If you've been out on a nice starry night, you've known what it's like to look up at the stars and see how glorious they are. But can you see them during the day? No, because there's something much more glorious up in the sky. The sun has risen, and its brightness washes out that which was really very glorious

In verse 4, Paul talks about trust. He uses a word there that has the idea of a confidence. A confidence in which you can rest so that there is no doubt in your mind that that object that you are placing your trust in will do exactly what you are intending it to do. Paul speaks of the trust

Some were bringing charges against Paul or questioning his authority. Paul says, do I need to recommend myself again? Do I need to have a letter of recommendation from some other church? Paul asks it almost incredulously to the Corinthians. And why is that? That's because the Corinthian church knew and experienced the work of Paul. Paul wasn’t putting himself

Paul says that he didn't peddle the word. Calvin uses the word huckster. You may have heard that word before to describe somebody who is a sneaky salesman and who dresses up his product to disguise what he really has to sell. He deceives his customers so that they don't know exactly what they're getting. Paul says that because it's

This is a passage that lays out Paul's approach to gospel ministry. It teaches his approach to evangelism, and he sees God doing the work of evangelism in a significant way through the preaching of the Word. Paul uses four different, very colourful illustrations to help us understand that. Paul describes an open door, an aroma of life, an aroma

As Paul deals with the Corinthians, the foundations for forgiveness come through loud and clear. The first foundation for the restoration of those who repent is that Jesus Christ has forgiven you. Paul begins his letter confessing his own trials and his own weaknesses. We see in Paul a humility, a boldness but a humility, to confront the Corinthians from

In this passage, Paul teaches and demonstrates that discipline exercised in love also includes forgiveness and restoration of the offender when they repent. In verse 5, Paul says that their offense, or the man's offense, had not just been against him. Paul was indignant for the cause of Christ and for his namesake. But the offense had caused difficulty especially

Another principle of Godly discipline is that we engage rather than avoid. Paul describes going to the Corinthian church knowing full well what he was going to find. There are two very typical ways that we will deal with conflict that are incorrect and sinful. Paul's example warns us about both of those. The first one is to avoid the

This passage really demonstrates, in a practical way, the working out of Christian correction. The main idea is that Christian love governs correction. By way of introduction, I need to remind you of what has happened beforehand. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, Paul confronted a very specific sin in the Corinthian church. There's immorality that was not just being accepted

Paul is less concerned with what the Corinthians think about him personally than he is with what they think about Jesus Christ. He is concerned that as they turn away from the messenger, that they're in danger of turning away from the message of Jesus Christ. When there's tension or disagreement, it's very easy to begin to think of our