PRINCIPLES OF LIFE

1 Cor 10:23-24, All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. {24} Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor.

1 Cor 10:31-33, Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. {32} Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God; {33} just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.

GOOD = WELFARE

1 Cor 6:12, All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

Apparently some of the Corinthians were trying to use their Christian freedom to justify their sins. Paul here insists that Christian liberty is limited by two considerations: Is the practice expedient (helpful) and will it enslave?

PRINCIPLES · Are my motives selfish?

1 Cor 13:4-8, Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, {5} does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, {6} does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; {7} bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. {8} Love never fails;…

1 Cor 6:7, Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?

Going to court against a brother brings defeat (because greed or vengeance win) before the case is even heard. It is better to be wronged and take a loss.

Does the action help others?

Rom 14:13-21, Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this-not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way. {14} I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. {15} For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. {16} Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; {17} for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. {18} For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. {19} So then let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. {20} Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. {21} It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles.

Does the action enslave me?

1 Cor 9:24-27, Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. {25} And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. {26} Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; {27} but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.

Heb 12:1-2, Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, {2} fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Phil 3:14-21, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. {15} Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; {16} however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. {17} Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. {18} For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, {19} whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. {20} For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; {21} who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

Phil 4:11-13, Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. {12} I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. {13} I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

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