Body Building
Jeff Strite
I Corinthians 12:12-31
OPENING: You may remember a few years ago when Snoopy, the lovable beagle in the Peanuts cartoon, had his left leg broken. Hundreds wrote letters to Snoopy or sent sympathy cards. Snoopy himself philosophized about his plight one day while perched on top of his doghouse and looking at the huge white cast on his leg. "My body blames my foot for not being able to go places. My foot says it was my head's fault, and my head blamed my eyes.... My eyes say my feet are clumsy, and my right foot says not to blame him for what my left foot did...." Snoopy looks out at his audience and confesses, "I don't say anything because I don't want to get involved."
APPLICATION: Corinth was an ideal place for a congregation: its lanes were heavily lined with merchandizing booths so that it was like one big mall. It was an old city made new (Rome had destroyed and rebuilt it), centrally located as a commercial haven by people from every nation of Rome's Empire.
It was a big, busy city. In our society, it might be seen as the ideal place for a church.
BUT... the church at Corinth was not living up to its potential. In fact, it had some distinct, troublesome problems.
I. Ever hear the saying, "Beauty only goes skin deep, but ugly goes straight to the bone?"
The Church of Christ at Corinth was an ugly place - ugly to the bone.
I Corinthians 3:1-4 tells us of jealousy and division.
I Corinthians 4:18 talks about arrogant men
And I Corinthians 5:1-2 speaks of their sin of pride
I Corinthians 9:1-6 tells of the church's tendency to be backbiters of Paul's ministry
I Corinthians 11:17-22 tells of potluck suppers that turned into spiritual food fights
Chapter 12 talks about the conflict between those who had the gift of tongues vs. those with other gifts
Then of course, there was chapters 15 and 16 that talked about a bad doctrine about the resurrection that had leaked into the congregation.
If I ha ...
Jeff Strite
I Corinthians 12:12-31
OPENING: You may remember a few years ago when Snoopy, the lovable beagle in the Peanuts cartoon, had his left leg broken. Hundreds wrote letters to Snoopy or sent sympathy cards. Snoopy himself philosophized about his plight one day while perched on top of his doghouse and looking at the huge white cast on his leg. "My body blames my foot for not being able to go places. My foot says it was my head's fault, and my head blamed my eyes.... My eyes say my feet are clumsy, and my right foot says not to blame him for what my left foot did...." Snoopy looks out at his audience and confesses, "I don't say anything because I don't want to get involved."
APPLICATION: Corinth was an ideal place for a congregation: its lanes were heavily lined with merchandizing booths so that it was like one big mall. It was an old city made new (Rome had destroyed and rebuilt it), centrally located as a commercial haven by people from every nation of Rome's Empire.
It was a big, busy city. In our society, it might be seen as the ideal place for a church.
BUT... the church at Corinth was not living up to its potential. In fact, it had some distinct, troublesome problems.
I. Ever hear the saying, "Beauty only goes skin deep, but ugly goes straight to the bone?"
The Church of Christ at Corinth was an ugly place - ugly to the bone.
I Corinthians 3:1-4 tells us of jealousy and division.
I Corinthians 4:18 talks about arrogant men
And I Corinthians 5:1-2 speaks of their sin of pride
I Corinthians 9:1-6 tells of the church's tendency to be backbiters of Paul's ministry
I Corinthians 11:17-22 tells of potluck suppers that turned into spiritual food fights
Chapter 12 talks about the conflict between those who had the gift of tongues vs. those with other gifts
Then of course, there was chapters 15 and 16 that talked about a bad doctrine about the resurrection that had leaked into the congregation.
If I ha ...
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