Do Everything for the Glory of God — 1 Corinthians 10:31 Explained

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody back in, and we're going to come right back to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and we're going to drop down to about verse 28 or 29 here in the studio. For those of you joining us on television, again, we appreciate your letters. Somebody asked me the other day, again, do you read every letter, every one? I read them and I set them over, and if Iris has got the time, she reads them, if not, she'll read them a little later. But if you write to us, you rest assured, I am going to read it. I may someday get to the place I'll have to stay up half the night, but that's all right. I'm still going to read every single letter. And as I've said before, so often people will write and then they'll apologize that they can't send a contribution. Well, I understand. I mean, I've been to that place where you just don't have a dime to spare. So to those folk I say, you write anyway. We certainly don't open that mail just looking for money. We just love to hear your comments, your prayer requests, your questions, or what have you. And again, always remember we are just a non-denominational group the way I've been teaching ever since I started 20 some years ago. We have always taught with the idea that people, of course, are active in their own local church. We are not competing with the church. We hopefully are enhancing it. And a lot of our folks, of course, are Sunday school teachers and so forth. But in my teaching environment, I've always tried to stay on neutral ground. In fact, I've learned it so often. If I try to have a class in, we'll say, a Baptist church, well, the Methodists and the Lutherans and the Catholics sure aren't going to come. And I've had it in a Lutheran church, well then the Baptists don't come. So you just have to take that in consideration that when we teach seminars the same way. I like to stay on neutral ground if at all possible, so that we can reach people from every denominational background. This book is not a denominational book. It is for everybody. And remember that heaven is not going to be divided by denomination. We are all members of the Body of Christ, and if we're saved we're going to be in the same place regardless of our denominational handle. Well so much for that, again remember everything is on tapes and on books. So if you want some past material, past programs, all the way since Genesis, we're just coming up through the Scriptures, you write to us or call us and we'll give you the information you need. All right, again, 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and for those who are just catching our program for the first time, and every week we've got these, so forgive me for repeating some of these things because we do have new people coming in every week. Remember that the letter to the Corinthians is Paul's response to a question and answer letter, and they were beset with all kinds of problems, and Paul has to deal with it. Now he's going to deal with it lovingly and in the spirit of meekness, and on the other hand from the side of strength and the power of the Word of the Lord Jesus Himself. But nevertheless always realize that all the things dealt with in this letter of 1 Corinthians are predominantly problems in the Church, and they were not things that he commended the Church for. And you'll see that more and more as we wind down our study in this little letter. All right, now as we came out of our last program, or as we ended it, we were dealing again with something that is not apropos for us living over here in America, but it is still a problem of course in some areas of the world, and that is this idea of something that has been offered to a pagan idol. Can a believer have anything to do with it? Well you see Paul spoke his mind when he said so far as he was concerned, that dumb idol couldn't affect that meat, and he could eat it and think nothing up. But just like he taught back in Romans, eating ordinary meat, perfectly legitimate meat, if there were some who had become vegetarians through whatever conviction, if it was going to upset their Christian experience by watching Paul not be a vegetarian, then what would he say? I won't eat another bite of meat as long as I live, if it's going to be a stumbling block. Well it's the same way here with regard to this meat that had been offered to idols. He said if it's going to cause a problem to the unbeliever as well as the believer, then I won't eat it. In other words, remember where we left off in our closing moments? He says in verse 28, "...if any say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice to an idol, then eat not for his sake that showed it." In other words, even that pagan, he is going to be taught a lesson if he tells this Christian who is now a guest at his table, hey this is meat that I had got back from the temple. Then the believer should reject it for that man's sake, to show him that he does make a difference. On the other hand, it could have been a fellow believer invited to that same banquet, and that young believer did not have the strength to say, hey this meat can't be affected by an idol, so for that young believer's sake, don't eat it. Well you carry that into every aspect of life, it doesn't just have to be with meat to idols, but anything that is going to cause a weaker believer to stumble, then for goodness sake set it aside. We run across those things constantly, of course we do, but now I think the crux of the whole thing is all wrapped up in this verse 31. Here is the crux of the matter, verse 31, "...whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatsoever you do, whatever it is, you do it all for one purpose, for the glory of God." That's the only reason we're left here, is to bring glory to His Name. Even in the mundane things that we think don't really count, yes they do. In the ordinary mundane everyday experiences, if we do it as unto the Lord and for His glory, then that's the way God sees it. Then verse 32, here is another admonition that fits just as well today as it did back in Corinth in Paul's day. "...give no offense, neither to the Jew, or to the Gentiles, or to the house of God." In other words that verse divided the population of Corinth, or any other city at that time into three categories. We normally think of two, saved and lost, but here Paul puts it in three, because the Jew was still a factor to be reckoned with when Paul writes the Corinthians. Now a little later in his ministry, as I put on the board several weeks ago, that Paul's writings are a progressive revelation in themselves, just like the Bible is on the whole. Because you've certainly seen that by now, that when you come from Genesis all the way up through the Scripture, it's a constant progressive revelation of things that were not revealed back there, but now they are. Paul's letters work the same way. He works from a simple beginning, and he comes on up, and then finally he'll end with those deep spiritual things that the carnal believer cannot comprehend. So here he's still showing that there is a difference between the Jew and the Gentile, and those Jews and Gentiles who were members of the Body of Christ. Then to finish up the chapter, verse 33. "...even as I please all in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved." Now as you study Paul's letters, I think you're going to become aware of one overriding thought, and that is the man could never get lost people off his mind. That's all Paul could think about were lost people. People for whom Christ had already paid their sin debt, people for whom the blood of Christ had been shed, people whose lives were ready to be ransomed by virtue of His resurrection from the dead. As I explained to the class again last night, we never want to lose sight of the fact that when Christ went to that cross, when Jesus died that death by crucifixion, it wasn't just another crucifixion because there were thousands of those. It wasn't unique in that respect, but what made it unique is that He was the Creator God Himself, who took on human flesh to go to that cross, so that on that cross God poured out all of His wrath for sin. All the sin from Adam until the last person that will ever live in time, their sin was laid on Christ on that cross, and God judged it. He poured out His wrath on Him, which means that even the vilest member of some mafia or whatever you want to think of as vile, lost, wicked people, their sins are already atoned for. They're paid for. The only reason they'll go to an eternal doom if they don't come into salvation in the meantime is because they rejected it, and that's why we maintain there's only one sin that will ever put a person out in His eternal doom, and that is rejecting the Gospel. Because the sin debt has been paid, that has been finalized once and for all. And so this is why Paul just burned until his dying day, that he might get the Gospel of salvation out to lost people. And if any one of us would just get a part of that, we'd make a difference. Now I think the world is too far gone. I don't look for a great awakening, and I hope I'm not small in faith, but I just can't see it. But I will say this, if, and that's hypothetical, if every believer would burn for the lost world like Paul did, yeah, we'd still turn the world around. Then we could, but believers aren't going to. But if we would, we could turn this country inside out, we could turn the world around. But believers will not do it, and of course it's all in God's providence, and we know that things have to come to their conclusion. But anyway, Paul's whole desire every place he went, was that lost people might be saved. Now how many times do we think about it as we go up and down the road? I guess where I'm most aware of the masses of humanity is when I'm on the road. And you just see this constant rolling of traffic into the city and out, and I don't care where you go, it's the same everywhere. Highways just chuck full of people coming and going, and that's when I become aware of the masses of people, and to think that most of them, most of them are lost. They're lost, and we could care less seemingly. But oh, if we could do like Paul and just burn. In fact, come back with me to I Corinthians chapter 4. I was going to bring this out before the afternoon was over, sooner or later, and I guess this is as good a time as any. In I Corinthians chapter 4, drop down to verse 16, I'm going to have to slow down a little because this is the complaint I'm getting from our TV viewers. I give the chapter and verse, and before they can find it in their living room, I've already found it and gone on, so I'll try to slow down and make this so that people in their home can keep up with this. I Corinthians chapter 4, verse 16, "...wherefore I beseech you, that means I beg, that you be followers of Me, the Apostle writes." That's contrary to what most people think, isn't it? All right, now come on over to Philippians, that's on through the next Corinthian letter and through Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians chapter 3. And drop down to verse 17, I Corinthians chapter 3, verse 17, and I'm trying to find while you're looking. There's another one in Corinthians where he says the same identical thing, but I'm not seeing it. I Corinthians chapter 3, verse 17, "...brethren, be followers together of Me, and mark them who walk, so as you have us for an example." Now why does the Holy Spirit prompt the man to tell the believing world to follow Him rather than to follow Jesus? Because this man is of the same human make-up that we are. He has the same failures, he has the same weaknesses, he has the same fears. He went into one of these strange pagan cities. Do you think he went in with a boldness and a facade that showed no fear? No. He trembled in his boots just like we would, not knowing what kind of a response he would get. But he went anyway, and that's what we have to do. Oh, it's a fearsome thing to take the Gospel out to a belligerent world. But this is what he means when he says, "...be ye followers of Me." And that we burn with that same desire to see more people come to a knowledge of salvation. Alright, now if you'll come back with me to I Corinthians, now we'll go into chapter 11. And remember, he still hasn't left the thought completely of the Lord's Supper. Now here's the verse before I even got beyond it. Verse 1 of chapter 11. I bumped right into it. I Corinthians 1. "...be ye followers of Me." Now remember, Paul writes to Gentiles. Paul writes to the world today, just as surely as he wrote to the Corinthians in his day and time. And he says, "...be ye followers of Me." Now there are three verses right in a row that say the same thing. I Corinthians 4, Philippians 3, and now I Corinthians 11, be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ." Now Paul isn�t setting himself up as the Savior of the world. Paul isn�t setting himself up as some God, never. But what does he say? As I follow the resurrected, ascended Lord, you follow me. And of course he makes that analogy throughout his letters. In fact, let�s go back and review a moment. Go back to I Corinthians chapter 3. And I know whenever I make statements like this I endanger myself to those who say, �You make too much of the Apostle Paul.� Well I don�t see how I can, because the Apostle Paul is that man that God designated to take salvation to the Gentiles. And if God designated it, then I make no apology for it. And this is why he is defending his apostleship in all of his letters. I�m always stressing that Paul defends his apostleship, because even the people of his day were accusing him of heresy and of being an imposter, because he didn�t actually walk with the Lord Jesus those 3 years like Peter, James, and John did. But nevertheless he still has to come back constantly and say, �But I AM an Apostle. I AM the one who has received all these revelations.� So now you�ve got I Corinthians chapter 3, verse 10. And my, this is such plain language. I Corinthians chapter 3, verse 10, �According to the grace of God which is given unto me, I have laid the foundation, and then another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he builds on that foundation that Paul has laid.� Now the next verse, �For other foundation can no man lay, than that foundation which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.� He�s the foundation of everything we believe in, and everything we hope for is in that foundation of Christ and His finished work of the Cross. But who was the Master Builder that laid it out? Paul was. And that�s why his letters are intrinsic to our doctrine, is because he alone was given these revelations with regard to this Church made up of Jew and Gentile. Now Peter makes reference to it in his little epistles, way at the end of his life you might say, but Peter knows nothing of this in his early preaching. He has no concept of the Body of Christ, this composition of Jew and Gentile. But this apostle has had all of this revealed to him. Now let�s come back to chapter 11. I told the class last night that I was going to teach on chapter 10 and 11 today, and Tenebell went into orbit. He said, �Since when do you cover two chapters in one afternoon?� Well I�m not going to do it Tenebell, it�s going to be about like usual. Chapter 11, now verse 2. Now he says, �I praise you brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, the things that have been delivered.� In other words, the things that had been taught by the apostle Paul and some of the other gifted men. So he says, �Remember me in their prayers ,� and I�m sure he had financial needs and physical needs, and he says, �Keep the things that have been delivered, as I delivered them to you.� Yeah, I�m going to do it. Turn over a couple of pages to chapter 15. We�ll be there in a little bit anyway, but not today. So let�s look at I Corinthians chapter 15 when Paul says, �I delivered them unto you.� Now don�t lose sight of the fact these Corinthians had heard none of this until the apostle Paul came to town. It wasn�t that someone else had already been there and had kind of laid the groundwork, and had set the stage so that this guy could just kind of come in and take all the glory. Oh no. When he first came to town, there had never been a word concerning the Gospel of the Grace of God, how that Christ had died. So now then in chapter 15, oh he says it so plainly, and you�ve heard me say it on the program, and my class people in Oklahoma know this forwards and backwards, that if you want a clear definition of the Gospel that�ll save a man, here it is. I Corinthians 15.15-16 "...Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you not a Gospel, but the Gospel, which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand." You believe it, and don�t you get blown over with every little wind of doctrine and every false teacher that comes along. You stand on this Gospel, and you won�t have to worry about eternity. Verse 2. "...By which, you are saved." And again I always have to stop at that word. I had someone tell me years and years ago, they wished I wouldn�t use that word. It sounded too much like some people they knew in town. I said, now wait a minute. This is not a denominational word. This doesn�t belong to one group of people. This is a Scriptural word. You go all the way back into the Old Testament, and what were the Jews constantly told to be looking for? Salvation. The salvation of Israel. The salvation of the individual. What does salvation mean? To be saved from something. And again I�ve always used the simple analogy. You take some old boy that�s just about gone broke, and he�s about ready to throw in the towel, and there�s no way he can pick up all his debts. And some rich uncle dies and wills him a whole bunch of money. And all of a sudden he�s back on his feet, and he�s going 100 miles an hour. What do we say about it? Hey, that old boy�s estate was that guy�s salvation. It was his salvation. It saved him from bankruptcy. It�s the same word. We are saved from an eternal doom. This Gospel is our salvation. And if you�ve kept in memory what I preached unto you, lest you believe in vain, know what you believe. And here comes the Gospel now. I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. Now of course you have to know your Bible to know what Paul�s talking about, don�t you? You have to understand that when God zapped him off his horse on the road to Damascus and saved him, God didn�t send him back to Jerusalem to go and check in with the Twelve and become part of their ministry. He separated him totally from the Twelve, sent him out into the back side of the desert, and revealed these doctrines to him. And then yes, he went through Jerusalem for 14 days and visited with Peter, but other of the apostles he never saw one. And immediately then began his ministry amongst the Gentiles. And so his ministry just continued, and it went west across Asia Minor, which is present day Turkey, and then over the Aegean Sea into Greece where of course Corinth is. And so he says, I delivered unto you that which also I received. And here�s what he received. How that Christ died for our sins. Not just the sins of Israel, but the sins of these pagan Corinthians, the sins of America, the sins of Europe, the sins of the Orient. He died for them all, according to the Scriptures. This was the fulfillment of God�s whole design from day one, that He would go to the house, and take upon Himself men�s sin. Now verse 4. And that He was buried. He had to be in order to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that He was dead. This was not some tomfoolery. This was not some beguiling whatever. He died, and He was dead three days and three nights in the tomb. And then He arose again the third day, according to the Scriptures. And again the Sovereign God was in complete control. How can the unbelieving world continue to ridicule the Book, when we know from history, when we know from archeology, that these Old Testament writers lived. They were real. They were flesh and blood. And we found excerpts of their writings, whether it�s in cuneiform, on clay tablets, or whatever. They lived. And we know those things were written 1 ,000, 1,500, 2,000 years before Christ came. But here He came. And we know that David wrote in the Psalms a perfect picture of the crucifixion. We know that David wrote 1,000 B .C. concerning his resurrection. But it was in such veiled language of course, that it took this apostle to bring it out into the open. But it was all back there, and that�s why he mentions it. That it was according to the Scriptures that the Gospel came about. And that He arose again the third day, according to the Scriptures. Now that�s the Gospel that he received, and he took to Corinth. Now come back to chapter 11, and we have it here again. All the things that Paul had instituted in that little group of believers. Now you want to remember, none of these New Testament churches were in huge edifices as we see in America, and Europe, and so forth. Where did they meet? In homes. The average local church probably didn�t have more than what a common ordinary home would accommodate, a dozen, two dozen. Maybe if they were real scumptious and had a huge home, maybe they could get 30 or 40. But they weren�t huge congregations. But nevertheless, whatever they rested on, they had gotten it from the apostle Paul. My land is counting down the seconds. That half hour went so fast, I didn�t know where it went. But anyway, we�ll pick it up here the next time we get back on the TV. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Pinta, OK 74552. That�s Route 1, Box 760, Pinta, OK 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.