Category: Saturday Study

2 Corinthians 5-9  (7.8.23)

Grab your Bible and let’s go deeper into 2 Corinthians 9.

Look with me at 2 Corinthians 9:6-8: The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

Paul’s teachings to the New Testament church in 1 & 2 Corinthians includes specific counsel of how God’s people are to steward (manage) God’s resources for God’s glory. We do this by being joyful, regular, and generous givers to the local church in which God has us a committed member. The resources God intends for His bride (the body of Christ; the church) to have, is to come from the redeemed individuals who are a part of that local body.

If we are not a regular part of the body of Christ, we are members of the body of Christ who are acting like orphans. We have no pastor/elders to whom to submit; no body to whom we can be a blessing; and no local context to use our time, talents, and treasure to help make disciples. Essentially, if you are saved and without a local church home that you are committed to, you are in sin and need to repent.

Faithful membership to a local body of Christ means you support the ministry that feeds and leads you with joyful, regular, and generous giving.

This is built on the biblical practice of first-fruits giving. God calls for His people to give to Him of their first fruits. This simply means that the first of your income is joyfully given to the Lord as an act of worship and a testimony of whom you love and trust in more than anything else. If you love comfort most, you will pay the mortgage first; if you love your family most, you will pay for the groceries first; if you love your entertainment the most, you will pay the cable bill first, and so on. One of the practical ways we show God and others that we love and trust Him the most is to faithfully give Him our first fruits.

The problem is all too often, we sinfully decide what kind of lifestyle we want or think we should have and then we look to give God what is left over, if we give Him anything. This is completely backwards. We are to prayerfully seek God and commit what we will faithfully give to Him, and then make our lifestyle fit with what is left. This way, He is first and everything else falls under Him.

In today’s passage, Paul gives one of many critical instructions on the way in which we are to practice first-fruits giving to our local church.

1. Joyfully:

2 Corinthians 9:7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

To give reluctantly means you really do not want to give of your first fruits, but you feel obligated. If this is your attitude towards giving to God, then don’t go any further until you do business with why your heart is not so in love with God and so trusting of God. Lack of love and trust is directly related to reluctance to give to Him of your first fruits.

This is super important because Paul stresses instead of giving reluctantly, we are supposed to give cheerfully!

The word “cheerful” in the Greek is the word “hilarion.” It’s where we get our English word, hilarious.

God loves a hilarious giver. This should give us an idea of how joyful God intends our giving to be.

We need to understand what God is trying to teach us about how amazing it is when we live an open-handed life. It should bring us an immense amount of joy and bring God an immense amount of glory!

2. Regularly:

1 Corinthians 16:1-2 Now about the money being collected for the Christians in Jerusalem: You should follow the same procedures I gave to the churches in Galatia. On every Lord’s Day, each of you should put aside some amount of money in relation to what you have earned and save it for this offering. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once.

Paul taught believers are to set aside a regular amount each week and give it to the church.

Are you faithful in your commitment to give God the first fruits of your labor? Or do you haphazardly give only when there is extra or when you get around to it? Paul is saying, giving should be a regular habit. The local church is dependent on the regular giving of its people. Like any organization, including our own, it will not operate correctly if its members are flippant and not timely in their giving. The church cannot steward its resources well for the work of the ministry if it doesn’t have a reliable base to budget and live off of. The regular giving of the saved is important.

The other problem that often arises is this: when times get tough, people start dipping into this committed first-fruits giving to help bail them out. If you truly are giving God your first fruits, then when money is tight, this is the last thing you should be adjusting. Everything else that comes after this should feel the hit before your giving does. You are much better off adjusting the cable, your eating out money, or the Starbucks fund than what you have committed to the Lord. This practice will allow your giving to be a faithful and uninterrupted, regular practice.

3. Generously:

2 Corinthians 8:2-3 Though they have been going through much trouble and hard times, their wonderful joy and deep poverty have overflowed in rich generosity. For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford but far more. And they did it of their own free will.

I love this passage we read this week. These Christians were so generous and open-handed with their giving that they gave sacrificially, even though they were experiencing deep poverty.

It is important to understand, what is generous to one person can be completely different to what is generous to another. Not because it’s a matter of opinion, but because God has entrusted each of us with a different amount of resources. Jesus highlights this when pointing out the generosity of the widow’s mite in comparison to the larger gift of the wealthy leaders.

So how do we figure out what is generous?

We can start by looking at Jesus. He gave sacrificially. This simple truth should rock us as we consider the depth of Jesus’ generosity by becoming our atoning sacrifice on the cross. This truly should fly open the gates of our hearts to give much more than we did when in sin, especially when considering that this giving is to advance the kingdom of our great God.

Let me make it even more practical: how do you know you are giving sacrificially?

ANSWER: it costs you something!

Generous or sacrificial giving is not out of the abundance of your lifestyle (what you can afford to give away without impacting you). Instead, generous or sacrificial giving means you give up something significant in your lifestyle to be a blessing to others. Paul is saying, it is our joy to do this with regularity. It is ultimately for the glory of God that we consider how generous we can be to help advance His kingdom.

If you are trying to figure out a minimum number required to give, then your giving is already from a heart that is more about how much you can keep for you and less about how much you can give to advance the gospel. Remember, any of the giving we do is in the name of the One to whom it all belongs anyway! This should change how we look at this.

Now, generous giving can also mean that you are looking for ways to give to other advancements of the gospel in addition to your first fruits given to your local church. This money is simply set aside and available to give to anyone you come into contact with who has a need you feel helps you put on display the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s hard to do this often unless we have made plans to set it aside in advance.

When we as Christians begin to discover this kind of open-handed living, we will find the old saying is very true:

”God will do way more with what you have left after you generously give than you could ever do with the full amount.”

A final point related to generous giving: our Scripture today says we are not to give under compulsion!

This means, you don’t emotionally and flippantly just give it all away and not steward well the rest of what God has called you to. Generous giving is not reckless giving; it is prayerfully and wisely giving as a good steward.

To close: there is no time like the present to take a fresh look at this practice in your Christian walk.

Are you joyfully, regularly, and generously giving God of your first fruits and not just your leftovers?

Do you ultimately trust that as you are faithful to Him, He will provide for you everything you need?

Don’t ever forget, all that you have is God’s, not yours! He has entrusted it to you to manage it for Him.

Go to God in prayer about these things. Sit with your family and seek God together. Be willing to get counsel if needed. Be willing to repent and start a new obedient practice today. God’s word is clear on this issue. Paul has dedicated a lot of his writing in these chapters to this. We need to be willing to submit ourselves to God’s word and practice these things.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

1 Corinthians 16 & 2 Corinthians 1-4  (7.1.23)

Grab your Bible and let’s go deeper into an important passage found in 2 Corinthians 3.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Today we are going to look at personal maturity also known as “Progressive Sanctification”.

In our sin, mankind has tried everything possible to improve or change what is broken about us.

This is why the self-help section in the book store is by far the biggest.

This is also why TV shows like Oprah or Dr. Phil are so popular.

This is why many modern day churches who teach from the pulpit “10 ways to be a better you”, instead of the full and authoritative Holy Scriptures, are so highly attended.

In this, “self-help” teaches that you just need to make an external modification or adopt a new manual set of actions and you will change. But that change is always temporary.

Earn it, buy it, be it, think it, get it, take it, make it, etc. The trap is this: None of these changes will really change us or make us complete.

Our efforts towards all of this stuff are always going to fail us and ultimately leave us wanting more. WHY?

Because no amount of external modification can restore you from death to life, from sin to holiness, from condemned to forgiven, from lost to found, from incomplete to complete. All of that stuff is just external modification!

What God is interested in is the inside of you, the core of “who you are”. The kind of change God wants for us is an internal transformation.

Pastor Tim Keller says it well, “Jesus longs for us to experience an organic change through a new inter-dynamic (which is only found in Christ) not just a mechanical compliance through external actions (trying to be like him or please him by just acting out the Christian lifestyle)”.

C.S. Lewis helps set the table for what we are desperate for if we are ever going to truly change! He says in Mere Christianity:

“Christ says ‘Give me all. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. Hand over the whole natural self … all the desires, those which you think are innocent, as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.”

Jesus is saying I want to become your reason for doing everything. I will be your power for change! Praise God He pursued us. He chose us. He saved us. And He will sanctify us. Without His grace we are all dead men walking!

Now that we see the constant failure of external, manual, man-made, self-help, temporary change, let’s look to personal change via Jesus Christ. To do this, we must understand what God is doing in our sanctification.

What is sanctification?

First off, sanctification is the process of something that is changing for the better or purifying or refining something from unholy to holy and impure to pure.

A right understanding of sanctification must be considered under its three tenses.

1. There is a very real sense in which all of God’s elect have already been sanctified at salvation:

1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

In our salvation and rebirth there is a holiness–a sanctification needed for a holy God to receive us as worthy of His presence.

2. There is also a very real sense in which those of God’s people on earth are progressively being sanctified:

2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Paul makes it clear that through the Christian life we are constantly being changed into His likeness.

3. And there is also a very real sense in which the Christian’s (complete) sanctification is yet future:

Revelation 21:27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

And as Christians, we are to grow more and more in sanctification just as we once used to grow in our flesh in sin.

Romans 6:19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

We must realize that sanctification is holistic. It includes our soul, our thoughts, our actions, and our bodies.

This means that sanctification is not complete until the Lord returns to give us new resurrected bodies by which we are finally glorified and ready to enjoy God’s eternal presence forever.

Unless this threefold distinction can be carefully held, we are bound to be confused. So today we will look at all three of these faces of sanctification. The faces of how God changes His people to glorify Him.

1. How Change Begins: Sanctification/Regeneration

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

First of all: We must understand that the greatest change one can go through is being made alive in Christ.

Second: Notice that change in Christ is not like the temporary changes we can put upon ourselves. He makes us a new creature. What else can you and I do that does this? Nothing!

But in our regeneration in Christ: The old, dead, sin-hardened creature is gone. We are, through God’s gracious act of regeneration, a new creature.

Our old self, dead in sin and unrighteousness, is passed away. And our new self in Christ is born. This is what we call regeneration.

Regeneration: The secret act of God by the power of the Holy Spirit by which His life and His spirit are imparted to believers.

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

In God’s sovereign and perfect will, He regenerates dead and depraved hearts to come to life. This is truly the greatest gift one can be given and the most significant and lasting change a human life can go through.

Now, how does one know they are saved?

The evidence of regeneration is not just the initial response of faith, or even in repentance and belief.

But is found in the real evidence of a changed life. This is what we call progressive sanctification.

The difference between progressive sanctification and regeneration is the difference between an infant and an adult.

At regeneration we are made alive. We are born again. We are infants. Wonderfully chosen children of God.

But beyond the excitement for new life and a simple faith, we are terribly equipped for the battle awaiting us.

Soldiers are needed in battle. Trained, strong, vetted, tested, matured soldiers are needed for battle. That is why we must not just change at salvation, but God has designed us to keep changing and growing! That is why progressive sanctification is so critical.

2. How Change Continues: Progressive Sanctification

Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

A working definition of progressive sanctification is: A progressive work of God in the regenerated man/woman that helps us fight sin and temptation, mature in our faith and obedience, and become more and more like Christ in our day to day lives.

Sanctification is a constant, progressive renewing of the whole man, whereby the new creature makes war with indwelling sin and ongoing temptation and lives unto God.

This is the work of the Holy Spirit working in and through you changing you from a self-centered person to other-centered person.

In Malachi 3:1-6 it says, “[God] is like a refiner’s fire”. It says He is NOT like a forest fire or like an incinerator’s fire.

A forest fire destroys indiscriminately. An incinerator consumes completely. God does not bring this kind of fire on His people because He says He will not. But verse 6 says, “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” For His people, He says He will be a refiner’s fire and that makes all the difference.

A refiner’s fire does not destroy indiscriminately like a forest fire. A refiner’s fire does not consume completely like the fire of an incinerator. A refiner’s fire refines. It purifies. It refines and separates out the impurities that ruin its value, it burns them up, and leaves the silver and gold intact and far more valuable and useful than it was before.

This is the gift of progressive sanctification. This is the change God wants us to constantly be in. His refining fire.

What is important to know about our progressive sanctification? Life in the refiner’s fire is hot! Hear me today: sanctification is not easy.

We are talking about FIRE here. And therefore, purity and holiness will always be a painful thing. Just like working out our bodies in the gym or by running to get in shape is not easy or painless. There needs to be a proper “fear and trembling” in the process of becoming pure.

God’s passion for purity is never flippant. It says He is like fire to us and fire is a serious thing. You don’t fool around with it. Purity and holiness come through the refining fire.

2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Are you experiencing greater and greater freedom as you mature in Christ and He sanctifies and refines and purifies you along the way?

2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Do you see real change in your Christian walk? There is TRUE ongoing change for those in Christ, for those who press into Christ daily, for those who surround themselves with others who will purposely press them into Christ.

Are you passionate for your personal sanctification? Are you passionate for the sanctification of your brothers and sisters? This is discipleship! Are you comfortable, free of personal change? Or are you on fire? Are you pursuing the flames of God’s purifying fire? Because it will change you.

Praise be to God that He reached out his hand of grace and offered His son as our perfect substitute and His Holy Spirit to continuously work in the hearts and lives of His saved children. To refine them, to sanctify them, to brighten their testimony, so that others could also one day be glorified and join us at the eternal feast honoring the King of Kings.

This brings us to …

3. How Change Ends: Sanctification/Glorification

Again, Paul says in our passage of emphasis today, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

The progressive change that happens in this life can be described in terms of holiness or glory—sanctification or glorification.

We should be amazed and sobered that this life is not just a waiting period for that day.

You are being changed now “from one degree of glory to the other”. You are being glorified. That is, you are being sanctified unto glorification. This is God’s plan of constant change in our personal lives. And from the change He makes in our personal lives, He carries into our family’s lives, our club’s life, and our culture’s life.

Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Praise God for this change He is working out in us. May we press into Him every moment and embrace His holy and perfect refiner’s FIRE as He progressively sanctifies us unto eternal glory.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

1 Corinthians 11-15 (6.24.23)

Grab your Bibles, and let’s study 1 Corinthians 12 today.

1 Corinthians 12:12-13 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

Here we read about the beautiful diverse unity we have in the body of Christ. Paul says it this way in this letter to the Romans:

Romans 12:4-5 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

In these passages, Paul uses an illustration of a human body to show us just how connected we now are in Christ! Like the members of our body are utterly dependent on and connected to each other, so we, too, are members of one another.

Now, notice what is so amazing about the body of Christ.

Diversity:  Romans 12:4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function

Unity: Romans 12:5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

A “diverse unity” sounds like an oxymoron, right? But that is what is so cool about the body of Christ—about the true Church.  Let me take a moment to clarify what unity is not, because we often get it mixed up!

<>What UNITY is not!

Unity is not sameness! The very oneness of the Godhead is a “diverse unity.” It is not sameness! 

If you and I are trying to be united by dressing alike, what happens when we disagree about something? Do our same clothes allow us to be unified through that disagreement? No, we will say, “Fine, you go your way, and I’ll go mine,” and whatever community was there is now broken.

But if we are the “body” of Christ, the issue we disagree on quickly demands a different response. It demands we fight for unity! Why? Because if the left leg says, “I hurt,” and the mind says, “Forget you, it’s time to walk,” then the “You go your way, and I’ll go mine,” answer doesn’t help that body move forward! 

It paralyses the entire body while both parties sit in the corner and pout or avoid each other. The mind is not getting anywhere without the leg, and the leg doesn’t know what to do without the mind. So together they must unite, talk it out, listen to each other, and resolve their differences. Only in unity does the body move forward! Do you see the diversity? Do you see the unity?

Where I have seen this play out in a powerful way is in a healthy marriage. God’s design for marriage is not just togetherness; it’s more than that: It’s oneness.

One way to think about the true commitment of “until death do us part” and the oneness God intends for marriage can be illustrated this way. Two people go to a surgeon and say sow us together. Now, while that sounds a little crazy you will see where I am going with this in a moment. Now after you are sewn together, consider every day for the rest of life, every little thing you do is involving this other person. Think of the communication it would require, the patience, the encouragement, the forgiveness—all the things God intends for us, the Church, to experience in our oneness as members of one another. And if we can truly embrace all God intends for us to be for one another, then what we are able to do is remarkable and oh-so joyful. It brings to mind an old illustration I used to share with my youth ministry students.

We have all seen the birds flying together overhead before, right? We have seen them fly in a big “V” formation.

Scientists at Cal Tech have estimated that 25 geese flying in a “V” formation can fly 70% farther than one goose alone. That’s the beauty and benefit of unity.

There is something awesome God has saved us into: the family of God. It is a joyous, amazing reality. I want you to know this for yourself—to be a member of this body—of one another.

Ephesians 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

We are called to one unified body by which one all-powerful Spirit empowers us to one eternal hope. Not many hopes, not many ends, not many ultimate satisfactions and joys—one hope. One glorious future made possible by one Lord who gives one faith and one baptism to the one God who is Father of all, who is over all, who is at work through all and in all whom He has called and saved. 

We are members of one another. The biblical charge before us is to keep the unity in peace.

Ephesians 4:3 (NLT) Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

First of all, notice it says, “Make every effort”! That is “fight for it” language! In other words, don’t give up easily—fight! Don’t try once and walk away—fight!

Second, notice what it says next! Fight “to keep the unity of the Spirit.” When we are in Christ, unity is something that we receive.  It is not something to be attained! 

Only by the grace of God is unity even experienced in this life. We can’t earn our way into unity. We have to simply receive it in Christ and then value it.  

Let me say it this way: Our command is to practice unity! 

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Jesus calls the sons of God “peacemakers”! What do peacemakers do? They fight for unity! Peacemakers are not people who have no conflict; they are people who fight for peace in and through that conflict.   

God is doing something eternal in and through us in this that we need not miss. Jesus Christ did not come just to hand out tickets to heaven. And He did not just call His Church to point people to the guy handing out tickets to heaven.

He wants us to live out our unity as members of one another so that the testimony of what He has done to restore His people can be out there for others to see. Why? Because more of His people are still to be saved and to join us to be an active and essential part of the local church.

Jesus said it directly in John 13:34-35: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

A huge way the Lord wants our testimony of the gospel to be on display is in our unity as the body of Christ. This is so central for Jesus, it was essentially His deathbed plea to God the Father in His prayer before he was arrested:

John 17: 20-23 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

Not just Jesus, but Paul and Peter go on to say it again and again:

1 Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

“Live in harmony with one another …” Romans 12:16

 “… Live in harmony with one another …” I Peter 3:8

My prayer this morning is that if you are not truly a committed part of a local church—not a church where you go play religion, but a church where you truly are members of one another, where you joyfully are in each other’s lives growing, loving, and serving together—that you would make it a priority to get committed to the local church.

And for those of us who are committed members of a local church, that church would be more to you than a couple activities or gatherings on your weekly schedule, but it would be to you a unity of loved ones who are on mission for God’s perfect purposes. 

I am committed to holding us accountable to our fight for unity! We must fight to keep it strong, and we learn to love doing this life together. I pray that we would not try to do this life alone anymore—no matter what comes, no matter how hard it gets at times. We are an eternal FAMILY! We are saved and bound and held together by Jesus!

Just for fun, I want to leave you with a silly but great testimony as to why we value each other and never go at it alone.

A man injured on the job filed an insurance claim. The insurance company requested more information, so the man wrote the insurance company the following letter of explanation:

Dear Sirs: I am writing in response to your request concerning clarification of the information I supplied in block #11 on the insurance form, which asked for the cause of the injury. I answered, “Trying to do the job alone.” I trust that the following explanation will be sufficient.

I am a bricklayer by trade. On the date of the injury, I was working alone, laying brick around the top of a three-story building. When I finished the job, I had about five hundred pounds of brick left over. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to put them into a barrel and lower them by a pulley that was fastened to the top of the building.

I secured the end of the rope at ground level, went back up to the top of the building, loaded the bricks into the barrel, and pushed it over the side. I then went back down to the ground and untied the rope, holding it securely to insure the slow descent of the barrel. As you will note in block #6 of the insurance form, I weigh 145 pounds. At the shock of being jerked off the ground so swiftly by the 500 pounds of bricks in the barrel, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope.

Between the second and third floors I met the barrel. This accounts for the bruises and lacerations on my upper body.

Fortunately, I retained enough presence of mind to maintain my tight hold on the rope and proceeded rapidly up the side of the building, not stopping until my right hand was jammed in the pulley. This accounts for my broken thumb (see block #4). Despite the pain, I continued to hold tightly to the rope. Unfortunately, at approximately the same time, the barrel hit the ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel now weighed about 50 pounds. I again refer you to block #6, where my weight is listed. I began a rapid descent.

In the vicinity of the second floor, I met the barrel coming up. This explains the injury to my legs and lower body. Slowed only slightly, I continued my descent, landing on the pile of bricks. Fortunately, my back was only sprained. I am sorry to report, however, that at this point I again lost my presence of mind—and let go of the rope.

I trust that this answers your concern. Please note that I am finished trying to do the job alone.

May we be joyful to not go at this life alone but in the wonderful diverse unity Jesus purchased for us. May we thrive and grow as members of one another.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

1 Corinthians 6-10 (6.17.23)

Grab your Bible and let’s go deeper into 1 Corinthians 6

1 Corinthians 6:13-20 … The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Sexual intimacy is a great gift of God for a husband and wife to enjoy with each other behind closed doors. It is not what disciples of Jesus Christ pursue by themselves or with anyone who is not your spouse.

The question is, how might you be making sexual immorality a gray issue in your life?

Read Genesis 2:24-25 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Here we see God’s definition for marriage and our first insight into His wonderful gift of sexual intimacy that He gives to a husband and a wife. This is a joining of two lives to become one that is unlike any other in creation. This is what Paul is getting to in 1 Corinthians 6. He is saying there is a wonderful Christ-centered reason why God made marriage for a husband and a wife. He is also saying there are terrible repercussions for our lives when we look for sexual intimacy outside of marriage.

There is an ever-increasing temptation for the bride of Christ to compromise her testimony by looking to sinful, worldly entertainment or sexual engagement outside of marriage for her satisfaction and joy instead of in Christ or the one place God gave us to exercise our sexual intimacy, in committed marriage.

God designed sexual intimacy for marriage alone. When it is enjoyed in this context, it is like a raging fire that is enjoyed as it burns safely in the hearth of your home’s fireplace. Outside of God’s ordained context of marriage, sexual immorality will reap great destruction in your life, like a raging fire burning anywhere else in your house but the fireplace.

The problem is, sin and society have really stolen God’s intention for marital intimacy.

What this has meant for the church is we have removed talking about and celebrating this wonderful gift from our lives. It has become a taboo subject! Rarely do we talk about marital intimacy within the church family and rarely do we talk about it at home.

We have essentially left this topic to be learned, discovered and celebrated on the world’s terms.

If the church is not talking about it and married couples are not talking about it, who is? Movies, TV, music, internet, books, magazines, co-workers, and news media.

The problem is, when we remain removed from rightly talking about, acting on, and celebrating God’s design for marital intimacy the world continues to teach us the wrong thing.

In the vacuum left by the silence of our church family, our kids and even our spouses are shaped with a view of sex and intimacy that is not at all what God intended.

How does this apply to you and those you are doing ministry with? Do you love each other enough to bring up this topic so that you can be an encouragement to each other–to help each other when struggling with temptations to lust or unhealthy engagement outside of marriage or an unhealthy absence of sexual intimacy within your marriage? Are you willing to go so far to even get professional counseling if needed to address this area of unhealthiness in your life? If we hear the severity of consequences that Paul is speaking of in our passage that comes from sexual immorality then we will be willing to take it this serious.

We must talk about it because if we don’t we will be left to the endless flood of godless ideals to convince us to partake or engage outside of God’s perfect plan for this area of life.

Understand: The world’s agenda when it comes to sex is to “profane” it.

Profane = to make it common–to treat something sacred with irreverence.

So, profanity comes from the word profane.

So, when we say “Oh, God,” in just a flippant common way instead of exalting His name and worshipping the true Go, we use it as a casual response to life and make it common. Or we use it as a swear word to illustrate the emotion of disgust. Like saying, “Jesus Christ”.

Like this, our culture’s agenda is to profane sex removing all mystery and holiness and sacredness and selflessness and make it common and casual. This only causes the mind to think about it as something that is simply for personal selfish pleasure, or status, or adventure.

Our culture wants to make sex simply about physiology and biology.

And so when they teach it to our kids in sex ED, it is all about mechanics.

Put this here and that there until you get a result. And, oh yeah, if you do not want babies or diseases, then wrap this on this first.

We have been convinced by our culture that they get it and we don’t.

This is why for far too many people they are captured by the world’s casual, mechanical, free-market idea of sex.

This is why so many struggle with pornography.

Many have come to believe that it is purely mechanical and, therefore, ok. Or that “THEY”, the world out there, understands sex more than we the church or God does and so we go investigating on the web or in movies or with other people to get a taste of what is perceived to be the good life, sexually.

This will only continue to happen until we take back sexual intimacy for marriage alone and truly begin to enjoy intimacy the way the Creator designed it to be enjoyed.

As our scripture today states, the consequences are major when it comes to sexual immorality. The emotional and spiritual scars that lust and sexual intimacy outside of your marriage brings is as deep as it gets according to the Bible. And I have never seen anything in my 20 years of pastoral counseling to be more true.

Stop and meditate on a few other exhortations from God’s word regarding this area of our lives:

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!” (Psalm 119:9-10)

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5)

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” (1 Peter 2:11)

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” (Hebrews 13:4)

“But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28 NIV)

Let me ask you, what are you exposing yourself to lately? Are you engaging in a relationship that is crossing sexual boundaries outside of marriage? Remember sexual intimacy of any kind is for marriage alone. It is not for love, commitment, fun, or whatever other reason one can think of to justify it.

Do you struggle with pornography? Do you have accountability on your phone or computer? Do you have access to unhealthy cable TV or Netflix? Many of these should be considered when fighting this fight. Access is a huge part of our ongoing temptation.

http://xxxchurch.com and https://www.covenanteyes.com are great resources for accountability software that doesn’t limit your access and brings others alongside to see what you are seeing. Or maybe it is time to get rid of the smart phone and go back to a flip phone.

Consider Proverbs 5 and replace the “immoral women” with “pornography” and read it again.

Proverbs 5:1-14 My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,

that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge.

For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil,

but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol;

she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.

And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.

Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house,

lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless,

lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,

and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,

and you say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!

I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.

I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.”

Brothers and sisters: There is too much to lose to not fight this fight. Are you letting others into your life to fight this fight with you? We must confess, repent, and grow from any ungodly practices of sexual immorality.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

I am praying for you. I am praying that you look to honor God with this area of your life. I am praying that you risk and ask your brothers/sisters how they are doing in this area? That you work together to seek God and put up measures of real accountability and fight together to honor God in this way.

I leave you with the words of Paul inRomans 12:1-2.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

1 Corinthians 1-5 (6.10.23)

Grab your Bible, and let’s dig into 1 Corinthians 4 today.

I want to start by focusing on one single verse we read in chapter 4 of 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 4:7

… What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

This little verse packs a punch. It stands to remind us that everything we are and/or have is from the Lord. It is so common to feel a sense of “I have worked hard to earn what I have or to master the skills I have.” To this viewpoint, I remind you of the following verse:

Deuteronomy 8:17-18 “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”

We must realize, God has not just entrusted us with everything we own, but everything we are, our skills, and the number of days we will live. It is all a gift from God! We are privileged to be entrusted with HIS provisions!

On our United States currency it says, “In God we trust.” What a great reminder that our nation needs in these days in which we live. That said, when you and I look at the money we have, we must hear God saying, “With this I have entrusted you!”

This is a great honor and privilege. The problem is we feel so deserving and often feel the money we have isn’t enough. This runs so deep that many turn to debt and credit to spend more than God has entrusted us.     

Stop and consider this with me: We are privileged to be alive! This is not to mention, we have money in our wallets and food in our fridges and clothes to wear today. To think that I deserve anything good based on anything I have done is to completely miss the reality of our sin and the beauty of the grace of the gospel!

What I have found is many Christians don’t see it as their privilege to be a good steward, because they don’t see their schedules, their skills, and their stuff as God’s; instead, they believe it is theirs! This is the very important topic of stewardship we must rightly understand and practice.

Read with me David’s prayer in 1 Chronicles 29:13-17 (NLT):

“O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace. O Lord our God, even this material we have gathered to build a Temple to honor your holy name comes from you! It all belongs to you! I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there. You know I have done all this with good motives, and I have watched your people offer their gifts willingly and joyously.”

My heart for each of us is that we are like the people David is speaking of in this passage. They understood everything they had was from God. They understood it was not theirs; it was God’s. Because they understood these things, they stewarded these resources for His glory and not their own.

The problem is we often don’t understand! We think it is our RIGHT. We think it is our STUFF. We think we deserve it. But as a born again Christian, my life is not my own. It belongs to God!

Romans 1:6 says basically that THE HEART OF CHISTIANITY is to BELONG to Jesus! We belong to Him! We belong for His glory!

On Monday we will read the following:  

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

This means:

– My money is God’s money.

– My time is God’s time.

– My days are God’s days.

– My stuff is God’s stuff.

– My life is God’s life.

When we really begin to get this, we begin to understand the amazing, undeniable privilege it is to be His, and it changes how we manage our time, our talent, and our treasures.

The Bible says we are created for His glory. We have been bought with a high price for His glory. We have been entrusted with what we have for HIS glory!

So, how are we doing?

How are you doing at managing the time God entrusts to you?

How are you doing at managing the skills God entrusts to you?    

How are you doing at managing the finances and resources God entrusts to you? 

1 Timothy 6:17-19  As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Let’s break this down:

1-“They are to do good, to be rich in good works …”

The word “good” here is the Greek word “kalos.” It means beautiful. The question is when people see your deeds, do they see the beauty of Christ? Do they say “amazing”?

We are saved by the grace of God through faith in Christ in order to do “kalos deeds”–good deeds, beautiful deeds.

2- “… to be generous and ready to share …”

Are you generous in your lifestyle? How do you know you are living generously or sacrificially? Because it costs you something. It changes your lifestyle. You feel it!

3- “… thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”

Jesus taught us that the way to true life is narrow. He said it is difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. Why? Why is it hard? Why is the way to life narrow? Because we don’t need a wide road so we can carry all of our trophies and money and possessions and pictures and diplomas to eternal life; we just need Jesus. 

Why is the road to eternal destruction wide? Because all that stuff has to fit as we pack it, worship it, and cling to it–straight to hell!

Why is it hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God? Because he wants to have his own kingdom now, and if it means being generous and living for God’s glory and fame and not his own, then he will pass. See, here is the true test. Many of us wealthy, gifted, healthy people have said “yes” to Jesus’ invitation to the feast, but we have our arms so full of this world that we have no time to help anybody else get there with us. Praise God, Jesus Christ is the door, and it is not by my good deeds that I am saved! But hear me today, beloved! When the gospel takes a hold of you, you will set down the treasures of this world and be faithful managers of God’s provisions for God’s glory, and in doing so, you will take hold of the life that is truly life. 

I pray we are Christ followers who consider it a great privilege to faithfully manage God’s provisions that He has so graciously entrusted us with for His eternal glory!

Consider these things for yourself:

How do you need to repent?

          – For making it about you? 

          – For boasting in you and not Jesus?

How do you need to take a fresh look at how you make, spend, or manage your money? How do you need to take a fresh look at how you schedule your time and priorities?

May we quickly repent when we see that we have been making it about us. May we steward His provisions well for His eternal glory and others’ eternal good!

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church