quick to watch behavior way more than what is just "taught" to them because they quickly learn that Christians are not perfect and can be prone to hypocrisy. That said, the way we live our lives is of greater witness than what we claim to "know." We know of Faith, hope and love and Jesus pointed specifically that the greatest of these is love. There are many, many scriptures on love yet love seems to have fallen by the wayside even today. There is knowledge and it may even be true knowledge, but without love, it's all a clanging cymbal.

The advantages of celibacy are that a person can fully devote their life to the Lord's work. They aren't caught up in dividing their lives between the Lord's work and caring for a wife/husband/family. Married believers can most maximize full devotion to the Lord by remaining in the call that God has put on our lives. Two married believers can be supportive of each other in this and even believers that are married to unbelievers have a special call on their lives (mainly in the way they live out their faith in their own households as a testimony to an unbelieving spouse). We need to remain faithful to our call. Whatever the situation God has us in at the time and has called us to do, we need to do with excellence and as though doing it for the Lord.

For believers, there should not be any consideration for divorce except in specific instances such as unfaithfulness. Every attempt should be made to stay married because what God has joined together, no man should try to separate. If a divorce does occur by mutual consent the believer should remain unmarried. In the case of a believer being married to an unbeliever, the believer should not divorce the unbeliever if he/she is willing to stay in the marriage. The hope would be that the unbeliever would come to faith and that Godly offspring would come out of the marriage from the example of the believer. The unbelieving spouse is sanctified by the believers faith and his or hers willingness to stay in the marriage. If though, the unbeliever wants to separate, the believing spouse should let them go and they are free to remarry.

1 Corinthians 7:9 To the unmarried or widows: If they can not control themselves (sexually) they should marry, for that is better than to burn with passion. 1 Corinthians 7:37 A man who has control over his own will (sexual passion) does the right thing if he decides not to marry. If anyone is engaged and acting improperly sexually towards the person they are engaged to-they should marry. The one who marries does right, but the one who does not marry does even better because a married man/woman is concerned about the affairs of the world and concerns for the family with their interests divided while an unmarried man/woman is concerned only with the Lord's affairs.

"Do not touch" means "to have sexual contact with". Paul is talking about celibacy here and that he views celibacy as "good". Paul was living a celibate life so he could give 100% to his ministry. He could not have fulfilled his ministry the way he did if he had a wife and family. Paul teaches that sexual intercourse within marriage should be mutual. The husband should fulfill his marital duty and the wife should as well. Their bodies belong to each other. Each should be considerate of each other in mutual love. The mutual rights within the marriage that Paul taught were that neither the husband or the wife were to deprive the other or defraud the other partner. Sex is not to be a bargaining chip nor a way to demean another. Sex should be a celebration and an expression of love with two beings coming together as one.

I don't belong to myself but to God because He literally bought me and redeemed me at a great price. The price was His own blood and His life. If we can't offer our whole selves back to Him after He sought out wretched sinners like us, wanted us, offered Himself for us and suffered a terrible, torturous death for us, then we have missed something. We have not really taken Him into our hearts, because who He is and what He has done should break our hearts in deep gratitude and we should gladly offer ourselves as slaves to One so good who has done so much for us. If we resist the truth then it puts us in the "unbeliever" category. It puts us in the category of those who reject Christ as their Savior and those who do that will be condemned.

To call our bodies as members of Christ means that we have taken Christ into our bodies and He has become a part of us. Since He dwells in us in the form of the Holy Spirit, we are no longer of the flesh but of the Spirit. Yes, we have a fleshly tent covering us while we are living on Earth, but we are now of the Spirit. We are Spiritual beings. The implications of the above, with regard to sexual sin are that we are now holy, united with Christ and we are to be holy as God is holy. Uniting ourselves in sexual sin of any kind is so uncharacteristic to who we are in Christ and in such contrast to the purity we have in Him, it would be truly shameful to engage in this sin. Sexual sin is such darkness and Christ is so pure and holy and light. He has made His home in us. We are pure and Holy Temples housing Him. How could we ever invite such sin in to abide with Him there? That SHOULD be unheard of and not even imaginable! In regard to ministry, we have been set apart from the flesh and the world, so we should be using our bodily Temple that houses the living God for HIS purposes.

The good news of the Gospel for a gross sinner is that no matter how far we have fallen into terrible sin, there is One who took those sins upon Himself and paid the price we deserved for them. We are now free and clear and will no longer die for those sins because a ransom was paid for us! There is no sin too great that the blood of Jesus did not cover! Good news indeed for those (like me) who thought there would be no hope ever because of how far I had fallen and as if that wasn't enough to receive hope back.....the abundance of being included as a daughter of God, Bride of Christ is just beyond anything I could have asked for or imagined! I am deeply grateful. A person can be forgiven when they believe in Jesus and accept salvation through Him. A person is cleansed from sin when we repent, turn from our sins and ask the Holy Spirit to sanctify us. Our righteousness is in Christ alone, but our sanctification is a process that takes our whole lifetime and God who is faithful will do it!

Participating in homosexual acts according to scripture is sin. Heterosexual immorality is sin. Repentance is important as a believer because it shows we are in agreement with what the Bible says about these sins and that we are going to turn away from these practices and live according to what God decrees is right and pure living. Both homosexual/lesbian tendencies and sexual immorality before marriage or after marriage is sin. Anyone who willingly engages in any of these is sinning against God and His standard. We can repent and turn from these sins and live righteous lives if we are willing.

It hurts the Christian cause when members take each other to civil court because it appears we as a body of Christ are no different than the world. Everything we profess to believe, as in love for one another, forgiveness, esteeming others as more important than self, generous giving and not judging seem to have no merit in a believers life when we are quarreling with one another and taking those quarrels into a public arena to be judged. Disputes should be settled between believers within the church. First, believers in dispute should humbly address the situation among themselves and if no agreement can be agreed on, then we should enlist the help of leadership to listen and who (with no favoritism) will decide with wisdom what should be done. Then, it is up to the ones in dispute to honor the decision of the leadership, to move forward in love and forgiveness towards each other and to drop the matter! In the local congregation this would be instituted through either the Pastor, Pastors or Elders. Among churches in a geographical region? I believe that a member who feels wronged in some way by a decision handed down in the local church, can appeal to a higher authority in the church such as a district head. All avenues though, should be exhausted within the local church first. Sometimes, we have to admit that the church is not perfect and there is favoritism or pride involved in decisions handed down in the church. God is our defender though when we are in truth and when we go to a higher authority, they are often removed enough from the local perspective to give a weightier decision in wisdom. This shouldn't be a common practice though and used only if a dispute is of a serious nature and an outright injustice is handed down.

Which sinners should we be willing to associate with? Those that are unbelievers. Jesus came to save the sick and the lost and that should be our purpose also. We make a distinction between believers and unbelievers because believers have professed to be followers of Christ and believers in His Word and saved by grace. This should result in a changed life with service to Him. If a believer gets caught up in an unrepentant sin, he is held accountable according to what he knows and professes to follow. An unbeliever is not saved, has not embraced truth nor professed a belief system. They are living in darkness and need Christians to interact with so they can be brought into the light and be saved. How will they know if no one interacts with them to tell them? The dangers of associating with unbelievers is being caught off guard to the ways satan will use them and their lifestyles to deceive us as Christians. He (satan) is very cunning and he will offer temptations when we interact with unbelievers, he will test our belief system through them and he will try to catch us in careless living in the moment when we interact with an unbeliever. We need to be guarded, wise, well grounded and prayed up! The dangers of associating with unrepentant believers is entering into compromise with them. It is true that a person becomes like those people they interact with the most. If we don't hold believers accountable to unrepentant sin and make that the crux of our association with them, then we have put a stamp of approval on compromising Christian standards. THEIR compromise may not be the one we are tempted to enter into, but the sin of compromise will get us in our own area if we turn a blind eye to it. I see so many church cliques fall into this area. Instead of being a faithful friend and pointing to truth, so many just become "loyal" to people and help them remain in sin. The kiss of a friend really can be worse than a slap by an enemy! A TRUE friend helps another friend grow in truth and Godly living!

The presence of anyone who openly sins in a church is a message to everyone that sin is tolerable! Even entire bodies of leadership can be corrupted when sin is tolerated. It doesn't have to be only immorality. Faithlessness, worldliness, selfishness and other sin among leadership that is tolerated begins the slippery slope of compromise for the whole church! Paul's background was in being a Jew, a Pharisee and in knowing and practicing Mosaic law. He spoke in reference to the Passover where all the yeast was removed from the house. As Passover celebrated the Jews deliverance from death and bondage, yeast represented sin and the need to be set apart from sin, having none of it in the house. He referenced those in the church that were the "yeast" were contaminating the entire "loaf" or congregation. He was reminding them that they were set apart and should retain the purity of the church.

The levels of correction short of excommunication would be: 1. A one on one communication as to the nature of the sin. 2. If that is not productive, bring in one or two other people in leadership as witnesses and confront the sin again. 3. If the person in sin blatantly refuses to change and correct the situation, it is to be brought before the entire church. The person carrying out these kinds of discipline would be: 1. The person sinned against. (One on one) 2. Leadership of the church (one or two witnesses) 3. The entire church (in accordance with blatant, unrepentant sin) When a sinning member repents he should be fully restored to the church community remembering ALL have sinned and have fallen short when it comes to sin. Excommunication is sometimes necessary because the offender has become rebellious and has decided he is above the confines of the truths that the congregation adheres to. If the sin is "tolerated" that will start a cancer in the church towards more rebellion. There has to be accountability for what we as a church professes to believe and how that is lived out. Excommunication though, is not condemnation of an individual hoping they never return! It should be grievous to leadership and the entire church that a member of a family has strayed. Though the sin can not be overlooked, we should always discipline with the hope of reconciliation in a Godly way. After all, that IS how God deals with us! Why are we as a church so afraid of discipline today? *The number one reason I hear today in these situations is that money would be withdrawn from the church. (UGGGHHHH!!!) *That numbers will go down when friends and relatives leave with the offender. *That the church would be viewed in a "bad" light in the community for lack of tolerance. *That discipline will start a division among church fractions. * I think though that we really ARE afraid to offend anyone in this day and age.

I think the Corinthians were so proud of their tolerance of immorality for the same reason churches today follow that same path. They didn't want to "offend" anyone. I left a church permanently because of these kind of tolerances and the mind set was that we wouldn't be showing "Christian love" to others if we didn't tolerate their lifestyles. It was often said that we couldn't "judge" them. When leadership objected....prominent groups just ousted leadership. There was no Biblical standard adhered to, no truth just all "love." Needless to say, that church is struggling still, wondering why they aren't being blessed by God! There was a great compromise in what was really truth and speaking that in love. The leadership wasn't saying these people couldn't come to the church, in fact they were welcomed, but when the message of sin came up, those in sin would rally with their friends and persecute the Pastor. They wanted a pick and choose religion, not anything founded on truth! They even demanded leadership roles and when it was explained to them that they couldn't lead in a place that professed certain truths that they didn't believe in nor lived, they were outraged! They couldn't wrap their minds around a church that truly believed in the Word and that they were in essence in rebellion to that. They thought the Church should be an institution that allowed all things and they wanted to lead it down that path! Even some "christian" people were deceived by this and the church eventually went into full out war and needless to say fell apart with all the focus on fighting and "issues." Tolerance is not Biblical. TRUTH with love is. The value system in tolerance is very weak. There is no foundation. No truth to stand on. It fluctuates with every addition or subtraction of philosophy in life. People in any church that stand for tolerance are not true followers. True followers demonstrate grace, speaking truth in love but we don't compromise truth!

Timothy was both reliable and faithful and also knew Paul personally, so he could give first hand account in defense of Paul, who lived according to Christ Jesus. Timothy was also a son in the faith to Paul. He would have been an imitator to all that Paul taught or lived out in his life, so he would be a good, faithful, tried, representative for Paul (And Christ). As for the abuses, I believe Timothy had matured to face the abuses that would come with this mission. He is described as "being faithful to the Lord." Timothy had learned in the face of opposition how not to waver under pressure of men but to live by truth. I know I have accepted when God has asked me to fulfill a sensitive mission, even though I felt inadequate to do that. I have always found that the Holy Spirit works through me, so I can accept these missions because it's not really MY ability or plan that is fulfilling the purpose! I have learned to not be so afraid, because I have seen God uphold me in times of adversity and/or defend me when I have stood for what is right. The thought that has really resonated through me reading this lesson is that like Timothy being a representative for Paul, God is sending us out out on these missions as HIS representative. We first must establish that we are faithful and tried and then understand that we are imitators of Christ who sent us and that we are representing to others all that we know Him to be and what He lived. How often we set out with our own agendas and in our own power and are not representatives of who CHRIST is, what He has done and about His good and loving character! That said, how can we then not expect suffering or persecution and abuses in it sometimes too! We are representatives who identify with Christ!