The Dangers of Forgetting Who We Are 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 1. We can’t get past our relational issues. 2. We look to the world to solve our problems. "A church has come to a pretty pass when its members believe that they are more likely to get justice from unbelievers than from their own brothers."C.K. Barrett, NCT, p. 138 3. We lose sight of clear judgment. 4. We forget to live with an eternal perspective. ". . . the congregation’s root problem lies in its lack of theological depth. It shames itself by not understanding itself as an eschatological community (’Do you not know that we are to judge angels?’) and as a community redeemed by Christ." Charles B. Cousar, "The Theological Task of 1 Corinthians:" pp. 98-99. 5. We embarrass ourselves before an unbelieving world. “Clearly this church did not understand its identity as an eschatological community, nor did it demonstrate much concern about its witness to the world.” Tom Constable 6. We quit acting according to Gospel shaped principles. 7. We deceive ourselves and fail to live up to our Gospel identity. “Nero, emperor at the time Paul wrote this letter, was about to marry the boy Sporus (Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, 6. 28), an incident bizarre only in its formality, since 14 of the first 15 Roman emperors were homosexual or bisexual.” The Bible Knowledge Commentary. "We can scarcely realize how riddled the ancient world was with it [homosexuality]. Even so great a man as Socrates practiced it; Plato’s dialogue The Symposium is always said to be one of the greatest works on love in the world, but its subject is not natural but unnatural love. Fourteen out of the first fifteen Roman Emperors practiced unnatural vice." William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians: The New Daily Study Bible, p. 60. “An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, ‘if I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value; then I’ll feel significant and secure… If anything other than God becomes more fundamental to your happiness, meaning in life, and identity, then it is an idol.” Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods “The warning is real; the wicked will not inherit the kingdom. That first of all applies to the “unsaved.” Paul’s concern is that the Corinthians must “stop deceiving themselves” or “allowing themselves to be deceived.” By persisting in the same behavior as those already destined for judgment they are placing themselves in the very real danger of that same judgment. If it were not so, then the warning is no warning at all…Those who concern themselves with grace without equal concern for behavior have missed Paul’s own theological urgencies. It is precisely for these reasons that the warning texts in Paul must be taken with real seriousness. Security in Christ there is, to be sure, but it is a false security that would justify sinners who have never taken seriously “but such were some of you.” That is to whitewash the sinner without regeneration or transformation; Paul simply would not understand such theology.” Gordon Fee, New International Commentary on The New Testament, 2014.