Chico Alliance Church
Pastor David Welch
“A Winsome Walk”
Introduction
When you truly care about someone, you want to find out what pleases them and what makes them sad. Paul prayed that the believers at Colossae be filled with the knowledge of what God really wants. Paul instructed the Ephesian believers to avoid the behaviors of the unbelievers and continually try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. After spending three chapters reviewing the glorious blessings freely lavished on EVERY believer, Paul called for them to respond to God.
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephes. 4:1-3
For a while now we have been examining the Holy Spirit’s instructions to the believers in Corinth. For most of the book he has addressed issues in the church that were displeasing to God. He exposed the cliques in the first four chapters that were tearing the church apart.
He urged unity by keeping their focus on Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit and teamwork. He exposed immorality in the church in chapter 6 that was ruining the testimony of the church. He urged discipline upon the offending individual. Beginning in chapter six there are ten areas of focus that help us to understand what does and does not please God. Paul taught absolute freedom in Christ on the basis of His sacrifice on the cross. Even though we are free in Christ there are certain characteristics that please God.
TEN CHARACTERISTICS OF A WINSOME WALK
1. Focus on the things that will eternally benefit ourselves and those around us.
2. Avoid those things that will enslave me.
3. Avoid those things outside of God’s design for life. (moral choices)
4. Focus on full devotion to God above everything else.
5. Avoid those things that will adversely affect other people directly or by example.
6. Avoid becoming a stumbling block for the progress of the gospel message.
7. Focus on those things that promote the gospel message.
8. Focus on training and running the race to finish well and win the prize.
9. Avoid things that displease God.
Remember, the only thing that truly pleases God is TRUST.
Without trust it is impossible to please God.
We displease God anytime we fail to trust Him.
Only absolute trust in God brings God pleasure and us peace.
? Don’t be cravers of evil things but trust His provision. vs 6
? Don’t become idolaters but rely on Him alone for life. vs 7
? Don’t act immorally but follow God’s rules for living. vs 8
? Don’t try the Lord but let Him direct our paths. vs 9
? Don’t grumble but realize He has the master plan and promise. vs 10
? Don’t think these things won’t creep into you life but trust God to provide the way to escape devastating doubt.
Only genuine trust pleases God so please God by trusting Him only.
10. Avoid anything that may associate us with demonic forces. 10:14-22
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say.
Any time we entrust ourselves to anyone or anything over God we commit idolatry which is spiritual adultery. Any time we look to someone or anything for life we commit spiritual adultery. Whenever we doubt God, we choose to trust something or someone else in His place. As we have seen, doubt leads to an attitude toward God and actions that displease Him. Paul summed it up by instructing the Corinthians to always run from, flee, escape, shun idolatry. Take God’s way of escape. Paul presented the foundational reasons to avoid association with evil by appealing both to the Old Testament Passover and the New Testament Communion celebration. He invited them to think about his application.
Why should we flee the things the Israelites practiced?
Why should they stop attending the Gentile temple dinners?
The significance of the Communion celebration
Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.
When Israelites shared in the Passover, they identified as covenant people with the blood sacrificed on the altar to atone for their sin. They paused to recognize the Lord’s presence among them and to bless Him for His abundant goodness and mercy and lovingkindness toward them. Christians identify with the blood of Christ shed for us. We pause to recognize God’s presence among us and to bless Him for the ultimate sacrifice of His only Son that we might have life. Identification with the blood of the New Covenant in Christ proclaims a voluntary and grateful association with the one true Christ. The communal sharing of the bread also recognizes that we are bound together as those joined to the body of Christ. Communion is all about a personal and public reminder and declaration and celebration that we are the covenant people of God and united by blood with each other.
It is a bonding experience with each other.
It is a bonding experience with God.
Communion is as much for God as it is for us. By participating in the communion ceremony we continually declare to the Lord that we are His and we celebrate oneness with His body. In marriage we are joined into an exclusive covenant bond that vows to cling only unto each other and bond to each other so long as we both shall live. We enter into a mental, emotional and physical commitment. That bond is continually celebrated and communicated verbally, emotionally and physically through the sexual union.
That is why Hebrews adamantly demands that the marriage bed be undefiled.
These regular meaningful moments are the glue which bonds a marriage together.
Each month we join together to celebrate our full oneness with Christ and his body. We communicate to others and to God how much we love Him. To neglect such a meaningful symbol or to do it without the corresponding reality is a slap in God’s face and disturbing to God as adultery would be to a marriage.
The significance of the Passover
Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar?
A ceremonial supper was celebrated after each sacrifice that communicated and celebrated oneness with the other Covenant people and with the God of the Covenant.
The significance of the pagan temple ceremony
What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.
The pagans attached the same significance to their religious ceremonies.
Paul reinforced the point made earlier that idols are not really gods because there is only one God. Idols of wood, metal or stone had no special significance. However there he acknowledged that there was still danger in associating with them. These idols were not god but they did have demonic connections. It wasn’t the idols but the supernatural powers associated with those idols that brought destruction. To partake in the temple ceremonies and activities of idol worshipers was to communicate and celebrate identification with the demons associated with those idols. In reality you fellowship not only with the people who had entrusted their souls to the demons but with the demons themselves.
How many activities and ‘ceremonies’ have demonic associating today? How many times have we indicated by our choices that the things demons love, the ideas demons foster and the activities demons urge are more important the things of God? Just as the idols often had demonic association and subsequent bondage so some of the activities today can result in demonic attachment.
The significance for today
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
Paul clearly points out the absolute impossibility of entrusting your soul to two things.
Jesus said you cannot serve (entrust yourself to) God and money. Trust is an exclusive thing. Worship is an exclusive thing. A covenant is an exclusive thing. You can’t affirm your trust in Christ alone and then put your trust elsewhere. You can’t doubt Him and trust Him at the same time. You can’t celebrate total identification with God and practice the things associated with demons at the same time. You can’t play with the evils toys without somehow becoming associated with the devil. To become emotionally, mentally or physically attached to things associated with evil and Satan’s kingdom is to cheat on God. I can’t celebrate communion that declares my covenant with God and then demonstrate utter hypocrisy by seeking meaning and life somewhere else.
I can’t declare a covenant relationship with my wife and then join myself to another mentally, physically or emotionally. Trust is exclusive. Many of us vowed to take each other for better or for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish. We vowed to guard our heart from all other attachments and cling only unto each other so long as we both shall live. When we became Christians we did the same.
For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. 1 Thes. 1:9-10
Idolatry or identification with anything other than God is spiritual adultery and it affects God. It makes Him sad. It makes Him angry.
"You shall love the Lord YOUR God with ALL YOUR HEART, and with ALL YOUR SOUL, and with ALL YOUR STRENGTH, and with ALL YOUR MIND; and YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."
Luke 10:27
Most of the things I choose to trust other than God will eventually bring some level of demonic bondage or association. Such failure to trust God stirs jealousy in God as sure as unfaithfulness stirs jealousy in a spouse. James declares…
You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE." James 4:3-6
Paul asks a very pointed question.
Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?
Are we strong enough to oppose God in this? Do we think that we can keep cheating on Him and get away with it? That is why later we will learn of the severe penalty for celebrating the table of the Lord without the corresponding reality of exclusive trust in our life.
What or who do you trust? How deep is your commitment to fidelity with Christ?
Trust Him only. Flee idolatry always.
Paul finished his instruction concerning the worthy walk that pleases God by summarizing many of the principles he had already presented.
Summary of reasons to limit personal freedom 10:23-11:1
1. Seek to pursue the best over the good. Vs 23a
All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.
Out of all the things that could not be labeled wrong, not all things are useful. Not all things will bring me or others of God benefit. Not all things are appropriate. The game of volleyball is a great game and is not evil in itself. Yet to continue to play volleyball on the beach when someone in the water cries for help would not be profitable. Many of the things we do or choose to give our time to have not evil connections in themselves but to delegate most of our time to such things in light of the soon coming of Christ brings no eternal benefit. Paul urges us to consider the eternal benefit in the things we do.
2. Seek to build up those around me. Vs 23b-30
All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor. Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions for conscience' sake; FOR THE EARTH IS THE LORD'S, AND ALL IT CONTAINS. If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience' sake. But if anyone says to you, "This is meat sacrificed to idols," do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience' sake; I mean not your own conscience, but the other man's; for why is my freedom judged by another's conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks?
Paul urges us to consider focusing on those around us. Seek the good of our neighbor. Be concerned about the welfare of those around us. Choose to build them up. Avoid tripping them or tearing them down by our selfish choices.
3. Seek to draw attention to (glorify) God by all we do or say. Vs 31
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God
This is such an interesting passage which seems to indicate that we can direct attention to the wonder of God in something as simple as eating or drinking. Perhaps, in the context here he addresses the idea of eating and drinking associated with idolatry but the point is our focus must always consider how we direct people’s attention to God. When you hear the word glory, think of that intangible thing in a person or situation that grabs your attention.
The glory of a beautiful sunset
The glory of a captivating piece of music
The glory of a masterful painting
The glory of a perfectly executed returned kick off
All of these things are things that stand out by nature of their glory. To glorify someone or something is to purposely draw other people’s attention to what you have seen.
“Did you see that play?” “Come watch the replay!” “Come listen to this song!” “Look at that sunset!” To help others recognize the glory of something by explaining the finer details is to glorify it. In relation to God, we glorify Him as our Savior and Lord by our actions and words. We draw attention to what God can do in a life by how we live life.
God is glorified when we walk according to his ways. We glorify God when we please Him. Paul sums up this whole discussion about appropriated behavior by urging us to focus on what will draw attention to God. In everything bring attention to the greatness of God and His work in our life.
4. Seek always to win people to Christ. Vs 32-33
Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God; just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved.
Watch for every opportunity to win others to Christ even if it means to give up some personal comfort or resources. Not only avoid unnecessarily offending them by our words and actions but find ways to win them.
Finally, to summarize everything Paul makes a bold request.
5. Seek to imitate Christ. 11:1
Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. 1 Cor. 11:1
“mimetes” mimic. Do what I do! Live as I live.
Qualification! Imitate me in the areas I imitate Christ.
The best and ultimate test for behavior?
What did Jesus do?
What would Jesus do today?
Is this choice something Jesus would embrace not just tolerate?
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. Ephes. 5:1-2
Everything that Jesus did was a pleasing aroma to the Father. How does our walk smell?
Do you want to walk a walk pleasing to God?
Do you want to get into a place of peace and blessing and victory?
That is the walk of faith.
God calls us to enter into that faith rest walk today.
The entrance however is death.
Death to self that refuses to trust any one but self.
Death to self that refuses to please any one but self.
Death to self that cannot please God.
For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:5-8
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:9-13
How do we do that?
I urge you today to consider the instruction James gave his readers.
You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE." Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:4-10
Recognize how our sin and unbelief makes God feel.
Realize that relationship with God is all or nothing.
Reflect on the fact that God really wants to fellowship with us.
Repent of the pride that hinders grace.
? Submit fully to God’s authority over your life.
? Resist the devil whose lies you have believed. (Renounce any connection)
? Draw near to God relationally and enjoy His presence.
? Confess your specific sinful actions and adulterous heart attachments.
? Humble yourselves in His presence.
Ten Questions to test any Choice
Will this choice please God?
Allow each of the ten questions asked here to become a life filter.
If it makes it through all ten, embrace it wholeheartedly.
1. Will it benefit me or others? 6:1a
2. Will it control me? 6:12b
3. Will it violate God’s design for living? 6:13-20
4. Will it distract from full devotion to God? 7:29-35
5. Will it damage a weaker brother’s faith or conscience? 8:1-15
6. Will it hinder the gospel message? 9:1-18
7. Will it win people to Christ? 9:19-23
8. Will it disqualify my eternal rewards? 9:24-27
9. Will it displease God? 10:1-13
10. Will it associate me with those driven by demonic powers? 10:14-22
The short list of Five
1. Will it bring eternal benefit to me or others? 23a
2. Will it build others up or tear them down others? 23b-30
3. Will it draw others (glorify) to God? 31
4. Will it win others to Christ? 32-33
5. Will it reflect the character of Christ? 11:1
