the ten after: "why, not what" (1 Cor. 10:23-11:1)

Every Sunday morning at Journey Campus, we have a video called “The Ten Before” that greets the congregation before the service starts and lets everyone know what’s going on this week. A couple months ago, Dan came up with the idea of blogging a little on Mondays and calling it “The Ten After”… to reflect on how God spoke and moved in the previous day’s service. Well he’s a little busy, leading a new church campus and all. So he’s letting me use the cool title and entrusting me to offer a teensy commentary of my own. Consider this the other half’s thoughts on the best day of the week…

My husband has never been a “three-point-sermon” kind of guy.  That’s why, when I read over my notes from yesterday’s message and saw – lo and behold – the numbers 1, 2, 3… I was pretty shocked.  I’m the list-maker in the family.  Not him.  I can personally assure you, if there are three points in his sermon, there are three points in the biblical text.  And although I do love lists, I love this about him and his teaching even more.  Why?  Because every issue in life cannot be boiled down to three points.

Real life is messy.  Decisions are seldom simple.  There are multiple ramifications, a myriad of considerations, to virtually every decision we make.  Which is exactly the heart of his amazing message yesterday on 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1.  If what Dan says is true, that “the most spiritual thing we can do is make a decision,” and that “life is a series of difficult decisions,” then there must be a better way.  Better than a tally of pro’s and con’s, and certainly better than just figuring out how far we can get to the line without crossing over it…

Maybe we’re asking the wrong question.  Maybe the right question is “Why”… not “What.” 

As I live my life this week and try to intersect culture, making decision after decision after decision, with implications reaching farther than I’ll ever know, 1 Corinthians gives me a new paradigm, which, to my list-lovin’ delight, can be summed up in three simple questions:

1-     Would this give God the most glory?

2-     Would this cause anyone to stumble?

3-     Would this serve a motivation to see others know Him?

Each of these questions point to the “Why” … to the motivation, to the heart… of my decisions.  Of my life. 

What “gray” issue are you dealing with?  What decision is facing you, that makes you wish someone would point to a chapter & verse that tell you exactly what to do?  If you’re like me, sometimes you just wish God would write out in black and white whether you’re to take this job or that one, go to that school or the other one, or even eat this or that for dinner!  Decision-making – life – can be exhausting.  

I used to think the job of preachers was to tell people what to believe and what to do.  (Maybe that explains my former distaste for church!)  Perhaps you’ve thought that too.  What my husband revealed yesterday is the biblical alternative.  It’s the same thing Paul revealed when he wrote this letter to the jacked-up Corinthian church.  Yesterday Dan urged us to go to the Scriptures ourselves, and to ask ourselves the hard questions of “Why?”… not just “What?”  When we get the “Why” right, we’ll get the “What” right.  I’m grateful for that challenge, and am grateful to have a pastor who humbly, bravely says, like Paul,  “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God – even as I try to please everybody in every way.  For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.  Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1

Missed yesterday’s message?  Check it here: www.journeycampus.com