(overview)
Bad Companions Deceive, Decay and Deaden our Consciousness, our Communications, and our Churches. Choose Champions for Companions, Avoid the Antagonists as Allies.
Sober Up and Sin Not.
Fear Fosters Failure.
Faith Follows Fully.
Sinners need to see Single Minded Saints.
Stupefied Backsliders should Stir Biblical Behavior.
The Church has been neutralized by the Fear of Failure. 1
1 Corinthians 15:33-34
33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners (or ...bad company corrupts good morals NASB).
34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
I have addressed this passage recently, but I needed to address it again today. This statement is made in the middle of the most thorough Biblical statement on the resurrection of the believer, yet it is not out of place.
God addresses the Church with some very telling words.
1 Corinthians 15:33-34
33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners (or ...bad company corrupts good morals NASB).
34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
I have addressed this passage recently, but I needed to address it again today. This statement is made in the middle of the most thorough Biblical statement on the resurrection of the believer, yet it is not out of place.
God addresses the Church with some very telling words.
33 Do not be deceived...
DLG... it is possible for believers to be deceived and for that deception to change the believers spiritual status. In fact, the deception spoken of here is the lie that there is no resurrection from the dead. There is nothing more basic to the Christian faith than the resurrection from the dead. Today there are various groups that deny this fundamental truth of the gospel; Jehovah's Witnesses (so-called), who believe in the annihilation of the soul and therefore, no resurrection from the dead.
33 ... bad company corrupts good morals...
DLG... If Christians spend their time with or give heed to the unconverted or the backslidden he will become corrupted in his beliefs and behavior. Jesus stated that we must be willing to do the will of God if we want to know or understand the way/will of God.
John 7:17
17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
DLG... This passage should read, If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know the doctrine... Willingness (the ability to will, choose, decide) to obey God makes it possible to know the authority of the word of God.
When a person does not will or is not willing to do God's will, then the mind is stupefied. Obedient faith enlightens and disobedience confuses.
34 Awake to righteousness...
DLG... Rouse up from the stupor, the drunken condition that your disbelief and disobedience have produced in you. Shake off your slumber completely, or wake up to live righteously. Actually the second idea is covered in the next phrase.
34 ...and sin not...
DLG... Not only should you come out of a deceived, drunken and deteriorating condition, you should STOP SINNING. This verse does not say, stop some of your sinning, or most of your sinning; it says STOP SINNING, which means, SIN NO MORE. It is only hard to understand if you are not willing to quit sinning. Remember, If you are willing to do His will, you will understand that God has said, SIN NOT, do not commit sin. Those who are not willing to quit sinning offer convoluted explanations for this passage, and others like it.
The power to stop sinning, to “sin not” is provided by the resurrection of Jesus. This is why Paul spoke of the “power of the resurrection.”
Philippians 3:8-11
8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
DLG... We can stop sinning because He indwells us, because His grace delivers us.
34 ...for some do not have the knowledge of God...
DLG... The world is looking for people and churches involved in the Great Adventure of living the resurrection life in this present evil world. There are so few living it that there are people who are not only non-believers, they are believers that there is no God, they are professed and proud agnostics and atheists.
34 ...I speak this to your shame.
DLG... God is not pleased that He has made the sacrifice to save the lost, He has provided salvation and the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and has given to the church the ministry of reconciliation, yet the church remains silent and falling away, causing people to live and die without the knowledge of Christ, people for whom He died.
God is not pleased with our church if we do allow the power of God to be seen in us. Not everyone will accept Christ, not everyone who accepts Christ will follow through, but God has called us to show forth the salvation of God, with His anointing.
When people come into Seaside, they should see more than outward appearance of Christianity, they should sense that we are all on the Great Adventure of following Him fully.
