Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 27 results

1. Applying God’s Wisdom to Life’s Issues

1 Corinthians 2:6-16, 1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: God’s wisdom is understood only through the Spirit’s revelation. Spiritual maturity comes from applying God’s wisdom to all aspects of life. Understanding the Text Not only did the reality of the church members’ inclusion in the Christ community directly demonstrate how God’s wisdom was unusual (1:26–31), but Paul’s own life and preaching were living proof that God’s wisdom easily supe...

2. Being Wronged versus Claiming One’s Right

1 Corinthians 6:1-11

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: The church must be vigilant in protecting its identity as a Christ-empowered community and recognize that it is more Christlike to accept being wronged than to pursue retaliation through means that contradict Christ’s teaching. In the community of Christ, no interpersonal differences should be irreconcilable. Understanding the Text In a second practical example of the troubles arising ...

3. Christian Maturity

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Mature Christians recognize that Jesus Christ must remain the church’s only foundation. The existence of church cliques testifies to infantile behavior, and God will expose those practicing it. Understanding the Text Although Paul has made it clear that those who rely on human wisdom and rhetorical inspiration are doomed to become nothing (2:6), he is not opposed to effective communica...

4. Christian Success and Christlikeness

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: When the Christian faith is reduced to a mere complement to cultural norms, churches come to affirm the very things they should despise and despise the very things they should affirm. Understanding the Text First Corinthians 4:6–13 ends Paul’s response to the deeper and broader issues in the report coming from Chloe’s household. Paul brings the tension between Corinthian ideals and tru...

5. Church Divisions and Confusion of Allegiance

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Schisms and splits have no place in God’s community. Paul says, “Forget what you know from the world around you. Christians are followers not of various patrons and human leaders but of Christ alone.” Understanding the Text Paul’s introduction continues. Verse 10 is his summarizing thesis for the rest of the letter, a thesis he will return to throughout the letter (e.g., 3:1–15). Wheth...

6. Collection and Travel Plans

1 Corinthians 16:5-18, 1 Corinthians 16:1-4

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Because the Christ communities in Corinth serve a Lord whose household stretches around the world, their local communities are members of a global community. With this come special relationships, privileges, and responsibilities for “brothers and sisters” who serve the same Lord (or Patron). Understanding the Text Paul has concluded his major discussions and is now rounding out his let...

7. Consider Others Higher Than Yourself

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Genuine knowledge of Christ causes a believer to consider how personal behavior affects the faith of fellow believers. Christian love and care for others must trump personal rights. Understanding the Text Paul now takes up the next question posed by the Corinthians in their letter (cf. 7:1).1Moving from the larger question of human relationships, with a special focus on marriage, divor...

8. Imitation and Role Modeling

1 Corinthians 10:23--11:1, 1 Corinthians 10:14-22

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Christ followers must aim to become imitators of Christ in all they do. Their testimony to their relationship to Christ trumps their Christian “rights” and leads to a rejection of contexts that hamper this testimony. Understanding the Text After a rather direct warning to the “strong” Christians in Corinth against self-assuredness and the pursuit of personal rights at the expense of th...

9. Introduction and “Hello”

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Paul introduces himself as a fellow Christ follower and reminds his Corinthian friends that calling Christ Lord should generate life patterns that reflect such a relationship to Christ. Understanding the Text If anything strikes someone who begins reading 1 Corinthians, it is how Paul packs content into every word from the outset. When we realize how well he knows the Corinthian congre...

10. Last Encouragement and Final Greeting

1 Corinthians 16:19-24, 1 Corinthians 16:5-18

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: When strong, Christ-devoted Christians visit or join a fellowship, churches must receive these with love and submit to their ministry. As the strong believers come to encourage others’ faith, they themselves should receive encouragement and be strengthened. Understanding the Text Albeit concise, Paul’s concluding chapter functions as weighty pastoral guidance on practical community mat...

11. Leadership and Servanthood

1 Corinthians 4:1-21, 1 Corinthians 3:1-23

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Christian leaders must remember they are mere servants who are expected to be trustworthy and eager to enhance the mission and message of their master. Understanding the Text First Corinthians 3:16 and 17 function as a bridge connecting two sides of the same argument. Still addressing the secular nature of the church’s behavior, Paul concludes his exhortation to use superior building m...

12. Many Parts, One Body

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: In a fashion parallel to the physical body, which God created with a plurality of parts with different functions, God grants a multiplicity of spiritual gifts in order for the Christ community to function as the incarnate body of Christ. Understanding the Text After giving a theological basis for unity in diversity, Paul now turns to a most memorable explication that stands out in a sp...

13. Marriage, Sexual Intimacy, and Spiritual Devotion

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Husbands and wives must protect each other from sexual temptation and recognize their obligation to take care of each other’s sexual needs. They are co-owners of each other’s bodies. Understanding the Text Although Paul’s discussion on sexual immorality in chapter 6 makes the transition to his discussion on sexual obligations in marriage smooth, chapter 7 introduces a new section that ...

14. Personal Rights and Christian Testimony

1 Corinthians 9:1-27

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Personal rights must be put aside when they hinder an effective witness to unbelievers, or if they endanger the faith of immature believers. Even theological arguments that disclose certain behaviors as immaterial to the Christian faith become irrelevant in light of the greater assignment to imitate Christ. Understanding the Text The transition from chapter 8 seems quite abrupt. Is Pau...

15. Resurrection and Christian Living

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: The resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith; without it, faith cannot stand and Christian living has no motivation. It is the announcement that God has reversed the curse of the fall. Death no longer has any sting. Understanding the Text After solidly grounding the resurrection in the soil of history, Paul moves on to establish its theological significance. His theologica...

16. Resurrection and History

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: The veracity of bodily resurrection is not up for debate. Christ’s resurrection is the climactic point of salvation history—the moment when God most decisively altered the course of history—as announced beforehand in the Scriptures and attested to by faithful eyewitnesses. Understanding the Text Chapter 15 functions both as a crescendo of this letter and as the high-water mark of Paul’...

17. Resurrection and Transformation (Part 1)

1 Corinthians 15:35-58

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Death does not have the power to hold believers in the grave. God will raise them from the dead with a new body restored and fitted for a new reality in God’s eternal kingdom. Understanding the Text As if to make sure no one will misunderstand and confuse his emphasis on the bodily resurrection with a notion that somehow the flesh that decays in the grave will be reinvigorated (cf. 2 B...

18. Separation of Faith and Life

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: The desire to gain cultural acceptance, significance, and influence can lead a church to lose its Christ focus and make it blind to even the most blatant violations of the Christian message by its prominent members. Genuine disciple making, then, becomes impossible and even unnecessary. Understanding the Text A major shift occurs here. The theological discussion of the first four chapt...

19. Spiritual Gifts and Spiritual Growth

1 Corinthians 14:1-25

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Although the Spirit’s gifts do not grant status to their recipients, the gifts that benefit and build up Christ’s community are of greater significance and value than those used only for the personal benefit of the individual. Understanding the Text Paul now returns to his discussion of spiritual gifts begun in chapter 12. To fully appreciate chapter 14, however, chapter 13 cannot be d...

20. The Focus of Christian Worship

1 Corinthians 14:26-40, 1 Corinthians 14:1-25

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Christian worship gatherings must be conducted in an orderly fashion to avoid confusion and to ensure that the character of Christ is clearly portrayed throughout the service. Individuals desiring to share their gifts must submit to the greater purpose of portraying Christ. Understanding the Text Having dealt generally with the matter of tongue speaking (the exercise of private devotio...

21. The Priority of Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Unless Christ’s loving character becomes evident in the use and application of any and all of the Spirit’s gifts, their practice becomes worthless for God’s kingdom and mere demonstration of Christian immaturity. Understanding the Text Although God grants his gifts as an act of grace and not on the basis of merit, there is a dynamic relationship between the effectiveness of the gift an...

22. Trust versus Self-Reliance

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Christians who consider themselves mature must be careful not to confuse trust in God’s grace with self-reliance. Rather than putting God’s forgiveness to the test, they should focus on passing God’s test, which will reveal that their primary and most trusted relationship is with him. Understanding the Text The key verse in this unit is verse 12: “So, if you think you are standing firm...

23. Unity and Community (Part 1)

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: God empowers his people by his Spirit for the common good of his community, not as a personal favor to the individual. When individuals use their God-granted power for personal gain, they act like pagans attempting to manipulate their idol god. Understanding the Text Moving to the next question posed by the Corinthians (see 7:1, 25; 8:1), Paul continues his discussion on worship and ec...

24. Unity of Life and Faith

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Spiritual life cannot be separated from the material. Rather than being spiritually irrelevant, the body is the sphere of worship—a place for God’s presence to be revealed. Christian identity and Christian lifestyle are interlocked. Understanding the Text Following his vice list in 6:9–10 and getting ready for his teaching on marriage in chapter 7, Paul now revisits and broadens his di...

25. Wisdom and Foolishness

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Christians cannot use the commonly accepted wisdom that guides the surrounding culture as the standard for their thinking and living. Understanding the Text In the ancient world, “wisdom” was not an abstract concept unrelated to daily living. To the contrary, it was a way of living based on a given understanding of life’s purpose and of what actions reasonably would accomplish such pur...

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