Sanctuary

Read 1 Corinthians 10.23-33. What’s the primary implication of this text for you today? 

1 Corinthians 10.31 is the heartbeat of this section. What’s the purpose of this statement to the Corinthian Church? What’s the primary implication of this statement for our Faith Family, and for you and your family? 

Note an example of someone you know who fully lives out the truth of verse 31. How does their example encourage you? How does it challenge you? 

The Corinthian Christians were mostly interested in “knowledge and rights.” Paul wants them to express their faith through “love and freedom.” What’s the difference between these two ideals? 

In what aspects of your daily life do you sense a bend toward “knowledge and rights?” How are you growing in your daily expressions of “love and freedom?”

In your own words. define self-righteousness. 

Read and reflect on the words of Richard Foster, “Self-righteous service comes through human effort. It expends immense amounts of energy calculating and scheming how to render the service…True service comes from a relationship with the divine Other deep inside. We serve out of whispered promptings, divine urgings.” 

How are you growing to recognize your own temptation toward self-righteousness? How are you being freed from this burden?

There are times when we as Christians may be unsure what action or belief or relationship is best. Below are five questions and five corresponding Scriptural truths to help us know how best to live in freedom and love

1. Will this lead to freedom or slavery?

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. – 1 Corinthians 6.12

2. Will this make me a stumbling block or a stepping stone?

Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. – 1 Corinthians 8.13

3. Will this build me up or tear me down?

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. – 1 Corinthians 10.23

4. Will this only please me or will it cause others to glorify Christ?

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. – 1 Corinthians 10.31

5. Will this help to win the lost to Christ or turn them away?

Even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. – 1 Corinthians 10.33

How could these questions and Scriptural truths help guide the way you act privately and publicly? 

In your own words, define the “glory of God.” 

Read Psalm 19.1; 29.1-2 and Habakkuk 2.14. How do you see the “glory of God” in creation? 

Read and reflect on John Piper’s description of the glory of God: “The public display of the infinite beauty and worth of God…I believe the glory of God is the going public of his infinite worth. I define the holiness of God as the infinite value of God, the infinite intrinsic worth of God. And when that goes public in creation, the heavens are telling the glory of God, and human beings are manifesting his glory, because we’re created in his image, and we’re trusting his promises so that we make him look gloriously trustworthy.” 

How does this definition encourage you as you consider verse 1 Corinthians 10.31? 

What was the relationship between the Israelites and the glory of God? 

Read John 1.1-14. Jesus is His glory. Jesus is the public display of infinite beauty. How do you see the glory of God in Jesus? 

Read John 17.20-22. What is Jesus actually praying for here? 

Read and reflect on the words of C.S. Lewis. “It may be asked what practical use there is in the speculations which I have been indulging. I can think of at least one such use. It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken.” –  C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Read 2 Corinthians 3.18. How are you sensing God at work in you transforming you into His image “with ever-increasing glory”?  

Spend a few moments asking God to continue to reveal His glory to you, in you, and through you.

Read 1 Corinthians 10.14-22. What is the problem in the Corinthian church? How is Paul inviting the Corinthians to grow? 

What stories in the Old Testament can you recall that highlight the importance of sharing a meal? What about the New Testament? 

Think about the word “idolatry.” What “idols” have you had to flee from in your life? What or whom might still hold too high a place of prominence in your life? 

The Corinthians were practicing a form of idol worship when eating in pagan temples. What’s the correlation to this act in your world today? 

Reflect on one or two stories of Jesus sharing a meal with friends, or family. It seems that Jesus eats with all kinds of people. Who shares a meal at your table? What have you learned about yourself by sharing a meal with others? 

Read 1 Corinthians 10.21. What does it mean to “drink the cup of demons?” 

Read 1 Corinthians 11.17-34. What is the primary implication of this text?

How important is the Lord’s Supper to the church at Corinth? What kind of value do you think they placed on the Lord’s Supper? How important is the Lord’s Supper to you? How much do you value it? What is the most meaningful aspect of the Lord’s Supper? 

What problem is Paul trying to correct? 

Read and reflect on the comments of J.D. Walt. “Don’t for a minute think you are remembering the Lord when you have practically forgotten the poor. It’s not the ritual that creates the righteousness, but the righteousness that verifies the ritual.” How do you participate in this practice without it becoming ritualistic? What is the importance of the communal aspect of communion? 

What is the New Covenant Jesus mentions? 

Read John 13.34-35. How does Jesus express His love for His friends? How has a friend expressed holy love toward you in the last two weeks? How does His example inspire you to put love into action? 

Read Revelation 19.6-9. How does this eternal picture give you strength and courage to commune with the Lord and with others today? 

Spend a few moments in taking communion today. 

1) What comes to mind when you think of distractions that disqualify?

2) Where you do you find yourself relating to the four examples of idolatry of the Israelites that Paul gives in 1 Corinthians 10:7-10? Are there areas in your life where you see yourself refusing, repurposing, requiring, or rejecting God’s instruction and gifts?

3) Paul warns us to be careful if we think we stand, lest we fall. Are there areas in your life where you need to be aware of the pull/push (temptation/test) deception technique the enemy can use?

4) What may be pulling you away from God with the false promise of offering something better than God can provide?

5) What circumstances in your life may be pushing you away from God as your trust in his goodness/faithfulness is questioned?

6) How does it encourage you to know that our God is faithful and will provide an escape…always?

7) Are there things in your life that you recognize are distractions that are designed to disqualify? Take some time and reflect on the truth that our God is better than any distraction this world has to offer.

You can find the card referred to in this Sunday’s message HERE.

Read 1 Corinthians 9.24-27. What’s the primary implication of this text? 

What’s the prize in this race? How is that prize available in the here and now? 

As Paul writes the text, he looks at the present through the lens of the future. Many times we look at the present through the lens of the past. Describe a time when you looked at the present through the lens of the future and describe a time when you looked at the present through the lens of the past. Which brought you life? How might you grow in learning how to view the present through the lens of the future? What would it require you to release, or let go? How would you need to “train” in order to run with freedom?

Do a study of Scripture of the promise of believers receiving “crowns.” What kind of crowns do we receive? How does this study awaken you to a broader and more beautiful picture of life in Christ and eternal life in Christ? 

Read Isaiah 35.10. Allow the prophecy to rest on you, and in you – to fully “overtake you.” 

Read 2 Timothy 4.8. What is “the crown of righteousness” Paul talks about here? When and how do we receive this kind of crown? 

Read, reflect and respond to the following quote from Dallas Willard. 

If we are to be transformed, the body must be transformed, and that is not accomplished by talking at it. The training that leads to doing what we hear from Jesus must therefore involve, first, the purposeful disruption of our “automatic” thoughts, feelings, and actions by doing different things with our body. And then, through various intentional practices, we place the body before God in such a way that our whole self is retrained away from the old kingdoms around us and within us and into “the kingdom of the Son of His love.” (Colossians 1:13)

Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy.

What is an “automatic” response in your life that needs to be retrained? What might happen in you and to those around you should that automatic response not change?

If you could summarize your “training” what would you say? If you could summarize how your training is a part of your transformation what would you say? 

Read 1 Timothy 4.8, and 6.12. How do these verses encourage you to press into the spiritual call to bring your whole self before our Good God? 

Read, reflect and respond to the following quote from Dallas Willard. 

“You must arrange your days so that you are experiencing total contentment, joy, and confidence in your everyday life with God — that and that alone is what makes a soul healthy.” – Dallas Willard

• What would one day look like for you, if you “arranged your days” in this way? 
• What would have to change in order for you to arrange your day in this way? 
• What is the reward of this kind of living and loving?

Read Hebrews 12.1-3. How does this verse encourage you? How do you sense the “great cloud of witnesses” cheer you on? If there was one area in your life where you sense a need today to be encouraged, what would it be? Who could join you here?

Of the seven vows listed below, which is the one you celebrate the deepest? Which challenges you most deeply? 

I yield myself fully to you.

I embrace your calling on my life.

I will do your bidding without delay.

I will refuse you nothing.

I will endure all hardships.

When I don’t feel your presence, I will still be faithful. 

I will seek to love you as you have never been loved before.

As you close this study, spend some moments meditating on the Lord’s prayer.