I Corinthians 6 - Lawsuits Among Believers & Sexual Immorality

1-11
- 'smaller' problems (as opposed to the ones in ch.5; such as property cases) within the congregation better be settled among themselves. This doesn't mean justice is ignored, but rather, the congregation should be able to seek justice by themselves first before including the 3rd party.
- in some situation, it's better to be wronged/cheated than to bring conflict.
- the fact that there are lawsuits within the congregation shows that there's a lack of love within the congregation it.


12-20
- The slogan of "Everything is permissible for me" was famous among the society. The origin of the slogan is not important since it might come from the Greek's philosophers. The big deal is Corinthians used this slogan as an excuse to do whatever they want. Therefore, Paul adds his response "but not everything is beneficial".

- Corinthians seperates their spiritual and physical existence. Paul advices that both is connected. Moreover, Paul mentions that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. It is where the holy spirit resides. By damaging your physical existence, we hinder our spiritual growth.

- Paul also mentions the price that Jesus paid is expensive. Therefore, we require to honor His sacrifice on the cross. It is not something that we can treat lightly.

I Corinthians 5 - Expel the Immoral Brother!

- FLAGRANTLY immoral, greedy, adulators, drunkards, swindlers brothers has to be expelled from the church. (Flagrant = obviously, clearly, noticeably bad)

- this command does not mean to disassociate with ALL people in the world, but only applies to people who claim to be your BROTHERS

- there are some steps that can be taken, however, before actually expelling someone from the church (read Mat 18:15-17)

- the purpose of this command is to maintain the integrity of the church (immoral behavior are contagious, as pictured as a yeast in the illustration, and might give impression that the church approves those kind of immoral behavior if such kind of people stays in the church.)

- "judging" in chapter 5 is different than the one we discussed in Romans. Romans: Paul was referring to differences that exist in a Christian community (stronger faith vs weaker faith: unclean stuff, sacredness of certain days), for all these things we shouldn't judge one another. It's different from the things that are being discussed in Corinthians, here it's a fragrant immorality in the church. For this, we have steps to take, that might end in expulsion.

I Corinthians 4 - Apostle of Christ

1-13
- paul and apollos are just servants of god, entrusted with the secret things of god and to be stewards.
- as servants of christ, they (and we) should not judge (in the context being arrogant) each other (only christ has the right to judge). this is not against being critical / discernment in forming an opinion, but it is reverence to the misconcieved critism against paul.
- life as god's servants are hard, so don't be disrecpetcful


14-17
- father mentioned here doesn't refer to spiritual father, where each christian has one and expected to be one.

practical application:

should we criticize pastors, if yes, how, and how far can we go?
- it's okay, but do it in respectfully and mind your surrounding and with the right motivation


how to handle boring sermons:
- expect to get something when you come
- mind your surrounding (don't do anything disrespectful/distracting)
- get chewing gum (kata kucing)

I Corinthians 3 - Divisions in the church

- the Corinthian congregation are immature, they follows the persons, not the teachings.
- the illustration about building shows that the congregation has the same foundation, which is JC, but the building material (what's taught) can make the difference when tested by fire
- in the illustration of talents (mat 25), all people has different talent (responsibilities/role), each person is expected to use their talent, but faithfulness is what counts, not the amount of work you do.
- jealously and quarreling are signs of "division" in church
- whoever destroys God's temple (in relation with division will be destroyed) -- (16,17)